After Chapter 5

In this chapterArthur and Sadie rescue Abigail from Agent Milton, who reveals that Micah is the Pinkertons' informant before Abigail kills him.

Against Dutch's wishes, Arthur scouts Sisika Penitentiary from a hot air balloon and breaks John out. Dutch grows paranoid about an informant, stops trusting Arthur and makes Micah Bell his top lieutenant. Arthur, now sick, helps the Wapiti chief Rains Fall and his people.

Dutch uses Eagle Flies' attack on Cornwall's oil fields as a distraction, and Eagle Flies is killed. The gang robs an army payroll train; John is shot and left for dead, Abigail is captured, and Dutch cuts them loose. Arthur and Sadie rescue Abigail. Before Abigail kills him, Agent Milton reveals that Micah is the Pinkertons' informant.

Back at camp, Dutch sides with Micah, and Dutch, Bill, Javier and Micah turn on Arthur. John returns alive. As the Pinkertons attack, the player chooses whether Arthur helps John escape or goes back for the gang's money. Micah fights Arthur on the mountain. Dutch arrives but does not back Micah, and leaves.

How Arthur dies depends on his honor: with high honor he dies of his wounds and illness; with low honor Micah kills him. Chapter 6 is the fall of the Van der Linde gang. It opens with Arthur doing what Dutch would not: with help from Sadie's contact, Mr. Bullard, he scouts Sisika Penitentiary from a hot air balloon and gets John out.

Dutch is no longer the man Arthur followed. Convinced there is an informant in the gang, he trusts Arthur less every day and makes Micah Bell his top lieutenant. Arthur, sick with tuberculosis, spends more of his time helping others, including the Wapiti chief Rains Fall, who is trying to negotiate peace with the army.

Dutch sees the Wapiti conflict as cover. When Eagle Flies leads an attack on Cornwall's oil fields, Dutch and the gang ride with him against Rains Fall's wishes, and Eagle Flies is killed. Using that distraction, the gang pulls its final job: robbing an army payroll train.

The robbery ends badly. John is shot and left for dead, Abigail is taken by the Pinkertons, and Dutch cuts them loose. Arthur and Sadie go after Abigail anyway and rescue her from Agent Milton, who reveals before Abigail kills him that Micah has been informing for the Pinkertons.

Arthur returns to Beaver Hollow and confronts Micah. Dutch sides with Micah, and so do Bill and Javier. John, who survived, turns up alive. Then the Pinkertons attack.

Here the game gives the only choice that changes the ending: Arthur either holds off the Pinkertons so John can escape, or goes back to camp for the gang's money. Either way, Arthur ends up facing Micah on the mountain. Dutch arrives but does not back Micah, and walks away. What happens to Arthur next is covered in Ending explained.

In this chapterIn 1907, eight years later, John, Abigail and Jack try to live honest lives and look for work around Strawberry.

The story jumps to 1907, eight years after the gang's collapse, and John Marston becomes the protagonist. John, Abigail and Jack are trying to live honest lives and look for work around the town of Strawberry. This part of the epilogue takes place at Pronghorn Ranch.

John also reconnects with Sadie Adler. The epilogue jumps to 1907, eight years after Arthur's story ends, and hands control to John Marston. John, Abigail and Jack are trying to leave the outlaw life behind. They look for honest work around Strawberry, and this first part of the epilogue plays out at Pronghorn Ranch.

It is a slower, domestic chapter about whether John can become a different man for his family. It also brings back Sadie Adler, who calls on John for bounty hunting work.

Pronghorn Ranch tests whether John's desire to change can survive the humiliation of beginning again. He has the skills to answer every threat with violence, but Abigail needs proof that he can remain present when no gang is giving him orders and no robbery promises a shortcut. Ranch work feels deliberately mundane because Arthur's sacrifice was meant to purchase exactly this possibility. Sadie's bounty work complicates it by offering lawful targets through familiar methods. John is no longer deciding whether he can shoot; he is deciding whether being useful with a gun must continue to define the life his family receives.

In this chapterDutch is with Micah; after a standoff Dutch shoots Micah and leaves in silence, and John kills Micah.

John buys land at Beecher's Hope and builds a ranch house with help from Charles and Uncle. He proposes to Abigail, and they marry. Sadie finds a lead on Micah, and John, Sadie and Charles track him to Mount Hagen.

Dutch is there with Micah. After a tense standoff, Dutch shoots Micah and leaves in silence, and John kills Micah. John takes the gang's old Blackwater money. In the final scenes, Edgar Ross tracks Micah's killer to John's ranch, setting up the first Red Dead Redemption.

John finally gets a home of his own. He buys land at Beecher's Hope and, with Charles and Uncle, builds a ranch house. He also proposes to Abigail, and they marry. The past comes back through Sadie, who finds a lead on Micah. John, Sadie and Charles follow it to Mount Hagen.

Micah is not alone: Dutch is with him. After a tense standoff, Dutch shoots Micah and walks away without a word, and John kills him. John also takes the gang's old Blackwater money, the stash the whole story started with. The last scenes show Edgar Ross, the Pinkerton agent, tracking Micah's killer to John's ranch. That discovery is what sets up the events of the first Red Dead Redemption.