"Fredo’s death is the greatest tragedy in The Godfather Part II, and many viewers are left understandably wondering why the seemingly sweet supporting character betrayed his brother. Although Michael Corleone ends up replacing The Godfather’s Vito Corleone as the mafia family’s godfather before The Godfather Part II, Vito wasn’t short of potential candidates. Vito’s Consigliere, Tom Hagen, could never have taken on the role as he wasn’t a blood relative of the godfather, but Michael’s older brother Fredo seemingly had a claim to the job. The Godfather’s ending sees Vito pass over Fredo in favor of Michael.
This choice comes back to haunt the family in The Godfather Part II when Fredo takes Michael’s new role as a personal slight. Throughout the sequel, tensions are high between the incompetent, insecure Fredo and his cold, remorseless younger brother. Eventually, Fredo betrays Michael, although the sequel takes care never to specify exactly what information he provides the family’s enemies. This results in Hyman Roth’s rival mob making an attempt on Michael’s life, which he narrowly escapes. Fredo’s betrayal costs him his life, but The Godfather movies never fully explain what compelled him to make this tragic, lethal mistake.
Fredo Wanted To Prove Himself After Years Of Being Overlooked
Michael’s Success Led To Fredo’s Insecure Jealousy
Fredo’s decision to betray Michael is rooted in his feelings of inadequacy compared to his brother, his father, and his powerful family more broadly. Although Fredo’s incompetence is instrumental in his downfall, it is his desire to succeed outside the mafia that dooms him. When Hyman Roth’s associate Johnny Ola informs Fredo that Michael is causing trouble in their tense business relationship, Fredo believes that he is a slick operator who can run interference between the two parties. Fredo sees himself as independent of Michael and Roth’s mob, allowing him to manipulate both parties for his own ends.
The problem is that Fredo lacks Michael’s killer instinct, hence why he ends up dead in The Godfather Part II’s ending. Ironically, The Godfather Part II's flashbacks prove that Fredo was the only member of the family who supported Michael’s decision to join the Marines, where he developed the cold-blooded pragmatism that makes him an efficient, lethal mob boss later in life. Fredo was unstable and insecure enough to betray Michael, but seemingly didn’t provide Ola and Roth with enough information to successfully get his brother killed. In this regard, he ended up getting the worst of both worlds.
Fredo Was Manipulated By Hyman Roth & The Godfather 2's Villains
Fredo Believed Hyman Roth’s Manipulation
[EGG]It is unclear exactly what deal Fredo was offered, but it is evident that Ola implied Fredo, by working with Hyman Roth, would be fixing an arrangement that Michael had scuppered.
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When he collaborated with Hyman Roth, Fredo believed that he was striking out alone and proving himself. Instead, he was just being manipulated by a more powerful and experienced gangster. While The Godfather Part II’s younger Vito operates with brazen rancor as he takes on the local mob and takes over their turf, Fredo equivocates and attempts to side with both his brother and Michael's enemies. It is unclear exactly what deal Fredo was offered, but it is evident that Ola implied Fredo, by working with Hyman Roth, would be fixing an arrangement that Michael had scuppered.
Since the older brother was the face of the family’s failures and a frequent figure of fun, the prospect of getting one up on Michael was too much for Fredo to resist. Fredo embarrassed himself early in the sequel by publicly fighting his wife at a family event, and his character arc was largely driven by shame throughout the rest of the story. While the divisive The Godfather Part III proved that Michael cared more about Fredo’s death than he was willing to admit, his steely resolve in the sequel’s ending makes the contrast between the two clear.
Fredo Didn't Know About The Plot To Assassinate Michael Corleone
Michael’s Brother Wasn’t Necessarily Aware Of The Real Plan
It is possible that Fredo genuinely had no idea about the rival mob’s true intentions.
Fredo claims that he didn’t know that Ola and Hyman Roth were working on a plot to kill Michael, but it is tough to tell whether he is lying. He claims that he thought he was helping the family and had no idea they'd try to take down Michael at his family home, which implies that Roth and Johnny Ola told Fredo that he would be doing Michael a favor by smoothing out the negotiations between them. However, it is impossible to know whether Fredo gave Michael’s enemies information without knowing their true plans due to the scene’s context.
By the time Fredo says he had no idea Roth and Ola planned an assassination attempt, Michael has already survived the attempt and discovered Fredo's collaboration with the pair. From Sonny's gruesome death to the horse's head left in Woltz’s bed, Fredo knows that both the family and their enemies are capable of some truly heinous acts of violence. That said, Fredo seems genuinely innocent in comparison to Michael and Tom Hagen and his relative cluelessness is apparent in earlier scenes. As such, it's feasible that Fredo genuinely had no idea about the rival mob’s true intentions.
Fredo Really Did Love Michael In The Godfather 2
Fredo’s Love For Michael Makes The Godfather Part II’s Story Tragic
[EGG]Michael never forgives himself for the order, even though Fredo arguably brought it upon himself by betraying his brother.[/EGG]
Regardless of how much Fredo was deluding himself or authentically naive when it came to Hyman Roth’s plot, it is necessary to note that he genuinely loved Michael. This is central to the true tragedy of The Godfather trilogy as, in killing his brother, Michael effectively gives his own soul the kiss of death, too. Michael couldn’t forgive his brother’s betrayal since this would have been viewed as a sign of weakness in the cutthroat world of the mafia, and it would have been open season on the godfather from thereon out. However, killing his brother killed Michael’s own conscience.
For all The Godfather Part III’s faults, the final chapter of the trilogy does a good job of illustrating the fallout of Fredo’s death. Michael never forgives himself for the order, even though Fredo arguably brought it upon himself by betraying his brother. The question of whether an ostensibly stronger, smarter character like Michael is his brother's keeper is left ambiguous as The Godfather trilogy comes to a close, with Michael’s heartbreak over his greatest sin casting a shadow over his entire legacy as a mob boss. Thus, The Godfather Part II’s Fredo death is the trilogy’s defining tragedy."
Why Fredo Betrayed Michael In The Godfather Part II
