The First Shall Be Last is the 16th main story mission in Red Dead Redemption 2 (RDR2). This walkthrough will guide you through all objectives of The First Shall Be Last Main Quest including all Gold Medals for 100% completion.
The First Shall Be Last is unlocked when you complete A Quiet Time.
Quest Giver: Javier Escuella
Chapter: 2
Region: West Elizabeth
Gold Medal Requirements:
- Silently kill the Bounty Hunters by the river with Javier
- Shoot the rope to free Sean
- Get 10 headshots
- Complete the mission without taking any health items
Starting Location: Blackwater, West Elizabeth
Meet Charles and Javier
To start this quest, meet up with Charles and Javier on a hill overlooking Blackwater. Sean has been captured, and is being held in Blackwater. It seems like he’s being used as bait to draw out his friends, and it’s working.
After a few minutes surveying the town, Trelawny will show up to inform you that Sean is being held by bounty hunters, and will be moved upriver to be transferred to a federal prison. You have to rescue him before its too late.
Follow the Boat
Get back to your horse and follow the boat upriver. Trelawny will advise you to stay away from the cliff edge, but it doesn’t seem that you can be spotted until the boat lands. Once it does, use your binoculars to spot Sean on the boat and watch him being led up the path.
Before you follow Sean, Trelawny has an idea to take out the two bounty hunters on the shore while giving you a stealth refresher.
Wait for Trelawny to ride up to them and cause a distraction, then crouch and make your way across the river slowly.
- GOLD MEDAL: Silently kill the Bounty Hunters by the river with Javier
- GOLD MEDAL: Get 10 headshots
If you have any throwing knives, you can start to work on your headshots, otherwise creep up behind the bounty hunters and perform a stealth kill. Just make sure you wait until Javier is in position before making your move.
Get to the Camp
Now that Trelawny’s job is over, he will leave you to your rescue mission. Follow Javier up to the path where there are two more bounty hunters to deal with. In the narrow confines of the path ahead, stealth isn’t really an option anymore, so use Dead Eye to get two more headshots. From here out, follow Javier up the canyon, keeping in cover wherever possible to avoid damage.
- GOLD MEDAL: Complete the mission without taking any health items
Again, Dead Eye is your friend for avoiding damage and getting headshots. Remember that the gold medal requirement says that you can’t take Health items, but you can still use items that restore your Dead Eye as long as they don’t affect your Health. If you are running low on Health, also remember that your Health meter will regenerate slowly, as long as your core is not depleted. Its very slow however, so don’t rely on that unless you can find a safe place to hole up for several minutes.
Keep a careful eye out for snipers on the canyon walls. They typically have very powerful long guns which do a lot of damage, and can usually still hit you from above while you’re in cover, so take them out as soon as they appear.
Rescue Sean
Meet up with Charles at the top of the path and together you will head for the camp. Predictably there will be a lot more bounty hunters to kill. Charles and Javier will also be shooting, so get your headshots in while you can. Watch out for the sniper on the water tower as you push up into the camp.
When the coast is clear, there’s one more thing you have to do.
- GOLD MEDAL: Shoot the rope to free Sean
Grateful for his rescue, Sean shows the appropriate respect for his savior.
Your friends will head back to camp, leaving you to scavenge the camp for treasure. Mission complete!
This finishes The First Shall Be Last main mission in Red Dead Redemption 2. Now the next quest Pouring Forth Oil – II starts.
Next Up: Pouring Forth Oil – II
For more Walkthroughs with all gold medals, check out the complete Red Dead Redemption 2 Story Walkthrough.
Killing the Bounty Hunters by the river with a throwing knife didn’t count as a stealth kill for me. Just take them out as you normally would and copy Javier just to be safe.
There is more than enough Bounty Hunters to bag the headshots from plus there is the two unsuspecting ones which you can easily dead eye after you do the stealth kill by the river so that’s 2 for free and the other 8 are easy if you place yourself and don’t rush your shots.
Yeah same here. I used the throwing knife but by doing so it alerted the other guy so I didnt get that accomplishment… sneak up and kill them