Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-86.46.22.35-20130403153709/@comment-64.33.250.214-20140722180507

Misterbunnsy wrote: But I stress yet again, no matter what amount of accelerated aging is pre-programmed into Solidus' DNA, he is 12-13 years old at most. It would be physically ridiculous to be so accelerated in aging that you would appear to be late 20s or early 30s when you are only just in puberty.

Your point about the biblical names thing is interesting though. Makes me wonder if perhaps the usage of Ishmael is perhaps misdirection on Kojima's part? After all, to quote PythonSelkan in all their brilliance, "Kojima is the master troller". Would he think that people would pick up on all the biblical references? Maybe that's why he made it so blatantly obvious about Eli being Liquid (although all those hints, like the writing on the jacket and what not could be misdirection again), so that we would think "Hang on. David and Eli are Biblical names. Perhaps this Ishmael could be Solidus, since biblical names are always important characters? It's a ridiculous theory in terms of realism, but not something I would put past Kojima. I mean that not as an insult to the man. Just that Kojima's interests in the realm of science are eccentric at best. Liquid's ghost arm is a prime example... Though we can't seem to agree on whether or not that was totally retconned. I believe Kojima intended Ocelot to be literally possessed by Liquid, and added hypnotherapy to counter criticism over the whole arm plot twist. Limb possession is a concept that's been explored in other works of fiction. Including video games such as Parasite Eve. Kojima likely drew inspiration from those stories prior to MGS2.

If Ishmael were a misdirection on Kojima's part, then the question is what does Kojima stand to gain from it? Kojima's already made it painfully obvious that Eli is Liquid. Other than personal amusement, I'm not sure what purpose naming a nobody character Ishmael would serve. Plus, Ishmael states he watched over Big Boss for 9 years. Would seem to undermine PP's serious narrative to make Snake's guardian angel some throwaway character.