Why Trevor killed your favorite Biker Johnny

[Barnie Spacullie 43]

I see a lot of people very upset about this, still to this day. 

I agree that the purpose was to show how deranged and much of a force of nature Trevor is, however its so much more. 

Trevor killing Johnny, was a statement about Meth. 

Yes Meth. 

It was an introduction into a crazy wild west, that is domminated by a make it or break it drug. Trevor was the example of how it was used for productivity to turn him into a beast, and Johnny was an example of how it could cripple you. 

Simple as that. 

 

[HelloMyNameIsHuman 289]

While I like the way you lay out that scenario, I don't think that it's necessarily all that simple, because Johnny was the kind of guy that would get himself killed over giving his heart over to Ashley. It's an interesting discussion. I will enjoy reading people's thoughts on The Lost and Damned showing how, in some ways, his own game really frames up where was headed: Down the toilet with Ashley. It really was a rough protagonist in Johnny Klebitz, hard to play at times, yet that was one of the things that made the character different enough to get his own game.

 

It really frames Trevor up as the antagonist. It's like a new perspective on a Lost and Damned mission where Johnny is putting himself and his brothers in danger over a girl who really isn't worth it if she's still doing this kind of stuff, only this time, he's gone up against the guy that we played as in this game.

 

However how bad is Trevor? You could argue that friendship and honor among thieves means a lot more to him than it does Michael. Michael is the protagonist character that already beat the game, ten years later. Everything that happens on the screen happens for a reason, even more than in cinema, video games are entirely deliberate. Nothing is made without a purpose because someone had to think of a purpose for that to be there or to happen in the game or be shown at that moment or played back during this conversation and so on. I just think there is a little more to it than just a look at what happens to guys like Johnny Klebitz.

Edited December 29, 2018 by JuliusCaesar
some of the bad grammar and spelling and things.

[TheSantader25 6,120]

No matter how hard you try to explain this people will still ignore your explanation. Trevor killing Johnny actually was one of the most meaningful and deep moments of a story that wasn't a good one but people still can't accept the explanations. However I think I'm done trying to explain why it made total sense cause I think I've done my part over the past year. I'll just enjoy killing worthless bikers. 

Edited December 29, 2018 by TheSantader25

[Barnie Spacullie 43]

1 hour ago, JuliusCaesar said:

While I like the way you lay out that scenario, I don't think that it's necessarily all that simple, because Johnny was the kind of guy that would get himself killed over giving his heart over to Ashley. It's an interesting discussion. I will enjoy reading people's thoughts on The Lost and Damned showing how, in some ways, his own game really frames up where was headed: Down the toilet with Ashley. It really was a rough protagonist in Johnny Klebitz, hard to play at times, yet that was one of the things that made the character different enough to get his own game.

 

It really frames Trevor up as the antagonist. It's like a new perspective on a Lost and Damned mission where Johnny is putting himself and his brothers in danger over a girl who really isn't worth it if she's still doing this kind of stuff, only this time, he's gone up against the guy that we played as in this game.

 

However how bad is Trevor? You could argue that friendship and honor among thieves means a lot more to him than it does Michael. Michael is the protagonist character that already beat the game, ten years later. Everything that happens on the screen happens for a reason, even more than in cinema, video games are entirely deliberate. Nothing is made without a purpose because someone had to think of a purpose for that to be there or to happen in the game or be shown at that moment or played back during this conversation and so on. I just think there is a little more to it than just a look at what happens to guys like Johnny Klebitz.

Actually i soooopp should have added that about Ashley you are soooooooo right. 

[D9fred95 3,768]

Have people even been bringing up Johnny's death at all recently? I know there's still the old joke here and there but it looks like the whole Johnny vs. Trevor debate calmed down after Chirovette and his 1# fan stopped stirring the pot.

[FemmeFatale 54]

It was just to close TLAD's chapter (in a terrible and poorly executed way) and make you hate Trevor, nothing more.

[Tao Cheng 741]

I'm still triggered that Huang Lee easily roundhouse kicked Niko on the jaw and knocked him out. I hate Huang Lee for that!!! Niko may be a piece of sh*t in retrospect but thanks to the events of Grand Theft Auto IV, I have grown attached to him!

[danosky 34]

On one hand, it did make me hate Trevor initially. Johnny was used to tear at the player's emotions, whereas any other generic biker npc could had been used to show Trevor being a violent sociopath. On the other, your point about meth is valid. Johnny was crippled by it and it did showcase how different characters could end up. Also, if they were going to display Johnny as a meth-head, in the sad state he was shown in game, it was better that he got killed off fast. Better than seeing him in that sad state for much longer.

[AlexnderJ 5]

I remember losers getting REALLY bent out of shape over this, almost to the point where they do literally ANYTHING to satisfy their crippling ass-pain such as edited videos and making death-threats

 

i don't remember this crying and boo-hooing over the death of Liu Kang when got killed in Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance

[Beato_dim 637]

On 1/18/2019 at 1:56 AM, AlexnderJ said:

I remember losers getting REALLY bent out of shape over this, almost to the point where they do literally ANYTHING to satisfy their crippling ass-pain such as edited videos and making death-threats

 

i don't remember this crying and boo-hooing over the death of Liu Kang when got killed in Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance

Did anyone still like Liu Kang a lot at that point? I mean, he was kind of a 'boring virtuous protagonist', it's not like they killed off Sub-Zero or Scorpion. Also, MK wasn't as popular at that point (or even now, to be honest, but back then even more so) as GTA is now.

Edited January 19, 2019 by Beato_dim

[AlexnderJ 5]

On 1/19/2019 at 1:57 PM, Beato_dim said:

MK wasn't as popular at that point (or even now, to be honest, but back then even more so)

Mortal Kombat was and still is a huge staple in today's time in the video game realm, if it truly wasn't as popular as you said, they wouldn't be making MK11 right now

[ChiroVette 2,912]

On 12/29/2018 at 3:12 AM, TheSantader25 said:

No matter how hard you try to explain this people will still ignore your explanation. Trevor killing Johnny actually was one of the most meaningful and deep moments of a story that wasn't a good one but people still can't accept the explanations. However I think I'm done trying to explain why it made total sense cause I think I've done my part over the past year. I'll just enjoy killing worthless bikers. 

I totally agree with you. This was reinforced a few months back when I finally got around to playing the Episodes, and saw what a God-Awful character Johnny was. He had zero personality, and was like some hack parody of Sons of Anarchy, even though, oddly enough, IV predated that show. Well, actually, I think the first season may have come a few months after IV and before the Episodes, but I forget. This is NOT a knock on IV, only saying that for a game that is so highly touted by IV fanboys as having such amazing writing (not that I ever agreed with this anyway) Johnny may have been the single most forgettable character in the GTA universe. Some meth-head, wanna be baddass, cuc*olded in a desert trailer. Yeah lol I want to roleplay as him as much as I possibly can! 😰

 

To your point, his death at the hands of Trevor was an incredibly meaningful moment. I would say even more so now that I actually played TLaD, and would even go so far as to suggest that maybe, just maybe, killing off Johnny was an apology of sorts, from Rockstar because of how bad he, in particular was. I actually enjoyed Luis, to be honest, and thought he was a pretty decent GTA protagonist. I think I would understand some of the fanboy consternation more if they had Trevor kill him, than killing Johnny.

Edited January 24, 2019 by ChiroVette

[Copcaller 433]

To show that not all main characters get a happy ending an to show how dangerous Trevor is 

[D9fred95 3,768]

1 hour ago, Copcaller said:

To show that not all main characters get a happy ending

Except that GTA already did the whole "main character doesn't get a happy ending" before. Look at Vic Vance's ending, he pretty much lost everything at the end of VCS, he lost Louise, his empire, everything. At the beginning of VC he ends up dying after doing the very thing he said he'd never do again: dealing drugs. And then his brother Lance dies along the way because of the very aspect that Vic keeps criticizing him over and over again throughout VCS, his ego.

Edited January 24, 2019 by D9fred95

[Alexander 2,069]

i think its meant to a) make you dislike him (He made him feel safe and lower his guard before killing him in a brutal way), b) show you that if you should not ask for characters from other universes to show up, unless you want them dead, and c) shock value.

[Urban Legends 665]

Absolutely OP... Brilliant. I've seen those type of guess.. Cling onto sh*t women because of drugs. They should be erased in that very fashion!

[Copcaller 433]

On 1/24/2019 at 4:02 PM, D9fred95 said:

Except that GTA already did the whole "main character doesn't get a happy ending" before. Look at Vic Vance's ending, he pretty much lost everything at the end of VCS, he lost Louise, his empire, everything. At the beginning of VC he ends up dying after doing the very thing he said he'd never do again: dealing drugs. And then his brother Lance dies along the way because of the very aspect that Vic keeps criticizing him over and over again throughout VCS, his ego.

Im aware but maybe it's just a reccuring theme

[DR:BUSTA 36]

Just to show us how strong Trevor is by killing the strongest protagonist 

[Good kid 10]

On 1/31/2019 at 1:58 AM, DR:BUSTA said:

Just to show us how strong Trevor is by killing the strongest protagonist 

Buy i think that dont work like that cuz we know trevor kills an army in rampages but then franklin can kill him after the big score

[Tao Cheng 741]

I'm more upset of Tao Cheng having to *optionally* die because Trevor's whiny bitch ass than Trevor killing Johnny. Tao didn't do sh*t to him and thousands of innocent Chinamen workers died in a abattoir because Franklin's fatass got triggered because he found MSG on his 3 bucket cluckin bell meal.

[DR:BUSTA 36]

23 hours ago, Good kid said:

Buy i think that dont work like that cuz we know trevor kills an army in rampages but then franklin can kill him after the big score

I mean when the game got released we don't know anything about Trevor (expect if you watched his trailer) and the prologue mission didn't show us everything about trevor he just killed a lot of police officers (every protagonist can do this)

[iiCriminnaaL 49 3,015]

As I said before, I have no problem with the whole meth and Ashley part, nor the fact that Johnny is dead in that matter. The only part that's completely questionable was Johnny hugging Trevor and apologizing, rather than putting a fight or threatening him to stay away from Ashley.

 

Yeah, meth is bad and it messes people's minds up. But if Johnny was mindful enough to realize that Ashley is being screwed up by Trevor, and he rode the way through from The Lost MC's trailers to Trevor's, then I don't see what happened when it came to the "put a fight" part. It's also stated that a lot of The Lost MC's members were addicted to meth as well, so I don't see how Johnny was the only one who wasn't able to put a fight. It's just as bad as the Trevor running away from Franklin part, but that's another story. Terry and Clay ride off to check if Trevor's claim of Johnny's death is true, but they also backfire when they stop.

 

His character could've been used better if they delayed his death to the last mission that involves The Lost MC, especially that he's the leader. That or him and The Lost replacing Wei who-the-hell-is-he-anyway Cheng and the Triads. That would've been more respectable for both Trevor's and Johnny's characters. Because killing a methhead while he's hugging him isn't badass anyway.

Edited April 22, 2019 by iiCriminnaaL 49

[Ondr4H 532]

Well I mean GTA V suffer from bad cliche writing.

Its like some bad TV show when they change location and all minor characters appear here too.

Johny is poorly executed way to made up minds in blink of an eye. If I was random goon without history, nobody will care about Trevor later.

So they made most strong gang member drug head and killed him with such a brutal and dasdardly manner of way.

I call this lazy writing, because Johny can be main antagonist very easy and will be better antagonist that these three clowns that you ended killing in option C.