thecolterparable

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I'm a sucker for historically accurate details.

sometimes when you visit arthur's cabin, you can find molly doing various activities to keep herself from sitting still. notably, she'd be doing her makeup or reading a book. the book specifically is what I want to talk about.

for reference...

I'm fairly certain this is an extract from nicholas nickleby as it talks about sir mulberry hawk here. anyway, the book came out in the near 1840's, and rdr2 1899.

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The Aftermath of Genesis

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HHHAHAHAHAHHA TINY HORSE

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one thing I (surprisingly) see people overstep about colter is that not only is colter a time for mourning trusty steads for arthur, but for john aswell.

when you check in the stables in the area you'll find that there are very few horses present. excuse the bad pics

incase it's hard to see, dutch's, lenny's, micah's, bill's, javier's, and charles's horses are all there. I never properly went to check for old belle or silver dollar but the main "men of action" have mounts all fairly sheltered. even arthur's borrowed horse strays just outside.

despite being so subtle its interesting how the gang responds to losing horses.

arthurs had time to grieve boadicea's loss atop of all that went wrong with the blackwater massacre, likely to have been one of the only passing horses. refers to the adlers horse as "no boadicea" when hosea coaxes him to talk. dying in the middle of a shootout wouldn't phase me, though, it is a little sceptical considering she isn't mentioned at all in his journal.

on the contrary, john. old boy was never in colter. johns horse went down with the wolves.

the sight is enough to stir even arthur. arthur, who clearly shows resentment for johns year absence, he's at a loss for words for the sight. no wonder he was talking about not dying yet when john was grunting and bloodied in pain, he was disturbed and that's that. it chews at my brain that javier simply names him "the horse john rode in blackwater". does john really have a record for naming horses by little phrases?? (looking at "old boy". common misconception, they could really think he's just calling it an old horse).

this could've been the result of two days, perhaps even one if we count the faint track trails. that ungodly sight came quick and was probably one of the only things john could think of while keeping his body heat. despite spending his time resting soonafter, he grieves for a short amount of time because that's who john is. he doesn't fret survival, john lives and bottles it into anger we see far later onward.

arthur keeps little fragments of those who passed with him at a sentimental value, whether keeping it alive in the spirit of conversation or from writing. he's the gangs enforcer yes, the main provider, but has this subconscious dependence to the gang. he'd "happily die for it". when it comes to really talking about loss later, he mourns the life of living and the time he never really had with it, silent tears and exasperated apprehensiveness.

least that's the way I perceive their grief

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somebody please give this man some bourbon. some rum. whiskey. moonshine. ANYTHING. LET HIM HAVE SOME WARMTH

chucking snowballs at him

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plans n... stuff

drawing (almost) every rdr2 mission #4: Old Friends

This thing has literally been the bane of my existence for the past couple weeks and is still very much a wip. The background is incomplete but I can’t be bothered to finish it lol

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i love colter javier

i aspire to be as useful and as clumsy as he.

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wanted to point out here the similarities and differences between dutch and arthurs journals and how it reflects the set hierarchy between the two characters.

mayhaps I'm looking into this too much, this could EASILY be the case of preference... but I find the small details ;)

the two share the handwriting style: cursive. it's expected as cursive was a common handwriting technique in the 19th century.

cursive was used because it was a faster method and speed was prioritized over legibility. private conversations were more efficient if the words were harder to decipher, and so on so forth.

I've left a link to a reddit post with different letters, so feel free to check those out!

but in the context of rdr2?

the gang all write under the name "tacitus kilgore" to the post office and to make it harder to track the fake alias down, it wouldn't surprise me if dutch and hosea taught arthur and john to write similarly. (I'd assume that's the case because mary's letters are picked up by other members of the gang and a dialogue I vaguely remember in the new south(?) about the name... uhh)

arthurs penmanship is bigger than dutch's with a slight slant to it too. he spends his solitude in solace with a journal, and it's likely that the bigger handwriting just means he's not as interested in writing than he is drawing. the penmanship is perfect for captioning his sketches too, frankly enough...

but dutch's? a different case. his journal has lines, indexing them much like his own makeshift book (like the philosophy books he has, such can be found and read in horseshoe overlook) he's crafted. he's had the time to individualise those entries, order them out and make sure those words of his are strong.

he has the time to breathe and think it through. LITERALLY.

annoyingly enough I cannot for the life of me decipher the text... if anyone HAS, FEEL FREE TO MESSAGE!

arthurs more creative, yet runs on wasted time. similar to his position in the gang and how he operates.

dutch is more conforming, caved in by the walls he creates. again, it's similar to how he leads and the demise of his fate.

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small question... just... just how bulky are the men?

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so arthur attempted to run away from colter today

it was a short lived journey.

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im gonna shoot at a bear and let him maul him affectionately for me

Colter Charles……

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one small detail I absolutely adore about johns character is that his character almost always has that leitmotif of the rdr1 theme whenever he's prioritized in scene (and more importantly, in action).

whilst the games epilogue is an excellent example of it (jim milton rides again, american venom.....) it's also heard in the first encounter we ever have with john in rdr2!

I REALLY want to emphasise here that the melody is heard in a whistle, an echo from some place not near but not too far either. the trio encounter a pack of wolves seconds after this is heard. it's the first time we're dived into the action, riding a horse whilst defending javier and john from a pack of beasts... almost like the danger chases him. now where have I seen internal conflict like that before? (wink wink nudge nudge)

it's the start to johns story, and his presence startles arthurs narrative if only for a moment to make that point.

woody jackson, bill elm... you wonderful wonderful men

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"enter, pursued by a memory"