Leopold Strauss – Dutch's Debt Collector



The Monster Leopold Strauss Red Dead Redemption 2. Dutch’s Debt Collector Leopold Strauss responsible for more terror than we think or give him credit for?

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31 thoughts on “Leopold Strauss – Dutch's Debt Collector”

  1. I don't like all the hate that Strauss gets because oh he's a debt collector he's a low lifes like all of the gang members are they steal and murder they don't do good things for good reasons no matter how much dressing Dutch puts on.

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  2. It's odd to me that his missions feel the dirtiest, yet that's actually legal work and it's nowhere near as bad as most of the other stuff you get to do. Yeah sure, you take advantage of desperate people and leave them in an even worse state, and sure, they didn't have much of a choice but to borrow money. But if everything went to plan, all you'd do his rough them up until they held up their side of a contract they signed. Throughout the game, you kill huge amounts of people left and right, and these are somebody's husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, friends, mentors, employers etc. A lot of the time, their only mistake was to have run into Arthur.

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  3. Real ironic hearing Arthur criticize Strauss as “bringing shame”… meanwhile he’s the mass murdering brute who made the decision to act the way he did.

    Arthur didn’t have to beat people near to death or such. Strauss didn’t care… as long as they were paid. It was on him how he approached. Yet he treated Strauss as if he was the one beating Downes.

    Really highlights how Arthur isn’t perfect and despite being left for the wolves. Strauss had enough dignity not to rot or sell out any members of the gang.

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  4. i always thought Strauss was the least ethical of the gang, but after more and more playthroughs what he does isn't ethical at all,
    But at least these people agreed to going into this debt

    The amount of lives the rest of the gang have completely ruined by robbing them is probably insane, and its not like they agreed to get robbed..

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  5. An interesting fact about Strauss is that of all the gang members his profession is the least unique. In the 19th century Banks almost never, ever, gave personal loans. Nearly all personal/non business loans were done by individual financiers or a small group of wealthy residents in a community. Some would eventually form into unions to provide credit, which we now know as Credit Unions. Strauss' work is still alive and well to this day.

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  6. the net destruction and negative consequences caused individually by any other gang member far out weighs anything done by strauss. the loan sharking also PROBABLY helped at least one or two people to financially leverage themselves out of an awful situation. we just don't see these people because they repaid their loans.

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  7. From personal experience, people like Strauss may not help the people they lend money to, but they do at least delay the inevitable. I remember being told to hide, shut the curtains, and lock the doors when certain people come knocking. It wasn't my parents' who were indebted, just another family member we were staying with. But, looking back, I still feel like a thief

    When our financial situation got better, we moved out and paid all of their debts. All of it. From every single money lender they owe. But only a few years later, they are, once again, buried in debt. It's almost like an addiction

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  8. Loansharks are absolute scum as far as I'm concerned, but I can understand why Arthur collected the debts, but then was given a choice near the end. That said, I always antagonized herr Strauss the most throughout the game. I also cheered when Arthur kicked him out.

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  9. What I like about strauss is that he is cold but at the same time, killing people and emptying their pockets isn't really mroe dignified it's just different standards and everyone in the gang is aware, you can't even claim glory outlaws after blackwater or the gang first trip to Valentine where they are major nuisance to common folk. Personally I think Strauss is being honest when he says the people he loans to are people desperate enough to take a loan from a GANG OF OUTLAWS so he doesn't need to trick or anything, like people know that they will need to pay him back or they will die and so Strauss counts on them selling their wife or robbing dead to avoid death.

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  10. Strauss' not a good person, that much is certain.

    That said, barring the likes of Charles, Strauss doesn't do anywhere near as much bad as the other gang members. You straight up shoot up several towns (obviously leaving widows along the way, and these even show up if you shoot NPC's by your own) as part of the story, and engage in several robberies. The latter is relevant because insurances weren't a thing back then. If your money got stolen then you were screwed. As such, the gang's directly responsible for similar financial distress and ruin as seen through Strauss' loan sharking, except they didn't even give any money to begin with to those people.

    I also think that Strauss is essentially done dirty by the writing. (This isn't necessarily a bad thing since his missions were used as a vehicle for Arthurs' own personal growth, but obviously it looks poorly on him) A fair few of the debtors (especially the latter ones) are sympathetic cases. Most of the people you fight in the story are trash, or work for said trash; generating little sympathy. This is particularly the case for the soldiers in Guarma if you understand Spanish; they're effectively a band of sadists based on how and what they say.

    if all of Strauss' debtors were written along those lines, then he'd be far more likeable a character.

    And of course, another reason is that you actually stick around to witness the consequences of Leopold's actions. You don't for the rest of the gang. If you were made to, then the suffering Strauss' loaning generated would be unnoteworthy by comparison.

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  11. Strauss was cool because he made the gang organized as if Dutch was a modern day crimeboss, since he was a licensed book keeper giving the gang finance on the side while they rob banks or trains, houses, or people…unlike other gangs in the game who just threat people for theyre shit or land out of straight up unlicensed greed…

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