Who is The Strange Man: What is there to know about one of the most intriguing theories in the Read Dead Redemption universe?
As most people know, Rockstar loves to intrigue and bamboozle players with theories and confusing Easter Eggs, but this one has to be one of the most powerful ones.
The Strange Man looking at Arthur.
Full disclosure, this is a fan theory. Rockstar has neither validated nor denied any of the points we are about to discuss, but the theories revolving around the Strange Man are, indeed, very interesting. Also, it is important to know that some aspects of the ending of both games will be revealed. If you don’t want any spoilers, stop reading now. Ready? So let’s go!
The Strange Man is a character that appears in both Red Dead Redemption and RDR2, and has a very, as the name suggests, strange attitude towards the player. So, who is this guy? Well, the theories range from bounty hunter, to alien, to God and the Devil himself. Despite all, the most “agreed upon” theory is that the Strange Man is Cain. Yes, you read it right: the biblical Cain, elder brother of Abel and the firstborn of Adam and Eve. Sit tight, this might get a little crazy.
The brief summary of the story is that, in the book of Genesis, Cain is a farmer who offers part of his crop as an offering to God. God rejects said offering but accepts Abel’s, which was animal produce. Letting jealousy take over, Cain murders Abel and, for that, is punished by God with a curse of death and misfortune to every person he interacts with for the rest of his days, and also immortality, dooming Cain for eternity. Also, anyone who tries to hurt Cain in any way, would have vengeance brought upon seven times over, and that’s where it gets really specific.
Strange Man’s Cabin in Lemoyne
Apart from being able to visit the Strange Man’s cabin (located in Lemoyne) in both RDR1 and RDR2, in the first game, John Marston meets the strange man in three different occasions, and the top hat wearing gentleman seems to know a lot about many things, including the Blackwater Massacre, we would get to understand in the second game. During one of these occasions, John gets spooked by the man and tries to shoot him three times, failing to land any shots. In the epilogue of RDR1, we learn that John gets shot with “around 21 bullets” from Edgar Ross’ crew, exactly seven times over.
The Strange Man talking with John in RDR1.
In the second game, we can’t directly interact with the Strange Man, but upon entering his cabin in different occasions, we can witness a painting that gets closer to being done every time we look at it. If you go enough times, the painting will eventually be done and be interactable. If you do interact with the painting, and look in the mirror, the Strange Man will be behind you for a split second, but if you turn around, he will be gone.
The full painting.
Lastly, the Strange Man is also linked to Armadillo, a small town which is said to be cursed. During RDR2, the town gets burned, looted, and even gets a cholera epidemic, and the only person who does not get affected by anything is the general store owner, who casually have a Strange Man photo right behind him the whole time.
General store shopkeeper in Armadillo.
If all of this is true, then the Strange Man is the reason why both John and Arthur died, and why Armadillo is in a bad shape, changing everything we know about the game itself.
What about you? Who do you think the Strange Man really is?