Liquid Snake

Liquid Snake (リキッド・スネーク) (commonly referred to as Liquid) is Solid Snake's twin brother/genetic duplicate, the Field Commander of FOXHOUND during Shadow Moses, the "son" of Big Boss created in the Les Enfants Terribles project, along with his "brothers" Solid Snake and Solidus Snake. Liquid Snake believed himself to be inferior to Solid Snake, as he was told that he was the recipient of Big Boss' recessive genes. Believing this, Liquid held a strong resentment towards Solid Snake, who supposedly inherited the better genetics, and wished to defeat him in combat and reclaim what he felt was his birthright, thus proving his superiority.

Liquid was 182 cm tall, had an IQ of 180, and spoke seven languages fluently. He was almost an exact double of Solid Snake in terms of appearance, with the only distinguishable feature being his darker skin tone and hairstyle (type and color, though it should be noted that Solid Snake, when he was "summoned" from Alaska, originally had the same hairstyle as Liquid, but he cut his hair just prior to being sent to Shadow Moses so that he "won't be mistaken for Liquid."). He also had a tattoo on his left arm, which resembled the Rod of Asclepius, but with a sword in its place. He also had a British accent.

Early Life
Liquid was raised in the UK shortly after birth and was the youngest person to serve in the Special Air Service, at the age of 18. His real name was also heavily classified to the extent that even someone among the highest levels of the Military chain of command is forbidden to know about it. During the Gulf War in Iraq, he was assigned to a Special Air Service unit to track down and destroy mobile Scud missiles. In truth, he infiltrated the Middle East as a sleeper agent for the British SIS, but was taken prisoner by Iraqi forces and held captive as a prisoner of war until 1994, when he was rescued by the U.S. Government. After Solid Snake "killed" Big Boss during the Zanzibar Land Disturbance, Liquid hated Snake even more because Snake had killed Big Boss before Liquid himself could exact revenge on him, due to his belief that Big Boss had willingly underwent the Les Enfants Terribles project and "chose" Liquid to be what he believed to be the "inferior" clone. Liquid Snake joined FOXHOUND in the year 2000, after Solid Snake and Colonel Campbell had already retired from the unit. After Liquid joined, he became the Field Commander of FOXHOUND.

In 2005, Liquid Snake along with FOXHOUND members Decoy Octopus, Psycho Mantis, Sniper Wolf, Vulcan Raven, Revolver Ocelot, and the Genome Army, formed a terrorist group called the Sons of Big Boss. The terrorists seized control of Shadow Moses Island and the nuclear equipped Metal Gear REX, taking the DARPA Chief Donald Anderson and ArmsTech President Kenneth Baker as hostages. Liquid then demanded the preserved remains of Big Boss in order to produce a cure for the genetic defects of the Genome Army. Basing himself in the Shadow Moses facility, and supported by FOXHOUND, the Genome Army, and Metal Gear's nuclear capabilities, Liquid intended to recreate Outer Heaven. With these vast resources at his command, Liquid would drag the world into the Third World War, wanting to fulfil Big Boss's dream of a world which always had a place for soldiers.

During the course of Solid Snake's mission to eliminate the nuclear threat, he was confronted by Liquid on several occasions. Initially, Liquid attacked Snake with a Hind D attack helicopter as he crossed the Communications Towers, the Russian gunship menacing Snake several times before a final showdown on the roof of one tower; the Hind eventually went down in flames due to Stinger missiles fired by Snake. He survived (a parachute is visible on a tree in the Snowfield of the base, though a Codec call confirms he couldn't possibly have used it and placed it there after crashing to taunt Snake with his survival) and while posing as McDonell Miller (Liquid killed Miller earlier) tricked Snake into focusing on Naomi Hunter as a mole and activating REX with Kenneth Baker's PAL card by during codec calls. Afterwards, he explained to Snake that not only was The Pentagon manipulating Snake, but they also developed FOXDIE and injected the virus into Snake in order for Snake to kill everyone involved with the Shadow Moses Incident unknowingly and allow The Pentagon to recover the Genome Soldier's remains and REX without risk of damaging them. Liquid also revealed his bitterness towards Snake for killing Big Boss before he had the chance to exact revenge on him himself.

The entire final act of the Shadow Moses Island incident was a series of battles between Snake and Liquid. First, Liquid piloted Metal Gear REX and attacked Snake, but, with the help of Gray Fox, Snake destroyed Metal Gear. Despite being caught in REX's explosion, Liquid survived, and dragged Snake (who was knocked out by the force of the explosion) up to the top of what remained of REX. After placing Snake's prone body on top of REX, he then started talking to Snake, or rather, Snake's codec nanomachines. He then reveals that he was aware that The Patriots had bugged Snake and were behind the mission and the development of FOXDIE, and he explains that after he is finished with Snake, he will come after them next. He then explains that after he is finished with Snake, he will come after them next. After Snake woke up from his sleep, he then explains that he won't be killed as long as Snake is still alive, and that just because REX was destroyed doesn't mean that he was done fighting and explained his goals: He wanted to give soldiers a purpose again, especially after the fact that Soldiers are now being used by hypocritical politicians and their political gambits. He also deduces that Snake, despite his claims of not enjoying a war-torn world, actually has the opposite emotion to it. He also explains the history of both their own creation and the Genome Soldier’s creation, as well as why they needed Big Boss's remains, at the very least. Apparently, the Genome Soldiers, due to the genetic engineering placed onto them, had started to succumb to the after-effects. In other words, they'll die from cellular decomposition, and the key to curing them was Big Boss's corpse. He then reveals that while Snake was still unconscious, he placed a prone Meryl Silverburgh on top of REX as well as wired her to a timed explosive. He also hints that the Pentagon is about to blow away Shadow Moses Island. Then, Liquid and Snake battled bare-handed atop the ruins of Metal Gear, attempting to fling each other from the top of the ruined bipedal tank to the ground far below. While it seemed Snake was victorious in this struggle, Liquid, still able to fire a FAMAS one-handed, pursued him as he tried to escape from the impending nuclear strike. Ultimately, Liquid fell victim to the genetically engineered FOXDIE virus, just outside the facility.

A final conversation between Ocelot and George Sears reveals that Liquid was in fact the superior clone and Solid Snake the inferior one.

Liquid Snake's influence did not stop with his death. Liquid managed to posthumously take control of former ally Revolver Ocelot (via the transplant of the right arm that once belonged to Liquid) during Ocelot's heist of the Metal Gear RAY prototype during the Tanker Incident. In 2009, during the Big Shell Incident, he anonymously tipped off Solid Snake and Otacon about the events unfolding at the Big Shell, as he knew he could only take full control of Ocelot in Snake's presence. Following Arsenal Gear's take-off, Liquid told off Solid Snake and Solidus Snake stole RAY and escaped in search of the Patriots.

In addition, Liquid's corpse was stolen by Snake after the Tanker Incident in an attempt to fake his own death. After examining the body, Rosemary confirmed that the DNA matched that of Solid Snake, seemingly confirming his death to Raiden.

In 2014, Liquid Snake had seemingly taken full control of Revolver Ocelot, creating the new entity: "Liquid Ocelot". In reality, Ocelot had replaced Liquid's arm with a cybernetic one at some point between the Manhattan Incident and Liquid's Insurrection and from then on he had merely pretended to be Liquid to trick the Patriots. Before his death, Ocelot referred to himself to Solid Snake as "Liquid's doppelgänger". Big Boss later explained to Snake that Ocelot was able to recreate Liquid's consciousness using nanomachines and hypnotherapy.

Meanwhile, Liquid's corpse was put to further use; various body parts of his were used in the process of rebuilding Big Boss's damaged body.

Personality and Characteristics
Liquid displays an arrogant and loud attitude in stark contrast to Solid Snake, who is more calm and collected.

He was an especially adept pilot; as shown when he was flying a Hind D during a blizzard as a dangerous decision, especially in combat against two F-16's, as well as pilot it from within the weapons operator's cockpit. He would later use the same chopper to combat Snake.

Liquid also displayed superhuman endurance, surviving a helicopter crash, repeated hits with surface-to-air missiles, sitting right on top of an explosion so powerful it knocks Snake out from the other side of the room, falling off Metal Gear REX, repeated hits from a .50 caliber heavy machine gun and a car crash; he is still standing immediately before he finally succumbs to FOXDIE.

He was incredibly bitter towards Big Boss and Solid Snake for apparently knowingly choosing Liquid to be the inferior one, and having what he thought was the superior genes, respectively. Although his hatred for them knows no bounds, he was also driven by a sense of connection to his twin brother. His main drive was the belief that he bears all of Big Boss's recessive genes, and that he was born knowing that his brother was superior. He is driven to surpass his genetic destiny, and in essence, his father. However, he never learned the truth that it was in fact he that gained the superior genes, while Solid Snake was the inferior. Therefore, in an ironic twist, it turns out that Snake did what Liquid had set out to do all along, with neither of them ever knowing (although it's possible that Liquid did manage to find out about his true inheritance after taking control of Ocelot, due to his comments about how he has access to Ocelot's memories).

Trivia

 * Liquid is the only Snake that has not worn an eyepatch (or a similar device).

Behind the Scenes

 * The mission that Liquid Snake partook in that resulted in his capture in Iraq had similarities for one of the mission outlines of the failed SAS mission during the Gulf War: Bravo Two Zero.
 * AbbyShot Clothiers, a company that creates media-inspired and video game clothing, created a trench coat similar to the one that Liquid wears. It is priced at $400 CAD, $343.14 USD, and £223.44.
 * When outside the control room of Metal Gear REX before Snake loses the PAL Card, the player can contact Liquid, who will still answer disguised as Master Miller, even though Liquid will appear to be sharing a conversation with Ocelot if the player looks at the control room in first person view.
 * If Snake fails to defeat Liquid atop REX before the time limit runs out, Liquid will laugh maniacally during the Game Over screen.
 * In the original plot for Metal Gear Solid 2, Liquid was supposed to have faked his death from FOXDIE and was also going to be the main villain of the game. However, this, along with most of the original plot, was scrapped.
 * Liquid Snake was foreseen in Elisa and Ursula's prophetic vision, in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, as "the son that will bring the world to ruin".
 * Killing enough human enemies in Metal Gear Solid 4 will cause Old Snake to recall Liquid’s words to him at the end of Metal Gear Solid ("You enjoy all the killing, that's why!"). The shock from this episode causes Snake to throw up and his Psyche Gauge lowers drastically.
 * In MGS4, during the opening stage of the final battle with Liquid Ocelot, images of Liquid from MGS1 flash on the screen, and the Encounter music from MGS1 is played. Liquid Ocelot's attack patterns in this stage are similar to the ones Liquid Snake used in the fistfight atop REX. The pre-fight cutscene also bears some resemblance to The Twin Snakes post-battle cutscene with Liquid.
 * Liquid Snake and Zero share many similarities. Liquid was the commander of FOXHOUND while Zero was the commander of FOX. Liquid considers himself enemies of his brother Solid Snake and their father Big Boss, while Zero was friends then enemies with Big Boss. They both have an ego (with Liquid, his ego is more known while Zero developed his later in his life). Lastly, both Liquid Snake and Zero share the same voice actor (Banjo Ginja) in the Japanese version of the Metal Gear series.
 * According to Shinkawa, Liquid Snake was originally dark haired like his brother, Solid Snake, but it was bleached to blonde by the intense rays of the sun during his time in Iraq.
 * During the unveiling of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker at the 2009 Tokyo Game Show, Hideo Kojima announced that Liquid Snake will appear in the game. He also announced that the game will reveal exactly what made Liquid the way he was. It is unknown how Liquid will be involved in the game since he was two years old in 1974.
 * According to the Cardboard Box trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Liquid is just as fond of cardboard boxes as his brother.