Parrot

Alexandrine Parakeet

Parrots are birds found in most tropical and subtropical regions. Characteristic features include a strong, curved bill, an upright stance, strong legs, and clawed zygodactyl feet. Many parrots are vividly colored, and some are multi-colored. The most important components of most parrots' diets are seeds, nuts, fruit, buds and other plant material. A few species sometimes eat animals and carrion, while others are specialized for feeding on floral nectar and soft fruits. Parrots are among the most intelligent birds, and the ability of some species to imitate human voices enhances their popularity as pets. Alexandrine Parakeets were kept as pets by both Cobra Unit sniper The End and AI programmer Emma Emmerich. The Alexandrine Parakeet originally comes from Indochina, and is distinguished by its green body and red beak.

The End's parrot

The End's parrot in 1964.

A parrot acted as a spotter for The End, referring to him as "Grandpa." It would wake him up when he fell asleep during sniping missions, should his target be nearby. The parrot accompanied The End during his mission to stop FOX agent Naked Snake from passing through Sokrovenno, Tselinoyarsk, during Operation Snake Eater. When The End was defeated by Snake in battle, the parrot landed on his body, accompanying him in his final moments. Snake later saw both the parrot and The End during his near-death experience with The Sorrow.

During the Peace Walker Incident in 1974, the then-mercenary Snake asked his lieutenant Kazuhira Miller whether any enemy snipers were accompanied by parrots, in reference to the battle 10 years earlier.

Emma Emmerich's parrot

The parrot kept as a pet by Emma Emmerich was her one and only friend, helping to ease her loneliness. She named it Otacon, after the nickname of her older stepbrother, Hal Emmerich.

While on board the Big Shell, the parrot was located in the computer room of the Shell 1 Core where Emma worked. Its cage was shielded by the same electromagnetic weapon that protected Dead Cell leader Fortune, rendering all projectile attacks futile. FOXHOUND agent Raiden encountered the parrot while infiltrating the computer room, where it uttered such phrases as "Venus in Cancer" and "Hal." The parrot's breed was speculated by Raiden's radio contact, Rosemary, to be a budgerigar. Later, Raiden managed to rescue Emma from terrorist forces, who enquired as to the bird's condition, before objecting to Raiden calling it a "noisy overgrown parakeet."

Solid Snake later brought a dying Emma to the Shell 1 computer room, where she soon passed away. When the parrot uttered his name, Hal Emmerich opened the parrot's cage and took it out, carrying it with him as he made his escape from the Big Shell's impending destruction. Before he could reach the elevator, the parrot said, "Hal... I miss you," repeating some of Emma's words, and causing Hal to break down in tears.

After Arsenal Gear's crash into Manhattan, Raiden witnessed the parrot flying freely up into the towering buildings. Hal had earlier released the Parrot while Snake was meeting with Raiden shortly after the conclusion of Raiden's battle with Solidus Snake.

Behind the scenes

Hideo Kojima once joked that Emma's parrot in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty is the grandson of The End's parrot in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. The Metal Gear Solid 4 Database states that they are the same breed of parrot, and that large parrots can live anywhere from 50 to 100 years, making it unclear whether Emma's and The End's parrots were in fact the same bird.

In Metal Gear Solid 2, if the player calls out to the parrot enough times ("You must be Ames!", when using the Directional Microphone) while visiting the computer chamber, it will add the player's calling out to its usual repretoire of phrases. Similarly, going to alert mode enough times will also have the bird quote the soldiers' phrases during alert mode. Attempting to shoot the bird will also have it give similar quotes to the soldiers. In addition, if the player sprayed the bird with Coolant Spray, the bird will say "This sucks!" as long as the spray is hitting it.

• Ration Name: BIRD A
• Initial Taste: Bad
• Danger Level: None
• Stamina Recovery: Medium
• Capture: Yes

In Metal Gear Solid 3, The End's parrot is found in one of the three Sokrovenno areas—Sokrovenno South, West, or East. Its starting location varies based on the difficulty of the player's current game. For example, on Easy or Very Easy, it will be sitting on the large log in Sokrovenno South near Snake's location at the start of the battle.

If Snake catches the parrot alive and releases it during the battle with The End, it will fly to The End and distract him by calling out "Grandpa!" repeatedly until he shoos it away. If the parrot is spooked, or if The End shoos it away, it will fly to another predetermined location in one of the three Sokrovenno areas.

If the player caught the parrot alive during the battle with The End (or in the Sokrovenno area after The Early End) it will re-appear at Tikhogornyj after the battle with The Sorrow (it will not be in among the player's items that EVA gives back to them so they will need to recapture). It will be perched on a branch of a tree facing the right side of the waterfall across the pool after meeting up with EVA. They player must keep their distance, as it will fly away if spooked, and may not return.

If The End died in his sleep as a result of the player changing the date on the PS2's internal clock to at least a week ahead of schedule, his parrot, after Snake informs Zero and Para-Medic about The End's death with some disappointment, will posthumously arm The End's microbomb before flying off.

The parrot is one of the food items that must be captured, alive or dead, in order to get the Markhor ranking (which unlocks the EZ Gun on any difficulty but Very Easy). The End will get angry if the player kills his parrot or eats it after tranquilizing it.

If Snake contacts Para-Medic after capturing the parrot alive, she tells him that the parrot is an Alexandrine Parakeet. Afterwards, she lashes out at Snake for thinking about eating "a cute little bird" and orders him not to eat it, much to Snake's disappointment.

The End's parrot appears with The End during the battle with The Sorrow, even if the player captured it and kept it alive through the torture scene, or simply left it alone after killing The End.

See also

• The End