Every time someone in this fandom romanticizes Abigail's prostitution, an angel looses its wings.
I canât believe this still needs to be said, but letâs clear something up: Abigail Roberts was not âsavedâ by the Van der Linde gang out of the goodness of their hearts. She was a 17-year-old working girl. Yes, a prostituteâbrought into the gang by Uncle because of her profession, not because they wanted to âhelp an orphan girl.â Pretending otherwise is not just wrong, itâs an insult to her character and completely misrepresents the darker themes of the game.
âThey wouldnât take advantage of a 17-year-old girl!â Really? These are men who rob, kill, and lie without hesitation. They absolutely would and did take advantage of her. Dutch was not some saintly father figure; he was an opportunist who saw value in people only as long as they served his needs. The gang didnât ârescueâ Abigail, they exploited her vulnerabilities and used her just like they used everyone else.
Even within the game, thereâs a camp interaction where Susan Grimshaw tells Abigail she should return to prostitution to bring in more money for the gang. If that doesnât make it clear how the gang viewed her role, I donât know what will.
Abigailâs story isnât some fairy tale about a group of noble outlaws saving an orphan. Itâs about survival in a brutal, unforgiving world. She didnât have a choice in staying with the gang. This idea that the gang was Robin Hood-like and only âstole from the rich to give to the poorâ doesnât erase the fact that they were still criminals who exploited people whenever they could, including Abigail.
The game wants you to sit with the uncomfortable truths of these characters. It shows you the dark realities of their actions and the systemic issues of the time. Romanticizing Abigailâs situation or painting the gang as her saviors completely undermines that. Itâs not just naĂŻve...itâs flat-out wrong.
This kind of take isnât just ignorant; itâs borderline insulting to anyone whoâs been in a similar situation. Abigailâs story is powerful because itâs not pretty. She was used, exploited, and forced to live a life she didnât chooseâbut she fought tooth and nail to survive and make a better life for Jack. Thatâs what makes her compelling, not some sugar-coated fantasy about her being ârescued.â
Take off the rose-colored glasses and actually think critically about what the game is showing you. Abigailâs resilience is what makes her an incredible characterânot some fake narrative about Dutch and the gang being her saviors. They werenât.
Itâs fine to love the characters, but stop twisting their stories to fit some idealized version of the gang. Theyâre criminals. Abigail was exploited by them. Thatâs the truth, and nothing about it is going to be pretty.
Abigail deserves way more respect than this.
âIf you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digginââ
âIf I was setting you up I wouldnât have saved your life.â
âDo You Understand, Sir, Do You Understand What It Means When You Have Absolutely Nowhere To Turn?â
John and Micah doodles :P
sketch of RDR1 Javier Escuella, I love his design and no one can fight me on it because itâs adorable
This was kinda rushed in the endđ I donât have the patience to break a project into days. Anyway I donât this this scene will be part of my book its just a fun little thing, the lore is real if you understand the message but this scene wonât be implicated in it.
Re-did a drawing of Charles I did and turned it into a digital drawing!
me and him literally
he'd call me a slur and i'd thank him profusely