Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-86.46.22.35-20130403153709/@comment-25366375-20140831151111

64.33.250.214 wrote:

In another thread, which appears to have been removed (as it was posted in the wrong forum), someone brought up the inconsistences between the physical traits of Solid Snake and Big Boss. In MGS1 and MGS2 concept art, he appears to have blonde hair. Campbell said in the original briefing that Solid was an identical clone of Liquid. In MGS2, Solid had brown hair and green eyes. Then in Twin Snakes he has blue eyes... If Kojima is willing to alter these details, who's to say he would fuss about how accelerated aging works?

The hospital scene parallels Moby Dick. Ishmael and Ahab are completely seperate characters in the book. There are similarties between the two, but they are not the same. They are on the same mission, but they have different views. They both have something in common with Big Boss and Solidus. Ishmael and Ahab are both after the whale. Ahab wants revenge, whereas Ishmael keeps an open mind. Similarly, Big Boss wants revenge on The Patriots, the theme of Phantom Pain. Solidus worked for The Patriots his whole life and understands their point of view, but seeks freedom more than revenge.

In Biblical text, Ishmael was cast out by his father in favor of his younger brother Isaac. Solidus is technically the oldest clone in terms of accelerated aging. We don't know if he ever had contact with Big Boss. Liquid, the clone with only the dominant traits, was at some point taken under Boss's wing. It's widely accepted that Eli is Liquid, and will likely be recruited in PP. If Solidus were in this game, we probably wouldn't see much of him. Why? If accelerated aging started early for Solidus, he'd resemble Big Boss more than Liquid. Boss might not be able to handle this, and would refuse to accept him into Diamond Dogs. On the other hand, Boss may not immediately be aware that Eli is a clone or may take pity on him as he appears younger. Yeah, you know what you're pretty convincing there. I personally doubt that Ishmael will be Solidus (if indeed he is "anyone") but you have made me see that perhaps it wouldn't be as bad as I thought.

The only other hole in that theory that springs to mind is that Ishmael said he was watching over Big Boss for 9 years. In earlier posts I erroneously stated that Solidus would be 12 in 1984, but I was basing that off the Twin Snakes, and I recall that Solidus may actually have been born in 1976. So, during the events of The Phantom Pain that would make Solidus 8, rather than 12 like his older brothers.

Not only was Solidus not even alive for 9 years by this point, but if he appeared to be the same age as a 49 year old Big Boss in 1984, his appearance in 2009 would have to more closely resemble a 150 year old Big Boss (give or take for some rough math here).

The wiki actually states Solidus was born between 1972 and 1976, so at his oldest he can only be 12. I think the point about accelerated aging as I said earlier still stands though. However, Kojima is not above retconning. I just fail to see what purpose Solidus would serve if we are to believe Eli is Liquid (the father/son moment is there already), and considering we've seen literally nothing indicating Ishmael appears at any other stage, I kind of doubt he's anything important.

Conclusion: Ishmael may in fact be Solidus Snake, but that's one hell of a warped retcon.