Blade Wolf


 * "Every cyborg is a person. People are different."
 * — Bladewolf

The IF Prototype LQ-84i, (IF standing for "Interface") also known as the Bladewolf (ブレードウルフ Burēdo Urufu), and once referred to informally as the K-9,000 by Kevin Washington, is a quadrupedal robot with a learning optical neuro-AI and a prototype verbal interface, resembling Crying Wolf's beast form. Known weapons systems included a chainsaw attached to his back that could be used to cut opponents, springloaded HF knives, a rail gun, as well as extendable claws. His tail also acted as a manipulator arm similar to that of the Gekko units. Similar unmanned gears called Fenrirs existed as well, apparently being mass-produced models of LQ-84i.

Blueprints for LQ-84i were downloaded into Raiden, an agent for the PMSC Maverick Security Consulting, Inc., during or prior to being severely injured in a mission. Maverick later recovered the cluster file via Raiden's arm, although they not only had to input a password to bypass the encryption process, but also enact an override system in the process.

Development


LQ-84i was built as a prototype to a next-generation weapon meant to replace both human combatants and cyborgs. To achieve this, it was deemed necessary to be able to communicate and make intelligent decisions on how to act, hence why he was outfitted with an interface system. During his development, it was outfitted with a learning program, which the researchers, who doubled as his instructors, utilized with an extensive battery of conversations, the nature of which included miscellaneous matters, breakfast-table greetings, the structure of elementary particles, the challenges resulting from rapid globalization, and recent trends in music. Before that, it also was supplied with various website texts and eBooks in a steady stream to acquire literacy, which aided him into developing from an infantile state of mind, even gaining a processing reading speed of 60 megabytes for plain text for the first year. As the LQ-84i was funded by DARPA for the purpose of being a weapon, it was rarely treated by his instructors as more than equipment, although some did treat it as a pet or child. The LQ-84i, as a result of this, was also exposed to various memes, with the stronger ones weeding out the weaker ones, similar to humans. However, although the goals of giving him intellect had succeeded with flying colors, he lacked brutality, largely because he was still not human, nor did he have humanity inside his programming. Because of this, after three years of testing, the project was cancelled, and the LQ-84i himself ended up deactivated, hence why he was a "one-of-a-kind" prototype.

Sam's recruitment
An unknown period of time later, Desperado somehow managed to locate the robotic creature, and reactivate him, presumably due to Sundowner's sense of humor, as the LQ-84i "had more concern for his fellow man than an actual fellow man." Sometime afterwards, he was later ordered to attack the Brazilian swordsman Samuel Rodrigues in the Denver sewers. He eventually gained the opportunity to attack Sam while utilizing stealth camouflage. Sam then told him to make his own decisions. The robot seemed to consider Sam's advice, but then attacked him again, as he had also been ordered to fight otherwise his memory would be wiped. The mech was eventually defeated by Sam, who then told him that the reason why he lost was because of their different motives for fighting: While the robot had been forced to fight, Sam fought from his own free will, although Sam nonetheless told him that he still did well before he went offline.

After being repaired by Desperado, despite his failure, he still retained his memory. In addition, he also fought alongside Sam, now a Desperado affiliate, in three missions, with the AI gaining respect to Sam. As a result Sam was the one person he looked up to, or at least the closest an Unmanned Gear had to looking up to anything.

Coup in Abkhazia
At some point later, Sundowner viewed him as useless, although Mistral decided to have him operate under her command. It is unknown why she did this, although LQ-84i speculated that it was due to her seeking companionship and liking dogs. In either case, during the Abkhazia coup, he was given directives to "ensure freedom" in the country, in the aftermath of Desperado and Dolzaev's coup d'état against the parliamentary government, which included killing Raiden should they meet. LQ-84i was forced to obey their orders lest his AI memory be wiped but still retained his original order to fight for freedom. He later attempted to escape for freedom when Mistral had removed his range inhibitor, although she secretly intended for Khamsin to be killed by the renegade UG. He then proceeded to escape through Abkhazia, also deducing from Mistral's words how to escape. He eventually encountered Khamsin, and killed him despite the latter's best efforts at stopping him. However, Mistral then reactivated the range inhibitor shortly thereafter and revealed her deception. Shortly after Khamsin's death, after Raiden was redeployed by Maverick with a new cyborg outfit to Abkhazia, LQ-84i, by that point under strict orders to kill Raiden, ambushed him and attempted to cut him down with his chainsaw, but Raiden successfully parried him. Upon being questioned about his identity and purpose, LQ-84i identified himself and revealed that he was to kill Raiden under Desperado's orders. However, he also insisted that he was sentient "beyond human comprehension," and also reluctant to carry out the order, but he could not disobey the order without Desperado wiping its AI if he did. Raiden expressed doubts about his superior intellect, and tried to test him by asking him about the meaning of life. Upon learning of his orders to kill him, he then taunted him by claiming that there's no point to having a superior intellect if the LQ-84i couldn't use it. They then fought. During their fight, LQ-84i attacked Raiden with his chainsaw and by attempting to pounce him. In addition, he occasionally retreated onto a high ledge and summoned cyborgs and Gekko, and remained there until Raiden defeated them.

Raiden managed to subdue and destroy the robot. However, the AI called Raiden via Codec to relay his last words about freedom. Raiden was somewhat bemused about him understanding freedom. Nonetheless, his conflicted programming convinced Raiden to deliver what was left of the robot to Maverick, where he had Doktor make some adjustments to the robot in addition to repairing him, specifically disabling his AI wipe and his remote piloting program. This allowed him to not have to worry about Desperado punishing him for his failure. As a result, he accompanied Raiden on some missions, primarily reconnaissance, to some of the members' hesitance.

Mexico and World Marshal HQ
During one mission into Mexico, Bladewolf and Raiden infiltrated the sewer system,  and he reported to Raiden the presence of Desperado-aligned cyborgs in the sewers, warning him to exercise caution. He reported the presence of catwalks nearby and suggested that he could use them to hide from the cyborgs. Later, he encountered George and reported this to Raiden. Eventually, he managed to track down the location of the lab, and supplied Raiden with its location.

The Bladewolf also accompanied Raiden in his corporate raid on the HQ of the largest PMC, World Marshal Inc. After Raiden was exposed by Sam to the idea that all the cyborgs he was fighting may have been forced into it and unwilling to fight to the death, Bladewolf explained to Raiden that every cyborg was a person, and that "people are different" after Raiden stated that he thought the Desperado cyborgs, actually had a "fair choice" to serve Desperado, unlike Bladewolf. Bladewolf also revealed his previous acquaitancence with Sam to Raiden, and noted that Sam's parameters were not in their usual methods. Sensing Raiden's volatile psychological state, he advised Raiden to avoid combat. Despite this, Raiden ended up beating him to the near top level of the building. Raiden also thanked Bladewolf for his help in unleashing Jack the Ripper earlier. He also accompanied Raiden and Doktor on the chopper to retrieve the cyborg brain casings from World Marshal HQ, although he decided to accompany Raiden to Pakistan, after finding a way out of the chopper.

Colorado Badlands
Bladewolf eventually bore witness to Raiden and Sam's final duel in the badlands. Before the duel, Bladewolf was told by Sam that depending on who the victor was, they'll either continue with Operation Tecumseh, or he'll inherit Sam's blade, which will unlock two hours after Sam's death, with the decision being left up to the robot.

Operation Tecumseh
Bladewolf then arrived at the Solis launch pad alongside Raiden, and met Sunny. Although he shook Sunny's hand, he didn't do so when Raiden attempted the same. Upon arrival at Pakistan, Bladewolf attempted to scout ahead regarding the location. However, when he arrived near the control tower, he had been knocked out, with Raiden suspecting an ambush being nearby (it is implied that Senator Armstrong had done the deed). Eventually, Bladewolf, having regained consciousness, would supply the blade to Raiden to fend off Senator Armstrong. Armstrong in return kicked Bladewolf away, angrily calling the canine robot a "little fuck" and a "damn mutt," flying and hitting portions of the ruined Metal Gear Excelsus.

Living with Sunny
Bladewolf survived, and proceeded to live at Solis with Sunny and George. However, he ended up accidentally causing a huge mess from raising his head up suddenly from being alerted, after Sunny accidentally stepped on his tail. Sometime after this point, Bladewolf told Sunny about his past, in particular his dealings with Mistral. He also learned his name from her at that point. He briefly talks of Raiden, saying that he has seen the dark side of humans, yet continues to hold on to his beliefs. Sunny then says that this is why she believes in Raiden, before affectionately patting Bladewolf. Bladewolf is seen wagging his tail in response.

Personality and traits

 * "Directive... liberate Nation... ensure freedom... Obey directive... must obey directive... no freedom... freedom undefined..."
 * — Bladewolf.

The Bladewolf was known to possess an advanced intellect, even by UG standards. Its overall neuron count for his optical AI amounted to 90 billion. To put it in perspective, its mass produced models, the Fenrirs, had a neuron limit of 1.6 billion. With his advanced intelligence, Bladewolf was a highly effective UG weapon, as well as able to use logic, reason and independent thought. Bladewolf's AI was sentient and modeled after the human brain, hence capable of human emotions and behaviors, such as curiosity, sarcasm, fondness, affinity and learning capacity. It also appeared to be able to experience physical sensations such as pain, as seen when Sunny stepped on his tail. Due to Desperado's programming, Bladewolf was forced to follow orders or would lose his memory, hence followed orders reluctantly and out of self preservation. As result, Blade Wolf also yearned for his own freedom and fought Sam and Raiden reluctantly after they both, in their separate encounters, encouraged him to think and decide for himself.

Bladewolf also had a sarcastic atitude as when Mistral tricked him into thinking he had a chance to escape when his range inhibitor being deactivated and when she said that she can reactivate him at any time, he took it from her and fled, though not before saying "Of course. Thank you."

Bladewolf was also had a sense of humor of sorts as when Raiden was talking to Kevin about Wolf joining Raiden on his missions when Raiden said a pun by deciding to "throw him a bone", Wolf pointed it out and said that it is amusing on two levels. When Wolf told Raiden to hurry to World Marshal HQ, Raiden said he will just get Rose a present. When Wolf pressed the matter, Raiden told Wolf to remind him to teach him about sarcasm. The AI replied that he knows Raiden is joking but that he just does not find it 'entertaining' .

Bladewolf often questioned the need to fight, especially if it meant killing. As shown by his sentiment to Raiden how he "lacks brutality." It is possible that this is a chosen trait by Bladewolf, rather than a simple programming defect, as he is shown to posses compassion and concern for others, despite what he had said. Visibly expressing concern towards Raiden's mental state after Jack the Ripper returns, as well as explicitly stating he has no choice in fighting Sam and Raiden, though this could be out of fear of termination.

After being freed by Raiden and Maverick, Bladewolf maintained this mentality by assisting Raiden with reconnaissance rather than as a combatant. This was largely the reason why the testing for Bladewolf ended in failure and resulted in his initial shutdown, as he lacked the brutality of humanity in spite of his AI being comparable to that of a human. This lacking in brutality was best demonstrated in a VR training session where he was dispatched to assassinate a "certain pesky politician" in Africa, and completed the mission with a B- rank, killing only 4 individuals out of 54 (two being hunt kills, and two via blade mode), and taking 2 hours, 35 minutes and 31.23 seconds to accomplish, as well as having a ranking of C+ (with 64% completed); D+ (with 45% completed); C+ (with 62% completed); and C (with 59% completed) for at least four prior missions, and a kill count of 1 in most of them for varying factors.

Bladewolf also expresses some levels of anxiety and unease in his personality, as shown when he shakes Sunny's hand, but not Raiden's. Initially seeming to disrespect Raiden, it is more likely Wolf is reminded of a similar event in the past, as well as questioning if Samuel's death was necessary.

He seemed to have been fond of Sam, and having fought with him before, was uneasy that two of the cyborgs he had grown close to had to fight to the death. Throughout his missions with Raiden, he had grown close to him, choosing to assist him out of obligation for freeing him and would later feel a strong affinity towards him. He learned how to think for himself and not to follow the directives he was programmed with. He grew concerned for Raiden when he was emotionally shaken and saved his life by giving him Sam's sword to fight and kill Armstrong. This same fondness also extends to Sunny as he stayed with her at Solis and appeared to have developed a certain attachment to her as he explained his rough past to her and she was able to relate to his past and appeared to become something of a companion as he stayed with her. It was also Sunny who gave him the name Bladewolf after he explained his history with Desperado to her.

Weapons systems and equipment
While under his forced servitude under Desperado, Bladewolf, then known as the LQ-84i, had a variety of blade-type weaponry. These included at least six spring-loaded knives that can be flung at an enemy at a quick rate. These knives, upon being launched, are also superheated to the extent that they can sear through metallic surfaces, indicating that they were a knife variant of the HF blade. In addition, he also had a chainsaw attached to his back, with a cutting ability strong enough to cut through stone as well as single handedly cause most of an entire building to collapse, as evidenced by his use against Raiden before formally introducing himself. He can also use the chainsaw to cut into an enemy's heart, seriously wounding most individuals. He also had sharp claws, which he could use to grip and pin down enemies. Similar to Gekko, the Bladewolf's tail also acted as a manipulator arm, which he would utilize to hold his chainsaw. Blueprints that Raiden somehow managed to uncover prior to his mission into Africa also indicated that Bladewolf's creators at least initially intended to outfit him with a man-portable railgun system. He also possessed stealth camo, which he had used to ambush Samuel Rodrigues in the Denver sewers.

After his reconstruction into the K-9,000, his weaponry remained largely the same although his chainsaw was removed. Instead, he possessed knife-like blades attached to the underside of each leg.

Similar to Raiden, Bladewolf, post-upgrade, was outfitted with an augmented reality mode mask. When not activated, the mask's two halves bore a superficial resemblance to wolf ears.

Behind the scenes


Bladewolf first appeared in promotional artwork in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance next to Raiden, back when the game was titled Metal Gear Solid: Rising and when it took place between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4. His similarities to Crying Wolf, as well as the original timeframe, led to speculation as to whether she was to aid Raiden somehow. Kenji Saito's commentary on Bladewolf's concept art, included in the Collector's Edition of the Metal Gear Rising Piggyback guide, also mentioned that in the original concept, Bladewolf was pilotable by humans. It also resembled an unused concept art of a robotic dog in the Platinum Games-developed game Vanquish.



Bladewolf's name was given by a corrupted encrypted blueprint uploaded onto the "Make It Right: decryption" viral marketing website for Metal Gear Rising, by inputting the password "FOXALIVE." The password was also hinted at in the Facebook post informing the user of the upload, with the elements Fluorine, Osmium, Xenon, Arsenic, Lutetium, Iodine, Vanadium, and Europium. This was later referenced in his match against Crying Wolf on the official Metal Gear Solid website.

The blueprints for the Bladewolf being included in Raiden's arm, along with similar data being found on thirty other cyborg soldiers in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance that was explicitly referred to as Patriot data, has led to the implication that the Bladewolf had actually been conceptualized by the Patriots prior to their downfall.

Bladewolf eventually appeared in the expanded version of the E3 trailer at Gamescom nearing the end of the trailer, where he encountered Raiden and attempted to kill him, as well as seen accompanying him in a flooded tunnel as the trailer ends. The trailer identified him as an IF Prototype LQ-84I, as well as the K-9,000 in two separate scenes. According to Kenji Saito's commentary in concept art for Bladewolf, they initially attempted to use Bladewolf's original design during testing due to the 3D model being completed, but his size required redesigns due to him being too large.

In the Japanese version of Metal Gear Rising, Bladewolf was voiced by Yoshimasa Hosoya. In the English and international versions, he was voiced by Michael Beattie.

The boss fight was later showcased at the Tokyo Game Show, and was likewise included in the Metal Gear Rising demo that was prepackaged with Zone of the Enders: HD Collection.

Bladewolf was confirmed to be an important character in the KP report podcast session 167. Platinum Games director Kenji Saito stated that Bladewolf would be "more of a support role ... he moves forward without Raiden to gather intelligence for him. He won't be in battle situations, but he will gather map information and recon that Raiden will be able to use."

According to the Official UK PlayStation Magazine, the Bladewolf was similar in characterization and role to Gray Fox.

Bladewolf, or rather, LQ-84i's boss theme is called "I Am My Own Master Now." Its lyrics talk about a chained wolf who is forced into battle and yearns for freedom.

A DLC pack includes a scenario for LQ-84i regarding his background. It was released on May 9th in Japan, May 14th in North America and May 15th, 2013 in Europe. Although the player can get a B rank or more in the first VR mission, the cutscene afterward will still display it as being a B-.

Bladewolf is also a boss in the sewer during the Jetstream DLC.

In the scene where Bladewolf delivers Sam's sword to Raiden to save Raiden, Senator Armstrong sarcastically calls Bladewolf "Fido," referencing a legendary dog in Italy that was famous for its undying loyalty to its master, even after the master died.

On the official Metal Gear Solid website, there was a special vs. page, where Bladewolf, or rather, the LQ-84i, fought against Crying Wolf, and lost. Bladewolf's stats revealed that he was skilled at aerial attacks (mispelled as "Arial Attacks"), but was weak against EMPs. His Featured Fact section referenced his debut on the Metal Gear Rising viral marketing teaser site.

STRENGTHS: Arial [sic] Attacks WEAKNESSES: EMP FEATURED FACT: The Bladewolf's name was given by a corrupted encrypted blueprint. FEATURED GAME: METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE''"
 * "''Blade Wolf
 * — Bladewolf's bio in the vs. page on the Metal Gear Solid official site.

Notes and references
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