#thinking!!! (about jack marston)

[heavenlymorals]

I feel like a lot of people forget that the Van Dir Linde gang was actually famous in their universe- Dutch Van Dir Linde was as famous as the real life Butch Cassidy. The gang had as much infamy as the Wild Bunch or the Dalton gang. Arthur Morgan, John Marston, Bill Williamson, Javier Esculla, Lenny Summers, Charles Smith, Sean McGuire and more were probably as famous as the real life Doc Holliday, Jesse James, Black Bart, Rufus Buck, Ike Clanton, the Sundance Kid, Wild Bill Hickock, and more.

Sadie Adler would've been just as famous. She was a gunslinger like the real life Calamity Jane and Anne Oakley and she was an outlaw at one point like Laura Bullion, Pearl Hart, Belle Star, The Cassidy Sisters, and more.

The other women of the camp would've probably been less popular but still very intriguing figures to people in the future.

In the newspapers, we see that there are songs about Dutch's boys and books too. Trelawny mentions them being on dime novels. In the future, the pieced together story of the Van Dir Linde gang might've gotten adapted into a movie, similar to "Butch Cassidy and the Sun Dance Kid" or "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford". They could've gotten biopics, documentaries, and more.

Historians and fans of the wild West era would dig up records, find pictures, and maybe even track down people who were apart of the gang, accomplices to the gang, or victims of the gang. They would try to piece together stories to figure out the mystery of what actually happened to the gang.

People would argue over things that happened in the gang and have their evidence to back it up. Letters written by gang members would become so valuable. If they ever someone come across Arthur's journal, it would probably be considered one of the most valuable pieces of documentation to ever exist for that time period.

The guns of the gang would probably be kept in museums if found. Albert Mason's portrait of Arthur Morgan would be found in history books, same as other pictures.

Dutch would probably be a very controversial figure in history- some would hail him as a failed hero and others would condemn his violence no matter the reason- they wouldn't know what the people in the gang knew- especially in the end. Same with the rest of the gang members.

They'd probably all get romanticized. Hosea and Dutch's friendship, the raising of the boys, Dutch and Annabelle and his fued with Colm, Mary and Arthur, John and his family, Javier being a revolutionary- no one would know the full story.

And then there is Jack- he may live to see the 1960s and 70s and 80s. He may have grandchildren who'd pull him into a theater to watch a retelling of the gang that he was a part of at one point. He'd be amused. He'd think that the actor playing his father was too clean looking, too pretty. He'd think that the movie Arthur was too skinny. He'd think that the man playing Dutch had a funny voice as he tried to mimic the accent. He'd laugh and make notes in his head of the historical accuracy. He'd feel sorrowful at the deaths of the characters- he knew them at some point. And no one at the theater would know that the old man with the rowdy bright eyed boys who brought him there was Jack Marston, the last of the Van Dir Linde gang.

Jack might talk about it to the public. He might do interviews. He might even write a book about his father, the infamous John Marston. Those would be priceless. Even Beecher's Hope might be kept around and visited as a historical site for history goers.

And honestly? It is such a bittersweet thing.

[arthursfuckinghat]

One Jack and John Marston moment I think about pretty often, is how John was able to calm his son down from a near panic attack after they were ambushed near Strawberry in the epilogue.

Jack was freaking out, his thoughts going a million miles an hour, but John was able to distract him by talking about Beecher's Hope and soothe him by assuring that he did a good job back there.

And it worked, he calmed Jack down. Sure, Jack wasn't happy, but you cannot blame a twelve year old for that.

The reason I think about this moment is less because of how well they bonded there and then, but more because of the potential they had to really be close if it was always like that.

John and Jack had a complicated relationship from John being so absent in the boy's life, even in rdr1 they were still on rough terms because Jack resented John for leaving as he grew older.

It gets better, but then John dies.

John lost his chance to fix his relationship with his son properly, but they could have been so close if John put in the work sooner and had the same patience he did at the end.

Maybe it wouldn't have stopped Jack from becoming an outlaw, maybe it would have, but Jack could have had a father he wanted to make proud - instead of one he wanted to avenge.

[river-of-wine]

Lone wolf

[unyazik]

funny and not so sketches with eagle flies and others <3 

[burnedsolongg]

[weeinerville]

oh my god its jack marston

[ghost-qwq]

my sad angry wet cat of a son forced to play dress up with his fathers clothes

[outlawruben]

The fact that John was the same age as Jack in the Epilogue when he was about to be hanged for his crimes.. (12 years old)

Yes, this is in fact what I’m thinking about

(I also think his efforts are overlooked because he struggles with creating a stable environment for Jack when his wasn’t always stable)

(Anyways, crying in the club over baby John crying in fear on the gallows in 1885)

[hethress]

I didn’t know you could do this (pls excuse the beard I didn’t get him to the barber)

[marstonsboy]

every time i make any kind of au for rdr it just gets sadder than canon for no justifiable reason. the other day i had the evil thought of “wouldn’t it have been fucked up if dutch actually shot john on that cliff and jack went after his uncle dutch for revenge years later” and now i can’t get it out of my head. what the hell.

[fablexdreams]

Jack: looks exactly like John, to the point of being confused as him

Random person in the Fandom: ...but what if he's Javier's-

[star-streaks]

I love drawing RDR1 !!!!

[arthursfuckinghat]

You know, whenever I see the discussions around Jack Marston possibly getting drafted in world war one, I can't help but physically ache at the thought of it.

Jack Marston, born into a gang that honoured freedom above everything, forced to sacrifice everything he has left for war.

Jack Marston, a boy who read about knights and soldiers, now forced to become one in another fight he never asked for.

Jack Marston, raised to be away from a life of violence, but now the world has found a way to drag him back in.

No matter what happens, Jack would have to face a really tragic dilemma. Does he go to war and sacrifice the legacy of freedom he was raised with? The life his family died for? Or refuse and be labeled a criminal, putting his parents to shame and repeating the same cycle his father went through?

It just tragically mirrors the struggle he’s always had - trying to find his own identity outside the legacy of John Marston, and the violence that came with it. But he's being pulled back in, no matter what he chooses.

He was never made for the violence that shaped his parents' life.

[charlioak]

backlog of jack/dante doodles and art because I LOVE these guys

[natnuszsstuff]

Can this community STOP making me literally SOB at random moments in the day?

Guys fr, I have shit to do😭😭😭

[historical-paramedics]

"jack became an outlaw" "jack joined the army" whatever I think jack went off and lived with Tilly and wrote books with Mary-beth and partied and got drunk with them and they were proper good aunties to him personally