They're Just Normal Men

dont cry ok? there is the sun and there isthe ocean and there are butch gay women

kid armand and his bright young reporter doll! based on this:

why do you as a man want to know what another man tastes like 🤨

this goes both ways btw

it's 1am, time to post klaasje snort a line

I absolutely love stranger quests bc wdym the gang is on the verge of collapse, being chased by pinkertons, their found family is dying and falling apart, and then there's Arthur is on the other side of the country chasing a lion and recreating frankenstein.

i didn't get a minor in art history for no reason, so let's talk about

The Adoration of the Shepherds with a Donor by Palma Vecchio, c. 1520-1525 (held at the Louvre under the French name L'Adoration des bergers avec une donatrice, here's its collection details)

What's fascinating about this painting (done in the very very late High Renaissance to early Mannerism) is that the identity of the commissioner of the painting is the one kneeling to the far right, who Armand in the episode says is modeled by him, is actually unknown. (So that makes it very handy for the show to claim it's Armand without actually being inaccurate or anachronistic)

What this depicts is the Christmas story (though yes, I know, it doesn't look like Christmastime in the painting) where the shepherds pay Jesus a visit after he's born. There's a lark sitting in the window on the left, which often symbolizes rebirth, and there's a dog all the way to the very right, which usually symbolizes loyalty.

Of course, within the IWTV verse, the choice of using this painting (which doesn't have much, if any literature on it by itself--maybe because for a long time it was attributed to the painter Titian by mistake instead of Vecchio) is extremely fascinating to me. There's a lot of dimensions here: most notably, as another user I saw pointed out, Armand was the model for this, and the painter (Marius de Romanus in the show, Armand's maker) whitewashes Armand. Now, Armand is immortalized in room 711 in the Louvre forever as a 20 year old, looking nothing like himself, his identity effectively completely erased, while thousands of people pass and see this painting every year.

It raises a lot of poignant questions, also: since the commissioner of real life (who is the real life model) doesn't exist in IWTV, what is the motivation for Marius to paint Armand in a Christ scene? Because obviously, Armand would not have commissioned this painting. What spurs him to do that? Since the real life artist, Vecchio, was very influenced by Titian at the point when this painting was made, was Marius also? I really do want to know the team's thought process behind choosing this painting, because it's endlessly interesting to me. It's definitely one of the lesser known works in the Louvre, even just a cursory glance over JSTOR barely has any information. I might literally email my art history professors and ask if they have any material on this or Vecchio because I'm so intrigued... anyone else wanna discuss <3?

Dutch is a very expressive character; it's very easy to tell whenever he's angry, upset, or using his silver tongue, just by his facial expressions and his tone.

This makes replaying the game a lot more interesting; even though he starts unravelling towards the end of the game, you can tell his distrust in Hosea and Arthur began before the game starts:

The easiest example for this is in "Who The Hell Is Leviticus Cornwall". Dutch starts by pleading to Hosea, telling him the gang needs money, but when Hosea stands his ground, Dutch's expression turns dark, and his eyes are covered by his hat, which from a cinematic stand point is used to symbolise something sinister; he already had some doubts eating away at him, and I believe Hosea saw it and chose to back down.

While we also see this in a few more instances later in the game; Dutch tells Arthur and Hosea to ride together so they reminisce about the "old Dutch", He tells Arthur in Horseshoe Overlook that Arthur looks like the type to betray him, and he constantly begs for the gang's faith in the earlier chapters, even if it's not as obvious as the latest chapters, I think it's an interesting choice from rockstar to show Dutch's distrust in his people in the very first quest with him after the tutorial.

real rashid is stronger than any us marine, bro had his boss come to him and say “hey man you have the week off, i’m gonna cosplay you in a sexual way.” and then he came back to work.

once again marveling at what a miracle it was that Armand, who wanted to examine a blood sample of the first vampire he knew, who eagerly debates philosophical questions until sunrise, who wants to get to the bottom of every new thing he discovers, got to find Daniel Molloy, the investigative journalist whose literal job and life mission it is to explore and uncover truth and meaning like?? can two people be more perfect for each other??