The End

The End (ジ・エンド) was the "Ancient Sniper" of the Cobra Unit. Born in the early 1860s, The End was over 100 years old when he was defeated by Naked Snake in 1964. He was a veteran of countless wars, and was considered to be the world's greatest sniper, as he originated all sniping techniques and was known as "The father of modern sniping." He was said to never require a spotter, and could stay in the same prone sniping position without moving for days or even weeks at a time. This was partially because he was an apparent autotroph – the energy provided by the photosynthetic moss that grows inside and outside of his body which let him go long periods without food or water. The End also wore false teeth and had the ability to bulge his eyes out of their sockets.

Biography
As with the other members of the Cobra Unit, his codename signified the emotion he felt while on the battlefield, in his case, total oblivion, blocking out everything except his targets. Because he was very old and incredibly close to death, he would often fall asleep during a battle. His closest companion, a parrot, would wake him up when he fell asleep. The parrot acted as The End's spotter.

The End was also an expert on camouflage. His uniform was a standard sniper ghillie suit (which he most probably made himself), and the sniping positions he chose to conceal himself well. When in a prone position, he became "one" with the area – his body temperature lowered so that it was close to that of the surrounding foliage. This made spotting him with thermal goggles difficult. Additionally, when The End's stamina dropped dangerously low, he would call forth the sun's rays and recover his stamina quickly.

He was armed with a modified M1891/30 Mosin Nagant sniper rifle that fired special tranquilizer rounds that had a very long effective range. He also used stun grenades when Snake got too close to him.

The End battled Naked Snake in a long sniper duel in an area spanning three zones – Sokrovenno South, West, and North. It is a thick forest, divided into a river, a plateau, and a clearing.

Eventually, Snake defeated The End. Before he died, he gave a speech saying thanks to the forest for giving him the strength for his "Final hunt." Before his microbomb activated, he said, "I can return to the forest at last."

Trivia

 * After absorbing sunlight to revitalize himself, the liver spots on The End's head would disappear.
 * While The End was dying, the foliage on his Ghillie shifted from green to orange.
 * Solid Snake fought a similar boss, Jungle Evil during Operation Intrude F014.
 * By killing his parrot, The End will find it more difficult to track Snake's movements. However, this will make him more aggressive.

Behind the Scenes

 * The End was developed from the elements of Old Boy, a character who was cut from the final version of Metal Gear Solid 2.
 * The End was named the fourth greatest boss fight of all time by Electronic Gaming Monthly in their 196th issue.
 * The battle with The End was rated #3 in the Top Ten Video Game Sniper Moments by Game Informer.
 * There are two ways to defeat The End, without fighting him directly:
 * The player can snipe him after his first appearance at the docks. If the player does kill him, his microbomb explosion will send his wheelchair wheel towards Snake, so it is advised that player quickly dodge after killing him.
 * Another way to alternately kill The End, is to wait for nature itself to take him. If the player saves their game in the middle of the battle and wait for a week before playing again, The End will have died of old age. The player can also just set their PlayStation 2's internal clock a week ahead to get the same result.
 * The End is one of only two bosses in Metal Gear Solid 3 where the player will not receive his camouflage if he is defeated non-lethally (the other is The Sorrow). They will instead receive The End's Mosin Nagant. To receive his Moss camouflage, the player must hold him up.
 * In Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence 's Secret Theater film He's still got it, The End ended up getting infatuated with Tatyana/EVA due to her walking by him to go to Volgin's room and "reviving him," so he starts stalking her, even tranquilizing Ocelot when he was intimidating her. However, he ends up getting angered at Naked Snake due to his advancing on her, until his heart finally breaks when he discovers (while hiding under the tigerskin rug) that EVA had reciprocated Snake's feelings. He decides to try and snipe EVA while waiting outside of the Alaskan Retreat the morning afterwards. However, he got too involved with his monologue and is run over by EVA's motorcycle, causing him to kill himself with his microbomb.
 * In Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, The End makes a vocal cameo in several "Dead Man's Treasure" missions where he "contacts" Big Boss from the grave using the Radio Frequency 000.00 in front of the ghosts. He can be "encountered" again in Extra Ops mission 62, where Big Boss "contacts" him, as well as mysteriously supplying him with the Neo-Moss camouflage if Big Boss ranks an A or higher in the mission.
 * In Peace Walker, The End has the same English and Japanese voice actors as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.