Ubisoft has confirmed that the villain of Far Cry 2, the Jackal, is Jack Carver from the first Far Cry game.
This news comes by way of IGN, which interviewed Far Cry 2 creative director Clint Hocking about the game. Far Cry fans have long believed that Far Cry 2’s Jackal villain is Jack Carver, the protagonist of the first Far Cry, but nothing in-game confirmed this theory. Now, Hocking has revealed that this theory is correct.
“The Jackal is actually supposed to be Jack Carver from the original Far Cry,” Hocking said. “Jack Carver in the original Far Cry was this shifty, smuggler, gun runner kind of crook. The idea was (the Jackal) is just him, 10 years later or something, after he’s seen whatever he saw on this island (in Far Cry).”
Hocking says that perhaps Carver’s Jackal transformation was drug-induced or the result of the trauma and stress endured on the island in Far Cry.
As for how fans determined Carver must be Jackal, it stems from two critical pieces of information about the two characters: Jackal’s background and the texture files of Jackal in Far Cry 2, as noted by IGN.
Both Jackal and Carver have a service history with the U.S. Navy, and both traded weapons illegally. That could have easily been a coincidence, but when coupled with the texture file names of Jackal in Far Cry 2, things seem more purposeful. The Jackal’s texture files in Far Cry 2 all feature the name “jackcarver,” such as “jackcarver_hair_d_mip0.dds” and “jackcarver_shoes_d.dds.”
Now, this could have been a weird coincidence, but Ubisoft is the one that creates these file names. Why use “jackcarver” randomly in a texture file name for Jackal? That’s a question fans had been asking since Far Cry 2’s release back in 2008, and now, 13 years later, they have an answer: the Jackal is Jack Carver.
For more about Far Cry, check out Game Informer’s ranking of every Far Cry game, and then read our thoughts on the latest entry in the series with our Far Cry 6 preview. Check out how Far Cry 6 is crossing over with Stranger Things and Rambo after that.
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