Cécile Cosima Caminades

This article is about the fictional character in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. You may be looking for Cécile Caminades, the former Communications Manager of Konami Paris, whom the character's name and appearance are based on.

Cécile Cosima Caminades
Biographical information
Nationality	French
Born	c. 1948 Paris, France
Age	20s (1975)
Physical description
Eye color	Grey-Blue
Hair color	Sandy-blond
Ethnicity	Caucasian
Career and family information
Affiliation(s)	Militaires Sans Frontières
Behind the scenes
Main appearance(s)	Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Created by	Hideo Kojima
Designed by	Yoji Shinkawa
Voiced by (Japanese)	Yū Kobayashi
Voiced by (English)	Catherine Taber

Cécile Cosima Caminades was an ornithologist. During the Peace Walker Incident in 1974, she was recruited as a scout into Big Boss's Militaires Sans Frontières.

Biography

Early life and career

Cécile Cosima Caminades was born in Paris, France. As a young girl, she witnessed one of her friends' older brothers leave to fight in the Algerian War. She later began a career as an ornithologist.

Peace Walker Incident

Main article: Peace Walker Incident

In late 1974, Cécile travelled to Costa Rica in order to continue her research on the distribution of Latin American bird species. One day, while observing the native quetzal, she accidentally recorded the voices of two women, on her cassette recorder, conducting a test exercise within an ancient Mayan temple. She was then discovered by armed soldiers of the CIA mercenary group Peace Sentinel and was soon captured. Imprisoned within a secret AI facility in the temple, Cécile had her equipment, supplies, and passport confiscated. The only thing they allowed her to keep were her undergarments, which was only as a precaution should she escape. Although blindfolded and restrained, Dr. Strangelove (one of the voices she had heard earlier), was kind to her and stated that she could leave within a month. However, Cécile eventually escaped, as she had an ornithologist meeting to attend to, and knocked one of the guards unconscious, stealing his ID card. During this time, she briefly glimpsed a "tube" that was calling out for someone named "Jack." Barely succeeding in her escape, the ID card was later recovered by a CIA mercenary, and Cécile fled into the wilderness, exhausted.

Cécile was later found in the woods by Militaires Sans Frontières leader Naked Snake (Big Boss), who had been attempting to locate the AI lab inside the Mayan pyramid. At first, Cécile thought that he was one of the soldiers belonging to Peace Sentinel that were after her, though after realizing that he wasn't, she still told him to put down his weapon. Snake initially claimed to be an ornithologist looking for the red-listed quetzal for the Washington Treaty, allegedly because it wasn't marked, to which Cécile corrected him. She then thought that he may be a poacher, though Snake responded that the gun was for self-defense, and provided her with mate tea. After explaining to him what had happened, Snake realized that she was the person who had made the recording that he had received from Paz Ortega Andrade; one which had recorded the voice of his former mentor The Boss.

Cécile, circa 1974.

After Cécile described more on the AI facility, and the strange woman who had watched over her, Snake allowed her to return to Militaires Sans Frontières' Mother Base with him. He told her that she would not need a passport, or even her name to join their group, and that they could take her back to Paris at any time. Cécile eagerly accepted, mentioning that she needed a shower, a change of clothes, and a cigarette. Snake, although disturbed when he realized that The Boss's voice had come from the "tube," then called his subordinate Kazuhira Miller to pick Cécile up. Kaz was initially reluctant to do so, as there wasn't any more room for civilians on Mother Base, but relented after learning that not only was she a blonde Parisienne, but might also be Paz's missing friend. Big Boss then proceeded to plant a Fulton surface-to-air recovery balloon on her for extraction, asking whether she had ever wondered what it was like to be a bird.

After extracting her from Costa Rica and bringing her to Mother Base, Miller had her listen to the tape to see if it did indeed belong to her, which she confirmed. However, Miller also learned that she had never met Paz in her life, being at least ten years too old to be the friend described to them. In addition, she told them of the ID card taken from her by the CIA mercenary, describing his orange jacket, and that his location was near a quetzal nest. Since Mother Base had presented her with an opportunity to learn about Caribbean sea birds, she was happy to stay onboard Mother Base. Her experience with the Fulton surface-to-air-recovery balloon also had her consider quitting being an ornithologist and becoming a pilot instead. Despite her cultured French background conflicting with Mother Base's appearance, she enjoyed her stay there, largely because of her having the opportunity to observe seabirds not native to France such as albatross, frigatebirds, terns, and tropicbirds. Because of Cécile's awareness and tracking skills as an ornithologist, Snake considered making her a scout in MSF. She also explained to Big Boss and (occasionally) Kazuhira Miller some details about French history, culture, and contemporary events, including how May 1968 influenced her.

Cécile, circa 1974.

Cécile briefly worked in the Mess Hall on Mother Base, helping to make gallo pinto with Paz and Amanda. She also asked if Paz had a crush on Snake, although Paz, while trying to remain ambiguous of it, was irritated that she would even think she had any feelings for him. Cécile herself was attracted to Snake and told Paz that he was "pretty sexy," causing Paz to privately remark that Cécile was "a ditz."

When Dr. Strangelove defected to the MSF after Peace Sentinel's defeat, she told Snake that she had chosen to detain Cécile as a compromise between saving her life and ensuring that The Boss AI (the "tube" Cécile had witnessed) was completed by the deadline. Strangelove had known full well that Peace Sentinel leader Hot Coldman would have had Cécile executed immediately if he found out that she had stumbled upon the AI test.

When Paz was later revealed to be a Cipher agent and hijacked Metal Gear ZEKE with the intention of launching a nuke at the East Coast of America should Big Boss refuse to join, Cécile expressed shock and anger, as she and Paz had planned to go on an ornithology trek, although she did eventually admit that she always found Paz having her tape suspicious.

Post-Peace Walker

By March 15, 1975, Cécile and all civilian personnel save Huey Emmerich were evacuated from Mother Base, due to a UN inspection that was due to take place, with the papers for her return to France having been obtained by MSF.

Personality and traits

Cécile Cosima Caminades

Cécile considered herself similar to other Parisian women of her time, influenced by the student movement in May of 1968, with Big Boss describing her as "uninhibited." Cécile loved her home country, supporting the Foreign Legion and considering the Champs-Élysées to be "Heaven on Earth." She was also a skilled cook, which Paz implied was due to her French heritage.

As a veteran ornithologist, who greatly enjoyed her work, Cécile could mimic various bird calls, including the quetzal. With her experience of jungle terrain, Snake considered making her a scout in MSF during her stay at Mother Base.

Cécile's proud nature led her into various disagreements with MSF subcommander Kazuhira Miller, once telling him that he was uncivilised when he revealed his fascination with steam locomotives, whose smoke and noise she detested. On one occasion, she became annoyed with Miller when he supplied '72 French wine to personnel on the base, claiming it was a bad year, though she nonetheless drank much of it later that day. Her overbearing personality could also irk Paz, who once remarked privately that she was a "ditz."

Cécile was an admirer of the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, describing his existentialist philosophy in great detail to Snake when he expressed unfamiliarity. She also had a negative view of war, due to the devastating effects it had on people's lives.

She seemed to have a crush on Snake, as in the aforementioned incident with Paz, she mentioned that Snake was "pretty sexy." Similarly, she pondered flirtingly whether Snake would ask her out for dinner when wearing a tux. She was also aroused when he wore a swimsuit.

Behind the scenes

Cécile's middle and last name in the Japanese version of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is pronounced as "Kojima Kaminandesu," which translates to "Kojima is God." Miller even references this in one of the Briefing Files, asking her if she could add in Kojima as her middle name, and also getting into a reverent mode. Her name and appearance is based on the real life Cécile Caminades, the communications manager for Konami France during Peace Walker's development. Although her debut was in Peace Walker, the foundations for her creation had been laid back in 2007-2008, two and a half years prior to Peace Walker's release, due to a deal Hideo Kojima and Caminades had about about him making a character based on her in one of his next games. Because of this, she is the second character in the series to be based on a real person, the other being Rosemary (modeled on Hideo Kojima's wife).

The real life Cécile Caminades and Hideo Kojima.

During the cutscene in which Cécile is first introduced, she says the phrase, "Ah, tu m'as trouvée! C'est moi le Loup!" to which Big Boss responds, "Fini de jouer à cache-cache. Dis-moi qui tu es"; the phrases translate to "Ah, you found me! It's me the Wolf," and, "Finished playing hide and seek. Tell me who you are," respectively. Similarly, when cursing Miller out in the Wine briefing file, she says "Allez tous vous faire voir!" before demanding that she return to Paris, which roughly translates to "All of you go to hell!" When Cécile's title card appears onscreen, the player can position the camera reticule over her cleavage, which causes a "popping" sound to be heard.

In the Japanese version of Peace Walker, Cécile was implied to have been the partial namesake for the "Bon Curry" retort pouched rations in large part due to Miller's infatuation with her, due to the "Bon" in the name being French for "good" or in some cases "delicious." However, this was cut from the international versions, due to the item itself being changed to Spicy Curry for copyright-related purposes.

Mother Base staff

Militaires Sans Frontières Mother Base staff
Cécile Cosima Caminades
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Role	Ornithologist
Life	2500
Psyche	2500
GMP+	2545/2573
Team Ability
	E
	D
	A
	C
	A
Combat Ability
	E
	-
	D
	C
	-
	-
	E
	D
Skill
Bird Watcher
Using binoculars on enemies in the center of screen has same effect as Enemy Search.

"I've been thinking of giving up on studying birds and learning to fly myself. Want to hear my quetzal call?"

―Cécile's character quote on Mother Base's staff menu.

Cécile is a unique staff member at Mother Base, available after Snake finds her on the way to the AI Lab. She is the only unique character whose skill, Bird Watcher, is shared with other soldiers.

"A French ornithologist, she came to Costa Rica to research Central American bird populations, but got lost among some mysterious ruins and was taken captive by persons unknown."

―Cécile's bio on the Mother Base model viewer, in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.

Other appearances

Cécile later appeared in the versus battle on the series official site, where she fought against Strangelove.

"STRENGTHS:
Beautiful Bird Scout for Big Boss’s MSF
WEAKNESSES:
Conversations with Kaz, Deep Intelligence
FEATURED FACT:
Despite minimal formal combat training, Cécile was able to knock a Peace Sentinel mercenary guard unconscious and escape into the jungle
FEATURED GAME:
METAL GEAR SOLID: THE LEGACY COLLECTION"

―Cécile's data on Versus Battle

Although Cécile does not actually appear in Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes itself, she is mentioned in one of the briefing tapes, where it was revealed that, during the preparations for the upcoming UN inspection she returned to France at the request of the MSF in order to clear out all civilians with the exception of Huey regarding the inspection. Similarly, she does not appear in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, nor is her fate after the events of Ground Zeroes ever elaborated on in the What Happened to the Old Mother Base Members tape unlike Amanda, Chico, Strangelove, and Huey. However, she does appear on one of the memento photos collected during side ops relating to Wandering Mother Base Soldiers, specifically the one where Paz made Gallo Pinto, and was also mentioned by Paz when the latter is looking over the photo.

She also appears as an officer-type character in the Mother Base development game on the Ground Zeroes app, where she is unlockable by achieving a player level of 60.

Appearances

• Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
• Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (mentioned)
• Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (mentioned and photo)

Sources

• Metal Gear Solid: Social Ops (trading card)

Gallery

Cécile's model viewer, upon gaining an S-rank/gaining the bikini top, front.

Cécile's model viewer, upon gaining an S-rank/gaining the bikini top, back.

Cécile Cosima Caminades' artwork in a promotional art booklet.

A Peace Walker poster of Cécile is behind her namesake Cécile Caminades, the former Communications Manager of Konami Paris.