| « | I cull the herd, it's what I do. | » |
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Jacob Seed | ||
Overview
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"And I saw, and behold... a white horse!" Spoiler Warning Plot and/or ending details for Far Cry 5 follow! Read at your own risk! |
| « | As the Cult's recruiter and former Army marksman, big brother Seed's main duty is protecting the Project at Eden's Gate. | » |
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Ubisoft's description of Jacob Seed on Far Cry 5's site | ||
Jacob Seed is the antagonist of Far Cry 5 and Inside Eden's Gate, he was also the older brother of Joseph Seed. Jacob is the main antagonist of the Whitetail Mountains region and head of security of the cult.
History
Jacob Seed is a 44-year-old veteran of the United States Armed Forces, in which he served as a marksman as a part of the 82nd Airborne Division, the same 82nd Airborne Division Dutch served before him. He is responsible for maintaining the security of his family and training new soldiers for Eden's Gate.
Jacob Seed was a veteran from the first Gulf War in Iraq. When he was a child, he often fought with his parents and stood up for his brothers, who looked up to him as a protector. He also frequently fought with Joseph and blames himself deep down for how corrupt things have become despite his ability to prevent it.
According to The Book of Joseph, Jacob deliberately set fire to their foster parent's farm and was sent to a juvenile detention center. There, he continued to be rebellious, and constantly clashed with the correctional system. Despite this, reports praised him for his sense of honor and leadership skills. After serving out his sentence, he joined the Army, serving several tours on the front lines of Iraq and Afghanistan. He was wounded and decorated multiple times. Once, while he was deployed, he and his best friend Miller were shot down and separated from their unit and forced to walk approximately 200 kilometers to the nearest base. They were never going to make it in time with the rations they had, so Jacob killed Miller and cannibalized him so that he had enough supplies to make it to safety.
However, a later medical report warned Jacob's superiors that he was suffering from PTSD. He was declared unfit for service and sent to a military hospital. After running out of money, he was discharged and ended up in a homeless shelter in his hometown of Rome, Georgia, where Joseph and John would later find him, and recruit him into their ranks as their main soldier.
As protector, Jacob typically forces locals to join Eden's Gate, capturing and torturing anyone who resists, and forcing them to kill one another to cull the weak in "trials" to the death. He also trains wolves with a combination of music and Bliss, luring them in with "Wolf Beacons" that use recordings of caribou as bait. The wolves are used to create the deadly "Judges," far more aggressive and powerful than regular wolves. Some other animals have been used as potential Judges, such as cougars, bears, and even a moose, but the wolves are the primary animal for this experiment.
Jacob brainwashes people as well using "classical conditioning" to make a music a trigger to a homicidal fugue. Subjects are often caged or, initially, tied to chairs for conditioning, and sometimes starved for days on end to force them into a bestial, receptive mindset. It is his intention to use the Deputy, as well as any other captured subjects, to bring down the Whitetail Militia led by his rival, Eli Palmer.
Far Cry 5
| « | The weak have their purpose. You'll understand that soon enough. | » |
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Jacob Seed | ||
The Warrant
Main article: The Warrant
If Joseph Seed is not arrested and everyone left early, it's unknown what would happen to Jacob.
The World Is Weak
Main article: The World Is Weak Jacob during his conflict with the Resistance was about to shoot his brother Joseph for being fed up with his sermons.
Jacob first makes contact with the deputy over an intercepted radio transmission. He calls out the deputy by saying, "There is someone out there, pretending to be a soldier. They are killing our brothers and sisters and putting this Project in jeopardy. I want this coward to know that they have my attention. My hunters are coming for you. There's nowhere you can run." Dutch then states how the deputy is in trouble, as Jacob will send his best Chosen to capture the deputy. The Chosen use heavy-duty Bliss-tipped arrows to capture the deputy and will deliver them to Jacob.
The first time Jacob captures the deputy, he places them in a poorly lit room where screaming be heard in close proximity. Deputy Pratt wakes up the deputy, warning them, "You shouldn't have come for me, you should have run." On the wall, there is a slideshow playing of animal carcasses, with wolves interspersed between. Two other members of the Whitetail Militia are strapped to chairs in the room with the deputy, forced to watch and listen as Jacob begins monologuing. He goes on to talk about how weak the world has become, and how people have forgotten what it means to be strong, lecturing that "we let the weak dictate the powerful, and we are shocked to find ourselves adrift."
As Jacob walks towards the deputy, he warns about the pending collapse, as he displays a small brown music box. As he opens it, "Only You", by The Platters can be heard, ominously playing in the background, causing the deputy to go into a fervent rampage to "Cull the Weak", as Jacob can be heard encouraging the deputy: "Good. Cull the herd."
The deputy later wakes up disoriented and confused; the room is now trashed, and the previous militia members are dead. The deputy is then rescued by Eli Palmer and Wheaty, the latter of which incorrectly assumes they're dead at first due to past experience, remarking, "Why do I always get put on corpse duty?" After rescuing the deputy, they bring them to the safety of the Wolf's Den, the base of operations for the Whitetail Militia.
After the deputy comes to, Jacob comes through the radio, continuing on about his internal philosophies about the weak and the strong.
"The weak always see themselves as heroes. No matter their cause, they think of themselves as warriors. But they're not warriors, they're children. These Whitetail Militia are not soldiers, they're frauds. Their leader, Eli, is not a hero, he is a coward. They are not strong, they are weak. And they are being hunted."
We Must Be Strong
Main article: We Must Be Strong
After causing more trouble for Jacob, he will make contact again by saying, "Y'know deputy...if it were up to me you'd have been dead a long time ago. But Joseph has other ideas... and he wants to talk to you, so that's what you're going to do. Don't worry. My hunters will bring you to him."
The deputy is again tranquillized by the Chosen with a Bliss arrow and captured. The deputy wakes up in a prison cell outside of St. Francis Veterans Center, which Jacob has converted into his own personal estate. Jacob walks towards the cell, Joseph in tow. He pushes Pratt aside, calling him "peaches." Jacob looks on, as Joseph relays to the deputy of how he lost his wife, and how his infant daughter was "weak" and had to be culled. Joseph puts his hand on Jacob's shoulder, telling him that he has done well.
As Joseph walks away, Jacob pulls the music box out of his field jacket pocket, and without another word, opens it, causing the deputy to enter another rampage state.
Unlike the first conditioning, the final target must be eliminated. Jacob's voice coaches the Deputy through it once again.
Sacrifice the Weak
Main article: Sacrifice the Weak
After continuing to interrupt Jacob's operations, Jacob will contact the deputy a third time:
| « | The human brain is a fascinating thing. Once you start poking around in there, it's surprising what you can get it to do under the right circumstances... You're familiar with the term "classical conditioning", right deputy? It's when a condition stimulus... say... a song... leads to a reflexive response. In this case to train... to kill... to sacrifice. | » |
After being captured, the deputy finds themselves in Jacob's prison once again. The deputy's previous cellmate is lying on the floor dead. Jacob then reveals that the deputy had been unconscious for seven days, and Pratt hands them a bowl of food, which the deputy eats ravenously and without hesitation. Jacob makes Pratt shave his beard for him with a knife, knowing that although Pratt could easily kill him, he won't because he is completely under his control.
He begins to relay his tale of his experiences, and how it takes 10 days for civilization to completely collapse. In the Gulf War, Jacob was a marksman with the US Army, 82nd Airborne Division. During the conflict, his battalion was ambushed, and he and his spotter, Miller, were lost and separated from their unit. No food, no water, no radio, and were 200 kilometers away from the nearest base.
By the third day, they were lost. By the sixth day, they had no more water as their canteens were dry. On the seventh day, Miller's legs stopped working, and by the eighth day enemy soldiers were closing in, and they were as good as dead.
He implies to the deputy that not only did he kill Miller, and but that he cannibalized him in order to ensure his own survival. He pulls the music box out, causing the deputy to retreat to the back of the cell; as the deputy falls to the ground, Jacob ominously tells the deputy:
| « | The weak have their purpose. You'll understand that soon enough. | » |
This time the Deputy goes even further in the killing spree, with the final target beginning to shape shift. However, the deputy escapes the prison using with Pratt's help, although Jacob quickly learns of the turn of events, and engages the conditional music before Pratt can finish his plan.
After the deputy awakens in the wilderness, Jacob's next transmission is very threatening:
| « | You managed to escape for a little bit, but whenever I want, I can have you back here with me. But you've got time to play your little games. I'll let you know when it's time to come home. Only youuuu... | » |
Only You
Main article: Only You
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The following section needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard, as it is possibly too long, too detailed, lacking objectivity, unclear, or lacks citations.
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The final time the Deputy finds themselves in Jacob's prison, it is nighttime. There, the music box sits outside of the cell, just within arm's reach. The Deputy furiously reaches for it, but Jacob stomps on their hand, looking down on the Deputy like he is a superior being. He tells the Deputy that they will be out of the prison soon. But he squats down and looks at the Deputy with an evil smile. He asks the Deputy if they thought they were free. He then tells the Deputy that Pratt has been punished for assisting with the Deputy's previous escape as he winds up the music box. He then points at the Deputy and maliciously reveals the Deputy's role in his master plan. "I told you, you are not a hero. You are a tool," as Jacob then plays the music box. At the final corner, the Deputy fatally shoots Eli. Time freezes and Jacob walks into frame, singing "Only You". Jacob commands the Deputy, telling them that they were the only one who could have gotten this close and could have earned his trust. He then tells the Deputy that they have passed their test. But then his attitude turns on a dime. He says "But now...you're alone. And you're weak. And we know what happens to the weak. I cull the herd. It's what I do. I'll be outside waiting for you." Jacob walks away humming "Only You" and Eli falls to the floor, dead before impact.
The Deputy walks out of the Wolf's Den to a red-tinted sky and trees on fire. Three large speakers are blasting Only You. Jacob's disembodied voice starts echoing through the mountains, saying "ah...about time you came out. Thought I'd have to come get ya...was worried you turned soft on me. But you're a soldier, you do what you're told," The Deputy destroys the speakers, kills Jacob's henchmen, judge wolves, and duplicates of himself while Jacob snipes the Deputy from the top of a mountain. While the Deputy destroys the speakers, Jacob taunts by saying "Don't cry about Eli...He was weak and selfish. I gave him a chance to prove himself. All he had to do was hand over his Whitetails...could have saved us all this trouble." He continues taunting the Deputy by saying "Don't fight it. Just let go. You've served your purpose." His taunts get more aggressive when he says "Let's say you get out of this. What's next? You go back to running errands for a teenager and a housewife? The Whitetails are nothin' without Eli...you are nothin' without Eli." After destroying the fifth speaker, Jacob insults the Deputy even further, saying "Don't you find it ironic that everyone you try to help winds up worse off? Eli...Pratt...Tragedy just follows you If you really wanted to keep people safe...be a hero...You'd just off yourself. Safer for everyone that way." His short interjections turn darker, saying "We are on the brink" as the Deputy destroys the final beacon. The sky turns normal again, and the Deputy slowly ascends the mountain where Jacob is sniping from. After he gets shot he limps towards a rock and he sits down. His final monologue is dark, he states "My brother saw all this coming. I don't know if he talks to God...that doesn't matter. He was right. Humanity is once again in crisis. It doesn't matter what we build or achieve...we will always find a way to break it down. Babylon, Rome, empires rise, empires fall. America. We're no different. We think we're indestructible. World War II. War on 'Terror', we survived it, but it only brought us closer to the edge. And this is where we are. Right here on schedule, just waiting for someone to push us, and oh boy, have you pushed us. You did everything he said you would do. And you didn't even know it. You had no fucking clue." Jacob takes one more raspy breath and dies. The Deputy rips the key to his bunker off his neck and goes to liberate it.
Far Cry 6
In Far Cry 6 timeline, according to a letter at Oceguera Farm for Riel, one of Lorenzo's numerous children, Jacob and the rest of the Seed family are still alive as of 2021, living up to their name by selling flower seeds. They are even willing to export Bliss flowers to interested buyers. This shows that in this timeline, the events of Far Cry 5 never happened and it likely picks up after the secret ending.
Far Cry 6 DLC - Joseph: Collapse
Joseph's mind experienced a vision of what would happen if Jacob survives the nuclear apocalypse and lives with him, where he is suffering from PTSD and other traumatic flashbacks to the point of attempting suicide, which was stopped in time by Joseph. With his mental health worsen, he loses his faith in Joseph and question his leadership, then he shoots Joseph, the last person around who can stop him from future suicide attempts.
Personality
Due to his wartime trauma, Jacob has adopted a nihilistic, Darwinist outlook in life. He takes great pride in his work of "culling the herd", though believes the world has lost its edge over its reluctance to sacrifice the weak any longer - marking it as the survival of the human race. However, it is implied this viewpoint was a result of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder he developed during his time overseas, as Joseph states, he brought "many demons" home from the war with him and that his worse fear was not of dying but not leaving behind any legacy as a soldier. Despite his loyalty to the Father, Jacob held doubt that Joseph actually "spoke to God" but nevertheless truly believed Joseph's premonition of The Collapse was true (even likening America to several other empires before him; Rome, Babylon) and following his brother gave him a renewed mission and loyalty - once claiming that he would be willing to die for Joseph. Despite his grievances with his brother's beliefs, he did see fit to humor them both. However, it is the most vulgar of the brothers and represents almost no religious or open character as the other members of the family.
As a military man, Jacob's battle-ridden and thuggish demeanor hide a very strategic mind. In fact, most of his attacks against the Deputy are more cerebral than physical. His methods of indoctrination involve classical conditioning; the stimuli of "Only You" played over predatory images force those he brainwash to be utterly devoted to his beliefs and unquestionably loyal tools for his cause. He goes out of his way to make certain his victims have suffered as much as he has by starving them in cages as he had in the Gulf War. Also, Jacob holds a great deal of disdain for the Whitetail militia, claiming they were an insult to soldiers and took a personal delight in brainwashing the Deputy to murder Eli. Jacob considered Eli a "coward", Tammy a "housewife" and Wheaty a "teenager".
Matching his predatory nature and survivalist viewpoint, unlike his siblings, Jacob used animals in his war against the Resistance - his personal favorite being wolves due to them being hunters to their core much like himself though these were ones who were mentally broken with music and Bliss so they'd be strong and obedient. Due to his backstory of being hunted by wolves in The Gulf War, it is possible Jacob may have done this out of personal revenge as well as strategy.
He holds some knowledge about historical empires such as Babylon, Rome, and the Mongols and finds the human brain as a "fascinating subject." He is also very intelligent, especially when he indoctrinates the Deputy as part of his plan to weaken and demoralize the Whitetails by using him as a tool to kill Eli.
Appearance
Jacob is a very fit man, with red hair, blue eyes, and a red beard. He is often covered in blood and appears to have some scarring on his arms and face. He wears a Iraq war era army jacket, with his name J. Seed on it. He has multiple necklaces that consist of his dog tags, what seems to be two chimes, and a lucky rabbit's foot. Under this, he has a stained and tattered grey shirt, with dirty jeans, and army or hiking boots. He often has a large hunting or military knife which is serrated at the base. On his body, he is covered in rashes which seem to be permanent. These scars may be from his past as a military soldier, or from working with bliss. He also always has a holster strapped to his leg.
Gallery
Trivia
- He is shown wearing a jacket with a fictionalized version of the U.S Army's 82nd Airborne Division Unit Patch. He remarks that this was his unit during his second interaction with the Deputy.
- The name tape is out of regulation, as the US Military does not put your first initial on the name tape.
- His signature knife is based on the Ontario SP1 Marine Combat Knife.[3]
- Jacob killed and ate his exhausted army mate Miller during the Gulf War. He also is seen in promotion pictures with a knife and sometimes the knife is stuck in a hunk of meat, hinting that he may have an obsession with meat. In many of the rooms where people are brainwashed, MEAT or YOU ARE MEAT is often graffitied on the walls.
- Jacob is much more vulgar than his brothers, he is also more ideolistic than religious.
- Jacob's skin is covered in scars and rashes.
- Some of the facial rashes is based of those on Lucifer, a character played by Mark Pellegrino in the TV series "Supernatural"
- Apart from his service in the Gulf War, he may have also served in Iraq and/or Afghanistan, the jacket he wears has the US tricolor desert pattern which didn't go into circulation in uniforms until 1995.
- Unlike his brother John and his adoptive sister Faith, Jacob does not seem to be afraid of his brother Joseph. He also seems to be the most sceptical of the family when it comes to religion, stating "I don't know if my brother talks to God...".
- He is an expert marksman. During his boss battle, he will snipe the Deputy from his position using his Personalized MBP .50 rifle (Although up close, it incorrectly depicts an AR-CL). Upon his death, the Deputy takes this weapon.
- Jacob has a special 1911 with a red slide, that can only be obtained if you get him to switch to it before you kill him. If you are too far from Jacob and cannot loot his body before the death cutscene kicks in, after you regain control of your character, you can still climb back to the spot from where he sniped you during the boss battle and pick up the weapon.
- Jacob is one of the strongest enemies in the Far Cry Arcade, able to withstand 3 gunshots from an M133 to his head outright at point-blank.
- While John Seed has black hair, and Joseph Seed has brown hair, Jacob has red hair, with Faith Seed, although being an "adopted" sister, having the close approximation of blonde.
- Comparing the concept art of Jacob on the Far Cry 5 cover, he is the one who looks the closest to his concept of all the Seeds.
- Jacob is the only one in the Seed family that doesn't have a visible tattoo.
- Jacob's name is spelt with a "K" instead of a "C" on his dog tags.
- After completing the mission Only You, you can head back to the mountain that Jacob shot you from, and you can see a regular wolf howling, which can be symbolizing Jacob's death or that it could actually be his wolf.
- Oddly if you walk up to the wolf it won't attack you, not even if you kick or punch it. It will just make pained sounds and continue to howl.
- After Update 1.06, Jacob is available as Special Outfits for the deputy.
- It is actually possible to loot Jacob, instead of shooting him, simply fight his henchmen and judges, climb the mountain and use one or two fist hits, and quickly press loot as he’s falling. The mission complete theme and slow-motion gives you the time to do so, before playing his death cutscene, which makes him unlootable.
- Jacob's backstory of wandering the desert parallels the story "The Temptation of Christ".
- In a vision in Collapse DLC between John and Joseph, had Jacob, John and Faith lived, Joseph tells John not to inflict pain on Faith, as Jacob will not allow it. That implies although never seen in Far Cry 5 or 6 DLC, that Jacob is very protective towards Faith, even though she’s only adopted as their sister. Joseph also points out that John fears Jacob.
References
- ↑ Undated, IMDB: Adam Dorsey. Retrieved 2018 October 8.
- ↑ Undated, IMDB: Mark Pellegrino. Retrieved 2018 October 8.
- ↑ Undated, Ontario Knife Store: Ontario SP1 Combat Knife, 8679. Retrieved 2018 October 8.
