Earl Whitehorse

Earl Whitehorse is the Sheriff of Hope County, Montana and the deuteragonist of Far Cry 5.
Whitehorse is the ranking law enforcement officer of the Hope County Sheriff's Department, and is tasked with accompanying Marshal Burke with his deputies in taking Joseph Seed, the head of the Project at Eden's Gate cult into custody.
==Personality==
Earl Whitehorse is a man known for his preference for diplomacy over war. This is most clearly demonstrated during The Warrant, where he urges US Marshall Burke and his deputies to avoid instigating conflict with the cult. He also voices multiple times before landing that he believes it would be in their best interest to call off the arrest and to return to base.
Through the course of the game Whitehorse comes to realize just what really goes behind the weight of his job, and he becomes one of the most important figures of the resistance.
==Background==
Earl Whitehorse was born in 1963. He is the head of the Hope County Sheriff's Department in Hope County and according to the Far Cry 5 website he is divorced and suffered from a mild heart attack due to the stress of his job.
==Far Cry 5==
===The Warrant===
While approaching the cult's compound via helicopter, he constantly pleads Burke not to "fuck with Joseph Seed", stating that he clearly underestimates the cult, and that "sometimes it's best to leave well enough alone".
If Joseph Seed is not arrested and everyone left early, it's unknown what would happen to Earl Whitehorse.
During the arrest, he manages to prevent bloodshed by calming down both the cultist and the Marshal; however, once the group reaches their helicopter, he loses control of the situation. Following the helicopter's crash, he disappears and escapes in the ensuing chaos ending up at the Hope County Jail.
===Hope County Jail===
Upon the Deputy's appearance in Henbane River, Whitehorse is surprised and glad to see the Deputy alive. Along with Tracey and other Resistance survivors, they defend the Hope County Prison from the Peggies. Whitehorse warns the Deputy about the Bliss, having been influenced by the Bliss himself before being rescued by Tracey Lader and Virgil Minkler. Whitehorse is instrumental in recovering the Deputy when they are captured by Faith Seed and assures Tracey that the Deputy and later Marshal Burke can be trusted.
===Ignorance is Bliss===
The Sheriff is seen stabilizing the panicking Burke at the end of the mission.
===The Lesson===
This trust is revealed to be misplaced, as Burke - under the influence of Faith Seed and the Bliss - murders Virgil before opening the prison doors and committing suicide. During the second battle at the jail, Whitehorse is captured and taken to Faith's bunker.
===Paradise Lost===
Whitehorse is found singing Amazing Grace with Faith at the start of the mission. Faith tells the Junior Deputy that Whitehorse is about to finally find salvation. 
The Junior Deputy rushes to save him, but Faith intervenes and fights them, where she eventually is killed by them. After Faith's death, Whitehorse is found inside a locked cell, under heavy influence of Bliss, but still conscious enough to urge the player to destroy the Bliss manufacturing plant before he approaches a hanging noose, seemingly to hang himself. After successfully infiltrating the heart of the bunker, the Deputy removes the Bliss and Whitehorse guides the Deputy out of the bunker before it is destroyed. Whitehorse then returns to the Prison, where he recovers from his capture.
===Walk the Path===
The Junior Deputy quickly finds Whitehorse under the influence of the Bliss in a prison cell in Faith's Bunker. Whitehorse warns the deputy that he doesn't have much time left before looking over at a noose, telegraphing to the Deputy that he plans to hang himself.
After the Junior Deputy frees Whitehorse from the Bliss' influence, he notifies the Deputy that he's too weak to help and that he must flee. At the end of the mission, the Deputy and the Sheriff arrive at the Hope County Jail, where Whitehorse tells the Deputy that he's proud of them and that they will take Joseph down.
===Where It All Began===
When confronting Joseph Seed at his church, Whitehorse is captured and held at gunpoint by a Bliss brainwashed Tracey, along with Deputies Joey Hudson and Staci Pratt, who are also held by allies brainwashed by the Bliss.
====Resist====
If the Deputy chooses to resist, a battle begins against Joseph, where they engage in a fight in which the Deputy must save all of their allies from Joseph. After defeating him, Whitehorse cuffs Joseph before a nuke goes off in the background. He promptly orders everybody to get in a truck but despite his efforts, the Junior Deputy crashes the car just before they arrive at Dutch's bunker. Everyone in the car except the player and Joseph Seed either died instantly in the crash or are unconscious, left to die in the nuclear deflagration.
====Walk Away====
If the Deputy chooses to walk away, Whitehorse is freed and drives the Junior Deputy, Hudson and Pratt to Missoula. Deputy Hudson protests, but is strictly ordered into the car by Whitehorse. As they leave the compound, Whitehorse reveals his intention to call in the National Guard to strike back and liberate Hope County. He turns on the radio to "Only You" by the Platters. Jacob Seed's classical conditioning on the Junior Deputy reveals to be still in effect, as they immediately react and turn to Whitehorse. Whitehorse asks the Deputy if they are alright before the screen goes dark. It is a likely possibility that the Deputy turned on and killed everybody in the car, similarly to the death of Eli Palmer, leader of the Whitetail Militia.
==Mission Appearances==
*The Warrant
*No Way Out
*Hope County Jail
*Ignorance is Bliss
*The Lesson
*Paradise Lost
*Walk the Path
*Where It All Began
==Far Cry New Dawn==
Since the "resist" option is the only ending that leads to the events of Far Cry New Dawn and the Deputy's car crashes in to a tree, Whitehorse remains deceased in the sequel. Unlike Deputies Pratt and Hudson, he is mentioned by Joseph Seed in The Prophecy, referred to as "The White Horse."
== Far Cry 6 ==
In Far Cry 6, the world including the US were not destroyed in 2018, and the waves of sectarian violence incited by the Project at Eden's Gate did not happen, or at least nowhere near the level seen in Far Cry 5, as the Seed Family are still alive with public online presence as of late 2021, likely because they were not breaking the laws, at least not to the point of being confronted by US law enforcements, as the US government is not distracted by WW3 in this case.
The fate of Earl Whitehorse and numerous other American characters are left unknown, such as whether they survived the pandemic and lockdowns or not, at least by the time Dani Rojas listened to the news report in Miami coast.
==Gallery==
Sheriff WhiteHorse 01.jpg|Sheriff Whitehorse informing the Junior Deputy that there is no cellphone signal.
Sheriff WhiteHorse 02.jpg|Whitehorse tells Marshal Burke not to "do anything stupid."
62555EEB-FC36-4DC4-8066-750EF0BF2F83.jpeg|Sheriff Whitehorse reuniting with the player at the Hope County Jail.
Bliss.png|Sheriff Whitehorse under the influence of Bliss.
Fc5 specialoutfit sheriff.jpg|The Special Outfit of Sheriff Whitehorse as it appears for male players.
TraceyLader.png|A page on the Far Cry 5 site, showing members of the Hope County Cougars; Whitehorse is on the left, Virgil Minkler and Tracey Lader are to the right.
DZiuAf0XcAEwyO4.jpg|Earl in another Far Cry 5 key art.
==Trivia==
*Whitehorse is one of the few characters confirmed dead after choosing to resist Joseph and not returning in New Dawn, others including Dutch, Staci Pratt, Joey Hudson, Boomer and Mary May Fairgrave.
*Although the surname "Whitehorse" is an uncommon one, it does have roots in America, both in early Scotch-English immigration and from existing First Nation communities (although Whitehorse is most commonly a Navajo name, [a tribe with no significant presence in the state of Montana,] the game could be generally referencing Montana's uncommonly high Native population).
The name also famously has biblical connotations:
**At the beginning of the game, when The Junior Deputy arrests Joseph Seed, Joseph quotes the Book of Revelation, revealing that he saw a "white horse...and Hell followed with him", looking at Sheriff Whitehorse. (This is actually a misquotation of Revelations 6:7-8, which states that "Hades" [as opposed to "Hell"] will follow an "ashen" or "pale" horse, [based on the translation of the Bible being quoted].)
**The use of this name is likely intentional, as in the biblical Book of Revelation, the white horse is the first of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, who precede the end times in Christian theology; this seems appropriate, given the 'canon' ending of the game.
*If the player constantly avoids the Jail until they are abducted a second time by Faith Seed, the player will awake in the jail under the assumption they are the Marshal, however once Whitehorse sees that it is Rook, he is shocked. Oddly however, Rook does not fight back when being pulled out of the bliss unlike in the normal scenario in which Tracy injects Rook with a needle to calm them down.
*If the player chooses not to arrest Joseph in the prologue and triggers the secret ending, Whitehorse warns Burke that if they cuff Joseph, none of them would walk out alive.
**This is an accurate foreshadowing of the events of the game - implied in the "Walk Away" ending, and certainly in the "Resist" ending in Where It All Began, in which the player cuffs Joseph all the deputies (excluding the junior deputy) are killed in the aftermath.
*If the player chooses the "Walk Away" ending, Whitehorse says, "sometimes it's best to leave well enough alone" - the same line he tells Marshal Burke before entering the compound, as a wage to call off the arrest. The same words are also uttered by Joseph if the player does not arrest him at the very beginning.
*If the player interacts with the Sheriff in passing at the Hope County Jail, he may mention how he originally came to Fall's End for the fishing, and they offered him to be the sheriff. He will also mention that until the prologue, he had never shot a man in his whole career, but that in the last few days, "(he'd) already lost count" of how many he had not only shot but killed in the fighting with the cult.
*As Sheriff Whitehorse departs the truck after being rescued by the Junior Deputy, he puts his hat on backwards.
*Unlike the most of the officers, such as Marshal Burke, Joey Hudson, or Staci Pratt, his name is mentioned several times over the course of the game, such as by dispatcher Nancy and Tracey Lader.
*According to the Far Cry 5 website, he is divorced and suffered a mild heart attack due to the stress of his job.
==References==
Category:Characters
Category:Far Cry 5 characters
Category:Male characters
Category:The Resistance
de:Earl Whitehorse
ru:Шериф Уайтхорс