There have been a few hints over the years to suggest that Rockstar’s two biggest games,Grand Theft AutoandRed Dead Redemption 2, are set in the same universe. There have, however, also been plenty of inconsistencies to suggest that these references may just be fun Easter eggs for fans of the games.
The Francis Sinclair side-mission inRed Dead Redemption 2is one of the strangest in the game, heavily implying that the man is a time-traveler. However, it is his connection to Epsilon, the religion fromGTA, that suggests the relationship between the two games may be deeper, and stranger, than many players realize.
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The Rockstar Universe
There’s plenty to suggest thatGTAandRed Deadtake place in the same universe. InGTA 5, players can find a book titledRed Deadwritten by a J Marston, most likely a reference toJack Marston fromRed Dead Redemptionwho reads constantly as a child and wanted to grow up to be a writer.
GTA Onlineplayers were even able to follow the clues to find theDouble-Action Revolver fromRed Dead 2hidden in a buried box in the run-up to the latter game’s release. These connections are unsatisfying to some players, however, seeming more referential or too closely tied to marketing stunts.
There are a few other complicating factors as well, such as the fact thatGTA’s canon is split between three distinct universes, the 2-D Universe coveringGTAandGTA 2, the 3-D Universe coveringGTA 3,San Andreas,Vice City, andGTA Advance, and the HD Universe, withGTA 4,GTA 5,Chinatown Wars, andGTAO. To complicate things further, there are cross-universe memorials to previous player characters that suggest thatRockstar likes to throw in Easter eggsthat don’t always imply an actual shared universe.
Even more solid evidence, such as the many references to shared place names across the two universes, is undermined by the fact that entire states that exist inRed Deadare never mentioned inGTAand vice versa, with their real-world counterparts being mentioned instead. There’s a stranger the player can find inRed Dead 2in Strawberry, a location also featured inGTA’s Los Santos, but the stranger is from New York, which would be Liberty City in theGTAHD Universe.
The Epsilon Program
The strangest link made between the games is theRed Dead Redemption 2side-mission “Geology for Beginners” in which the player has to find a series of strange rock carvings for a man calledFrancis Sinclairwith 1930s clothing and an anachronistic accent. When the player returns to Francis' cabin after completing the quest they find that Francis is gone and are instead faced with his mother holding the baby Francis with the same distinct red hair and birthmark.
The red hair and birthmark are both references the 12 Tenets of Kifflom, which cannot even be found in any Rockstar game. The Tenets exist on a separate website for theEpsilon Program, a Scientology-style cult which exists in theGTAHD Universe starting fromGTA 4. Their leader, Cris Formage, even appears in a vision to revive the player from their firstGTAOdeath.
Tenet 5 of The 12 Tenets states that “Everyone is related to everyone else, except for people with red hair – FACT!” Number 8 states that “Aliens exist and are present on earth. If you have a birthmark, you may be descended from Kraff, the famous Emperor of the 4thParadigm.” This suggests quite clearly thatFrancis Sinclair is Kraffor a descendant, considering his time-traveling abilities.
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The Paradigms and the Next Clues
There’s not much in eitherGTAorRed Deadto explain what the 4thParadigm is, but it could be something that connects the two universes without the game’s being set in exactly the same reality. InGTA 5there’s a collection mission quest where Michael needs to find 10 Epsilon Tracts so that he can “write the tract” of the 9thParadigm. Marnie Allen, a returningGTAcharacter, says that the Tract of the 9thParadigm has “already been written.”
This suggests that the Paradigms have something to do with the same paradoxical loop Arthur witnesses inRed Dead 2. InRed Dead, Arthur Morganinitially mistakes the woman who turns out to be Francis’ mother for his wife. When Arthur looks behind him he sees that the board covered in drawings that the adult Francis put there is still present.
The drawings depictFrancis Sinclair, still in his 20th-century clothing, stepping through a variety of portals to different points in history. The style almost suggests that these drawings may have originally been done by the people he visited, such as the Ancient Egyptians. Francis’ research has yet to be done and has already been completed – it has yet to be written and has already been written.
There’s one final detail that makes all of this even more interesting. The first Tenet of Kifflom states: “The world is 157 years old – FACT!”GTA 5takes place in 2013, which would place the beginning of the world in 1856, just 7 years before the birth ofArthur Morgan.
However, the Epsilon Tract of the 9thParadigm begins with these words: “From Omega to Alpha and back again, and from Z to A. We as a people have consistently got things backwards. I know that now. I am not alive. I am dead. I am not rich, I am poor. I am not from Earth at all.” This opens the door for all sorts of interpretations that could help pin down the exact nature of time itself in theEpsilonworldview, especially since Kraff and his descendants appear to exist outside of time.
If the world is 157 years old but Francis was able to influence the Ancient Egyptians, the interpretation of that number could be the key to unlocking some of the secrets of theGTAandRed Deaduniverses. It is possible that the world is always 157 years old in some sense, though it seems equally possible that parts of the Epsilon Program refer to real beings, while part of it is a scam, run by opportunists like Formage. Whatever the truth is, Rockstar’s position is likely to be similar to Francis Sinclair’s himself: “if I told you, you’d think I was on the hooch.”
Red Dead Redemption 2is available now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.
