Jack Carver

Context

Jack Carver is the protagonist of 2004 action/adventure/shooting video game Far Cry. This profile is based on the PC game, not the Xbox releases such as Far Cry Instincts.

Far Cry was well-received and sold well, giving rise to a series of Far Cry video games. There isn’t a continuity between those, though, and Jack Carver never appeared again.

This profile includes full S P O I L E R S about this old game. On the other hand FC’s strength were the visuals and gameplay, clearly not the plot or characterisation.

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Background

Powers and Abilities

Jack Carver discovered his natural talents for firearms and smuggling while serving as a military policeman in the US Navy. He is skilled with both ground and naval vehicles. While he is apparently not trained as a pilot, he can fly hang gliders quite capably.

According to Valerie Cortez’s background check, Carver received Special Forces training. Though the extent and type of said training was not specified, many of his combat skills became obvious over the course of the game.

After being busted out of the service, Jack continued to improve his knowledge of illicit shipping operations, working for the New York mob and then as a smuggler in Micronesia. Like most successful career criminals in often-violent circumstances, he has well-developed instincts for when to fight and when to run. He will not hesitate to do either if the situation calls for it.

See the Game Stats section for a discussion of Carver’s equipment.

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History

(The first four sections draw from the press release of the game.)

Growing up in Brooklyn, Jack wasn’t any kind of criminal prodigy. But then he was too busy keeping his head down during the weekly domestics that rocked the household and put him on a first name basis with the NYPD.

Jack saw the Navy as an ironclad Way Out. He found out within a week of reporting for Basic at Great Lakes  that his issues with authority were baked in deep. For Jack the blow-hard instructors with their love of punitive duty assignments were no better than his Old Man. The harder they pushed the worse his attitude got.

Still, his CO  must have seen some potential – maybe Carver’s flair for “social engineering”, or his innate skill with firearms. Jack was recommended for a Military Police assignment in Coronado.

(Coronado, California, is the location of Naval Base Coronado , the home port for two carriers and the training base for the Navy SEALs at the time of this writeup.)

MP… and swift downfall

Pretty soon Jack was one of the authorities he had always had issues with before. Not surprisingly, he was also completely bent. Contraband, bribery, procurement, you name it. Jack only got sloppy once, but that’s all it took. Three court-martial hearings and a commuted sentence later, he was on his way back to New York – unrepentant and unhirable.

Even guys who’d have cheerfully tossed Jack Carver down the nearest elevator shaft had to admit, the man knew his guns and his merchandise was top of the line. Too much so. After the death of Alfonso Carla in what might have generously been called a contract dispute, the Five Families started cracking down on the third-parties supplying their competition.

Unfortunately for Jack, his client list included the same Coney Island Organization that put Frank Carla’s favorite nephew in the ground. Jack did the smart thing and didn’t stop to water the plants before buying a bus ticket to Anywhere but Here.

Always on the run

He was only in Seattle for eight weeks before the dull-eyed men found him and he knew he’d run out of continent. There was a buddy from his Navy days — a guy none of the NYC crew would have known about — who made a living running German businessmen around Manila.

This guy knew falsified passports the way Jack knew guns. Carver offered him three bills, but his friend insisted on doing it for “karma’s sake.

Since his sudden arrival in Micronesia, Jack Carver’s become a familiar figure in the cantinas and bhang-stands around Kolonia Bay: The expatriate boat captain who lives off the grid, drinking himself to sleep most nights and wrecking homes from Pompeii to Yap.

But Jack’s not just another Lost American with too many secrets. The locals know him for his undeniable survival instincts and an enviable nose for new business opportunities.

Video interlude

Micronesia is a magical place

When an almost-new dive boat, the Medusa, abruptly appeared on the government auction block after her previous owner was eaten by sharks, Jack was in the front row, smirk on face, duffel bag full of cash in hand.

If a diving club from Okinawa turned up looking for untouched reefs or a new wreck, there was Jack. It’s Jack who always seemed to meet the planeload of Aussie trust-fund kids looking for transportation and a blind eye during Easter break. And the regulars smile knowingly when Jack excuses himself from the bar early because he’s delivering a crate of “fishing gear” to a local importer…

It took several years and fair few boat trips, but eventually Jack developed a taste for the simple life. Maybe this is why he didn’t smell the trouble when Val Cortez appeared on the dock with cameras and swimsuit and a day-pack full of cash.

And the smell became no stronger when she asked him for a ride to the Jacutan islands, a remote archipelago that is not known as a local picnic destination.

Sunk and adrift

Jack and Val arrived at the Jacutan Archipelago that evening as a storm was setting in. Jack anchored in away from shore, not wanting to risk his boat in unfamiliar rocks and shoals. Val observed the islands through binoculars, then insisted on going to shore on a jet-ski.

Jack climbed to the top of the Medusa’s mast to better observe her approach to the islands and instead witnessed a rocket slamming into his precious boat. Thanks to his precarious perch, Jack was far enough away from the point of impact to survive the explosion.

Tossed into the stormy seas, he swam for shore with bullets raining down through the water. There was a small army of mercenaries on the island and they apparently wanted no witnesses to their work.

He dived into the mouth of an underwater cave near the shore just as a grenade went off behind him, collapsing the entrance and sealing him in. Exhausted by his ordeal, Jack fell asleep inside his makeshift shelter.

Mysterious island

Some time later, after the sun had risen and the storm cleared, Jack awoke and made his way out of the cavern. It connected to a series of old tunnels in a complex that had been abandoned for decades. Judging by the kanji on the walls and the tattered uniforms on some of the skeletons, the facility had been a Japanese Imperial Navy base during World War II.

Carver came across a high-tech satellite phone and was promptly contacted by a man named Doyle. Doyle assisted Jack with suggested courses of action and limited intel about the mercenaries that were hunting him. Though his advice was useful, Doyle would not give any more information than necessary nor divulge his identity.

Jack worked his way across the archipelago trying to find Val with Doyle’s help. He avoided battle with the mercenaries when he could and inflicting devastating casualties when forced to confront them. He destroyed the mercs’ communication tower and several of their camps to hinder their hunt for him.

Ghastly genetics

During his journey, Jack discovered that Dr. Krieger, head of Krieger Corp, had selected the island as a base for genetic experimentation. The results were mutated primates called trigens. Some of the trigens had taken advantage of the mayhem Jack had been causing to escape their confinement and were now engaging the Krieger Corp Mercenaries on the island in pitched battle.

Though it took most of the day, Jack fought his way to the Bunker, the mercenaries’ headquarters. He managed to find Val just as the mercs were about to fly her away. Jumping onto the landing gear of the departing chopper, Jack distracted the guards on board long enough for Val to grab a gun and kill her captors, though the pilot was also shot in the fracas.

Val and Jack jumped away from the crashing helicopter, landing safely in the water and swimming to shore as the sun set.

The Company at work

As Jack took a breather on the moonlit shore, the other shoe dropped. “Val Cortez” was actually Valerie Constantine, a CIA agent seeking her missing contact. Said contact was Doyle.

Conferring briefly with Doyle over the satellite phone, Val and Jack made plans to get off the Jucatans. At Val’s orders, Jack sabotaged the main power regulator for the Krieger Corp facilities with the intent of hindering the mercs’ operations by releasing the remaining untrained trigens.

Meanwhile, Val infiltrated Krieger’s archival center to gather critical intel about his operation. She insisted on completing this mission before leaving the island much to Jack’s annoyance.

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Jack’s sabotage of the power regulator caused more chaos than he had anticipated. Krieger’s trigen experiments included human beings who retained some of their sentience. When the caged trigens were released, the more intelligent human-based trigens armed themselves and led all of the trigens in a full-scale rebellion.

Jack found himself dodging Krieger’s mercenaries as well as the impromptu trigen militia forces as he went to meet Val at the archives.

In the process of gathering the needed information Jack and Val also engaged and defeated most of the Krieger mercenaries on the island, including the mercenary forces’ leader, a man named Crow. The remaining scattered groups of mercs were occupied fighting the trigens, making it easier for Jack and Val to finish their mission.

After retrieving and transmitting the information Doyle sought, he told Val and Jack that his superiors wanted Krieger’s facility destroyed by means of a tactical nuke. One such charge was kept there as a safety measure in case of biological agents escaping the compound.

Doyle also warned the two to vaccinate themselves with a serum in the labs, since the explosion could release mutagens into the nearby environment. Jack and Val armed the explosive in the facility, injected themselves with the vaccine, and escaped just as the bomb went off.

Krieger gains the upper hand

Stunned by their proximity to the blast, Jack and Val were easily captured by Krieger’s remaining men. Krieger was perversely delighted in seeing his creations rampage across the archipelago, calling the trigens the future and claiming that mankind was obsolete.

In tune with his philosophy of survival of the fittest, Krieger kicked Jack out of his helicopter as they flew back to his island headquarters. He left Jack with naught but an M4 carbine with a handful of rounds to defend himself. Thanks to patient stealth and no small measure of luck, Jack eluded the trigens and made the rest of the trip to Krieger’s headquarters on foot.

Krieger’s base was straight out of a James Bond movie, a high-tech facility located in the caldera of an active volcano. Fighting his way past trigens and mercenaries alike, Jack confronted Krieger and his elite guard.

The guards were a tough kill and Krieger tougher yet, for he had taken the mutagen himself. Nevertheless, Jack won out.

Krieger down

Confronting the mortally wounded Krieger, Jack learned that the mad scientist had incorporated his own DNA into the mutagen. This would have caused the trigens to instinctively respond to Krieger as a paternal figure as well as allowing him to take the mutagen without losing his original human intellect.

Jack realized to his dismay that he and Val had also been affected by the mutagen despite the vaccine. Their skin began to turn green as the first stage of the process set in.

Krieger was confused – the mutagen could only be administered subcutaneously, not in an aerosol form. But he was happy nevertheless, for he believed Jack would be a fine specimen and all that Krieger dreamt of. With that, the scientist expired.

Treason !

Doyle then appeared over the holoprojector in the room. He had betrayed Val and Jack as part of his plan to sell the mutagen on the black market. Doyle had used Val and Jack to destroy the lab so he would have the only remaining mutagen.

Furthermore, he had fooled them into injecting themselves with the mutagen rather than the vaccine so that even if they escaped the lab, they would mutate shortly thereafter and lose most of their intelligence. This would leave them unable to communicate what happened.

Realizing that Doyle’s samples would include an antidote, Jack desperately hunted him down through Krieger’s base. Finally cornered by Carver, Doyle claimed be working for more powerful men. Unconcerned with this revelation, Jack shot the traitor.

Retrieving the antidote, he cured himself and Val as they sailed away from the Jucatan Islands in a stolen Krieger Corp boat.

Ten years later

Jack Carver implicitly became The Jackal – a criminal weapons dealer operating thorough Africa. The Jackal is the antagonist of the Far Cry 2 video game.

That the Jackal was Carver could be deduced from the name of image assets. But it’s not explicit in the game, and that the Jackal was intended to be Carver was only clearly confirmed in 2021.

Description

Jack is a white male with well-toned muscles. His rough-and-tumble look is enhanced by his five-o’clock shadow, his wind-tossed medium length hair, and the black tribal-pattern band tattooed around his right upper arm. He has a 1.5” long vertical scar bisecting his left eyebrow.

In keeping with his active lifestyle, he usually wears combat boots, fatigue pants, loose button-up Hawaiian t-shirts (his red-with-white-tropical-print shirt became a bit of a distinguishing mark for the mercs hunting him on the Jacutan Islands), and two-tone leather work gloves (black with white on the palms and inner fingers).

Like many marksmen, he has taken the index fingers off of the gloves, leaving his trigger fingers bare for greater sensitivity while shooting.

His accessories include a high quality waterproof watch with a built-in compass and a leather necklace with a shark’s tooth hanging from it. The latter may be a private joke relating to the circumstances under which he acquired his boat.

The last illo is a shot of the Medusa, Jack’s home and business up until the Jacutan Islands incident.

Personality

Having resigned himself to a tumultuous lifestyle long ago, Jack accepts challenges as they come. He is not at all hesitant about voicing his displeasure when stuck with unpleasant tasks but does not balk at carrying them out when necessary — he has enough sense not to waste time trying to delay or avoid the inevitable.

He works hard, plays hard, and if necessary fights hard.

He likes to keep things simple, a challenging task given his choice of occupation. Carver will avoid combat if he can, using stealth and subterfuge to elude his enemies, but if he cannot stay out of trouble he’ll embrace it instead, leaving nothing but bodies and burning wrecks in his wake.

Though he kept insisting that all he wanted to do was leave the islands, he would not even consider abandoning Val. This did not seem to be related to affection for Val in particular (though they got along well enough), but rather a more general unwillingness to leave a partner behind even if the partnership had not been initiated of Jack’s choosing.

If true, this suggests that while Carver’s primary motivation may be getting paid, he still has certain standards of conduct such as loyalty to friends and associates.

Quotes

“I’m not even getting paid for this crap !”

Val: “The CIA has an undercover contact on this island. We lost contact with him almost ten weeks ago.”
Doyle: (over the satellite phone) “Jack, are you there ?”
Val: “Doyle ?”
Jack (hands Val the phone): “Mission Accomplished.” (Dramatically claps his hands together as if knocking the dirt off of them)

Krieger: “Survival of the fittest ! Good luck !” (Kicks Jack out of the helicopter and into the waiting trigen hordes, tosses a near-empty rifle after him)
Jack: (Slowly gets on his feet, looks up at the departing helicopter) “Thanks.”

Doyle: “You can’t change the future.”
Jack: “No, but I can make sure you’re not a part of it !” (Shoots Doyle in the face) “Stupid bastard !”

DC Universe History

Carver is perfect for the campaign that finds itself needing a tropical smuggler captain with a very shady past. Jack should team up with Tommy Vercetti from GTA Vice City at some point for a tough-guys-in-tropical-shirts crossover massacre.

In the Batman Animated Series, a Dr. Emile Dorian conducted experiments on a jungle island in a manner very similar to Dr. Krieger. Carver could provide transportation to PCs looking to investigate Dorian’s work if the good doctor appeared in a campaign.

Any of the covert teams with lower-level supers and access to US intelligence databases (such as the Suicide Squad or Checkmate) who were operating in the Pacific might recruit Jack as a guide and or weapons supplier. This would also extend to single operatives like Eddie Fyers.

He might even have a personal acquaintance with Tommy Monaghan, perhaps initially meeting when they were both in the armed services. Monaghan was in the Marines instead of the Navy, but the two services interact enough for such a meeting to have easily occurred.

They would have continued a business relationship later while Carver was selling weapons.

By Roy Cowan.

Source of Character: Far Cry (PC game).

Helper(s): Sébastien Andrivet, Darci.