The End

The End was the legendary "Ancient Sniper" of the Cobra Unit. He was over 100 years old when he was defeated by Naked Snake in 1964.

Early life and career
Born in the early 1860s, The End was a veteran of countless wars, and was considered to be the world's greatest sniper, having originated all sniping techniques. He was known as "the father of modern sniping." He also taught The Boss everything she knew about sniping. He was said to never require a spotter, and could stay in the same prone sniping position without moving for days or even weeks at a time. The closest to an actual spotter was his pet parrot. Added even more to his formidable arsenal was his own body which was said to have been photosynthetic. The End also wore false teeth and had the ability to bulge his eyes out of their sockets. He also had a parrot that usually landed on any part of his body. At some point after World War II, he was believed to have modified his Mosin Nagant to fire tranquilizer darts.

In August 1964, during the Virtuous Mission, The End was among the Cobra Unit members on board the Hind A in Tselinoyarsk, who greeted The Boss when she defected. After being reunited with their leader, he and the Cobras joined forces with Colonel Volgin of GRU.

A week later, following Naked Snake's defeat of The Pain, The End accompanied The Boss to the Ponizovje warehouse, to meet with Volgin. Due to his advanced age, his sleeping body was carried there in a wheelchair by The Fear. The End was conserving his remaining life energy until the time came for his battle with Snake. With The Fear departing to halt the progress of her former disciple, The Boss assured Volgin that Snake would be "ended" by the famed sniper, should the time come. After the meeting concluded, The End was wheeled back inside the warehouse by one of the GRU sentries.

The End then waited in the forest of Sokrovenno, although he was asleep when Snake arrived and thus resulting in his parrot waking him. He then prayed to the forest to linger in life for a little longer and grant him enough strength for his final hunt. He also thanked Snake for arriving, as his own sleep would have been eternal if he hadn't shown up, and announced his intention of sending Snake to his ultimate fate, declaring that Snake was fitting for his final hunt. He then battled Naked Snake in a long sniper duel in Sokrovenno. Eventually, Snake defeated The End, with the foliage on his ghillie suit shifting from green to orange, like dying leaves. Before he died, he gave a speech in which he thanked the forest for giving him strength and also thanked Snake telling him that the boss would be proud of him. His last words were, "I can return to the forest at last," before his microbomb detonated.

After death
Nearly a decade later, in 1974 at Costa Rica, The End's ghost ended up haunting the area, with him sometimes communicating beyond the grave. Likewise, Naked Snake, now known as Big Boss, remembered his fight with The End, often asking his allies, to their confusion, whether it was possible to photosynthesize while lazing off or whether the Peace Sentinels' snipers also had parrots.

Personality and traits
As with the other members of the Cobra Unit, The End's codename signified the emotion he felt while on the battlefield; in his case, total oblivion. In battle, he blocked out everything except his targets, allowing himself to focus on his "hunt." Because he was very old and incredibly close to death, he would often fall asleep during battle. His closest companion, a parrot, acted as his spotter and would wake him up when he fell asleep, referring to him as "Grandpa."

The End was also an expert on camouflage. His uniform was a special ghillie suit with a form of natural moss that added more camouflage to himself, and the sniping positions he chose to conceal himself well, The moss would also react to his health state such as turning brown when he was close to death implying a deeper connection with his powers. When in a prone position, he became "one" with the area – his body temperature lowered so that it was close to that of the surrounding foliage. This made spotting him with thermal goggles difficult. Additionally, when The End's stamina dropped dangerously low, he would absorb the sun's rays and recover his stamina quickly. While doing so, the liver spots on his head would disappear and he became rejuvenated, gaining a slightly younger appearance.

The End was armed with a M1891/30 Mosin-Nagant sniper rifle, a Russian-made bolt-action rifle used during both World Wars. His model was modified to fire special tranquilizer rounds that were not only effective at long range but is the most potent non lethal weapon in the game. His Mosin-Nagant rifle also has a folding paratrooper's stock and a pistol grip. Although he could easily have handled a Dragunov SVD sniper rifle, The End opted to use the Mosin-Nagant tranqulizer sniper rifle instead because of his gentle nature and unwillingness to kill. He would also use stun grenades, should an enemy get too close to him, in order to escape and find a new sniping location.

Behind the scenes


The End (ジ・エンド) was developed from elements of Old Boy, a character who was cut from the final version of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
The End first appears in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, voiced by Grant Albrecht in English and Osamu Saka in Japanese. He is fought by the player in a boss battle, which was named the fourth greatest of all time by Electronic Gaming Monthly, and was rated #3 in the "Top Ten Video Game Sniper Moments" by Game Informer.

Because of the nature of his boss fight, The End is the only boss in the game that lacks a boss battle theme.

In the HD versions, killing The End early or killing The End in his boss battle will result in the unlocking of the trophies/achievements "The Early End" and "The End", respectively. In addition, successfully holding up The End in the boss battle will result in the achievement/trophy "You Snooze, You Lose" being unlocked.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence
In Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, The End makes an appearance in the Secret Theater movie, He's Still Got It, where he became infatuated with Tatyana (EVA), as she walked by him at the Ponizovje warehouse, "reviving him." He then began stalking her, even tranquilizing Ocelot when he was intimidating her at Groznyj Grad. However, he ended up becoming angered at Naked Snake due to his advancing on her, until his heart finally broke after discovering (while hiding under a tigerskin rug) that EVA had reciprocated Snake's feelings, at the Alaskan retreat. He decided to try and snipe EVA the morning afterwards, while waiting outside of the retreat. However, he became too involved with his monologue and was run over by EVA's motorcycle, causing his death and eventual microbomb detonation.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
In Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, The End makes a vocal cameo in several "Dead Man's Treasure" missions, in the mission if you use the Codec The End "contacts" Big Boss from the grave, using the radio frequency 000.00. Another reference to him is in the form of a reward in which you get the Neo-Moss uniform by S ranking Extra Ops [062] However this uniform does not regenerate stamina/psych like his original one did as it lacks the photosynthetic properties of the original Moss camouflage but even though its inferior to the original it is still the uniform that offers the highest camouflage index in Peace Walker. Grant Albrecht and Osamu Saka both return to voice the role, while Saka also voices the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The End is also heavily referenced in the game's audio file conversations. In one example, Big Boss asks if any of the enemy snipers are accompanied by parrots, while in another, he muses as to whether it is possible to photosynthesize with very little foliage.

Boss battle
In Metal Gear Solid 3, the player fights The End in an area spanning three zones – Sokrovenno North, South and West. It is a thick forest, divided into a river, a plateau, and a clearing. He will under no circumstances kill Snake, choosing to tranquilize him instead.

The End's tranquilizer rounds will drain Snake's stamina, causing his hands to shake. This effect can be countered with the Animals uniform, which is found in the Chyornaya Peschera Cave after defeating Ocelot in a non-lethal duel. However, Snake will eventually collapse if the dart is not removed from his body or if he does not eat any food. After fainting, The End will carry Snake back to the jail in Graniny Gorki.

By killing his parrot, The End will find it more difficult to track Snake's movements. However, this will make him enraged and more aggressive. In addition, the method in which the player handles his parrot will have its appearance vary slightly in the cutscene after the battle. If the player either ignored or otherwise captured the bird alive, it will appear whole. If the player killed the bird, however, the parrot will appear translucent, implying that the parrot returned as a ghost in the latter event.

If the player, with the SVD, had shot The End at Ponizovje without killing him, The End will have lowered health and stamina by the time the player fights The End at Sokrovenno.

It is also possible to use the thermal goggles to track the End's movements.

Mosin Nagant and Moss Camo
The End is one of only two bosses in Metal Gear Solid 3 where the player will not receive his camouflage if he is defeated non-lethally (the other is The Sorrow). They will instead receive The End's Mosin Nagant which will be located near Snake in Sokrovenno North. To receive his Moss camo, the player must hold him up and keep pointing any gun at his head for a certain period of time (holding him up the same way in a replay if the player already got the Moss Camo, however, will only have The End supplying medical supplies and a ration). It is the only uniform that actually provides a full 100% Camo Index when its raining but only in certain areas of Tselynoyarsk, When it is not raining however the camo index will be 95% this can be lifted up to 100% with the Woodland facepaint. It can also recover Snake's stamina if he encounters certain forms of light (not just sunlight itself).

Avoiding the fight
There are two ways to defeat The End without fighting him directly:
 * The player can snipe him immediately after his first appearance at the Ponizovje Warehouse. If the player succeeds in killing him, the explosion from his microbomb will send his wheelchair flying towards Snake, so it is advised that player quickly dodge after killing him. Doing this in the Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection version of the game will award the The Early End as well as the The End trophies/achievements. The Ocelot Unit will be waiting to ambush Snake in Sokrovenno if Snake chooses this. If Snake kills him via this method, Zero and the other support team members will congratulate him for killing him, although Snake will express disappointment in killing him in the manner that he did, as he was hoping that he'd actually face him in battle.
 * Another way is to wait for nature itself to take him. If the player saves their game in the middle of the battle and waits over a week before playing again, The End will have died of old age. The player can also just set their PlayStation 2's internal clock a week ahead to get the same result. Similar to the above, when Naked Snake calls his support team, they will decide that Snake is the winner by default, although Snake feels that he had disappointed The End by failing to face him before his death. Also, The End's microbomb will detonate posthumously by his parrot after his demise and the call.
 * Note: changing the system's time may sometimes result in a cutscene where The End ambushes Snake while he's sleeping. Since The End is only using tranquilizers, Snake will awake in a cell in Graniny Gorki. The cell is open, so Snake can simply walk out. He will need to go on foot back to Sokvrovenno to continue the battle with The End.

Other
If the player punches The End during his fight with The Sorrow, The End will turn over.

Appearances

 * Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
 * Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D