One of Dutch Van der Linde’s fatal mistakes in Red Dead Redemption 2 is trusting Micah Bell for so long. This raises the question of why the Dutch was so loyal to him in the first place, considering he’d known him for a shorter amount of time than many of the other members of the Van der Linde gang, many of which clearly had a problem with Micah.
How this dangerous outlaw came to be associated with the gang sheds light on why Dutch was so trusting of Micah Bell. One time, Dutch was attempting to sell the remnants of a recent heist when the deal went wrong. The debacle resulted in a bar fight in which Micah, who had been enjoying a drink in the same venue, stepped in to defend Dutch.
After the fight ended, Dutch felt indebted to Micah and extended him an invitation to join the Van der Linde gang, which he accepted. This was only a few months before the beginning of Red Dead Redemption 2, which begins with the gang fleeing a robbery-gone-wrong – a robbery that had been suggested by Micah, foreshadowing the trouble that the outlaw would bestow upon the Van der Lindes later on in Red Dead Redemption 2's story.
Micah Was The Newcomer In The Van der Linde Gang
Micah had only been a part of the Van der Lindes for a few months when the events of Red Dead Redemption 2 begin, which makes it all the more surprising that Dutch continued to trust him, despite the other gang members turning on him one by one and the fact Dutch knew them for a longer amount of time. Dutch adopted both John Marston and Arthur Morgan into his gang when they were teenagers, for example, making him like a father figure to the outlaws. Arthur joined the gang when he was only a teen after Dutch saw potential in him. John, similarly, became a Van der Linde member at age 12 after he was almost executed for stealing, though Dutch stepped in right in the nick of time.
Clearly Dutch felt like he owed Micah something in particular after Micah saved his life that fateful day. But there must have been countless times over the years in which the other gang members saved Dutch’s neck, so it doesn’t exactly explain why he felt more inclined to trust Micah over everyone else. Unfortunately, in Dutch's twisted brain, for a while it may have seemed like Micah was the only gang member he could trust.
Dutch was growing increasingly erratic throughout the entirety of Red Dead Redemption 2, which explains a whole slew of his bizarre behaviors aside from him merely trusting Micah. His decisions get worse and more wild throughout the course of the game as his paranoia builds, and he makes a series of bad calls and unhealthy decisions. Deep down, he must have known that Micah was breeding mistrust in his gang, but Dutch's judgement was compromised because of his eccentricity. After his unhinged actions on Guarma (and before, and afterward) players shouldn’t be surprised that Dutch was so predisposed to trust Micah throughout the course of Red Dead Redemption 2.