Vamp

Vamp was an ex-member of Dead Cell with vampire-like attributes, including a taste for blood, the ability to run across or stand on the surface of water or vertical walls, superhuman speed and agility, and the ability to shrug off what would typically be a mortal wound (e.g. being shot in the head). Besides his seemingly vampiric abilities, he was also an expert with knives and close-quarters combat.

Early life
Born in Romania, Vamp lost his entire family in a church bombing in which he was pierced by a crucifix and buried in the rubble next to his parents. In order to survive, Vamp fed on the blood of his family; this is how he acquired a taste for blood. According to Solid Snake, his name is not a reference to his vampire-like behavior, but to the fact that he was bisexual, and, according to rumors, the former lover of Marine Commandant Scott Dolph. He later shared a very close friendship with Dolph's daughter, fellow Dead Cell member Fortune.

Prior to his membership of the Navy SEALs anti-terrorist squad Dead Cell, Vamp was subjected to experimental nanomachines, which would allow him to heal from wounds and sickness at an unusually accelerated rate. The nanomachines had previously been developed by Dr. Naomi Hunter, and her design was later perfected by other interested parties. The experiment proved to be a success, resulting in Vamp gaining his apparent immortality. At some point later, Vamp joined Dead Cell, and was one of the first members to join the unit during its formation.

After the arrest, imprisonment, and eventual death of Colonel Jackson, Vamp acted as the temporary leader of Dead Cell until Fortune took charge of the unit.

In 2009, Vamp and the rest of Dead Cell joined the Sons of Liberty terrorist group, led by Solidus Snake, and participated in taking over the Big Shell offshore decontamination facility. During the incident, he tracked down SEAL Team 10's Alpha team within Strut B of Shell 1 and single handedly wiped out the unit, along with a naval officer who had previously been handcuffed to the football. He also attempted to kill FOXHOUND operative Raiden in a sneak attack (he sensed he was nearby), but a SEAL Team 10 survivor, Iroquois Pliskin, distracted Vamp, but became injured himself in the process, exposing his true identity to Vamp (he noted that Pliskin carried a similar scent to Solidus). Vamp prepared to attack Raiden once more, but was contacted by Fortune, who ordered him to return immediately as she had managed to retrieve the President. Vamp rendezvoused with Fortune on the BC Connecting Bridge, where he carried the President and the football into the Shell 1 Core, while Fortune disposed of the remaining SEALs.

Vamp later entered the Deep Sea Dock to alert Fortune (who was in the middle of a battle with Raiden) that their fellow Dead Cell teammate Fatman had apparently gone rogue, turning into a "stereotypical mad bomber." However, Raiden attempted to capitalize on her distraction by firing two rounds at Fortune, only for her "luck" to deflect the bullets, which hit Vamp instead, apparently killing him. Vamp later woke up after Raiden left, having survived the attack, and explaining to a distraught Fortune that he couldn't die twice as he had, "already died once." Vamp later piloted the Harrier jet, which "caught" Solidus as he fell from the Shell 1-2 Connecting Bridge, and proceeded to attack Raiden and the Philanthropy-commandeered Kasatka, with Solidus acting as co-pilot. After Raiden successfully shot the Harrier down, the falling aircraft was rescued by the RAY prototype, after which Solidus ordered Vamp to leave. Vamp subsequently retreated to Shell 2, employing his supposed supernatural abilities by running directly across the water's surface and vertically straight up a nearby support pillar. Vamp later learned from Ocelot that Raiden was most likely going to rescue Emma Emmerich as well as have her install the worm cluster into GW, and lay in wait near her cell, as well as planting some underwater mines in the now flooded sections of Shell 2.

Vamp and Raiden later encountered one another within the Big Shell's purification chamber, where he was briefly grazed on the face by Raiden's gunfire, after miscalculating Raiden's movements due to his muscles being "different." After Vamp explained that Arsenal Gear had a purified hydrogen bomb onboard, and hinting that Dead Cell had previously been framed, he attacked Raiden. He was once again defeated, and sank into the purified water, suffering heavy bleeding from his injuries. Vamp, however, survived yet again, and later managed to sneak attack Emma Emmerich, who was attempting to cross an oil fence, and held her at knifepoint. He was eventually shot by Raiden's sniper rifle, although not before Vamp fatally stabbed Emma.

By 2014, Vamp had joined forces with Liquid Ocelot, becoming a subcommander within his mercenary army. He was spotted by Solid Snake in South America, during the latter's mission to rescue an imprisoned Naomi Hunter from Liquid, when he told Laughing Octopus to not kill one of the soldiers. After tracking down Naomi, Snake watched as she and Vamp boarded a helicopter, and proceeded to shoot Vamp in the head. However, Vamp was revived by his nanomachines with no ill effects. Shortly afterwards, Vamp fought again with his previous adversary, Raiden, in a local marketplace. Raiden was eventually pinned down by multiple Gekkos, where Vamp stabbed him multiple times, commenting on Raiden's own "immortaility." Destroying the Gekko's tethers, Snake freed Raiden, who proceeded to engage Vamp in another duel, which resulted in Vamp being stabbed in the abdomen and Raiden suffering severe injuries. Raiden was able to escape after Vamp collapsed due to his wounds, though the latter's nanomachines revived him once again a short time later. Upon awakening, Vamp contacted Liquid Ocelot, and reported that Solid Snake's DNA had been insufficient to unlock the Patriots' SOP System. During their escape, Vamp discussed their plan with Liquid Ocelot and Naomi to get REX's rail gun from Shadow Moses, although he also ended up discovering the Metal Gear Mk II that was secretly planted onboard their escape craft and wrecked it during their discussion.

After Liquid Ocelot had journeyed to Shadow Moses Island and retrieved the original Metal Gear REX's rail gun, he ordered Vamp to stay behind in REX's underground base, as he knew Snake would eventually come to stop them. Because of this, Vamp also sealed the door to the Cargo Elevator and Warehouse, resulting in Snake being forced to go through the Casting Facility. When Snake finally arrived, Vamp challenged him. After Vamp collapsed, upon sustaining heavy injuries, Snake realized this would only be temporary. Remembering Naomi's words during their escape from South America, regarding the truth of his immortality, Snake grabbed Vamp in a CQC hold, and injected him with a drug that repressed his nanomachines, thus making him "mortal." Raiden then appeared, eliminating several Suicide GEKKOs that were intending to destroy the remains of the underground base, before Vamp challenged Raiden to finally finish him.

As Otacon attempted to revive Metal Gear REX, Snake held off more Gekkos while Vamp and Raiden fought on top of REX with their knives. After Vamp incapacitated Raiden, he reached for Raiden's sword, only to have Raiden gain the upper hand, knocking the sword free from Vamp and running him through with the blade. Defeated at last, Vamp asked Raiden to finish him, to which Raiden responded by cutting Vamp down. Vamp then staggered and fell off of REX's head onto the floor, mortally wounded. However, his nanomachines became active again, keeping him alive but in severe pain. Naomi then supplied Vamp with a nanomachine suppressor, resulting in Vamp injecting himself with it, permanently disabling his nanomachines. Vamp began experiencing massive convulsions before finally dying for good.

Abilities
Although Vamp's only real armament was his seemingly unlimited supply of knives, with which he was extremely skilled, he also displayed extraordinary physical capabilities. For one, his strength, speed, and agility were far beyond that of a normal person, to the extent that he could even parry bullets with his knives, with his abilities extending to the apparently supernatural. He also possessed an enhanced sense of smell, as he managed to identify that Navy SEAL Iroquois Pliskin was actually Solid Snake solely from the latter's scent.

During the Big Shell Incident, Vamp demonstrated several gravity-defying talents, including, but not limited to, walking on water and running vertically up a support pillar, in addition to surfacing from heavily oxygenated (essentially non-bouyant) water. Otacon and Solid Snake later theorized that his wall-climbing ability was possible through technology utilizing van der Waals force, after witnessing similar feats performed by Haven Troopers in 2014, the footwear of whom was also in use by Vamp at the time.

Vamp had the ability to accurately predict the movements of an enemy by observing their muscles, and thus react accordingly. However, this ability could be nullified if the enemy in question wore a pressurized suit, as Raiden proved when he fired at Vamp and ended up grazing him on the cheek.

He also seemed to have a degree of control over one's shadow. This was especially apparent during his fight with Raiden in the purification chamber, where he could impale Raiden's shadow and prevent him from moving. Otacon hypothesised that this "shadow-binding" technique was some form of hypnotism; the power of suggestion augmented by Vamp's speech and movements, coupled with the manipulation of the light reflecting off the blade of his knife.

However, perhaps Vamp's most notable trait was his apparent immortality. During the Big Shell Incident, Vamp appeared to die on three seperate occasions, each caused by Raiden: he received a shot to the head and lower abdomen (the bullets having been deflected by Fortune's "luck"); he "drowned" after recieving injuries from Raiden, while attempting to prevent the rescue of Emma Emmerich; and he later fell to sniper fire, while holding Emma at knife-point. Although Vamp was knocked into the ocean, he still managed to inflict Emma with a mortal wound. Despite these encounters, however, Vamp was able to survive. Following this, he was shot and stabbed fatally numerous times by both Snake and Raiden, each time awakening without a scratch.

Naomi later explained that this ability of immortality was due to the nanomachines inside his body healing his injuries at an accelerated rate, allowing him to regenerate before any normally fatal injuries succeed in killing him. This theory was confirmed when Raiden finally killed Vamp after Snake injected him with a nanomachine suppressor.

Other than his supernatural abilities, Vamp was also a skilled pilot. This was evidenced by his piloting the Harrier before Solidus entering it, as well as his piloting the front seat.

"Deaths"

 * Hit by two bullets fired by Raiden, which ricocheted off Fortune's barrier and struck him in the head and lower abdomen, in the Strut A deep sea dock;
 * Shot numerous times by Raiden before drowning in the Shell 2 Core B1 filtration chamber;
 * Shot in the forehead by Raiden on the Strut L oil fence and fell into the ocean;
 * Shot in the forehead again by Solid Snake, while in South America;
 * Stabbed in the stomach twice by Raiden in South America;
 * Shot numerous times by Snake in REX's hangar on Shadow Moses Island;
 * Stabbed, slashed, and cut several times by Raiden atop Metal Gear REX. Due to his nanomachines having been supressed by Solid Snake beforehand, these injuries, along with Naomi supplying him with a nanomachine suppressor so he could die in peace, finally killed him.

Trivia

 * Shortly after Vamp's revival before a shocked Fortune, in the Big Shell's Deep Sea Dock, he tells her that he "had already died once," and that he "can't die twice," possibly referring to the church bombing.
 * Throughout the Big Shell Incident, Vamp carried a radio implant in his ear to contact and receive contact from Fortune and other Dead Cell members.
 * During Liquid Ocelot's Insurrection, Vamp adopted Fortune's desire for death, reacting with ecstasy when he believed that Raiden may be able to kill him, hence, his quote, "Could you be the one to finally finish me?"
 * According to Rosemary, Vamp secluded himself from other humans on several different occasions.

Behind the scenes
Vamp (ヴァンプ) first appears in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty during the Plant chapter. His character design is based on the famous flamenco dancer, Joaquín Cortés. Vamp was originally designed to be a woman, but when Fortune was introduced, the design was changed to that of a man, although the long black hair was retained.

In Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid 2 Grand Gameplan, Vamp was stated to be of German descent. He was also afraid of the cross due to the trauma that he experienced during the church bombing in Romania. Another Dead Cell member named Chinaman was intended to appear in Metal Gear Solid 2, possessing the abilities to walk on walls, ceilings and on water. When the character was scrapped, his abilities were given to Vamp instead. Vamp's fight against Raiden, in the Big Shell's purification chamber, was also intended to be for Chinaman, with Vamp being fought much later in the game, within a shrine aboard Arsenal Gear. He was also allegedly going to be an ex-Stasi agent.

Vamp can be seen in the background of Metal Gear Solid 2 's ending cutscene, when Rosemary appears before Raiden outside Federal Hall. This can be seen more easily in Manhattan's 3D stage model in The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2.

In Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Vamp appears as a member of Liquid Ocelot's private army and as Raiden's rival. The cuts that he had previously inflicted on his chest (he adds a new one in Metal Gear Solid 2 after feeding on a victim's blood) seem to have disappeared. Vamp also wears five sets of dog tags during the game, four of which have been speculated to have belonged to his deceased Dead Cell comrades.

Gameplay
When Vamp battles Raiden atop Metal Gear REX in Metal Gear Solid 4, Snake will vocally display extreme reluctance to shoot if the player points the rail gun towards them. This is a reference to Metal Gear Solid, when Snake does the same thing when pointing the Stinger at Liquid Snake and Gray Fox.

When fighting Vamp as Solid Snake, if the player hits him with the Solar Gun, Vamp will burst into flames for a short period of time. This is a reference to Hideo Kojima's Boktai series, wherein the Solar Gun is used to hunt vampires.

Appearances

 * Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
 * Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Notes and references
Vamp