Rockstar went out of its way to answer longtime questions in Red Dead Redemption 2, showing players some of the smaller details about John Marston, like where he got his scars or his ranch from the first game. However, as it went about wrapping up older loose ends, and creating its own narrative, the game did still leave some lingering questions that have gnawed at fans ever since.
One fan recently turned to Reddit in order to get some answers that Red Dead Redemption 2 doesn't seem to give, or at least to clear up one plot point that seems out of place by the end. The question involves a fight at the very end of the game and covers who lives and who dies in Red Dead 2, so there will be Major Story Spoilers to follow.
A major part of the later game of Red Dead Redemption 2 involves Arthur Morgan coming down with Tuberculosis, or TB, which sets the theme for the third act where the player spends more time making amends than committing crimes. Depending on the ending players get, the illness is what really kills Arthur, or at the very least is what makes him weak enough to be killed. However, what has fans asking questions, is the way that when Arthur and Micah fight, the player is stabbed and then uses a knife coated in infected blood, but the TB doesn't seem to get transferred from one to the other.
The real-life answer for why Micah doesn't get sick actually hits close to how the current COVID-19 pandemic and the way that it is transferred from host to host. According to CDC recommendations for maintaining TB, the disease is more often spread through airborne droplets produced by the lungs, but has a relatively low chance of transferring through blood transfusion. This is how Arthur can be infected by having blood coughed into his face early on in the game, but Micah is fine after having a blade pierce his skin and mix infected blood directly into his body.
While Micah Bell might be irredeemable, in both the eyes of the protagonists as well as the players, he is at least safe from contracting TB from Arthur's blood. However, it doesn't save him much time anyway, seeing as how in a few years, John, Sadie, and Charles end up gunning the man down anyway. So, as much as fans would have loved to the poetic irony that the same TB that killed Arthur would kill Micah, the science supports the ending Red Dead Redemption 2 delivered.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is available now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.
Source: Reddit