The Grand Korrigan

The Grand Korrigan is a riverboat in Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online, in the Bayou Nwa region of the Lemoyne territory.

History[]

Background[]

The Grand Korrigan was a lavish riverboat operating around the city of Saint Denis, famous for holding gambling tournaments and is considered as the "Queen of the Lannahechee". One such tournament, a high stakes poker game, became known to the gang while they were at a party, which they subsequently decided to rob. As such, Josiah Trelawny concocted an elaborate plan to rob the riverboat.

Events of Red Dead Redemption 2[]

Arthur Morgan takes a seat on the poker table in the middle of the room on the riverboat and begins to play poker against Desmond Blythe, among others, while Leopold Strauss aids Arthur by subtly conveying what he should do. The majority of the players go bust after the first round, leaving only Arthur and Desmond Blythe, who bets his valuable Reutlinger pocket watch to stay in the game. Arthur quickly exhausts Blythe's chips and wins the game, so the Pit Boss escorts him upstairs with a security guard (who is actually Javier Escuella) to collect the Reutlinger from the safe.

When Arthur is up there with Javier, the two point their guns at the Pit Boss and Arthur takes his concealed revolver away. Arthur then loots the vault's contents: thousands of dollars and the Reutlinger pocket watch. As he finishes doing so, however, the Pit Boss prepares to kill Arthur with a second hidden gun, resulting in Arthur being forced to shoot him. The sound of the gunshot alerts the guards, who search the area. Meanwhile, the guard who Javier stole his uniform from wakes up and warns the others, causing a gunfight to ensue when the guards unmask the true culprits.

During the gunfight, the gang flees out to the deck. The group finds that the only way to return to the mainland is via swimming, which they reluctantly decide to do.

The Noblest of Men, and a Woman[]

Later on, the player visits the riverboat to find Jim "Boy" Calloway and Theodore Levin. After being escorted up to Calloway's room by a member of staff, the protagonist gives Levin the photographs of Emmet Granger, Billy Midnight, and Flaco Hernández, who the player had slain, as well as Black Belle; all of which would be used for Levin's book about Calloway. When Calloway himself hears that he is to be given the credit for their respective defeats, he becomes furious and instead suggests that the player gives him Slim Grant, with Calloway wishing to prove himself to be a legend. After Levin informs the player to bring Grant to Brandywine Drop, the player departs the riverboat, with Levin and Calloway presumably doing so soon afterward.

Known employees[]

Pit Boss - Gambling supervisor

Mission appearances[]

Red Dead Redemption 2

Trivia[]

Despite being considered a location on the map, its label becomes removed upon completion of the two missions its associated with.
Outside of missions, the player cannot explore the interior of the riverboat, although they can access the exterior of it.
The Grand Korrigan is a paddle steamer - a riverboat with a steam engine that powers paddled wheels to propel it through the water. The vessel is a classic sidewheeler (as opposed to sternwheeler) design with two large paddle wheels, one on each flank. The sidewheeler design was more complicated and could create its own inefficiencies, but ideally it allowed for better maneuverability and turning.
Consistent with the game's themes, the Grand Korrigan itself is a symbol of an increasingly bygone era. By the 1890s, riverboat usage on the Mississippi River was still going strong but had begun to decline because of the growth of railroads for transportation and commerce. Automobiles, the Great Depression, and the rise of diesel-powered shipping virtually ended steamboat traffic on the river. Today, few operational paddle wheelers exist, and only a handful run on steam power.
In Brittany Breton folklore, a "korrigan" is a type of fairy, often a siren-like female fairy who inhabits rivers or streams. Such korrigans try to be seen only at night when they appear beautiful and alluring, whereas by day their appearance is unattractive or even grotesque. Korrigans often kill the men whom they successfully seduce.
If the player rows far from Saint Denis, their location will be displayed as "Grand Korrigan" despite not being there.
In Red Dead Online, it is located east of Saint Denis, with an interior, but no furniture in the gambling room. If the player attempts to reach it, they will be teleported back to Saint Denis. In beta, a story mission exploit could be used to access the steamer and its interior.^[1] Following an update, this exploit can still similarly be performed during a certain legendary bounty mission.^[2]
In the game files, it is referred to as the Serendipity, implying it was originally intended to be that ship.
The Morningstar steamboat in Red Dead Redemption was originally intended to serve as a floating casino. Evidence of this can be seen in the "Life in the West" pre-release trailer, and also in the dialogue exchanged between John Marston and Elizabeth Thornton during the Stranger mission "The Wronged Woman", wherein she says "I knew his frequenting that gambling boat would be the death of him." However, the Grand Korrigan serves this purpose in Red Dead Redemption 2 and there's even an advertisement for the boat at the docks in Blackwater - the ferry hails from here to several other destinations, which could indicate that Rockstar retconned this cut element in using the Grand Korrigan.