This weekend Ubisoft released a trailer for Far Cry 6's Season Pass, unveiling upcoming DLC content that will allow players to take on the role of three of Far Cry's most iconic villains. Franchise fans will get the chance to play as Vaas, Pagan Min, and Joseph Seed, exploring the depths of their insanity in what is shaping up to be a celebration of the series' past with a dose of psychological horror.
The return of these three villains in Far Cry 6's DLC is a reminder of their similarities, and the series' history of strong performances that fans hope will continue with Giancarlo Esposito as Anton Castillo. However, it's also a reminder that Pagan Min, the villain of Far Cry 4, is the odd man out among Far Cry's most memorable antagonists.
Comparing Far Cry's Villains
Since Michael Mando's groundbreaking performance as Vaas in Far Cry 3, the series' stories have focused on charismatic, captivating, and deranged antagonists. Vaas is a sadist with a strange past, and pursuing him transforms Jason Brody from a spoiled vacationer into a vicious killer. Joseph Seed is a religion zealot whose seemingly insane prophecies can slowly come true as the plot progresses. In both cases, the player character is thrown into a world which seems to reflect the mad mind of their enemy, encouraging them to question whether they are really the sane ones.
Pagan Min's role in Far Cry 4 has some interesting differences from the roles of Vaas and Joseph Seed, even though there are surface-level similarities. Both Vaas and Joseph Seed are rebels who want to tear down the world around them, even if their personal demeanors and reasons for doing so are different. Pagan Min may be flamboyant and ruthless, but Far Cry 4 suggests he isn't insane. As the plot of Far Cry 4 unfolds, Pagan Min's pragmatism becomes clear. It is revealed that he fled Hong Kong and took over Kyrat in what was essentially a bid to protect his own life from the internal politics of the drug cartel he inherited.
Toward the end of Far Cry 4, Pagan Min is happy to let Ajay Ghale take over Kyrat if it means he can escape. In Far Cry 3 and Far Cry 5, the world the player enters feels inherently connected to the villain - the Rook Islands and Hope County, Montana both seem to embody the antagonists' psychology. In Far Cry 4, Pagan Min is detached from the land he rules. He isn't from Kyrat, he's content to leave, and the revolution against Min seems to show the game's setting rejecting him.
Pagan Min's Happy Ending
It is notable that Pagan Min is the only one of these three villains who can get a happy ending of any kind. Vaas is killed by Jason, at least as far as players know. Although the Security Captain can choose to spare Joseph Seed at the end of Far Cry New Dawn, Joseph's faith has been completely destroyed and he is left begging to be killed. Pagan Min, on the other hand, can achieve his goal of handing Kyrat over to Ajay and continue his luxurious lifestyle elsewhere.
This could make playing as Pagan Min particularly interesting in the Far Cry 6 Season Pass. The Become the Villain trailer states that "the mind is a dangerous place," implying players will be diving into worlds reflecting the psychology of each villain. Each part looks like one of the series' drug trip sequences. To an extent both the Rook Islands and Hope County already reflect the insanity of Vaas and Joseph Seed, respectively. While Pagan Min was an iron-fisted dictator and an egotist, a major theme in the fourth game's plot is that Pagan Min can be removed from Kyrat without much fundamentally changing.
This will make diving into Pagan Min's mind fascinating if Ubisoft properly distinguishes the psyche of each villain. Joseph Seed and Vaas are both ideologues. Seed is a religious fanatic, while Vaas' recurring "definition of insanity" speech gives players an insight into his worldview. Pagan Min, on the other hand, presents himself as a pure pragmatist, and is the only one able to survive his story mostly in-tact.
Pagan Min's Mind
One of the ways Far Cry 6's DLC could explore Pagan Min's mind is by exposing the ways in which his claims to be a pragmatist aren't actually as true as he suggests. The first moment with Min in the trailer shows him taking a video of Ajay, his mother, and sister. This is the closest thing Pagan Min, a man who styled himself after a famously fratricidal Burmese king, had to a family, and he seems to be imagining a version of events where Ajay grew up as his son. The loss of Ajay's mother and the daughter Pagan Min had with her would be a great moment to explore, showing that despite potentially getting away at the end of Far Cry 4, Pagan Min had already lost everything meaningful to him long before.
It could also be interesting to reframe Pagan Min's brutality in the plot of Far Cry 4 as a reaction to one of the most emotional moments in Pagan Min's life. Pagan Min constantly frames his actions as ruthless but necessary, and will praise Ajay for being willing to take the same steps. However, the new DLC could explore the ways that Pagan Min's story was more emotionally driven than he would admit. That his seemingly happy ending, if the player spares him, was actually sadder than he let on.
The Become the Villain DLC has a chance to reveal new angles on Vaas and Joseph Seed's insanity, but it's the exploration of Pagan Min's mind that could most affect how players see the character during future Far Cry 4 playthroughs. Whether or not Ubisoft will take full advantage of this and plumb the depths of Troy Baker's iconic character has yet to be seen, but many fans of the character should be excited to see Pagan Min return.
Far Cry 6 launches October 7 on Amazon Luna, PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.