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[heyitsdante]

None of you are talking about Esquie’s dancing while Verso plays, and I think that calls for some jail time on y’all’s part.

[cowboy-hell-dot-jpg]

A detail in RDR2 I hope was intentional is how at most of the camps Uncle's sleep spot is kinda all over the place. At Shady Belle he just plops down in the middle of a hallway. But when they get to Beaver hollow and Micah and them are starting to really threaten him he sleeps behind Arthur's cot.

[otome-shenanigans]

Ur doing amazing sweetie

[kriscroix]

happy holidays!

also hello how is everyone, my name is kris. I ran from this account some time back because I couldn’t handle getting a follow back from three huge art idols of mine which was very very very silly in hindsight (thanks anxiety)

I want to draw more from now on and I’d also love to talk to y’all! thanks for taking the time to read this, too

peace out n cheers!

[heyitsdante]

Between Even in Arcadia and the Clair Obscure: Expedition 33 ost, I am so well fed rn.

[cowboy-hell-dot-jpg]

I feel like I'm very defensive of Dutch not because I'm interested in defending a man who was awful and did do awful things but because I feel like interpreting Dutch as purely cruel, purely selfish, purely evil flattens his character and doing so takes a lot of the true tragedy and pain out of RDR2's story. It makes it just into a tale of a decent man being tricked by a bad man instead of what it really is: a man being betrayed by someone whom he loved and who loved him back but tragically couldn't overcome his own selfishness, egotism and fear to do right by him. I know I've talked about this before but this hurts so much worse.

Meanwhile Micah is exactly as shitty as he seems. And while that gives him a lot less depth it does make him a good comparison point for Arthur regarding his high/low honor aspects. Also, like the other various villains, Micah works as a reflection of the worst aspects of Dutch and the lifestyle the gang leads.

[cowboy-hell-dot-jpg]

I like your takes on Dutch & his tragedy being that he loved Arthur back but couldn’t overcome his egoism, couldn’t stand self-reflection, was driven to betray Arthur out of fear that he was now lacking in his eyes and couldn’t own up to that. I want to ask, despite loving them, you think Dutch viewed Arthur & John like they were tools or extensions of himself? I’ve seen this take & it’s par for course with a narcissistic personality, but then ofc it’s hard to see his love for his adoptive sons being genuine. Or maybe it can be some mix of both ?

This is a tricky question and I can see myself going back and forth depending on what evidence I happen to be looking at. My instinct is to say a bit of both because I think there's a lot of complexity at play here. There's no doubt to me that Dutch was more than comfortable using Arthur and John as extensions of himself, but "Tools" implies a level of disposability that I don't think is quite true. The truth is none of his men were disposable to him, not until his fear of rejection and betrayal set in. In Guarma when Javier gets shot Dutch doesn't hesitate to put himself in a lot of danger to get Javier back, even though it would have been much easier to leave him to die. The one sticking point Dutch had with Micah throughout the game was that Micah wanted to abandon the girls and the older men for not being strong enough and Dutch refused outright more than once. On top of all that it isn't until that one moment at the end, the first time Arthur "insists" that Arthur is considered a threat.

Now clearly for Dutch disposability seems to be contingent on Loyalty, but I personally think based on a lot of his dialogue Dutch has "loyalty" and "love" mixed up in his head. A lack of loyalty isn't just betrayal of his leadership, of his wants and goals, but of the values that prop up that relationship completely. Betrayal and the fear of betrayal dug his fear of rejection and failure. Like I said: complex.

So in the end I do think Dutch had no problem using his boys as tools to do his bidding, but I don't think he thought of them that way. I think he genuinely loved them and for most of the game was making decisions he convinced himself were for the best. I reject the notion that Dutch only saw John and Arthur as tools and only ever cared what they could do for him because it's just not consistent with his behavior during and before the game starts.

[cowboy-hell-dot-jpg]

I still think it's pretty fucked up that to get a bunch of the crafted goodies from Pearson and the Trapper you had to go on a good old poaching spree of local folks' barnyard animals.