Joseph Seed

"I am your Father, and you are my child"

- Joseph Seed "I saw when the Lamb opened the First Seal, and I heard as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts say, come and see… and I saw, and behold it was a white horse… and Hell followed with him. God will not let you take me"

- Joseph Seed

Joseph Seed (also known as "The Father") is the main antagonist of Far Cry 5 and the leader of the Project at Eden’s Gate - a militaristic doomsday cult that has overtaken rural Hope County in Montana. Believing the end of days is upon the world and he was chosen by God, Seed declares his mission to save souls (whether they like it or not) and uses torture, kidnapping, intimidation and violence to achieve his goals.

He was portrayed by Greg Byrk.

Background
"Did you know that I had a wife? So beautiful, isn’t she? We were pregnant with our first child. And we were just babies ourselves really. And I was terrified. On becoming a father. Mostly about money. She wasn’t worried. She had faith that things were going to work out. She always had faith…"

- Joseph Seed

Joseph was the second-oldest brother of the Seed family with Jacob being the oldest and John the youngest. According to him, their family was broken apart by reasons unknown which led his parents to abuse John and Jacob to defend the two of them.

At some point in his life Joseph was married to an unnamed woman who was pregnant with his daughter. After an unspecified accident that ended with her death, Joseph was handed a pink bundle of tubes that was his daughter. Claiming this was his test from God, Joseph removed the tubes and killed his own daughter.

Increasing in power and followers through his own religious organization - the Project at Eden’s Gate (pejoratively referred to as “Peggies” by locals), Seed claimed dominance of a rural Montana town called Hope County which is run by him and his Heralds - his siblings. Seed’s iron-fisted rule sparked the attention of the authorities, none of whom could do anything to stop him as he had informants in the law enforcement and National Guard which made it impossible to arrest him or help the locals. Nevertheless, Hope County sparked a Resistance with the goal of eliminating the Peggies

Any new members of the cult are broken by John whom forces them to confess and atone their sins through torture, then are trained and brainwashed further by Jacob. Resistance is further destroyed by Faith who supplies the inhabitants with “Bliss”, a euphoric drug that keeps the user zombie-like and obedient.

Events of Far Cry 5
The Junior Deputy, Hudson, Pratt, Sheriff Whitehorse and Marshal Burke all enter Hope County with a warrant for Joseph Seed’s arrest. Upon landing they are met with hundreds of well-armed cultists.

They enter a church where a shirtless Seed is in the middle of a passionate sermon where he forewarns his followers of the oncoming “Collapse”. He stops, however, when he realises the police with the intent to arrest him. Despite the hostility of his followers who also realise this, Seed calmly sends them outside with the exception of his siblings and awaits his arrest, confident that God will not allow his “saviour” to be taken. When he is handcuffed and marched to the helicopter, the Peggies become much more aggressive - one desperately clings onto the leg of the chopper and even allowed himself to be sucked into the spinning blades to stop the Father being arrested. In this chaos, Seed remains calm and continues his hymn.

The Deputy awakens upside-down whilst still strapped into the helicopter, in front of him is a serene Seed who calmly repeats what he told them in the church - that God wouldn’t let them take him. He contacts dispatch, who is a follower and she tells the authorities the situation is under control, making it clear to the deputies that no-one will come to save them. Exiting the helicopter, Seed is greeted with his followers and uses the attempt to arrest him as a sign of the Collapse is coming true and “begins the reaping”. As the helicopter burns, Seed claims it’s their punishment from God, though Burke and the Deputy escape.

As the Deputy and Whitehorse escape and join the Resistance, Hudson is kidnapped and tortured by Hudson, Pratt is mentally enslaved by Jacob and Burke is held hostage by Faith using an overdose of Bliss.

During the Deputy’s atonement, Joseph reprimanded his younger brother for using the ceremony to sadistically torture his enemy further, calmly and subtly threatening him about being locked out of Eden’s Gate. Joseph looks at the Deputy and believes they are not above salvation, leaving them at the mercy of John.

Joseph appears to the Deputy in a Bliss-induced hallucination in the middle of a sermon with his cultists, one of which is Marshal Burke. Despite the individuals actions, Joseph greets them with the same serenity and kindness. He attempts to explain the goals of himself and his followers, claiming that he was chosen by God for this mission and did not ask for it. Elaborating further, Joseph shows the Deputy his vision of the Collapse by a massive explosion and the entire world bathed in fire - he ends this vision by explaining his goals of wanting to return to the pure ways in his new Eden with as many saved souls as possible.

After having Jacob kidnap the Deputy, Joseph explains his backstory about when he was poor and how he and his wife were expecting their first child. After an accident that killed his wife, Joseph rushed to the hospital and was handled a pink bundle of tubes that was his daughter. Realising that God was giving him a test to show his faith, Joseph “sacrificed” his own daughter by holding the tubes to her mouth until she stopped kicking and realised his calling in life. He uses this story to explain that the Deputy must now sacrifice and leaves them in Jacob’s hands.

With Holland Valley, Whitetail Mountain and Henbane Valley all liberated and John, Jacob and Faith all dead, Joseph is deeply outraged and calls the Deputy for a final showdown to where it all began - the church the marshals first arrested Joseph Seed. Waiting for the Deputy, The Father has many Bliss containers ready and their brainwashed allies have kidnapped Hudson, Pratt and Whitehorse. Joseph leaves the choice of the outcome to the Deputy.

Resist Ending
"Every slight. Every injustice. Every choice reveals our SIN! John was wrong. Your sin is not wrath. You would rather watch the world suffer and burn than swallow your pride. “And the Lamb broke the sixth seal and lo, there was a great earthquake… The sun became black and the moon turned to blood…”"

- Joseph Seed in the “Resist” ending

Angered by the Deputy resisting his offer, Joseph declares their sin, not “Wrath” as John believed but “Pride”. As Joseph repeats a bible quote, the wind becomes much more violent and he turns over the Bliss containers causing the Deputy to hallucinate. In the vision they are trapped outside the church in the middle of a severe thunder and lightning storm and have to fight their Bliss-brainwashed Marshals, Gun For Hires and allies throughout Hope County before the combined manpower and effort are all able to defeat Seed. A neutralised Joseph continues his bible quote as an air siren can be heard and the birds begin fleeing - a massive nuclear bomb goes off in the distance, The Collapse that The Father predicted has come to pass and all Joseph can do is sing a hymn as the end of the world he foretold has seemingly come true. The Deputy, Whitehorse, Pratt and Hudson all attempt to escape the blast via truck with Seed and head to Dutch’s bunker as the sky becomes blood red, the birds all die and the trees catch fire. The car crashes in front of a tree. When the Deputy awakens Joseph has commandeered Dutch’s bunker, murdered Dutch and handcuffed them to the bed. Joseph is satisfied with the end of his world as he was correct though he does express a desire to kill the Deputy for murdering his family but instead chooses to make them a part of his “family” so they can reclaim and rebuild the world anew once The Collapse is over.

Walk Away Ending
Joseph thanks the player for their decision, and they leave with Sheriff Whitehorse and Hudson and Pratt. While in the car Sheriff Whitehorse turns on the radio which happens to be tuned to a station playing "Only You" performed by The Platters. As the screen turns red this proves that Jacob Seeds brainwashing of the Junior Deputy using Classical Conditioning was successful. The song, serving as the stimulus, leads to the reflexive response of the Junior Deputy assumedly killing all of his police comrades.

Secret Ending
In the prologue if the Deputy does not arrest The Father immediately and spends around 5 minutes waiting, Whitehorse will tell them it is time to leave. Despite Burke’s objections to this and claiming that he will have the Sheriff and Deputy arrested, Whitehorse is content with the outcome as he knows that arresting Joseph will only kill them all.