Liquid Snake
| Liquid Snake | |
|---|---|
| Metal Gear character | |
 Promotional art of Liquid Snake in Metal Gear Solid as illustration by Yoji Shinkawa. | |
| First game | Metal Gear Solid (1998) |
| Created by | Hideo Kojima |
| Designed by | Yoji Shinkawa |
| Voiced by (English) | Cam Clarke |
| Voiced by (Japanese) | Banjō Ginga |
| Fictional profile | |
| Aliases |
Master Miller Liquid Ocelot |
| Affiliations | FOXHOUND, SAS |
Liquid Snake (Japanese: リキッド・スネーク Hepburn: Rikiddo Sunēku) is a fictional character from Konami's Metal Gear series.
Characteristics and design
Introduced in Metal Gear Solid, Liquid Snake is Solid Snake's twin brother and Big Boss's second clone via the Les Enfants Terribles project.[1] Raised in the United Kingdom following his birth, Liquid served as an operative for the British SAS and later became the field commander of FOXHOUND prior to the events of the game.[2] One of Liquid's motivations is his hatred towards Snake, as Liquid believes that Solid received all of Big Boss's superior genes, and that he was destined to be inferior. After the game's credits, it is revealed that Liquid was intentionally deceived in order to drive him to carry on with Big Boss's legacy.[3] Liquid resembles Snake in terms of facial appearance and physique, with the primary differences being his different skin tone and medium-length blond hair, as well as a tattoo of a snake entwined around a sword on his left arm.
It was intended during the finalization of Metal Gear Solid 2 for Liquid Snake to send Arsenal Gear crashing into Manhattan in the game's climax.[4] However, the line of dialogue that was intended to explicitly state this was cut from the final release, due to the September 11 attacks occurring as the game was nearing finalization. The dialogue, however, was retained in the novelization.
Appearances
Liquid Snake is introduced in Metal Gear Solid as the game's main antagonist. He Is Solid Snake's twin brother and Big Boss's second clone. He and Snake meet for the first time face-to-face in the torture room where the DARPA chief was killed by Revolver Ocelot. His ultimate goal is the restoration of Big Boss's "dying wish" in attempts to sever the world from control from "hypocritical politicians". Liquid battles Snake multiple times throughout the Shadow Moses Incident, such as the Hind D battle, and the battle against Metal Gear REX after Liquid manipulated Snake in activating the PAL codes via his Master Miller disguise. Though REX was armed and ready, Snake managed to destroy the Metal Gear, though Liquid survived and took Snake to the top of REX where he revealed their own "birth" as a result of the "Les Enfants Terribles" project. Both Liquid and Solid battled hand-to-hand atop REX, before Solid prevailed leaving Liquid for dead. However Liquid survived the fall from REX, and pursued Snake and Meryl Silverburgh in a jeep chase that resulted in a crash outside the island's facility. Liquid took one last attempt to kill Snake, but before he could, he realized that he was going to die and faced Solid one last time before he was killed by FOXDIE. Liquid's death left Snake perplexed as to when "[his] time is up".
Liquid Snake seemingly returns in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty as a dormant personality that would possess Revolver Ocelot after an arm transplant where Ocelot replaces his own severed hand with one taken from Liquid's corpse thanks to Solidus Snake.[5] Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots revealed that "Liquid Ocelot" was formed through artificial means in order to fool the Patriots.[6] Meanwhile, Liquid's corpse and Solidus's biomort was used to surgically reconstruct Big Boss.
Liquid Snake is alluded in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops as Big Boss's "son [who] will bring the world to ruin" and in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker on a secret tape that implies that Liquid and Solid act as an insurance policy for Cipher (the Patriots) in the event that Big Boss did not return to their fold.
Reception
In 1999, readers of GameSpot voted Liquid Snake into the list of top ten video game villains.[7] IGN included him in their 2011 list of top 100 video game villains, as number 53.[8] He was ranked as the 16th "coolest" video game villain by Complex in 2012.[9] GameDaily ranked him ninth on their "Top 25 Evil Masterminds of All Time".[10]
Liquid ranked first on IGN's 2008 list of the Metal Gear series' top ten villains,[11] also placing as seventh on their list of top ten Metal Gear boss battles.[12] Play ranked Liquid Snake the fifth best Metal Gear character, adding he "has become one of the most iconic villains of the franchise and is still one of its most popular characters."[13]
Liquid was included on GamesRadar 2008 list of "outrageously camp bad guys" at fifth place,[14] also giving honourable mention on their list of "mega plot twists you never saw coming" to finding out Master Miller is actually Liquid Snake.[15] In 2011, UGO Networks ranked Liquid as the fourth scariest fictional terrorist in entertainment,[16] also featuring him revealing himself in Metal Gear Solid on the list of the most shocking twists in gaming.[17] In 2012, GamesRadar featured both him and Solidus Snake at the second place on the list of most evil clones in gaming, commenting that "as evil clones go, the ones that threaten the world with thermonuclear war and eradication rank as some of the worst,"[18] and also listing him and Solid Snake as having one of best brotherly rivalries in gaming.[19]
References
- ↑ Kojima Productions. Metal Gear Solid. Konami. "Liquid Snake: There's a killer inside you... You don't have to deny it. We were created to be that way. / Solid Snake: Created? / Liquid Snake: Les enfants terribles... the terrible children. That's what the project was called. It started in 1970s. Their plan was to artificially create the most powerful soldier possible. The person that they chose as the model was the man known then as the greatest living soldier in the world..."
- ↑ KCEJ. Metal Gear Solid. "Roy Campbell: But he never once showed his face in Century House. He was taken prisoner in Iraq, and after that there was no trace of him for several years. After you retired, he was rescued and became a member of FOX-HOUND"
- ↑ KCEJ. Metal Gear Solid. "Revolver Ocelot: Yes. The inferior one was the winner after all. ...That's right. Until the very end, Liquid thought he was the inferior one."
- ↑ KCEJ. The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2. ""Liquid Snake": "Time to say goodbye." / "Liquid Snake" flips a switch inside RAY. / Solid Snake: "What are you doing?" / "Liquid Snake": "I’ve started Arsenal's navigation program. The course will take me straight into Manhattan." / Raiden: "You're planning to -- to crash this thing into New York City!?" / Solid Snake: "It'll be a full scale disaster..." / "Liquid Snake": "Disaster? That has a nice ring to it.""
- ↑ Kojima Productions. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. "Revolver Ocelot (Liquid Snake): The price of physical prodigy... Few more years and you'll be another dead clone of the old man. Our raw materials are vintage, brother. Big Boss was in his late fifties when they created his copies. But I -- I live on, through this arm. / Solid Snake: Liquid's arm?"
- ↑ Kojima Productions. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots. "Big Boss: And Ocelot... In order to fool the System... Used nanomachines and psychotherapy to transplant Liquid's personality onto his own. He used hypnotic suggestion to turn himself into Liquid's mental doppelganger."
- ↑ "Readers' Choice: Top Ten Video Game Villains". GameSpot. Archived from the original on October 3, 2009. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
- ↑ "Liquid Snake is number 53". IGN. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
- ↑ "19. Liquid Snake — The 50 Coolest Video Game Villains of All Time". Complex. 2012-11-01. Retrieved 2013-07-21.
- ↑ "Top 25 Evil Masterminds of All Time". GameDaily. Archived from the original on December 8, 2008. Retrieved July 26, 2013.
- ↑ Schedeen, Jesse (June 11, 2008). "Top 10 Metal Gear Villains". IGN.
- ↑ "Top 10 Metal Gear Solid Boss Battles". IGN. June 11, 2008.
- ↑ Smith, Sam. "Top 10 Best Metal Gear characters". Play. Retrieved April 22, 2013.
- ↑ Meikleham, Dave (November 15, 2010). "The Top 7... Outrageously Camp Bad Guys". GamesRadar. Retrieved April 20, 2013.
- ↑ Houghton, David (November 17, 2008). "The Top 7... Games with mega plot twists you never saw coming". GamesRadar. Retrieved April 20, 2013.
- ↑ Jensen, K. Thor (May 3, 2011). "The Scariest Fictional Terrorists Ever". UGO Networks. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
- ↑ Jensen, K. Thor (November 10, 2011). "The Most Shocking Twists In Gaming". UGO Networks. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
- ↑ "The Top 7... Evil clones". GamesRadar. January 9, 2012. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
- ↑ Rubens, Alex (May 18, 2012). "The 8 best brotherly rivalries in gaming". GamesRadar. Retrieved April 20, 2013.
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