#morgan rant

[mr-inkslinger]

ARTHUR MORGAN has an impressive cock. You'd always figured a man who carries himself so surely would have one like that. Thick and heavy, crowned with hair a bit darker than what was on his head. The way it would always be half hard anytime he was around you was flattering. The way he'd take up all the space in that hotel room, striding around, parading naked, he'd steal the air from your lungs. The way it'd pat against his thighs as he took heavy steps through the room. You'd stare and he'd look away, flush in the face. There was an inherent sense of boyish charm about him, how he could be so rough and callous, but the second he was alone with you he was nearly shy. Intimacy with Arthur was earned, a privilege, not a thing to trifle with. He'd given it to you and you hadn't even realized how hard it was to earn this from him.

He blushed bright red when you'd seen it the first time, that breathy "Oh, Arthur.." had sent a chill down his spine. Arthur was extra careful with you, fearing he'd split you right in half on his cock. There was no hiding it. The way his ranch pants would be fuller around you, the obvious bulge of denim stretching around it. He loved that you could try to swallow it all you wanted and you could still grip fingers worth of it as his tip touched the back of your throat. He loved being able to have you seated on top of him and see his dick fucking you from the outside. A firm hand pressed against you, making you tighter and he could feel the way he so lovingly damaged your sweet pussy.

He would torment your guts almost effortlessly. He'd have you gripping the sheets, choking back moans and sobs and all manners of pretty noises in a hitched tone without even trying. He wasn't an egotistical man, but he knew it couldn't be like this for every man or no job would ever get done in the world. It'd come to a stand still as everyone would be lined up to fuck the next man. No, no he had to have something special with you. He was easily enamored with you and how you'd feel wrapped all warm and tight around him. How snug you were.

Each time felt like the first with Arthur. The way he filled you and would have you swollen and sore the next day. Even after the bath you'd end up in together, he'd keep you there, wet and sudsy against him and his thick member until you had pruny fingers. He loved that you were a whiny mess just from being near his cock.

You were made for him by God, he wasn't religious but he was sure of it. You fit better than any glove or shirt or saddle he could have tailor made. You were just as addicted to him. The way his flared head could take up residency inside you made you know that there was some higher power and they were merciful in such a way for you to have a taste of heaven on earth with your Arthur.

[arthursfuckinghat]

So, I was nosing around the gang's tents and I thought that it was honestly so sweet that so many of them have photographs of themselves or of family right?

Little baby Charles with his parents, a young Susan, young Hosea and Bessie, but then I found something interesting in that pile of junk down the cliff just behind Arthur's tent-

Dutch actually writes notes for his famous camp speeches.

And if you've seen the speech that these notes are referring to, Dutch seemed to simplify it a lot when he recited it, almost dumbing it down for the gang entirely?

Writing notes for an important speech isn't the strange part, but the fact he dumbs them down and that these notes are hidden/thrown away out of sight is really strange to me. It makes me think that this is possibly a rough draft or early version of what he wanted the speech to be, sort of implying that Dutch practices and revises his speeches.

Which, if he ultimately dumbs them down for the gang, then what is the point?

The likely answer is that he holds himself to a higher standard because he feels he's above the gang members, in a way. He's the visionary, the leader, the man in charge, the one who reads philosophy books almost exclusively, to say that Dutch didn't think highly of himself would be a lie. And because the gang is 'below' him, he simplifies his speeches for them - despite majority of the gang being well educated and understanding. He doesn't think that the gang is as intellectual as him.

I made a post previously talking about Dutch and his Evelyn Miller philosophies and how he argues with gang members that don't agree or understand. It's especially interesting how Lenny, also an avid reader, disagrees so strongly with Miller's writings when that's what most of Dutch's philosophies are based on.

It solidifies that Dutch was manipulative from the beginning, and probably long before too.

[entropyfox]

I’m not a Micah apologist, but…

I think, all concern aside, Micah is an incredibly interesting character, and I’m honestly disappointed that we didn’t get to learn more about what’s going on in his head.

He doesn’t really talk about himself, not beyond the obvious. The only reason we know of his family is because of the letter Amos sent him.

He’s afraid of being vulnerable, and talking about his past leaves him exactly that: vulnerable.

The less people know about who he is, what makes him who he is, and why he acts the way he does; the less people can hurt him for it.

He knows he’s disliked. He’s lonely. He usually doesn’t hang around the campfire while the others are awake. He’s elsewhere, at the outskirts. When there’s a party, he seems to wander even further away, as if he’s trying to resist the human instinct to be in the company of others.

“Well, I… I want a friend, Arthur. I want hope. I want tomorrow to mean more than today. I want this whole damn shitshow… to have some kind of meaning…”

He knew that everything they did only made their situation get worse.

I don’t think he was much of a rat before Guarma.

I think he was desperate for some kind of consistency. He tried to get along with Arthur early on in the game, but quickly realised that it was leading to nothing.

No one is pure evil, no one is born that way anyhow, but being raised by a hateful person is bound to shape you into someone with just the same hatred and rage.

This is obviously a generational issue, this Micah isn’t a first case, he’s the third of his kind, and I can well imagine that with every generation the expectations got higher and the acts more grotesque.

He’s been groomed no matter how you look at it. Some people manage to develop their own will and step out, like Amos did, and others stick around with what they know, like Micah did.

He doesn’t know how to put that gun aside, he never had to. He was never taught how to.

He sticks to what he knows.

And he doesn’t know love. He doesn’t know empathy and mercy.

He knows anger, he takes comfort in rage.

He knows violence, and taking revenge on every little thing that dared to hurt him.

We never quite find out what he wants vengeance for.

Does he suck? Yes. Am I excusing his behaviour? No.

Am I still obsessed with his personality and feel the need to dissect his brain to find out about every tiny thought and doubt that’s hiding away in there? Yes.

[snarkylinda]

I want to know what baby Spencer's reaction to Derek and Penelope flirting was like when it began, I like to think it was literally just this:

[thatoneidiotyoulovesomuch]

I have to know if this is a common sentiment in the Ace Attorney fandom. So basically I watch a lot of Ace Attorney YouTube videos. A lot of them being rankings and stuff whether that be of cases or characters. And something that I've seen 2 or 3 times now is the sentiment that there was not an interesting/well written female characters in the series until Dahila Hawthorne. And while I do think that some female characters are lacking like April May or Lotta Hart. (Which I don't even think April May is all that bad either.) Overall I think they are done pretty well BEFORE Dahlia. Like do Adrian Andrews, Lana Skye, Morgan Fey, Dee Vaquez, and even Maya Fey not exist to y'all?

To anyone anyone who says this you just don't think about female characters writing as much as you think you do. And you don't allow yourself to see the nuances of female characters.

[arrowheadedbitch]

The worst part of mbav getting canceled is we'll never know where they were going with Ethan

Like they alluded to him being way more powerful than anyone knew yet and then it just ended

They all blew up and it was over

WHAT WERE THE OTHER SEER POWERS GONNA BE

[birchlogz]

[fablexdreams]

The amount of people who think that the Strange Man is talking about Arthur when he says to John, "You've forgotten far more important people than me," will never not astound me. Yall really think John could possibly ever forget Arthur? Arthur? The man he grew up with? Who taught him? Who cared for him? Who helped raise him? Who saved him multiple times? His brother? The same John who could not rest until Micah Bell was dead because he couldn't let go of his pain and anger over how Arthur died? The same John who still wore Arthur's satchel and kept his hat and wrote in his journal? That John? Little Johnny Marston? Please be serious. Arthur haunted John's dreams and thoughts until the very day he died in front of that damn barn, and you can not convince me otherwise. If he remembers Dutch, Bill, and Javier, I promise you he sure as shit would remember Arthur lmfao.

[tiredcowboyy]

Random but I so badly wish that they’d have swapped john and sadies position in the photo so that john was up against javier and sadie against bill.

John and javier are very similar in the sense of they aren’t 100% on board with dutch, just at different times. We see john rebel and question dutch a lot, he even left the gang at one point, but he eventually becomes more and more committed to the gang when he starts following arthur not dutch. Whereas Javiers always been a committed follower, rarely ever questioning or doubting dutch, however we see that similar hesitation and desire to rebel, the distant questioning of dutch when javier points his gun at the sky. Javier followed because thats what he believed in, that he owed his loyalty to dutch, similarly to john earlier, but neither of them were fully truly convinced it was right.

ALSO bill and sadie both stand by their respective sides angrily, theyre ready to fight and get messy over it. Both of them ready to spew words and hurt others, not remotely caring for the opposing side.

Charles and micah are great because theyre the polor opposites. Charles always tried to do whats right, not innocent but as close as the gang are getting and micah… well I mean you all know!

And then dutch and arthur just make sense.

[lazypapers]

do you have any HCs about how Arthur reacted to John being distant to Abigail when Jack was born? /how Arthur reacted when John showed up after a year

Oh definitely, my HC is similar to Roger Clark (the actor for Arthur). I think Arthur resented John for being distant and leaving her and his baby for a year. I imagine a couple years before Jack was born that's when he lost Isaac and that tragedy never left him and deeply effected him. He hated John for running away and taking things for granted from the very thing Arthur always sought and wanted. So when John returns, Arthur is just livid and their relationship is broken.

Arthur seemed like a character who wanted to be loved and belong in a family. He tried that with Mary, but I felt like Mary toyed with his feelings in the most wishy washy way (I get it. Like what future would you have with an outlaw). Obviously Eliza was a rebound from him breaking up with Mary. And that one night stand led to the conception of Isaac. He still chose to stay with Dutch's gang cause that was his family and he wasn't gonna stay with a girl he barely knew and didn't love. He probably tried to bring her along but she most likely didn't want to. I have this headcanon that their relationship was getting better and had potential to work. Arthur would have wanted to stay with them more often as his son got older with each visit. I would say maybe his son was like 4-5 years old the last time he saw him (since it's hinted in the game he taught a little boy fishing during the Jack fishing mission). However, this is when Dutch would manipulate Arthur severely.

He likely pressured Arthur to choose his loyalty to him and the gang over Arthur's son and Eliza. Think about it. When Hosea left to make a life with Bessie, Dutch got really messed up about it. Which explains his disgruntlement with John's loyalty and Abigail. For a bit he lost his family unit and control. He wasn't going to lose Arthur through the same thing. So he starts tightening that leash around Arthur through his low self-esteem and self-worth. He didn't want to lose his best dog. Definitely a red flag, that a lot of the gang members felt obligated that they owed Dutch just because he saved their asses (weird savior complex going on there 😬🙄).

As for why, he didn't seem all that bothered that John left. Maybe he kind of learned from his mistake with Arthur. Under his manipulation, Arthur completely broke when Isaac died (I feel like Arthur never fully recovered from that and Dutch noticed that he wasn't the "same" anymore). So not wanting to break his 2nd Golden Boy he loosened the leash. I'm pretty sure Dutch cared deeply about Arthur and John, and he isn't this evil selfish guy the way I'm describing him. That would be later in RDR1 😆, Dutch is complete bonkers in 1911. He is just incredibly flawed and super weird and a messed up way of showing he cares in 1899 prior.

Anyways I want to draw a storyline focused on the year John left and returned in the Golden Hour. Since the Golden Hour comics are basically about the close bond and eventual collapse of the gang. It would be fun to explore that part of the era of the gang. But once my wrist stops hurting and I have more time. All I can do is talk about it instead of drawing it.

[arthursfuckinghat]

Guys, you know that "Dutch Van Der Linde was a manipulator who mainly caused the downfall of the gang" and "Dutch Van Der Linde saved people by giving them a place in the gang and teaching them life skills" CAN coexist right

[brujahinaskirt]

look i love john marston once and true i really do but listen if i were ms. abigail roberts

i would have shacked up with arthur so fucking fast after john ditched me his lil possum-man head would have been spinning on his neck way out in whatever hole he was hiding from the smoking ashes of my broken heart in. "stand by your man?" "give him space?" "take a chance that love exists?" no. i would not. i would have simply turned around and brought The Big Hoss to stable with EXTREME marston-negative malice. i know i know, arthur is sooo loyal he wouldn't leave dutch but yes he fucking would. we are not talking about some copypasta y/n buckle bunny here with no distinguishing features. this is ABIGAIL FUCKING ROBERTS. are you telling me if abigail "The Best Person Alive" (Arthur Morgan, "Abigail You're the Best" speech, 1899) roberts walked up to this babytalking Fatherhood And Other Dreams-addicted wifeless Wifeguy with a cooing toddler stuck under her arm and said "arthur you're jack's daddy now. arthur he's soooo small arthur. he's the size of a single grapefruit. arthur we have to protect your microscopic pea-sized incredibly tiny son" he would not have said Yes Maam and split that camp like the ass crack in a pair of Forever 21 jeans. i'm sorry to this woman but if i were Miss Thang the Van der Linde Princess Herself I would never have waited on a man (J*HN M*RSTON) to come crawling back to me. wait for what?????? i would have waltzed up to that sad sagging open concept tent, outstretched my gleaming ex girlfriend eagle talon and snatched mr I'm-a-Lonesome-Cowboy by his barely concealed raging domesticity stiffy and we would have blown that fucking outfit in two shakes and a holler. i would have ZOOMED onto that orhter-mahrrgahn-shaped gravy train at such fucking velocity you would not believe it. dump ME like a rusted can of peaches. oh no no no. could NOT be me. me and MY peaches would have been out of that whole marston sitchuation and making nice with big brother on a little homestead somewhere at mach 1 (one vindictive bitch) speed. leave me with a fucking baby sleeping on the grass. kiss my outlaw ass. not if I'M ABIGAIL FUCKING ROBERTS. john would have come stumbling back a year later dragging his jaw behind him like "huh??? wuut??? MY BABYCAKE IS WHERE??? WITH WHO" and the revelation that the bad bitch he tossed out with his toenail clippings was now eating bon bons or whatever on his brother's knee in callyfornya would car compact john's world into the size of a soup can. but i wouldn't bat one pretty eyelash about it because i would be spending my enormous devoted husband's train robbing funds on exotic fruits and fancy $15 token mugs and other dumb shit. john fucking god damned linguini legs marston. break my goddamn heart?? bet. arthur knows how abigail takes her coffee. jack would not even know who tf john marston is.

[sevengoodusesofacadaver]

The line “all we do know is she slept with a terrorist for a profile” grinds my fucking gears because Morgan is such a good character and I understand that was just some of his trauma poking through (along with some misogyny of course) but man fuck you Emily was willing to die to protect you and the whole team, but no you’re too focused on how she did her job instead of the fact that she just did it. He has so much negative bs to spew while the rest of the team is genuinely trying to help and he’s just being a petulant child throwing a tantrum because she kept something from him. Like I have a visceral reaction every time I hear that line it just makes me so mad! Even excellent men like Derek Morgan still have their flaws when it comes to how they view women, even the women they love!

[blanche-elizabeth-devereaux]

Forget the DILF shirt (Dedicated Involved Loving Father). Get Arthur in this one:

I think it's so easy to forget that Arthur was also a deadbeat dad, almost along the same lines as John. Yes, he's great with Jack & looks down on John for not stepping up, but by all definitions he was an absent father. He admits that he only visited Eliza & Isaac for a couple days every few months and gave them money when he could. With that knowledge, she was essentially a single parent. It's still horrible and tragic, but he wasn't even aware of their deaths for an undetermined amount of time. There was somebody else who cared enough to bury Eliza and Isaac, but unfortunately they: a) didn't know how to get in contact with Arthur, or b) didn't even know of his existence.

I'm not excusing John, but he gets a lot of mockery from the fandom (rightfully so!) over his poor relationship with Abigail & Jack at the start of rdr2. Meanwhile, Arthur tends to be seen as a wonderful father figure. The reality is that he was just a few points below John on the Deadbeat Dad™ scale. They went through the same growth as a parents, just in different ways.

The biggest difference between them is that John had the opportunity to change while his family was still alive, and Arthur didn't.

[the-witch-of-woods-beyond]

“if you go, i’ll stay, you come back, i’ll be right here” but it’s clarke griffin giving her life so that bellamy blake and all her friends could make it to space, surviving through sheer will, and calling him on a radio every single day for six years until he could return to her and the home she built for them all.

[fllnrdr]

I would really love for the rdr community as a whole to stop trying, (and failing), to defend Dutch, and shift the blame entirely onto Micah. Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption II are both beautiful and well thought out games both in the gameplay and the storytelling. But I think a lot of people simply ignore those things, hence my long rant of a post.

TLDR: I think Micah was intentionally written to be one dimensional, and Dutch was manipulative from the start. Arthur is just a unreliable narrator.

We play through Arthur's eyes and see/believe what he does. We can see Arthur's loyalty blinds him (and by extension, us) to Dutch's behavior. I would know peace if some folks to took a media literacy class. Red Dead one & two are shining example of the bias in an unreliable narrator. Video games are not exempt from literary tools because you control part of the story. That control is limited to the actions of your bias protagonist, in this case John and Arthur.

The same applies to Micah. Arthur never trusts Micah from day one, and so we as the player don’t trust him either. It would be incredibly lazy on Rockstar’s behalf to created as one dimensional of a character as Micah. But the thing is, Arthur views him that way, a no good money-hungry thief from the start. Arthur is able to see through him, but he is blind to Dutch’s similar behavior because of his loyalty. It’s an incredibly smart tool to use in video games. Once you replay the game without the blinders on of your first playthrough, you’re able to see that Dutch has behaved the very same ways from Chapter One, all the way through Chapter Six. The only difference is that Arthur (and we the player) is slowly becoming aware of the patterns for the first time.

Now, for the blatant mischaracterization of Dutch entirely. To blame everything on Micah diminishes Dutch’s character to such an extent it completely disregards the decades long manipulation he inflicted on the gang, that is very real and very obvious. I won’t get into the way each individual character’s behavior was effected by this, but I will speak about Arthur and John briefly.

Dutch takes in people that are vulnerable and that he knows he can manipulate for his own gain. Children included. Multiple children, in fact. He always has a plan, not to keep folks safe, but to keep everyone comfortably under his thumb. It was always, "Are you with me, or against me" from the beginning. Everyone was either a means to his end, or they were worthless. The second someone did not agree, it was a betrayal, and an attack. I don't doubt he did some things out of kindness, but there's always ulterior motives. Dutch is nothing but a man of pretty words that hide his manipulation.

Dutch maintains an air of grandiosity amongst the gang. He obviously holds the belief that he is above them in all ways. He believes he is their leader because he is simply better than the rest of them. He’s smarter. He’s this god-like figure in his mind. He’s their savior. Hence his distaste for any doubt, or even being challenged.

Lenny and the conversation he has with Dutch about Evelyn Miller for example. Lenny indirectly call’s Dutch’s empty words out and points out that both Miller (Dutch’s idol) and Dutch himself hide behind their flowery words and phrases. Or Arthur and Hosea voicing their concern about robbing Leviticus Cornwall, it’s seen as a betrayal. Or when Uncle pokes fun at Dutch in camp and Dutch says to him, “I would really like to kill you right now.” Dutch may not be entirely self aware, but any attack at him does dig at him for a reason. And this is all from chapter two! There has always been a pattern.

Dutch says he "saved" them. He saved Bill, and John, and Arthur and Lenny and Javier. He saved all of them, and he is above all of them. Dutch sees people as nothing more as tools to meet his goals. There are instances where he does seem to genuinely care, but the ulterior motive is always there.

Dutch and Micah were written with the idea that we see the story through Arthur’s eyes. Arthur is blinded by his decades long to loyalty to Dutch and slowly coming to the realization of the truth. Micah is incredibly one dimensional cause Arthur sees through him and views him as a rat from the start. The truth of the story can be seen through repeated playthroughs. Dutch’s paranoia from the start, questioning Arthur’s loyalty from Colter. Micah sniffing around about the Blackwater money from the beginning. Arthur’s journal entries about the his biased version of the truth. Media literacy is necessary even in video games. God.