Hal Emmerich

Dr. Hal Emmerich, nicknamed Otacon, is the eccentric chief engineer of Metal Gear REX.

Otacon became a close friend of Solid Snake after he rescued him from Shadow Moses Island where he was developing REX in 2005. Once learning of REX's nuclear strike capabilities, he joined forces with Solid Snake. Later, he became a founding member of the anti-Metal Gear NGO Philanthropy, along with Nastasha Romanenko. A devoted fan of anime, Hal's chosen nickname is derived from the Japanese animation and culture convention Otakon, which he regularly attended.

Early years
Hal's father was a big fan of science fiction movies, and named his son after the character HAL 9000 featured in 2001: A Space Odyssey. His father eventually divorced Hal's mother and remarried a British woman named Julie Danziger. Danziger had a child of her own named Emma, and Emma adopted her new stepfather's surname of Emmerich. Hal and Emma became very close, and Emma developed an infatuation. When Hal was a teenager, he was seduced by his stepmother, and they held a brief affair. After Hal's father learned of this, he decided to commit suicide by drowning himself in the family pool, dragging Emma in with him. Emma expected her brother to save her, but he didn't know it was happening as he was liaising with his stepmother at the time. Surviving the incident, Emma always claimed to hate her brother.

Afterwards, Hal ran away from home and didn't see any of his family members until several years later. He dropped out of school but through Internet-based self study, he secured acceptance to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he earned his PhD at a young age. He alse earned additional Bachelor's and Master's Degrees from Princeton University. Scouted by the FBI as a student, he joined their ERF (Engineering Research Facility). After being caught monitoring and hacking their central database, he was forced out of the FBI.

Eventually, Otacon was hired by the defense contractor ArmsTech Inc. At ArmsTech, Emmerich developed a series of new technologies, including stealth camouflage, that were officially adopted by the US Army. Following this, he became the lead engineer for the Metal Gear REX project. He jumped at the chance to make an actual mecha-type robot, which appear frequently in the anime he enjoyed. He was led to believe that it was a mobile defense system, but in reality it was a nuclear doomsday weapon.

In 2005, Otacon was held hostage by Liquid Snake and was placed under heavy guard. Otacon encountered Solid Snake, who informed him of the true nature of his creation. Devastated, Otacon realized that he had written yet another chapter in his family's dark history: his grandfather had worked on the Manhattan Project and his father was born on August 6, 1945 (the day of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima).

During this time, Otacon had developed a strong attraction to FOXHOUND member Sniper Wolf, possibly under the effects of Stockholm Syndrome. Distraught that Snake would have to kill her, Otacon eventually came to terms with her, himself, and his position in life. With Otacon's assistance, Snake was able to destroy Metal Gear REX and defeat the terrorist uprising. Late into the mission, after it was discovered that the Pentagon had sent an air strike to try and nuke Shadow Moses, destroying all evidence of what happened, Otacon decided to remain in the base so he can unlock the security locks in the loading tunnel leading to the outside of the base, nearly sacrificing himself in the process. However, the bombing orders were cancelled shortly before the bombers arrived. Afterwards, he ended up moving to England, ostensibly because relatives were living there. After Revolver Ocelot placed the schematics of REX on the black market, Otacon and Nastasha set up Philanthropy. Following this, Snake and Otacon began a partnership and close friendship that would continue through the next decade, as they would continue to destroy Metal Gear REX derivatives that were currently being developed by almost every country in the world.

In 2007, Otacon acted as Snake's support team when Snake infiltrated the Tanker to locate the Marine's Metal Gear RAY that was being smuggled on a ship disguised as an oil tanker based on intel from a trusted source who leaked the data to him. He originally intended for Snake to take photographs and then transfer the photos directly to Otacon via the Codec, but after the Patriots were starting to monitor their transmissions, he requested for Snake to use a terminal onboard the tanker to transfer the photos covertly to Otacon (he hacked into an Army IC router in Ohio), while disguising the transfer within the speech feed using BATON and TADIL-J format. He also originally intended to pick up Snake around the Verazanno bridge, but complications arose that forced them to choose another recovery point. The mission ended in disaster. Otacon was forced underground after Snake had been framed by the Patriots. After the Tanker had been sunk by Ocelot, Otacon managed to sail over to the still sinking tanker in a small boat and save Snake, quickly replacing him with the body of the deceased Liquid Snake. Having faked Snake's death, the two of them went underground to continue their anti-Metal Gear work outside of the public's watchful eye.

In 2009, Otacon and Snake eventually came out of hiding after he learned that his sister Emma was working at the Big Shell offshore cleanup facility. They infiltrated the facility in order to rescue her and stop the project from continuing. Snake disguised himself as Iroquois Pliskin, a junior grade lieutenant in the U.S. Navy SEALs, while Otacon pretended to be Big Shell's security systems architect who had entered Big Shell with Peter Stillman to get SEAL Team 10 through all of the plant's security measures. Otacon also helped out Snake, while still disguised as Pliskin, when he was knocked out from the explosion in Strut H resulting from Fatman's C4 exploding. After meeting Raiden, Otacon and Snake were able to rescue Emma from the bowels of the Big Shell and reunite the two. They learned that Emma was actually a Patriot engineer, who was hired to build the GW AI because of her family's dark nuclear history. Eventually, he made up with Emma and she helped them implant a virus into GW, which they assumed would destroy it, but she died shortly afterward due to a fatal knife wound inflicted upon her by Dead Cell member Vamp. Despite falling into deep despair over the loss of his sister, Snake encouraged him to move on and rescue all the hostages held in the Big Shell. He then stayed in contact to support Raiden until he defeated Solidus Snake. When Raiden stated that the Colonel was acting strange, Otacon decided to do an analysis on the previous calls from the Colonel and Raiden. He kept on getting the same place that the signal was transmitted, which was in GW, and it wasn't even a relay point, but the origin.

When Snake met back with Otacon, he was given the disk to go over that contained the data of the Wisemen's Committee's names and whereabouts. Otacon found from the disc that not only was one of the names was the biggest contributor to Philanthropy's cause, but apparently all twelve of them had been dead for more than 100 years. This turned out to be a false lead and, as Snake bluntly put it, "a load of crap". After the Manhattan Incident, Solid Snake and Otacon disappeared and lived a quiet life. In 2011, Raiden was able to rescue Sunny from the Patriots's clutches and Otacon adopted her.

In 2014, Roy Campbell (thanks to the booming War Economy) contracted Old Snake to help eliminate Liquid Ocelot, the CEO of the Outer Heaven mother company. Snake and Otacon reluctantly accepted, and Otacon assisted Snake from their ship using Metal Gear Mk. II. Their first mission in theMiddle East was a failure after Liquid Ocelot activated his first test attempt at disabling the SOP system in his PMC troops.

When Snake then infiltrated South America and managed to rescue Naomi Hunter, Otacon piloted the helicopter which was able to get her, Snake and Raiden out. Afterwards, aboard the Nomad, Otacon and Naomi became romantically involved, and he started to not wear his glasses because Naomi commented that he looked "handsome" without them. He also cited his experience of making Metal Gear REX to explain to Naomi why they weren't stopping the Cyborg Ninja project.

However, Otacon was crushed when Naomi left the Nomad and rejoined Liquid Ocelot and Vamp again. At Shadow Moses Island, after Raiden defeated Vamp, Naomi confronted Snake, Raiden, and Otacon (via the Metal Gear Mk. III). It was then she revealed that she had terminal cancer, suppressed only by the life-supporting nanomachines in her. She then injected herself with the nanomachine-suppressing syringe to disable them, effectively committing suicide. Devastated, Otacon could not help but recall how many women in his life whom he had loved had died.

Otacon later assisted Snake when they boarded Outer Haven and helped him to dismantle GW which had been restored by Liquid Ocelot. After Liquid Ocelot himself was defeated for good, Otacon was seen a guest at the relatively small wedding of Meryl Silverburgh and Johnny Sasaki. Here, after Sunny made her first outside friend, he finally gave consent for her to live on the outside. It appeared as though Otacon was aware of Snake's plan to kill himself, as he started to cry and explain that Snake wouldn't be back for a long time when Sunny asked where Snake was.

When Snake did not commit suicide, Otacon and him had a short conversation about what they would do now. Otacon said he would gladly stay with Snake and chronicle the remainder of Snake's life as Snake waited to see what the era would bring.

Equipment developed

 * Metal Gear REX
 * Stealth Camouflage
 * OctoCamo
 * Solid Eye
 * Metal Gear Mk. II and Mk. III
 * Virtual Range

Trivia

 * At some point before the Big Shell Incident, Otacon illegally manipulated his and Emma's account on the internet, which Emma eventually found out about and told him off for it in an arguement.
 * Three women that Otacon loved die in each of the major incidents he was involved in: Sniper Wolf, Emma (his stepsister), and Naomi.
 * Although Otacon told Snake that he was afraid of heights in 2005, he later became a proficient helicopter pilot, having flown helicopters in 2009 (in the Harrier fight and in rescuing hostages) and 2014 (Naomi's escape from South America).
 * Both Hal and Emma had difficulty controlling fear, having wet themselves when confronted. Snake poked fun at this during a Codec call inside a locker during the Tanker Incident, in which Otacon mentioned "I was the one inside the locker that time. We're equal now, huh?" to which Snake responded "Not unless I wet my pants", to which Otacon replies "That's a low blow."
 * Otacon's poor attempts to interpret literature and Chinese proverbs for Solid Snake in 2007 prompted Mei Ling to interrupt one of their Codec conversations.
 * Otacon still touched the top of his nose during his Codec conversations with Snake, even after he stopped wearing his glasses for a brief period in 2014.

Unconfirmed history
Hal Emmerich's father had been watching the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey shortly before his son's birth. However, Hal hated his given name and instead preferred to be called Otacon. During his college years, Hal Emmerich managed to formulate a fool-proof program to solve the year 2000 digit changing problem in computers, and despite gaining major attention and being considered by his contemporaries as the savior of the computer world, he didn't make money off the idea due to his never patenting it.

Character development


Hideo Kojima states that he created Otacon (オタコン) as his way of glorifying the otaku stereotype by having a character who fights the terrorists with his intellect rather than his brawn.[13] According to Kojima, the original idea of Otacon was to make him "heavier, wearing a cap, and programming while eating a chocolate bar". However, the design Yoji Shinkawa did for the character was a slender one instead. Otacon's real name of Hal Emmerich (ハル・エメリッヒ博士) is a reference to both the film 2001: A Space Odyssey (highlighted by Snake's real name, David) and Roland Emmerich, one of Hideo Kojima's favorite film directors.

Otacon's hair has a different color in each game he appears in: in Metal Gear Solid and The Twin Snakes, he has gray hair; in Metal Gear Solid 2, he has brown hair; and in Metal Gear Solid 4, he has black hair.

In Metal Gear Solid 4, Otacon and Snake were to have turned themselves in for their crimes and executed in the original story draft, but the majority of the development staff vetoed this decision. During the game's mission briefings, Otacon's computer aboard the Nomad has a wallpaper that features Dingo Egret; the main protagonist of Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner, another game produced by Hideo Kojima.

Although originally described as being in his thirties in 2005, according to his official biography in Metal Gear Solid, Otacon's year of birth was retconned to be 1980 during the end credits of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker; a game in which his father, Huey Emmerich, stars as one of the main characters.

Other appearances

 * In the Snake Tales story, External Gazer, Otacon created a VR headset that inadvertently allowed Solid Snake to travel to alternate realities.
 * In the Snake vs. Monkey minigame, Colonel Campbell tells Solid Snake that the Professor, the inventor of the Peak Point Helmet, is a friend of Otacon, and that it was because of the Professor that Otacon was inspired to create several of his inventions.
 * Otacon can be contacted by Snake via Codec in Super Smash Bros. Brawl if Snake is fighting against Pit, Samus, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Sonic, Link, Ganondorf, Kirby, Captain Falcon, R.O.B., and Mr. Game &amp; Watch.