you know sometimes i think about dutch questioning arthurs loyalty far back in horseshoe overlook and wondering where it had come from,
because to us, and to the gang, arthur is the most loyal of soldiers, someone who will follow dutch's order and whim and walk through hell and back to achieve it,
because being in the van der linde gang gives arthur a purpose, something so many will spend the rest of their life searching for, that even questioning arthurs loyalty just seems rather... foolish.
but dutch questions it, and he does so throughout the van der lindes journey, and he does so constantly, that it can't just come from nowhere.
and to dutch, and to me, i don't think it does. i think to dutch, however ridiculous it may seem, arthur has always had one foot in the van der linde gang, and one foot out in society, this coming from who arthur is, and who arthur tends to be attracted to.
you see arthur wanders, and he wanders a lot, he does so during their journey and he very clearly had done so before that, given the fact there seems to be a set system for when arthurs been gone too long, and dutch never seems to mind this, as whenever arthur returns, he always brings back to impossible, be it gold bars, large wads of camp, or enough food to feed the camp on weeks on end.
but then arthur brings back a women, a society women nonetheless, a society women arthur loves so dearly, and dutch's trust in arthur starts to crack, as while dutch never cared what arthur was up to on his wanders, now he knows that there's a chance that arthurs with that women and it bothers him, that arthur might have loyalties to someone outside the gang.
even so, that relationship between mary and arthur reaches it inevitable end, both wanting something from one another that the other cannot give them, and dutch ultimately feels relief, that while arthur is devastated, he stays in the gang for longer, his wandering less frequent, and dutch thinks he can forgive him for that one mistake.
but it happens again, sure, eliza's not a society lady like mary was, however, this time, arthur and eliza have a son, something else arthur can give his loyalty to, something, that gives arthur a purpose, and one much more precious than the one dutch had given him.
and arthurs gone for longer, to help eliza to prepare, to help raise his son, and with each time arthur leaves, dutch's trust in arthurs loyalty fractures, yes, arthur always returns with his pockets full to give to dutch, to the gang, however, there will always, always be a chance that arthur decides that the purpose his family gives him means more to him than the purpose dutch and hosea gave him isn't enough for him anymore.
although, arthur never gets that chance, and arthur stays within the gang for good, as anytime arthur seeks something meaningful outside of the gang, his heart just becomes battered and broken, and on the outside he becomes the perfect soldier, cruel and unfeeling,
yet the fact that arthur never got the chance to chose the gang, to set in stone that arthur will always choose the gang above anything else, means that dutch will never truly know where arthur's loyalty lies, despite it all, despite all arthur has done for him, to dutch, that question will always be there.
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side note, while we know the reason arthur and john don't get along so well in the beginning is because john not only left something precious that arthur had forcefully taken from him, and that he had left the gang, people who had rescued and raised john, i do think dutch had a large part in in their relationship shattering, because to dutch, john did it right. sure, john had left for a year, but his family hadn't, and his family were loyal to him, to the gang, and rejected society.
which is why it hadn't bothered him as much, why he doesn't get on john's case a lot in the beginning and why he had seemingly welcomed john back to the gang with open arms, something he likely had never done so with arthur.
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