Elisa and Ursula

Elisa and Ursula were the split personalities of a young woman who possessed powerful ESP and psychic abilities. Their wildly different personalities made it fairly easy for the woman to pass herself off as a pair of twins. Each personality had different abilities and training.

Early life
Elisa and Ursula were born in Germany, then brought to Snezhinsk (Chelyabinsk-70) sometime during their childhood where their parents worked as nuclear physicists. They were twin sisters who were survivors of the Kyshtym Nuclear Disaster in the Ural Mountains, near Ozyorsk (Chelyabinsk-65) in 1957. The explosion killed their parents and the image of "ashes of death" falling from the sky has stayed with them as they grew up. After their exposure to nuclear fallout, they were taken back to their country, to a lab in East Germany, in which they were subjected to power-amplifying experiments.

They gained powerful ESP and psychic abilities (including telepathy and precognition) after they were exposed to radiation from the nuclear disaster. Due to their abilities, the disaster still haunted Elisa in her dreams, wherein she saw her parents dying in the explosion. In 1966 the sisters were then rescued by Gene during a mission and taken to America. Unfortunately, their stay there made them realize that America only really cared for their powerful abilities, and that the Capitalists and Communists were one and the same. Gene then took them with him to help in his plan to establish Army's Heaven. Ursula, the more powerful of the two, later joined FOX, and was the only elite member that didn't wear a Sneaking Suit, while Elisa was hired for her skills as a doctor. Both sisters were trained in their respective fields by Gene.

In 1970, Ursula became a loyal follower of Gene while Elisa became a researcher who watched over Null by keeping him under control and monitoring his culture tank. While treating Null in the culture tank, Elisa met Naked Snake (Big Boss) and supplied some anti-malarial drugs for Roy Campbell after talking with him, as well as telling them to go to the harbor to find what they were looking for. She also warned Snake that should he ever encounter Ursula, then he must shoot her, as otherwise, "he'll already be dead".

Shortly after Cunningham captured Snake, Elisa communicated telepathically to him about Gene's plan to launch the nukes, although at the cost of her stamina. When the guard said that it was time to wrap it up, she covered up her actions by claiming that she "must have gotten too into it." Meanwhile, Ursula had tipped Cunningham off that Snake would end up being rescued by his resistance group. Elisa helped out Snake in his escape by stealing a military truck and knocking Cunningham out and helping Snake and the soldiers involved in the rescue attempt. She did this partially due to the fact that she simply could not support Gene anymore after his decision to use nuclear weapons. While Ursula saw Snake "plunging the world into fear", Elisa saw him defeating Metal Gear and also felt "that [Snake] would make a great father one day."

During the infiltration of Metal Gear RAXA's assembly plant, Snake learned the truth of Elisa's dissociative identity disorder, and that Ursula was not her twin sister, but an alternate personality. Gene used his powers of suggestion to forcefully trigger Ursula's awakening; the process of which caused Elisa to scream out in pain. As Ursula, she piloted RAXA and fought Snake, using her powerful psychokinesis to allow the machine to move and act in an animal-like manner. Snake was forced to destroy RAXA with explosive weaponry, with Ursula still inside the cockpit. Though presumed dead, she was able to survive the battle.

Elisa and Ursula later acted in unison, when they attempted to prevent Gene from launching a nuclear strike with the Intercontinental Ballistic Metal Gear. However, Gene was able to overpower her and stabbed her in the chest, leaving her to die. While Snake cradled her in his arms, Elisa/Ursula, in her final words, told Snake of several future events that her two personas had foreseen: Snake would succeed in destroying the ICBMG, but would build a new Metal Gear to replace it; and one of his sons would bring the world to ruin, while another would save it.

Abilities
Elisa and Ursula both possessed numerous psychic abilities, including (but probably not limited to) telepathy, psychokinesis, and precognition. As mentioned above, Ursula was stronger: when she piloted RAXA, she psychokinetically controlled it to the point where it moved and acted as though it was alive, whereas Elisa needed to physically touch Big Boss to induce a telepathic conversation between the two, and was left exhausted to the point of physical collapse afterwards. It is implied that Ursula had some control over most machines, as shown when she made a control panel explode with the power of her mind. Although her/their mind reading abilities are second to none, their mind-reading abilities won't help them if the person that she/they read his/her mind moves at super-human speeds (because their bodies are unable to evade the coming attack from the individual in question despite predicting what will happen), as Gene demonstrated when he stabbed Elisa/Ursula in the heart, murdering them.

Trivia

 * Gene used his own personal charisma to charm both Elisa and Ursula into joining him. He did not have to force the "sisters" or use his special ability to do so.
 * When Elisa was introduced to Roy Campbell, Campbell jokingly asked Snake how he was able to get a girl as young as her to join their side, suggesting that he should give her "another five years."

Behind the scenes
In Noriyoshi Ohrai's artwork for Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Ursula is depicted with gray hair while Elisa is depicted with blond hair.

Portable Ops recruitment
In Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, the player has the option to unlock either Elisa or Ursula as a playable character; both cannot exist in the player's squad simultaneously (for obvious reason). To unlock Elisa, the player's Med Unit must be Level 80, whereas for Ursula, it needs to be greater than Level 80 (around an even number). However, in EU version of Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus, it is possible to get both of them. First you must have Elisa AND Gene with your team when you start new data and import your team. Then simply beat Boss Rush and Ursula will join your unit.

"FOX's medical chief and Ursula's twin sister. Provides assistance to Snake."

- Character description in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus

"Young female member of CIA Special Forces unit FOX. Usually seen quietly following Gene, she is known to wield incredible psychic powers."

- Character description in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus