I'm going to go through the different Far Cry villains and talk about them, including any real world people they may be based on.
He is Far Cry's best villain but something does happen that kind of ruins that, with how old Far Cry 3 is I figure I'd say but NAHHHHHHHHHH......download the Far Cry 3 Classic Edition and play it, it's really fun, my favourite in the series or maybe now 5 is tied with it but that's besides the point. I'm sure influence wise that Ubisoft might've pulled influences from somewhere but not the same way I can think of for these other villains. So ya, Vaas is an amazing villain.
The thing is, while taking inspiration, they also make Joseph Seed his own unique character. One with goals and motives, one who wants to guide everyone on the same path he is on, including you the main character of the game. Which is probably the one thing I found most interesting in Far Cry 5, there are so many moments that Seed is trying to guide you to follow him, to join him on his path. You encounter it during his followers missions and obviously his as well, but even when you listen to him, he seems so sure of everything. That every word he says is true and that choosing him is the best choice you can make (which is also why that's part of an Easter Egg ending to the game which you can look up). He makes a lot of good points during the game and honestly if you didn't already know he was a maniac, you might be persuaded, if you were someone desperately looking for religion and he offered those things then it makes sense why his words would be worth following. And that's obviously how people like David Koresh and Jim Jones got their followers as well, people looking for guidance in religion and happening across a madman in the process.
I've placed some videos here from Biographics on two of what I consider to be the biggest influences on the character of Joseph Seed. If you're interested give these a watch. Also some "best of" moments from Joseph Seed in Far Cry 5, though keep in mind if you don't want to spoil aspects of the game, don't watch that......and I'd say if you haven't played Far Cry 5, do it, it's the 2nd best game in the franchise.
| |
Now the closest real life person that I can make a comparison to and that Pagan Min may have inspirations on is the terrible ruler of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge Pol Pot. They both led brutal dictatorships in small countries in Southeast Asia, they go these dictatorships by overthrowing the government in power, had millions killed for no reason, tortured and killed people to get information they needed, and well that just touches on some of the things Pot did (watch the video below if you're interested). There are comparisons between these two but I find that Pagan Min is just a little more unique and his own but you can definitely tell he had some influences.