#its explicitly stated to john several times and ppl ignore it for ‘oh arthur shouldve been with mary beth’

[vulpixish]

bad news: im thinking again

not to be annoying, but i have no one to talk to abt this other than myself so im posting some thoughts ive had abt RDR2, adn bc i saw something that rubbed me the wrong way (warning for slight spoilers for post ch. 3)

rn im thinking abt how RDR2 players who talk abt wanting Arthur to end up in a relationship with one of the girls, or that Mary Linton wasnt good enough for him miss the entire point of how he was sacrificing love and potential happiness for loyalty to the gang over and over, and that that’s exactly what he and Hosea both try to get across to John. its that love and the life of an outlaw arent compatible, and will never have a happy end (Dutch/Annabelle, Hosea/Bessie, Lenny/Jenny, Sean/Karen, and even John/Abigail when John can’t detach himself from that life), and that the problem isn’t insufficient love at all.

AND the letter at the end acknowledges that their not being together is the result of both of their unwillingness to enter the other one’s life, and her understanding that he can’t just leave his life as an outlaw.

Anyway, their relationship was blocked by her reluctance to stand up to her father when she was younger, yes, but also Arthur not being willing to leave the gang until they meet in Saint Denis, and even then he’s echoing Dutch and telling her he just needs to do one more big job to secure money for everyone in the VdL gang. As much as they loved each other, Arthur’s commitment to the gang came before his own happiness with Mary.

Also as a brief aside, Mary is def being a little manipulative writing Arthur for help bc she knows he’ll show up (again, at least with high honor) but she acknowledges that it’s wrong to expect him to help just bc he love(d) her. And she tells Arthur that it’s also manipulative of him to keep leading her on and saying that one day he’ll run away with her. The point isn’t that they’re toxic or abusive, it’s that they’ve both kept each other as this escapist fantasy from the lives they came to regret/resent, but can’t bring themselves to leave. It’s not tragic bc they’re bad for each other, it’s tragic bc they never got the chance to really be good for each other.