Do you think other people would see The Strange Man?

[AutisticTorch]

Many people have speculated that The Strange Man is an angel, the devil, or the grim reaper, but setting aside that, do you think John is the only one to see the Strange Man? Or do other people see him too?

 

I think of him working in a similar way as a hallucination for certain people, who seem to be not good nor evil. Considering that it is never possible for Jack to do his missions, this might not be the case. But how do you think he would work?

[billiejoearmstrong8]

I prefer to think he's imagined by John and that he's some kind of manifestation of his conscience. And maybe it's a combination of the extreme pressure he's under and the desert heat that leads him to imagine him, a hallucination like you said. Mostly just because I prefer an explanation that isn't supernatural.

 

I guess if he is supernatural I'd still think very similarly - that he's a manifestation of John's conscience that really exists, but only appears to him.

Edited July 8, 2021 by billiejoearmstrong8

[Dizzyo]

I would say yes, in Red dead 2 you can find his cabin in the Bayou as Arthur, the texts around make sense for Arthur as well, especially the Jimmy Brooks one, John wouldn’t know about any of that. You could say that it’s more directed at us but I don’t know.

 

True, Arthur does not see him per se but others sure do, in the store in Armadillo, Herbert Moon has a picture of the Strange Man on the shelf behind him, John even asks him about it and it’s said that he was given the painting by a fellow (the autoportrait painting in his cabin as a tie-in maybe) and that he always thought it looked nice, where John replies that he looks familiar. The note looted from Herbert Moon could also imply that he interacted with the Strange Man somehow.

 

Last one is the random friendly camp NPC encounter, happened to me after 1.5 years playing the same save, near Pike’s Basin, on top, overviewing Armadillo. NPC invited to sit and started the story about the town of Armadillo and the plague, how it seems like cursed even though he doesn’t believe in such things and then mentions that people said that a tall man in black, with a top-hat has been spotted at night on the hills near Armadillo looking at the town, nervously kidding that it might be the devil, you can search the encounter on youtube as I might’ve missed something as it was pretty tense, I know I managed to record a clip of it, will watch it again, it was as mysterious/intriguing/scary as the Strange Man himself.

[Rico Suave]

I think everyone has their own strange man that only they can see.