Edgar Ross

Origins

The games do not show Edgar Ross before 1899. The Game of the Year Edition guide of Red Dead Redemption gives his age as 50 in 1911, and the Red Dead Wiki uses that figure to place his birth in 1861. According to the same wiki, two diplomas hang in his Blackwater office in 1911: one from Park University and one from a law school named Logola Law School. A newspaper article published in 1907 sums up his early career. It states that Ross worked for many years as a senior agent of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, where Andrew Milton was his mentor. In 1899 the two men work together, Milton as the senior agent and Ross at his side.

Red Dead Redemption 2 (1899)

Ross does not appear in the first chapter, set in the snow around Colter. He is not seen in chapter 5 either, while the gang is stranded on Guarma.

Chapter 2: Horseshoe Overlook

Ross first appears in "A Fisher of Men". Arthur Morgan has taken Jack Marston, then about four, fishing on the river below the Horseshoe Overlook camp, at Abigail's request. Two riders arrive and dismount: Milton and Ross. Milton introduces them both as agents of the Pinkerton Detective Agency on loan to the United States government. He says there is a 5,000 dollar bounty on Arthur's head and that a man matching Dutch's description robbed a train belonging to Leviticus Cornwall near Granite Pass. He promises Arthur that he will not hang if he hands over Dutch van der Linde. Arthur refuses.

Milton then describes how he finished off Mac Callander, a gang member wounded in Blackwater. Arthur throws his fishing rod to the ground. Ross raises his rifle at him, and Jack hides behind Arthur. Ross says nothing during the exchange until Milton has turned away. As he leaves in turn, he tells Jack to enjoy his fishing while he still can. Arthur reaches for his pistol, looks at the boy and lets it go. Back at camp, Arthur reports the meeting to Dutch. He remembers Milton's name but has to search for the second one before coming up with Ross. Dutch decides to do nothing for the moment.

Chapter 3: Clemens Point

"The Battle of Shady Belle" opens at Clemens Point, the morning after the gang's attack on Braithwaite Manor, where it went looking for the kidnapped Jack. Dutch, Hosea Matthews, Arthur and John Marston are talking at a table when Lenny Summers warns Dutch of a problem. Milton and Ross walk into the camp. Milton introduces himself, then "Agent Ross", and greets Arthur as an acquaintance. He offers the rest of the gang three days to disappear if Dutch comes with him. Dutch pretends to accept, the gang loads its weapons, and Susan Grimshaw tells Dutch that his new friend should leave.

Milton warns that he will return with fifty men and that everyone in the camp will die. Lenny takes hold of him to show him out, and Milton shakes him off. The two agents walk away. Ross does not speak at any point in the scene. Dutch sends Lenny to follow them and make sure they leave, and the gang moves to Shady Belle, a plantation house in the bayou near Saint Denis that Arthur and John first clear of Lemoyne Raiders.

Chapter 4: Saint Denis

In "Banking, The Old American Art", the gang robs the Lemoyne National Bank in Saint Denis. Pinkertons surround the building, and Milton, who has captured Hosea during the diversion, executes him in the street. The mission page names only Milton. According to the Red Dead Wiki's page on Ross, he stands beside Milton outside the bank during the execution.

Chapter 6: Beaver Hollow

In "Just a Social Call", Arthur, Dutch and Micah Bell hide in the harbor at Annesburg to wait for Leviticus Cornwall. Cornwall steps off his yacht with Milton and Ross. Cornwall complains that the agents still have nothing to show for his money and says he may stop paying them. According to the Red Dead Wiki, Milton then turns to Ross and says a job is waiting for them. Dutch confronts Cornwall and shoots him dead, and Arthur, Dutch and Micah fight their way out of the town against Cornwall's guards and the Pinkertons.

At the start of "Red Dead Redemption", Tilly Jackson meets the gang on the road and reports that Milton's men have seized Abigail Marston and taken her to Van Horn. Arthur and Sadie Adler go after her, and Arthur later tells the gang that Abigail shot Milton. Back at Beaver Hollow, the confrontation between Arthur and Micah is cut short: Javier Escuella warns that Pinkertons are coming, Micah shoots Susan, and agents open fire on the camp. Ross is now in charge of them. His voice is heard over the fighting: he announces himself as Agent Ross of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, says the gang is surrounded and orders it to lay down its weapons.

When Dutch, Micah and the others flee into the woods, Ross tells a man named Jennings to take his men around and cut them off, and orders his agents after Van der Linde. He then spots Arthur and John near a cave, names them to his men and promises to cease fire if they drop their weapons and raise their hands. The two men run into the cave instead. Ross sends his agents after them: "They have no way out of there. Find them and kill them." He then calls out to the two fugitives: "Mr. Morgan, Mr. Marston. You are trapped. Surrender and we will take you alive." Finally he demands that they be brought out of there, dead or alive. Arthur and John climb a ladder and escape. According to the Red Dead Wiki, Ross is heard during this sequence but never seen.

Between 1899 and 1907

The games do not show Ross between 1899 and 1907. The newspaper article of 1907 describes this period. It refers to "the late Andrew Milton" and states that, after his Pinkerton years, Ross went on to the National Bureau of Criminal Identification. The article presents this body as an organization set up in 1896 by the National Chiefs of Police Union to keep records on criminals and gangs and to work with the police.

Red Dead Redemption 2: the epilogue (1907)

The epilogue is set in 1907; a letter from the mayor of Saint Denis received during it is dated June 1907. Newspapers of the epilogue period (the Blackwater Ledger No. 74, the New Hanover Gazette No. 39 and the Saint Denis Times No. 55) carry an article headed "Bureau of Investigation Founded". It reports that the Attorney General has formed an autonomous investigative agency headed by Ross, with the task of tracking high-profile, dangerous criminals and investigating financial fraud and organized crime. Veterans of the Secret Service join its staff. The article calls Ross "one of the most humble, innovative and honest law enforcement officers of his class" and reports that, according to his colleagues, he "produces results where others fail". At his swearing in, Ross promises that every criminal in America will eventually pay for what they have done (the full statement is under Quotes).

Epilogue II: Beecher's Hope

In "American Venom", John, Sadie and Charles Smith track Micah to his hideout on Mount Hagen, where Dutch shoots Micah and John finishes him. Ross reappears in the end credits that follow, now working with a younger agent, Archer Fordham. At the hideout they find Micah lying face down next to the cabin. Fordham goes inside to search it; Ross kneels by the body, raises it and puts it back down. Fordham comes out with a shrug, and they leave.

Later scenes of the credits follow the investigation. In Smithfield's Saloon in Valentine, the bartender sends Ross and Fordham over to two customers, a woman and the auctioneer Morris Peyton. Outside Rhodes, the agents stop a stagecoach to talk to its driver; according to a caption on the Red Dead Wiki, Ross hands one of the passengers his card. The final credits scene is set at Beecher's Hope, where John and Jack are grooming a horse in the corral. Ross and Fordham observe them through binoculars from far off, exchange a nod and leave. Red Dead Redemption opens four years later with John working for Ross.

Red Dead Redemption (1911)

Red Dead Redemption begins in October 1911, a date deduced from the issues of the in-game newspaper. Ross is by then stationed in Blackwater, where his office is on the upper floor of the police station. A newspaper article of 1914 says he spent seven years there, with federal jurisdiction over the whole of West Elizabeth. Before the game opens, agents of the Bureau led by Ross have taken Abigail and Jack away from Beecher's Hope. The Bureau holds them to force John to hunt down his former companions of the Van der Linde gang. In return, Ross promises John his freedom.

Act I: New Austin

In the opening of "Exodus in America", John steps off the ferry Morningstar in Blackwater. Ross and Fordham escort him through the town to the station and see him onto a train for Armadillo, in New Austin. His first target is Bill Williamson, whose gang holds Fort Mercer. Ross does not appear again during the rest of the act, which John spends recovering from a gunshot wound and looking for help to storm the fort.

Act II: Nuevo Paraíso

Bill escapes to Mexico, and John follows him into Nuevo Paraíso. At the end of "The Gates of El Presidio", John either captures or kills Javier Escuella, depending on the player's choice. He then meets Ross and Fordham near the border bridge, where they wait with an automobile. Ross greets him and calls it a pleasant surprise to see him there. Fordham reminds John of his obligations to the government: he must find Williamson, then return to Blackwater, where they believe Dutch is hiding. If Javier is dead, Fordham reproaches John for it. Before driving off with Javier, alive or dead, Ross tells John that his wife sends her regards.

Act III: West Elizabeth

After Bill's death near Escalera, John reports to the police station in Blackwater in "Bear One Another's Burdens". He demands his wife and son, says the deal is done and accuses the agents of playing games with him. Ross lists the games they could play instead: hang him for murder, seize his farm or send him to the electric chair. He then reminds John that the agreement covers every man from his old gang, and that they still do not have Dutch but now know where he is. He wants John to kill Dutch himself, saying he has no wish to make martyrs. As they leave, Ross pushes a pistol into John's chest, then hands it to him: John receives a High Power Pistol.

Downstairs, John asks Ross to release Nigel West Dickens, who is being brought in under arrest, and Ross has the officer let him go. In the automobile, on the way to the wreck of the Serendipity, Ross recites John's file, says he robbed at least forty banks, and tells him he can return to farming once Dutch is found. When John asks where it will end, Ross replies that a man cannot walk away from such a life and that the government is offering him a chance at redemption. He points to the motorcars, the moving pictures and the aeroplanes soon to come, and remarks that it would be a shame for John's wife to experience it all as a widow.

Ross stays with the car on the cliff above the wreck while John and Fordham go down on foot. They find no sign of Dutch, only the Bureau's informant, Nastas, beaten and tied up. John carries him to the car. On the drive back the engine fails, and Ross fights off Dutch's riders alongside John while Fordham repairs it. On the road back, Ross again refuses to let John see his family, saying they are enjoying a much-needed vacation. In Blackwater, he has Nastas taken to Harold MacDougal, an anthropologist expelled from Yale who advises the agents on Native Americans, and tells John to help him. In "At Home with Dutch", MacDougal tells John that Ross has told him about his history with Dutch.

In "Great Men are Not Always Wise", an informant tells Ross that Dutch is about to visit the manager of the Blackwater bank. Ross and Fordham take John onto a rooftop facing the bank. Ross orders them to hold fire until his signal, then sends John inside with two lawmen, Dell Hopkins and Benton Manning. Dutch kills a hostage, the bank employee Muriel Scranton, and escapes by automobile with the manager. The lawman Hopkins blames John for the escape. Ross leads the pursuit towards an old logging camp; on the way he answers John's questions about who the agents are (see Bureau work). They find Dutch's car burning by the road. Ross asks John whether he was scared to shoot Dutch, and John promises to shoot him at the next opportunity (Ross's reply is quoted under Personality).

In "And You Will Know The Truth", Ross tells John he has failed and turns down his request once more. He sets out his view of civilization and admits that his methods contain contradictions. He then asks John to help finish off Dutch; when John asks whether he has a choice, Ross says he does not. The army has set up a camp outside Blackwater as bait, with word spread that it holds food and ammunition. Ross, Fordham and John drive there in an armored truck, John manning its machine gun. Dutch's gang attacks and is driven back. During the chase that follows, an explosion overturns the truck.

"And The Truth Will Set You Free" follows directly. When John asks what happens if he refuses, Ross reminds him that the last person who could appeal to Dutch is his wife. He rides with John, Fordham and a cavalry detachment led by a captain to Dutch's fort at Cochinay, in the mountains. On the way, he says Governor Nate Johns will be very pleased and has a vested interest in cleaning up the region. The soldiers blow the outer gate; the captain goes with John as far as the inner gate, then John goes on alone. Cornered on a cliff edge, Dutch throws down his gun and lets himself fall. Ross joins John at the body, asks whether he lacked the nerve to shoot, borrows his gun and fires into the corpse, explaining that it will look better in the report.

John asks where his family is. Ross first tells him that his wife was killed in a prison riot the week before. When John points his gun at him, Ross says he was joking: Abigail and Jack have been sent back to the ranch at Beecher's Hope, safe and sound. Fordham thanks John for his help, and Ross takes his leave. John rides home.

Some time after John's return, in "The Last Enemy That Shall Be Destroyed", Uncle spots through his spyglass soldiers and lawmen riding towards the ranch. John and Uncle hold off the first waves; Uncle is shot and dies on the porch. John puts Abigail and Jack on a horse in the barn and sends them away. He opens the barn doors on a firing squad of soldiers headed by Ross, draws, kills several of them and is shot down. Ross holsters his pistol and smokes a cigar while John dies. He then signals the men, and they walk away. According to the English-language Red Dead Wiki, Fordham is visible among the men facing John through the barn doors (he can be shot in the final Dead Eye and may disappear from the cutscene that follows); the French-language wiki says he does not take part in the mission.

Red Dead Redemption: the 1914 epilogue

The story moves forward three years; the Red Dead Wiki dates this period to November 1914 from a newspaper report on the war between Great Britain and the Ottoman Empire. An article in the Blackwater Ledger No. 213, "Edgar Ross Retires After a Lifetime of Government Service", announces his retirement. It credits him with ending Native unrest in the region and with eliminating Bill Williamson, Dutch van der Linde, Javier Escuella and John Marston. It lists three medals: for Outstanding Service To His Country, for a Distinguished Career and for Exceptional Valor In The Field of Duty. Ross and his wife, Emily, have moved to a cabin by Lake Don Julio, in Cholla Springs, New Austin.

In "Remember My Family", Jack, now about nineteen and the player's character, asks a Bureau agent, Howard Sawicki, at the Blackwater station whether he worked with Edgar Ross. Sawicki only knew of him. He says Ross won a chest full of medals, retired about a year earlier and moved with his wife to a cabin on Lake Don Julio. Jack rides there and tells Emily Ross he has a letter for her husband. She complains about the Bureau (see Relationships) and says Edgar and his brother, Phillip, have gone hunting on the south side of the San Luis River.

Jack crosses into Nuevo Paraíso and finds Phillip at his hunting camp near Rio del Toro. Phillip sends him downriver, where his brother is hunting ducks. Jack finds Ross on the riverbank, shooting at ducks with a shotgun. He introduces himself as the son of John Marston. Ross laughs and says he remembers his father. When Jack accuses him of killing John, Ross answers that John's own way of life killed him. Jack insists that he saw it happen and that Ross shot his father like a dog. Ross threatens to shoot him the same way and orders him to leave. Jack refuses.

Ross drops his shotgun, and the two men face each other in a duel with their pistols. Jack fires first and kills Ross. Ross's death ends the main story of Red Dead Redemption, and the credits roll. In the game's chronology, it is the last event of the Redemption saga.

The Red Dead Wiki quotes the description of Ross printed in the guide to the Game of the Year Edition of Red Dead Redemption. It presents him as the head of a young government agency, "a man whose faded physical prowess has been supplanted by his mental acuteness", and "a cynic who sees the worst in everyone, and who loves the power that the government has recently granted him". The same text ends: "He sees himself as an individual who is completely above any law."

In the 1911 missions he calls John stupid and "devoid of intellect", and answers John's anger with jokes, including one about Abigail's death (see Biography).

In his own words

In "And You Will Know The Truth" he explains his role to John: "You see we, me and Archer, we're the bad guys. We enforce the rules. Now, while the rules may not be perfect, they're really not so bad." Then: "It's about one man and his gun versus another man. Sure, civilization may be dull, but the alternative, Mr. Marston, is hell." When John points out that this civilization is enforced by kidnapping a man's wife and son, Ross concedes: "Well, I know there's contradictions. I'm not going to lie to you." Asked what the speech was for, he answers: "I don't rightly know, but it sure felt good saying it."

On the drive to the wreck of the Serendipity, in "Bear One Another's Burdens": "A new dawn is breaking, Mr. Marston. This is the age of the machine." On the ride out of Blackwater in "Great Men are Not Always Wise": "Civilization is coming to the West, and we will clear out the dead wood." At the end of the same mission, after Dutch has escaped: "You know, at the end of this, you'll probably get a medal. I know I shall."

Names

Milton introduces him as Agent Ross in 1899, and he uses the same title when he calls on the gang to surrender at Beaver Hollow. In Blackwater John asks for Mr. Ross at the police station and Fordham speaks of him as Mr. Ross; in 1914 his wife calls him Edgar, and the Bureau agent Howard Sawicki says Edgar Ross. He addresses John as Mr. Marston, and sometimes as "old boy" or "dear boy". The Red Dead Wiki lists Agent Ross as his alias.

Appearance

According to the Red Dead Wiki, in 1899 he has short dark brown hair, a thick mustache and a bowler hat with his Pinkerton suit. In 1907 his hair, now parted in the middle, shows some gray, and he no longer wears a bowler hat. In 1911 he is gray-haired, with a gray mustache and a higher forehead; he wears a beige three-piece suit, a red tie and a black bowler hat. In 1914, retired, he hunts in a shirt and suspenders under a wide-brimmed hat.

Authority and methods

When John asks in "Great Men are Not Always Wise" whether the agents are lawmen or army, Fordham answers "We are neither, Mr. Marston." and Ross adds: "But I have the authority over both." In the same exchange he says that a local lawman with a badge is good enough for saloon drunks but that serious matters need a firmer hand. In 1911 he works through informants (an unnamed informant who tips him off about Dutch's visit to the Blackwater bank, then Nastas), through the academic Harold MacDougal, through local lawmen and through the army. He also relies on new equipment: the automobile mounted with a Gatling gun that carries him, Fordham and John to the army camp is, in Fordham's words, "a simple prototype".

Weapons and horses

The Red Dead Wiki lists the Cattleman Revolver, the Repeating Shotgun, the Pump-Action Shotgun, the High Power Pistol and the Winchester Repeater among his weapons, and three horses: a Dutch Warmblood in 1899, a Kentucky Saddler in 1907 and a Painted Standardbred in 1911.

Ross appears in six missions of Red Dead Redemption 2 (one by voice only, one in the end credits) and eight of Red Dead Redemption. In Red Dead Redemption, four of them form his own mission strand, from "Bear One Another's Burdens" to "And The Truth Will Set You Free"; according to the Red Dead Wiki, they are marked on the map with the letter G, for Government, rather than with an initial of his name. The table for Red Dead Redemption adds "At Home with Dutch", in which he is only mentioned.

Red Dead Redemption 2, chapters 2 to 6

Red Dead Redemption 2, epilogue

Red Dead Redemption, 1911

Red Dead Redemption, 1914

The lines below are given as spoken in the original English, with the mission and the person addressed. His lines on civilization, the age of the machine and the medal he expects are quoted under Personality (In his own words).

Red Dead Redemption 2 (1899 and 1907)

• Enjoy your fishing, kid... while you still can.

  A Fisher of Men (RDR2, chapter 2), to Jack, as he leaves

• This is Agent Ross with the Pinkerton Detective Agency. Put your guns down. Lay down your weapons now. We have you surrounded.

  Red Dead Redemption (RDR2, chapter 6), to the gang, at the start of the assault on Beaver Hollow

• I see Arthur Morgan and John Marston. Drop your weapons, put your hands in the air and we will cease fire.

  Red Dead Redemption (RDR2, chapter 6), spotting Arthur and John near the cave

• I want them out of there now, dead or alive. Do you understand me?

  Red Dead Redemption (RDR2, chapter 6), to his agents, as Arthur and John reach the ladder out of the cave

• I want all criminals to know that here in America, everyone will eventually pay for what they have done.

  Statement on being sworn in, quoted in the newspaper article "Bureau of Investigation Founded" (RDR2, 1907)

Red Dead Redemption, Acts II and III (1911)

• Mr. Marston! Fancy seeing you down here.

  The Gates of El Presidio (RDR1, Act II), to John, near the border bridge

• Oh, your wife sends her regards.

  The Gates of El Presidio (RDR1, Act II), to John, before driving off with Javier

• No one's playing games with you, Mr. Marston. But if we were to play some games, there'd be some interesting ones we could play. Like hanging you for murder, or confiscating all your property, like that little farm of yours, or having you put in the electric chair. Those are the sort of games we could play, but we choose to play a different game, so calm down, and play along with us.

  Bear One Another's Burdens (RDR1, Act III), to John, who accuses the agents of playing games with him

• Mr. Marston, please, I've never insulted your meagre intelligence. Do not insult mine.

  Bear One Another's Burdens (RDR1, Act III), to John, who asks again where his wife is

• Come on, Marston. Moral degeneracy waits for no man. Let's hurry along.

  Bear One Another's Burdens (RDR1, Act III), to John, after releasing Nigel West Dickens

• The life you lived...you don't just walk away from that, buy a few chickens and make it all disappear. You should be dead or rotting in a jail cell by now. We are giving you a chance at new life, a chance at redemption. You can't erase your past, Mr. Marston, but we can.

  Bear One Another's Burdens (RDR1, Act III), to John, who asks where it will end

• You see this, Mr. Fordham. The brooding cowboy. There aren't many of these left, you know. A bit of a cliche, admittedly, but still a dying breed. Like the buffalo, just as dumb but not quite as noble.

  Bear One Another's Burdens (RDR1, Act III), to Fordham, in the automobile, after John says he is not comfortable

• You're a murderer. Actions have consequences, Mr. Marston.

  Bear One Another's Burdens (RDR1, Act III), to John, who has just called him a coward for taking a man's wife and child

• Let's just say, our Bureau is tasked with work of special interest to Washington. Work that requires a little more skill and finesse.

  Great Men are Not Always Wise (RDR1, Act III), to John, who asks whether the agents are lawmen or army

• Oh spare me the noble savage fall on my sword tripe, already. It's nauseating. You don't wish to be dead. You're an insignificant creature, desperately clinging onto life like the rest of the scum in this town.

  And You Will Know The Truth (RDR1, Act III), to John, who says he wishes the agents had killed him

• He's like one of those nature writers from back East. Only he gets things a tiny little step too far. Rather than just loving the flowers and the animals and the harmony between man and beast, he shoots people in the head for money. And disagreeing with him. [...] Now, I'm not a great intellect, but the metaphysical leap from admiring the flower to shooting a man in the head because he doesn't like the flower, is a leap too far.

  And You Will Know The Truth (RDR1, Act III), to John, about Dutch

• Good God, this flawed philosophy of yours again. If you wish to argue the finer points of ethics, I suggest you learn to read first.

  And The Truth Will Set You Free (RDR1, Act III), to John, on the ride to Cochinay

• So, at the end, you didn't have the guts to shoot him?

  And The Truth Will Set You Free (RDR1, Act III), to John, at Dutch's body

• Oh trust me, it looks better in the report that way.

  And The Truth Will Set You Free (RDR1, Act III), after firing John's gun into Dutch's body

• Your wife was killed in a prison riot last week.

  And The Truth Will Set You Free (RDR1, Act III), to John, who asks where his family is

• I'm only joking, dear boy. They were sent back to that scrabble ranch of yours in Beecher's Hope. They're quite safe and sound.

  And The Truth Will Set You Free (RDR1, Act III), once John has drawn his gun on him

• Yeah, exactly. See you around. Try to stay out of trouble. Come on, Archer, let's go find somebody else we can annoy.

  And The Truth Will Set You Free (RDR1, Act III), after Fordham thanks John, as the agents leave

Red Dead Redemption, 1914

• I see... I remember your father.

  Remember My Family (RDR1, 1914), to Jack, who has just introduced himself as John Marston's son

• And you boy, have sure as shit found me.

  Remember My Family (RDR1, 1914), to Jack, who says he has come for him

• Your father killed himself with the life he lived.

  Remember My Family (RDR1, 1914), to Jack, who accuses him of killing John

• And I'll shoot you like one too, you little piece of trash! Now get out of here before I kill you as well!

  Remember My Family (RDR1, 1914), his last words, to Jack, who says he shot his father like a dog

Casting

Ross is played by Jim Bentley in both games. The cast list printed in the manual of Red Dead Redemption (2010) credits him in the role, next to David Wilson Barnes as Archer Fordham. Wikipedia's list of Red Dead Redemption 2 characters gives Bentley again for Ross in the 2018 prequel. According to the Red Dead Wiki, he provided both the voice and the motion capture of the character. The same wiki describes Bentley as an actor, stuntman and magician whose film credits include Tequila Sunrise. According to Wikipedia, Rockstar hired Rod Edge as full-time director to handle the actors' performances on Red Dead Redemption, and he was motion capture director on Red Dead Redemption 2, whose recording sessions began in 2013 and lasted 2,200 days in total.

Historical background

In 2010, the year of Red Dead Redemption's release, Rockstar published a series of features on the history behind the game, The True West. One of them, "A New National Order", reprinted by the fan site iRedDead on June 18, 2010, traces the growth of federal law enforcement under the Progressive presidents. It presents Charles Joseph Bonaparte, a relative of Napoleon, as the founder of modern federal law enforcement, and names "Red Dead Redemption's Edgar Ross, a representative of this new breed of Federal Special Agent, who offers Marston a deal he can't refuse." The real force of special agents was created in 1908, when Bonaparte was Attorney General under Theodore Roosevelt; it was named the Bureau of Investigation in 1909 and took the name Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1935.

Cut content

The files of Red Dead Redemption contain a cutscene, labeled fbi03, that was not used. In it, Ross mocks a newspaper story about women wanting the vote, and Fordham answers that his Bessie does. When John arrives, Ross jokes about buying a holiday home at Beecher's Hope and says he will need military help in the pursuit of justice. John reminds him that the plan was for John himself to take the public acclaim for killing Dutch; Ross answers that John will kill Dutch, but that a clash between the army and Native Americans would also serve. John objects that those people have lived peacefully there for more than 20 years, and Ross replies that the American public does not need to know it. The scene was to lead into West Dickens's arrest in "Bear One Another's Burdens".

According to the Red Dead Wiki, subtitles left in the files of "The Last Enemy That Shall Be Destroyed" suggest an earlier version of the mission: a soldier was to kidnap Abigail, John was to fetch his rifle from the kitchen and choose between running, fighting and surrendering, and Fordham was to kill Rufus, the family dog. Ross also has unused lines for that mission. In Red Dead Redemption 2, Ross has an unused gunbelt, and a cutscene of the end credits was meant to show him and Fordham questioning townspeople and Sheriff Hanley in Strawberry; the Red Dead Wiki notes that Hanley may only be a placeholder in the cutscene files.

Critics and commentators

• Steve J. Palmer, who plays Bill Williamson, interviewed on the Red Dead Wiki (post first published on January 16, 2012): he said he was surprised that many players saw Bill as the main villain, and that Ross deserved the title: "That guy was a slime ball, and the TRUE baddy. Hats off to Jim Bentley for a great character."
• Game Informer, April 16, 2014: in a feature on memorable game endings, Shin Hieftje writes that in the final scene "Ross cockily defends his actions to Jack, making him even more reprehensible."
• Game Rant, March 27, 2020: Joshua Duckworth writes that Ross believes in government, civilization and society "as long as it benefits him", that he is "not a man of his word", and that he betrays John "to pad his own accomplishments".
• WhatCulture, February 7, 2022: Matt Thompson ranks Ross third among the villains of the series, behind Dutch and Micah. He cites the kidnapping of Abigail and Jack, the joke about Abigail's death and the broken deal, and concludes: "Because Ross is so slimy, so reprehensible, and so unapologetic; it makes him all the better a villain to put six heavy bullets in."

Academic analysis

In a chapter on law and order in the series, published on March 30, 2023 in the collection Red Dead Redemption: History, Myth, and Violence in the Video Game West (University of Oklahoma Press, edited by John Wills and Esther Wright), the historian Robert Whitaker compares Ross's handling of gangsters and of public perception of law enforcement to the methods of J. Edgar Hoover. Wikipedia's list of Red Dead Redemption 2 characters quotes his conclusion: "the duplicity, viciousness, and consistency of Edgar Ross's character makes him an incredibly effective villain, and also a deeply satisfying final enemy". The same list, citing Game Rant and Whitaker, presents Ross as standing for civilization, the end of the Wild West and the corruption of government and police in that era.

Multiplayer

Ross became a playable character model in the multiplayer mode of Red Dead Redemption with the Liars and Cheats Pack, released on September 21, 2010 for 9.99 dollars on the PlayStation Network and 800 Microsoft Points on Xbox Live. The pack added fifteen characters from the story. Players select Ross in the Damnation section of the Outfitter, with Abraham Reyes, Agustin Allende, Bill Williamson, Dutch van der Linde, Harold MacDougal and Irish. The other group, Redemption, includes John, Abigail and Jack Marston. The versions of Red Dead Redemption released on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch on August 17, 2023, then on PC on October 29, 2024, do not include the multiplayer mode, so the Ross model is not available in them.

Marketing

The official artwork of Ross for Red Dead Redemption shows him holding a Colt M1911 pistol. This weapon does not appear in the game. The United States Army adopted the M1911 in March 1911, and full-scale production started in 1912.

Across both games

• According to the Red Dead Wiki, Ross and Jack Marston are the only major characters of the series who appear in all four periods of the Redemption story: 1899, 1907, 1911 and 1914.
• On screen, Ross and Jack meet only twice, in "A Fisher of Men" in 1899 and in "Remember My Family" in 1914. Both scenes take place on a riverbank, and Ross holds a long gun both times: a rifle in 1899, a duck-hunting shotgun in 1914.
• According to the Red Dead Wiki, Ross's height and eye color differ between the two games: he is much shorter than John and Fordham in Red Dead Redemption but about as tall as Fordham and Milton in Red Dead Redemption 2, and his eyes are blue in the first game and brown in the second.

Red Dead Redemption 2

• In the 1907 end credits, Ross and Fordham still wear Pinkerton badges, although a newspaper of the epilogue reports Ross's appointment at the head of the new Bureau.
• One of the women Arthur scares away from Javier in the Valentine saloon during "Americans at Rest" reappears in the credits scene in which Ross and Fordham question customers of Smithfield's Saloon.

Red Dead Redemption

• Nigel West Dickens says to John, during one of his own missions, the same sentence about moral degeneracy that Ross uses in "Bear One Another's Burdens" (see Quotes).
• At the start of "Great Men Are Not Always Wise", John can go back into Ross's office and crack a safe that is only accessible during this mission.
• During John's last stand in "The Last Enemy That Shall Be Destroyed", aiming at Ross shows a friendly cursor, and he cannot be killed, so the scene always plays out.
• The 1914 newspaper article credits Ross alone with the deaths of the gang members. It does not mention Archer Fordham or the soldiers and marshals present at Beecher's Hope.
• Ross's 1914 cabin on Lake Don Julio is the house where Irish sends John to look for a Gatling gun in "A Frenchman, a Welshman and an Irishman".
• In "Remember My Family", Ross wears clothes similar to Uncle's. He can be heard cursing when he misses the ducks.
• Aiming at Ross, his wife or his brother through a rifle scope before the duel fails the mission, even without firing. Hogtying Ross also fails it: he must die in the scripted duel. In the duel, aiming at his gun or his hand does not fill the bar, and the player loses.
• Jack can kill Emily and Phillip Ross after talking to them without failing the mission. It costs honor unless he wears the bandana, and killing Edgar Ross restores the honor lost.
• Each time the duel is lost and restarted, Ross hunts with a different shotgun: a double-barreled, a semi-automatic or a pump-action model. Players can use this to get the semi-automatic shotgun for free from his body.
• After the closing credits, Ross's body can be looted for 400 dollars. A shot from a powerful weapon can send it into the river, where it can only be looted after being pushed back to the bank on foot.
• Once "Remember My Family" is completed, its summary text calls Ross an FBI agent. The Bureau of Investigation only took that name in 1935.

Undead Nightmare (non-canon)

• Ross does not appear in Undead Nightmare. His office in Blackwater is empty, with his diplomas still on the wall.