Venom Snake

"I won't scatter your sorrow to the heartless sea. I will always be with you. Plant your roots in me. I won't see you end as ashes. You're all diamonds. We'll make diamonds from their ashes, take them into battle with us. We are Diamond Dogs."

- Venom Snake to his Diamond Dogs soldiers

Punished "Venom" Snake, also known as Big Boss, and formerly known as Ahab, V, Big Boss's phantom, or simply Snake, was a mercenary commander, formerly a combat medic for Militaires Sans Frontières (MSF), who led Diamond Dogs and Outer Heaven as one of Big Boss' most trusted lieutenants.

During his time as a medic, Venom Snake saved Big Boss's life during the destruction of MSF in 1975 by shielding him from an oncoming explosion, losing his left arm and right eye in the process. Despite his sacrifice, Big Boss fell into a coma. Venom Snake was then placed into an artificially induced coma, undergoing hypnotherapy and plastic surgery so that he could act as a body double for Big Boss. This was done in order to protect Big Boss from XOF forces who had destroyed MSF nine years earlier.

Shortly after awakening from his coma in 1984, Venom Snake was given command over the mercenary unit Diamond Dogs, which had been founded by Kazuhira Miller as a successor to MSF. While in charge, he defeated the XOF unit and took vengeance on its leader, Skull Face.

Venom Snake went on to command the military fortress of Outer Heaven during the time the real Big Boss returned to FOXHOUND. In 1995, Venom Snake was killed by Solid Snake, one of Big Boss's sons, in an operation commanded by the real Big Boss himself.

Militaires Sans Frontières
"He was always the best man we had."

- Big Boss on Venom Snake during tape "Doublethink"

Venom Snake was born in 1932 in California. During the Peace Walker Incident of 1974, Venom Snake served as a member of Militaires Sans Frontières, acting as a combat medic and doctor. According to Big Boss, Venom Snake was "always the best man we had", implying that he was an incredibly capable soldier, as well as a reliable field medic. Venom Snake was very skilled in CQC.

On December 5, 1974, Venom Snake, Big Boss, Kazuhira Miller and Morpho posed together for two group photographs, showing that the four men were good friends.

XOF Trojan Horse operation
Main article: XOF Trojan Horse operation

On March 16, 1975, Venom Snake was stationed on board the helicopter sent to extract MSF commander Big Boss and rescued POWs Chico and Paz Ortega Andrade from Camp Omega in Cuba. He was one of the few MSF staff members to have knowledge about Paz and Chico's situation as well as the mission itself.

During the flight back to Mother Base, Big Boss ordered the medic to look over the unconscious Paz, after Chico had noticed surgical scars on her abdomen. Suspecting that a bomb had been concealed inside her, Venom was forced to operate on her immediately, as there was no time to administer anesthesia. He successfully removed the bomb from her gut.

Returning to Mother Base, Big Boss and the medic discovered their home being destroyed as the nuclear inspection was a ruse arranged by, unbeknownst to them at the time, XOF which was Cipher's strike force. Big Boss briefly left the helicopter to rescue Kaz just before Mother Base sank to the bottom of the ocean. Kaz, in a fit of rage, demanded answers from the unconscious Paz.

Although the bomb was quickly disposed of, Paz awoke and revealed that there was a second bomb inside of her on the verge of exploding. Wasting no time, she jumped out of the chopper and the second bomb exploded in mid air. Venom Snake shielded Big Boss from the blast and his body bore the brunt of the explosion, before the helicopter was sent into a collision with an XOF chopper which resulted in the deaths of Morpho, Morpho's Co-Pilot, unidentified MSF Soldier and Chico.

Nine-year coma
Both men survived the incident. Shortly thereafter, however, they entered into a coma. Venom Snake in particular had suffered extensive injuries, having moved in the way to protect Big Boss. He lost his right eye and his left arm had to be amputated several inches above the wrist and 108 foreign agents (shrapnel, human bone and teeth) had been embedded in his body, which, for the most part, could be removed successfully. However, certain pieces of shrapnel, which were located close to his heart and inside his cerebral cortex, were too risky to extract as impairment or even death would have been likely to occur upon removal. Ocelot also implied the injuries were severe enough that he was clinically dead.

Once the two Snakes were stable enough to be moved, Zero had EVA move both Big Boss and Venom Snake to Dhekelia SBA Memorial Hospital in Cyprus in order to be hidden, to receive medical treatment and to be looked after while they are in their comas, with Zero controlling the information so that their enemies, including Skull Face and XOF would not be able to find them.

Ocelot and Zero talked, with the former being in charge of the security at the hospital. During the conversation, Zero told Ocelot that he had created another Snake, with Ocelot angrily assuming it was a product of the Les Enfants Terribles project. Zero replied that the medic was a mental copy of Big Boss. Ocelot, caring only about Big Boss's best interests, agreed to the plan.

After Miller recovered from his injuries, he noticed Big Boss was missing and contacted Zero. He explained that for Big Boss's safety, Miller had to stay away from Big Boss until the latter woke up from his coma. Zero said the codeword for when Big Boss woke up was "V [had] come to." Unbeknownst to Miller, Zero was actually referring to Venom Snake, who would act as the new Big Boss while the real one vanished from the public eye.

As Ocelot would later explain to Big Boss, Venom Snake's altered state had allowed to implant powerful suggestions through induced hypnagogia and that Venom Snake shared all of Big Boss's missions, knowledge, and experiences, to make him to believe that he was the real Big Boss. This was done to Venom Snake during the nine years he spent in the coma.

In 1977, Zero visited both Venom Snake and Big Boss, though for the most part he ignored the former. He only inquired about Venom Snake when asking the doctor which was the real Big Boss and if the doctors did as instructed to Venom Snake. When Zero asked if either of them had awoken, the doctor told him that both Snakes' EEGs showed stable activity levels, but there was no change and that the doctors moved their muscles every four hours so that they'd be ready to move should they wake up. Zero told the doctor that the two would be in the Memorial Hospital for the rest of the duration of their comas due to the risk of moving them, and their location was safe. After talking to Big Boss spiritually, Zero left the hospital and went back into hiding for good.

In early 1984, Big Boss woke up from his coma. Big Boss and Ocelot met at the hospital and spoke. Ocelot explained that Cipher had found out about him waking up and that the Man on Fire had woken up as well, meaning Venom Snake would have to be awoken earlier than planned, cutting some of his hypnotherapy and mind manipulation short. Ocelot explained the concept of Venom Snake to Big Boss; he was no longer a medic of MSF, but the latter's phantom with all the knowledge and experiences of the legendary hero. Venom Snake was to act as the new Big Boss. While Big Boss initially showed reluctance to the idea, Ocelot pointed out that Venom had protected Big Boss in the helicopter and by becoming Big Boss, he would do so again; it was what Venom would have wanted. Ocelot then prepared Big Boss on his role as "Ishmael", to assist Venom Snake in his escape from XOF when they attacked the hospital.

Restoration of Mother Base and the hunt for Cipher
See also: Hospital Escape and Restoration of Mother Base and the hunt for Cipher

On February 26, 1984, after nine years, Venom Snake awoke from his coma. Nurse Alexandra Pikrammenos noticed his movements and after making sure he could hear her, following Zero's instruction, she gave the codeword "V [had] come to." Pikrammenos brought Evangelos Constantinou, M.D. to see Venom Snake, the latter instructed him to do basic head motions and asked him his name and date of birth. Constantinou then told Snake not to panic and told him that he has been in a coma for sometime, anticipating Snake's question, told him it has been nine years. Snake then went into shock and Constantinou held him down and reassured him he will be alright while Pikrammenos sedated him.

A week later, Constantinou explained that they have maintained Snake's muscles through massages with CPM therapy and EMS. Constantinou went on to explain that nine years prior Snake was injured in an explosion and showed him his X-rays and told him that a 108 forgein bodies of human bone and teeth embedded within him, While most were removed they couldn't remove those near his heart and his skull, as Snake would suffer a brain hemorrhage and mental and physical impairments are unavoidable. The doctor told Snake that his current status is not life threatening. Constantinou then showed Snake an X-ray of his upper body and told him to look down and be brave; Snake saw his left lower arm was missing and went into shock again and Constantinou and Pikrammenos had to sedate him again.

Two weeks later on March 11, As per Zero's plan, Constantinou gave Venom Snake plastic surgery to resemble Big Boss 48 hours before the attack took place. In order to ensure the ruse worked, he was also given hypnotherapy to have him possess Big Boss's memories and thus had him believe he was the real Big Boss. Although the process was not complete and Venom Snake experienced what he thought was amnesia, having to be reminded of certain events and experiences. Before the surgery could apparently get started with Constaninou describing Venom Snake's "original" appearance as his phantom, Constaninou and Pikirammenos were murdered by an assassin and when she went to kill Snake,another patient called Ishmael, who was actually the real Big Boss in disguise, fought the assassin and forced her to jump out the window by lighting her on fire.

When Snake asked who Ishmael was, the latter explained told Snake that "hes talking to himself", Ishmael told Snake that hes been watching over him for nine years and that the good news is that he is the land of the living and the bad new is that the whole world wants him dead and after Ishmael gave Snake digoxin to help he move, the two proceeded to escape the hospital.

As Snake and Ishmael were leaving the hospital they encountered Tretij Rebenok and the Man on Fire, the latter who caused Snake's arm to get dislocated, which Ishmael put back into place, telling Snake that next time he should do it himself. After evading the soldiers who came to kill them, they fought off the Man on Fire who once again caused Snake's ankle to get dislocated, which he fixed himself. Making their way to the entrance hall, Snake and Ishmael got seperated as the latter went to run interference. For unknown reasons, Tretij Rebenok helped Snake by killing the soldiers, after which the latter left the hospital about to be killed by the Man on Fire, but was saved by Ishmael, who ran the Man on Fire with an ambulance and told Snake to get in.

As the two escaped in an ambulance, Ishmael was knocked unconscious after taking a shot from a helicopter. Venom Snake attempted to drive the ambulance, but he crashed into a river bank. When Venom Snake regained consciousness, Ishmael was gone, and saw Rebenok, who helped Snake again by destroying the pursuing helicopter with a flaming whale.

Rebenok, the Man on Fire, and the latters horse then gave chase to Snake who was then suddenly greeted by Ocelot and D-Horse, the former telling him he was on his side. Ocelot gave Snake a shotgun to keep the Man on Fire and his horse at bay as they escaped. Snake, Ocelot and the horse then fell in the river after the bridge was struck by lightning. As Snake left the river he saw Rebenok again, who had a similar horn to Snake on his forehead, before Rebenok and the Man on Fire disappeared.

Ocelot explained that Snake and Miller need to rebuild their private military company, but first they need to save Miller who has been captured in Afghanistan by Soviet soldiers, which four years prior was invaded by the Soviet Union, who was training Mujahideen rebels when he was captured. Before heading to a whaling ship, Ocelot told Snake not to get too use to his new self.

Along the way, Venom Snake was briefed on what had happened in the world in general due to the coma, as well as more specifically what happened while he was in a coma, they talked about the results of the Salt II Talks, the founding of Cipher and Zero's location. He also had his loose prosthetic replaced with a bionic arm, Snake commented on the phantom pain he felt in his left fingertips.

Making their way to Afghanistan, Ocelot gave Snake an IDroid and told him that there isn't much time left to save Miller. Ocelot told Snake that they have no lead to Miller's location and that Snake can find intel at the Soviet-occupied village Da Wialo Kallai to learn Miller's whereabouts. Before leaving, Ocelot told Snake to put the last nine years behind him and return as Big Boss. Ocelot told him to go and "let the legend come back to life."

After finding out that Miller was held in Da Ghwandai Khar, he found Miller, and carried him to the LZ, due to the latter's lose of his right arm and left leg, along the way, they encountered the Parasite Unit, a.k.a The Skulls, who were responsible for slaughtering Miller's men and giving him over to the Soviets to be tortured, but they managed to evade them and made their way to the helicopter. After rescuing Miller, the three returned to the newly constructed Mother Base. When Venom Snake and Miller arrived on the Command Center of Mother Base, they were greeted by Ocelot and Diamond Dogs members who took Miller to a medical facility on the base. Before he was carried away, however, Miller and Snake pledged to exact revenge on Cipher and decided to start by doing wet work in Afghanistan to find some clues as to where Cipher might be.

Snake agreed with Kaz, but for one exception; it is no longer about the past and that all of Diamond Dogs must be fighting for more then just themselves, but for the future and not just for the purpose of revenge against Cipher.

Snake accepted the role of the leader of Diamond Dogs, familiarized himself with the new Mother Base and moved on to his next mission. Ocelot gave Snake the Fulton surface-to-air recovery system to use to recruit soldiers to make Mother Base and Diamond Dogs more expansive. Ocelot then instructed Snake on how to use his weapons, the cardboard box and how to use the technique CQC by training with fellow Diamond Dogs soldiers.

Snake accepted a mission from the West. They wanted a Spetsnaz commander dead. Miller recommended that a soldier of his caliber would be useful to Diamond Dogs. The CIA had heard rumors of his involvement with the disappearance of the Hamid fighters in Da Smasei Laman and decided he was a dangerous enemy. Snake infiltrated Da Shago Kallai outpost where the commander was stationed.

In order to make operations in Afghanistan easier, Miller decided that Snake should infiltrate the Eastern Communications Post and destroy comms equipment there to put a hole in the Soviet base-to-base comms network. Snake successfully carried out the mission.

Miller learned that the Soviet bionics engineer responsible for creating Snake's arm was captured by the Soviets and brought to Wakh Sind Barracks as a prisoner after a failed attempt to defect. Miller asked Snake to rescue the prisoner. Snake infiltrated Wakh Sind Barracks and saved the engineer, who became a part of the R&D department of Diamond Dogs and continued his work on the prosthetic hand, modifying it for Snake.

Venom Snake performed several missions and worked hard in order to expand their new Mother Base so that they could fight Cipher. Unbeknownst to Venom Snake until later, Ocelot was aware of Venom Snake's true identity and preformed a similar technique on himself, as to trick himself into believing that Venom Snake was indeed the one and only "Big Boss."

Venom Snake and Diamond Dogs rose to huge heights as they collected resources, expanded their facilities, and swelled their ranks with volunteers and "recruits" forcibly extracted from the field. Venom Snake first embarked on various missions investigating Cipher's actions and involvement with private forces throughout Afghanistan.

At some point, Venom Snake would embark on a mission to recover the Honey Bee from the caves of Da Smasei Laman before the Soviets could locate it. Upon taking the Honey Bee, Skull Face captured Venom Snake using the arm of Metal Gear Sahelanthropus. After briefly losing consciousness, Venom Snake awoke, and still held by the hand of Sahelanthropus, he finally met Skull Face for the first time. Skull Face taunted him about having survived the attack nine years ago before having the giant's fist release him. Skull Face then mounted the Sahelanthropus' hand like a platform and departed into the mist, leaving Venom Snake to formally battle the Mist Unit of the Skulls. Venom Snake would escape and return to Mother Base with the Honey Bee.

When Snake returned to Mother Base he saw found Ocelot overseeing Diamond Dogs soldiers at a shooting range. When one Diamond Dogs soldier shoots from his hip, Ocelot asks him if he saw that in the movies. Ocelot, echoing the words and advice Snake gave him during the Virtuous Mission during their first encounter twenty years prior, saying that the recoil doesn't get dampened by an automatic, with a revolver being a better choice. Ocelot then gives a speech how Diamond Dogs are now a force to be reckoned with, one that the world knows about, so they shouldn't act like tribal militia and that they will learn how a real soldier fights and that they will forget whatever they learned from Hollywood taught them and that if he catches them doing something else, they will know it. Ocelot, inquiring about the handgun, pointed out that engravings give no tactical advantage whatsoever. Ocelot finishes by saying "That was some fancy shooting. Pretty good."

As Snake was getting more involved in Afghanistan, his activities were noticed by three Soviet commanders -Wialo Company commander, Shago Platoon commander, Wakh Sind Platoon commander. They arranged to meet in Da Wialo Kallai to discuss how they should deal with this new threat. A rebel guerilla faction in Afghanistan learned of that plan and hired Snake to eliminate the commanders during the meeting. Snake would infiltrate Da Wialo Kallai.

After the soldiers in Da Smasei Laman were turned into puppet soldiers by the Parasite Unit, the Soviets didn't give up on taking the fortress under their control. They sent new troops to Da Smasei and were planning to reinforce them with a lieutenant colonel from Qarya Sakhra Ee and his tank column. Snake recieved a mission to stop these forces from deploying at Da Smasei. He first infiltrated Qarya Sakhra Ee to learn the time of the deployment and the path the reinforcements were taking and then intercepted the column.

The rebel forces in Afghanistan were planning a major offensive against the Soviets. Diamond Dogs were hired to destroy enemy reinforcements that would be moving in during the offensive, and Snake completed the mission.

An unknown client, who claimed to be a survivor from the target's village, requested that Diamond Dogs rescue a Mujahideen fighter named Malak, who was captured by Soviet forces. The client gave Malak's location as the Lamar Khaate Palace.

Reaching the Lamar Khaate Palace, Snake discovered that Malak was no longer there. He had been relocated to a new location. After collecting some intel and getting information from various POWs, Snake found out that Malak had been relocated to Yakho Oboo Supply Outpost. At the outpost, Snake found Malak, whose injury forced Snake to carry him to the helicopter, as a Fulton extraction was too risky as the use of a Fulton could kill Malak from the shock of the transportation thanks to his injury. Returning to Mother Base, Malak revealed that he never heard of the client who paid Diamond Dogs to rescue him. Miller suspected that the client was Cipher, who wanted Malak silenced due to him surviving the destruction of his village. To protect Malak, Miller reported that Malak had died in the rescue attempt. Due to Malak losing his home and family, as well as his and Diamond Dogs's shared hatred for Cipher for the suffering they had endured, Malak joined Diamond Dogs.

Some time later, as Venom Snake embarked on various missions, he once again encountered the assassin called Quiet in the Aabe Shifap Ruins and defeated her in a sniper duel. After the duel, Snake had extracted Quiet from the area to bring her back to Mother Base, only for her to seemingly escape en route. Just as Snake and Pequod were pursued by an enemy aircraft, Quiet revealed her presence and saved Snake by killing the enemy pilot. She surrendered herself to Snake and was taken to Mother Base, where Snake opted to have her be put in a cell, but stated that when the time came for her to die, he'd be the one to kill her himself.

As Snake was about to board the helicopter he, Miller, and Ocelot find Quiet being invisible, with Ocelot correctly deducing that Quiet wants to join Snake on a mission. Miller was not happy with it, Ocelot didn't have a problem with it as long as she was with Snake, pointing out her skills as a sniper and a scout. To prove her skills, Ocelot gave Quiet his gun and told her to use her keen eye sight to shoot between the blades. Her ability to see each individual blade and her depth perception would be invaluable. When Miller pointed out that she doesn't talk and how they could stay in communication. Snake agreed with Miller, saying that he liked working on his own. Quiet stayed at Mother Base for now, while Snake went on to his next mission.

Eventually, Miller and Venom Snake received an anonymous message from Huey Emmerich in the Serak Power Plant as means of getting them to rescue him. Emmerich's circumstance as a survivor from Mother Base caused both Miller and Snake to suspect his involvement with Cipher as well as MSF's destruction. Venom Snake would then discover that Huey was working with Cipher's elite strike force XOF, and under the command of Skull Face, he had been put to work on a new upright bipedal Metal Gear called Sahelanthropus. Discovering Emmerich's actions of leading Venom Snake to his location, Skull Face decidedly cut ties with him and had him transported away. Venom Snake made his way to meet and extract Huey, only to be confronted by a fully-functional Sahelanthropus, in which it was operated by Tretij Rebenok under Skull Face's influence. Venom Snake was able to fend off the Metal Gear and leave the area with Emmerich via helicopter.

He then observed the resulting interrogation of Huey at the hands of both Miller and Ocelot from behind a two-way mirror, with Miller proceeding to report on what they've got so far, with Miller also stating he is certain that Huey's guilty of the attack on Mother Base nine years prior, although Venom Snake stated they still will need evidence before convicting him. However, Ocelot entered and revealed some key information he learned from Huey after Miller left: One, XOF had finished operations in Afghanistan and were headed for Africa, and two, they were developing "a weapon that would surpass Metal Gear." Venom Snake then deduced from this that it meant whatever it was XOF was working on was "not just another nuke."

Later Snake and Huey talk about cloning, in a conversation that Snake records against Huey's knowledge, at which point Dr. Clark is brought up by Huey. Snake pretends to have never heard of "him." Throughout the conversation Snake also pretends to be skeptical and shows clear distaste for Huey. By the end Snake suggested to have Ocelot brought in on the conversation, much to Huey's discomfort.

Waiting in the Aerial Command Center for his next mission, Snake gets a call from Ocelot. He explains that Zero hasn't been seen in public since Snake left the United States over ten years ago. While Snake initially suspected that Zero was behind Mother Base's destruction in the Caribbean, Zero was already bedridden by that time, Ocelot says that he never thought Zero gave the order, and after seeing that Emmerich was working for Skull Face, he has got confirmation that Zero never gave the order, stating that Skull Face was Zero's XO. It was Skull Face alone who destroyed Mother Base nine years ago. The unit Skull Face commands, XOF, was Cipher's strike force, but Skull Face, along with XOF, have broken away from Cipher and usurped control over Cipher. The Cipher Diamond Dogs was hunting isn't Zero, it was Skull Face.

Diamond Dogs was hired by an Environmental NGO (Angola-Zaire) to shut down the Mfinda Oilfield in the Angola-Zaire border region in Central Africa which was owned by a company called SANR. While Diamond Dogs didn't care about the environment, they accepted to get intel on Cipher and Skull face. Snake succeeded in his mission but in the process he found bodies in the water with two lumps on their chests, which looked like some kind of disease. It was discovered in the aftermath that SANR didn't exist and was just a name used by Cipher as a front and were the powers behind the oil field.

Snake later rescued a man known as the Viscount, who was connected to the oil field, that he tried to deceitfully secure the rights to the oil field and blame it on his fellow British personal. The Viscount was then placed in the brig with Kaz promising to be extra persuasive with the Viscount. Nonetheless, he and Miller learned from the Viscount that the Walker Gears were sold to various Private Forces stationed in Africa, including his former organization, the CFA, causing them to deduce that XOF was involved in the PF's actions.

To combat against the distribution of Walker Gears, which was spreading among the PFs and Central Africa, which Miller suspected was deliberately caused by Cipher for reasons unknown, Snake was given a mission to destroy four Walker Gears. Snake infiltrated an outpost and succeeded in destroying four Walker Gears. It was around this time that Emmerich revealed that he developed a Walker Gear called D Walker that became a buddy for Snake.

Visiting Quiet's cell, Snake spoke to Ocelot about her skills and abilities. Ocelot revealed that Quiet breathed and took in water through her skin, which was the reason why she didn't wear clothes. Ocelot believed it was photosynthesis, which he compared and referenced to The End, who was in the Cobra Unit. Ocelot suggested that Quiet would make a good buddy and that maybe Snake should take her on missions.

Snake was then given a mission to capture a truck that was carrying important cargo which was connected to Cipher, and after defeating the Parasite Unit again, discovered that the cargo is yellow cake, which is used to make a nuclear weapon, however the amount found was not enough to make a nuclear weapon, which Kaz thought may possibly point to the weapon to surpass Metal Gear that Huey was talking about.

Diamond Dogs had two members of the Intel Team act as undercover agents in the PF Contract Forces of Africa. The CFA found out and had captured both of them. Due to their lives at risk, Snake couldn't waste any time in rescuing them. Miller suspected that Cipher might have compromised them. This made him realize that Diamond Dogs needed to be more careful from now on. Snake found them and used the Fulton on one while the second, too injured to survive the effects of the Fulton extraction, was taken to the helicopter. Miller, on behalf of all of Diamond Dogs, thanked Snake for saving the two members of the Intel Team.

Snake was hired by the Mbele general, who was from the Mbele group that was an ethnic group involved in conflict with a rivil group called Buta. The general wanted the Mbele Squad and the Mbele Squad platoon leader who were captured by Buta so that they wouldn't compromise Mbele. On his way to find the Mbele Squad, Snake found the outpost where Snake found the platoon leader. He then moved on the find the Mbele Squad. After reaching the Kungenga Mine, where the Mbele Squad were forced to work, Snake discovered that the members of the Mbele Squad were child soldiers. Snake then shot a bucket and made an audio recording of the shooting to fake their deaths. Snake guided them to the landing zone and carried one of them, due to the injury he had to his leg. Arriving at Mother Base, Venom Snake told Miller that he thought that they would make good members of Diamond Dogs. Miller responded by hitting one of the children with his crutch, who then grabbed Snake's gun and aimed it at Miller. Snake said that the child was a natural. Miller disagreed, taking and unloading the gun and giving it to Snake. Miller went on to say that the Mbele Squad would not be counted as staff members and that they would have their own quarters and do basic tasks. Snake said it would be a normal life without being behind a gun. Miller responded that being behind a gun was their way of life and that "there [was] no room for angels in their heaven."

The commander of the PF Rogue Coyote, who was identified as "the Major", was spreading a rumor that he had been selling nuclear weapons. Snake was tasked with eliminating the Major. In order to find the Major, Snake had to follow The Major's subordinate, who was undercover with a rivial PF the Contract Forces in Africa, as he was meeting with the Major to discuss about another rival PF, Zero Risk Security. Tailing the subordinate, Snake found the Major; the subordinate told the Major that some members of the CFA were infected with a disease. The subordinate also revealed that the CFA suspected that the Major caused the outbreak, which the latter denied, before sending the subordinate to investigate ZRS.

Due to Walker Gears spreading all over Africa, Huey had an idea of a counterweapon. Arriving in the hanger, Huey explained to Snake that it was a spinoff of the technology used for Metal Gear, with Ocelot referencing to his use of spinoffs in Costa Rica. Huey then gave a speech about how it was customizable and how useful the Battle Gear would be. Snake privately remarked to Miller that he is having déjà vu. Miller, who shared Snake's dislike of Huey, told him the Battle Gear would be needed and would do well. Snake gave them the okay.

Venom Snake then went on a mission to rescue the leader of the Melbe Squad Shabani, who was being held at the Ngumba Industrial Zone in Central Africa known as the Devil's House. After sneaking through several outposts and enemy patrols, Snake managed to infiltrate the long abandoned factory. Snake found test subjects with headphones in their throats and disgusting lumps on their chests, similair to those Snake found at the oil field. Snake then found Shabani, who begged Snake to kill him, Skull Face then arrived, after killing a test subject and noticing Snake, he ordered Tretij Rebenok and the Man on Fire to kill Snake, the latter began to over power and strangle Snake. Fortunately, the Man on Fire was temporarily disabled, allowing Snake to escape, as pieces of the boy's true personality leaked out and he used his mental power to mercy kill Shabani. The boy was then influenced by the man's rage yet again and the entire factory went up in flames, causing Miller to demand bluntly that Snake evacuate. As Snake was escaping, Miller pondered who that entity was, with Ocelot immediately recognizing him as the guy they encountered earlier at Cyprus. After Snake's one escape was blocked off, he was forced to fight the Man on Fire. Snake eventually incapacitated him for a few moments where he used this window to escape via a chopper.

In the aftermath, Miller noted that Skull Face's was in Africa after all, which must be connected to the weapon to surpass Metal Gear. Skull Face was working in the shadows, with the Man on Fire being used by Skull Face. Miller rhetorically asked what was going on in "the Devil's House", and talked about the earphones embedded in people's throats, and the tapes playing voices, and the lumps on their chest, which Snake first saw at the oil field. While the Man on Fire did destroy "the Devil's House", Diamond Dogs did audio recordings of what was going on there. Miller told Snake that they will conduct a thorough analysis of what was going on there.

Diamond Dogs got wind that a CFA executive arranged a meeting with an arms dealer at Nova Braga Airport, regarding the sale of weapons, Snake's task was to eliminate the CFA executive, who they suspected was under the employment of XOF. His higher ups in the CFA wanted them to continue fighting. Snake completed his mission by either killing or extracting the CFA executive.

While in the field, Snake got a call from Miller, who informed him that the R&D Platform on Mother Base was being held a PF called Mosquito Stinger Force, who had taken several members of Diamond Dogs hostage and are threatening to kill them if any other Diamond Dogs members attempted to interfere or set foot on the platform. Snake, making his way to the top of the R&D Platform, found Mosquito. Once Snake had defeated Mosquito, Miller announced over a speaker to the PF that their leader was defeated and that they should lower their weapons and they would not be harmed. Miller later informed Snake that Mosquito was a former member of the Militaires Sans Frontières, and that he had survived the attack on Mother Base. He was lead to believe that Big Boss himself was responsible for the attack, as a result he created his own PF and modeled it after the original MSF in order to get revenge on Big Boss. Mosquito then became a member of Diamond Dogs.

Snake had a mission to extract a commander who is only known as "The White Manba". Snake encountered "The White Mamba" whose real name was Eli, who harbored a huge hatred and resentment for Snake, who managed to defeat him using CQC, brought him back to Mother Base where Snake reprimanded him for his ruthlessness and told him once he has learnt how to use his head he would be allowed to leave Mother Base.

Arriving back at Mother Base, Snake saw Eli and an African boy named Etepe talking, when Eli suddenly became aggressive when Etepe called him "Eli." At this point, a Diamond Dogs soldier tried to sort it out when Eli took his knife and threatened him for calling him "Eli" and a kid. Ocelot, then appeared and used CQC on Eli twice, at which point Eli walked away. Ocelot then told Snake that Eli wasn't happy being called by his real name, and that he felt that the grown ups were walking over him and his "friends."

Snake missions was to extract an American technician and  his assistant, who were working for an NGO. They were dispatched to the Ngumba Industrial Zone by Skull Face under the pretense of giving aid to people suffering from a disease. In actually, they were to observe the test subjects of the vocal cord parasites. Heading into the Zone, Snake found the technician and his assistant, the latter who was abandoned by the former due to his fear that she was infected with the parasite, to which she held no ill will for it. However, she was not infected due to wearing protective outfits which saved her from the infection. Bringing them to Mother Base, the duo revealed all they knew about what was going on there, including that the tapes Skull Face was recording inside the throats of some of the specimens was in another language, and that no English copy existed.

A Diamond Dog soldier was seen running away with fear, trying to get away from Quiet who gave him a deadly stare. Quiet incapacitated the soldiers who got in her way and proceeded to trying to shove a knife down the soldier's throat, taking out his front teeth in the process, Snake then used CQC to disarm her and held her in a restraining position. With the help of the other soldiers and Ocelot, they managed to sedate her. The wounded soldier was taken by the other soldiers to get treatment. Snake assumed that it was because of how they had treated her with him telling Ocelot to tighten security on her cell, for if it happened a second time, there would not be a third.

Ocelot informed Snake that there was some kind of epidemic on Mother Base which has infected members of Diamond Dogs and that those that have become symptomatic have died shortly after, including the soldier Quiet attacked, now knowing Quiet's reasons for the assault. With no way of telling who is infected in the early stages of the disease, Ocelot told Snake that he has created a Quarantine Zone and that the Zone is on the iDroid, he told Snake to identify those who are infected and place them in the Quarantine Zone, due to the infection they could not fire staff members. Snake eventually figured out that all those infected all have one common denominator: they all speak the language Kikongo. Snake not knowing why, but knowing that it is connected placed all those who speak Kiknogo into the Quarantine Zone, saving those who are not infected and buying the infected members more time.

Snake's new mission was to find and eliminate a trafficker whose victims were sent to places such as brothels, black market organ trades, and diamond mines. The Mbele group, who contracted Diamond Dogs to dispose of the trafficker, wanted him eliminated before the left the country, as otherwise, he would be immune from facing a court-martial for his role in human trafficking due to being a civilian. Miller informed Snake that he delivered Mbele villagers to XOF for their experiments with the vocal cord parasites, and was personally responsible for delivering Shabani, the former leader of the Mbele Squad, to the Devil's House. However, he eventually grew disturbed by the nature of the experiments, and eventually grew terrified of Skull Face and of the possibility of becoming part of the Parasite Unit. Because of this, he decided to flee Angola and return to his home country, hiring contractors from a rival PF, the Contract Forces of Africa, to ensure he returned there, as he was unable to trust his own men due to XOF's connection to the group.

Ocelot explained to Snake that Eli, having not accepted that Snake had beat him, demanded a rematch on the second platform of the R&D Platform. Ocelot encouraged Snake to put the arrogant youngster in his place. After another fight, in which Eli yet again displayed ruthless and relentless attacks in an attempt to kill Snake, Snake managed to defeat Eli yet again, at which point that it seemed that he had conceded defeat albeit begrudgingly.

Needing to find out what the root cause is for the epidemic at Mother Base, Snake was tasked with rescuing a member of the Intel Team before he is killed, both to save him and to find out the cause of the disease so it will lead to a cure.

Searching Ditadi Abandoned Village Snake found the member of the Intel Team and brought him back to Mother Base. The member that Snake rescued referred to the disease as "the pathogen" and mentioned "the old man who knows how to treat it" whose name he gave as "Code Talker" and gave his location.

Snake then went on a mission to find Code Talker, who researched the vocal cord parasite and was forced to work for Skull Face, was being held captive at a mansion in Central Africa, Snake was sent to rescue him. On his way there, a thick blanket of mist soon rolls in and the Parasite Unit appeared. This time, however, it was a different unit consisting of female snipers. Despite this, they still possessed the superhuman abilities of the original unit. After dealing with the barrages of sniper fire, he eventually resurfaced at the heavily guarded mansion. He broke into the basement and found Code Talker, who explained about the vocal cord parasites and how they infect and kill the host, he offered Snake a herb which halts the parasites, he then went on to explain how Skull Face stole his research and Kaz realised that Skull Face plans to wipe out all languages from Earth. After getting out of the mansion with Code Talker, they escaped in a helicopter. Code Talker then revealed that that the Wolbacia can halt the parasites, however the price is that the host will be rendered infertile. Snake then explained that they captured a truck of cargo full of yellowcake, with Code Talker asking what became of it and the metallic archaea. Suddenly, the Parasite Unit's signature mist consumed the area. A cloud of corrosive metallic archaea appeared in front of the chopper just as it flew through, causing the windows to explode, killing Pequod in a barrage of jagged glass. As a result, the chopper crashed.

The ravaged chopper crashed in the Nova Braga Airport, where Snake and the unconscious Code Talker fortunately survived. However, as Snake crawled out of the wreckage, he realized that he was surrounded by the Parasite Unit, and the mist made it so calling another chopper was impossible. This forced him to fight them. After a grueling battle, the mist cleared and Code Talker and Snake were picked up by another chopper. On the way back to Mother Base, Code Talker explained how five years prior Skull Face did a detonation test to see if he can disable a nuke, Code Talker said that Skull Face plans to distribute nukes all around the globe along with the Walker Gears, however Skull Face will retain control of the nukes, with Snake and Ocelot realizing that is why they needed Huey and that the superpowers will be irrelevant. The aftermath of these events had Code Talker recruited into Mother Base as a scientist, where he revealed almost everything about the parasites such as their properties. He provided the wolbacia which saved the infected Diamond Dogs soldiers, at the cost of being infertile.

Kaz and Ocelot then interrogated Huey who gave up the location as OKB Zero, in a lab built by the Russian Philosophers. Before leaving for OKB Zero, Kaz informed Snake that Skull Face has killed the Soviet soldiers at OKB Zero by using the vocal cord parasites, Kaz then told Snake to wipe Skull Face out, Snake told Kaz he will need back up, Kaz told him that they will meet up at OKB Zero.

During the climactic confrontation between Venom Snake and Skull Face's forces in the Metal Gear hangar bay, Skull Face revealed the true nature of the "Man on Fire" and had ordered Tretij Rebenok to pit him against Venom Snake one final time. Unbeknownst to either Venom Snake or Skull Face, Tretij Rebenok found himself favoring Eli's intense hatred over Skull Face or Volgin's, allowing himself to be used as a conduit in order to hijack Sahelanthropus for Eli. As Sahelanthropus' loading platform rolled forwards Eli had Volgin walk into the wheels, crushing himself. In the ensuing confusion, the XOF forces pulled away Skull Face from the area, as Sahelanthropus gave chase towards Venom Snake. The Eli-controlled Metal Gear chased down Venom Snake, but was stopped by a narrow gap in the canyon it was running in, forcing Eli to switch the Metal Gear into its upright configuration, in which he caused further mayhem on XOF's personnel and military vehicles.

As Venom Snake hid from the Metal Gear, he witnessed Sahelanthropus attacking Skull Face, resulting in the latter being trapped under a downed communications tower and be mortally wounded. Eli would then focus his efforts on attempting to kill Venom Snake by using the Metal Gear, pursuing him as Snake attempted to escape in a leftover XOF vehicle. Driving off on the XOF jeep, Venom Snake was halted by Sahelanthropus which greatly damaged the vehicle using its nano-fiber sword. Venom Snake momentarily lost consciousness and upon waking up he was confronted by Sahelanthropus which had been waiting for him to wake up. The two engaged in battle, with Sahelanthropus continuously attacking Snake through Tretij Rebenok's control and under Eli's influence. After a prolonged battle, Venom Snake was able to incapacitate the Metal Gear, thus removing Eli's control over it. Miller then landed the helicopter to pick up Venom Snake and the two decide to head back to the Serak Power Plant and finally exact their revenge on Skull Face. Landing the helicopter down, Venom Snake and Miller found Skull Face mortally wounded and trapped under scaffolding. Venom Snake then questioned the whereabouts of the third parasite vial, to which Skull Face replied as being close to him. Destroying the two parasite vials (though the second one being retrieved by Tretij Rebenok, unbeknownst to Snake), Venom Snake picked up Skull Face's rifle and aimed the gun as Skull Face begged to be killed.

After shooting off Skull Face's right arm and leg, mirroring injuries sustained by Miller when he was originally captured by XOF, Venom Snake and Miller left him to die, only for Huey Emmerich to arrive from the Diamond Dogs helicopter and finish him off himself. Returning to Mother Base, Venom Snake had Sahelanthropus placed on the R&D platform as a sign of their triumph over XOF. During this time, Snake saw a phantom of the deceased Skull Face, with Miller stating that even with Skull Face dead, they still suffered the phantom pain.

Word got to Diamond Dogs that the Soviet soldiers had taken back OKB Zero after Skull Face's death. The CIA had hired Diamond Dogs to extract a CIA agent who had now gone into hiding after getting attacked by unidentified individuals. Miller was against having him on Mother Base due to his treacherous nature. However, he decided to make an exception due to the agent's knowledge of the vocal cord parasites. Going back to Lamar Khaate Palace, Snake found the agent and brought him back to Mother Base. The agent revealed everything that had been going on. He betrayed the Soviets, passing information to Langley, but got scared after learning XOF used the vocal cord parasites. The agent then went into hiding among the CIA's mujahideen allies. The agent feared that he would be killed for knowing too much, unaware that XOF's plans were actually independent of the CIA. He also regretted that his actions might have placed his Soviet comrades in danger. With this knowledge, Miller decided to recruit him instead of handing him over. He even went as far as to fake the agent's death to ensure he couldn't be returned to them, ensuring that neither the Soviets nor the Americans learned about the parasites. Miller suspected that the group trying to kill him were remnants of XOF.

Code Talker explained that there were two containers which had his research materials regarding the vocal cord parasites. Miller, not wanting anyone, least of Cipher, to get a hold of the research material so that they could recreate the vocal cord parasites, tasked Snake with recovering the two containers. Once Snake infiltrated the area where the containers were located, he found them and used the Fulton recovery system to extract both of the containers to Mother Base. In the debriefing, Miller sighed with relief that Cipher, or anyone else, wouldn't be able to research or use the vocal cord parasites, as Mother Base was the only place on Earth where the vocal cord parasites still existed.

An informant working for Diamond Dogs had died. However, before his death, he hid a film cannister containing classified information concerning Skull Face's plans, which was hidden in Afghanistan in an area called Spugmay Keep. A clue was a garbled photograph the informant tired to send back to Mother Base just before he died. Ocelot warned Snake that a KGB Spetsnaz squad was after the film cannister as well. Snake managed to find the film cannister containing vital information on the deceased Skull Face's plans and returned to Mother Base with it.

Snake was given a mission to eliminate the CFA armored column assembling to the north of Nova Braga Airport. With the column containing many large-scale fighting vehicle, Snake completed his task and returned back to Mother Base.

Miller, wanting to know what secrets was inside the Mammal Pod, specifically evidence that implicated Huey in the attack on Mother Base nine years prior, tasked Snake with recovering the Mammal Pod. Retracing his rescue of Huey, Snake infiltrated the base camp a second time and found the AI Pod and set it to launch away from the base camp. Miller told Snake that he would have it picked up. He also told Snake that he would let him know what they found. Sometime later, Miller informed Snake that they found a corpse inside the Mammal Pod. The corpse was someone they knew very well: it was Strangelove, the very person who created the Mammal Pod. While the remains were mostly skeletal, the estimated time of death was six months to a year ago.

Ocelot and a Diamond Dogs soldier were trying to stop the members of the Mbele Squad from going to an area. When Snake shown up, he asked what was going on. One of the children told him that Shabani's necklace was at the bottom of the tank. As Snake approached the tank, Ocelot stopped him, saying that it was filled with chlorine disinfectant. Miller then asked the children how did they let it fall down there in the first place. From a tower nearby, Eli watched what was going on before disappearing out of sight, implying that he caused it to fall down there. Quiet then jumped into the tank to get the necklace. Snake screamed in anguish and was stopped by Ocelot from going down there. Miller thought that it was a stunt to try to cause panic. Quiet then climbed out of the tank having recovered Shabani's necklace. Badly burnt but still alive, Snake grabbed her as she dropped the necklace onto the floor, which one of the children put back around his neck. Snake then took Quiet to get medical treatment. Miller was then left alone to ponder on what had just happened.

Quiet was tortured by Ocelot and Diamond Dogs soldier, with the latter using stun baton to electrocute her. Ocelot told Miller that she was still living up to her name. Miller asked Quiet who infected her with the parasite, with Ocelot objecting as she must not talk. Miller replied that he only wanted a name. Quiet still refused to say anything. Miller then explained to Quiet that they found a Star-of-Bethlehem petal in the burnt remains of her lungs. This confirmed that she was the assassin that had been sent by Skull Face to kill Snake in Cyprus. The injuries she sustained should have killed her. However, visibly she looked well, with Miller correctly guessing that Skull Face saved her. Code Talker told Miller that he was the only who was capable of applying parasite therapy until Skull Face stole his research. When Quiet still refused to talk, Miller had her doused with salt water, which caused her to feel discomfort and pain. Ocelot then stepped in and doused her with normal water saying that Quiet wouldn't talk. He also stated that she was not on Mother Base to kill anyone as she had plenty of chances, she worked for Big Boss as she was in love with the legend. Finally, Ocelot stated that he was the same way once. Snake concurred with Ocelot, much to Miller's chagrin. Snake then freed Quiet from her restraints.

Ocelot and Snake discussed what happened to the Man on Fire, with the former having doubts that the Man on Fire was dead. His body was not found after Snake defeated Sahelantropus as he was able to survive gunfire and explosions. Snake assured Ocelot that he saw the Man on Fire get crushed by Sahelantropus's landing platform. While Ocelot believed him, he still had doubts that the Man on Fire was gone for good. He told Snake that he would update Snake if he found any information concerning the Man on Fire. Sometime later, Ocelot informed Snake that Soviet personnel retrieved the body and placed it at the Yakho Oboo Supply Outpost. Ocelot suspected the true identity of the Man on Fire from one of Skull Face's statements about men becoming demons and reanimating the dead due to residual desires for revenge; it was the body of an old enemy, their "old friend" Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin. Snake would later infiltrate the Yakho Oboo Supply Outpost and neutralized the Soviet soldiers before finding Volgin's body. Before being extracted, Volgin's burned body came back to life once again as the "Man on Fire", causing his fiery horse to appear. Snake was knocked down in the process. He pinned down Snake and met him face to face. Mysteriously, Volgin momentarily reverted to his original appearance, in which he then stopped his assault. He fell backwards to the ground, dropping several bullets as well, and finally died along with his horse. Volgin's corpse was taken back to Mother Base and put in one of the Quarantine platform's cages. Ocelot then took the time to look over Volgin's corpse, reflecting that Skull Face must have used his desires for revenge against Big Boss for his goals.

Five child soldiers had left Mother Base and attempted to return to their homes in Africa but were captured or got lost. In order to protect Mother Base and save the children, Snake went on a mission to find and bring them back to Mother Base. After five extraction missions, Snake managed to bring all five of the children back to Mother Base. Snake, Miller, and Ocelot found out that Eli was behind it. When Ocelot questioned Eli, the latter asked the former where "he" was. Ocelot told him that his father was not here. Ocelot also told him that the children were back and that his uprising was over. When asked what he sent them to do, Eli showed a sensitive side, saying that they wanted to go home. However, he reverted back to his true self and said that they were looking for people to kill and that they needed to be ready to face the world as enemies. Suddenly, Sahelanthropus burst into the hanger, being controlled by Tretij Rebenok. Eli then boarded into Shahelantropus telling his "father" that he didn't need him anymore. Tretij Rebenok flew the mech away while the Mbele Squad and several other child soldiers had forced a pilot to fly them with Tretij Rebenok and Eli. As they watched them escape, Miller wondered if Ralph's death was an accident or if Eli planned this all along to stir the boys. Miller later informed Snake that they got the DNA results of Eli; Eli wasnt Snake's son and assumed he was not a product of the Les Enfants Terrible project.

Snake later encountered what appeared to be Paz inside one of the buildings of the Medical Platform on Mother Base. Miller and Ocelot would elaborate that Paz seemingly gained amnesia due to trauma. Snake would later embark on various missions to capture and recruit wandering soldiers that hailed from the original MSF Mother Base. This resulted in him finding old memento photos based on Paz's respective joyful experiences on Mother Base, and in turn, he would give these photos to the amnesiac Paz as means of helping her regain her memories. After collecting all the memento photos, Snake visited her again, only to find that she was suddenly in a panic. Paz explained that there was still a bomb inside of her, then slowly pulled out the bomb from her stomach. The bomb then exploded and Snake was seemingly caught in the blast only to find himself waking up unharmed. The "hospital room" was revealed to have actually been under construction and only consisted of a metal floor. A butterfly passed by him but it mysteriously vanished when he grabbed it and opened his hand. Having realized that Paz had truly passed away many years ago, Venom Snake finally came to terms with her death. It was heavily implied that what Snake witnessed was a phantom of Paz, and that he had experienced an elaborate and vivid hallucination (Miller and Ocelot did not really appear either) due to his grief over losing Paz (as his direct failure, not noticing the second bomb while reaching inside of her); in which it was akin to the feeling of a phantom pain.

A second outbreak of the vocal cord parasite, which has mutated to the point that the Wolbachia would not stopped them from copulating. After getting a cryptic message from a scientist, Snake went inside the Quraentine Zone, and found dead soldiers, and those still alive infected and dying of the vocal cord parasites. Snake found the scientist who, before dying said "he is no snail". It is clear that the parasites want to go outside so birds will feed on the infected bodes and spread. Initially holding back, those outside were forced to drop a bomb to stop the infect soldiers escaping. Unable to allow the infected members to leave and get outside, Snake was forced to kill them all, with a group of them saluting him and humming to a familiar theme as they allowed their Boss to mercy kill them. During the funeral, Snake decided not to bury them at sea and decided to make diamonds from their ashes to carry them into battle.

With newfound evidence by Miller and Ocelot, Snake was quickly notified of Emmerich's trial based on his alleged crimes against Mother Base. Specifically, his collaboration with Eli, the Wolbachia mutation and second outbreak on Mother Base, and finally, the murder of Strangelove. Though Miller insisted on sentencing Emmerich to death, Snake decidedly spared him and later exiled Emmerich.

After the mutation of the Vocal Cord Parasite, Quiet left Mother Base and was captured by Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan. After reuniting with her and, working together to defeating Soviet reinforcement, Quiet was forced to speak English after Snake was bitten by, ironically, a snake. After that Quiet left Mother Base and Snake to avoid spreading the infection, leaving a cassette tape behind for Snake to find, which he used his Walkman to listern to:

"I did not choose to be Quiet. I wanted to express my feelings to you. If only we shared a common tongue. Vengeance was what drove me to them...The only language left to me, revenge. But the words we shared...No, that was no language at all. That's why I...I chose the language of gratitude instead, and go back to silence. I am Quiet...I am...the absence of words."

- Quiet Afterwards, Code Talker contacted Snake and confirmed that Quiet had the third English strain that Skull Face was referring to on his death bed. Code Talker went on to summarize Quiet's actions and inquired as to why she did not release the parasites on Mother Base; she might have had a change of heart. Code Talker stated that "we [wouldn't] hear it from her."

Due to the hypnotherapy wearing off Venom Snake remembered what happened after the helicopter crash. Miller and Big Boss were on medical beds in Colombia and saw Big Boss fall into a coma. When Miller asked about "him", the doctor turned and looked at the other man and said that he took shrapnel to the head; the realization that Venom Snake and Big Boss were not one and the same.

Venom Snake went on to remember hearing the lead doctor and the nurse talking about the plastic surgery in Greek and it was revealed that the surgery was completed before the doctor and nurse were killed by Quiet. Before his death at Quiet's hand, the doctor showed the two photographs of the main members of MSF and Snake moved one of the other and sees himself on the photograph standing next to Big Boss. He turned it over and saw a message that said "Good Luck." It was from "Vic Boss."

Venom Snake then entered a bathroom with the sound of gunfire all around him. Now that the hypnotherapy had worn off, Snake remembered the events of extracting the bomb from Paz Ortega Andrade. Seeing it from the perspective as the medic, he remembered that he protected Big Boss and took the full force of the explosion and shrapnel to the head. He had a hallucination of his original appearance as the medic.

Venom Snake then looked at a cassette tape labelled "From the Man Who Sold the World" which he received from the real Big Boss which contained the following:

"Now do you remember? Who you are? What you were meant to do? I cheated death, thanks to you. And thanks to you I've left my mark. You have too – you've written your own history. You’re your own man. I'm Big Boss, and you are too… No… He’s the two of us. Together. Where we are today? We built it. This story – this “legend” – it’s ours. We can change the world – and with it, the future. I am you, and you are me. Carry that with you, wherever you go. Thank you... my friend. From here on out, you’re Big Boss."

Venom Snake, despite now knowing the truth, decided to keep up the ruse. Diamond Dogs itself was a smoke screen to place all focus on Venom Snake while the real Big Boss could lay the ground work for Outer Heaven, his own nation.

Sometime later, the Diamond Dogs pilot who was forced to fly Eli, Treji Rebenok, and the other child soldiers off of Mother Base was finally recovered about fifty miles inland to Africa from the Seychelles waters. He explained that shortly after departing Mother Base, the levitating Sahelanthropus and the helicopter of the children split up and began to head in different directions, the helicopter making a forced landing in East Africa after running out of fuel. The pilot had been left alive on purpose, albeit trapped inside the chopper and near death from dehydration when rescued, to call Snake and Diamond Dogs out to settle their conflict. Due to Cipher hunting Eli as well, and Eli possessing the last sample of the English strain of vocal cord parasites, and if it began to spread the world would fall into chaos. it was important that Snake go to Eli first.

The Intel Team found out where Eli, his boys, and Sahelanthropus had gone - an island in a large salt lake in Central Africa. Eli presented that they had one demand in exchange for Sahelanthropus and its nuke - the body of "Big Boss."

When Venom Snake arrived on the island he found that XOF troops had already begun a strike operation to kill Eli and take Sahelanthropus back. Many of them had been killed by cruel booby traps set by Eli's boys, but a good number of them had survived. Snake made his way to the center of the island, where he found Eli resting in Sahelanthropus' cockpit among the child soldiers. However, a platoon of XOF soldiers had beaten him there, opening fire on Eli. Their weapons were rendered useless by Tretij Rebenok's psychokinesis. Eli activated Sahelanthropus and began killing the soldiers, eventually discovering Snake hiding from the attack. He stopped his onslaught momentarily to speak with Snake and declare that he was going to get his revenge, and the two then began their battle.

Their battle came to a close when Sahleanthropus' torso was blown in half at the waist, causing it to shut down and become inoperable, Eli and Tretij Rebenok having been finally defeated. As Eli emerged from the cockpit he was approached by a squadron of XOF soldiers ready to kill him. Snake sprung a surprise attack and killed the assassins, but back up quickly arrived. After a grenade went off in close proximity to Snake, his "horn" suffered damage and triggered a seizure in his brain, affecting his vision and making him unable to differentiate between red and white. He moved back in to attack, but due to his temporary colorblindness Eli's red pilot suit appeared similar to XOF's white suits and Snake accidentally shot Eli. Snake ran to Eli's motionless body to mourn his mistake.

It was discovered Eli hadn't died, as he had donned a bulletproof vest at some point in time before the attack. Venom Snake ordered that he be returned to Mother Base to be patched up, but Eli suddenly began showing symptoms of the English vocal cord parasite's effects. Eli expressed his hatred for Snake and Cipher, claiming the someday he would destroy Big Boss, believing Venom Snake to be his father. With the island completed contaminated by the vocal cord parasites, Ocelot ordered the entire island to be hit with a napalm strike to burn every last thing on it. As Diamond Dogs and the salvaged remains of Sahelanthropus began to move out, Snake gave Eli a pistol with one shot in it, leaving it up to him what to do. On board the Diamond Dogs helicopter, Venom Snake stared at his reflection in the glass of a window, seeing nothing but a demon once again.

After Outer Heaven's construction had been completed, Big Boss's reputation as a mercenary had travelled far and wide thanks to the activities of Venom Snake. While he knew that mercenaries around the world would eventually rally to his cause, he also knew that it would bring the attention of government agencies growing suspicious of his activities. Needing to keep attention away from Outer Heaven, Big Boss himself decided to return to the U.S. to rejoin FOXHOUND as its commander. Venom Snake and Diamond Dogs were dissolved and absorbed into Outer Heaven, Venom taking control of the operation in Big Boss' absence.

In 1995, Venom Snake received another cassette tape from Big Boss, this time explaining his mission as part of Operation Intrude N313. Venom Snake followed his orders and began an uprising within Outer Heaven to bring chaos to the Patriots, who had been growing without control in spite of their leader Zero falling into a vegetative state. Venom Snake managed to capture the first FOXHOUND operative sent by Big Boss, codenamed Gray Fox.

Big Boss then sent his least experienced agent, a rookie codenamed Solid Snake, who happened to be Big Boss's cloned son, with the objective of rescuing Fox and destroying TX-55 Metal Gear. Solid Snake rescued Fox and destroyed the weapon.

After Solid Snake destroyed TX-55 Metal Gear, Outer Heaven's self destruct was activated, presumably by Venom Snake. His mission completed and not much time left until the fortress was destroyed, Solid Snake moved to make his escape from the doomed fortress. Venom Snake intervened and revealed himself, blocking Snake's escape. Identifying himself as Big Boss, Venom Snake explained to Solid Snake that Operation Intrude N313 was only meant to act as a distraction to the world and to feed FOXHOUND with false information, but that Snake had proved more formidable than planned. Knowing he was going to die, Venom Snake challenged Solid Snake in an attempt to take the rookie down with him. The two then fought as the self-destruct continued to countdown timer. Despite his age, Venom Snake proved to be fast and dangerous. Solid Snake defeated and killed Venom Snake.

Solid Snake then escaped Outer Heaven fortress and saw it explode as he got to a safe distance. Shortly after this, NATO launched a massive aerial bombardment almost immediately after the main fortress's destruction. A pinpoint strike was executed on Outer Heaven's nuclear weapons facility using bunker-busting bombs, burying Venom Snake's body in the rubble.

With his "phantom" and best man dead, Outer Heaven destroyed, and his plans in ruins, the real Big Boss fled FOXHOUND, faking his death through Venom Snake's and going into hiding yet again. Three years later, Big Boss would establish Zanzibar Land with the remnants of Outer Heaven, which would eventually lead up to the Zanzibar Land Disturbance four years later. In respect for his fallen comrade, he would finish the work started by himself and Venom Snake.

Codenames and aliases
The codename "Venom Snake" was a reference to the "demon" inside him due to the anger, hatred, and pain he felt as a result of the destruction of Militaires Sans Frontières and the original Mother Base. Although not a codename, Venom Snake was briefly referred to as "V" as part the codeword "V [had] come to" after he had woke up from his coma.

The title of "Big Boss" was awarded to Venom Snake's former commander, Naked Snake, following Operation Snake Eater, being regarded as being "above even The Boss" after his defeat of the former legendary soldier. Due to Venom Snake being Big Boss body double, he shared the title of "Big Boss" with his former commander from when he woke up from his coma in 1984 up to his death in 1995. It was not just because Venom Snake was the body double, but also due to the fact Venom Snake and Naked Snake had built the legend of Big Boss together. By 1995, Venom Snake, would just go by the title Big Boss.

While not his most formal codename like Venom Snake and Big Boss, he was also known as "Ahab", which comes from the central character from the novel Moby-Dick. Big Boss would also use an alias from Moby-Dick, "Ishmael", and the codename for Diamond Dogs pilots was "Pequod."

Ocelot and Big Boss himself referred to Venom Snake as "Big Boss's phantom" or simply "the phantom". This was due to Venom Snake being Big Boss as well.

Personality and traits
Unlike Big Boss, Venom Snake was far more reserved in his speech and absent of the wit exhibited by Big Boss. He rarely retorted or commented against his enemies, and most of his reactions were inferred through obvious body language rather than words. During the medic's days in MSF, Big Boss considered him the group's "best man." While impersonating Big Boss as Venom Snake, he adopted much of his commander's personality and possessed a similar physical appearance, having undergone hypnotherapy and plastic surgery. Following his escape from a Cypriot hospital and recovery from muscle atrophy, Venom Snake gained muscle mass similar to that of Big Boss. As a result of wounds suffered during the destruction of MSF, Venom Snake had a piece of shrapnel embedded in his forehead in the shape of a horn, and also lost his right eye and left arm. He was later given a cybernetic prosthetic in place of his missing left arm.

Like his mental and physical template, Venom Snake did show compassion for his enemies as he chose not to kill Quiet or Huey and instead had the former imprisoned and the latter exiled with food and water. He would even develop a strong bond of mutual respect with Quiet. Though he and Big Boss shared similarities in their compassion over enemies, Venom Snake differed from Big Boss with respect to Paz; in which Venom Snake notably viewed Paz in a more positive light. Being formerly an MSF soldier himself, he sympathized with her, and it was implied that he held a fondness for her peaceful personality. He felt guilt and grief over her death to the point of experiencing hallucinatory scenarios where he had meetings with a phantom of Paz, although he would eventually let it go.

Venom Snake had a code in which comrades should not draw weapons on each other, as he regarded Diamond Dogs his family, as he said this to a Diamond Dog soldier (if Snake accidentally causes low morale by running low on GMP) who was about to attack a fellow Diamond Dogs member with a knife and to Eli after dislocating his arm when the latter attempted to stab him. Snake was forced to break this code himself when he had no choice but to kill all the Diamond Dogs soldiers infected with the vocal cord parasites because of Huey's actions.

Although not sadistic, and not vengeful to the same degree as Miller, Snake did display a vengeful and angry side when he mutilated Skull Face by blowing his left leg and right arm off, leaving Skull Face to die slowly and painfully.

Venom Snake was very skilled in using weapons and CQC, which he was skilled in during his previous life as the field medic even before he became Big Boss. He presumably learnt CQC from his template, Big Boss himself.

Near the end of his life, Venom Snake, when Solid Snake destroyed TX-55 Metal Gear and the self destruct for the Outer Heaven fortress was activated, displayed a disregard for his own life as he intended to die in Outer Heaven, taking Solid Snake with him in death.

Like his template Big Boss and his killer Solid Snake, Venom Snake had a habit of repeating words that someone said in a questioning tone, as he did when Ocelot told him that Kaz was being held prisoner in the war torn Afghanistan.

Venom Snake appeared to suffer from a form of amnesia (or more accurately, the memory transfer was not completed), as both Miller and Ocelot had to remind him of certain events, such as how the real Big Boss had led Militaires Sans Frontières and how Miller helped him lead "his" old unit. He also did not possess Big Boss's fluency in Russian, relying instead on a translator. Despite this, however, he did seem to remember events from the Peace Walker Incident, such as the prototype Battle Gear's similarity to Metal Gear ZEKE giving him déjà vu, and his quoting of Hot Coldman regarding the ineffectiveness of nuclear deterrence. Ocelot stated that his amnesia might have to do with the shrapnel in his forehead, while on the Truth tapes, it's because they had to cut the memory transfer as XOF was set to attack ahead of schedule.

Big Boss
Venom Snake was regarded as the best man in MSF by Big Boss, who viewed him as a friend. Venom Snake saved Big Boss's life by taking the full force of the explosion in 1975, after jumping in between the explosion and Big Boss, showing unwavering dedication and loyalty to his commander. Initially, Big Boss expressed reluctance to the idea of using Venom Snake as his decoy, but was later convinced that it's what he would have wanted. While the relationship between the two was never provided with much further insight, it appeared that the two respected enough to have several photos with each other.

Big Boss later called Venom Snake a friend in the cassette tape addressed to him as well as thanking him for his role in leaving his mark as Big Boss, a title that they both share, as the two of the make the legend. Venom Snake's loyalty towards Big Boss appeared unchanged as he continued the ruse of acting as a decoy for Big Boss after regaining his memories and being informed of his role as a decoy. Venom Snake would continue to go by his shared name "Big Boss" and follow his commander and friend until his death.

Kazuhira Miller
Miller at first was friendly with Venom Snake, fully believing that he was his old partner Big Boss upon his rescue from Afghanistan. However, as time went on distance increased between the two, with events such as the sparing of both Quiet and Huey's lives broadening the gap. Miller continued to support Venom Snake until the truth was revealed to him by Ocelot, upon which Miller was disgusted and enraged at being kept in the dark. He instantly began to resent the real Big Boss, abruptly deciding that he would devote his life to assisting David and Eli in destroying their father. However, he nonetheless stated he would support Venom Snake, although solely because he wanted him to surpass Big Boss someday.

Morpho
Venom Snake and Morpho were comrades in MSF. Their group photograph on December 5 1974 shows that the two, along with Big Boss and Kazuhira Miller are close comrades and friends. Both Venom Snake and Morpho were valued soldiers to Big Boss as they, along with Miller, were the only ones to know about Paz Ortega Andrade survival and both Venom Snake and Morpho were part of Big Boss's mission to rescue both Paz and Chico. All four friends were in the helicopter when the second bomb inside Paz exploded, while Big Boss, Venom Snake and Miller survived, Morpho was killed along with Paz and Chico, which increased Venom Snake's and Miller's resolve to get revenge for their fallen comrade.

Ocelot
Ocelot treated Venom Snake as a friend, and actually believed he was the real Big Boss due to self-induced hypnotherapy. He often acted as a voice of reason within Diamond Dogs and still harbored a bit of an obsession with his "Big Boss." Venom Snake tended to favor Ocelot's opinion over Miller's such as allowing the construction of Battle Gear and sparing Quiet, much to the latter's chagrin. Ocelot, when the hypnotherapy wore off, acknowledged that Venom Snake was not in fact Big Boss and left Diamond Dogs, but claimed that he would follow both Big Boss and Venom Snake's respective quests from the shadows.

Quiet
Although they first met as part of a violent assassination attempt, Venom Snake and Quiet were shown to have an intense mutual respect for each other after Snake spared her life. Both being at least somewhat laconic, the two managed to understand each other very deeply and silently respected one another's skill on the battlefield. When Quiet salvaged Shabani's necklace from the chlorine disinfectant-filled vat, Venom Snake quickly rushed to her aid and had to be stopped from jumping in after her by Ocelot. The two also shared a special moment in the rain on Mother Base, and if Venom Snake neglected to shower on his own, Quiet would invite him to shower with her instead. Quiet later regretted not expressing her romantic feelings for him and abandoning him for his own safety.

Code Talker
Venom Snake met Code Talker when he needed his help to defeat the vocal cord parasites. They were effective comrades, as they shared their hatred for Skull Face. Though the two did not know each other that well, they seemed to respect and trust each other, despite the fact that Venom Snake's American people oppressed Code Talker's people, the Navajo. Code Talker treated Venom Snake with some form of reverence, knowing him as the legendary leader Big Boss. This was shown when he quickly complied to being added to Diamond Dogs' roster. Code Talker's knowledge of the vocal cord parasites proved to be invaluable to Venom Snake and saved many of his men (including himself).

Huey Emmerich
Due to his hypnotherapy, Venom Snake harbored similar feelings towards Huey as Big Boss did. Venom Snake didn't trust Huey at all, recognizing that he was the cause of the destruction of Mother Base. He was often disgusted and annoyed by Huey's immature and cowardly attitude towards the world, but decided to put up with it. In a tape of them talking, when Huey expressed shock at Dr. Clark's work, Venom Snake said it was "rich coming from him." From the surface Huey seemed to respect Venom Snake, believing he was Big Boss after all, but also feared him greatly and tried to stay on his good side. Venom Snake did give him a second chance with his inclusion in Diamond Dogs and the construction of Battle Gear, but in the end found himself betrayed by the scientist once again. Upon being forced to execute many Diamond Dogs soldiers because of Huey's testing on the vocal cord parasites, Venom Snake hated him even more. However, he managed to bridle his anger and act reasonably, banishing Huey from Mother Base on a life raft with food and water instead of simply killing him in revenge. From Venom Snake's point of view, he was just glad to have him gone.

Skull Face
Like Big Boss, Venom Snake knew very little of XOF and Skull Face, merely seeing them as more pawns of Cipher. Although he rarely showed it, he burned for revenge on Skull Face as Miller did, instead acting in a very calm and disturbed coldness around his foe. He never personally engaged in conversation with Skull Face, quietly listening to Skull Face's words as he formulated his next strike instead. Oddly, he also seemed to have some degree of tolerance for the XOF commander, patiently listening to Skull Face's monologue on the trip from OKB Zero to Serak Power Plant in silence. Like everyone else, Skull Face saw Venom Snake as Big Boss and treated him thusly, often taunting him and gloating to help himself feel superior. He remained bitter towards Big Boss for his involvement in Operation Snake Eater and their roles on opposite sides of the same coin, taking these negative emotions out on Venom, unaware of his true identity. While he did despise Big Boss/Venom Snake, Skull Face treated him with some respect, due to his status as valiant war hero and a great man turned into a "demon", just like himself. In the end, Venom and Miller did end up exacting their revenge on Skull Face, but it was a hollow bout of revenge that continued to leave both of them with a lasting phantom pain. Upon returning to Mother Base with Sahelanthropus, Venom Snake saw a vision of Skull Face, a ghostly reminder that though they had lost their object of revenge, Diamond Dogs were still experiencing a phantom pain.

Eli
Due to the hypnotherapy, both Venom Snake and Eli believed that the former was the original Big Boss and Eli's father. Because of this, Eli harbored a huge hatred and resentment and for Venom Snake. It was so great that it was even stronger than both Skull Face and Volgin's wraths (as shown by Tretij Rebenok's preference to Eli over the aforementioned). Eli tried to kill Venom Snake on multiple occasions, even just for patting him on the back or treating him like a kid. Venom Snake displayed a calm tolerance for Eli, but did not underestimate his skills and violent tendencies.

Paz Ortega Andrade
Venom Snake met and knew Paz Ortega Andrade during her stay at the original Mother Base during the Peace Walker Incident, following Coldman's death and the destruction of Peace Walker. It was unknown how Venom Snake reacted when it was revealed that Paz was an undercover agent working for Cipher to undermine MSF. Venom Snake was part of the mission to extract Paz along with Chico. As the chopper's field medic, Venom Snake extracted the first bomb from Paz without any time to administer anesthetic, but failed to find the second. The resulting explosion killed both Paz and Chico and sent Big Boss into his nine-year coma. Of the 108 foreign objects embedded in Venom Snake's body from the explosion, many were fragments of human bones and teeth, that mostly belonged to Paz.

As part of his subconscious guilt, and possibly a side-effect of the hypnotherapy, Venom Snake somehow perceived Paz's death and the chopper crash differently. He believed that both the bomb in her stomach and in her vagina had been extracted and disposed of. However, Paz had leapt out of the chopper in an attempt to save everybody on it. For a long time, Venom Snake believed that the explosion was caused by an RPG fired by an XOF chopper.

When Venom Snake became the leader of Diamond Dogs and visited the Medical Platform on the new Mother Base, he began to have hallucinations that Paz truly had survived and was in the Medical Platform. Unlike Big Boss, who fully recognized her traitorous role against MSF, Venom Snake still saw her as the kind-hearted young girl he once knew, and his hallucinations of her displayed her in the cheery and uncannily bubbly mood he was used to and he even smiled at one point. After rescuing members of MSF from the original Mother Base, Snake recovered photos of the good old times and showed them to Paz, at which point Snake realized that Paz never survived that fateful day. His hallucinations of Paz were the result of his guilt for not finding the second bomb in time, leaving him with a phantom pain. Eventually, Snake accepted what had really happened and could move on.

Chico
Just like Big Boss, Venom Snake knew Chico due to their time on the original Mother Base. When Chico recklessly decided on his own to rescue Paz Ortega Andrade, Venom Snake was one of the few to know about Chico and Paz's capture in Cuba, and was part of the mission to rescue Chico and Paz from the facility. On their way back to Mother Base, Venom Snake, Big Boss and Chico worked together to extract the first bomb from Paz's stomach, but they failed to extract the second which resulted in both Paz and Chico's deaths.

Nine years later, Venom Snake, due to the hypnotherapy, possessed Big Boss's memories and relationships including his with Chico. Some time later, Venom Snake and Miller talked about how Amanda Valenciano Libre's revolution was a success, that it was both Amanda's and Chico's dream, that the helicopter was no place for Chico to die and that Chico knew the risks like they all did. Venom Snake then said that, now that Chico was gone, Diamond Dogs is Chico's mark on the world; otherwise there would be no proof that Chico ever existed at all.

Zero
Due to hypnotherapy, thinking that he was the original Big Boss, Venom Snake had a very one-sided relationship with Zero. Venom Snake hated Zero for a long time, believing he was the one who ordered the destruction of the original Mother Base. Over time, this hatred shifted to focus on the true perpetrator Skull Face. When Zero visited the comatose Big Boss in Cyprus, he acknowledged Venom Snake's existence, but saw him as little more than a tool used to protect the real Big Boss whom he valued so much more.

Diamond Dogs Soldiers
Venom Snake cared about his soldiers and considered them his family. He had a code that Diamond Dogs must not draw weapons on each other, as they were a family. When Venom Snake had to kill a lot of his soldiers who were infected with the vocal cord parasites, he hesitated at first and reluctantly killed them. Venom Snake was devastated and agreed with Huey that it was his fault.

Behind the scenes
Punished "Venom" Snake appears as a supporting character in Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, as the main protagonist of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and the secondary antagonist and final boss of Metal Gear. Although he is never called "Punished" in The Phantom Pain, it appears in the opening and end credits of nearly every main mission in the game.

Venom Snake first appears as an unidentified field medic during the closing cutscenes of Ground Zeroes. Because of the cinematic angles, there is never a clear view of the medic's face, although his character model can briefly be glimpsed as possessing white skin and brown hair. The full character model was discovered in the PC version through the use of mods, with the facial model and textures for the medic sharing identical scars to those of Big Boss. Despite this predetermined, albeit obscured, appearance in Ground Zeroes, Venom Snake's name and facial features prior to surgery is chosen by the player in The Phantom Pain. In the cutscene showing a flashback to the events of Ground Zeroes, before the final twist is revealed, the medic is instead shown wearing a balaclava. When the twist is revealed, a flashback of the medic in the helicopter is shown,the medic's balaclava is removed and the player's avatar they created at the start of The Phantom Pain is shown.

It is heavily implied in The Phantom Pain that Venom Snake himself (and his nondescript identity as a medic) serves as a deliberate player avatar, due to his original appearance being reliant on the player's decisions. Due to the ending in "Truth: The Man Who Sold the World", it is implied that Hideo Kojima intended for the player to become Big Boss. This was confirmed in the second interview with Stefanie Joosten on The Codec.

Once the player has beaten The Phantom Pain, they can use the avatar they created at the start of the game, which the player can edit if they want to change their avatar in anyway. The player's avatar can also be used in Metal Gear Online. The avatar also makes an appearance in the story when Ocelot hands the original Big Boss a passport that he has to go by, which has the name, month and day of the birthday and avatar that the player created at the start of the game.

Overall, Venom Snake is the sixth canonical Snake in the. Venom Snake is also the second playable character whose true role is revealed via a plot twist, similar to Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Venom Snake is the third Big Boss in the Metal Gear series, along with the original Big Boss and the non-canon Big Boss featured in the Nintendo Entertainment System of Metal Gear and Snake's Revenge. Canonically, Venom Snake is the first Snake to die in the Metal Gear series. Finally, Venom Snake is canonically the only one to be directly killed by another Snake (Solid Snake).

While it has been done more with Venom Snake in the Metal Gear series, Venom Snake is not the only character in the series that Kojima intended to invest in the player by putting the player in the character's position. Solid Snake was the first character in the series to be used this way in Metal Gear Solid when Psycho Mantis breaks the fourth wall and when the player can decide whether Meryl Silverburgh lives or dies. The second is with Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 2 when the player inputs their name and birthday on Raiden's dog tags and the player through Raiden becomes Solid Snake's equal, this is supported by Solid Snake's speech at the end. In Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, the player is meant to feel how Naked Snake feels about having no choice but to kill The Boss. It goes even further when the player is the one to pull the trigger and kill The Boss.

On the Command Center menu, if the player looks closely at Venom Snake's reflection, it shows the avatar the player created, hinting at the plot twist of Venom Snake not being Big Boss. Also, a pair of white gloves can be seen hanging in the cabin of the ACC. These gloves bear a strong resemblance to those worn by the medic during the scene in Ground Zeroes where he operates on Paz. Also, the group photo of Morpho, Miller, Big Boss and the Medic is folded, covering the medic completely. In addition, the Piggyback game guide for The Phantom Pain strongly implied Venom Snake's true identity is separate from Big Boss, although they never explicitly confirmed it due to Konami and at that time Kojima Productions specifically forbade them from giving any statements about Ishmael's identity. The GDC 2013 reveal trailer for The Phantom Pain had first hinted at his existence when Miller, after learning about Big Boss falling into a coma, asks "What about him?" before the scene cut away.

The plot twist of Venom Snake not truly being Big Boss is hinted at multiple times throughout the game. Ishmael told him that he was "looking at himself" after Venom Snake had asked Ishmael who he was. When Venom Snake meets The Boss AI and Huey, the AI states, "You're not Snake, are you?", and Huey notices a difference between the two. Another hint is Ocelot explaining that Eli was not Venom Snake's clone, and that the genetic examination of the two did not match. There are several other subtle difference and clues such as the eyepatch worn by Venom Snake has two cords, compared to Big Boss, whose patch always had a single cord.

The ending timeline of The Phantom Pain establishes Venom Snake as the final boss of the original Metal Gear, fulfilling his role as a "phantom" of Big Boss via a retcon. As such, his character sprite does not show an apparent prosthetic arm or cranial horn.

Interestingly, the English manual for the NES version of the original Metal Gear claimed that the "Commander of Outer Heaven" and "Snake's Commanding Officer" were two different individuals, being Colonel Vermon CaTaffy and Commander South, respectively. However, neither of their names appear in the game itself, with Big Boss serving both roles. Coincidentally, "Vermon" is phonetically similar to "Venom."

Whatever day and month the player puts as their birthday, if they play The Phantom Pain on that date, Miller will ask them to return to Mother Base. If the player does so, Miller, Ocelot, and whoever has been rescued to that point (Huey, Code Talker, DD and Quiet) will celebrate their birthday.

In The Phantom Pain, the player can collect a hidden game mechanic which are Demon Points, which is used for determining the player's "morality." Demon Points are increased for immoral actions and decreased for moral ones. Demon Points are obtained in essentially the opposite way in which Heroism points are obtained, as none are accrued via mission/side-op completions. When enough Demon Points are obtained, Venom Snake's horn will grow and he will be covered in blood. Once enough Demon Points are collected, Venom Snake will become Demon Snake. There are three forms to Demon Snake when Demon Points are obtained or reduced, these are:

Demon Points can be obtained and removed in a variety of ways. Unlike Heroism, no Demon Points are awarded or removed for completion of objectives.
 * Normal: This is the default appearance for Snake and can be re-obtained by reducing Demon Points below 40,000.
 * Horned Snake: This form appears after obtaining 20,000 points, the first time. It is distinguished by the metal shard in Venom Snake's head growing significantly to resemble a horn. If the player returns to "Normal" form after becoming Horned Snake, the player will return to Horned Snake after 40,000 Demon Points from then on.
 * Demon Snake: This form appears after obtaining 50,000 points, the first time. It is distinguished by the metal shard in Venom Snake's head growing significantly longer then even Horned Snake and by Snake becoming permanently covered in blood. If the player returns to "normal form" after becoming Horned Snake, he/she will return to Horned Snake-only after obtaining 80,000 Demon Points in total.

Earning Demon Points

 * +20 - Fail the fulton extraction of an animal.
 * +20 - Kill an animal.
 * +30 - Critically wound an enemy soldier.
 * +40 - Kill an animal using fire damage.
 * +60 - Fail the fulton extraction of an enemy soldier.
 * +60 - Kill an enemy soldier.
 * +60 - Lose a Diamond Dogs staff member held hostage by aborting mission 22 (+60 each).
 * +75 - Destroy D-Walker.
 * +90 - Kill a Diamond Dogs staff member held hostage.
 * +100 - Kill a prisoner.
 * +120 - Kill a critically wounded enemy soldier.
 * +120 - Kill an enemy soldier using fire damage.
 * +150 - Destroy a support helicopter.
 * +150 - Critically wound D-Dog, D-Horse or Quiet.
 * +180 - Kill a Diamond Dogs staff member.
 * +180 - Kill a Diamond Dogs staff member held hostage using fire damage.
 * +200 - Kill a prisoner using fire damage.
 * +50,000 - Develop a nuclear weapon.

Removing Demon Points

 * -30 - Fulton extract a common animal, enemy soldier, puppet soldier, or Parasite Unit member.
 * -60 - Fulton extract a rare animal, Diamond Dogs staff member, or a prisoner.
 * -60 - Extract a puppet soldier, a critically wounded enemy, or Quiet via helicopter.
 * -120 - Fulton extract a very rare animal, an extremely rare animal, or a child soldier.
 * -120 - Extract a VIP, a prisoner, or a Diamond Dogs staff member via helicopter.
 * -240 - Extract a child soldier via helicopter.
 * -300 - Visit the Animal Conservation Platform.
 * -1,000 - Dispose of a nuclear weapon.
 * -1,000 - Earn the "Cry Havoc" or "Speechless" trophy.
 * -5,000 - Earn the "Cleared", "Trusty Steed", "Man's Best Friend", "War Buddy", or "Reminiscence" trophy.
 * -10,000 - Earn the "Conservation" trophy.
 * -30,000 - Dispose of ten nuclear weapons.

If Snake runs low on GMP, he will be forced to return to base due to morale having fallen to such an extent that at least two personnel had gotten into a particularly violent brawl amongst each other, resulting in Snake breaking up the fight and even forcing one of the soldiers to stab him when he attempted to draw a weapon on the other soldier he restrained, also suggesting to Ocelot that they need a job to do to get them focused on something other than their tenuous relationship with other personnel. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Kojima Productions (2015). Pequod's chopper arrives at the landing pad and Venom Snake disembarks only to see a crowd present at the base and arrives to observe, with it cutting to a fight between two Diamond Dogs members // Diamond Dogs member 1: Son of a... // ''The soldier shoves the other DD member, only to be socked in the face in return as Venom Snake walks up. The soldiers then exchange blows, only for the second soldier to kick the first soldier in the gut. Two soldiers attempt to restrain them, only for the soldiers to knock them away and rush at each other. They then grapple each other and are in a lock, only for the second soldier to be kneed in the face and punched by the first soldier'' // Diamond Dogs member 1: Bring it on! // Diamond Dogs member 2: Get off me! (Socks the first soldier in the face and then kicks him upside the head just as he turns around) // ''The second soldier then draws a knife and raises it up high, as the crowd cheers him on. As the soldier is about to make the killing blow, Venom Snake suddenly tackles the soldier, forcibly disarms the knife, knocks down the first soldier, then throws the second soldier away. The first soldier then draws his knife and attempts to go at the downed second soldier only to be stopped by Venom Snake via the latter grabbing his knife arm'' // Diamond Dogs member 1: Boss! // Venom Snake: We don't draw weapons on comrades. (the soldier struggles) Look around you. This is your family. // (Snake then forces the unwilling soldier to stab him through the chest and then releases him, the soldier landing on his back as the crowd looks on in shock at what happened). // Ocelot: Show is over! Get out of here! // ''Ocelot arrives just as the soldiers do as they are told and leave the area. Snake then gets up and attempts to remove the knife himself, only for Ocelot to nonverbally suggest against it and request removing it for him.'' // Snake: Be gentle. // Ocelot: Of course. (Ocelot then proceeds to remove the knife swiftly yet gently.) // Ocelot: These [knife] are bad for you, you know. // Snake: (looking to the soldiers who were fighting amongst each other) Morale has fallen. // The two soldiers stand at attention // Ocelot: They just need a mission. Orders to follow. If you see someone stuck in the Waiting Room, you give 'em a job to do. (Turns to the soldiers) You two! (motioning the knife) You just earned yourselves a week in the brig with deck-cleaning duty by day. // Snake: (grabs Ocelot's knife hand) No. Wait. (Grabs the knife from Ocelot) You've got some blood to pay me back for first. Your CQC is sloppy - Come see me later for a lesson you won't forget. (wipes blood off the blade via his thigh before handing it back to the first DD soldier. The soldiers then salute and walk off). // Ocelot: Well morale taken care of. (Ocelot walks off)

Another cutscene that can only be unlocked if the player reaches certain requirements is the one with Snake and Quiet dancing in the rain. To unlock this the player must have an 80% bond with Quiet and must return to Mother Base with Quiet while it is raining. Quiet will strip and dance in the rain on her own and then Venom Snake will then join Quiet, who will dance with her after she has encouraged him to, they stop dancing when the weather clears up. As they are dancing, "Quiet's Theme" will be heard in the background.

Venom Snake's alias as Ahab is a reference to the central character from the novel Moby-Dick; the same way that Big Boss's adopted identity as Ishmael is also derived from the main character of the novel. Venom Snake being made to believe he is Big Boss via hypnotherapy is similar to Ocelot being led to believe he was Liquid Ocelot. As revealed on his passport that Big Boss used, Venom Snake was born in California, and is 52 years old.

According to Kojima's notes in the Piggyback Collector's Edition Guide's art gallery, Venom Snake (or rather, Big Boss as he is identified in the notes) losing his arm was decided early on in the project, and also implied that he was supposed to lose two fingers from his right hand as well. He also mentioned that the powerful prosthetic arm was implemented to allow players to appreciate the full intended experience, as while Snake could technically still wield weapons, it would have made it difficult to appreciate such.

Although the Truth ending reveals that Venom Snake is not Big Boss, his exact reaction to learning of this revelation is left ambiguous, as he briefly demonstrates a smirk as if accepting and embracing the role. After he flips the tape "From Man Who Sold the World", he sees Operation Intrude N313, which is the name of the mission in the original Metal Gear. In the next scene, Venom Snake sees himself in the mirror with a bloody face and larger horn, before punching the mirror. The exact time frame is deliberately vague, and Venom Snake disappears into the fog after smashing the mirror.

Similar to Big Boss in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, his stats are not accessible on the Mother Base staff menu. They are instead accessible when selecting a playable soldier for a mission or FOB event. As such, he also doesn't have his own iDroid image.

After the player has retaken the R&D Platform from Mosquito and his Private Force, the player has unlocked Forward Operating Base (FOB), which is the online multiplayer. Venom Snake can be chosen to infiltrate another player's FOB, though Snake will not be superior then the soldiers or the players he encounters. Snake is not the only one that can be chosen, any soldier in Diamond Dogs can be chosen to infiltrate and steal from player's rival FOBs.

In the online multiplayer (FOB), there is a mission that all online players must unlock by disarming all nuclear weapons that players have either stolen from other players or had created in order to unlock a number of cutscenes which first shows Venom Snake and Miller talking about how the first nuclear weapon has been disarmed. It then shows Venom Snake, Kaz Miller, Ocelot and Diamond Dogs soldiers are at a ceremony at a memorial and vowed to keep the world free of  nuclear weapons and combat nuclear proliferation and achieve complete nuclear disarmerment. As the credits roll Venom Snake, due to the hypnotherapy giving him all of the original Big Boss's memories is making a speech spiritually to The Boss."We have no tomorrow, but there's still hope for the future. In our struggle to survive the present, we push the future farther away. Will I see it in my lifetime? Probably not. Which means there's no time to waste. Someday the world will no longer need us. No need for the gun, or the hand to pull the trigger. I have to drive out this demon inside me - build a better future. That's what I - what we - will leave as our legacy. Another mission, right Boss?"

- Venom Snake Besides his appearance in the main game, he is also playable in the third iteration of Metal Gear Online in two ways: First, as the player avatar the player created for themselves at the beginning of the game (confirmed in the truth mission to be Venom Snake's pre-surgery identity), and second, as Venom Snake himself post-surgery as a bonus character.

Appearances

 * Metal Gear 
 * Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
 * Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain