the part about Strauss not snitching on the gang in the end is really overlooked in the story but he almost redeemed himself when he did not give any information
someasiankid I know right There are loads of factors In this 1 he was loyal to the gang and saw them as his friends in a sense 2 he did that leading money thing for the gangs 3 the gang was out laws and they did do bad things 4 maybe strasss targeted the people who desperately needed money cause well they are outlaws and it was for the gang 5 but it was wrong of him what he did 6 it’s thanks to him Arthur died 7 even when he was kicked out he never told the police anything and died being tormented by them So this is a character that you can’t hate but can’t like He was one of the most centred people in the game You hate him cause what he did to Arthur But He never snitched he did it for the gang It’s one of those things you know
I lost my respect for Strauss when he was getting kicked. I got it back when I realized that he never ratted on the gang and never told any info throughout interrogation in the process of getting killed by Pinkertons for not saying a word. That's loyalty
Jacob M8 yea i mean your basically rationalizing it like the gang did. But it is predatory, and actually illegal in most places and considered not okay even if it was legal by any company you work for to give out loans people can’t pay back. The point in RDR2 is Strauss knows this, and while he seems like a good guy, and it seems like he’s just as bad because he robs people like the rest of the gang, he targets good folk, against the code of the gang, and he doesn’t even do the dirty work himself. No matter what we think of it, Arthur thought it was disgusting, he would see desperate good people die and families destroyed at the hand of this guy. Seems a lot more evil than robbing a stagecoach belonging to a rich prick known as Cornwall. And it’s exactly People like Strauss and enforcers like Arthur and the US Financial Crisis that led to stricter lending laws.
@Jacob M8 Yeah that's always the way I saw it. Like someone at a Poker table accepting a bet from someone they know has a gambling problem. Or a Bartender continuing to serve a drunk beggar. They know they're not really helping them, but it's not their job to save them from themselves. You borrow money from a gang because you're desperate and want to provide for your family- understandable motivations but it doesn't change the fact that you're now in debt to a dangerous gang.
@@exodustimes4266 Yea but to be fair in a drunken fit she lied about doing that and she knew the rules. So she knew what would happen. She was pushing the envelope and looking for attention.
@@arthurmorgan2026 No, she lied about being the rat as a form of suicide; she knew what would happen and wanted to die. However, despite her appearant hatred for Dutch, she never told the Pinkertons a thing. That's loyalty.
I always felt Arthur should've given Strauss a chance to stop loan sharking. The dude was trying to contribute to a CRIMINAL gang the best way he knew how.
For an old man who wants to contribute to violent gang there isnt much other things he could have done. He could have been like Trelawny tho and give information on robbery's and such
@@foaarmedforces4175 I don't know hosea was old and still brought in some scored hell Strauss could've even hunted or fished for the gang there were options for him and he chose to do loan sharking
It blows my mind people blame Strauss for Arthur getting TB as if he was trying to kill Arthur. Also funny a lot of people say he's a scumbag for being a loan shark when almost everybody in the gang is a murderer and thug.
@@discountbuki it said his grave was on a pretty hillside facing the sun, no matter what honour that will always be the same however when Arthur helps John and has high honour he’ll be facing the sun
Charles is the type of friend we all want. He got word his friend died and travelled a couple thousand miles or so to bury him properly. Right in the feels.
Evean though Strauss is the reason Arthur Morgan got TB, i like Strauss. He was always good to Morgan and he always looked out for the gang. He was a bad man, but we all were
I didn’t care but than I did after the first time I beat it I played again and got another ending that was dishonorable but the 3rd time I got the sunset ending
Its weird that we all mutually agree Downes gave Arthur Tuberculosis when Horsea had a cough, Arthur was stuck in a snowy mountain for half a year, he was tied upside down in a musty basement and tortured, and he almost drowned and washed up on some tropical island half dead, in reality it could have been any or all of that
I’d like to point out strauss could’ve simply told the pinkertons. Being banished by the gang, in his POV the gang betrayed and abandoned him. He could’ve told the pinkertons everything and If he did i would’ve understood why, i mean he’s being tortured and they want information about the same gang that abandoned him. But he still chose not to say anything. Shows how truly loyal and devoted he was to them
The blame for the gang falling apart is 20% strauss and 80% micah cause if arthur never got tubercolosis which he got from one of the guys leopard strauss told arthur to collect debt from he would not have tubercolosis so he would have killed micah in the part where arthur dies
Who knows what would’ve happened if Arthur didn’t get sick. He would’ve never tried to become a better man, or try to save John’s family. The gang probably would’ve fallen apart anyway
Between Micah and Dutch the gang was doomed. If Arthur didn't kill Micah when he saw his own death coming then he wouldn't have done so if he were healthy. Even at the end he still had a loyalty to Dutch as if Dutch were a father.
it wasn't Strauss's fault if he new Arthur would get tb he wouldn't of sent him to collect the debt, I have respect for all the older members of the gang they might not do much of the dirty work like robbing and killing but they redeem themselves doing other thing like Strauss not breathing a word during interrogation or trelawny helping the gang with high profile stuff
@@milesbock8623 In a way it was Strauss's fault, as he was deliberately preying on innocent-financially distressed-people (like how the Mafia did) as Dutch incessantly spouted contradictory jargon like "we feed fellers in need of feedin, save fellers in need of savin, and shoot fellers in need of shootin," and other (almost Marxist esque) ramble. Not that Arthur & the gang didn't know what they were into, they were outlaws afterall, but even still Arthur/Hosea/Lenny & a few others lived by a code, that's why most of them were so freaked out over Dutch murdering that woman during the Blackwater heist. So maybe if the older ones like Hosea & the like could see some of the damage they do via collecting debts, like (honorable) Arthur they'd put an end to it. But props to Strauss nonetheless for keeping his mouth shut 👏
I didn't kick him out in my 2nd playthrough. I felt actually bad for the guy haha all he had was brains and so he contributed the only way he could. As greasy as it was.
Wow he never snitched on dutch, micah, bill and javier what a loyal strong man, Charles had left the gang his whereabouts unknown to everyone except Arthur, uncle, pearson and mary beth had left with their whereabouts unknown and they weren't wanted criminals so the Pinkertons would've cared little about information on them, tilly and sadie weren't wanted criminals and even though the Pinkertons might have been interested on interrogating Sadie Strauss didn't really know anything about Sadie or her plans, John was obviously on their list but Arthur, Abigail, Sadie and him had made plans for their escape in secret from the rest of the gang so he would have no information on him that the Pinkertons didn't already know, the only people he could have had solid information on we're Dutch Micah Bill and Javier since they saw him as a valuable asset
Wtf the way people talk about Arthur even with high honor is pretty disappointing. Not to mention the surviving members (Mary-Beth, Tilly, Pearson) are all dingy and don’t seem to be very grateful for him. Mickey showed true friendship and he barely knew Arthur, heck even the confederate veteran showed more compassion to Arthur.
I think the reason behind that is, that Arthur behaved "low-honored" before the start of the game - the veteran did not know that hence he only sees good things about Arthur. But everyone in rhe gang knows that and they see in Arthur a double-edged sword
this is low honor arthur. and, keep in mind, even a high honor arthur still has lived a life where he's robbed and killed hundreds of people. he wasn't a good person- nobody who was an active combatant in the gang was, arthur least of all seeing as he was the gang's lead enforcer. besides, for every member of the gang you can meet in the epilogue, they've gone straight, that life is far behind them. mary-beth's a writer, tilly has settled down and started a family, pearson own a store, sadie is a bounty hunter. the one who's closest to their old life is charles, and even then, he's not acting against innocent people or anything, just doing street fights. considering this, it makes a lot of sense why they would have a changed outlook on their old way of living while the gang was active. they lived on dutch's preachings about how the world and civilization was cruel and unfair and unwelcoming, and yet despite that, all of them besides charles and uncle have been able to live perfectly fine in society, and most of them even have a better life than their one in the gang.
They obviously miss him but it's been 7 years since his death, plus with the way they lived they always expected a member of the gang to drop dead sooner or later.
Think about it real quick, Strauss was kicked out, betrayed and Arthur made it clear he was hated, he could’ve, and really most people would’ve taken revenge and ratted, especially when threatened with torture, but this man literally stayed silent the entire time, protecting and dying for a group who betrayed him, that’s loyalty
That’s because you ain’t a desperate man, when you can’t feed your family or make a living , even you know that money would be the death of you, but what choice a man with no future could choose. loan shark never run out of preys.
Charles said he died "in custody" which means he was just being held in jail. He wasn't tried for anything and therefore couldn't have been legally executed. Strauss' death was most likely from his injuries he sustained while being tortured by the Pinkertons
Wdym she never buried Arthur with Charles? She died in the standoff when Arthur confronts Micah and Javier comes telling the gang that Pinkerton Agents are coming and she gets shot during that so she don’t survive Charles buries Her & Arthur separate times
Honestly, Strauss’ business was not as bad as say modern day banks. He was a loan shark, that was it. I feel like Rockstar should have developed his character more. He had the least lines in the camp and rarely interacts with the gang. Arthur was a brute in Ch 2 and somehow got what was coming to him with that TB.
If you keep doing the Money Lending and Other Sins missions, you'll get a cutscene that explains his disappearance. If you don't, he just vanishes after the mission where you save Captain Monroe.
Y'all realize this might not even be true? Strauss could still be alive, people presume too much on what "he heard". 😭😭 Just like how what Mary Beth thinks happened to Karen, or that somehow Javier dies even if you spare him in the original.
Charles knows the fate of Strauss as he stays blended in from the publicity so wherever he got taken in by the Bureau wether if it was in BlackWater or Van Horn or possibly in Annesburg he got the information from the first citizens of that area.
I like that John called Arthur "Pigheaded Bastard" to remind the fans on how better of a protagonist he is than Arthur, I love that detail Rockstar 👌👌👌💪💪💪👍👍👍
A few years after the disbandment of The Van Der Linde gang, Leopold Strauss is somehow taken in by the Bureau and gets interrogated by them. Despite how he gets departed by Arthur Morgan he stays loyal until then.
Strauss may have been the scummiest member of the gang bar Micha, but I'll give it too him, he earnt a little of my respect back for his loyalty even after he got thrown out and had no reason not to snitch.
@@I-AM-MOTIVATED Ahh, this ain't philosophy 101 though, in real life, that's how humans are. Strauss took advantage of their desperation. It goes against the ideals of the gang, that is "we kill folks that need killing, save folks that need saving and feed folks that needs feeding", instead "Strauss just killed folks that needed feeding and saving".
I guarentee you Strauss helped the agents just like Micah after he got kicked out of camp. They faked his death and said he gave up nothing. Do you really think a guy like Strauss wouldnt open his mouth to save himself? Cmon guys
Oh man you didn't have good honor I was hoping that you did in my opinion it's better when you see Charles talking good about Arthur rather than saying that he wasn't a good man
