βWhat really happened down there on that boat?β
βWe missed you, thatβs what.β
I do constantly think about how the Blackwater Massacre happened when Hosea and Arthur, Dutchβs main confidants, were absent. We have so little information about what exactly happened on that boat, and at every inquiry to Dutch in the main story, heβs very cagey about it.
The Strange Man references Heidi in the first game, an innocent civilian, and her death is described as particularly brutal; Javier comments she was in a βbad wayβ; John comments he couldnβt get the image of her death out of his head, and that Micah was essentially egging Dutch on. If you ask Dutch about it, heβll be defensive about it, denying he had done what had to be done. Thatβs what he does; he does horrible things and makes out heβs justified. Obviously, though, this is the most prominent part of when he started deteriorating, at loss to his morals.
This interaction is wild to me at the start of the game, because in Dutchβs eyes, he probably sees it as: βIt wouldnβt have happened if I had you by my side. The heist wouldnβt have gone wrong if weβd had you with us.β But I donβt think he realizes the double meaning of that statement, how Arthur and Hosea act as a double morality compass to him. Heidi McCourt wouldnβt have died. You would have stopped me. The Old Guard were a democracy, and they respected each other & their decisions. If Arthur had been there, it would have been extremely likely Heidi might have survived. Blackwater was still a trap, obviously, but Dutch likely wouldnβt have caved to Micahβs intentions & his inner demons.
Arthur and Hosea were his impulse control, and Micah just enabled every bad thought Dutch might have considered (see chapter 6).
