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Outer Heaven refers a number of concepts in the Metal Gear series, all pertaining to Big Boss's dream of ending abuse and exploitation of soldiers by The Patriots and politicians, which was also his interpretation of The Boss's will. Big Boss was seemingly inspired to create Outer Heaven as a response to Gene's "Army's Heaven" — a supposed haven for soldiers that would in fact be victimized in the pursuit of his goals. Big Boss stated that the true soldier's sanctuary lay "outside" Gene's "heaven".
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[edit] Background
[edit] Army's Heaven
- "The individual wills of individual soldiers are meaningless. Those who have no calling must be given one by those who do. They must follow the teachings of those with a greater will."
- — Gene
Army's Heaven was a nation envisioned by Gene, which he attempted to establish in 1970 on the San Hieronymo Peninsula. Gene spent years gathering funds, resources and troops as part of a plan to control the world from the shadows, much like the Patriots would eventually come to do. The FOX Unit’s Rebellion in 1970 was merely the capstone to his plan to create Army's Heaven with the help of the FOX Unit members and Red Army soldiers.
Army's Heaven was to be a nation of mercenaries consisting only of those of superior talent. It was intended to act as an intangible, shadowy organization hidden deep underground that would intervene in all conflicts throughout the world. The aim was to break free from the rule of the Philosophers, which had lost much political strength. At the root was Gene's idea that superior military force should be used to achieve superior will, instead of being at the mercy of national interests or the tactics of worthless governments.
During the San Hieronymo Takeover, Big Boss fought against Gene to clear his name. Ultimately, Gene’s plans of becoming the world's ultimate leader and guide were foiled when Big Boss stopped him from launching Metal Gear into America. Before their battle began, Gene told Big Boss of Army's Heaven and that he viewed humans as fragile creatures who needed someone of superior will to give them a calling. Compared to his mission, the individual wills of individual soldiers were meaningless. Big Boss, however, disagreed with this philosophy, stating that Gene used fear and deception to keep his soldiers in line, and that his exploitation of soldiers was unethical. Big Boss also said that soldiers were looking for a place outside his heaven. After Gene was defeated, he handed over his massive wealth and resources to Big Boss, urging him to find his own calling and remain loyal to himself.
[edit] Militaires Sans Frontieres
After the Les Enfants Terribles Project, Big Boss became increasingly frustrated with the direction that Zero was taking the Patriots. Eventually he, along with Ocelot and EVA, left the group and began preparations to oppose it. Big Boss formed Militaires Sans Frontieres (French for Soldiers Without Borders), a guerrilla group. In time, the group would come to be known as the founders of Outer Heaven.
[edit] Outer Heaven
200 kilometers north of Galzburg, South Africa, Big Boss used Gene's resources, along with funds he amassed during his mercenary career, to establish the independent nation of Outer Heaven. Within the nation, he also had an architect, Kyle Schneider, build a great fortress comparable to Groznyj Grad, the massive military stronghold that Big Boss had infiltrated many years prior. This was to be the main base for his private mercenary company, formerly known as "Militaires Sans Frontieres"[1]; a sanctuary where soldiers would not be used as pawns of their government, where they would always have a place, be it on the battlefield or in society in general. Like Volgin, Big Boss reinforced the fledgling nation's military force with a black project of his own, Metal Gear TX-55, a bipedal tank, developed from blueprints acquired from Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin in 1964, capable of launching a nuclear strike from anywhere on the planet. Outer Heaven also began taking prisoners, who were members of the local resistance, that were opposed to its regime.
However, in 1995, during Operation Intrude N313, rookie FOXHOUND agent Solid Snake infiltrated Outer Heaven, and succeeded in rescuing the captured Gray Fox and destroying Metal Gear. The destruction of Metal Gear activated Outer Heaven's self-destruct sequence. Big Boss then confronted Snake, hoping to kill him. He was ultimately defeated by Snake and seemingly killed. He was later revealed to have survived the battle, and shortly after NATO launched an air raid to wipe out any remaining Outer Heaven facilities (indifferent to the resulting deaths of those in the area, since the war orphans and refugees were considered a liability). However, Big Boss managed to save many of them, including the surviving fortress personnel, mercenaries, and even Resistance members (the latter of whom he forgave for their initial opposition to him).
[edit] Known Members
In 1999, Big Boss continued to pursue his vision of Outer Heaven during the Zanzibar Land Disturbance, but his plans were again foiled by Solid Snake.
It would not be revealed until 2014 that Big Boss' Outer Heaven was never meant to trigger a third world war as his critics feared, but was simply his first effort to offer soldiers and citizens a life that was uncontrolled by the Patriots, as well as the previously mentioned goal of giving Soldiers a place to be honored and not treated as tools by the government or anyone else. Metal Gear TX-55 was merely a deterrent, ensuring that they never interfered with his vision. However, the world at large was unaware of the Patriots' existence, and thus viewed Big Boss as a traitor and terrorist, much like the Boss before him.
[edit] Other "Outer Heaven"s
[edit] Shadow Moses Island
In 2005, during the Shadow Moses Incident, rebelling members of FOXHOUND took over Shadow Moses along with the Genome Army, and threatened the rest of the world with a new Metal Gear, codenamed REX. To honor his interpretation of Big Boss’ dream and memory, Liquid Snake informally changed the name of Shadow Moses Island to Outer Heaven.
[edit] Big Shell Incident
Solidus Snake then used the term in 2009 as a codename for his plan to eliminate the Patriots. His plan consisted of giving Arsenal Gear to Dead Cell operative Fortune, who Solidus knew would attempt to challenge the Patriots. Then, using her as a distraction to lure the Patriots' fire, Solidus would detonate a nuclear warhead over Wall Street, which would act as a gigantic electro-magnetic pulse over an entire area of America, destroying the computer programs the Patriots used to control the nation from the shadows. Solidus would then extract the Patriots' identities from GW and eliminate all of them, liberating America from their manipulations forever and claiming a place in history for the sterile children of Big Boss: the Sons of Liberty. This plan, however, never came into fruition due to Solidus's defeat at Raiden's hands at the climax of the Big Shell Incident.
Despite Solidus's goals to essentially destroy Manhattan as it stood, his ideals were the closest to Big Boss's, which was appropriate, given that he was the perfect clone of Big Boss.
[edit] Outer Heaven (Mother Company)
See Outer Heaven (Mother Company)
In 2014, Liquid Ocelot set up a new Outer Heaven to act as a mother company for his PMC armies. In addition, the huge warship modified from an Arsenal Gear he commandeered was dubbed Outer Haven. Although Old Snake was led to believe that the ultimate purpose of the organization was the destruction of the Patriots' orbital AI satellite, JD, a plan which Snake supposedly thwarted, the manipulation of Snake's actions, ultimately freeing the world from the Patriots, was in fact Ocelot's true plan (putting Ocelot and Snake on the same side). Sunny Gurlukovich's FOXALIVE virus was able to infect the SOP system and render it harmless without the widespread chaos that the satellite's destruction would have caused.
After the destruction of the Patriots' A.I., Big Boss's dreams of Outer Heaven has, in effect, finally come to be.
[edit] See Also
[edit] Trivia
The skull logo of Outer Heaven displays a left-facing swastika on its forehead, which is used as a geometrical motif and sometimes as a religious symbol, especially in Eastern and Dharmic religions. It can have many meanings, often relating to peace, but despite this, the symbol has become stigmatized because of its iconic usage by Nazi Germany. Modern usage often displays the left-facing swastika (卍) due to the association of the right-facing version (卐) with Nazism. This may have been early foreshadowing on how Outer Heaven wasn't as evil as initially believed.
[edit] Behind the Scenes
- In the non-canonical Ghost Babel, Outer Heaven was located in the fictional Central African country of Gindra, rather than the Republic of South Africa.
- In the same game, it was also stated that Outer Heaven was actually formed by the United States as a venture to provide mercenaries to its "clients" in an attempt to unofficially keep tabs on anti-American forces, and the idea was thought up by the DDCI at the time, Steve Gardner. However, the man assigned to the project, Big Boss, broke from the program, so the US staged the Outer Heaven Uprising, and Snake's mission there, in order to maintain plausible deniability. Project Babel was a second attempt at carrying out the original intentions of the Outer Heaven Project.