Honestly, Ryder's betrayal was just poorly written and not well thought-out at all. Here are the things that made his betrayal weak Unlike Big Smoke, Ryder shows no signs of betrayal. He's always screaming out "Grove Street!" and shows genuine animosity towards the Ballas. Hell CJ even mentioned he hated the Ballas so much that he would beat up anyone who wore Ballas' colors. The only real foreshadow is that in House Party, he said he would get Smoke and round up some gang members but didn't come back, and we could interpret that moment as simply him and Smoke recruiting other gang members and arriving late. No one says anything about him when he is revealed to be a traitor. CJ tells Sweet about Smoke's betrayal and not once ever mentions Ryder in the conversation. Hell it's not just CJ who doesn't even acknowledge him. Sweet never even asks about Ryder even though he was a long-time member of the GSF. Tenpenny tells CJ to stay away from Smoke and ONLY Smoke, not once even saying anything about Ryder. Later on, Cesar even states that the bad guys are Big Smoke, Tenpenny, and Pulaski, not mentioning Ryder one time. The way Ryder was killed wasn't written well at all. Aside from the fact that his two lines were just recycled, he's killed off as if he was another minor target for a typical vigilante It's a shame Ryder's treated as a minor character in the second act of the storyline after he played a major role in the beginning. He's one of CJ's childhood friends and then all of a sudden becomes an unimportant minor character after that. It also doesn't help that Cesar's dialogue stating Ryder tried to rape Kendl came completely out of nowhere and was probably another cop out to make Ryder more forgettable. I guess his voice actor was unavailable due to being busy recording albums during the time of the production that R* had no other choice but to turn him into a traitor without planning. Whatever the reason was, Ryder's betrayal was definitely spontaneous and poorly executed. A great charismatic character with so much wasted potential and is pretty much forgotten by many fans of the game. Here's how his character should ended. He should've stayed with CJ during the latter's exile. Then we could see the two's relationship evolve throughout the storyline and give the irony of the asshole staying loyal while the good guy is the traitor. He should've been killed in the Green Sabre mission whilst fighting alongside Sweet. It would give CJ a much greater motivation to go after Smoke after Ryder's death.
