Summary
- The Meditating Monk in Red Dead Redemption 2 is a curious addition to the game, sparking player curiosity with his mysterious presence and unique location.
- Players can find the Meditating Monk in Grizzlies East, where they will have to take a trip to the mountains to find him sitting on the edge of a cliff. Arthur can sketch him in his notebook and the monk's location will be marked on the map.
- The Meditating Monk serves as a simple test of honor for players. While low honor players may be tempted to attack or kill the monk, high honor players are more likely to leave him be, since he poses no threat and represents a desire for peace and tranquility.
The Meditating Monk in Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the game's more unusual sights, and one that is worth a deeper look. Admittedly, he has nothing to do with the story, and the player has to go a bit out of their way to find him. Even so, he's such an unusual addition to the game that he's hard not to take note of once found. Players won't find much information about the monk himself in Red Dead Redemption 2. If anything, his main purpose in the game is to spark curiosity.
Players who spend time exploring in Red Dead Redemption 2 are bound to come across a lot of the game's more interesting landmarks eventually. This is a habit that can prove quite fruitful, since it can lead to players finding one-of-a-kind items such as the Viking Hatchet and Helmet. Exploring is also a good way to find some of the more obscure stranger missions, and sometimes the journey will have no reward other than giving the player an interesting sight to see. Even the journeys that don't lead to physical rewards can still be worth taking in a game as lovingly detailed as Red Dead Redemption 2.
Red Dead Redemption 2: The Mysteries of the Strange Man's Cabin Explained
Red Dead Redemption 2 hides many secrets, one of them being a particularly creepy cabin containing dark details and macabre mysteries.
The Meditating Monk is a Mysterious Presence in Red Dead Redemption 2
The Monk Can Be Found in Grizzlies East
Players willing to take a long horse ride in Red Dead Redemption 2 can make a trip to Grizzlies East, where they can find the Meditating Monk. The player will have to take a trip up to the mountains in order to find him sitting calmly on the edge of the cliff. Facing the edge, he looks out at a beautiful view of the rolling forests beneath him, which the player can take in for themselves as well. Once found, Arthur will sketch him in his notebook, and the monk's location on the map will be marked with a similar sketch.
The area around the monk is marked as restricted, since it was once the intended location of the Fort Wallace army base.
The Monk Can Be Killed, But Without Reward
There are several details about the monk that make him one of Red Dead Redemption 2's unsolved mysteries. First, there's the question of why he is there in the first place. After all, there are no other monks or characters with similar garb in the game. Likewise, he will not speak to Arthur or pay much attention to him. The only way that Arthur can really interact with the monk is by attacking him, killing him, or startling him by firing a gun near him. Of course, all of these options will lower his honor, so Arthur's only honorable choice is to let the man be.
The Meditating Monk's Ultimate Role is Simple
The Meditating Monk essentially amounts to the game's simplest test of honor. A low honor player in Red Dead Redemption 2 may have no qualms about killing an NPC in such a remote location where they're not likely to be caught. However, the monk will never be hostile, and is simply meditating, so there's no point in doing so, especially for a high honor player. In fact, Arthur himself would likely lean towards leaving the monk alone. After all, he doesn't like killing or committing crimes for no reason, and he just wants a more peaceful life. If anything, he might envy the monk.
The Meditating Monk occupies an unusual place in the game's world. While players will assuredly have many bizarre NPC encounters in Red Dead Redemption 2, the monk doesn't do anything strange. He provides an excellent sketching opportunity for Arthur, and aside from the questions over what this singular monk is doing on the edge of a cliff, there's not much to do with him. Although like many areas of the game, perhaps the mystery is the point of the Meditating Monk's existence in Red Dead Redemption 2.
Red Dead Redemption 2
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 95 /100 Critics Rec: 93%
- Released
- October 26, 2018
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Drugs and Alcohol
- Developer(s)
- Rockstar Games
- Publisher(s)
- Rockstar Games
- Engine
- RAGE
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
- N/A
WHERE TO PLAY
America, 1899. The end of the wild west era has begun as lawmen hunt down the last remaining outlaw gangs. Those who will not surrender or succumb are killed. After a robbery goes badly wrong in the western town of Blackwater, Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang are forced to flee. With federal agents and the best bounty hunters in the nation massing on their heels, the gang must rob, steal and fight their way across the rugged heartland of America in order to survive. As deepening internal divisions threaten to tear the gang apart, Arthur must make a choice between his own ideals and loyalty to the gang who raised him. From the creators of Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption, Red Dead Redemption 2 is an epic tale of life in America at the dawn of the modern age.
