Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-86.46.22.35-20130403153709/@comment-89.153.6.15-20150821114700

Weedle McHairybug wrote:

Jim Logan wrote: You two do realize this shit(Solidus being Ishmael), having a TWO YEAR OLD watch over Big Boss then MAGICALLY turn into a 40 year old man in less than 9 years is something you see in a MARVEL(or DC) comic book, not in a Metal Gear game.

Also, if you paid attention to MGS2, Solidus never met Big Boss, he didn't even know what the guy looked like. Ocelot said "You look just like the Boss!" And Solidus replied, "Really? I guess I better thank that kid for taking out my eye."

If Solidus DIDN'T KNOW HE LOOKED LIKE BIG BOSS, how the hell could he have met the bastard? In all fairness, if the Make It Right trailers (which are most likely canon since Raiden references the events of those trailers in an optional Codec conversation with Doktor) are to be believed, Solidus may have indeed looked like a teenager when he was actually preschool-age (since the trailers pretty obviously depicted Solidus as middle-aged even when he would have been a late teen, early young adult at best). That being said, it's pretty unlikely he'd be Ishmael, especially considering he has yet to join the CIA (since he was involved in Liberia as a CIA operative, based on one of Raiden's Codec calls with Kevin).

I do find it unlikely he would not know what Big Boss looked like, since he tries to model himself after him, and besides, doesn't Big Boss have a case file according to the MGS briefing? I doubt he as commander in chief would not have at least taken a look at an image of Big Boss, especially when he is most likely going to go into office by that point. He's not being revealed to Big Boss, remember? He shows up in bandages, has the same voice as him, gets him out and vanishes. Big Boss is then delivered to the care and guidance of an older Ocelot and we never see this character again, but he will be mentioned by the end, if not in the already traditional Ocelot report after the end credits. Besides, to make this point stick even more, is that as far as I can tell from Big Boss attitudes and remarks during the time period of Peacewalker, he doesn't seem to take into account that the Les Enfants Terribles project was actually brought to complete fruition, that is, he completely ignores that David, Eli and very possibly this Ismael character were actually already born when he goes under after the inspection incident on Mother Base. And before this, Eva, reached out to him to no avail, trying to talk him out of his path by describing what happened to the Boss during the space program. This woman loves him and possibly decided that, since she can't be close to him due to the path he has taken, she offers herself as the womb for the project, as means of having a piece of him with her. Naturally, Eva ends up betrayed in her intentions, because she gets to keep no child produced from this project, as it is obvious by the time she talks about this in MGS4.

However, Ocelot seems fully aware of where they are and what they are doing, since he is a triple agent, he works for all parties involved, thus is also blamed and persecuted by the Patriots for the several faux pas surrounding this project (like Solid Snake becoming public knowledge after Shadow Moses). He clearly was tasked with supervising the entire thing and was held accountable for it.

That's why by MGS2 you see him going full rogue on all of his allegiances, the events have left him with no barganing chips with the Patriots, so he decided to take control.

The key plot device here is that the "hero" of this story arc is not in the know about the things that are happening, but we are. We see him as a victim of everything, including his ignorance, which I think it's the entire point of this story. He turned out to be a villain to protect something that he ended up destroying himself unknowingly. Expect nothing but a tragedy of almost classical greek stylings, I would say.The true villain knows more things about the context than any of them, and the true villain of the series has always been the triple agent Shalashaska (aka Revolver Ocelot). Keep that in mind.