The world of Red Dead Redemption 2 is filled with violence and cruelty, and there is no shortage of disturbing scenarios in the game’s main campaign. That said, dark moments are certainly not reserved for main story missions, and players can encounter all sorts of grim stories through exploration and side quests. One such story unfolds through a Stranger mission that becomes available during Red Dead Redemption 2‘s fourth chapter, and players who are not focused on completing optional content may have missed it.
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‘The Mercies of Knowledge’ is One of Red Dead Redemption 2’s Darkest Missions
This side mission that is of interest is called “The Mercies of Knowledge,” and players can initiate it by speaking with the Professor, a Stranger that appears in Saint Denis during Chapter 4. The beginning of this mission is standard fare, with Arthur tracking down, and stealing, a shipment of moonshine that the Professor indicates will be used in his “machine of love.” Further details about that machine are not revealed until the moonshine is secured, though, and “love” may not be the first word that comes to a reader’s mind when they learn the specifics.
Indeed, the Professor is working on the construction of an electric chair, which the character states will serve as a way to “calm troubled souls.” While the Professor may be genuine in his belief that this execution device will “calmly and peacefully dispatch sinners to face judgment,” the death that results from the machine is definitely neither calm nor peaceful. This is something that Red Dead Redemption 2 players learn after fetching a criminal, Wilson J. McDaniels, who will be used to “demonstrate the chair,” and the scene is quite horrific.
Red Dead Redemption 2’s ‘The Mercies of Knowledge’ Depicts a Grizzly Execution
As readers may already understand, McDaniels’s death is anything but peaceful, as he screams in pain, and his body smokes, as the Professor repeatedly sends electricity into the chair. The criminal even begs for someone to shoot him, and put an end to his misery, before he finally succumbs. All the while, onlookers discuss just how humane the Professor’s machine actually is, with one woman saying that she thinks the chair is “mighty fine.”
McDaniels is not the only one to die during the execution, as the Professor also takes a lethal shock while operating the switch.
While McDaniels’s execution may not be the most violent moment in Red Dead Redemption 2, the directness of the scene makes it more painful than sequences that center around epic gun fights and tremendous body counts. Indeed, it is hard not to feel disturbed while watching as a man is tortured to death, even if that man is guilty of “murder, bigamy, and immoral animal husbandry.” That said, most of the spectators in the crowd do not seem particularly bothered by the grizzly nature of McDaniels’s demise, lending the scene a further feeling of darkness.
Red Dead Redemption 2’s ‘The Mercies of Knowledge’ Has Historical Roots
Disturbing as it may be, the scene at the end of “The Mercies of Knowledge” takes obvious inspiration from real-life events. In fact, the first execution by electric chair, which occurred in New York in 1890, also required that the condemned, William Kemmler, be shocked more than once, as the first passage of electricity only rendered him unconscious. Some witnesses even reported that Kemmler’s body caught fire during the execution, and it took nearly ten minutes in its entirety.
This side mission is certainly not the only instance of Red Dead Redemption 2 taking inspiration from historical events, though, as many of the game’s events, characters, and set pieces have roots in the real-world. As with “The Mercies of Knowledge,” these roots are often shaped before they materialize in-game, but that shaping is not always done to such disturbing and gruesome ends.
- Released
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October 26, 2018
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Drugs and Alcohol