10 Best Ever Video Game Dads
3. John Marston - Red Dead Redemption
Right, let’s be clear - John Marston is not a good father, or at least not when we technically first meet him in Red Dead Redemption 2. He’s absent, afraid of his responsibilities and probably one gunfight away from abandoning his wife and child altogether. For most of the game, we see main protagonist Arthur Morgan act almost like a surrogate father to Jack, but things finally change when the child is abducted by the Braithwaites.
John snaps, and finally realises what’s at stake. He spends the rest of the game plotting his escape from Dutch’s gang with his family in tow, and - spoilers! - once it happens, pretty much the remaining epilogue is him trying to win his family back.
Marston’s late realisation of what his family means to him is what makes his eventual death in Red Dead Redemption so dang tragic. He sacrifices it all for his wife and child, and they all befall a fate perhaps even more heartbreaking. A tragic testament to the harsh realities of the old west and the nonsensical cycle of violence that has plagued its most iconic depictions.
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