Eagle Flies

Origins

Red Dead Redemption 2 gives no birth date and no age for Eagle Flies. He is the son of Rains Fall, chief of the Wapiti, a Native American people living on a reservation in the Grizzlies East, in the state of Ambarino. He is the chief's second son, and the tribe was moved onto the reservation at some point before 1899. His father gives the family's history himself in 1899: the elder son had his head smashed by a drunken soldier, and the chief's wife had her throat slit. Both were killed by the United States Army. By 1899, Eagle Flies is his father's only surviving child.

Red Dead Redemption 2 (1899)

Chapter 1: Colter

In "Eastward Bound", the gang leaves Colter for Horseshoe Overlook. A wheel comes off the wagon driven by Arthur Morgan and Hosea Matthews, and Charles Smith stays behind to help. While they refit it, three riders watch them from a cliff. Charles remarks that the riders would not have shown themselves if they wanted trouble, and Hosea says that white settlers treated the people of the region badly. The three riders are Eagle Flies, his father and Paytah, a Wapiti warrior close to Eagle Flies. In Saint Denis, Rains Fall later tells Arthur that they saw him with the wagon train crossing the river at Cumberland Falls, and upstairs at the mayor's party.

Chapter 4: Saint Denis

In "The Gilded Cage", Eagle Flies and his father attend the garden party of Henri Lemieux, the mayor of Saint Denis. From a balcony, Angelo Bronte points out the guests to Dutch van der Linde and Arthur. He mocks the two Wapiti as they hand a letter to the mayor, saying that people stupid enough to be tricked by the Americans get what they deserve. The next morning, Dutch tells Arthur that the writer Evelyn Miller is in town lobbying officials for the chief, and suggests the gang might help.

In "American Fathers I", Miller stops Arthur outside the Saint Denis courthouse and introduces him to Rains Fall and his son. The chief explains that his people are to be moved again. Miller adds that this goes against the peace treaty signed three years earlier. Eagle Flies says this will mean war; his father answers that the Wapiti are now too weak to fight. Miller explains that prospectors have reported large oil reserves under the reservation to Leviticus Cornwall and to the state government, and that he needs proof. When Arthur asks how much the job pays, Eagle Flies reminds his father that he told him so: they are all mercenaries. Arthur laughs and answers that he is wanted in two states and that the government likes him no better than it likes them. Rains Fall promises to pay him well and sets a meeting with his son near Citadel Rock, west of the oil fields, a couple of days later. As the group heads to an appointment with a senator, Eagle Flies calls it a waste of time; his father insists that they must try everything.

In "American Fathers II", Eagle Flies is the mission giver. He waits for Arthur on a hill above Cornwall Kerosene & Tar, the refinery of the Heartland Oil Fields. He tells him that the foreman, Danbury, keeps the files in an office above the refinery floor, and that they should include a report from the Leland Oil Development Company. He suggests crawling under the fence or hiding in one of the wagons that keep rolling in, and offers to come if Arthur calls; Arthur reminds him that the plan was to keep him out of it. Arthur rides in under a wagon's cover in the rain, forces Danbury to hand over the file, then slips while climbing out of the window and lands among guards.

An oil well explodes before the guards can take him. Eagle Flies set off the blast. He calls Arthur over, and the two men shoot their way out of the refinery and ride off. Once clear, Eagle Flies says he enjoyed watching some of the oil burn and teases Arthur, who had promised to get in and out quietly. Arthur hands over the papers and thanks him for saving his life. Eagle Flies admits he does not know what to hope for, says the documents may be of some use, and pays him. A camp scene with Charles later in the chapter is described under Relationships.

Chapter 5: Guarma

While Arthur, Dutch and others are stranded on Guarma, Charles spends time near the reservation. In "That's Murfree Country", on the way to Beaver Hollow, he tells Arthur that he ran into Rains Fall and Eagle Flies and has been helping where he can, and that things are bad there.

Chapter 6: Beaver Hollow

After "Visiting Hours", the Blackwater Ledger (No. 69) runs the article "Tensions High". It says that the Wapiti of the reservation remain warlike, "spurred on by their chief and his son", and that officers at nearby Fort Wallace consider armed hostilities a distinct possibility.

In "A Rage Unleashed", Eagle Flies rides into Beaver Hollow escorted by Karen Jones and Javier Escuella. Charles brings him to Arthur, who introduces him to Dutch; Eagle Flies explains that Arthur and Charles once did him a great favor by posing as mercenaries. Asked about his father, he answers that Rains Fall mistakes wisdom for weakness. The Army regiment at Fort Wallace has seized the tribe's horses: without them his people cannot hunt and will starve, and he calls it another act of war. He offers money. Charles reminds him that he told his father he would not fight over some horses; Dutch, who made no such promise, tells him to keep his money and agrees on the spot. Arthur and Charles go along to keep things from getting out of hand.

On the ride, Eagle Flies describes Colonel Henry Favours as a vile man whose regiment enjoys persecuting the tribe: the young have been taken from the reservation and sent to reform schools, along with many women, and medicine and supplies are deliberately withheld from the sick elders. Near Van Horn they meet Paytah, who has canoes ready. At night they paddle out to the Army boat, and Paytah wishes them luck as they come alongside. Arthur and Charles knock out the guards on deck. On Dutch's order, Arthur blows up the anchor mechanism with dynamite, and Dutch, at the wheel, runs the boat onto the rocks. The men ride the horses back to shore; Eagle Flies rounds up four and asks Arthur to bring in the rest. On the bank he says his father does not want to fight again. Dutch rides off with him to return the horses and plans some reconnaissance at Fort Wallace. When Charles points out that Rains Fall called fighting an impossible gamble, Eagle Flies replies that his father need not know.

Charles then asks Arthur to talk to Rains Fall. In "Archeology for Beginners", if the player accepts, the chief reproaches Arthur for the raid with his son, whom he calls an impetuous prince. He says he is a great disappointment to his son, who sees glory in death, and that his son is easily led. On the ride that follows, Arthur can tell him that he does not trust Dutch to have his son's best interests at heart. Arthur afterwards writes in his journal that he would like to stop Dutch from pushing the young man into something foolish. In "The Fine Art of Conversation", Rains Fall tells Arthur and Charles that his son has too much of a mind of his own. If "Favored Sons" has just been played, Charles is angry on the way that Dutch got Eagle Flies arrested.

In "Favored Sons", Arthur joins Dutch, Eagle Flies, Paytah and armed Wapiti on high ground over a valley in Cumberland Forest. The plan is to fell trees with dynamite, trap an Army patrol in the valley, then tar and feather the soldiers; Eagle Flies assures Arthur that nobody will be killed. While Arthur and Dutch lay the charges, Eagle Flies keeps watch with his spotter, and the patrol turns out larger than expected. After the blast, he orders the trapped soldiers to drop their guns and says their humiliation of his people has gone on long enough. More soldiers arrive and the shooting starts. Eagle Flies remarks that his father will not be happy, then has the dead searched for anything that could help the tribe's case.

A cannon opens fire. Eagle Flies runs to Paytah, who has been hit, and finds him alive. When cavalry rides out from Fort Wallace, Arthur and Dutch flee on horseback without him; they escape by jumping from a cliff into a river. On the bank, Dutch says Eagle Flies must have been taken, and Arthur adds that he may be dead. The capture itself is not shown. He was seized while trying to help the wounded Paytah, and Paytah got away.

In "The King's Son", Rains Fall tells Arthur that the Army holds his son and will hang him for treason. Arthur decides to free him despite the chief's refusal. On the ride, Charles says Dutch saw that Eagle Flies was burning hot and fanned the flames. That night, Arthur and Charles get into Fort Wallace and find him strung up in a cell, trading insults with a guard; Charles kills the guard, and Arthur takes the keys and cuts him loose. Eagle Flies asks whether his father sent them to kill guards, and says sarcastically that he enjoys being tortured. The alarm sounds. He leads them to a hole in the wall he saw when he was brought in, but it has been repaired, and Arthur blows a new breach with a cannon. Eagle Flies escapes on Charles's horse, Taima, seated behind him, then the three go down the river in the canoes Charles left there. Under fire, Eagle Flies vows revenge on the Army and asks for a gun.

On the shore, Eagle Flies says he heals fast and will be fine in a day or so. He expects Favours to answer the rescue with more trouble, and says even his father may have to fight. When Arthur suggests the tribe should simply run, he asks where they would go. He thanks Arthur, and Charles takes him back to his father on a horse left behind by a soldier.

In "My Last Boy", Eagle Flies rides into Beaver Hollow at the head of armed warriors in war paint. He tells Dutch and Arthur that the Army tried to kill his people for oil and asks the gang to ride with them against the factory. Rains Fall arrives behind them, tells his son about his own wars and his dead family, begs him not to die for pride and, as his chief, implores him. Eagle Flies answers that his father's words mean nothing to him and leaves with his men for the Cornwall refinery. Rains Fall then asks Arthur for help, which reveals to Dutch that Arthur has been seeing the chief. Arthur says he will see what he can do and asks Charles and the others to come. Dutch says he will ride, then Sadie, John, Javier and Bill volunteer; Micah Bell and his two recruits stay behind. On the way, a wounded warrior tells them that Eagle Flies needs help.

At the Heartland Oil Fields, where Charles calls the scene a massacre, it is Charles who points out Eagle Flies crossing a walkway. Arthur decides to go for him and asks Dutch to draw the soldiers away; Dutch leads the rest toward the factory, while Charles and Sadie Adler ride with Arthur. Arthur kills a soldier grappling with him. Eagle Flies thanks them, asks where his men are, and insists that every warrior they find must be saved; he joins Arthur's group and calls out when Paytah is in danger. Once both groups have regrouped and most of the soldiers are dead, Dutch sends the others away, but Eagle Flies refuses to leave until he has found all his men, and Charles stays with him. Dutch and Arthur go into the warehouse for the state bonds Dutch is after.

On the way out, a burst pipe knocks Arthur to the ground and blinds him for a moment. A soldier tries to stab him, Arthur calls to Dutch for help, and Dutch hesitates, then leaves. Eagle Flies arrives and shoots the soldiers, but as he helps Arthur up, Colonel Favours shoots him in the abdomen. Arthur kills Favours before he can fire again. Arthur scolds Eagle Flies for the risk he took; Eagle Flies answers that Arthur saved his life more than once and that giving his own in return is as it should be. Outside, Arthur accuses Dutch of leaving him to die. He puts Eagle Flies on his horse and rides to the reservation with Charles and Paytah. On the way Eagle Flies asks to go back for the bodies of his men; Paytah promises they will and tells him to save his strength. Near the reservation, when Eagle Flies calls his name, Paytah tells him to save his breath.

At the reservation, Rains Fall asks for his son to be brought to him. Arthur and Charles carry Eagle Flies into his father's tent. Rains Fall takes his hand, and Eagle Flies dies there. Outside, Charles tells Arthur that the Wapiti must move and that he will stay to help them. Later in the chapter, on the way to rescue Abigail Marston in the "Red Dead Redemption" mission, Arthur lists to Sadie the people Dutch has used and lost, and adds Eagle Flies to the list as another angry fool Dutch manipulated.

Epilogue (1907)

The Wapiti buried Eagle Flies near the reservation before leaving it. His grave lies at Donner Falls. John Marston can visit it in 1907. The 1907 newspaper article "Pump Jacks Sit Silent" (Blackwater Ledger No. 72) reports that the tribe went on the run after its attacks on the Army and the battle at the Cornwall factory, that many of its members were gunned down in Wyoming and that a few are believed to have reached Canada. The same article says the oil near the reservation proved minimal and that drilling has stopped.

During the epilogue, John Marston can meet Rains Fall at Annesburg station. The chief has come back from Canada for a while to mourn his son, whose death he has not gotten over, before taking the train north again.

Epilogue 2: Beecher's Hope

The last scene of the ending credits that follow "American Venom" shows Rains Fall alone on a summit of the Grizzlies East. He watches an eagle fly away and wipes his eyes.

Rockstar's character descriptions of September 6, 2018 cover the Van der Linde gang and do not include Eagle Flies, and no official guide text on him has been found. In the game he is the Wapiti who argues for fighting the Army, against his father's line. Rains Fall tells Arthur: "My son thinks there is glory in death." He also says that his son "has a mind of his own... too much so". Eagle Flies sets a limit before the patrol ambush ("Nobody will be killed"), and in battle his concern is for his men: in Cumberland Forest he runs to the wounded Paytah, and at the oil fields he asks where his men are.

He is wary of the gang at first. When Arthur asks how much the job will pay, he tells his father: "Told you, they're all mercenaries." His view changes after the refinery, where the two men fight their way out together. In the Fort Wallace cell he answers his guard and his rescuers with dry jokes. Arthur sums him up for Rains Fall in "The King's Son": "He's very brave... very angry. He's me."

In his own words

When Arthur asks after his father in "A Rage Unleashed": "Father has confused wisdom with weakness. His people, my people... we've suffered too much... been lied to too much... now, they've taken our horses." On the seizure: "Colonel Favours is a liar and a murderer... his people won't stop until we're all dead. Without horses, we cannot hunt... without hunting... we will starve. This is another act of war."

To a guard outside his cell at Fort Wallace: "No, I think the snake was full up after eating your brain." When Arthur asks if he is all right: "Sure... I enjoy being tortured... clears the mind." In the canoe: "They'll pay for this. They'll wish they killed me when they had a chance." When Arthur suggests the tribe run away: "Where would we go?" At the oil fields: "Any men we see... we must save them."

Names

Eagle Flies is the English form of his name; his name in his own language is never given. His father calls him "the impetuous Prince" in front of Arthur, "my last son" and "My only boy... my precious boy" at Beaver Hollow. Dutch and Arthur address him as "son", and on the ride to the reservation Arthur calls him "this boy" and "my friend". Paytah calls him "brother".

Appearance

He is a young man with black hair, whose age is never given. In Saint Denis and at the refinery he wears his hair tied back. When he rides into Beaver Hollow for the attack on the oil fields, his hair is loose and his face is painted for war (see the gallery).

Missions and raids

Eagle Flies is the giver of "American Fathers II" and "Favored Sons" (the full list is in the Missions table). In his missions, abandoning him, attacking him or letting him die fails the mission; in "American Fathers II", letting the guards kill him fails it too. For the refinery job he is the one who scouts the target and supplies the plan, the foreman's name and two ways in, then backs Arthur up during the escape (see Biography).

In chapter 6 he organizes as much as he fights. For the horse raid he knows where the boat is moored near Van Horn and has a man, Paytah, waiting with canoes. In Cumberland Forest he directs the ambush from the high ground and gives the signal (see Biography). At the oil fields he fights across the walkways and through the train with the group that reached him.

Weapons and horses

He uses four weapons: a bow, a Carbine Repeater, a Lancaster Repeater and a Springfield Rifle. His mounts are a Splashed White American Paint, a Splashed White American Paint on a palomino base and a Tobiano American Paint; his American Paint is a unique horse resembling the Splashed White coat. After the oil fields, Arthur carries him to the reservation on his own horse.

Eagle Flies appears in eight missions of Red Dead Redemption 2, from the gang's ride to Horseshoe Overlook in chapter 1 to the battle at the oil fields in chapter 6. The second table lists the missions in which he is only mentioned.

Red Dead Redemption 2: missions with Eagle Flies

Red Dead Redemption 2: missions where he is mentioned

The lines below are given as spoken in the game, in the original English, with the mission and the person addressed. Lines already quoted under Personality and Relationships do not appear again here.

Chapter 4

• This will lead to war.

  American Fathers I (RDR2, chapter 4), when his father says the tribe is to be moved again

• If the... files are as incriminating as we believe... Mr. Cornwall's men will destroy them... if they know you're coming.

  American Fathers II (RDR2, chapter 4), to Arthur, above the refinery

• I thought you were gonna enter and leave silently?

  American Fathers II (RDR2, chapter 4), to Arthur, who reminds him he was not supposed to get involved

• Thank you. I hope... well, I don't know what I hope... but who knows... maybe these will be of some use. Here's your money.

  American Fathers II (RDR2, chapter 4), to Arthur, taking the papers

Chapter 6

• Put your hands up. You're surrounded. Nobody need get hurt. Your humiliation of us has gone on quite enough.

  Favored Sons (RDR2, chapter 6), to the trapped Army patrol

• My father won't be happy about this.

  Favored Sons (RDR2, chapter 6), as the shooting starts

• Mr. Van der Linde! Mr. Morgan! They tried to kill my people for oil. For oil! Today we ride once more. Ride with me, ride with us. Ride with us against the factory.

  My Last Boy (RDR2, chapter 6), riding into Beaver Hollow with his warriors

• Your words mean nothing to me, Father.

  My Last Boy (RDR2, chapter 6), to Rains Fall, who begs him not to go

• You saved my life more than once... to give mine for yours... it's as it should be.

  My Last Boy (RDR2, chapter 6), to Arthur, after being shot by Favours

About Eagle Flies

• Ah, you, you silly fool.

  Arthur to Eagle Flies, after Colonel Favours shoots him, My Last Boy (RDR2, chapter 6)

Casting

Eagle Flies is played by Jeremiah Bitsui, a Navajo actor of Omaha descent born in Chinle, Arizona. Bitsui provides both the voice and the motion capture of the character. Bitsui is best known as Victor, the henchman he played in Breaking Bad (2009-2011) and again in Better Call Saul (2017-2022). His other roles include a child part in Natural Born Killers (1994), the series Bosch (2019-2020) and Dark Winds (2022). He worked on Red Dead Redemption 2 for about three years, according to an interview he gave to The Colt Balok Show on October 31, 2018, a few days after the game's release.

Cut content

The game files hold an unfinished chapter 4 mission, labelled "ntv0", in which Arthur, Charles and Eagle Flies were to ambush an army convoy carrying Native American children to a boarding school. Its surviving animations show a Native American pleading for his life because he has a family, and a soldier who claims he only obeyed orders and tries to kill him. The opening dialogue between Arthur and Charles survives in a shorter form, as the rare chapter 4 camp scene described under Relationships. The game's trailer showed Eagle Flies with a different appearance in his final mission, and unused eye models for him remain in the files.

Critics and scholars

In an IGN feature on the game's historical accuracy, posted on December 24, 2018, Jared Petty compared the Wapiti storyline to the seizure of the Black Hills in the 1870s and to the treatment of the Osage in the 1920s. He summarized Eagle Flies's arc in these terms: he "comes to believe that the situation is simply too impossible for peace to accomplish anything and declares war on the invading army forces, against the wishes of his father", coaxed by Dutch. Petty added that "Young warriors following their passionate, angry peer against the wishes of an authority figure is another common theme in American tribal culture", since chiefs often led by reputation, charisma and tradition more than by legal power, so members of a tribe sometimes acted on their own.

In an article published in 2025 in the journal American, British and Canadian Studies, Andrei Nae of the University of Bucharest counts Eagle Flies among the three Native American characters who matter to the game's story and play, with Rains Fall and Charles Smith. He writes that Eagle Flies "often engages in violent action against the government and capitalist interests" and that Arthur's task is "to rein in the violent impulses of the young Native American". He concludes: "The narrative arc of Eagle Flies is a cautionary tale warning against Native Americans using violence and, consequently, being agentive in a game mechanically defined by violence."

Eagle Flies appears only in Red Dead Redemption 2. The game's pre-release trailers and promotional videos used the end of "American Fathers II": Arthur leaves the office by the window, guards stop him, and an oil well explodes.

• In "My Last Boy", sixteen braves ride into Beaver Hollow with Eagle Flies and Paytah.
• If the player does not shoot Colonel Favours in time, Favours kills Arthur and the mission fails, with the message "Failed: You have died". Looting the colonel's body after the cutscene makes Eagle Flies die on the spot and fails the mission.
• The Gold Medal objectives of "My Last Boy" include saving Paytah, who struggles with a soldier near a train car after the Gatling gun train arrives.
• Wapiti inhabitants remark on Arthur's presence at first and some tell him to leave, although they never attack him; they greet him once he has done a few missions for Rains Fall and Eagle Flies.