The Fear

The Fear was the "Spider Soldier" of the Cobra Unit. As with the other members of the unit, his codename came from the emotion he conveyed while on the battlefield: the terror that he instilled in others with his freakish appearance and movements.

Early career
The Fear was born sometime during the mid 1900s to early 1910s. During World War II, he became a member of the Cobra Unit, a secret special forces unit comprised of elite soldiers from the Allied Forces. Helping to lead the Allied forces to eventual victory, the unit was disbanded at the end of the war.

In September 1964, during the Virtuous Mission, The Fear was reunited with The Boss and her Cobras. The unit, under the employ of GRU Colonel Volgin, captured Soviet rocket scientist Nikolai Stepanovich Sokolov from Tselinoyarsk, USSR, whom CIA agent Naked Snake, was attempting to extract himself. Approaching the suspension bridge in Dolinovodno by helicopter, which Sokolov and Snake were attempting to cross, The Fear used a zip line to descend, upside-down, from the gunship, and capture Sokolov, while Snake was distracted by The Pain's hornets. After Snake was thrown off the bridge by The Boss herself, the unit then fled with their prize.

After Snake returned to Tselinoyarsk, during Operation Snake Eater, The Fear ambushed him in Graniny Gorki, shooting him in the leg with a bolt coated in the venom of the Brazilian wandering spider. The Fear had also re-laid multiple booby traps throughout the area, and used stealth camouflage during the fight. Although he successfully poisoned Naked Snake, he then proceeded to tell him to stop the poison if he wished to fight, hinting that he desired to take out Snake in a fair fight. However, despite The Fear's enormous advantage, he was ultimately defeated by Snake. Upon his death, his microbomb (which all of the Cobras carried) detonated, destroying himself, and sending out a lethal shower of his remaining crossbow bolts, which Snake narrowly avoided.

After death
The Boss later retrieved one of his crossbows from the forest, bringing it to Colonel Volgin as proof of his death. Major Ocelot then used it to threaten Tatyana, after becoming suspicious that she may be a spy.

Personality and traits
As evidenced by his codename, he was obsessed with the concept of fear, especially the ones generated on the battlefield. Because of this obsession, he also underwent extensive surgeries to have double joints, a forked tongue, and apparently gold reptilian eyes. Nonetheless, he seemed to have some degree of honor during his fight with Naked Snake, as he advised Snake to cure himself of his poison if he wished to fight him shortly after successfully using a poisoned dart on him.

Because of his suit, he frequently ended up starving, which also sometimes resulted in him hunting for animals with an almost animalistic behavior. The Fear was known for his seemingly superhuman speed and agility. Double-jointed in both elbows, he was able to crawl, flip, and leap with extreme agility, in the manner of a spider, as well as climb and jump around in trees with ease. He also possessed a long, lizard-like tongue, forked through surgery, that he could use to grasp objects. The Fear was somehow able to run on water. He also used a variety of zip lines to enhance his mobility as well as hang upside down and ambush enemies.

In battle, The Fear armed himself with two crossbows, the William Tell, and the smaller Little Joe. He coated some of his crossbow bolts with the venom of a number of poisonous animals. The Fear also employed frag grenade arrows, as well as white-phosphorus grenade arrows. Due to his speed and flexibility, he was also extremely formidable at close quarters combat.

To inspire fear in his enemies, The Fear used a base model prototype stealth camouflage, which rendered him virtually invisible by bending light around his body. However, since the technology was in an experimental phase of development during the time of Operation Snake Eater, it quickly drained his stamina and he would get hungry fairly often.

Behind the scenes
The Fear (ザ・フィアー) appears in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, in which he is fought by the player during a boss battle. The Fear's optic camouflage, and his abilities such as moving from tree to tree to hunt his prey, are considered a tribute to the science fiction film franchise Predator. Defeating The Fear in the HD Collection version results in an trophy/achievement called "If It Bleeds, We Can Kill It"; a direct quote from Arnold Schwarzenegger's character in the original 1987 film Predator. His English voice actor, Michael Bell, previously lent the voice of Duke in the G.I. Joe series, of which the series coincidentally had a terrorist organization known as Cobra.

The Fear's design, more specifically his spider-like method of walking, was based on a rejected design for Raiden.

Gameplay

 * An easy stamina kill can be achieved by using rotten or poison food. When The Fear is low on stamina, he will temporarily ignore the battle and search for food. If the player throws rotten or poisonous food out, The Fear will run towards it and eat it, making him vomit a second later, causing him to lose a great deal of stamina.
 * When passing through Graniny Gorki South, en route to the lab, there are many poison dart frogs that can be shot and killed for use during the battle, along with several fly agaric mushrooms, which can be used to poison The Fear.
 * Throwing a spatsa mushroom at him also causes him to throw up.
 * Another fast way to kill him is by using the fake death pill. After Snake uses it, The Fear will come out from his hiding place and turn his back on him in disappointment, leaving him open for an attack. Although if the player attempts to use the fake pill twice, The Fear will not fall for it for the second time.
 * Throwing a stun grenade at The Fear will cause his stamina to drain with any weapon.
 * If Snake does not remove the arrows, they will stick on his body during the rest of the game. Some players play "pincushion" with Snake in this manner, where they try to have The Fear shoot as many arrows into Snake as they can, without killing him, and then continue through the game.
 * If the player attempts to hide using camouflage, The Fear will laugh at this and say, "How pathetic. I guess you're full of Fear already!"
 * Sometimes while passing through Graniny Gorki South, en route to the lab, the player can spot the Fear running through the area preparing for his later encounter with Snake. He is most often seen at this time when the player has climbed a tree.
 * If the player hesitates in using the antidote at the start of the battle, The Fear will warn the player that they'll die if they don't take the antidote.
 * Successfully defeating The Fear in a non-lethal duel will allow Snake to unlock the Spider Camo. It provides an 80% Camo Index in almost any environment, but drains stamina at an alarming rate.
 * It is possible to trick The Fear into a pattern whereby he is incredibly easy to defeat with the tranquilizers. As soon as the battle begins, run forward and left to the fallen log, on the other side of the tripwires, then stand next to the other end; The Fear will continuously jump between 2 branches pausing only to shoot at you. It is likewise highly recommended that the player use the Flecktarn Camo and thermal goggles to track him between the trees.

Other Appearances
He also appeared in Versus Battle. "STRENGTHS: Inhuman Speed, Agility, & Invisibility WEAKNESSES: Human Honor? FEATURED FACT: The Fear was named for the terror he inspires in his enemies due to his freakish insect- and animal-like abilities FEATURED GAME: METAL GEAR SOLID: THE LEGACY COLLECTION"

- The Fear's bio in Versus Battle

Appearances

 * Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
 * Metal Gear Solid: Social Ops (trading card)