- "America will descend into chaos. It'll be the Wild West all over again. No law, no order. Fire will spread across the world. The people will fight... And through battle they will know the fullness of life. At last... Our father's will... His Outer Heaven... Is complete."
- ―Liquid Ocelot
Liquid Ocelot, often referred to as simply Liquid, was Liquid Snake's doppelgänger and Solid Snake's final nemesis. In 2014, he amassed a mercenary army to lead an insurrection against the Patriots.
Biography
The Manhattan Incident
- See also: Tanker Incident and the Big Shell Incident
Liquid's personality first took over Revolver Ocelot aboard the USS Discovery in 2007. He made his presence known to Solid Snake, telling his "brother" that he was "drowning in time" (referring to the accelerated aging process), and that Liquid avoided this fate by living on through the transplanted arm. After hijacking Metal Gear RAY, Liquid proceeded to destroy the Discovery, along with the U.S. Marines on board, before making his escape. Snake, however, survived the incident, as observed by Ocelot, after Liquid's personality had subsided.
Liquid possesses Ocelot, circa 2007.
Two years later in 2009, Liquid's personality was able to leak information to Philanthropy regarding Arsenal Gear, in order to lure Solid Snake to the Big Shell and use his presence to continue to gain control over Ocelot; Liquid's personality would often take over Ocelot's mind whenever Snake was in close proximity. However, during the climax of the Big Shell Incident, Liquid's psyche was able to control Ocelot's mind once again. Revealing his intentions to destroy the Patriots, using their own spy's knowledge to locate them, he told both Snake and Solidus Snake that he had in fact "chosen" Ocelot as a host for this very reason, but elaborated no more on this. Once again seizing the original RAY model, Liquid crashed Arsenal Gear into Manhattan, further ruining Solidus's own plans. Prior to escaping, however, Liquid beckoned Snake to chase after him. He then fled in search of the Patriots, though Snake theorized that he was likely acting on false information and would never find them.
Aftermath
After this, Liquid's psyche was able to dominate Ocelot's mind completely. The fusion that resulted was Liquid Ocelot.
In the early 2010s, since his host forced to maintain the Patriots, Liquid set up the final stages of his plan to plunge the world into total war and destroy the Patriots. The world's "war economy" relied heavily upon the work of mercenary armies, and Liquid capitalized on this.
Guns of the Patriots Incident
- See also: Liquid Sun, Solid Sun, Third Sun, Twin Suns, Old Sun, and Naked Sin/Naked Son
By 2014, Liquid Ocelot's mercenary company Outer Heaven consisted of the world's five largest PMCs and became the most powerful in existence.
Liquid had genetic engineering scientist Naomi Hunter work on finding a way to access the SOP system, under the false guise of being held hostage, and also began cooperating with Vamp. As the first phase of his plan, he used the DNA of Liquid Snake to hack into the SOP system using the repaired GW AI as a conduit, but it failed, although he was nonetheless satisfied with the results of how the soldiers ended up freed. Before leaving the Middle East, however, Liquid Ocelot sensed Old Snake's presence and gloated to a weakening Snake about how they are "not genetic copies of Big Boss after all" and told him to watch as he breaks away from his destiny. Liquid originally intended to remove the SOP system altogether, but the results of the first phase caused him to change his plans to claiming it as his own. The second phase was to use Solid Snake's DNA, but this also failed.
Liquid prepares to depart, following his test in the Middle East.
After stealing Big Boss's genetic code from Big Mama, Liquid finally succeeded in entering the Patriots's AI network via GW, and took control of SOP. Calling this plan "Guns of the Patriots", he used it to disable every SOP-controlled gun and weapon in the world, leaving the vast majority of non-Outer Heaven militaries totally helpless. After journeying to Shadow Moses Island, he recovered Metal Gear REX's rail gun and planned to install it aboard Outer Haven, an Arsenal Gear-class battleship that he had stolen from the Patriots. While his plan was in motion, Liquid had enough time to use Metal Gear RAY in a duel with Old Snake piloting a now-reactivated REX. Although RAY was destroyed, Liquid quickly made his escape from the island aboard his ship.
Liquid then attempted to launch a "naked" nuclear warhead into orbit using the rail gun, in order to destroy the Patriots's core AI JD, which was housed aboard a satellite disguised as debris, and then have GW take over the Patriots network for him to control. His plan was foiled when Old Snake and Otacon infiltrated Outer Haven and uploaded the FOXALIVE virus, created by Sunny and Naomi, into GW. The virus not only destroyed GW, but also spread to the Patriots' other AIs throughout the network, eliminating them once and for all.
Liquid calls out in the Middle East.
After collapsing from exhaustion, Old Snake was brought atop Outer Haven by Liquid Ocelot; Liquid revealed that Snake had actually accomplished what he himself had sought all along: to destroy the Patriots, and to finally make Big Boss's dream of "Outer Heaven" (i.e. a world of chaos where people will fight and know the fullness of life) a reality, and that Snake uploading FOXALIVE was actually part of his plan. Liquid then helped Snake to his feet, seeking one last fight with his "brother." During the fight, Liquid displayed that his right arm was actually a cybernetic prosthetic, rather than a transplant. After a violent and lengthy fistfight, Liquid was eventually defeated by Snake, and as he lay on the ground, Liquid's personality vanished altogether and Ocelot's former personality and identity returned, dying shortly after. Ocelot's last words to Snake, "I am Liquid's doppelgänger and you are [Big Boss's]..." and then "You're pretty good", the same phrase that Revolver Ocelot said to Solid Snake nine years earlier and that Big Boss said to Ocelot fifty years earlier.
Revelation
Otacon later explained that Liquid Ocelot's predictions of world chaos were false, as Sunny had modified the virus to only cut off the Patriots, while preserving modern civilization. However, civilization did nonetheless end up severely crippled, with America abandoning unilateralism, and many other countries suffering from bankruptcy and in a huge debt from the use of PMCs, to the extent that not even making law reforms to the use of PMCs is likely to pay off the debt and get out of their bankruptcy anytime soon. Drebin 893 likewise speculated that the UN would play a large role in the situation, and also implied that they'll become the closest thing to successors of the Patriots and thus the oppressive cycle will only continue.[1]
Big Boss later revealed to Solid Snake that Liquid's "possession" of Ocelot was a planned ruse in order to fool the Patriots as means of lowering The Patriots' guard. Big Boss elaborated that Ocelot was able to use hypnosis and psychotherapy, drugs, and nanomachines to transplant Liquid's personality onto himself. Ocelot had removed the transplanted arm of Liquid because the so-called "possessions" during the Manhattan Incident had caused an imbalance to his psyche. In addition, the DNA data that he stole to access and hijack the SOP system was actually Solidus's DNA, as Solidus and Big Boss shared exactly the same DNA due to the former being the perfect clone.
By adopting the persona of Liquid onto his own, Ocelot was able to conduct the full scope of his plans while putting The Patriots into a false sense of security. Big Boss revealed that The Patriots assumed that Liquid Ocelot posed little threat to them, due to having dealt with Liquid Snake before during the Shadow Moses Incident. As such, they underestimated Ocelot and adopted a logic of repetition. The Patriots decidedly acted against him with minimal effort, in which Snake served as their main agent due to previously eliminating Liquid Snake in Shadow Moses.
Though Liquid Ocelot seemingly died from exhaustion, Big Boss explained that he had actually been killed by the new FOXDIE virus, with which Solid Snake had been infected by the Patriots via Drebin 893.
Personality and traits
Liquid, circa 2007.
As the manifestation of Liquid Snake's persona, Liquid Ocelot displayed the characteristic behavior of the former FOXHOUND squad leader. He adopted familiar speech patterns, body language and gestures, often clenching his right hand, a habit of Liquid Snake's. He was also a skilled practitioner of CQC, claiming to have "the upper hand" when compared to his "brother" Solid Snake. He was also depicted as having great endurance despite his age, as evidenced by his final battle with Solid Snake, as well as his resistance towards being electrocuted as he tortured Solid Snake using Snake's very own Stun Knife during the incident in Eastern Europe.
Unlike Liquid Snake, Liquid Ocelot was known to have behaved immaturely in a child-like manner, as evidenced by his actions when utilizing SOP against the Army-Marine joint task force in Eastern Europe, as well as his behavior shortly after faking death via FOXDIE at Shadow Moses Island.
Upon learning the full truth behind his and his "brother's" inception, Liquid Ocelot declared acceptance of his state as an individual who is free to make his own decisions, beyond the ideals of what the original Patriots had projected for the "Les Enfants Terribles" project. He used this reasoning as his justification for his seizing control over the SOP system.
Initially, Liquid Ocelot was thought to be simply desiring world domination with the motivation of surpassing Zero and his legacy, the A.I. Patriots. This proved to be a ruse as his plan was more akin to that of Big Boss's goal of Outer Heaven. Much like Big Boss and the original Liquid Snake, Liquid Ocelot believed in a world where soldiers should be freed from the control of the government and institutions, with the main difference being that he had hoped for true anarchy. He also believed that by having people struggle and fight in a world of chaos, only then would they be able to know the "fullness of life." He likened his projected dream of a lawless world to that of the "Wild West", possibly referencing Ocelot's affinity to Spaghetti Westerns.
Due to the enigmatic nature of Ocelot's motivations, when Big Boss explained to Solid Snake the reasoning behind Ocelot's actions for assuming the role of "Liquid", he simply mused that "cats do love to play as snakes"; hinting at the notion that Ocelot always loved deceiving everyone around him.
Although Liquid Ocelot certainly planned for Solid Snake to sabotage the A.I. Patriots through GW, his supposed intentions of launching a nuke at the AI Patriots' satellite was left ambiguous. As such, both his supposed plan of launching a nuke to destroy the AI Partiots and the aforementioned plan of GW's viral infection would have allowed him to achieve his goal either way, albeit the former being much more likely to actualize his true goals (as uploading the virus through GW actually prevented society from completely collapsing unlike what he had hoped for).
Although Liquid Ocelot possessed Liquid's actual arm during the Big Shell Incident, it was later removed by the time of 2014, due to Ocelot attempting to restore his psyche. It was replaced with a cybernetic arm from the shoulder down, and was powerful enough to leave a dent on Outer Haven's hull. However, the hand portion of Liquid Ocelot's arm possessed some degree of artificial skin advanced enough to pass for human, presumably in order to keep up the charade that he still actually possessed Liquid's arm. For unknown reasons, during the Big Shell Incident, Liquid's arm possessed a barcode tattoo near the wrist. Liquid's arm during the Big Shell Incident also had enlarged veins nearing the elbow and around the back of the hand, and also had a comparably darker complexion to the rest of Ocelot's body.
During his insurrection against the Patriots, Liquid Ocelot smoked cigars, likening himself to his "father" Big Boss. His signature weapon was the highly accurate and incredibly powerful single-shot bolt action pistol (referred to in the description as a "hand rifle," but more accurately described as a rifle-caliber pistol) known as the EAA Tanfoglio Thor .45-70, in which it was holstered underneath his coat. When Liquid Ocelot hijacked the system through GW, his control over the AI Patriots' military network and Sons of the Patriots allowed him to willingly shut down any affected elements and parties within his vicinity as well as around the world (e.g. causing a literal worldwide cease-fire). When he overtly exercised this power towards specific targets (e.g. vehicles, soldiers with nanomachines), he dubbed this ability as "Guns of the Patriots"; gesturing his hands in a shooting manner as if firing with handguns. As acting CEO of Outer Heaven, he frequently wore a tan business suit with a black undershirt and tie, alongside a black coat over the suit. However, he discarded the suit's top. with the exception of the suit coat, shortly before encountering Solid Snake on Outer Haven for the final time.
Though the dominant contributor to Liquid's psyche was ultimately left ambiguous, he seemed to hold a degree of respect for his fallen FOXHOUND comrades, naming four of the five PMCs under the control of Outer Heaven in their honour. The fifth was named for Ocelot himself.
Behind the scenes
Liquid Ocelot serves as a minor antagonist in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and the main antagonist of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. While Revolver Ocelot and Liquid Ocelot are both technically the same person, both have somewhat different voice tones. Revolver Ocelot's voice is more Western-like, while Liquid Ocelot's voice is more menacing and also sounds loud and arrogant (Liquid Snake's personality).
Liquid The System Is Mine
Liquid Ocelot in Metal Gear Solid 4.
In the English version of Metal Gear Solid 2, Cam Clarke, Liquid Snake's voice actor, voiced Liquid Ocelot. In the English version of Metal Gear Solid 4, Patric Zimmerman, Revolver Ocelot's English voice actor, voiced Liquid Ocelot. This was possibly due to the change in plot direction as the series progressed, since it had originally been implied that Ocelot was possessed by Liquid's ghost, as opposed to an artificial personality. However, the Japanese voice casting for the game occurred differently due to the death of Kōji Totani, Revolver Ocelot's Japanese voice actor, in 2006. As a result, Banjō Ginga, Liquid Snake's voice actor, voiced Liquid Ocelot instead. When the decision to use Zimmerman's voice instead of Clarke's became public, associate producer Ryan Payton received a number of hateful messages from angry fans, including a 2,000 word short story written by a French fan, which also was translated by a friend, about his execution. The messages stopped after the game was released.[2]
Liquid Ocelot was intended to have been the one who had Arsenal Gear go on a collision course into Manhattan in Metal Gear Solid 2. However, this was cut from the final version due to the events of September 11, 2001 before the game was released in North America. This was retained in the novelization for Metal Gear Solid 2.
The final scene in Act 4, in which Old Snake says "Fox" and Liquid Ocelot says "Die," is a reversal of a similar scene in the original Metal Gear Solid, in which Liquid Snake's dying word of "Fox" is finished by Solid Snake's "Die." Whereas Liquid Snake dies in the latter, Liquid Ocelot merely uses the similar dialogue to toy with Snake.
In the concept artwork for Liquid Ocelot, some sketches have Liquid Ocelot sensing someone (the outline implies that the figure was actually Raiden) behind him, turning around and then aiming a gun, only for his gun arm to be severed from the forearm down, similar to Revolver Ocelot first losing his arm back in Metal Gear Solid. It is unknown whether the concept sketches in question were simply intended to be an homage to Metal Gear Solid or whether they had planned for Liquid Ocelot to actually lose his arm explicitly at one point. The same artwork also indicated that his long coat was originally supposed to be tan colored like his regular suit.
In all of Liquid Ocelot's concept artworks, his right arm is always shown as being cybernetic whenever he is depicted as being shirtless. This could possibly mean that the developers had planned for the removal of Liquid's arm as well as the final twist regarding Ocelot's assuming of the role of "Liquid" since the beginning of the game's production, as evidenced by the various concept artworks depicting Liquid Ocelot's cybernetic arm.
Reception and controversy
Liquid Ocelot has generally been a well received villain. Edge magazine stated that, "Kojima has forged a superb villain, far more complete than in MGS2." However, there is some controversy due to some fans expressing disappointment that Liquid Ocelot was not in fact Liquid Snake. However, memetically, Liquid Ocelot could be argued to be the mental clone of Liquid Snake brought on by Revolver Ocelot's advanced hypnotherapy. In one of the entries for the Metal Gear Solid 4 Database, it mentioned that Ocelot removed Liquid's arm and replaced it with a prosthetic in an attempt to restore balance to his psyche.[3]
It can also be argued that because Ocelot had idolized Big Boss and considered him as a friendly rival, Ocelot may have actually internalized the will of Liquid Snake since Liquid had similar goals to Big Boss and had previously wanted to surpass him. This is evidenced by the fact that even after the "Ocelot" phase of the final battle, Liquid Ocelot seemed greatly convinced that he had achieved Big Boss's "Outer Heaven" (the very same goal Liquid had tried to achieve) while alluding to Big Boss in a defiant manner. Also because Ocelot had always idolized Big Boss since the 60s, his assuming of the role of a "Snake" could also be seen as a form of wish fulfillment on his part as he held great respect for the man.
Another controversy that ensued was the extent of which his allies (namely Big Mama) were aware of his deception as Liquid. Although it was made clear in Naked Son that the events overall were manipulated by both Big Mama and Liquid Ocelot and that they had been working together, whether the former was aware of the latter faking possession was made ambiguous. The Piggyback Strategy Guide mentioned that Big Mama died believing that Liquid really did take possession of Ocelot. On the other hand, the novelization of Metal Gear Solid 4 by Project Itoh indicated in the Naked Son chapter that not only was Big Mama aware of Liquid Ocelot's deception, she was partially responsible for it via a prototype system to the S3 Plan and later the SOP system that she stole upon defecting from the Patriots.
Gameplay
Despite Ocelot's prominence as a major antagonist and as a boss, all of his battles against the player, sans Metal Gear Solid 4, are depicted as being interrupted as immediately shown by the following cutscene during both of his boss battles in Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 3. Canonically, both outcomes are inconclusive in regards to the actual winner of the fight. It is only in Metal Gear Solid 4 that the player is finally able to canonically defeat Ocelot (albeit as Liquid Ocelot). Before the final battle, Liquid Ocelot remarks that he and Snake still had "a score to settle." While potentially referencing Snake and Liquid's rivalry, this statement is also ironically true in regards to Ocelot's previous battles with both Solid Snake and Naked Snake.
During the final fight with Liquid Ocelot in Metal Gear Solid 4, the various "phases" of the battle have Liquid mirroring his fighting styles and appearances from previous games: firstly as Liquid Snake from Metal Gear Solid; a Liquid-possessed Ocelot from Metal Gear Solid 2; and Ocelot from Metal Gear Solid 3. Similarly, during each phase of the battle, the name on Liquid's life gauge changes to reflect the character from each game. During the "Ocelot" phase of the battle, if Snake allows himself to get into a headlock, Ocelot will kiss him on the cheek. If the player managed to do this after downloading the trophy patch, the player will be awarded with the trophy "You're Pretty Good!", a reference to a phrase that Ocelot frequently used regarding his opponents that he first learned from Naked Snake telling him as much, as well as his final words.
Liquid Ocelot's appearance in Metal Gear Online.
Liquid Ocelot was a playable character in the MEME Expansion of Metal Gear Online. He also had a special weapon called "Guns of the Patriots" where he pointed his finger at another soldier and says "bang," locking their weapons out temporarily. This referred to his actions shortly after hijacking the SOP system. The attack also allowed him to control his allies' emotions as well as stop them in certain instances. In addition, he was also skilled at CQC, capable of subduing enemies with it and then paralyzing them with a stun knife. His signature weapon is depicted as the EAA Tanfoglio Thor .45-70, which could be unlocked for use in single player by either earning the Foxhound emblem or entering a code. It came with a unique red dot sight; this couldn't be removed, and the weapon had no other customization options. In addition to Liquid Ocelot being a playable character in Online, the player could also customize their characters to resemble Liquid Ocelot with his eyewear and his mustache, the latter of which came in hair colors of white, gray, gold, brown, black, and red. When tranquilized, he sometimes said "It's not over yet..."
Other appearances
Liquid Ocelot's bio.
Liquid Ocelot's likeness was used as a boss fight in LittleBigPlanet. In it, Liquid Ocelot brags about his new Metal Gear. After the Metal Gear is destroyed by the player, Liquid Ocelot stated that he only wanted to be loved.
Liquid Ocelot also appeared in the Android/iOS game Metal Gear Solid: Social Ops, as several cards. He was also tied with EVA and Raiden with possessing the second most bios on his site (second only to Big Boss himself), detailing Liquid Ocelot himself as well as his former self's time as a Soviet Major.
Appearances
- Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
- Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
- Metal Gear Solid: Social Ops (trading card)
Gallery
Videos
References
- ^ Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Kojima Productions (2008)
Drebin: The White House might've lost its taste for unilateralism... Started to rebuild. But there's a lot of failed states out there that went bankrupt from their PMC habits... And they owe a shit load of money. Now only question is... Who's gonna pick up the tab? I'm sure these new governments will try and keep it under control with PMC corporate reform laws... But it ain't gonna be good enough. They're all sunk up to their eyeballs in the war economy. Might not be a New World Order... But the old order under the war economy's gone for good. I'm guessin' the UN is gonna be more important than ever, what with multilateralism and all. A certain President said it best back during the Cold War... For in the development of this organization rests the only true alternative to war. Then again, the UN itself's just an old 20th-century relic. And if you think about it... When you look at its history... It ain't that different from the Patriots. - ^ Metal Gear Solid 4 Afterthoughts with Ryan Payton
- ^ Metal Gear Solid 4 Database, Kojima Productions (2008). "Ocelot"