Valentine is a livestock town featured in Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online, located in The Heartlands region of the state of New Hanover, south of the banks of the Dakota River.

Description

Valentine is a livestock town, a short ride away from the Horseshoe Overlook camp; the first camp the gang makes after their exodus from the frigid mountains.

Several suppliers and businesses can be found within the town including two saloons, a butcher, a doctor, a general store, a gunsmith, a newspaper stand, a stable, and a hotel.

The northern section of Valentine contains the main street with most of the buildings and businesses. The southern section is home to the livestock yards, including various pens, and the auction yard. The east side of town is home to a smaller saloon, a few homes, and the town church.  

Temperatures in Valentine are fairly cool and rarely reach double figures (Celsius), even during the day. The nights are also fairly cool, although the temperature won’t usually drop below freezing. Valentine is on approximately the same latitude as Van Horn Trading Post.  

Layout

Valentine is connected to the railway network by a train station situated south-east of the town. Within the station is a post office, where the player can pay off bounties, receive and send mail, or purchase train tickets. Right outside of the station is a stagecoach, where the player can fast travel to a location for a fee.

Northwest of the train station are livestock yards, housing various pens and an auction yard. Across the street to the west is the theater; a tent with a small booth to the right of the entrance where the player can purchase tickets to view a movie inside. Just outside of the theater is a camping site, with a number of tents, wagons, and two campfires. The player may cook on the campfires and even take from the camp's stew pot as they wish. Facing the theater are gallows, where criminals who have been sentenced to death are hanged. Sometimes, executions can be witnessed here, with a gathered crowd to watch.

Just north of the gallows is a butcher's stall, where the player can sell game they have hunted, or buy meat to refill their cores. Across the street and to the north is the stable, an establishment where the player can buy and customize different breeds of horses, purchase customization for their horses, such as saddles or blankets, and alter their horse's hair length and color.

Adjacent to the stable is a building under construction, where builders can be seen carrying and hammering down planks of wood. By 1907, this building is complete with red wooden paneling and a grey, tiled roof. Facing this construction site is the Saints Hotel, where the player can rent a room to bathe, change their clothing, and sleep to refill their cores or to simply pass time.

To the right of the hotel is the bank; a location the player can rob for large sums of money. This bank is robbed in the mission "Sodom? Back to Gomorrah".

Across the street from the bank is Worths General Store; a very useful location where the player can buy a large variety of items such as clothing, food, fishing and hunting bait, ammunition for their weapons, consumables for their horse and a range of tonics. The player can also sell some of their possessions here, most falling under the same categories as the purchasable goods.

To the east of the general store is Smithfield's Saloon, where the player can refill their cores by eating meals, or by purchasing and consuming alcoholic beverages. In front of the left window there is a poker table, where the player can gamble and try their luck to win sums of money. Towards the back of the saloon is a barber, operated by Fern, where the player can trim or style their hair and beard.

Facing the saloon is the Law Office; a tall, yellow building owned by J.W Smith and A.J. Mackey. To the east of the Law Office is the Gunsmith, owned by R.L. Dalton. Here, the player can purchase and customize weapons, restock on ammunition and buy tools to maintain their arms such as gun oil.

Across the street from the gunsmith is the Sheriff's Office; a building where the player can collect bounties for a sum of money, and where the player will stay if arrested by any of Valentine's lawmen.

Across the adjacent street to the Sheriff's office is Valentine Church; a tall, white, wooden building surrounded by graves. To the south of the church is the second tavern in Valentine, Keane's Saloon. Here, the player can consume alcoholic beverages, eat hot meals to refill their cores, or try their luck in a game of Five Finger Fillet.

History

Background

At some point before 1845 when Valentine was founded, some pieces of info (including a scrapped Indian tapestry picturing a massacre in a location closely familiar to Valentine's enviorment) lead to the assumption that during one point the land where Valentine now stands has been settled by an undisclosed Indian tribe that later got attacked, killed or driven away by American settlers.

Only a few decades later the settlement has grown into a large livestock trading post mostly famous for sheep. By 1862 a bank was built in Valentine, connecting the town to the national market making profits for the town with their by now priced livestock. At some point Keane's Saloon was built and later outdone by the much larger Smithfield's Saloon.

By 1898 Valentine has grown into a large popular community with many homesteads beion built west, south and dominantly on the northern hills of the area. A settler caravan has been living just outside the main street which in the recent years sports several new hotels such as (prior to 1898) Saint's Hotel and (by 1899 in construction) Keane's Rooms and Valentine's Restaurant.

Events of Red Dead Redemption 2

Valentine is the first town the player normally interacts with following the gang's descent from the frigid mining town of Colter. Many of the missions in Chapter 2 are centered in and around Valentine, with missions such as "Polite Society, Valentine Style" and "Americans at Rest" introducing the player to the town. Following the mission, "Exit Pursued by a Bruised Ego," the player can use stables.

The last time Valentine is visited in Chapter 2 is during the mission "The Sheep and the Goats" when John and Arthur steal a herd of sheep and send them to the auction yard in town. After reaching a deal, the two head down to Keane's Saloon, where they meet Leopold Strauss and Dutch. The four are confronted by an enraged Leviticus Cornwall and his private guards, and a firefight ensues in town. Several lawmen and guards are killed, and Strauss is injured. The event forces the gang to relocate from Horseshoe Overlook.

After the heat from the firefight cools down a few weeks later, Bill Williamson, Karen Jones, Lenny Summers, and Arthur Morgan decide it is time to return to Valentine and rob the bank, which they weren’t able to rob during Chapter 2. They narrowly escape the law, but successfully rob the bank and collect thousands of dollars.

The last time Valentine plays a major role in the story is during the epilogue. John Marston can find Sadie Adler in Smithfield’s Saloon following a telegraph he received at Pronghorn Ranch. The two discuss capturing a bounty, so they ride to Strawberry to find Nathan Kirk, a man wanted for embezzling. John can also find Mary-Beth at the train station, where he learns that she became an esteemed author under the pen name Leslie DuPont.

Mission Appearances

Red Dead Redemption 2

• "Polite Society, Valentine Style"
• "Americans at Rest"
• "Good, Honest, Snake Oil"
• "Exit Pursued by a Bruised Ego"
• "We Loved Once and True I & II"
• "We Loved Once and True III" (Optional)
• "A Quiet Time"
• "Pouring Forth Oil II" (Optional)
• "The Sheep and the Goats"
• "Sodom? Back to Gomorrah"
• "Gainful Employment"
• "American Venom" (Credits)

Red Dead Redemption 2 Stranger/Side Missions

• "The Noblest of Men, and a Woman"
• "American Dreams"
• "Oh, Brother"
• "Mary-Beth"

Amenities

• Amos Levi Blacksmith & Farrier (stable)
• Auction Yard
• Barber Shop
• Butcher
• Gunsmith
• Keane's Saloon: Five Finger Filet can be played here
• Post Office
• Saints Hotel
• Valentine Savings Bank
• Sheriff's Office
• Smithfield's Saloon: on the windowsill facing the street is the Cigarette Card for the Cylinder Phonograph; Poker can be played here
• Stagecoach
• Doctor’s Office: A money-laundering group of O'Driscoll Boys can be found in the backroom
• Traveling Magic Lantern Show: inside the show tent is the Cigarette Card for Nettie Palmer
• Valentine Station
• Worths General Store

Non-interactable

• J.W. Smith and A.J. Mackey Law Office -- directly west of the gunsmith
• Keane’s Rooms for Rent -- found between Smithfield's Saloon and the drugstore
• Valentine Church

Real-Life Inspiration

• There are a number of real-life communities in the western United States named Valentine. However, the actual town – its size, surrounding geography, native wildlife, etc. – that most closely resembles the town in the game is Valentine, Nebraska, along with other northern Great Plains towns located in regions near the bases of the Black Hills or Rocky Mountains.
• Valentine's livestock auction site is something associated especially with frontier cattle towns such as Cheyenne, Wyoming, Ogallala, Nebraska, or Abilene, Kansas, all of which became primary sites along the great cattle drives northward from Texas in the 1870s and early 1880s. Cattle drives still occurred on a smaller scale thereafter, but trains took over the transport of livestock to major hubs in Omaha, Nebraska, Kansas City, Missouri, and Chicago, Illinois. The game accurately reflects how, by the 1890s, the American West had passed the great boom era of the long drive, as railroad service had spread across the country to many small towns that were close to regional ranching areas.
• Like Armadillo and Tumbleweed later, Valentine's large number of cheap wooden and false front buildings suggest that it is still, even by 1899, a relatively new (or still unstable) frontier town. Many established small western towns by this time had more structures built with brick, stone, or some other masonry-based materials. The town's narrow, sloping main street further suggests that it was poorly planned or not originally intended to be the town's main street. Most frontier towns featured a flat main street that was wide enough for a wagon with a team of horses to easily conduct a U-turn.

Trivia

• According to Sheriff Malloy, there are three men for every woman in the town, and “three women to every woman of the marrying kind.”^[1]
• Despite the Valentine Church being present on the Valentine Cigarette Card, it is not interactable, and it seems no one goes there.
• Although the O'Driscolls no longer exist as a gang by the time of the epilogue, four members can still be encountered in the backroom of the Valentine Doctor's Office if the robbery of the side business is performed as John Marston. These O'Driscolls do not have any alternative dialogue during 1907.
• The streets of Valentine are extremely muddy, and the player's horse will quickly get dirty from riding in the town. Additionally, if the player falls over on to the street, they will get extremely muddy and will need to bathe or change their outfit in order to become clean again.
• The Valentine Curse is something that may be mentioned by Jacob Worth, the shopkeeper in the Worth's General Store, and by R. L. Dalton, the Valentine Gunsmith in his shop. After completing the "Polite Society, Valentine Style", the curse may be mentioned by Karen in a discussion with Mary-Beth at Horseshoe Overlook. In this conversation, Karen says this curse is connected to a massacre that happened in the town, the last remaining Indian in the county, and an Eagle or an Owl.
  • Additionally, the player can encounter a man in a camp somewhere in The Heartlands who will discuss the existence of an animal hide painting that is said to depict a massacre of Native Americans by settlers.
  • This curse is also mentioned during the hanging of the "Killer Prostitute".
• The gunsmith in Valentine might mention the line of dancing patrons in Smithfield's after the mission "A Quiet Time" confirming that it was not a drunken hallucination of Arthur's.

Notes

• Cigarette Cards
  • The Cigarette Card for Charles Châtenay can be found on the front porch of a house to the northwest.
  • The Cigarette Card for Frank Heck can be found on a gravestone to the northeast, on the rectangular base of a rounded headstone directly in front of the monolith while facing northeast.
  • In the cluster of structures just north of the theatre are two adjacent wagons. The Cigarette Card for Isadore Reid can be found in the back of the rear, northern most one.
  • At the auction house cluster of buildings, upstairs in the southern most barn is the Cigarette Card for Fay Delaro.
  • On a table inside the train station is the Cigarette Card for Valentine.
  • Inside the Magic Lantern Theatre, on a box underneath the projectionist platform, is the Cigarette Card for Nettie Palmer.
  • On a pig farm south west of town, on a barrel on the porch of the house, is the Cigarette Card for Leviticus Cornwall.
  • The Cigarette Card for the Cylinder Phonograph is found on the outside of the windowsill of Smithfield's Saloon.
• Dreamcatchers
  • Due east of the Post Office is a dreamcatcher, about halfway to Cornwall Kerosene & Tar. North of the railroad tracks directly north of the K in Citadel Rock.
  • South of Valentine along the railroad tracks, directly west of the "E" in "New" of New Hanover. West of the tracks in the cluster of trees.
  • Southwest of Valentine is a dreamcatcher, north of the main road, about halfway to Downes Ranch. Directly south of the first "E" in Valentine.
• Weapons
  • A group of O'Driscolls can be found in the backroom of the doctor's office, and can be killed to obtain money and a Schofield Revolver.

Gallery

Valentine logo as seen on Rockstar's website.

Valentine as seen from birdseye.

Valentine as seen from the street.

Arthur Morgan and Bill Williamson fighting their way out of Valentine during the bank heist

Arthur Morgan ordering the bank manager by gunpoint to open the vault.

Arthur Morgan, Dutch van der Linde, and Sadie Adler shooting while on horseback in the town of Valentine.

John Marston fighting the Valentine sheriffs.

John Marston fights a sheriff with a dynamite.

John Marston dogfighting a Valentine sheriff.

John Marston shoots a Valentine sheriff to death.

Arthur Morgan holding up the bank in the town of Valentine.

Valentine seen from Cumberland Forest

Valentine seen from the northeastern direction

Van der Linde gang in Valentine.

The cigarette card for Valentine

Another birdseye shot of Valentine.

Valentine in the main street.

The Valentine's graveyard.

Navigation