List of Metal Gear Solid characters
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This is a list of fictional characters appearing in the video game Metal Gear Solid (and, by extension, its remake, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes).
Several recurring characters in the Metal Gear series also appear in Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes.
Contents |
[edit] Main characters
[edit] Solid Snake
[edit] Meryl Silverburgh
- Further information: Meryl Silverburgh
[edit] Hal Emmerich
- Further information: Hal Emmerich
[edit] Gray Fox (Cyborg Ninja)
- Further information: Gray Fox (Metal Gear)
[edit] FOXHOUND
- Further information: FOXHOUND
[edit] Liquid Snake
- Further information: Liquid Snake
[edit] Revolver Ocelot
[edit] Psycho Mantis
Psycho Mantis is a psychic expert for the FOXHOUND unit. Prior to joining FOXHOUND, he worked with the KGB and the FBI. His special abilities include the psychic powers of psychokinesis and telepathy.
Psycho Mantis was born in a small Russian village before the collapse of the Soviet Union. His mother died giving birth to him, which made his father resent and hate him. He discovered his father's true emotions one day while accidentally reading his mind. He wondered if his father would kill him, and the shock of this revelation awoke his subconscious, and inadvertently caused the deaths of everyone in the village (approx. 1,000 people). This release of psychic energy caused severe burns across his body, particularly his face. He was then taken into custody by the KGB, who found his psychic powers impressive. He was taught to control his abilities and became a KGB spy.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Mantis was drafted as a psychic profiler by the FBI. He moved to the United States and began to work immediately for the FBI. He would enter the minds of suspected killers and uncover the truth about their crimes. He eventually delved too far into the mind of a serial killer, and the killer's thoughts infected his mind, driving him insane.
He was recruited by FOXHOUND. By this time he had taken to wearing a gas mask, partially to hide his deformed facial features, but also to prevent the thoughts of others from entering his mind involuntarily.
During the Shadow Moses island incident, Mantis attempts to stop Solid Snake's progress, at first taking control of Meryl Silverburgh, then revealing himself. Psycho Mantis is ultimately defeated by Snake. Snake removes his mask revealing his horrificaly deformed face which resembles that of his own skull with scars, bar codes, and stitches. He tells Snake of his past before revealing the route ahead in his dying moments. He remarks that it is the first time he has used his powers for good, and that it felt "nostalgic" (in the English original translation of the game, "kind of nice",). In Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, Mantis goes back to the original wording, "Nostalgic".
Although Mantis was put into the FOXDIE program, it had no effect on him. It is believed to be due to his wearing of a mask.
Cleverly enough, the Mantis moniker of "Psycho Mantis" has more than one meaning; While being in reference to the insect known as the Praying Mantis, "mantis" is also a Latin word meaning "seer or prophet". Also, sometimes when two Praying Mantises mate, the male has his head bitten off by the female. This is alluding to the fact that Psycho Mantis despises any kind of sexual contact, because in every mind he hears, there is always the want to "pass on one's seed."
When Solid Snake faces Mantis, Mantis demonstrates his psychic powers by breaking the fourth wall. In the pre-battle cut-scene, he activates the controller's rumble feature, then reads the player's memory card and comments on how often you saved the game and your preference on certain other games. Then, at the beginning of the actual battle, Mantis yells "Blackout!" and causes the screen to go completely black except for the words Hideo (a reference to the director Hideo Kojima) in green all capital text in the top right corner of the screen, much like TV or VCR on-screen-displays. Many players mistook this to be a glitch in the game, while it was supposed to trick the player into thinking that he or someone else changed the TV or VCR input, as a slight attempt to throw the player off. (This is a joke using "VIDEO" and "HIDEO" is the fact that both words are pronounced the same way in Japanese)
In the original PlayStation game, he reads off the titles of Konami's other games (Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Suikoden among others), while in the remake Twin Snakes, he reads Nintendo's games (Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Mario Sunshine, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, among others). In the Japanese PlayStation version, if the player has save data from Snatcher and Policenauts, a special message from Hideo Kojima will be played.
[edit] Sniper Wolf
Sniper Wolf is the sharpshooter of the FOXHOUND unit. She works as the unit's sniper, a role in which she is exceptionally skilled. Though snipers usually work in pairs, Sniper Wolf mysteriously works alone. She can wait for hours, days or even weeks without straying from her target. She also takes Diazepam, so her hands never tremble.
She was a Kurdish member of FOXHOUND and a famed sniper capable of going without food and staying still for up to a week. She has been known to form an emotional connection with her targets before killing them with her preferred weapon, the Heckler & Koch PSG-1, and used special 'mercury-chip' rounds to poison the target(s) as well. Sometimes she falls in love with her victims before killing them.
Being Kurdish, Sniper Wolf had a tragic childhood. At the age of five, near the end of the Iran-Iraq War in 1988, she witnessed the death of her family and thousands of others as they died to a gas attack by Saddam Hussein's troops. Sometime during the war she met Big Boss who brought her back to the U.S. Extremely grateful, she thought of and referred to Big Boss as Saladin (who defeated the Crusaders in the 12th century, not to mention also being Kurdish) and followed him in whatever he did until his death by Solid Snake. At this point, Liquid Snake was able to find her and convince her to join FOXHOUND.
During the Shadow Moses Island incident, she cared for the huskies that Liquid Snake intended to kill as she enjoyed their company. She was also impressed with Otacon giving his scarce food supply to the huskies. Otacon admitted to her that he loved her just before she died from the injuries Solid Snake had inflicted on her during their battle. She requested that Snake shoot her to relieve the pain, which he did after some hesitation and protests from Otacon. Later in the game however, if the player goes back to the snowfield, a wolf pup replaces the corpse of Wolf, indicating that it is the reincarnation of Wolf.
During her final monologue to Solid Snake she wonders what her position in life is: whether she is a proud and noble Wolf or more of a scavenger like a dog. She confesses to Snake that in recent times she felt that she wasn't looking to kill people but waiting for someone to kill her. After her death Snake appears to be rather taken aback by her comments and ponders them for a while, wondering if he's going through the same thing.
She was apparently unaffected by the FOXDIE virus. Liquid Snake and Revolver Ocelot suspected that this may be because of the Diazepam (Pentazemin in The Twin Snakes) tranquilizers she took regularly, which could have suppressed the activity of the virus.
The initial game plan for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty reveals that Sniper Wolf was to make a voice only comeo via the Cyborg Ninja featured in that game. The situation was that when Otacon would interact with the Ninja, she would respond in Wolf's voice, however this idea was later dropped.[1] Despite this she appears in a flashback when Otacon is reminiscing over why he always survives when people he loves die. The huskies she cared for are heard in the background of this flashback the same way they are heard before all the fights with Sniper Wolf (They are also heard after she is defeated by Solid Snake) The flashback uses actual footage from the first game.
According to an IGN interview with Yoji Shinkawa Sniper Wolf was originally intended to be a man, but when Shinkawa suggested to game creator Hideo Kojima that Wolf be a young lady Kojima thought it to be a much better idea.[2] A subsequent interview with Shinkawa revealed that the Sniper wolf character is still popular amounst the staff at Konami.[3] Another example of her popularity was that during a recent online poll, she was named the 12th greatest video game boss of all time, amoungst her FOX-HOUND peers.[4]
- Japanese voice actor: Naoko Nakamura
- English voice actor: Tasia Valenza
[edit] Vulcan Raven
Vulcan Raven is a member of FOXHOUND who wields a giant vulcan cannon and has shaman powers. Raven was born to Alaskan Indian and Inuit parents, though he hates the word “Eskimo” used by white men. He was raised as a shaman by his people. Inuit worship the raven as the creator so he got a large tattoo of a raven on his forehead, along with other symbolic tattoos on his body (as done in shaman culture).
He graduated from the University of Alaska, and spent a few more years living in his homeland. He took part in the Eskimo-Indian Olympics, and won many “Ear Pull” contests (an event where two opponents pull each other's ear while enduring the harsh cold, intended to test both spiritual and physical strength). He has also boasted his skill in the “Muktuk Eating” competitions, though this was in response to Snake's comment about his size.
Eventually, he left Alaska and went to Russia. He joined the Russian Special Forces unit Vympel and met with Revolver Ocelot there. After the fall of the Soviet Union he was demoted by President Boris Yeltsin after a failed coup attempt in Moscow in 1993.
He decided that he would not stay after this, and left Russia to become a mercenary for hire. It was then that he joined Big Boss' mercenary-dispatching company, Outer Heaven. The destruction of Outer Heaven was Solid Snake's first mission, but Raven and Snake did not meet on this occasion, nor did they meet during the Zanzibar Land operation. After the death of Big Boss, he joined FOXHOUND thanks to the recommendations of Revolver Ocelot.
During his FOXHOUND years he took an M61 Vulcan cannon (a machine gun usually mounted on modern fighter jets.) as his weapon of choice, and carried a huge barrel of ammunition on his back. He is 210 cm (nearly 6 ft. 9 in.) tall.
The most recent incarnation of FOXHOUND (Liquid Snake, Vulcan Raven, Revolver Ocelot, Psycho Mantis, Sniper Wolf and Decoy Octopus) grew tired of their roles as puppets to the government, and attacked Shadow Moses Island, a nuclear disposal facility.
During the course of the Shadow Moses island incident, Solid Snake (the player's character) encounters Vulcan Raven twice: once while Raven is piloting an M1 Abrams tank, and once inside a freezing cold warehouse. During the latter instance, Snake defeated Raven. In his final moments, Raven offered Snake a 'hint', telling him that the DARPA chief whom Snake had met had in fact been Decoy Octopus. He did not explain why or how he was killed, or why he was disguised in the first place, but declared that Snake would always follow a life of bloodshed wherever he went.
As he made this declaration, he was being eaten alive by his own ravens so that he could be "one with them."
Raven has displayed many abilities similar to magic, as he can control his ravens during the battle to attack Snake.
In Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, the player can find an action figure of Raven in the Tanker Chapter as Snake. Shooting the figure causes it to fire what looks to be plastic pellets from the minigun. This brings up a conversation with Otacon about Raven. The same figure can also be seen floating in the water during the section in the Plant Chapter where Raiden goes to the flooded section of the Shell 2 Core to rescue Emma Emmerich.
[edit] Decoy Octopus
Decoy Octopus is a member of FOXHOUND, and, with the rest of his unit, went rogue during the Shadow Moses island incident. He has an almost supernatural skill with disguises, as his name might imply, and is able to nearly perfectly take on the appearance and personality of his assigned target. He had to cut off his own ears and shave his cheekbones to help perfect his facial appearance, and if the target is dead, injects himself with the target's blood. This is how Snake saw the "DARPA Chief"'s nanomachines on his radar.
Octopus was disguised as the DARPA Chief (with the real Chief having been killed during a torture session with Ocelot). Octopus was killed by the FOXDIE virus that had been implanted on Solid Snake. The FOXDIE virus was programmed to kill the FOXHOUND members, therefore it killed him. Decoy Octopus is the only FOXHOUND member in the Shadow Moses incident whom Snake does not fight.
Not much is known in his background, however in his card specs in Metal Gear Acid 2, it is said that his nationallity is originally Mexican. Also, the strategy guide ascertains that he was an actor who turned special agent to put his skills to a more profitable use. He has to undergo intense psycho therapy after his infiltrations, because he gets so into character that he begins to develop multiple personality disorder.
[edit] Supporting characters
[edit] Roy Campbell
- See: Col. Roy Campbell
[edit] Naomi Hunter
Naomi Hunter is the head of FOXHOUND's medical staff, and part of the support crew assembled to assist Solid Snake during the Shadow Moses Island incident (the events of Metal Gear Solid) in 2005. During the course of the mission, she provides Snake with information about FOXHOUND members during battles.
She has a doctoral degree in genetics and was employed by ATGC Inc. at California's Biotech Bay Area, where she worked on the company's gene therapy and gene strengthening experiments funded by the Department of Defense, resulting in the creation of the Genome Soldiers. She took over as FOXHOUND's chief genetist after the sudden death of her predecessor, Dr. Clark in 2003. She is over 165 cm tall. She is well-liked among her staff and is referred as "Dr. Naomi", instead of the more formal "Dr. Hunter".
However, much of Naomi's background and personal history is revealed to had been purchased or fabricated in order to acquire her position. Naomi was actually born in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) during the Rhodesian Civil War sometime in the late 1970s. She appears to have been the daughter of Indian labourers who remained in Rhodesia after the British left. She was orphaned during the war and adopted by a young soldier named Frank Jaeger (future FOXHOUND member, Gray Fox), who found Naomi at the Zambezi River and took care of her as his little sister (although years later, Fox admitted to Snake that he was responsible for the deaths of Naomi's parents and that he adopted her out of personal guilt). Naomi and Frank lived together in Mozambique until Big Boss (Naomi's benefactor) took them with him to the United States. Frank raised Naomi there and took her through school. However, Frank was forced to leave Naomi in the US, while he returned to FOXHOUND for duty. She did not hear about Fox until years later, when he was fatally wounded in combat by Solid Snake at Zanzibar Land.
Seeking to avenge her brother, Naomi bought her identity and changed her surname to "Hunter", after her brother's ("Hunter" being the English meaning of the German name "Jaeger"). She studied genetics and joined FOXHOUND, believing that it would provide her with the perfect opportunity for revenge. While working on her gene therapy projects, Naomi completed the development of FOXDIE virus for the DOD that was initially overseen by Richard Ames. She also covered Dr. Clark's death at the hands of Gray Fox after he escaped and burned down his laboratory.
During the Shadow Moses Island incident, Naomi serves as an advisor on medical issues to Solid Snake, giving him advice via the CODEC. While she initially befriends Snake, later, when faced with the accusations of treason (brought upon by Liquid Snake, while disguised as Master Miller), Naomi is forced to reveal the whole truth, including her relationship with Gray Fox, her motives, and the fact that prior to the mission she infected Snake with FOXDIE. She contends that it was not her decision to inject Snake with FOXDIE, but rather was part of Snake's operation all along.
Prior to injection though, Naomi altered the FOXDIE program. Originally scheduled to kill Snake after completing his mission, instead she changed the incubation period to a wildcard value, sparing Snake at the end of his mission, but still leaving him vulnerable at any moment. Liquid, who is identical to Snake in the genetic level, is infected by the virus after coming in contact with him, but doesn't succumb to it until the very end of the Shadow Moses Incident, where the virus triggers just as Liquid attempts to shoot Snake.
After the incident, Naomi is placed formally under arrest and charged with treason. However, three weeks after her arrest, she escapes custody while undergoing debriefing at an undisclosed facility, through actions Nastasha Romanenko (discloser of the information) believed Solid Snake alone capable of performing.[5]
Naomi Hunter has made an appearance in the E3 2006 trailer of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. In the trailer, Naomi makes an ominous foresight of Snake's health, informing him that he has only six months left to live.
[edit] Mei Ling
- See: Mei Ling
[edit] Master Miller
- See: Master Miller
[edit] Nastasha Romanenko
Nastasha Romanenko is Solid Snake's codec contact on matters related to nuclear weapons. She was brought into the mission by Richard Ames, her ex-husband.
Nastasha Romanenko is a strong advocate of nuclear abolition. Nastasha was born in the 1970s in the Ukraine in the town of Prypiat, three kilometers north of the Chernobyl power plant. She and her family were showered by radiation after the Chernobyl accident on April 26, 1986. She was evacuated to another location after the disaster. Natasha was later found to be infertile from radiation poisoning that gave her problems with her thyroid gland. In 1990, Nastasha’s parents were killed when they were exposed to lethal amounts of radiation while helping in the clean-up. Nastasha then moved to the United States. In 1992, she joined the DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) where she met Richard Ames. The two soon married. The marriage, however, did not last long and the two divorced soon after. Natasha did not see Ames for many years after that.
After Natasha's divorce, she left the DIA in 1995 and became a freelance military analysist. During this time she wrote for several different magazines as a journalist. In 1996, Nastasha attended the Canberra, the world's first nationally hosted nuclear weapon abolition proposal committee. After the Chernobyl disaster, Natasha had vowed to free the world from nuclear weapons. After that, Natasha joined NEST (Nuclear Emergency Search Team) as a military and nuclear analysist.
In 2005, Nastasha came into contact with her ex-husband, Richard Ames and was "asked" to help with the Shadow Moses mission as a nuclear analysist. She helped Snake by giving him information on his weapons and equipment, as well as the nuclear warheads in storage and such. At the mission's end, Richard gave Nastasha a data disc containing information about FoxDie and helped her escape before she was silenced for participating in the operation. She never saw Ames again after that, after which he died during the Big Shell Incident. Nastasha then went into hiding for some time. Her current whereabouts are unknown.
After the events of Shadow Moses incident, her character writes an autobiography titled In the Darkness of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth and then forms "Philanthropy" with the profits she made.[6] This fictional publication serves as a plot summary of Metal Gear Solid (and reveals previously undisclosed plot details about the events of the games), and is included as a bonus feature in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (by extension, Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance), and she herself is credited as writing it in the game credits, rather than the true writer, whose identity is unknown.
[edit] Minor characters
[edit] Donald Anderson
Donald Anderson is the office chief of DARPA. As an advocate of the nuclear retaliation theory, he funds the Metal Gear REX project with ArmsTech as part of the US' black budget. He and Baker visit the Disposal Facility where REX is developed, only to be taken as hostages during Liquid Snake's takeover of the facility.
He is interrogated by Revolver Ocelot when he refuses to divulge his detonation code to the terrorist. However, Anderson is aware of Ocelot's true identity and is killed during a torture session, making his death appear accidental. As a result, Liquid arranges for Decoy Octopus to take his place as a hostage and trick Snake into revealing of an alternate method of activating REX. Snake finds the decomposed corpse of the real DARPA Chief while held in captivity by Ocelot, but is not aware of the switch until Vulcan Raven reveals it to him.
He appeared to had been a personal friend of Jim Houseman, who laments his death. Anderson was the only person Houseman intended to spare during the Shadow Moses incident. Anderson intended to steal the Metal Gear REX data from Baker and have it delivered to Houseman.
[edit] Kenneth Baker
Kenneth Baker is the president of ArmsTech, one of the leading manufacturers of the arms industry and is a middle-aged man. His company ininiates the development of Metal Gear REX for the purpose of recovering financial losses his company suffered (a result of several factors, including losing projects to rival companies and reduction in SDI spending). He bribed the DARPA Chief to support the project. However, during a planned field exercise of REX in the Nuclear Disposal Facility on Shadow Moses Island, Baker was taken hostage during Liquid Snake's takeover.
During his captivity, he hides the optical disk containing REX data and gives the PAL card to Meryl Silverburgh, a fellow prisoner. He is tortured by Ocelot and has his right arm broken during the interrogation. Baker is wired to a boobytrap of C4 explosives while Solid Snake battles Ocelot, but is saved by the Ninja. Ultimately, Baker dies after being exposed to the FOXDIE program by coming into contact with Snake.
- Japanese voice actor: Yuzuru Fujimoto
- English voice actor: Allan Lurie
[edit] Jim Houseman
Jim Houseman is the United States Secretary of Defense and serves as the mission controller during the Shadow Moses Island incident via AWACS. He orchestrated the Shadow Moses operation for the true purpose of obtaining the optical disk with the Metal Gear REX data, although he also has a seemingly genuine concern for his friend, Chief Anderson, who was taken hostage during the incident and planned on having him rescued. When Snake destroys REX, he puts Colonel Campbell under arrest and orders a nuclear strike over the disposal facility to cover up the incident, which would've destroyed the entire island and everyone in it, including Snake and Liquid. However, the proposed nuclear strike never occurs, as Houseman is forcefully relieved from his duties by Richard Ames under orders from the Patriots, who were against the strike. Instead, Campbell was exonerated from the charges as full blame was laid on Houseman for the incident.
After the Shadow Moses incident, Houseman reportedly suffered from an apparent nervous breakdown and died from a self-inflicted gunshot. However, it is implied in Nastasha Romanenko's book (In the Darkness of Shadow Moses in Metal Gear Solid 2) that his death might had actually been an assassination covered up as suicide due to his refusal for taking the fall.
- Japanese voice actor: Tomohisa Aso
- English voice actor: William Bassett
[edit] President George Sears
- Further information: Solidus Snake
President Sears a.k.a Solidus Snake, the antagonist of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, is initially introduced in a brief, voice-only conversation between him and Revolver Ocelot, as part of the ending of Metal Gear Solid.
[edit] Sergei Gurlukovich
- Further information: Sergei Gurlukovich
Colonel Sergei Gurlukovich, another character from MGS2, is also mentioned by name in MGS. He provides his support for Liquid Snake's revolt by selling him a Hind D.
[edit] References
- ^ MGS2 Fan translated original game plan. Retrieved on 18 November 2006.
- ^ Williamson, Colin (12 December 2000). IGN Yoji Shinkwa interview. Retrieved on 17th September, 2006.
- ^ Yoji Shinkawa interview. Retrieved on 16 November 2006.
- ^ The Phoenix’s 20 Greatest Bosses in Video game History. Retrieved on 18 November 2006.
- ^ See text In the Darkness of Shadow Moses in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.
- ^ Metal Gear Solid 2 Game Plan, The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2
