Arthur Morgan

Arthur Morgan is a fictional character in the Red Dead video game series by Rockstar Games. Portrayed by actor Roger Clark, he serves as the central character and protagonist of the 2018 game Red Dead Redemption 2.

Character development

Roger Clark was chosen to portray Arthur Morgan after auditioning for the role. The character of Arthur was developed to be a convicted criminal and a member of a gang. He is also considered to be killer and thief. The development team chose to retain a single protagonist for Red Dead Redemption 2, instead of the three as featured in Grand Theft Auto V (2013). Art director Josh Bass said that "sticking with a single character felt more appropriate for the structure and narrative of a Western". Writer Dan Houser said that "The frontier environment and the force of civilization will destroy people like [Arthur]. He’s caught between the nastiness of nature and the brutality of encroaching industrialization in civilization. He has a feeling that his time may have come and gone."

Fictional character biography

Vorlage:Long plot Arthur Morgan was born in 1863 to parents Beatrice and Lyle Morgan, of Welsh descent. A petty criminal and outlaw, his father was arrested for larceny in 1874, when Arthur was 11 years old. Around 1878, Arthur and fellow colleague John Marston was picked up by Dutch van der Linde and Hosea Matthews. Viewing Dutch as an adoptive father figure, Arthur came to share Dutch's vision of a life lived free from civilization and the rule of law, becoming one of the first members of the Van der Linde gang. He also has an initially strained bond with John, whom Arthur enviously sees as foolish and incompetent, since John is presumably the only member in the gang to have a family: his girlfriend Abigail and their child Jack rides along with the gang's civilian fleet.

At some point during his youth, Arthur met a girl named Mary Gillis and the two were deeply in love. However, Arthur's preference to a life of crime and the prevalent disapproval of Mary's family caused their relationship to fall through. At some point later, Arthur met and slept with a young waitress named Eliza, resulting in her becoming pregnant with their son, Isaac. Eliza knew who Arthur was, but accepted whatever support he offered to her and their son. Arthur would visit Eliza and Isaac every few months and stay with them for days at a time. One day, Arthur arrived at their home and saw two crosses outside. Arthur knew immediately that they were both dead, and later learned that they were killed by robbers, all for ten dollars. The incident hardened Arthur ever since and he never truly coped with the pain.

After a botched ferry heist in 1899, where the main events of Red Dead Redemption 2 took place, Arthur, Dutch and the gang are forced to flee their hideout in Blackwater and attempt to cross the mountains west to evade law enforcement and nearby criminal gangs, particularly the O'Driscolls, lead by Dutch's long-time rival, Colm O'Driscoll. They also rescued new widow Sadie Adler, who was held captive by O'Driscoll gang members, and she later becomes a part of their gang afterwards. In order to fund their escape, Arthur helped Dutch and the gang rob a train belonging to the wealthy oil magnate Leviticus Cornwall, who furiously and vengefully hires the Pinkerton Detective Agency, sending Agents Andrew Milton and Edgar Ross to apprehend the gang. As a result, Arthur and the gang is constantly on the move to stay one step ahead of them. All the while, Arthur and the gang continually have to perform numerous jobs and heists to keep the gang funded as Dutch constantly promises one last big heist that secures their freedom.

Arthur and the gang is given a proposition by Dutch to play both sides of an ongoing family feud, the Braithwaites and the Grays, to divert them, hopefully giving the gang a chance to rob them blind. However, this plan backfired, resulting in the kidnapping of Jack by the Braithwaites and gang member Sean MacGuire unexpectedly killed by the Grays. Arthur helps Dutch and the gang fight off and brought further devastation to both families by killing Sheriff Gray and burning down the Braithwaite family mansion. They then journey to Saint Denis to search for Jack, who was sold by the Braithwaites to residing gangster Angelo Bronte. They converse with Bronte, who gives them back Jack. Bronte gives Arthur and the gang a location to rob some money at, only for the gang to realize that it was a set-up by Bronte, who has the ambushing cops on his payroll. Arthur assists Dutch and the gang ambush and kidnap Bronte at his mansion. Arthur and John was caught offguard when Dutch angrily drowns Bronte in the nearby swamp and fed him to an alligator as revenge for his betrayal.

Arthur participates alongside Dutch and the gang in a pre-planned bank robbery in Saint Denis, where the gang is viciously confronted and ambushed by Agent Milton and his agents, causing the deaths of Hosea and fellow gang member Lenny Summers, devastating Dutch and Arthur. John was also captured and sent to prison. Arthur and the gang are forced to escape through a boat heading to Cuba. A storm shipwrecks the boat, washing Arthur and the gang ashore on the beaches of Guarma, an island ruled by the tyrannical Alberto Fussar, a military colonel whom the gang met at Bronte's mansion, who learns of the gang's presence on Guarma and wishes to capture them to get a reward from Pinkerton.

Having reunited with Dutch and the gang, Arthur witness Dutch's slow descent to insanity after Dutch kills their guide Gloria, who threatened them to give her money. Arthur manages to save fellow gang member Javier Escuella from Fussar's henchmen. The gang also participates in fighting the army alongside rebel Hercule Fontaine as Arthur manages to kill Fussar, securing their passage back to America. They then ship back to America, split up and rendezvous with other surviving members of the gang, who were led by Sadie during Dutch and Arthur's absence. They were attacked by Agent Milton and his men afterwards, whom Arthur and the gang managed to fend off. They resort to a cave holed up in Beaver Hollow. Sadie and Arthur then succesfully break John out of prison against Dutch's contradictory wishes, bringing further strain to Dutch's bonds with Arthur and John.

When Arthur went to Saint Denis, Arthur is seized by a violent coughing fit and collapses. A stranger escorts him to a doctor, where he is diagnosed with tuberculosis, having contracted it from farmer Thomas Downes several months earlier. Arthur is overcome with emotion at this news, as this illness was inoperable and there was ineffective treatment at 1899. Erstwhile, Arthur helps Dutch and Sadie with foiling a plan to save Colm O'Driscoll from being fatally hanged, killing off criminal competition. However, Arthur begins growing increasingly disillusioned with Dutch's leadership as Dutch becomes more violent, paranoid and reckless. Dutch's decline is also helped along by new recruit Micah Bell, who keeps on provoking Dutch to take higher risks. Dutch plans to rob a military train holding a great sum of wealth very soon, and urges the gang to assist him. Arthur doesn't take kindly to Bell's reckless influence on Dutch's decisions.

Arthur's loyalty to Dutch finally breaks when Dutch ambushes and murders Cornwall as a part of his big plan. The rift between Dutch and Arthur grows larger after Dutch instigates a war between a local Native American tribe, led by the reluctant Rains Fall and his hot-headed son Eagle Flies, and the US Army. Around that time, Arthur successfully convinces John to take his family and flee from the gang after they finish the last big heist Dutch promised, and calls for Sadie's assistance to help get them out when the time comes. Dutch found state bonds while helping the Indians ambush Cornwall's remaining men and the US Army at an oil rig, and abandons Arthur to die, causing Eagle Flies to sacrifice his life to save Arthur. Arthur's tuberculosis continues to worsen, as he experiences vicious coughing fits and occasionally falling unconsciously.

Afterwards, the gang rides out to Saint Denis, where they come in contact with the military train they're about to rob, and they get into a firefight with the US Army, causing John to get shot and left to die by Dutch, unbeknownst to Arthur, as he and the gang successfully rob the train and ride back to Beaver Hollow, where they found out Abigail was captured by Milton and his men. Dutch, Bell and the gang refused to save her, but Arthur, having been fed up with Dutch and the gang, decides to ride down to Van Horn with Sadie's help and successfully saves Abigail, who kills Milton, but not before Arthur learns from Milton that Bell has been working as a mole for the Pinkertons. Sadie and Abigail departs to meet Jack at a safe place from the camp, while a dying Arthur makes it to camp.

Arthur arrives at Beaver Hollow and accuses Bell of being a mole in front of Dutch and the gang. Within these confrontations, everyone in the camp was surprised when an injured John arrives at camp, distraught at Dutch's betrayal. This urges Dutch, Bell, Bill Williamson, Javier Escuella and Bell's two colleagues, Cleet and Joe, to turn on Arthur and John, but the eventual confrontation was cut short by arriving Pinkerton agents, allowing Arthur and John time to escape from the camp. However, Arthur is tempted to steal the gang money off Dutch but John urges him to stay and help him get out of the ensuing firefight. Arthur can either continue onwards with John to the mountains to lose both Pinkerton agents and Dutch's gang, or Arthur can leave John and trek onwards back to camp to steal the cash.

Either choice, Arthur will encounter Bell, whom he'll engage in either a fistfight or a knife fight, depending on which choice Arthur makes. In the middle of these fights, Dutch intervenes and urges them to stop fighting. Emotionally distraught on Arthur's betrayal and Bell's status as a rat, Dutch parts ways with both of them, leaving Arthur to either succumb to his tuberculosis or get killed off by Bell. Nevertheless, Arthur inevitably dies, believing that he has "won" by getting John to deviate from the gang and informing Dutch and the gang of Bell's backstabbing ways.

Arthur's death was eventually avenged years later in 1907 by John, who treks into the mountains in search of Micah Bell after obtaining information from a former friend of Bell's. With the help of Sadie, Dutch and former gang member Charles Smith, John finds Bell and kills him.

Reception

Following the release of Red Dead Redemption 2, Arthur Morgan received generally positive reviews. Game Informer felt that Morgan is a better protagonist than Red Dead Redemptions John Marston.