Dan Houser revealed the darkest of secrets of the Red Dead Redemption franchise.
The Mystery Of The Strange Man
The Strange Man appears in both Red Dead Redemption 1 & 2. He hires John Marston for some very odd missions.
While the Strange Man doesn’t talk much about himself or his origins, Red Dead Redemption 2 may have already told us who he is. A stranger in Hennigan’s Stead refers to a man who wears a black suit and a big top hat.
According to this stranger, the Strange Man is the Grim Reaper.
The Strange Man has been a subject of fascination for Rockstar fans for years. Now, Houser finally sheds light on his identity.
Why Rockstar Made The Strange Man
Dan Houser revealed the practical reason that Rockstar came up with the Strange Man for Red Dead Redemption in an interview with Lex Fridman. And this speaks to how their Old West saga differs from Grand Theft Auto.
After removing the machine guns and the cars for Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar decided that the game was actually kind of boring. So they came up with ideas to compensate for this.
And that is the reason why Red Dead Redemption is dense with side activities. Some of these are not even proper side missions.
But if you know something about game design, you know that at the other end, the developers think of dropping these details as little stories for the fans to pick up on.
So Who is The Strange Man?
…he was there and he was meant to be, you know, something I suppose any creative is scared of, an artist who’s kind of sold his soul to the devil. And that slowly revealed itself.
When Fridman asked if the Strange Man is supposed to be Jungian shadow of Arthur, Dan says this:
Well, it’s sort of, because he knows what you’re up to. The connection is, and, and, and what’s never really made clear is, does he know this about everybody?
Like, is he following you, or is he able, because of the pact he’s made with, with, with, with, with evil forces, able to do this for everybody? And I don’t think we necessarily ever clarify that. He’s certainly able to do it for you.
OK, Before You Go… What Jungian Shadow?
Fridman alludes to a psychological concept conceived by Sigmund Freud’s contemporary, Carl Jung.
To quote Jung:
Unfortunately, there can be no doubt that man is, on the whole, less good than he imagines himself or wants to be. Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is. At all counts, it forms an unconscious snag, thwarting our most well-meant intentions.
You can think of your Shadow as the Mr. Hyde to your Dr. Jekyll. But there’s another interesting aspect to Fridman’s question, that Dan confirms.
If multiple people have seen the Strange Man, than he is more than John Marston’s shadow. One could even argue he is more Herbert Moon’s shadow.
But Fridman alludes to another Jungian concept; the collective unconscious. This is the idea that humanity shares an unconscious set of beliefs, innate symbols that we know from birth.
If Dan confirmed Fridman’s theory, that means that the Strange Man doesn’t just come for Marston, Morgan, or Moon. Everyone in the world of Red Dead Redemption shares the same Strange Man. And he represents the same unsavory side of everyone, that we don’t want to know exists within us.
