Solidus Snake

"I want my memory, my existence to remain. Unlike an intron of history... I will be remembered as an exon. That will be my legacy, my mark in history. But the Patriots would deny us even that. I will triumph over the Patriots and liberate us all. And we will become-- the "Sons of Liberty"!"

- Solidus Snake

Solidus Snake, real name George Sears, and commonly referred to as Solidus, was the 43rd President of the United States, and a product of the Les Enfants Terribles project, making him the third "Son of Big Boss." After secretly instigating the events on Shadow Moses Island, he became directly involved in the Big Shell Incident.

Background
Solidus Snake was foreseen in Elisa and Ursula's prophetic vision in 1970, likely as the son of Big Boss that would "bring the world to ruin."

Solidus was the third "Son of Big Boss" created by the Patriots in the early 1970s, through somatic cell cloning, as part of the project Les Enfants Terribles. The initial phase of the project produced genetically diverse twin clones with one expressing Big Boss's "inferior" genetic traits and the other with Big Boss's "superior" traits which led to Big Boss's departure from the Patriots. Thus, the organization required a perfect clone in order to retain a figurehead for their organization in the image of Big Boss.

As neither of the Twin Snakes were genetically identical to Big Boss, Solidus was created with the same "perfect balance" of dominant and recessive soldier genes that Big Boss possessed. As a result, he possessed a nuclear genome identical to that of Big Boss, and would take much pride in his visible similarity to the man. The accelerated aging written into each clone's genes provided the fail-safe of a limited life-span, should his genetic data fall into enemy hands or he himself turn against the Patriots. This was apparently designed to have a greater effect in his case, thus producing the required figurehead for the Patriots (a U.S. President in Big Boss's image) in a relatively short space of time. As a result, he would appear considerably older than his "brothers" in later life, despite being created shortly afterwards.

Early life and career


In his teenage years, Solidus Snake worked among the paramilitaries of the CIA, eventually being dispatched to Liberia in the late 1980s, to participate in the civil war. To test a hypothesis regarding the nature of his existence, he adopted a young boy during the war after killing his parents, named him Jack, and trained him to be a ruthless killer from as early as the age of six. Seeing himself as the boy's godfather, Solidus had Jack serve as part of his Small Boy Unit in the Army of the Devil. At some point, he allowed a physician to inject Jack with a substance that he claimed would "never make him the same" although not before warning the physician that he would kill him if it permanently harmed Jack. He taught Jack that blades were "honorable" compared to guns, killing a soldier on one occasion by slitting his throat in front of the boy. Jack proved himself to be one of Solidus's best child soldiers through his amazing record of kills, gaining platoon leadership of the unit at just ten years old, and earning him the nicknames "White Devil" and "Jack the Ripper". After the war ended, Jack suddenly disappeared from a relief center, leaving Solidus to wonder what happened to him for some time.

U.S. Presidency
In 2001, the Patriots entrusted "George Sears" with the Presidency of the United States, becoming the 43rd U.S. President. As such, he was the youngest man in history to be elected President, being in his late 20s at the time, which would have made him constitutionally ineligible (as 35 years of age is the minimum). However, having been programmed to age rapidly, he possessed a much older appearance, with the general public being none the wiser.

While in office, Sears authorized U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq, as part of the so-called "war on terror", also coining the term "Axis of evil" at least a year after 9/11. He also created the U.S. Navy special forces unit Dead Cell. When the NMD program was about to fail due to the complete failures of the trials, he reportedly pushed for it to be completed, resulting in success. The Sears administration was characterized by its stance on nuclear disarmament and anti-eugenic policies. In early 2005, he attempted to negotiate with Russia in regards to lowering the ceiling of nuclear stockpiles via START III, in order to get them to agree to a revision to the ABM treaty, since the NMD program violated the current ABM treaty. Ostensibly, he wanted to have it signed so that it could go down in the history books, knowing that his term was soon to be up.

At the same time whilst he was negotiating the START III, George Sears acted outside the Patriots' orders and orchestrated a terrorist uprising in total secrecy. He ordered his agent to persuade FOXHOUND's squad leader Liquid Snake into hijacking Metal Gear REX. His intentions were to have his agent steal the REX data and the experimental nuclear warhead with which it was to be armed. Sears hoped to use this as a tool against the Patriots, whom he had come to loathe. An unplanned factor, however, came when the Secretary of Defense issued an order to commence a nuclear air-raid on Shadow Moses after REX was destroyed but Sears arrested the Secretary for going out of line and rescinded the orders.

After the incident, his agent reported that he had purposefully killed the DARPA Chief and also reported that the "inferior" twin had defeated Liquid, the "superior" one, as well as FOXDIE being due to activate. The President then received a compliment on being a "well balanced individual" worthy of ruling the world, as the perfect clone of Big Boss.

Post-Shadow Moses
With the existence of Metal Gear REX and the Genome Army were both exposed to the public during the aftermath of the incident through the release of Nastasha Romanenko's In the Darkness of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth, George Sears was forced to resign from the presidency in humiliation and went into hiding when he learned that his superiors were planning to eliminate him as punishment. He was also involved in the funding for his agent getting his arm transplant in Lyon, France beforehand. During his time underground, he made preparations for open rebellion against the Patriots and allied himself with Sergei Gurlukovich's private army of Russian mercenaries as well as the rogue anti-terrorist unit Dead Cell which he had set up during his presidency.

In 2009, Solidus Snake and his Sons of Liberty forces initiated an armed takeover of the Big Shell offshore cleanup facility, located in the Lower New York Bay. Assuming the identity of his presumed dead brother "Solid Snake", Solidus intended to take control of the new and highly advanced warship Arsenal Gear which was being developed in secret at the facility. He also kidnapped his successor James Johnson that had been on an inspection tour at the time, though he would later aid Solidus of his own free will, before ultimately disagreeing with his intended goal. Unbeknownst to either Solidus or Johnson, however, their actions were actually being manipulated by the Patriots as part of their plan.

Special forces operative Raiden was unknowingly sent by the Patriots to infiltrate the Big Shell, allegedly to stop the terrorists, but in actuality as part of the S3 Plan. After an incident where Fatman attempted to blow up the Big Shell, nearly ruining their plans, Solidus suspected that Fatman may have been a plant for the Patriots, and ordered Revolver Ocelot to do a recheck on Dead Cell's background files just in case, as well as stopping a heated argument between Olga Gurlukovich and Ocelot, reminding them that he took them both in when no one else wanted them. Solidus encountered Raiden on a connecting bridge as he attempted to rescue President Johnson. While identifying Raiden as "a messenger from the Patriots" and was certain that he knew Raiden from somewhere, Solid Snake attacked him from a Kasatka helicopter. During an exchange of heated dialogue between the two, Raiden learned of their true identities. Snake also demanded that Solidus stop impersonating Big Boss. Solidus evaded Snake's machinegun fire with his armor and exoskeleton-enhanced speed and strength. Eventually knocked from the bridge by Snake's grenade launcher, Solidus landed on a waiting Harrier jump jet, piloted by his subordinate Vamp. Entering the Harrier's copilot seat, Solidus engaged the Kasatka, though Raiden was able to shoot the jet down with Stinger missiles. Hurtling down towards the ocean, the Harrier was caught within the jaws of the terrorists' Metal Gear RAY before it could crash. Solidus, having lost his left eye in the battle, ordered Vamp to escape before sealing the cockpit and allowing RAY to carry him and the crippled aircraft away underwater.

After Raiden was later captured, Solidus Snake finally realized that he was his own adopted son Jack. Realizing that Raiden's memory of him may have been altered by the Patriots, Solidus revealed their connection and his past as a child soldier, something that Raiden did not want to remember. It was initially believed that Solidus planned to expose the existence of the Patriots by using Arsenal Gear to detonate a nuclear warhead over the skies of New York City. The high-altitude blast would create a gigantic electromagnetic pulse and bring Wall Street to a halt, toppling the Patriots' power over the business community in Manhattan, and spurring the world into a panic. He would then free Manhattan from its digital yoke and establish the liberated zone Outer Heaven in place. Solidus later revealed that he was in fact going to give Arsenal to Dead Cell after extracting the identities of the Patriots from the onboard AI GW. Dead Cell were intended to draw the Patriots' attentions whilst Solidus would hunt the twelve individuals down, killing them off one by one. However, Solidus's plan never came to fruition due to the corruption of GW by a worm cluster, and Revolver Ocelot's actions as an agent of the Patriots that had helped to orchestrate the entire incident. Solidus was chosen to be involved because his relationship with Raiden resembled that of Solid Snake and Big Boss.

Solidus's back was forced to the wall until Liquid Ocelot crashed Arsenal Gear into Manhattan. Solidus and Raiden were thrown from the top of Arsenal onto the roof top of Federal Hall, where Solidus told Raiden his true intents and desires. Solidus, unable to father children and pass on his legacy, wished to be immortalized by history, but knowing the Patriots indomitable control of information they wouldn't allow this. He explained his reason for the Big Shell uprising and his plan to kill off the Patriots, finishing off by declaring that only one monstrosity will have the privilege to live on. He also admitted to Raiden shortly after this that he was the one who killed his parents, mainly because he wanted to see if the both of them were of someone else's creation, even going as far as to compare their situation with Liquid, Snake and Big Boss's situation.

Solidus revealed that he needed to kill Raiden because his final lead on the Patriots' identities lied inside the nanomachines within Raiden's brain and the pattern of nerves they created. Solidus and Raiden clashed blades in a duel that would ultimately result in Solidus's defeat at his former protégé's hands, falling from the rooftop of Federal Hall with a significant portion of his spine severed from an elegant maneuver by Raiden. Solidus crawled towards the statue of George Washington, reaching up to the first President of the United States as he let out his last breath.

After "death"
Raiden later felt that Solidus Snake ultimately did some good by teaching him to be free with his own life.

As a result of his injuries, Solidus was left brain dead. After being retrieved by the Patriots, Big Mama used Solidus as spare parts for transplant surgery on Big Boss. Life support equipment was used to maintain the body's metabolic processes, keeping it alive and functional, and providing optimal opportunities for transplantation. Big Mama's resistance group used Solidus's remaining head and chest as a dummy version of Big Boss's body in case the Patriots' proxy AIs attempted to track Big Boss down.

In 2014, Solidus's prediction and fears of what the Patriots intended to do were proven correct with the advent of the war economy and the development of the SOP system.

By 2014, Solidus Snake's remains served as a decoy with his body producing spontaneous reflex movements on occasion. Liquid Ocelot used the biomort's DNA to access the SOP system, after having stolen it from Big Mama's group in Eastern Europe. Solidus, being an identical clone of Big Boss, provided DNA that was equally capable of tapping into the system. Vamp later threw the corpse into a boat fuel fire, sparked by a gunshot from Liquid, and Solidus's remains were incinerated. Big Mama, in an exhausted and hallucinatory state, threw herself into the fire in order to save "Big Boss" but was unable to prevent the biomort's loss, with Big Mama and Solid Snake having been convinced that Big Boss's body had finally been destroyed.

Legacy
Solidus Snake's likeness later appeared in the form of Outer Haven's "Mt. Snakemore" at Shadow Moses Island (alongside his brothers and his father). Solidus's ultimate goal of destroying the Patriots was ultimately realized at the conclusion of Liquid Ocelot's Insurrection, due to the effects of FOXALIVE.

At some point, Solidus's usage of child soldiers in Liberia was found out by the public. During 2018, a secret project called the Sears Program was initiated in Mexico where they would surgically remove various human trafficked children's brains and place them into cyborg craniums, and then supply them to VR training. Sundowner, when inspecting the process, mentioned it was very similar to George Sears's activities in Liberia. In addition, Raiden himself also briefly felt uncomfortable when learning that the name of a Guyanese child who escaped from Desperado's lab, due to his memories of Solidus Snake.

Name
The solidus (Latin for solid) was originally a gold coin issued by the Romans. The word soldier is ultimately derived from solidus, referring to these coins with which soldiers were paid. Solidus is also the term used by chemists for the line on a pressure/temperature diagram that marks the phase transition between a solid and liquid.

Personality and traits
Solidus was driven by a strong desire to be remembered by history, and leave a lasting impression on the world following his death. Having been denied a genetic legacy by the project Les Enfants Terribles, he also had a strong political opposition to the secretive Patriots, which would lead him to carry out an attempted coup d'état, and ultimately remake the U.S. in a similar manner to George Washington.

Unlike Liquid and Solid Snake, Solidus apparently held a lot of open respect for their genetic father Big Boss, modelling himself after the "legendary mercenary" in both attitudes and beliefs. He gathered disillusioned soldiers to his cause and gave them purpose, as he did with the Gurlukovich Mercenaries. However, he seemed to lack Big Boss's compassion towards his enemies, executing Olga Gurlukovich for betraying him to the Patriots, despite explaining her reasons.

Solidus held a great deal of respect towards his "adopted son" Raiden, with their relationship similar to that between Solid Snake and Big Boss. In addition, Solidus seemed to have a code of honor as he supplied Raiden with a sword for him to defend himself, despite making it clear that he intended to kill Raiden for the information on the Patriots located inside his nanomachine network.

Despite his idealistic mentality, Solidus was ruthless in his methods during warfare. Having trained child soldiers in his younger years during the First Liberian Civil War, he had put said children under harsh training and conditions. He lacked remorse in his treatment towards the children of his Small Boy Unit, even going so far as relishing in Raiden's success as an accomplished killer.

Solidus had keen senses, as evidenced when he managed to shoot out one of the Metal Gear RAY's AIs with his P90 without even turning to face it, after the units went haywire. His superhuman speed and reflexes were artificially heightened by his powered exoskeleton, to which he claimed that he was a "whole different game" from Liquid Snake. Solidus was also a skilled pilot, using a Harrier jet to shoot down SEAL Team 10's two transport choppers.

Although he displayed proficiency with firearms, Solidus's preferred weapons were blades. This was especially apparent while raising Jack during the Liberian Civil War, where he gave a lecture about the "nobility" of a blade compared to a gun.

During the Liberian Civil War, he smoked cigars just like his father Big Boss.

Weapons
In terms of small arms, Solidus used a P90 submachine gun and also used a Daishō (Katana and Wakizashi set); the "Minshuto" (Democrat) and "Kyowato" (Republican) high-frequency blades. During the Big Shell Incident, Solidus demonstrated a highly dexterous combat ability, both as a marksman and a swordsman (though he only ever fought while wearing his suit, which increased his abilities).

Exoskeleton
Main: Solidus Snake's exoskeleton

The exoskeleton that Solidus wore was developed for the U.S. Army by DARPA. It increased the wearer's speed, strength, and agility through the use of the same artificial muscle technology initially developed for Metal Gear RAY, as well as the Tengu soldiers’ combat suits, and to a lesser extent, the Skull Suit. It could allow a skilled sword user to deflect a heavy barrage of machine gun fire with relative ease. The suit could also withstand attacks from blade weapons due to sensors stretching between the interior and the surface of the suit comparable to a neural network, which upon detecting an impact, would instantaneously react by automatically contracting and diffusing the damage. In contrast to Gray Fox' exoskeleton, the abilities of Solidus's suit were not in effect permanently, but could be activated at will.

Solidus's suit was also armed with two prehensile tentacles or "Snake Arms" that could be used to grab or asphyxiate opponents, inject Phenobarbital B into the system of an opponent, analyze the content of someone's brain for nanomachines and analyze the information on them and also had the ability to fire small missiles. The snake arms could be ejected to further increase the wearer's speed and agility. This technology was also utilized in the combat suit of Laughing Octopus of the Beauty and the Beast Unit.

In addition, the suit was equipped with a built-in accelerator unit that allowed the user to make quick movements across terrain, leaving a trail of flames in their path.

Unconfirmed history
During his time in Liberia as a CIA paramilitary, Solidus Snake managed to capture several Liberian terrorists responsible for murdering American soldiers. On Jack's tenth birthday, Solidus then had Jack decapitate ten of the Liberian terrorists (each one acting as a "birthday candle" representing each year Jack had lived by that point) as the former's "birthday present" for the latter.

After the events in Eastern Europe, during Liquid Ocelot's Insurrection of 2014, the charred remains of Solidus Snake were recovered and flown over to the U.S. They were interred next to The Boss's burial site by Solid Snake and Otacon, with Meryl, Mei Ling, and Roy Campbell's help, still believing that the remains were those of Big Boss.

Behind the scenes
Solidus Snake (ソリダス・スネーク) is the primary antagonist of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. In the Japanese version, Solidus Snake and Solid Snake were both voiced by Akio Otsuka. This was presumably done to ensure that players will initially think that Solidus Snake was actually Solid Snake. Solidus Snake is also the only Les Enfant Terribles clone to not pilot a Metal Gear (unless one counted his gaining control of Arsenal Gear). Solidus' resignation from the Presidency as a result of exposure to the Shadow Moses Incident also made him the second known United States President to resign from the Presidency (the first being Richard Nixon for the Watergate Scandal).

Solidus was first mentioned as the President of the United States in Metal Gear Solid, alongside its remake, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, where he is mentioned to be trying to hold off the Sons of Big Boss's demands until the START Treaty is signed, as well as being responsible for Jim Houseman's arrest. He wasn't given a name during this instance, and his identity as both Solidus Snake and a Les Enfants Terribles clone was not revealed until the post-credits call from Ocelot, during the Meryl Lives ending in the original version (in the remake, it plays regardless of which route was taken to beat the game).

In Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid 2 Grand Game Plan, Solidus was originally to have faked his death from an assassination attempt, by having a double pose as him. His last name was also originally "Ryan" instead of "Sears." The gameplan also implies that Solidus intended for Nastasha Romanenko to publish her book in his agenda to expose the Patriots to the world, and that he carried the FOXDIE antidote, rendering him immune to Solid Snake's FOXDIE virus.

Shortly before Solidus' duel with Raiden, a flock of white doves were seen flying in the background, a reference to the style to indicate a battle or shootout in various John Woo films.

Metal Gear Solid 2 's script originally had Raiden cut a rope off a flagpole at Federal Hall, after killing Solidus, which would have caused the American flag to fall onto the latter's body, thus, mirroring the draping of the flag over a President's coffin during a state funeral. The visual of an American flag falling from its pole ended up being cut from the final version due to the events of 9/11. The scene, however, was kept in the novelization, which was written many years later.

In the aftermath of the Tanker Incident, Ocelot referred to his contact as "Mr. President." The game script, included in The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2, stated that this person was Solidus. However, this is later contradicted by Otacon, who claims that it could not have been Solidus as he was underground at that time, so the only group he could have been working for was the Patriots. It is unclear whether Ocelot is directly speaking to James Johnson, the President at the time, or to the Patriots.

During his speech on top of Federal Hall, Solidus incorrectly states that "George Washington took office as the first President of the United States of America 200 years ago today," as Washington took office on April 30, 1789, exactly 220 years prior to Solidus' speech. The error was likewise noted in the script included in the Document.

During the boss fight with Solidus, the player can exploit the blind spot created from Solidus' loss of his left eye to attack Solidus easily.

In the HD Collection version of Metal Gear Solid 2, defeating Solidus will unlock the achievement/trophy "Another Snake Bites the Dust."

Raiden's entry for the Metal Gear Solid 4 Database, incorrectly states that it was Solidus who erased most of Raiden's memories, rather than the Patriots. Similarly, in his own entry for the Metal Gear Solid 4 Database, it is incorrectly stated that he was the one who caused Arsenal Gear to crash into Manhattan as a last resort strike at the Patriots.

The "Big Boss" FaceCamo in Metal Gear Solid 4 is actually that of Solidus, as the camo is shown with its right eye intact.

Solidus makes a cameo appearance in the English version of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, on the cover of a magazine. The reason behind his cameo was because a few items had to be changed during localization (in the Solidus Magazine 's case, it was Dengeki Games/GAMES Blitz).

A tweet from Quinton Flynn regarding Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance had him mentioning working with John Cygan, implying that Solidus might reappear in some form in the game. Solidus potentially reappearing was further supported in the Arm trailer on the decryption of the site, where a soldier that sounded similar to and bore a physical resemblance to Solidus, alongside a black soldier, was overseeing Raiden (then known as Jack) as well as ordering a physician to inject him with a syringe during Raiden's early days as a child soldier. Solidus being in the game was later confirmed on Metal Gear Rising 's Facebook page, which it says "Uncover the secret behind Raiden's training under Solidus @ http://www.metalgearsolid.com/rising." In these trailers, Solidus also has the appearance and voice of his 2009 self, although it is not known whether this was the case in-universe, or whether this was in order to have the audience identify Solidus more easily. Solidus does not, however, make an appearance in the game itself, although he was mentioned in regards to the overall goal of the main antagonists, as they planned to replicate his methods of training child soldiers in Liberia in the Sears Project. In addition, although it was known Solidus had been involved in the Liberian Civil War since Metal Gear Solid 2, and that he might have been working with the Americans during this time in the IDW comic version of Metal Gear Solid 2, the specific reasons why he went to Liberia were not revealed until Metal Gear Rising, where Raiden stated that he had worked among the CIA paramilitaries at the time.

In addition, according to viral marketing,  four years after Ocelot's Insurrection and the collapse of the Patriots in the events of Metal Gear Rising, Colorado Senator and Presidential candidate Steven Armstrong expressed a desire to reawaken the American Dream by instigating a revolution within the American homeland, and conned the American populace with a speech. The conversation revealing his motivations and true plans was later leaked by the website waronourshores.com The goal was similar to that of Solidus Snake.

Solidus appeared as a participant in the Konami-sponsored event E3 Battle, defeating Jehuty in the first round, namely because he was a master of Metal Gears, to which Jehuty bore a similar design to a Metal Gear. He proceeded to face off against, and defeat, Rat Patrol Team 01 in the second round (although the percentage points implied that he lost against them). Solidus proceeded to fight Solid Snake in the third round, although he lost to him. "SOLIDUS SNAKE FIRST APPEARED IN Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001) Former President of the United States of America and leader of the Sons of Liberty. Said to be a perfect clone of Big Boss."

- Solidus Snake's bio in E3 Battle

He also appeared in Versus Battle, where he fought against Gray Fox Skin, Black Raiden and later Ocelot. He also, under then name Armored Clone, fought against Metal Gear earlier.

"STRENGTHS: Exoskeleton-Enhanced Lethality WEAKNESSES: One Eye; Presidential Duties FEATURED FACT: It was Solidus Snake who mentored a young Raiden in the ways of the blade. FEATURED GAME: METAL GEAR SOLID HD Collection"

- Armored Clone in Versus Battle

"STRENGTHS: Best Exoskeleton Ever WEAKNESSES: It's Inhuman to Think Any Exist FEATURED FACT: Solidus Snake became the youngest clone ever to be elected President of the US FEATURED GAME: METAL GEAR SOLID HD Collection"

- Solidus in Versus Battle; Solidus vs. Gray Fox Skin

"STRENGTHS: President, Superior Soldier, Son of Big Boss WEAKNESSES:

Taught Raiden Everything Solidus Knew FEATURED FACT: Raiden actually defeated Solidus once during the Big Shell incident in an epic duel. Could Raiden do it again? FEATURED GAME: METAL GEAR SOLID: THE LEGACY COLLECTION"

- Solidus in Versus Battle; Solidus vs. Black Raiden

"STRENGTHS: Ocelot’s Superior & Perfect Clone of Big Boss WEAKNESSES: Accelerated Aging FEATURED FACT: The Presidential figurehead of the Patriots, Solidus Snake grew to despise them and formed the Sons of Liberty to combat them FEATURED GAME: METAL GEAR SOLID: THE LEGACY COLLECTION"

- Solidus in Versus Battle; Solidus vs. Ocelot

Appearances

 * Metal Gear Solid/Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (cameo)
 * Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
 * Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (indirectly mentioned)
 * Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (indirectly mentioned and prophetic vision)
 * Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (biomort, mentioned, flashbacks, and voice)
 * Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (picture; non-canon)
 * Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (mentioned and viral materials)

Notes and references
Solidus Snake