Les Enfants Terribles

The Les Enfants Terribles project (French for The Terrible Children), was a project in which the main aim was to create the Sons of Big Boss. It was discovered that Big Boss was sterilized during a nuclear explosion. This was most likely caused by his exposure during nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll or because of the explosions caused by the Davy Crocketts.

Sons of Big Boss
A few years later when he was in a coma after a fairly radical mission, the government decided to take some of Big Boss' DNA in order to make clones of him. In the project, one of the clones was to carry all of Big Boss' dominant genes (Liquid Snake), one was to carry all of his recessive genes (Solid Snake), and one was to have a perfect balance of dominant and recessive genes from Big Boss (Solidus Snake).

During the Shadow Moses Island incident, Liquid Snake was under the impression that he was the inferior, having been granted the supposedly "flawed" recessive genes, whilst his brother received the "superior" dominant genes. Hence his resentment towards Solid Snake during their confrontation and his believing himself to be "Garbage from the day (he) was born", the leftovers of what they had used to create his brother, "the Legend", Solid Snake. In truth however, it was Solid Snake who was the genetic "inferior" spawned by the project, whether by accident or design.

Yet in spite of his supposed genetic shortcomings, it was Solid Snake who battled and defeated both Big Boss and Liquid, proving once and for all that genes do not dictate one's fate.

The explanation of the Les Enfants Terribles project is pure science fiction, bordering on the realm of pseudo-science. In reality, while genes can be termed "dominant" or "recessive", these terms are measures of their expression, not their inherent quality, and it makes no sense to divide a genome on the basis of dominance and recessiveness (especially as the great majority of genes are neither absolutely dominant nor completely recessive, nor are the different genes "stronger" in any way). Also, these "dominant" genes can be interpreted as the "Soldier genes" Big Boss had. Thus, the term Dominant might simply be a reference to the superior soldier genes and not to a the phenotype "dominant".

The Super Baby Method
It is revealed at the end of Metal Gear Solid that from one of Big Boss' cells, eight embryos were created. Liquid tells Solid that the other six were destroyed so that they could create Solid and Liquid.

Ocelot Revelation
After the closing credits in Metal Gear Solid, an exchange between Ocelot and an unknown participant takes place about the outcome of the battle between Liquid and Solid. He also mentions about the genetics of Solid Snake and Liquid Snake. In the final exchanges we find out that it is in fact Solidus that he is talking to. This exchange can be seen in the clip below, which shows that Solid does indeed have the recessive genes and Liquid has the dominant genes. (Note that although this version of the scene is taken from The Twin Snakes, it was in the original Metal Gear Solid as well.)

In other games

 * In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, when Snake fights his clone, the player can initiate a codec conversation with Col. Campbell, who wonders if "the Les Enfants Terribles project really come this far?".

Les Enfants Terribles Les Enfants Terribles