Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-86.46.22.35-20130403153709/@comment-64.33.250.214-20140901192722

Paranoid Donkey wrote: Yeah, you know what you're pretty convincing there. I personally doubt that Ishmael will be Solidus (if indeed he is "anyone") but you have made me see that perhaps it wouldn't be as bad as I thought.

The only other hole in that theory that springs to mind is that Ishmael said he was watching over Big Boss for 9 years. In earlier posts I erroneously stated that Solidus would be 12 in 1984, but I was basing that off the Twin Snakes (brothers, not the game), and I recall that Solidus may actually have been born in 1976. So, during the events of The Phantom Pain that would make Solidus 8, rather than 12 like his older brothers.

Not only was Solidus not even alive for 9 years by this point, but if he appeared to be the same age as a 49 year old Big Boss in 1984, his appearance in 2009 would have to more closely resemble a 150 year old Big Boss (give or take for some rough math here).

The wiki actually states Solidus was born between 1972 and 1976, so at his oldest he can only be 12. I think the point about accelerated aging as I said earlier still stands though. However, Kojima is not above retconning. I just fail to see what purpose Solidus would serve if we are to believe Eli is Liquid (the father/son moment is there already), and considering we've seen literally nothing indicating Ishmael appears at any other stage, I kind of doubt he's anything important.

Conclusion: Ishmael may in fact be Solidus Snake, but that's one hell of a warped retcon. One way Kojima can rectify accelerated aging and make it fit in the current timeline, is by making the process work in reverse for Solidus. The opposite effect of how it was written into the other clones. Allowing him to age fast from the beginning, up until he would appear old enough to become President. Once the aging process reaches that point it should slow some. Otherwise suspicions would be raised, and there'd be risk of Solidus dying while in office.

Solidus's role, if any, is to be the disowned child. Eli would be the son Boss raised, but didn't get along with. Eli's dominant only genes make him more prone to stirring up trouble for himself and those around him. This presents a father/son rivalry dynamic, as we've seen in the trailer where Eli attacks Boss. Liquid will eventually rub Boss the wrong way, leaving Solid to become the new favorite. Each clone plays a unique part in the story of Big Boss.