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 of "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
The Boss was born in 1922 as the daughter of one of the higher ranking members of the 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 shadowy organization arranged for his death. The Boss later went on to become an instructor at one of the Philosophers' "charm schools."

World War II
In 1941, during 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, in which she had to capture an important officer without killing him; the incidents later served as the basis for her development 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.

The Cold War
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 (aka Jack). She spent nearly 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, with the threat of the death of their child, if they both survived. 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 CIA began to fear The Boss's overwhelming charisma, so they had the DCI make 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 Big Boss codename 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. In 1970, Zero (insipirated by The Boss's ideas) formed 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, in order to serve 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 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 from Ramón Gálvez Mena. 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 all 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 Hot Coldman's threat of a nuclear war.

Post-Peace Walker
Big Boss later formed the nations of Outer Heaven in 1995 and Zanzibar Land in 1999, in order to bring about the world that he interpreted as what 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 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 former codename, The Boss rarely smiled during the events of Operation Snake Eater. In contrast, The Sorrow always smiled during his encounters with Naked Snake, with not one occasion where there was a frown on his face.
 * According to Major Zero, the SAS motto, "Who Dares, Wins," was a tribute to The Boss. Solid Snake (disguised as Iroquois Pliskin) used the motto in 2009.
 * The Boss used to smoke cigars, but quit sometime prior to the Virtuous Mission.
 * Despite her participation in the Bay of Pigs Invasion being a cover story (to conceal the true events of the Mercury Project that resulted in her entering a coma), The Boss nevertheless passed this account on to Naked Snake, prior to their battle in Rokovoj Bereg.
 * The Boss's words to Naked Snake in 1964 were often paraphrased by the latter 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 Big Boss (Naked Snake) in 1970.
 * The Boss's final speech to Naked Snake was similar to that given by Big Boss to Solid Snake in 1999.
 * TheBossEquip.jpg Boss's last words ("There's room for only one Boss and one Snake") to Naked Snake were similar to the speech given by Solidus Snake ("The world needs only one Big Boss!") to Solid Snake and Raiden and the speech given by Liquid Snake ("There's room for only one Snake and one Big Boss") to Solid Snake and Solidus Snake, both which was said in 2009.
 * The Boss's grave was located in Arlington National Cemetary.
 * In the early 1970s, Big Boss inflicted a snake-shaped scar across his chest, similar to that of The Boss, which was used to conceal a jigsaw on himself for use in emergency situations.
 * "The Boss" was Old Snake's brand of cigarettes in 2014.
 * In the PSP-Game "Monster Hunter Portable Third" female Hunters can get The Boss' Outfit

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 in the director's commentary for Metal Gear Solid 3, 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 Greene Beret and Navy SEAL, and that she was of British descent. This was never stated in-game, however.
 * 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.
 * Hideo Kojima revealed in the Metal Gear Solid 3 commentary that The Boss was designed based on the image of actress Charlotte Rampling.
 * The Boss, along with Big Boss, are slated to appear as bonus characters in Monster Hunter Portable 3rd via decorating the characters in bonus outfits to have them resemble the respective characters, with The Boss's template being used for Female characters.

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. Also, if the player attempts to use the fake death pill, The Boss will see right through the trick.