At first glance, it would seem thatRed Dead Redemption 2contains an Easter egg forBlood Meridianby Cormac McCarthy, but looking deeper reveals that it is not the case. It’s easy to believe this given the popularity of Judge Holden, back when it was released in the 1980s and the daunting figure’s recurring popularity, and the fact thatBlood Meridianis a western epic with horror elements.Red Dead Redemption 2features many horrors of the Wild Westitself, but there seems to be no solid connection between the two, despite some fans perhaps believing otherwise.
Cormac McCarthy is a celebrated author who has written 12 novels, includingBlood Meridian, Suttree, andThe Road, with the latter having strong thematic connections toThe Last of Us. The same can be said of the general tones taken by Blood Meridian andRed Dead Redemption 2,although these are more genre conventions than anything else. Judge Holden, of course, is a mainstay ofBlood Meridianand is beloved by many McCarthy fans and horror fans at large. There is a Judge Holden inRed Dead Redemption 2, and while it would seem unlikely for this character not to reference the one fromBlood Meridian, unpacking the two reveals the similarities to be paper-thin—not concrete enough to justify it as an Easter egg.
Judge Holden in Blood Meridian
Alongside John Joel Glanton, Judge Holden is the leader of a pack of criminals but very much unlike theDutch Van Der Linde Gang. The latter had flaws that led to the group’s dissolution, but many of its members were good people at heart, at least at one point in time. That can’t be said for Holden. The Glanton Gang was known to rob, rape, torture, and kill in areas between the United States and Mexico, geographically placing the Glanton Gang in areas similar toRed Dead 2’s various locations.
While reportedly a real figure, described in a Mexican-American War soldier’s autobiography,Blood Meridiandepicts Holden as mysterious, cold-blooded, and incredibly knowledgeable. There are many, many worse traits about him, mocking him up as the worst of the worst in all mankind.
Blood Meridianalso depicts Holden as 7 ft, albino, physically strong, mentally manipulative, and a dead shot. His appearance is said to be very strange, making him stand out from other humans because, to some degree, he’s not human. McCarthy implies, at least once, that Judge Holden was something of a supernatural entity, again withsupernatural entities not being uncommon inRed Dead Redemption 2. However, the “weird west” trope that could connect these two is much larger than these two bodies of work; the earliest “weird west” novels can be tracked back to the early 1900s, at least 50 years before the release ofBlood Meridian.
Judge Holden in RDR2
And while it’s easy to see the nameJudge Holden inRDR2and think it’s aBlood MeridianEaster egg, it’s not. It’s clearly an unintended coincidence. Rockstar Games is known for hiding many Easter eggs in its works, including even for McCarthy’s works.GTA 5contains an Easter egg for theNo Country for Old Menmovie based on his work, where the “A Deal Gone Wrong” event sees bodies and vehicles set up in a similar manner to the movie. But that Easter egg is clear and defined, while Judge Holden’s name seems to be completely unrelated to the source material.
Holden may not be as common as Smith, but in a list of Western names, it’s going to come up.
Red Dead Redemption 2players can find a mention of Judge Meredith Holden, but this figure has nothing to do with Judge Holden. First, Meredith is an actual Judge, whereas it’s more of a fearful nickname inBlood Meridian. Players can find details about Meredith where she was a judge in the Jeremiah Compson case, which saw the former slave catcher losing his homestead to the Bank of Rhodes and Compson becoming homeless thereafter. There is justice in Meredith’s actions, whereas Judge Holden is an entirely different beast for which justice as a concept only exists through perverted worldviews.
While it is possible to view this note of repossession through Judge Holden’s odd philosophy about domination, that’s certainly a stretch. If Judge Meredith was meant to be anRDR2Easter egg, it feels like the connections would be much stronger, and chances are, Rockstar wouldn’t want a character like Judge Holden directly referenced in its game. It’s entirely possible, based on that logic, that this is an intended reference but was as far asRed Dead 2devs wanted to go, which fair, but I would also point to Rockstar’s history of strong Easter eggs. Its teasers can be cryptic, but more often than not, there’s no mystery to its Easter eggs. Serial killers, supernatural entities, and the like are ultimately fun and all, but Judge Holden crosses several lines even by those standards. Everyone inRed Deadis a saint compared to the undivine being of Judge Holden.
Red Dead Redemption 2
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America, 1899. The end of the wild west era has begun as lawmen hunt down the last remaining outlaw gangs. Those who will not surrender or succumb are killed. After a robbery goes badly wrong in the western town of Blackwater, Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang are forced to flee. With federal agents and the best bounty hunters in the nation massing on their heels, the gang must rob, steal and fight their way across the rugged heartland of America in order to survive. As deepening internal divisions threaten to tear the gang apart, Arthur must make a choice between his own ideals and loyalty to the gang who raised him. From the creators of Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption, Red Dead Redemption 2 is an epic tale of life in America at the dawn of the modern age.
