List of characters in the Metal Gear series

The Metal Gear franchise features a large number of fictional characters created by Hideo Kojima and designed by Yoji Shinkawa. Its setting features several soldiers with supernatural powers provided by the new advancements of science.

The series follows mercenary Solid Snake, given government missions of finding the Metal Gear weapon. After his first two missions of opposing by his own mentor Big Boss in Outer Heaven (Metal Gear) and Zanzibar Land (Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake), Snake opposes the FOXHOUND special operations unit led by his twin brother Liquid Snake in Metal Gear Solid and then assists Raiden in fighting Solidus Snake while learning of the mysterious group the Patriots in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Additionally, there are several prequel games that follows Big Boss's past as well as the origins of FOXHOUND, Outer Heaven and the Patriots.

While the original Metal Gear games had their characters designs parodying Hollywood actors, the Metal Gear Solid games established a series of consistent designs based on Shinkawa's ideas of what would appeal to gamers. Additionally, several of the characters he designs follow Kojima and the other staff's ideas. Critical reception of the game's cast has been positive as publications praised their personalities and roles within the series.

Creation and designs

Much as Metal Gear began as a pastiche of action movies of the time, characters were pastiches of contemporary action movie heroes.^[1][2] Once Yoji Shinkawa started designing the characters in PlayStation's Metal Gear Solid, they were given their respective established visual appearances. As a result of the console's limitations, Shinkawa designed them an idea that would appeal to gamers.^[3] Because of the timeskip between titles, a few of the characters have been redesigned to fit in the game's year. With the improvements from new video game consoles like the PlayStation and PlayStation 2, the staff gave the characters a more realistic look starting with Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty although they initially had doubts about it.^[4] This brought difficulties to the staff as they had to make the faces more realistic.^[3] When illustrating characters, Shinkawa does not focus on their minor details,^[3] such as the eyes which sometimes does not try to draw, instead illustrating something more symoblic.^[5] While Solid Snake remained easy to illustrate as a result of him having a consistent design to the point Big Boss' younger self, Naked Snake, was conceived making minor changes to the original version of Solid Snake, other characters were more time-consuming owing.^[6]

During their debuts, player-characters Solid Snake and Raiden are meant to represent the player while in the following titles they acquire more defined personalities.^[7][8] As a result of the Snake's increasing experience in combat across the series, Kojima attempted creating more challenging antagonists for the boss battles. This resulted in Big Boss' clones from Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2 that had the same abilities as Solid Snake, the legendary Cobra Unit from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater who participated in World War II and the Beauty and the Beast Corps from Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots that had few human traits.^[9] While villains during the first games were given detailed backstories, the Cobra Unit members were intended to have little information known about them, resulting in a significant impact in the gamers upon their deaths following their boss battles. This gave Shinkawa difficulties in conceptualizing their visual appearances as a result of having little to no background details.^[6] By Metal Gear Solid 2, Kojima was inspired by the Sherlock Holmes novels to introduce a sidekick character in order to view Snake from a different perspective.^[10]

Metal Gear Solid also marks the first time that character were given voice actors with Solid Snake and Big Boss' younger self being voiced by Akio Ōtsuka. Ōtsuka remembers being surprised during his debut as a result of the large amount of dialogue Snake was given.^[11] In the English adaptations, the casting was directed by Kris Zimmerman and supervised by a member from Konami.^[12] Solid Snake's voice actor was David Hayter who, despite having issues with some of the dialogue in Metal Gear Solid, became attached to the series.^[13]

Introduced in Metal Gear

Solid Snake

Solid Snake (ソリッド・スネーク, Soriddo Sunēku) is the primary protagonist of the series. In both Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Snake is a rookie member from FOXHOUND and is given the mission to find and destroy the Metal Gear located within the fortress Outer Heaven.^[14] After success both times, Snake is confronted each time by his own superior and tutor Big Boss as his main enemy.^[15] Afterwards, Solid Snake learns that he was artificially conceived from Big Boss' genes as he fights against his terrorist twin Liquid Snake in Metal Gear Solid,^[16] and assists Raiden in fighting against Solidus Snake in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. By Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, he gives himself the nickname Old Snake (オールド・スネーク, Ōrudo Sunēku) due to his accelerated aging process and is the playable character once more.^[17] Solid Snake is voiced by Akio Ōtsuka in Japanese and David Hayter in English.^[11][13]

Big Boss

Big Boss (ビッグ・ボス, Biggu Bosu) is known as the greatest soldier that ever lived. In Metal Gear, Big Boss is Solid Snake's commanding officer but reveals himself to be the enemy leader by the game's epilogue.^[18] In Metal Gear 2, he fights Snake a second time to which he's apparently being killed. The character's past is explored in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater where he's a member of FOX special forces under the code name Naked Snake (ネイキッド・スネーク, Neikiddo Sunēku).^[19] After defeating his legendary war hero mentor The Boss, he gains the title "Big Boss".^[20] While dealing with his mentor's death, he establishes his own groups: FOXHOUND in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops and Militaires Sans Frontières in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.^[21] Naked Snake shares Solid Snake's voice actors (Akio Ōtsuka in Japanese and David Hayter in English), Big Boss is voiced by Chikao Ōtsuka and Richard Doyle, and Punished Snake will be voiced by Kiefer Sutherland.^[22][23]

Gray Fox

Gray Fox (グレイ・フォックス, Gurei Fokkusu, spelled "Grey Fox" in the MSX2 games) was a high-ranking agent of FOXHOUND. First appearing in the original Metal Gear, he goes missing during a mission prior to the game's events with his last transmission being a cryptic message simply saying "Metal Gear".^[24] He returns in both Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake as an enemy of Snake while revealing his real name Frank Jaeger (フランク・イェーガー, Furanku Yēgā, "Frank Yeager" in the MSX2 version) and in Metal Gear Solid fighting Liquid Snake's army as the original Cyborg Ninja. For Japanese, Gray Fox is voiced by Kaneto Shiozawa Metal Gear Solid and Jun Fukuyama in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. For English, the character is voiced by Greg Eagles in Metal Gear Solid, Rob Paulsen for the following titles, and Larc Spies in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops.

Pettrovich Madnar

Dr. Drago Pettrovich Madnar is an Eastern engineer responsible for creating the TX-55 Metal Gear mecha in the original Metal Gear, as well the TX-11 Arnold (Bloody Brad) androids.^[25] Dr. Pettrovich is one of the hostages Snake must rescue along with his daughter Ellen. In Metal Gear 2, Dr. Pettrovich bitterly defects to Zanzibar Land and develops Metal Gear D after being rejected by the scientific community. He comes in contact with Snake in the game while posing as a hostage, but attacks him after the truth is revealed.^[26] He somehow survives and is mentioned in Metal Gear Solid 4 as the scientist who saved Raiden's life after he was turned into a cyborg by The Patriots.^[27]

Kyle Schneider

Kyle Schneider (カイル・シュナイダー, Kairu Shunaidā) is the leader of a resistance movement against Outer Heaven in Metal Gear, who helps Snake as a radio contact.^[28] He discovers the identity of the Outer Heaven leader, but is silenced before he can mention his name.^[29] In Metal Gear 2, Schneider appears under the guise of "Black Color" ("Black Ninja" in the re-releases), a high-tech ninja under the service of Zanzibarland and the first boss in the game.^[30] Solid Snake defeats him during a battle but does not learn his true identity until he collapses.^[31] He then reveals to Snake that NATO led a bombing raid against Outer Heaven, not caring about the war orphans or war refugees.^[32] Before dying, he also tells Snake that Big Boss had forgiven the resistance for being against him, and rescued as many of them as he could from the bombings, both Outer Heaven personnel and Resistance members.^[33]

Introduced in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake

Roy Campbell

Col. Roy Campbell (ロイ・キャンベル大佐, Roi Kyanberu Taisa, "Roy Kyanbel" in the MSX2 version of Metal Gear 2), is a commanding officer of FOXHOUND.^[24] Introduced in Metal Gear 2, he serves as Solid Snake's primary radio contact in the game and gives information about his mission objective and general gameplay tips.^[34]

In Metal Gear Solid, Campbell has more of a personal stake in a new mission, as his niece (who is later revealed to be his daughter) Meryl Silverburgh is held captive by the revolutionary force Snake is battling.^[35] In Metal Gear Solid 2, Campbell is impersonated by "Colonel", Raiden's commanding officer who supports him via codec. When a computer virus starts taking effect on Arsenal Gear, it is revealed that the Colonel is an elaborate A.I. constructed by supercomputer GW from The Patriots in order to manipulate Raiden.^[36]

Although he is not involved in the main story, Campbell makes a voice only cameo in Metal Gear Solid 3 during the game over screen scolding Snake for causing a time paradox if the player kills certain supporting characters. He also appears in the Ape Escape crossover minigame "Snake vs. Monkey". In Portable Ops, a young version of Campbell is imprisoned by the FOX unit in South America with Naked Snake (Big Boss). The two escape and begin to recruit disenfranchised enemy soldiers and other allies to their cause. While in the original version of Portable Ops, Campbell cannot be added as a member of Snake's squad, because he had a broken leg at the time and thus only communicates with the player via the radio, he can be added in the expanded version, although only if the player beats Extreme Mode.^[37]

In Metal Gear Solid 4, Campbell works for a UN Security Council advisory body that monitors PMC activities.^[38] He sends Solid Snake on an unofficial mission to assassinate Liquid Ocelot in order to put a stop to his plans. He provides the means of transportation Snake uses to complete his mission.^[39] He is married to Rosemary which causes a rift between him and Meryl (who is now aware that Campbell is her father). However, the marriage is a sham used to fool the Patriots and protect her (and Raiden's) son John.^[40]

Outside the main canon, Campbell reprises his role as Snake's reluctant commanding officer in the Game Boy Color game Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, a side-story which serves as an alternate sequel to the events of the original Metal Gear. Campbell, along with Otacon and Mei Ling serves as one of Snake's codec contacts in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He also makes a brief codec appearance in a minigame in Ape Escape 3.

Roy Campbell is voiced by Takeshi Aono in most Japanese games and Paul Eiding for most English games,^[41] while the character in Portable Ops is voiced by Toshio Furukawa in Japanese and David Agranov in English. In Ape Escape 3, he is voiced by Michael McColl.

Master Miller

Master Miller (和平・ミラー, Wahei Mirā), real name originally McDonnell Benedict Miller (マクドネル・ベネディクト・ミラー, Makudoneru Benedikuto Mirā) but retconned as Kazuhira Miller (カズヒラ・ミラー, Kazuhira Mirā), is a drill instructor and survival coach.

Introduced in Metal Gear 2, he's a member of FOXHOUND and one of Solid Snake's radio contacts. In Metal Gear Solid, Master is murdered prior to the game's events and Liquid Snake assumes his identity to trick Snake to unknowingly do his bidding.^[42] Miller was originally depicted as an Asian-looking man with black hair in the MSX2 version of Metal Gear 2 while the character in Metal Gear Solid is depicted with blond hair and aviator sunglasses. Revisions of Metal Gear 2 following the 2004 mobile phone version depicted Miller in this design. Various materials stated also that he was originally a third-generation Japanese-American who was born 60 years after his grandparents immigrated to America.^[43] In Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Kaz serves as second-in-command in Big Boss's Militaires Sans Frontières mercenary group.^[44] The game also retconned his upbringing as the son of a US officer and a Japanese woman as well as his short-lived service in the JSDF.^[45]

Master Miller shares Liquid Snake's voice actors (Banjō Ginga for Japanese and Cam Clarke for English) while Kazuhira Miller is voiced by Tomokazu Sugita in Japanese and Robin Atkin Downes in English.^[46]

Kio Marv

Dr. Kio Marv is a Czechoslovak biotechnologist and erstwhile video game designer. In the backstory of Solid Snake, Marv successfully creates a new algae species called OILIX that could produce petroleum-grade hydrocarbons with little expense and effort. Marv presented the algae to the World Energy Conference in Prague, and was on his way to a demonstration in the United States when he was kidnapped by soldiers from Zanzibarland. Solid Snake is brought out of retirement by FOXHOUND's new commander, Roy Campbell, and is sent to Zanzibarland to rescue Dr. Marv. However, he dies of torture in his cell and left behind the OILIX plans for Snake to find.^[47]

Holly White

Holly White is an American freelance journalist. Born from a French mother and an English father, she became interested in literature at an early age and was later awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her coverage in Afghanistan plus an Emmy Award (mistakenly referred to in the original manual as a Grammy Award) for her documentary, Unknown Bloodstream. Her newfound fame eventually gets her the attention of the CIA. She infiltrates Zanzibarland as a journalist and assists Solid Snake over the course of the mission.^[47]

Gustava Heffner

Natasha Marcova, or Gustava Heffner in later versions, is a former professional figure skater. Once known as one of the world's best figure skaters (with stints in the world championships and the Olympics under her belt), Heffner was stripped of her competition rights after being caught in an attempt to seek political asylum in Canada with Frank Jaeger. She sought to redeem herself by joining the StB (Czechoslovak State Security). She is escorting Dr. Marv to America when Zanzibarland agents hijack their plane.^[47] Later in the game, she joins Snake in rescuing Dr Marv, but dies when Jaeger (as Gray Fox in Metal Gear D) destroys the bridge she is on.

George Kessler

FOXHOUND's resident strategist and advisor, Kessler's (known as George Kasler in other versions) military career includes service with mercenaries from South Africa and the French Foreign Legion, plus a short stint in negotiation and combat intelligence-gathering. He is also a veteran of the 1997 Mercenary War of Independence in Zanzibarland, fighting the CIS Army. Kessler's service earns him a lasting reputation in the mercenary community; only mercenaries who have worked with him can be truly recognized as the best in the world.^[47]

Johan Jacobsen

Yozef Norden, or Johan Jacobsen in later versions, is a zoologist specializing in the preservation of all endangered species. He is the vice-president of the fictional Worldwide Animal Rights Federation and works for the science magazine Maxwell. He is revealed to have been acquainted with Dr Madnar since their days in college and is in Zanzibarland to study indigenous animals.^[47]

Introduced in Metal Gear Solid

Naomi Hunter

Dr. Naomi Hunter (ナオミ・ハンター博士, Naomi Hantā Hakase) is a geneticist by practice,^[24] and specializes in nanotechnology-based gene therapy.

In Metal Gear Solid, she is the chief of FOXHOUND's medical staff and part of the support crew assembled to assist Solid Snake, providing the player with information on the FOXHOUND members Snake faces.^[48] Being Gray Fox's adopted sister, she attempted to get revenge on Snake^[49] for attempting to kill her brother.^[50] When instructed to inject Snake with the FOXDIE virus, she secretly modifies it so that it will kill Snake at a random moment in addition to its original programming.^[39] As the game progresses, Naomi realizes that some of her original perceptions of him were wrong and is later remorseful for modifying the virus. Uncertain of when exactly the FOXDIE would kill Snake, Naomi tells him to live his life to the fullest in whatever time he had left.^[51] Afterwards, Nastasha Romanenko's account reveals that Naomi was briefly arrested following the Shadow Moses incident until her escape.^[52]

In Metal Gear Solid 4, Naomi is working with Liquid Ocelot in order to hijack the SOP battlefield control system,^[39] but joins Snake's group once again. She becomes romantically involved with Otacon and forms a friendship with Sunny. When they return to Shadow Moses, Naomi reveals that she has been diagnosed with terminal cancer that has been kept in check by nanomachines and, guilt-ridden over her past mistakes, commits suicide by disabling them.^[53]

Naomi Hunter is voiced by Hiromi Tsuru in Japanese and Jennifer Hale in English.

Revolver Ocelot

Otacon

Meryl Silverburgh

Mei Ling

Mei Ling (美玲（メイ・リン）, Mei Rin) is a Chinese-American data analyst in charge of saving the player's progress in Metal Gear Solid. She invents Solid Snake's wireless communication system, the codec radio, as well as the Soliton Radar, which detects the positions and field of vision of nearby enemy soldiers.^[54] Every time Snake saves his data, Mei Ling provides him with advice through Chinese proverbs, as well as quotations from Western authors. In the Japanese version, Mei Ling only quoted Chinese proverbs: she would cite the original proverb in Chinese and then explain its meaning to Snake in Japanese. According to Kojima, this made some of the proverbs redundant after translating them to English, since Mei Ling would be saying the same thing twice.^[55] In Metal Gear Solid 2, Mei Ling is part of Philanthropy, an anti-Metal Gear organization, but assists Snake and Otacon off-screen, attempting to steal equipment from the SSCEN. She makes a voice-only cameo in the game as an easter egg during the Tanker chapter, after the player has saved their progress 13 times.^[56]

In Metal Gear Solid 4, Mei Ling commands the museum-turned-training vessel USS Missouri and provides Snake and Otacon with backup, courtesy of her connections from the SSCEN.^[39][57]

Mei Ling has made a few appearances outside the main series of Metal Gear games. She is a central character in the radio drama version of Metal Gear Solid (set after the events of the original game) and appears in the Game Boy Color version of Metal Gear Solid (a side story unrelated to the main series). Mei Ling is also one of Snake's support crew in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.^[58] Mei Ling is voiced by Houko Kuwashima in Japanese and Kim Mai Guest in English.

Johnny Sasaki

Johnny Sasaki (ジョニー, Jonī) is a recurring character

First appearing in Metal Gear Solid, he is an enemy guard whose uniform is stolen by Meryl Silverburgh and again later in the game whilst Solid Snake is being held in-between torture sessions with Revolver Ocelot while suffering from a cold and diarrhea. Johnny's character is never named in the game and is listed only in the ending credits as Johnny Sasaki (ジョニー 佐々木, Jonī Sasaki). The surname Sasaki comes from the game's character model designer Hideki Sasaki. According to the developers' commentary in Metal Gear Solid: Integral, Hideki was known among the staff for his slackoff behavior and the character was included in the game as an running gag.^[59]

Johnny later returns for a pair of voice-over only cameos in Metal Gear Solid 2.^[56] In an early version of the game's story, his full name was to be Johnny Sasaki Slater (ジョニー・佐々木・スレイター, Jonī Sasaki Sureitā) and originally had a minor role in the story in which his character (a spy for the Patriots) would die from a pacemaker malfunction after coming in contact with Raiden.^[60] During the game, Raiden can hear Johnny talking using a directional mic in Big Shell.^[56]

In the game of Metal Gear Solid 4, Johnny is nicknamed Akiba (アキバ) and is a member of Meryl's Rat Patrol Team 01. Also, his face is revealed for the first time in the series. He and Meryl assist Snake in Outer Haven by allowing him time to reach the server room. It is revealed that he had been in love with Meryl since he first saw her at Shadow Moses, and they get married in the epilogue. Unlike all of the other soldiers in the Army and the PMCs, Johnny does not have nanomachines since he always avoided the injections due to his trypanophobia; the lack of such explains his frequent spells of colds and diarrhea. While this gives him poor combat performance in comparison to his squad mates, he is completely immune to Liquid Ocelot's ability to directly attack soldiers' nanomachines. He also appears in the first Metal Gear Online expansion as a playable character.^[61]

Johnny for most games was voiced by Naoki Imamura for Japanese and Dean Scofield for English while the character in Metal Gear Solid 4 is voiced by Jun Fukuyama in Japanese and Beng Spies in English.

Psycho Mantis

Psycho Mantis (サイコマンティス) is a psychic expert for the FOXHOUND unit. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he came to America looking for a job. Prior to joining FOXHOUND, he worked with the KGB and the FBI. His special abilities include the psychic powers of psychokinesis and telepathy. As a result of being disgusted with his father's inner thoughts, he burned his own village and started despising people.^[62] He also claims to be able to read the future, but this is implied to be a use of telepathy to find out what his opponents will do next as opposed to true clairvoyance. His predictions also seem to be susceptible to change, stating that Snake has a large place in Meryl's heart, but cannot see if their futures lie together. In Metal Gear Solid, Mantis encounters Snake twice, the first time he takes control of Meryl's mind, the second encounter he and Snake do battle, with Mantis being killed.^[63] After defeating Screaming Mantis in Metal Gear Solid 4, the original Mantis makes an appearance, attempting to "read your mind" and manipulate the controller as before, but cannot due to the advanced systems before vanishing into the air. Drebin later reveals that the Beauty and the Beast Corps had been under the control of Mantis all along.^[64]

Psycho Mantis was polled as the 8th Greatest Video Game Villain of All Time by IGN, and his boss battle being the 2nd Greatest Moment in Gaming.^[65][66] For Japanese, Psycho Mantis is voiced by Kazuyuki Sogabe in Metal Gear Solid and Shōzō Iizuka in Metal Gear Solid 4. For English, the character is voiced by Doug Stone.

Sniper Wolf

Sniper Wolf (スナイパー・ウルフ, Sunaipā Urufu) is the Iraqi-Kurd sharpshooter of the FOXHOUND unit. She uses a Heckler & Koch PSG1.^[67][68] Though snipers usually work in pairs, Sniper Wolf works alone.^[69] She is also another "disciple" of Big Boss.^[70] During the takeover, she was friendly to Otacon, allowing him to feed the wolves and giving him a handkerchief. Otacon became infatuated with her and was devastated by her death. During Metal Gear Solid, she fights Solid Snake twice, the first time results in Meryl being captured, Wolf with mild blood loss, and Snake being tortured,^[71] in the second battle she is killed.^[72] Sniper Wolf is voiced by Naoko Nakamura in Japanese and Tasia Valenza in English.

Vulcan Raven

Vulcan Raven (バルカン・レイブン) is an Inuit member of FOXHOUND who wields a giant Vulcan cannon and has shamanic powers of intuition. He is able to discern Solid Snake's heritage and was present in Outer Heaven prior to his involvement at FOXHOUND.^[73][74] In Metal Gear Solid, he does battle with Snake twice, the first battle with Raven in an M1 Abrams tank,^[75] the second in a freezer with Raven being killed. During his death scene he gives info on the real identity of the DARPA Chief. He also leaves Snake with a cryptic message of his violent future before his body is completely devoured by ravens.^[76] Vulcan Raven is voiced by Yukitoshi Hori in Japanese and Peter Lurie in English.

Decoy Octopus

Decoy Octopus (デコイ・オクトパス) is a member of FOXHOUND that specializes in impersonation; he even injects the blood of those he impersonates into his own body for a more "perfect" disguise. Along with the rest of his unit, he went rogue during the Shadow Moses island incident. In Metal Gear Solid, he impersonates DARPA Chief Donald Anderson after Ocelot killed him during interrogation,^[76][77] and is killed by the FoxDie virus.^[78] As Anderson, he lies to Solid Snake about having his detonation code found out by Psycho Mantis and also informs him of the PAL override system.

Nastasha Romanenko

Nastasha Romanenko (ナスターシャ・ロマネンコ) is an expert on nuclear topics. She was born in Ukrainian SSR and was just ten years old when the Chernobyl Accident took place.^[79] In Metal Gear Solid, she is Solid Snake's contact on matters related to nuclear weapons.^[80] After the game's events, her character writes an autobiography titled In the Darkness of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth and then forms the anti-proliferation group "Philanthropy" with the profits she made.^[60] This fictional publication serves as a plot summary of Metal Gear Solid (and reveals previously undisclosed plot details about the events of the games), and is included as a bonus feature in Metal Gear Solid 2.^[79] Nastasha Romanenko is voiced by Eiko Yamada in Japanese and Renee Raudman in English.

Donald Anderson

Donald Anderson (ドナルド・アンダーソン) is the office chief of DARPA. As an advocate of the nuclear retaliation theory, he funds the Metal Gear REX project with ArmsTech as part of the US' black budget but was taken hostage by FOXHOUND.^[81] In Metal Gear Solid, Anderson recognized Revolver Ocelot during his torture as not truly working for the terrorists.^[77] After Ocelot "accidentally" killed Anderson, he was impersonated by Decoy Octopus to fool Solid Snake into using the card keys.

In his youth, he goes by the codename Sigint (シギント) as Naked Snake's technical advisor during Metal Gear Solid 3 as well as in Portable Ops. In Metal Gear Solid 4, it is revealed that Sigint was one of the Patriots' founding members who sided with Zero and that his death was planned by EVA and Ocelot to get to Zero.^[82]

Donald Anderson is voiced by Masaharu Sato in Japanese and Greg Eagles in English while Sigint is voiced by Keiji Fujiwara for Japanese and James C. Mathis III for English.

Kenneth Baker

Kenneth Baker (ケネス・ベイカー) is the president of ArmsTech, one of the leading manufacturers of the arms industry and taken prisoner by FOXHOUND.^[81] In Metal Gear Solid, he is tortured by Revolver Ocelot, then rescued by Solid Snake. After he gives away his detonation code to Ocelot, Snake is unable to rescue him before as he is killed by the FoxDie virus.^[78] He is the first person to realize that FoxDie exists and nearly tells Snake the truth about his mission, but succumbs to the virus before he can finish his sentence. Kenneth Baker is voiced by Yuzuru Fujimoto in Japanese and Allan Lurie in English.

Jim Houseman

Jim Houseman (ジム・ハウスマン) is the United States Secretary of Defense who observes the situation on Shadow Moses Island aboard an AWACS command plane.^[81] He makes only one appearance at the end of Metal Gear Solid via CODEC where he orders the Shadow Moses base to be bombed.^[83] According to In the Darkness of Shadow Moses, he commits suicide following the events of the game but Nastasha Romanenko suggests he was murdered.^[84] Jim Houseman is voiced by Tomohisa Aso in Japanese and William Basset in English.

Liquid Snake

Introduced in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Olga Gurlukovich

Olga Gurlukovich (オルガ・ゴルルコビッチ, Oruga Gorurukobitchi) is a member of her father's mercenary unit during Metal Gear Solid 2.^[24] Her character was somewhat based on Meryl Silverburgh yet Kojima wanted to make her look like a professional rather than a rookie.^[85] She first appears in the Tanker chapter as a member of her father's mercenary unit and is the sole boss character in this portion of the game. She takes over her father's unit after his death in the Tanker chapter, lending her team to the Sons of Liberty terrorist faction.^[86] She is actually an unwilling agent for the Patriots, who are holding her child hostage, and assists Raiden as the second Cyborg Ninja calling herself Mr. X,^[87] simulating Gray Fox during Metal Gear Solid.^[88] By doing so, she is betraying her comrades to ensure her child's safety, a realization that makes her feel guilty. After she reveals herself to Solidus in order to save Raiden, she is killed with a shot to the head.^[89] Olga Gurlukovich is voiced by Kyoko Terase in Japanese and Vanessa Marshall in English.

Sergei Gurlukovich

Colonel Sergei Gurlukovich (セルゲイ・ゴルルコビッチ, Serugei Gorurukobitchi) is Olga Gurlukovich's father and Revolver Ocelot's former commanding officer. An officer in Russia's Spetsnaz and GRU, he leads his personal team of mercenaries who seizes the Discovery during the Tanker chapter of Metal Gear Solid 2 for the purpose of hijacking Metal Gear RAY.^[90] In the course of the operation, Gurlukovich is betrayed and killed by Ocelot due to the Patriots wanting RAY for their cause.^[91] Sergei Gurlukovich is voiced by Osamu Saka in Japanese and Earl Boen in English.

Scott Dolph

General Scott Dolph (スコット・ドルフ, Sukotto Dorufu) is the commandant of the Marine Corps and Fortune's father. In the Tanker chapter of Metal Gear Solid 2, he is in charge of transporting the Metal Gear RAY prototype to its testing site and gives a speech to his troops in the cargo holds, unaware that the ship is being hijacked. He is killed by Revolver Ocelot before hijacking RAY, and his death serves as the root of Fortune's sorrow. Scott Dolph is voiced by Daisuke Gori in Japanese and Kevin Michael Richardson in English.

Raiden

Raiden (雷電), real name Jack (ジャック, Jakku), is a child soldier in the Liberian Civil War, and Solidus Snake's adoptive son.^[92]

He is the main character of Metal Gear Solid 2 that substitutes Solid Snake as the player's character in the main portion of the game fighting against the titular terrorists to save the hostages from Big Shell.^[93]

He reappears in Metal Gear Solid 4 as the new Cyborg Ninja who supports Solid Snake.^[94] He returns as the protagonist of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.^[95]

Raiden is voiced by Kenyu Horiuchi in Japanese and Quinton Flynn in English.^[12]

Rosemary

Rosemary (ローズマリー, Rōzumarī), or simply Rose (ローズ) for short, is Raiden's girlfriend.

Introduced during the Plant chapter portion of Metal Gear Solid 2, she is employed by the army as a data analyst, and saves the player's progress over Codec.^[96] Rosemary also supports Raiden by providing information about the Big Shell facilities and the other characters Raiden encounters in the game. Raiden and Rose spend most of their conversations talking about their relationship, something based on Kojima's real life.^[85] By the end of the game, Rosemary reveals herself to be a spy for the Patriots.^[97] She is then taken off the mission and replaced by an A.I. duplicate of her who openly mocks Raiden. After the final battle, Raiden is reunited with the real Rose, pregnant with his child, in front of Federal Hall.^[98]

In Metal Gear Solid 4,^[57] Rosemary appears as a psychological counselor in a combat stress platoon, offering Solid Snake tips on dealing with stress.^[99] Though she became engaged to Raiden, their relationship ended after Rosemary supposedly had a miscarriage.^[39] Rosemary later marries Roy Campbell. In reality, Rosemary did give birth to Raiden's child John and her marriage is a ploy to protect the boy from the Patriots by having Campbell pose as John's father. After she reveals the truth to Raiden, the couple reconciles.^[40]

Rosemary is voiced by Kikuko Inoue in Japanese and Lara Cody in English.^[9]

Vamp

Vamp (ヴァンプ, Vanpu) is a member of Dead Cell from Romania. He is a knife-throwing specialist endowed with numerous vampire-like abilities and attributes, such as a taste for blood, superhuman strength, speed, agility, the ability to walk on vertical walls and run across water (although this was based on a character that was scrapped).^[3] His moniker has dual meanings, being a short form of the English word vampire as well as referring to his bisexual orientation.^[100] Vamp was originally designed as a woman, but when the character of Fortune was introduced, the design was changed to that of a man, although the long black hair was retained,^[101] with the finished model being based on dancer Joaquín Cortés.^[85]

First appearing in Metal Gear Solid 2, he was part of the "Sons of Liberty" terrorist group during the Plant chapter. Vamp confronts Raiden several times throughout the course of the game being seemingly killed, but still manages to survive.^[56]

In Metal Gear Solid 4, Vamp appears as a member of Liquid Ocelot's private army and as Raiden's rival.^[39] His "immortality" is revealed to be caused by nanomachines in his body that heal all of his wounds at an extraordinarily fast rate (augmenting his natural healing abilities).^[102] Using a syringe designed by Naomi Hunter to destabilize the functionality of nanomachines, Snake disables Vamp's nanomachines, while Raiden kills him at Shadow Moses Island.^[103] Vamp was also added to the second expansion of Metal Gear Online as a playable character.^[104]

For Japanese, Vamp is voiced by Ryotaro Okiayu for Metal Gear Solid 2 and Shinya Tsukamoto for Metal Gear Solid 4. For English, Vamp is voiced by Phil LaMarr.

Fortune

Fortune (フォーチュン), real name Helena Dolph Jackson (ヘレナ・ドルフ・ジャクソン), is the leading member of Dead Cell and a member of the "Sons of Liberty". She is an African-American woman with blond hair, something requested by Shinkawa as he thought she would be appealing.^[88] Her weapon is a railgun. Her codename comes from her nearly miraculous ability to have bullets pass by her without hitting her.^[105] She is the first boss character in the Plant chapter of Metal Gear Solid 2. She confronts Raiden once in the game where she temporarily loses her will to fight when Vamp is seemingly killed by Raiden.^[106] Her true motive is to seek revenge against Solid Snake whom she believes was responsible for her father's death.^[107] Near the end of the game, she learns it was actually Revolver Ocelot who killed her father, but is shot in the chest before she can attack: Ocelot reveals that her immunity to bullets was simply the result of an electromagnetic force field surrounding her body.^[108] Before dying, she manages to deflect Ocelot's attacks. Fortune is voiced by Yumi Tôma in Japansese and Maula Gale in English.

Peter Stillman

Peter Stillman (ピーター・スティルマン, Pītā Sutiruman) is a former NYPD bomb disposal expert working for the Bund Patrol and the former mentor of Fatman. In Metal Gear Solid 2, he infiltrates the Big Shell facility with SEAL Team 10. After Fatman planted bombs within each of the struts in the entire Big Shell facility, Stillman provides Raiden and Iroquois Pliskin with the tools needed to track down and deactivate each of the explosives, while providing support to the player via the codec. He eventually learns that the explosives Fatman planted were decoys used to activate the real bombs set to destroy the foundation of Shell 1 and Shell 2. Stillman races to the basement of Strut H, only to be caught in Fatman's trap: the bomb being equipped with a proximity sensor, detonates, killing Stillman. Stillman was most likely named after a character in Paul Auster's New York Trilogy. Peter Stillman is voiced by Shôzô Îzuka in Japanese and Greg Eagles in English.

Fatman

Fatman (ファットマン, Fattoman) is a member of Dead Cell that specializes in explosives. He is a psychopathic, overweight bald man in an EOD suit who moves around on rollerblades and is armed with a Glock 18 in addition to his bombs. Shinkawa had troubles designing him as he had been requested to make him obese and goodlooking at the same time.^[88] In Metal Gear Solid 2, he is the second boss character in the Plant chapter. One of Raiden's early objectives in the Plant chapter is to deactivate a series of C4 bombs planted within each of the struts surrounding the Shell 1 core. The explosives are revealed to be nothing more than dummy bombs serving to activate the real bomb in the basement of Strut A. A similar bomb planted in the basement of the Shell 2 Core detonates, killing Fatman's former mentor Peter Stillman in the process. As Raiden meets with him, Fatman reveals that he wishes to become the world's most famous bomber by surpassing Stillman.^[109] Fatman then challenges Raiden to a duel at the heliport atop Strut E, which results in his death. Revolver Ocelot later reveals that Fatman was actually an agent of The Patriots and that Stillman's presence in the facility was arranged to motivate Fatman into participating. Fatman is voiced by Kôzô Shioya in Japanese and Barry Dennen in English.

Richard Ames

Colonel Richard Ames (リチャード・エイムズ, Richādo Eimuzu) is a Secret Service agent and an operative for the Patriots. He previously served the Defense Intelligence Agency where he met Nastasha Romanenko. He was married to Nastasha for a while, but the two ended up in divorce. He was taken hostage during the Big Shell incident. In Metal Gear Solid 2, he met Raiden and then threatened by Revolver Ocelot (a fellow Patriot operative). For revealing too much information to Raiden, he suddenly dies from an apparent heart attack. It is later revealed that he died from his nanomachines turning off his pacemaker thanks to a virus imitating FOXDIE put in place by the Patriots. Richard Ames is voiced by Masaharu Sato in Japanese and Peter Renaday in English.

Solidus Snake

Solidus Snake (ソリダス・スネーク, Soridasu Sunēku) is a third clone of Big Boss.

First mentioned by name in the post-credits codec conversation of Metal Gear Solid, he was the President of the United States under the name George Sears (ジョージ・シアーズ).^[110] As a result he was designed based on Shinkawa's thoughts regarding how would Solid Snake look like older.^[85]

The main antagonist of Metal Gear Solid 2, Solidus is the leader of the terrorist group "Sons of Liberty" attacking Big Shell initially under the name Solid Snake.^[111][112] For combat, Solidus wears a powered suit.^[88] After the Patriots removed his President status, Solidus turned against them and wishes to form his own nation to leave his impact on the world.^[113] Revealed as the adoptive father of Raiden, having exploited him as a child soldier,^[92] Solidus tries to kill Raiden to use his body to lead him to the Patriots.^[114] However, Raiden defeats Solidus in their duel atop Federal Hall, slicing into the spine of Solidus' powered exoskeleton with a high frequency blade.

In Metal Gear Solid 4, Solidus is passed off as Big Boss' body when Liquid Ocelot hacks into the Patriots' AI and then is burned.^[115]

Solidus Snake is voiced by Akio Ōtsuka in Japanese and John Cygan in English.

James Johnson

James Johnson (ジェームズ・ジョンソン, Jēmuzu Jonson) is the current President of the United States. By the time of Metal Gear Solid 2, he is the primary hostage Raiden is sent to rescue in the Plant chapter. After a series of ordeals, Raiden finally meets the President in the Shell 2 Core. The President reveals that he was actually a willing accomplice in the terrorist act, his vital signs being the input codes to activate Arsenal Gear (the new version of Metal Gear housed in the Big Shell), but was imprisoned after a conflict of interest with Solidus Snake as Johnson wanted power whereas his predecessor preferred rebelling altogether. After he reveals the truth about Arsenal Gear to Raiden, he learns that he was manipulated to revolt by the Patriots as part of the S3 Plan. He is then killed by Revolver Ocelot while arguing with Raiden to kill him to prevent the terrorists from launching a nuclear strike. James Johnson is voiced by Yuzuru Fujimoto in Japanese and Paul Lukather in English.

Emma Emmerich

Emma Emmerich Danziger (エマ・エメリッヒ・ダンジガー, Ema Emerihhi Danjigā), nicknamed "E.E.", is an AI programmer and the stepsister of Hal Emmerich. When Emma was a child, her mother Julie Danziger married Hal Emmerich's father. Emma and Hal became very close as children and often swam together. When Hal was an adolescent, he was seduced by Emma's mother. Upon learning this, her stepfather (Hal's father) committed suicide by drowning himself in the family's swimming pool and accidentally dragged Emma into the water in the process. She survived, but not without injury. Emma expected Hal to save her, but he was not aware that this was happening. After this, Emma developed a fear of water and became estranged from her stepbrother, blaming him for leaving the family after the father's death.^[116]

During the Plant chapter of Metal Gear Solid 2, she is in charge of developing the AI that controls Arsenal Gear. She is escorted to the Shell 1 Core computer room by Raiden to download a virus into AI GW so that it will not be used by the terrorists, but is ambushed by Vamp on the oil fence. Raiden snipes Vamp, but before falling into the sea, Vamp fatally stabs Emma in the stomach.^[117] She later dies in the computer room confessing how she wanted to be closer to her stepbrother.^[118]

Emma Emmerich is voiced by Maria Yamamoto in Japanese and Jennifer Hale in English.

Introduced in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Zero

Major Zero (ゼロ), also known as Major Tom,^[119] is founder of the FOX unit. Introduced in Metal Gear Solid 3, he serves as the commanding officer of the FOX unit that communicates with Naked Snake via radio. In Portable Ops, he is arrested by the Pentagon after being convicted for the FOX unit's revolt but is "exonerated" after the events of the game. He can also be recruited into Naked Snake's team.^[120] In Metal Gear Solid 4, Zero is revealed to be the founder of the Patriots to control the United States.^[121] However, a fallout between the two causes Zero to plot Big Boss' demise during both Outer Heaven and Zanzibar Land then continuing controlling the world through artificial intelligences.^[121][122] He appears in the game's ending as a 105-year-old vegetable in a wheelchair and dies after Big Boss cuts off his oxygen supply.^[123] In Peace Walker, Zero takes the codename "Cipher" following the Patriots' split while sending agents to oppose Big Boss and force his enemy to rejoin.

Zero is voiced by Banjō Ginga in Japanese and Jim Piddock in English.

Sokolov

Dr. Nikolai Stephanovich Sokolov (ニコライ・ステパノヴィッチ・ソコロフ) is a rocket scientist. Despite being cowardly and timid, he was able to defect to the United States two years before the events of the game, but was sent back to the USSR as a secret addition to the negotiations for ending the Cuban Missile Crisis.

In Metal Gear Solid 3, Sokolov develops the Shagohod.^[124] In the midsts of Naked Snake's retrieval of Sokolov, Colonel Volgin captures him and forces him to complete the weapon, and later seemingly dies of torture off-screen for trying to escape. Despite his apparent death, Sokolov returns in Portable Ops as the informant Ghost (ゴースト). After he survived and escaped to the US with the help of FOX's new commander Gene, he builds the first Metal Gear model, a quadrupedal model, but still assists Snake as a result of the danger the RAXA can make.^[125] He can also be recruited into Naked Snake's team.^[120]

Sokolov is voiced by Naoki Tatsuta in Japanese and Brian Cummings in English.

The Boss

Volgin

Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin (エヴゲニー・ボリソヴィッチ・ヴォルギン) (Евгений Борисович Волгин), known as "Thunderbolt" in the West, is a Stalinist GRU colonel with a penchant for wanton brutality who attempts to seize control of the Soviet Union by overthrowing Nikita Khrushchev and installing Leonid Brezhnev and Alexei Kosygin in his place. Furthermore, he was a mastermind behind the Katyn Forest Massacre.^[126] His body carries an electric charge of ten million volts. He uses it chiefly for fighting and for torture.^[127] After he battles Naked Snake and EVA, both in and atop the Shagohod, it begins to rain. He is at first unafraid but is rapidly struck by a bolt of lightning.^[128] Volgin is voiced by Kenji Utsumi in Japanese and Neil Ross in English.

Para-Medic

Para-Medic (パラメディック) is a FOX support team member that provides medical information.^[129] Although her codename is set before the modern use of the word "paramedic", her name instead comes from a portmanteau of "parachute" and "medic."^[130]

In Metal Gear Solid 3, she provides Naked Snake with surgical information as well as general information on the local flora and fauna. In Portable Ops, she can be recruited into Naked Snake's team.^[120]

In Metal Gear Solid 4, it is revealed that Para-Medic was one of the Patriots' founders as well as the head of the "Les Enfants Terribles" project that gave birth to Big Boss' sons.^[131] In addition, she is actually the amoral Dr. Clark (クラーク博士, Kuraku Hakase) that revived Gray Fox as the original Cyborg Ninja to which he was killed shortly after his reawakening,^[132] which EVA and Ocelot wanted. The Dr. Clark character was referred to as a male by Naomi Hunter in the English version of Metal Gear Solid as a result of translation issues.^[133]

Para-Medic is voiced by Houko Kuwashima in the Japanese version and Heather Halley in the English version.

EVA

The Pain

The Pain (ザ・ペイン) has the ability to control hornets at his will, through the buzzing of a queen hornet that he keeps in his backpack. Apart from his hornets, The Pain is also equipped with a Tommy gun and grenades, using his hornets in conjunction with these weapons. He also uses his hornets to shield himself and create the form of a body double to confuse and draw his opponents into the open.^[134] In Metal Gear Solid 3, he fought and was defeated by Naked Snake. The Pain is voiced by Hisao Egawa in Japanese and Gregg Berger in English.

The Fear

The Fear (ザ・フィアー) is a member of the Cobra unit known for his superhuman speed and agility, as well as his freakish, fearsome appearance. Capable of dislocating his joints at will, he is able to crawl, walk on water, flip, leap extremely quickly in the manner of a spider, and also climb and jump around in trees with ease. He mainly uses a crossbow in battle, coating his bolts in the venom of the Brazilian wandering spider,^[135] setting them on fire or even outfitting them with explosives. He uses a variety of wires and ropes to enhance his mobility. On top of his incredible agility, he also uses Stealth camouflage to make himself nearly invisible.^[136] At the beginning of the battle in Metal Gear Solid 3, he shoots Naked Snake in the leg with a poisoned crossbow bolt, but wants to kill Snake himself rather than let the venom do the job for him. The poison begins to make Snake hallucinate, giving The Fear a distinct advantage, though Snake still manages to defeat him. The Fear is voiced by Kazumi Tanaka in Japanese and Michael Bell in English.

The End

The End (ジ・エンド) is a member of the Cobra unit with exceptional sniping skills, born in the early 1860s, and the only member of the unit without an emotion-based codename, though it is explained in the game that it signifies "true oblivion".^[137] The End is a venerable expert sniper, but is visibly vulnerable as a result of his age.^[138] He has a pet parrot (an Alexandrine parakeet) who can alert him to Snake's presence. The End is the only member of the Cobras who will not kill the player under any circumstances. The strategic sniper fight between Naked Snake and The End in Metal Gear Solid was developed by Kojima who wanted to bring a completely new style of boss battle to the series. However, the fight can be avoided if Snake kills a defenseless The End shortly before,^[139] or if the player saves during the fight and waits a week (or sets the system clock a week ahead), in which case The End dies of old age. In Peace Walker, The End's voice can sometimes be heard over the Codec during ghost missions, and Snake comments numerous times during mission briefings asking Kaz Miller if he saw any parrots with the enemy snipers and scouts. The End is voiced by Osamu Saka in Japanese and Grant Albrecht in English.

The Fury

The Fury (ザ・フューリー) is a pyromaniac and former Soviet cosmonaut. He utilizes a flame-resistant Soviet space suit in conjunction with a jet pack and a powerful flamethrower, both of which are powered by liquid rocket fuel UDMH. His codename reflects the unmitigated fury he feels towards the world while he is fighting.^[140] In Metal Gear Solid 3, he fought and is defeated by Naked Snake. The Fury is voiced by Masato Hirano in Japanese and Richard Doyle in English.

The Sorrow

The Sorrow (ザ・ソロー) was a powerful spirit medium and a former member of the Cobra unit who used his psychic powers to aid his fellow soldiers on the battlefield.^[141] After being romantically involved with The Boss, he was the father of her child.^[142] After the ideological rift created by the Cold War, loyalties changed with him and The Boss each taking their respective sides. The Boss kills him in 1962 for making a double agent out of a sleeper agent she sent to OKB-1 to gather data on the USSR's space program.^[143] He makes many hidden appearances in ghost form throughout the game's cut scenes.^[144] In Metal Gear Solid 3, after escaping from Groznyj Grad and suffering a near-death experience, Naked Snake encounters The Sorrow while being forced to wade through an endless river swarming with all of the enemies that Snake has killed up to that point.^[145] In Metal Gear Solid 4, The Sorrow appears as one of the dolls controlled by Screaming Mantis. After she is defeated, her doppelganger appears to offend Solid Snake, but is sent back to the underworld.^[146] The Sorrow is voiced by Yukitoshi Hori in Japanese and David Thomas in English.

Raikov

Major Ivan Raidenovitch Raikov (イワン・ライデノヴィッチ・ライコフ) (Иван Райденович Райков) is a high-ranking officer within Groznyj Grad. He is implied to be Colonel Volgin's secret lover, and subsequently has colonel-class authority despite his rank. The character is a parody of Raiden from Metal Gear Solid 2. The player is also able to wear a mask to impersonate him as Kojima noted that there were fans who wanted to play as Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 3.^[147] Besides impersonating Raikov, Naked Snake also has to knock him out to take his uniform and go to Groznyj Grad with the player also being given the choice of killing him. According to Kojima, the reason why he left Raikov's fate up to the player was largely because of Raiden's controversial popularity, where he'd allow the player, depending on whether their views of Raiden were positive or negative, to spare or kill Raikov, respectively.^[148] Raikov appears as a secret character in Portable Ops as being exiled to Colombia by the Soviet military after the fallout of Operation Snake Eater runs him afoul of the Kremlin.^[120] Raikov is voiced by Ken'yû Horiuchi in Japanese and Charlie Schlatter in English.

Granin

Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin (アレクサンドル・レオノヴィッチ・グラーニン) (Александр Леонович Гранин) is the director of OKB-812 (also known as the Granin Design Bureau). He is the man who originally came up with the concept of bipedal walking tanks (the blueprints for Metal Gear REX and Metal Gear D). He supplies Naked Snake with the key to the door near the warehouse, but dies under Volgin's torture. Before he was caught, Granin sent his files on Metal Gear to a friend in the United States. Granin is voiced by Takeshi Aono in Japanese and Jim Ward in English.

Johnny Sr.

Johnny Sr. is a Soviet soldier and Johnny's grandfather. He is distinguishable through a large "J" on his balaclava. Johnny Sr. is voiced by Naoki Imamura in Japanese and Michael Gough in English.

DCI

The CIA Director is voiced by Masaharu Sato in Japanese and Jesse Corti in English.

Introduced in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops

Python

One of FOX's original members, Python is revealed to have worked alongside Snake during the early stages of the US advisory effort in Vietnam. However, he was severely injured during a mission with the Civilian Irregular Defense Group that he lost the ability to regulate his body temperature. The US government operated on him to stabilize his body temperature, eventually putting him in a Sneaking Suit filled with liquid nitrogen and several needles on his head to vent the excess heat. The CIA uses him as a counterpart to Snake in case he rebelled. Python joins the player's pool if his defeated by nonlethal means, but will burn himself up if he is killed.

Python is voiced by Yûsaku Yara in Japanese and Dwight Schultz in English.

Elisa and Ursula

Elisa and Ursula are split personalities of a teenage girl raised in East Germany to nuclear physicists who worked in the USSR. She is revealed to be a survivor of the 1957 Kyshtym disaster; the radioactive fallout triggered her psychic abilities. The girl went back to East Germany and underwent numerous ESP and psychic tests. The testing enabled the girl to create split personalities that people can mistake them as twins. Gene rescued her during a mission in 1966 and later trained her personas - Elisa in medicine and Ursula in combat abilities. Over the course of the game, Elisa helps Snake and Campbell with their needs. However, the Ursula personality kicks in during Snake's showdown with Metal Gear RAXA. When the combined personalities attempt to stop Gene, he kills her. Her last words to Snake cryptically point to important developments in later games.

Elisa/Ursula is voiced by Saori Gotô in Japanese and Tara Strong in English.

Cunningham

FOX's resident interrogation specialist, Lt. Cunningham is an African-American soldier going by the codename Boa. After losing his leg due to unspecified reasons and getting demoted to desk work by the CIA, the Department of Defense taps him to besmirch the Agency's reputation in the wake of the events of Snake Eater, a job he accepted due to desiring revenge for his demotion. This enables him to join Gene's revolt and later to interrogate Snake about the Philosophers' Legacy. Snake defeats him upon learning of the DOD's plans, with his flying platform exploding shortly thereafter, although not before he attempts to destroy the base with a Davy Crockett round in an attempt to ensure Snake died with him.

Cunningham is voiced by Daisuke Gôri in Japanese and Noah Nelson in English.

Gene

The commander of FOX by the late 1960s, Gene joined the unit under the codename Viper after Snake left. He proves his worth by rescuing Sokolov and Elisa during missions to Eastern Europe. A doctor by trade with a moderate degree of political science knowledge, he gradually undermines Major Zero's authority and prepares his rebellion. Gene participates in the Successor Project, a special program designed to create a military officer modeled after The Boss and highly educated in military strategy and tactics. The program results in Gene developing enhanced CQC abilities and powers of persuasion. Snake kills him after he reveals his plans behind the takeover of the San Hieronymo base. Recognizing Snake's combat skills, Gene bequeaths to him all the resources he had amassed for a military force called Army's Heaven.

Gene is voiced by Norio Wakamoto in Japanese and Steven Blum in English.

Colonel Skowronski

The commander of the Red Army base in San Hieronymo, Skowronski is a World War II veteran and former fighter pilot. The player finds him hiding aboard a ship in the harbor that housed his fighter plane collection. It is revealed that the colonel had been drinking after Gene's men took over the base and even turned the Red Army troops against him. Skowronski dies in an attempt to kill Gene using RAXA. When it shuts down, Ursula telekinetically picks him off the cockpit and drops him to his death.

Colonel Skowronski is voiced by Tetsu Inada in Japanese and Nick Jameson in English.

Jonathan

One of the Red Army soldiers stationed at the San Hieronymo base, Jonathan is the first of the enemy soldiers to be recruited by the player. After meeting Naked Snake and Campbell, Jonathan says the Red Army personnel were assigned to build the base as an alternate strategic missile site after the Cuban Missile Crisis; detente and the USSR's commitment to the SALT negotiations resulted in the abandonment of the base, triggering the soldiers' decision to join Gene. Jonathan is left impressed with Snake's idealism and also helps in treating Campbell's bout with malaria. As Gene manipulates the Soviet soldiers into killing each other later in the game, Jonathan takes a few rounds meant for Naked Snake and dies in his arms.

Jonathan is voiced by Takahiro Fujimoto in Japanese and Robin Atkin Downes in English.

Introduced in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Sunny

Olga Gurlukovich's daughter, Sunny Emmerich (サニー・エメリッヒ) is kidnapped by the Patriots sometime after the events of Metal Gear Solid 2's Tanker chapter and was used to manipulate her mother during the Plant Chapter.^[149] Afterwards, Raiden rescued her from the Patriots, leaving her in Otacon's care.^[150]

By the time of Metal Gear Solid 4, she is a gifted computer programmer where it is heavily implied that her status as prodigy is the result of genetic engineering experiments done to her while she was in possession of the Patriots. She along with Naomi Hunter designs the FOXALIVE virus which Old Snake uses to disable the Patriots' AIs. Sunny returns as a member from the company "Solis". She did attend school after becoming free of the Patriot AI's but was considered to "advanced" and eventually after earning multiple degrees she was hired by Solis. in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance having been adopted by Otacon.

^[151]

Sunny is voiced by Kikuko Inoue in Japanese and Christina Puccelli in English.^[9]

Drebin

Drebin (ドレビン) is a weapons launderer that's usually accompanied by his pet monkey Little Gray. In Metal Gear Solid 4, he assists Old Snake by disabling ID-tagged weapons taken from PMC troops. He also provides exposition on the origins of each of the Beauty and the Beast members.^[152] Drebin is actually a Patriot spy assigned to help Snake defeat Liquid Ocelot.^[153] He injects Snake with a syringe that secretly contains a new strain of FOXDIE programmed to kill EVA, Ocelot and Big Boss; in addition to the nanomachines allowing Snake to use Drebin's weapons. Drebin is voiced by Keiji Fujiwara in Japanese and Khary Payton in English.

Jonathan

Jonathan (ジョナサン) is a hulking Korean-American who serves as the Rat Patrol team's heavy weapons specialist and has a mohawk in the shape of an exclamation mark. Jonathan is voiced by Hideyuki Tanaka in Japanese and James Sie in English.

Ed

Ed (エド) is an African-American who serves as the Rat Patrol team's sniper and Meryl Sliverburgh's second-in-command. He is a tribute to the Policenauts character of the same name.^[9] Ed is voiced by Shōzō Iizuka in Japanese and Dave Fennoy in English.

The Beauty and the Beast Corps

The Beauty and the Beast Corps are a team of female PMC operatives in mechanized suits designed according to their animal designations.

Laughing Octopus

Laughing Octopus (ラフィング・オクトパス, Rafingu Okutopasu) was born and raised in a small Scandinavian hamlet known as the Devil's Village, where the residents habitually eat octopus. A nearby cult took offense to the village's diet and attacked, sparing few, including the young girl. On pain of death, they tortured her into killing her entire family while laughing. This has utterly numbed her to bloodshed and has spawned an obsession with laughter, particularly during battle.

Raging Raven

Raging Raven (レイジング・レイヴン, Reijingu Reivun) is the only member of the Corps with true flying capabilities that utilizes UCAVs and a grenade launcher to attack her enemies. Born in Aceh, Indonesia, she was taken as a prisoner of war as a child. After enduring months of torture and starvation, her captors abruptly abandoned the prison, leaving her and the other child prisoners to be eaten alive by ravens. She was the last living child; though instead of eating her, the ravens peck away her bonds. She finds her captors' base camp and kills all soldiers and civilians present.

Crying Wolf

Crying Wolf (ウルフクライング) is the Corps' strongest member as she can attack with a railgun or sheer brute force. She is also endowed with a strong sense of smell, enough to identify. She was born in an unnamed country ripped by civil war. After her family was killed in an attack, she fled the village with her baby brother and became a refugee. When hiding from an enemy unit in a shack, her brother began to cry; she covered his mouth to silence him and accidentally killed him. Upon reaching a refugee camp, she was driven insane by her grief and by the cries of children. She experienced visions of a wolf killing the children of the camp; in reality, it was she who did so. In Metal Gear Solid 4, she does not accept that she killed the children until her fight with Old Snake. After their fight, she is taken away by one of Sniper Wolf's wolves, with Otacon implying the wolf carrying her was Sniper Wolf's spirit.

Screaming Mantis

Screaming Mantis (スクリーミング・マンティス) is the Corps' leader. Able to float by using unknown abilities, she has the power to crush people at will and manipulate soldiers to do her bidding, including killing their former allies. She has two puppets shaped like previous Metal Gear Solid bosses Psycho Mantis and The Sorrow. It is revealed that the Psycho Mantis puppet is used to control and manipulate living people while The Sorrow puppet can be used to manipulate dead bodies. However, her powers are only applicable on people implanted with nanomachines and cannot affect people who can suppress nanomachine activity. After her fight with Old Snake, it is revealed that Psycho Mantis was controlling her mind as a result of her insanity.

Introduced in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Amanda Valenciano Libre

Amanda Valenciano Libre (アマンダ・バレンシアノ・リブレ ) assumes command of the FSLN after her father (their leader) is killed. After many of her members were forced out of Nicaragua by government forces months before the events of the game, the KGB comes to the Sandinistas' aid by having them operate a banana plantation that is actually a front for drug-trafficking operations to generate funds for their rebel activities. Amanda also shows a romantic interest in Snake (Big Boss) when he frees the Sandinista survivors from the Peace Sentinels. Towards the end of the game, Amanda leads the Sandinistas into fighting the KGB. In the game, the player can use Amanda to motivate former guerrillas recruited into the MSF. Amanda Valenciano Libre is voiced by Romi Park in Japanese and Grey DeLisle in English.

Chico

Ricardo "Chico" Valenciano Libre (リカルド”チコ”・バレンシアノ・リブレ)^[154] is Amanda's younger brother. He tries to prove himself to his sister and the FSLN rebels despite his age. An argument before the game begins results in Chico wandering around the forest and his capture by the Peace Sentinels. He also talks to Snake about sightings of the Peace Walker AI weapon (which he calls "El Basilisco"). Chico has an interest in cryptozoology, is the one who briefs Snake (Big Boss) on Monster Hunter missions and has a crush on Paz. In Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes, Chico is imprisoned in the military camp Camp Omega. Chico is voiced by Kikuko Inoue in Japanese and Antony Del Rio in English.

Huey

Dr. Emmerich (エメリッヒ博士), nicknamed Huey (ヒューイ) by his coworker Dr. Strangelove, is the future father of Hal Emmerich. A wheelchair-bound scientist who was born paraplegic due to having an abnormal spine. In addition to being the son of a Manhattan Project scientist, he was born on the same day as the Hiroshima attack.^[155] In Peace Walker, he and Strangelove are responsible for building the Peace Sentinels' AI weapons and later MSF's own Metal Gear ZEKE. In a personal letter he wrote to Strangelove, which he asks Snake (Big Boss) to give to her, it is revealed that they have worked together while in NASA and Huey was expressing much interest in her.^[156] Huey shares Otacon's voice actors: Hideyuki Tanaka in Japanese and Christopher Randolph in English.

Hot Coldman

Hot Coldman (ホット・コールドマン) is depicted as a former director of the CIA sent to manage the Agency's Latin America operations. In Peace Walker, he is one of the main antagonists. Because of bitterness over the demotion, Coldman plans to use the Peace Sentinels and the Peace Walker Project to regain his status as a power player in Washington. The true reason behind his exile was because he planned Operation Snake Eater.^[157] Late in the game, Coldman dies of Zadornov's gunshots, after inputting Peace Walker's nuclear launch codes and leaking the false data to NORAD. Hot Coldman is voiced by Mugihito in Japanese and H. Richard Greene in English.

Ramon Galvez Mena

Ramon Galvez Mena (ラモン・ガルベス・メナ) is a professor at the University of Peace. He possesses a red bionic right hand with build-in lighter and also can be launched like a rocket. In Peace Walker, he and his student Paz Ortega Andrade visit the MSF's base in Colombia to recruit Snake's services. Galvez helps out the MSF as they slowly uncover the Peace Sentinels' true motives in Costa Rica. He later unmasked himself as KGB intelligence operative Vladimir Aleksandrovich Zadornov when Coldman prepares the Peace Walker to attack from inside a US base in Nicaragua. After the MSF and FSLN captures him and locks him up at the Mother Base, he breaks out on several occasions which forces Snake to recapture him. He is eventually killed by Big Boss in self-defense. Ramon Galvez Mena/Vladimir Zadornov is voiced by Hōchū Ōtsuka in Japanese and Steven Blum in English.

Strangelove

Strangelove (ストレンジラブ) is a misanthropic British AI expert hired to work in the Peace Walker project. During her stint with NASA in the late 1950s, Strangelove met The Boss. She later met Huey while working in the Mercury program. Her experience with The Boss and subsequent work in ARPA inspires her to create Peace Walker's AI matrix with The Boss' personality years later during Peace Walker. At the end of the game, she joins the MSF in helping create Metal Gear Zeke's AI matrix. Strangelove is voiced by Yumi Kikuchi in Japanese and Vanessa Marshall in English.

Cecile Cosima Caminades

Cecile Cosima Caminades (セシール・コジマ・カミナンデス, Seshīru Kojima Kaminandesu) is a French ornithologist caught while trying to record quetzal sounds near an Incan ruin where the Peace Walker Project's AI laboratory is located. Cecile also was influenced by the May 1968 events in France, similar to other Parisian women at the time.^[158] The way her name is pronounced is a play on the phrase Kojima, kami nan desu (小島、神なんです^?, "Kojima, he's definitely a god") .^[159] She is also named after and visually based on Cécile Caminades, an employee from the Paris branch of Konami Digital Entertainment.^[160] Cecile Cosima Caminades is voiced by Yū Kobayashi in Japanese and Catherine Taber in English.

Paz Ortega Andrade

Paz Ortega Andrade (パス・オルテガ・アンドラーデ) is a student at the University of Peace. In Peace Walker, she is depicted in the game as an innocent schoolgirl. But in the game's true ending, Paz is revealed to be an agent of Cipher (Zero) and hijacks Metal Gear ZEKE and tries to launch its nuclear warhead at the US East Coast with the intention of framing the Militaires Sans Frontieres as being an extremist cult under Cipher's orders. Big Boss defeats her and she is thrown into the water from the force of ZEKE's explosion, although Big Boss suspected that there was a possibility that she survived,^[161] which is later confirmed in the trailer for the sequel Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes. Paz provides commentary about her deep-cover mission in a ten-part series of audio tapes called Paz's Diary (unlocked in the AI pods of the Extra Ops mech battles). In the tapes, Paz talks about life in Mother Base and her fears about a strong reprisal from Cipher if she blew her cover. The last tape is made just before she activates Zeke. Paz Ortega Andrade is voiced by Nana Mizuki in Japanese and Tara Strong in English.

A head-shaved Paz can be seen in the red band trailer for The Phantom Pain. A suspicious package is taken out of her abdominal area by a surgeon during the events of Ground Zeroes.

Introduced in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Maverick Security Consulting, Inc.

A private military and security company, the PMC is Raiden's primary support team over the course of the game.

Boris Popov

Boris Vyacheslavovich Popov (ボリス・ヴャチェスラヴォヴィチ・ポポフ) is the president of Maverick and a former Russian Army soldier. Boris is voiced by J.B. Blanc in English and Takayuki Sugo in Japanese.

Kevin Washington

Kevin Washington (ケビン·ワシントン, Kebin Washinton) is a military strategist who briefs Raiden on his missions and provides additional combat intelligence. Kevin is voiced by Phil LaMarr in English and Yuichi Nakamura in Japanese.

Courtney Collins

Courtney Collins (コートニー·コリンズ, Kōtonī Korinzu) is Maverick's lead data analyst. Courtney is voiced by Kari Wahlgren in English and Miyuki Sawashiro in Japanese.

Doktor

Wilhelm "Doktor" Voigt (ヴィルヘルム·"ドクトル"フォイクト) is a cybernetics expert who helps construct Raiden's new cyborg body. Doktor is voiced by Jim Ward in English and Mugihito in Japanese.

Desperado Enforcement LLC

The game's main antagonists, Desperado is a self-proclaimed PMC that actually conducts nefarious schemes. Many of its operatives are bionically enhanced.

Samuel Rodrigues

Samuel Rodriguez (サムエル·ホドリゲス, Samueru Hodorigesu) is a master of a Brazilian fighting technique called the "New Shadow School", which had some derivations from a similar Japanese fighting style. Known by the callsigns "Jetstream" and "Minuano,"^[162] Rodrigues throws his lot with Desperado for most of the game. Raiden's rivalry with Sam is a major driving force of the plot. An additional chapter released as downloadable content details the backstory of how Sam joined Desperado. Sam is voiced by Philip Anthony-Rodriguez in English and Hiroaki Hirata in Japanese.

Sundowner

Sundowner (サンダウナー, Sandaunā) is Desperado's unofficial leader and part of the Winds of Destruction, a team of elite operatives. His name is derived from a wind condition that occurs in Southern California. His main weapons are two high-frequency machetes known as "Bloodlust". Sundowner is voiced by Crispin Freeman in English and Ken Nishida in Japanese.

Mistral

Mistral (ミストラル, Misutoraru) is the second member of the Winds of Destruction trio, named after the dry northern winds that blow from the Alps to the Mediterranean. Her cybernetic body is capable of hosting multiple limbs taken off Dwarf Gekkos. Her main weapon is a long staff that also acts as a whip. She is methodically killed by Raiden after being doused in liquid nitrogen. Mistral is voiced by Salli Saffioti in English and Romi Park in Japanese.

Monsoon

Monsoon (モンスーン, Monsūn) is the third member of the Winds of Destruction, named after the seasonal wind systems that occur in West Africa and Australasia. His most prominent ability is to magnetically dislocate his entire body to attack from a distance. He can also use smoke grenades for sudden attacks. His personality is that of a nihilistic, misanthropic sociopath, which is strongly implied to be the result of his being a survivor and victim of the Khmer Rouge's reign of terror.^[163] Monsoon is voiced by John Kassir in English and Masashi Ebara in Japanese.

Bladewolf

Bladewolf (ブレードウルフ, Burēdo Urufu), also known as the IF Prototype LQ-84i, is an unmanned AI weapon in Desperado's arsenal. When Raiden defeats the machine, Maverick reprograms it as an ally. Bladewolf is voiced by Michael Beattie in English and Yoshimasa Hosoya in Japanese.

Khamsin

Only appearing in the Bladewolf DLC package, Khamsin (カムシン) is an unofficial fourth member of the Winds of Destruction, named after a hot, dry, dusty south-north wind in North Africa and the Middle East. He was discharged from the Marines due to friction between him and his teammates, and is held in similarly low regard by Desperado. Khamsin is voiced by Benito Martinez in English and Rikiya Koyama in Japanese.

Steven Armstrong

Steven Armstrong (スティーヴン·アームストロング, Sutīvun Amusutorongu) is an unpopular Colorado senator and the primary backer of both Desperado Enforcement LLC and World Marshal Inc. He seeks to be elected as president of the United States in order to rebuild the country from within, purging those too weak or impoverished to contribute to society and replace it with cyborgs. Armstrong is voiced by Alastair Duncan in English and Unsho Ishizuka in Japanese.

Groups and organizations

FOXHOUND

High-Tech Special Forces Unit FOXHOUND (ハイテク特殊部隊フォックスハウンド, Haiteku Tokushu Butai Fokkusuhaundo), also spelled FOX-HOUND, is a US Army elite special forces unit that has appeared in numerous forms throughout the Metal Gear series.^[24] FOXHOUND was formed in 1971 according to Metal Gear Solid 3 (later depicted in Portable Ops) to cope with local revolutions, regional complications, and global terrorist activities. This unit specializes in black ops, carrying out top-secret operations within "unauthorized" combat zones which are too politically sensitive to intervene in through conventional means.

In the original Metal Gear, FOXHOUND is led by Big Boss (the team's commanding officer) with Solid Snake and Gray Fox serving as field operatives. However, Big Boss betrays the unit in the end of the game. In Metal Gear 2, Roy Campbell (the unit's executive officer) becomes the new commanding officer while drill instructor Master Miller and military strategist George Kasler forming part of Snake's support crew in the game.

In Metal Gear Solid, Solid Snake and Campbell are already retired from FOXHOUND and the unit turns rogue under the leadership of Liquid Snake, with five other members involved in the terrorist activity. Although the unit is disbanded by the time of Metal Gear Solid 2, Raiden is led to believe that he is serving a new form of FOXHOUND under the command of "The Colonel" (an A.I. representation of Campbell controlled by The Patriots).

The FOX (Force Operation X) unit led by Zero is introduced in Metal Gear Solid 3 as the special forces unit (as a precursor to FOXHOUND) with Naked Snake as its first agent. The FOX unit turns renegade in Portable Ops under the leadership of Gene, leading to Naked Snake (Big Boss) and his new partner Roy Campbell to form their own team of specialists, which forms the foundation of FOXHOUND.

Outside the Metal Gear series, FOXHOUND is mentioned in Snatcher as a military unit that JUNKER Chief Benson Cunningham previously served; and in Policenauts as Meryl's former unit (the character being the basis for the Meryl in Metal Gear Solid, has a paint tattoo of the team's original logo). Outside of video games, the team has inspired a New York rock-jazz fusion band to take FOXHOUND as their name, as well as inspiring replica clothing company AbbyShot Clothiers to create the "Foxhound Coat", a replica of Liquid Snake's trench coat from Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes.^[164]

Outer Heaven

First appearing in the original Metal Gear game, Outer Heaven is a nation-state located 200 kilometers north of the fictional city of Garzburg, South Africa. A legendary mercenary financed the nation's establishment to attract disillusioned soldiers, with a massive fortress as its centerpiece. Its potential threat to world affairs is boosted with the deployment of the TX-55 Metal Gear, a bipedal tank capable of launching a nuclear strike from anywhere on the planet. In the game, FOXHOUND commander Big Boss ordered rookie agent Solid Snake to infiltrate the mercenary state and destroy Metal Gear. After successfully defying expectations and destroying Metal Gear, Big Boss reveals himself as the nation's benefactor and confronted Solid Snake but he is ultimately defeated with Outer Heaven destroyed as well.

In Metal Gear Solid, Liquid Snake's FOXHOUND took over Shadow Moses Island and threatens the rest of the world with Metal Gear REX in the hopes of making Shadow Moses into a new "Outer Heaven", but was foiled by Solid Snake. In Metal Gear Solid 2, Solidus Snake uses the term "Outer Heaven" as a codename for his plan to destroy the Patriots by detonating a nuclear warhead, triggering an electromagnetic pulse to permanently destroy the Patriots' AI systems. In Guns of the Patriots, Liquid Ocelot runs four PMCs under a mother company called Outer Heaven. After Solid Snake uses the FOXALIVE virus to destroy the Patriots' AI network, Liquid Ocelot believes Big Boss' dream is finally achieved.

Outer Heaven's origins are further given light in the prequels Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. In Portable Ops, it is revealed that Naked Snake devised Outer Heaven in response to Gene's proposed "Army's Heaven" concept that would in fact victimize soldiers in the pursuit of his goals (i.e. "outside Gene's heaven"). Snake's defeat of Gene results in Gene giving him all data on his Army's Heaven resources and personnel. In Peace Walker, Naked Snake (now calling himself Big Boss) uses Gene's assets to form the "Militaires Sans Frontieres" (Soldiers Without Borders) mercenary group. Per The Boss' will, Naked Snake conceptualized the MSF as capable of providing combat support to any individual or country, regardless of other factors. Kaz Miller helps develop the MSF into a private military contractor offering a wide range of services. The group's logo is a skull stylized after Pangaea inside a yellow and black circle.

Although the MSF is a precursor to Outer Heaven, the unit is all but gone when a mysterious organization destroys the Mother Base in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Militaires Sans Frontieres is a play on words on the humanitarian-aid non-governmental organization Médecins Sans Frontières, a group dedicated to assisting countries ravaged by war and epidemics that are in need of doctors and medical experts. Preceding the intro for the HD release (as well as in a trailer), Kojima Productions stated that the group is not in any way linked to or inspired by the real MSF.

The Patriots

The Patriots (愛国者達, Aikokushatachi), also referred to as the La-li-lu-le-lo (らりるれろ, Rarirurero), are a secret cabal that control the United States of America.^[24]

The group is initially revealed as an inner circle of 12 people known as The Wisemen's Committee (賢人会議, Kenjin Kaigi). After Solid Snake becomes a public hero in the aftermath of Metal Gear Solid, the Patriots during Metal Gear Solid 2 begin a smear campaign against him and frame him for the destruction of an oil tanker in New York (detailed in the Tanker chapter). They initiate the construction of Arsenal Gear, and its A.I. GW in order to censor the flow of digital information, and manipulate the events of the story through their trusted agent Revolver Ocelot. At the game's end, Philanthropy acquires a disk containing the Wisemen's Committee identities and learns that all 12 members have been dead for "about a hundred years".

In Metal Gear Solid 3, it is revealed that the Wisemen's Committee are actually the founding members of the preceding organization The Philosophers (賢者達, Kenjatachi) which was formed at the end of World War I when the leaders of the United States, China and Bolshevik Russia entered a secret pact with a stated purpose of pooling money to rebuild countries affected by the war. After the original Wisemen died during the 1930s, their followers began fighting amongst themselves to inherit the "Philosophers' Legacy", a fund left by the original members. In the ending timeline, it is mentioned that the Patriots was formed by the American branch of The Philosophers after accumulating the missing fund. In the ending of Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Ocelot is ordered by a mysterious man to end the American Philosophers. Ocelot kills the DCI (his former employer) and obtains documents containing the Philosophers' identities and their funds' locations. The mysterious man contacts Ocelot and invites him to form part of his new organization of the Patriots.

In Metal Gear Solid 4, it is revealed that Zero formed the Patriots with Big Boss, Sigint, Para-Medic, Ocelot and EVA as founding members. Although the organization was originally formed to fulfill The Boss' ideal of a unified world, Zero eventually grew too powerful and greedy to control everything which caused a fallout between Zero and Big Boss occurred due to each of them interpreting The Boss' will differently with Zero taking the concept to mean control of the entire world to ensure unification whereas Big Boss believed that her will wanted a world where soldiers were not used as tools by the government. These differences led to the Patriots being split into two factions: Ocelot and EVA on Big Boss' side against Sigint and Para-Medic working for Zero's. After EVA and Ocelot killed both Para-Medic (now morally corrupt FOXHOUND medic Dr. Clark) and Sigint (now abusing his position by accepting bribes as DARPA chief Donald Anderson), Zero's paranoia creates four computer AIs: TJ, TR, AL and GW controlled by fifth proxy AI JD. Originally, Zero creates the AIs to carry out his own will due to his increasing age and his skepticism that human subordinates would be able to do so. But over time, the system evolved from simply maintaining economic and political systems into creating an entirely new world order based on war economies, something not even Zero himself envisioned. Fortunately, the Patriots' network is shut down when Naomi Hunter's and Sunny's FOXALIVE computer worm used GW as a conduit to access the others. After the death of Zero during the game's surprise epilogue, the Patriots' demise is ensured and Big Boss realized that The Boss' dream was meant as words of wisdom as opposed to Zero's or Big Boss' original interpretations.

In Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Zero's Patriots take the codename "Cipher" following their split with Big Boss. They send agent Pacifica Ocean to oppose Big Boss and force him to rejoin, and when that failed, frame MSF for a nuclear strike against the East Coast. Kazuhira Miller was also revealed in the ending to have been affiliated with them as a neutral business partner, although it was also implied he quit upon learning about Cipher's plan to frame MSF.

Philanthropy

Philanthropy is a U.N. recognized anti-Metal Gear organization founded by Nastasha Romanenko following the events of the original Metal Gear Solid. Its members consists of Solid Snake (the protagonist of the previous Metal Gear games), a former FOXHOUND operative, and Metal Gear REX designer Hal "Otacon" Emmerich as well as Mei Ling who makes a cameo appearance via codec if the player saves the game 13 times during the Tanker chapter. A large amount of the startup funds for the organization were provided by Nastasha Romanenko.

Philanthropy is an NGO (non-government organization), which means that while the U.N. recognizes its existence, it has no official government backing. As Philanthropy is a semi-clandestine organization, Otacon must sometimes obtain equipment and information through less-than-legal methods (Snake mentions that on more than one occasion, Otacon has hacked classified networks to 'appropriate' experimental technology). In addition, it was also involved in activities comparable to Terrorism.^[165]

XOF and Diamond Dogs

XOF and Diamond Dogs are two groups that will appear in the upcoming games Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Diamond Dogs is a splinter organization under the command of Big Boss, as he goes against the mysterious paramilitary XOF organization that leveled Mother Base.^[166]

Reception

The characters from the Metal Gear series have been well received by gamers with Solid Snake and Raiden appearing in a Famitsu poll that listed the fifty best video game characters; while the former was at the top, the latter was 42nd.^[167] Solid Snake has also appeared in multiple lists of best characters in gaming history,^[168][169] while Raiden and Revolver Ocelot were found as characters who should have their own spin-off games.^[170][171] While the variety of characters have been noted, publications often found some out of place as a result of their abilities and confusing changes occurying within them.^[172][173] The character's have also been praised for their actions within fight scenes, resulting in appealing cutscenes.^[173][174] David Hayter's performance as Snake's English voice actor has received praise to the point of being called one of the best ones in gaming.^[175][176]

The bosses have been praised not only for the requirements for defeating them, but also for the importance they have within the story. Various feature articles by video game publication have made articles regarding who is the boss character within the series, but results have varied.^[177][178] During 2004, The Boss was awarded "Best New Character" by GameSpot for her role in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.^[179] In 2013, GamesRadar praised the character roles of Steven Armstrong, The Boss, Psycho Mantis and Revolver/Liquid Ocelot, placing them in their list of 100 best villains in video games.^[180]

References

v t e Metal Gear Games Main games MG MG2: Solid Snake MGS The Twin Snakes MGS2: Sons of Liberty MGS3: Snake Eater MGS4: Guns of the Patriots Peace Walker MGSV Ground Zeroes The Phantom Pain Other games Snake's Revenge Ghost Babel Metal Gear Acid Metal Gear Acid 2 Portable Ops MGS Mobile MGS Touch Social Ops Arcade Online Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Compilations HD Collection The Legacy Collection Creators Hideo Kojima Yoji Shinkawa Shinta Nojiri Mineshi Kimura Characters Solid Snake Big Boss Gray Fox Revolver Ocelot Hal 'Otacon' Emmerich Meryl Silverburgh Sniper Wolf Liquid Snake Raiden The Boss EVA Soundtracks MG2 MGS Solid Snake: Music Compilation of Hideo Kojima / Red Disc MGS2: Sons of Liberty MGS2: Sons of Liberty: The Other Side MGS2: Substance Original Soundtrack MGS2: Substance Limited Soundtrack MGS3: Snake Eater MGS3: Snake Eater – The First Bite MGS: Portable Ops MGS 20th Anniversary: Metal Gear Music Collection MGS4: Guns of the Patriots MGS 25th Anniversary: Metal Gear Music Collection MGR: Revengeance - Vocal Tracks Related Film adaptation Kojima Productions Fox Engine FOXHOUND Metal Gear (weapon) Philanthropy Ape Escape 3 DreamMix TV World Fighters Super Smash Bros. Brawl PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale Book:Metal Gear series  · Category:Metal Gear  · Portal:Video games