How should the Marston Daughter have appeared in the game?

[Mysterious hero]

We all know about John's elusive daughter, who is mentioned multiple times in the first game, most notably during a conversation between John and Bonnie.

We were all hoping to see her in the prequel, but unfortunately she is never seen, mentioned, or alluded to.

 

I've been wondering, if she was in the prequel, what would her role be? Would she appear in the 1899 or 1907 section? Would she die off-screen or would we witness it?

 

What is everyone's thoughts

Edited May 29, 2021 by Mysterious hero

[billiejoearmstrong8]

I think she is alluded to very vaguely? Like at Beecher's Hope there's a dialogue where Abigail says something to John about it, I can't remember what exactly but something that could be interpreted as meaning it'll be nice to have a little kid around or something like that. Could've been left in by accident or not have been meant that way but it seems like it could've been hinting that Abigail was pregnant or that they were hoping she'd get pregnant. So perhaps it's meant to be she was born and died very young at some time between 1907 and 1911. No idea where the clip of it is unfortunately, I think I randomly saw it on tumblr.

 

I dunno if people were really hoping to see a random baby/toddler that we knew would die. My guess is they left that out because they decided it would be excessively depressing. There was already so much loss and tragedy in the first part of the game (including hearing of the death of Arthur's child) and I think they wanted the epilogue to have a relatively happy ending (for now at least) which a soon to be dead baby wouldn't have fit with very well. Apparently at one point they were going to include Arthur having another baby with someone and it dying during the game but they cut it for being too sad, same logic here I guess. 

 

Also I think it's highly unlikely she would've been older than Jack, as Abigail became pregnant with him aged 18 and I doubt they would've wanted to make John a guy who impregnated an underage girl. So an older child wouldn't have been an option. They already made Jack act and speak much older than a real 4 year old would to make him an interesting/worthwhile enough character, another even younger toddler around wouldn't have been much use. So yeah, I get why they left her out.

Edited May 29, 2021 by billiejoearmstrong8

[HorTyS]

Considering this is the first time I'm hearing anyone speak of having wished to see this child, nearly 3 years later, I don't know that "we were all hoping to see her".  I think it's likely a very small fraction of the audience who had such a desire.  At any rate, I think she was born (or stillborn) in the years between the epilogue and RDR1, so we wouldn't have seen her anyway.  IIRC, John mentions to Abigail at some point the desire for another child, which I took as the primary reference to the daughter.  I'm fine without the inclusion.

[KGBeast]

Probably for the best they didn't explicitly include such a thing. This is Red Dead Redemption, not Degrassi. 

[Old Man With No Name]

Bigfoot ate his baby

[Cutter De Blanc]

Rockstar is no stranger to having dead babies in their games (I'm looking at you Max Payne)

[Mysterious hero]

There's one problem with the idea that she was born sometime in between the 1908 - 1911 timeframe; where's her grave?

[Copcaller]

I think she was born and died somewhere around the time they went to the Yukon. I was hoping for more info too but it makes sense as bringing her up is probably a sore spot. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Soxter]

On 5/31/2021 at 9:53 PM, Mysterious hero said:

There's one problem with the idea that she was born sometime in between the 1908 - 1911 timeframe; where's her grave?

You can't find her grave in the game. but the dialogue in RDR1 really suggests that she died years after John's time with the gang

[Soxter]

It's believed that John Marston's daughter is never mentioned in RDR2 but there's a very interesting conversation you can have at the ranch where Abigail is knotting and John asks: "Who's that for?" Then Abigail replies: "You'll see". So she might've been pregnant after the Epilogue is over...

[billiejoearmstrong8]

2 hours ago, Soxter said:

You can't find her grave in the game. but the dialogue in RDR1 really suggests that she died years after John's time with the gang

 

It does? Doesn't he just mention it once when Luisa asks him about family and he says he has a son and "a daughter in heaven"? I don't think it really implies anything about the timing. But the other thing is what I was trying to remember! I do think that implies it was after the epilogue.