Seth Briars
Voiced by Kevin Glikmann
Seth Briars hands out 3 of the 57 story missions, the first Exhuming and Other Fine Hobbies and the last Let the Dead Bury Their Dead.
Hands out work. Their initial is the marker you ride to.
- Role
- Mission givers
- Voice actor
- Kevin Glikmann
- Occupation
- Grave robber Treasure hunter Businessman (formerly)
- Affiliations
- John Marston, Williamson gang (formerly), Nigel West Dickens, Moses Forth (formerly), Aiden O'Leary (formerly)
- Also known as
- Seth of the Dead, Freak with the Glass Eye
Player notes
Seth Briars is an American treasure hunter and former businessman who becomes a filthy, isolated grave robber. As a child, he loses the piglet he considers the only thing he loves when his father kills it. He later has a wife and children, and partners with Moses Forth in a treasure-hunting business. Moses steals part of their map, and Seth's obsession with recovering it costs him his family and livelihood.
Nigel West Dickens directs John Marston to Seth at Coot's Chapel. Seth once worked with Bill Williamson but cares more about his missing map than Fort Mercer. John agrees to help him recover it in exchange for assistance. At Benedict Point, John draws the law away from the jailed Moses, captures him after he flees, and brings him back to Seth. Moses reveals that his half of the map is at Odd Fellow's Rest.
Seth takes a wagon of corpses from Odd Fellow's Rest towards Tumbleweed, searching them as John drives off Treasure Hunters. He finds the map fragment, which leads them to Tumbleweed itself. There, Seth and John fight through more Treasure Hunters to the mansion. The chest contains only a glass eye, leaving Seth enraged and crushed, but he keeps his promise to help John. Seth enters Fort Mercer before the assault and lets Nigel West Dickens' coach inside. When Bill is gone after the fighting, Seth leaves John.
In Undead Nightmare, Seth spends time at The Old Bacchus Place with the undead Moses Forth and sends John to clear New Austin's cemeteries. When that does not stop the plague, Seth points him towards Mexico. Months after John returns the mask in Escalera Catacombs, Seth steals it, reviving John and renewing the outbreak. A 1914 newspaper later reports that Seth brings a sack of gold and jewels into Blackwater after finding them somewhere in Tall Trees.
Trivia
- โSeth is Rob Wiethoff's favorite character in Red Dead Redemption.
- โSeth doesn't like living people, especially women. He has been driven to lose all faith in others because of his obsession with treasure and Moses' betrayal. You can gain insight into this by what he says during your first mission with him, "Exhuming and Other Fine Hobbies", which was, "I don't have the facility to tell you, what I would have done for that man", Of course referring to Moses, and "I don't like women partner, I don't, Not since mammy died." Although Seth mentions that he dislikes women, he appears to be very emotional about the death of his mother. It is possible that his hatred originated at the time of her death that and his wife leaving him as well. His dialogue suggests that he dislikes women because of their ability to die and leaving him.
- โThe Blackwater Ledger repeatedly reports on Briars' actions as a serial grave robber, noting public outrage at the desecration of local graveyards. However, the paper credits Moses Forth as the perpetrator of these crimes.
- โIronically, when interviewed about his discovery of the treasure in Tall Trees, Seth claimed that he has no connections to Moses.
- โSome of Seth's dialogue seems to indicate that he suffers from some sort of split-personality disorder.
- โIronically, during Seth's last mission he walks right by the actual treasure in the basement. He passes right by the third treasure of the Treasure Hunter Challenge, unless the player has already acquired that treasure, then he passes over nothing of value.
- โIn the short film The Man From Blackwater, Seth finds his treasure (a glass eye) in Fort Mercer as opposed to finding it in Tumbleweed while doing the mission "Let the Dead Bury Their Dead".
- โIt is implied in the GameStop Undead Nightmare preview that Seth may have unintentionally caused the Undead plague by stealing the Glass Eye in his last mission "Let the Dead Bury Their Dead". However, this is later proven to be incorrect.
- โThe same reason is assumed to why the undead never attack Seth. It is a theory amongst fans that the glass eye gives Seth immunity to attacks from the undead.
- โAt the end of Seth's mission in Undead Nightmare "Get Back in that Hole, Partner", although it is not possible to shoot the undead Seth is dancing with, you can shoot the lantern above them which will set one on fire causing the others to attack.
- โThe same is true with Undead Bait. It will cause Moses to attack Seth, who will then shoot him. If you try and shoot Moses, Seth will end up shooting you, and is then killable. Also, if you run over the zombies mounted on War, they will start burning and Seth will run away; then, you can shoot him.
- โWhen John Marston searches the corpses of undead he will sometimes say "Seth, I'm sorry about all the insults". He may also say "Seth, finally I've joined you", or "Seth, how do you enjoy this?".
- โIn the Red Dead Redemption artwork of Seth, he appears to be slightly more healthy - he has longer and thicker hair.
- โWhile sitting at a campfire, John can hear a story about an entire family gunned down at Tumbleweed (possibly by police or federal agents). The man at the fire mentions that all of their possessions were destroyed, except for a glass eye. This is likely the same glass eye found by Seth at Tumbleweed, and would also explain its mystical connection to the undead in the non-canon DLC.
- โDespite his insanity, in Undead Nightmare he is the first one to inform Marston of what really caused the plague while everyone else just comes up with random theories. Also, he seems to have figured out a way to tame the Undead, such as having them dance or play the violin.
- โIn Undead Nightmare, when Seth is playing cards, the player can make his chair fall on the ground by walking into him. Going into his shack and then get out of it, Seth will be sitting in the air.
- โAlthough Seth states he would end his obsession with the dead in his final mission of the regular game, Seth shows much affection and attachment to the zombies in Undead Nightmare. However, this was to be expected in a way since Seth doesn't bother to change his clothes or wash at all after completing "Get Back in That Hole, Partner".
- โSeth and West Dickens are the only un-infected major characters in Undead Nightmare who do not combat the undead in any way.
- โIf the player fails enough times during the ride in "Exhuming and Other Fine Hobbies", Seth will talk about how the only thing he has eaten in several days is a dead crow, and how it (and everything else) tasted like the piglet that his father killed when he was a kid.
- โHis nickname, Seth of the Dead, is presumably a reference to the movie Shaun of the Dead.
- โIn Ancient Egypt, Seth was the name of the god associated with (among other things) desert and disorder, traits found also in the grave robber; Nigel West Dickens also mentions, during "Liars, Cheats and Other Proud Americans", that his friend would have been respected in that period.
- โLike most other major characters in Undead Nightmare, after the story is completed, Seth cannot be found anywhere.
- โHis last name is never mentioned at all in either games.
- โThere is an unused PED model for Seth for Red Dead Online found in the game files. It shares a face model with John Marston, albeit, slightly altered.
- โHe seems to resemble Gollum from the Lord of the Rings franchise in personality and appearance to some extent.
Story missions
3 missionsIn story order, numbered as they are on the mission list. Not all of these are missions they hand you; some they only appear in.
Character data from Red Dead Wiki, CC BY-SA. Not affiliated with Rockstar Games.
Last verified September 14, 2026