Henri Lemieux

"Oh, how I long for the luxury to have principles such as you... but I must actually do things."

- Henri Lemieux to Jean Marc

Henri Lemieux is a minor character and stranger in Red Dead Redemption 2 and a major character in Red Dead Online. He is central to the Stranger side-mission "Idealism and Pragmatism for Beginners".

Background
Born in 1851, Henri Lemieux is a Frenchman who was elected as the mayor of Saint Denis at some point prior to 1899. The son of a wealthy lawyer, he originally planned to follow in his father's footsteps, but soon found himself married and in the position of mayor.

Events of Red Dead Redemption 2
Lemieux is first met at his party which Arthur Morgan, Dutch van der Linde, Hosea Matthews, and Bill Williamson attend, and is pointed out by Angelo Bronte. He is seen standing in a circle with Evelyn Miller, Jean Marc and Ferdinand, with the latter insulting him. Arthur soon approaches the group and removes Ferdinand, who is drunk; which Lemieux and the others are grateful for. Later on, a butler working for Lemieux informs him that he needs to sign a document to do with Leviticus Cornwall, which Henri says he will sign after watching the fireworks. However, upon hearing this conversation, Dutch sends Arthur to steal the document before it is signed. Lemieux subsequently finds out that Arthur stole the document for him and decides to contact him, offering him work as an enforcer.

At some point after receiving the mayor's letter, Arthur comes to his residence at night. Lemieux asks Arthur to track down and intimidate Professor Shiftacre, in order to stop him from revealing that a number of the city's paintings are fake. Arthur successfully deals with Shiftacre, and get paid for it. Pleased with the results, Lemieux later sends Arthur another invitation, offering him more work and asking him to come to his residence at night.

When Arthur visits Lemieux again, Lemieux asks him to force the newspaper tycoon, Hector Fellowes into funding a new library for the city. Disgusted at Lemieux's corruption, Jean Marc informs the player that Fellowes is leaving the town in a stagecoach, but doesn’t get involved any further. Arthur ultimately manages to find Fellowes, and successfully intimidates him.

Soon afterwards, Lemieux informs Arthur that Jean Marc plans on spilling dirt on both of them to the press, including information on the protagonist's criminal background. Arthur goes to Jean Marc's house and confronts him, before knocking him unconscious and bringing him to the garden behind Lemieux's house. A heated argument between Lemieux and Jean Marc over the latter's corruption ensues, which ends when Lemieux commands Arthur to kill Jean Marc, promising to reward them handsomely, before walking away.


 * Arthur may then kill Jean Marc, before throwing his corpse into the water nearby. As a result, Arthur will lose Honor and Lemieux will remain as the mayor of Saint Denis. Additionally, the player will receive a 10% discount from every store in the city.


 * Alternatively, Arthur may spare Jean Marc go, in return for Jean Marc giving his word that he won’t mention the player in his accusations. If this is done, Arthur will gain Honor and Jean Marc will impeach Lemieux as mayor of Saint Denis. A few days later, Arthur receives a letter from Jean Marc, thanking him and confirming Lemieux's resignation.

Personality
"See that wretch? He’s the mayor! He’ll do anything for a dollar, and I mean anything."

- Angelo Bronte describing Henri Lemieux. Lemieux is shown to be unscrupulous, corrupt and lacking in morals, who usually succeeds via manipulation and blackmail. He is also shown to be cunning and shrewd, being able to make the player do things for his benefit, and thinking of various ways to always get what he wants. His letter to Angelo Bronte shows that the two have a fairly positive relationship while, by contrast, Lemieux thinks very little of Leviticus Cornwall.

However, Lemieux is also very pragmatic, something which he prides himself on, being able to do things for the city's benefit with ruthless efficiency and competency. This contrasts with Jean Marc, an idealist (hence the name of the mission), who Lemieux belittles for having lofty ideas and principles that would never achieve as much as his own actions which, even if they are of dubious legality, are pragmatic.

As well, Lemieux is shown to take great care in his image and his city's image, as shown when he casts Heidi and Camilla away for what he considers to be disgraceful actions. Despite this, he does appear to care for his daughters, as he welcomes Camilla back into his home, albeit in secret.

Trivia

 * Henri Lemieux likely takes inspiration from the real-life mayor of New Orleans at the time of the game’s events (1899), Walter C. Flower. Flower himself had been a member of the 1891 lynch mob that executed eleven Italian-Americans accused of killing the city's police chief (an event alluded to in the Saint Denis Times), whose murder was long-rumored but never proven to be a Mafia-directed assassination.
 * Lemieux may also be partly inspired by Louisiana governor Huey Long. Though Long's political career began decades after the events of RDR2, both were progressive, pragmatic politicians with ties to organized crime, who used corrupt means to attempt to improve the general welfare of their jurisdictions.
 * Lemieux can be seen in the stranger side mission "The Mercies of Knowledge", where he attends Andrew Bell III's execution of Wilson J. McDaniels via the electric chair. However, Lemieux is disgusted by the event and quickly leaves.