Metal Gear/Characters Introduced in Metal Gear Solid And Sons of Liberty

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Naomi Hunter

Voiced by: Hiromi Tsuru (JP), Jennifer Hale (EN)

A geneticist with a past even she's not completely sure of, Naomi was chosen to support Snake during the Shadow Moses mission to provide feedback on the Genome Soldiers. She had her own agendas, which included injecting Snake with the biological weapon FOXDIE to kill the FOXHOUND members, which would then kill Snake himself later. It turns out she did it because she was Gray Fox's adopted sister and she wanted revenge (although Liquid also mentions that the Pentagon ordering her to do so had something to do with it).

Naomi returns and redeems herself in the fourth game where she helps Old Snake deal with Liquid Ocelot and forms a close relationship with Hal and Sunny.

  • Absolute Cleavage: in MGS4.
  • Face Heel Revolving Door
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: She and Emma Emmerich share the same voice actress.
  • Hot Scientist
  • Ill Girl: She is revealed to have cancer in the fourth game. The only reason she's alive is because of specialized Nanomachines keeping it in check.
  • Intergenerational Friendship: With Sunny.
  • Inconsistent Dub: In the original English version of Metal Gear Solid, Naomi was given a vaguely British sounding accent. When the dialogue was redubbed for the GameCube remake, Naomi was given a more neutral accent which was also used for Metal Gear Solid 4. Actually, she's from Rhodesia/Zimbabwe.[1]
  • Ironic Hell: Her tampering with the FOXDIE virus injected into Snake to have a wildcard activation to which even she won't know when it will activate, in revenge for Snake indirectly subjugating her brother, Gray Fox, through the Cyborg Ninja project / gene therapy project, ironically saves Snake from the intended fate of being killed by FOXDIE at the end of the mission. The Patriots also took note of this, as they had her imprisoned for doing that action.
  • Just Following Orders / Not in This For Your Revolution: The other reason for injecting Snake with FOXDIE was because the Pentagon ordered her to, as they wanted a way to both get rid of the Sons of Big Boss, and at the same time retrieve REX and the Genome bodies without risk of them being damaged. Of course, her listing Snake as one of the targets of the virus, or at the very least modifying the virus to activate as a wildcard value in Snake's case, was certainly not done under their orders or even the Patriots orders.
  • Redemption Equals Death
  • Tall, Dark and Bishoujo
  • TV Genius: She's a geneticist, but she still knows a lot about computers and hacking if the fourth game is to be believed...
  • What the Hell, Hero?: She calls out Snake for his role in Gray Fox's situation, which also acted as one of the reasons for injecting Snake with FOXDIE.

Mei Ling

Voiced by: Houko Kuwashima (JP), Kim Mai Guest (EN)

A girl on Snake's Mission Control, she is a teenage prodigy and tech wiz who developed the Soliton Radar and the Codec. She frequently quotes proverbs to lift Snake's spirits up. She later becomes a Naval officer in the fourth game.

FOXHOUND

A special forces group formed by Big Boss following the downfall of the original FOX unit. Both Solid Snake and Gray Fox were members of this unit. After Big Boss's Face Heel Turn in the first Metal Gear, the unit's co-founder and Executive Officer Roy Campbell becomes the new Commanding Officer in Metal Gear 2. The most well-known incarnation of the team is featured in Metal Gear Solid, where FOXHOUND has turned renegade after Solid Snake and Campbell left the unit. This incarnation of the team is composed of Solid Snake's Evil Twin Liquid Snake, his Dragon Revolver Ocelot, Ax Crazy Psycho Mantis, Defrosting Ice Queen Sniper Wolf, Magical Native American Vulcan Raven, and Replicant Snatcher (but not actual Snatcher) Decoy Octopus.

Liquid Snake

Voiced by: Banjo Ginga (JP), Cam Clarke (EN)

The leader of FOXHOUND and Shadow Moses Island, Liquid is the second of the "Sons of Big Boss" introduced. He has a major complex about Solid Snake, and was told for his entire life that he inherited Big Boss' recessive genes in order that Solid Snake could get the dominant ones, when in fact the reverse was true. Word of God says he isn't naturally blond.

  • You Fail Biology Forever: Doesn't know very much about genetics.
  • Badass Longcoat
  • Badass Long Hair
  • Big Bad: One of the series' most famous.
  • Blond Guys Are Evil: As stated above, he wasn't originally blond, but the blond hair resulted from being under the hot sun as a POW in Iraq.
  • Blood Knight: Happily accepts it, unlike his brother.
  • Cain and Abel: To Snake.
  • Calling the Old Man Out: He hates Big Boss because he thinks Big Boss knowingly made him the inferior one during the Les Enfants Terribles project, and he implies that one of the main reasons for wanting to continue Big Boss's dream of a world of conflict is so he would further tarnish Big Boss's reputation ("Now I'll finish the work that father began. I will surpass him...I will destroy him!")
  • Child Soldier: He was raised within the British Military, and assuming what the Official Missions Handbook stated about him is canon, he may have done some mercenary work as early as Age 13.
  • Disney Villain Death: Averted so hard. At one point when fighting Snake, he fights him on top of the ruined Metal Gear REX mech, a mech that is over ten meters and to which he claimed that the fall would kill even Solid Snake. Despite being knocked off the mech, he still manages to survive and drive a Jeep, chasing Snake.
  • Engineered Public Confession: Subverted in Nastasha Romanenko's novel. He (and presumably the other terrorists) actually knew all along that they had planted a radio bug on Snake and was recording everything he and his soldiers were stating, and his codec calls, but allowed for it to happen anyways.
  • Evil Brit: Liquid was given to the British government as an infant and was raised as a national.
  • Evil Counterpart: Although he was the definite villain in the game, it was also implied to be inverted, as Psycho Mantis remarked that Solid Snake was actually worse than Liquid in his dying speech.
  • Evil Twin: Though Psycho Mantis has implied that Solid Snake may actually be the true Evil Twin. Liquid is fighting for a cause, the restoration of Outer Heaven. Snake is fighting because he, on a subconcious level, needs war to feel alive. Although he later finds other reasons to keep on living.
  • He Who Must Not Be Named: According to Campbell, Liquid's real name was highly classified to the extent that not even someone within the highest ranks of the military (such as himself) are allowed to know it.
  • Humanoid Abomination: Strongly implied to be such by Vulcan Raven:

Vulcan Raven: You are a snake which was not created by Nature. You and the Boss... you are from another world... a world that I do not wish to know.

  • Implacable Man: It's insane what the guy can survive.
  • Improbable Piloting Skills: He was fully capable of piloting a Hind D in the middle of a blizzard as well as shooting down two F-16s arriving from the Galena Air Force Base, and also pilot it while operating the weapons operator seat.
  • Large Ham
  • Light Is Not Good / Dark Is Evil: Liquid referred to himself and Snake as "the brother of light" and "the brother of dark", although of whom he was specifically referring to in regards to the titles is never actually specified.
  • Master of Disguise: Strongly implied to be such, seeing how he effectively disguised himself as Master Miller after arranging for the latter's death.
  • Military Brat: Was the clone of Big Boss as well as raised within the British Military, as implied in Peace Walker.
  • Nietzsche Wannabe: Liquid Snake figures that he might as well do what his genes tell him, since otherwise, he's nothing. Justified, in that there's little else he ever had other than war, being created for the purpose of it.
  • No Shirt, Long Jacket
  • The Pawn
  • Psychopathic Manchild: Assuming Ocelot's fake possession portrayal of Liquid is valid, Liquid seems to qualify under this trope.
  • Psycho Prototype: Although it is heavily implied that Liquid Snake was created first, and the superior genes were used from him to create Solid Snake, The Stinger subverts this by revealing that he had the superior genes all along.
  • Rasputinian Death: He survived having his Hind D shot down by Solid Snake, being hit with multiple Stinger missiles, being caught directly within the explosion of Metal Gear REX, surviving a four story fall from Metal Gear REX, was hit with several bullets by a turreted machine gun onboard a Jeep, was caught within a Jeep crash, and he was still ticking up until he succumbed to FOXDIE. Even then, with the last one, he lasted longer against it in the remake, initially collapsing out of agony, but then attempting to grab Snake twice before staring him down and finally passing away, in what was about a few minutes. Only his father and Vamp surpassed him.
  • Shadow Archetype
  • Super Soldier
  • Walking Shirtless Scene
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy

Revolver Ocelot

Young Voice: Takumi Yamazaki (JP), Josh Keaton (EN)
Old Voice: Koji Totani (JP, MGS1-MGS2), Banjo Ginga (JP, MGS4), Patrick Zimmerman (EN)

Ocelot is A Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside An Enigma, known for his distinctive style of shooting a Single Action Army pistol (which he loves to reload), love of cowboy movies, love of torture, and ridiculous hand gestures. He also apparently works for FOXHOUND, the Sons of Liberty, and the Patriots, but for all we know he actually has an entirely different agenda. He is a major fixture of the series, being the only character to appear in five of the six PlayStation games released as of yet.

In Metal Gear Solid 3 we find out that Ocelot was originally an agent of the GRU. In MGS4 Ocelot is possessed by Liquid Snake and goes by the name Liquid Ocelot.

Psycho Mantis

Voiced By: Kazuyuki Sogabe (JP), Doug Stone (EN)

FOXHOUND's psychic member, Psycho Mantis was driven insane when he went to deep into a psychopath's mind. Famous for reading the player's memory card and commenting on the games saved on it.

  • Asexuality: Psycho Mantis has a particular distaste for the biologically universal "need for breed."
  • Ax Crazy: Of all the members of Liquid's FOXHOUND unit, Mantis was shown to be the most insane and depraved.
  • Badass Longcoat
  • Compelling Voice: It is implied that this is how Psycho Mantis applies his psychic abilities to place people under mind control (as his theme "Mantis' Hymn" often plays in the background of Meryl being brainwashed by Mantis, with Naomi also referring to it as his "mind control music").
  • Crucified Hero Shot: Inverted. Some official artworks as well as a certain attack of his have him in a pose similar to that of Jesus's crucifixion, and he's a villain.
  • For the Evulz: He reveals that he joined Liquid's little coup just to kill as many people as possible during his death speech.
  • Leitmotif: Mantis' Hymn
  • Meaningful Name: The "Psycho" part of his codename has two meanings: One is in reference to his psychic abilities. The other is also short for "Psychopath" or "Psychotic", referring to Mantis' evident insanity.
  • A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: One of Psycho Mantis' many problems.
  • No Fourth Wall: Probably the most obvious Fourth Wall Observer on the team, if not in the franchise.
  • Psychic Static: He wears the gasmask to keep it out.
  • Vader Breath: Naturally, he's wearing a gasmask, so the trope would apply.
  • Virtual Ghost: He is able to posses Screaming Mantis's armor after her defeat, and show off the fact that he knows jack about the Play Station 3's controller or save system.
  • Where I Was Born and Razed
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: He saw little point in the "selfish desire of passing their genes on." The (questionably canon) Official Missions Handbook seems to heighten his stance, where it claims that he actually wants to end up dying because a parasite (a byproduct of those with genuine psychic powers) was making him do bad things despite his best efforts to control it, because when he is dying, it will be gone, and then he'll at least briefly experience a peace in mind.

Sniper Wolf

Voiced By: Naoko Nakamura (JP), Tasia Valenza (EN)

FOXHOUND's sniper. Normally a cold woman, she nonetheless was kind to the Shadow Moses' dogs and Hal, resulting in Hal's infatuation.

  • Absolute Cleavage
  • Cold Sniper
  • Dark Action Girl
  • Death Seeker
  • Femme Fatale
  • In Love with the Mark: A rather twisted version, as Sniper Wolf becomes so obsessed with her targets that they are literally all she thinks about, to the point where she's said to fall in love with them... right before she puts a bullet through them anyway.
  • Laser Sight: Uses one.
  • Loves the Sound of Screaming: Kind of. She explains during her death speech that her lullabies were gunfire, sirens, and screaming; although the context it was given since she was actually born and raised during a time where her people, the Kurds, were being exterminated in Iraq, indicates that she was most likely meaning this literally.
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Sniper Wolf's hair is a very pale shade of green.

Vulcan Raven

Voiced By: Yukitoshi Hori (JP), Peter Lurie (EN)

FOXHOUND's shaman. He first fights Solid Snake in a tank, then in cold storage with a minigun.

  • Adaptation Expansion: His character is heavily expanded on in the MGS comic, him being the one who informs Liquid of the deaths of Mantis and Wolf, and giving away the secret of FOXDIE, along with some scope of Liquid's plot during his confrontation against Snake, as opposed to his simple hint in the game.
  • Ammunition Backpack: Vulcan Raven wears a massive ammo tank for his minigun on his back.
  • BFG: His eponymous 20mm M61-A1 Vulcan. In the GC version, it's said he he ripped it off one of the F-16's Liquid shot down.
  • Charles Atlas Superpower: Vulcan Raven's main power is "being really, really big." This apparently allows him to use a ~600 pound-plus-ammo M61 Vulcan cannon.
    • It is implied in the game that Vulcan, being a shaman, has mystical powers as well as physical strength.
  • Gatling Good
  • Genius Bruiser: He's a giant who is more than capable of lifting and using a M 63 A 1 Vulcan cannon, yet was also educated at the University of Alaska, and shown to be somewhat of a strategist.
  • Made of Iron: He carries a Vulcan cannon, and ammo, shirtless. In the Alaskan permafrost.
  • Tank Goodness: Vulcan Raven uses a tank during his first boss fight.
  • Walking Shirtless Scene

Decoy Octopus

FOXHOUND's impersonation expert. Solid Snake and the player never actually see what he looks like ingame. Instead Snake sees him when he is impersonating Donald Anderson, who dies shortly after.

Meryl Silverburgh

Voiced by: Kyoko Terase (JP), Debi Mae West (EN)

The niece of Roy Campbell (later revealed to be his daughter), Meryl always dreamt of being in the military and living up to her heroes in FOXHOUND, but proves to be less than competent. She later makes a comeback in MGS4, a lot more competent and tougher.

  • Action Girl
  • Amazonian Beauty: Meryl is a lot sturdier looking by MGS4, compared to her appearance in Metal Gear Solid. When you see her in her wedding dress, her arms are very noticeable... especially when she arm wrestles one of her teammates.
  • Cry Cute: In the ending of Act 1, after Ocelot's attempt at shutting down/hijacking the SOP system failed due to his using the wrong DNA (It Makes Sense in Context), Meryl is seen breaking down into tears due to her supressed emotions being unexpectedly released from the lockdown, strongly suggesting that, although she is certainly not a rookie anymore, she certainly hasn't gotten over her sorrow and reluctance to fire a weapon at living targets.
  • Debi Mae West: The role that made her famous.
  • Daddy's Girl: Averted, her legal father died while she was very young, and she never actually knew that her birthfather was actually her uncle until after the events of Metal Gear Solid. Even after that, Meryl ends up having an estranged, non-talking relationship with her father both because he married a brunette woman who was young enough to be his daughter by the time of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (not knowing that the marriage was actually a sham to protect the woman and her kid from the Patriots, as they won't use them as leverage for Raiden) and from the fact that she was conceived by her uncle in an extra-marital affair with her mom that she learned from Roy Campbell. It wasn't until the ending where Meryl marries Johnny Sasaki/Akiba that she and Campbell even start having a decent conversation.
  • Faux Action Girl: At least in the first game, though at least they admit it.
  • Heroes Want Redheads: Subverted: Meryl and Snake break up shortly after Shadow Moses.
  • Heroic Bastard: Meryl Silverburgh was conceived in an extramarital affair between her uncle, Roy Campbell, and her mother. It's also hinted that this is one of the reasons for her sore relations with her father in MGS4.
  • Hot Amazon: Her action girl status certainly seems to be a plus for Johnny.
  • Meryl Debuted In Policenauts: Not that you'd know it if you weren't Japanese.
  • Military Brat
  • Plucky Girl
  • Prison Rape: Implied at the end of Solid.
  • Took a Level in Badass
  • Tsundere
  • Victoria's Secret Compartment

Dr. Hal "Otacon" Emmerich

Voiced by: Hideyuki Tanaka (JP), Christopher Randolf (EN)

An Anime fanboy (so much so that his codename is based off an anime convention) Otacon is the designer of Metal Gear Rex, though he had no idea it was going to be used to launch nukes. After learning the truth, he vows to help Snake stop Metal Gear at all costs, and really becomes an Ascended Fanboy.

Johnny "Akiba" Sasaki

Voiced by: Naoki Imamura (JP, 1st voice), Jun Fukuyama (JP, 2nd voice), Dean Scofield (EN, 1st voice), Beng Spies (EN, 2nd voice)

Johnny first appeara in Metal Gear Solid as a guard with stomach problems whom Meryl strips and uses his clothes for her escape. His grandfather also served as a guard during the Cold War. In Guns of the Patriots, he became a member of Meryl's Rat Patrol 01. He loved Meryl ever since she stripped him in Shadow Moses. He ends up marrying her.

Kenneth Baker

Former president of Arms Tech.

  • Asshole Victim: Probably: The ability to have the stealth nuke on a railgun on REX to basically break retaliation theory is strongly implied to have been Baker's idea, and if the alluded to rumors of Boorda's true cause of death and the timing of the death and REX's development is anything to go by, he may have also had Boorda killed specifically because he wasn't able to get into the pentagon's black budget before Boorda.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive
  • Sacrificial Lamb
  • We Hardly Knew Ye
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: He developed REX as a means to keep his company from going under as a result of SDI and his loss of the Generation X fighter plane to another stealth manufacturing company.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The implied reason for why he was targeted for FOXDIE despite not being affiliated with the Terrorists.

Sergei Gurlukovich

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

The leader of a Russian a mercenary group and Olga Gurlukovich's father. 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.

  • 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. She is also being used by The Patriots, who are threatening to kill her child if she doesn't allow for Raiden's mission to suceed. To this end, she disguises herself as a ninja called Mr. X and randomly calls Raiden to give him advice. She dies in the end to save Raiden and her baby.

  • 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 to ensure the survival of her child.
  • 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 to keep her child alive.
  • Hot Shounen Mom
  • The Ladette
  • Lzherusskie
  • Mama Bear: 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 kill her baby.
  • 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: As Mr. X.
  • 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.
  • Vasquez Always Dies
  • 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.

Raiden

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.

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. Turns out there is - she was originally a spy for The Patriots sent to analyze Raiden, but sure enough, things got out of hand and her feelings became personal.

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

The Colonel/GW

Raiden's commanding officer during the Big Shell incident. An AI recreation of Roy Campbell.

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 also 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 take control of the Arsenal Gear built under the Big Shell and uses it's nuclear payload to create an electromagnetic surge over Manhattan, destroying all it's electronics and cut it off from the Patriots.

  • 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.

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Dual-Wielding
  • Eyepatch of Power: Subverted.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: He was first mentioned in the Meryl Ending of Metal Gear Solid.
  • Fate Worse Than Death: See The Pawn.
  • 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.
  • The Pawn: In MGS4, his corpse is used as decoy for Big Boss' body. He was also an unwitting pawn in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, as it turned out that he was actually helping the Patriots without his even realizing it until Ocelot made it clear.
  • 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: Nearing the end of MGS2, Solidus gives Raiden a speech about how the Patriots intended to protect their own power via massive censorship. Come MGS4, and we see that Solidus' fears turned out to be quite correct.
  • 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 eighties, 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.
  • Bizarre Human Biology: She was born with her heart on the right side, due to situs inversus. It briefly prolongs her life expectancy when Revolver Ocelot decides to off her with a shot to the heart, while forgetting that little fact.
  • 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

Vamp

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

A Romanian who has a penchant for knives and a taste for blood, Vamp is apparently immortal. 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Depraved Bisexual: He sleeps with Fortune and her father 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.
  • Driven to Suicide.
  • 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: Due to the Patriots giving him an experimental strain of nanobots, 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, even without his nanomachines.
  • 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.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: His design is modeled on flamenco dancer Joaquin Cortes.
  • No Shirt, Long Jacket
  • Nanomachines: The reason for his apparent immortality.
  • 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.
  • 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 his running on water as well as straight up high walls is apparently due to wearing special footwear. Gets back into familiar territory with his Healing Factor; while nanomachines enhance it and allow him to revive from mortal wounds in seconds without a scratch, it's stated that he always had this trait to a lesser degree.
  • 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. Shooting out the lights in the room will prevent this.
  • 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).
  • What Could Have Been: Vamp was originally supposed to be envisioned as a woman, but for some reason, his gender was changed in development. Also, he was originally supposed to be, similar to a real life Vampire, afraid of the crucifix, although it was mostly due to the trauma he experienced when the church he was attending in Romania was bombed with him and his family in it, where he actually was impaled by one.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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!"

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 Hal was seduced by Emma's mother. Hal's father found out and tried to drown himself, but accidentally pulled Emma in too, and Hal couldn't hear Emma screaming because he was with Emma's mother.

As a young woman working on developing the AI for Arsenal Gear, 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. She does not make it alive...
  • 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.
  • Kill the Cutie: 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.

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 failed to disarm a bomb at a church, 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 atoned for his sins at the Big Shell.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: See My Greatest Second Chance and Redemption Equals Death.
  • My Greatest Failure: He panicked when attempting to disarm a bomb at a church, which blew up and left several victims, including children. He also had to hide the fact that he lost his cool: See Obfuscating Disability below for more details.
  • Obfuscating Disability: Peter faked his disability to avoid facing the families of the victims of a bomb he was unable to defuse.
  • Redemption Equals Death: He ends up redeeming himself for his failure by willingly staying near the bomb at Shell H after his attempts at disarming it failed, and he got trapped in its microwave proximity sensor.

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.

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 were founded by Big Boss, Major Zero, Ocelot, Eva, Sigint, and Para-medic some time after Portable Ops, and perpetuated by five AIs: GW, TJ, AL, TR, and JD. (the first four being named after the initials of the Presidents on Mount Rushmore and the latter one meaning "John Doe"). They later reappeared in Peace Walker, this time under the alias of Cipher.

  • Abusive Parents: If Paz's diary tapes 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.
  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot
  • Ancient Conspiracy: Subverted. They were actually formed in the 1970s and only used the real Ancient Conspiracy, The Philosophers, as a cover story.
  • 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.
  • I Have Your Wife: The Patriots kidnapped Olga's daughter shortly after she gave birth to her, and then forced Olga into secretly aiding Raiden in his mission, even killing off her own unit if that's what needs to be done, with the threat that they murder Olga's child via Raiden's nanomachines going offline. They are later revealed to have done the exact same thing to Rosemary, and intended to kill her (and by extension, aborting Raiden and Rosemary's unborn child) should Raiden fail or refuse to kill Solidus Snake. It's also implied in Nastasha Romanenko's novel that the Patriots, via Richard Ames, also arranged for Meryl to be captured as a means of forcing Roy Campbell into aiding Snake in his mission and keep secrets of the true nature, with the threat of having Meryl murdered, and him as well, should he refuse to help or keep secrets.
  • Instant AI, Just Add Water
  • Mission Control: Except for Ocelot, all founding members served as one. Big Boss in the original game, Zero, Para-Medic, SIGINT and EVA during MGS3, though EVA is not an official part of the FOX crew.
  • New Media Are Evil: The Patriot AIs in MGS2 plans to take control of world media in order to "purify" it. How good or bad this is depends on you. Oh, and in MGS4, they're also all for constant war.
  • 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: Responsible for both Les Enfants Terribles and turning Gray Fox into the Cyborg Ninja.
    • Don't forget FOXDIE.
  • Redemption Equals Death: Well, at least for Big Boss, Ocelot and EVA...
  • 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.
  • Two Guys and a Girl: When the group was torn into two factions with the six founding members being divided into two groups consisting of the trope to lead each.
    • Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Zero and SIGINT could be the sensitive guys to Big Boss and Ocelot's manly men. The trope is also present within the pairs with SIGINT being the sensitive guy to Zero's manly man, while Ocelot is to Big Boss'.
    • Tomboy and Girly Girl: EVA and Para-Medic respectively.
  1. ↑ which was originally a British colony before they declared independence during the Cold War.
  2. ↑ The player has to survive the third torture round without submitting to learn it
  3. ↑ He's a Genome Soldier in the first game, a Gurlukovich mercenary in the second, and a member of Rat Patrol 01 in the fourth
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