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Vulcan Raven

From the Metal Gear Wiki

Vulcan Raven
Vulcan Raven
Nationality America American
Alaska Inuit
Affiliations Vympel
Outer Heaven
FOXHOUND
Sons of Big Boss
Current status Deceased
Appears in Metal Gear Solid
Created by Hideo Kojima
Designed by Yoji Shinkawa
English voice Peter Lurie
Japanese voice Yukitoshi Hori

Vulcan Raven (バルカン・レイブン Barukan Reibun?) was one of the renegade members of FOXHOUND who took over Shadow Moses with the Genome Army. He was a Shaman and was raised in the cold state of Alaska.

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[edit] Biography

Vulcan Raven was born to Alaskan Indian and Inuit (Eskimo) parents, though he hates the word "Eskimo" used by white men. He has a large tattoo-like raven birthmark across his forehead and was raised as a shaman by his people.

He graduated from the University of Alaska and spent a few more years living in his homeland. He took part in the Eskimo-Indian Olympics, and won many Muk-tuk eating and Ear Pull contests; an event where two opponents pull each other's ear while enduring the harsh cold, intended to test both spiritual and physical strength.

One very cold winter, he decided to walk across the frozen Bering Sea, and managed to reach the USSR. He joined the KGB OZNAZ unit, Vympel, where he met Revolver Ocelot and Sergei Gurlukovich. After the fall of the Soviet Union, he was demoted along with other Vympel operatives following Boris Yeltsin's coup in 1993. He decided that he would not stay after this, and left Russia to become a mercenary for hire.

Years later he joined Outer Heaven. The destruction of Outer Heaven was Solid Snake's first mission, but Raven and Snake did not meet on this occasion. With Outer Heaven in ruins, Raven, on the recommendations of Revolver Ocelot, joined FOXHOUND.

During his FOXHOUND years, he excelled at using a M61A1 20 mm. multi-turreted machine gun, a machine gun usually mounted on F-16s. He acquired his infamous weapon from a downed vehicle that Colonel Campbell mentioned to Snake at the beginning of his mission.

[edit] FOXHOUND Rebellion

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Eventually, he and the other members of FOXHOUND, Liquid Snake, Revolver Ocelot, Psycho Mantis, Sniper Wolf, and Decoy Octopus, grew tired of their roles as puppets to the government, and attacked Shadow Moses Island.

As Solid Snake travelled across Shadow Moses Island, he encountered an M1 Abrams tank with Raven as its commander. Snake destroyed the tank by throwing grenades into the open hatches as the gunner and loader tried to deal with him.

Later in the mission, Snake faced him a second time inside a freezing cold warehouse. Here, Raven fought Snake with his M61 Vulcan cannon, though was ultimately defeated. In his final moments, Raven offered Snake a "hint", telling him that the DARPA Chief whom Snake had met and whom he saw dying, Donald Anderson, was actually Decoy Octopus. He did not explain why or how he was killed, or why he was disguised in the first place, but declared that Snake would always follow a life of bloodshed wherever he went. He also vaguely alluded to the fact that Snake is an artifically conceived clone, stating that he and Liquid "are from another world", one which he didn't wish to see.

"The path you walk on has no end. Each step you take is paved with the corpses of your enemies... Their souls will haunt you forever... you shall have no peace... Hear me, Snake! My spirit will be watching you!"
— Vulcan Raven to Solid Snake

As he made this declaration, he was eaten alive by his own ravens so that he could become "one with them."

[edit] Behind the Scenes

  • After Decoy Octopus succumbed to FOXDIE, Vulcan Raven retrieved his corpse.

[edit] Trivia

  • Killing any of the ravens on the way down will cause him to scold Snake for "killing his friends."
  • Raven was alleged once to be a real threat in the Muk-tuk eating contest of the Eskimo-Indian Olympics.
  • He is also rumored to have excelled in the Stick Pull and Four Man carry events as well.
  • In the 1998 E3 promo, he is named as "Valcan Raven."
  • A McFarlane action figure of Vulcan Raven appears in the Tanker chapter of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. It is positioned in front of a flashlight, giving not only the player, but also Snake and Otacon, the impression that Raven himself is standing around the corner, M61 in hand. It also appears in one of the flooded rooms in the Big Shell where it floats amongst other pieces of debris. Shooting it (in the Tanker chapter) will cause it to "speak" and fire small BB pellets.
  • While he was a comrade of Revolver Ocelot, he does tend to make wisecracks at Revolver Ocelot's heritage. A notable example took place shortly after Solid Snake defeated his Abram's Tank, where after Revolver Ocelot warns him about how Solid Snake is not to be underestimated, Vulcan Raven addresses Ocelot as "General Ivan" when mockingly reminding him about his underestimating Snake and the consequences of it. (General Ivan is a ethnic slur towards a Russian or someone of Russian Descent.)

[edit] Gallery