Code Talker

"Since ancient times, every civilization's ruler has had the same idea. When people unite under one will, they become stronger than the sum of their parts. And what do rulers use to bring people together? Language."

- Code Talker

Code Talker was an elderly Diné (Navajo) biologist who specialized in parasitology that Venom Snake encountered during the 1980s. He was contracted by Skull Face to modify the vocal cord parasite to be used as biological weapons by targeting the languages spoken by ethnic groups. Skull Face then intended to use the parasites to kill Cipher and take revenge on the world by eliminating the English language.

Early life
Code Talker was born in the 1880s as a member of the Navajo, also known as the Diné. In his younger years, Code Talker was taken from his mother and taken to an American Indian boarding school and given the name "George." He, along with many other American Indians, were taught how to be "civilized" and how speak English and was taught that Navajo was a dirty language. Code Talker remembered how if any of the teachers heard a word of Navajo from anyone's mouth, the teacher would make whoever spoke it eat an entire bar of soap.

At some point around the early 1930s, Code Talker began his research into parasites. His name would suggest that he was also a code talker for the United States Marine Corps during World War II. However, this was not the case as he never actually served during World War II as a code talker, like many Native Americans did. Instead, he aided in turning Navajo into a more cryptic language to be used by the code talkers sent to the Pacific Theater.

His skills as a biologist led to his involvement in research after Operation Snake Eater. He was assigned to the autopsy of The End and read the records of The Pain and The Fury, who were deceased members of the Cobra Unit to discover the sources of their strange abilities which included photosynthesis, insect-harnessing and control, and adrenaline supply in response to pain. He was successful in his research, discovering the three were hosts to primeval parasites that infected the vocal cords. In order to learn about them more fully, Code Talker injected The End's photosynthetic parasite into himself and observed the effects on his body, leading to a myriad of miraculous discoveries.

Code Talker found that these parasites (more specifically their ancestors) originally gave humanity the ability to speak, but his research was soon discovered and wildly twisted by Skull Face who forced him to modify the parasites so they would kill those infected by them, with their reproductive cycle triggered if the host spoke a particular language. Code Talker was forced to make these changes, as he was led to believe Skull Face's soldiers were going to infect his tribe with the Navajo version of the parasite. However, after Skull Face himself was infected by the parasite in his attempt to infect Cipher with it, Code Talker instructed him to undergo radiation therapy to treat it, hiding that there was a much simpler cure in the form of Wolbachia bacteria. Code Talker also developed the metallic archaea bacteria in an attempt to decontaminate the Navajo Nation of uranium deposits that the United States government began to exploit, as the mining activity caused radiation sickness amongst the Navajo. This was what first attracted Skull Face to Code Talker, with the discovery of the vocal cord parasites a secondary aspect.

Code Talker himself possessed photosynthetic abilities due to most of his body being covered with parasites with which he formed a symbiotic relationship - he supplied them with water and in return they provided him with nourishment through the sugars the produce when exposed to sunlight, negating the need for him to eat. However, he still enjoyed the taste of hamburgers, with a side of sweet potato fries, seeing the dish as a perfect balance of nature's blessings of meat, grain, and vegetable, but Kazuhira Miller realized that he just liked a good burger. The parasites also acted as his eyes and had replaced many of his internal organs, allowing him to live on after the age of one-hundred.

The Phantom Pain
In 1984, Diamond Dogs suffered from the outbreak of the Kikongo strain of the vocal cord parasites. DD's Intel team member has found out that the pathogen originated from Code Talker's mansion in Lufwa Valley and reported that information to Venom Snake. He also reported that "they" have the mansion surrounded and are ready to kill Code Talker. Venom Snake infiltrated the mansion and extracted Code Talker. At this time, he revealed to Venom Snake that there was a cure for the parasites in the form of a Wolbachia bacteria that infected the parasite, making them sterile by turning the male parasites female. Code Talker identified the strain infecting Mother Base as being a strain that targets speakers of Kikongo, and 48 hours after this discovery, all new infections of the parasite stop. Code Talker remained on Mother Base to continue his parasite research for Diamond Dogs and later discovered that Quiet was infected with the English strain of the parasite in mating pairs, and decided to remain silent to avoid killing Venom Snake and the others on Mother Base.

Behind the scenes
Code Talker made his debut appearance in the E3 2013 trailer for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. He is described as "A Wise Man denied his Homeland." Code Talker's character model was scanned from a hand-sculpted bust made by the production team. During this time, not much was known about him, though he was described in the GDC 2013 Fox Engine tech demo as being an "important character."

On July 12, 2013, Jay Tavare made a post on his Facebook page, revealing that he was playing the part of Code Talker. The next day, he posted a photo of himself in the motion capture studio.

On August 8, 2014, it was revealed that Osamu Saka would provide Code Talker's Japanese voice.

Code Talker appeared in both E3 2015 trailers.

Code Talker's Japanese voice actor, Osamu Saka, had previously voiced the characters Sergei Gurlukovich and The End, the latter of whom coincidentally was also autopsied by Code Talker post-Operation Snake Eater and had very similar traits to Code Talker (namely being over a century old due to unnatural elements).