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This Inconsistently Heinous was Headlined on April 2024. | ||
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"Mature Content Warning!" |
| “ | Some good honest conflict between the army and the Indians, could be just the distraction we need. Kill two birds with one stone. Cornwall was funding the Pinkertons’ assault on us. Why do you think I dealt with him? With Cornwall gone, the government’s far more likely to divert them to other issues, especially if there’s one more scandal. And we can slip away. Like I said, we just need that noise and one more score. You know, I went back for the chest I had hidden outside Shady Belle, and we’re close, Arthur. That bridge we just blew… the army has a contract with the railroad. It was all in those papers Micah found. They’ll have to send more money and supplies. I have a plan. You just have to trust me. | „ |
| ~ Dutch planning to instigate conflict between the Wapiti Indians and the US Army so that he could steal their money and escape. |
| “ | Dutch: We can't always fight nature, John. We can't fight change. We can't fight gravity. We can't fight nothing. My whole life, all I ever did was fight. John: Then give up, Dutch. Dutch: But I can't give up, neither. I can't fight my own nature. That's the paradox, John. You see? John: Then I have to shoot you. Dutch: When I'm gone, they'll just find another monster. They have to, because they have to justify their wages. John: That's their business. Dutch: Our time has passed, John. |
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| ~ Dutch's last words with John Marston before committing suicide, as well as foreshadowing Edgar Ross' betrayal to John. |
Dutch van der Linde is the secondary antagonist of the 2010 action-adventure game Red Dead Redemption and one of the two deuteragonists (alongside John Marston) of its 2018 prequel Red Dead Redemption II.
Van der Linde is the last of the three targets that John Marston must capture for the Federal Government in order for them to release his family, the first two being Bill Williamson and Javier Escuella. He is also the former friend and mentor-turned enemy of Arthur Morgan and one the arch-enemies of John Marston (alongside Micah Bell, Bill Williamson and Edgar Ross)
Throughout most of the plot in Red Dead Redemption, Dutch is mentioned many times in the New Austin and Nuevo Paraiso chapters. He finally makes an appearance in the West Elizabeth chapter, where he serves as the main antagonist.
In Red Dead Redemption II, however, Dutch served as the deuteragonist of the first five chapters, before becoming the secondary antagonist in the sixth chapter and a minor character of the epilogue.
He was voiced by Benjamin Byron Davis.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Heinous?[]
Background[]
- After running away from home, he formed a gang with a fellow outlaw, Hosea Matthews, to oppose rising civilization in the Wild West.
- Destroyed his alliance with the O'Driscoll Boys by killing Colm O'Driscoll's brother, which gave Colm an excuse to kill Annabelle, who was Dutch's lover.
- Alongside his crew, Dutch committed several robberies across America, leading to his gang becoming infamous among the law and the Pinkertons.
- Before the events of the prequel, Dutch robbed a ferry in Blackwater and shot a woman named Heidi McCourt in cold blood, leading to lots of deaths due to the subsequent skirmish between the gang and the law, resulting in the deaths of Davey Callander and Jenny Kirk, and the capture and subsequent torture and death of Mac Callander at the hands of the Pinkertons.
Red Dead Redemption II[]
- Attacks an O'Driscoll outpost and killed several of the O'Driscoll Boys when attempting to kill Colm.
- Kidnaps a fleeing O'Driscoll known as Kieran Duffy and extorted information out of him under threat of torture and mutilation.
- Robs Leviticus Cornwall's train, despite Hosea's warnings, killed several of his guards, leading to Cornwall hiring the Pinkertons to pursue them.
- Orders Bill Williamson to castrate Kieran Duffy due to his association with Colm, leading to Kieran spilling what he knew about Colm's retreat.
- Despite Dutch's speeches on how the gang is supposed to help poor and needy people, he allows Strauss to target several debtors with financial troubles, leading to Arthur having to collect the debt all so that the gang gets its money as fast as possible.
- Sends Arthur to rescue Micah from his execution in Strawberry despite Micah being arrested for double murder in the first place, leading to both Micah and Arthur killing half of the Strawberry people.
- After Cornwall got wind of Dutch's location due to his activities in Valentine, Dutch and his men kill several of his people while fleeing Valentine.
- After establishing the new hideout at Clemens Point, Dutch ignores Hosea's request to slow down their goal of gaining more money.
- He makes an alliance with the Grays only so that Arthur and the others can steal their money behind their backs.
- Plans to steal both the Grays and Braithwaite's money by pitting them against each other, leading to several deaths.
- Despite excusing his actions as justice due to both Grays and Braithwaite's coming from old money, Dutch only wanted to steal from them due to revenge, thus showing him to be a hypocrite.
- After going to Saint Denis and retrieving Jack, Dutch befriends an Italian mobster named Angelo Bronte, who informs the gang about a bank in town that they can rob. Realizing that the robbery was actually an ambush by Bronte, Dutch, Arthur, and Lenny shoot and kill a large number of city agents in order to escape.
- Totally enraged by Bronte's betrayal, Dutch and his men storm his mansion and murder all of his men before finally leading Bronte to a boat. There, Dutch would begin to relentlessly taunt the Italian mobster before finally drowning him to death in a lake, then throwing him into the sea to be eaten by alligators. Even if Bronte deserved it, his death was still quite cruel and excessive and even both Arthur and John Marston, another of his best men, were horrified by what Dutch did.
- After Bronte's death, along with the rest of his gang, he decides to rob the Saint Denis bank to steal all the money so he can escape to Tahiti. The Pinkertons, already anticipating the gang's move, catch them robbing the bank and murdering Hosea in cold blood, which then sparks a vicious shootout between the Saint Denis authorities and Dutch's gang that ends in death of a large number of agents, as well as the death of Lenny Summers, the youngest member of Dutch's gang. Bill even mentions that the shooting is even worse than the one that happened in Blackwater.
- During the massacre, Dutch also lets John be captured by law enforcement instead of rescuing him, stating that he "couldn't do anything about it."
- During his stop in Guarma, while Dutch and the rest of the gang help the island's rebels to end Alberto Fussar's military dictatorship, Dutch strangles an old woman to death, something that perplexes Arthur himself. Although the old woman had threatened Dutch with a knife to get him to give her more gold, Dutch could have neutralized her instead of simply killing her as he ended up doing, and this action causes Arthur to see Dutch in a different light.
- After returning from Guarma, when Dutch and his gang manage to finish off all the Pinkertons who had come to kill them, Dutch flatly refuses to rescue John from Sisika Penitentiary, despite Abigail mentioning they will be hanging him, saying that they are "just talking". Later, when Arthur and Sadie rescue John, Dutch becomes deeply angry with the two for this act, considering it unloyal.
- In a secret camp dialogue, he states that he told the law to keep John in Sisika until he was hanged.
- While Dutch had a lover, Molly O'Shea, whom he seemed to at least care about, Dutch ultimately loses interest in her, to the point where he couldn't care less about her returning to camp in Beaver Hollow. He simply gets mad at her when Molly tells him that she had informed the Pinkertons about the gang's movements and doesn't show much regard for her after her death, showing how much Dutch has mentally fallen by the start of Chapter 6.
- He cold-bloodedly murders Leviticus Cornwall for all the trouble he had caused the gang, while he, Arthur and Micah murder all of Cornwall's men in the process. While Cornwall absolutely deserved it for the horrible things he did, this murder was completely stupid and unnecessary as it only made the authorities and the Pinkertons more aggressive towards the gang.
- He has Micah send Arthur and Bill to steal a shipment full of explosives from Van Horn with the intention of using them to blow up the bridge of a train full of money, killing several agents in the process.
- He then has Arthur and John blow up said bridge so that the train falls off the cliff after being robbed.
- Seeing the conflict between the Wapiti tribe and the United States military, Dutch fuels Eagle Flies’ desire for revenge and his desire to start a war against the military, contrary to the pacifist wishes of his father Rains Falls. This, ultimately, ends up generating a fierce war between the United States army and the Indians, something that Dutch planned to happen, despite being aware of the countless casualties between both sides, all in order to steal a couple of government bonds.
- Seeing that Arthur was about to be killed by the army men after the war ended, instead of going to save him, Dutch betrays him and lets the army men kill him as he leaves the place. Not only that, but this act of disloyalty also results in the death of Eagle Flies rescuing Arthur and then being mortally wounded by Colonel Henry Favors. When confronted by Arthur about this, Dutch denies such accusations while telling Arthur not to be a fool, not caring one bit about the situation Eagle Flies was in, just caring only about making more money.
- He calls Pearson, Uncle and Mary-Beth cowards after they left the gang even though they had a very good reason for leaving, showing how little interest he has at this point in anyone who doesn't blindly follow him.
- Along with the rest of the gang, they hold up the train that he had been planning to hold up for a long time, stealing all the money from the train and killing all the guards in the process. During the robbery, John is shot in the shoulder and Dutch claims that he is going to rescue him, only to ultimately abandon him, all because Arthur had insisted that John and his family leave the gang.
- After the train robbery, when Tilly rescues Jack and informs the gang that Abigail had been kidnapped by the Pinkertons, Dutch is initially saddened by this, but would ultimately subvert this possible redeeming quality by finally following Micah's advice to abandon her, regardless of the fact that Jack might be left parentless.
- After Arthur tells Dutch that Micah had been informing the Pinkertons about the gang's movements, and even after Micah cold-bloodedly murders Susan Grimshaw, Dutch initially doesn't believe Arthur's claims and even let Susan dies and sides with Micah during the final confrontation. Later, he can be seen along with Micah, Cleet, and Joe attempting to kill Arthur and John.
- If Arthur helps John escape, when Arthur tries to grab his gun to finally kill Micah, Dutch steps in and stomps on Arthur's hand, preventing him from killing Micah even though he had clearly betrayed the gang.
Red Dead Redemption[]
- 12 years after the events that led to the downfall of his gang, even after finally realizing that it was Micah who had betrayed them, instead of abandoning his life as an outlaw and accepting that his era was over, he utterly refused to let go of his criminal life, and would soon form a gang comprised of natives, fueling their hatred for the government as he did with the Wapiti tribe in the past, completely abandoning his idealism and accepting the fact that he is a ruthless killer without compassion.
- In a Blackwater Ledger article, it is mentioned that Dutch and his new gang robbed and murdered two people on a farm north of Blackwater.
- He had his men kidnap and torture Nastas after discovering that he was a BOI informant.
- He and his gang hold up the Blackwater bank, taking many of the people there hostage, and when John and the lawmen confront him, Dutch scoffs at the fact that John had married Abigail, a prostitute that Dutch claims the gang members had affairs with in the past, before finally murdering Muriel Scranton, an innocent woman he was holding in cold blood before escaping the place.
- As John, Nastas, and Harold McDougal infiltrate Dutch's gang hideout, Dutch cold-bloodedly kills a law enforcement officer before shooting and attempting to kill John, which he would have done if the shot had not hit John's binoculars.
- Indirectly responsible for the death of Nastas by having his men kill him during a peace meeting along with John and McDougal.
- He attempts to assassinate John and McDougal when they are hiding out at the Blackwater Hotel with his gang, even stating that he plans to kill them simply for "sport", showing now he likes kill, highlighting his sadism.
- He is mentioned by Archer Fordham to be a rapist during a conversation made with John while going to assault on Dutch. While there is no further evidence about whether he is a rapist or not, it is possible to be true when considering Dutch's progressive ruthlessness and mental downfall.
- There is also another theory about Dutch being a cannibal, which is suggested by the human bones such as skulls and femur bones found around a fire pit inside his cave in Cochinay.
- During the government assault on Dutch's hideout, he makes one last attempt to kill John as he tries to flee and tells John that no matter what he does, he can't change who he is and that killing him won't make his past go away. He simply stopped running when he saw that he had no escape and finally accepted his end.
- While initially, Dutch started out with a lot of redeeming qualities, such as being quite affable, caring about gang members, being a well-intentioned extremist who saw civilization as corrupt and wanted humans to live without the need for laws, having a strong sense of honor, standards against brutality and the way Colm treated his men, etc., he slowly subverted each of those traits until finally becoming a complete megalomaniac who cared only for blind loyalty and showed no interest in Arthur and John, two gang members Dutch had raised as his own sons.
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
- He had experienced frequent tragedies throughout his lifetime:
- He had a good relationship with his father who died in a battle during the American Civil War, which caused Dutch to develop a sworn grudge against Southerners. With the absence of a father figure and a troubled relationship with his mother, Dutch left his home at the age of 15 and began dreaming about an independent existence, which resulted in him resorting to a life of crime and ultimately forming the infamous Van der Linde gang.
- Throughout his time as the gang leader, he had witnessed the demises of his loved ones, particularly his lover Annabelle who was killed by Colm O'Driscoll, and his long-time friend Hosea Matthews who was killed by Agent Milton, which also exacerbated Dutch's mental downfall and tragedy.
- No matter how horrible it ultimately got, Dutch genuinely cared about his gang members and tried to provide them with a decent life, and expressed sadness over the deaths of the fallen gang members, which generally quickened his mental downfall. He was also protective and friendly towards other people on some occasions:
- He rescued Sadie Adler from the O'Driscolls and took her to his gang, for no pragmatic reasons. He even stopped Micah when he started taunting and messing with her.
- He still cared about Jack, When Jack was taken by Catherine Braithwaithe, Dutch stopped at nothing to find the boy going as to having the gang slaughter the Braithwaithes and negotiating Jack's safe return after it was revealed he was being kept by crime-boss Angelo Bronte. despite his hatred and resentment over Jack's parents, Dutch continued to hold Jack in high regard, asking John about Jack's well-being. However, Dutch referred to Jack as another "whore's child", but this could be seen as more of a way to provoke John than to insult Jack.
- While reluctant initially due to him being a member of O'Driscolls, he later welcomed Kieran Duffy as his new member, and avenged him when he was killed by his former superior Colm O'Driscoll, pointing that Kieran's horrid fate is one of the reasons why they had to kill Colm.
- On several occasions, albeit subtly, Dutch expresses genuine remorse for his actions:
- He genuinely apologized to Colm for killing his brother.
- After the murder of Leviticus Cornwall, when Arthur gets mad at Dutch about it, Dutch tells Arthur that he has done many bad deeds that he regrets doing, but the murder of Cornwall is not one of them.
- Regardless of the endings, when Arthur reiterates that Micah is the traitor, this causes Dutch to show a face of genuine sadness and regret, realizing his failure and how he wasted everything because of Micah, who had been manipulating him all this time, before finally leaving the place, completely ignoring Micah's words.
- The fact that Dutch shot Micah in the epilogue after Micah's betrayal strongly implies that, deep down, he feels remorse for not listening to Arthur about Micah's betrayal.
- During his final moments, he laments the fact that he wasn't able to fight his own nature, telling John that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't give up because his very nature wouldn't let him. He even commits suicide after telling this to John.
- He still retained some sense of honor even after his fall, as he allows John to take all of Blackwater's money instead of taking it himself, financially helping Charles, Sadie, and John and his family.
- In fact, he still calls John his son, showing that he has some respect for him.
- His death is played for sympathy. Realizing that he had no escape and that John had caught him, he finally accepts his defeat, throwing away his weapon and admitting to John that all he did was fight against nature, change and gravity, and even though he knew that doing so would do him no good, he couldn't fight against his own nature because it would be useless. Before finally committing suicide by allowing himself to fall back off the cliff to his death, he tells John that their time has past, thus demonstrating his own acceptance that the days of the Wild West were finally over.
External Links[]
- Dutch van der Linde on the Villains Wiki
- Dutch van der Linde on the Heroes Wiki
- Dutch van der Linde on the Inconsistently Admirable Wiki
- Dutch Van der Linde on the Entertainingly Detestable Wiki
- Dutch van der Linde on the Red Dead Wiki
[]
 Inconsistently Heinous
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