John Marston

"People don't forget. Nothing gets forgiven."

- John Marston to Bonnie MacFarlane

John Marston is a recurring character in the Red Dead series, appearing as a central character and the main protagonist of Red Dead Redemption, and as a central character and the secondary protagonist of Red Dead Redemption 2.

Background
John Marston was born in 1873. His father was an illiterate Scottish immigrant who was born on the boat to New York, while his mother was a prostitute, who died during John's birth. John initially lived with his father, a man who loved Scotland and always talked about it. However, he was blinded in a bar fight south of Chicago and died at some point later, when John was eight years old. The circumstances around his death are unknown, although John was told that he died in the bar fight.

John was subsequently sent to an orphanage, where he spent the next few years. He eventually ran away and tried to make his own luck living out in the streets. At the age of 11, John committed his first murder when he shot a man, although he claimed it was not his fault. In 1885, at the age of 12, Marston had been caught stealing by homesteaders in Illinois, who planned on hanging him. Dutch van der Linde stepped in and saved the young boy, taking him under his wing; John was thus inducted into the Van der Linde gang, alongside Hosea Matthews, Arthur Morgan, and Susan Grimshaw. The gang became a surrogate family to the young boy, with Dutch becoming his mentor and father figure. He taught John how to read, shoot, hunt, gather, and instilled him with a love of nature and things other than power.

John developed into an experienced outlaw, running with Dutch, Hosea, Bill Williamson, Arthur Morgan, Javier Escuella and several others, committing robberies, raids, murders, kidnappings and other crimes across the American frontier. Alongside Morgan, Marston was viewed as Dutch's proudest protégé; many members of the gang considered John to be Dutch's favorite and "golden boy", much to the envy of certain people, such as Bill.

Marston had fallen under the sway of Dutch's philosophy, believing that the gang stole and fought for a reason. In stealing from the rich, they, in turn, gave to the poor. They wanted to elicit change in the people of the West, although he later came to admit that these were excuses to let them rob and steal indiscriminately.

In 1894, a prostitute named Abigail Roberts joined the gang. Despite having sexual relations with most of the gang members, she eventually fell in love with John. They later had a son together, whom they named Jack. The gang became an extended family to Jack, with most of the members becoming aunts and uncles to him. In his early years, John had a lot of difficulties connecting with his son due to doubts as to whether or not he was Jack's biological father, as well as fears about his own ability to raise him. Around the time Jack was one year old, John left the gang for a year. His return was met well with Dutch and certain other members of the gang, whilst Arthur felt betrayed by his actions. A rift between the two steadily grew over the next few years.

The gang picked up new members such as Micah Bell, Lenny Summers, and Charles Smith as they traversed the Grizzlies. They continued moving east until they reached Blackwater, where they decided to stay for a while. Here, Micah ended up encouraging Dutch to pursue a boat heist, which John participated in alongside Javier, Sean, and the Callander brothers - Mac and Davey. The heist went wrong when Dutch shot a defenceless young woman named Heidi McCourt in the head and a unit of Pinkerton agents ambushed the gang, resulting in an eruption of violence. The gang escaped and managed to stash the money from the boat somewhere in Blackwater. The heist was a disaster, leading to the deaths of Davey and Jenny Kirk, Mac being separated, and Sean's capture by bounty hunters. John took a bullet in the arm and escaped with the rest of the gang, heading north towards Big Valley.

Colter Chapter
In their attempt to escape the Pinkertons, the Van der Linde gang continue to flee north and end up caught in a snowstorm on the mountains of Ambarino. While the rest of the gang look for shelter, John and Micah, one of the gang's newest recruits, are sent scouting for additional shelter and supplies. Eventually, Abigail becomes concerned when John has not returned after two days. She pleads Arthur to find him and, after Hosea steps in, Arthur and Javier set out to find John.

They eventually manage to track him down and find him up in the mountains, badly injured and his horse killed. He revealed that he had gotten lost a day or so prior, ending up on a cliff near the peak of a mountain after being attacked by wolves that badly lacerated his right cheek and nose, giving him permanent scars. They proceed to bring him back to safety, although Morgan is forced to fend off several wolves that had come after the trio while Escuella carried Marston on his horse.

Once they return to Colter, Abigail scolds Marston for his actions, and he is left to recover during the rest of their stay. At some point afterwards, John asks Dutch if he can join the train robbery crew, but Dutch refuses and tells John that he needs to rest and heal. During the ride out of the mountains, John is seen being loaded up in a stretcher onto a wagon, with his face still heavily covered in bandages and badly injured.

Horseshoe Overlook Chapter
After recovering from his injuries, John, along with Arthur and Bill, assaults an O'Driscoll hideout at Six Point Cabin, using the information given by Kieran Duffy, a former member of the O'Driscolls. John takes Kieran on his horse, and they arrive at a forested area outside of the camp. The three take out some of the O'Driscolls silently, before a shootout ensues. The three emerge victorious, and after Kieran saves Arthur's life, John and Bill convince Arthur to let him stay, and the two take him back to camp.

John, Arthur and Charles (before being joined by Sean) rob a train passing through Scarlett Meadows. They manage to steal a Cornwall wagon and put it on the tracks to force the train to stop. During the robbery, John deals with the passengers, carrying a loot bag for them to put their valuables in. However, the law shows up quickly, prompting suspicion from John, although they still manage to make off with the money.

John and Arthur go and steal a herd of sheep at some point afterwards, to sell them at the Valentine auction. When they go to the nearby saloon to drink after the success, where Dutch and Strauss show up. Strauss and John go outside but are captured and held hostage by Leviticus Cornwall and his hired guns. Arthur and Dutch rescue them, before fighting their way out of Valentine. They then promptly pick up camp and leave.

Clemens Point Chapter
John, Javier, and Arthur make a deal with the Grays, in which they will steal the Braithwaites' prized horses and sell them for five thousand dollars. The three of them talk their way into the grounds, before killing the stable-hand and stealing the horses. John takes the lead during the escape until they sell them for a meager seven hundred dollars.

After Jack is kidnapped by the Braithwaites, John takes part in the assault against Braithwaite Manor in the hope of taking back his son. After his son is not at the manor, he grows furious.

After the Pinkertons find out the location of the gang's camp, John and Arthur go to Shady Belle, in order to clear out any Lemoyne Raiders so that the gang may set up a new camp there. After eliminating a few of the remnants, John and Arthur dump the bodies in the swamp, and John goes back to the gang to direct them to the new camp.

Saint Denis Chapter
John, Arthur and Dutch go to Angelo Bronte's manor, after learning from Catherine Braithwaite that he is holding Jack hostage. In exchange for Jack being returned to them, Arthur and John are sent to deal with a group of grave robbers in the city's cemetery. The duo kill the grave robbers, although the police arrive at the cemetery after hearing gunshots, forcing John and Arthur manage to sneak out of the cemetery and evade them. When they return to Bronte's mansion, Dutch is there waiting for them, along with Jack. They then head back to camp, and the gang throw a party to celebrate Jack's return.

John's relationship with Dutch begins to deteriorate during this chapter, as Dutch believes that John is becoming too close to his family, and that Abigail is “poisoning” John against him. Dutch also believes that John is losing faith in him, and in return, John begins challenging some of Dutch's decisions.

Later, John accompanies some of the gang members in storming Bronte’s mansion, in revenge for Bronte setting up Dutch. Inside the house, John comes across Bronte and knocks him unconscious with a punch to the face. Later, John witnesses Bronte being drowned by Dutch and fed to an alligator, which he is shocked by. During the failed bank robbery in Saint Denis soon afterwards, John gets captured and sent to Sisika Penitentiary, where he is incarcerated.

Beaver Hollow Chapter
After Dutch and four others travel back from Guarma, Arthur and Sadie Adler scout the penitentiary using a hot air balloon and later manage to bust John out of prison, before returning him to the camp in Beaver Hollow. However, Dutch berates Arthur and Sadie for getting John back earlier than intended, even though the law began making plans to have John hanged. Dutch begins to develop paranoia, and is convinced that John is a traitor (although this can partly be attributed to Micah manipulating him). With tensions in the gang at an all-time high, some other members of the gang such as Bill also suspect that John is a turncoat, and distrust him as a result.

On orders from Dutch, John and Arthur blow up Bacchus Bridge with the stolen dynamite. During this operation, Arthur convinces John that he and his family should run away from the crumbling gang, once they have enough money. The two begin making plans, and John informs Arthur that Abigail knows where the gang's money stash is. The feeling that they need to get out is escalated even more as Dutch descends into madness, in addition to becoming increasingly influenced and corrupted by Micah, who acts as his new right hand man. John is later present with the rest of the Van der Linde gang during the battle against the U.S. Army at the oil fields, although he plays a minimal part in it.

John takes part in the final robbery of the Van der Linde gang, which involves robbing army payroll from a train. When uncoupling a burning train carriage, John gets shot in the shoulder by a train guard and falls off the train. Dutch goes back to save him, but ultimately decides to leave John to die. After the robbery, John is presumed dead by the rest of the gang.

When rescuing Abigail (who had been captured by Pinkertons), Arthur and Sadie learn from Agent Milton that Micah had betrayed the gang, having given information to the Pinkertons since the gang's return from Guarma. Arthur sends Abigail and Sadie to safety at Copperhead Landing while he goes to camp in order to confront Micah. During a stand-off between Micah and Arthur about the former being a traitor, John makes a shock return, still injured, claiming that Dutch left him to die. John and Susan Grimshaw side with Arthur, while the rest of the gang sides with Micah. Susan threatens Micah at gunpoint, but he kills her while she’s distracted by the news of the Pinkertons' arrival. Dutch then draws his revolvers and demands to know who is “with” him, and who is “betraying” him, ultimately leading to the gang uniting behind him and against Arthur and John, holding the two at gunpoint. Before the pair can be gunned down by the others, the standoff is interrupted by a Pinkerton assault on the camp, causing the gang to flee.

John and Arthur flee the area using the caves underneath the camp. Once they get out of the caves and try to escape through the forest, Arthur tells John that Micah was the rat and that his family are safe at Copperhead Landing. They are then forced to run, while being pursued by Dutch, Micah and the others, who exclaim that the pair are traitors. After John and Arthur outrun the others, their horses are shot from under them. It becomes clear that the whole area has been surrounded by Pinkertons and their chances of getting out alive are slim, Arthur has to make a decision. The following set of events will depend on the player's choice:


 * Arthur decides to ensure that John will get back to his family at all costs, so the two decide to traverse the mountains — with the Pinkertons on their tail. John and Arthur fight their way to the top of the mountain, until Arthur decides that (due to his illness) he can’t go on, so he suggests that he stays behind and distracts the Pinkertons while John continues on. Arthur gives John his hat and satchel, while John acknowledges Arthur as being his “brother”, and reluctantly continues on his way to his family while Arthur fights off the Pinkertons alone.


 * Arthur claims that the gang's money was left at the camp's caves, but John refuses to go back there, as he needs to get back to his family. Arthur then gives John his hat and satchel, saying his final goodbyes as the two friends part ways, with John leaving the area to reach his family while Arthur goes back to the camp to get the money.

Either way, John manages to escape and re-unite with his family along with Sadie and Tilly at Copperhead Landing, while Arthur dies, either from his Tuberculosis or from being killed by Micah. John and his family planned to live an honest life after leaving the gang. Wishing to buy some land, they moved to the Yukon soon afterwards to take part in the gold rush, but they didn’t make much from it. Sadie and John also vowed one day to kill Micah for his treachery, should they ever find him.

Pronghorn Ranch Chapter
Years after the gang disbanded, in 1907, the Marston family have an incident at Roanoke Ridge which involved John shooting someone, and head to a destination unknown. They eventually arrive in Strawberry to try their luck there where Abigail and Jack land a job in the town clinic and, under the pseudonym "Jim Milton", John temporarily gets a job working for the general store, delivering goods to David Geddes at Pronghorn Ranch. John arrives at the ranch on time and manages to stop the Laramie Gang from harassing the ranch. After this, John receives work as a ranch hand for the Geddes. His reunion with Abigail starts an uneasy friction after she receives news of John's actions prior to their arrival.

Nevertheless, Abigail and John manage to get by with their newfound life. John helps Mr. Geddes and ranch foreman Tom Dickens with more ranch work such as teaching the David Geddes' younger son named Duncan Geddes how to tame and ride a horse and build fences around the ranch. During these times, John briefly connects with Jack, teaching him how to ride a pony and retrieving mail from Strawberry.

However, their journey in collecting a package at the post office goes wrong, due to John and Jack being followed by three men connected to the incident back at Roanoke Ridge. John is forced to kill them, which triggers Jack's anxiety. After they return to their ranch, Abigail becomes increasingly worried after seeing Jack anxious and John failing his promise to her. This concern ignites after the Laramie attack the Pronghorn Ranch, and steal cattle. John and the ranch hands head to Hanging Dog Ranch where they successfully fight the gang and retrieve the cattle. John also kills their leader for mocking him.

The event angers Abigail and she leaves John quietly the next morning. John continues to work at the ranch and after some time, Marston asks Mr. Geddes to put good faith on his name so that he can borrow loans from the bank and buy a plot of land. John attempts to buy Beecher's Hope to convince Abigail he's changed, with the intention of turning it into a ranch.

Beecher's Hope Chapter
John successfully buys Beecher's Hope after clearing away squatters living there. He reunites with Uncle in Blackwater and Charles in Saint Denis, who help Marston build his ranch, as well as Sadie in Valentine, who provides him with various bounty hunting jobs to pay off his bank loans. Abigail and Jack head back to John after receiving a letter from him. John spends more time with his family, such as fishing with Jack and Rufus, and going to Blackwater with Abigail. During their trip to town, John proposes to Abigail on the lake.

Eventually, Marston comes across information leading to Micah's location. He, Sadie, and Charles go despite Abigail's pleas not to. In revenge for Arthur's death, Marston tracks down Cleet in Strawberry, who reveals that Micah and his gang are at Mount Hagen. The player can then decide whether to hang Cleet, or spare him, though the latter results in Sadie killing him instead. The three journey to Mount Hagen, where Sadie and Charles both sustain injuries; Charles is shot in the shoulder by a sniper and Sadie gets stabbed in the stomach during a scuffle with one of Micah's henchmen. John continues on without them, before confronting and killing Joe, and eventually finding Micah. A shootout ensues between the two and they end up in a deadlock, which ends when a wounded Sadie appears and holds Micah at gunpoint. However, Dutch makes a sudden appearance, emerging from a cabin with his revolvers drawn, resulting in Sadie being subdued by Micah and held hostage.

A three-way standoff develops between John, Micah and Dutch, with Dutch initially appearing to be on Micah’s side. After exchanging words with John, Dutch eventually shoots Micah in the chest, mortally wounding him and freeing Sadie. Enraged, Micah then tries to shoot Dutch and John in a last-ditch effort, but John outdraws Micah and shoots him numerous times, killing him. Dutch then takes his leave without saying a word, ignoring John's attempt to thank him. Marston subsequently finds the Blackwater ferry robbery money stash, and later uses it to fully pay off his mortgage. Afterwards, he formally marries Abigail, with both looking forward to living a new life on their ranch with Jack.

Sadie and Charles leave Beecher's Hope and the Marston family on good terms. Edgar Ross, the newly appointed head of the Bureau of Investigation catches wind of the events on Mount Hagen and goes to investigate, finding nothing but Micah's corpse and no trace of the missing Blackwater money. Alongside his new subordinate, Archer Fordham, they begin a manhunt for the culprit, questioning various people until they trace the murder to John's location at Beecher's Hope. John continues working on his ranch with his family for the next few years, unaware that his revenge against Micah would eventually cost him his life and freedom.

Events of Red Dead Redemption
Four years later in 1911, the old American West is dying. Encroaching technological advances such as railroads, telegram offices, and stronger law enforcement begin to integrate themselves into western society. The federal government wants the Bureau of Investigation to aid in the process of civilizing the west by ridding the region of all of the savage gangs running wild and unchallenged, especially that of Bill Williamson and Dutch van der Linde. Not wanting to make martyrs out of them, Ross decides to use an ex-associate of Williamson's that the Bureau had been watching to hunt him down: former outlaw John Marston. By kidnapping John's wife and son, Ross forces him to comply. Thus, John is forced to roam the frontier once again to protect his family.

New Austin
John arrives in Blackwater on the ferry "Morningstar" and is escorted by Edgar Ross and Archer Fordham through town to be sent off by train to Armadillo. Once there, John finds a guide named Jake hired by the local marshal in the saloon. The talkative guide questions Marston about his motives but gets no answers in return. He leads John to the walls of Fort Mercer, the main hideout of the Williamson gang. In confronting his old friend, Marston tries to reason with Williamson in giving up peacefully, but Williamson taunts John for his vocabulary, proudly proclaiming that he is now in charge of his own gang. John reaches for his revolver but gets shot in his lower right torso by one of Bill Williamson's men.

After suffering through the night and eventually passing out on the side of the road, Bonnie MacFarlane and her ranch hand Amos find John and take him to Nathaniel Johnston's doctor office in Armadillo. After treating his wounds, Bonnie provides John with lodging, food, and drink, on condition he helps her around the ranch.

John works off his debt of $15 and his life to Bonnie and her father Drew MacFarlane by doing various ranch jobs such as night patrol, cattle-herding, and horse-taming. However, Williamson finds out that John has survived and is staying at the MacFarlane Ranch, and orders his gang to set the barn on fire. John rescues the trapped horses and Bonnie promises to sell him some cattle when he settles on his ranch again.

After assisting U.S. Marshal Leigh Johnson with various jobs in and around Armadillo, John and the Marshal begin to plan an assault on the fort. To gather a posse and the necessary resources to conduct the attack, John works with snake oil salesman Nigel West Dickens and, through him, Irish and Seth Briars. However, their plans are temporarily delayed when Bonnie MacFarlane is kidnapped and John must help Marshal Johnson save her from being hanged. After saving Bonnie, John and his allies carry out an assault on Fort Mercer, using a "Trojan Horse" strategy by sneaking John and a Gatling Gun inside the fort in Dickens' wagon. West Dickens gives them a lecture about what is inside his "miracle" wagon, before rapping sharply on the side of the wagon to signal John, who shows himself and kills most of the outlaws while assaulting the fort. However, after the battle, the crew discover that Williamson had fled the previous morning and went into exile in the Mexican province of Nuevo Paraíso with Javier Escuella.

Nuevo Paraíso
Irish escorts John south of the border to the Mexican province, Nuevo Paraíso, where he meets the region's provisional governor, Colonel Allende, and his subordinate right-hand man, Captain De Santa. He is forced to work for them to gain information on Williamson and Escuella. At the same time, John runs into the aging famed gunslinger Landon Ricketts who teaches him new gun fighting skills and commits raids on the Mexican Army. Marston also aids Abraham Reyes and Luisa Fortuna- two lover revolutionaries working to overthrow Allende and their president, General Sanchez, with numerous revolutionary attacks. He attempts to extract any information possible from both Allende and Reyes regarding the whereabouts of Williamson and Escuella.

Allende, however, aware of John's loyalties, betrays John and has his men attempt to kill him. However, Reyes and his rebels arrive in time and rescue John before he is executed. John kills Captain Espinoza in the ensuing battle and sides with Reyes in the revolution. After Captain De Santa is dealt with, John participates in an attack on El Presidio. Marston confronts Javier and holds him at gunpoint, although Javier manages to escape. Marston pursues him, and Javier is either killed or captured by John in the ensuing struggle. Eventually, the rebels lead an attack on Allende's villa. Unfortunately, Luisa is gunned down by Allende's men, although she is avenged when Raul Zubieta and two of his soldiers are killed by John in retaliation. The rebels storm the villa, where Allende and Williamson (who was also seeking protection from the Army) escape. They are hunted down by Marston and Reyes, and both are killed by either of their pursuers. Reyes and his rebels take over Nuevo Paraíso and plan on marching to Mexico's capital, fighting for revolution. Meanwhile, John is required to head back to Blackwater in America to meet with Edgar Ross again.

West Elizabeth
Though his business with Williamson and Escuella is over, Ross tells him that he still needs to kill Dutch van der Linde, former leader of John's old gang, or he will continue to keep his family in captivity. John, along with Ross, Fordham and other Bureau Agents meet in several fights across West Elizabeth against Dutch and his gang of Natives, but he escapes capture or death every time. Marston also works with incompetent Yale Professor Harold MacDougal and Native-American informant Nastas in tracking Dutch down. Eventually, John and the Bureau of Investigation join the American Army in ambushing Dutch's hideout. He confronts Dutch himself, who warns John that the government will always find a new "monster" to justify their pay. Rather than dying or being taken captive by John, Dutch chooses to commit suicide by falling from a cliff.

After the raid, John is released by the government and finally reunites with his family at their ranch in Beecher's Hope. He settles down with his wife Abigail and sixteen-year-old son Jack, along with old family friend Uncle, and attempts to return to a crime-free life as a farmer and rancher with his family. In order to get the ranch going, he returns to MacFarlane's Ranch to purchase some cattle, breaks some horses with Uncle, and goes out hunting with Jack, even saving him from a bear in one instance.

However, as per Dutch's warning, Edgar Ross double-crosses John. He, along with the Bureau and US Army, launch an attack on the Marston ranch. Uncle is killed during the shooting, while John and his son continue holding off the attackers. John tells Abigail and Jack to run while he stays behind in the barn to defend them. Knowing that the chances of survival for John are slim, Abigail and John seal their love with a passionate kiss before the former rides off. In the end, John realizes that the only way to save his family from the government's crosshairs is to lay down his life so they can be free.

John sacrifices himself in the last stand against Ross and his men. After exiting the barn calmly and standing before a large firing squad, he draws his pistol and takes out as many men as he can until they open fire on him. Still standing, breathing harshly and with multiple bullet wounds on his body, he drops his revolver, falls to his knees and then eventually collapses back to the ground. As Ross watches Marston dying, he callously lights a cigar and is clearly satisfied with knowing that the final member of the Van der Linde gang is dead. Ross and his men leave the ranch. Abigail and Jack, presumably upon hearing an unusually large number of simultaneous gunshots followed by a cease-fire, return to find John's body in a pool of blood, peppered with bullet holes. They bury him up on top of the hill overlooking the ranch, next to Uncle. His grave is inscribed "Blessed are the Peacemakers."

Epilogue
John's death at the hands of Ross is a poetic end to his life. His journey has been about what he would do for his family: He kills for them, he helps swindle people in order to get at Bill Williamson, he works for both sides of the Mexican Civil War, he tortures a man with a prolonged beating to get information about Javier Escuella, he confronts the man who raised him, and in the end, he sacrifices himself to save his family so they could lead a better life - the reason he sought redemption in the first place. By his death, he knew that Ross wouldn't persecute Abigail or Jack any longer, allowing them to start life fresh, allowing Jack the chance to grow up without the brutality and violence that shaped John's early life. Sadly, despite his father's sacrifice, Jack possibly still goes on to become an outlaw; he tracks down and kills Edgar Ross in revenge, avenging John's death. The path to redemption, it seems, is a hard road to follow.

In 1914, three years after John was killed, Abigail dies from unknown causes. An older Jack, now a mirror image of his father, buries her body up on the hill next to John's grave. From then on, he is playable throughout the remainder of the game; retaining all of his father's weapons, clothes, money, horses, houses and fame/honor. The rest of Jack's life is shrouded in mystery.

Personality
"I am always honest... maybe not always good... but I'm always honest."

- John Marston to Abigail Marston John has a strong dislike of birds and a rather dull imagination, especially when compared to his son Jack. When it comes to how he feels about religion, in-game quotes reveal that he is likely a Christian who is not overtly religious.

He is also a fairly serious individual with very little patience for the eccentricities of both life and the various people he meets during the events of Red Dead Redemption. He frequently threatens Irish into sobering up so as to be of some use to him, and he is clearly disturbed/disgusted by Seth's habitual grave robbing. However, he is not above employing sarcasm in conversation with certain characters, particularly those he sees as exhibiting hypocrisy, such as Abraham Reyes.

Like other playable characters in the series, John has the capacity for both good and bad, mostly depending on player choice. More often than not, he is usually depicted as being morally neutral with a sense of honor in the context of RDR1's plot. He greatly respects women and refuses to commit adultery, yet can be quick to anger and never seems to feel guilty or remorseful about the deaths he's caused both past and present. However, he does seem to have matured since his criminal days and simply desires to live out the rest of his life with his family. Despite Dutch leaving him for dead and devolving to a deranged maniac, he still holds respect for him as the father he was in John's life. Dutch educated John as a teen and had more of a role in his development than his own biological father. In the end, John is the reluctant to kill Dutch despite having numerous chances to do so, displaying the respect he still has for him. John is also shown assisting both sides of the revolution in Mexico, suggesting he is willing to be morality apathetic to save his family.

John is also extremely polite to women, often calling Bonnie MacFarlane "Miss MacFarlane", even after she requests that he call her "Bonnie." He also does anything possible to keep women safe, even pistol-whipping Irish to defend two nuns he was holding up. In contrast to his politeness to women, John is unafraid to take the moral high-ground when dealing with less than reputable characters, like Irish with his alcoholism and Nigel West Dickens with his swindling of gullible people. John seems to be one of the only men in the game that is loyal to his wife. He also seems to get angry when someone mentions his wife's past than his own.

Unlike many people of the time, John doesn't hold racist views and even sarcastically mocks those that do. John is also skeptical of new technology, dismissing the automobile as "slow" while preferring a horse. He is cynical of the government as a whole, stating that "most men can't handle power", and explaining to Marshal Leigh Johnson the irony of murder being a crime "unless it's ordered by a court of law". However, John does nothing to solve these supposed problems in government, and instead seems to unintentionally further them. He helps Marshal Johnson murder criminals and aids Abraham Reyes in leading a revolution, who ultimately becomes a tyrant after winning power. It seems John has come to a realization that civilization will always be littered with hypocrisy, violence, unfairness and corruption. Unlike his former gang members, John stops trying to fight it and instead chooses a path to live a peaceful life as a rancher with a loving family, away from all these problems.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, a younger John Marston is depicted. Unlike his older self, John is seen having a more apathetic, colder personality towards his family. He avoids his responsibly of being a father to Jack, even believing for a time that Jack wasn't his son and often expressing annoyance at Abigail when she chastises him for this. At one point, John even jokes about his family "seeing corpses" in reference to all the people he's killed, showing that he has no moral qualms around his family. As the Van der Linde gang faces increasingly dire situations, John frequently questions Dutch's plans and the overall morality of the gang. At the same time, John realises how much of a poor husband and father he's been, due to the growing danger his family are being put in due to his actions, which ultimately causes him to change after his wife and son leave him in 1907.

Appearance
1899

When he first appears, John is shown with huge, bleeding scars on his face from the wolves in the Grizzlies, with a thick, black coat (closed version of the in-game Western Coat). Later on, in Chapter 2, John is seen with stitching where the scars are, and wears a red union suit with a scout coat and dark black pants.

For the rest of the game, he wears a grey shotgun coat with a black shirt, white union suit, an orange vest, light grey, striped pants with the worn gambler hat. He will sometimes be seen only with his black shirt, or sometimes with his white union suit and vest. Throughout 1899, John has fairly long, collar-length dark brown right parted hair and initially has a faint goatee and sideburns which he slightly grows out into light stubble in Chapter 3. During "Banking, The Old American Art" and at his wedding in 1907, he wears a dark blue suit with a white shirt and pinstriped vest, an outfit which strongly resembles the Elegant Suit. During the mission "Visiting Hours", he is seen in black and white prison garb and has thick stubble.

1907

John is first seen with dark blue pants, a worn flat cap, red and white buttoned-shirt and his Western Coat. He has level 2 left parted jet black hair and a level 4 beard, although his appearance can be altered by the player after "Motherhood".

1911

John's hair is back to being right parted and dark brown like in 1899 but shorter, it has a small amount of grey which can be seen if one looks closely. His default outfit is his signature striped grey pants, a beige shirt, his denim vest and his classic hat. His facial hair stays at a permanent short stubble, with the exception of the Gentleman's Attire, where his hair is longer and his stubble is shaved down to an elegant mustache.

After reuniting with his family, he wears brown pants, a grey shirt and an undone black vest, along with his classic hat.

Red Dead Redemption

 * Marston and Red Harlow have similar scars and hat.
 * John and Abigail also share the same names with Arthur Miller's characters Abigail Williams and John Proctor, who have a secret relationship in 'The Crucible.'
 * John's parents' relationship with each other is left ambiguous. As his mother was a prostitute, John implied that his father was her pimp, but even then, he still struggled with what to label him.
 * John's grave marker reads "Blessed are the peacemakers", signifying his long road to redemption and peace for his family in a lawless land.
 * "Blessed are the peacemakers" is a beatitude that was recorded in Matthew 5:9.
 * Before Red Dead Redemption came out, in the trailers, John looked much younger and thinner.
 * He, along with Leigh Johnson, Abraham Reyes, Luisa Fortuna, Bonnie MacFarlane, and Drew MacFarlane, sounded different during development. This can be heard here and here.
 * John is #2 in Game Informer's "30 Characters who Defined a Decade" list in their December 2010 edition and is also #1 in Game Informer's "Top Ten Heroes" list.

Red Dead Redemption 2

 * The Dead Eye sound effect of John Marston is different from Arthur's Dead Eye sound effect; similar to the sound in Red Dead Redemption.
 * Marston's eyes appear to be blue, while they were brown in the first game.
 * If the player antagonizes the camp enough, John may punch Arthur and throw him out of the camp, just like Lenny, Javier, Bill, Sean, and Charles.
 * In addition to having poorer quality points of interest, his handwriting also appears messy compared to Arthur's with more errors and words crossed out.
 * The gold rush in the Yukon which John participates in soon after leaving the gang is a direct reference to the real-life Klondike Gold Rush, which took place in the Yukon and ended in 1899.
 * John wears four main hats in-game. His worn gambler hat, a new blue version of his gambler hat, his classic hat, and Arthur's hat.
 * Several mission and pre-release images show playable John with his hairstyle as it was in Chapters 1-6, as well as briefly in a flashback during "A New Jerusalem". However, in-game, he has hair similar to Arthur's though it grows naturally left parted and is a darker shade of brown rather than being right parted and the shade of brown as seen in Red Dead Redemption.
 * With the ability to play as John Marston in the epilogue chapters following the conclusion of Arthur Morgan's story, John has become the only playable protagonist of an open world sandbox game developed by Rockstar Games to be playable in more than one game. The only possible exception being optional protagonists that can be chosen to have a recurring role in GTA London 1969 and GTA London 1961.