Uncle

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Uncle
Biography
Gender	Male
Location	Ranch on Beecher's Hope in Great Plains, West Elizabeth
Affiliations	John Marston Abigail Marston Jack Marston
Family	John Marston (Practically) Abigail Marston (Practically) Jack Marston (Practically)
Additional info
Weapon	Winchester Repeater

“	Why don't I gets a warm and tender embrace?"	„
	—Uncle to John Marston when he returns to his Ranch

Uncle is a Major character featured in Red Dead Redemption.

Background

Uncle is an aging alcoholic and reformed petty thief. Although borderline dysfunctional, Uncle resides with the Marston family, and is provided with food and shelter at the family ranch in exchange for work he rarely performs. He sometimes manages to contribute, but to his chagrin, he is often viewed by John as inept. "Uncle" is a nickname, and he is of no biological relation to any of the Marstons (John qualifies this statement with "at least I sincerely hope not.").

Uncle, in his own way, can be viewed as seeking redemption from his life of petty crime by working on the Marston ranch. This parallels the decisions of John and Abigail to leave the Van der Linde gang and lead a normal life.

Interactions

After Abigail and Jack are abducted by Edgar Ross, John reluctantly puts Uncle in charge of taking care of the ranch at Beecher's Hope. For the duration of the pursuit of Williamson and Escuella, Marston is not in any kind of contact with Uncle. When he finally returns to West Elizabeth, Marston finds the ranch in disrepair and livestock rustled. Marston continually berates Uncle for his inability to maintain the ranch on his own.

Uncle continues to live with the Marston family for some time after John's return. Working at the ranch, Uncle can be seen assisting with blacksmithing and animal tending duties. Uncle also helps John round up several wild horses.

Uncle is responsible for spotting the U.S. Army soldiers and Bureau agents approaching the ranch. Uncle immediately alerts John, enabling the defense and escape of Jack and Abigail Marston.

Uncle assists John in fighting the soldiers, showing great competence with a rifle. After the initial assault, John and Uncle retreat to the house. There they defend against the second assault. Uncle is quickly wounded in the chest. Jack ceases firing and comes to Uncle's side, while John continues to kill attacking soldiers.

John returns to Uncle and thanks him for his sacrifice, Uncle promptly demands that they escape, and quickly dies. Jack expresses horror at Uncle's death. Shortly afterward, John is gunned down by a large mob, and Jack and Abigail successfully evade the authorities.

At some point in time after the assault on the ranch, Uncle is buried atop the ridge at Beecher's Hope, just a few feet from the grave of John Marston. His grave marker provides no birth year and his epitaph reads "Impossible to forget."

Uncle is first seen when John Marston finally returns from his quest to bring his former gang members to justice as John reunites with his wife and son. Uncle is not pleased to see John, seeing that now, he will have to actually work. As Marston brings the ranch back to life with Jack, Uncle is seen variously napping.

To help out the ranch, he and John herd cattle on one occasion and break horses on another.

In the end, Uncle is shot in the heart by one of Edgar Ross's men. He is buried by Jack Marston on a hillside overlooking the ranch at Beecher's Hope.

Mission Appearances

• "The Outlaw's Return"
• "By Sweat and Toil"
• "A Continual Feast"
• "Spare The Love, Spoil The Child
• "The Last Enemy That Shall Be Destroyed

Trivia

• It is implied by John that Uncle has many illegitimate children.
• Uncle can be seen with a yellow-brown residue in his beard. Players speculate this may be spilled alcohol, food, emesis or chewing tobacco. This appearance reinforces him as an unperceptive alcoholic.
• John and Uncle were former drinking buddies. This is made clear when John says "this is why they say 'don't hire the people you drink with.'"
• Uncle seems to bear a passing physical resemblance to the character of Uncle Albert from the long running British sitcom Only Fools and Horses, although it is not known if this is purely coincidental or not. He also resembles the character Freddie Sykes from the film The Wild Bunch.
• When you walk by prostitutes, Jack may say "Uncle told me about girls like you." or "Uncle warned me about women like you."
• Uncle shares a physical resemblance and character with the "Candy" character from Steinbecks'

Of Mice And Men.

• After hearing stories at a campfire, John will sometimes comment that he "knows an old drunk who would love that one." He is likely referring to Uncle.
• There is also a rumor that Uncle is actually the old persona of Red Harlow. This is implied by the fact that both have similar scars on the left side of their faces. Uncle also wears one glove on his right hand, referencing the scorpion scar on Harlow's right hand. Uncle and Harlow also seem to have similar noses.
• Despite being elderly he seems to still have knowledge of weapons, because in the final mission he assists John and Jack in a final stand against the army leading to his death.
• At the cutscene whereJack Marston is looking at his father's grave stone, you will notice that the gravestone to the right of John's is Uncle's grave.

Gallery

"Why don't I get a warm and tender embrace?"