The true story of Silas Greaves

[Volodio]

First things first, Silas Greaves is an invented character. He never existed. So here I’m just talking about the canon in the universe of the game. I’m assuming the nuggets of truth and loading screens are telling the truth without doubt while people are unreliable narrator (Silas openly admits to telling tales).

Silas Greaves and his brothers were hanged in 1868, the story you know. Silas likely killed Jim Reed in 1874, but considering he lies completely when telling the story of how he killed Jim, it probably did not happen in an honorable way. The whole story of the hunt of the James gang is false, he never met Frank or Jesse James. The entire telling was made to play with Bob and getting him to reveal himself fully (which he did when he said Jim Reed’s name that Silas had not mentioned before).

In 1880, Silas participated in the Lincoln County War with the Regulators, with Bob on the other side. At that point, Silas was green, he arrived late in the conflict and was simply one of the numerous henchmen, far from the inner circle of the gang. He likely never even spoke with Billy the Kid considering he completely misrepresents his personality. He may have been at Stinking Springs where he was arrested alongside Billy (or he was arrested separately), but the shootout is exaggerated as are Silas’ skills during the event. He did not kill Pat Garett either.

In 1881, Silas escaped from prison during Billy the Kid’s escape. The whole shootout in the town is invented and Billy the Kid was the one who killed Olinger. Silas might have killed one person at most during the escape. He fled to Mexico before realizing that he was not pursued because he was a nobody. Meanwhile, Bob left the gang he was with and later joined another one in Kansas.

In 1882, Silas went back in the USA and was hired by Earp and Doc Holliday against the Cowboys. However, he did it after OK Coral and did not kill Old Man Clanton. He rode with them for a while. He was at the shootout at Iron Springs where Curly Bill was killed, but he was not alone and in the chaos it is likely nobody knows, not even Silas, who actually killed Curly Bill. A few months later, he did kill Ringo.

At that point, he had become a bounty hunter. However, he claims his first job independent of the vengeance was against Henry Plummer, but it is false as Plummer died in 1864. The entire mission is invented and his first jobs were far less grandiose. During the early 1880s, Silas heard that Bob was in Kansas and went there, but could not find him. He probably took a job in Abilene (the town of the game) but it was not for John Wesley Hardin, who was in prison at the time. The whole mission is likely an exaggeration of a much simpler contract.

Now, this is the part where there is the most guesswork involved, but it is possible that between around 1883 and 1890, Silas participated in the Indian Wars against the Apaches. There, he saw or was involved in atrocities, and it is a part of his life he regrets deeply. He met George Crook, a US officer, who advised him to renounce his revenge. It might have been there that he married the Indian sisters, but he abandoned them to go back to his vengeance. The mission with Grey Wolf is invented, however Silas might have made it up using events he actually went through.

During that time, Bob started to abandon his criminal life (though he was still supplying some criminals). In 1892, they both were involved in the arrest of the Daltons. The Daltons never made it out of the town and Silas was amongst the men who stopped them (not single-handily). The whole story about the Daltons escaping to a swamp with Emmett covering them is entirely invented by Silas trying to mess with Bob and using it to introduce the story of how his brothers were killed.

Over the next years, Silas continued his life as a bounty hunter while Bob moved to Abilene where he became a bartender. He still had connections with outlaws and notably gave their whiskeys to the Wild Bunch. In 1899, Silas heard of Bob and the Wild Bunch and decided to participate in the pursue, though he thought that Bob was one of them. While it is possible that Silas was working alone, there were many others hunting the Wild Bunch at the same time. The big shootout mission is invented and Silas did not kill George Flat-Nose Curry.

After the Wild Bunch was disbanded, Bob became entirely legitimate. In 1904, Silas participated in the hunt for Kid Curry along with many others. The whole bridge with dynamites and duel with Kid Curry are simply tales. Silas might have seen the death of Kid Curry (if he did die in 1904), but he was not the killer and probably did not even talk to him.

In 1910, Silas hunted down old members of the Wild Bunch. Most of his telling is likely exaggerated, notably the Mexican standoff or the number of men there (and obviously the ghosts, but Silas did kill Sundance Kid and Butch Cassidy, the later who told him that Bob was in Abilene. Then he goes to Abilene and the game starts.

[Valden21]

The Nuggets of Truth are what actually happened in history; they're there so that players will know both the truth as it actually happened, and how the background information fits within Silas' story.
As for Silas being a liar, that's made obvious as early as your encounter with Pat Garret, due to Silas going back on what he said. However, him being a liar is beside the point, as he's telling a story. As long as the story is a good one, the listeners can choose for themselves whether or not to believe it, and that's the main point. Whether or not it actually happened doesn't matter because he's telling the story in order to teach Dwight a lesson. If you look at the IRL history of what Dwight did later on in his life, and compare it to the game, you see that in the canon of the game, Eisenhower learned that lesson very well.

[S T R I V E]

Gave you a award for your effort ,i love researching the history from The American frontier
i have even visited Oasys MiniHollywood when i was a teenager it was really cool thanks for your post .

[Not Rawr]

Originally posted by Valden21:

The Nuggets of Truth are what actually happened in history; they're there so that players will know both the truth as it actually happened, and how the background information fits within Silas' story.
As for Silas being a liar, that's made obvious as early as your encounter with Pat Garret, due to Silas going back on what he said. However, him being a liar is beside the point, as he's telling a story. As long as the story is a good one, the listeners can choose for themselves whether or not to believe it, and that's the main point. Whether or not it actually happened doesn't matter because he's telling the story in order to teach Dwight a lesson. If you look at the IRL history of what Dwight did later on in his life, and compare it to the game, you see that in the canon of the game, Eisenhower learned that lesson very well.

idk the irl story of Dwight but I believed he would add lies to his stories not only to make it interesting, but to bait out the old man, if he were able to correct his lies then he knew it was the guy he was after this whole time. I forgot the names, but I think it was bob?

[J@m3$]

Eh the mexican standoff with Butch and Sundance is also false as Jack points it out that they died in Bolivia. The Standoff segment is a nutshell reference to COJ bound in blood(between Thomas and Ray),though it is possible that he did had a stand off with a wild bunch members and they told him where bob was.

[Volodio]

Originally posted by J@m3$:

Eh the mexican standoff with Butch and Sundance is also false as Jack points it out that they died in Bolivia. The Standoff segment is a nutshell reference to COJ bound in blood(between Thomas and Ray),though it is possible that he did had a stand off with a wild bunch members and they told him where bob was.

The standoff is obviously fake as they weren't really a thing, but Silas did kill at least Cassidy as Silas says, in the revenge ending, that Cassidy told him that Bob was in Abilene and that's how he knew where to look. He says so after he finished telling his stories, after he killed Bob and after admitted to having lied on some of what he was saying. So at his most honest point in the entire telling. It's possible that he's still lying, but unlikely imo.

Sundance and Cassidy dying in Bolivia is unconfirmed even IRL. The bodies were never identified and it was simply assumed it was them, but there are many theories that they didn't die there. Some theories even suggest that they went back to the US and ended their criminal career. So considering that even IRL there is room for doubt, I'd say it's not incoherent for the canon of the game to be that Silas killed them.