Metal Gear Solid 5 Characters

Who's who in Metallic Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Hurting

Dramatis personae

It's no secret that the Metallic Gear Solid timeline is a complicated quagmire of names, dates, and hole-and-corner organizations, and with the last entry in the long-running serial arriving in less than ii weeks, we'll finally get the missing pieces to a story that has been decades in the making. Metal Gear has always revelled in gleeful impenetrability, straddling the line betwixt serious melodrama and over-the-top ridiculousness. Information technology's endearing in a way, as following Metal Gear'south labyrinthine narrative is usually worth the endeavour needed to understand it, merely if yous're new to the series, or non willing to sift through pages of wiki articles, keeping track of its myriad characters can be a nightmare.

Metallic Gear'due south characters are perhaps the most fluid of whatsoever video game franchise out at that place, as their allegiances (and even names) can modify drastically from entry to entry. That'due south why I've compiled a list of the major players in Metallic Gear Solid v: The Phantom Pain, their role in the overall franchise, likewise as any other data nosotros might possibly know about them. If you lot're wondering why Revolver Ocelot is working for Big Boss, or why immature Eli seems to be and so important, this article will give you a crash class in who'south who in The Phantom Pain.

A quick note: This commodity assumes basic knowledge of the overall plot to the Metal Gear Solid franchise. I try to summarize where I tin can, but if you're completely new or want a refresher, be sure to check out this handy, series-encompassing plot synopsis (opens in new tab).

Big Boss/Punished "Venom" Snake

Large Boss began his office in the Metal Gear series equally its greatest villain, just thanks to decades of sequels, prequels, and retroactive continuity, his role in the timeline has get far more complex. Metal Gear Solid three introduces a Big Boss before he received his intimidating title, back when he was known by the callsign Naked Snake. Snake receives the championship of Big Boss afterward saving the twenty-four hour period past killing his closest friend and mentor, but then leaves the military and wanders from skirmish to skirmish, eventually forming a secret organization called The Patriots with Major Nil and Revolver Ocelot. Things seem hunky-dory until Zero decides to clone Big Boss without his consent, which doesn't really sit well with him. Large Dominate leaves the Patriots, and somewhen meets Kazuhira Miller, forming the Militaires Sans Frontieres (MSF), a private military visitor built for a new age of war.

Which leads united states of america to Ground Zeroes, a brief mission that shows us the destruction of MSF by unknown forces and a helicopter crash that seems to identify Big Boss in a 9-year-long blackout. Upward to this point, Big Boss hasn't exactly gone total-on evil even so. Morally grayness and willing to build a massive organisation of mercenaries, sure, only he's not finding war orphans, raising them as soldiers, and using them to create more than war orphans, perpetuating the cycle of violence ad infinitum like he was in Metallic Gear 2: Solid Snake. So how does Large Boss get to that indicate? The Phantom Pain should shed some lite on exactly how Big Dominate will avenge his fallen comrades - and considering his new callsign is Punished/Venom Ophidian, it's probably not going to be pretty.

Ishmael

First revealed in a trailer shown at GDC 2013 (opens in new tab), Ishmael is probably The Phantom Pain's about enigmatic character - and that's maxim something when you compare him to the mysterious rogue'due south gallery already revealed.

Ishmael is a fellow hospital mate of Big Dominate who claimed to be watching over him while he was in a coma for nine years. His confront is completely bandaged, and he sounds like he's voiced by Kiefer Sutherland - which, coincidentally, is the same actor who voices Big Boss. Who is Ishmael? Is he another person, or just a figment of our imagination? Whoever he is, he seems like he holds the key to The Phantom Pain'south biggest secrets.

Quiet

The first thing you'll probably notice near Tranquility is her clothing - or, more accurately, her lack of clothing. The reason behind her manner of dress is evidently under as much lock and primal as the reason why she'due south unwilling - or unable - to talk, but based on the "Quiet But Non Silent" trailer (opens in new tab), it would appear that your crew isn't exactly thrilled to bring her aboard.

What we do know about Quiet is that, at some point in the story, she meets up with Big Boss and joins forces, offering up her scissure-shot sniping skills in the field. She'll mail service up on a cliff face or some form of high elevation, keeping watch for you through her sniper scope, marking enemies, and sending a bullet through their unfortunate faces at your control.

Skull Confront

Skull Face up doesn't seem like a very nice guy, if the cassette tapes found in Ground Zeroes are whatever indication. He holed up at Camp Omega for a while, taking time to torture both Chico and Paz, as well every bit a variety of other POWs and political prisoners. At the start of Ground Zeroes, he's seen taking off in a helicopter moments before Big Dominate shows up, his face scarred beyond recognition.

Similar many of the newly-revealed characters, not much is known of Skull Confront, though the E3 2015 trailer (opens in new tab) does shed some calorie-free on his origin. At a young age, Skull Face up lost his nation, as well as the language of his native natural language, to foreign soldiers. Considering of this, Skull Confront wants to rid the globe of linguistic communication, uniting the world nether "the chain of retaliation". The events of Basis Zeroes make it seem like he was the 1 who ordered the flop to be placed inside Paz, causing the explosion that sent Large Boss into a blackout, only then he's seen palling around with Large Boss at the end of that E3 trailer and so what the hell is going on?

Benedict "Kazuhira" Miller

This guy seems to become a new name with every single game he'south in. Referred to as Principal McDonnell Miller in Metal Gear Solid, then Kazuhira Miller in Peace Walker, at present he'due south Bridegroom Miller. He was 2nd-in-control of MSF during Peace Walker, and afterwards its anything at the end of Ground Zeroes, he rejoins Large Boss to pick upwardly the pieces, forming a new private military corporation called Diamond Dogs nine years later. Obsessed with revenge, Miller and Big Dominate aim to take down Cipher once and for all in The Phantom Hurting.

But here'southward the matter - eventually, Miller and Big Boss become their divide ways, every bit Master Miller ends upwards training soldiers for FOXHOUND, including one Solid Snake, while Large Boss secretly heads upwardly Outer Heaven. Miller even serves as one of Solid Serpent's contacts during Metallic Gear ii: Solid Serpent, going so far equally to telephone call Big Boss a "monster" in the final encounter. Miller dies shortly before the events of Metal Gear Solid, as his body is plant murdered in his Alaskan domicile during the Shadow Moses Incident. What caused the schism between the 2 comrades-in-arms? Or will this bit of information be retconned out of the series' timeline? Hopefully The Phantom Pain will provide some answers.

Revolver "Shalashaska" Ocelot

Introduced in Metal Gear Solid as a biting rival to Solid Snake, time to come games in the serial would paint him in a far more sympathetic lite. He first met Big Boss during Performance Snake Eater, where Ocelot worked equally a Russian GRU operative and clandestine Philosopher spy. Afterward the events of Serpent Eater, Ocelot and Big Dominate would go on to form the Patriots, along with Major Zip. When Big Boss left, Ocelot remained with the Patriots, though he despised their policies. In the 1980s, he left the Patriots and rejoined Big Boss to help build the Diamond Dogs.

Despite playing villain to Solid Ophidian throughout his adventures, MGS4 informed us that Ocelot'due south loyalty ever remained with Big Boss. Everything that happened in MGS 1, 2, and four - from siding with Liquid and Solidus Snake, to grafting his hand with Liquid'south arm and allowing it to take control of his body - was all washed to aid Big Dominate combat the Patriots. He dies at the end of MGS4, thanks to the FOXDIE virus within Solid Snake's trunk.

Huey Emmerich

The Emmerich family has a long history with building machines of war. Huey's father was one of the scientists that worked on the Manhattan Project, designing the diminutive bombs that would decimate Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Huey would go on to work as a mechanical engineer, perfecting research discovered in Operation Snake Eater that would give way to the bipedal technology plant on Metal Gear. He also designed Peace Walker in 1974, believing that it would provide the ultimate course of nuclear deterrence. His son, Hal (or Otacon, as he's besides known), would continue to develop Metal Gear REX in Metallic Gear Solid - simply let'due south back up a bit.

Large Boss rescues Huey Emmerich during the events of Peace Walker and brings him into MSF to pattern Metal Gear ZEKE, a nuclear-equipped walking battlemech. Earlier the events of Footing Zeroes, government organizations are catching current of air of MSF and rumors that they may be hiding nukes. Big Boss and Kazuhira Miller dismiss these allegations and deny their requests for an inspection, just Huey sends another message allowing them to go ahead with the investigation, with the team wrapping up as Big Boss returns from his rescue mission at Camp Omega. The investigation was likely a ruse, however, as Big Boss returned to detect MSF nether attack from an unknown force. Was Huey the reason MSF was invaded, or is he merely a patsy to a larger double-cross?

Eli

Eli'due south only been shown in a few trailers, and only in a brief handful of scenes, only he is well-nigh likely ane of the clones created during the Les Enfants Terribles project. More than specifically, he's probably Liquid Snake, the villain of Metal Gear Solid. First off, Eli is the correct age to be Liquid, considering The Phantom Pain takes place in 1984, and the Les Enfants Terribles project began in the early 1970's. He'southward blond, he does the same fist-pump-then-hop-into-Metal-Gear bit that Liquid does in MGS, and the back of his jacket has a series of Japanese characters that loosely interpret to "liquid human". Oh, and at the end of the E3 2015 trailer (opens in new tab), the camera hovers over him and another kid who looks exactly like him, while Large Dominate says, "'Les Enfants Terribles', Zero called it." Yes, the kid has to be Liquid Serpent.

Anyway, according to Metal Gear Solid, Liquid Ophidian and his male parent Big Boss don't exactly have the best relationship. Liquid feels slighted because he concluded upwardly with all of the recessive genes while Solid ended up with the dominant genes, even though Liquid doesn't know that the contrary is actually true. His ultimate wish is to surpass his father and his genetic destiny, and his endeavour to exercise this comes during the Shadow Moses Incident. He ultimately fails, falling victim to the FOXDIE virus harbored inside Solid Serpent'southward body.

Lawmaking Talker

Not much is known almost Code Talker, but the E3 2013 trailer (opens in new tab) describes him equally a "Wise Man denied his Homeland." He appears to be of Native American descent, and a GDC 2013 presentation suggests (opens in new tab) that he may be over 100 years quondam, if the grapheme model they're showing is in fact the same 1 used for Lawmaking Talker. His speech in the E3 2015 trailer (opens in new tab) mentions that language is the i thing that can bring multiple cultures and nationalities together.

Those who 'Don't Be'

This is where The Phantom Pain gets a niggling weird. Nosotros've seen video footage from the hospital sequence back at GDC 2013 (opens in new tab) that shows a young child wearing a gas mask while floating in the air, along with the advent of a menacing man engulfed in flames (possibly Colonel Volgin, the villain from Metal Gear Solid iii). Is the child Psycho Mantis, the master psychic introduced in Metal Gear Solid? Does that make the human being on burn a psychokinetic apparition, or his he real, too? Or is something else going on here?

Paz Andrade

Paz originally called upon Large Dominate at the outset of Peace Walker to help rid her country of a mysterious invading strength, simply was, in actuality, a double-amanuensis working for Cipher. Her job was to continue tabs on Big Dominate, MSF, and the development of Metallic Gear ZEKE. When her encompass was blown, she tried to make off with ZEKE, attempting to kill Large Boss in the procedure. Big Boss foiled her plans, and Paz is flung into the ocean in an explosion.

Big Boss learns that Paz survived the nail and is existence held prisoner at Camp Omega, a US blackness site on Cuban soil. Because she knows of MSF's and, subsequently, Metal Gear ZEKE'southward existence, Big Boss infiltrates the camp to rescue her. Afterwards exfiltrating Paz via helicopter, he discovers a flop planted within her abdomen, but misses a second bomb - the 1 that supposedly destroys the helicopter and places Large Dominate into a nine-year-long coma. Paz should surely be dead, correct? Well, footage from the E3 2015 trailer (opens in new tab) shows a Paz who looks very much alive, and who hasn't anile a day since the incident in 1975.

Chico

Large Boss meets Chico during the Peace Walker Incident during a rescue mission. Chico's older sister, Amanda, was a comandante for the Sandinista National Liberation Front, and urges Big Dominate to rescue her brother from the enemy's clutches. Big Boss finds the young boy weeping, having sold out the location of his comrades. Big Boss takes pity on him, recruiting him to fight alongside him with the rest of MSF. Information technology'south there that Chico befriends and develops a crush on Paz.

Fast forward to Ground Zeroes. Chico learns that Paz is being held at Camp Omega, and then he leaves on his ain to find and rescue her, inevitably getting captured as a result. Big Dominate rescues Chico along with Paz, and exfiltrates via chopper. He witnesses the devastation of MSF along with Big Boss, Paz, and Kazuhira Miller, and is within the helicopter when the bomb hidden inside Paz goes off. Chico's fate is currently unknown.

Major Zero

Major Zero was a British SAS officer and MI6 operative earlier joining the CIA and heading up the FOX Unit of measurement, a blackness ops squad specializing in infiltration, along with The Dominate. He was Naked Ophidian'south commanding officer during the events of Metal Gear Solid three, and would go on to course The Patriots after Revolver Ocelot recovered the Philosophers' Legacy.

While Major Zero and Big Boss were allies for a time, Nix'due south Les Enfants Terribles cloning project created a schism between the ii, causing them to get bitter rivals. Cypher renamed The Patriots to Cipher and went into hiding, using proxies to relay orders to his operatives. Nil and Big Boss would spend the next several decades fighting with one another, beginning with the Peace Walker Incident in 1974. Their disharmonize would somewhen come to a head in 2014, as Big Boss finally ends Major Zero'south life, putting a finish to The Patriots and Nada one time and for all.

While there's no word on whether Major Zero will actually make an appearance in The Phantom Hurting, Skull Face and Paz make several references to Cipher throughout various cassette tapes in Footing Zeroes. Major Zero may never testify his face, but information technology'south likely that Cipher'south shadow will hang over the proceedings like a storm cloud, and information technology's there'south a good hazard that this is his vocalism in the E3 2015 trailer (opens in new tab), describing how he'southward institute a way to make "the Boss' vision a reality".

David Roberts lives in Everett, WA with his wife and ii kids. He once had to sell his full copy of EarthBound (complete with box and guide) to some dude in Austria for rent money. And no, he doesn't have an amiibo 'trouble', thanks very much.