Thomas Harlow

"The item. Did he get that too? Put a price on that kid's head, I don't care how much. I want every bounty hunter, every assassin, every dam snake in the western territories looking for that son of a biatch! No one is gonna stand in the way of my destiny, you understand? NO ONE! NOT THE FAKED-S GOVERNMENT, NOT THE APACHES! AND NOT SOME PISSANT KID WITH A SIX GUN!"

- Magruder to Butchie

Thomas Ben "Magruder" Harlow is the main enemy of the best-selling Western themed game series Red Dead. He's a railroad tycoon who has taken large parts of the Western United States from both Native Americans and the federal government.

Story
It is revealed that Magruder used to be a Confederate military commander who lead the Texas Mountain Rifles. During the American Civil War he undertook a mission to find the lost city of Quivira, an ancient city of gold. On the search he met Ned White, who knew a person who had been to Quivira. Fueled with the news, Tom and his cavalry arrive at an Apache tribe, where he comes across Dr. Campbell, the man who had apparently been to the lost city. While the premises are searched and Magruder questions the doctor, Campbell's Indian friend confronts him and proclaims that "Someday you (Magruder) will find what you're looking for and that day will be your last". Angered by the words, Harlow shoots the Indian. Ned, now conflicted, condemns his actions, prompting Magruder to shoot and wound him as well. Dr. Campbell, kneeling at his dead friend, calls Magruder a "son of a biatch" and tells him that he doesn't deserve the cross. Furious, Ben gets off his horse, draws his cavalry sword, and decapitates him. Corporal Allison eventually found Coronado's cross and gave it to Harlow, which in the game is a map to Quivira. Campbell's wife, armed with a shotgun, shots Tom in the eye, simultaneously breaking the cross in two pieces. He fell unconscious, and with the cross gone from his grasp, it was lost in the ensuing firefight with the Texas Mountain Rangers and the Apache Tribes.

After the war, he puts himself in railroad bussiness which made him quite wealthy instantly. He then forces the Apaches to give up their land. But his pusuit to find Quivira is still with him. He recruited henchmen to find the cross.

Harlow in the rest of the game acts just as brutally to his henchmen. He feels no remorse and will do everything to get what he wants. Failure for him is not an option, and those who fail are severely punished. For example, when Reverend Josiah Reed did not secure the object in the steamboat raid at the beginning of the game, Thomas had his ear sliced off for it.

His favourite weapon is a seven-barrel Nock gun. He is always prominent in using dynamite, even at the cost of his henchmen's lives. On the rare occasion that he engaged in combat, Magruder wore metal body armor as a mean of protection from bullets and explosions, a quite smart but heavy tactic. He also experiments on guns, inventing guns of mass destruction like a portable canon shrunk to appear like a rifle (Canon Nock Gun as it is called by himself). He also owns and rides a tank-like train filled with guns and artilleries which he also use for ramming, and also for transporting his weapons and soldiers.

Magruder also has a big hatred for Apaches. He is said to use them for target practice and in slave labour camps.

In the end he finally arrives in the underground city of Quivira, but like what the Indian predicted, he dies when Cole White threws a big pile of dynamite that made Quivira collapse. Getting Thomas trapped under a fallen boulder, Magruder sat holding Coronado's Cross, taunting Cole as he struggled to flee. Heckling and laughing, a large rock White jumped on to escape became loose and tipped over on top of the former major, killing him.

Trivia

 * Thomas wears on eye-patch after he was blinded in the right eye by the Coronado's cross.
 * In a demo of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City's Serbian's playthrough, a awesome poster can be seen called Red Dead: Harlow's Ghost stating, "Sometimes a man will shoot back even from beyond the grave...
 * It is unknown who was his wife at all, but it is known his child Nate Harlow was born in 1837, when Magruder was 34.