As a sprawling open-world adventure game, Red Dead Redemption 2 has hundreds of hours of content for players to experience, and a variety of characters to interact with while traveling the southern United States as part of the the Van der Linde gang around the turn of the 19th century. Many of those characters are members of the gang itself, and have key story moments that play out as the game progress, including the deaths of Lenny and Hosea.
The original Red Dead Redemption, which released over a decade ago in 2010, follows the story of John Marston as he clashes with remaining members of the Van der Linde gang in an effort to protect his family. Red Dead Redemption 2, however, is technically a prequel, centering on Arthur Morgan as the Van der Linde gang starts to implode because of in-fighting and poor leadership.
Because of Arthur Morgan's role in the gang, as well as his legitimate feelings of concern for his friends, tragic events that strike his group over the course of RDR2's story often have a noticeable impact on Arthur, especially the untimely deaths of two of his friends, leading to one big question: Can the player save Lenny and Hosea?
Saving Lenny and Hosea In RDR2
In the Saint Denis chapter of Red Dead Redemption 2, members of the Van der Linde gang attempt to rob the Lemoyne National Bank, but Pinkertons, private agents hired by the government, show up on the scene. As the Van der Linde gang tries to flee via the rooftops, Lenny is shot and killed by the Pinkertons. During the same escape scene, Agent Milton captures Hosea, shooting him in the chest outside the bank to intimidate and anger Dutch Van der Linde, the infamous leader of the gang.
Unfortunately, for players who fell in love with Lenny or Hosea, or just want the satisfaction of beating the game with every member of the Van der Linde extended family intact, their deaths in Red Dead Redemption 2 are unpreventable. Because Lenny and Hosea die as part of enormous scripted cutscenes (and ones that are integral to how the rest of RDR2's story plays out, too), there's no action the player can take that changes the events of the game.
It's an emotional moment when these characters die in RDR2, especially because Hosea is clearly a father figure to Arthur. Not only does his death feels like a punch in the gut, but Lenny was always one of the more likable members of the Van der Linde gang by far, and the camp is much less entertaining without him in it. That said, the story of Red Dead Redemption 2 is worth experiencing because of those heartbreaking moments, and Lenny and Hosea's demise represents a huge turning point for the Van der Linde gang.