Raiden

"I am Lightning. The rain transformed."

- Raiden

Raiden (雷電), real name Jack, was a Liberian-American special forces soldier responsible for resolving the 2009 Big Shell Incident as a new recruit to the reformed FOXHOUND unit. A former child soldier under Solidus Snake, Raiden had been selected by the Patriots to test the S3 Plan at the Big Shell. He later worked alongside the Paradise Lost Army in their anti-Patriot activities, but was captured and forced to undergo heavy cybernetic experimentation. After successfully escaping, Raiden went on to assist Solid Snake during Liquid Ocelot's Insurrection. He later joined the PMSC Maverick as a means to support his family, but re-entered the battlefield once more after Desperado ruined one of their missions, leaving him injured.

Early life and career
Jack was born on a rainy day in Liberia. During his youth, in the turbulent period that was the Liberian Civil War, Jack was adopted by Solidus Snake, who became his godfather after he killed his parents. Jack was subsequently raised as a child soldier and later fought in the Civil War in 1989. He and other children were shown Hollywood action films daily for "image training," and were given food mixed with gunpowder containing toluene to make them more controllable. On one occasion, Jack was injected with an unknown substance during a physician's experiment. On another, Jack witnessed Solidus demonstrate to him that blades were a "noble weapon" compared to guns, by slitting another soldier's throat in front of him. Under Solidus Snake, Jack became a killing machine, known alternately as the "White Devil" and "Jack the Ripper" due to his incredibly high kill rate compared to other boys his age, as well as a reference to his being one of the few Caucasians born in Liberia. Armed with a gun at the age of six (he would later remember it as an AK rifle), as well as a knife, he proved to be a superior soldier, rising to become captain of the Small Boy Unit at ten. His skills with a bladed weapon, as well as his cruelty in dispatching enemies with them, was another reason for his "Ripper" nickname.

After the war ended, Solidus had him placed in a relief center, but he was later removed by a non-governmental organization and taken to the United States. There, Jack came into the hands of the Patriots, who implanted his cerebral cortex with a high concentration of nanomachines, in order to have him function as a back-up system for an optic-neuro AI. The Patriots chose him out of the other child soldiers in his unit because unlike the others, who would live up to their pasts and pay dearly for it, Raiden did not accept his past and hated it. The same nanomachines were also capable of memory manipulation by connecting or stimulating synapses, primarily nerve sections in the dormant part of the brain. In addition, Raiden was not listed under any of the United States databases (e.g. the FBI, NSA, CIA, etc.)

Jack would grow up to suppress the memories about his terrible childhood, burying the memories of his bloody past, though he still suffered from nightmares of his past nearly every night. Now living a life in the United States, Jack joined the military where his admirable skills were at first recognized by the U.S. Army's Task Force XXI, although unlike other members of Force XXI, he was not involved in the Genome trials. From there he participated in three hundred VR simulations, including a re-creation of the Shadow Moses Incident that took place a few years earlier. He had eventually left the Force XXI group by January 20, 2007.

On April 30, 2007, Jack met Rosemary after transferring to Fort Hamilton at New York City, and had an argument about King Kong. After they parted ways, they met again afterwards, shocked that they worked in the same place. Eventually, Jack grew to love Rose deeply, but his harsh experiences had left him melancholic and emotionally distant, and he constantly shut her out of his problems. However, all of this drama was a ruse by the Patriots to gain more control over Jack's life, with Rosemary acting as a spy.

Sometime prior to the Big Shell Incident, Jack was recruited into the supposedly reformed FOXHOUND, a special forces unit that no longer officially existed.

At the beginning of the Big Shell mission, Jack was briefly referred to as "Snake" before his codename was changed to "Raiden" by the Colonel, as the leader of the terrorists was also referring to himself as Solid Snake. Prior to being dispatched, Raiden's superiors also removed his natural blood, placed it in cold storage, and replaced it with a nanite filled blood substitute instead. On his way to the Big Shell, he also found that the oil fence had a recently-cut hole, implying that someone other than him had managed to sneak in. He later revealed this to the Colonel, who was surprised, since there wasn't supposed to be anyone other than Raiden who should have infiltrated the base. His suspicions that there was another intruder were quickly confirmed, as he entered a room full of knocked out guards and caught a glimpse of the man as he ascended in an elevator. Raiden took to the mission with some hesitation, claiming to have only been trained in VR missions (some of which didn't cover vital materials such as disposing of C4).

Raiden later met up with Iroquois Pliskin, a Lieutenant Junior Grade with the U.S. Navy SEALs, but he was revealed to be the real Solid Snake, who had faked his death two years prior during the Tanker Incident. Raiden eventually learned of the Patriots' existence, as well as the development of Arsenal Gear, an enormous warship for which the Big Shell acted as a disguise. He also rescued Arsenal's AI engineer Emma Emmerich and attempted to escort her to safety, although she was later killed by Vamp despite his best efforts. Throughout the mission, Raiden also harbored some suspicions that he may enjoy killing people, although he did not know why. Raiden and Snake were able to join forces to take down Dead Cell and upload a virus into GW, Arsenal's AI. He was then seemingly betrayed by Snake and was subsequently captured by Olga Gurlukovich. Taken aboard Arsenal, Raiden was later freed by Olga, telling him that they had needed to use him so that Snake could sneak on board.

As Raiden snuck through Arsenal Gear's interior, the Colonel began to act strangely during Codec transmissions. Pressing on, Raiden made his way to rendezvous with Snake, and was eventually contacted by Rose. She admitted to him that she was actually a Patriot spy sent to keep tabs on him, though she insisted that she had genuinely fallen in love with him. This greatly angered Raiden, but her transmission was cut off, just as she revealed that she was pregnant with his child. Raiden then met with Snake, who gave him most of his equipment back, along with Olga's high-frequency blade. Suspicious about his C.O.'s odd behavior, Raiden had Snake's partner Otacon investigate, who eventually learned that the Colonel was actually an AI construct of GW, partially based on the manipulation of Raiden's memories. After the Colonel claimed that Rose was being held hostage, Raiden began to fear that Rose didn't exist either, and that all his memories of her might have been falsified. After some reassurance from Snake, the pair battled through the Arsenal Tengu commandos before encountering Dead Cell's leader Fortune. Snake told Raiden to go on ahead, with Fortune claiming that Snake was the root of all her misery. Raiden, hesitant at first, left Snake to face her alone.

Raiden went on to battle against a 3 to 25 mass-produced Metal Gear RAY units, managing to defeat several of them before collapsing from exhaustion. Just as Raiden was about to be killed, Olga came to his aid. By doing this, she revealed herself as an enemy of Solidus Snake, who angrily killed Olga. Olga's final words were for Raiden to live. As Solidus ordered the remaining RAYs to kill Raiden, the virus uploaded into GW went into effect, disabling the RAYs. Solidus then destroyed them out of frustration.

After Arsenal crashed into Manhattan, it was revealed that Raiden was merely a puppet of the Patriots, and that his entire mission on the Big Shell had been carefully scripted. AI representations of the Colonel and Rose told Raiden that he was just a weapon, a creation of the Patriots with no purpose but for what they made him. The AI instructed Raiden to kill Solidus, which he had no choice but to do so, for his own sake and for the sake of Olga's daughter and Rose/their unborn child. Raiden, however, also expressed disgust towards the Patriots' actions, and made it clear beforehand that he will not follow their commands anymore. Solidus also desired to kill him so he could access the backup data of the Patriots that was stored in his cerebral cortex in order to track them down, to compensate for the apparent destruction of GW. A fierce battle on top of Federal Hall ensued, and ended with Raiden emerging victorious over Solidus. He was reunited with Snake, who assured him that he was not the puppet of anyone, and that he could shape his own destiny. Raiden offered his services to Philanthropy, but Snake told him to take care of his personal affairs first. Raiden then met with Rose, and he solemnly forgave her, with the two ultimately deciding to continue their lives together.

Post-Big Shell
Raiden and Rose began living together, but the tragic memories of his days as a child soldier started to resurface, causing tension in their relationship. He began drinking heavily, getting into fights and eventually decided to leave her. In addition, he was also led to believe that his child had died from a miscarriage.

Raiden learned from Big Mama, in exchange for the location of Big Boss that he obtained from GW, that Olga's daughter, Sunny, was being held in Area 51, and successfully rescued her with the help of Big Mama and the Paradise Lost Army. After hearing of Rose's miscarriage and subsequent marriage to Roy Campbell, Raiden became despondent. He left Sunny in the care of Otacon and Snake anonymously. Afterwards, he left to wander the Earth. Raiden studied scouting techniques under a Native American shaman living in Alaska, and learned to hunt. He then began work on retrieving Big Boss's remains from the Patriots for the Paradise Lost Army, leading to his capture. As a prisoner, the Patriots used Raiden as a test subject for experiments in exoskeletal enhancement surgery, during which he had his head and spine excised from his body from his lower jaw down and subsequently grafted into an enhanced synthetic body. It was around this time that he met Boris.

With the help of the Paradise Lost Army, Raiden managed to escape his captivity. After undergoing surgery to clear his body of nanomachines and being saved by Dr. Drago Pettrovich Madnar, he was successful in reclaiming Big Boss's remains from the Patriots. The enhancements implanted throughout Raiden's body, however, were too severe to allow him to live a normal life again. He elected to disappear from the life of his fiancée, Rose.

Raiden returned in 2014, and while Solid Snake was in South America, he contacted him through Codec, commenting that he had been helping Big Mama find the corpse of Big Boss. He also now felt as if Raiden was his only name, disavowing his identity of Jack when he first contacted Snake. Their first call ended abruptly due to a firefight, though. Shortly after Laughing Octopus was defeated, Raiden contacted Snake again, helping him track Naomi by teaching him how to scout. Raiden appeared in person in a South American marketplace, where he helped Snake and Otacon escape by fighting off the Gekko. In order to disguise his current appearance, he frequently took to wearing a black coat, although he discarded it when fighting the Gekko.

Eventually, the Gekko held him captive on behalf of Vamp, who stabbed him twice with his knife and tasted his artificial blood. While believed by his opponent to be "immortal," Raiden replied that he simply didn't fear death. Snake then shot the tethers, freeing him from the Gekko, which he subsequently destroyed. Raiden and Vamp engaged in a fearless battle with their two swords and array of knives, respectively (at one point the contact between their weapons was so fierce, Raiden's sword began to glow red hot). Their battle resulted in Vamp standing to Raiden's back. Raiden's decisive attack would prove his earlier statement that he did not fear death: he ran his sword through his own abdomen, but impaled Vamp as well. The battle ended, both of them having inflicted serious wounds on the other. When Snake and Otacon's helicopter hovered above him, he jumped aboard and escaped along with Naomi Hunter, but not without collapsing from the grave injuries he sustained from the previous fights. Aboard the Nomad, he continued to suffer even more due to his injuries, causing his chances of survival to become very bleak. Naomi had sympathy for him, as her adoptive brother and Raiden had both endured a great deal of suffering as a result of each becoming a Cyborg Ninja, and was extremely bitter that such experiments were still continuing.

After a "white blood" transfusion and dialysis with the help of Dr. Madnar, Raiden returned again and saved Snake's life at Shadow Moses Island after disabling the Suicide Gekko that were attacking. He then had a final face off with Vamp atop Metal Gear REX, after Snake had returned the latter to a mortal state via nanomachine suppressors, with Raiden emerging the victor, finally killing Vamp once and for all. He also relayed a coded message from Sunny to Naomi, regarding the completion of the FOXALIVE computer virus, shortly before Naomi used nanomachine suppressors to both euthanize Vamp and commit suicide, much to the group's shock. Proceeding to make their escape, with Snake controlling REX, Raiden assisted by warding off the Gekko chasing them, eventually being caught under debris caused by the Suicide Gekko's detonation. He set himself free from under the debris by cutting off his right arm. After doing so, he put himself in the way of Outer Haven, stopping it in its path and holding it back from crushing Snake, allowing him to get out of the way. Raiden was eventually crushed beneath the vessel, screaming Rose's name and recalling both their first meeting and reunion after the Big Shell Incident, before losing consciousness. He was later confirmed to have survived by Otacon but was in no condition to help Snake in his final mission aboard Outer Haven.

However, as Snake made his way deeper into Haven, he was saved once again by Raiden, missing both arms and wielding his sword between his teeth, from a group of Haven Trooper. He also demonstrated lightning-like powers. Raiden originally intended to upload the FOXALIVE virus into GW in Snake's place, stating that his current state made himself immune to the microwave corridor, but Snake convinced him to not do it as he "still has his youth." Instead, he decided to hold the FROGS off and buy Snake enough time to upload FOXALIVE. He was able to kill several of them but was eventually overwhelmed and taken down. Once Snake and Otacon destroyed GW along with the other four AIs, the FROGS were incapacitated and unable to kill him.

Afterwards, Raiden was sent to a hospital where he was fitted with a new cybernetic body that had a more human appearance. Following Raiden's surgery, Rose and her son John paid him a visit, though Raiden ignored them both, believing that the child was Campbell's, who Rose had married during Raiden's estrangement from her. Rose told Raiden that the child was in fact his, and her miscarriage had been a lie. Her marriage to Campbell had actually been a ploy to protect herself and their son from the Patriots, so that he could not be used as leverage against Raiden. In other words, Raiden's lack of awareness of his son and his disdain for Rose meant that both would serve no purpose to the Patriots, as their suffering would not move him in any way. Stunned, Raiden forgave Rose once again, as she felt desperately guilty from being unable to tell him from the danger it presented. She proceeded to introduce their son as and the three huddled together in reunion. To him, at that moment, it felt like a scene from Beauty and the Beast. But Rose reassured him that he was no beast, but her husband. Raiden then vowed that he was done running, while Rose vowed that she was no longer afraid.

Joining Maverick


At some point after Liquid Ocelot's insurrection, Raiden and Boris encountered each other again, and he accepted Boris' request that he join full-time with Maverick Security Consulting, Inc. when talking about the group, seeing no reason to refuse. Consequentially, he never even considered the contraction method of joining a PMC. He initially did this to support his family without having to return to an active combat role. He also had his former Cyborg Ninja body redesigned as a suit that he could equip should the need arise, similar to Olga's cyborg ninja exoskeleton. In addition, he also frequently wondered whether the Patriots' motives that were presented to him back in 2009 were genuine, or a further lie crafted with the intention of further manipulating him. At least one of his first missions for Maverick involved the European country of Montenegro, a mission that was implied to have become complicated in spite of his claims of having reviewed the mission details, according to fellow Maverick member Kevin Washington.

For three years starting 2015, Raiden was part of Maverick's recovery efforts to help rebuild an African country that had undergone a bloody civil war. Raiden himself did VIP protection, military training, and other related jobs. He eventually met up with the African country's prime minister N'Mani, where the latter congratulated him on Maverick's contribution in the rebuilding of the country. Because his real name still painfully reminded him of his past, he still went exclusively by the name of Raiden. However, N'Mani had a good sense of humor to jokingly call him "Mr. Lightning Bolt" when he learnt what Raiden's name translated to.

Revengeance
"I told myself this was about justice, about protecting the weak. But I was wrong."

- Raiden in 2018

Cyborg attack
However, plans abruptly changed in 2018 when cyborg soldiers belonging to the Desperado Enforcement LLC. PMC started attacking, of the people involved also including a cyborg named Sam. With Maverick unable to identify their affiliations, Boris ordered Raiden to take out the cyborgs. Athough the prime minister was to be protected, Desperado had managed to abduct him when Raiden was forced to confront the PMC's modified Metal Gear RAY, which he fought twice due to its persistence. After tracking the Desperado leader, Sundowner, the Prime Minister, as well as Sam down to a train, Raiden did battle against Sam within the train tunnel. However, he was unable to keep up with Sam's cyborg enhancements which were superior to Raiden's cyborg outfit. The result was Raiden would end up having his left arm amputated and losing his left eye. Ultimately, he was unable to stop Sundowner from killing N'Mani.

A new cyborg outfit
His arm was later retrieved from the battle site and analyzed by Maverick, as well as having to undergo a weekly retrieval of files stored on the arm, due to the files being corrupted. During the procedure, they also had to replace memory units in his nervous system, and he was also losing a lot of blood due to his earlier wounds, forcing the doctors to put a clamp on him, which also resulted in Raiden flashing back to his time as a child soldier in Liberia, where he was injected with something. The doctor then managed to resuscitate Raiden and ordered the beginning of the optical implant, with Raiden wondering what happened to him. Afterward, they had to remove his left eye, as his optical nerve was completely destroyed, resulting in him flashing back to his watching war footage as a child soldier. The memory bank procedure is then interrupted when a mysterious figure arrives in the OR with the doctors denying him entry before Raiden demands who it is and for the person to come closer. Upon the realization of who he is, he angrily demands to know where "he" is to the figure.

At some point, both as a direct result of the attack and Raiden's injuries, and under his personal request, Raiden underwent a full-body conversion to adopt a new suit, as he felt the Patriots "didn't leave him much of a body to begin with." This, alongside Maverick's previous cybernetic maintenance person going into hiding resulted in him being performed on by a German cyberneticist nicknamed "Doktor" (which was also the latter's first time doing full-body conversions). After his surgeries were finished, the mysterious figure then presented Raiden with his new sword, to which Raiden later flashed back to witnessing Solidus slitting a soldier's throat.

Foiling the coup d'etat in Abkhazia
Upon acquiring his new Cyborg Ninja body, Raiden was instructed to undergo a VR Training simulation that Doktor created so he could get used to his new body before redeployment. Under the guidance of Boris, Raiden honed his new body's blade, developed various attacks against cyborgs, became affluent in tracking as well as acquiring an enhanced running capability. Raiden, upon returning to active combat, aggressively chose Maverick missions that directly related to Desperado's activities. Afterwards, he was deployed to Sukhumi, the capital of Abkhazia, on a flying wing, where he was then launched when nearing insertion by a rocket platform. He also was requested by Doktor to retrieve the left hands of any cyborgs that he defeated, largely due to the valuable data stored on their arms, in exchange for both the surgery and any future upgrades. Raiden's new body was powered by a Molten Carbonate Fuel cell which needed frequent recharging via Electrolytes extracted from enemy cyborgs during battle.

Making his way through the old city crawling with cyborg patrols and Gekkos, he also encountered the IF Prototype LQ-84i unmanned weapon that was deployed to assassinate Raiden. However, he managed to subdue it and have it delivered to Maverick in order to have the "Doktor" repair the weapon as well as make some adjustments to the K-9000, known as the Bladewolf, which included the disabling of its remote piloting program and its AI wiping program. Raiden eventually managed to reach Desperado's main base in Abkhazia, a production plant near the coast. He then fought with the leader of the forces stationed at Abkhazia, Mistral. After a grueling fight that descended to the bottom level of the plant, he eventually disarmed her of her weapon, which eventually cumulated in him finishing her off after she was doused in liquid nitrogen while she backed away, taking her weapon, the Etranger, for himself.

Infiltraing the Mexican research facility
Eventually, as a way to "throw him a bone," he allowed the Bladewolf to accompany him in his missions as a scout. At some point later, he and Bladewolf were dispatched to Mexico to infiltrate a research facility. After crossing south to the border, Raiden stopped by a souvenir shop and purchased a Mariachi uniform (traditional garb for Mexican folk musicians) in a misguided attempt to blend in with the locals. He then drove a black convertable until he spotted a sewer grate, to which he then entered the grate, although he was briefly spotted by two bewildered pedestrians. Afterwards, he, under the cautions of the Bladewolf, carefully navigated the cyborg-infested sewers before being ambushed by a Mastiff cyborg. After eliminating it, he then used the catwalks to evade being spotted by the Mastiffs.

Showdown at Colorado
Upon returning to Maverick's headquarters at Denver, Colorado, Raiden ends up encountering Sam again, and ends up fighting him. During the fight, he ends up losing control of his inner nature and his surpressed "Jack the Ripper" persona, resulting in their respective moral alignments becoming blurred.

Names
The word "Raiden" (雷電) literally means "thunder and lightning" in Japanese. He shares this codename with the Mitsubishi J2M Raiden, an Imperial Japanese WWII fighter aircraft, which the Allied forces codenamed "Jack." The Patriots, had named him after the plane and later informed Raiden that, like his namesake, he was nothing more than a weapon, a tool to be discarded once its usefulness has been outlived.

One of Raiden's nicknames, Jack the Ripper, is a pseudonym for an unidentified serial killer in 1888 who was active in the largely impoverished districts in and around Whitechapel, London. In this case, it was a reference to his skill and cruelty with a blade, a trait that was ingrained into him by Solidus. Another nickname of his was the White Devil, which was derived from a slur towards Caucasians originating in China. The nickname's usage in this case was a reference to Caucasians (Raiden's ethnicity) being rare in Liberia at the time of the Civil War.

Personality and traits
Due to his participation in the Liberian Civil War, Raiden was one of the few Force XXI VR subjects to possess actual combat experience. Also because of his past as a child soldier as well as his posessing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result, he also occasionally pushed away even people he cared about, due to his being "fearful of the night." When he first infiltrated the Big Shell, Raiden appeared to be a young and "inexperienced" agent of a "reformed" FOXHOUND unit, occasionally prone to emotional outbursts. Throughout his mission, however, because of his memories of his past slowly resurfacing, he also began to suspect that he enjoyed killing, and informed Rosemary as much. When the memories of his time as a child soldier began to resurface, he gained somewhat of a low opinion of himself, especially in comparison to Solid Snake's accomplishments. Although he immensely respected Solid Snake, there were instances where it had its rough spots during the Big Shell Incident, such as when he learned that Snake and Otacon lied to him about whether they knew about the Big Shell being a great big conspiracy, as well as a remark Snake made that got him angered enough to make explosive insults about Snake, not realizing that he was in earshot, and when Snake "betrayed" Raiden at Arsenal Gear to lessen security onboard without warning him beforehand.

Raiden used to smoke cigarettes at one point in his life but had quit by the time of the Big Shell Incident. He also possessed barcode tattoos all over his body.

Raiden shared some similarities with his Cyborg Ninja predecessor, Gray Fox; both had been child soldiers who were given nicknames (and to a lesser extent, formal names) due to their brutality; they both ended up being taken from a rehab center by a group that was implied to have connections to the current organization in power (in Gray Fox's case, the CIA and the Philosophers, in Raiden's case, an NGO group and the Patriots) before being experimented in a way that was implied to also have resulted in suppressed memories; they both underwent cybernetic experimentation by the Patriots, and used technologically advanced blades; and they both saved Solid Snake from a Metal Gear (Fox with REX, and Raiden with Outer Haven). Raiden was also similar to Gray Fox's adopted sister, Naomi, in that he was adopted by the same person who murdered his parents. Raiden was also similar to Kazuhira Miller, in that he bore unusual features regarding his country of origin. Raiden is the only known Cyborg Ninja to have survived, and also the only one who hasn't fought Solid Snake.

Raiden also was skilled at cleaning up messes, as he mentioned to the Colonel regarding not leaving stuff lying around at Strut C during the Big Shell Incident. He implies that he gained the skill at cleaning up from having to clean up various messes that Rosemary leaves at her house.

He also knows at least some Spanish, as evidenced by his telling two Mexican pedestrians who spotted him "Adios, amigos!" (Spanish for "Goodbye, friends!"), as well as saying something in Spanish upon killing a Mastiff and stealing its vital organs for absorption while wearing the Mariachi outfit in 2018.

Raiden's main characteristic was his long white-blond hair. Because of the length of the hair, Emma once speculated that the hair was actually a wig and that it was a badly done wig. Raiden, having overheard that comment with a directional microphone, called her via Codec to set her straight that his hair is actually real and not a wig. Similarly, his appearance also led him to being mistaken for a woman, as evidenced by James Johnson mistaking him for a female Patriot assassin before realizing his mistake by grabbing his crotch and then reacting with slight surprise that Raiden was male. As a child, this characteristic, alongside his Caucasian appearance, had him stand apart from other Liberians, whom at that time were largely African in ethnicity.

By the time of Liquid Ocelot's Insurrection, Raiden had changed considerably; the trauma of his break-up with Rose and the "miscarriage" of their unborn son, combined with rigorous training and his torture at the hands of the Patriots, changed Raiden from an inexperienced rookie to a cold and virtually emotionless soldier, who seemingly doesn't care about his own life; for instance, in his fight with Vamp in South America, he freely admitted to Vamp that he didn't fear death. Raiden's only real display of emotion occurred after the death of Big Mama; Snake told Raiden that he (Snake) has no future, while Raiden has a family; at this, Raiden grabbed Snake, shouting that he too has nothing. Nonetheless, due to his past experiences with Snake, he was completely loyal to the legendary soldier and citing his personal views about Snake by asking him to "not leave me alone." Upon discovering the truth about Rose's "marriage" to Campbell, Raiden seemed to regain some of his old self.

By the time of his Maverick activities between 2014 and 2018, his original style at Maverick was styled after Issatsu Tasho, killing one so others may live. As a direct result of the disastrous events in Africa, Raiden had become somewhat bloodthirsty, yet harboring a strong desire for justice. He also became somewhat cocky as well, as evidenced by, after kicking an enemy soldier into a parked black car hard enough to almost flip over the car as well as set off the car alarm, his remarking that it was "too easy" before promptly cutting up the enemy soldier. In addition, Raiden also possessed red lines on his mouth resembling a Glasgow smile. Because of portions of Raiden's reconstructive surgery also included the implementation of an optical implant in Raiden's right eye, his normally blue eye occasionally glowed red. Because of his earlier failure to protect the African Prime Minister, and Desperado's involvement, he also had an extremely cold outlook regarding the cyborg members of Desperado, claiming that they were nothing more than "walking vending machines" (referring to his capability of yanking specific electrolyte body parts to recharge his suit after cutting them up). He even compared himself to the reaper when mentioning that they chose death when taking the job. His outlook was significantly uncaring to the extent that even his fellow Maverick PMC members were deeply disturbed by his behavior. He also had a dry sense of humor and was somewhat sarcastic during this time as well, as he responded to Boris when he asked how it felt to be flying like a bird (referring to his being carried over by the MQ-133C flying wing to Abkhazia) that it felt like "a bird strapped to a rocket."

After becoming a Cyborg Ninja, his overall strength, speed, agility, and endurance had increased to superhuman levels, allowing him to swing two Gekko with little effort by the wires and was even able to temporarily block Outer Haven. During the attack on Outer Haven, he also demonstrated the ability to fire electric beams from what remained of his arms (having lost one earlier in order to free himself from rubble to save Solid Snake from being crushed by Outer Haven, and likewise lost the remaining arm from narrowly surviving being crushed by Outer Haven himself). During 2018, he often released discharges of electricity while moving. In addition, while adopting the Cyborg ninja outfit, he was strong enough to not only parry a modified Metal Gear RAY umanned unit's blade, but also to lift it up by the blade and throw the RAY a great distance, as well as agile enough to springboard across several HEMP missiles towards the RAY unit, as well as jump up to the RAY unit's blade after throwing it a great distance in a small period of time. In both Cyborg Ninja bodies, he also has elevated pieces on his feet, near his heel portion. These act as grips for his HF blade, in the event that he attempts to use a breakdance-like maneuver to cut up enemies. His abilities were likewise improved after his second cyborgification, to the extent that he bragged that he "wouldn't even need both eyes" to take down any of Desperados cyborgs if ambushed.

Unconfirmed history
Raiden's surgery following the events of Liquid Ocelot's Insurrection, where he was reunited with Rose and first met Little John, took place in a hospital in Maryland.

Behind the scenes
Of the main protagonists throughout the series (Solid Snake, Naked Snake, and Raiden), Raiden is the only one who was capable of reproducing, and also fathered a child through natural means.

His cyborg body appears to conduct electricity or he seems to be highly resistant to it as when he is separated from his H.F Blade the lightning seems to stop.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Raiden (雷電) appears as the main protagonist of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Konami kept his starring role a secret right up until the game's release in North America, even going so far as to have his Japanese voice actor swear to secrecy about the role his character will play until the game's release and to replace Raiden with Snake in teaser trailers and other preview materials (although he did appear in a few trailers, in his scuba gear, his presence was not as emphasized as the other characters). In the original script, Raiden's voice was also to have been replaced by Solid Snake's prior to his unmasking, should the Plant Chapter have been played through first. The presence of Raiden in the game was announced to the Japanese press on the same day as the game's release in North America. Early concepts for Raiden originally depicted him with dark hair, whereas Rosemary would have been depicted as a blonde, although the hair colors were switched around by the final version.

Following the release of Metal Gear Solid 2, Raiden was met with a mixed reaction from fans of the series. Much of the negative response was due largely to his apparent naive attitude, androgynous appearance as well as acting as the protagonist over Snake. In addition, the localization of the game also resulted in several fans critiquing Raiden for his high-pitched voice, which was described as "whiney." In the Japanese versions, however, Raiden actually spoke with a deep voice. In addition, Quinton Flynn admitted in an interview with The Gaming Liberty that he based Raiden's English voice on a previous voice acting role he did under the suggestion of casting director Kris Zimmerman, whom he had previously worked with. However, director Hideo Kojima has stated in interviews that he was introduced primarily to attract new fans to the game so that he could ask questions that a veteran like Snake wouldn't ask, so as to avoid treating Snake like a rookie, and to make Snake appear more impressive as a character, an idea strongly defended by some fans. Kojima has also explicitly stated that Raiden is his favorite character in Metal Gear Solid 2, a view that was also shared by Flynn.

According to character designer Yoji Shinkawa in the featurette The Making of Metal Gear Solid 2, the primary reason why Raiden is designed as a bishonen (a "pretty boy") is because a fan letter stated that the addresser in question did not want to "play a story with an old man." Kojima also mentions similar reasons in the documentary Metal Gear Saga Vol. 1.

The twist that Raiden was not Snake was admitted by Kojima to have been inspired by the plot twist of Terminator 2: Judgment Day where the titular character played by Arnold Schwarzenegger was not a villain in that movie.

Raiden's real name Jack (ジャック) is based on one of the main characters from the movie Titanic, along with his girlfriend Rose. Like Solidus Snake and Fortune, Raiden's other name is also that of a playing card - King, Queen, and Jack, respectively.

Depending on whether the player trains to swim in the Deep Sea Dock or not, Raiden's response to Colonel when given the order to swim through the flooded Shell 2 Core will be different. If the player failed to do so, he'll mention that underwater operations wasn't covered in VR training.

In the original gameplan of Metal Gear Solid 2, Raiden was to have had false memories of his father, in which he was apparently killed in a hunting accident. Raiden's "father" would also have resembled Solidus Snake.

For most of the game's development, Raiden’s name was written in katakana as ライデン or literally "Raiden." After 9/11, Raiden's name began to be written in kanji as 雷電. "Since the story resembled 911 closely, and some people said ‘Raiden’ reminds them of ‘Bin Laden.’"

- Hideo Kojima

The name was altered because in Japanese, “Laden” is written as ラーディン.

Raiden's naked CG character model (used during the initial infiltration of Arsenal Gear) actually possesses no genitalia. It can be assumed that the developers chose not to model the character in such detail given that the player would not notice this feature under normal circumstances. As such, the model is not intended to fully represent Raiden's physical characteristics, as supported by lines of dialogue from various soldiers, in regards to the presence and size of his genitalia. However, performing certain actions will allow the player to briefly glimpse this choice of design.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance
In VR training, he is features as three seperate characters:

RAIDEN - This is Raiden in his normal attire.

RAIDEN  - This Raiden, taking upon the appearance of Gray Fox, is armed with the H.F Blade. It's interesting to note that whilst playing as this character, Raiden shares the same face as Frank Jaeger in Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes. Also when the player equips the night vision goggles or thermal goggles, the visor is shut taking on the full appearance.

RAIDEN X - Naked Raiden as he appeared intitally on board Arsenal Gear before re-obtaining his gear from Snake. Whilst playing as this character, Raiden's actions are limited.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Metal Gear Solid 3 makes use of Raiden's character as well as his appearance. Selecting the option "I like MGS2!" before starting a new game, triggers a change in the opening, in which Naked Snake (also named Jack) wears a mask that looks identical to Raiden's face, to conceal his identity from the gunship crew (although it is implied in-story to be based on the likeness of GRU major Ivan Raidenovitch Raikov). Additionally, the oxygen mask that Snake wears during the HALO jump bears an intentional resemblance to the diving mask that Raiden wears in the opening of Metal Gear Solid 2. Likewise, the reasons for his creation, as well as the fan controversy that ensued, were also given subtle references in the game via two radio conversations, both involving the character Major Zero. The first conversation, gained when calling Zero while wearing the mask during the Virtuous Mission, will have Zero comment that he, "for some reason, doesn't like it," in response to Naked Snake's reason that wearing the mask seemed "nostalgic." The second conversation, unlocked after completing the Raikov disguise, has Major Zero commenting that the disguise "is irritating [Zero] already." to which Snake retorts that the disguise "should make [Naked Snake] more popular."

Later in the game, Major Raikov, (who bears an intentional resemblance to Raiden) must be neutralized and his uniform stolen in order to infiltrate the west wing of Groznyj Grad. "Ivan" is the Russian equivalent of "John," for which "Jack" is often used as a nickname in English.

In the Metal Gear Solid 4 Directors trailer, Raiden makes a parody appearance along with Snake, who is dressed to look like Sam Fisher, the main character in Splinter Cell. The trailer depicts them fighting over who will be the main character of Metal Gear Solid 4. Snake wins the fight easily, sitting in the "Main Character" chair, signalling a chime. But just as Snake leaves and before the credits roll, Raiden is seen eyeing up the chair, and as the screen fades to black, the same chime is heard. However, Raiden is not a playable character in Metal Gear Solid 4.

Raiden has a major role in one of the Secret Theater shorts made by Kojima Productions for their website, and included in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. Entitled Metal Gear Raiden: Snake Eraser, Raiden (voiced by Charlie Schlatter) attempts to "erase" Solid Snake by traveling back in time in a Terminator-like fashion and attempting to assassinate Naked Snake, all ending in humorous failure. After deciding not to kill Naked Snake, he went back to the events of the Zanzibar Land Disturbance (complete with MSX2 graphics) to kill Solid Snake himself, ending in similar failure, where, ironically, he is stopped by his original target, Big Boss. In the ending, he accepts that he can't change the past, although he does hope to get a starring role in another Metal Gear game (which he does).

Metal Gear: Ghost Babel
Raiden does not appear in the main story, but he is briefly referenced by his real name, Jack, in the special ending after the player managed to complete 40 VR missions, where he was apparently being trained with various VR missions relating to Solid Snake's exploits in the Galuade Incident, presumably to make Raiden more powerful than Snake was during Galuade's fall.

Metal Gear Solid Mobile
After completing Metal Gear Solid Mobile, revealed to be a VR mission, Solid Snake is declared a failed test subject and has his memories erased, and a pair of mysterious voices discuss a second test subject, "Jack", wondering if he can do better. After completing all the Special Mission stages in the previously released Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, a mysterious person named No. 4 makes a cryptic reference to the unknown participant taking part in the VR missions, referring to the participant as "Jack."

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus
In Portable Ops Plus, Raiden becomes playable in Infinity Mission mode after beating the game on Hard mode.

In the game, Raiden appears as he does in Metal Gear Solid 2. He is not able to use his acrobatic kick from Metal Gear Solid 2, due to most of the character models (exempting Cunningham) reusing Naked Snake's unarmed combat stances, and instead is able only to ram at opponents like any other soldier, and like the Arsenal Tengu, he is equipped with a blade so he only has three free item slots, but an advantage in comparison to the Tengu ops is that Raiden perform unending combos with his blade which gives him the chance not to get discovered while slashing enemies. His use of a sword is also referenced by Roy Campbell, stating that a new soldier joined who wields a katana. Added to this is that Raiden, unlike Naked Snake or Old Snake, has the Athlete ability which makes him run faster than regular soldiers. However, on the downside, he possesses less stamina and health points which makes him vulnerable when he is surrounded by enemies. Overall, he possesses similar stats to Old Snake and Naked Snake.

"A member of FOXHOUND, with extensive VR mission training. Received code name "Raiden" while infiltrating the Big Shell, an ocean cleanup facility occupied by terrorists. Raised as a soldier from childhood, and haunted by memories of his past, his real name is Jack."

- Official description in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Raiden's never-used sidearm in Metal Gear Solid 4 is the classic Mk23. It is visible on the Medicom Action Figure based on the designs by Yoji Shinkawa, and usable when playing as Raiden in Metal Gear Online.

Raiden's cyborg body appears to be pressurised in some manner, as shown during the two occasions in which he fights Vamp, when knives are propelled out of his torso.

Raiden's line to Vamp when questioned about his "immortality," "I Just Don't Fear Death!", was also the name of a trophy achievement in the trophy patch for the game, unlocked when the player uses the corpse camo to cause an alert.

Metal Gear Online
Raiden is a special character downloadable from the SCENE expansion pack along with Vamp.

Raiden the White-blooded Scout, can fall from any height without damage and jump on ledges that would normally require a boost, and has no nanomachines. He handles a High Frequency Blade, operable in lethal and non-lethal mode, which allows him to deflect frontal attacks. His other unique weapons are the Mk.23 pistol and the Throwing Knife. When his Visor is closed, he can see all traps in the map. Instead of the usual CQC three-hit combo, he instead starts a spin kick which continues as long as the user keeps tapping R1. When pressing the jump back button, Raiden, does backwards handstands instead of jumping backwards (Raiden can get shot during these back handstands). He is also equipped with CQC 2 and a throat-slitting ability, along with a running ability higher than Runner 3. The only downside is that, as he does not possess nanomachines at all, he is incapable of performing an SOP link. If tranquilized, he'll sometimes say "Rose..."

When playing as Raiden, he does a pose similar to that of Gray Fox in concept art for Metal Gear Solid. This can be seen after taking a large fall. He does a similar pose in Metal Gear Solid 4 itself during Act 2, shortly after defeating several Gekko.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is the second game in which Raiden is the primary player character, although this time the player takes control of Raiden in his Cyborg Ninja appearance. The story was originally going to cover the events that occur between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4, and would have focused on how Raiden became the character he is during Liquid Ocelot's Insurrection. However, at some point, the story was moved to taking place years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 4. The decision to move the time period was met with a large degree of controversy, as several fans felt that it cheapened the ending of Metal Gear Solid 4, in particular Raiden's final scene. A podcast, however, addressed this issue and stated that the game would explain why Raiden is back on the battlefield despite the implications of Metal Gear Solid 4 's ending. Raiden's Japanese voice actor during this game was originally planned to be Toshiyuki Morikawa instead of his regular voice actor, Kenyū Horiuchi. However, they eventually got the latter to voice Raiden when it was redone into Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.

The game employs a more action-based style of gameplay based around a concept called "zan-datsu" ("cut and take"), although the stealth gameplay of the previous games will still be present. The gameplay strives to allow the player to replicate the same kind of feats that Raiden performs in Metal Gear Solid 4.

The original render of Raiden from the game's reveal at E3 2009 showed him with a brown eye and a pale complexion. The eye color was rectified in a promotional render released several months later via the online game Metal Gear Solid: Piece Walker. While Raiden's hair was loose in Metal Gear Solid 4, in Rising it is swept back.

Although Raiden's involvement in the Liberian Civil War was stated as early as his first appearance in Metal Gear Solid 2, it wasn't until Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance that it was explicitly stated that Liberia was his birthplace.

In the artwork for Rising and Revengeance, Raiden had a navy-blue bandage over his left eye as a makeshift eyepatch. It is unknown what caused him to adopt it, although a teaser image of a medical report on the Revengeance site implies that he got retinal damage from injuries that resulted in several lacerations and the amputation of a currently redacted body part. Another letter regarding the retrieval of Raiden's arm further implies that the amputated body part was in fact his left arm. The "Arm" trailer also implies that he received an optical implant. Likewise, the "Eye" trailer mentioned that the damage to Raiden's left eye was irreparable due to the optical nerve being completely destroyed, resulting in it having to be removed.

In both the Arm and Eye trailers, the scene shifts halfway through to Raiden undergoing some aspects of his harsh childhood under a man whose voice and appearance resembles Solidus Snake. The Metal Gear Solid Facebook page later confirmed that those scenes in the trailers were meant to show Raiden's training under Solidus.

In the Konami pre-E3 show, a trailer made by Mega64.com had Raiden (in cyborg form) going to the unemployment office at 4:00 PM on a Tuesday (16:00 hours), having been unemployed from Corporate America for four years due to the bad economy, where his unemployment manager attempts to help him get a job, but all the job offers he gets end up going horribly wrong, including an entertainer for children's birthday parties (accidentially destroyed the table and moon bounce while attempting to cut the cake bushido-style during a birthday party for a five year old kid named Leonard); plumber (wrecked Ricky's toilet further while attempting to use his sword as a plunger at 8:00 AM (08:00 hours) on Friday); Gourmet chef (overdid the Japanese Steak House-style cutting of Red and Green peppers at a Gourmet Restaurant at 7:00 PM (19:00 hours) on a Friday, causing the patrons of a Gourmet Restaurant to lose their appetite and be covered in mowed down pieces of pepper); Professional Dog Walker (accidentially electrocuted the dogs to serious injury when attempting to restrain them); Town crier (mostly rang bells to an at best ignored response from the townspeople while not declaring anything); implied professional skateboarder ("Ladies love skateboarders"; Raiden attempted to do a trick, but fumbled, causing his skateboard to go flying into a parkgoer's meal); Breakdancer (attempted a breakdance move, but his legs kept spinning around apparently due to a malfunction); and artist (did a picture of a cupid, only to be told by the guy nearby that his artwork sucked). Eventually he settles for "cybernetic private military security soldier" as his last chance at a job where he was met with implied success. The same unemployment officer also helped Jehuty from Zone of the Enders get a job (starting with Children's Birthday Party Entertainer, just as he suggested to Raiden beforehand), although he spent most of his time terrorizing the neighborhood as the trailer ended.

Kojima revealed when unveiling the screenshots of the then-in-development demo for Rising that the arm he sent to various groups belonged to "white raiden", and that Raiden's cyborg form seen on the promotional spots and main menu was "black raiden." He later clarified that "white raiden" was Raiden's armor from Metal Gear Solid 4, and also stated that it was playable. He also implied in another Twitter account that Raiden's pre-cyborg self during the events of Metal Gear Solid 2, named Old Raiden/Blue Raiden, might also be playable. In addition, a Kojima Productions staff member, when addressing a question frequently asked about the scene at the end of the E3 Trailer, stated that the scene with Raiden in an alternate armor actually took place very early in the game, and that the armor in question was actually a wearable version of his Metal Gear Solid 4 armor, having gained a more normal cybernetic body by the end of Metal Gear Solid 4.

One of the ways he kills his enemies is based on Void Ninja Yoshimitsu's Flea Stance from Tekken 3 and later games. in these games, Yoshimitsu is able to crouch on his sword, and like Raiden, he is a cybernetic ninja due to having a mechanical arm that rapidly rotates for his Dragonfly Stance.

On the week of June 12, during Kojima's Metal Gear Rising demonstration in Mexico, Raiden's CGI model for the demo's menu was slightly modified to include a sombrero and cloak as a hint as to what exclusives the Latin American version will have. Raiden's sombrero outfit later made an appearance twice in the TGS 2012 trailer: The first time is seen briefly where he is driving a black car, and the second is nearing the end of the trailer: Two people (implied to be Mexicans/Latin Americans and confirmed to be Mexicans in the official PlayStation Blog) find Raiden on the other side of the road attempting to enter a manhole, while holding up a sewer grate shortly after his car left. Raiden then looks up and says "Adios, amigos." (Spanish for, "Goodbye, friends.") before departing and closing the grate, also leaving his sombrero behind.

The 166th session of the KP Report Podcast also revealed that Raiden was the only character in the game to be designed by Yoji Shinkawa.

On November 2012, it was unveiled that people who preordered Rising would get an exclusive code that allowed Raiden to adopt a suit similar to that of Gray Fox. Later, on December 2012, both the Rising website and metalgearsolidtv.com (a streaming site dedicated to Metal Gear Solid-related news and videos) revealed that, in addition to the Gray Fox download, the MGS4 armor, and possibly MGS2-era Raiden, Raiden will also have at least three unlockable armors: The White Armor, which has no relation to his MGS4-era armor despite having the same name, and which possesses on a special medical care system. Because of the similar name, Kojima Productions also gave it the alternate name of Medical Raiden Specifically, his suit was modified to focus on support on allies in the battlefield, which includes an increased capacity of items relating to cyborg treatment and supplies for repairs; the Inferno armor, colored crimson and possessing a special attack system. Specifically, he was modified to allow for him to utilize mid-range attacks via throwing grenades, allowing him to carry an increased supply of various grenade types; and the Command armor, colored yellow-green and possessing a traditional fighting system. Specifically, he was modified to take into account the possibility of fighting various pair warfare drones, tanks, and attack choppers by possessing an increased supply of surface-to-air guided missile warheads, as well as rocket grenade launchers of both type instrument and multi-purpose capabilities. The exclusive armors can be downloaded via purchasing codes from KonamiStyle, Tsutaya, and Geo, respectively. However, the White armor will be included as a free download in the EU collector's edition. , and the Inferno will also be included with Rising if pre-ordered from Amazon.com.

Other appearances
Raiden is a secret character in Evolution Skateboarding. To play as Raiden, the player must beat the game 100%, collecting all coins with character Mark Appleyard.

Raiden's likeness also appears in other games:
 * Artwork of Snake from Metal Gear Acid show two soldiers in the background; one of them has the same Skull Suit and mask that Raiden wore during the Big Shell Incident.
 * Raiden, in the Skull Suit, is featured as a sticker in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The sticker increases the character's Direct Special attacks by 14, alluding to Raiden's preferred weaponry being blades.
 * A costume available to download for LittleBigPlanet allows the Sackboys to dress up as the MGS4 Cyborg Raiden.
 * In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Raiden's outfit can be unlocked by achieving at least a bronze metal in each of the simulations in the Virtual Training Program in the Animus 2.0.
 * The Metal Gear Rising incarnation of Raiden appears as a playable character in the crossover fighting game PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. An alternate unlockable skin is avaliable to change his appearence to that of Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 4 and another downloadable alternate to change his appearance to that of Metal Gear Solid 2. His moves revolve around speed and the use of his HF Blade. Raiden's level one super is the hand stand spin-kick, level two an approximation of "Blade Mode", and level 3 has the enemies hide in boxes while Raiden slashes them apart. His rival in the game is Cole MacGrath from the InFamous series.

A Play Arts Kai figurine of Raiden based on his appearance in Metal Gear Rising is in the works. The final color model was unveiled on the Metal Gear Solid Facebook page at 5:58 PM on August 9, 2012.

Raiden, as his Cyborg Ninja self, appeared as a participant in the Konami-sponsored event E3 Battle, where he defeated Krystal from ''Hard Corps. Uprising'' in the first round, largely due to his cybernetics, and in spite of Krystal's many armaments. He then faced off against and defeated Devil Zukin from Dance Dance Revolution 3rd mix in the second round. Raiden proceeded to fight against Pyramid Head from Silent Hill in the third round, defeating it. Raiden then faced off against and defeated Revolver Ocelot in the fourth round. Raiden then fought and lost to Naked Snake in the semifinals.

"RAIDEN FIRST APPEARED IN Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001) Former child soldier turned cybernetic super-soldier. Also goes by the name Jack the Ripper."

- Raiden's bio from E3 Battle