Even though Red Dead Redemption 2 was released almost half a year ago, the debate is still raging among fans about who makes the better protagonist, Arthur Morgan or John Marston. John Marston was the original cowboy from the first game, but Arthur Morgan is an equal contender for best Red Dead protagonist thanks to the nuanced take on his character.
Read on to learn about the major differences between what Morgan and Maston can do in Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Redemption. Some are well-known and others are surprising but informative little details that will make the playthroughs all the more meaningful.
Updated on May 4th, 2023 by Hodey Johns: After all of this time, people are still finding differences between Arthur and John. The two are remarkably similar because players control them in the same game. They share equipment, outfits, achievements, and challenges. Side characters who speak to John will sometimes speak to him like he is Arthur. Yet there are still differences between the two, varying from the important to the minute, that the community continues to uncover. This list has been expanded to showcase the most important variations between the two characters and provide some explanation as to when these differences can be observed.
15 Swim
In Red Dead Redemption 2, Arthur Morgan can swim as long as his stamina holds out, which is a fairly long time. If John tries to take a dip in a lake, his stamina depletes almost instantly, and he quickly drowns. If anything makes players miss Arthur Morgan more, it's watching John Marston die during a routine fishing expedition.
This is one reason it's important to explore with Arthur first. Both characters excel at landing some brutal headshots but swimming to an island with treasure on it is going to be a tall order for poor John.
14 Maintain The Same Eye Color
Arthur Morgan gets one up on John Marston simply for remaining consistent in his appearance. Many players have noticed that Marston's eye color changed between Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption 2. In the first game, Marston's eyes are a dark brown.
In the second title, they are markedly lighter, appearing to be light blue or grey. Arthur Morgan's eyes, on the other hand, remain nice and blue for the entirety of the story. It's not fair that Arthur gets to keep his eye color and gets some of the best quotes in the game.
13 Get Sick
Both Arthur and John will suffer various weapons-related injuries. It's bound to happen when using as many real-life-based guns as they do. John, miraculously, avoids getting sick while trapped and bleeding out in the snow for days.
While John doesn't even get so much as the sniffles, Arthur isn't so lucky. Regrettably, Arthur contracts tuberculosis and has good days and bad days up until the bitter end. At least he gets some wisdom from Dutch before it's all over.
12 Pull Off A Long Beard
Part of the freedom of Red Dead Redemption 2 comes from customizing Arthur Morgan. In that manner, no two Arthur Morgans will always look the same. Gamers can have a bald Arthur, a groomed Arthur, or a bearded Arthur.
Eventually, John Marston gets the same freedom when players play as him in the epilogue. However, if there's one thing gamers noticed when they reached the epilogue, it's that John Marston just can't pull off a beard the same way Arthur Morgan can. If he tries, he ends up with an unintentionally hilarious fishing trophy photo.
11 Hum While Riding His Horse
One of the biggest delights of Red Dead Redemption 2 comes from riding a horse across the scenic wilderness without shuttling from one objective to the next. The beautiful open world is a wonder simply to look upon and explore, giving the game near-infinite replayability.
Arthur Morgan makes the experience a tad more enjoyable by contributing to the immersion. While galloping across an expanse, Morgan will, on occasion, start humming. He's tone-deaf, but at least he tries. John, on the other hand, prefers to ride in silence.
10 Show Growth As A Character
With respect to John Marston, part of the story is about how he tries to change but can't do it. Time after time he tries to bond with Jack, but can't. He tries to listen to his wife, but can't (though he does hear some amazing quotes by Sadie Adler). Until the end, he tries to leave the violent life behind, but can't.
Arthur went from being an outlaw gang's bully to being a person who wanted to do right by people. Ultimately, Arthur decides to do something different, for motivations that have completely transformed him. John Marston's character development comes nowhere near the excellence that is Arthur Morgan's.
9 Herd Sheep
We can't lay the blame for poor sheep-herding skills entirely on John Marston. The mechanics for herding in the first Red Dead Redemption were difficult, to say the least. Red Dead Redemption 2 smoothed out the "herding" process.
Those who remember herding in the first game probably still have nightmares about it. Arthur, thankfully, has a much easier time of it thanks to improved game mechanics.
8 Decorate And Improve The Camp
Throughout the campaign, players will notice that (if they have been contributing to the gang's camp fund regularly) Arthur is the main provider for his fellows. Looking over the camp ledger shows how much each member contributes to bettering the camp as a whole.
John does provide a little, financially speaking, but nowhere near as much as Arthur does. Additionally, Arthur provides camp improvements and intricate decorations that help the gang. John, on the other hand, can't be bothered to provide so much as a thread of decor.
7 Be A Decent Father Figure To Jack
Even though John Marston purportedly wanted to be a better father to Jack, he finds himself unable to do so. Including a few meager and half-hearted attempts, John Marston does not seem to know how or want to be a dad.
Without a doubt, he loves his family. But it's Arthur who is able to give Jack the kind of love a child needs, expressing a jovial kindness to him and teaching him about what's important while shielding Jack from the cold realities of their current situation. Arthur is downright jolly as he puts on too many pounds.
6 Avoid Scarring
Go ahead and try to tally up all of the times that Arthur gets mauled by a bear, chewed by a wolf, or bit by a snake. Arthur will bleed and need a few days or take a quick bath to get rid of the wounds, but eventually, he looks flawless afterward. he's one of the reasons this game sequel lives up to the hype.
John can't say the same thing. After his incident with a wolf at the beginning of the events, John gets scars that seem to get more pronounced and worse with age.
5 Collect Debts
Leopold Strauss mentioned that the other gang members tried, but Arthur is the only one capable of getting debtors to pay. Players are never permitted to see John's miserable attempts to collect money, but given his softer nature, it's understandable.
Arthur, on the other hand, is fantastic at collecting debts. He will, eventually, choose to quit the particular task in a scene that makes this open-world game both historical and immersive. But if he wanted to keep doing the work, nothing could have stopped him, and several characters certainly try.
4 Keep A Great Journal
Red Dead Redemption 2 found little ways to make players miss Arthur Morgan just when they were recovering. One of those ways was by being able to tell the difference between Arthur's and John's journal-keeping.
Arthur sketched scenes out wonderfully, and he actually had fantastic handwriting for an outlaw. John sketched things rather shoddily, and his handwriting was messier too. Looking back on old observations in the journal is a fun, if tear-jerking, experience.
3 See Out Of Both Eyes
Once thought to be simply a rumor, there is now a good amount of evidence that John is at least partially blind in his left eye. During the events of Undead Nightmare, John is standing next to a zombie, Moses, and has to turn his entire head to see him.
Unlock Arthur, John fires rifles with his right eye entirely closed. He also says he needs to rest his "eye" instead of rest his "eyes" when speaking about sleep. Judging by the damaged condition of his left eye at the onset of Red Dead Redemption 2, this is likely when John lost his sight. As Rockstar thinks about making changes for a sequel, they could possibly shed more light on when the vision loss occurred.
2 Put The Gang Before His Lifestyle
In fairness to Johns, it's not just his life that is at stake, but the life of his wife and child that causes him to hunt down his former gang members. John can't be blamed for the coercion and it's not like the gang members he hunted down were loyal to John.
However, Arthur is willing to die and possibly even get the people he loves killed if it means saving the gang. He mouths off to Pinkertons with Jack by his side and goes on near-suicide missions with friends to try and save the gang, even when the gang has sold him out. Even if it costs him the life of the new Missouri Trotter horse he acquires, he'll never betray them, no matter the cost.
1 Avoid A Toothbrush
John is a big fan of the closed-mouth smile so it's not always easy to tell what state his teeth are in. Even so, when he does crack a smile, he's got a few crooked teeth but they are fairly white, at least for the time period. Arthur, on the other hand, could use a trip to the dentist.
Seeing Arthur's yellow smile as rain drips off the brim of his hat makes for a cool villain but he doesn't have access to a nice restroom like the one at Beecher's Hope. John keeps his teeth fairly clean, luckily for Abigail and Jack.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.