Mission giver

Dutch van der Linde

Voiced by Benjamin Byron Davis

24 missions given

Dutch van der Linde hands out 24 of the 128 story missions, the first Our Best Selves and the last Country Pursuits.

Hands out work. Their initial is the marker you drive to.

Role: Mission givers
Voice actor: Benjamin Byron Davis
Status: Not stated
Occupation: Outlaw Gang leader Revolutionary Deputy (temporarily)
Affiliations: Van der Linde gang (leader), Micah's gang (1907), Dutch's gang (leader) (1911), Colm O'Driscoll (formerly), Gray family (temporarily), Guarma Rebels (temporarily), Wapiti Indians (temporarily)
Also known as: The Messiah, The Devil, The Wrong Star

Player notes

Dutch van der Linde grows up near Philadelphia after his father dies fighting for the Union. He leaves home young, educates himself and embraces a life beyond government authority. On the road to Chicago, he and Hosea Matthews try to swindle one another, then become partners and form the Van der Linde gang. They take in Arthur Morgan, later John Marston and others, presenting the gang as a family. Dutch's feud with Colm O'Driscoll begins after Dutch kills Colm's brother and Colm murders Dutch's lover Annabelle.

In 1899, Dutch leads the gang away from a failed Blackwater ferry robbery, where he has killed an innocent woman and left money behind. Snowbound in the Grizzlies, he directs Arthur, Micah Bell and the others through attacks on the O'Driscolls, the Adler ranch rescue and the robbery at Cornwall's train. At Horseshoe Overlook, Dutch tells the gang that one more score will finance their escape, while Arthur carries out work against Cornwall, the O'Driscolls and local debtors.

Dutch seeks influence in Rhodes by using the Grays and Braithwaites against each other. When the families turn on the gang, he leads the assault on Braithwaite Manor to recover Jack Marston, then takes the gang to Clemens Point and later Shady Belle. He rescues Jack from Angelo Bronte in Saint Denis, but grows hostile when Bronte belittles him. Dutch drowns Bronte after the gang kidnaps him, and commits to robbing the Saint Denis bank despite Hosea's doubts.

The bank robbery ends with Hosea's execution, Lenny Summers' death and John Marston's capture. Dutch, Arthur, Micah, Javier Escuella and Bill Williamson escape aboard a ship and are stranded on Guarma. Dutch joins the local rebels against Alberto Fussar, helps seize a warship and returns to America with the survivors. At Lakay, he reunites with the gang, but leaves Abigail Roberts and several others behind while they flee the Pinkertons.

From Beaver Hollow, Dutch pursues increasingly violent plans. He confronts Colonel Leviticus Cornwall, allies himself with the Wapiti under Rains Fall, then exploits Eagle Flies' anger to provoke war against the Army. During the attack on Cornwall Kerosene & Tar, Dutch abandons Arthur after he is wounded and later refuses to help John escape prison. When Molly O'Shea claims she informed on the gang, Dutch shoots her, though it is later revealed that she did not betray them.

Arthur becomes convinced that Micah is the Pinkertons' informant and tries to save John, Abigail, Jack and the remaining gang members. Dutch kills Susan Grimshaw when she challenges Micah, then watches Arthur and Micah fight as the camp breaks apart. He walks away from Micah after Arthur tells him that Micah betrayed them. In 1907, Dutch finds Micah at his Mount Hagen hideout, shoots him during John's confrontation and leaves John with the money. By 1911, he leads a new gang from Cochinay, until John corners him on a cliff and Dutch steps to his death.

Trivia

◆Dutch's appearance and voice appear to be partially inspired by the late Powers Boothe's portrayal of "Curly Bill" Brocius in the 1993 film Tombstone.
◆After Dutch's death, his lair can be explored. There is a well-stocked bookshelf and a desk with a typewriter, further emphasizing his intelligence and his paradoxical relationship with modernity. There is also a bathtub hidden behind a makeshift curtain.
◆Dutch himself uses a Semi-automatic Pistol, a prime symbol of future technology compared to the typical revolver still used by many, when he is against civilization and modernization himself. He also uses an automobile to flee from Blackwater after robbing the bank, instead of the horse he previously owned circa 1899.
◆All these contradictions may also intentionally be emblematic of an underlying hypocrisy in Dutch and his gang. As John points out to Javier Escuella, their philosophies were an excuse, which is something "[they] all knew."
◆In the mission "And The Truth Will Set You Free", when Dutch is forced off the machine gun, he has a High Power Pistol in his holster. When he is fleeing through the caves, the first time he fires at Marston is with a High Power Pistol, the second time he fires is with a Semi-automatic Pistol, and when he is cornered, the game will usually glitch and show him holding a Cattleman Revolver. Similarly, enough, sometimes in "The Prodigal Son Returns (To Yale)", he will have a Cattleman in his holster and the Semi-Automatic Pistol in his hand.
◆John implies that he still has respect for Dutch, when he says to Agent Ross, "I'd kill you a hundred times before I killed Dutch if it were an option." The fact that John says this even right after watching Dutch shoot an innocent woman in the head could raise concerns about John's character as a person but is likely meant to show John's opinion towards Ross, more arguably, who he sees as even worse than Dutch, probably because Ross has the power that he is corrupt with, which is the key thing that Dutch has always been against as well as how John also condemned Dutch for being "the same crazy bastard he turned into" for murdering the innocent woman.
◆At the edge of the cliff on the mission "And The Truth Will Set You Free", Dutch appears to be wounded in the torso despite appearing unharmed moments earlier.
◆Although it is never expressly revealed as to whether they were his precise target, Dutch appears to be a frighteningly skilled shooter, as he is able to shoot John's binoculars from well over 100 feet away. Dutch manages to do so from about a 70-degree upwards angle, with the wind, cold and gravity effects of being on a mountaintop working against him, and above all with a single shot from what is meant to be a mid-range pistol, taking little over a second to correct his aim.
◆This could also be interpreted as an in-game representation of Dead Eye Targeting, albeit from the target's perspective.
◆When Dutch is using the Maxim Gun in "And The Truth Will Set You Free", the player can use the invincibility cheat to get behind him. If the player hogties Dutch, he can be killed with no effect on the story or mission.
◆Dutch's line "When I'm gone, they'll just find another monster" foreshadows Agent Ross' betrayal of John even after he killed Dutch.
◆Dutch's corpse is far more detailed than what the player is typically able to see. Injuries include a large, disfiguring avulsion on the right side of his face, and both arms are broken with open fractures. If using trainers, selecting Dutch's corpse model will reveal the arms to be unnaturally twisted.
◆Dutch is the only one of John's targets that he is never given the option to kill; instead opting to kill himself. Bill and Javier can both either be killed or spared although their fate remains the same regardless of the player's actions.
◆During a camp interaction at Horseshoe Overlook, Dutch will state to members of the gang that his mother's ancestry hails from the county of Lincolnshire in England, while his father's family is from Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
◆In the mission "The New South", Dutch tells Arthur that his father was killed in a field in Pennsylvania fighting Southerners during the Civil War. This heavily suggests his father was killed during the Battle of Gettysburg, the most famous battle of the Civil War.
◆His alias "Aiden O'Malley" is a reference to a character with the same name in Grand Theft Auto IV.
◆Dutch's mother, Greta van der Linde, is buried in Blackwater and her grave can be found in the game beside the Blackwater chapel.
◆The head injury Dutch sustains in the trolley crash during "Urban Pleasures" might have affected his worsening mental state somewhat. This is also insinuated by Arthur repeatedly questioning Dutch of his condition following the accident. Furthermore, Dutch acts somewhat dazed and mentally lost after that incident with even Abigail wondering if he is fine. He even says he himself feels odd after John asks him why he is being funny with him.
◆Interestingly, signs of Dutch’s mental deterioration can be seen as early as Chapter 2. During certain camp encounters, Dutch will accuse Arthur of stalking him and will also state that Arthur was the type of person who would betray him in the end. However, when confronted about the latter, he will claim that he is tired.
◆Dutch's speech on the cliff at the end of the mission "Favored Sons" mirrors his last words said to John Marston in "And The Truth Will Set You Free".
◆If the player antagonizes him enough, Dutch will shove Arthur. He shares this outcome with Micah.
◆In a random encounter in the camp, Dutch claims that the theory of man being evolved from the monkey is for "small-minded scientists", suggesting he doesn't believe in it.
◆Dutch uses a pair of custom Schofield Revolvers which have black, silver frames, pearl grips and golden engravings. While he is in Guarma, however, he uses a pair of Double-Action Revolvers.
◆Dutch's proclaimed plan for the gang to flee to Tahiti after gathering enough funds for the gang to travel there is similar to that of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch retreat to South America, the latter actually achieving this pipe dream, as in 1899 they planned to run away to a subtropical island, and unlike the Van der Linde gang, Wild Bunch members Butch Cassidy and Harry Longabaugh made their getaway to Argentina in 1901.
◆Arthur says that Dutch has a very strong bond with his horse, The Count. He also says that The Count won’t let anyone other than Dutch ride him, and that he was bucked "faster than a bull" when he once tried to mount it.
◆Dutch is seen with his own unique hunting knife, which he only uses once in the mission "Just a Social Call".
◆Dutch has a unique looking bandana - it has a checked red and white pattern, which differs from the plain black color that the rest of the gang use. Aside from Dutch, only Lenny and Uncle use non-black bandanas.
◆Dutch never uses any long arms in either game but is depicted with a Bolt Action Rifle over his shoulder in promotional art for Redemption 2.
◆Dutch has his initials on his knife holster (D.V.L).
◆"The Redcliff" outfit in Red Dead Online is based on Dutch's main attire.