Solid Snake

Solid Snake (ソリッド・スネーク) (real name David (ディビッド), commonly referred to as Snake) is a product of the Les Enfants Terribles project and "son" of legendary soldier, Big Boss along with his "brothers" Liquid Snake and Solidus Snake. Possessing an IQ of 180 and fluent in six languages, he is known as "the man who makes the impossible possible" and his exploits have made him into a living legend among the military black-ops. Initially a Green Beret, Snake was later inducted into high-tech special forces unit FOXHOUND during the early 1990s while it was under the leadership of Big Boss. From there, Snake would thrice avert potential nuclear catastrophe.

After the Shadow Moses Incident and subsequent manipulation campaign by The Patriots, the secret organization behind American politics, Snake became labeled a terrorist. He faked his own death in 2007 and proceeded into hiding, although he would later emerge in 2009 to assist Raiden in the Big Shell Incident. After that, his cells would enter a state of accelerated aging, causing his health to decline. The cause of his rapid aging was explained by Dr. Naomi Hunter, who examined Snake and determined that it was caused by planned genetic changes during the cloning process.

Early Years


Born in 1972 as a result of the "Les Enfants Terribles" project, Solid Snake was a product of a secret government project to create the perfect soldier, using the genes of the "Greatest Warrior of the 20th Century", Big Boss. By utilizing the Super Baby Method, eight clone babies were grown using Big Boss’ cells merged with eggs taken from a healthy Japanese woman. Six of the babies were aborted to promote growth in the remaining two, who were then injected into the womb of a surrogate mother. Nine months later twins were born: Solid Snake and Liquid Snake. The two clones were modified on the genetic level, with Solid receiving all the inferior soldier genes and Liquid receiving all the superior soldier genes. A third clone was also later created, known as Solidus Snake who was a perfect clone of Big Boss. Liquid Snake was led to believe that he received the recessive genes and later informed an unknowing Solid Snake as such. It is unclear whether Solid or Liquid ever became aware of their actual genetic positions.

Following his birth, Snake was given the name "David" (likely by his surrogate mother). He spent the first ten years of his life in Oregon with intense military training, though, during the summer months he would weekly visit a theme park known as “Kiddieland”.

Nevertheless, Snake eventually made his way into the military by 1991. He had been inducted into the Green Berets and took part in a mission to infiltrate western Iraq during the Gulf War. Later, he joined Big Boss's special forces unit FOXHOUND, during which time he received the codename "Solid Snake". He also underwent personal CQC training by Big Boss at this time, but after Outer Heaven, he chose not to implement a technique created by "a man who betrayed his unit." However, he would use CQC much later in his life.

Snake's first mission for FOXHOUND came in 1995. He was tasked with infiltrating Outer Heaven, a military nation led by a feared and legendary mercenary, deep within South Africa. Snake was tasked with rescuing Gray Fox, a FOXHOUND agent who was captured earlier, and shed light on Metal Gear, which Gray Fox mentioned in a broken radio message sometime before his capture.

He succeeded in rescuing Dr. Pettrovich Madnar and destroyed Metal Gear TX-55 with the aid of Gray Fox. Big Boss, his mission commander, then revealed himself to be the leader behind the Outer Heaven uprising, but he was promptly dispatched by Snake. Despite Snake's success in this mission, he found himself constantly having nightmares about Outer Heaven and Big Boss over the next four years.

Snake's next mission was to infiltrate Zanzibar Land, a military base where a new Metal Gear was believed to be being developed. There, he fought his former ally Gray Fox who piloted the revised Metal Gear D, and successfully stopped the ambitions of Big Boss. Big Boss, the man behind Zanzibar Land, returned to get his revenge on Snake, but Snake ultimately defeated him using a combination of a lighter and an Aerosol can.

Following the conclusion of Operation Intrude F014, he left FOXHOUND to join the CIA as a spy, but retired from his post after only six months. He subsequently moved into hiding in Alaska.

Snake was called back to the US military in 2005 when he was deployed by his former commander Roy Campbell to Shadow Moses Island. Here, a rebellion had taken place by the members of FOXHOUND, his former unit, who were threatening the USA with a nuclear missile. The task fell on Snake, as a former operative and expert, to stop them.

In charge of the renegade group was Liquid Snake. His demand, the remains of Big Boss. Solid Snake was charged with ascertaining their nuclear capability and rescuing their hostages, Kenneth Baker and Donald Anderson.

Snake infiltrated the base alone, but quickly gained help in the form of Metal Gear REX developer Hal Emmerich and new FOXHOUND recruit Meryl Silverburgh, the latter of whom was actually Campbell's daughter, although Snake did not know this at the time. Metal Gear REX was a nuclear-armed bipedal walking tank developed in secret by the US Army and weapons manufacturer ArmsTech (later AT Corp). With the help of the two aforementioned, as well as his former comrade Gray Fox (now the Cyborg Ninja, Snake succeeded in destroying REX and defeating the members of FOXHOUND, including (supposedly) Liquid.

His mission, however, was a cleverly woven plot, prepared by the Pentagon. Through the secret, CIA-guided efforts of genetic engineer Naomi Hunter, Solid Snake's body became host to the artificial virus FOXDIE. Snake was outraged to hear that his mission was a government conspiracy, and that he was merely sent as a carrier of the virus, which was programmed to kill the hostages (for knowing too much about the project) and the FOXHOUND operatives.

Following this mission, Snake disappeared yet again after leaving the base with Meryl. Sometime later, however, he lost contact with Meryl, and in actuality set up the anti-Metal Gear NGO, Philanthropy, with Hal Emmerich. Revolver Ocelot, one of the FOXHOUND operatives under Liquid, escaped assassination by the FOXDIE virus and sold REX's plans to the black market, prompting Snake and Hal (aka. Otacon) to set up this organisation in secret.

Two years after Shadow Moses, Otacon received an anonymous tip from someone calling him or herself "E.E." (the initials of Otacon's younger step sister) that a new Metal Gear, codenamed Metal Gear RAY, was being developed by the U.S. Marine Corps., and was being sent via a Marine vessel disguised as an Oil Tanker. The tanker was, however, quickly taken over by a group of Russians led by colonel Sergei Gurlucovich. He met Gurlucovich's daughter Olga on board the tanker, but proceeded to defeat her in a gunfight, however she promptly disappeared afterwards. Snake quickly made his way into the tanker's interior and, as per his mission orders, secured photographic evidence of the new Metal Gear, neither he nor Otacon could have predicted the reappearance of Revolver Ocelot on the tanker. Ocelot proceeded to sink the vessel, steal RAY, and frame Philanthropy for the deed, simultaneously exposing them to the public and destroying their reputation. Solid Snake apparently died in the incident, his body even retrieved from New York harbour as confirmation. In reality, Snake decided to take advantage of the situation and faked his death, using Liquid's body as a decoy.

Another two years later, Snake disguised himself as Iroquois Pliskin and infiltrated the Big Shell. Rumors of another Metal Gear, Arsenal Gear, were spreading like wildfire. There, he met Raiden and eventually met his other brother, the final of the three Sons Of Big Boss, Solidus Snake. During this incident, both Solid Snake and Otacon become aware of the existence of The Patriots, although how and when isn't exactly known. He also once again met Olga and explained to her that it was in fact Revolver Ocelot who killed her father, Colonel Gurlukovich. Snake later helped Raiden, Otacon and Emma Emmerich (Otacon's Sister) install the re-programmed computer virus, a digital counterpart of FOXDIE, into GW (Arsenal Gear's AI system), shortly before Emma dies after being stabbed by Vamp.

Once aboard Arsenal Gear, Snake and Raiden made their way through fighting the army of Arsenal Tengu soldiers. On top of Arsenal, Ocelot revealed his true colors to them. But before he could kill them, Ocelot's right arm began to twitch, and Liquid Snake possessed him once more, revealing that he lured Snake out to the Big Shell so that Snake could "free [Liquid]". Liquid Ocelot then set off in RAY to kill the Patriots via "[his] host", with Snake in pursuit. Although Snake failed to follow RAY, he placed a tracker on RAY and explained later to Raiden that his plan was for him to find the Patriots. However, the data recovered from Arsenal showed that all 12 members had been dead for over a hundred years, and Philanthropy had lost their only lead.

After the Manhattan Incident, Snake once again went into hiding, and began suffering from inexplicable accelerated aging. His body began to age rapidly, with no doctors being able to figure out the cause. It was not until 2014 that Snake resurfaced for a final time.

Liquid Snake, now merged with the body of Revolver Ocelot into a single being, Liquid Ocelot, was the leader of a new Outer Heaven, this time incarnated as less of a physical thing, and more of a dummy corporation, acting as a single mother company to five of the largest PMCs on the planet. With PMCs now taking over the world's armies in terms of firepower, Liquid was finally on the verge of world domination. With the world once again in crisis, Snake was dispatched as a personal favour to Roy Campbell to assassinate Liquid.

Snake, now codenamed "Old Snake", successfully made it to the PMC base where Liquid was. He once again met Meryl, who was now in command of a reformed FOXHOUND group called Rat Patrol 01. He, however, failed to assassinate Liquid in time due to Liquid's sudden deactivation of the SOP (Sons of the Patriots) system. The SOP system was run by the Patriots with the purpose of monitoring and controlling every soldier engaged in combat action. Liquid's plan to disarm the system and take it for himself at first went horribly wrong when it caused the Middle Eastern base to descend into chaos (although the chaos unknowingly saved him from Snake's mission to kill him).

Later, Otacon received a message from Naomi Hunter, who had been there in the Middle East to save Snake when the SOP system went wrong. The message contained a distress call as well as an encrypted map of Liquid's South American base in Soliton Radar format (a sign from Naomi that it was truly from her), the location of which Olga's daughter Sunny was able to trace. Snake made it to the base where Naomi was held, and she gave him a thorough medical examination. It was during this that Snake discovered the harsh truth: his aging was not part of any external source, it was merely the way he was designed as a clone. In addition, the FOXDIE virus that Naomi injected him with during the Shadow Moses incident almost a decade earlier was still circulating within him like a normal virus but, due to the damage to his body, was also sustaining damage that would soon cause it to be a threat to every human on the planet, making Snake a walking biological weapon.

After defeating Beauty and the Beast unit member Laughing Octopus, Snake escaped with Naomi with the help of Drebin, also picking up Raiden, who was now a cyborg ninja.

Raiden explained that he was acting under the orders of Big Mama, a leader of a small resistance group in Eastern Europe. Snake found Big Mama, discovering she was actually EVA who, due to her ties with Big Boss, was able to explain most of The Patriots' history to him. She also revealed that she had Big Boss' body in her possession. After escaping an onslaught of FROGS and defeating the second B&B member, Raging Raven, Snake found Liquid, who was in the midst of implementing the now perfected version of his plan. Taking control of the SOP system, Liquid used his now undefeatable army to kill every last soldier there, including Big Mama, but save for Snake and the members of Rat Patrol. Luckily, in the chaos, Otacon was able to stow the Mark II away with Naomi (who had apparently returned to Liquid), and discovered Liquid's true plan: to destroy the Patriots themselves.

Knowing Liquid was planning to do this by using the only non-Patriot controlled weapon in existence - the rail gun from Metal Gear REX - Snake followed Liquid back to Shadow Moses Island. There Snake managed to defeat Vamp, B&B member Crying Wolf and Metal Gear RAY, himself piloting Metal Gear REX for the latter. However, he was unable to kill Liquid or stop him from stealing the rail gun in time, a prize which Liquid quickly equipped to his own Arsenal Gear, Outer Haven. Snake, Meryl and Rat Patrol team member Akiba infiltrated the Haven ship, where Snake defeated the last of the B&B members, Screaming Mantis, as well as finally destroying GW, the Patriot's former AI which Liquid managed to reassemble. Thanks to Sunny's virus, FOXALIVE, the infection spread to the rest of the Patriots, eliminating them and saving the world from destroying itself. Atop Outer Haven, Snake faced his brother in arm-to-arm combat one last time, where Liquid died from the new FOXDIE virus, not before revealing to Snake that in fact he was not Liquid after all, but simply pretending to be him to throw the Patriots off. His mission, as it turns out, was the same as Snake's, putting them technically on the same side.

Sometime later, Snake considered committing suicide to prevent the spread of FOXDIE. He sat in front of Big Boss' grave with his gun in his mouth, but in the end was unable to end his life. Big Boss then appeared from nowhere, revealing the true brains behind the Patriots to be himself and Zero, and ends the life of the now-vegetative Zero himself. Snake and his father finally make amends, and Big Boss, before dying (as a target of the FOXDIE virus), made Snake promise to live however much time he had left "not as a snake, but as a man". Determined to fulfil this promise, Snake retreated into hiding with Otacon and Sunny, this time for good, to live the remainder of his life in peace.

Personality and Characteristics
In contrast to his "brothers", Liquid Snake and Solidus Snake, Solid Snake has been described several times as very "cool, calm and collected", even in the most extreme circumstances. It is likely this ability to remain calm and collected that allows him to win through in the toughest situations, and certainly adds to his "tough-guy" image. His best friend Otacon, in response to discussing Snake's defeat of an M1 tank with purely grenades, told him that he was the "toughest, craziest, most hardcore badass on the planet", summing his friend up with "the shit".

However, Snake clearly does not have as high an opinion of himself as others do of him. Although he has been called a hero many times by different people, he has invariably denied it, claiming: "There are no heroes in war" and, after his accelerated ageing: "I'm just an old killer". On that subject, he displays an almost vindictive frankness towards what is really murder, claiming that some people "just need killing", as was (originally) his opinion on his patricide against Big Boss. Although he seems to resent himself for this, pointing out (in Sniper Wolf's case) that people always have a choice to make something better of themselves, and describing fate and karma as "just an excuse for giving up". Naomi Hunter disagrees with him on this, as shown by how once reflected that "if she hadn't been born on a battlefield she would have lived a happier, more promising life". His resentment is further evident by his statement to Meryl: "Unfortunately, killing is just one of those things that gets easier the more you do it." He would, however, give comfort to those in the midst of dying.

Despite his apparent resentment of himself, however, he appeared to be in some state of denial prior to the Shadow Moses Incident, denying any enjoyment in killing. With almost poetic justice, it was not until coming face to face with his twin brother, Liquid Snake (who described him with a textbook description of a psychopath) that he saw what he truly was, and considered the possibility that Psycho Mantis' statement that compared to Snake, Mantis is "like a saint" was true. He told Otacon that part of the reason he set up Philanthropy was to do good so as to atone for his sins.

Although his vindictiveness is a highly visible trait, he certainly shows compassion and some humanity towards his job. As aforementioned, he has been seen to give comfort to those in the midst of dying. He also showed this side of him in his relationship with Raiden during the Big Shell Incident, encouraging him not to become a cold-blooded killer like him and claiming: "It's for you to decide", and that "he still has his youth".

When Meryl asked Snake about whether there was anyone he liked, he said "I've never been interested in other people's lives". This reluctance to become involved with others may explain why he left both Holly White and Meryl after Operation Intrude F014 and the Shadow Moses Incident respectively. This could be a result of his loneliness throughout his early life, though one cannot help but wonder if his statement "other people just complicate things" is entirely true, and whether or not it is more that he does not wish to complicate the lives of others.

Additionally, he does not appear to show much loyalty for his country. Despite saving her several times, he claimed during his briefing prior to his infiltration of Shadow Moses Island that he is no patriot, and does not feel in debt to his country. He also shows a great deal of dislike towards politicians, and described the international community as "self serving" for not doing anything about the might of the PMCs for fear of the possible effect on the war economy.

Following his failed suicide attempt, a result of a combination of both his aforementioned self-loathing and the FOXDIE virus within him, Big Boss appeared to him and made him promise to live the small amount of life he had left "as a man, not a snake". His respect for his father renewed, Snake finally conquered his self-resentment and realised that (his decision to finally quit smoking a symbol of this) he still had the choice he always claimed people had from the start - to make something better of themselves.

Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django
Snake appears as "???", a character who has lost their memory. The player rescues him in the House of Time. Django tells him to go to Sun Avenue, where he sets up a shop. The player can then buy "Blindboxes" (weapons and items that Snake has picked up in random boxes so the player can't see what he or she is buying) from him. He also gives advice on where to go next, and gives the player titles.

DreamMix TV World Fighters
Snake is one of the fighters in DreamMix TV World Fighters, the fighting cross-company game between Konami, Hudson Soft, and Takara, appearing alongside mascots like Bomberman, Castlevania's Simon Belmont, and Optimus Prime. His appearance in the game is based on Metal Gear Solid 2 with his special moves consisting of only C4, which can be planted onto anything and detonated at will. Snake's stage is based on one of the connecting bridges of the Big Shell, with the Harrier appearing and shooting the combatants. The music for this stage is a remix of the Metal Gear Solid Main Theme, with a remix of Yell "Dead Cell" playing when the Harrier appears. Snake also has alternate costumes like the tuxedo, his Iroqouis Pliskin alter ego, as well as one based on his original Metal Gear Solid appearance.

Metal Gear Acid
Solid Snake is the main character in Metal Gear Acid. He came out of retirement to help the FBI in a mission to obtain the Pythagoras data but then begins to find out that he has worked at BEAGLE before as Hans Davis, which he's only led to believe. For more information see Hans Davis.

Metal Gear Solid Mobile
This game is set sometime after Shadow Moses. Philanthropy received intelligence from a woman named Victoria Reed that a Metal Gear REX model was being built by the company she was working for. Snake was sent in, but quickly discovered that the whole thing was a ruse. Victoria was an AI, and Snake had really been sent in so that terrorists could take over the facility once Snake had disabled the security system. Pressing on, Snake later realized that the Otacon he had been talking was also an AI, as it started to glitch. The real Otacon eventually managed to contact Snake and they decided it would be easier for Snake to finish the mission instead of Otacon hacking him out. Snake eventually overthrew the terrorist threat, and defeated their leader.

When Snake awoke from the VR, he overheard two voices talking. They stated that Snake was unable to provide them with the data they needed, and proceeded to erase his memory of the events.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Solid Snake is a character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Nintendo Wii. Snake uses explosives, RPGs, and grenades, with a mix of CQC, the Cypher from MGS2, and the famous box as a taunt. Also, in the Shadow Moses Island stage, Snake can call Colonel, Otacon or Mei Ling (and, at one point, the Colonel AI, and Slippy Toad) for intel on his opponents. He is also a fan of Captain Falcon. When Snake contacts Otacon and Mei Ling on his Codec regarding Samus Aran (In both her Power Suit and Zero Suit), it's implied that Snake might be infatuated with the bounty hunter. Also, when using Codec calls while fighting Sonic the Hedgehog, Snake states that he doesn't like him, because in real life, hedgehogs are the snake's natural enemy. (he states that "something about that hedgehog rubs me the wrong way...")

Clearing Classic Mode with Snake will award a trophy of Snake, with the following description: "A former member of FOXHOUND with an IQ of 180 and mastery of six languages. He's an infiltration specialist whose ability to carry out missions under any conditions has made him a legend. He's saved the world three times from the threat of bipedal, nuclear-armed mechs called Metal Gear. Currently he's working with the anti-Metal Gear group known as Philanthropy."

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus
Solid Snake is a recruit character in MPO+, under the "Old Snake" codename, and his appearance is closer to his aged look in Guns Of The Patriots. When recruited Campbell remarks "Some old guy joined our team. Kinda reminds me of Snake" (referring to Old Snake's obvious similarities to his father, Naked Snake).

Track & Field
Snake has been confirmed to be a playable character in the upcoming Nintendo DS game, New International Track & Field, alongside fellow Konami characters such as Sparkster of Rocket Knight Adventures, Silent Hill's Pyramid Head, and Simon Belmont, as well as new original characters.

Ape Escape 3
Solid Snake makes a non-canonical appearance in Metal Gear Solid 3, specifically in the Snake vs Monkey game. Here, Campbell too makes an appearance in a call, where he had to bring Snake out of vacation to capture mechanical monkeys that escaped a lab, much to Snake's dismay. Snake replies back that Campbell could have gotten Gabe or Sam (referring to Gabe Logan and Sam Fisher, protagonists of Syphon Filter and Splinter Cell, competitors of Metal Gear Solid in the stealth genre) to do the job though is told that there were a number of reasons why Snake was chosen, one of them being that the lab scientist is a friend of Otacon's.

LittleBigPlanet: Paint Of The Patriots
A costume available to download for LittleBigPlanet allows Sackboy to dress up as Old Snake.

Behind The Scenes


He is voiced by Akio Otsuka in the Japanese releases of the Metal Gear Solid series, and by David Hayter in the English releases. Hideo Kojima based Solid Snake on a number of different characters, including Snake Plissken from the film Escape from New York.

Snake's real name, David, which was revealed at the end of the original Metal Gear Solid, is a reference to two fictional characters: David Bowman from 2001: A Space Odyssey and Dave Forrest from Policenauts (which was also created by Kojima). While Snake shares the same given name with the English voice actor, Hayter, this was not intentional (contrary to popular belief) and is merely coincidental. In Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, he uses the alias Iroquois Pliskin, which is a reference to Snake Plissken. The name "Iroquois" has a double meaning. The Iroquois were a confederacy of Native American tribes headquartered in New York. The word "Iroquois" was also a Huron word meaning "Black Snake".

Metal Gear 2, set in 1999, features an older-looking Snake than seen in Metal Gear Solid, set in 2005. However, there are numerous inconsistencies between the Metal Gear Solid series and the previous incarnation of the series. Also, some of the portraits used in Metal Gear 2 were based on real actors, and the characters were redesigned for later games. In Konami's Japanese cell phone re-release of Metal Gear 2, Snake's portrait is brought more in line with his presentation in Metal Gear Solid.