Far Cry 2’s villain is actually Far Cry 1’s protagonist, says Ubisoft

The first Far Cry game sure caused a sensation in 2004, and started a franchise that is still going strong, with Ubisoft now having released Far Cry 6 to critical acclaim. But the storied action game series wouldn’t exist without the first Far Cry game, which surely is one of the best first-person shooters of all time.

The game introduced Jack Carver, the protagonist of the game, a tough as nails boat skipper who finds himself stranded on a tropical island chain while escorting a beautiful and mysterious woman named Valerie (who’s seen next to Carver in the image above).

Jack Carver no doubt was a larger than life hero who could take down an entire army Rambo-style (or a big-mouthed fool in a red Hawaiian shirt depending on who you ask), but he was also involved in some shady smuggling activities too…

Actually, a long-running fan theory has long claimed that Far Cry 2’s villain was actually Jack Carver, that the hero who saved the world in the first Far Cry game (and also in the console spin-offs like Far Cry Instincts) had fully turned to the dark side and became a villain.

This is something that Ubisoft has confirmed, as was recently reported on Kotaku.

In an interview with IGN, Ubisoft’s Clint Hocking (who was creative director for Far Cry 2) said that Far Cry 2’s villain the Jackal was indeed Jack Carver from Far Cry 1.

“The idea was [the Jackal] is just him, 10 years later or something, after he’s seen whatever he saw on this island [during the events of Far Cry]. Maybe it was drug-induced, maybe it’s post-traumatic stress disorder, or maybe it’s real. But the idea is, a decade later, he has leveled up his smuggling game, and he’s gotten embroiled in this conflict”, said Hocking.

And “the Jackal” is surely a mysterious character in Far Cry 2, a gun dealer who sells weapons to both the APR and UFLL factions in the game. He does look like Jack Carver from the original Far Cry judging by the image below (Jack Carver from the original Far Cry can be seen in the image which accompanies this article).

Another tip regarding the Jackal’s identity can be found in the game’s files, as the textures for the Jackal character are named “jackcarver” as Kotaku points out.

But while the mystery of the Jackal’s identity has now been laid to rest, there are other fan theories related to the Far Cry series doing the rounds online.

One of these claimed the son of Far Cry 6’s villain Antón Castillo was Vaas Montenegro from Far Cry 3, a theory that Ubisoft also shot down a couple of months ago via the game’s director in an interview with The Gamer.

Of course, fan theories like this will keep cropping up taking into account that the games seem to take place in a sort of shared universe, with characters like Hurk appearing in almost every game (Hurk, though, will apparently be absent from Far Cry 6).

There’s also the fact that Far Cry 5’s spin-off New Dawn takes place in a post-apocalyptic world but none of this is acknowledged in Far Cry 6…

Nonetheless, a long as Ubisoft keeps churning out high-quality Far Cry games fans of the series will be happy, and there will be more fan theories to talk about, that’s for sure.