Ishmael

Ishmael was an apparent hospital patient whom Big Boss met in 1984. During this time, he possessed bandages over his face, obscuring all but his mouth and eyes.

Biography
Ishmael claimed that he had watched over Big Boss for the nine years that he had been in a coma following an attack on Mother Base, and attempted to help him escape the hospital. He also claimed that he was a former acquaintance of Big Boss, eventually giving him a shot of digoxin that helped him move to some extent. He escorted Big Boss over to the stairs, although he decided to take the lifts instead after it became apparent that Big Boss had not recovered enough to actually walk. They eventually arrived at the lifts, but encountered a child wearing a gas mask standing in their path, who then levitated up through the ceiling. After witnessing this, the lift doors suddenly exploded, setting Ishmael alight as an apparition appeared that resembled a demonic version of Colonel Volgin, before it departed due to the activation of the emergency sprinklers. Ishmael then led Big Boss back the way they had come, in the currently blazing room, towards the emergency stairs.

Behind the scenes
Ishmael appears in the GDC 2013 trailer for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. It is believed by some sources that his English voice will be provided by Kiefer Sutherland, who is providing Big Boss' English voice. Whether Sutherland is actually going to provide the voice for both characters has yet to be confirmed. GameTrailers TV host Geoff Keighley confirms Ishmael's voice was provided by Sutherland in the teaser but did not verify in the GDC gameplay demo.

The name Ishmael is a reference to the character from the novel Moby-Dick. The Phantom Pain trailer also features an apparition resembling a burning whale, and Ishmael refers to Big Boss as Ahab, another major character in the novel.

Ishmael's likeness was later used for a mask made for Hideo Kojima regarding an interview with GameTrailers TV host Geoff Keighley, while posing as the supposed creator of the game, Joakim Mogren, on March 28, 2013. The Ishmael mask was earlier hinted at in a Twitter post on Kojima's Twitter account, where he claimed that he was bringing "a secret weapon" to the GDC 2013 presentation. Similarly, an earlier interview on the March 14, 2013 episode of GameTrailers TV, which aired prior to the GDC 2013 announcement of The Phantom Pain, had "Mogren" wearing similar bandages to Ishmael, although he claimed that it was due to him getting into an "accident."