Post by Valas Hune on Aug 3, 2006 18:31:05 GMT -5
Courtesy of andvariAR of GameFAQs...
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I. SNAKE EATER ERA (1964-1972)
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This is, simply put, the earliest recorded/playable portion of the Metal
Gear story. Most of these events play out in Metal Gear Solid 3. Any
developments beyond this take place up until the MSX era.
This encompasses the Virtuous Mission and Operation Snake Eater as well as
the later foundations of FOXHOUND and the Les Enfants Terribles project.
Practically all of Big Boss's development lies here.
===========================================================================
I-A, "THE BOSS" [ SNATHE ]
The story of Metal Gear, in its entirety, begins with The Boss. The
Boss is a woman who, in her mid-20s, assembled a cooperative special
forces unit of american and soviet operatives in WWII that played a
significant role in the allied victory (the "Cobra Unit".) Upon the
start of the cold war, the Cobras were disbanded as her loyalties
remained with the United States.
The Boss trained Naked Snake ("John," "Jack," "Big Boss".) for at
least a decade after WWII they were partners, and he was her last and
perhaps greatest apprentice. They were closer than allies, than friends
or family. In the late fifties they parted ways, Snake no longer her
fledgling but fully capable as an independent operative.
in 1964, in the height of the cold war, The Boss defected to the soviet
union, rejoining the Cobras under the ambitions of Colonel Volgin's
radicalist unit. There she gave her new hosts a pair of american-made
nuclear shells, along with the return of their asylum-seeking weapons
development scientist Dr Sokolov (the obligatory scientist-in-distress
of MGS3.) Unexpectedly, Volgin used one of these shells to eradicate a
soviet development site, removing evidence of his insurrections against
the soviet government and Premier Khruschev.
Naked Snake, her last disciple, was enlisted to find her and eliminate
her along with the growing soviet threat she has enabled. She never
expresses to him any purposes behind her defection, only that she is
'loyal to the end.'
Only in the end do we understand her purpose. only once snake's mission
is complete does he understand. The Boss's defection was, at first, an
order. She was to defect to the soviet union, specifically to Volgin's
command, as a ruse by the US government.
Volgin had stolen a vast wealth from the Philosophers, the underlying
force behind the US, Chinese, and Soviet governments. After the time
of World War I, they were a united force with an enormous collected
wealth. by the end of WWII, their loyalties were broken and the
organization lost its international cooperation. The bulk of the
'Philosophers' Legacy' was left in independent hands in the USSR.
Through some deception and numerous details, it was obtained by
Colonel Volgin and it was being used to fuel his weapons development as
he planned to oust Khruschev from power in a military coup.
The Boss was the only american soldier infamous enough and useful enough
to be accepted into Volgin's ranks as a defector. Under orders, she
betrayed her own nation. Her mission was to reclaim the Philosophers'
Legacy for America, where the remaining group was now known as the
'Patriots.'
Naked Snake was needed as no more than a witness to her defection. It
would lend credibility to her 'betrayal' of the United States, and
altogether seal the deal. The problem came when Volgin used one of
the nuclear shells over russian soil.
The Russian government was in upheaval over the incident. A foreign
detonation over soviet territory was an act of war. Neither Lyndon
Johnson nor Nikita Khruschev wanted the cold war to erupt into a
blazing hot one. Unfortunately, the balance of power within the soviet
government could not allow Khruschev to hold back hostility simply by
word. The USSR needed proof that this event was the fault of an
american defector, and not directly of the US government. To keep that
detonation from being an act of war, the Boss had to die.
The Boss had a new mission. To carry out her defection to the end,
and ultimately be killed by Naked Snake, her last disciple. She had
to play the charade to the end, to no-one's knowledge but her own,
before finally giving her life for her country.
With her death there would be balance and deterrance. War would be
averted. Her sacrifice would save the world. But it could never be
known. For her sacrifice to save america, she would go down in history
as a treasonous war criminal who instigated a nuclear crisis. A monster
that threatened both America and the Soviet Union with the effects of
her betrayal.
To save the world, to prove her loyalty to 'the end' that her government
ordered of her, she had to die without honor. She was ordered by the
United States government to fight to the death on the side of the Soviet
Union. To her own death, at Snake's hands. That was her role. She
fulfilled it entirely.
The Cobras, her former unit, joined with her again upon her defection.
Their loyalties were entirely to her. She knowingly had to send her
friends, the disciples she trained and fought with against the axis, to
their deaths at Snake's hands. That burden was hers to bear as well,
all for the sake of her loyalty to America.
She could not let Snake join her. She very well could have tested his
loyalties and found him to choose her over the United States, but that
wasn't the point; he had to stay behind. He had to be the one to stand
against her, to destroy her. She could not let him fail, but she could
not make him succeed. She had to be defeated. She needed to be killed
by Snake, to complete her mission.
In all of Metal Gear Solid mythos, The Boss is the truest 'patriot.'
The Boss makes the greatest sacrifices, even beyond the finality of her
own death, for her country, and for her loyalty to the american
government. She makes no choice of her own in this; she fights for
America, loyal to the end.
===========================================================================
I-B, "NAKED SNAKE / BIG BOSS" [ SNANAK ]
Naked Snake was raised, trained, and entirely made into what he was by
the Boss. She was his master, his mentor, and his family, and she had
betrayed their home nation. He was the only one believed capable of
eliminating her, so he was given the task.
Snake fought tooth-and-nail against the odds, against his former master.
She was his enemy. She had betrayed the United States for reasons he
could not fathom. She had betrayed him personally just as much as she
had the nation. He was nothing if not reluctant, but he followed his
mission to the letter. He neutralized Volgin's nuclear threat, and
moreover, he eliminated the boss.
One by one he tore through her disciples, the cobras, who fought to the
death for no ideals beyond their loyalty to her. It all ended when he
faced her one-on-one, and had to be the one to put her out of her
misery with her own sidearm.
He had no joy in what he had done. He only did it for his mission, for
his loyalty. Not to America, but to her. His only satisfaction was the
success of his mission, the safeguarding of the nation he proclaimed
fealty to.
Fealty. I do not say loyalty because his loyalty was most genuinely with
the Boss. But he chose his duties under the United States flag over his
feelings for her.
Snake defeated the Boss, proving himself the greatest warrior in
America's arsenal. The president congratulated him, bestowing him the
title 'Big Boss.'
It was only then that he came to understand what had transpired. He
understood why everything had fallen into place the way it was. He
understood the boss's mission. He realized that the country she swore her
life to threw her away for its own sake. To a nation, her loyalty was an
asset, and her self was expendable.
But not to him. At the very height of his career, he had lost all faith
in the United States government. He saw that their most loyal soldier,
who would give her life for their goals, could be thrown away so easily.
The Boss was scapegoated, dishonored, and murdered for the sake of the
US Government, and they had led him to do it with his own hands.
The story of Snake Eater ends at her grave, as we the viewers reach these
revelations at the same time the newly-christened Big Boss does. That
story ends there, but Big Boss's life truly begins at that point.
After operation Snake Eater, the experimental 'FOX' unit Naked Snake was
operating under was officially organized into a US military special
operations unit. Under Big Boss's leadership, the fledgling FOXHOUND was
established in 1971. The best of the best, in skills, technology and
resources, FOXHOUND was an assemblage of some of the most lethal freaks
the army could muster.
No matter how much further Big Boss's career in the US Military went over
these years, his loyalty to the nation had truly ended in 1964 with the
Boss's death.
Slowly assembling an enormous wealth over the following decade, somewhere
in the late seventies or early eighties Big Boss began and completed an
extensive plan of subversion. By the mid-eighties, his independent
military nation 'Outer Heaven' finally emerged in the southern jungles of
Africa. Big Boss had constructed his own small mercenary country, a place
for disillusioned soldiers such as himself to find work in what they did
best without swearing fealty to a government that would dishonor them.
Outer Heaven was built for warriors in a world where they were slowly
becoming unwanted. As olive branches spread throughout the world, the
times changed but soldiers did not. Big Boss had always been a solider.
Fighting was all he was good at. His dream, manifested in Outer Heaven,
was a haven for soldiers such as himself that sought to live their lives
without being the expendable property of a nation they no longer cared
for.
The Boss's death left him a warrior but he was no longer a patriot in
any respect. He left any allegiances he had to America and went to
fortifying Outer Heaven. Despite its size, it was a horrifically
formidable force to the rest of the modern world. Within its boundaries,
the first 'Metal Gear' (supposedly the first derivitive of Granin's
leaked designs from Snake Eater) began its construction.
Metal Gear finished what the tread-driven Shagohod began. Metal Gear,
in all its variations (except perhaps Ray) is a walking tank capable of
launching a long-range nuclear strike from any terrain. Supposedly, its
range could rival silo-borne ICBMs. When news of this reached America
in the early 90's, Outer Heaven became a threat to national security.
To defeat Big Boss, the founder of FOXHOUND and former "Naked Snake,"
America sent FOXHOUND's best: the operative 'Grey Fox.' When Grey Fox
was captured in Outer Heaven, their last resort was FOXHOUND's youngest
operative, Solid Snake.
===========================================================================
II. MSX ERA (approx 1985-1999)
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The MSX was home to the two canonical 'old-skool' Metal Gear games, Metal
Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. While the NES did eventually find a
port of Metal Gear, the second one never reached us. Either ways, the
completion of Big Boss's arc and Solid Snake's rise to glory are told
here, as well as the underrated and unfortunately obscure story of Frank
Jaeger, FOXHOUND's Grey Fox and later the Ninja.
These events include Solid Snake's FOXHOUND career and the rise of Big
Boss's mercenary nations, Outer Heaven and later Zanzibar Land.
===========================================================================
II-A, "SOLID SNAKE" (MSX ERA) [ MSXSOL ]
Solid Snake was practically raised in FOXHOUND. His career in it began
apparently after Big Boss left the United States, so if they were ever
together in FOXHOUND it must have been brief.
Solid Snake was one of the three 'snake triplets;' near-identical clones
of Big Boss created by the government's 'Les Enfants Terribles' project
in 1972, shortly after FOXHOUND's foundation.
In the wake of Big Boss's blazing successes, and clear leadership
capabilities, genetic research found great applications within him. He
was considered to be a genetically ideal soldier, and his DNA was
harvested for testing. Government scientists determined a number of
genetic factors within him that were linked to various skills and
inherent traits that don't just come from 'training.'
The notion was that Big Boss was a fountain of 'soldier genes,' genome
sequences that could make the difference between a born leader and a
born failure. The 'Les Enfants Terrible' project sought to capitalize
the notion to produce nothing short of a 'sequel.' Three children,
almost entirely identical to Big Boss, were born; Solid, Liquid, and
Solidus.
While Solidus remains enigmatically separate from the 'twins,' the main
two are rather clearly defined: one is tweaked to express more of the
dominant characteristics possible within Big Boss's DNA, and the other
more of the recessives. They're still nigh-identical, but at the deepest
level one could be considered inherently 'superior.'
Make note now that Solidus's origin is a very blurry subject. His
origins are likely in the project as well, but he lived a very different
life. I will explain this in detail in the Solidus section, [ SONDUS ].
Solid Snake, upon his birth, was chosen to be superior (though this
doesn't mean he WAS 'superior' per se.) His career in FOXHOUND was
rather prominent, but he was not the first choice to deal with the
Outer Heaven crisis. Frank Jaeger, known in FOXHOUND as Gray Fox, was
sent to defeat Big Boss but was taken hostage. The promising young
Solid Snake was then sent in.
Snake fought his way through Outer Heaven, rescuing Gray Fox and reaching
Big Boss. Knowing the man only as a traitor who abandoned his unit and
his country, he fought and defeated Big Boss for the sake of his mission.
Metal Gear destroyed, he returned to the United States a small hero,
earning his rightful place in FOXHOUND.
As the years passed, Snake firmly became a career soldier. From an early
age, the only thing he knew for sure was what he was good at; fighting.
He was a born soldier, and he found it suited him best to fight for the
government. Though not a devout patriot, he was loyal to the United
States as their operative. He did his job.
Gray Fox, Snake's closest friend in the unit, soon left FOXHOUND. In
the late nineties, he resurfaced, now the mercenary leader of a small
asian nation akin to Outer Heaven, called 'Zanzibar Land.' His actual
superior in the endeavor was none other than Big Boss, still alive after
the fall of Outer Heaven. Grey Fox and Big Boss began rebuilding what
Outer Heaven once had, including retstarting work on the Metal Gear
project.
Unaware of these details, Snake was sent yet again to defeat Metal Gear,
but in the course of his mission he had to eliminate Gray Fox, his closest
friend. He went into his mission a soldier, loyal to his country, and
moreover loyal to his mission. He had no intention of failing. He
reached Gray Fox and, barehanded amidst a minefield, fought him to the
death. The prize, stolen OILIX petroleum microbes and the destruction of
Metal Gear, were in Snake's hands.
Snake emerged victorious, but he knew the cost. They were friends, best
friends, even in death. As men, as human beings, they were friends. As
soldiers, as men of allegiance, they were enemies. Snake had to uphold
his orders and serve the united states, and Fox had chosen a different
path. Fox, like Big Boss before him, had grown disillusioned with the
life he spent as a tool for politicians. He was a solider, and would
always be a soldier, but he did not want to fight for a nation he did not
believe in. On his deathbed he could explain himself to Snake, but it
changed nothing; Snake fought for the United States, and Grey Fox fought
for Big Boss. They were friends and enemies, and Snake was the
victorious enemy over his fallen friend.
Snake pushed on, eliminating again the threat of Metal Gear and facing
Big Boss for the second time. Before they fought, Big Boss made the
lofty claim that he was Snake's father; it did not weaken Snake's resolve
to his mission, but the words haunted him nonetheless. He defeated and
ultimately killed Big Boss, in a grim spectacle completely mirroring
Naked Snake's reluctant triumph over The Boss thirty years earlier.
Naked Snake defeated The Boss, earning him unparalleled prestige. He had
killed the greatest soldier of the time, and more than that, his closest
friend. Solid Snake had been forced to fight and kill his own closest
friend, Gray Fox, and then kill Big Boss, the greatest warrior of his
time... and possibly his own father. Solid Snake, much like Naked Snake
thirty years earlier, returned home both a hero... and a broken man.
Snake left the military, and retreated to Alaska, where he lived alone for
years to come, happily away from war and the conflicts of choosing duty
and allegiance.
In his absence, the FOXHOUND unit found a new prodigy, and soon a new
leader, in Liquid Snake.
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III. TWIN SNAKES ERA (approx 1999-2006)
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After Big Boss's final demise and Solid Snake's retirement, FOXHOUND
spiraled out of control. Big Boss was crushed but his legacy lived on
with what proved to be an insatiable ferocity.
Twin Snakes is the revamped title for Metal Gear Solid. The PSX original
did not have this surname; it was added for the Gamecube remake. Whether
or not I enjoyed that particular game (MGS2-style gameplay on a Gamecube
controller is an abomination under the Lord), its subtitle is appropriate
and suits the story.
Thus this is the story of the first Metal Gear Solid, be it PSX original
or NGC remake. Solid Snake is called out of retirement to deal with the
rebellion of FOXHOUND against the US government. This is the point at
which the sons of Big Boss are finally brought face-to-face.
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III-A, "LIQUID SNAKE" [ TWILIQ ]
Liquid is the first 'villain' I can address here, but not by individual
importance. Were the stories more fleshed out, I would LOVE to
understand and explore the intricacies of Big Boss during the MSX era
or better yet, Gray Fox. The 'villains' of Metal Gear are ALL important
because they are not two-dimensional or static personas. Though the
unit members and minibosses (cobras, FOXHOUND, dead cell, you name it)
may simply be flunkies to the higher authority, that higher authority is
always a genuine character with a depth to explore. If I haven't made
that clear already I hope I am doing so right now.
The greatest boon made to the Metal Gear plotline is the story of Snake
Eater... the hero you play as is the same enemy leader that Solid Snake
faces in Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2. His arc, rise and decline, are
beautifully shown in Snake Eater. Whether or not it is obvious, many
characters in MGS follow this concept. Liquid was not necessarily a
'villain' when he began in FOXHOUND, we simply don't know. Gray Fox,
well, he's an entire story of his own; I really wish we learn more about
him. Getting back to the point, Liquid is as important a character as
Solid Snake, and I hope to explain why.
Liquid Snake, labelled as the 'inferior' of the two at birth, began a
military career despite lacking the 'privileged' start that Solid Snake
had received. He rose through the ranks of FOXHOUND quickly and became
the unit commander between 2002 and 2004. Along with a small force of
'Next Generation Special Forces' soldiers and the rest of FOXHOUND, he
staged an insurrection at the nuclear disposal facility on Shadow Moses
Island in Alaska's Fox Archipelago in 2005.
Liquid's goals were not immediately made obvious, but they soon fell
into place. Shadow Moses island was the site of development for Metal
Gear Rex, the most dangerous and politically unforgiveable variation of
Metal Gear yet... under production by the US government. Seizing this
was his primary bargaining chip.
Metal Gear Rex was the modus operandi Metal Gear; walking nuclear-strike
tank. It was made more lethal by its unprecedented ability to strike any
point in the world with a undetectable nuclear warhead launched from any
solid terrain. It was a completely underground project. as its entire
conception violated countless international treaties. Liquid could
threaten more than a nuclear strike, he could threaten the entire balance
of power in the world by revealing the government's hand in Rex's
creation.
Liquid's rebellion gave him control of the entire facility, and he was
in a suitable place to make demands. His demands were simple; an
exorbitant cash sum, and the remains of Big Boss. Summarily, Liquid was
well aware of his own origins. The US Government had secured Big Boss's
remains after the Zanzibar Land uprising, and continued their genetic research
where they left off in the seventies; the Next-Generation Special Forces
soldiers were 'genome soldiers, genetically altered soldiers that
benefited from Big Boss's 'soldier genes.' With Metal Gear Rex, Big
Boss's remains, and enough funds, Liquid could fulfill his goal: the
ultimate rebirth of Outer Heaven.
Outer Heaven was nothing short of Big Boss's legacy at this point. The
soldier's haven. Liquid knew who and what he was. He was more than a
career soldier, he was a BORN soldier, crafted as a mirror image of Big
Boss to continue his patriotic duties. As anti-nuke accords spread and
disarmament furthered among the superpowers, the soldier was becoming an
unwanted aspect of society. Liquid, much like Big Boss, knew that he
and his unit were warriors in a nation that had no respect for them.
That is the soldier's lot. The soldier is no more than the honed blade;
a tool used in wartime to facilitate peacetime. Upon peacetime, that
sword is sheathed. If Liquid, FOXHOUND, and the Genome army were
nothing more than tools to be kept in storage until the outbreak of war,
their lives would be all but annulled. As warriors, their purpose was
to wage war; if there was no war for America to send them to, Liquid
would make one.
And such was his ambition. Metal Gear Rex was his deus ex machina; it
would enable him to revive Outer Heaven with its ransom, and then fuel
the conflicts of the world with its sale. With an abomination like Rex
let loose upon the free world, there would be welcome arms for the
soldiers of Outer Heaven. Liquid saw himself as a man of the people;
his race was the warriors, a dying race at that (as he would see it.)
Liquid was no less than Big Boss's successor. The oppressed, unwanted
soldiers of the world were his brothers.
Obviously, none moreso his brother than Solid Snake.
Continued below...
===========================================================================
I. SNAKE EATER ERA (1964-1972)
===========================================================================
This is, simply put, the earliest recorded/playable portion of the Metal
Gear story. Most of these events play out in Metal Gear Solid 3. Any
developments beyond this take place up until the MSX era.
This encompasses the Virtuous Mission and Operation Snake Eater as well as
the later foundations of FOXHOUND and the Les Enfants Terribles project.
Practically all of Big Boss's development lies here.
===========================================================================
I-A, "THE BOSS" [ SNATHE ]
The story of Metal Gear, in its entirety, begins with The Boss. The
Boss is a woman who, in her mid-20s, assembled a cooperative special
forces unit of american and soviet operatives in WWII that played a
significant role in the allied victory (the "Cobra Unit".) Upon the
start of the cold war, the Cobras were disbanded as her loyalties
remained with the United States.
The Boss trained Naked Snake ("John," "Jack," "Big Boss".) for at
least a decade after WWII they were partners, and he was her last and
perhaps greatest apprentice. They were closer than allies, than friends
or family. In the late fifties they parted ways, Snake no longer her
fledgling but fully capable as an independent operative.
in 1964, in the height of the cold war, The Boss defected to the soviet
union, rejoining the Cobras under the ambitions of Colonel Volgin's
radicalist unit. There she gave her new hosts a pair of american-made
nuclear shells, along with the return of their asylum-seeking weapons
development scientist Dr Sokolov (the obligatory scientist-in-distress
of MGS3.) Unexpectedly, Volgin used one of these shells to eradicate a
soviet development site, removing evidence of his insurrections against
the soviet government and Premier Khruschev.
Naked Snake, her last disciple, was enlisted to find her and eliminate
her along with the growing soviet threat she has enabled. She never
expresses to him any purposes behind her defection, only that she is
'loyal to the end.'
Only in the end do we understand her purpose. only once snake's mission
is complete does he understand. The Boss's defection was, at first, an
order. She was to defect to the soviet union, specifically to Volgin's
command, as a ruse by the US government.
Volgin had stolen a vast wealth from the Philosophers, the underlying
force behind the US, Chinese, and Soviet governments. After the time
of World War I, they were a united force with an enormous collected
wealth. by the end of WWII, their loyalties were broken and the
organization lost its international cooperation. The bulk of the
'Philosophers' Legacy' was left in independent hands in the USSR.
Through some deception and numerous details, it was obtained by
Colonel Volgin and it was being used to fuel his weapons development as
he planned to oust Khruschev from power in a military coup.
The Boss was the only american soldier infamous enough and useful enough
to be accepted into Volgin's ranks as a defector. Under orders, she
betrayed her own nation. Her mission was to reclaim the Philosophers'
Legacy for America, where the remaining group was now known as the
'Patriots.'
Naked Snake was needed as no more than a witness to her defection. It
would lend credibility to her 'betrayal' of the United States, and
altogether seal the deal. The problem came when Volgin used one of
the nuclear shells over russian soil.
The Russian government was in upheaval over the incident. A foreign
detonation over soviet territory was an act of war. Neither Lyndon
Johnson nor Nikita Khruschev wanted the cold war to erupt into a
blazing hot one. Unfortunately, the balance of power within the soviet
government could not allow Khruschev to hold back hostility simply by
word. The USSR needed proof that this event was the fault of an
american defector, and not directly of the US government. To keep that
detonation from being an act of war, the Boss had to die.
The Boss had a new mission. To carry out her defection to the end,
and ultimately be killed by Naked Snake, her last disciple. She had
to play the charade to the end, to no-one's knowledge but her own,
before finally giving her life for her country.
With her death there would be balance and deterrance. War would be
averted. Her sacrifice would save the world. But it could never be
known. For her sacrifice to save america, she would go down in history
as a treasonous war criminal who instigated a nuclear crisis. A monster
that threatened both America and the Soviet Union with the effects of
her betrayal.
To save the world, to prove her loyalty to 'the end' that her government
ordered of her, she had to die without honor. She was ordered by the
United States government to fight to the death on the side of the Soviet
Union. To her own death, at Snake's hands. That was her role. She
fulfilled it entirely.
The Cobras, her former unit, joined with her again upon her defection.
Their loyalties were entirely to her. She knowingly had to send her
friends, the disciples she trained and fought with against the axis, to
their deaths at Snake's hands. That burden was hers to bear as well,
all for the sake of her loyalty to America.
She could not let Snake join her. She very well could have tested his
loyalties and found him to choose her over the United States, but that
wasn't the point; he had to stay behind. He had to be the one to stand
against her, to destroy her. She could not let him fail, but she could
not make him succeed. She had to be defeated. She needed to be killed
by Snake, to complete her mission.
In all of Metal Gear Solid mythos, The Boss is the truest 'patriot.'
The Boss makes the greatest sacrifices, even beyond the finality of her
own death, for her country, and for her loyalty to the american
government. She makes no choice of her own in this; she fights for
America, loyal to the end.
===========================================================================
I-B, "NAKED SNAKE / BIG BOSS" [ SNANAK ]
Naked Snake was raised, trained, and entirely made into what he was by
the Boss. She was his master, his mentor, and his family, and she had
betrayed their home nation. He was the only one believed capable of
eliminating her, so he was given the task.
Snake fought tooth-and-nail against the odds, against his former master.
She was his enemy. She had betrayed the United States for reasons he
could not fathom. She had betrayed him personally just as much as she
had the nation. He was nothing if not reluctant, but he followed his
mission to the letter. He neutralized Volgin's nuclear threat, and
moreover, he eliminated the boss.
One by one he tore through her disciples, the cobras, who fought to the
death for no ideals beyond their loyalty to her. It all ended when he
faced her one-on-one, and had to be the one to put her out of her
misery with her own sidearm.
He had no joy in what he had done. He only did it for his mission, for
his loyalty. Not to America, but to her. His only satisfaction was the
success of his mission, the safeguarding of the nation he proclaimed
fealty to.
Fealty. I do not say loyalty because his loyalty was most genuinely with
the Boss. But he chose his duties under the United States flag over his
feelings for her.
Snake defeated the Boss, proving himself the greatest warrior in
America's arsenal. The president congratulated him, bestowing him the
title 'Big Boss.'
It was only then that he came to understand what had transpired. He
understood why everything had fallen into place the way it was. He
understood the boss's mission. He realized that the country she swore her
life to threw her away for its own sake. To a nation, her loyalty was an
asset, and her self was expendable.
But not to him. At the very height of his career, he had lost all faith
in the United States government. He saw that their most loyal soldier,
who would give her life for their goals, could be thrown away so easily.
The Boss was scapegoated, dishonored, and murdered for the sake of the
US Government, and they had led him to do it with his own hands.
The story of Snake Eater ends at her grave, as we the viewers reach these
revelations at the same time the newly-christened Big Boss does. That
story ends there, but Big Boss's life truly begins at that point.
After operation Snake Eater, the experimental 'FOX' unit Naked Snake was
operating under was officially organized into a US military special
operations unit. Under Big Boss's leadership, the fledgling FOXHOUND was
established in 1971. The best of the best, in skills, technology and
resources, FOXHOUND was an assemblage of some of the most lethal freaks
the army could muster.
No matter how much further Big Boss's career in the US Military went over
these years, his loyalty to the nation had truly ended in 1964 with the
Boss's death.
Slowly assembling an enormous wealth over the following decade, somewhere
in the late seventies or early eighties Big Boss began and completed an
extensive plan of subversion. By the mid-eighties, his independent
military nation 'Outer Heaven' finally emerged in the southern jungles of
Africa. Big Boss had constructed his own small mercenary country, a place
for disillusioned soldiers such as himself to find work in what they did
best without swearing fealty to a government that would dishonor them.
Outer Heaven was built for warriors in a world where they were slowly
becoming unwanted. As olive branches spread throughout the world, the
times changed but soldiers did not. Big Boss had always been a solider.
Fighting was all he was good at. His dream, manifested in Outer Heaven,
was a haven for soldiers such as himself that sought to live their lives
without being the expendable property of a nation they no longer cared
for.
The Boss's death left him a warrior but he was no longer a patriot in
any respect. He left any allegiances he had to America and went to
fortifying Outer Heaven. Despite its size, it was a horrifically
formidable force to the rest of the modern world. Within its boundaries,
the first 'Metal Gear' (supposedly the first derivitive of Granin's
leaked designs from Snake Eater) began its construction.
Metal Gear finished what the tread-driven Shagohod began. Metal Gear,
in all its variations (except perhaps Ray) is a walking tank capable of
launching a long-range nuclear strike from any terrain. Supposedly, its
range could rival silo-borne ICBMs. When news of this reached America
in the early 90's, Outer Heaven became a threat to national security.
To defeat Big Boss, the founder of FOXHOUND and former "Naked Snake,"
America sent FOXHOUND's best: the operative 'Grey Fox.' When Grey Fox
was captured in Outer Heaven, their last resort was FOXHOUND's youngest
operative, Solid Snake.
===========================================================================
II. MSX ERA (approx 1985-1999)
===========================================================================
The MSX was home to the two canonical 'old-skool' Metal Gear games, Metal
Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. While the NES did eventually find a
port of Metal Gear, the second one never reached us. Either ways, the
completion of Big Boss's arc and Solid Snake's rise to glory are told
here, as well as the underrated and unfortunately obscure story of Frank
Jaeger, FOXHOUND's Grey Fox and later the Ninja.
These events include Solid Snake's FOXHOUND career and the rise of Big
Boss's mercenary nations, Outer Heaven and later Zanzibar Land.
===========================================================================
II-A, "SOLID SNAKE" (MSX ERA) [ MSXSOL ]
Solid Snake was practically raised in FOXHOUND. His career in it began
apparently after Big Boss left the United States, so if they were ever
together in FOXHOUND it must have been brief.
Solid Snake was one of the three 'snake triplets;' near-identical clones
of Big Boss created by the government's 'Les Enfants Terribles' project
in 1972, shortly after FOXHOUND's foundation.
In the wake of Big Boss's blazing successes, and clear leadership
capabilities, genetic research found great applications within him. He
was considered to be a genetically ideal soldier, and his DNA was
harvested for testing. Government scientists determined a number of
genetic factors within him that were linked to various skills and
inherent traits that don't just come from 'training.'
The notion was that Big Boss was a fountain of 'soldier genes,' genome
sequences that could make the difference between a born leader and a
born failure. The 'Les Enfants Terrible' project sought to capitalize
the notion to produce nothing short of a 'sequel.' Three children,
almost entirely identical to Big Boss, were born; Solid, Liquid, and
Solidus.
While Solidus remains enigmatically separate from the 'twins,' the main
two are rather clearly defined: one is tweaked to express more of the
dominant characteristics possible within Big Boss's DNA, and the other
more of the recessives. They're still nigh-identical, but at the deepest
level one could be considered inherently 'superior.'
Make note now that Solidus's origin is a very blurry subject. His
origins are likely in the project as well, but he lived a very different
life. I will explain this in detail in the Solidus section, [ SONDUS ].
Solid Snake, upon his birth, was chosen to be superior (though this
doesn't mean he WAS 'superior' per se.) His career in FOXHOUND was
rather prominent, but he was not the first choice to deal with the
Outer Heaven crisis. Frank Jaeger, known in FOXHOUND as Gray Fox, was
sent to defeat Big Boss but was taken hostage. The promising young
Solid Snake was then sent in.
Snake fought his way through Outer Heaven, rescuing Gray Fox and reaching
Big Boss. Knowing the man only as a traitor who abandoned his unit and
his country, he fought and defeated Big Boss for the sake of his mission.
Metal Gear destroyed, he returned to the United States a small hero,
earning his rightful place in FOXHOUND.
As the years passed, Snake firmly became a career soldier. From an early
age, the only thing he knew for sure was what he was good at; fighting.
He was a born soldier, and he found it suited him best to fight for the
government. Though not a devout patriot, he was loyal to the United
States as their operative. He did his job.
Gray Fox, Snake's closest friend in the unit, soon left FOXHOUND. In
the late nineties, he resurfaced, now the mercenary leader of a small
asian nation akin to Outer Heaven, called 'Zanzibar Land.' His actual
superior in the endeavor was none other than Big Boss, still alive after
the fall of Outer Heaven. Grey Fox and Big Boss began rebuilding what
Outer Heaven once had, including retstarting work on the Metal Gear
project.
Unaware of these details, Snake was sent yet again to defeat Metal Gear,
but in the course of his mission he had to eliminate Gray Fox, his closest
friend. He went into his mission a soldier, loyal to his country, and
moreover loyal to his mission. He had no intention of failing. He
reached Gray Fox and, barehanded amidst a minefield, fought him to the
death. The prize, stolen OILIX petroleum microbes and the destruction of
Metal Gear, were in Snake's hands.
Snake emerged victorious, but he knew the cost. They were friends, best
friends, even in death. As men, as human beings, they were friends. As
soldiers, as men of allegiance, they were enemies. Snake had to uphold
his orders and serve the united states, and Fox had chosen a different
path. Fox, like Big Boss before him, had grown disillusioned with the
life he spent as a tool for politicians. He was a solider, and would
always be a soldier, but he did not want to fight for a nation he did not
believe in. On his deathbed he could explain himself to Snake, but it
changed nothing; Snake fought for the United States, and Grey Fox fought
for Big Boss. They were friends and enemies, and Snake was the
victorious enemy over his fallen friend.
Snake pushed on, eliminating again the threat of Metal Gear and facing
Big Boss for the second time. Before they fought, Big Boss made the
lofty claim that he was Snake's father; it did not weaken Snake's resolve
to his mission, but the words haunted him nonetheless. He defeated and
ultimately killed Big Boss, in a grim spectacle completely mirroring
Naked Snake's reluctant triumph over The Boss thirty years earlier.
Naked Snake defeated The Boss, earning him unparalleled prestige. He had
killed the greatest soldier of the time, and more than that, his closest
friend. Solid Snake had been forced to fight and kill his own closest
friend, Gray Fox, and then kill Big Boss, the greatest warrior of his
time... and possibly his own father. Solid Snake, much like Naked Snake
thirty years earlier, returned home both a hero... and a broken man.
Snake left the military, and retreated to Alaska, where he lived alone for
years to come, happily away from war and the conflicts of choosing duty
and allegiance.
In his absence, the FOXHOUND unit found a new prodigy, and soon a new
leader, in Liquid Snake.
===========================================================================
III. TWIN SNAKES ERA (approx 1999-2006)
===========================================================================
After Big Boss's final demise and Solid Snake's retirement, FOXHOUND
spiraled out of control. Big Boss was crushed but his legacy lived on
with what proved to be an insatiable ferocity.
Twin Snakes is the revamped title for Metal Gear Solid. The PSX original
did not have this surname; it was added for the Gamecube remake. Whether
or not I enjoyed that particular game (MGS2-style gameplay on a Gamecube
controller is an abomination under the Lord), its subtitle is appropriate
and suits the story.
Thus this is the story of the first Metal Gear Solid, be it PSX original
or NGC remake. Solid Snake is called out of retirement to deal with the
rebellion of FOXHOUND against the US government. This is the point at
which the sons of Big Boss are finally brought face-to-face.
===========================================================================
III-A, "LIQUID SNAKE" [ TWILIQ ]
Liquid is the first 'villain' I can address here, but not by individual
importance. Were the stories more fleshed out, I would LOVE to
understand and explore the intricacies of Big Boss during the MSX era
or better yet, Gray Fox. The 'villains' of Metal Gear are ALL important
because they are not two-dimensional or static personas. Though the
unit members and minibosses (cobras, FOXHOUND, dead cell, you name it)
may simply be flunkies to the higher authority, that higher authority is
always a genuine character with a depth to explore. If I haven't made
that clear already I hope I am doing so right now.
The greatest boon made to the Metal Gear plotline is the story of Snake
Eater... the hero you play as is the same enemy leader that Solid Snake
faces in Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2. His arc, rise and decline, are
beautifully shown in Snake Eater. Whether or not it is obvious, many
characters in MGS follow this concept. Liquid was not necessarily a
'villain' when he began in FOXHOUND, we simply don't know. Gray Fox,
well, he's an entire story of his own; I really wish we learn more about
him. Getting back to the point, Liquid is as important a character as
Solid Snake, and I hope to explain why.
Liquid Snake, labelled as the 'inferior' of the two at birth, began a
military career despite lacking the 'privileged' start that Solid Snake
had received. He rose through the ranks of FOXHOUND quickly and became
the unit commander between 2002 and 2004. Along with a small force of
'Next Generation Special Forces' soldiers and the rest of FOXHOUND, he
staged an insurrection at the nuclear disposal facility on Shadow Moses
Island in Alaska's Fox Archipelago in 2005.
Liquid's goals were not immediately made obvious, but they soon fell
into place. Shadow Moses island was the site of development for Metal
Gear Rex, the most dangerous and politically unforgiveable variation of
Metal Gear yet... under production by the US government. Seizing this
was his primary bargaining chip.
Metal Gear Rex was the modus operandi Metal Gear; walking nuclear-strike
tank. It was made more lethal by its unprecedented ability to strike any
point in the world with a undetectable nuclear warhead launched from any
solid terrain. It was a completely underground project. as its entire
conception violated countless international treaties. Liquid could
threaten more than a nuclear strike, he could threaten the entire balance
of power in the world by revealing the government's hand in Rex's
creation.
Liquid's rebellion gave him control of the entire facility, and he was
in a suitable place to make demands. His demands were simple; an
exorbitant cash sum, and the remains of Big Boss. Summarily, Liquid was
well aware of his own origins. The US Government had secured Big Boss's
remains after the Zanzibar Land uprising, and continued their genetic research
where they left off in the seventies; the Next-Generation Special Forces
soldiers were 'genome soldiers, genetically altered soldiers that
benefited from Big Boss's 'soldier genes.' With Metal Gear Rex, Big
Boss's remains, and enough funds, Liquid could fulfill his goal: the
ultimate rebirth of Outer Heaven.
Outer Heaven was nothing short of Big Boss's legacy at this point. The
soldier's haven. Liquid knew who and what he was. He was more than a
career soldier, he was a BORN soldier, crafted as a mirror image of Big
Boss to continue his patriotic duties. As anti-nuke accords spread and
disarmament furthered among the superpowers, the soldier was becoming an
unwanted aspect of society. Liquid, much like Big Boss, knew that he
and his unit were warriors in a nation that had no respect for them.
That is the soldier's lot. The soldier is no more than the honed blade;
a tool used in wartime to facilitate peacetime. Upon peacetime, that
sword is sheathed. If Liquid, FOXHOUND, and the Genome army were
nothing more than tools to be kept in storage until the outbreak of war,
their lives would be all but annulled. As warriors, their purpose was
to wage war; if there was no war for America to send them to, Liquid
would make one.
And such was his ambition. Metal Gear Rex was his deus ex machina; it
would enable him to revive Outer Heaven with its ransom, and then fuel
the conflicts of the world with its sale. With an abomination like Rex
let loose upon the free world, there would be welcome arms for the
soldiers of Outer Heaven. Liquid saw himself as a man of the people;
his race was the warriors, a dying race at that (as he would see it.)
Liquid was no less than Big Boss's successor. The oppressed, unwanted
soldiers of the world were his brothers.
Obviously, none moreso his brother than Solid Snake.
Continued below...