Is Quiet illiterate? (spoiler discussion)

[Kuromiya]

Why didn't she just write things down, like those Feels she wanted to share? Or learn a few phrases in a language other than English and Navajo, enough to say things like "Yes" and "Number O'clock please, Mr Helicopter Pilot"? I mean, yeah, I get she can't SPEAK things in English, but it's not like the parasites would kill her if she picked up a pen and wrote "Hi Snake, I want your Snake" on a piece of notebook paper.

I know I'm the first person to say this, but sometimes it seems like Kojima doesn't think his ideas through very far. Was this ever addressed at some point during the five hundred hours of cassette tape recordings they give you?

[Misa]

Quiet is all looks and no substance...

kojima wants us to admire his lust for women and failed miserably.

[Kuromiya]

I dunno, she kills Commies faster than Rambo, and that's pretty substantial in my books.

And yeah, she's no Laughing Octopus, but I don't get why people frequently disparage Quiet's appearance. It's like a video game version of the "2/10" Meme - personally I think she looks fine, no failure there.

[Misa]

KOjima drew attention to the way video games could sexualize, objectify, and victimize women — with female characters often being insignificant and non-playable, serving no purpose other than satisfying the male gaze under the premise of making a plotline “edgy” or “racy.”

[Holografix]

To answer your questions about Quiet:

What would be the purpose of communicating with Diamond Dogs? What is Quiet going to explain to them?

- Miller wants to kill her and only wants to know about Skullface/Cipher.
- The regular Diamond Dogs are afraid of her and hate her.
- Snake doesn't ask her any questions.

Strictly based on the story and character arcs in The Phantom Pain, Quiet's communication wouldn't lead anywhere. She is a walking viral vector time-bomb who found a reason to live, however forced, through trying to take revenge on Big Boss. That she has a somewhat change of heart about her whole English strain asassination plot is limited by the fact that she knows she is a walking time-bomb. So she isn't really free to speak freely, if you get what I mean. Her final tape explains that she is grateful of her time while in the employ of Diamond Dogs, but her gratitude is short-lived and somewhat embittered given the circumstances that led her to Diamond Dogs in the first place. Those circumstances being a failed asassination on Big Boss, being immolated by Ishamael, and finally having to carry the English strain parasites as a final strategem of Skullface.

[Kuromiya]

Originally posted by Holografix:

To answer your questions about Quiet:

What would be the purpose of communicating with Diamond Dogs? What is Quiet going to explain to them?

- Miller wants to kill her and only wants to know about Skullface/Cipher.
- The regular Diamond Dogs are afraid of her and hate her.
- Snake doesn't ask her any questions.

Strictly based on the story and character arcs in The Phantom Pain, Quiet's communication wouldn't lead anywhere. She is a walking viral vector time-bomb who found a reason to live, however forced, through trying to take revenge on Big Boss. That she has a somewhat change of heart about her whole English strain asassination plot is limited by the fact that she knows she is a walking time-bomb. So she isn't really free to speak freely, if you get what I mean. Her final tape explains that she is grateful of her time while in the employ of Diamond Dogs, but her gratitude is short-lived and somewhat embittered given the circumstances that led her to Diamond Dogs in the first place. Those circumstances being a failed asassination on Big Boss, being immolated by Ishamael, and finally having to carry the English strain parasites as a final strategem of Skullface.

But the tape she leaves at the end of her final mission - she tells you, straight up, that she wishes she could have told you about her feelings, and would have, if only you had shared a common tongue. It was one of the final moments of the game; perhaps even a thesis statement for the entire thing, assuming Kojima had one to begin with.

She knew English. She had access to writing implements. I get why she wouldn't want to communicate with Kaz or the rest of the Dogs, but if she wanted to talk to Snake that bad just write him a damn letter.

KOjima drew attention to the way video games could sexualize, objectify, and victimize women — with female characters often being insignificant and non-playable, serving no purpose other than satisfying the male gaze under the premise of making a plotline “edgy” or “racy.”

I wasn't aware of that, and at any rate, it doesn't seem to apply to Quiet, since Quiet is incredibly significant and serves a huge purpose in this game. In fact, one could argue that Quiet's primary purpose - killing Communists and South Africans - is wildly OP, since she's so much better at doing it than anyone else in your organization! Sure, I've got a ton of top-level, completely playable female characters in the Diamond Dogs - Flaming Buffalo the highspeed 99 Zulu, Spunky Hedgehog the superspy, Ice Falcon my top Medic, those three identicle triplet blondes who run my Engineering department - but Quiet can victimize an entire outpost of expendable, insignificant, non-playable male soldiers so quickly that the rest of my army (including myself) seems extraneous.

It's rather nice of Kojima to ensure that a game enjoyed predominately by men includes a character they can gaze at, but I don't think any of us can succesfully argue her insignificance.

[Holografix]

Originally posted by KickySonichu:

Originally posted by Holografix:

To answer your questions about Quiet:

What would be the purpose of communicating with Diamond Dogs? What is Quiet going to explain to them?

- Miller wants to kill her and only wants to know about Skullface/Cipher.
- The regular Diamond Dogs are afraid of her and hate her.
- Snake doesn't ask her any questions.

Strictly based on the story and character arcs in The Phantom Pain, Quiet's communication wouldn't lead anywhere. She is a walking viral vector time-bomb who found a reason to live, however forced, through trying to take revenge on Big Boss. That she has a somewhat change of heart about her whole English strain asassination plot is limited by the fact that she knows she is a walking time-bomb. So she isn't really free to speak freely, if you get what I mean. Her final tape explains that she is grateful of her time while in the employ of Diamond Dogs, but her gratitude is short-lived and somewhat embittered given the circumstances that led her to Diamond Dogs in the first place. Those circumstances being a failed asassination on Big Boss, being immolated by Ishamael, and finally having to carry the English strain parasites as a final strategem of Skullface.

But the tape she leaves at the end of her final mission - she tells you, straight up, that she wishes she could have told you about her feelings, and would have, if only you had shared a common tongue. It was one of the final moments of the game; perhaps even a thesis statement for the entire thing, assuming Kojima had one to begin with.

She knew English. She had access to writing implements. I get why she wouldn't want to communicate with Kaz or the rest of the Dogs, but if she wanted to talk to Snake that bad just write him a damn letter.

The cassette tape she leaves is her letter to Snake:

I did not choose to be Quiet:
{She was burned. Skullface gave her parasite therapy to live}
I wanted to express my feelings to you. If only we shared a common tongue:
{Any language is insufficient to communicate her feelings. Even if she knew every language, words are not enough}
Vengeance was what drove me to them. The only language left to me, revenge.
But the words we shared. No, that was no language at all.
{Actions speak louder than words. Acts of mercy, acts of camaraderie}
That is why I chose the language of gratitude instead, and go back to silence.
I am Quiet... I am... the absence of words.
{She knows her words can kill, so why pretend with words or even written letters, when actions speak so much louder. Snake knows, Quiet knows....that is enough}

The lyrics to Quiet's Theme can provide a clue as well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lwUS0GlNIA

[NIck]

Originally posted by DeadlyDiva:

KOjima drew attention to the way video games could sexualize, objectify, and victimize women — with female characters often being insignificant and non-playable, serving no purpose other than satisfying the male gaze under the premise of making a plotline “edgy” or “racy.”

TRIGGERED

[Misa]

Originally posted by HisMajestyDangerNoodle:

Originally posted by DeadlyDiva:

KOjima drew attention to the way video games could sexualize, objectify, and victimize women — with female characters often being insignificant and non-playable, serving no purpose other than satisfying the male gaze under the premise of making a plotline “edgy” or “racy.”

TRIGGERED

Lets not dig deep into this.. There is nothing here but the truth.

[Fang]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=mgs5+why+can%27t+quiet+write

The reddit post is of particular interest. If you want more user input.

[Kuromiya]

Originally posted by Fang:

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=mgs5+why+can%27t+quiet+write

The reddit post is of particular interest. If you want more user input.

As an intelligent and sophisticated individual I use DuckDuckGo and Startpage, and at any rate the question was not satisfactorily answered in the places listed. In your own words, why do you think Quiet failed to write?

Originally posted by Holografix:

The cassette tape she leaves is her letter to Snake:

I did not choose to be Quiet:
{She was burned. Skullface gave her parasite therapy to live}
I wanted to express my feelings to you. If only we shared a common tongue:
{Any language is insufficient to communicate her feelings. Even if she knew every language, words are not enough}
Vengeance was what drove me to them. The only language left to me, revenge.
But the words we shared. No, that was no language at all.
{Actions speak louder than words. Acts of mercy, acts of camaraderie}
That is why I chose the language of gratitude instead, and go back to silence.
I am Quiet... I am... the absence of words.
{She knows her words can kill, so why pretend with words or even written letters, when actions speak so much louder. Snake knows, Quiet knows....that is enough}

It doesn't really matter if she was burned or not, if she had a choice or not, or even who did it to her. Her hands weren't burned off, so she should still be able to write. And while your view on the primacy of actions over linguistic communication is an interesting one, it's clear from the tape that Quiet believed her actions were insufficient for expressing the feelings she had.

Anyway, one thing I hadn't noticed before, but now that you mention it, it's hard to miss:

I wanted to express my feelings to you. If only we shared a common tongue:
Vengeance was what drove me to them. The only language left to me, revenge.

Revenge [is]is[/i] a tongue they share in common, though. Both Venom and Quiet understand the desire for revenge; it's one of their primary motivations, and their revenge is even targeted against the same people (Skullface and Cipher). Does she not understand this?

Originally posted by DeadlyDiva:

Originally posted by HisMajestyDangerNoodle:

TRIGGERED

Lets not dig deep into this.. There is nothing here but the truth.

Diamond Dogs fight the enemy. We do not fight each other. Both of you, stand down!

And at any rate, I don't read DeadlyDiva as being "triggered", merely in error. Quiet is one of the strongest female characters I've ever seen in video game media; a true heroine in the Paglian-feminist sense, and should be celebrated as such.

[Deathraven13]

Well there is no real point of telling her fellings to Venom snake because she knew that she had to go at some point, also since Solid Snake kills him it wouldn't have lasted long enough, so nothing would have changed, also I too said the same thing about why she didn't writte or tried sign language, but Kojima know how women works, a woman can spit their hate for years in something they hate and if you do not agree with them they will want to have the last word so they will continue even if they are wrong, they also do not really speak about their feelings because..... you guys know ;) , hence why we have to understand her by her attitude via cutscenes, that's how women works IRL, also a quiet woman is something you will not see a lot IRL so it's a fiction at some point, like Volgin and Psycho Mantis, zam.

So why was Quiet designed like this and why she is better than a real woman by her attitude:

- She wear what she want because she is a free woman, a woman can show her body just like a man can, feminazis will tell you that it's patriarchy or she is a slut, but you can play as people wearing a swimsuit but here you won't hear them complain, because Quiet represent a strong woman wich is why weak women despise, zam.

- Since she is silent she won't speak garbage 95% of the time, just like Venom,now who speak 95% of time garbage ? Huey. Because every moment shared is precious and words losses their value if you use them too much for nothing, like if a guy says "I love you" to hundreds of women you know it means nothing, zam.

- She did what most women can't do, wich is forget about their revenge, give up their hate and finaly just enjoy life the way they can, because she is free, she dance when it rains even on the battlefield, wear what she feel confortable with, and even if tortured and locked up in a cell she managed to remain free because her mind is free, she is the opposite of Paz, so you will mostly see that kind of strong women in a video game because nowadays women complaigns a lot about things that do not matter, I don't even have to give you an exemple of that unless you never have been with a women even if it's a friend, then go outside and make some damn female friends then you'll see what a bad decision you have made, zam.

In conclusion: Her environnement and the whole situation wasn't good enough for such a relationship, because being in a couple means that you are like 2 mind in 1 body, so what would have happened if Venom rejected her feelings ? What if he accepeted them ? What would Miller and diamond dogs would do if Venom accepted her feelings ? That's why she can only enjoy her freedom when she is only with you, one way for them to be happy would have been if Venom gave up on diamond dogs, but diamond dogs and his loyalty to his men and Big Boss are too strong for that to happen, since Quiet is not stupid she understood all that and decided that it was worth all these terrible times if she could spend some time with Venom, yes it's not written so most people don't understand her and only see boobs because they are stupid or some have not even finished the game, if I had to use an exemple take Fortune from MGS2, some people will be like "damn that outfit, BOOBS !" but most people saw what kind of woman she was since they make it so obvious, but for Quiet...... you had to feel it..... feel her emotions..... and feel another phantom pain...... you will never be together as a happy family, zam.

[Deathraven13]

Originally posted by KickySonichu:

Diamond Dogs fight the enemy. We do not fight each other. Both of you, stand down!

But you can put them on a raft and banish them, zam.

[redeyedraven]

Originally posted by KickySonichu:

In your own words, why do you think Quiet failed to write?

Because nobody cared to hand her some paper and a pen or pencil.

May be Ocelot suggested doing that and Miller shut his suggestion down once again.

Or they DID try this and nothing of interest came out of it, so nobody ever mentions that.

[Soniti254]

To answer OP's inital question, Quiet isn't illiterate; she simply chose to be silent in every sense of the word given her circumstances. I believe sometime in the game, Ocelot and/or Miller tell Venom they did actually try getting Quiet to write while questioning her, but she refused to do that. I think, had she done that, she would've given away the fact that she can understand English; something Quiet clearly did not want to be known throughout the whole game. In her mind, writing English would've been the same thing as speaking it, and doing so would've defeated the purpose of staying silent.

The whole reason she had the parasites inside her was to get revenge against Big Boss for what happened at the hospital. However, after being defeated by Venom AND was shown mercy by Venom in Afghanistan, she ended up having a change of heart and decided to stay silent, regardless of circumstances. Hell, the only reason she spoke English in the whole game was because otherwise Venom was going to die from snakebite poisoning after he went out into the field to find her AND bring her back "home".

[AGA | prinnyuber]

She isnt. See the posts above mine anyway for some references to it. However, I wouldnt be surprised if she is The Ends daughter or grand daughter. Both are good snipers and both have the same abilities along with Code Talker. With that said, who is hungry for some hamburgers? XD