Mei Ling

Mei Ling (美玲) was part of Solid Snake's support team during the Shadow Moses incident. Mei-Ling had always wanted to be a pilot after falling in love with jets in the movies. She majored in aerodynamics in college, planning to join the military to perform battle damage assessments (she didn't want to kill people). Her dreams of being a pilot were crushed after she learned that there weren't any pilots who do just battle damage assessments. Sometime after graduating from MIT, she turned her intellect to the field of technology, where her talents blossomed as she invented the Codec communication system, and the Soliton Radar that both Solid Snake and Raiden used during their missions.

Mei-Ling was very well versed in many forms of literature, frequently quoting everything from Shakespeare to Chinese proverbs. She says that "it helps her keep in touch with both sides of her heritage" as her parents are Chinese immigrants, but she was born and raised in America. She purposefully read up on topics outside of her major in college, including that of famous literature around the world as she didn't want to limit herself to field technology, explaining to Snake that she wanted to become a "well-balanced engineer".

After Shadow Moses, Mei Ling helped out Philanthropy, illegally appropriating equipment from the U.S. Army SSCEN (Soldier Systems Center), a research and development center for the U.S. Military. During one of these instances, Snake told Otacon to tell Mei Ling to quit, as the military would find out sooner or later.

Mei Ling later becomes the Commanding Officer of the museum-turned-training vessel USS Missouri and provides Snake and Otacon with backup. It is rumored that she was promoted to captain after she caught the eye of some lecherous old admiral. Due to her position on the USS Missouri, she is seen dressed in a Navy uniform. She now holds the rank of captain, evidenced by her collar insignia.

At Johnny Sasaki and Meryl Silverburgh's wedding, Mei Ling served as the bridesmaid.

Behind the Scenes

 * According to the offical Metal Gear Solid strategy guide, Mei Ling was raised in Chinatown, San Francisco. She did well in school, but suffered from an extreme inferiority complex.


 * According to Yoji Shinkawa, Mei Ling was originally designed after the likeness of Japanese actress Shinobu Nakayama.


 * Mei Ling makes a voice-only cameo in Metal Gear Solid 2; if the player saves the game on thirteen separate occasions in the Tanker section, Mei Ling corrects a proverb that Otacon cannot seem to interpret.


 * In the original Japanese version of Metal Gear Solid, Mei Ling only quoted Chinese proverbs. The decisions to add Western quotes in the English version was based on a decision between Hideo Kojima and translator Jeremy Blaustein.


 * In Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2, Mei Ling spoke in a slightly exaggerated Chinese accent. In Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, Mei Ling's Chinese accent is eliminated, establishing that she has a more American accent. This accent actually makes more sense, as Mei Ling was raised in America.
 * In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, if you contact Mei Ling while fighting Pikachu, Mei Ling will ask Snake to capture it for her.
 * Unbeknown to anyone, during the gap between MGS 1 and MGS 4 Mei Ling was cloned and the Embryo put into a American woman hence why she in MGS4 she sounds more American instead of a Chinese accent like she sounded in MGS 1. She also suffered the same disease as snake of Acelerated Aging due to the genetic changes during the cloning hence why she looks how she does in MGS 4 instead of being a 10 year old.