I was thinking about John Seed (as usual) and his abuse at the hands of his adopted parents, the Duncans. On his Far Cry Wiki page, it says that the Duncans ‘considered John’s soul to be tainted’ and therefore tortured him, and I was wondering what might have led them to that conclusion, since Joseph always describes John as a kind, loving child. And then I thought:
What if the Duncans decided that John’s soul was tainted and subjected him to torture because he is left-handed?
Sounds weird but hear me out. Long post below with big pictures but I hope it’s interesting.
So, why do I think John is left-handed, or was originally?
In Christianity, being left-handed is traditionally considered unfavourable, evil even, as those who ‘fall from God’ are sent to his left hand side (Matthew 25: 32-33). The fallen go to the left. Jesus sits at God’s right hand side.
Being left handed has even been associated with black magic/Satanism in the past and this general unfavourable outlook is seen in cultures across the world. Thousands of people used to be (and some still are) forced to use their right hand because of this.
The Duncans must have originally believed John to be an ‘innocent’. People wouldn’t just adopt kids who they thought were inherently evil, so the Duncans must have picked him, and then discovered some reason to come to believe there was evil in him. Someone’s dominant hand isn’t something you often immediately notice and so they probably noticed, a little while after taking him home for the first time, when he was playing or something.
And, being highly religious, they saw it as their duty to purge the evil from him.
So, my evidence for this theory?
John says: ‘one night they took me into the kitchen…’ which suggests some passing of time before the abuse began- maybe a few days in which they noticed and then came to a decision on how to deal with it.
In the Book of Joseph, Joseph also writes that John was told that ‘every movement meant temptation’, a statement which is quite vague, but would make a lot more sense if those movements were done with his left hand.
In the game, John definitely uses his right hand for most things- it’s the hand he holds his knife in, the hand he uses to pull Hudson’s chair around.
Also, he uses the tattoo gun in his right hand.
But notice that the writing is always shaky, partially because whoever is getting tattooed is probably struggling, but even his own sins are shakily written. Hurk says at one point that John disrespects ‘the ink’ because he didn’t learn proper lettering.
Maybe that’s because he’s been forced to write using his non-dominant hand? Quite literally had his natural left-handed dominance beaten out of him?
I have found a couple of examples where he is very obviously using his left hand for stuff that I, as a right handed individual, would find pretty uncomfortable or awkward to do with my left hand:
Holding Hudson’s throat for example.
Or gripping the Deputy’s wrist with enough strength to keep them there, despite the fact that he’s dying at this point
As a right handed individual, these threatening actions just wouldn’t carry the same strength or power if I used my non-dominant hand.
Another example, just a little thing but something I noticed. There was a gifset post that went around a few weeks back (by johnseeed) about the little circular hand movement he does where he moves his hand on his chest… both times (once in the video below, once in the bunker at the ‘become Wrath’ bit) he does this with his left hand.
Both times, he’s talking about knowing sin.
Heck, even in some of the promo art he’s holding the tattoo gun in his left hand:
I’m watching Seamus Dever in Castle at the moment, and I’m pretty sure he’s right handed, and so I know it’s a massive stretch, but I just can’t shake the idea of it. It’s such a small thing but I don’t know, I just feel like it explains a lot.
John was told his whole life that he’s riddled with sin, and for him to have had that told to him just because of the way he was born would explain his obsession with atonement, with proving himself free of sin and worthy of love, and also the struggle he seems to have with his two personas.
So, just as God sat in the centre, with the fallen to the left and his son to the right- we have to imagine the Duncans as John’s God.
To their left sits the demon the Duncans told him he was- John Seed who uses his left hand- fallen from God the moment he was born.
On the other side, the demon they made him to be- John Duncan, who uses his right hand- their son.
Guess where all of his sins are tattooed?
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