Before Winston sends John on his way, he gives him two things: A one-hour head start before the excommunicado begins, and a marker. “You might need this down the road.” Winston tells John. Markers in the John Wick universe are symbols of a debt that must be repaid of above all else.
Winston informs John that the bounty on him has been doubled by the High Table and that he was excommunicated from the Continental for killing Santino on Continental grounds. However, Winston told John that he will delay the announcement by one hour to give John a chance to escape.
The reason Winston betrayed John Wick could have been to save both of their lives. Throughout the John Wick movie series, John defied the High Table and its Elder's laws, forcing him to fight for his life against the world's deadliest assassins.
"A marker is no small thing, John. For a man to grant a marker to another, is to bind a soul to a blood oath." —Santino D'Antonio to John Wick[src] Markers are a blood oath between two individuals. Markers are also formally witnessed or recognized; It is not just any blood oath.
Goals. Kill Cormac O'Connor and take over the New York Continental from him to avenge his childhood and family (succeeded). Execute the ones who break the rules of his hotel (succeeded, except of John Wick, who he purposely lets go).
Summary. "The Continental" prequel series fails to confirm the popular theory that Winston is John Wick's father despite numerous connections between the characters.
John was born Jardani Jovonovich in a Padhorje village somewhere in the Byelorussian SSR of the Soviet Union to a Ruska Roma family on September 2, 1964. He was orphaned at a young age before being taken in by an old friend of his father, Winston, who would eventually become John's mentor.
His superior, Viggo Tarasov, promised to allow John to quit if he first completed an "impossible task": killing all of Tarasov's enemies in a single night. Having succeeded, John retired and lived peacefully for just over five years.
The marker did not come into play in John Wick: Chapter 3, leaving the plot hole open. But according to Chad Stahelski, the marker may have been used without the audience knowing it. “Well, Winston's an interesting character,” Stahelski said.
The John Wick coins have no fixed dollar value, but their true worth lies in the trust and honor they represent within the mercenary world. The coins are made with real gold and would be worth around $2,000 each based on their gold content, but their value goes beyond monetary exchange.
Speaking to Vanity Fair, Stahelski discussed several John Wick fan theories with beloved actor Keanu Reeves, who portrayed the feared Baba Yaga throughout the films. Stahelski once and for all confirmed that Winston knew John would likely survive when the Continental's manager fired several bullets his way.
[SPOILER for JOHN WICK 3] How did John Wick survive the fall off the Continental? An ordinary human would not survive that fall. The key scene there was during the fall he hit railings & roof along the way. Recognizing John Wick, the metals suddenly soften themselves to avoid getting hit hard.
While Winston is the disloyal friend who left John dead, it's revealed that the shooting was Winston and John's backup plan. Now, John Wick is even more bloodthirsty, and he'll do anything to erase his bounty and take down the Marquis and anyone who gets in his way.
At the end of John Wick 2, John kills Santino in the New York City Continental, a violation of the strict rule of no "business" being conducted on Continental grounds. John is fully aware that breaking this rule will bring great consequences, which might make his decision seem difficult to grasp.
Keanu Reeves has turned John Wick into an iconic action hero over the last seven years, but it turns out the role was originally written for an actor more in the vein of Harrison Ford or Clint Eastwood.
The nickname "Jonathan" is not John Wick's actual full name, indicating that it is likely a personal nickname Winston has given him, potentially supporting the theory that Winston is John's father.
John survives and travels to the Continental Hotel in New York City. Winston reminds him that if he rejects the marker, he will violate one of the underworld's two unbreakable rules: no killing on Continental grounds and honoring every marker.
Why? Well, according to the Journal's report, Reeves himself "stripped" a good portion of John's dialogue in Chapter 4, with the support of franchise director Chad Stahelski, reducing his words by half and instead relying on body language and, of course, fighting.
Nobody, also known as The Tracker, is a highly skilled assassin, freelance professional tracker, and bounty hunter who offered his services to the Marquis. His main goal was to collect an enormous bounty by tracking down and eliminating John Wick. He is an antagonist in John Wick: Chapter 4.
Why was John screaming when he saw the gun in the suitcase when he followed the man to get a suit and weapons? Because, despite his attempts to leave the assassin world behind, he was essentially forced to come back and kill a friend no less. His scream was that of anger and frustration.
Played by Shamier Anderson, Mr. Nobody, also known as Tracker, is a bounty hunter with his sights set on Keanu Reeves' eponymous assassin, though bides his time taking Wick down until the reward hits a certain point.
It was revealed that Winston was, at the very least, familiar with John's Russian heritage. Upon burying John Wick at the end of the film, Winston also notably said, in Russian, "Farewell, my son." This heavily fueled speculation that this meant Winston had been the true father of John Wick all along.
The tattoo on Winston's arm was the Ruska Roma crest. This could mean anything from Winston merely having an affiliation with the organization to Winston being a family member. Either way, this could explain how his daughter came to meet the feared bogey man.
