Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-1918136-20131119033214/@comment-1210805-20131120130006

It's a pretty complex situation. On the one hand, as Bluerock pointed out, they're genetically more akin to being brothers (something acknowledged during their final meeting). Genetically speaking they're most similar to twins. But there is a key difference. A twin or brother comes from the same parents. Snake does not share this with Big Boss. In terms of origins Snake is the child of, in some ways, three people. Big Boss is the male father, but unlike traditional parentage, is the origin of almost all the genetic material. There's the lab assistant who provided the egg, and is, in terms of how we generally think of it today, Snake's mother. And EVA, who served as his surrogate mother.

Things get a little more complex than that though, as even in reality who is considered a child's parent can extend beyond genetics. From an emotional and mental perspective the waters are pretty muddy. EVA is really the most clear cut of the group. We know she was the surrogate for Solid and Liquid (there's no indication she was for Solidus) and we know she volunteered because she wanted to carry Big Boss' children. Mentally and emotionally she clearly considers Snake her child and Big Boss the father (when talking to Snake she always refers to him as "your father"). By the time she meets Snake things have changed a little. When talking about the past she seems to feel as though Snake and Liquid were her children, when they were born. When she actually interacts with Snake that's still there to some extent, but she seems to have emotionally separated the Snake she meets and the one she gave birth to.

Big Boss is quite complex. He is referred to by all the clones as "father", and as mentioned above, that's how EVA sees it, but he is also the only one who has acknowledged the genetic status of them being more akin to siblings. Big Boss and EVA have both stated that he never thought of Snake as his child, or wanted that kind of relationship with him. His actions on the other hand seem to suggest otherwise. From what is said in MGS1, Snake learnt about their relationship in Zanzibar (the conversation never actually occurred in game but was retconned in later). When Snake speaks of it he says that that's where he learnt Big Boss was his father. Not his genetic origin, but his father. All evidence indicates that Big Boss never told him about the cloning, instead opting to tell him he was Snake's father. Why? Well as that conversation has never been depicted we can't truly know. All reasons I can think of really have no benefit to leaving out the cloning part. Big Boss is known to be sterile and, until being cloned, would have thought it impossible to pass on his legacy and genes. There's also no hate between them. Liquid is shown to harbour some animosity towards him, but Snake has shown nothing but respect and even trust. Big Boss appears behind Snake in a graveyard pointing a gun at him, Snake raises his own but doesn't shoot. Instead he gives Big Boss a chance. Big Boss drops his own gun, disarms Snake, and says they wont fight, and Snake takes his word for it. Snake, who has been military all his life, has enough trust in the man that he simply hears him out. When discussing his killing of Big Boss, Snake shows no pride in winning their fight, no happiness in its result, but he does seem somewhat wistful at their interaction. Snake respects Big Boss, and by his own admission, Big Boss respects Snake as a soldier. It clearly runs deeper though, for the reasons stated above, but also for his final actions. Telling Snake to live out the rest of his life as a man. His final act is fatherly advice. It should also be noted that in MGS2, Raiden was chosen for the project, apparently because his relationship with Solidus is similar to that of Big Boss' and Snake's. The game also makes a point to highlight that while Solidus isn't Raiden's father, its the closest father figure that Raiden has. Which is pretty telling when you think about it. Big Boss personally trained Snake in CQC during their time in FoxHound, the only place where there were people who Snake had considered friends (I'll touch on this later).

Snakes stance on their whole, bizarre family situation is best seen with his brothers. While he doesn't have much interaction with Solidus, his relationship with Liquid is constantly featured. While they are often butting heads, and Liquid has some beef with Snake, Snake never appears to harbour any personal ill feelings towards Liquid. He does however consider Liquid his responsibility. When Liquid takes over Ocelot and leaves Arsenal to hunt down the Patriots, Snake gives chase, rather than stopping to assist Raiden in dealing with Solidus and the giant out of control vessel. He makes stopping Liquid his personal mission and their final fight atop Outer Haven is not one of hate. Theirs a clear respect between them, a desire to make it count. Even the way he talks about Liquid is never with any hate towards the person. Like with Big Boss, he may hate their actions but never shows any negative feelings towards the person. He even has chickens named after himself and his brothers. While the naming may not have been his idea, the fact that they possess those names mean that he was fine with it being done. He seems to have no issue with constantly being called "brother" either. All of this is even more important when you take into account what we know of Snake's past. He always says he knows no life other than that of a soldier. In MGS1 he says that Campbell and Fox are the only friends he ever had, both made during his time in FoxHound. What this indicates to me at least is that Snake has never known any sort of family. Even as a child he was never given the chance to form any meaningful connections or make any friends. When he joined FoxHound he was trained by Big Boss who became a commander he respected greatly and perhaps the first person in any position to be considered a father figure. The man would then go on to tell Snake that he was in fact Snake's father.

So, consciously they may all seem to refuse to go that far, but mentally it would seem they all at least feel that they are, in some way, a family.