Summary
- Red Dead Redemption 2 is filled with hidden mysteries and Easter eggs, ranging from ghosts to witchcraft, that are detached from the main story.
- The Mysterious Hill Home in the game has ties to a cult called the Chelonians, who believe in a Utopian society and ultimately engage in suicide rituals.
- The Hill Home serves as a reference to Tolkien's Middle-earth and possibly to Norse turf homes, hinting at the presence of Vikings in America. Red Dead Redemption 3 may provide more mysteries in the future.
South-east of the Wapiti Reservation in Red Dead Redemption 2, at the base of a mountain, players will encounter a mysterious mound. At first, it appears to just be an awkward piece of landscape, but as one draws closer, they might notice the mysterious symbol painted at the top of it, the logs propping it up, or the doorway adorning the side of it. While seemingly quaint and innocuous, the home has ties to a dark cult, and its location is foreboding. This is Red Dead Redemption 2's Mysterious Hill Home, one of the game's many hidden mysteries and Easter eggs.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is filled with Easter eggs, mysteries, and tales to tell that are largely detached from the game's main story. This ranges from vampires in Saint-Denis all the way to what appears to be a crashed airship. Easter eggs in the game tend to be fantastical in nature. Players can encounter ghosts, evidence of aliens, and even witchcraft in the game's world. While the first game had a zombie-flavored expansion pack with Undead Nightmare, Red Dead Redemption 2 has instead opted to occupy its world with creepy nods toward the occult and American spiritualism's impact on the West.
Red Dead Redemption 2's Hill Home Has Cult Ties
Red Dead Redemption 2's Mysterious Hill Home has a white crest above its entrance. This crest is associated with a cult known as the Chelonians. They believe in a Utopian society called Chelonia and think that the only way to escape the struggles of modern life is to give everything they have to the cult in order to be guided to Chelonia. The player encounters the group during the main story at the behest of Mary Linton, who asks Arthur to rescue her brother from them. This quest reveals that the Chelonians are a suicide cult.
In the game's epilogue, the player can watch one of the cult's suicide rituals. These rituals happen at the top of mountains, where the cultists jump off to their deaths. The hill home is located at the foot of a mountain, and the door is locked. In this light, the Chelonian symbol becomes ominous. This location could be used to prepare for these rituals or even hide bodies. Even if the building serves a more innocuous purpose, the presence of a Chelonian symbol indicates that the occupant may have been a victim since there are no signs of life around the building, not dissimilar to Red Dead Redemption 2's witch house.
The Hill Home Is A Tolkien Reference
The other purpose that the Mysterious Hill Home serves is as a reference to Tolkien's beloved world of Middle-earth. The hill home in Red Dead Redemption 2 bears a strong resemblance to the dwellings of the Hobbits in The Lord of the Rings' Shire. The Mysterious Hill Home, like a Hobbit Hole, is embedded in the earth and features a dome-like roof of grass. Unfortunately, the hill home doesn't feature the circular hole-like door of the Hobbit dwellings. The other possibility is that the mysterious structure is the ruins of a Norse turf home.
Vikings were known to build homes of stone and turf, some of which still stand today. An often-forgotten fact of the history of the Americas is that Vikings were able to reach North America almost 500 years before Columbus did. This home is the spitting image of a Norse turf house, so it stands to reason that it might be just that, an ancient relic of Vikings in America. While more information about the hill home will likely never be provided, a leaker has indicated that Red Dead Redemption 3 is in development, so hopefully, Rockstar Games will be delivering players more mysteries of the Wild West to ponder in coming years.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.