#cult of dutch and his best friend hosea

[drizzledrawings]

Stupid long rant about my sadness around the curious couple and their unruly son:

Dutch and Hosea are Arthur's dads. This is a fact. They are fatherly figures to him. They might've raised him, but they weren't good for him. (Nor John or tilly or any of them for that matter)

We all harp on Dutch, which rightfully so, he is truly a bad parent. But Hosea is his best friend, his partner in crime, and is an accomplice to what became of Arthur.

It is Dutch who molds him into his soldier, but it's Hosea who let's it happen, who reinforces Arthur's own insecurities of being dumb (Hosea why)

Of course arthur makes his own decisions, but they are expected of him. This is what he was raised up doing. This is what he was taught. Who else could he possibly be?? The man is packed full of what everyone else wants of him

He has had three different fathers. Each make him who he is, and each one did their own fair share of damage I fear

I wish they had never found him

[kirain]

Dutch isn't NEARLY as bad as your posts make him out to be

This is like, the tenth Dutch stan I've had in my inbox and I really don't understand it. Is he good looking? Not my type, but I can see the appeal. Is his actor, Benjamin Byron Davis, a cracking cool guy? Absolutely. Is his voice distinguished af? It's art, my guy.

But not as bad as I make him out to be? Okay, let's recap:

He treated everyone around him like tools and consistently brushed off, ignored, argued with, and cut down his best friend, even when he clearly wasn't feeling well.

He killed a young mother in Blackwater, even though it was against his "code" to kill innocents.

He abused/neglected his girlfriend, who was nothing but loyal and completely devoted to him, and he overall has no respect for women.

He repeatedly made excuses for his bad behaviour, saying he "had no choice". He did, in fact, have a choice. Every single time.

Even though it made her uncomfortable, he lusted after Mary-Beth (who was basically his daughter) as soon as she came of age.

He singlehandedly got the young warriors of the Wapiti Tribe wiped out by manipulating them into fighting a battle he knew they couldn't win, just so he could get his hands on some useless bonds. This ultimately left the Chief childless/heirless and forced what was left of the tribe to flee to Canada. He called them, and I quote: "Canon fodder."

He left his SON to die alone on a mountain, knowing full well he didn't actually betray him. Arthur poured his heart out during this scene, but Dutch still walked away.

In RDR, he's a wanted mass murderer and a rapist. Yes, Dutch is a rapist, as told by Archer Fordham, who isn't known to mince words. John in no way denies the accusation and simply responds with a melancholic, "He was a good man once." This falls in line with the fact that Dutch has zero respect for women and lusts after younger girls.

He shoots a frightened, innocent young bank teller in the head for "sport" and calls Abigail a whore, all while making fun of John for marrying her.

Finally, he ruins John's life and tries to kill him, even though he's also basically his son. In RDR2, he even tries to guilt trip John into putting the gang before his family. There's literally an interaction where he berates John and says, "Just remember, the gang comes first." In reality, he should've done what Hosea did and encouraged him to leave, as any good father would have.

Not as bad as I make him out to be? Anon, he's garbage. A borderline cult leader with delusions of grandeur. Honestly, what does this man have to DO for people to see him for what he is?

I understand he's a complex character (I appreciate him in that regard), I understand it's fun to fantasize and analyse and I even think it's fun to imagine what he was like while raising our protagonists, but come on. Don't tell me he's "not that bad". You'd be hard pressed to find a man lower. Yes, it's certainly possible and even likely he wasn't always a bad person, but his past doesn't matter. All we can do is judge him based on his actions via the events of RDR/2.

Preemptively, I know someone's going to bring up the concussion or "mental illness" argument, but we have proof Dutch was bad before the trolly crash, and--coming from someone who suffers from multiple diagnosed mental illnesses--it's not an excuse. I find the mental illness theory particularly insulting, because it's not and never has been an acceptable reason to hurt others. In addition, most people with mental illnesses statistically don't become murderers/rapists/criminal masterminds, and Dutch is still cognizant enough to make informed decisions. He knows right from wrong, he just doesn't care. If Dutch is indeed a psychopath or a sociopath or a narcissist or whatever else people claim, it might explain his behaviour, but it wouldn't excuse it. That's a very slippery slope.

That said, I want to make it abundantly clear that I honestly don't have anything against you if you like Dutch (he's a fictional character, after all), but ... come on. If you'd never seen what he was like prior to the gang's downfall, I doubt you'd be saying he's "not that bad".