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| “ | I’m sure you already know of the Braithwaites? Another big family in these parts… they have an estate West of here. Awful people, truly awful. They’ve been fighting with the Grays for as long as I can remember. | „ |
| ~ Archibald MacGregor’s view on the Braithwaite family. |
The Braithwaite Family are major antagonists of the 2018 action-adventure video game Red Dead Redemption II and Red Dead Online, serving as one of the main antagonistic faction (alongside the Gray family) of the Clemens Point chapter and the main antagonists of the Life of ‘Shine update.
They are a wealthy family of plantation owners who are disputing the rule of the town of Rhodes with the Grays.
History[]
The Braithwaites were originally an English family who emigrated to North America in around 1779. They established themselves in the town of Rhodes in the State of Lemoyne and by the 19th century were one of the dominant families in the area, having got rich from slavery and cotton.
In 1806, Lucille Braithwaite and her lover Douglas Gray, a member of the rival Gray Family, stole a significant amount of gold from the Braithwaites to fund abolitionist groups. The Braithwaites blamed the Grays and the two families became locked in a blood feud that would last for decades.
Lifelong slave owners, the Braithwaites sided with the Confederacy during the American Civil War and encountered financial hardships when they lost and were forced to free their slaves. Despite this, they were able to recover somewhat by selling bootleg moonshine after Maggie Fike, the dominant bootlegger in Lemoyne, was caught by revenue agents. They are the main backers of the Lemoyne Raiders, an ex-Confederate gang involved in violent action against the Federal and state government, both to undermine the Gray family's dominance in the region and to extend their moonshine business.
Red Dead Online[]
In 1898, Maggie Fike renews her moonshine business with the help of the protagonist and learns about the Braithwaite's operation. The protagonist begins sabotaging the operation at Maggie's direction, leading Bartholomew Braithwaite and Danny-Lee Caton to confront them at their shack with a group of armed men. Maggie brushes off their threats and continues producing moonshine.
Shortly after, Maggie lures Bartholomew and Danny-Lee to a meeting by offering them a moonshine shipment and anonymously tips off revenue agent Reid Hixon. A group of revenue agents ambush Bartholomew and Danny-Lee at the meeting place, but Bartholomew manages to bribe his way out of arrest.
Red Dead Redemption 2[]
In 1899, the Van der Linde gang move in to Rhodes to avoid the Pinkerton Agency and learn about the Gray-Braithwaite feud, planning to exploit the feud to steal the Braithwaite family gold (unaware that it was stolen in 1806). Arthur Morgan first encounters the Braithwaites when Beau Gray asks him to deliver a love letter to Penelope Braithwaite. Arthur is later forced to drive a wagon at a women's suffrage rally that Penelope is attending in order to protect them from the Grays and Braithwaites.
After Sheriff's Deputy Archibald MacGregor and several deputized members of the gang shut down a Braithwaite-run moonshine distillery, Arthur and Hosea Matthews go to Braithwaite Manor to sell the moonshine back to them. The Braithwaites are initially hostile and hold them at gunpoint until family matriarch Catherine Braithwaite agrees to pay them $10 for the moonshine on the condition that they give it out for free at the Gray-owned saloon in Rhodes in order to undermine the Gray's business. This is interrupted by the Lemoyne Raiders, who may have been sent by the Braithwaites, but Arthur and Hosea manage to escape.
Catherine Braithwaite later sends Arthur and Sean MacGuire to burn down the Gray's tobacco fields at Caliga Hall. At the same time, the Grays make a deal with the gang to steal the Braithwaite family's horses and sell them to fences at Clemens Cove. This job is carried out by Arthur, John Marston and Javier Escuella. Due to Arthur having been involved in raids on both the Grays and the Braithwaites, both families realize how the gang tricked them. The Braithwaites retaliate by abducting Jack Marston from the gang and selling him to criminal associate Angelo Bronte in Saint Denis.
The gang respond by launching a full-scale assault on Braithwaite Manor, where they are met by the entire family and their hired guns. Bartholomew Braithwaite goes out to meet the gang, only to be shot by Dutch van der Linde after a brief exchange of words, initiating a shootout which results in the deaths of most of those on the Braithwaite's side. The gang then begin searching the manor for Catherine Braithwaite, simultaneously fighting off an attack by reinforcements. Arthur and John eventually manage to break into the room where Catherine is hiding with her sons Gareth and Gerald. They kill both of the sons and capture Catherine, who is dragged out of the manor while the gang set it on fire. Catherine eventually admits that Jack was sold to Angelo Bronte before committing suicide.
Some time later, Penelope Braithwaite writes to Arthur asking for help. She explains that the Gray and Braithwaite family cousins are continuing the feud, and she is being held captive by her cousins for her role in the women's suffrage movement. The local suffragette leader Olive Calhoon has been murdered by one of the families. Arthur helps Penelope escape the manor and flee to the Rhodes Station to elope with Beau, despite the attempts of Iain and Scott Gray to stop them. However, as they flee on the train they are pursued by Penelope's relatives, who want to stop them eloping, and have furthermore realized that Penelope stole several valuable jewels from the family. Arthur manages to repel them with gunfire and the train reaches Riggs Station, where Beau and Penelope safely disembark and escape to Boston.
By the year 1907, both the Grays and Braithwaites have lost their influence over Rhodes.
Trivia[]
- The Braithwaites have a daughter named Gertrude Braithwaite who is severely deformed due to inbreeding and is kept locked up in an outhouse on the manor grounds. She has starved to death by 1907 due to the deaths of most of her family.
- The Gray-Braithwaite feud appears to be based on the real-life Jones-Liddell feud in Louisiana, a feud between two wealthy plantation families. Like the Braithwaites, the Liddell family opposed the local Reconstruction government while the Jones family supported it.
