Sniper Wolf

Sniper Wolf (スナイパー・ウルフ) was one of the renegade members of FOXHOUND who took over Shadow Moses with the Genome Army. She was a Kurdish sharpshooter and had a great love for wolves and dogs.

Early Life and Career
"I was born on a battlefield. Raised on a battlefield. Gunfire, sirens and screams... They were my lullabies..."

- Sniper Wolf to Solid Snake

Sniper Wolf was an Iraqi Kurd born and raised in the middle of a violent guerrilla conflict between Kurdish rebels and the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein, surrounded by gunfire, sirens, and screams. She was constantly being hunted after and always had to move from one shelter to another on a regular basis. When she would wake up from sleep, she would find one of her friends or family dead beside her, and prayed that she would make it through each day. The international community did nothing to help her or stop the fighting, which made her hate the political world.

During the 1988 Al-Anfal Campaign in the Iran-Iraq War, Sniper Wolf witnessed the gassing of her friends and family at the hands of Iraqi soldiers. Sniper Wolf would later be trained by a Gurkha who taught her all he knew about sniping.

Sniper Wolf eventually met Big Boss, who saw great potential and talent within her. Big Boss brought the young Sniper Wolf to the United States. Sniper Wolf eventually came to look up to Big Boss, whom she called "Saladin."

She then became a lone sniper, so she could watch and wait, and see war from the outside rather than from the inside. After the "death" of Big Boss, Sniper Wolf was later recruited into FOXHOUND, to get her revenge on the world.

She eventually became a famous sniper and was capable of waiting for her targets for days, even weeks, without moving or even eating. She typically formed an emotional connection with her targets before killing them with her favored weapon, the Heckler & Koch PSG-1, and used mercury bullets to poison the victims as well. She also has an addiction to diazepam and pentazemin, two drugs that relieve anxiety and stop muscle spasms.

"I finally understand. I wasn't waiting to kill people... I was waiting for someone to kill me. A man like you... You're a hero. Please... Set me free."

- Sniper Wolf to Solid Snake

Eventually, she and the other members of FOXHOUND, Liquid Snake, Revolver Ocelot, Psycho Mantis, Vulcan Raven, and Decoy Octopus, as well as the Genome Soldiers, grew tired of their roles as puppets to the government, and they took over Shadow Moses.

When FOXHOUND took over Shadow Moses, they were planning on killing the dogs on the island, however, Sniper Wolf refused to let them kill them. Otacon believed that she was a good person due to her love for the dogs and eventually fell in love with her. Despite not sharing the same feelings, she did, however, feel a measure of friendship and sympathy for him as he was held prisoner on the island, allowing him to feed the dogs whenever he asked and even giving him her handkerchief as a small gift.

As Solid Snake and Meryl Silverburgh made their way through Shadow Moses, Sniper Wolf managed to wound Meryl in order to lure Snake out, which then resulted in his capture. It became apparent that she had a sadistic obsession with Snake when she told him that he's all she'll think about until she killed him. While in captivity, Otacon provided Snake some materials to escape, including the handkerchief Sniper Wolf had given him. After Snake escaped his holding cell, and after he battled Liquid in his Hind, he encountered Sniper Wolf again. After a silent yet deadly battle across the expansive snowfield, Sniper Wolf was bested by Snake.

After crossing the snowfield, Snake found Wolf lying down and coughing up blood. As she lay dying, Wolf told Snake of her past, how she was born and raised on the battlefield, how "Saladin" had helped her, who Snake correctly assumed was Big Boss. Wolf then asked Snake if he was Saladin but he ignored her question. She then revealed to Snake that she had shamed herself and her people by joining Liquid's plot "to take (her) revenge on the world." Distraught, she referred to herself as a dog, but Snake assured her that she was wild, untamed, and solitary, hence a wolf. She also revealed that Meryl was never her real target and that she did not kill for sport and took no pleasure in seeing women and children being harmed. Before asking Snake to kill her, she said she had not been waiting to kill people but rather had been waiting for someone to kill her.

Just before Snake was about to kill her, Otacon appeared, openly expressed his feelings for her and handed Wolf her PSG-1 at her request. Before Snake finished her off, she said her final words: "OK hero. Set me free." Snake killed her with a single shot of his SOCOM. After killing her, Snake wrapped her handkerchief over her face. Otacon inquired why he did this, to which Snake replied that he was returning it to its owner, and that he himself had no more tears to shed.

According to Liquid Snake, Sniper Wolf often took tranquilizers, causing him to speculate if that was the reason why she didn't succumb to FOXDIE.

Behind the Scenes

 * While the use of a handkerchief to wipe one's nose is made obsolete by tissue paper, in some countries, such as Japan, it's seen as "fancy" and respectable. Strangely, the Metal Gear Solid 4 Database calls it a scarf.
 * In the original script of Metal Gear Solid 2, the Cyborg Ninja was a machine that would use Meryl's voice to taunt Solid Snake and the voice of Sniper Wolf to taunt Otacon.
 * According to an IGN interview with Yoji Shinkawa, Sniper Wolf was originally intended to be a man, but when Shinkawa suggested to Hideo Kojima that Wolf be a young lady, Kojima thought it to be a much better idea.
 * A subsequent interview with Shinkawa revealed that Sniper Wolf is still popular amongst the staff at Konami.
 * Another example of her popularity was that during an online critics poll, she was named the "12th greatest video game boss of all time", amongst her FOXHOUND peers.
 * In the video game Army of Two, there is a barrel for the MSG-90 called "MGS Sniper Wulf Mk. II." The spelling is most likely to avoid legal issues; since a figure of her was released, the name "Sniper Wolf" may have been trademarked by Konami.
 * In the DLC add-on for the PlayStation 3 version of The Godfather II, one of the 5 new weapons is named "MG-S1 Sniper Wolfe."
 * According to the Metal Gear Solid: Official Missions Handbook, after the 1988 Al Anfal Campaign killed her family, Sniper Wolf was kidnapped and brainwashed by the Iraqi Ministry of Internal Affairs, where she was trained rigorously. Later on, Sniper Wolf was discovered by Big Boss in a Kurdish refugee camp in 1991, during the internal fighting in Iraq after the Gulf War. Big Boss took her to the US, where she recieved counseling and deprogramming. However, after the 1996 US sanctioned bombings of Iraq caused a major refugee crisis, similar to the one experienced during the Gulf War, Wolf became disgusted by the incident and at the Pentagon, and moved to join Big Boss with whatever plans he decided to hatch. However, due to the questionable nature of the book, whether this information is canon or not is debatable. On that note, the guide implies that the reason why Sniper Wolf seemed to care about Otacon is because she began suffering from Lima Syndrome. The Metal Gear Solid 4 Database only states that Big Boss rescued Wolf, and doesn't elaborate much further, nor does it mention what happened to Wolf after the Al Anfal Campaign.