Zero

Major Zero, briefly known as Major Tom and later simply called Zero, was born David Oh in Exeter, England on August 12th, 1909, and was a former member of the British SAS. Zero was the commander of the CIA special forces unit FOX (Force Operation X) in the 1960s. By the time of Operation Snake Eater, he lived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which is also the location of the Pease AFB. At some point, he suffered from gout, but recovered just before the operation. Zero had a prominent scar over his left eye. He also had a sister, and was a huge fan of the James Bond films. He was the head of an unofficial CIA division called the UMA Club. He later became the founder of the Patriots.

Early life and career
Prior to creating FOX, David Oh previously served in the SAS (it's here where David met The Boss) and with MI6, where David was codenamed "O", from which his later CIA codename of "Zero" was derived. At some point later, David Oh joined the CIA, and worked under the CIA's bureau of classified planning. In 1962, Zero helped Nikolai Stephanovich Sokolov and his family defect from the Soviet Union to America in West Berlin, but was forced to allow the USSR to retrieve Sokolov after the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis, due to America's deal of allowing the USSR to have Sokolov back in their ranks in exchange of shutting down the constructions of a missile base in Cuba. After reuniting with The Boss shortly after she had to kill The Sorrow, he and The Boss formed the CIA's FOX unit. Zero's own reasons for forming the FOX unit was to prepare himself for an eventual second attempt at recovering Sokolov. At some point later, Zero also recruited Donald Anderson and Dr. Clark into the CIA as he recognized their potential. However, David ended up receiving complaints three days per month from personnel, relating to Anderson.

In 1964, David Oh served as FOX's commanding officer for the Virtuous Mission, the objective being to once again rescue Sokolov in Tselinoyarsk, who had been taken back to the USSR. David had briefed his friend John (a.k.a. Jack) on the previous attempt at rescuing Sokolov, as well as explaining that the Soviets most likely wanted Sokolov back to finish a weapons system capable of turning the tide of the Cold War. He also warned Jack that if he didn't retrieve Sokolov in four hours, then they wouldn't have enough time to pick Jack up from Tselinoyarsk. He also explained to Jack that they were going to use codenames from that point on: Jack was given the codename Naked Snake due to the procuring on-site procedure, essentially bare in terms and "naked" while David referred himself as "Major Tom" for a codename. Upon arriving at Rassvet, Major Tom explained to Snake that he needed to deliver Sokolov a message when he rescued him: "Sorry for being so late."

Following the failure of the Virtuous Mission due to The Boss's defection and the bombing of the Sokolov Design Bureau, Major Tom felt that his new codename might have been a mistake, so he arranged for the film company to deliver to him the film roll for The Great Escape so he could rewatch it. The Major then realized that he had actually named himself after one of the failed escape tunnels. He also was shocked that The Boss would actually defect, as he viewed her with higher regard than even his own family, although he did later admit that she had an aura of mystery surrounding her. David later visited Snake in his hospital room, and explained to him that the Government was willing to revoke the charges in regards to any and all involvement in The Boss's defection under one condition: he had to accept the follow up mission Operation Snake Eater.

David, returning to his original "Major Zero" codename, again served as Snake's commanding officer during Operation Snake Eater, with Para-Medic (Dr. Clark) and Sigint (Donald Anderson) providing radio support, and EVA assisting Snake with transportation. The mission was a success as the Cobra Unit were killed off, the Shagohod was destroyed, Colonel Volgin and The Boss were eliminated, and the American Philosophers recovered a microfilm revealing the location of the Philosophers' Legacy. Upon returning home, Snake was awarded the "Big Boss" codename by President Lyndon B. Johnson. As Snake left, he ran into Major Zero but was too distraught to say anything to him. Not long afterward, Snake left FOX and America and drifted around nations as a mercenary while Major Zero's stature rose and his influence grew inside the halls of Langley.

In 1970, Major Zero was supposedly arrested for treason by the Pentagon, under the suspicion that he instigated FOX unit's takeover of the San Hieronymo Peninsula. In actuality, Zero conspired with Ocelot to grab the remainder of the Philosophers' Legacy. Tired of the American Philosophers' bickering, Zero and Ocelot decided it was time to "end them" and then "reform" the Philosophers by staging Gene's takeover on the San Hieronymo Peninsula and the stealing of a nuclear missile so they could lure the DCI to come out of hiding.

However, they were unaware that Gene was serious in launching the nucelar missile towards the American Philosophers, thus framing the Russian Philosophers (interestingly, Ocelot never knew his conspirator was Zero while Gene had an idea as he referred to Zero as "the man with the same codename as Null"). However, Big Boss (Naked Snake) and Roy Campbell were able to convince the Red Army soldiers and some of the FOX personnel to defect and help them against FOX and foiled Gene's plot. Meanwhile, Major Zero had supplied trajectory data in regards to where the missile was to be launched to the DCI. Zero then had Ocelot assassinate the DCI in order to obtain the entire Philosophers' Legacy and the list with the identities of the Philospher members.

Afterwards, Major Zero was cleared of all charges. After Snake and Campbell returned to America, Major Zero (along with Para-Medic, Sigint, and a senior DOD Official) were there welcoming the two back home. Later, Zero shared with Ocelot the battle data of the Perfect Soldier Project and gave hints about "genomes" as bargaining chips. Ocelot argeed to stay working together under the condition that they recruit Big Boss in their new organization: the Patriots.

The Patriots
After Gene's rebellion, Zero joined with Big Boss, Sigint (Donald Anderson), Para-Medic (Dr. Clark), Ocelot, and EVA to form the Patriots. Using the Philosophers' Legacy as a limitless source of funding, Zero hoped to carry out The Boss's vision by turning Big Boss into a charismatic icon and unifying the world by controlling information. However, Major Zero and Big Boss disagreed on this goal. In 1972, Zero, fearing that Big Boss might leave due to the disagreement, had Dr. Clark create clones of Big Boss with EVA as the surrogate mother, thus the "twin snakes" (Solid Snake and Liquid Snake) of Big Boss were born. After finding out what happened, Big Boss condemned the project, and, considering this the last straw, parted ways with Zero, left the United States, and formed his own private mercenary army. Sometime after Big Boss left the Patriots, Zero had Clark create a third son of Big Boss.



In 1974, Zero and the Patriots (both referring to themselves as Cipher) orchestrated an incident in Costa Rica involving Hot Coldman's Peace Walker Project. Meanwhile, Cipher recruited Pacifica Ocean and Vladimir Zadornov, as well as personally contacting Kazuhira Miller in a business proposal to help expand the Militaires Sans Frontieres to get Big Boss to participate in their project without his knowledge.

Cipher also ordered Pacifica to modify Metal Gear ZEKE when the time came, and then hijack it and offer Big Boss the chance to rejoin them (the true purpose of the Peace Walker Project), and should he refuse, frame the Militaires Sans Frontieres for being an extremist cult by launching a nuclear warhead via ZEKE at the East Coast of the United States. Miller later alerted Zero that she made edits to it, although he was left unaware of her framing the Militaires Sans Frontieres if Big Boss refused. Ultimately, this plot failed when Big Boss damaged ZEKE and stopped Pacifica from launching a nuke, and Miller presumably quit Cipher after what they did. After Big Boss defeated Metal Gear ZEKE and Paz, Big Boss and Miller discussed about Cipher, causing Big Boss to bitterly realize that Cipher was actually Zero. However, Cipher planned on using the sons as "insurance" in case they failed to both bring Big Boss back to their group and frame the Militaires Sans Frontieres.

Later years
After Zero lost Big Boss, he completely lost control, deciding to make a world full of order and governed by rules. He also had his fortune grow by manipulating countless wars, and eventually started having his words manipulate even the very core of the Oval Office. Years later, Big Boss plotted coup d'état (Outer Heaven and Zanzibar Land) against Zero. But after Solid Snake defeated Big Boss both times, Zero put Big Boss in a nanomachine-induced coma.

Having lost Big Boss as an icon (and possibly still bitter about what he saw as betrayal), Zero began to rely on AIs to control the Patriots and by the early 2000s, Zero (possibly with Anderson's help) had created five AIs (TJ, TR, AL, GW, and JD) as his successors of the Patriots. When EVA and Ocelot had Dr. Clark killed by Gray Fox in 2003 and Donald Anderson was personally killed off by Ocelot during the Shadow Moses Incident, Zero went into hiding.

By the time of the Big Shell Incident (or possibly sometime before), the AIs unfortunately managed to completely ignore Zero's will and crafted their own.

In 2014, Big Mama personally revealed to Old Snake about the twisted history of Zero and Big Boss. After Old Snake used a computer virus to destroy the Patriots' AIs and defeated Liquid Ocelot afterward, Big Boss was able to discover the location of Zero, who was in a persistent vegetative state and kept alive solely by life support equipment. Big Boss explained to Old Snake that the AIs (Zero's successors) managed to completely ignore Zero's will and crafted their own, nearly "bringing the world to the brink of ruin" with Zero never realizing what had happened and how the world "began with zero." After reflecting on their past experences, Big Boss turned off the life support equipment, thus killing Zero.

Trivia

 * The bomber jacket that Major Zero wore during the missions to Tselinoyarsk resembled those worn by Allied pilots in World War II. It was also similar to the one worn by Steve McQueen in the 1963 film The Great Escape.
 * Zero was somehow able to procure Cuban cigars, offering one to an injured Naked Snake after the Virtuous Mission, despite the fact that Cuban imports were (and still are) illegal in the United States.
 * In a radio call, Zero suggested to Naked Snake to be more like James Bond and to have a "Snake shaped gun".
 * According to Sigint, Zero believed that he was once abducted by aliens.
 * "Zero" is a British military radio term, often used as a callsign for a HQ. It also refers to a ghost, which Zero claims is also fitting for a sneaking mission.
 * According to Sigint, Zero didn't know much about technology and often used Sigint's notes when explaining what the anti-personnel sensor, motion detector, and active sonar are, and once bought a washing machine but didn't know how to use it.
 * Zero disliked coffee and referred to it as "foul mud," instead preferring tea.
 * According to Zero's personal data as of 1964: his eyesight was 20/13; his bloodtype was "A"; he had previously been afflicted with gout; his hobbies included watching movies and hunting; his favorite food was Shepherd's Pie, while his least favorite food was hamburgers; he enjoyed spy and war movies; his favorite animal was the horse; his favorite type of liquor was whiskey; he enjoyed rugby; he liked Dimbula brand tea; and his favorite UMA was the Loch Ness Monster.
 * Zero in MGS4, resembles Professor X from the X men series.

Behind the scenes
Zero's Japanese voice actor, Banjo Ginga, previously voiced Liquid Snake in Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Liquid Ocelot in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

Zero's real name, David Oh, was first given in a voice casting sheet for Metal Gear Solid 3, which was leaked prior to E3 2004. It is never mentioned in-game, but it was later confirmed in the Metal Gear Solid 4 Database.

The name Major Tom, while mentioned in-game to be a reference to The Great Escape, is also a character in the song "Space Oddity" by David Bowie. This could be a nod to the song, as it was originally selected as the ending theme for Metal Gear Solid 3 as it references space exploration. However, as the game ultimately departed from this theme, it was replaced by Starsailor's "Way to Fall."

Prior to the release of Metal Gear Solid 4, some fans had incorrectly concluded that Zero was the "deviously cunning strategist" who had plotted The Boss's death, as mentioned in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. Upon first viewing, the dialogue in the game does not immediately make clear that this strategist and "the man with the same codename as Null" (Zero) are two distinct characters, originating the confusion. However, later games reveal that Zero had continued to admire and idolize The Boss, while Hot Coldman had actually been responsible for her death, as revealed in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
Although Zero was supposedly imprisoned during the events of Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, he can still be recruited as a secret character. Simply complete the game with a Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel save file on the PlayStation Portable's memory stick or use a code.

"Commander of Special Forces unit FOX, it was he who proposed the establishment of the unit to the CIA. Led Operation Snake Eater, providing support to Snake via radio. President of the unofficial UMA Finders Club at the CIA."

- Character description in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus