Far Cry 5’s Joseph Seed is a bad guy, but all compared to other villains in the franchise, he has one odd redeeming quality: he was right. Vaas can elicit sympathy due to the abuses of his childhood, while Pagan Min is much more chaotic than anything else. At the end of the day, however likable they are as characters, they are clearly villains. In Far Cry 5’s story completion, as well as New Dawn, Seed may come across more as “misunderstood” or “delusional,” but sympathetic ultimately because he predicted the Collapse.
Joseph Seed’s DLC puts players into his mind between the events of Far Cry 5 and New Dawn, and it seems Ubisoft wanted to remove this "redeemable" aspect of his character—in the most uneasy way possible. In Far Cry 6’s Joseph Seed: Collapse DLC, there’s no sympathy garnered or redemption achieved for Seed, largely because of how he treats one specific character, Faith Seed, and what the Secret Ending does to that specific relationship. NOTE: This article contains sensitive topics related to the mistreatment of Faith Seed; read on with caution.
Spoilers AHEAD.
Faith Seed in Far Cry 5
In Far Cry 5, she is one of Joseph’s Lieutenants players must deal with before going after Seed himself. She manages Bliss production, leads the Angels, and is considered the Voice of the Father—something odd when considering Joseph Seed believes he hears the Voice of God. This symbolism is clear: just as God’s voice leads him, his own voice is set to lead Faith and her actions.
Unlike John or Jacob, she is not a blood sibling of the Father but an “adopted one.” As Joseph tells it, when she arrived in Eden’s Gate, he welcomed her and introduced her to a strict moral code without drugs or alcohol (past sins of Faith’s, whose real name is Rachel Jessop). This code supposedly led to her redemption, but as players deal with Faith’s story in Far Cry 5, they learn the truth.
As players confront Faith in Far Cry 5, they learn that she is scared of Joseph who, according to her, took her when she was 17, drugging, threatening, manipulating, and abusing her into becoming his “sister.” It’s pretty clear that Seed gaslighted her, manipulated her, groomed her, and more. It speaks ill of him then and could be rough to realize, but Far Cry 5 left it as a revelation of Joseph Seed’s true character for the player. Far Cry 6 takes it many steps further.
Faith Seed in Far Cry 6 Joseph Seed: Collapse DLC
In this FC6 DLC, players must deal with the Voice within their mind and deal with the past they cannot change. Joseph Seed is upset that his family died and he survived, with him coming to terms with this several times—past (Jacob, John, Faith) and future (Ethan). With Ethan, Joseph Seed seeks to protect him from his father’s sins; with Jacob and John, Joseph is repentant and sorry. Each interaction is Joseph trying to redeem himself for his failure to protect them…except for Faith.
Joseph simply does not treat Faith like a real sister or anything like his brothers, in this DLC. He is increasingly belligerent of her, continues to gaslight her (“Faith, you used to be so pleasant, but now you’re making me angry), manipulates her feelings (by making her doubt her own reality), and continuously talks about her “growth” under his hand (grooming). None of this is inconsistent with what she reveals in Far Cry 5, but it’s uncomfortable to experience in first-person, coming from Joseph Seed, as players take control of him.
At one point, Joseph receives a vision of what would have happened if his siblings survived the Collapse. Joseph envisions some peaceful, blessed ending for his family and perhaps an odd sexualization of his would-be sister, for her role in the larger scheme. But that’s not what happens; instead, Faith runs out of Bliss and begins suffering from withdrawals of the drugs (that Seed makes her use). This causes her mental stability to dwindle to the point that she renounces him, hates him, and isn’t who he claims her to be. Noting his deceased wife, she slaps him and Joseph, in anger, raises his hand against her—if not following through.
It's enough to really showcase the abusive and manipulative relationship between Joseph and Faith; it was too much more often than not, as players through Joseph’s eyes are forced to witness these acts. And somehow, instead of focusing on larger worldbuilding as Vaas and Pagan Min’s DLC did, Joseph Seed’s secret ending make this whole situation somehow worse.
Far Cry 6’s Joseph Seed: Collapse DLC Secret Ending Explained
In Far Cry 5, Joseph Seed mentions he lost his wife and child to an accident—“God Taketh.” Much like the loss of his daughter impacted Pagan Min’s descent, so too is it implied this is the beginning of Joseph Seed's. Not only is this trope problematic enough, but it’s more amplified in FC6’s DLC than in FC5 even (just a brief mention and a comic reference). He did not hear the “Voice” before this, but it’s said in passing really and players can be easily be forgiven if they forget Joseph was ever married.
The secret ending references Joseph’s final call to his wife before realizing he’s lost her and his child. It’s a painful experience that feels odd in contrast to other secret endings in Far Cry 6, but the big realization comes with the name of his wife: Faith. It’s implied in Far Cry 5 that Rachel Jessop is not the first Faith Seed, and Faith is a sort of moniker for a certain role within Joseph’s “Flock.” But the revelation that he has groomed, at the very least, two women after his deceased wife is incredibly disturbing.
It forces the players to really ask a lot of questions, and the answers cannot be anything good. Is Joseph’s treatment of Faith how he treated his wife, meaning he was not a good person before? Since he is grooming women after his wife, any sexual undertones take on more demented ones. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. There is little evidence in Far Cry 5 to prove this, but it's outright confirmed in this DLC.
Joseph Seed was never meant to be a good guy. He was always a villain. But whereas Vaas and Pagan Min are not good guys but good characters nonetheless, there is no redemption for Joseph Seed. That may seem like the overall point of the DLC too, as Joseph’s rebellion against the Voice is ultimately quelled, but in forcing players to witness and thus take part in Joseph Seed’s most intimate atrocities, it all goes too far.
Far Cry 6 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
