There have been a few hints over the years to suggest that Rockstar’s two biggest games, Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption 2, are set in the same universe. There have, however, also been plenty of inconsistencies to suggest that these references may just be fun Easter eggs for fans of the games.
The Francis Sinclair side-mission in Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the strangest in the game, heavily implying that the man is a time-traveler. However, it is his connection to Epsilon, the religion from GTA, that suggests the relationship between the two games may be deeper, and stranger, than many players realize.
The Rockstar Universe
There’s plenty to suggest that GTA and Red Dead take place in the same universe. In GTA 5, players can find a book titled Red Dead written by a J Marston, most likely a reference to Jack Marston from Red Dead Redemption who reads constantly as a child and wanted to grow up to be a writer.
GTA Online players were even able to follow the clues to find the Double-Action Revolver from Red Dead 2 hidden in a buried box in the run-up to the latter game's release. These connections are unsatisfying to some players, however, seeming more referential or too closely tied to marketing stunts.
There are a few other complicating factors as well, such as the fact that GTA’s canon is split between three distinct universes, the 2-D Universe covering GTA and GTA 2, the 3-D Universe covering GTA 3, San Andreas, Vice City, and GTA Advance, and the HD Universe, with GTA 4, GTA 5, Chinatown Wars, and GTAO. To complicate things further, there are cross-universe memorials to previous player characters that suggest that Rockstar likes to throw in Easter eggs that don’t always imply an actual shared universe.
Even more solid evidence, such as the many references to shared place names across the two universes, is undermined by the fact that entire states that exist in Red Dead are never mentioned in GTA and vice versa, with their real-world counterparts being mentioned instead. There’s a stranger the player can find in Red Dead 2 in Strawberry, a location also featured in GTA’s Los Santos, but the stranger is from New York, which would be Liberty City in the GTA HD Universe.
The Epsilon Program
The strangest link made between the games is the Red Dead Redemption 2 side-mission “Geology for Beginners” in which the player has to find a series of strange rock carvings for a man called Francis Sinclair with 1930s clothing and an anachronistic accent. When the player returns to Francis' cabin after completing the quest they find that Francis is gone and are instead faced with his mother holding the baby Francis with the same distinct red hair and birthmark.
The red hair and birthmark are both references the 12 Tenets of Kifflom, which cannot even be found in any Rockstar game. The Tenets exist on a separate website for the Epsilon Program, a Scientology-style cult which exists in the GTA HD Universe starting from GTA 4. Their leader, Cris Formage, even appears in a vision to revive the player from their first GTAO death.
Tenet 5 of The 12 Tenets states that “Everyone is related to everyone else, except for people with red hair – FACT!” Number 8 states that “Aliens exist and are present on earth. If you have a birthmark, you may be descended from Kraff, the famous Emperor of the 4th Paradigm.” This suggests quite clearly that Francis Sinclair is Kraff or a descendant, considering his time-traveling abilities.
The Paradigms and the Next Clues
There’s not much in either GTA or Red Dead to explain what the 4th Paradigm is, but it could be something that connects the two universes without the game’s being set in exactly the same reality. In GTA 5 there’s a collection mission quest where Michael needs to find 10 Epsilon Tracts so that he can "write the tract" of the 9th Paradigm. Marnie Allen, a returning GTA character, says that the Tract of the 9th Paradigm has "already been written."
This suggests that the Paradigms have something to do with the same paradoxical loop Arthur witnesses in Red Dead 2. In Red Dead, Arthur Morgan initially mistakes the woman who turns out to be Francis’ mother for his wife. When Arthur looks behind him he sees that the board covered in drawings that the adult Francis put there is still present.
The drawings depict Francis Sinclair, still in his 20th-century clothing, stepping through a variety of portals to different points in history. The style almost suggests that these drawings may have originally been done by the people he visited, such as the Ancient Egyptians. Francis’ research has yet to be done and has already been completed – it has yet to be written and has already been written.
There’s one final detail that makes all of this even more interesting. The first Tenet of Kifflom states: “The world is 157 years old – FACT!” GTA 5 takes place in 2013, which would place the beginning of the world in 1856, just 7 years before the birth of Arthur Morgan.
However, the Epsilon Tract of the 9th Paradigm begins with these words: “From Omega to Alpha and back again, and from Z to A. We as a people have consistently got things backwards. I know that now. I am not alive. I am dead. I am not rich, I am poor. I am not from Earth at all.” This opens the door for all sorts of interpretations that could help pin down the exact nature of time itself in the Epsilon worldview, especially since Kraff and his descendants appear to exist outside of time.
If the world is 157 years old but Francis was able to influence the Ancient Egyptians, the interpretation of that number could be the key to unlocking some of the secrets of the GTA and Red Dead universes. It is possible that the world is always 157 years old in some sense, though it seems equally possible that parts of the Epsilon Program refer to real beings, while part of it is a scam, run by opportunists like Formage. Whatever the truth is, Rockstar’s position is likely to be similar to Francis Sinclair’s himself: “if I told you, you’d think I was on the hooch.”
Red Dead Redemption 2 is available now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.