It's not entirely Arthur's fault, what he pretty much did was speed up the process of driving the Downes into poverty. Thomas Downes was the one who willingly borrowed money from Strauss, so agreed to the terms of paying it back which he failed to comply with. Also, they were on the way to poverty whether Arthur was involved or not, since Thomas was dying of TB and that would have definitely put a strain on their finances.

Nobody is innocent here. Strauss shouldn't target the desperate, Downes should have thought more of the potential consequences and dangers to himself and his family before taking the loan, Arthur shouldn't have beaten him like he did. Overall though I'd blame Strauss over anyone else.

Downes knew exactly what he was doing when he borrowed the money from Strauss. Arthur is in no way responsible for his death. Thomas would have died and his family would have wound up poor regardless of what Arthur did.

The kiss assing for Arthur in these comments are crazy, but if Micah did the same thing to the debt victims yall would had hold nothing back....

Interesting thing is that you can do the mission without laying a hand on Downes. You can just choose the intimidate option and Arthur won't hit him. He'll throw him to the ground in the cutscene, but no punches will be thrown.

In my opinion Arthur might have accelerated Downs' journey to the grave but ultimately the result would have been the same. The family was already in financial troubles and tuberculosis would have killed him at some point down the road.

Maybe if Thomas Downes had spent more time working to pay off his debt instead of raising money for charity when he couldn't even support his own family yet, he'd have lived. It's his own fault. Charity is wonderful, but if you can't even support your own family yet, you have an obligation to support their needs before you take care of strangers.

I think it was good for the Downes that Arthur came into their lives since without the money he gave them in the last encounter, they wouldn't be able to get anywhere. Even if Arthur hadn't beaten Thomas, he still would've died from the TB, making his family have no money and thus sending them deeper into poverty.

If you don't think the attack did anything horrible to Downes, then you do not understand much about a sickness like TB and the strain it puts on the body. Cause when a person is at a late stage of TB like Downes was, the body isn't able to recuperate. It's unable to heal from the wounds. The body is in a tired state, where moving around is a challenge on patients. That's why when you see a person who is sick without the ability to walk or get out of bed, that's the result of a debilitating illness, which is what TB is. To say that it only affects the lungs, you don't know anything about the body, or even tuberculosis, for that matter. I think it's important for you to research this horrific illness before saying anything like that.

Arthur didnt kill Downes, but Downes surely killed Arthur by purposefully spitting on his face

Two things:

Arthur: stop lending money to desperate people who cant pay

9:58

A minor easter egg, that connects RDR2 and GTA V: the golf club in GTA V were called by the name of Edith Downes. A small detail that perfectly connects and finishes this story

I've played computer games since 1983.

11:55

I think the duality of Arthur between high and low honor is fascinating. Both are just as much who he is as the either, but this projection of what's inside to the outside world (to us, the audience). The honor system isn't come cosmic alignment between good or evil. It's how the character feels about themselves. Ultimately, playing Good Cowboy or Bad Cowboy doesn't make a difference. But the expression of the characters' internal dialog gives us real insight into the characters. Jack's expressions are much more plain to see because there really is no future for him, the story is over. If you think the concept is interesting as I do please cover it because your analysis is very welcome in the community.

You need to cover the fact of how Arthur could have been an amazing father. Like literally just how much the youngsters meant to him despite of him being a ruthless and honestly a cold killer but he’s a teddy bear once you get to know him. And I know you’re up for the task of him being a father or a father figure.

I'll make a case for Strauss and Arthur here. Ultimately, they were doing what Dutch wanted them to do, which was make money the only way they knew how. I think I would be tempted to treat the gang like a business and say Dutch, as the leader, should be held responsible for the actions of his underlings. The gangs actions should be ultimately done under his supervision, and him held responsible for consequences. Everyone else was just surviving the only way they knew how. As the gangs leader, he had control over how Strauss and Arthur collected the money, and I believe Strauss is a Red Herring, or a scapegoat.

Arthur is no more responsible for Thomas Downs' fate than Thomas is responsible for Arthur's, they are both symptoms of wider issues in each others lives.