Hmm. NGL, kinda lost me at Arthur as a sadistic brute. Nothing about his character, even when he outright menaces someone, reads as sadistic. Even so, his menace serves the purpose of pushing people towards a desired action, not because he enjoys intimidation. Only the player can use him in a sadistic way, but the character himself is not. Seems like Arthur’s father was more of a sadist, though, given how contemptuously Arthur spoke of him. And Arthur always criticized others (or himself, to Mary-Beth) for violence in excess or that he deemed unnecessary. If anything, a transition of that type typically goes in the one direction: a sadist who feeds sadistic urges via violence doesn’t rehab their views/behavior to the point of being like Arthur was, not while being called on to be violent on a regular basis. Instead, they’d be like Dutch, growing progressively worse.

So, not shooting the idea down as a whole, but I don’t agree with that characterization of Arthur based on how determined the Rockstar writers were to make Arthur seem like he was an easily influenced youth with a criminal brand of moral code who was searching for a purpose/father figure/family. Also, he wouldn’t have attracted Mary as such. So, maybe, “misguided, wandering youth”?