Split-Screen :: The Game-Geek’s Daily Read

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Welcome to part two of our three part recap/explanation of the Metal Gear Solid storyline. In case you haven’t seen part one yet, then go check out the first part here, to get up to speed on the story so far. If you’ve already done that though, then go ahead and read on.

The origins of the Perfect Soldier project start out with “Frank Jaeger” better known as Solid Snake’s one time comrade Gray Fox, or the Ninja. Gray was taken into FOXHOUND post rescue in Portable Ops, under the command of Naked Snake, who is now one of the key figures to knowing the identity of “The Patriots”. Towards the end of Portable Ops a dialogue between Ocelot and “Y” (To be explained later) tells us about “Big Boss” becoming one of The Patriots.

Gray Fox’s defection on Zanzibar Island is part of the Successor project. This move by the Patriots was meant to recruit Solid Snake as the perfect version of Big Boss to render them almost invincible. So the Patriots had anticipated Snake’s victory and the destruction of Metal Gear D, and had also planned the demise of Big Boss, so Solid Snake would take his place as an agent of the Patriots, just as Naked Snake killed the Boss during the events of Snake Eater.

The whole process of succession would continue, but alas Solid Snake disappeared/retired post the events of Metal Gear 2 : Solid Snake and threw a solid wrench into the plans of the Patriots who then went into their own subliminal world - till the events of Shadow Moses. This gave them sufficient time to recover their energies and devise a whole new plan. The new plan includes creating an even more perfect version of Snake, so the incident at Shadow Moses was orchestrated at the hands of The Patriots through Liquid’s appearance and the FOXHOUND unit, which takes control of the archipelago.

Gray Fox’s resurgence as the Ninja has an interesting story to it too. Remember Olga from MGS2 has a child held by the Patriots? Well if mommy could don “The Ninja Exoskeleton” for the Patriots just for the baby then so could Daddy, yes, Gray Fox is presumably the father of this child and is working at the behest of The Patriots to save his child. Even The Boss’s child was taken away from her by the Philosophers so there’s a precedent for this in the series.

Snake was injected with FOXDIE so that he would die when his mission got over, but unfortunately this does not happen and Snake survives due to Naomi Hunter’s humane side. So Snake lives on causing the Patriots to rethink their strategies once again.

Since Snake is still alive the Patriots try and identify another candidate to fill in his shoes and this time the find Raiden. Raiden and Gray fox almost share the same history - both were child mercenaries in wars and were trained extensively under the guidance of “Snake” (Naked Snake and Solidus Snake). Since this was the “Successor project” now termed “SSS”(Solid Snake Simulation), it has to end with the demise of Solidus who shares almost the same relationship that Solid Snake had with Big Boss.

Now if you remember Ocelot’s words about SSS, he says the entire mission was to emulate the events of Shadow Moses, which means “The Perfect Soldier” project is still underway and there is something like “Les Enfants Terrible II ” being created by the Patriots.

Raiden’s girl Rosemary is pregnant with a child by the end of MGS2, so this child/children add another dimension to the upcoming sequel.

Gray Fox was indebted to Bigg Boss/Naked Snake and this relation is carried forward with Solid Snake and Raiden as well, but this time Raiden is not working for Patriots but for Solid Snake. His role in the game is threefold - rescue both his own child and Olga’s child and finish off the Patriots for - which he dons same exoskeleton in the upcoming sequel in Guns of the Patriots.

Naomi has a huge role in the process of implanting the exoskeleton onto Raiden. She also holds a key role in decoding the Patriots, She is still under the influence of the Patriots and plays a key role in the upcoming “Les enfants terrible II” project that might be revealed in MGS4.

That’s it for part two people, and there’s one last part to follow and also a handy graphic to make the whole picture even clearer. Go on now to get to part three right here…