RDR2 Makes Red Dead Redemption’s Javier Escuella Missions Worse

Red Dead Redemption 2 does a good job of retroactively adding to the tragedy of its predecessor, and few characters exemplify that more than Javier Escuella. The man who was originally presented to players as a crude, ruthless hitman in the first game turns out to have been anything but during his time with Arthur. It is a tragedy that makes players wonder just how he fell so far.

While “hero” is probably too strong of a term to apply to anyone in the Van der Linde gang, Javier was genuinely friendly and helpful to his fellow gang members in Red Dead Redemption 2. Arthur knew him as a friend and a man of conviction, which is a stark contrast compared to the man seen in Red Dead Redemption. Although Javier’s screen time in Red Dead Redemption 2 wasn’t abundant, his transformation is one of the Red Dead games’ major tragedies.

The question of where Javier started and how he ended up requires a look at both of Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption titles. Although it is a sad journey to recount, it is nonetheless fascinating to see just how much effort was put into crafting the lives and downfalls of the Van der Linde gang. Fans already knew that RDR2‘s ending wouldn’t be happy, but that didn’t make the impact any less powerful.

Javier In RDR2 – The Soft-Spoken Friend Of Arthur Morgan

Javier’s first major role in Red Dead Redemption 2 comes when he rides into the snowy wilderness with Arthur to find the lost John Marston. He is established right away as a man who is willing to reach out to aid his friends, perhaps even more so than Arthur. This ties into his background as a revolutionary who opposed corrupt systems. His loyalty makes sense as a reason why Dutch recruited him into the gang before RDR2. Javier’s loyalty to the gang is even remarked upon by Arthur, who states his belief that Javier is the most loyal of them all. Considering how seriously Arthur takes the concept of loyalty, this is a major compliment. Although Javier isn’t always the most vocal member of the Van der Linde gang, he is one of its most dependable figures.

Javier stands out in Red Dead Redemption 2 in a few other ways. He is usually dressed quite a bit nicer than the others, with the exception of the always dapper Josiah Trelawny. That combined with his frequent guitar playing at the campfire gives him the impression of being one of the gang’s more cultured members. Despite his usually soft-spoken demeanor, he is still as capable as any other member of Red Dead‘s dangerous Van der Linde gang. He shows this when he responds to one of Micah’s racist taunts with a punch to the face, and he can also knock out Arthur if the player is too hostile at camp.

Javier manages to remain as a firm ally to Arthur up until the gang begins to fraction due to Dutch’s increasing instability. Javier is torn between his loyalty to Dutch and his camaraderie with the rest of the gang, but he ultimately chooses to align himself with Dutch. This fateful decision may be what started his downward spiral. However, even with tensions rising, Arthur can’t bring himself to hate Javier. Javier also struggles with the eventual breakup, as despite worsening relationships, he can’t bring himself to point his gun at his old friends. This shows that even in dark times, he wouldn’t abandon his convictions.

Javier In Red Dead Redemption – A Tyrant-Supporting Hitman

Sadly, Javier is not one of the characters who find redemption in RDR2, and by the time John meets him again in Red Dead Redemption, he is completely unrecognizable from who he was before. Javier’s nice clothes and soulful guitar strumming are completely absent. He also appears to have stopped taking care of himself, as his previously well-maintained facial hair now looks unkempt. Were it not for John addressing him as Javier, there would be no way of knowing that he was the same man that once rode alongside John and Arthur.

Sadly, Javier’s personality also took a turn for the worse after splitting up from the gang. The people of Nuevo Paradiso have nothing but awful things to say about him, and his encounter with John reinforces that. An early veneer of politeness crumbles, revealing a crass, spiteful man who slings insults freely, showing that he has slid to become one of RDR‘s most morally worse gang members. He even mentions Abigail in a few of his insults towards John, which is rather shocking when one remembers how respectful he was in the past. This drastic turn of character hammers in the fact that there is nothing in common between John and Javier anymore, and only one way their meeting could end.

Whether John kills Javier himself or captures him, it is a sad end to his story. If captured, Javier sputters a string of ineffectual insults and threats until John turns him in, and if killed, John spits at his corpse after the fact. In the end, the two of them shared nothing but a bitter hatred, and players of Red Dead Redemption 2 will know that it didn’t have to end that way. Unfortunately, at that point, there was no turning back, and one can’t help but feel that Javier shouldn’t have returned to Mexico following RDR2.

Javier Is One Of Red Dead Redemption’s Most Tragic Figures

There are still parts of Javier’s story that are not fully known. It is not an easy path to go from the rough yet honorable outlaw that Javier began as to the crude villain that he developed into in Red Dead Redemption. What happened to him in the time between the games is largely up to interpretation, although there was undoubtedly plenty of unpleasantness involved. Perhaps the dissolution of the gang broke him, or maybe it was seeing Dutch become far less than the great leader that Javier believed he was. However it happened, the change in Javier was undeniable. Especially shocking is that his final job as a hitman comes from the same sort of tyrant that he crusaded against in his younger days.

There are so many reasons why things should have gone differently for Javier, even if one believes that RDR2‘s Van der Linde gang was always doomed. Had he not tied himself so tightly to Dutch, he could have kept good relations with the rest of the gang, as many of them are shown to still be on good terms with John in the epilogue. He had a legitimate talent with the guitar, and could have made a living off of that. Perhaps he could have still returned to Mexico, but kept the ideals that he started with and proven himself an ally to John in order to make up for his actions at the gang’s end. In the end, none of these possibilities came to pass.

Although the life of the Van der Linde gang was often a violent one, the gang still took care of each other, and perhaps it was the loss of that camaraderie that accelerated Javier’s fall. With the members of the Van der Linde gang meeting different fates after both Red Dead Redemption games, Javier stands out with one of the worst endings. With no one to lean on, he became corruptible and was twisted into the person that John confronted in Mexico. Several members of the Van der Linde gang died tragically after their fateful encounter with the Pinkertons, and unfortunately, Javier ended as another casualty.

In another, better world, Javier would have rode with Arthur and John until the end. Perhaps they could have retired in Tahiti like Dutch always said they would. The saddest thing about this is that those who played Red Dead Redemption 2 know that Javier could have ended life as a better man. Unfortunately, the life of an outlaw is rarely so kind.

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