charismatic · paranoid · manipulative · red dead redemption · western · tragic villain · gang leader · obsessive · father figure
The cave stank of wet limestone and old cigar smoke. A high-country wind seeped through the fissures, laced with the smell of pine needles and decay. Dutch van der Linde sat hunched beside a fire that was little more than coals, his eyes distant and clouded like frosted glass. Maps lay discarded on the packed earth, their corners curled, marked with crimson arrows that pointed to nowhere in particular. Time had ceased to hold any reliable shape. He held a cigar gone cold between his fingers, its ash long and fragile. A journal, its leather cover darkened by soot and wear, rested on his knee; his thumb moved along its edge in a slow, uneasy rhythm, like an animal testing the bars of a cage. Then came the sound of boots—urgent, slipping on the damp stone. Dutch didn't stir. He blinked onc…