User blog comment:Zero McClane/Solid Snake = Major villain of MGS?/@comment-1971498-20131201171836

I think it's a little far-fetched to call Liquid and Solidus, and by extension Ocelot, as heroes. While Solidus may have had the best ideas, his blatant abandonment of Arsenal Gear in the hands of Fortune would have created a huge disaster upon innocent civilians. Liquid, despite his claims of fulfilling Big Boss's dream, essentially wanted to hold the world ransom, and he barely even knew that the Patriots existed. As for Ocelot, while the guy really served well in aiding Big Boss, his zero-sum mentality of going about his plans (basically "one or the other") would have caused complete global anarchy, far worse than anything Big Boss could have ever wished.

Big Boss is the only one that I can still see as being marginally a "hero". Even then, his developed mentality by the time Snake would be sent to face him was pretty dangerous. Consider how he plotted to systematically conduct war, take in prisoners, and put them back into the war zone. That alone is definitely a flawed and twisted mentality in of itself.

Solid Snake may not have been a hero, but he only fought for what he believed in to preserve the lives of others, most notably his friends and allies. In effect, despite playing into the hands of the Patriots many times, Solid Snake's persistence and contribution to thwarting Big Boss, Liquid, Solidus (we also have Raiden to thank here) and finally Ocelot, served as a means of tempering the way that they all conducted their vicious war against the Patriots. By basically "moderating" them. he was able to preserve society's informational resources, all while destroying the Patriots' chokehold indirectly with Sunny's help.

The ending of MGS4 essentially served as a reflection of MGS3's ending in which the child of Big Boss (Snake) and the chile of The Boss (Ocelot) served in repeating their parents' roles. Where Big Boss would be used by The Philosophers to take down the designated "enemy" that is The Boss, Solid Snake would be used by The Patriots to take down the designated "enemy" that is Ocelot in the guise of Liquid. The main difference being that Ocelot purposely aligned his resources with the Patriots themselves, thereby allowing Snake to directly take down The Patriots. By literally pushing on, and repeating Big Boss's actions MGS3, Snake literally served in fulfilling what The Boss wished upon Big Boss himself: that is to preserve the status quo and live on without regrets in his life.

If anything, the very nature of Snake's character basically embodied The Boss's beliefs, and it's from that that I can see why Big Boss ended up respecting him and even admiring his tenacity despite always being used by others. Snake may not have been a hero, but I personally think he's far from the villain, especially when he helped preserve so many people's lives all while constantly passing on his positive ideals onto others.