#ratter rants

[ratterchatter]

Arkham Riddler and his ego

I've always found the way arkham riddler is written in the series very interesting. He's very well written. Which I think is overlooked due to how obnoxious he infamously is. He takes the one key trait of the riddler, his ego, and cranks it up to 10. However it dosen't come from no where. Rambling under cut.

Riddler is as stated in game suffers from NPD (fanatic narcissism), Megalomania, and OCPD. Which to be fair is pretty standard amoung most versions of eddie with variation. Which you can see throughout the games affect him.

Let me make it clear these disorders aren't inherently evil or anything as they're often portrayed and stigmatized to be. Riddler is just a villian who happens to suffer from these things. These disorders do affect his behavior and actions to some extent but those are still his own decisions that exist separately from the disorder. Ok we got that? Good.

Even though it's only a bit of information given and implied, we can see where most of this most likely stems from, or was heavily affected by. His upbringing. He mentions it in arkham aslyum mainly. His father he found Eddie had won a school puzzle competition, beat him. Calling him insults, a moron, stupid, saying there's no way he could of won. That he cheated. (He did but his father didn't know that.)

This is the only specific event mentioned, however, I find it hard to believe this was a one off occurrence. If his father was willing to beat him for winning a contest, viewing his son as too stupid, an idea he would've had to hold before, I have no doubt this wasn't the only instance of abuse. It's much more likely that Edward faced consistent verbal and psychical abuse from his father throughout his childhood.

I have no doubt having it beaten and drilled into everyday everyday you're incapable, stupid, moronic, and unloved every day of your life for the smallest of things. Wether you succeed or fail. Never being able to make the one who's supposed to love and care for you proud, would make a less than stable adult. Especially during the time Ed would have grown up.

He grows into an adult that shields himself with a fragile ego. One that wants to prove he isn't stupid. He isn't a moron like his father said. His father was the moron. He simply beat him because he couldn't accept his son was smarter. That must have been why. He's actually the smartest. Everyone who dislikes him is dumber than him and simply envious. Is what seems to be his mindset.

He becomes a police officer. Perhaps in an attempt to find his own justice. He changes his name from Nashton to Nigma. Sure for the Enigma pun, but it also would seperate him from his father. Leaving behind his last name.

Ed is shown in all games to want to impress, to want to prove he's better, to prove he's smarter, to hear others say he is. He wants to hear the praise he never got as a child. It even matches up with his almost childish outbursts and rages at batman winning. Constantly trying to twist things so batman didn't truly win.

Ed seems to see batman as a stand in for his father. In arkham knight he has a chance to accidentally call batman dad mid fight. It wouldn't be too far off that batman reminds of his dad would it? I mean he comes in, proving himself himself be smarter every game, making Ed feel dumb. His ego challenged. Bruised. Along with his body. Relentlessly beating into Edward. It leaves an impression on him. He raves about getting flashbacks to all of batman beatings, having night terrors from it, it'd probably remind him of his childhood.

He also seeks attention from batman, interrupting your gameplay, requiring you in later games to do his missions to progress the main story, throwing a fit when you don't focus on him over the radio, constantly goading you on to do his puzzles. Wanting for that attention he never got from his father.

If he gets batmans attention solely on him, to show he's not an idiot, that's he's better, to let batman dying moments be that of realizing he was outsmarted by Ed, would be in a way getting back at his father.

Ed easily blows at any challenge to his ego. To any threat to his idea of himself. He devolves and stops taking care of himself through each game in his effort to kill batman. He gives himself electrical burns in a fit of rage in arkham knight. He stabs a knife into a man's leg in city when he dosen't get information he want.

That violent upbringing has resulted in a violent temper. Refusing to be the helpless weak child that couldn't fight back. Maybe he can't fight batman one on one. But a hostage? A thug? A civilian? He can guarantee himself a 'win'. He's the aggressor. He's in control of who gets hurt. He gets to be the one to sling the verbal and pyshcial abuse.

He even tries to be a 'hero' himself sometimes. In origins collecting blackmail on corrupt government officials. Planting bombs in the heads of murderers in knight. Ignoring the fact he is just the same as the moronic barbarians he says everyone else is.

his whole show he puts on throughout the games is him going "Look at me! Pay attention to me! Don't ignore me! Look at how great i am! Look at how smart I am! Please!" He wants so desperately to prove that he's worth something. That he's worth any attention. He wants that approval and attention in any way he can. Bad or good. He dosen't care. It's attention all the same.

Even if it means killing civilians. Even if he's wearing himself to the bone. Just so he can kill batman to prove to him that he is smart. That he is all he builds himself up to be. Even if in the end that just leaves him alone. None of the other villains even like him in universe unless they need something from him.

All of this, because otherwise, he is nothing. Just as he has been told since he was little.

[ratterchatter]

So the new walten files episode.. I got a lot to say. I wanna get this theory/points off my chest real quick..now I know there's a decent chunk of people who don't believe/don't like the idea of Jack being Bon. I know a lot think its boring. However with the new episode I think it really does imply it's him to an extent.

I also think thematically/narratively it just makes more sense for Jack to be Bon in some way? It's a story about a family shattering and falling apart due to grief caused by a coward of a man. The idea of bon being just a malicious entity or a stranger is just.. really unsatisfying to me. We have this story so heavily focused on family grief and the individual characters of the waltens. Then for Bon to just be a random unrelated thing.. because?..

Even if Bon isn't perhaps literally Jack, I think it's the very bare minimum a piece of him. It could also be he's co-habiting bon with something else. It's a manifestation of something that comes from Jack. Ect. If not literally him.

Heres some points I wanna make and things I noticed

⏯ Warnings: discussions of suicide, death, depression, and heavy spoilers for Faces of Grief below

First off, mutiple times in this episode alone, and also in other episodes. The iconography of Jack and Bon are used almost interchangeably. Side by side other times. For example when Rosemary sees the commercial with Felix, she stares at bon, it flashes to a mangled face of Jack's. This is also in the other episodes before this one.

This is smaller and may mean nothing however I noticed due to the gap in Bons chest, it almost looks like he's wearing a tie. Then Bon the soul itself in a suit. It's small.. but Sha looks a lot like Rosemary due to her hair. So I wouldn't be surprised if a small detail was meant to parallel to Jack.

Also if you look closely here, the Bon animatronic has a beating heart visible in the gap in his chest. Pulsing.

There is the question of the personality difference. The Bon entity seems to act so different than Jack.. or does he?

Rosemary is very visibly deep in her grief. Lashing out, self destructing, spiraling into a pit of self hate. That's not the only way to grieve. How did Jack grieve? He puts on a face of wanting to move on, that he's gotten better. But did he? Did he really ever let himself grieve? Or did he cover it up? We never see him talk about his feelings. We rarely ever see him be vulnerable.

Rosemary is commented by others to be almost a completely different person due to her grief. Who says this couldn't happen to Jack?

He emphasizes mutiple times to in his talk with Sophie that he's strong. He's not weak. He can't be. He can handle this. He'll take care of things. He gets almost defensive. This is during the 70s. I think it's hard to ignore the societal expectation of gender roles. He's a man, he can't show emotion, he needs to protect his wife and kids, he needs to keep going, he needs to provide. He dosen't have time to grieve when he has a business to run to bring in income.

I don't think jack was ever allowed to grieve. Not properly. I think he buried it so he can seem strong. He dosen't want to look weak in front of Sophie and Rosemary. They're already suffering. He dosen't want to burden them with his emotions when they're already dealing with theira. He spends so much of his screentime listening to Sophie and Rosemary.

He focuses on Rosemary's emotions when they talk by the car. He sits down at Sophie's level and validates her feelings when she's upset. He quickly composes himself when it seems he's showing any vulnerability that may look ugly or weak. He's there to comfort them. Not himself.

Yet he clearly is distraught. The phonecall to Felix. The police office. He even turns on the light and says good morning to Ed and Molly in this episode. I don't think he's "moved past it" or moved on. He's just coping in a way that presents different than Rosemary's. He's suppressing it into something unhealthy. Burying it deep within him until it bursts out. I think it found its way out in his death. Even in his last moments on the phone, he focuses on reassuring Rose. He even admits he's scared. Yet that's not what's on his mind as he panics.

Rosemary blames herself for Ed and Molly's death. She sees herself as the bad wolf. A horrible mother. Undeserving of her kids. Of love. Of life. She tries to kill herself in the river.

I think Jack felt the same. How pathetic would it be? A father who let his kids die. Now having to watch his wife rot and wallow in her depression as he sees her slowly wither away. A shell of the person he knows. His other half. To see the woman he loved filled with joy now stuck in her depression. To see how it affects their last remaning child. Now matter how much he tries. The ones he holds dear that are left are miserable. All because he couldn't be strong enough. Because he couldn't be present. He couldn't be there to watch over Ed and Molly. He left them with Felix. Someone he knew better than anyone else. Someone he knew had struggled with alcoholism. What kind of father let's his children go with someone like that? I imagine that's all the things he's told himself. The state of everything is his fault. Just as Rosemary puts blame on herself.

In the dream rosemary has, he apologizes, for what? For the "who he was." As he puts it. He tells her to forget about him. Despite her pleading. He pushes her away. To hold out a little longer. She'll be okay.

What does bon say?

He makes a point to say it dosent matter who he was before.

Why be the failure of a man that is Jack Walten when he can be Bon?

Something made and loved by Rosemary for him? Made perfect and given life by her vision. He can start anew.

He's in control. He says how it's awful to lose control of your thoughts, your feelings, your self. When Rosemary asks if he's felt similarly. He dosen't respond. He gets defensive. He's in control. He's better now. He's anew. He's strong.

He can be a better husband and father. He can give them a way to be free from the miserable human world. He can bring them back together as a family. He can make a new home. A better home. It sounds like a warped twisted version of the positive words he gave Rosemary. To look ahead. Things will get better. They have to.

When she asks what he meant by he knew where "he is". He starts to break down. He's there. He's Bon.

Anything can be real when she's with him. What would he do without her? She gave him an indentity when he needed it the most. When he lost himself.

Not to mention the way they interact. He calls her not only Rosemary but also Rosie. The nickname Jack used for her. He sits and listens to Rosemary. Just as he did before. The scene of Rosemary and Bon talking reminded me of them at the car. He touches her, he holds her, movements that seem to come natrual to it. He can't quite close the gap with he hugs her. Unable to judge the distance properly anymore. He holds the rocket so gingerly. He panics when she drops them. He turns Rocket away when he kills her.

He tells he the story of the sheep. A story, a project, a film only close to those Rosemary and those close to her would know about. One that she destroyed in her grieving rage.

When she's being torn apart, between the pictures of her, the sheep, and Sha. There's this photo of Jack.

It's him with a gun.

Not to mention this end part. Where he leans against her, laying his head on her lap. It feels human..it feels close. He sounds genuinely upset when she won't repeat that she is happy.

She won't repeat I love you back. Because it's not her jack. It's not the Jack she recognizes or remembers. It's not the Jack she was looking for.

I think the Bon we see is Jack. A part of him. Just not the Jack we saw. It is the angry, self hating, loathing, and grieving jack that was never allowed to show. It warps into Bon. He's abandoned the indentity of Jack. Maybe Bon isn't Jack because Jack dosen't exist anymore? Perhaps only Bon remains. Only the fantastical indentity of Bon the Dancing hare to hide the flawed human underneath.

[ratterchatter]

⏯ Josef's Childhood (?)

This is my own personal theory on some stuff I think may have occurred during josefs childhood and how it ties into things. This is just my interpretation. With how creep is as a franchise is, along with josef as a character, It's hard to know for sure. This is just my own idea of things since I've finished the Creep Tapes. Feel free to disagree or add your own theories.

⏯ Content Warnings: Heavy Spoilers for Creep 1, Creep 2, and the Creep Tapes. Discussions of SA, rape, abuse, and Incest within the context of the series.

While Josef does lie throughout the series at almost every turn, I don't think everything he says is a lie. Not entirely. Throughout the series I noticed sexual themes were consistent, namely ones of assault. Tying to family specifically. I think Josef most certainly was abused by his family from a young age, the exact details of who and what happened are much more murky. I have some ideas however.

Firstly I don't think the woman we see in the Creep Tapes mother episode and Angela are blood related to him. Not likely anyways, it's not impossible, but I lean more towards that they aren't. I think Josef seeks these people out in order to try and replicate what he went through. To replicate those relationships, just in a way where he can control the details. He can fill gaps that are perhaps too painful to recall with false memories. Yet it's just similar enough to act as a sick comfort. It hurts in some ways, sure, but it's familiar. That's what he knows. It's a stinging pain that he can control. Yet he can't ever seem to let go.

With Angela more particularly he seems almost reluctant about the relationship. It's unhealthy. Who would've guessed? None of his "relationships" he forms are. However I noticed with her he seemed especially reluctant to really engage with her. He tries to ignore her phone calls, trying to get to the point in the kitchen and leave, being pressured into drinking by her, being pressured into doing sexual things, drugged by her, and all of that. She notably has to either pressure him or trick him into doing what she wants.

You could maybe argue with Josef it's a weird thing between the two, that maybe they're both into it, but I personally don't think that's the case. It's a mutually abusive relationship. In the end of the episode when he's trying to leave the distress feels very real. There isn't any victim to put a show on for. Just himself and his camera. Footage only he'd ever see presumably. Before he goes in to see her at the start he has to talk himself up about boundaries.

With his "mother" he seemingly has a lot more control. As by what Angela implies, she is an old woman, presumably one that's suffered from some mental illness, that Josef has tricked into believing that she's his mother. He's also tricked himself into believing that too. She is implied to not be the first either. He is seeking out old women in deteriorating health to manipulate into a substitute for his mother. It seems that the relationship with his real mother was emotionally incestuous, at the very least. She also may have ignored what was happening to him and encouraged more dangerous behaviors of his. That really is just speculation however. I don't think the relationship he orchestrates with these old women is an entirely accurate portrayal of what it was with his real mom. It just gives an idea.

Then Josef is seen with victims to be sexually aggressive, or at least threatening. The movements he makes with the peachfuzz mask, the hypothetical/threat he gives to Sara in the car, and typically putting them in a position of voyeurism.

He flashes Sara outright, he has people film him in the bathtub (granted you could argue that's more neutral and not inherently sexual), and Aaron stumbling upon him when he's asleep. He also tells Aaron the story of him supposedly raping Angela (I'll get back to that story in a bit.). Yet he never fully crosses the line, he dances around it, taking a step or two over. However his threats when it comes to sexual things never follow through. Not that I know of. Obviously nothing else he does is good nor does that redeem it. I just think it's interesting that it's such a pervasive topic he brings up with people continuously.

The rape story he tells Aaron, I don't think it's true, at least not in the way that he tells it. I think he was the victim. I think he's spinning or even misrembering it to where he's the aggressor instead. A way to reclaim power over that situation. To be more specific I think his dad raped him with the wolf mask at some point, with him getting defensive at the idea that he brings up in the Creep Tapes solidifying this idea a bit. I think he may have also suffered abuse from his actual sister Angela and that's melding together with what his dad did to make the story that Aaron is told. Either way I think something definitely happened there regardless of who was the exact person who did it.

Speaking of the wolf mask. I think peachfuzz is a reminder of it. A vessel for that trauma. My friend pointed out most of Josefs more sexual behavior occurs when he has the mask on, or it is tied to it heavily. In the first movie once more with him growling with it on and moving his hips suggestively, him tying the assault story to it, him moaning peachfuzzes name, and the threat he gives to Sara in the second film while he's wearing it.

Then in the Creep Tapes he has a conversation and bickers with it over co-dependence. It poses false memories at him which he gets upset at yet accepts. Calling itself his brother. He wants to do his murders without it. But what does that entail exactly?

I noticed in the Creep Tapes peachfuzz is less prevalent. Or at least less of how it was used in the first movie. It's used as a prop, put on briefly to terrify, or put on a corpse's face. You don't see much of the behavior with it from the first two films. It's not entirely gone, don't get me wrong, however it's not as heavy in the tapes. It exists in a different way within the series than it did before. I wonder if Josef wanting to do a kill "without" peachfuzz maybe meant that. It's taken a backseat.

Josef is still Josef, with or without it he still crosses boundaries, he still kills, and still obsesses over his victims. He's still emotionally "intimate" with people in a way that's inappropriate. He just doesn't display that particular part of him as much anymore in his killing routine. This of course all just my interpretations from a very unreliable narrator of a character.

[ratterchatter]

Higgs and the infantilization of characters with trauma

This is something I noticed a bit of a spike of recently with higgs in particular, although i do see within other communities. The tendency of to look at characters, specifically villians and antagonists and entirely excusing what they've done and painting them as a Saint for simply having trauma.

Look I am saying this as a fan of Higgs and his character. I feel sympathy for what he had to go through, his horrid upbringing and a lack of a support system, hell I made a whole post about it and how you see it affect his character. I don't quite like how they wrote him in ds2. That being said.

Guys, he tried to make all of life go extinct twice, committed mass bombing wiping out whole cities of people, killed a baby (probably more with the explosions), made a woman run naked through time fall, and other things. He's not a good guy. He is not excused of this. He is not a Saint. Having trauma does not give him a pass to do all of this shit. Like what

I believe Higgs is a forewarning of what happens when people aren't given healthy connections, a support system, and repeatedly isolated in various ways. It is tragic to wonder what could have been different if he was simply given the connections he needed. That being said, what he ultimately ends up doing is still shitty things that he is fully responsible for. He is well aware of what he's doing in both games and pretty damn happy about it at times. He is a full grown adult man capable of critical thinking about what he's doing.

it's the big boss phenomenon yet somehow worse

Then people are blaming sam and fragile.. for what? Do I think fragile could've done more to help higgs when she knew him, sure, but I don't think she knew he was going to try to go on a mass genocide. Nor do I think that justifies Higgs making her run in her underwear through timefall and then make gross demeaning comments about her body.

And Sam, Sam didn't even fucking know Higgs before DS1, what he knows of Higgs is a man who blew up cities, tried to trick him into delivering a nuke, killing/trying to kill him mutiple times, torturing him, killing his baby, and you guys expect Sam and Fragile after that to what? Offer support to Higgs? Do you think that'd magically fix everything kumbaya or wtv?

Sam dosen't owe Higgs shit. Fragile and Sam aren't demons who deserve to die simply because they formed a support system for themselves. Sam isn't one for shutting people out due to getting re-traumatized at times and due to to distrust. It can take awhile for people to accept help and there can be setbacks. Healing isn't always easy nor instantaneous.

You can like a morally bad character who's done shitty things without justifying their actions, all while still feeling sympathy for what they went through, then also acknowledging the unjust harm they cause to others around them. It is okay to like villians while acknowledging that at the end of the day the are villians

[ratterchatter]

postal dude and sexual trauma

Hey so this is inspired by this post as this is something I've had an idea about for a awhile

Ramblings under cut, sensitive topics such as sexual assault and rape.

Just to preface. I understand postal at the end of the game is a satirical franchise, its not meant to be taken seriously, and wasn't meant to take it in a serious light. I don't think people who draw dude in the gimp suit or anything are evil or doing it maliciously. Hell rws themselves sells a gimp dude doll. I just would like to look at the events that happen in p2 on Wednesday more seriously what the possible implications are/could be along with acknowledge what it pulls from.

The whole event where you're kidnapped by rednecks and put in a gimp suit is direct reference to a scene in pulp fiction. Which is a sexual assault and rape scene. As far as I know.

Its hard to remove it from that context once you know, even without that, the event in itself in game is still uncomfortable.

Granted we don't know if the rednecks did anything to dude while he was passed out, aside from change him into the suit, which is violating in it of itself. However I wouldn't be shocked.

But yeah, getting knocked out, waking up in a gimp suit, without your clothes, not knowing what is going to or has happened to do would be fucking traumatizing to anyone. I feel that goes without saying.

Granted, the thing is, dude dosen't strongly react. He reacts in a humorous way. A flatter way. Portrayed as more minorly inconvenienced. Which I think is both a product of the games time, the game being satirical shock, and dude as a character. However I don't think that means it didn't affect dude all. People can respond to traumatic things in a wild variety of ways. That includes under reacting.

In brain damaged, you have enemies, hellish creatures, dressed in gimp suits and other fetish gear that attack you. If you are to believe p2 and brain. Damaged are the same, that seems to imply it did traumatize him in some way. Enough to where it manifests as an enemy in his nightmares.

Granted a big part of his depiction and perception as I said I think is influenced by the fact its postal. If it was a different game made at a different time I think it'd be treated pretty differently. Although there's still be issues as frankly fandoms and stories often don't take male sexual assault seriously. Even today. So postal falls in a very odd muddy area.

[ratterchatter]

Smoke & Stack

Something I adore in Sinners is Smoke and Stack and their parallels. Their connection, they are both strong characters that can stand on their own, yet incomplete without the other.

Theres obvious stuff like the colors. Stack is wearing red. Smoke is wearing blue. That plays onto their personalities as well with the colors. Stack is more impulsive, more feeling, more carefree. Smoke is more serious, more patient, more strategical. They play off of each other that way. Checks and balances. They weigh each other out in order to work as a team.

Smoke killed their abusive dad to protect his brother. Smoke presumably got beat by him too, although as Stack himself says, he was the main target. Smoke buried their dad while stack was unconscious, taking on that burden of burying their father for his brother's safety.

They presumably fought in WW1 together. As per the trench knife. which I will note fit on both of their hands, which trench knives were typically customized to fit a individual soilders hand. Along with one of the twins comments of them being through German trenches together.

They fooled the mob together, they greet Sammie together, the killed that snake in the back of the truck together, they bought the mill together, they come to the door when Remmick first arrives together. They did everything together. A community of two. Safety in numbers. Even when they split up to divide and conquer tasks for the juke joints opening.

Through all of those small things within the span of 2 hours. It makes you feel for them. It makes you care. It's what makes Stacks death so impactful.

Smokes mourning is raw. It's what a lot of people, in my opinion, would do. When Stack is asking to be let out, and smoke almost listens, it may seem dumb to some. However a lot of people would fold.

Another thing I think they represent is assimilation vs preservation. Smoke is dating Annie, a very spiritual woman connected to her roots, using it to aid her community. Stack dates Annie, who while family and community, is in comparison more disconnected. Mary is white passing, has had a different life and a white husband for years before she presumably came back.

When Remmick comes and plays Pick poor Robin Clean, Stack's bobbing his head, He's enjoying it. Smoke isn't. Smokes suspicious.

Annie is the voice of reason, picking up that something Is off with Remmick and them. She's able to identify what they are and how to fight back. She has Smoke kill her so she won't be assimilated into the hivemind.

Mary goes out, trying to get their money, to scope them out on Stacks behalf. Assuming that due her appearance she'll be safe. Yet she's bitten and turned as soon she turns her back.

Stack, although this most likely largely due to the hive mind, does seem to be on board with Remmicks idea. He's been assimilated into the hive. Into Remmicks culture. Family. He's now the one stranded outside the very juke joint him and his brother made. Needing permission in.

Smoke is now trapped inside. Forced to watch his brother help maul members of their own community. To watch his brother say how they were doomed from the start. To stand behind Remmick. To dance a jig to the tune of music he's never known.

In the end they don't even rejoin. Smoke has passed onto the afterlife with Annie and their baby. Onto to reunite with their ancestors and loved ones.

Stack and Mary are still roaming the earth. Stuck between dead and alive. Seeing more of those around them pass on while they stay the same. To see their little cousin grow old. Until none of their community that once was remained. Throughout all those years of living to Stack, that night, before he was turned. Was the best night. Yet depsite that he stills stays a vampire with Mary. Perhaps the assimilation to Remmicks culture as a vampire separating him too much from his original community and roots for him to go back.

[ratterchatter]

little rant of me bitching

Typically I don't care about ships too much to complain, unless it's something like pedophilia or incest

But like

People shipping Sammie and Remmick really rubs me the wrong way

You're telling me you sat down, watched this horror movie, made by a black man to express his communities struggles and pain. To show their strength throughout all of it and their culture. With Remmick as a stand in for assimilation, colonization, and the theft of said culture

And your take away is to ship the hundreds of years old evil white vampire forcefully assimilating people into his hive mind, with the black man he's trying to actively steal the musical abilities of for his own gain and opress?..

Not to mention it entirely erases and ignores Pearline. Like yeah shove the black woman, the Canon love interest aside, to ship the white man with Sammie. That dosen't make you come off as weird at all.

Like sure just put your complete ignorance of the movie and the fact you don't give two shits about it past "ooga Booga hot men kiss" or wtv. Shout from the rooftops how you have no media literacy and cannot fathom to engage with it past whatever you find hot or have any respect for he message its trying to tell.

Also the fact when I tagging smoke and stack for my blinkies one of the first tags that was suggested was stack x smoke. They are fucking brothers. Twins. What the fuck

[ratterchatter]

Dutch Van Der Linde and the exploitation of the vulnerable

rambling about Dutch and shit below cut. He's a very well written villian

Dutch is the villian of both games. Micah is a secondary villian in rdr2 sure but Dutch is still the over arching one.

Dutch in both games is shown to be a predatory man. He exploits and targets vulnerable people, especially young people and minorities. (Hosea is also complicit in this).

Arthur came from a broken household, his mother dying early on, his father an outlaw, eventually killed as well. Leaving Arthur on his own for 3 years until at the age of 14 he's found by who? Dutch and Hosea. No where else to go, no family, fending for himself and he's offered a family. A reprise. A place to go.

John followed similarly. Raised by a heavily alcoholic father who died when he was 8, tossed around a orphanage, stranded out on the streets, killed someone at age 11, and he was nearly hung at the age of 12. Who saved him from being hung? Dutch. Then taken under his wing.

Both were young children from broken homes forced to grow up early. Struggling and fending for themselves, in Johns case nearly dying, before Dutch swoops in and "saves" them. Children who have no home to go to anymore, shunned and hurt by the world, and who don't know any better.

Lenny is a black man who's parents were former slaves, his father beaten to death, Lenny killing the drunkards who did it at just 15. Left to wander for 3 years until he finds Dutch. Dutch preaches equality in a world and time where segregation was still rampant, civil war had just ended, and racism was loud, rampant, and deadly. That's how Dutch pulled Lenny in.

Tilly was the daughter of a former slave, forced to be an outlaw at the age of 12 after being kidnapped by a gang. Only escaping after she was nearly assaulted, later finding Dutch, who took her in. She views him as a father as a result.

Charles he was born to an African American father and Native American mother, driven out of their tribe by the US army, who then later captured his mother who he never saw again. His father turning to alcoholism in his depression. Charles fled at 13, eventually joining the gang like others.

Javier was born into poverty and witnessed his own family and other men castrated and fed to pigs for meerely demanding better wages. He became a revolutionary and bounty hunter to try and claw and fight back against the government that oppressed him. Fleeing for him and loved ones safety. Into an unfamiliar country alone, outcast, and starving. Who came in to help Javier? Dutch. Once more. A supposed fellow revolutionary against another government.

Women the mutiple women, notably Grimshaw, Dutch dates and pursues when they're young an abandons them when they get too old for him. Molly left everything for Dutch only to get shoved aside and eventually shot. Dying cold and unloved. Dutch also attempts to hit on Mary on a camp interaction.

Eagle flies is used by Dutch. Him and his peoples anger, pain, and fear is exploited by Dutch so he can redirect the army's attention away from him, and back to the people they were already terrorizing, killing, and forcing out of their home. At the end of this what do the Wapiti's get from this? A dead Eagle Flies and being run off their land. He also does similar with another group of native americans in rdr1.

"They could have just left!" And went where? Where could the women go? Where could the children go with no family left? Where could the immigrants who could never go home go to? Where could the people of color go in a time like this? Where could the indigenous tribes go when their homes were already being taken? In that time period, no where. If you weren't a white man you were a second class human to most of the world in that time.

So Dutch steps in, speaking loudly and confidently, declaring himself a savior. A good man. He's not like that dirty oppressive government! He values you as long as you'll die for him. He'll give you food, clothes, and a reason to fight for and a chance to get back. All offered to downtrodden, vulnerable, and in a world that is built against them. If not that then children who don't know better and with no family to go to.