Liquid Snake

Liquid Snake (リキッド・スネーク) (commonly referred to as Liquid) was the "twin brother" of Solid Snake and the squad commander of High-Tech Special Forces Unit FOXHOUND during the Shadow Moses Revolt.

He was a "Son of Big Boss," created in the Les Enfants Terribles project, along with his clone brothers Solid Snake and Solidus Snake. Big Boss told Liquid Snake that he was created in order to express Big Boss's "recessive soldier genes," and was therefore led to believe that he was inferior to Solid Snake. Because of this, he held a strong resentment towards his twin brother, who supposedly expressed "better" genes, and wished to defeat him in combat, reclaiming what he felt was his birthright, and thus proving his superiority.

Possessing an IQ of 180, Liquid spoke seven languages fluently, including English, Spanish, French, Malay, and Arabic, the last of which he spoke like a native. He was almost an exact double of Solid Snake in terms of appearance, with the only distinguishable feature being his darker skin tone and blond hair color, due to the environmental conditions in which he spent part of his life. He also had a tattoo on his left arm, which resembled the Rod of Asclepius, but with a sword in its place. Due to his upbringing in the UK, Liquid spoke with a British English accent.

Background
Liquid was born in 1972, along with his twin brother, Solid Snake as a result of "Les Enfants Terribles," a secret government project designed to create the perfect soldier, using the genes of the "Greatest Warrior of the 20th Century," Big Boss. Using the process of somatic cell nuclear transfer, eight clone embryos were created by inserting Big Boss's DNA into enucleated egg cells, donated by a healthy Japanese woman. By utilizing the Super Baby Method, the embryos were then implanted into the womb of a surrogate mother, with six of the babies eventually being aborted to promote growth in the remaining two. Nine months later twins were born: Solid Snake and Liquid Snake. The two clones had also been modified on the genetic level, with Solid expressing all the recessive "inferior" soldier genes and Liquid expressing all the dominant "superior" soldier genes. A third clone was also later created, known as Solidus Snake, who inherited a perfect balance of Big Boss. Liquid was later led to believe that he was the result of Big Boss's "inferior" genes and later informed an unknowing Solid Snake as such.

Early Life and Career
Liquid was raised in the UK shortly after birth. His real name was also heavily classified to the extent that even someone among the highest levels of the military chain of command was forbidden to know it. Along with his brother, Solid Snake, Liquid was to be used by Cipher as an insurance policy, should the organization fail to either convince Big Boss to return to them, or frame the Militaires Sans Frontieres for launching a nuclear attack on the United States.

Liquid became the youngest person to serve in the Special Air Service, at the age of 18. During the Gulf War in Iraq, he was assigned to a SAS unit to track down and destroy mobile Scud missiles. In truth, he infiltrated the Middle East as a sleeper agent for the British Secret Intelligence Service, but he was taken prisoner by the Iraqis and went missing. In 1994, he was rescued by the U.S. Government. After Solid Snake "killed" Big Boss in Zanzibar Land, Liquid's hatred for Snake grew even more, since he had been denied the chance to exact his own revenge, due to his belief that Big Boss had undergone the Les Enfants Terribles project willingly, and "chose" Liquid to be the "inferior" clone. Liquid Snake joined FOXHOUND in the year 2000, after Solid Snake and Roy Campbell had already retired from the unit. After Liquid joined, he became FOXHOUND's field commander, and reinstated the old codename system, with the addition of personal identifiers.

In 2005, Liquid Snake along with FOXHOUND members Revolver Ocelot, Psycho Mantis, Sniper Wolf, Vulcan Raven, Decoy Octopus, and the Genome Army, formed a terrorist group called the Sons of Big Boss. The terrorists seized control of Shadow Moses and the nuclear-equipped Metal Gear REX, taking the DARPA Chief Donald Anderson and ArmsTech President Kenneth Baker as hostages. Threatening the White House with a nuclear strike, Liquid had one demand: the body of Big Boss.

During the course of Solid Snake's mission to eliminate the nuclear threat, he was confronted by Liquid on several occasions. Initially, Liquid attacked Snake with a Hind D attack helicopter as he crossed the Communications Towers, the Russian gunship menacing Snake several times before a final showdown on the roof of one tower; the Hind eventually went down in flames due to stinger missiles fired by Snake. He survived (a parachute was visible on a tree in the snowfield of the base, though a Codec call confirmed he couldn't possibly have used it and placed it there after crashing to taunt Snake with his survival) and while posing as Master Miller (Liquid had Miller killed earlier), tricked Snake into focusing on Naomi Hunter as a mole and activating REX with Baker's PAL card during Codec calls.

Eventually Liquid's plan became clear; he intended to provoke the superpowers into fight against each other rather than taking them head on (such as: launching a nuke against the United States itself), which would most likely result in mutual assured destruction. This was the reason why he went against Ocelot’s suggestion to set the target for the nuclear strike to be Chernoton, Russia; preferring instead Lop Nor, China, the location of a nuclear test site. Firing a nuke on civilian territory would spell the end for any possible future negotiations, but an attack on a nuclear test site could still be concealed from the public by the Chinese government. This way, he could pit the Chinese against the US – and the latter would be forced to confess to some of its state secrets. At that point he figured the other superpowers in the world would be interested in buying the system from them (Metal Gear REX and possibly improved Genome Soldiers), at which point he would sell them to the highest bidder.

He also included two more demands to the White House: One billion dollars, which, along with Big Boss' DNA, would be used to cure the Genome Soldiers from a mysterious genetic illness, and the FOXDIE vaccine. Not only that, but with Metal Gear REX in his possession, Liquid planned to join his forces (FOXHOUND and the Genome Army) with Sergei Gurlukovich's forces and turn Shadow Moses into Outer Heaven. With these vast resources at his command, Liquid would drag the world into the Third World War, wanting to fulfill Big Boss's dream of a world which always had a place for soldiers.

After Solid Snake activated REX, Liquid explained to Snake that not only was the Pentagon manipulating Snake, but they also developed and injected the FOXDIE virus into Snake in order for Snake to kill everyone involved with the Shadow Moses Incident unknowingly and allow the Pentagon to recover the Genome Soldiers' remains and REX without risk of damaging them. Liquid found out about this information from "his spy in the Pentagon". Liquid also revealed that he hated Big Boss with a passion, because he thought Big Boss willingly chose Liquid, knowing he was the inferior clone, even expressing that he wanted to kill Big Boss and exact revenge, berating his brother for "stealing that chance", as well as saying that by following their old man's legacy, he would "surpass and destroy [Big Boss]."

The entire final act of the Shadow Moses Incident was a series of battles between Snake and Liquid. First, Liquid piloted Metal Gear REX and attacked Snake, but, with the help of Gray Fox, Snake destroyed Metal Gear. Despite being caught in REX's explosion, Liquid survived, and dragged an unconscious Snake (who had been knocked out by the force of the explosion) up to the top of what remained of REX. He then made contact with the Pentagon via Snake's nanomachines explaining that he knew about FOXDIE, and threatened to destroy them next, after he was done with Snake, although he explicitly referred to them as the Patriots.

As Snake regained consciousness, Liquid told him that he wouldn't be killed so long as Snake lived, and even with the destruction of REX, his fight not over yet. He explained to Snake that his ultimate goal was to give soldiers a purpose again, especially since soldiers continued to be used by hypocritical politicians and their political gambits. He also deduced that Snake, despite his protestations, enjoyed the thrill of battle and would welcome the propect of a war-torn world, which he intended to create. Liquid then revealed to Snake the history of their own creation, as well as that of the Genome Soldiers, and why they needed Big Boss's remains. Due to their extensive gene therapy, the Genome Soldiers would begin to succumb to an unknown genetic illness, and the key to curing them was Big Boss's DNA. He then revealed that while Snake was still unconscious, he had placed a prone Meryl Silverburgh on top of REX as well as wiring her to a timed explosive. With a bombing raid on the facility, ordered by Jim Houseman, due to commence shortly, Liquid and Snake battled barehanded atop the ruins of Metal Gear, attempting to throw each other from the top of the bipedal tank to the ground far below. While it seemed Snake was victorious in this struggle, Liquid, still able to fire a FAMAS one-handed whilst driving a jeep, pursued him as he and Meryl tried to escape from the impending nuclear strike using a jeep of their own until their vehicles crashed at the tunnel entrance, just outside the facility. Ultimately, as he was about to kill Snake and Meryl who were both trapped underneath their jeep, Liquid fell victim to the genetically engineered FOXDIE virus.

A final conversation between Ocelot and Solidus Snake revealed that Liquid was in fact the superior clone and Solid Snake the inferior one.

In 2007, Liquid Snake's personality posthumanously took over Revolver Ocelot (via a transplant of Liquid's right arm on Ocelot's stump of what was an arm conducted in Lyon, France sometime after Shadow Moses) in the middle of the hijacking of Metal Gear RAY aboard the USS Discovery during the Manhattan Incident. "Liquid Snake" made his presence known to Solid Snake by telling his brother that he was "drowning in time" and that he avoided this fate by living on through the transplanted arm. After RAY's hijacking, "Liquid" proceeded to destroy the Discovery, along with the U.S. Marines onboard, before making his escape (However, Snake survived the incident and used Liquid's stolen corpse in an attempt to fake his own death with Liquid's body, an example was (in 2009) when Rosemary confirmed that the DNA matched that of "Solid Snake" (sans the right arm), seemingly reaffirming his death to Raiden).

Two years later in 2009, "Liquid" anonymously tipped off Snake and Otacon regarding the Big Shell, in order to lure his brother into Arsenal Gear and use his presence to gain full control of Ocelot's body. Apparently, Liquid's personality would often take over Ocelot's mind whenever Snake was in close proximity. During the Manhattan Incident's climax, Liquid's psyche dominated Ocelot's mind completely and revealed his intentions to destroy The Patriots, using their own spy's knowledge to locate them, he told both of his brothers, Solid Snake and Solidus Snake that he had in fact "chosen" Ocelot as a host for this very reason (but elaborated no more on this). Seizing the original RAY model a second time, "Liquid" crashed Arsenal Gear into Manhattan and then fled in search of the Patriots, though Solid Snake later theorized to Raiden that he was likely acting on false information and would never find them.

In 2014, Liquid Snake's "spirit" had completely fused with Revolver Ocelot, creating the new entity of Liquid Ocelot. In reality, Ocelot had merely pretended to be Liquid via a combination of nanomachines and hypnotherapy to trick the Patriots. Also, Liquid Ocelot used Liquid's DNA via a DNA chip during his first attempt to hack the SOP system. Atop Outer Haven, Ocelot referred to himself as "Liquid's doppelgänger" to Solid Snake.

Personality and Characteristics
Liquid Snake displayed an arrogant and loud attitude in stark contrast to Solid Snake, who is more calm and collected.

He was an especially adept pilot; as shown when he was flying a Hind D during a blizzard as a dangerous decision, especially in combat against two F-16's, as well as pilot it from within the weapons operator's cockpit. He would later use the same chopper to combat Snake.

Liquid also displayed superhuman endurance, surviving a helicopter crash, repeated hits with surface-to-air missiles, sitting right on top of an explosion so powerful it knocks Snake out from the other side of the room, falling off Metal Gear REX, repeated hits from a .50 caliber heavy machine gun and a car crash; he was still standing immediately before he finally succumbed to FOXDIE.

Liquid was incredibly bitter towards Big Boss for apparently knowingly choosing Liquid to be the inferior one and Solid Snake having what he thought was the superior genes. Although his hatred for them knows no bounds, he was also driven by a sense of connection to his twin brother. His main drive was the belief that he bears all of Big Boss's recessive genes, and that he was born knowing that his brother was superior. He was driven to surpass his genetic destiny, and in essence, his father. However, he never learned the truth that it was in fact he that gained the superior genes, while Snake was the inferior. Therefore, in an ironic twist, it turns out that Snake did what Liquid had set out to do all along, with neither of them ever knowing (although it's possible that Liquid did manage to find out about his true inheritance after taking control of Ocelot, due to his comments about how he had access to Ocelot's memories).

Trivia

 * Despite being a clone of Big Boss, Liquid Snake did possess some East Asian DNA in his genome, as a result of the Les Enfants Terribles project. The donor egg, provided by a Japanese woman, would have passed on mitochondrial DNA to Liquid, though his nuclear DNA would still be entirely composed of Big Boss's genes.
 * Liquid was also, somewhat, aware of his and Snake's Japanese heritage. During the Shadow Moses Incident, he almost let slip his true identity, while posing as Master Miller, when discussing Snake's and Vulcan Raven's ancestry.
 * When Solid Snake was "summoned" from Alaska, he originally possessed the same hairstyle as Liquid, but he cut his hair just prior to being sent to Shadow Moses, so that "he won't be mistaken for Liquid." However, Meryl still confused him with the terrorist leader upon first meeting Snake.
 * Liquid was foreseen in Elisa and Ursula's prophetic vision, during the San Hieronymo Takeover, as "the son that will bring the world to ruin."
 * Liquid is the only Snake that has not worn an eyepatch (or a similar device).

Alternative History
The Twin Snakes were born as a result of a ninth batch of clones, in Carlsbad, New Mexico.

During the Gulf War, Liquid Snake succeded in destroying four mobile SCUD missile launchers before Iraqi paratroopers captured him. He was then brainwashed by the Iraqi government and assigned to undertake major terrorist activities throughout the Middle East before he was rescued in 1994.

Behind the Scenes
Liquid Snake serves as the primary antagonist of the first Metal Gear Solid. He is the only "Snake" whose real name is not revealed in the series. The mission that Liquid Snake partook in that resulted in his capture in Iraq had similarities for one of the mission outlines of the failed SAS mission during the Gulf War: Bravo Two Zero. In the original game, Liquid mentioned that Big Boss always told him that he was inferior. This line was changed in the remake, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, to stating his belief that Big Boss chose him, knowingly, to be the inferior one. On that note, the Metal Gear Solid: Official Missions Handbook did not mention anything about Liquid and Big Boss even knowing each other.

AbbyShot Clothiers, a company that creates media-inspired and video game clothing, created a trench coat similar to the one that Liquid wears. It is priced at $400 CAD, $343.14 USD, and £223.44.

In the original plot for Metal Gear Solid 2, Liquid was supposed to have faked his death from FOXDIE and was also going to be the main villain of the game. However, this, along with most of the original plot, was scrapped. According to character designer Yoji Shinkawa, Liquid Snake was originally dark haired like his brother (Solid Snake) but it was bleached to blonde by the intense rays of the sun during his time in Iraq.

Metal Gear Solid
When outside the control room of Metal Gear REX before Snake loses the PAL Card, the player can contact Liquid, who will still answer disguised as Master Miller, even though Liquid will still appear to be sharing a conversation with Ocelot if the player looks at the control room in first person view (at this point, the player is unaware that Miller is really Liquid, and the player cannot look in First Person View while using the Codec. You can however use the scope to view Liquid and call Master Miller.).

If Snake fails to defeat Liquid atop REX before the time limit runs out, Liquid will laugh maniacally during the Game Over screen.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Killing enough human enemies in Metal Gear Solid 4 will cause Old Snake to recall Liquid’s words to him at the end of Metal Gear Solid ("You enjoy all the killing, that's why!"). The shock from this episode causes Snake to throw up and his Psyche Gauge lowers drastically. Although, if you pause the game after Liquid's speech, then you will skip the vomitting and not lose any Psyche.

During the opening stage of the final battle with Liquid Ocelot, images of Liquid from Metal Gear Solid flash on the screen, and the "Encounter" music from Metal Gear Solid is played. Liquid Ocelot's attack patterns in this stage are similar to the ones Liquid Snake used in the fistfight atop REX. The pre-fight cutscene also bears some resemblance to Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes post-battle cutscene with Liquid.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Liquid (along with several other Metal Gear characters) made a cameo feature in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a mention in a collectible trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. According to the Cardboard Box trophy, Liquid is just as fond of cardboard boxes as his brother and father.