Theories of Metal Gear -- [Heavy Spoilers] --

Myths, theories, lore, and interpretations...

Snakes

There are 5 snakes:

Solid Snake (Old Snake)

Old Snake (Solid Snake)


Liquid Snake


Solidus Snake


Naked Snake


'Punished' Venom Snake

Some essays on the latest incarnation of Snake:
https://objectivevgaesthetics.wordpress.com/2016/05/15/the-phantoms-pain-turning-venom-snake-into-the-boss-a-metal-gear-solid-v-narrative-analysis-part-1/
https://vs642.wordpress.com/2015/09/22/critical-analysis-of-metal-gear-solid-v-the-boldfaced-lie/

---

Venom Is The Phantom/Phantom Snake

The brilliance of V is often overlooked by those who prefer to play as Naked Snake. Naked is, however reluctantly, the first snake to earn the title of Big Boss. Venom is the second snake to earn that title, but the 1st to have earned it from Big Boss.

By this time, V's story is well known. He is the anonymous MSF medic made into the image of Big Boss, to serve as Big Boss' phantom and decoy. Some theories claim that Venom retains some of his past memory alongside Big Boss' and some theories claim that Venom's memory was supplanted by Big Boss'. Whatever the case, the scene where Venom listens to Big Boss' cassette while in front of the mirror shows that he remembers what he looked like before his transformation into Big Boss. He remembers his original image.

In remembering his original image, Venom knows he is now someone else. But the question remains, given that Venom has all of Big Boss' memories and history, perhaps he is not Big Boss' only phantom? Venom certainly wears Big Boss' face but does Venom have a phantom himself?

Certainly, by the sheer number of FOBs we know that there are thousands of Venom Snakes in existence. That singular moment when V breaks the mirror is crucial. V's original image is no longer reflected. We see only Big Boss' visage staring back at us. Perhaps that is Venom's private ruse, that in the 10 years that he uses to build Outer Heaven, Big Boss' double doubles himself. Did Venom really die in Outer Heaven? Or maybe in those final moments it is V's phantom that faces Solid Snake.

Femme Fatales

Parallels: Quiet & Old Snake

As i was watching the conversation between Naomi and Old Snake where Old Snake discovers his life expectancy is cut short, not only because he is a clone but also a vector of viral weaponary, i started thinking about another game entirely...yes, you guessed it, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. If nothing else, The Phantom Pain is a game of veiled impressions and innuendos, a story that wisps away like smoke if you try too hard to catch a real glimpse of it. it is a game of phantoms and epidemics, of curdled hatred and revenge. its characters are repetitions of previous characters as though the entire Phantom Pain is simply a deja vu of past entries in the series. Venom, the phantom of Snake; Ocelot, a flat rendition of his earlier, younger self; Miller, in pieces; etc... And then there's Quiet.

Herself a silent vector of viral infection, her mission is a sucide strike against Snake. But when her chance finally arrives she decides to instead save Snake and then disappear in the deserts of Afghanistan. Old Snake chooses a similar path. Once he learns the Foxdie virus will make him into a veritable viral weapon, he realizes that his life is meaningless so he decides to help save the world at whatever cost to himself.

When Quiet leaves her message she strikes this pose[images.techtimes.com]:

in hommage to none other than[more-sky.com]:

Both viral vectors, both indomitable in spirit, perhaps this means that in our universe, where we are both Venom and Snake, our Phantom Pain will change the course of our fate since the Metal Gear history we know isn't encoded in our genes, but dependant on our choices.

---

I always wondered about that last scene with Quiet. And the image of her standing on the sand dune with her rifle held *just so* always gave me pause, like 'have i seen this image before?' And when i was watching MGS4 i suddenly put 2 and 2 together and made 5: Old Snake stands exactly like that in all the MGS4 promo posters. But i too dimissed the likeness as mere coincidence, until Naomi's conversation with Old Snake. Old Snake is a vector of disease just like Quiet and Old Snake is set to assasinate another Snake, just like Quiet. But even then, the parallels felt too haphazard, too random to make any sense.

Until i realized what The Phantom Pain itself is to the Metal Gear Solid series. It's a touching tribute to the series as a whole. And V's difference, that everyone feels - the emptiness, the lack of story - is the point of the final entry. It is not another simple iteration of the series like all the others, but a hommage. It's a commentary of Metal Gear Solid told from a distinctive perspective, like someone looking in from the outside. Gone are the overarching narratives and discursive explanations about plot from the characters themselves. You are now playing the legend and wearing the mask that the series worked so hard to craft.

In this sense, the characters sometimes act like others and are often not themselves at all. Ocelot is not like Ocelot and perhaps Quiet is less like a sniping wolf, and more like an aging snake. But these are just my interpretations, the faint contours I see in V's curling, wafting smoke.

Metal Gears?

Lore & Story

I always wondered why Kazuhira Miller's middle nickname is Benedict. In military history, a traitor is often called a 'benedict.' The term originates from Benedict Arnold, an american soldier who switched sides during the American Revolution. At first, I didn't pay much attention to it, but after going on so many missions I noticed that the "Punished" part of Venom Snake's name has the same quotation marks as the "Benedict" part of Miller's name. Maybe there is a clue about the game in these quotation marked nicknames?

From listening to Metal Gear Solid V's Truth Tapes, we know that Miller eventually comes to resent Naked Snake since he feels abandoned by him. In a conversation with Ocelot, Miller vows that "he will make the phantom and his son stronger, to send him (Naked Snake) to hell." Now, clearly Miller means to make Venom and either Solid or Liquid stronger to kill Naked Snake.

But by Metal Gear 1, we find that a Master Miller trains Solid Snake at a place called FOXHOUND. Solid Snake gets sent to Outer Heaven to destroy Metal Gear and along the way finds Big Boss and eliminates him. Metal Gear's Big Boss is none other than Venom Snake! Miller must have known the phantom's whereabouts yet trains Solid to kill him. Miller is nicknamed 'Benedict' because he betrays Venom Snake in Metal Gear 1.

-----

Metal Gear, Sons of Liberty, Snake Eater, Guns of the Patriots, Portable Ops, Ac!d, Peacewalker, Ghost Babel, Ground Zeroes, & The Phantom Pain...a saga spanning over 30 years with an incredibly subtle, deep and often confusing storyline.

Here are some of the better essays about this famed series:

The Phantom Pain:
http://www.famitsu.com/news/201602/26099526.html
http://metagearsolid.org/2016/12/requiem-and-rebirth-metal-gear-solid-v-as-a-new-beginning/

-----

Thoughts on Prologue/Truth Sequence:

In the Mission 46: Truth cutscene Venom Snake plays the cassette tape titled "From the Man Who Sold The World" and listens to Big Boss' message. Apparently, Venom receives this cassette tape after he completes Mission 46 which is a replay or remix of the Prologue mission. Yet, at the beginning of the game when Venom is surrounded by the nurses and is having trouble seeing, there is a radio on a small table playing the song "The Man Who Sold The World." Then when Venom wakes up, a startled nurse bumps into the table and knocks over the radio causing the song to end apruptly.

Now before this scene happens there is a prior cutscene that shows a small room like the one in the Truth cutscene with a walkman like the one Venom carries playing a cassette tape entitled "From The Man Who Sold The World." The camera zooms into the walkman and then the game begins with the song "The Man Who Sold The World" playing on the radio inside Venom's hospital room.

There are a lot of theories that claim that when Venom flips the tape, sees the side entitled "Operation Intrude N313," and places into the cassette player there is a time skip of 10 years based on the strange lights that occur at the bottom of the screen. But, from playing the game Venom knows that those lights only occur when he is scanning for intel with his iDroid. So the lights do not suggest a time skip at all.

I suggest that the Truth cutscene where Venom sees himself as a demon and breaks the mirror is actually the beginning of the game and the whole game is a rebuilding or a recollection of events from Venom's shattered memory. This is why the missions are called 'Episodes' like psychotic episodes where as each epsiode occurs the individual loses more and more contact with reality.

[tsukihi_1997]

@Holografix You should grow up to be a theorist, like those people on aliens. Anyway, VenomBB was more of a demon, since he was the guy that did all the dirty work. He was the one behind the scenes, just exactly like how XOF is to FOX. XOF was the clean up crew, kiling anyone in their way to ensure Cipher's victory, while FOX(Naked) does the mission.

[Holografix]

@BenN3T1700
the difficulty is in trying to seperate VenomBB from NakedBB. They're practically the same person, aside from Venom's earlier memories of his own life which he might or might not have forgotten. Venom's story arc is like a foreshadowing of Naked's eventual descent into villainy except Kojima decided to show Naked's descent from Venom's point of view, and as a seperate character altogether. So BB's descent is in two parts, first Venom, then Naked. Since they are essentially the same man, except in different bodies. In that way, your earlier comment of how Demon Venom smashes the mirror to reveal NakedBB on the other side, the duality of DD and OH, shows how maybe Venom is somewhat more demonic than NakedBB and might've not been as loyal to NakedBB as you mentioned. For how can a demon be loyal, except to their own demonic intentions?

[tsukihi_1997]

Well Venom, was more like the Second in Command, since he is what I would say the most loyal soldier to Big Boss, and his loyalty can even be compared to The Boss. Venom, would serve Big Boss to the end, become him, and follow. He would sacrifice his life to serve Big Boss, and do anything it would take to protect him. Naked was like the brother of Venom. Oh, FYI I found that when code talker abosrbed the parasites, and what the parasites gathered or ect. He say's
"Eyes on Kazuhira"

[Holografix]

@BenN3T1700
i like your theory of how the mirror symbolizes the 2 Big Bosses, Venom and Naked, DD and OH. But, doesn't Venom run Outer Heaven in Metal Gear 1?

The fan made comic is excellent and sad :( I like it. But the Metal Gear 1 incident is known in the timeline as The Outer Heaven Uprising. So it could be that Venom didn't work with Naked but rather rose up against him.

[tsukihi_1997]

This is a neat fan made comic depicting what we assume happens after MG, it's really sad, brings tears to my eyes http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/016/722/02a.jpg

[tsukihi_1997]

@Holografix When you enter the room, the logo is diamond dogs, but on the other side of the mirror is Outer Heaven. "We both are Big Boss" Symbolizes then both being their own paths, Venom had DD, Big Boss has OH

[Holografix]

@BenN3T1700
so based on the frame by frame analysis, do you think that there was some sort of time lapse in the Truth Mission mirror cutscene?

[tsukihi_1997]

@Holografix He probably did not know, since Venom and him may have parted ways, after all Venom did serve Big Boss and wouldn't disobey his orders. Nice theory, btw also just a fun fact, when Venom breaks the mirror and big boss is on the other side, if you look frame by frame, on the reflected side of the mirror, on the door it shows a Outer Heaven logo, not Diamond Dogs.

[Holografix]

@BenN3T1700
Notice how the nameplates awarded for successful infiltrations w/ Defender present show the different levels of growth for BigBoss/Venom's mercenary force: Bronze - MSF, Silver - Diamond Dogs, Gold - Outer Heaven. It's as though fighting and succeeding in FOB essentially trains you to finally face your ultimate foe, the clone of Big Boss.

[Holografix]

@BenN3T1700
The FOB aspect of MGSV is part of the theme of endless battle Miller mentioned in Mission 41: Proxy War With No End. Venom is supposed to act AS Big Boss and build up the superior mercenary force known as Outer Heaven. The FOB aspect is not a second hand idea thrown into the game hapharardly. It is thematically intregal to understanding Venom's character and shows how all the Metal Gear games fit together. Especially, how MGSV and Metal Gear 1 fit together.