#im a dutch hater but equally an appreciater of the nuance he holds

[pinkysberg]

"dutch shot micah for john" "no, dutch shot micah for arthur"

idk maybe im dumb but i have always been under the impression that dutch shot micah for himself. sure, avenging arthur or protecting john could have been a thought in the back of his mind. though, i imagine he loses everything, pushes everyone away, arthur dies at his feet and in that moment he realizes micah's lead him astray and he fell for it.

i don't think dutch has the self awareness to realize his fault in this situation, and if he does he burries if under the misconstrued idea that micah's entirely to blame. he's been shamed, embarrassed and abandoned and if there's anything we come to learn throughout rdr2 it's that he can't stand being embarrassed, he can't stand being duped, and he never takes responsibility for being naive. bronte leads dutch astray and instead of going, "i was naive to think he was trustworthy and i shouldn't have taken him up on that lead" he kills bronte and creates an even larger problem. instead of going, "i was wrong to not trust hosea when he tried to dissuade me from robbing cornwall." he simply continues to create further issues.

he's been made a fool by micah. he wants revenge. john wanted revenge and when dutch is asked what he's doing there, he says "same as you, i suppose."

yes, micah bringing up arthur seems to trigger dutch however i think it's likely more about dutch feeling as though his pride has been bruised by being forced to remember his failures where arthur's concerned and less about the disrespect being shown to arthur in that moment.

dutch at his core is shown to be selfish. he is self involved, prideful, vengeful, and entirely lacking in self-awareness.