Samuel Rodrigues

"Now I see. You deny your weapon its purpose! It yearns to bathe in the blood of your enemies... but you hold it back!"

- Sam

Samuel Rodrigues (サムエル·ホドリゲスSamueru· Hodorigesu) was a cyborg involved with the Desperado PMSC group who fought against Raiden during the events of 2018. He was a master swordsman of the "Rodrigues New Shadow School" technique, which had derived from the "Yagyu Shinkage-ryu (Yagyu New Shadow School)" of Japan. His codename was "Jetstream" and his serial number is 977-AZQEE.

Early life and career
Samuel Rodrigues was descended from a long line of swordsmen, dating back to 16th century Japan. His father ran a Brazilian Kenjutsu dojo, and specifically taught the Uradachi technique, better known as Satsujin-ken or "the murdering sword," which dealt with violence as the end goal. Sam's father eventually ended up killed by one of his pupils, with one of the drug cartels being rumored to have been involved for reasons and methods unknown, although not before Sam personally inherited his murasama blade from his father. He then left Brazil, presumably to train, and eventually returned to kill the pupil in question before leaving Brazil permanently. Afterwards, he travelled the world as a mercenary, and taking various odd jobs, including a job as a bodyguard and as a cleaner for the Mafia and the like. He also made a name for himself in the criminal underworld, especially within South and Central America, with one story being that he managed to take down a hit squad composed of 10 mob enforcers with automatic weapons using only his sword during the early 2000s, a time before cyborg technology was available. He previously served alongside the LQ-84i prototype unmanned gear in three missions. At some point, he had the Murasama blade modified into an HF blade with an ID lock. Already a superlative sword, this led to the creation of an incredibly powerful HF Blade which glowed an eerie red color.

Ambush in Africa
Sam, alongside Desperado, ambushed the African prime minister, N'mani's convoy, blocking the lead vehicle. The lead man then tried to tell him to get out of the way, also warning that he'll use lethal force if he does not comply. Sam then proceeded to rush at the vehicle, dodging the gunner's machinegun fire before jumping at the air, proceeding to deflect the bullets and then taking him out with his sword. He is then surrounded by the remaining soldiers of Maverick while the prime minister's limousine escaped. However, he let off a smirk while watching them leave, knowing that their escape was fruitless. He then proceeded to take out the Maverick soldiers, as well as several national soldiers.

Eventually, N'mani was captured by the Desperado leader, Sundowner, and the two men rendezvoused on the train, the latter having boarded it to evade Maverick when surrounded. Afterwards, Maverick member Raiden boarded train himself in pursuit of Sundowner, attempted to stop Sundowner from killing N'mani, but Sam stood in his way. After Sundowner made his escape, Sam challenged Raiden to a duel aboard the train while inside the train tunnel. Sam easily blocked Raiden's attacks because of their different sword techniques and Sam's cyborg enhancements. Raiden in his cybernetic suit could not keep up with Sam's blows and Sam managed to first damage Raiden's left and Artificial Compound Eye with an upwards cut. During this encounter, Sam managed to see through Raiden's technique, praising it as "not half-bad" despite Raiden being a self-taught swordsman. However, Sam declared that Raiden was "denying [his] weapon its purpose" and that in reality, it had a desire to kill. After rupturing a propane tank to ignite his sword, he pushed Raiden back and then sheathed his sword. He took up a Battō-jutsu stance, seeing an opportunity to counterattack. Raiden rushed at Sam, preparing an overhead swing. In one clean motion, Samuel used the trigger release on his sword sheath to unsheath his sword and sever Raiden's left arm. Samuel continued to taunt the crippled Raiden in his vain attempts to continue the fight. He then attempted to finish off Raiden, however, he realized that Raiden stalled him long enough for them to reach the end of the tunnel, and was forced back by Maverick's reinforcements before escaping onto the Tiltrotor. His escape was ensured with the built-in flares of the aircraft when Maverick commander Boris attempted to shoot it down with an anti-air missile.

Earning Raiden's grudge
Following this encounter, Raiden would hold a deep grudge against Sam. With his enhancements, the only problem Raiden saw this time was the nickname, "Jetstream." Sam would also tell his comrades, particularly Monsoon, of his observation from earlier that Raiden saw his weapon "as a tool." Sam's weapon is passed down to him from his father, indicating that there is a lineage of Rodrigues ninjas/swordsmen.

Sam later hacked into several billboards during Raiden's mission to storm World Marshal Inc.'s HQ building at Denver, where he proceeded to give a breaking lecture on how Raiden's means of pursuing justice had blinded him to the idea that the cyborgs may have been forced to do things they didn't want. He later observed Monsoon's lecture towards Raiden and wanted to fight Raiden's Jack the Ripper form, but Monsoon declared that Jack was his to fight. He eventually was ordered to fight Raiden by Sundowner when Monsoon had been finished off by Raiden at the top of World Marshal HQ.

Final duel at the Badlands
He later had a final duel with Raiden in the Badlands of Colorado, with Bladewolf bearing witness to it. He was killed by Raiden in the Badlands by a swift stab through his stomach following an intense battle. He confided in Bladewolf that Raiden had made him begin to doubt whether he was right or not in his plan, and that he would leave it to the duel to decide who was right. Prior to his duel and ultimate death, he informed Bladewolf that depending on what the outcome was, they would either continue with the planned international incident Operation Tecumseh, or he would hand down his sword to Bladewolf and leave it with the decision of what to do with the sword. Bladewolf would eventually deliver the sword to Raiden when he was at Senator Steven Armstrong's mercy.

Upon his death, it was discovered that Sam had barely had any cyborg enhancements at all; in fact, besides his exoskeleton that encases his otherwise-human body, it is possible that only his right arm is actually purely cybernetic.

Personality and traits
Sam was shown to be a very skilled swordsman being able to kill ten mob enforcers with just his sword long before he became a cyborg. He could fight a cyborg ninja with just his hands as he showed when he fought Raiden in the Badlands.

Years of experience in battles has led Sam to forget the original reason behind his desire for seeking conflicts, other than the thrill of battle. He did not seem very interested in money as a reward, as evidenced by his remark that war is the "big payoff" behind Desperado's operations, with the implication that he simply enjoyed the very notion of fighting as part of his ideals, despite the payment he'd receive in exchange for his services. His carefree attitude and thrill-seeking tendencies are implied to be the result of his subconscious desire of eventually being defeated. This is evidenced by the fact that Sam did not seem to value his own life or at least did not care if he died, such as when Raiden said he was going to kill him in which he simply remarked "Oh good. Why that's very good!" while laughing in satisfaction. Just before his final battle, Sam admitted to Bladewolf that he might die in the fight with Raiden.

Although he enjoyed conflict, he wasn't without scruples. Despite Sam trying to stop Raiden from going to Solis, he did not go so far as to wipe out Solis even though he was perfectly capable of doing so if he wished. Sam's final words to Bladewolf also implied that his encounter with Raiden made him doubt on the very last day in regards to his involvement and participation in Operation Tecumseh despite 2 years worth of preparation, as well as whether or not it was truly the right thing to do.

Sam had shown himself to be honorable as he only wanted to fight Raiden in peak condition, most notably favoring Raiden's "Jack the Ripper" mentality. This was due to the fact that he wanted to fight Raiden at his greatest so they could have an intense duel to the death. Like Gray Fox, he enjoyed combat and claimed to have felt alive during his final duel.

Sam seemed to be in good terms with the members of Desperado, having commonly worked together with Sundowner as well as conversing with Monsoon in their own spare time. In particular, Sam and Sundowner seem to be well-acquainted as implied by the casual tone of their conversation, most notably after Sundowner's defeat in which the two had conversed about Raiden's strength, with Sundowner remarking that Sam would get his "wish" of having a worthy battle with Raiden. He also seemed to harbor a dark sense of humor as evidenced when Sundowner was killed by Raiden, he jokingly opens their conversation by saying "Cut yourself shaving?", at which point the dying Sundowner sarcastically laughed it off.

Samuel did not have a lot of cybernetic augmentation, as Raiden determined on killing him; his body was nearly all original, with only his right arm and part of the right side of his chest as replacement. This replacement arm was seemingly what enabled him to use his sword's special sheath, which was built out of an AR-15 receiver with a handguard-mounted trigger, allowing for an incredibly fast draw when it was "fired." Much like Solidus Snake, the rest of his suit only seemingly enhanced his strength, durability, speed and agility as a means of matching up to other cyborg ninjas.

Sam could also read peoples' skills and personalities very easily as he quickly learned that Raiden taught himself the art and skills of using a sword and that he held his anger back when he killed his foes. He tended to taunt his opponents in order to get them unfocused.

Behind the scenes
Samuel Rodrigues first appeared in the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards trailer regarding Metal Gear Solid: Rising becoming Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. His debut is similar to his first appearance in the game, where he takes down a Maverick cyborg APC gunner and also ends up surrounded by Maverick soldiers. However, some differences include him smirking at Raiden (who is in his black armor instead of his white armor) instead of simply smirking at the limo's escape, as well as Boris, upon learning from Raiden and Courtney that Sam was a cyborg and learned that he is unaffiliated to any of their competitors, respectively, ordering Raiden to take him out. His appearance in the trailer was also slightly different, possessing a blue and white cyborg body. Fans initially thought that he was Vamp, due to his strong resemblance as well as their rivalry in the trailer. Sam was first briefly mentioned in a leaked casting call, causing some suspicion from the description that Sam was the cyborg Raiden encountered in the trailer. The pre-E3 show on Konami's website, when covering Metal Gear Rising, confirmed Sam's name and identity during the staff interviews. In addition, in an interview released on GameTrailers on June 7, 2012, Yuji Korekado revealed that Sam is not supposed to be Vamp. In the Japanese version, Sam was voiced by Hiroaki Hirata, who previously voiced Balthier in Final Fantasy XII and was best known as the voice of Sanji in One Piece. In the English and international versions, Sam was voiced by Philip Anthony-Rodriguez, who portrays the character with a strong Puerto Rican accent referencing its Latin roots.

In a leaked casting call, there was a request for at least four actors for characters that would appear in an in-development (at the time) live action trailer for Metal Gear Rising. One of these characters, Sam, had the casting call request that the actor be between 25-26.5 years of age, possessing a tan complexion comparable to those of Italian, Sicilian, or Greek heritage, dark hair (misspelled as "Dark Hear"), a ponytail, some facial stubble, as well as, if possible, hand to hand/sword experience.

He was primarily designed by Kenichirou Yoshimura, and acted as one of the first Metal Gear Rising characters designed by him. He had initially planned on leaving Platinum Games early in the development process of the game after it was handed over to them. However, three days before he was scheduled to leave, Yoshimura by chance stumbled on what some of the concept artists were working on regarding Metal Gear Rising when asking if they needed any suggestions. He ended up enraged that they weren't taking the Metal Gear concept seriously in the development process and demanded to the art director that Platinum Games "cannot place this in a Metal Gear game!", so he decided to stay for half a year beyond schedule until he was certain that it was up to the standards of Metal Gear. He was tasked by the art director to make a character who was "Samurai-like." After initial designs, Yoshimura concluded that the character needed a lot of asymmetrical angles in his design, as well as having his samurai hilt have something of a guntrigger. He also wanted a Black Body/White Arm design for Sam's cyborg body, although a contest concluded that a White Body/Black Arm was more suitable to give a direct contrast between him and Raiden's Black cyborg body. As he wanted the design to be as close to Metal Gear as possible, he also utilized some of Yoji Shinkawa's artbooks as inspiration. Shinkawa, while not the main designer for Sam, did briefly draw a sketch during a meeting. Shinkawa also told Yoshimura when asked about the design that it "freed his mind," leaving Yoshimura very relieved.

He shares the same serial number as Mistral.

Sam's boss theme is "The Only Thing I Know for Real." The lyrics are Sam's commentary that he doesn't know of any reason why he draws his sword other than to kill until he stares death in the face. Sam is also the only talking boss besides Steven Armstrong who does not interact with Raiden via Codec upon defeat, either because of his limited cybernetic enhancements or because he isn't an actual member of Desperado.

Sam will be given a DLC pack that expands on his background. In the screenshots, he is shown with both of his arms being green, hinting that he'll lose his right arm in this. It also implies that he'll fight Desperado in this. On March 25th, some more information was unveiled about the DLC: It will take place in Denver, Colorado.

The fictional Murasama blade wielded by Sam is a portmanteau of Muramasa and Murasame. Muramasa is an actual sword made by Muramasa (person and/or school), while Murasame is a fictional sword in Nanso Satomi Hakkenden.

The Murasama blade originally appeared in the RPG Wizardry as the strongest weapon in the game. The developers were confused between Muramasa and Murasame and thus the mistake. In the Japanese version of Wizardry, the name was fixed to Muramasa. From the 5th installation onwards, it has been fixed to Muramasa in the Western releases as well. According to developer notes for Sam's concept artwork in the Collector's Edition of the Piggyback Guide, the name for the Murasama was actually the fault of the Rodrigues family, as they got the name wrong. The creators also deliberately misnamed the blade in order to pay homage to Western misunderstandings of Japanese culture. They also likened him to a free-radical samurai in his views, although they admitted that Raiden and Sam were closer to swordsmen than actual samurai, and that their final duel was a combination of Western gunmen duels and the duels fought by Musashi Miyamoto.

Sam wears the sword tachi-style; the edge facing the ground. The reason for this is explained in the Codec as Sam practised Brazilian kenjutsu and therefore he had a unique philosophy. This does not make any sense in regards to kenjutsu and kendo in real life, but these are not usually practised with a sheath which incorporates a rifle action. The "Rodrigues New Shadow School" and its history is entirely fictional, but the school which it derived from, Yagyu Shinkage-ryu, is real and survived for over 400 years.