| This article is about a non-canonical topic in the Metal Gear series. |
Big Boss was the commander of the U.S. Army Special Forces Unit FOXHOUND, as well as the leader of Outer Heaven, the latter of which was an integral part of the clandestine Project Babel. Big Boss was also the biological father of Solid Snake.
Biography[]
At some point prior to the Outer Heaven Uprising, Big Boss, working as an asset of the Central Intelligence Agency, was tasked with instigating controlled conflicts in Central Africa, as a means of unofficially keeping any potential anti-American alliances in check. He was provided US-backed financial aid by Steven Gardner, the DDCI at the time.[1] During this time, Big Boss became acquainted with Augustine Eguabon, a mercenary under his employ.[2] While performing this role, he also persuaded Gardner to permit him the use of TX-55 Metal Gear for the project's goals, and was said to have suggested equipping the bipedal tank with a rail gun.[3]
Operation Intrude N313[]
Eventually, Big Boss went renegade and promptly became an international threat, resulting in Operation Intrude N313, during which rookie FOXHOUND operative Solid Snake was sent to Gindra to kill Big Boss and bring down Outer Heaven;[1] Snake would later be consumed by guilt for killing his own father and feeling proud of it at the time.[4] However, it was later suspected that Big Boss may have orchestrated their encounter precisely because he wanted to face his own son in a fight.
Legacy[]
After Operation Intrude N313, the U.S. Government formally disassociated itself with Outer Heaven, even going as far as to have international media report on the event in order to have plausible deniability of their involvement in the incident.[1] However, Project Babel continued under Gen. John Parker, U.S. Army Chief of Staff, who nominated Eguabon as the program's new field commander. Eguabon, who had resurfaced in Gindra in 1997, was known to have been a devoted follower of Big Boss, likely explaining why he chose to build the fortress of Galuade on the ruins of Outer Heaver. Although Parker suspected that Eguabon might eventually go rogue just as Big Boss did, he maintained their established relationship, while Eguabon "played along" with Parker's demands, intending to revolt after receiving the aid he needed to build up the Gindra Liberation Front.[1]
Behind the scenes[]
This incarnation of Big Boss is a character in the non-canon Metal Gear: Ghost Babel. Although he is not seen in the game due to being deceased, he nonetheless plays an important role in the overall plot, since it deals with Snake revisiting the location of Operation Intrude N313 seven years after the event, with the Gindra Liberation Front also being revealed as the unwitting successor to Outer Heaven. Canonically, the antagonists of Metal Gear and its sequel Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake are Big Boss's phantom and Big Boss, respectively.
Although non-canon by the time Metal Gear: Ghost Babel was released, Big Boss's CIA background was eventually incorporated into the backstory of his canonical depiction starting with Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
Snake directly references killing Big Boss in an optional Codec conversation with Weasel regarding the latter's alleged role in the death of his brother.
Although it's made explicit in the game that Big Boss was Solid Snake's biological father, it's left ambiguous whether it was via natural means or as by-product of cloning via the Les Enfants Terribles project, like in the canon games.
Notes and references[]
- ^ a b c d Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (2000)
"General": Solid Snake - the name 'Legend' may have been propaganda, but it seems no exaggeration.... // An illustration of the wounded General appears. He is leaning against the apparent wreckage of Metal Gear. // Solid Snake: I want the truth. All of it. // "General": .... A winner's privilege. After all, you have the right to know - about Outer Heaven, Metal Gear, Project Babel, and the link between GLF and the U.S....Outer Heaven was a U.S-backed venture that provided mercenaries to its 'clients.' It was a way to unofficially check anti-American forces, and the idea apparently originated with the DDCI [Deputy Director of Central Intelligence] of the time. // Snake: What? // "General": But the field commander, Big Boss, was a loose cannon that broke out of the program, and Outer Heaven was brought down by you. As a part of a plausible denial of their involvement in Outer Heaven, the government constructed a hero myth, handed you and Fox-Hound to the international media. That is the truth behind your rise to the status of 'Legend.' // Snake: ........ // "General": Ha, ha, ha. Shocking, isn't it? To learn that your glory was a staged one? // Snake: .... And the connection between GLF and the U.S.? // "General": Even after Outer Heaven collapsed, the relationship went on, right into Project Babel. The U.S. provided covert support for GLF; I was their field controller. The objective was diminishment of anti-American forces in the African continent. Provoke an ethnic minority in Gindra into a calculated conflict, then involve other neighboring nations. Create a climate of hostility to discourage organized alliance, then send a contingent of U.S-dominated peacekeeping troops for an indefinite stay, where they can exercise control over the entire region. It was a bid to build a new world order in the confusion of the post-Cold War era....a means to establish the U.S. as the sole superpower, a single hegemony over an artificial Babel, manageable chaos....This was Project Babel, the brainchild of Parker, Army Chief of Staff. The return for my services was a lavish reward and guarantee of safety.... // A portait overlapps the drawing; the General holds up a computer disk. // "General": Take this. This disk contains all the information that ordered that woman soldier, Chris, to destroy. It's all here, proof of what I have just told you, including details of all bank transactions. There is enough dirt here to bring down some of the highest people in the Government. This is like a bomb, ready to explode. // The portrait of the disk disappears. // "General": This too is the winner's privilege. Do with it what you like. // Snake: You deceived your people all this time? Your followers believe in you. So does Sophie.... // "General": Yes.... Sophie.... I left her.... cruelly too. But still she stayed with me as my lieutenant....But I never saw her smile after that.... // Snake: ........ // "General": I didn't deceive them. I had no intention of being Parker's henchman in the first place. It was the aid I needed, and with it, I was going to break the bargain and build our country. The end justifies the means, especially when others have faith in the fiction. I only gave them the truth in the guise they wanted. // Snake: Can a nation built by those means have any value? // The General's eyes light up. // "General": Ha. Doesn't the world operate on what you call 'those means'? Everyone just pretends otherwise. Justice and ideals are nothing but words, after all.... // Snake: ........ // "General": Well, well....So this is the way dreams end....well, it is not the worst thing............ - ^ Metal Gear: Ghost Babel
-Stage 6-2 clear-
No. 4: As the 'General' said, Outer Heaven was conceived as an unofficial military reserve to keep various anti-American forces in check. But what he didn't say was that he himself was once an Outer Heaven mercenary, and a fervent disciple of Big Boss. His connections with the U.S. government date back to that period. After Outer Heaven fell, he drifted from country to country -- then came back, this time as the 'big boss' himself. Maybe all this explains why he chose Outer Heaven of all places to resurrect Galuade... - ^ Metal Gear: Ghost Babel
-Stage 10-3 clear-
No. 4: As you well know, the development of Metal Gear began in Outer Heaven. The project fell under the auspices of the CIA's Directorate of Intelligence and its director Steven Gardner, but the idea itself, for a bipedal vehicle that would launch a nuclear strike from anywhere on the planetary surface, was apparently conceived by Big Boss, Outer Heaven's commander-in-chief. The technology wasn't there at that point, but the concept of an invisible missile from a rail gun seems to have been already planned by Big Boss. And the idea became a reality in American hands following Outer Heaven -- Metal Gear is the phantom of Big Boss, in a sense. It's no wonder Snake is so obsessed with the destruction of Metal Gear; to him, it truly is the 'evil past'. But to us, it's the gospel to a new world -- a blessing. - ^ Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (2000).
Solid Snake: I'm no hero... Bison was right about that.... What I did here seven years ago shouldn't be forgiven.... ....It doesn't matter if other people do, I still wouldn't be able to forgive myself.... // Chris Jenner: Snake.... What really happened in Outer Heaven? // Snake: ........ Seven years ago, I....killed my own father here. // Chris: What.....!? // Snake: Big Boss, the Commander of Outer Heaven, was my....father. // Chris: ....Your father? // Snake: I didn't know anything about it.... I fought only to complete the mission -- and killed him to do it. But the one thing I'm not is a -- hero. But.... everyone called me a hero, named me the 'Legend'. I was in hell. I couldn't stand it. I couldn't forgive myself.... // Chris: For killing your father? // Snake: ....No, not just that.... I enjoyed it. Being called a hero.... I enjoyed being told how great I was, after taking my own father's life.... How could I forgive myself for that............ // Chris: Even now? // Snake: ....Even now. I can't let it go. Maybe I.... shouldn't even be alive. // Chris: Don't say things like that! // Snake: ........ // Chris: ........ I forgive you. // Snake: What? // Chris: I can forgive you, so -- // Snake: ........ // Chris: Don't die. We can go home....together, okay? // Snake: ............All right. Thanks....