Welcome to Heavy Metal, a weekly feature on Kombo.com dedicated to trying to unravel unanswered questions and theories related to the Metal Gear Solid series. Every week until the week before Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is released, a question or theory will be analyzed or presented as extensively as possible.
It is important to note three things:
1.) This is all one person’s speculation, created using information presented in the Metal Gear Solid games and any MGS4 trailers or information released to the gaming public.
2.) This is as much for fun as it is thought provoking, so please do not take it too seriously.
3.) This feature will contain spoilers about existing games in the MGS series without warning or precaution. If there are MGS games that you haven’t beaten, it’s a good idea to stay away.
Question: What do the motives of The Patriots have to do with Big Boss and/or Metal Gear?
What We Know: Big Boss, only otherwise known as Jack and Naked Snake, was a CIA agent working special ops-like missions for that organization under a small group known as FOX. Big Boss’ first missions of public record are The Virtuous Mission and Operation Snake Eater, in which he was first supposed to rescue Dr. Sokolov and destroy the machine known as the Shagohod. Big Boss’ real mission became not only destroying the Shagohod, but also obtaining The Philosophers’ Legacy for America. Big Boss believed he had obtained the real microfilm containing The Legacy from killing The Boss–which also earned him his infamous rank–but somehow, Ocelot got his hands on it and handed it over to the American branch of The Philosophers, whom he was working for as a spy. As it would turn out, though, it was only half of the total Legacy.
In 1968, Eva disappears in Hanoi.
During the events of Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, the story of Big Boss continues as he leads troops against a psychotic terrorist leader known as Gene. Big Boss takes out Gene, who shares his dream of “Army’s Heaven” with Big Boss–a world for soldiers, run by soldiers. However, the real story is with Ocelot, who discovers that The Philosophers operate through both the CIA and The Pentagon, who are at each other’s throats trying to get the remainder of the Legacy. Ocelot is tired of their bickering, so he assassinates The Director of Central Intelligence and vows to use the Legacy so that “the Patriots” can take over. After the credits, Ocelot asks a mysterious person on the phone if he and Big Boss can join or become The Patriots.
Eva meets up with Big Boss, before disappearing once again.
In 1970, the U.S. acquires the remainder of The Philosophers’ Legacy. The U.S. branch of The Philosophers changes its name to “The Patriots.”
In 1972, the Les Enfants Terribles project begins and The Sons of Big Boss are born.
In 1995, Solid Snake engages in battle with Big Boss, who has established Outer Heaven in South Africa. Snake defeats Big Boss, who is presumed dead.
In 1999, Big Boss establishes a new base in Zanzibarland (Central Asia.) Snake once again defeats Big Boss, who is believed to be dead. Big Boss says the following ominous speech to Solid Snake before he dies: “Whoever wins, the battle does not end. The loser is set free from the battlefield, while the winner must remain there. And the survivor will live out his life as the warrior until the day he dies.”
In the years 1999 and 2000, The Patriots fake The Y2K Virus in order to control information in the digital age.
In 2005, The Shadow Moses incident occurs. Solidus Snake, formerly the tool of The Patriots as George Sears, steals Metal Gear REX from DARPA and ArmsTech to use against The Patriots. However, Revolver Ocelot convinces Liquid Snake to take over Shadow Moses so Ocelot can steal REX back for The Patriots.
In 2007, Snake and Otacon are lured to a tanker where Metal Gear RAY is being held. Ocelot steals Metal Gear RAY to protect Arsenal Gear.
In 2009, Raiden, a student of Solidus Snake, was brainwashed by The Patriots into trying to exterminate the GW portion of Arsenal Gear, due to it containing sensitive information about them. During this time, it was discovered that there were at least 12 members of The Patriots–specifically, the members of The Patriots’ Wisemen’s Committee. Afterwards, it was also discovered that Otacon had salvaged some of the data from GW prior to its destruction. Finally, at the very end, it was discovered that: the Patriots are located in Manhattan, they have been dead for around one hundred years and one of them is a prominent donor of Philanthropy.
Before the big reveals, Raiden kills Solidus Snake on orders from The Patriots.
In 2014 (the events of MGS4,) The Patriots aid Liquid Ocelot (or at least, Ocelot) in the Outer Haven conflict.
“Big Mama” EVA is revealed to be alive and an enemy of The Patriots. She is believed to be around 78 years old.
Metal Gear REX: Stolen by Solidus, retrieved by Ocelot and property of The Patriots
Analysis: The Philosophers seemed to be interested in Big Boss enough to use him for Operation Snake Eater, to the very least enough to use him as a diversion for Ocelot to get The Philosophers’ Legacy. After this point, things really get interesting, because of the conflict of timelines with The Patriots that we covered in Heavy Metal 3. So, let’s say for the sake of argument that The Patriots really do come into power in 1970. Up to this point, The Philosophers have been in power. MGS:PO doesn’t even really start until November 1970–so, are The Patriots already secretly in power or what actually happens to The Philosophers? The difference matters, because one presupposes that The Patriots have been involved in Big Boss’ affairs since before Portable Ops, which could mean that they were involved in Snake Eater, which could mean that they chose Big Boss for the mission. But why?
Let’s talk about The Boss/The Joy for a minute. The Boss was the daughter of a man who would’ve had to have been a member of The Philosophers’ Wisemen’s Committee, according to the canon MGS timeline–the only “power organization” we can actually trace through information given to us in the games. The Boss was American and it’s not an unsafe presumption that her father was probably involved with The American branch of The Philosophers. The American branch of The Philosophers obviously put a lot of confidence in The Boss–they sent her into World War 2 and after Volgin, who was threatening to launch weapons of mass destruction into the United States.
But what if The Boss’ inability to prevent Volgin from launching the Davy Crockett missiles was viewed as a failure and instilled a lack of faith in her? What if she, as the right-hand woman of The Philosophers, was deemed no longer a viable option for that role? That would mean that Big Boss wasn’t taking her out because she was a true patriot of her country–it would mean that she was giving her consent to a hired hit on her and similar consent for Big Boss to replace her. Of course, Big Boss would probably never yield to the men who killed his mentor, so if this is in fact true, she probably told them that he would be a good soldier for his country. Albeit these means would probably be achieved through manipulation, it sets the stage for what The Patriots would do for years to come–manipulate people behind their backs and continue manipulating them even after they had figured out that they were being manipulated.
Then there’s the problem of The Philosophers allegedly being in disarray during those times and another concerning how long The Patriots have actually been in power. Maybe Ocelot or someone close to The Patriots was courting Big Boss away from The Philosophers or The Patriots beat The Philosophers to the punch of manipulating Big Boss first. Again, the missing information here is staggering, but if The Patriots laid claim to Big Boss first, it would explain their obsession with him and their role in Les Enfants Terribles. Think about it: your right hand man, a legendary soldier, is in risk of dying. How do you perpetuate his immense service? Clone him at least three times and manipulate the clones the whole way there. Snake got played, Solidus got played and so did Liquid–who is now stuck onto Ocelot. Even Raiden got played and that was just because he knew Solidus.
It seems to explain everything. Big Boss inherited Metal Gear and Outer Heaven from Gene and had used them to rebel against the American government for the treatment of their soldiers. Obviously, since The Patriots got started off as the American branch of The Philosophers and they seem to have a preoccupation with America, he wouldn’t last very long. So, they send in Snake to kill him. After that, they’re free to use Metal Gear as they see fit. Solidus, the new puppet, jacks Metal Gear REX and they send Snake in to get it back. But Snake betrays any purpose he might’ve had as a puppet when he blows Metal Gear scandals right open through Philanthropy. So, they need a new puppet. Who do they get? Raiden. What’s his mission? To kill “Solid Snake.” As a matter of fact, they practically trained Raiden to hate Snake enough to kill him. However, Raiden meets the real Solid Snake and makes his own decisions, which throws the whole thing off balance–but not before The Patriots get him to kill Solidus, the traitor.
So now, what do The Patriots do? They use their ace in the hole. After all, the only one they have left on their side is Liquid Ocelot. All that stands between them and world domination are the combined forces of Team Snake. Snake, Meryl and Raiden qualify alone as threats to their mission and they’ve already survived in environments where they were outnumbered and sure to come out dead. So, what do they do? Launch Outer Haven, for real and only as they can do it. If Team Snake wants to wage war, The Patriots will own war. If they do it through Outer Haven, they create the guise of a mercenary nation to the millions on the ground while secretly controlling war the whole time and enlisting the PMCs to betray their countries.
Or…
Next Week’s Question: Big Boss. Solid Snake. Liquid Snake. Raiden. Outer Heaven. Outer Haven. Shadow Moses. Big Shell. Ocelot. The Patriots. MGS4. What do they all have in common? Heavy Metal #5 lays forth possibly the biggest theory this feature could ever tackle. 4/21/08. Be there.
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