Was Wild West That Wild? – Red Dead Redemption 2 vs Facts and Reality
Red Dead Redemption 2 is full of realistic facts and details, but does it represent a faithful image of the Wild West from a historical perspective?
Table of Contents
- Was Wild West That Wild? – Red Dead Redemption 2 vs Facts and Reality
- Not so wild Wild, the West
- A duel at noon
- A Revolver & A Bowler Hat Just Like The Avengers Classic
- A woman or a hoyden with big gun
A Revolver & A Bowler Hat Just Like The Avengers Classic
A cowboy without a hat is like a console without a gaming controller! As a main star of Red Dead Redemption 2, Arthur Morgan looks like a model from an advertisement of a famous cigarette brand (you know, those in red and white boxes). A dedicated button is used to pick up a hat that has been accidentally dropped, and the game provides separate animation sets in cut scenes – depending on whether you have a hat or not.
Billy the Kid in his only photo. His shabby hat stands out a lot.
However, the iconic shape of the stetson hat is another Hollywood invention. The real cowboy hat was made out of the modification of a Mexican sombrero. It was used by the first cow shepherds known in Mexico as vaqueros – which actually means a cowboy in Spanish. Its shape was similar to that of an Amish hat and it had many colorful ornaments. However, such hats were very impractical during horseback riding, because they fell easily due to the wind. Also, in the case of gunfight they marked the owner as a visible target. Thus, a bowler hat with a minimal brim was very popular in the Wild West, which can be seen in Butch Cassidy's photo presented below. In turn, Billy the Kid poses in some sort of trampled cylinder on his only photograph (check out the attached pic).
In Red Dead Redemption 2, one member of the Dutch gang – Javier, wears some form of bowler hat. Thanks to the immense possibilities of character personalization, Arthur can wear practically any type of headgear from those times. It is only up to us whether we will make him look like a star from a spaghetti western or like a not so iconic and more genuine Wild West gunslinger.
Poker game
In westerns, playing cards was often considered as the main free time activity in saloons and usually led to a brawl among cheating gamblers. In RDR2, poker game is one of the side activities. It serves as a nice interlude between missions, shootings and horse-riding across half the country.
Poker in Red Dead Redemption 2 plays a much smaller role than it did in the reality. Maybe there will be some tournaments available in the online mode?
In fact, playing cards in the Wild West was quite a serious business and a very popular activity. Poker was not only played by losers and cheaters, but also by professional players who had the status of sports stars. Local saloons often organized real card tournaments with awards and prizes. "Wild Bill" Hickok was inscribed in the Las Vegas Poker List of Fame in 1979 as one of the best and most famous players in history.
DEAD MAN’S HAND
"Wild Bill" Hickok was famous for being panically afraid to die from receiving a bullet in the back. In saloons, he always sat with his back to the wall. On August 1, 1876, in the city of Deadwood, Hickok persuaded drunk and losing Jack McCall to stand up from the table and stop playing. Also, he offered him some money for breakfast.
The next day Hickok was going to play cards again, but all seats at the wall were taken. He asked for a switch, but nobody wanted to agree. When he finally sat down on the chair, Jack McCall approached him and shot him in the back of his head – most likely insulted by the 'charity' breakfast.
Two black aces and two black eights were found in the hands of dead Bill. This type of hand is still called "Dead Man's Hand" and has regularly appeared in pop culture ever since. Such a set of cards is present in Fallout: New Vegas and The Walking Dead: A New Frontier. The hand’s name also appears in Hearthstone card game.
