Quiet

Quiet was a mute female sniper who was active during the 1980s. Eventually, she managed to save Big Boss, and effectively surrendered herself into Diamond Dogs custody. Because of this, despite Kazuhira Miller's insistence that they kill her, Ocelot and Big Boss instead suggested that they lock her up, although Big Boss agreed that she might have to be killed if she proved to be too much of a threat to Diamond Dogs' existence, adding that he would be the one to kill her. At some point, she was tortured by Ocelot and managed to take down three Diamond Dogs soldiers on Mother Base.

Behind the scenes
Quiet first appeared in the E3 2013 trailer of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, in which she is described as being "A Sniper deprived of her Words." In the extended trailer, she is seen being tortured by a soldier and Ocelot via electrocution while having a bag over her head. Quiet's voice and motion capture will be provided by the Dutch-born Japanese model and actress, Stefanie Joosten.

When asked about Quiet during a interview with Famitsu, Hideo Kojima replied: "In the game, Quiet is the main heroine. Whether she is friend or foe has yet to be revealed so I had to be careful when casting her role. MGS normally has old timers and old guys (laughs). Stefanie is very skilled in action but since she never held that type of gun, we asked her do some training at home." He also told 4Gamer: "With Stefanie, we had to make sure to focus her 3D motion on capturing her facial and body language and not her voice, since Quiet does not speak. She does make small sounds like “ugh” and “ah” though."

On September 6, 2013, in response to the mixed reaction concerning Quiet's characteristics, Kojima clarified exactly what he meant when he asked lead designer Yoji Shinkawa for a "more erotic" character. Speaking through a translator, he said: "Maybe the phrase 'erotic' wasn't really [the correct word for] what I was trying to say. What I'm really trying to do is create unique characters. One of those is, of course, Quiet. She's a really unique character, I wanted to add that sexiness to her. It wasn't really supposed to be erotic, but sexy." He also said, "You're going to notice [when you play,] but there's limited dialogue with the [Metal Gear Solid 5], and for that reason we really want to show the characteristic from each character. Sexy could be for guys, weapons, vehicles, it's really that characteristic." Shinkawa also weighed in at the Q&A, saying, "From my perspective, it's not just the characters, but often I look at a weapon or a vehicle and think 'That's really sexy.' It's not just the characters, but the mechs and weapons [as well]." When asked for her thoughts on Quiet's design, Joosten stated, "Of course, I was surprised to see Quiet's outfit at first. But, you know, it fits in the Metal Gear universe, I think. I don't think I'm allowed to say a lot about this, but, well, Mr. Kojima has his reasons for deciding why Quiet [is] wearing what she's wearing. Players will just have to look forward to that."

On September 8, 2013, Kojima stated, "I know there's people concerning about 'Quiet' but don't worry. I created her character as an antithesis to the women characters appeared in the past fighting game who are excessively exposed. 'Quiet' who doesn't have a word will be teased in the story as well. But once you recognize the secret reason for her exposure, you will feel ashamed of your words & deeds. The response of 'Quiet' disclosure few days ago incited by the net is exactly what 'MGSV' itself is."

On November 7, 2013, some concept art for The Phantom Pain was leaked on the Tumblr account "european-extreme." One of the concept arts for Quiet strongly resembled Paz Ortega Andrade though Paz was killed in Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes.

With The Phantom Pain still in development, a fan theory has circulated on the Internet that Chico, due to the trauma of his incarceration at Camp Omega in Ground Zeroes, underwent a sex change to become the female Quiet. Konami employees expressed their surprise and humor at the theory in the sixth episode of the English version of Kojima Productions' webseries, Kojima Station, but chose to not confirm or deny it in order to avoid spoilers. In the ninth episode of the Japanese version of Kojima Station, Stefanie Joosten addressed the theory, saying that "Quiet is definitely a female, while Chico is a male."

On September 11, 2014, Kojima Station featured a short clip focused on Quiet. The clip revealed that Quiet possesses the ability to dematerialize, shown by her escape from a Diamond Dogs helicopter, only to later rematerialize behind the soldiers onboard Mother Base. According to Kojima, her ability and arrival on Mother Base was intended to be an homage to Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, more specifically the infiltration entry paths for Solid Snake and Raiden during the Tanker and Plant Chapters, respectively.

On September 18, 2014, during the TGS demo of The Phantom Pain, Quiet was shown to be one of many "buddy" characters available to the player during the course of the game. It was also shown that her sniper rifle appears to be non-lethal, as during the demo she knocked the player's target unconscious as well as shot a grenade in mid-air into an enemy helicopter. During the demo, Kojima commented that Quiet had a weakness that tied into the story, and also inferred that the full extent of her abilities depends on her bond with the player, and that the player depending on their actions may never even meet her at all.

Videos
Character making of Quiet