The Boss



The Boss was born as the daughter of one of the higher ranked members of the Philosophers' Wisemen's Committee. A legendary soldier, and considered by many to be the mother of America's Special Forces. Prior to her founding of the Cobra Unit, she was an instructor and lecturer at one of the Philosophers' training and schooling facilities. In 1942, The Boss founded the Cobra Unit - an elite group of individuals each with their own special and unique ability, usually fitted through genetic engineering. In addition, it was around this time that The Boss first met Major Zero and Naked Snake - the latter of which would become her disciple and develop CQC with her.

Current status: Deceased

World War II and the Cold War
Two years later, The Boss and her Cobra Unit participated in the infamous beach landings at Normandy. Their objective was to infilitrate behind enemy lines and disable V-2 rocket installations.

At the time, The Boss was pregnant with her child, and during the landings on the beaches she gave birth to a young baby boy. After the end of the Second World War, The Boss disbanded the Cobra Unit. Afterwards, The Boss began participating in secret projects run by the U.S. government. Firstly, in 1951, The Boss was involved in the atomic testing at the Nevada desert. Then in 1960, The Boss was sent into space on a mission to acquire data on how well the human body could cope in such conditions. One year later, The Boss was ordered to take part in the Bay of Pigs Invasion at Bahia de Cochinos, Cuba. Then, two years prior to Operation Snake Eater - The Boss was sent on a mission to assassinate her lover, The Sorrow, who had returned to the Soviet Union after the disbandment of the Cobra Unit.

Virtuous Mission and "defection"
In 1964, The Boss was then ordered to take part in a major operation to recover the Philosophers' Legacy from Col. Volgin - known as the Virtuous Mission. In order to acquire the Legacy, The Boss had to trade her way into Volgin's ranks - and to do so she was given two portable nuclear warheads, one of which was ultimately used by Volgin to destroy Sokolov's design bureau. However, with the destruction of the bureau, The Boss' mission was greatly expanded and revised - this time she would have to also help prove the innocence of the United States in a mission known as Operation Snake Eater. One week after the Virtuous Mission, the U.S. government sends in an operative with orders to assassinate The Boss. The man who must carry out those orders is Naked Snake - The Boss' beloved protege.

Operation: Snake Eater
Understanding the fact that in order to save the world and her country she had to give her life, The Boss gradually helps Snake with his mission while at the same time keeping up Volgin's trust.

Death
Ultimately, The Boss informs Snake about the Philosophers and tells him that as a soldier it's his duty to face an existence of endless battle. After a final battle between the two amidst a field of white flowers, Snake defeats his mentor and kills her with a single shot from her own weapon. In the end, it was the ultimate goal of The Boss to use the Philosophers' Legacy to unite the Philosophers back together and in turn the people of the world. Seen as a traitor by both the United States and the Soviet Union, she would always be seen as a hero and a patriot by her disciple - Big Boss.

Strategy
The fight with the Boss at the end of the game is a free form brawl with several strategies available. Basically, you can fight her up close and counter her CQC attacks, or hide in the flowers and shoot her from a distance.

To counter her CQC attacks, you must press the Circle button at just the right moment in the attack animation when an exclamation point appears above Snake's head (the timing of this becomes very tight on higher difficulties). If you're having trouble doing this, just trying mashing the button as fast as possible. She'll fall over, and you have a chance to shoot her in the face (or if you're real good, punch her 3 times and then shoot her in the face). Watch out for her counter attack when she stands up again, though.

Alternatively, you can hide in the flowers using some decent camouflage (her eyesight is pretty crappy and you shouldn't need more then 60% or so). Then, find her and shoot her. Thermal goggles help, but are by no means necessary. The best weapons for this are the SVD, RPG-7, or the M63, or the Mosin-Nagant if you're going for a stamina kill. Once you shoot you'll give away your location, but it's not hard to loose her again. Generally, standing up, running towards a tree, and rolling into a crouch with decent camo on should be enough.

For stamina killing the Boss, you with receive the Snake camo the next time you play through the game.