Orville Swanson
Voiced by Sean Haberle
Orville Swanson hands out 1 of the 128 story missions, the first Who is Not Without Sin and the last Who is Not Without Sin.
Hands out work. Their initial is the marker you drive to.
- Role
- Mission givers
- Voice actor
- Sean Haberle
- Status
- Not stated
- Occupation
- Clergyman Minister
- Affiliations
- Van der Linde gang (unknown - 1899) First Congregational Church of New York (1907)
- Also known as
- Reverend Swanson Swanson
Player notes
Orville Swanson, known as Reverend Swanson, travels with the Van der Linde gang as its troubled clergyman. During the flight from Blackwater, he tells Dutch that Abigail Roberts says the badly wounded Davey Callander is dying. Once the gang reaches Colter and Abigail confirms Davey's death, Swanson says nothing more could have been done. He remains in camp with the noncombatants, and Arthur Morgan finds him reading from the Bible beside John Marston after John's wolf attack.
At Horseshoe Overlook, Arthur goes to a railroad station to retrieve Swanson, who is drunk at a poker table. Swanson flees, is assaulted nearby, then escapes again onto the tracks. Arthur pulls him clear before a train reaches him and brings him back to camp. Around the fire, Swanson admits that he unknowingly entered a bigamous marriage. At Shady Belle, he takes shelter when the O'Driscoll Boys attack, and Dutch orders him to bury Kieran Duffy's mutilated body after the assault.
When Arthur returns from Guarma to Lakay, Swanson is sober and in control of himself. He stays abstinent at Beaver Hollow as the gang falls apart, then decides to leave rather than follow Dutch's increasingly erratic course. Arthur meets him at Emerald Station after "The Fine Art of Conversation". Swanson says he urged the women and Jack Marston to depart with him, but they refused, then boards a train. Later, Charles tells John Marston that Swanson has become a preacher in New York, where he is minister of the First Congregational Church of New York.
Trivia
- โSwanson has the very first line of dialogue in Red Dead Redemption 2.
- โSwanson is shown to be Protestant. In one camp interaction in Colter, he is seen reading Isaiah 40:20-31 from the King James Bible, though he isn't sure what the verses meant to him. In another camp interaction, he is seen approaching the genuflecting Javier and telling him to repent. Javier, being a practicing Catholic, doesn't stick to Swanson's Protestant ways, instead telling him that "I'm sure there's priests who will happily take your confession", before making the Sign of the Cross and praying; in response, Swanson tells him that he (Javier) is doomed, possibly foreshadowing his demise twelve years later. Swanson also has a dislike for Catholics, as his conversation with Hosea shows, and how he refers to Brother Dorkins as a fine man in spite of being Catholic when telling Arthur about him.
- โDuring the mission "Who is Not Without Sin", both Abigail and John will comment on Arthur having a soft spot for the Reverend, if the player carries him around in front of them.
- โWhen Swanson is sleeping, the player can see that his undergarments are stained brown on his buttocks, meaning that he has likely soiled himself as a side effect of his addictions.
- โThe relationship between Swanson and Strauss undergoes somewhat of a shift as the game progresses. At some point in the earlier chapters, Swanson can be witnessed begging Strauss to loan him money, ostensibly to fuel his addictions, to which Strauss responds apathetically. Much later during the Beaver Hollow chapter, Strauss speaks with Swanson in distress over the gang's circumstances, Swanson reflects on his own improvement in contrast alongside expressing sympathy, albeit while also conveying a broad sense of hope, causing Strauss to dismiss him as having gone insane.
- โSwanson, Simon Pearson and Molly O'Shea are the only members of the gang who, aside from their association with the gang, have not been shown to commit, conspire on or participate in any crimes, excluding Swanson's attempt to steal from the toll box.
- โAfter completing the mission "Who is Not Without Sin", the player is able to look at Reverend Swanson's bible in camp. Upon opening it, it's shown that it isn't a bible at all, and the pages are actually a painted box that he keeps his alcohol and morphine in.
Story missions
1 missionIn 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