The assistant of Dr. Clark was a healthy Japanese woman who donated her egg cells for the Les Enfants Terribles project in the 1970s.[1] Her egg cells were used for the cloning experiment that created Solid Snake and Liquid Snake, thus making her one of the twins' biological parents, due to their inheritance of her mitochondrial DNA.[1]
Behind the scenes[]
Dr. Clark's assistant is introduced in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots in order to explain the circumstances of Solid Snake's Japanese heritage.[1]
Snake had previously been described as Japanese-British, in the user's manual of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.[2] In Metal Gear Solid, his Japanese ancestry is remarked upon by Vulcan Raven prior to the boss battle in the underground warehouse,[3] and by Master Miller (Liquid Snake) in an optional Codec conversion during said battle.[4] However, the game contains an additional revelation that Snake is a clone of Big Boss,[5] who is stated to be a third generation Japanese-American in the Official Mission Handbook strategy guide.[6] Metal Gear Solid 4 ignores the Official Mission Handbook's account, instead making Dr. Clark's assistant the source of Snake's Japanese heritage.[1]
References[]
- ^ a b c d Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Kojima Productions (2008).
Big Mama: The egg used in the successful in vitro fertilization came from Dr. Clark's assistant... A healthy Japanese woman. - ^ Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake - User's Manual, Konami Corporation (1990).
- ^ Metal Gear Solid, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (1998).
Vulcan Raven: Blood from the east flows within your veins [Solid Snake]. Ah... your ancestors too were raised on the barren plains of Mongolia. Inuit and Japanese are cousins to each other... We share many ancestors, you and I... - ^ Metal Gear Solid, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (1998).
Master Miller (Liquid Snake): A Native Alaskan American, huh? Probably Athapaskan. They're originally from the same tribe as the Apaches and Navajos of New Mexico. Anthropologically, they're related to the Japanese. There are even linguistic similarities between Athapaskan languages and ancient Japanese. You and [Vulcan Raven] probably share many of the same ancestors. // Solid Snake: ...Master, I don't remember telling you that I was part Japanese... // Miller: .......... - ^ Metal Gear Solid, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (1998).
Liquid Snake: Les Enfants Terribles... the terrible children. That's what the project was called. It started in the 1970's. The plan was to create the most powerful soldier possible. The person that they chose as the model was the man known then as the greatest living soldier in the world... // Solid Snake: Big Boss... // Liquid: But father was wounded in combat and already in a coma when they brought him in. So they created us from his cells... with a combination of 20th century analog cloning and the Super Baby Method. - ^ Metal Gear Solid: Official Mission Handbook, Millennium Books (1998).