rgwatson said: Wow, so the Almighty dresses as an undertaker, is a 30-60 year old white man with a Snidely Whiplash-mustache, and struts around the West tempting reformed criminals to pay for hookers and rob nuns? I guess God has gotten a good bit edgier since the last time I was in church. The assertion that "lots of people have damned me" refers to the phrase "God damn it", or variations thereof, is ignorant of the meaning of the phrase. It seems that there is a great deal of confusion about this, but "God damn it" or "Goddamn", "Goddamned" etc. are not directed at God. They are appeals TO God, that He should condemn whatever the swear is directed at. I'd buy this assertion if "God damn yourself, God" or "God be damned" were the phrases in question, but I don't think of these as particularly common idioms, certainly no more common than similar curses leveled at other supernatural figures. Personally, I felt almost right away that the Strange Man is the Devil. It's something about his haughty demeanor, in the cold and unsympathetic way in which he regards John, and of course the fact that both of the moral dilemmas he presents the player can rightly be called tempting. The meetings feel like an homage to Old Scratch in The Devil and Tom Walker. Besides, as an omnipotent being God would not need to interact with John, or give him little tests, in order to pass judgment; wouldn't he know already the decisions he was going to make? Placing moral obstacles in his path seems much too vulgar a display. All that being said, though, reading other posts has made me consider the possibility that the Strange Man is in fact Death. I have basically adopted this as my own stance, and this is why I agree with it: it brings moral balance to the game. Essentially, if the Strange Man represents God (which I have tried to categorically dismiss), then where is the Devil in this game? Marston is a soul on shaky ground, a reformed murderer seeking redemption, and if he's not a target ripe for temptation and corruption, then who is? The Devil of Christian tradition would have to stake his claim for Marston's soul, particularly if God was getting his feet dirty mingling with the mortals. Similarly, if the Strange Man is Satan, then where is God? Attending to his other business, losing the battle for Marston, and killing John's new reformer life in its infancy just by idle apathy? The fact of the matter is, John Marston's story arc can follow two different paths, and the whole honor mechanic is essentially meaningless if we infer that God/Satan passes the same judgement, says the same things, and interacts with Marston in exactly the same way whether he is an unrepentant outlaw or a truly changed man. This is why I prefer that the Strange Man is an impartial third party. He is "accounting" - passing judgment - yes, but he has no vested interest in the outcome. He will not save Marston; nor will he condemn him. He is merely tallying the score, passing the time to Marston's inevitable end, at which point he will act as the reaper for whomever lays claim to the eternal soul. This all fits in better, I think, with the dark and nihilistic frontier landscape presented to us in RDR. This all, of course, is predicated on an Abrahamic religious viewpoint, though there are any number of corollary perspectives that could support other identities for the Strange Man (i.e. a folk traditional "Trickster", a vengeful spirit of someone Marston wronged, Marston's conscience, etc.). I'm only positing what I think the story is trying to say. It also provides a kind of supernatural element to the game, mostly a foreign element to the western genre except for "High Plains Drifter", which now that I think of it might be a major inspiration for this part of the game. Anyway, whatever. Keep discussing.
Bam. I agree.
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