Joseph Sullivan

**Joseph Sullivan (19?? - December 20, 1955)** is the foster father of Rod and a successful German-American ice cream maker who is deceased in the timeline of the Ice Scream Franchise.

## History

### Homeless Life

While nothing much is known well about his past, it is said that Joseph came from a life of poverty. He spent most of his life living in an industrial shack in the outskirts of an abandoned park. No one in Joseph's town ever expected him to be successful and famous, which indicated the severity of the living conditions Joseph had to go through, it is also known that Joseph was born in Germany, but he somehow ended in America.

### Life as an Ice Cream Man

When he started his job as an ice cream man, he used a motorcycle to deliver ice creams and look for customers which meant that he didn’t have much money at that time.

### Evil Nun 2

On December 31, 1940, he has an important role—though an indirect role—as he will distract Sister Enda, his common customer and a close friend who called him all the time for his ice creams. You will have to take advantage of Joseph's distraction in order to retrieve the keys which is tied around Sister Enda's waist, you will have to scare her by breaking the bulbs using the lever in the Attic. He's pretty familiar with Sister Enda and knows her well, as this is proved when Joseph comes with the ice cream Sister Enda wants, he can be seen shaking his head slightly when he takes the box, which shows that he is tired of showing up, being called constantly, however, he doesn't seem to say anything back.

### Opening his first Ice Cream Parlor

In the 20th century, when he opened his first Ice Cream Parlor with the help of the newly made Frosty Ice Cream Co., he became famous because People loved his ice creams and came to him themselves, hence, Joseph didn’t have to rely much on his motorcycle anymore.

### Getting Rod and the Secret Ingredient

Sometime in 1944, he was given a child from the Nuns who would be Rod, since the boy's mother, Sister Madeline, "Did not take good care of him." It is unclear whether it was Joseph who named Rod as "Rod," or if the Nuns renamed him that, as Sister Madeline originally named him Elisa because she wanted to treat him as a girl, like her deceased daughter, Elisa. Joseph also saw all the research pages from Sister Madeline at a Secret Ingredient and took it, as well as her book, for himself, when he started using the secret ingredient in his ice creams to make them extra delicious, many people liked him, and Joseph became the most popular ice cream man throughout most the world by the end of the 1940's.

### His Customers and his Ice Cream Factory

It's unknown when Joseph brought his factory, which used to be an abandoned hydroelectric powerplant, but he bought it in the 1940's or the 1950's when he became famous. He hired more workers to work for him around the factory. He also built his house behind his factory. He made a Control Room to be able to control the factory, which was charged by multiple Generators, one of which got its energy from a Tower. In the early 1950's, Joseph learned how to build robots, and he made the Prototype Mini Rod, and after a short time, all of his employees were eventually replaced by Mini Rods so that all of his secrets could never be revealed.

### His Son asking for the Special Ice Cream

In April 1953, as Joseph prepared to go to work, he saw Rod sitting at the dining table, when Rod told him that he ate most of his food. Joseph compliments him saying that eating well is how he'll become a big and strong man when he grows up. Rod gets excited and tells him that he'll become a strong man and have a good job like his friends and be a genius ice cream man like him. Joseph encourages Rod saying that he is right, but it never meant that he didn't need to work hard enough. Joseph also gets anxious when Rod asks him about the special ice creams locked in the freezer. He tells Rod in a rather nervous, yet firm tone, that he can never eat the 'special' ice creams and tries to change the subject to distract him, such as by telling him to get dressed to go to school. He then takes the red key meant for the locked crate of ice creams before leaving for work, leaving a disappointed Rod behind.

Later, Joseph accidentally dropped the key which he always carried to prevent Rod from eating the special ice creams. As a result, Rod found the key on the ground when he was singing outside, which allowed him to access the crate of the special ice creams which slowly, but eventually, made him fat.

### Winning Awards

Joseph won a lot of trophies over the 1940's and 1950's, which are seen in Ice Scream 4.

1. **First prize in the "Crunchy Cone" contest.**
2. ***"Joseph Sullivan receives this honorary award in recognition of his work as an ice cream maker creating the most delicious ice cream in the State of Washington."***
3. **First prize in the 15th American Ice Cream Makers competition.**
4. **Award for the Confectioner with the best costume.**
5. ***"The world's biggest, edible ice cream scoop had a diameter of 10.5 feet and was created by Joseph Sullivan in his ice cream factory in Metaline Falls, Washington, on March 5, 1955."***

### Making the World's Biggest Ice Cream

In 1955, Joseph came up with the idea to gain the Guinness world record through the world's biggest ice cream, on March 5, 1955, he finished it and showed it to the public, and Joseph officially gains the world record of making the world's biggest ice cream.

### Death

On December 31, 1955, Joseph was killed by Sister Philippa in the middle of the main road in the town when he was thanking a few people for their compliments for his world record. Sister Philippa runs him over with her van under Sister Madeline’s command due to the world record. He died nine months after making the world's largest, edible ice cream scoop as a world record.

### Legacy

Though their relationship is said to be complicated, Joseph and Rod had a deep bond for each other, this can be proved with a cutscene unlocked when you interact with Joseph's grave in Ice Scream 2. In that cutscene, it shows Joseph's mask floating in the air in a stormy, snowy background, where Rod is speaking in the background, it is revealed that since Rod got separated from Sister Madeline at a very young age, he never knew anything about her whereabouts and that didn't matter to him since Joseph raised him as his own son and thus was his only family. Rod also mentions that Joseph and he were a great team. In the trailer for the special update of Ice Scream 6, the player can hear Joseph's voice who is probably telling the player desperately not to discover his secrets as it might make Rod hate him and that shows Joseph really cared about Rod. He also apparently encourages Rod to work hard when the latter was a young child.

However, it looked like Joseph was always busy in his work and hence he was usually emotionally absent for Rod and didn't have much time to spend with his son. Rod had a lot of issues during his school days as he was bullied and it seems like Joseph didn't defend his son from his bullies for unknown reasons, in the end of that cutscene, Rod says that time will give what everyone deserves for their actions and Joseph's mask falls on to the floor and breaks, which will later become Rod's mask. And in the cutscene of Ice Scream 5, Joseph seems to be exhausted and a bit stressed due to his almost never-ending work. His anxiety is clear when he firmly tells Rod that he can never eat the 'special' ice creams inside the crate. In another cutscene of Ice Scream 2, when younger Rod asks his future self whether he should ask his father for help, Rod declines and tells him that Joseph wouldn't help him and that he hides many secrets that younger Rod needs to discover when he grows up. These cutscenes of Ice Scream 2 and 5 suggests that Joseph was overburdened by hiding the secrets from his son and that caused some issues to the bond of the father-son duo.

Keplerians also revealed in their 500k subscribers Q&A video that while Joseph also made some wrong choices, he had made one particular bad decision which cost him a lot, eventually leading him to his death. (it is when he stole S.M.'s secret recipe).

## Appearance

Joseph seems to be a middle-aged man as he appears to be late 50's. He wears his signature mascot mask which seems to be a popsicle with a cheery face, with a hat and a moustache attached to it which covers his face. With it, he also wears a sky-blue suit with slightly darker-colored blue stripes, a white shirt inside with a red bowtie, a blue apron, a pair of gold trousers, a pair of black boots— which in some occasions, he wore a pair of gold slippers—and a pair of white gloves. His clothes are clean and neatly pressed in contrast to Rod's clothes which are rather dirty and stained.

## Trivia

* Keplerians confirmed in their 500k subscribers Q&A that Joseph is a German American. It means that Joseph probably fled from Germany to the USA when World War II started.
* Despite being Rod's foster father, often said to be Rod's actual father.
* Keplerians confirmed that Joseph and Sister Enda are close friends and featured them in their official poster for International Ice Cream Day.
* In Evil Nun 2, there seems to be no interaction between Joseph and Sister Madeline. The only nun in the game that Joseph interacts with is Sister Enda.
* Joseph died 9 months after making the world's largest, edible ice cream scoop as a world record.
* Joseph's house is located behind the factory, which a huge stream flows in between the factory and the house.
* In Ice Scream 4: Rod's Factory, it is apparent someone had broken into Joseph's factory due to the fact that:
	+ Joseph's notebook, which is possibly Sister Madeline's ritual book was, is missing, the glass case meant for keeping the book safe is broken and a fallen signboard which says "Replica of Joseph Sullivan's notebook" indicated that someone stole it after his death.
	+ Moreover, some of the trophies in the museum are either missing or destroyed, which indicates a break-in. However, it is highly unlikely that it was Sister Madeline since she cannot go out of the school until 1980, so it's unknown what had happened.
* It looks like Joseph seems to be obsessed with various kind of art:
	+ There are many paintings in his factory museum such as:
		- 'The Last Supper' by Leonardo Da Vinci (1495–1498)
		- 'The Creation of Adam' by Michelangelo. (1512)
		- 'Cincinnatus Receiving Deputies of the Senate' by Alexandre Canabel (1843 - 1844)
		- 'The Inspiration of Saint Matthew' by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1602) (TBC)
	+ In fact, Joseph only copied the painting under his own mask and claimed that the painting was his personal property, In fact, in one of his paintings, Joseph says that he got the ice cream recipe from God, but in fact he got it and stole it from Madeline.
	+ In his room, a few handmade masks, a spear and even a China vase can be seen. Though it is not clear why Joseph got all the paintings painted with his signature mascot mask.
* The name of Joseph's factory and ice cream brand is ***Frosty: Ice Creams***.
* He has not talked in the series until in a flashback cutscene of Ice Scream 5. His first voice actor was Paul Strikwerda.
* The number plate in Joseph's motorcycle is LU-495313. It was revealed in Ice Scream 4.
* When you open the crate in Joseph's motorcycle, you can see that some pieces of his broken mask, and some Eagle's Junior High School representation stickers titled 'Go Eagles!' is inside the crate. Though it is unknown who might have put them in his motorcycle.
* Joseph's voice actor got changed in Ice Scream 5 and 6, the reason is possibly to make him sound German and not French since he is confirmed to be German-American.
* Joseph makes his first appearance in Horror Brawl as an emote called 'Sully Smile' in Horror Brawl Season 2: Chilling Nightmares.
* Joseph doesn't appear in Ice Scream 7, but he appears only in photograph in Ice Scream 8 with chubby Rod in Unknown room in Secret ending.

## Gallery

Joseph Sullivan and a baby Rod together. An image dedicated to Father's day in 2021.Joseph in Evil Nun 2.Model of Joseph’s mask at the museum.Joseph in his home.Joseph appreciating compliments from his fans about his world record of the biggest ice cream.Joseph about to get killed by Sister Philippa.Joseph’s broken mask (which explains how the mask is broken)Joseph's bedJoseph's tombstone.Rod commemorates his father... (Ice Scream 2)
## Videos

ICE SCREAM 5 Full CUTSCENES - ROD & JOSEPH SULLIVAN - High DefinitionICE SCREAM 2 Full CUTSCENES - ROD's FATHER JOSEPH SULLIVAN - High DefinitionRod's father (cut-scene)