Characters are people, animals or other beings within a story, and are the driving force of a work's narrative, often bring to life themes, ideas and points brought up by the same work.
Over its three installments and several DLCs additions, the Red Dead franchise has assembled a wide cast of different and diverse characters. The first installment, Red Dead Revolver, is set in its own continuity and serves as a stand-alone story, while a new continuity with brand-new characters was introduced with 2010's Red Dead Redemption, which was expanded upon in 2018's Red Dead Redemption 2.
Character Classes
Characters in the Red Dead franchise be split into several categories. These categories can be used as a guide for when constructing character articles.
Protagonists
Protagonists are the lead characters of a Red Dead game, and are the primary playable characters of the game. They are the focal point of the entire narrative, which is presented from their point of view, and more often than not, the story couldn't work without their involvement. For example, Red Harlow, John Marston, and Arthur Morgan can be considered protagonists of their respective games.
Central Characters
Central characters are typically the most important characters in the Red Dead games. They tend to have the most significant weight in the game's events, even if their appearances throughout the story are rather few, and often have very close ties to the protagonist. Central characters tend to include the main protagonist (e.g Arthur Morgan), their major antagonistic counterparts (e.g Micah Bell), and other major affiliations (e.g Dutch van der Linde).
Major Characters
Major characters are characters with a significant amount of importance to the main plot and story mode. They tend to be either major allies or enemies of the protagonist, and have a certain amount of weight in several story arcs. In Revolver, major characters include the one-time playable characters of the game as well as the game's main NPC ally (Sheriff Bartlett) and supporting antagonists.
Within the Redemption saga, major characters often consist of characters who give out multiple story-missions to the player, such as Bonnie MacFarlane or Hosea Matthews. Otherwise, major characters can also include those with importance to the story's plot and protagonist, such as members within the Van der Linde gang, and several other allies and enemies, such as Rains Fall or Leviticus Cornwall.
Supporting Characters
Supporting characters, also known as secondary characters, are notable characters with distinctive personality traits and some level of importance beyond a one-time role that sets them apart from minor characters.
Their role in the story varies, but tend to be significant for at least one or two missions, or just being a reoccurring character with an established personality. Supporting characters include people such as Drew MacFarlane in Redemption, and Josiah Trelawny in Redemption 2.
Minor Characters
Minor characters are a loose umbrella term gathering all characters with little to no importance in the game's events. Their overall significance for the game's events or gameplay is minimal, and even if they have a major role in at least one narrative story (i.e. Shaky from Redemption), they are often quickly forgotten and lose all relevance by the next mission.
Minor characters can be everything, from one-time story characters, to strangers, to activity-related characters, and mentioned or already deceased characters.
Strangers
Strangers are a character class introduced in Red Dead Redemption; they are typically givers of a several-part story-based mission the player can help. Strangers themselves may not always play a major role in their own Stranger mission, and may lose relevance as soon as their first encounter with the player ends. For example, strangers include the Strange Man in Redemption and Theodore Levin in Redemption 2.
Bounty _targets
Bounty _targets is a term loosely introduced in Red Dead Revolver before being expanded in the Redemption saga. In Revolver, bounty _targets end up being major boss encounters that the protagonist must defeat in linear chapters. In Redemption, they are outlaws and criminals wanted by law for various crimes, and can be hunted down by the player. Their overall value depends if they are alive or dead. In Redemption 2, the role of bounties are similar, although there is a limited amount of bounties with a pre-set reward.
Minor, Unseen Characters
Minor, unseen characters are simply characters who never physically appear in a game, and their involvement boils down to mentions and name-drops. While the majority of them play almost no actual role in the story, some may have importance to an overall arc or to the setting of the games, such as Ignacio Sanchez in Redemption or Thaddeus Waxman in Redemption 2.
Minor, Deceased Characters
Minor, deceased characters are minor characters that have died before the events of a game. Much similarly to minor, unseen characters, their involvement can boil down to mentions and name-drops. For example, in Redemption 2, characters like Mac Callander and Jenny Kirk are deceased members of the Van der Linde gang who are frequently mentioned throughout the story.
Multiplayer Characters
Multiplayer characters are character models used for competitive game modes in the games' multiplayer modes. In Revolver, many of them are characters present in the game's narrative and can be unlocked through challenges or items. In Redemption, they tend to be playable counterparts to minor and randomly spawned NPCs.
See Also
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