Dan Houser conflicted between GTA 4's Niko Bellic and RDR2's Arthur Morgan as the best Rockstar Games character

Dan Houser, the co-founder of Rockstar Games and the writer responsible for several of its most famous and well-known video games, recently revealed that he’s torn between GTA 4’s Niko Bellic and Red Dead Redemption 2’s Arthur Morgan when it comes to choosing the best Rockstar Games character ever created.

Speaking on Lex Fridman’s podcast on YouTube, Houser admitted that while Arthur might be the “best lead” he’s written, Niko still stands as one of his most ambitious creations. Read on to learn more about it.

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Dan Houser shares why choosing between Niko Bellic and Arthur Morgan isn’t easy

Niko Bellic and Arthur Morgan (Image via Rockstar Games)

When asked whether Arthur is his best creation, Dan Houser didn’t hesitate to bring up another name Niko Bellic, the haunted Eastern European immigrant from GTA 4. He stated:

“Him and Niko are the two I like. They were the two most ambitious. So for me, it’s always sort of a toss-up, you know?”

It’s easy to see why. Both characters are products of two very different eras of Rockstar storytelling, yet they share similar thematic weight. Niko’s story in GTA 4 explored trauma, guilt, and the pursuit of a better life through the lens of post-war immigration. Arthur Morgan, on the other hand, represents a man coming to terms with his morality and mortality as the Wild West fades away.

Dan Houser described Arthur Morgan as the most rounded and worked in lots of different ways, but Niko still holds a special place for him because of how grounded and human he felt. Interestingly, Houser also revealed that he originally wanted to kill Niko at the end of GTA 4, mirroring the kind of tragic finality seen in Arthur’s story.

However, technical limitations, mainly the need to let players continue exploring Liberty City after the credits, prevented it.

Also read: 3 games that GTA 6 should have as side activities

Arthur Morgan vs. Niko Bellic: two sides of Rockstar’s storytelling

Dan Houser's statements explain the reasons that caused the storytelling from Rockstar to get better and change as time passed. The character Niko Bellic was born from the grim realism of the mid-2000s, a person who is pulled in different directions by his sense of duty to others, his need to stay alive, and his feelings of sadness about past actions.

The character Arthur, however, was created after many years of the company's creative development and with the help of much better technical tools; this combination made it possible to show very small and detailed feelings, conversations that seemed real and unforced, and a story with many complex layers.

For Dan Houser, the two characters both stand for the highest point of achievement in Rockstar's creation of characters. Niko shows the idea of the American dream turning bad and failing, and Arthur stands for the ideas of being saved from your past and of things falling apart over time.

Read also: Should Rockstar mention Niko in GTA VI?

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Edited by Rishi Pallav