# Oldring's Knell explained — Riders of the Purple Sage > Chapter companion for Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey. ## What happens Venters rides into Cottonwoods on Black Star, leading Bells and Night, openly defying Tull and Dyer. He confronts the community's stony silence, delivers a message about Jerry Card, and later encounters Oldring in a saloon. In a violent confrontation, Venters shoots Oldring, only to discover that Oldring is Bess's father. Overcome with remorse, Venters flees into the sage, hides his trail, and returns to his camp, where he grapples with the emotional and moral consequences of his actions. ## Themes in this chapter ### Justice and Vengeance Venters seeks personal vengeance against Tull and Dyer, but his killing of Oldring leads to a crisis of conscience, blurring the line between righteous justice and blind revenge. ### Redemption and Transformation Venters's realization that he killed Bess's father triggers profound remorse and a plea for forgiveness, marking a turning point from violent passion to a desire for love and atonement. ## Character check-ins ### Venters Rides into Cottonwoods in a passionate, defiant mood, confronts the community, shoots Oldring, and flees in guilt and remorse. ### Bess Referenced as the object of Venters's love and the daughter of Oldring; her innocence and purity are emphasized in Venters's reflections. ### Oldring Confronted by Venters in a saloon; shot and killed, revealing himself as Bess's father. ### Tull Appears briefly at his cottage door, then bars it; Venters sends a message to him about Jerry Card. ### Jerry Card Mentioned by Venters in his taunt to the townspeople; his fate is implied as dead. ## Key lines > He wanted men to see the famous Arabians; he wanted men to see them dirty and dusty, bearing all the signs of having been driven to their limit; he wanted men to see and to know that the thieves who had ridden them out into the sage had not ridden them back. Venters deliberately paraded the exhausted horses through town to prove that the rustlers who stole them had been defeated. _Venters uses the horses as a symbol of his defiance and a message to his enemies._ > I thought—I thought—never mind what I thought—but I loved you—I asked you to marry me. Let that—let me have that to hug to my heart. Oh, Bess, I was driven! And I might have known! I could not rest nor sleep till I had this mystery solved. God! how things work out! Venters confesses his love for Bess and his torment over killing her father, pleading for her forgiveness and clinging to the memory of his proposal. _This moment reveals Venters's deep remorse and his desperate need for emotional absolution._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/riders_of_the_purple_sage_se/chapters/xviii-oldring-s-knell - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/riders_of_the_purple_sage_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/riders_of_the_purple_sage_se/chapters