Just a Theory: What if... [SPOILER]

[Wis]

Zero and Fifteen are two personalities of the very same character?

Seeing how the story unfold it seemed obvious to me on a replay, but it seems I'm really the only one in the whole world thinking something like this.

Three hints that made me wonder if this is actually true:
1) The toy is clearly linked to something Zero did in the village. And finding the toy had the screen painted with red. When The Dragon appears for the first time, the screen was painted in red.
2) The scene with the helicopter wreck and V: when V said he's the dragon slayer, Zero runs away as soon as the Dragon appears, and that felt really awkward to me.
But what if the tension with V has just awaken his long forgotten blood lust? What if, when he's about to unsheate the sword, he just let go of any self restrain, thus becoming The Dragon again? On a rewatch, that scene is just so perfect for this kind of interpretation.
3) In the final scene, after supposedly dealing with the child in the house, Zero meets The Dragon. What if the dealing with the child was the very first time he had met that side of him? The side that doesn't stop at anything. The one unable to feel remorse or that actually even likes killing?

Just also keep in mind these other things:
1) Zero is a totally unreliable narrator, so whatever he sees or thinks he had seen must be taken with a grain of salt.
2) He's a psychopath (according to the game he was like that since his childhood). The fact that he's suffering from double personality just strenghten this.
3) He clearly he's enduring a PTSD. It's not uncommon that a person who has done terrible things will totally dissociate from his former self, thus unconsciously hiding The Dragon within himeself.
3) He's a gamma. Expectedly one of a kind. But The Dragon seems way more powerful than he is.
4) When he retrieves the Fifteen videotape, the other Null soldier didn't even make a move. She only said "I thought you were dead", a sentence Zero would have probably said to himself (The Dragon). That would be explained if she was attacked by The Dragon himself, switching personalities.

I'm not this presumptuous to think that I'm the only one in the world that have got the story right, of course. But I think this would be a really nice interpretation that offers an even deeper meaning to an already fantastic game.
It would not be the first time I see plot twists that are not really there though, so... I'd really like this to be a thing but there are many loose ends, and I just can't really trust myself.
Maybe I am the unreliable narrator after all. ^___^

P.S. sorry for my English, I'm Italian.

[Internal_TV]

First, that was a really cool idea, one that I would never have thought of myself but I definately do see what you mean after reading this. However, what about the contents of the tape itself? I mean I understand that Zero would have been in the different mindset, but I don't believe that he would have killed the prisoner only to then decide "Eh, let's go on the mission anyway." That being said it isn't completely out of the real of possibility, just a bit of a lapse in reasoning.

Second, we know that at the very least, Fifteen was actually a person at one point. We know this because of the scene where Zero and Fifteen stand beside each other during the war which it is presumed they both actually served in. With that, I like the idea that Fifteen may have been a more ruthless soldier, thus making this be the form Zero sees as the darker side of himself.

All around, even if it isn't true it is a very fun idea.

[Wis]

Thanks for the comment, I really appreciate it!

First: Zero he’s not aware The Dragon (his wilder and blood thirsty side) is still “alive” and kickin’. It’s like a dissociative disorder when one or both the personalities are not aware of the existence of the other one. Maybe he just could not enter the prison with stealth and The Dragon snapped in. Only to return himself when he just got out of the prison, thinking he still had to go in. The policemen arrive just after he find the body in the cell, so The Dragon killing spree must have happened just a bit early than that.

Second: I tried to explained that at the end of my post: Zero was alone in that mission, but after dealing with the child, he “met” The Dragon, so to speak.
It’s a symbolic meeting.

[Chap]

in the chinatown casino part of the mission you go up against the null soldier who is surprised that you have null capabilities after you beat her, and was talking to the dragon while you meat here, and you are both even in the same room together, which means that she doesn't recognise you (supposedly the dragon) just moments after talking with the dragon and also while telling the dragon to get out of the room. there is also the part where they talk about the war, meaning that they were both in the war, which makes the cutscene at the end of the game make more sense, for the part where he runs away when the dragon screws V, it could be for any reason, maybe he recognised the voice, but because of his memory and ptsd he just ran?

[Wis]

Yeah, it’s a stretch there. But with Zero being an unreliable narrator you could really explain anything, like Fifteen talking to her and then suddenly turning against her.
The fact she doesn’t even fight is weird isn’t it? Shouldn’t her supposedly be under Chronos too?