Read Dead

Exploring Red Dead Redemption II’s literary allusions and influences.

  • Table of Contents
  • Most Recent
  • Index & TL;DR
  • Works & People
  • Resources
  • About
  • On Interpretation
  • Table of Contents
  • Most Recent
  • Index & TL;DR
  • Works & People
  • Resources
  • About
  • On Interpretation
  • John Marston galloping over a railroad bridge under the rising moon.
    0. The Past is Prologue: Sontag & Evans

    Outlaws in the Big Trees: More Sontag & Evans in RDR2

    July 23, 2025 /

    How the enemies and allies of John Sontag and Chris Evans inspired characters in RDR2.

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  • A photo collage of Dutch Van der Linde, a photo of outlaw Chris Evans, Arthur Morgan, and an illustration of John Sontag.
    0. The Past is Prologue: Sontag & Evans

    Philosopher, Outlaw, Poet, Robber: The History that Wrote RDR2

    June 18, 2025 /

    The history of the Wild West is so enshrouded in myth, lies, obfuscations, half-truths, and rumor that once these delicate layers are peeled back, the definite facts they're mounded on seem scant enough to be scattered by a breeze — if they weren't weighted with blood and gold. Famous figures like outlaw Emmett Dalton and Wyatt Earp's wife, Josephine, intertwined the bare facts of their lives with legend. In the attempt to immortalize themselves, they erased themselves: it is not always clear whether something really happened, let alone how it happened or who did it.

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Categories

  • 0. The Past is Prologue: Sontag & Evans
  • i. Meta
  • I. Paradise Lost
  • II. Paradise Regained
  • III. Arthurian Legend
  • IV. Interlude: Desperado
  • V. Wuthering Heights
  • VI. The Bible
  • VII. The Inferno
  • VIII. Shakespeare
  • IX. Various Works
  • X. Warlock

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