Red Dead Redemption 2 Black Belle: The Queen in Black
Arthur needs to meet Black Belle, one of the legendary gunslingers to collect stories about Jim “Boy” Calloway. Of all the gunslingers, she strikes me as the coolest figure who commits to the life of an outlaw. The post will recapture the moment with Black Belle in the game and delve deep into the design of Black Belle’s stories.👒
Red Dead Redemption 2 Black Belle: The Noblest of Men, and a Woman
Mission walkthrough
Meeting Black Belle in Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the objectives in the mission called “The Noblest of Men, and a Woman”. Arthur needs to find all four notorious gunslingers to collect relevant stories about Jim “Boy” Calloway. The four of them are Black Belle, Billy Midnight, Emmet Granger, and Flaco Hernandez. The map will show their whereabouts according to the photos the journalist gives you.
Later, Arthur finds Black Belle at Canebreak Manor, located in the middle of the swamp. Upon approaching her house, she will stick a gun out of the door and ask if you’re a bounty hunter. To prove that you’re not, later you need to take down a group of bounty hunters for her.
Black Belle is the only one who survives the encounter with Arthur. For other gunslingers, they all resort to violence so Arthur needs to kill them on site. At last, Black Belle says that Calloway is a coward who ran away from a fight. The legendary stories about him are not true. At this time, Arthur can even take a picture of Black Belle, with her holding a gun. Black Belle leaves soon after and says that she will always be on the run until she dies.
Machine gun
The most difficult part of this mission is to take down the bounty hunter who’s using a machine gun. It’d be best if you could take him down using a dead eye because it’s hard to aim when he’s hiding behind the gun. In order to deal with this, you can prepare some tonics that can give you a dead eye instantly. For example, snake oil, potent snake oil, chewing tobacco, etc. can help you a lot if you prepare them beforehand.
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Arthur’s journal about Black Belle in Red Dead Redemption 2
After the encounter, Arthur’s journal updates the story with Black Belle. He describes Black Belle as:
“Black Belle – what a woman. If she was younger and I was in the market for a woman to go killing with, what a pair we could have made. She told me old Boy Calloway was a poseur and a liar. Big surprise.”
As illustrated below, one drawing of her resembles the one camera shot Arthur takes for her. The other drawing is more detailed, with the flower decoration on her hat and coat captured in the drawing as well.
Black Belle and Belle Starr: the queen in black
Black Belle
The photo from the biographer describes Black Belle as:
“MAYBELLE ELIZABETH COLTER
“THE GRAND DAME OF THE GUNSLINGERS/THE DYNAMITE DOWAGER”
MARRIED SIX TIMES TO SIX GENTLEMEN –
GAMBLERS, ROBBERS, OUTLAWS EVERY ONE
NEVER DIVORCED, DRESSES IN HER WIDOWS WEEDS
SOLE REMAINING SURVIVOR OF THE COLTER TOBIN GANG
OUTLAWED AFTER ROBBERY IN RHODES
PRIVATE CONTRACT FOR HER LIFE OR LIBERTY – LARGE REWARD
LAST REPORTED SIGHTING NR BLUEWATER MARSH
DO NOT APPROACH, TOO DANGEROUS FOR MERE BIOGRAPHER”
In short, this description tells the details that Black Belle married several men and became an outlaw with them. She used to be in the Colter Tobin Gang and she is the only survivor. The last heads-up for the biographer seems to be a humorous and ironic remark for the biographer who commissions Arthur to interview her and Arthur.
Belle Starr
In sum, Black Belle in Red Dead Redemption 2 may draw the historical outlaw Belle Starr as an inspiration. Belle Starr (1848-1889) was an outlaw in America. Starr received her overnight fame only after she died. In 1889, the New York Times released a front-page story of her death, “A Desperate Woman Killed”. She gained fame across the nation following this report of her being shot to death. (Shirley, 3)
Belle Starr used to go by the name of Myra Shirley. According to Mrs. James Brummett, Starr’s schoolmate, Starr is good at reading, spelling, grammar, Greek, music, and so on. That means Belle Starr was a well-educated girl. (38)
Starr also appeared to have some fashion tastes. On some occasions, she wore “a black velvet riding habit and a man’s combrero with the brim pinned up by a bright feather. A small sorrel and a fine black mare named Venus were her favorite mounts.” (171)
As much as we are left without knowledge about Black Belle’s education, her dressing style certainly resembles Belle Starr’s. Her marriages also have similarities with Starr’s marital experience who had several husbands in her life as well. The name “Black” Belle highlights her main feature of dressing as well. What Black Belle says about her ending echoes with Belle Starr’s fate as well. As outlaws, there’s only one end — that is, to be shot to death.
Conclusion
If you leave Black Belle as the last gunslinger you’re going to visit, you will certainly feel the same way as Arthur does. As has been noted, Black Belle, what a woman!
It’s pretty frustrating that all the other gunslingers refuse to give you any insights. They either rough up like Hernandez or put their outlaw lives behind them like Granger and Billy. One thing in common is how they keep silent about Calloway and their lives. All in all, Black Belle is such a different figure in the way she accepts her life as an outlaw and how she speaks truthfully and frankly about Calloway.
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Reference
Shirley, G. (2015). Belle Starr and Her Times: The Literature, the Facts, and the Legends. University of Oklahoma Press.
