Who doesn’t love a good, dastardly villain…Well when it comes to this series, they’ve got plenty and today I’ll be going over who I think are the ten best villains in the Red Redemption franchise.

This list will focus mainly on the two previously released video games (RDR & RDR2) and I’m ranking these villains based on:

• Their actions in the games 
• How memorable were they
• Personal like/dislike

Dishonorable Mentions

• The Saint Denis Vampire
• Colm O’ Driscoll
• Alberto Fussar
• Colonel Agustin Allende & Levi Simon
• Jeremiah Compson
• Sheriff Leigh Gray
• Colonel Henry Favours

#10. Sonny

The first of many side characters to make this list, we start off by talking about the creepy dude in overalls who’s a lot more “friendlier” than most NPCs in the game.

While exploring the Bayou NWA region, you may stumble upon an old wooden house where a slender looking stranger is sitting on his porch and welcomes the player before inviting you into his home for a quick bite to eat; Upon entering his home, the man grabs an object and whacks you in the back of the head, leaving you unconscious.

It’s then through your characters dazed eyes that you see a distorted look at your attacker whose name is Sonny, and it becomes clear real fast that his intentions are more sinister than first imagined after he calls you his ‘pet’ and with lines like:

“You struggled…and you lost” 

& 

“See friendship ain’t so tough…and neither is you…”.

You then wale up far away from Sonny’s home, and you begin to realize that he stole some money and took advantage of you while you were out of it. The player then has the option to head back to Sonny’s home where the creepy bastard immediately runs back into his house upon seeing you once again.

After busting through the door, Sonny will try to escape but you can hogtie him before he does so and it’s up to the player on how kill Sonny after which you can explore the inside of his house where you’ll see his bed has some shackles, chains and handcuffs…making it more obvious what Sonny did to your character and making it all the greater when you eventually kill him.

#9. Leviticus Cornwall

An industrialist who’s got his hands in everything from the railroad companies to oil production and coal mining, Leviticus Cornwall is about as ruthless of a businessman as they come as his influence is large enough to convince much of the U.S. Army to kickout many of the Wapiti Indians off their land while also supporting a Cuban dictator who has control of a large sugar plantation off a tropical island.

After the Van der Linde Gang robs a locomotive containing some of Cornwall’s money early in the second game, the robber baron then begins to bankroll the Pinkerton Detective Agency in order to take down the outlaws while also using his private guards to orchestrate Leopold Strauss and John Marton’s capture during the gang’s time in Valentine. 

During an encounter on Cornwall’s boat, Dutch brings Micah and Arthur with him where he demands a safe passage out of the area, the robber barons’ boat and $10,000 dollars in exchange for keeping the rich man alive…As you do.

Of Course Leviticus laughs all of this off which leads to Dutch shooting Cornwall straight in the chest before falling into the ocean where he dies. While his burgeoning monopolies would continue for a few more years, Cornwall himself doesn’t live to see the collapse and later buyout of his mega rich empire.

#8. Andrew Milton

The head detective of the Pinkertons and the mentor of Edgar Ross, Andrew Milton attempts to invoke a sense of justice with his agency until they become a thorn in the side of the Van der Linde Gang after being paid a large sum of money by Leviticus Cornwall.

At first, Milton and the Pinkertons try to persuade members of the gang to surrender themselves over to the authorities but of course this doesn’t work, and it becomes clear that Milton isn’t afraid to kill in order to get his way as evidence by how he shoots gang member Hosea Matthews in front of Dutch and the rest of the gang.

By the third act of the game, Milton has captured a few more members of the gang and confronts them at the Van Horn Trading Post where he reveals that Micah Bell was secretly working with the Pinkertons upon the group’s return from the islands.

Milton is basically your stereotypical“I am the law and order of this town” type of character we’ve seen before in other games, but that makes his comeuppance all the more enjoyable when his shot straight in the head by Abgail Martson.

#7. Edmund Lowry Jr.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is filled with some strange and heinous characters, so it only makes sense that there’s a serial killer skulking about in the game, who is actually based off of two real life serial killers: Jack the Ripper and Albert Fish.

In the mission “American Dreams”, the player discovers dismembered body parts littered in various locations with a number of clues hidden inside. After gathering all of the clues left behind you then are able to follow a trail that will lead to the killer’s hideout just southwest of Valentine where you’ll find much of his macabre handy work as well as a couple of newspaper clips talking about his crimes all over the walls.

Once you discover the killer’s knife inside his basement, he then sneaks up and temporarily knocks you out before boasting about what his going to do to you before your character retaliates.

After hogtieing and bringing him to the sheriff of Valentine to rot in prison, Edmund Lowry Jr. attacks the sheriff resulting either in your character or the sheriff shooting the madman to death.

#6. Captain Vincente De Santa

We go to the original Red Dead for this next entry as it involves one of the slimiest and underhanded characters to ever wear a military outfit in the form of Captain Vincente De Santa.

When John Martson is looking to find Bill Williamson and Javier Escuella in Mexico, he encounters the Captain of the Mexican Army and the right-hand man to Colonel Agustin Allende, Vincente De Santa. 

In exchange for info regarding his former friends, De Santa has John due a number of acts that sees are protagonist attacking the rebel forces in Mexico and this becomes too much Martson who then goes to a church where De Santa said his former friends were at…only to be deceived upon his arrival.

While John is able to avoid being killed by the Mexican Army thanks to the rebels, he does eventually catch up with De Santa where John beats the shit out of him, and the player has the choice of surrendering a hogtied De Santa to the rebels or he could kill the corrupt military man right on the spot, either way your decision helps to put an end to the captain’s reign of terror in the region.

#5. Bray and Tammy Aberdeen

Of all the creepy side characters to have appeared in Red Dead Redemption 2, the duo of Bray and Tammy Aberdeen are by far the most disturbing.

While traveling through the Scarlett Meadows region of Lemoyne, the player will encounter an obese man in overalls sitting on a front porch before he and “his wife” invite you to their home.

As your sit at the dinner table enjoying the delicious food they’ve provided, they mention how the house use to be a pig farm and it soon becomes clear that these two are actually brother and sister.

If you decide to drink the alcohol they give you after his disgusting revelation, You’ll end up getting drugged before having all your money stolen and being thrown into a grave along with other decomposing bodies.

Upon returning to the home, you have the chance to kill the incestous couple and reclaim the money they’ve stolen; But if you instead decide to hogtie Tammy and bring her back to mass grave you were in, it’s then revealed through dialogue that one of the bodies buried is Tammy and Bray’s own mother and shouts with regret…At which point you can then kill her.

#4. Catherine Braithwaite

In an attempt to extort money from the Braithwaite family after stealing their liquor, the gang soon encounters Catherine (the family matriarch) who tells the group to sell the liquor in Rhodes and later convinces them to burn down the tobacco plants of a rival family.

As the head of a plantation owning family who care more about status and reputation, Catherine’s narcissism is only matched by her cruelty as she keeps her daughter Gertrude locked inside an outhouse due to the latter’s physical and mentality problems.

After the gang steal and sell some of Catherine’s horse to the rivaling Gray Family, they soon discover that the Braithwaite’s kidnapped John’s young son Jack before selling him off to crime boss Angelo Bronte; This leads to one of the games most iconic missions where the Van der Linde Gang storms the Braithwaite Family Manor and proceeds to gun down all the inhabitants inside before dragging the Southern lady out of home.

With her family home literally up in flames, Catherine proceeds to run back into the Manor where she meets her demise thus ending the Braidwaite legacy once and for all.

#3. Angelo Bronte

When the gang heads to Saint Denis to rescue Jack, they soon encounter the Italian crime boss known as Angelo Bronte and it’s clear he has no problem insulting those he thinks are beneath him.

As one of the wealthiest men in all of Saint Denis, this machiavellian gangster uses his connections both in politics and organize crime and will glady double cross anyone (including the Van der Linde Gang) to stay at the top.

Although gang is able to save Jack and are treated to some of Bronte’s hospitality during a party, he misleads them into a trap for which they barely escape with their lives.

Understandably angered by this betrayal, Dutch and the gang head back to his mansion where they not only kill most of Bronte’s men but also kidnap him and bring him to a swamp where Dutch proceeds to drown the crime boss before throwing his body into the water to be devoured by a nearby alligator.

#2. Edgar Ross

Although we see him serving as Andrew Milton’s second-in-command by Red Dead Redemption 2, it’s the first game where fans were introduced to this nefarious lawman.

In order to track down the surviving members of the Van der Linde Gang, Ross kidnaps John Marston’s wife and son in order to get him to hunt down and kill his former friends in exchange for there freedom.

While John is success with his mission and he is reunited with his family, Edgar and his men decide to invade the Marston family home in order to kill off the last remnants of the gang which culminates in a bloody shootout that leaves both Uncle and John dead.

Recognised as a hero in the eyes of the public, Ross retires from the force and goes into private life; It’s only a few years later when Edgar is confront by a grown up Jack Marston who looking to avenage his father and by the end Ross is riddled with gunfire before his body crash lands into the water…a satisfying end for a destestable character.

#1. Micah Bell

As detestable as Edgar Ross is and as cruel and creepy as some of the other entries are, there is perhap no more hated person in the Red Dead Redemption Universe more than Micah Bell.

Throughout the game, Micah demonstrates the worst aspect a person can show as his behavior can range from unstable to being down right sadistic to everyone even members of his own gang when his not being racist or misogynistic to them.

With an almost nihilistic view of the world and willingness to sell out or manipulate anyone to stay alive; Micah’s actions (directly or indirectly) causes Dutch to spiral into paranoia, allows the Pinkertons to get one stop ahead of the gang and brutally beats down Arthur Morgan near the end of the game.

However he gets what’s coming to him when during the game’s epilogue, his shot by Dutch during a stand off which allows John the opportunity to finish off Micah thus giving this traitorous S.O.B. exactly what he deserves.

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