Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty/Characters

Raiden/Jack/
Metal Gear Solid 2= Metal Gear Solid 4= Metal Gear Rising Revengeance= Spoilers= "Voiced by: Kenyuu Horiuchi (JP, MGS2-MGS4), Toshiyuki Morikawa (JP, MGSR), Quinton Flynn (EN),"

Raiden came into existence out of Kojima's desire to show the main character Snake from a different perspective by making him not the player character, but no one got it. He got put through Hell and back, realized his entire life was a lie, was groped by the president, had to kill his father figure and be lied to by the man he admired, but gained no sympathy. As an apology to all the fans who were angered by having to play as a wimp Kojima created a helpless lookalike by the name of Ivan Raidenovich Raikov in Metal Gear Solid 3, who he put through all sorts of humiliation. He seriously improves in Metal Gear Solid 4. He returns in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance in a new Cyborg Ninja outfit thanks to injuries sustained while acting as a trainer and VIP bodyguard for the Private Military Contractor Maverick.

"Raiden: I learned young that killing enemies felt good... Really good."
 * Alien Blood: Raiden's got artificial blood by MGS4, colored white. This has an interesting effect in a later cutscene: He and Vamp mess each other up pretty badly, and since their blood is colored differently, we get to see how much is their own and how much is the other guy's splattered on them. It's this color as well in the JP version of MGRR.
 * An Arm and a Leg: Ends up losing his left arm in a fight with Sam (alongside another organ), in the MGRR prologue.
 * All Of The Other Reindeer: Found it hard to adjust to civilian life post MGS4 due to his cyborg appearance, which made blending in and finding work difficult.
 * Anti Hero: Has an Ax Crazy Sociopathic Hero side of himself, even though he tries hard to bury this aspect of himself and be a more straightforward hero.
 * Ascended Fanboy: Of Solid Snake.
 * Badass: Even before the fourth game, he was one.
 * Badass Baritone: Only in the Japanese versions.
 * Badass Biker: See Hero Stole My Bike for the details.
 * Badass In A Nice Suit: Wears one in the prolouge and epilouge of MGRR..
 * Badass Longcoat: Wears one in the fourth game. A lot.
 * Eyepatch of Power: Sort of. In Revengeance, Raiden is shown with a eyepatch device that looks similar to the MGS4 Solid Eye. It's actually a downsized version of the compound eyes used by other cyborgs. To replace the function of his lost eye.
 * Pop Cultured Badass: Met Rose when they argued about which skyscraper King Kong climbed up, got the reference to Escape From New York in Snake's MGS2 alias "Pliskin", and as of MGRR has a mild obsession with being a modern samurai.
 * Sociopathic Hero: When "Jack The Ripper" takes control.
 * Took a Level in Badass: After becoming a Cyborg Ninja.
 * Bigger Is Better in Bed: Implied by a guard's comment to Raiden if he sees him seemingly restrained in the torture device (he claims that he "wishes that he has that"). Not that it's apparent due to obvious reasons.
 * Bishonen
 * BloodKnight: As a child soldier, Raiden learned to enjoy killing. As an adult, he tried to bury this side of himself until MGRR forced him to return to it:
 * Bishonen
 * BloodKnight: As a child soldier, Raiden learned to enjoy killing. As an adult, he tried to bury this side of himself until MGRR forced him to return to it:


 * Child Soldier: In the Liberian civil war.
 * Combat Stilettos: A feature of Raiden's MGS4/MGRR ninja outfit is the high heels, which allows him to brandish his HF blade with his feet.
 * Conveniently an Orphan: Raiden's birth parents were killed while he was still a very young child, and Solidus, being his "Godfather", took him in.
 * Cyborg: Is mechanical from the skull down by Metal Gear Solid 4.
 * A Day in the Limelight: Metal Gear Solid Rising is the first game where he doesn't have to share the spotlight with Snake.
 * Do Anything Soldier Even as a Cyborg Ninja. Raiden is skilled in the use of Swords, Grenades and Rocket Launchers.
 * Determinator
 * Drowning My Sorrows: Rosemary claimed that Raiden took to heavily drinking after his Shell-Shocked Veteran memories as a Child Soldier returned to him.
 * Expy: Weirdly invoked.
 * Ironically, he himself gains an expy in the form of Major Ivan Raidenovitch Raikov in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
 * Eye Scream: Raiden loses his left eye during his fight against Sam in beginning of MGRR.
 * Hot-Blooded: During Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance he has become this.
 * Foil: To Solid Snake. Snake is a gruff, grizzled, Tall, Dark and Handsome ladies man, Raiden is a young, idealistic, White-Haired Pretty Boy with a steady girlfriend.
 * Flashback Nightmare: It is strongly implied in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty that the reason he won't allow Rosemary to sleep next to him is because he suffers from nightmares relating to his Child Soldier status from the Liberian Civil War.
 * Glasgow Grin: Seems to sport this in Revengeance. See Slasher Smile below.
 * It's Not You, It's Me: It is heavily implied in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots that the reason why he left Rosemary prior to the game was because of his PTSD worsening.
 * Jade-Colored Glasses: More apparent during MGS4 and more or less during Rising.
 * Katanas Are Just Better: So much that, despite having a gun strapped to his leg throughout the fourth game, he never once uses it. (Ironically, his sword is not a katana at all, but rather a straight-bladed ninjato.)
 * Knife Nut: Sort of. Unlike Snake, Raiden does prefer blades, even more so than guns. The final trailer (according to the Facebook page) on the site sort-of explains why, as Solidus "demonstrates" its noble usages on a soldier in front of Raiden.
 * Large Ham: Becomes one during Revengeance. Seems like they listened to the complaints of him being emo in Metal Gear Solid 4 and just winged it.
 * "MY SWORD IS A TOOL OF JUSTICE!" *80s guitar riff* "I think it's time for Jack... to LET 'ER RIP!".
 * Lightning Bruiser: Especially in MGS4 and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. No pun intended.
 * Mistaken Identity: In Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater Subsistence's Secret Theatre clip "Metal Gear Raiden: Snake Eraser", Raiden ends up traveling back in time into Groznyj Grad's prison to kill Naked Snake in his cell, only for him to just miss Snake before he escaped. Volgin then finds him and mistakes him for Raikov, and it is heavily implied that Volgin either assaulted Raiden or attempted to commit Prison Rape on him as a result.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast:
 * Neat Freak: Raiden apparently has to clean up after Rose quite a bit.
 * Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: During MGS4 and Metal Gear Rising Revengeance, Raiden's a ninja-cyborg.
 * Ninja Run: Though he doesn't use the stance.
 * No Infantile Amnesia: Somewhat implied in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots: Raiden mentioned that he was born on a rainy day, and given that his parents had died while he was still young, its unlikely they told him.
 * One-Man Army Takes down to five to over a dozen Navy Metal Gear Rays during MGS2. How many depends on the difficulty setting.
 * Rapid Fire Fisticuffs: Pulls this off in desperation against, twice. The first time round does jack squat. The second round, he manages to make his opponent flinch and knocks him back a foot or two, but that's it.
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: While using Ripper Mode.
 * First show during trailer for Platinum Games' build, just before Raiden dons a featureless mask reminiscent of Olga's.
 * So Last Season: His well equipped spy MGS2 days are ditched for being a badass cyborg in MGS4, which allows him to keep up on the battlefield. MGRR has this trope be invoked again when it's revealed his MGS4 cyborg body is this trope and thus gets an upgrade.
 * Shell-Shocked Veteran: It is heavily implied that he suffers from PTSD as a result of his experiences as a Child Soldier, and that it worsened by Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
 * Shock and Awe:  I'm Lightning. The Rain Transformed..
 * And the tagline for his game is "Lightning Bolt Action".
 * Electricity can be seen coursing around Raiden's blade and body during Revengence.
 * Shout-Out: Cyborg Raiden's blood being white could be a reference to the androids of the Alien franchise
 * Slasher Smile: Seems to sport this in Revengeance, although the smile itself almost looks like a Glasgow Grin.
 * Sugar and Ice Personality: His personality in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots came across as exceptionally cold and emotionless. It is strongly implied that this was the direct result of the pain he had to endure from various factors, including the miscarriage of his child, Rosemary  marrying Colonel Campbell, the worsening of his PTSD, and his forced transformation into a Cyborg Ninja.
 * Super Powered Evil Side "Jack The Ripper", which he's fought hard to suppress since MGS2. We finally get to see him in MGRR.
 * Super Speed: While using Ninja Run or Blade Mode. According to The Outskirts Battledome Raiden reaches 2000 times the speed of sound in Revengence.
 * Supporting Protagonist: In MGS2.
 * The Movie Buff: This was how he and Rosemary met during an argument about King Kong.
 * Tyke Bomb
 * Wide-Eyed Idealist: In Metal Gear Solid 2.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy: A heroic example..
 * Wholesome Crossdresser: It's implied the BDU he wears in MGS2 was meant for a female soldier.
 * Zen Survivor
 * Wholesome Crossdresser: It's implied the BDU he wears in MGS2 was meant for a female soldier.
 * Zen Survivor

Sergei Gurlukovich
"Voiced By: Osamu Saka (JP), Earl Boen (EN)"

The leader of a Russian a mercenary group and Olga Gurlukovich's father. He was briefly involved in Liquid's revolt on Shadow Moses Island as being the supplier of some of the Sons of Big Boss's heavy weaponry and Liquid's Hind D. Sergei worked with Revolver Ocelot in the hopes of stealing Metal Gear RAY to restor power to Russia, but was stabbed in the back by Ocelot and killed.

"Ocelot: Gurlukovich, you and your daughter will die here. Sergei: Damn you."
 * The Ghost: Was briefly mentioned in the first Metal Gear Solid as being one of Liquid's backers in his revolution, and his being the reason why Liquid had a Hind D in that game.
 * Glorious Mother Russia
 * Lame Comeback:


 * Papa Wolf / Morality Pet: It's very clear that he does deeply care about his daughter, Olga, as well as the well-being of his grandchild. Also, as evidenced in the Lame Comeback line, he was not pleased with Ocelot's threat against his daughter when the latter betrayed him.
 * Properly Paranoid: Just before the Olga battle, he tells Olga that she should leave, and cited that part of the reason he wants her to leave was because he saw the moon "pale as death" in the storm, and suspected that the mission wasn't going to end well. He's right, but not in the way that even he anticipated, as Ocelot betrays and guns him down in cold blood.
 * Renegade Russian

Olga Gurlukovich/
"Voiced by: Kyoko Terase (JP), Vanessa Marshall (EN)"

A Russian mercenary whom Snake first encounters aboard the Tanker, Olga is a tough cookie. She has been raised all her life to be strong, both out of necessity and because her father was a colonel for a Russian private army. She is seen again in the Plant, having inherited her father's unit after the old man died. She may or may not be having her own agenda.


 * Action Girl: In the Tank Chapter
 * Action Mom: In the Plant Chapter
 * Anti-Villain: Type II: She legitimately cared for her own troops, and hated the fact that she had to betray and kill them off under Patriot orders, even though she had to do it.
 * Bifauxnen: Which actually causes some awkwardness for the game's other androgynous platinum blond character when he's mistaken for her.
 * Blood Knight / Child Soldier: It is heavily implied that she was born and raised on the battlefield, and that she has nowhere else to go besides the Battlefield.
 * Double Agent: Albeit a reluctant one.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: She did not take having to betray and kill her Gurlukovich comrades very well at all, even though it was.
 * The Ladette
 * Lzherusskie
 * : Tragically exploited by the Patriots as blackmail to ensure she does her part in keeping Raiden alive in the S3 plan. Basically, she had to kill off the unit she had considered her family, never mind her friends, just to protect Raiden because if she failed, they would.
 * Military Brat: Well, for one thing, her father is both the leader of a pro-communist mercenary group, and he also served in the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan.
 * Mysterious Informant:
 * The Pawn
 * Pregnant Badass: Remember Solid Snake's fight with Olga during the Tanker Chapter? Well, she was pregnant at the time by at least three months, which served as the primary reason why her father wanted her out of the operation and off the Mercenary as soon as possible.
 * Oh my god we riddled her with tranquilizer rounds. What happens to a developing fetus when her mother gets massive amounts of dope dumped into her system like that? Thank God Sunny turned out okay.
 * Maybe that's why she was such a lousy cook. Some sort of birth defect.
 * Scars Are Forever/Good Scars, Evil Scars: Olga possessed a long scar across her face, above her right eye to below her left eye (this is made more apparent in artwork of her, being barely visible in the game itself). Presumably, she got the scar during combat.
 * You Killed My Father: She blames Snake for her father Sergei's death, but later discovers it was Ocelot's doing.
 * You Killed My Father: She blames Snake for her father Sergei's death, but later discovers it was Ocelot's doing.
 * You Killed My Father: She blames Snake for her father Sergei's death, but later discovers it was Ocelot's doing.

Scott Dolph
"Voiced By: Daisuke Gori (JP), Kevin Michael Richardson (EN)"

Commander of the United States Marines Corps in charge of safeguarding Metal Gear RAY during the Tanker Incident. Also Fortune's father.


 * Bi the Way
 * Papa Wolf: The reason he wasn't willing to allow Fortune, his daughter, to join the military was because he didn't want her to experience the harsh possibility of a nuclear war.
 * Properly Paranoid: He anticipated that several politicians and military personnel would try to stop the project. He was right, and got killed for it.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: He wanted to create RAY out of a genuine belief that it would end nuclear proliferation.
 * Your Cheating Heart: It's implied that he still acted as Vamp's lover even while he was still married to his wife.

Rosemary
"Voiced by: Kikuko Inoue (JP), Lara Cody (EN)"

Raiden's girlfriend, who is determined to make him be a little more open with her. There may be more to her than it seems. .

Reappears in Guns of the Patriots as Snake's psychiatric support. She's married to Colonel Campbell, to the disgust of everybody.


 * Clingy Jealous Girl: She expresses a bit of jealousy when Raiden is escorting Emma.
 * Gainaxing: While having Codec-conversations with Rosemary in Guns Of The Patriots, give your controller a few nice hard shakes and watch what happens on the screen...(snickers).
 * Heroes Want Redheads
 * : In the fourth game.
 * Lethal Chef: Take Raiden's word for it.
 * And Roy Campbell's word (well, more like a hint, but still).
 * Statuesque Stunner
 * Woman in White: In MGS2.
 * Your Cheating Heart: The Colonel, in an optional Codec conversation onboard Arsenal, will imply that Rosemary was cheating on Raiden the Saturday before the mission, although  it is very unlikely to be true.
 * Statuesque Stunner
 * Woman in White: In MGS2.
 * Your Cheating Heart: The Colonel, in an optional Codec conversation onboard Arsenal, will imply that Rosemary was cheating on Raiden the Saturday before the mission, although  it is very unlikely to be true.

The Colonel/
Raiden's commanding officer during the Big Shell incident.


 * Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep":
 * Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep":

The Sons of Libery
A combination of two groups: The remnants of Sergei Gurlukovich's mercenary group (and Revolver Ocelot), and the rogue anti-terrorist group Dead Cell, made up of Fortune, Vamp, and Fatman, and led by Solidus Snake. The combined group took over the Big Shell decontamination plant, held everyone inside hostage (including the United States president) and was believed to have also demanded a ransom. In reality the group never actually demanded a ransom in the first place, and in fact planned to.


 * Faceless Mooks: All of the soldiers of the Sons of Liberty, barring the top leaders, wear balaclavas. Justified, as those were the Gurlukovich Mercenaries, who often wore balaclavas to mask their identities and thus make it more difficult to trace.

Solidus Snake
"Voiced by: Akio Ohtsuka (JP), John Cygan (EN)"

In the first Metal Gear Solid, Solidus shows up in The Stinger at the end of the game in the role of the U.S. President, and is a major character in the second game. He's the third of Big Boss' clones, a former agent of the Patriots, and Raiden's adopted father. He was once the 43rd President under the alias of George Sears, but was forced to resign from office after Metal Gear REX and the Genome Project soldiers, as well as the events of the Shadow Moses Incident and his involvement in the Sons of Big Boss's actions, were exposed to the public. The Patriots pinned him as the scapegoat, as he'd before advocated against genetic engineering, and becomes a terrorist with the group The Sons of Liberty. He might reappear in flashbacks for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, although what is certain is that he is certainly in the flashbacks in viral marketing trailers for the game.


 * Alliterative Code Name
 * Anti-Villain: Type III. Word of God stated that Solidus was intended to be of this trope.
 * Badass: He took out three Metal Gear RAYs with just a submachine gun! That is cool.
 * Badass Cape: Until it gets incinerated.
 * Big Bad: In the second game.
 * Child Soldier: It's implied that he led a unit of child soldiers in the Liberian Civil War during his teenage years.
 * Combat Tentacles: The "snake arms" on his exoskeleton suit.
 * Dual-Wielding
 * Eye Scream: He loses his left eye following the destruction of the Harrier.
 * Eyepatch of Power: Subverted.
 * Early-Bird Cameo: He was first mentioned in the Meryl Ending of Metal Gear Solid.
 * Knife Nut: Possibly. He was seen with a knife in the flashbacks to Liberia according to viral marketing for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. The recent (and according to the Facebook page, final) trailer on the site has Solidus giving Raiden a speech on how blades are noble weapons compared to guns shortly before slitting a soldier he had another soldier interrogate regarding a botched mission as a demonstration of what knives do to Raiden.
 * Luke, I Am Your Father: It turns out Solidus was Raiden's father, or rather, Godfather. Unlike other uses of the trope, it was even foreshadowed earlier when Solidus and Raiden first meet face to face ("Where do I know him from?")
 * Military Brat: He's a clone of Big Boss, and he also participated as a Child Soldier (actually, not just a child soldier, but a child soldier who leads an entire army of child soldiers) in the Liberian Civil War.
 * Named Weapons: His katana and wakizashi set (i.e. daishou), Minshuto ("Democrat") and Kyowato ("Republican").
 * Possibly, the swords that come with the Powered Armors in the setting are also made by Tokugawa Heavy Industries.
 * Papa Wolf: Let's just say that he did not take it well when he learned that the Patriots had wiped Raiden's memory, and probably took him from him.
 * President Evil
 * Properly Paranoid:
 * Super Soldier
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: He wants to free America founded nature from the threat of the Patriots controlling nature, as well as having a personal motive of wanting to be remembered somehow, as he isn't able to pass on his genes due to his clone nature. However, in order to do this, he had to organize a terrorist organization in order to do so.
 * Younger Than He Looks: Despite his appearance looking like someone in his sixties or seventies, he's actually in his thirties. He implies that his appearance was the result of genetic engineering done by the Patriots.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: He wants to free America founded nature from the threat of the Patriots controlling nature, as well as having a personal motive of wanting to be remembered somehow, as he isn't able to pass on his genes due to his clone nature. However, in order to do this, he had to organize a terrorist organization in order to do so.
 * Younger Than He Looks: Despite his appearance looking like someone in his sixties or seventies, he's actually in his thirties. He implies that his appearance was the result of genetic engineering done by the Patriots.

Helena Dolph Jackson/Fortune
] "Voiced by: Yumi Touma (JP), Maula Gale (EN)"

The second-in-command of Dead Cell, with the miraculous ability to avoid death. She incorrectly believes that Solid Snake is responsible for the death of her father Dolph. A bit of a Death Seeker.


 * BFG: Her weapon is a large and somewhat impractical railgun (but when you're impervious to bullets and explosives, I guess you can use any weapon you want).
 * In a way, it's also due to her "powers" that she's even capable of using it, going by Rosemary's statements in a CODEC call.
 * Broken Bird
 * Dark-Skinned Blond
 * Death Seeker: "KILL ME NOW!"
 * Determined Widow
 * Deus Angst Machina
 * Hopeless Boss Fight: You fight her once and the time spent fighting her is trying to avoid being hit by her railgun blasts until the colonel calls you.
 * Leotard of Power
 * Military Brat: Her father is Scott Dolph, the commandant of the marine corps killed in the tanker chapter.
 * The Pawn: The Patriots used her for their own goals.
 * She's Got Legs: Just about every scene she's in introduces her with the camera slowly panning up those long legs of hers.
 * Wave Motion Gun: See BFG.
 * Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Vamp and Fortune want to destroy Manhattan (which was also against Solidus' supposed goals) as their revenge against the Patriots for their involvement in the destruction of Dead Cell's unit, and presumably for framing Dead Cell for terrorist actions that the Patriots orchestrated. Not to mention the pain they endured from the deaths of Scott Dolph and Colonel Jackson. Unfortunately, they ended up being used by them anyways.
 * You Killed My Father
 * You Killed My Father

Vamp
"Voiced by: Ryotaro Okiayu (JP, MGS2), Shinya Tsukamoto (JP, MGS4), Phil LaMarr (EN)"

Vamp is an apparently immortal Romanian with a penchant for knives and a taste for blood. He was once involved with Commander Scott Dolph before becoming close with Dolph's daughter Helena/Fortune.

In the fourth game, he begins to look for a Worthy Opponent who can finally finish him - Raiden.


 * Ax Crazy: Enjoys knives, blood, and stabbing people a little too much.
 * It's significantly downplayed in MGS4, however, where he questions some of Liquid Ocelot's plans, and was shown to be the only one capable of controlling the definitively Ax Crazy BATB unit (like when he threw a knife at Laughing Octopus specifically to stop her from slaughtering too many of the rebel soldiers).
 * Badass Longcoat
 * Badass Long Hair
 * Blood Lust
 * Beard of Evil
 * Carpet of Virility: Vamp has a lot more chest hair in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots than he did in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. This is probably why he's switched to wearing dog tags to count how many people he's killed today.
 * Word of God says that the dog tags belong to the fallen members of Dead Cell.
 * Combat Sadomasochist: Vamp really loves hurting people. Especially Raiden. Just watch this fight scene.
 * Likewise, Vamp also really enjoys being hurt himself in the same scene. Note what he said to Raiden when Raiden delivered the final blow.
 * Compelling Voice: This is apparently how Vamp manages to "pin" his opponent's shadow to the ground and get them stuck. He uses a hypnotic voice and then uses the light on the blade to amplify it.
 * Conveniently an Orphan: He lost his entire family in a Romanian church bombing that he himself was also a victim to.
 * Dance Battler: Flamenco with knives.
 * Death Seeker: In the fourth game.
 * Driven to Suicide: Implied by his.
 * Depraved Bisexual: He sleeps with Scott, may be sleeping with Fortune and may want Raiden too. He also does most of what he does in a sexually suggestive manner.
 * The Dragon: Acted as the second-in-command to Helena Scott Dolph and to Liquid Ocelot in Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4, respectively.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Vamp was not too pleased when learning about Fatman's attempt at bombing the Big Shell afterwards.
 * Evil Sounds Deep
 * Foe Yay: Quite a lot of this with Raiden.
 * Freudian Excuse: The reason for Vamp's desire for drinking blood is because that's literally what he had to drink from his family members just to survive is predicament of being impaled by a cross for three days after a church he attended in Romania was bombed. Had it also been included, his fear of the crucifix would also have stemmed from the same event.
 * Get Back Here Boss
 * Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: When Laughing Octopus was enjoying herself too much when killing the Rebel soldiers, Vamp threw a knife at Laughing Octopus to get herself to stop, and told her to let one live.
 * Healing Factor:, although Naomi implies that he had a rapid healing ability even beforehand, albeit to a significantly lesser degree.
 * Icy Blue Eyes: In the second game.
 * Implacable Man: Even more so than Liquid.
 * Knife Nut: Heck, he even is capable of parrying bullets with his knives.
 * Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: After the bombing of a Romanian church during his childhood, he was orphaned as a result of the destruction, and was also impaled by a crucifix that was knocked down during the destruction. It is also what caused him to feast on human blood, as he needed it to survive for three whole days, and was also implied to be his first "death." This was also originally intended to also have a major role in the story, with the traumatic experience actually causing him to develop the stereotypical vampire fear of the cross.
 * Lecherous Licking: Towards Raiden.
 * Licking the Blade: He does this in the 4th game, often with Raiden's white blood on the knife, to the point where you wonder if the game is making fun of his tendency to do this.
 * Lightning Bruiser
 * Made of Iron: Vamp can consistently take an incredible amount of punishment thanks to his natural healing ability,.
 * Minor Injury Overreaction: Subverted: Similar to Kuja from Final Fantasy IX, Vamp managed to dodge all of Raiden's gunfire, but ended up being grazed on the cheek. He actually is impressed with Raiden for inflicting the cut, as he notes that he has the ability to predict people's actions by their muscles, but Raiden's are "different" (referring to the Skull Suit's pressure against his vital organs), and notes that this will be as much of a promising battle as Ocelot mentioned.
 * In Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, not only does Vamp not react negatively to being injured, he even reacts with ecstasy when Raiden delivered the final blow in Act 2, asking if Raiden will be the one to finally finish him off.
 * No Celebrities Were Harmed: His design is modeled on flamenco dancer Joaquin Cortes.
 * No Shirt, Long Jacket
 * Obviously Evil: Come on, he's a very pale guy with an eastern European accent, loves to lick blood from his knife, has red eyes in the fourth game, wears a Badass Longcoat when he isn't shirtless, has a Beard of Evil, this could go on for paragraphs.
 * The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Inverted in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. When he is defeated by Raiden, he asks with ecstasy if Raiden is going to be the one to finally kill him for good.
 * Only Sane Man: In comparison to his boss, Liquid Ocelot, whom he questions his plans somewhat, and the B&B Corps, who are so Ax Crazy that the only way to prevent them from getting out of hand is to throw a knife at them, Vamp seems to be the closest thing to a sane member of Outer Heaven that they could have.
 * Our Vampires Are Different: Vamp apparently only drinks blood due to a neurosis, and
 * Overly Long Tongue
 * Psycho for Hire
 * Recurring Boss
 * Shadow Pin: Can immobilize you by hitting your shadow with a knife. But he only does this in the second game.
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: Has red eyes in the fourth game for some reason.
 * The Coats Are Off
 * The Vamp: Despite his codename being "Vamp", its subverted, as it is hinted that he did genuinely love Marine Commandant General Scott Dolph (if he hadn't and played the trope straight, then Helena/Fortune, Scott's daughter, certainly would not have even been friends with him, never mind possible lovers).
 * Walking Shirtless Scene
 * Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Vamp and Fortune want to destroy Manhattan (which was also against Solidus' supposed goals) as their revenge against the Patriots for their involvement in the destruction of their unit and presumably their framing them for terrorist actions that the Patriots orchestrated, not to mention the pain they endured from the deaths of Scott Dolph and Colonel Jackson. Unfortunately, they ended up being used by them anyways.
 * Walking Shirtless Scene
 * Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Vamp and Fortune want to destroy Manhattan (which was also against Solidus' supposed goals) as their revenge against the Patriots for their involvement in the destruction of their unit and presumably their framing them for terrorist actions that the Patriots orchestrated, not to mention the pain they endured from the deaths of Scott Dolph and Colonel Jackson. Unfortunately, they ended up being used by them anyways.

Fatman
"Voiced by: Kozo Shioya (JP), Barry Dennen (EN)"

An obese man on roller-skates. Fatman is a bomb-making expert that revels in blowing things up. Fatman places several explosives around Big Shell that Raiden has to defuse.


 * Acrofatic
 * Annoying Laugh
 * Ax Crazy
 * Bald of Evil: The game's script implies that the reason for his baldness is from severe burns.
 * Calling Card: Fatman has two in two different mediums. The first, from Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, has him placing trace amounts of cologne on the C4 he uses to blow up targets. The second, from The Last Days of Foxhound, is leaving behind a smoking rubble of the location he was at.
 * Card-Carrying Villain: If his introductory statement is anything to go by, he apparently takes pride in being the lowest humanity has to offer even moreso than being the greatest humanity has to offer.
 * Deceptive Disciple
 * Double Agent
 * Evil Laugh
 * Evilly Affable: Compared to the other characters, it's actually quite refreshing to meet someone who wouldn't feel out of place in Team Fortress 2.
 * Fat Bastard
 * Fat Idiot: Inverted. Although he is shown as severely insane, his backstory indicates that he was also quite intelligent, at least in regards to bomb-making.
 * Genius Bruiser: Aside from his weight, and thus large size, it was also stated in his backstory that he managed to build an atomic bomb at age 10, simply from the use of a guidebook, and his high marks under Stillman's training were unprecedented.
 * Guns at School: It is heavily implied in a Codec conversation that this happened with Fatman, as Stillman mentions that although he desired fame due to being hated at his own high school, the only thing he ever amounted to before being transferred to Indian Head was occassionally bringing a gun into school.
 * I Have Your Wife: Inverted: The Patriots got him to cooperate by offering to let him kill Stillman in exchange for participating in the S3 Plan.
 * Jerkass
 * Laughing Mad
 * Lightning Bruiser: For a guy who is extraordinarily overweight, and has his overall weight made even heavier with his bomb blast suit (complete with a cooling vest), a laminated ballistic protector covering most of his head, and a protective plate for his spine (which, overall, would add about 50 kilograms to his body), he is surprisingly very good at rollerblading, something that the Colonel Lampshaded by stating that the amount of added weight that Fatman has should render him incapable of rollerblading.
 * Mad Bomber: Vamp even refers to him by that specific name.
 * Not in This For Your Revolution: The only reason he agreed to act as an agent to the Patriots and participate in the S3 Plan as a test for Raiden's skills was for the opportunity to kill off his mentor Peter Stillman, and otherwise did not actually care one bit for the Patriot's plans.
 * Parental Neglect: While he was very young, he was pretty much neglected by both his own parents, and often hung around at his father's clock shop.
 * Psychopathic Manchild: Going by how he's behaving when meeting up with Raiden, as well as saying "It's time to start the party!" in a clownish tone, he seems to be both insane and almost childish.
 * The Mole: Was planted by the Patriots to test Raiden's capabilities in exchange for gaining the chance of killing his mentor Peter Stillman (Although Ocelot's explanation during The Reveal implies that he was closer to a Wild Card).
 * Unfavorite: Presumably the reason why he desired fame and was not controllable: he was neglected by his parents while he was very young, and even though he built an atomic bomb at age 10 from a guidebook, and was well known in the bomb trade for this, he was hated and shunned at his own school.
 * Villainous Glutton: "Laugh and grow fat!"
 * Wild Card: Is strongly implied to be this: Ocelot mentioned during The Reveal that even the Patriots had a lot of trouble getting him to cooperate in the S3 Plan, with the proposed murder of Peter Stillman being implied to be the only reason they successfully managed to get him to cooperate.

Emma Emmerich
"Voiced By: Maria Yamamoto (JP), Jennifer Hale (EN)"

Hal's younger step-sister. When they were young Hal and Emma had a very close relationship, which was ruined when.

As a young woman, Emma is taken hostage by The Sons of Liberty. Hal asks Raiden to rescue her.


 * Conspiracy Theorist: Emma's explanation of what the Patriots have or could have done to information ("You know how the alphabet has twenty-six letters? Well, it could have been thirty. What if the other letters were deleted by a program?") and her "justifications" ("Have you ever seen a gene? Have you counted them yourself?") make her sound like this to the point that she can come off sounding like a parody.
 * It’s worth notating the whole censored alphabet thing makes much more sense in Japanese as they are missing letters, like La Li Lu Le Lo.
 * Damsel in Distress: A very classic example of this trope.
 * Escort Mission: You have to take her from the Shell 2 core to the Shell 1 core. She can't walk very well due to her being injected with something to keep her from running away, so Raiden has to carry her.
 * : Especially jarring in that it happens almost immediately after the Escort Mission.
 * Meganekko
 * Why Did It Have To Be Water? Her step-father's drowning death left her with a crippling fear of water at an early age. Naturally, by the time you reach her, the hallways leading in and out of the area she's kept are completely flooded.
 * Why Did It Have To Be Water? Her step-father's drowning death left her with a crippling fear of water at an early age. Naturally, by the time you reach her, the hallways leading in and out of the area she's kept are completely flooded.

Richard Ames
"Voiced by: Masaharu Sato (JP), Peter Renaday (EN)"

Allegedly as a member of the secret service under official records, Richard is actually a DIA/Patriot agent going undercover, presumably to assassinate President Johnson for "betraying" the Patriots. Of course, he ends up being an unwitting pawn himself and dies from his nanomachines getting shut down in a similar fashion to FOXDIE.


 * Jerkass: In the beginning of the novel, he is shown to be somewhat unpleasant: He forced Nastasha Romanenko into participating in the Shadow Moses Incident, and was also implied to have forced Roy Campbell into participating in the incident as well.
 * Love Redeems: It is heavily implied via Nastasha Romanenko's novel, In the Darkness of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth, that the reason why he ended up not only letting her live from the Shadow Moses Incident, but also supplying evidence against his superiors, the Patriots, to ensure they don't hurt her was because he was starting to fall for Nastasha Romanenko again.
 * Redemption Equals Death: Initially believed to be what happened to him in the novel, ends up happening for real during the Big Shell Incident.
 * Unwitting Pawn: Ultimately turned out to be this, and killed for this, along with other reasons.
 * You Have Failed Me...: After reading In The Darkness of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth, it becomes especially apparent that one of the reasons why he was killed off by the Patriots (by causing his pacemaker nanomachines to malfunction) also dealt with this, since he was directly responsible for supplying Nastasha Romanenko with the evidence that led to the publishing of the book in the first place, in addition to the more obvious reasons.
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: When playing the game without reading Nastasha's novel first, it initially seems like they did this for this trope only.

Peter Stillman
"Voiced By: Yoji Shinkawa (JP), Greg Eagles (EN)"

A bomb disposal expert and Fatman's mentor. Stillman helps Raiden and Plissken defuse several of his student's bombs, then dies trying to defuse one himself.


 * Cool Old Guy
 * Fallen Hero: Not to the extent that he turned evil, but after, he mainly attempted to deflect his evident panic attack by faking his leg being lost, although it did him more harm than good before he
 * Heroic Sacrifice:
 * My Greatest Failure:
 * My Greatest Second Chance:
 * Redemption Equals Death:
 * Redemption Equals Death:

President James Johnson
"Voiced By: Yuzuru Fujimoto (JP), Paul Lukather (EN)"

The 44th president of the United States, but really a puppet of the Patriots. Raiden is tasked with rescuing him.


 * Crotch Grab Sex Check: How he makes sure Raiden is a man.
 * Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: He defected to Son's of Liberty because he wanted more power, as he was essentially used as a puppet for the Patriots.
 * Puppet King: See Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The Patriots have Ocelot kill him.

The Patriots
A nebulous, possibly ancient conspiracy introduced in Metal Gear Solid 2. They secretly manipulate American politics and media, and use the "GW" AI to censor and control information flow. The events of the Big Shell incident are a test to extend this control to human thought with Raiden as the test subject. The Patriots themselves may or may not be: A group of twelve people who have been dead for 100 years, a sentient white house, or sentient internet memes. Metal Gear Solid 4 reveals the truth behind The Patriots:. They later reappeared in Peace Walker, this time under the alias of Cipher.


 * Abusive Parents: If  are anything to go by, the Patriots, under the alias of Cipher, adopted her when she was an orphan, and they apparently threatened her with a fate far worse than death if she failed or disobeyed her mission. Then there's their creation of the Sons of Big Boss, which is borderline sexual abuse considering that they created the children without Big Boss's consent.
 * Ancient Conspiracy: Subverted.
 * Bigger Bad: Word of God stated that the reason why the Patriots were created was so Solidus would not be shown as the absolute bad guy.
 * The Bad Guy Wins: It was heavily implied that the Patriots were the true villains in Metal Gear Solid 2 and the overall series, and that they actually won in the end of [MGS2]. Arguably, they also won in Metal Gear 2, when Solid Snake defeated Big Boss.
 * The Chessmasters: Obviously, as they instigated the events of Metal Gear Solid 2, and were also heavily implied to have had a hand in instigating the events of Metal Gear Solid in Nastasha Romanenko's book.
 * Genocide Backfire: Subverted. They deliberately spared only a few members of Dead Cell when they liquidated it specifically to have them try to get revenge on them just to further manipulate them for the S3 Plan. It worked.
 * He Who Must Not Be Named: Not that anyone with nanomachines is actually capable of saying their name, anyways, thanks to those nanomachines being programmed to force the person to say and hear "La Li Lu Le Lo."
 * I Have Your Wife:
 * New Media Are Evil:
 * Not Me This Time: Inverted: the populace (and President Johnson, more specifically), believed that the entirety of the Shadow Moses Incident was not done under their orders (as in, the development of FOXDIE and REX was not under their protocols), and was Solidus who instigated it. However, several things in the game (including In The Darkness Of Shadow Mose: The Unofficial Truth by Nastasha Romanenko), as well as various things within the game itself heavily implies that the Patriots did indeed have a very large involvement in the Shadow Moses Incident, even if it did ultimately go out of their control.
 * Omniscient Council of Vagueness
 * Playing with Syringes:
 * The Scottish Trope: The Patriots have programmed everybody's Nanomachines with the same blindspot: whenever you try to say, "The Patriots," your vocal cords actually produce, "The La-li-lu-le-lo." If you have nanomachines in you, you Cannot Spit It Out. ("La-li-lu-le-lo" can be seen as the Japanese equivalent to "X-Y-Z".)
 * Villains With Good Publicity: Sort of. It's not so much that they have good publicity to the people so much as they are so unknown to the people that, even if they didn't like what was happening, they couldn't pin it on the Patriots as they don't know they even exist.
 * Playing with Syringes:
 * The Scottish Trope: The Patriots have programmed everybody's Nanomachines with the same blindspot: whenever you try to say, "The Patriots," your vocal cords actually produce, "The La-li-lu-le-lo." If you have nanomachines in you, you Cannot Spit It Out. ("La-li-lu-le-lo" can be seen as the Japanese equivalent to "X-Y-Z".)
 * Villains With Good Publicity: Sort of. It's not so much that they have good publicity to the people so much as they are so unknown to the people that, even if they didn't like what was happening, they couldn't pin it on the Patriots as they don't know they even exist.
 * The Scottish Trope: The Patriots have programmed everybody's Nanomachines with the same blindspot: whenever you try to say, "The Patriots," your vocal cords actually produce, "The La-li-lu-le-lo." If you have nanomachines in you, you Cannot Spit It Out. ("La-li-lu-le-lo" can be seen as the Japanese equivalent to "X-Y-Z".)
 * Villains With Good Publicity: Sort of. It's not so much that they have good publicity to the people so much as they are so unknown to the people that, even if they didn't like what was happening, they couldn't pin it on the Patriots as they don't know they even exist.