The End

The End was the legendary "Ancient Sniper" of the Cobra Unit. He was over 100 years old when he was defeated by Naked Snake in 1964.

Early life and career
Born in the early 1860s, The End was a veteran of countless wars. At some point in his life, he was infected with a benign case of a strange species of parasite, greatly increasing his lifespan and giving him several abilities that made him a natural sniper. He went on to gain a reputation as the world's greatest sniper, having originated all sniping techniques, he became known as the "Father of Sniping." He would later pass this knowledge on to The Boss. He employed camouflage techniques that made him invisible, even in the brightest, most exposed areas. He was said to never require a spotter, and could stay in the same prone sniping position without moving for days or even weeks at a time. The closest to an actual spotter was his pet parrot. Added even more to his formidable arsenal was his own body which was said to have been photosynthetic. The End also wore false teeth and had the ability to bulge his eyes out of their sockets. At some point after World War II, he modified his Mosin Nagant to fire tranquilizer darts.

In August 1964, during the Virtuous Mission, The End was among the Cobra Unit members on board the Hind A in Tselinoyarsk, who greeted The Boss when she defected. After being reunited with their leader, he and the Cobras joined forces with Colonel Volgin of GRU.

A week later, during Operation Snake Eater, Naked Snake saw The End accompanying The Boss to meet with Volgin at the Ponizovje warehouse. Due to his advanced age, his sleeping body was carried there in a wheelchair by The Fear. The End was conserving his remaining energy until the time came for his battle with Snake. With The Fear departing to halt the progress of her former disciple, The Boss assured Volgin that Snake would be "ended" by the famed sniper, should the time come. After the meeting concluded, The End was wheeled back inside the warehouse by one of the GRU sentries.

The End then waited in the forest of Sokrovenno, although he was asleep when Snake arrived and thus resulting in his parrot waking him. He then prayed to the forest to linger in life for a little longer and grant him enough strength for his final hunt. He also thanked Snake for arriving, as his own sleep would have been eternal if he hadn't shown up, and announced his intention of sending Snake to his ultimate fate, declaring that Snake was fitting for his final hunt. He then battled Naked Snake in a long sniper duel in Sokrovenno. Eventually, Snake defeated The End, with the foliage on his ghillie suit shifting from green to orange, like dying leaves. Before he died, he gave a speech in which he thanked the forest for giving him strength and also thanked Snake telling him that The Boss would be proud of him. His last words were, "I can return to the forest at last," before his microbomb detonated.

After death
Some time after The End's death, an old Diné known as Code Talker would recover his remains (even though his body was blown up by a microbomb) and conduct research on them, discovering the parasite that gave him his abilities. Later, Skull Face would use that same parasite to create his own elite unit, and begin a scheme to kill English as a language (as the parasite only grows malignant when its host speaks a certain language, making ideal as a ethnicity-targeting weapon).

Nearly a decade later, in 1974 at Costa Rica, Naked Snake, now known as Big Boss, remembered his fight with The End, asking his allies, to their confusion, whether it was possible to photosynthesize while lazing off or whether the Peace Sentinel's snipers also had parrots.

Ocelot would later allude to The End while discussing Quiet's photosynthetic abilities with Venom Snake not long after incarcerating her in 1984 (entirely appropriate, considering she had a variant of the same parasite).

Personality and traits
As with the other members of the Cobra Unit, The End's codename signified the emotion he felt while on the battlefield; in his case, total oblivion. In battle, he blocked out everything except his targets, allowing himself to focus on his "hunt." Because he was very old and incredibly close to death, he would often fall asleep during battle. His closest companion, a parrot, acted as his spotter and would wake him up when he fell asleep, referring to him as "Grandpa."

The End was also an expert on camouflage. His uniform was a special ghillie suit with a form of natural moss that added more camouflage to himself, and the sniping positions he chose to conceal himself well, The moss would also react to his health state such as turning brown when he was close to death implying a deeper connection with his powers. When in a prone position, he became "one" with the area – his body temperature lowered so that it was close to that of the surrounding foliage. This made spotting him with thermal goggles difficult. Additionally, when The End's stamina dropped dangerously low, he would absorb the sun's rays and recover his stamina quickly. While doing so, the liver spots on his head would disappear and he became rejuvenated, gaining a slightly younger appearance. The End was armed with a M1891/30 Mosin-Nagant sniper rifle, a Russian-made bolt-action rifle used during both World Wars. His model was modified to fire special tranquilizer rounds that were not only effective at long range but is the most potent non lethal weapon in the game. His Mosin-Nagant rifle also has a folding paratrooper's stock and a pistol grip. Although he could easily have handled a Dragunov SVD sniper rifle, The End opted to use the Mosin-Nagant tranqulizer sniper rifle instead because of his gentle nature and unwillingness to kill. He would also use stun grenades, should an enemy get too close to him, in order to escape and find a new sniping location.

Behind the scenes
The End (ジ・エンド) was developed from elements of Old Boy, a character who was cut from the final version of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. He was originally supposed to be named "The Doom," but it was cut in large part because of the release of the game Doom 3.

Hideo Kojima originally wanted the boss fight to last one to two weeks but was told that this was impossible and not recommended.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
The End first appears in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, voiced by J. Grant Albrecht in English and Osamu Saka in Japanese. He is fought by the player in a boss battle, which was named the fourth greatest of all time by Electronic Gaming Monthly, and was rated #3 in the "Top Ten Video Game Sniper Moments" by Game Informer.

Because of the nature of his boss fight, The End is the only boss in the game that lacks a boss battle theme.

In the HD versions, killing The End early or killing The End in his boss battle will result in the unlocking of the trophies/achievements "The Early End" and "The End", respectively. In addition, successfully holding up The End in the boss battle will result in the achievement/trophy "You Snooze, You Lose" being unlocked.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence
In Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, The End makes an appearance in the Secret Theater movie, He's Still Got It, where he became infatuated with Tatyana (EVA), as she walked by him at the Ponizovje warehouse, "reviving him." He then began stalking her, even tranquilizing Ocelot when he was intimidating her at Groznyj Grad. However, he ended up becoming angered at Naked Snake due to his advancing on her, until his heart finally broke after discovering (while hiding under a tigerskin rug) that EVA had reciprocated Snake's feelings, at the Alaskan retreat. He decided to try and snipe EVA the morning afterwards, while waiting outside of the retreat. However, he became too involved with his monologue and was run over by EVA's motorcycle, causing his death and eventual microbomb detonation.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
In Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, The End makes a vocal cameo in several "Dead Man's Treasure" missions, in the mission if you use the Codec. The End "contacts" Big Boss from the grave, using the radio frequency 000.00. Another reference to him is in the form of a reward in which you get the Neo-Moss uniform by S ranking Extra Ops [062] However this uniform does not regenerate stamina/psych like his original one did as it lacks the photosynthetic properties of the original Moss camouflage but even though its inferior to the original it is still the uniform that offers the highest camouflage index in Peace Walker. Grant Albrecht and Osamu Saka both return to voice the role, while Saka also voices the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The End is also heavily referenced in the game's audio file conversations. In one example, Big Boss asks if any of the enemy snipers are accompanied by parrots, while in another, he muses as to whether it is possible to photosynthesize with very little foliage.

Versus Battle
The End also appeared on the series official site's Versus Battle, where he competed against Sniper Wolf.

"STRENGTHS: The World’s Most Legendary Sniper WEAKNESSES: A Mere Week Away From Death FEATURED FACT: The father of sniping, The End was unmatched with a rifle,fought in countless conflicts, was over 100 years old, and even mentored The Boss FEATURED GAME: METAL GEAR SOLID: THE LEGACY COLLECTION"

- The End's bio in Versus Battle

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
The End, alongside his comrades in the Cobra Unit, also appear in the Ground Zeroes app, acting as officer characters in the Mother Base Developer. The End specifically is unlocked by obtain a tranquilizer headshot of 130m while connected to the app.

Boss battle
In Metal Gear Solid 3, the player fights The End in an area spanning three zones – Sokrovenno North, South and West. It is a thick forest, divided into a river, a plateau, and a clearing. He will under no circumstances kill Snake, choosing to tranquilize him instead.

The End's tranquilizer rounds will drain Snake's stamina, causing his hands to shake. This effect can be countered with the Animals uniform, which is found in the Chyornaya Peschera Cave after defeating Ocelot in a non-lethal duel. However, Snake will eventually collapse if the dart is not removed from his body or if he does not eat any food. After fainting, The End will carry Snake back to the jail in Graniny Gorki.

By killing his parrot, The End will find it more difficult to track Snake's movements. However, this will make him enraged and more aggressive. Regardless if the player killed the parrot or not, it will still appear in the cutscene after the battle.

If the player, with the SVD, had shot The End at Ponizovje without killing him, The End will have lowered health and stamina by the time the player fights The End at Sokrovenno.

It is also possible to use the thermal goggles to track the End's movements.

The End's rifle scope causes lens flare.

Mosin Nagant and Moss Camo
The End is one of only two bosses in Metal Gear Solid 3 where the player will not receive his camouflage if he is defeated non-lethally (the other is The Sorrow). They will instead receive The End's Mosin Nagant which will be located near Snake in Sokrovenno North. Because the Patriot and Single Action Army are the only weapons that are carry over in a new playthrough, the player must defeat The End non-lethally each time to acquire his Mosin Nagant. To receive his Moss camo, the player must hold him up and keep pointing any gun at his head for a certain period of time (holding him up the same way in a replay if the player already got the Moss Camo, however, will only have The End supplying medical supplies and a ration). It is the only uniform that actually provides a full 100% Camo Index when it's raining but only in certain terrains, When it is not raining, however, the camo index will be 95% this can be lifted up to 100% with the Woodland facepaint. It can also recover Snake's stamina if he encounters certain forms of light (not just sunlight itself). It is advised that the player hold him up away from screen transitions otherwise he may drop the camo on a transition path making it impossible to be collected.

Avoiding the fight
There are two ways to defeat The End without fighting him directly:
 * The player can snipe him immediately after his first appearance at the Ponizovje Warehouse. If the player succeeds in killing him, the explosion from his microbomb will send his wheelchair flying towards Snake, so it is advised that they quickly dodge it after killing him. Doing this in the Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection version of the game will award the player the achievements/trophies The Early End and The End. The Ocelot Unit will be waiting to ambush Snake in Sokrovenno if Snake chooses this. If Snake kills him via this method, Zero and the other support team members will congratulate him for killing him, although Snake will express disappointment in killing him in the manner that he did, as he was hoping that he'd actually face him in battle.
 * Another way is to wait for nature itself to take him. If the player saves their game in the middle of the battle and waits over a week before playing again, The End will have died of old age. The player can also just set their PlayStation 2's internal clock a week ahead to get the same result. Similar to the above, when Naked Snake calls his support team, they will decide that Snake is the winner by default, although Snake feels that he had disappointed The End by failing to face him before his death. Also, The End's microbomb will detonate posthumously by his parrot after his demise and the call.
 * If the player resumes the battle after a few days, it will in result in a cutscene where The End ambushes Snake while he's sleeping. Since The End is only using tranquilizers, Snake will awake in a cell in Graniny Gorki. The cell is open, so Snake can simply walk out. He will need to go on foot back to Sokvrovenno to continue the battle with The End.

Other
If the player fails to kill The End when given the opportunity at the warehouse, a GRU soldier will wheel him inside.

If the player punches The End during his fight with The Sorrow, The End will turn over.

Appearances

 * Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
 * Metal Gear Acid 2 (non-canon)
 * Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (Secret Theater; non-canon)
 * Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (mentioned and ghost; ghost is non-canon)
 * Metal Gear Solid: Social Ops (trading card)
 * Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (mentioned)