Vaas Montenegro
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Vaas Montenegro is a
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from
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's ''
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'' video game franchise. He appears as an early game antagonist in the 2012 title ''
Far Cry 3 ''Far Cry 3'' is a 2012 first-person shooter game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the third main installment in the ''Far Cry'' series after ''Far Cry 2''. The game takes place on the fictional Rook Islands, a tro ...
'', and was extensively featured in promotional material for the game. Vaas is depicted as a capricious and mentally unstable character who antagonizes ''Far Cry 3'' main character Jason Brody, and also serves as his dark psychological mirror. Vaas is later revealed to be a drug-addicted wayward member of the local community of the Rook Islands, the setting of ''Far Cry 3'', who betrayed his people and aligned himself with the crime boss Hoyt Volker. Outside of ''Far Cry 3'', Vaas' appearances include a live-action
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prequel called ''The Far Cry Experience'', the
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title ''Far Cry VR'', and as the player character in ''Vaas: Insanity'', a
downloadable content Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enablin ...
(DLC) expansion for the 2021 title, ''
Far Cry 6 ''Far Cry 6'' is a 2021 first-person shooter game developed by Ubisoft Toronto and published by Ubisoft. It is the sixth main installment in the ''Far Cry'' series and the successor to 2018's ''Far Cry 5''. The game is set on the fictional Cari ...
''. Conceived and designed by Ubisoft's development team as a villainous character who is comparable in stature to ''
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''
Darth Vader Darth Vader is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. The character is the central antagonist of the original trilogy and, as Anakin Skywalker, is one of the main protagonists in the prequel trilogy. ''Star Wars'' creator George ...
, Vaas is portrayed in all relevant media by Canadian actor
Michael Mando Michael Mando (born July 13, 1981) is a Canadian actor. He played Nacho Varga on the AMC series ''Better Call Saul'' (2015–2022), Vaas Montenegro in the video game franchise '' Far Cry'' (2012, 2021), Vic Schmidt in the sci-fi series ''Orph ...
. Mando decided to improvise for his audition and did not follow the developers' script, but they were so impressed by his performance that the character they had in mind was redesigned to match Mando's physicality. The game's story was eventually altered from the developers' initial intentions to accommodate a more frenetic, sociopathic villain in response to Mando's performance. The creative team worked in tandem with Mando to flesh out Vaas' characterization. Vaas has been well received by the video game community and is often ranked on many lists of the best video game villains due to his depiction as an unhinged criminal. Mando's critically acclaimed performance was considered by many critics to be instrumental to the character's predominantly positive reception, and would influence the portrayal of villainous characters in subsequent sequels.


Concept and design

The lead writer of ''
Far Cry 3 ''Far Cry 3'' is a 2012 first-person shooter game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the third main installment in the ''Far Cry'' series after ''Far Cry 2''. The game takes place on the fictional Rook Islands, a tro ...
'',
Jeffrey Yohalem Jeffrey Yohalem is an American director and writer of video games. After graduating cum laude from Yale University with a degree in English literature, he joined the Ubisoft Montreal studio, working on the games ''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 ...
, is credited as Vaas Montenegro's creator. For ''Far Cry 3'', Yohalem took inspiration from public discourse about whether video games are good for the player's mental health, and about the concept of "gamification" in society as a whole. Yohalem wanted Vaas to represent a cautionary tale about what could potentially happen to player characters who found themselves caught up in their most indulgent, violent impulses; when interviewed by IGN about his thought process behind Vaas, Yohalem explained that video game developers always talk about 30-second loops, a line of thought within the video game industry which states that players should be put into a situation where what they are doing every 30 seconds is so satisfying that they never want to stop. Yohalem wanted to examine "what made games tick", and then examined the player's involvement in them and whether these experiences are enjoyable for the player, or whether they find themselves confronted by an "uncomfortable development", with this archetype represented by Vaas, a pirate who seems to be "on the knife edge between sanity and mental collapse". Yohalem opined that Vaas' monologue about the definition of insanity is in accord with the philosophies behind ''Far Cry 3'' design, as it "perfectly encapsulates" the dark side of the concept of a gameplay loop which the writing team attempted to deconstruct. Vaas was not part of the developers' original vision for ''Far Cry 3'' major villains. He was meant to be a bald and muscular man named Bull, who looked similar to "a 300-pound, six-foot-tall bullmastiff dog". A second iteration of the character was named Pyro and had a heavily mutilated body. Michael Mando's audition and subsequent hiring prompted Ubisoft staff to alter their original plans for the character to accommodate Mando's likeness and mannerisms. Bull's physical fierceness transformed into Vaas' emotive and volatile personality, though such features were later downplayed as Mando's portrayal of Vaas enabled his personality to be expressed through subtle mannerisms to achieve the effect of a charming but menacing villain. Initially the character was called Lupo, but the name Vaas was picked once the graphic design was altered to incorporate Mando's appearance. This was done primarily because the developers faced difficulties matching Mando's facial musculature to the model. Producer Dan Hay compared Vaas to
Darth Vader Darth Vader is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. The character is the central antagonist of the original trilogy and, as Anakin Skywalker, is one of the main protagonists in the prequel trilogy. ''Star Wars'' creator George ...
, in that his presence is often short and brief, yet when he appears, he catches attention and galvanizes players' memories. Hay described Vaas as a character that was "very much in your face", which helped cement Jason's early status as a "victim". Yohalem added that Vaas' implied death at the game's midpoint was inspired by the novel ''
To the Lighthouse ''To the Lighthouse'' is a 1927 novel by Virginia Woolf. The novel centres on the Ramsay family and their visits to the Isle of Skye in Scotland between 1910 and 1920. Following and extending the tradition of modernist novelists like Marcel ...
'', in which the protagonist dies midway through the story and the rest of the plot explores her absence. Yohalem recalled that Vaas was a "lightning rod" with an "incredible gravity", and that the character become the subject of obsession in video game fandom before ''Far Cry 3'' was even released. Yohalem concluded the critical and popular acclaim in response to Mando's performance as Vaas was a "lightning in a bottle" moment Ubisoft experienced for the first time with the character, and observed that the series would go on to explore the different possibilities of a dark central performance. Ubisoft staff originally considered creating a direct sequel to ''Far Cry 3'' and entertained the idea of resurrecting Vaas, but abandoned it to commit to a standalone sequel with ''
Far Cry 4 ''Far Cry 4'' is a 2014 first-person shooter game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the successor to the 2012 video game ''Far Cry 3'', and the fourth main installment in the ''Far Cry'' series. Set in the fictional ...
''.


Portrayal

To achieve their goal of creating nuanced characters, Ubisoft's development team made extensive use of performance and motion capture, so that actors could convey more complicated emotions on-screen. According to Anne Gibeault, associate producer for cinematics in the Montreal studio, a character's face and hands convey the most essential part of the animation process. Yohalem emphasized that the eyes are the most essential facial feature as they get noticed first, and that they make a character more emotionally resonant, and so players connect with the characters through eye contact. To perform his role as Vaas, Mando's gestures and facial expressions were translated into animation through carbon-fiber helmets, with cameras mounted about two feet from his face to record every squint, frown, or smile. Yohalem noted that actors have to “create a style between the exaggerated movements of the theatrical and the minimalism of film” for a motion capture performance. Mando became involved with the ''Far Cry'' series in July 2010 when he auditioned for a role then known as "Mr. X". Although he was provided with a script, he decided to improvise in pursuit of creative freedom. During his audition, Mando thought it would be interesting if he were to have his back face the camera, and pretended that he was eating. When Mando started turning around to face the camera, he began licking his fingers until he reached his middle finger, where he then made a crude gesture and continued licking his middle finger. Mando was aware that he was taking a creative risk, and that his improvisation might not be met with approval from the Ubisoft staff who were responsible for assessing his performance; instead, the animation director of ''Far Cry 3'' was intrigued by Mando's creative decision for his audition and asked the casting director to instruct Mando to do it again and take it even further. Although Mando was hired following the audition, the creative team had insisted on the villain of ''Far Cry 3'' being presented as a physically imposing figure. The concept did not match Mando's more slender frame. Mando had already undergone rehearsals and some footage of his performances were filmed by the time Ubisoft made the short-lived decision to discard the character he had come up with, as it was incompatible with the visual design that the creative team had in mind. Mando recalled that Ubisoft later retracted their decision largely due to the impression he had made during the audition, and brought him back into the project at the last minute. Ubisoft decided to accommodate Mando by altering the character they had planned for to match his actual appearance instead. Reflecting on his role as Vaas, a character Mando calls his " spirit animal", he described him as "liberating", with an "innocent heart" who so happened to have "gone so far off the deep end". Mando considers himself to be one of the character's creators as he had a lot of involvement in developing Vaas' personality, mannerisms, and motivations with the creative team. Mando recalled that he performed Vaas' monologue to a tennis ball as a stand-in for the player's perspective during filming. Although Mando did not understand why it would turn out to become a compelling scene for many, he suggested that there may be a "truly profound existentialism" with that moment underneath the simplicity of the actual scene. According to Mando, their goal was not to deliberately create a character who appeals to audiences and is insane for the sake for it, but rather a personality who is looking for truth in that moment and who happens to be crazy.


Appearances


''Far Cry 3''

''Far Cry 3'' opens with montage footage of
player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...
Jason Brody holidaying in the Rook Islands region with his brothers and associates. The footage is captured on a video camera seized by Vaas, who has kidnapped the group and intends to sell them into slavery. After intercepting Jason's escape attempt and murdering his brother Grant, he allows Jason the opportunity to flee from his compound. Jason aligns himself with the local resistance forces known as the Rakyat, who oppose Vaas' pirate group in an armed struggle. Vaas' backstory is gradually revealed with the progression of ''Far Cry 3'' narrative: prior to the game's events, he became addicted to drugs introduced to Rook Island by the South African crime boss Hoyt Volker, who made Vaas his right-hand man and leader of the pirate faction terrorizing the Rook Islands. Vaas and his men assist Volker with his criminal activities such as
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and human trafficking, while inflicting death and destruction on the Rakyat, Vaas' former compatriots who are led by his estranged sister Citra Talugmai. During one incident, Jason attempts to rescue his girlfriend Liza Snow from a pirate compound and is caught in a trap set up by Vaas, but manages to escape with her through a combination of luck and sheer grit. In a later skirmish, Jason is caught in another trap set up by Vaas, who ties him to a rock and delivers a monologue about the definition of insanity before sending him plunging into a pool of water. Jason survives the ordeal, and later arrives at Vaas' island base to exact revenge. Vaas meets his apparent death by Jason's hand while the latter experiences a hallucination following their confrontation.


''Far Cry 6''

The post-credits scene of ''
Far Cry 6 ''Far Cry 6'' is a 2021 first-person shooter game developed by Ubisoft Toronto and published by Ubisoft. It is the sixth main installment in the ''Far Cry'' series and the successor to 2018's ''Far Cry 5''. The game is set on the fictional Cari ...
'' features one of the main characters, Juan, talking to an unnamed smuggler voiced by Michael Mando. The character is strongly implied to be Vaas, who somehow survived the events of ''Far Cry 3''. Vaas makes his first appearance as a playable character in a post-launch
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titled ''Vaas: Insanity'', released on November 16, 2021. ''Insanity'' begins at the climax of Jason Brody's final confrontation with Vaas, in which the latter is seemingly stabbed to death. Vaas wakes up in a hallucination, and is guided by the voice of his sister, Citra Talugmai, to reconstruct her Silver Dragon Blade to win her approval as she claims that it is the only way he can escape his mind. Vaas journeys through his mind, revisiting past memories of his life while gathering the pieces of the blade as well as fighting apparitions of Citra, Jason, and the Rakyat warriors. When Vaas succeeds in rebuilding the blade and hands it to Citra, she breaks it again and demands that he keep fighting for her as she sends waves of enemies after him. After a brief struggle and realizing Citra's negative influence throughout his life, Vaas finally rejects her pleas to stay with her and escapes the hallucination. An older Vaas is then shown sitting on a beach on a deserted island as he talks to himself using a tennis ball that resembles Jason.


Other appearances

A four-part live action
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named ''The Far Cry Experience'', which stars Mando as Vaas, was released to promote ''Far Cry 3''. Set a few days before the events of ''Far Cry 3'', Vaas captures and tortures to death fictionalized versions of
Christopher Mintz-Plasse Christopher Charles Mintz-Plasse (; born June 20, 1989) is an American actor and comedian. He has performed roles such as Fogell (McLovin) in '' Superbad'' (2007), Augie Farcques in '' Role Models'' (2008), and Chris D'Amico in '' Kick-Ass'' (20 ...
and his cameraman, who were engaged by Ubisoft as a part of a survival challenge in the "real" Rook Islands that inspired ''Far Cry 3''. Upon his realization that Mintz-Plasse has died from the torture, Vaas learns about the arrival of Jason and his friends in the region from one of his men, and leaves to "welcome" them. Vaas appears in ''Far Cry VR'', a 2020 virtual reality title where up to eight players can play cooperatively. The premise of the game is that the player characters find themselves marooned by Vaas and have to escape the Rook Islands by shooting their way out. Vaas is featured in a 2021
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comic series called ''Far Cry: Rite of Passage'' published by
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, which sees ''Far Cry 6'' villain Antón Castillo recounting cautionary tales to his son Diego, one of which involves an account of Vaas' childhood years and the retelling of his eventual "downfall". Vaas' childhood is also explored in the 2021 manga one-shot ''Happy Vaas Day'' published by ''
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''.


Cultural impact


Promotion and merchandise

''
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'' described Vaas Montenegro as the poster character of ''Far Cry 3''. The character's initial public introduction was by way of a promotional trailer for E3 2011 in which he makes his monologue about the definition of insanity before tossing the player character over a cliff. To promote ''Far Cry 3'' at 2012's
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, attendees were given the opportunity to get a haircut to style their hair like Vaas'
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. Ubisoft released a limited edition run of lithographic print art of Vaas by artist Ben Oliver for customers who preordered either ''Assassin's Creed III'' and ''Far Cry 3'' from the GAME concessions stand at the Eurogamer Expo. European players could also purchase the ''Insane Edition'' of the game, which included all pre-order bonuses and all other forms of launch
downloadable content Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enablin ...
(DLC), along with a Vaas
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and a survival skill manual for usage in real situations of danger. A six-inch PVC figurine of Vaas by Syco Collectibles was released in October 2012. In August 2020, Ubisoft released a line of Chibi figurines called "Ubisoft Heroes", with Vaas available as one of the selections.


Reception

Vaas Montenegro was met with critical acclaim following the game's release. Vaas was awarded Best New Character by ''
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'' for their 2012 Game of the Year Awards, and by the 4th Canadian Videogame Awards held in April 2013. His "definition of insanity" monologue was named Best Gaming Moment at the 2013
Golden Joystick Awards The Golden Joystick Awards, also known as the People's Gaming Awards, is a video game award ceremony; it awards the best video games of the year, as voted for originally by the British general public, but is now a global event that can be voted ...
. Vaas was a nominee for Best Character Design at the 4th
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in 2012. For his portrayal of Vaas, Michael Mando received nominations for Best Overall Acting from the 2013 New York Videogame Critics Circle Awards; Lead Performance in a Drama from the National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards; and Outstanding Character Performance from the 16th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards. Mando's reprisal of his role as Vaas for ''Far Cry 6: Vaas: Insanity'' earned him a nomination for the Great White Way Award for Best Acting in a Game at the New York Game Awards 2022. Vaas became a viral sensation the moment he was first featured in the E3 2011 trailer for ''Far Cry 3''. Vaas' popularity has led to the character becoming the subject of multiple fan works. A noteworthy ''
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'' fan mod reskins player character
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with a high-quality, bump-mapped texture that recreates Vaas' character model from ''Far Cry 3''. Ron Whitaker from '' The Escapist'' observed that Vaas, "a loud, vivid character that people enjoyed", had caught on with video game fandom as a popular choice for
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activities by the mid-2010s. Mando wrote in a 2020
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post that he still receives recognition by appreciative fans in public. In retrospect, Dale Driver from ''IGN'' noted that his "elaborate, violent monologue about the definition of insanity" was an unforgettable debut and became an instant fan favorite. Fascinated by the fact that Vaas was almost cut from ''Far Cry 3'' entirely, Driver argued that Vaas' serendipitous creation changed the course of the ''Far Cry'' series, as it provided the series with "an iron-forged identity that influences everything from design to marketing". Tim Edwards from ''
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'' called Vaas one of the video games industry's "most interesting collaborations", and lauded Mando's portrayal of the character as the most believable virtual performance since the debut of
Alyx Vance Alyx Vance is a fictional character from Valve Corporation, Valve's ''Half-Life (series), Half-Life'' video game series. She is introduced as a non-playable, supporting character in ''Half-Life 2'' (2004), accompanying the player's character, Gor ...
in ''
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'', which he highly enjoyed. Shaun Prescott from ''
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'' considered Vaas to be the ''Far Cry'' series' best and most fondly remembered villain, in spite of his scary nature. Imogen Donovan from ''Videogamer.com'' called Vaas an iconic video game villain, and his “flamboyant, intelligent and completely insane” legacy haunts the ''Far Cry'' video game series "like an unfriendly ghost". On multiple occasions, numerous sources have chosen Vaas as one of the best video game characters, particularly in his role as a villain. In 2016, ''Glixel'' staff named Vaas the 49th most iconic video game character of the 21st century, and the character's monologue about the definition of insanity his most emblematic moment. ''GamesRadar'' staff described Vaas as the most wonderfully unhinged character of the
seventh generation of video game consoles The seventh generation of home video game consoles began on November 22, 2005, with the release of Microsoft's Xbox 360 home console. This was followed by the release of Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation 3 on November 17, 2006, and Nint ...
. Vaas is ranked 45th place in ''
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''s list of Top 100 Villains from film, television, video games, and comics. Vaas placed 7th on a 2018 list of the best villains in video games published by ''
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'', with staff noting that he has become the "poster boy" for the ''Far Cry'' franchise despite only appearing in its third mainline entry at the time of publication. Brendan Lowry from ''Windows Central'' identified Vaas' legacy as one of the best game villains in Xbox history as deriving from his "unparalleled unpredictability". ''
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'' called Vaas one of the scariest video game villains of all time due to his palpable presence and unpredictability, and noted that he is responsible for making villains the major selling point of the ''Far Cry'' franchise going forward. Other sources that rank Vaas in their lists of top video game villains include ''
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'', ''
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'', and the official blog of Middle East Games Con. Not all reception for the character has been positive. The depiction of Vaas' mental illness was noted by the 2017 publication ''100 Greatest Video Game Characters'' to be a merely "easy-to-use label" for malevolent behavior. Dr. Kelli Dunlap from ''Games Foundation'' concurred that Vaas' characterization evokes a problematic stereotype and compared him to
Heath Ledger Heath Andrew Ledger (4 April 1979 – 22 January 2008) was an Australian actor and music video director. After playing roles in several Australian television and film productions during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to ...
's version of
the Joker The Joker is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson, and first appeared in the debut issue of the comic book ''Batman (comic book), Bat ...
as well as ''
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''
Kefka is a fictional character in the ''Final Fantasy'' series of video games. Originally designed by Yoshitaka Amano, he appears in the sixth installment of the series, ''Final Fantasy VI''. First introduced as the court jester and army general unde ...
, all of whom in her view lacked depth in terms of character development because their motivations are entirely defined by their psychotic tendencies. ''WePlay'' staff considered Vaas to be a "hackneyed" character and excluded him in their 2019 list of the best antagonists from video game history. A popular fan theory about ''Far Cry 6'' was that Diego Castillo, the son of Antón Castillo, is in fact a young Vaas. The speculation behind the theory was fueled by Mando's tease of his return to the series via a Reddit post, Diego having a similarly placed scar as Vaas in his live-action appearance, and the observation that both characters wear a red top. The fan theory was debunked in 2021 with the announcement of ''Rite of Passage'', which unambiguously differentiates Diego from Vaas as two distinct characters, as well as a direct confirmation from ''Far Cry 6'' narrative director Navid Khavari in a statement published by ''TheGamer'' in May 2021.


Analysis


Cultural identity

Although Vaas and Citra are presented as members of the Rakyat (a word that means "the people" in
Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...
and
Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...
) tribe on the fictional Rook Islands, there has been some confusion over the depiction of his intended cultural identity. Christopher B. Patterson, professor at the
University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...
, perceived an inexplicable discrepancy in Mando's portrayal of Vaas. Patterson observed that while Vaas is presumably native to the Asia-Pacific region, most likely
Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...
in his view, the accent that Mando uses is
Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
. The usage of slang terms such as "white boy" and "hermano" is something the character is alone in among the Rakyat population. Charlie Stewart of ''Game Rant'' also remarked on the character's accent and noted that while the Rook Islands are based largely on
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
, Vaas' way of talking implies that he grew up speaking
Latin American Spanish The different varieties of the Spanish language spoken in the Americas are distinct from each other as well as from those varieties spoken in the Iberian peninsula, collectively known as Peninsular Spanish and Spanish spoken elsewhere, such as in ...
, unlike his sister, who sounds the same as the rest of the native population. He states that this has been regarded as a bit of a mystery among players and that it is the reason for the many fan theories speculating that Vaas must have spent time outside of the islands in his youth, including theories assuming that Vaas was actually
Diego Diego is a Spanish masculine given name. The Portuguese equivalent is Diogo. The name also has several patronymic derivations, listed below. The etymology of Diego is disputed, with two major origin hypotheses: ''Tiago'' and ''Didacus''. Et ...
from ''
Far Cry 6 ''Far Cry 6'' is a 2021 first-person shooter game developed by Ubisoft Toronto and published by Ubisoft. It is the sixth main installment in the ''Far Cry'' series and the successor to 2018's ''Far Cry 5''. The game is set on the fictional Cari ...
'', as these theories are attempts to reconcile his irregular manner of speaking with his background. Karina Tapia of
Digital Trends Digital Trends is a Portland, Oregon-based tech news, lifestyle, and information website that publishes news, reviews, guides, how-to articles, descriptive videos and podcasts about technology and consumer electronics products. With offices i ...
named Vaas as an example of a
Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...
character in video games sporting an exaggerated accent and speaking
Spanglish Spanglish (a portmanteau of the words "Spanish" and "English") is any language variety (such as a contact dialect, hybrid language, pidgin, or creole language) that results from conversationally combining Spanish and English. The term is mos ...
. Johnny Galvatron interpreted the character as a foreign invader and not as a member of the Rakyat tribe, while Edward Ross took Vaas to be
Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...
in his book ''Gamish: A Graphic History of Gaming''. Angga Prawadika Aji, a lecturer at the
Airlangga University Airlangga University ( Indonesian: ''Universitas Airlangga''; jv, ꦈꦤꦶꦮ꦳ꦼꦂꦱꦶꦠꦱ꧀​ꦄꦲꦶꦂꦭꦁꦒ, abbreviated as Unair or UA) is the second-oldest university in Indonesia and also a public university located in Su ...
in Indonesia, opined that the skin color of the pirate group led by Vaas implied their identity to be native Rooks Islanders. Leo Stevenson of ''Power Up!'' described Vaas as "decidedly not white" and cited ''Far Cry 3'' as an example of a piece of media where the hero is white and people of color are relegated to supporting roles or villains. When defending the game against allegations of promoting a
white savior narrative The term white savior is a critical description of a White people, white person who is depicted as liberating, rescuing or uplifting Person of color, non-white people; it is critical in the sense that it describes a pattern in which people of colo ...
, Yohalem stated that the foreign player character Jason Brody was not originally intended by Citra to be the one to be part of the tribe's ritual. Instead, Vaas was, but he simply refused to participate. Kevin Fox, Jr. of '' Paste'' characterized ''Far Cry 3'' as a game with a thrill-seeking white savior protagonist and sociopathic "vaguely ethnic" villain. Fox points out that Vaas became a "villain icon" that is - in his opinion - "weirdly beloved" by the gaming community, despite how problematic the depiction of his and the other natives is. ''
Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...
'' Kirk Hamilton argued that the game would have been better and its white savior narrative from its first half would have become ironic if Vaas had turned out to be the one who underwent the ritual. Ryan Parreno of ''Gameranx'' expressed that it was "uncomfortable" that Ubisoft wished to in part recreate Vaas's "unintentionally seductive qualities" for the villain
Pagan Min Pagan Min ( my, ပုဂံမင်း, ; 21 June 1811 – 14 March 1880), was the ninth king of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma. Born Maung Biddhu Khyit, he was granted the title of Prince of Pagan by his father Tharrawaddy in August 1842. Pag ...
in the sequel game while still trying to avoid a white savior narrative by having the new main character be Asian. Maurice Pogue of ''Geeks Under Grace'' felt similarly, wishing "Vaas or a character of a similar background emerged the hero", noting that Vaas is the only indigenous male given a name, and stated that the "majority of the people populating the island are Austronesian". Pogue also observed that Vaas criticises Jason Brody's attempt to integrate into Rakyat culture (citing this as an example of the "mighty whitey" trope). Regarding Vaas' role on the islands, Pogue felt that he is treated as "yet another expendable native" by his superior Hoyt, who doesn't seem worried for his operations once Vaas is killed. He added that the game would have been superior if Vaas had returned to his birthright as a Rakyat warrior or Citra had succeeded in her revolt without Jason's help, but as it is the game falls into a poor white savior narrative. In the DLC ''Vaas: Insanity'', Vaas asserts his native identity when one of Hoyt's men informs him and three of his pirates that Hoyt wants them to expand the operation by " clearing" the land of the indigenous population. Vaas reacts negatively to this information and asks his men where they're from. All three of them assert that they were born on the island. Vaas then asks for one of their guns and shoots the informant, saying, "Hermano. We are the natives." He then declares that the next day, they will go to war with Hoyt.


Mental state

Ross remarked that Vaas is depicted as both
scar A scar (or scar tissue) is an area of fibrous tissue that replaces normal skin after an injury. Scars result from the biological process of wound repair in the skin, as well as in other organs, and tissues of the body. Thus, scarring is a na ...
red and
mentally ill A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...
. Georgia Hinterleitner states that while ''Far Cry 3'' has several mad antagonists, Vaas is the most prominent of them, and that while he himself claims to be mainly interested in his kidnapping victims for money, "it becomes almost immediately clear that his criminal activities double as a convenient outlet for his deeply warped personality". She adds that his madness manifests in his propensity for lengthy (which she calls "at times barely coherent") monologues, his tendency to lapse into intractable fits of anger at minor provocations, and the pleasure he finds in the sadistic games he plays with Jason, such as letting him flee in order to hunt him for sport. She interprets Vaas as sparing Jason several times solely to have "conversations" with him that are both unprompted and thoroughly one-sided, these being "partly mocking, partly sincere". Hinterleitner compares Vaas to
Kefka Palazzo is a fictional character in the ''Final Fantasy'' series of video games. Originally designed by Yoshitaka Amano, he appears in the sixth installment of the series, ''Final Fantasy VI''. First introduced as the court jester and army general under ...
in ''
Final Fantasy VI also known as ''Final Fantasy III'' from its initial North American release, is a 1994 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the sixth main entry in the ''Final Fantasy'' s ...
'', as their unstable natures are both based on very old and common ideas of mental illness which establish a direct link between madness, evil, and violence. She does however note that they differ in that while Kefka's madness is tied directly to the plot of the game, Vaas' primarily serves to provoke visceral emotions and reactions in the audience, something which she believes is enhanced by each game's gameplay. Interactions with Vaas emphasize the players' feelings of vulnerability due to the lack of distance from Vaas through the use of the
first-person perspective A first-person narrative is a mode of storytelling in which a storyteller recounts events from their own point of view using the first person It may be narrated by a first-person protagonist (or other focal character), first-person re-teller ...
, whose limited field of vision causes a sense of intimacy to the threat in front of the player. She elaborates that Vaas' quick mood swings let neither Jason nor players have time to anticipate or brace themselves against whatever whim Vaas indulges in next. In his article "First Person Mental Illness", Bernhard Runzheimer cites Vaas as an example of a villain exhibiting sociopathy and sadism. Cecilia Rodéhn has argued that Vaas' racial depiction is tied to the depiction of his madness, characterising him as loud, erratic, sadistic, and violent, similar to how black men have been depicted in games. Charlie Stewart of ''
Game Rant ''Screen Rant'' is an entertainment website that offers news in the fields of Television show, television, Film, films, Video game, video games, and film theories. ''Screen Rant'' was launched by Vic Holtreman in 2003, and originally had its pri ...
'' expressed when comparing Vaas to
Joseph Seed Joseph Seed is a fictional character from Ubisoft's ''Far Cry'' video game franchise. He appears as the overarching antagonist of the 2018 title, ''Far Cry 5'', and was extensively featured in promotional material for the game. In ''Far Cry 5'', ...
that Vaas' rejection of his sister's attempts to convince him that he is a " chosen one sent to lead his people" as well as his acceptance of his own sadism and megalomania makes him a far more honest character than Seed. Stewart notes that Vaas never attempts to justify his actions.


Masculinity

In his review of ''Far Cry 3'' for ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'', John Young characterized Vaas as a gonzo
alpha male In biology, a dominance hierarchy (formerly and colloquially called a pecking order) is a type of social hierarchy that arises when members of animal social groups interact, creating a ranking system. A dominant higher-ranking individual is som ...
. This sentiment is mirrored by the game's cinematics director, Robert Darryl Purdy, who described Vaas as an "alpha male", a dominant individual who exploits a bad situation to his benefit, with no bounds and no one to stop him. Purdy states "he's into human trafficking, he's into drugs, prostitution, everything" and summarises that Vaas stands for the aggressive side of the island in the game. Nonetheless, he does note that Vaas still has moments where he is "soft" due to his mood swings. In her book ''Gaming Masculinity: Trolls, Fake Geeks, and the Gendered Battle for Online Culture'', Megan Condis comments on Vaas questioning Jason and his friends' manhoods and making rape threats, with Vaas saying things like "I am the one with the uckingdick" and "You're my bitch". She interprets this as the game making literal the rhetoric of rape as shorthand for in-game dominance that exists in online culture by making the power dynamic explicit in the narrative, with rape being a real threat Jason faces. Super Players Online Gamebase's Svend Joscelyne also noted Vaas' emasculation of Jason and observed that these moments serve to make Jason relatable due to the immersive nature of the first person point of view in the game, stating that Jason was an "unrelatable jock before". Contemporary historian Andreas Enderlin-Mahr of the Institut für Neuere Geschichte und Zeitgeschichte cites Vaas as a character who exhibits a plethora of "traits that unequivocally and thoroughly constitute
toxic masculinity Toxic masculinity is a set of certain male behaviors associated with harm to society and men themselves. Traditional stereotypes of men as socially dominant, along with related traits such as misogyny and homophobia, can be considered "toxic" d ...
", with violence, torture, and abuse being the result of his own personal beliefs that lay in the core of his personality.


Notes


References


Further reading

*


External links


Audition for Vaas : Far Cry 3 (Michael Mando)
on the official Michael Mando
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channel
Far Cry 3 Vaas Montenegro Explained by Lead Writer Jeffrey Yohalem - Character Profile
on the official Outside Xbox
YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
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Game Makers Podcast - Defining Insanity with Michael Mando
on the official Ubisoft website {{DEFAULTSORT:Montenegro, Vaas Far Cry characters Fictional attempted suicides Fictional cannabis users Fictional characters with disfigurements Fictional criminals in video games Fictional drug addicts Fictional kidnappers Fictional knife-fighters Fictional murderers Fictional henchmen in video games Fictional mass murderers Fictional nihilists Fictional sea pirates Fictional pirates in video games Fictional outlaws Fictional smugglers Fictional torturers Male video game villains Video game characters introduced in 2012 Video game mascots