A couple of mysteries surrounding side characters in both Red Dead Redemption games have been cleared up years after release. Rockstar Games co-founder and lead writer of Red Dead Redemption 1 & 2, Dan Houser has answered questions about various side characters he helped create.
In a new, unprecedented interview, Dan Houser spoke with podcaster Lex Fridman for nearly 3 hours. In the video he gives out details on how Rockstar Games worked and how he approached the development of their games. Plus, he answered some fan submitted questions.
Learning About The Creator’s Characters
A sizeable portion of the interview focused on Houser’s characters. Arthur Morgan, Niko Bellic, John Marston and CJ are just some of the beloved characters he has created. In the interview, Dan shares his favourites and best are Niko along with Arthur. Houser talked about how the side characters, especially with Arthur, helped round his best main characters. He loves side characters too such as Dutch.
The Gavin Mystery
Delving deeper into other types of side characters, Fridman asks Houser “the biggest, most important question (…) the number one question from the internet, it is so ridiculous but I must ask. Have you seen Gavin?” Houser’s immediate response was to laugh.
For those unaware, this refers to a man not seen in the game but rather we learn details about him from his friend Nigel who can be found trying to find his friend who he claims disappeared. Nigel can be found a few times throughout the game’s timeline with different interactions. Due to the interesting nature of these interactions, there have been a fair few theories posted online as to who is Gavin.
Well, Dan Houser has now confirmed who Gavin is, sort of. The writer says that Gavin, in his mind, is somewhere in-between two theories. One of them is that Gavin is technically Nigel and vice versa with the man suffering from an identity disorder. The other is that Gavin is dead.
“I just loved the way he shouted “Gavin”. It just amused me. At some level, it probably is trolling in that we did not want it to be a totally clear mystery.”
Following on from this, the writer explains that it was meant to be a mystery that was adventurous without being completely clear on what it actually was. Rockstar did not want to explicitly explain Gavin is not here anymore either by going home or left Nigel.
To top it off, Houser suggests they left it open for the team to “keep exploring that idea (…) if it was going to reappear in some way or another”. Does this mean more Red Dead 2 content or a Red Dead 3? Well Dan Houser actually said it was for future games.
“The general vibe was there was no Gavin. Or he had long since left. It was kinda a split personality. Then we were gonna over subsequent games provide more information. No, Gavin existed. So it wasn’t he was a split personality. The only thing we hadn’t really decided was in a future game were we going to reveal Gavin was dead or going to turn up long since abandoned this maniac. That is what we were still playing around with. The idea was he was never going to meet Gavin in this game.”
Dan revealed the letter “from” Gavin to Nigel was wrote by him and/or Michael Unsworth and that they talked in-depth how people would read the letter.
The Strange Man
Another Red Dead side character which spawned many theories is The Strange Man. Featuring a black suit, top hat and mustache, the person has intrigued fans of the games for years given his unexplainable encounters with the player.
Houser and his team of writers actually came up with him in a speedy fashion due to Red Dead 1 being “boring”. Side content was added to make the game more interesting. The Strange Man specifically came much later in development as they felt the main story was short.
They had the initial idea of a “weird character” and then later brought it into the main story. As you did things as John in the core narrative, he would add to those actions. Houser calls him a “commentary on what you were doing” and that he was “meant to be a manifestation of your shadow, your karma, the devil…” Dan doesn’t say if he only follows you or everyone.
What do you think about these reveals from Dan Houser? Let us know in the comments.
Also from the same interview, Dan reveals Red Dead 2 ran over budget and people doubted them over it. Plus, the game likely only happened because they cancelled the GTA V Story Mode DLC. Learn more here. Stay tuned to RockstarINTEL for news updates on everything Rockstar Games.
Subscribe to our newsletter!
