10 Video Game Protagonists Who Were Doomed From The Start

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a prologue to the original, so it doesn't take a genius to figure out that player character Arthur Morgan is probably not making it to the end credits alive. Unfortunately, the game is very good at quickly making you hope against hope that somehow you're wrong about that. I mean, they already did the "hero tragically dies seeking redemption at the end" thing with the first game, surely they wouldn't do it again. Right?

Wrong.

Arthur Morgan's story is one of failure after failure—from failing to keep his relationships alive to failing to keep the Van Der Linde gang from going down the wrong path. And in the end, whether you have high or low honor, the result is the same: Arthur dying alone, having lost everything. Even the life he sacrifices himself for—John and his family—are, unbeknownst to him, doomed to tragedy themselves. 

Arthur is one of the most lovable and compelling protagonists in gaming history, so you keep hoping he'll find some way to make it out, only for the game to reinforce that your first impression was the right one. Arthur was a dead man from the start.