John Marston

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

- John to Bonnie

"That's an interesting approach to law enforcement."

- John to Marshall Leigh Johnson

John Marston is the main protagonist of the video game, Red Dead Redemption, and will return in the prequel Red Dead Redemption 2. He is a former outlaw determined to make amends for his past by tracking down and killing the other members of his gang, in order to rescue his family who are kidnapped by the government.

He is voiced by Rob Wiethoff.

Personality
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 either an agnostic theist or a Christian who is not too overtly religious.

John is also extremely polite to women, often calling Bonnie MacFarlane "Miss MacFarlane", even after she has asked him to 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 angrier when someone mentions his wife's past than his own.

John is a fairly serious individual with very little patience for the eccentricities of the various people he meets during the story. 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. He also tells West Dickens that he won't hesitate to put a bullet in his skull if he steps out of line. However, he is not above employing sarcasm in conversation with certain characters, particularly those he sees as exhibiting hypocrisy, such as Abraham Reyes.

Trivia

 * 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.
 * "Peacemaker" is coincidentally a nickname for the Cattleman Revolver, John's starting firearm, giving his epitaph a slight dark irony since it would twist the meaning in "Blessed are the guns".
 * Before the game 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.
 * 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.
 * If the player presses "O" (PS3) or "B" (360) while near Abigail, Jack, Uncle, or Amos, John will tip his hat, as usual, but he won't speak.
 * John is part Scottish, as it is mentioned in-game that his father was Scottish.
 * John Marston Is Very Similar To Minato Namikaze, Both in nature and death. Minato's Article can be found here.

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