Solid Snake (Galuade)

Solid Snake (Ghost Babel)

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This article is about a non-canonical topic in the Metal Gear series.

Solid Snake
Biographical information
Also known as	The Legend
Nationality	American
Age	30s (2002)
Physical description
Eye color	Blue
Hair color	Black
Ethnicity	Caucasian
Height	1.82 m (6'0")
Career and family information
Affiliation(s)	FOXHOUND
Notable family	Big Boss (father)
Behind the scenes
Main appearance(s)	Metal Gear: Ghost Babel
Created by	Hideo Kojima

Solid Snake was a renowned former member of the U.S. Special Forces group FOXHOUND. He was instrumental in taking down both Outer Heaven in 1995, and the fortress of Galuade that stood in its place seven years later.

Biography

Early Life

In 1995, Snake was tasked with taking down Outer Heaven and killing its commander, famous mercenary and Snake's father, Big Boss, although he did not know Big Boss was his father at the time. Even after finding out he committed patricide, he reveled in the glory of being a "hero," which led him to become self-loathing. He eventually retired from FOXHOUND by 1999, and had constructed a cabin in Alaska after his retirement.

Project Babel

In 2002, Snake was visited by Roy Campbell as well as at least four armed soldiers in his house in Alaska. Snake, knowing that Campbell most likely would not have traveled to Alaska with several armed soldiers for "small talk," deduced that the real reason for the visit was because there was trouble happening. Confirming it, Campbell debriefed Snake on the situation: Terrorists hijacked a C-5 Galaxy transport plane heading for South America, which contained nukes and, to Snake's surprise, Metal Gear, which was previously destroyed by him seven years prior. He also learned the location of where Metal Gear was placed at: Gindra, more specifically the Gindra Liberation Front. He initially refused to participate in the mission, although he later changed his mind when he learned that the specific location that they and Metal Gear were based at, Galuade, was the same place that Outer Heaven once stood. His mission this time was to sneak into Gindra, and assist Delta Force in preventing the GLF's uprising. After being briefed on his mission, and briefed on his support team members, he is dispatched via cargo plane to perform a HALO jump into the territory, 3km south of Galuade's entrance.

He managed to successfully land in the planned area and made his way to the base, although he later learned that the GLF had managed to slaughter the Delta Force unit, suggesting a leak in the mission. He is later contacted by a survivor of Delta Force's massacre Sergeant Christine Jenner. He was initially reluctant to allow her to continue her mission. He relented when Campbell pointed out that her expertise of the base might aid Snake in his mission. Snake then infiltrated the watchtower of Galuade via a drainage duct, although he also had to avoid massive flooding of water caused by a squall that arrived, and met up with a disguised Chris. He then learned that there were four mercenaries involved in GLF's independence movement that were rumored to be former U.S. Special Forces members. Snake then headed to the barracks to locate Metal Gear's chief developer, Jimmy Harks. Along the way, he fought against the first of the mercenaries involved, Slasher Hawk, who he learned was from a group called Black Chamber, who also hated FOXHOUND. He later managed to locate Harks, although to his surprise, he learned that Jimmy was actually a teenager. He learned some things from Jimmy, such as Metal Gear being the brainchild of John Parker for Project Babel, and that Metal Gear requires a large amount of power to use its rail gun, the latter of which was exposed when the base experienced a blackout. Leaving Harks at the care of Chris, Snake then attempted to get to the northwest exit on the first floor to reach the maintenance base and stop Metal Gear, although he was delayed a bit by Marionette Owl, the second surviving member of Black Chamber.

He managed to reach the general area of the maintenance base, but the leader of Black Chamber, Black Arts Viper, stopped him with a Mi-28 Havoc, forcing Snake to do nothing but watch as Metal Gear launched its nuclear weapon via its rail gun, and was forced to retreat when the anti personnel turrets guarding the maintenance base started firing at him. He also learned that the nuke was actually a fake, and fired at a nuclear testing facility at Nevada. He also learned from Chris that she and Jimmy were ambushed, and she was forced to leave Jimmy behind. Snake later arrived at the power plant in order to sabotage the main generator in order to eliminate Metal Gear's use of its rail gun. He later encountered the third surviving member of Black Chamber, Pyro Bison. After defeating him, Snake learned that Black Chamber was formed from FOXHOUND's shadow after it became too famous at Outer Heaven to take care of the kinds of missions that FOXHOUND no longer was able to do thanks to its newfound fame, and that they were betrayed by FOXHOUND. Pyro Bison also revealed to Snake that there were actually five surviving members of Black Chamber, not four as previously believed, and implied that the fifth member was one of Snake's own support group before dying by his own fire. Snake eventually arrived at the generator, but discovered that there was no way he could sabotage it as it was surrounded by an electric floor, so he ended up having to destroy four key points to the power plant to demolish it. He managed to succeed in doing so. However, upon learning that GANDER was rising up the elevator and preparing to launch its warheads, Snake was forced to detonate the C4 while he was still inside the power plant. He narrowly escaped before he got caught in the explosion. However, he learned that even without the rail gun, Metal Gear can still launch a nuke. Snake later found a recently escaped Jimmy, who also told Snake that not only was there a second surviving member of Delta Force, Lieutenant Smith, but Chris, the supposed survivor of Delta Force's massacre, wasn't even around when the unit was massacred. Despite this, Snake refused to believe that Chris may have been the fifth Black Chamber member. He returned to the maintenance base, which he now could access easily because F-22s managed to take down the anti-personnel turrets guarding it. He also fought against the Havoc, mistaking the woman piloting it for Chris, although he later discovered that it was actually the General's second in command, Sophie N'dram, although he spared her.

Afterwards, Snake arrived at the vicinity of the maintenance base, the same building that formerly housed TX-55 Metal Gear. He then encountered Viper, who revealed more about the mission they were involved in before being massacred by FOXHOUND. He then showed Jenner to Snake, exposing that she was not actually the fifth Black Chamber member at all, but rather was assigned to a secret mission by Parker. Snake then fought Viper and defeated him. Snake also forgave Chris for her deception, telling her to get something fast to escape when he's done destroying Metal Gear. He then headed to the hangar for Metal Gear, and learned from Eguabon that there was a connection between the United States and GLF, although Eguabon would only tell Snake the full details if Snake defeated him. Snake then managed to destroy Metal Gear's legs, although he still had to destroy the weapons. Afterwards, Snake learned the full truth of not only the connection between the U.S. and GLF, but also the true purpose of his previous mission into Outer Heaven and Outer Heaven's ties to the U.S. He then was supplied a disc containing all the records of Project Babel. He prepared to leave, when he noticed Viper, who had survived their previous battle, on top of Metal Gear, and revealed that not only did he learn about the true identity of Anonymous, and that the fifth Black Chamber member was actually Brian McBride, but also that Metal Gear had a satellite uplink to seven nuclear satellites, and planned to use it to achieve Black Chamber's revenge against the world. Snake then fought and defeated Viper in an intense duel before the cargo elevator containing Metal Gear could reach the surface, disabling Metal Gear's satellite uplink to prevent it from activating the satellites. Snake then learned that Anonymous was actually Steve Gardner, and that another one of his members, Weasel, was actually assigned to keep tabs on them and eventually assassinate them after the mission, although he relented towards it. Snake then decided to go back to the U.S. and hunt down and exact revenge on the people who played peoples lives as if they were chess pieces and after making them pay, return to Chris.

Personality and traits

After destroying Outer Heaven and retiring, Snake spent his time away from the battlefield. He also had a low opinion of himself, despite the fact that he bravely took missions requiring combat and sneaking behind enemy lines solo. This opinion of himself stemmed from his unwillingness to leave his home, suggesting that Snake suffered from PTSD. Despite this, he did accept the mission to Galuade in order to "settle a score" with himself, which was implied to be guilt for killing his father, Big Boss, especially his celebrating it even after finding this out. Apparently, he also had bandanna underwear and had barbecued bugs, stuff that he was not too proud to mention and got angered when he discovered that Roy Campbell told Mei Ling these things. The bandanna that he wore in Galuade was apparently a gift from someone. He also would seem to have had a normal-level ego, at least in the past, as he celebrated and enjoyed the glory that came with being a war hero.

Behind the scenes

This incarnation of Solid Snake appears in the non-canon Game Boy Color game Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, created primarily because Konami Europe wanted an adaptation of Metal Gear Solid for the handheld console. Since Ghost Babel was developed for a younger audience, Snake does not use cigarette smoke in the game to detect infrared sensors, and instead utilizes a device called the "Fogger" ("Smoke Emitter" in the Japanese version). Although he is briefly seen smoking in the game's opening cutscene, the source of the smoke itself is concealed from view.

Differences from mainstream Solid Snake

Being based off the original Snake, he shares many similarities with him. However, some differences include: him celebrating being a war hero, his opinion of himself (at least slightly judging by thinking of himself as a coward), he's only stated to have defeated Outer Heaven once, and is never shown to have taken any missions after Ghost Babel.

Appearances

• Metal Gear: Ghost Babel
• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (poster)
• Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (mentioned in Five-seveN weapon description)

Gallery

In-game portrait.

Promotional art by Yoji Shinkawa, used for the North American packaging.

Promotional art by Yoji Shinkawa,

Concept art by Ikuya Nakamura.