Javier Escuella

Javier Escuella was born in Nuevo Paraíso, Mexico. Javier's father was a drunkard who worked as a laborer on land owned by Allende's uncle. When he was a boy, Escuella witnessed his uncle and four other men castrated and fed to pigs because they suggested the villagers demand a fair wage. Eventually, Javier became a notorious bounty hunter and revolutionary, fighting against what he saw as a corrupt system. He ended up killing a powerful, former military man in Punta Orgulloover a woman he was in love with. Fearing that his loved ones would suffer if he remained in Mexico, Javier fled to America. However, he could not speak any English and ultimately became feeble and starved. In 1895, while attempting to steal some chickens, Javier came across Dutch van der Linde doing the same. They both laughed, and Dutch fed and clothed Javier, offering him a spot in the Van der Linde gang. Escuella felt an immediate affinity with the gang and its ideals; he came to see the gang as his family and his true home, while especially idolising Dutch as a revolutionary paragon and becoming fiercely loyal to him. Javier functioned as a gunman for the gang and was involved in a number of robberies and various other crimes across the frontier. One notable example is a bank robbery in Tucson, Arizona, which Javier robbed with Arthur and Karen.[1] At some point, Escuella heard that his mother had died and that his sister had married. Despite deeply missing them both, he couldn't go back to Mexico because he would most likely be killed if discovered. Sometime prior to 1899, Javier and Arthur attempted to rob a stagecoach after receiving tips from a crooked lawman in Reno, Nevada. However, they decided to let the stagecoach go when they found out that it was full of women and children. To their disappointment, that stagecoach was robbed by the O'Driscoll Boys the very next day, who had all its passengers murdered. By 1899, the gang had fled east and ended up in the state of West Elizabeth. They had been camping outside of the town of Blackwater when Dutch caught wind of a boat carrying an immense amount of money. The gang attempted to rob the boat, but the heist went wrong when Pinkertonagents showed up. Javier witnessed Dutch murder a young mother named Heidi McCourt and participated in the huge gunfight that ensued. The gang subsequently made a desperate escape to the north, ending up in the snowy mountains of Ambarino. Not long after moving to Horseshoe Overlook, Javier is in the saloon in Valentine when a brawl breaks out. He is seen punching Tommy in the face but is overpowered by him and is saved when Tommy gets attacked by Arthur. Later, he takes part in the mission to help rescue Sean along with Arthur, Charles, and Trelawny. Along with Arthur and Trelawny, he assaults the camp front on, while Charles takes a vantage point over the enemy bounty hunters. Trelawny distracts two bounty hunters which allows Arthur and Javier to silently take them down. He then leaves, allowing Arthur and Javier to engage the rest of them in combat. The pair eventually join up with Charles, and the three clear out any remaining bounty hunters. Ultimately, the mission results in Sean being rescued. At some stage within this chapter, Javier can also rob the homestead of Chez Porter with Arthur. The player can choose to go fishing with Javier during this chapter, where he and Arthur share a friendly conversation. Later, Javier, John and Arthur make a deal with the Grays, in which they will steal the Braithwaites' prized horses and sell them for five thousand dollars. The three of them talk their way into the grounds, before killing the stablehand and stealing the horses. Javier leads the horses during the escape, until the trio sell them for a meager seven hundred dollars. Later on, Javier takes part in the assault on the Braithwaite Manor. Javier plays the part of a security guard during the riverboat robbery. After Arthur wins a Reutlinger pocket watch from Desmond Blythe in a poker game, Javier escorts Arthur and the overseerupstairs to the vault as Arthur goes to collect his prize. Javier holds the man at gunpoint as soon as he opens the vault, which he and Arthur quickly empty. After the man pulls a concealed gun on them, Arthur is forced to shoot him, which alerts the ship's guards. After a brief shootout, Javier, Arthur, Strauss and Trelawny are forced to flee the ship by jumping overboard and swimming to shore. After getting to safety, they divide the significant amount of money between themselves. Later, Javier participates in the Saint Denis bank robbery, where he is given the job of guarding the side entrance of the bank. However, the robbery quickly goes wrong due to the arrival of Pinkertons and the resulting deaths of Lenny and Hosea. Javier and the gang make their escape across the city's rooftops and temporarily find refuge in an abandoned apartment. Afterwards, the gang make their way to the docks and board a ship destined for the Caribbean. After the boat out of Saint Denis sinks, Javier, Dutch, Bill and Micah wash up on the shore of Guarma. Not long after, Arthur finds them, but he and the rest of the gang are soon arrested by Guarman soldiers. After Hercule Fontaine opens fire on the enemy soldiers, Arthur manages to unlock their handcuffs and they make their escape. However, Javier is shot in the leg while trying to flee and is captured by the enemy. Escuella is taken to Aguasdulces, where Dutchand Arthur see him being dragged on the road by a donkey, surrounded by Colonel Fussar and his men. They interrogate Javier for information on who his fellow gang members are and beat him, but he refuses to divulge any information to them. Javier is then locked up in a cage until Dutch and Arthur break him out after creating a distraction. They bring Escuella to the safety of the rebels and his fellow gang members, where he is left to heal. For the rest of his time on Guarma, Javier's time is spent recovering. With the gang on the verge of collapse at Beaver Hollow, Javier takes a fairly minimal role in gang affairs. He remains unendingly loyal to Dutch, and his relationships with Arthur and John notably deteriorate as a result. Javier does, however, take part in the assault on the Cornwall refinery, in which he joins the gang and the Wapiti Indians in battle against US Army soldiers led by Colonel Favours. Javier is also present in the final train robbery, where he is seen accompanying Dutch, Micah and Joe in going back for John after he was shot. However, the four men later return without John, with Dutch and Micah falsely claiming that he had died. Later, a standoff at Beaver Hollow ensues when Arthur and Micah draw guns on each other at camp; Javier appears when it is ongoing and announces that Pinkertons are coming, but unwittingly causes the death of Susan Grimshawin the process as Micah shoots her while she is distracted by this. Dutch then pulls out his revolvers and demands who is "with" him and who is "betraying" him, causing Javier to hesitantly join the majority of the gang on Dutch and Micah's side. After Pinkertons begin their assault, Javier presumably flees with Bill, as neither of them are seen pursuing Arthur and John, unlike the others. At some stage after the disbandment of the gang, Javier returns to Mexico. He is reported to be living in the mountains in Mexico by 1907.