How would the story change without Arthur?

[Cutter De Blanc]

I've been thinking about this, and wondering how pivotal Arthur's role in the overall story really was. He wasn't really a catalyst for any of the events that occured, just an extra gun. Dutch would have still gone crazy. John's story might have played out a little differently.  I think the standoff at the end would have just been John vs Dutch instead of Arthur vs Dutch. And at the beginning couldnt Bill and Javier have gone to save John from the wolves? Was Bill out of commission? Why couldn't Javier just save John on his own?  Maybe the Guarma thing but once again Dutch is the mastermind and Arthur is just an extra gun. Besides providing moral and artillery support was Arthur really all that important in the grand scheme of things? 

[Lonely-Martin]

Jack's future beyond RDR is largely unknown and with that we could learn of the impact Arthur had, especially if John's death and getting revenge for that invoked those emotions of losing Arthur were there too, If Jack's story got told and has references or flashbacks to fill in more on when John was away from the gang, they could use the revenge killing of Edgar as a trigger for Jack to reject turning into his father, and take aboard a warning from Arthur years earlier.

 

Kids remember quite alot from their early days, plus Jack is a bright lad from a young age. Back then they didn't have the entertainment we have now to forget things as easily too like computer games and TV, Arthur could have a had a big impact on Jack I feel.

 

Plus, without Arthur's story here and how it felt to me, had we played as other characters, we'd not get the redemption feel we do through Arthur knowing and accepting his fate, aside from with John's story, but we know that's RDR's story.

[Oldsport]

but who wouldve broken john out of jail? no one wanted to listen to sadie and arthur and help break him out because they were following dutch. so john probably wouldve died in sisika

[Cutter De Blanc]

On 6/10/2019 at 9:03 PM, Oldsport said:

but who wouldve broken john out of jail? no one wanted to listen to sadie and arthur and help break him out because they were following dutch. so john probably wouldve died in sisika

Charles maybe. He's a pretty good guy. I don't think they would have went about it the same way is all. More stealth, less hostage situation.

Edited June 12, 2019 by Cutter De Blanc

[CrimsonFolo]

Well without Arthur, we can maybe assume that John would be the only one that Dutch would have looked after with Hosea (as It's mentioned that Dutch looked after both Arthur and John)

Out of the two, John is the one with less intelligence so it would be likely that he would be more compliant with Dutch's commands. John would likely replace Arthur. In the case that John still had a child, he would likely be a lot more distant without 

Arthur's encouraging. So the child whether it be jack or anyone else, would feel less of a connection to John. In terms of the story, it can deviate and be entirely different without Arthur.

 

At the beginning, Bill probably doesn't care for anyone besides Dutch, Javier might care but is likely not to care enough to the point of risking his life for John. Dutch himself would probably not have went considering he's the leader and he would have to prioritize the rest of the gang over John. Charles possibly could have went but again, doubt if he would sacrifice himself for John. 

It's even likely that John could have just bled out or be eaten by wolves. (Dutch probably would think that he still has guns in the form of Micah, Bill and Javier so no point risking them and possibly not even finding John at the start.)