RDR2: Where Did Trelawny Keep Sneaking Off To?

Even though Dutch Van der Linde demanded absolute loyalty from his gang members in Red Dead Redemption 2, Josiah Trelawny was an exception. Though he was an active member of the Van der Linde gang, Trelawny would often come and go as he pleased. But there’s a good reason he was often absent from the gang.

Trelawny was living a double life of sorts. The con-artist had a family located in Saint Denis that he supported. Whenever he would leave the gang, sometimes for months at a time, he was likely spending time with his wife and their two boys.

Trelawny’s family is mentioned in passing dialogue a few times over the course of Red Dead Redemption 2’s story. There’s also a specific scene in the game’s epilogue when Trelawny can be seen with his family, implying that he may have said goodbye to his life of crime after the Van der Linde gang parted ways and settled down to enjoy a simple life with his wife and kids.

Why Did Dutch Let Trelawny Come and Go As He Pleased?

However, while there may be a good reason as to why Trelawny would come and go, it still doesn’t answer the question as to why Dutch allowed him to do so. Dutch expected the ultimate loyalty from his gang members. Whenever one of them questioned him, especially as he grew more erratic towards the end of the game, he would see it as a betrayal. Dutch had reason to be suspicious of the gang, since they knew someone was ratting them out to the Pinkertons. With two kids and a wife, Trelawny would have a lot of reasons to rat out the gang if he was being threatened. But clearly Dutch wasn’t too worried about him, considering he seemed to have no problem with him leaving for months on a whim, only to return out of the blue.

It’s unclear how Trelawny joined the gang in the first place, but he likely impressed Dutch with his criminal skills, since Dutch had an obvious pattern for how he chose the gang members. Or, perhaps Dutch was impressed by his connections. Trelawny always seemed to have trustworthy leads for the gang to follow, like when he organized the riverboat robbery during Red Dead Redemption 2’s Saint Denis chapter. In this way, not only did he prove himself to be of value, but he also demonstrated his loyalty by ensuring each lead was reliable and never betrayed the gang in the process. It remains unclear at the end of Red Dead Redemption 2 why Dutch allowed Trelawny to continually abandon the gang at random, but the dynamics seemed to work for the Van der Lindes nonetheless.

About The Author