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This article is about a fictional representation of a real world subject.
1

Alaska's Fox Archipelago, containing Shadow Moses Island to the north.

Alaska is the 49th of the 50 states in the United States of America. It is also the northernmost state of the United States and the largest by area.

History[]

The name Alaska comes from Alakshak, a word meaning peninsula in the Aleut language. The northern part of Alaska is rich in nature and inhabited by many wild animals such as caribou and grizzly bears. In addition, the Inuits maintain a strong presence in the region, often holding the Eskimo-Indian Olympics at Fairbanks. Its weather was also known to very rough and change on a dime, which was the reason why several people viewed it as the worst weather on the planet.[1]

The Alaska Territory achieved statehood on January 3, 1959.

Sometime during the 1970s, an Alaskan Inuit who would later go by the name of Vulcan Raven was born in Alaska.

During 1984, the PMC Diamond Dogs managed to place at least one forward operating base in the North Pacific near the Fox Archipelago of Alaska.

Former FOXHOUND members Solid Snake and Master Miller both moved to Alaska upon retirement, with the latter occasionally helping to train the Alaskan Scouts.

In 2005, Solid Snake was sent to infiltrate a terrorist-occupied facility on Shadow Moses Island, in Alaska's Fox archipelago. During the incident, the U.S. Air Force dispatched two F-16s from Galena to serve as a diversion for Snake's mission. Prior to accepting the assignment, Snake was originally to have taken his dog-sled team to Anchorage for the Iditarod the following day.

Raiden, after leaving Rosemary due to the severe return of his traumatic childhood memories of his status as a former child soldier in the Liberian Civil War, briefly visited Alaska, where an Inuit shaman taught him the art of tracking and scouting during his attempt at locating Sunny. In addition, Snake briefly returned to Shadow Moses at Alaska's Fox archipelago, after Liquid Ocelot was going there to retrieve REX's rail gun.

Locations in Alaska[]

Galena, Alaska[]

MGS3 Alaska

Map of Alaska that highlights Galena's location.

Galena is a small town located in mainland Alaska as well as the largest city in the Yukon-Koyukok Census area, having formerly been founded as a fishing camp by the Athabascan tribe of Inuits. It is also home to a United States military air base dating back to 1941-1942 during the Second World War, built next to a civilian airport, with it being used jointly. During the 1950s, it also had multiple bases being built nearby, which resulted in it becoming a forward operating base under the auspices of the 5072nd Air Base Group.

At the end of Operation Snake Eater, Naked Snake and EVA flew to Alaska, specifically Galena Air Base, before going to visit Langley, Virginia.[2]

During the Shadow Moses Incident in 2005, two F-16 Fighting Falcons were dispatched from Galena in order to provide a diversion for Solid Snake, so he could infiltrate the eponymous facility more easily. Both F-16s were shot down by Liquid Snake. Later into the mission, under Jim Houseman's orders, Galena launched B-2 Bombers from Galena with a payload of B61-13 surface-piercing tactical nuclear bombs with the intention of bombing Shadow Moses Island, ostensibly because of Metal Gear being used by the Sons of Big Boss terrorists, though in reality because he feared FOXDIE was compromised after Naomi Hunter had double-crossed her employers for the sake of revenge against Solid Snake.

The base was closed on October 1, 2008.

Twin Lakes, Alaska[]

Twin Lakes is a complex of two large lakes in Lake Clark National Park near the northeast corner of Lake and Peninsula Borough. It contains a 6-mile (9,7 km) long upper lake and a smaller 4-mile (6,5 km) long lower lake, joined by a short connecting stream. The lakes outflow westward through the Chilikadrotna River and eventually into the Mulchatna and Nushagak Rivers and Nushagak Bay. It is remote and unpopulated until late summer, as it is a popular hunting location.

Solid Snake moved to Twin Lakes after Operation Intrude F014, wanting to help himself from his PTSD from his going onto the battlefield. However, around early 2005, he was brought onto the USS Discovery under detainment so Colonel Campbell could hire him into quelling an uprising on Shadow Moses Island.

Fairbanks, Alaska[]

Fairbanks is the largest interior region city of Alaska, as well as the home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough. It lies next to the river of Chena, which is also the host of the World Eskimo Indian Olympics.

FOXHOUND member Vulcan Raven always attended the Eskimo Indian Olympics annually, and was the winner of many eating contests, and excelled the Muk-Muk, Ear-Pull, Stick-Pull, and Four Man Carry contests, the last of which he managed to carry six men, and had won both the Four Man Carry and the Stick-Pull for three years straight.

Behind the scenes[]

Alaska is the most recurring location featured in the Metal Gear series. Galena is not directly mentioned by Zero in the debriefing in the ending of the game, but the map that pops up in the radio window makes clear that the destination was Galena. The master script book's Snake Eater section when covering the location also mentions it being "a familiar location", in reference to its earlier mentions in Metal Gear Solid.[3]

In the North American version of Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus, special soldiers can be unlocked that have uniforms based on the 50 states and Washington, D.C. The Alaska soldier's uniform is colored aqua blue.

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

  1. ^ Liquid Snake, while disguised as Master Miller, explains this in a Codec call.
  2. ^ Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (2004).
    Major Zero: It should be smooth sailing all the way to Alaska. I'm sending someone out to Galena Base to meet you. // Naked Snake: To meet me? // Zero: The DCI and the President himself are waiting at Langley. Don't keep them waiting.
  3. ^ 兵隊 on X: "MGS1の冒頭と終盤で言及されるカレーナ基地、MGS3でもスネークとEVAがソ連から脱出する際にも出てくるんですよね。 MGS3のシナリオブックでも"MGS1でお馴染みの基地"とわざわざ書かれています。 https://t.co/Xz65I0baPo" / X (twitter.com)
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