Charles Smith
Voiced by Noshir Dalal
Charles Smith hands out 3 of the 128 story missions, the first The King's Son and the last High and Low Finance.
Hands out work. Their initial is the marker you drive to.
- Role
- Mission givers
- Voice actor
- Noshir Dalal
- Status
- Not stated
- Occupation
- Outlaw (c. 1899) Street fighter (c. 1907) Rancher (temporarily; 1907)
- Affiliations
- Van der Linde gang (formerly), Marston family
Player notes
Charles Smith reaches Colter with the Van der Linde gang after the Blackwater ferry robbery. He has found the gang's horses and lends Arthur Morgan Taima, despite burning his hand during the escape. When provisions run low, he takes Arthur into the snow to hunt deer and shows him how to use a bow. Charles helps rob Leviticus Cornwall's train, watches Kieran Duffy and tends the horses. As the gang leaves the mountains, he tells Arthur that he lived with his mother's people until the Army forced them away, then ran from his alcoholic father at thirteen.
At Horseshoe Overlook, Charles joins the rescue of Sean MacGuire, taking a position above the bounty hunters' camp while Arthur, Javier Escuella and Josiah Trelawny approach it. He hunts bison with Arthur and is angered by poachers leaving carcasses to blame Native Americans. He later controls the train engineer during a robbery. Dutch sends Charles and Arthur to inspect Dewberry Creek for a camp. They find a kidnapped German father, free him from bandits and reunite him with his family. Charles returns to direct the gang's caravan to Clemens Point.
Charles escapes a failed Cornwall stagecoach robbery with Arthur, Bill Williamson and Uncle, then helps Arthur find Josiah Trelawny after bounty hunters seize him. At Shady Belle, he leaves to assist Eagle Flies in freeing Wapiti men being taken to reform school. He survives the Saint Denis bank robbery and distracts Pinkertons so Dutch, Arthur and others can flee by boat. With Sadie Adler, he holds the remaining gang together, moves them to Lakay and recovers Hosea Matthews and Lenny Summers' bodies for burial. He scouts Beaver Hollow with Arthur after the Pinkertons attack Lakay.
Charles asks Arthur to help him rescue Eagle Flies from Fort Wallace, then fights beside the Wapiti during their war with the Army. When the gang breaks apart, he remains with Arthur and helps John Marston escape from Beaver Hollow. In 1907, Charles finds John in Saint Denis and joins him and Sadie in rescuing Abigail Marston. He helps John build Beecher's Hope, works as a street fighter in Saint Denis, and rides with John and Sadie to Mount Hagen, where they kill Micah Bell. Charles leaves Beecher's Hope intending to head north to Canada.
Trivia
- โCharles is Roger Clark's favorite character.
- โIf the player antagonizes the camp enough, Charles will punch Arthur and throw him out of the camp, just like Lenny, Javier, Bill, Sean and John.
- โCharles is the only Van der Linde gang member that allows Arthur to ride his horse. The only other instance of Arthur riding another gang member's horse is during "Our Best Selves", where Arthur rides with Dutch on The Count, though the player cannot control Dutch's Arabian.
- โIn a cut camp encounter, Charles is tripped by Bill who then proceeds to further antagonize Charles which results in him punching Bill.
- โCharlesโ sidearm and weapon of choice is a Sawed-Off Shotgun with a black and white varnish; he is unique from other gang members in that his personal sidearm is not a revolver.
- โCharles can be seen holstering a Cattleman Revolver during "That's Murfree Country", before quickly discarding it in favor of his shotgun once knowing their destination.
- โOccasionally, if Arthur has spent a long time away from camp, Charles may be one of the members of the gang who can be sent by Dutch to track Arthur down. After he has found Arthur, the player then has the option to fast travel back to camp with him. The same applies with John if he spent a long time away from Beecher's Hope, Charles is sent on his own to track John down. After he has found John, the player has the option to fast travel back to Beecher's Hope.
- โThere is an unused mission cutscene from Chapter 4 in the files of the game that shows Charles leaving camp on horseback, which was originally part of a cut mission involving Charles, Eagle Flies, and Arthur rescuing Native children from being taken to reform school. The cutscene was repurposed into a regular random encounter in the final game and part of this cutscene can be seen in the second trailer for Red Dead Redemption 2 where he says "We need an extra gun."
- โUnlike Sadie, Charles is listed in a 1907 newspaper article alongside Micah, Bill, Javier and John as being a wanted member of the Van der Linde gang who is "still at large".
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