List of Metal Gear Solid 3 characters

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This is a list of characters appearing in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Some of the characters from Snake Eater would return in the direct sequel Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops.

[edit] FOX unit

[edit] Naked Snake

Main article: Big Boss

[edit] Major Zero

Born in Exeter, England in 1909, Major Zero is Snake's commanding officer. Zero is also the founder and leader of the FOX unit, and previously served with the British S.A.S. (where he would later meet The Boss) and with MI6, where he was codenamed "O," from which the codename "Zero" is derived. Zero has a prominent scar across over his left eye, although it is never revealed how this occurred. Together with The Boss, Zero organised and planned the Virtuous Mission, and throughout the game, he will relay orders, tactical advice, and guidance to the player.

He initially uses the codename "Major Tom" during the Virtuous Mission, a reference to one of three tunnels dug by Allied P.O.W.'s in the movie The Great Escape. However, after the failure of this mission, Zero informs Snake that, upon watching the film again, the tunnel "Tom" was one of the two discovered by the Stalag guards. He then returns to use "Major Zero" as his code name, believing that his mistake brought bad luck upon the Virtuous Mission.

During both mission, it is revealed that Zero is very fond of tea, scones and Exeter City F.C., in a stereotypical British fashion. He is also an avid fan of James Bond, and is quick to launch into an angry tirade when Snake laughs at the idea of a globetrotting, gadget-using spy, who places himself in harm's way by sleeping with enemies of the opposite sex (which ironically he does every one of the listed things throughout the game). Zero also despises coffee, referring to it as "mud," and tends to bore Snake with tales of his experiences in the service and comparisons of professionalism between Snake's operational conduct and his own former S.A.S. unit. Zero also believes that, at some point in his life, he was abducted by aliens.

In Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, he and Snake are blamed for the FOX unit's revolt and Zero is kept in captivity in a military prison accused of treason. He is exonerated from the charges later on, and greets Snake on his return home. He can be recruited into the player's squad during subsequent playthrough if the player has a save data of Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel in their memory stick or by a password at the Recruit menu. In his career stats it is revealed that he has been a politician, quarterback, rescuer and deliveryman throughout his life.

• English voice actor: Jim Piddock
• Japanese voice actor: Banjō Ginga

[edit] Para-Medic

Born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1936, Para-Medic is a FOX support team member, who provides Naked Snake with surgical and medical information, as well as general information on the local flora and fauna. As Snake Eater is set before the modern use of the word "paramedic", her name instead comes from a portmanteau of "parachute" and "medic," due to her utopic wish to be a medic coming from the sky in any moment and in any place.

Para-Medic earned the nickname "Quack" during her employment as a doctor, which Snake quickly discovers is due to her penchant for chatting inanely for long periods of time, drifting off subject when relaying information and utilizing needlessly technical and specialized terminology, confusing to those unfamiliar with medical jargon and practice. She is generally repulsed by Snake's blatant disregard for selecting suitable plants and animals, which would generally be classed as a "people food." This is most apparent when Snake is deciding whether or not he should use the Spetnaz guard dogs as a source of food. She also acts in a overprotective way with Snake all along the game.

Para-Medic also loves movies, particularly science fiction and horror titles, and often mentions them to Snake after saving the game or when something reminds her of them. For example, Snake's helmet and breathing apparatus used during the HALO jump immediately preceding the Virtuous Mission remind Para-Medic of the film The Fly. Para-Medic can also be considered a "Japanophile," as she seems completely smitten with the country, its culture and its fads, such as "Kerotan" and "GA-KO." She later created the first paramedic system in Seattle in 1970, and the modern usage of the name supposedly comes from her going on to found it.

Para-Medic returns in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. She is a recruitable character in the single player campaign.

• English voice actor: Heather Halley
• Japanese voice actor: Houko Kuwashima

[edit] Sigint

Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Sigint is a member of the FOX unit, and the self-proclaimed "expert on weapons, equipment and cutting-edge technology", although his self-credibility would preceed him as an arms specialist and engineer. He provides detailed information on weaponry, machinery and camouflage techniques, as well as gadgetry to Snake during Operation: Snake Eater. His codename refers to the military term "SIGINT", or SIGnal INTelligence.

Sigint is the youngest member of the team, being only 24, and believes himself to be the only sane and normal member of the unit. Sigint tends to become easily irate, reprimanding Snake on various occasions for his strange and conspicuous choices in clothing and face paint (one memorable example being when he questions Snake on his use of a cardboard box for a disguise). He is also the character most responsible for breaking the "fourth wall", as well as attempting to explain away things that seem odd or not right. For example, playing the game a second time with The Boss' Patriot pistol will result in Sigint asking Snake how he managed to get his hands on the gun if The Boss is still alive and using the weapon herself. Snake will reply that Sigint worries too much about "the details." During the operation, Sigint is acting from his residence in Langley, Virginia. He developed the Active Sonar, the Motion Detector, the AP. Sensor, and the EZ Gun (available only on the lowest difficulty setting) which Snake uses, as well as the Raikov mask (a reference to the main character of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty). In 1965, Sigint joined ARPA and takes part in the development of ARPANET. In a radio conversation, he reveals to Snake that he suffered racial discrimination in his former jobs, due to the fact that he is Afro-American, and that Major Zero recruited him without any prejudices.

In 1970, he would later reprise his role as Snake's support in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. He is a recruitable character in the single player campaign.

• English voice actor: James C. Mathis III
• Japanese voice actor: Keiji Fujiwara

[edit] Cobra unit

[edit] The Boss

The Boss during the Virtuous Mission

The Boss (aka The Joy) is a legendary American soldier, the founder and leader of the Cobra unit and is known as the mother of the US special forces. She is known in Russia as Voyevoda, literally meaning, the person in charge. During the Second World War, she led the Cobra unit to victory at the Battle of Normandy. She was pregnant with The Sorrow's baby at the time and gave birth to a baby boy on the battlefield (through a messy caesarian section that left her with a permanent snake-like scar). The baby was taken by the Philosophers and would later grow up to be the man known as Ocelot.

She is Naked Snake's mentor; he saw her as a mother-figure and she saw him as the son she never got to raise. EVA, however, notes that their relationship is far deeper than any mother-son relationship, almost like one between lovers, but when she suggests there was any sexual component to it Snake reprimands her. She and Snake took on numerous missions for the ten years they were together, and the two of them are responsible for creating CQC.

During the events of The Virtuous Mission, The Boss defects to the Soviet Union and joins Colonel Volgin's renegade faction, becoming the lead instigator in the events that led to Operation Snake Eater. She serves as one of the game's main antagonists and is its final boss. Snake ultimately kills her in a field of white flowers. Shortly after returning to the States, he found out that the Boss had not defected but was undercover and sacrificed herself, which ultimately benefited America.

Hideo Kojima revealed in the Metal Gear Solid 3 commentary that The Boss was designed based on the image of Sharon Stone, and in later interviews that her design originally had her left breast exposed, however this design was changed as it was believed it would be seen too sexual.^[1] The Boss was also based on English actress Charlotte Rampling, particularly in regards to her face/mouth ^[2].

Similarly to how Big Boss has a lasting impact on his friends and relatives, The Boss' legacy leads Big Boss to retain his Naked Snake codename in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops believing he has not yet surpassed her.

• English voice actor: Lori Alan
• Japanese voice actor: Kikuko Inoue

[edit] The End

The End is a member of the Cobra unit with exceptional sniping and camouflage skills, born in the early 1860s. The End uses stun grenades and a highly customised Mosin-Nagant rifle converted to fire tranquilizer rounds. The End can become "one" with his environment, flora and fauna included. He apparently can summon the spirits of the "holy forest" he awaits in to revive his stamina through directed sunlight. His pet parrot alerts him to Snake's presence, and calls him "Grandpa". If Snake is defeated by The End, he will simply carry the unconscious protagonist back to the Graniny Gorki Laboratory prison cells, with the door unlocked, return to his position and await Snake's inevitable return.

If the player manages to perform a "hold up" on The End by creeping up behind him, The End will at first give Snake nothing, but will eventually relinquish his "Moss" camouflage uniform. This uniform not only provides a 100% camouflage index level in green, forested areas such a Sokrovenno and Tikhogornyj, but will allow Snake to regain stamina by lying in sunlight, just as The End does, via photosynthesis. If the player saves game data during the battle with The End, a bonus movie will be unlocked after reloading the game one week later in which The End dies of old age, allowing the player to skip the battle. A cheeky but better way to make The End die of old age without having to wait for a full week, is to simply enter your PS2s system configuration and set the clock two weeks in advance, which will also unlock the bonus movie. Additionally, the battle can be skipped by sniping The End in his wheelchair in the warehouse before entering Graniny Gorki using the Dragunov SVD. Eliminating The End using only non-lethal weapons, such as the Mk.22 tranquilizer gun, will allow the player to acquire The End's customized Mosin-Nagant rifle. The weapon is a non-lethal alternative to the SVD, although it has a slower rate of fire, due to it being a bolt-action rifle.

The End was based on "Old Boy", a concept character originally created for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Old Boy was an ancient soldier who had, among other things, been a Nazi Third Reich Generalfeldmarschall, and a mentor to numerous soldiers, including Big Boss. The character was discarded early during development, but his concept was reused in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.^[3]

The End was named the fourth greatest boss by Electronic Gaming Monthly in their 196th issue.^[4] The battle against The End is now considered one of the most unique, atmospheric and well-conceived combat situations ever created for a video game.^{[citation needed]}

• English voice actor: Grant Albrecht
• Japanese voice actor: Osamu Saka

[edit] The Fear

The Fear is a member of the Cobra unit with spider-like supernatural speed and agility. His elbows are double jointed, and he has a long, lizard-like tongue, that he can use to grasp objects. Capable of dislocating his joints at will, he is able to crawl, flip, and leap extremely quickly in the manner of a spider, and also climb trees and leap through forested areas with ease.

The Fear's weapons-of-choice are two steel crossbows; the larger being the "William Tell," which fires powerful darts capable of severe damage which can also be fitted with explosives or coated in potent neurotoxins. The second is the "Little Joe," which fires many darts in rapid succession and with the use of only one hand, albeit at the cost of damage inflicted to the target. The Fear also utilizes an advanced stealth camouflage technology which forces him to consume large quantities of food in order to maintain his body's stamina, as the drawback to the technology is its tendency to rapidly drain strength from the individual using it. This allows the player the opportunity to trick The Fear into consuming poisonous or rotten food in order to drain his stamina and cause his stealth camouflage to cease functioning. By defeating The Fear by reducing his stamina to 0, the player can pick up The Fear's "Spider" camouflage uniform. This camouflage provides excellent stealth capability for short periods of time, as it requires that Snake eat food to replenish his stamina every 20 or 30 seconds in order to maintain this ability. The Fear is based on a character called "Chinaman," who, like The End, was a concept character originally planned as a member of the Dead Cell unit in Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty. Ultimately, Chinaman was scrapped, and his abilities became additional skills used by the character Vamp instead.

• English voice actor: Michael Bell
• Japanese voice actor: Kazumi Tanaka

[edit] The Fury

The Fury is a member of the Cobra unit, former cosmonaut and pyromaniac. He operates utilizing a fire resistant Soviet space suit, in conjunction with a jet pack and a powerful flamethrower, both of which is powered by liquid rocket fuel. His codename reflects the unrelenting fury he feels towards the world and everything else while he is fighting.

His fight with Snake commences in the concrete environment of the underground leading to the enemy fortress Groznyj Grad. He comments to Snake that when he returned from space and descended into the Earth's atmosphere, he saw one vision; the world set ablaze (a possible theory put forth by fans is that he was burned alive in the atmosphere and his survival is what forced him to live in that fire based suit he fights in). He claims to have felt a terrible fury for being alive. The ensuing battle is fought in a dark, damp surrounding, with the two combatants attacking between long paths of concrete and pillars. The following demise of The Fury produces two projectiles of fires which flies through the air destroying the scenery.

If the player decides to defeat the character using a method of tranquilizing, then the player may obtain the "Fire" camouflage, which is predominantly red in color and, when worn, reduces fire damage to the player by half and prevents burns.

It should be noted that the Fury appears to have a caring side (and a deeper friendship with The Boss and The Sorrow than the other Cobra members) since he gives a soliloquy about how the The Boss should "...go on living..." before his ultimate demise.

• English voice actor: Richard Doyle
• Japanese voice actor: Takeshi Endo

[edit] The Pain

The Pain

The Pain is a member of the Cobra unit, who has the ability to control hornets at his will. Besides his hornets, The Pain is also equipped with a Tommy gun and grenades, using his hornets in conjunction with these weapons, as well as to deflect incoming gunfire and create the form of a body double to confuse and draw his opponents into the open.

Throughout his meeting with the protagonist, he conveys a desire of wanting him to feel the pain that he has endured. Despite his size, The Pain is remarkably agile, and can move very swiftly during combat. He wears a balaclava to mask his horrific appearance, and also as a final attack, carries three highly poisonous queen hornets (Bullet bees) inside his body, which he shoots out at Snake near the end of the battle. (They are nonetheless edible if caught).

Eliminating The Pain using only stamina depletion will result in the player receiving The Pain's "Hornet Stripe" camouflage uniform. While providing very little camouflage, the uniform allows the player to tame hornets for use against the enemy. It will also prevent Snake from being attacked by the cobalt blue tarantula and will also allow him to move through water without being fed on by leeches.

• English voice actor: Gregg Berger
• Japanese voice actor: Hisao Egawa

[edit] The Sorrow

The Sorrow is a former member of the Cobra unit, who was gifted as a medium. His ability to communicate with dead soldiers gave him several advantages in battle, such as being able to learn of enemy positions. The Sorrow and The Boss had a romantic relationship at a certain point in their life, which resulted in the birth of a child. The Sorrow was killed in action by the Boss, in Tselinoyarsk in 1962 after the Cobra Unit disbanded.

The Sorrow also makes a lot of hidden appearances during the cutscenes in the duration of the game. These appearances can be seen by holding the R1 button. During a cutscene the player can tap the R1 button to view these scenes, although in a couple of them, the player is not prompted to press the R1 button.

The Sorrow is the strangest enemy Snake fights in the game. During his boss fight, attacks of any kind are ineffective on The Sorrow, while Snake has to avoid the ghosts of everyone that the player has killed throughout the duration of the game. This army is directly related to the amount of kills made before this boss fight, meaning the more kills in the game, the longer the boss battle will be. If the player chooses to walk to the end of The Sorrow's river, he is instantly killed, but can be revived using the revival pill. If the player "defeats" The Sorrow in this way, they will later find the "Spirit" camouflage uniform, a black and gray suit that allows Snake to move silently even while running and regenerate stamina by choking enemies.

At the end when Snake kills The Boss, the player can see The Sorrow disappear along with The Boss' ghost by pressing R1. This would suggest that both of them attained nirvana after this.

• English voice actor: David A. Thomas Jr.
• Japanese voice actor: Yukitoshi Hori

[edit] Supporting characters

[edit] EVA

EVA is a female spy in the service of the Chinese branch of The Philosophers sent to retrieve the Philosophers' Legacy. EVA uses her charm and good looks to win over the trust of Snake and his enemies. In Operation Snake Eater, she infiltrates Colonel Volgin's base through the disguise of being Nikolai Stephanovich Sokolov 's lover named Tatanya and assists Snake through the alternative disguise of a KGB spy, to help him reach The Philosophers' Legacy, so that she can later steal it from him. EVA's presence in Snake Eater has been compared to that of the Bond Girls in the James Bond film series.^[5]

After the operation, EVA is presumed dead, after disappearing in Hanoi, Vietnam in 1968. She appears in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops as a recruitable character by completing a side-mission. It is revealed that she was fired from her job as a spy by PLA Intelligence after giving them a fake microfilm she thought was the Philosopher's Legacy. She escaped from China before they could kill her and became a freelance pilot/deliverywoman, still using her alias, Tatanya as seen in Russian writing in Snake's first conversation with her before recruiting her. She is also inside the magazine in-game as the centerfold. It is also revealed in a random radio conversation with Snake and Campbell in MGS: PO that Big Boss still had feelings for her despite her betrayal toward him.

• English voice actor: Suzetta Miñet (MGS3), Vanessa Marshall (MPO)
• Japanese voice actor: Misa Watanabe

[edit] Colonel Volgin

Colonel Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin is a bisexual Stalinist sadist and GRU colonel who attempts to seize control of the Soviet Union by overthrowing Nikita Khrushchev and installing Leonid Brezhnev and Aleksei Kosygin in his place. He is the primary antagonist of Snake Eater.

Having illegally acquired the Philosophers' Legacy from his father's money-laundering business, he now funds the development of the Shagohod, a nuclear equipped tank which he plans to use to win The Cold War for The Soviet Union. Volgin is killed at the end of the game, fried by a summoned bolt of lighting from The Sorrow. This is ironic, as the Colonel's body carried a charge of ten million volts, which he used in conjunction to his fighting style.

Not much is known about Volgin's personal life, except for his perverse sexual tendencies. He has taken lovers of both men and women, EVA and Major Raikov specifically, and all attest to his extreme love of sadomasochism, a love he brings into his work whenever possible. This seems to have had some effect on the younger Ocelot, as he goes on to have a penchant for sadism and torture via electricity, a small nod to the Colonel.

It is also revealed that Volgin is a highly superstitious man, as twice he chants the phrase "Kuwabara Kuwabara," a traditional Japanese mantra to ward off lightning or, in some cases, ghosts. He is also an extremely strong as well as tall man.

Volgin is briefly mentioned in Portable Ops, where it's revealed that he was manipulated by an unknown person into firing the American-made Davy Crocket into Sokolov's lab. The red suit Volgin wears under his jacket features the same logo on the shoulder as The Fury has on his helmet: BEI written in Cyrillic letters.

• English voice actor: Neil Ross
• Japanese voice actor: Kenji Utsumi

[edit] Sokolov

Nikolai Stephanovich Sokolov is a Russian nuclear scientist/overall elite engineer who was forced into serving GRU Colonel Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin during the events of Operation Snake Eater. He is a specialist in weapons technology, although he originally studied science to construct space rockets. He is the catalyst of the conflicts throughout Snake Eater.

Sokolov defected to the U.S.A secretly, however America and the Soviet Union agreed that in return for the Russians removing their missiles from Cuba, America would send Sokolov back to the Soviet Union. Rescuing Sokolov is one of Snake's primary objectives in the game. However, Snake fails to save Sokolov, as he is seemingly beaten to death off-screen by Volgin when Snake is captured when he is no longer needed by Volgin.

Despite his apparent death in Snake Eater, in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, it is revealed that he survived and was put in a prison camp in Russia, but Gene rescued him and helped him defect to the United States to see his family. He joined Gene's research team in which he designed Metal Gear. He provides information to Snake as an anonymous informant named "Ghost". Sokolov can be recruited into the player's squad by fulfilling a side-mission near the end of the game.

Parallels may be noted between Sokolov and real-life German rocket scientist Werner von Braun (including his American defection and place as the head of a rocket design burea), although creator Hideo Kojima has not made comment regarding this.

• English voice actor: Brian Cummings
• Japanese voice actor: Naoki Tatsuta

[edit] Ocelot

Main article: Revolver Ocelot

[edit] Granin

Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin is the director of OKB-812, the Granin Design Bureau. He is the man who originally came up with the concept of bipedal walking tanks (the blueprints for Metal Gear D and Metal Gear REX can be seen on his desk).

Although his idea is rejected by Volgin in favor of Sokolov's Shagohod, causing a rivarly between the two in Granin's mind. He meets Snake in his office while in a drunken stupor and threatens to send his plans to his American friend (the grandfather of Hal 'Otacon' Emmerich as he also had presented the theory of the bipedial tank 'Metal Gear' to other American scientists but was rejected something that he shared with Granin). Tatyana a.k.a. EVA gives Granin a pair of prototype K.G.B. transmitter shoes. He is then beaten to death by Volgin, who suspected Granin of being a mole. At the end of the game Ocelot tells the head of the CIA that he found these plans for Metal Gear and that it could prove to be a useful weapon one day soon (making it uncertain if Otacon's grandfather ever got a copy of these notes). Ironically, his rival Sokolov would go on to help build one of the first Metal Gear prototypes. Being drunk and depressed he assists Snake in his mission because of the complement Snake made on his shoes. He gives Snake the key to progress farther into the game by opening the locked warhouse door. Later EVA contacts Snake and wonders how he has gotten past the locked door. Snake then admits that Granin gave him the key. EVA wonders why Granin assisted him. Then Snake says, "I don't know, maybe because he was drunk." EVA then sighs.

• English voice actor: Jim Ward
• Japanese voice actor: Takeshi Aono

[edit] Major Ivan Raidenovitch Raikov

Major Ivan Raidenovitch Raikov is a high-ranking officer within Groznyj Grad and a parody of Sons of Liberty's Raiden. He is implied to be Colonel Volgin's secret lover, and subsequently has colonel-class authority even though he is only a Major. There are numerous references to Raiden, ranging from Raikov's likeness, his name, his fighting style, a locker poster, his effeminate nature and his effeminate voice in the English version. Snake knocks him out in order to steal his uniform and gain access to the room where Sokolov is being held.

In Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence's online mode, Raikov is a playable character who heads up the GRU unit. After the end of each round the player in the GRU unit with the highest score becomes Raikov. Raikov's special is a CQC move in which he grabs the crotch of his opponent which causes an instant stun. He also cannot be distracted by pornographic magazines.

Raikov returns in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops in a side mission. His men put him in a cell in the Western Wilderness when they join Gene in retaliation for Raikov beating them. He was transferred to the base in Colombia by his superiors after Volgin's death. By fulfilling a side-mission, Snake rescues him and Roy manages to convince him to join them since he would be considered a hero for stopping a nuclear launch and would be promoted. In the game it is revealed that he has been an artist and an athlete in his career outside the Soviet Army.

• English voice actor: Charlie Schlatter
• Japanese voice actor: Kenyu Horiuchi

[edit] References