Dan Houser finally talks about the Strange Man from Red Dead Redemption, confirming what many fans suspected for years.
For years, Red Dead Redemption players have argued over one of the series’ creepiest mysteries: who, or what, is the Strange Man?
You meet him in the original game. He looks like a man, talks like he knows your darkest secrets, and then calmly walks away after you unload a revolver into his chest. Players have guessed everything from “he’s Death” to “he’s the Devil” to “just a really spooky guy in a hat.”
Now, we finally have an answer from the man who helped create him.
Who is the Strange Man in Red Dead Redemption? Answered
In the new episode of the Lex Fridman Podcast, Rockstar co-founder and lead writer Dan Houser opened up about the character for the first time, and he confirmed that yes, the Strange Man is meant to be something deeply supernatural.
“We built him a bit into the story, where he would unlock as you worked your way through and be a commentary on what you were doing. So he was meant to be a kind of manifestation of your shadow, your karma, the devil, somewhere, just saw the world.“
Houser explained that the character wasn’t part of the original plan. He came about late in development when the team realized the world felt a little too quiet without extra moral encounters.
“We felt quite compelling story and quite interesting open world. But… we’d taken out the machine guns ‘cause it was a cowboy game… and we’d taken out the cars… so we essentially had a game about a dude riding a horse around the desert. And it was quite boring. So we then started filling it with content… so we, quite late in development, started putting in almost like these RPG-type content where you’d go and meet someone. And he came out… as just this weird character.”
Houser also connected the Strange Man’s later appearance in Red Dead Redemption 2 to something more personal, the fear of giving up part of yourself for your work.
“In Red Dead 2, you could interact with him again… he was meant to be, you know, something I suppose any creative is scared of, an artist who’s kind of sold his soul to the devil. And that slowly revealed itself.”
That’s about as close to canon confirmation as you can get. He’s not just some metaphor. Houser flat-out refers to him as “the devil” and says the ambiguity, whether he follows only you or judges everyone, is left deliberately open.
He admitted that not everything during Red Dead 2’s production was as supernatural. The sequel, he said, was “behind schedule and over budget so much I didn’t want to think about it,” describing the experience as “a lot of pressure.”
What do you think about Houser’s comments on the Strange Man in Red Dead Redemption? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
