Raging Raven

Raging Raven was the aerial attack and demolitions expert of the The Beauty and the Beast Unit. She, along with the other members, suffered from severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Early years
Raging Raven was born in Aceh, a territory of Indonesia, a place that had already seen years of war prior to her birth. She was captured by soldiers as a young child and was kept in a cage along with many other captured children. The soldiers, mad with the rage of war they've experienced over the years, would beat the children daily, Raven included. The captive children tried to hold on to hope and attempted to cheer each other up by reassuring one another that help would eventually come, all the while barely clinging to life by eating what little scraps of food there were, but this only angered the soldiers, calling them parasites and "shit-eating ravens" and beating them harder. Eventually, the soldiers suddenly left for unknown reasons, leaving the surviving, weak and helpless children to get eaten alive by the birds that inhabited the countryside.

The ravens picked apart the children one at a time but when they came for her, instead they somehow managed to cut her bonds and she was freed. In that moment, she was filled with an uncontrollable rage that smothered her soul. She tore apart the ravens and then pursued the soldiers. When she caught up with them, she waited until nightfall and killed all the soldiers and civilians that they had captured, all the while screaming and cawing. To her, there was no difference.

The girl was later recruited into the Beauty and the Beast Unit by Liquid Ocelot, fitted with a flight suit and MGL-140 grenade launcher and given the "Raging Raven" codename. Ocelot told Raven that killing Solid Snake in battle would allow her to finally make peace with herself and rid herself of all of her inner hatred and rage, and thus Raven was dead-set on destroying Snake.

In 2014, Raging Raven fought in the Middle East, where she, along with several of her unmanned aerial drones, known as Sliders, firebombed a group of local rebels. Upon infiltrating a rebel stronghold, Snake found that the rebels had recovered a piece of one of the drones, and were examining it deep within their underground base, still attempting to flap and fly away. Raven occasionally swooped over the battlefield, dropping bombs on the rebels, although Snake would not fight her until much later in his mission to eliminate Liquid Ocelot.

While in Eastern Europe, Raven was put in charge of the Raven Sword PMC's and attacked Snake, Big Mama, and the Paradise Lost Army. Snake and Big Mama attempted to flee from the approaching PMCs, but were cut off while en route by Raging Raven and her unmanned drones. A massive pursuit and firefight ensued, resulting in numerous PMC and Paradise Lost casualties. Eventually, Liquid Ocelot even went as far as to send his personal troops to help Raven stop the van containing the pyx carrying the corpse of "Big Boss." Despite her heavy weaponry and seemingly endless amount of troops and Gekko, Snake and Big Mama were able to escape from the city before being hit by a stray missile and crashing their motorcycle just outside the city limits. While Snake and Big Mama recovered from an almost head-on collision with a gate and brick wall, Raven took this opportunity to attack Snake inside of a large clock tower called Echo's Beacon.

Raging Beauty
After a long and grueling battle in the massive building, Snake was able to avoid the missile and grenade barrage from Raven and her unmanned drones and eventually shot down Raven herself. Upon landing, Raven shed her flight suit and remarked that the pain was too much for her to handle, and that she could never forgive for what was done to her, remarking "I'm not angry... I'm scared." Suddenly she panicked, saying that the ravens were pecking at her flesh, her soul, and that she didn't want to hate anymore. Her suit reverted to normal and she rose to her feet, she slowly approached Snake, claiming that she didn't "need these wings." Snake then ended the confrontation swiftly, with Raven being engulfed in what appeared to be white feathers. Collapsing into the fetal position, Raging Raven's rage was finally quelled. Afterwards, Snake managed to recover Raging Raven's grenade launcher, which Drebin offered to remove the ID lock under the condition that Snake give him the grenade launcher after the mission as a weapon used by a Beauty and the Beast member will prove to be a valuable collectors item.

Abilities
One of the more agile members of The Beauty and the Beast Unit, Raging Raven was a meld of aerial superiority and emotional wreckage. She attacked with a flock of unmanned Slider weapons, and used the Sliders to fly herself. She carries a Milkor MGL-140 grenade launcher into battle. The grenade launcher was her primary weapon, but she also utilized a series of missiles located on her wing. Using the Sliders to gather intelligence, Raging Raven formulated her attacks based on finely detailed situation awareness. Driven by her rage, her vernier rockets flared hotter the angrier she became.

Raven sometimes attacked her foes by ramming into them at high speeds with her wings, effectively slicing them, and could attack by burning her enemies with the rocket fuel from her jetpack. She also had the ability to grab foes with her talon-like feet, carrying them to great heights, and dropping them. After sustaining sufficient damage, her rockets would overheat, and she would have to make a temporary landing in order for them to cool down.

Behind the scenes
The Beauty and the Beast Unit is a tribute to the bosses of the previous Metal Gear Solid games; the name of each member of the unit is derived from the name of a member of FOXHOUND (from Metal Gear Solid), their weapons are a derivative of Dead Cell members' weapons (from Metal Gear Solid 2), and their emotions similar to the Cobra Unit members' codenames (from Metal Gear Solid 3): In the case of Raging Raven her name and flying accomplices are taken from Vulcan Raven, the explosives from Fatman, and the rage of The Fury. Her boss stage will also be battle damaged, as the battle goes on, reminiscent of the Hind D, Vulcan Raven, Fortune, Harrier and The Fury boss battles, from Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3 respectively.

Raging Raven is modeled after as well as voiced by Yumi Kikuchi, who is a personal friend of Hideo Kojima. She also appeared on the poster inside the drone in Metal Gear Solid 3. In the first Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer showcasing the Beauty and the Beast Unit, Raven is shown to fly through a group of rebels, slicing them in half. This is not shown in the final version of the game.

Gameplay
In Metal Gear Solid 4, Raging Beauty's FaceCamo can be obtained by defeating her "Beauty" form using non-lethal means. Additionally, the "Raging Camo" is available for download from the "Extras" menu, which enrages enemies when they are either placed in a CQC chokehold, or if they manage to spot the player.

If the player defeats Raging Raven lethally, an extra few seconds are added in where Raging Raven ends up emolated in blue flames in a similar fashion to the FROGS when they die.

It is possible to recruit female soldiers resembling Raging Beauty (and by extension, Yumi Kikuchi), along with various other characters from past Metal Gear games, Kojima Productions staff members, and characters from projects by Kojima, and into the Militaires Sans Frontieres in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. They may appear as either volunteer soldiers or by fultoning a female prisoner, but stats, codename, and staff portrait are randomized.

Gallery
Raging Raven