The Boss

The Boss (ザ・ボス), also known as The Joy and Voyevoda (Russian for "Warlord"), was the "final child of the Philosophers", and the mentor of Naked Snake. She was the founding leader of the Cobra Unit, in which she was known as "The Joy", however, when they were disbanded at the end of World War II, she was granted the codename "The Boss." Together with Naked Snake, she developed the technique of CQC.

In the Virtuous Mission, The Boss wore a bandana and Olive Drab uniform (which appeared to be the staple FOX unit battle fatigues). After Naked Snake pulled it from her head when she threw him from the bridge in Dolinovodno, Snake wore it during Operation Snake Eater and later wore it in tribute to her. The Boss commented on his inability to let go of the past by taunting him for wearing her bandana as a reminder of her during his mission.

Early Life and Career
Not much is known about The Boss's childhood. She was born as the daughter of one of the higher ranking members of the Philosophers' Wisemen's Committee, and grew up in the care of the Philosophers. However, she also learned from her father even the most forbidden secrets of the Philosophers, and as a consequence, the Philosophers arranged for his death. The Boss later went on to become an instructor at one of the Philosophers' "charm schools."

Around the beginning of World War II, she was invited to the SAS as a special advisor, which resulted in the creation of Rayforce and the L Detachment. She met David Oh, with whom she formed the 22nd SAS Regiment. She also planned the dummy raids on Heliopolis and the bombings of German Air Bases during the North African Campaign. She also participated in snatch missions, where she has to capture an important officer without killing him, which later served as the basis of CQC.

In 1942, The Boss founded the Cobra Unit (The Pain, The Fear, The End, The Fury, and The Sorrow) and participated in many special operations during World War II, contributing heavily to the Allied forces's victory. She became a legendary soldier, and was considered by many to be the "Mother" of America's special forces. In 1943, she was suddenly called off of a Special Forces mission to infiltrate Los Alamos. She was given a mission by her superiors to infiltrate Los Alamos to assassinate one of the Manhattan Project scientists: John von Neumann, under the belief that he was a Nazi spy, and make it seem like his death was accidental. She proceeded as planned with the mission the day it was to be done. However, she ended up blowing her cover for just a second after learning that she was pregnant. She managed to dodge a bullet aimed for her gut, but it also resulted in it just scraping the side of her brain and being placed in a coma for three months, and completely recovering by six months. She theorized that her body may have willed her to live for her child. She also grew to regret failing the mission, even after it turned out that Neumann being a Nazi spy was actually Soviet misinformation to sabotage the Manhattan Project (as he designed the explosive lens), as she feels his living resulted in the Cold War, which makes her partially responsible as well. During the D-Day landings at Normandy, she and the Cobras were sent on a mission to destroy V2 rocket installations. At the time, The Boss was pregnant; The Sorrow, one of her comrades, was the father. She gave birth to her and The Sorrow's son on the battlefield, going into labor after she had been shot in the gut. The caesarean section required in the chaos left her with a snake-shaped scar on her torso. In 1947, after the end of the war, The Boss disbanded the Cobra Unit.

Afterwards, The Boss began participating in secret projects run by the U.S. Government. On November 1, 1951, The Boss was involved in the atomic testing at the Nevada desert, where she was exposed to radiation, and rendered infertile. It was around this time that she first met John (a.k.a. Jack). She spent over a decade with Jack, training him as her disciple and developing the tactics of CQC, a basic form of close quarters combat. During 1957, she also was invited to the newly instated HALO School at the JFK Special Operations center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and was also responsible for the development of the HALO jump. The Boss and Jack went their separate ways on June 12, 1959.

Later on, The Boss was chosen for participation in the 1960 Mercury Project and met for the first time Strangelove, who was assigned to Mercury as a key staff member. She was sent to space on a mission to acquire data on how well the human body could cope in such conditions, but during which radiation was an inevitability. She unofficially became the first person in space, and seeing the Earth from above sparked her dream of uniting the world as one. Unfortunately, as she returned to Earth from her flight on April 12, 1961, the addition of a "window" caused her re-entry capsule to veer off course and crash land in the ocean, resulting in The Boss being thrown from the capsule and severely burned by both the cosmic radiation, and the heat of re-entry. Miraculously, The Boss did survive, but she was hospitalized as a result, and she and Strangelove never saw each other again. The Boss also never realized that Strangelove had very deep feelings for her. The injuries sent The Boss into a deep coma for six months. The military covered up the accident by claiming that The Boss took part in the CIA's botched Bay of Pigs Invasion in Cuba.

However, things remained complicated for her even as she awakened and returned to duty. The current administration resented the fact that the Russians had a widely publicized successful space flight, while The Boss' injuries and crash landing forced them to cover up the entire experiment, despite her being in space first. This resentment resulted in them sending her on a new mission in Soviet territory. In 1962, she was sent on a mission that culminated in the assassination of The Sorrow (her lover) who had returned to the Soviet Union after the disbandment of the Cobra Unit. Once this operation was over, she continued to act as an agent in Soviet territory, effectively going "underground" for the next 2 years.

In 1964, the DCI began to fear The Boss's overwhelming charisma and made plans to eliminate her. In July, The Boss, who still remained in contact with the US homeland, was then ordered to take part in a major operation to recover the Philosophers' Legacy from Volgin, known as the Virtuous Mission. In order to acquire the Legacy, The Boss had to trade her way into Volgin's ranks. To do so, she contacted Volgin through the Philosophers' spy network where she is contacted by Volgin with the suggestion of defection, as well as learning about Sokolov's current location as well as some details of a weapon nearing completion. Afterwards, she was given two portable nuclear warheads, one of which was ultimately used by Volgin to destroy Sokolov's design bureau. On the surface, the destruction of the bureau was made to look like an unplanned factor which called for The Boss's mission to be greatly expanded and revised. She would have to prove the innocence of the United States in a mission known as Operation Snake Eater, but in reality this was how the DCI had planned for it to go all along and (behind the scenes) sent Naked Snake, the first FOX operative and The Boss's beloved protégé as the assassin.

Understanding the fact that in order to save the world and her country she had to give her life, The Boss subtly helped Snake with his mission while at the same time maintaining Volgin's trust. After Snake defeated Volgin and destroyed the Shagohod, The Boss met Snake in a field of white flowers to tell him of the Philosophers and remind him of his duty as a soldier prior to engaging him in a final duel.

"One must die and one must live. No victory, no defeat. The survivor will carry on the fight. It is our destiny... The one who survives will inherit the title of Boss. And the one who inherits the title of Boss will face an existence of endless battle."

- The Boss to Naked Snake

Also, to ensure that at least one of them died, she radioed Russian fighters to begin bombing Rokovoj Bereg, which was ten minutes away from their position. After falling at the hands of her most loved disciple, The Boss passed the microfilm, containing the Philosophers' Legacy, to him. She also explained what had happened to EVA, who in turn told Snake. She also made EVA and Ocelot promise not to kill Snake, nor aid in killing him. In the end, she left everything in the hands of Snake.

Posthumous
After Operation Snake Eater, Snake was promoted and given the codename Big Boss to show that he had surpassed The Boss, though he refused to acknowledge that codename for some time, believing that he was not worthy of it. Despite her death, The Boss's beliefs (or what was perceived of it) greatly influenced major events that came later. Her ideas formed the basis of the Patriots, of which Big Boss was a founding member. However, Big Boss broke away from the Patriots in 1972, and formed a mercenary group in response to, what he percieved to be, the Patriots' misinterpreatation of The Boss's will.

Operation Peace Walker
Main Article In 1974, The Boss was revived for the Peace Walker project by the Peace Sentinels as the Mammal Pod's AI. The person directly involved in her revival was a former acquaintance of hers, the AI researcher known as Strangelove, who requested that she have all the data on The Boss for the AI in exchange for her participation for the project. The Boss's AI was accidentally recorded by Cécile Cosina Caminades, a French Ornithologist who went to Costa Rica to observe the Quetzal, resulting in her capture.

Big Boss and the Militaires Sans Frontieres then were dispatched into Costa Rica after both learning of the Peace Sentinel's activities as well as rumors of The Boss's survival. After encountering a recently escaped and exhausted Cecile near the AI Facility, disguised as a Mayan Temple, he learned from her that a large tube (an AI) was heard calling out to "Jack", causing Big Boss to realize what was really going on. Big Boss attempted to remove the core memory of The Boss's AI after being goaded by Strangelove, who hated him due to killing The Boss, but passed out before he could remove any of the core memory discs.

He then tried to converse with The Boss's AI asking if she had any regrets about her final mission, to which The Boss did not recognize. Big Boss was captured shortly thereafter because his conversation with The Boss caused a similar signal to when he first encountered it. The Boss's AI directly aided Big Boss afterwards by allowing him into "her" AI unit when Peace Walker was still transmitting the false data as part of the Peace Walker project, and when that didn't work, decided to sacrifice "herself" by drowning Peace Walker in the Nicaraguan Lake to save the world from Coldman's threat of a nuclear war.

Post-Peace Walker
Big Boss later formed the nations of Outer Heaven and Zanzibar Land, in order to bring about the world that he believed The Boss had envisioned. In 2014, Big Boss remarked sorrowfully that her death had greatly affected him to that point, going as far as to comment to his eldest son that he had been dead since the day he killed her. "In Memory of a Patriot, Who Saved the World"

- The Boss's Epitaph

Trivia

 * Despite "The Joy" being her codename, The Boss was rarely seen smiling. In disturbing contrast, The Sorrow was always seen smiling, with not one scene where there was a frown on his face.
 * According to Major Zero, the SAS motto of "Who Dares, Wins" was a tribute to The Boss, an example is when Solid Snake (disguised as Iroquois Pliskin) said the motto during the Big Shell Incident.
 * The Boss used to smoke cigars, but quit sometime prior to the Virtuous Mission.
 * The Boss's words to Naked Snake were often paraphrased by himself and others in later events:
 * The speech that The Boss gave to Naked Snake in their final battle is paraphrased by Gene in one of his speeches in his final battle with Naked Snake during the San Hieronymo Takeover.
 * The Boss's final speech to Naked Snake was similar to that given by Big Boss to Solid Snake during Operation Intrude FO14.
 * The Boss's last words ("There's room for only one Boss and one Snake") were similar to speeches given by Solidus Snake ("The world needs only one Big Boss!") and Liquid Snake ("There's room for only one Snake and one Big Boss") during the Big Shell Incident.
 * The Boss's grave was located in Arlington National Cemetary.
 * The Boss's snake-shaped scar was also seen on Big Boss during Operation Peace Walker.
 * During Liquid Ocelot's Insurrection, Solid Snake's brand of cigarettes were called "The Boss."
 * Despite her participation in the Bay of Pigs Invasion actually being a cover-story for her comatose state from her failed Lady Mercury participation, The Boss told Naked Snake that she participated in the invasion in Operation Snake Eater prior to their final battle.

Behind the Scenes

 * In Metal Gear Solid 3, shortly after Volgin sees through Snake's Raikov disguise, The Boss says to Snake while removing his mask: "What is this fairy disguise? It's gonna rub off on you. And then you'll lose sight of who you really are." According to Hideo Kojima, this was intended to be a reference to herself, as well as an early hint at the true nature of her defection to the Soviet Union.
 * A voice casting sheet for Metal Gear Solid 3, which was leaked prior to E3 2004, stated that The Boss was a former Green Beret and Navy SEAL, though this was never stated in-game.
 * In Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, a film in the Secret Theatre shows the death of The Boss in a manner similar to the rest of the Cobra Unit.
 * During the March 29, 2007 edition of the Metal Gear Solid Podcast, David Hayter when explaining Big Boss's characterization and why he went down the path he did, erroneously implied that The Boss was Big Boss's actual mother.

Gameplay
Draining The Boss's stamina during the final battle will yield the Snake camo. Though not as effective as The Fear's Spider camo, it nevertheless provides a decent Camo Index in the average environment.