Originals

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In fact, however, Solidus Snake was also just a pawn in the real S3 Project, the “Selection for Societal Sanity”, which was run by an all-powerful shadow organization known as the Patriots, who were trying to control people’s minds via GW, which was in control of most of the world’s information. Raiden had been used by both Solidus Snake and Patriots to facilitate this goal, Colonel Campbell was revealed to be an impostor manifestation of the AI itself, and a second Rose was created, which played on Raiden’s emotions to get inside his head, and eventually revealed that even his relationship with the real Rose was originally just a ruse by the Patriots, even though Rose had actually now fallen in love with him.

Even Mr. X, the mysterious cyborg ninja, was part of the plot. Meant as an analogue to Gray Fox, another cyborg ninja who appeared during the Shadow Moses Incident, Mr. X was eventually revealed to be Russian mercenary and Patriot detractor Olga Gurlukovich. She had originally come to Big Shell to get revenge on Solid Snake, who she believed had murdered her father, but because the Patriots kidnapped her daughter Sunny immediately after birth, she was coerced into helping Raiden as well before eventually being murdered by Solidus.

Raiden, mentally distraught and naked, was eventually able to critically damage Arsenal Gear by running it aground in New York City, and ended up defeating Solidus Snake in a sword fight on the steps of city hall. Finally free from the will of the Patriots, Raiden reconnected with Rose and resolved to rescue Sunny Gurlukovich, who he learned the Patriots were holding captive at Area 51 in Nevada. Unfortunately, Raiden’s newfound mental instability, coupled with his inability to cope with memories of Liberia that began to resurface, brought tension to his relationship, which led Rose to leave him, despite being pregnant.

He eventually did rescue Sunny, but after hearing about Rose miscarrying their child and remarrying the real Colonel Roy Campbell and having a baby with him, Raiden left Sunny with Snake and Otacon, and fell in with the Paradise Lost Army, an anti-Patriots group that helped him rescue Sunny in the first place. After being captured on a mission to retrieve Big Boss’s remains, Raiden was subjected to various enhancement experiments by the Patriots, in an attempt to create another drugged up cyber ninja like Gray Fox. Eventually, however, he escaped, had many of the nanomachines removed from his body, and successfully retrieved Big Boss’s remains, though he was so heavily modified that he could never return to life as a normal person ever again.

When Liquid Ocelot, a combination of Liquid Snake and Patriot operative Revolver Ocelot’s two consciousness rebuilds GW and a few other AI cores, and attempts to take over the entire world in the name of the Patriots, Raiden is once again ordered into battle, this time by the Paradise Lost Army, to help Solid Snake, now an old man due his accelerated again process, defeat him. When they succeed, it is revealed that Rosemary and Campbell were only pretending to be in a relationship to protect Rosemary, as well as the baby she had with Raiden, who was not actually miscarried.

This does give Raiden some peace of mind, and four years after he defeated the Patriots, Raiden finds himself retired from active battle as a member of a peace-keeping group called Maverick Security Consulting, working to earn money for his family.

And that’s it! You’re now up to date! Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is out Feb. 19th. But before you go, one more poignant bit of trivia. Raiden may be the Japanese god of thunder and lightning, but it was also the name for a Japanese aircraft in World War II. Perhaps this means that while he’s extremely powerful, he’s never going to more than a disposable weapon of war. Food for thought next time you think of Raiden doing a naked cartwheel holding a Samurai sword.

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Tags: Raiden, Metal Gear Rising, Revengeance