Little John

John, or Little John, is the son of Raiden and Rosemary. While his exact birthday is unknown, Rose was pregnant with him during the Big Shell Incident. Rose told Raiden that she was pregnant after admitting to him that she was acting as his girlfriend in order to keep track of him for the Patriots, before she really fell in love with him.

Rosemary gave birth to John sometime after the Big Shell Incident. However, Rose told Raiden that she had suffered a miscarriage in order to protect John from the Patriots. Rose and Roy Campbell had devised a plan that would involve the two breaking ties to Raiden and faking a marriage between themselves.

Shortly after, Raiden, disenchanted with his life, began a long downward spiral of alcoholism and self-abuse. Raiden would eventually stop coming home to Rose altogether, deciding to live his life as Snake once had, drifting around the globe before ending up in Alaska.

After the Guns of the Patriots incident, Rose took John to see Raiden in the hospital. Raiden was surprised to see Rose, and even remarked that she had a "cute kid," and asked if he belonged to Campbell. Rose told Raiden that she had lied about having a miscarriage in order to protect John. Raiden was surprised that John was actually his child, and attempted to embrace him, but John bashfully ran away to the other corner of the room. Raiden sighed, and asked John if he was afraid of him, but John told him that he thought he was cool and reminded him of a comic book superhero. John then assumed Raiden's own fighting stance with his plastic toy sword he had with him. Raiden and Rose embraced, joined by John, and the three finally began their lives as a family.

Behind the Scenes
Little John is named after Jean Jack Gibson's Metal Gear unit from Snatcher.