Solid Snake's History
In 1970, Solid Snake was foreseen in a prophetic vision by Elisa and Ursula as the son of Big Boss that would "save the world."
In 1972, David and his twin brother Eli were born as a result of the secret government project "Les Enfants Terribles," designed to create the perfect soldier, using the genes of the "Greatest Warrior of the 20th Century" Big Boss. The twins were also to serve as an insurance policy for the Patriots, should Big Boss abandon their organization.
Using the process of somatic cell nuclear transfer, eight clone embryos were created by inserting Big Boss's DNA into enucleated egg cells, donated by a healthy Japanese woman. By utilizing the Super Baby Method, the embryos were then implanted into the womb of a surrogate mother with six of the babies eventually being aborted to promote growth in the remaining two.
The two clones were also modified on the genetic level, with one clone expressing Big Boss's dominant genetic traits and the other expressing Big Boss's recessive traits. Nine months later, the twins were born and would later receive the codenames of Solid Snake and Liquid Snake. Being a somatic cell clone of Big Boss, Solid Snake inherited mitochondrial DNA from the Japanese egg donor of "Les Enfants Terribles," later demonstrating some awareness of this heritage. A third clone was created afterward.
Early life and career
Following his birth, Solid Snake was given the name David. He spent his early life being raised in the United States by a variety of foster parents. Making his way into the military, David was inducted into the Green Berets as a teen and took part in a mission to infiltrate western Iraq in 1991, during the Gulf War. During the war, some U.S. soldiers were injected with soldier genes in an attempt to replicate the results of Les Enfants Terribles, making them, and the reported "Gulf War Babies," David's siblings, in a sense.
Later, David joined Big Boss's special forces unit FOXHOUND, during which time he received the codename "Solid Snake." While undergoing FOXHOUND's training regimen, he became an expert in high-altitude skydiving, linguistics, closed-circuit open-circuit combat diving, and free climbing. Big Boss personally trained him in the use of CQC and taught him the importance of having the will to survive on the battlefield. It was at FOXHOUND's training camp that he also met survival instructor Master Miller. During this time, Snake's real name and origins were classified under National Security.
Outer Heaven Uprising
Snake's first mission for FOXHOUND came in 1995 when he was tasked with infiltrating Outer Heaven; a military nation deep within South Africa, led by a feared and legendary mercenary. Snake was charged with rescuing Gray Fox, a FOXHOUND agent who was missing in action and shed light on the "ultimate weapon" Metal Gear, which Fox had mentioned in a broken radio message prior to his capture. Shortly after arriving in the general vicinity of Outer Heaven, he was contacted by Big Boss via his radio and was reminded to prepare himself for his first real mission for FOXHOUND.
After infiltrating the fortress via an underwater insertion, he learned from the various prisoners of war after freeing them that Fox was being held in a high-level prison cell in the basement, and the only way to find him was to get himself captured. After locating Gray Fox, he learned from him that Metal Gear was a bipedal nuclear-armed tank that can launch a nuclear warhead anywhere in the world. He was then told to locate the weapon�??s developer, Dr. Drago Pettrovich Madnar, to find a way to destroy it.
With the help of resistance members Schneider, Diane, and Jennifer, Snake succeeded in rescuing Dr. Madnar and his daughter Ellen and destroyed TX-55 Metal Gear. Just as he was making his escape, Snake discovered that his mission commander, Big Boss, was secretly the leader of Outer Heaven, and was apparently confronted by the man himself within the fortress's 100th-floor basement. Snake defeated Big Boss in combat and escaped the base before its self-destruction. However, the "Big Boss" that Snake fought was actually the body double Venom Snake, while the real Big Boss fled to Central Asia.
Post-FOXHOUND
Despite his success in Outer Heaven, Snake departed FOXHOUND and entered early retirement. He also chose to abandon the CQC techniques taught to him by Big Boss, due to its association with the man who had betrayed his unit.
Snake was later scouted by the CIA and spent six months as an undercover agent until he became dissatisfied with the organization and left. He then became a mercenary for hire, and after earning enough money, he went into semi-retirement in the Canadian wilderness. For the next few years, Snake experienced PTSD, caused by memories of Big Boss and Outer Heaven.
Zanzibar Land Disturbance
In December 1999, Snake was called upon by FOXHOUND�??s new commander, Roy Campbell, for an operation into Central Asia. Apparently, a new highly militarized nation called Zanzibar Land had kidnapped Dr. Kio Marv, inventor of the oil refining microbe, OILIX. Not only that, but a new Metal Gear was believed to be under development in Zanzibar Land. Snake accepted the mission, in part to end the nightmares that he had endured since Operation Intrude N313.
Snake's mission objectives were to infiltrate the seemingly impenetrable wall that surrounded Zanzibar Land and to recover Dr. Marv and the OILIX formula, as part of Operation Intrude F014. His radio support team consisted of Colonel Campbell, former FOXHOUND instructor Master Miller, and mercenary adviser George Kasler. Snake succeeded in the first task, but complications arose when one of his allies in the mission, a CIA war coverage spy named Holly White blew her cover and required rescuing. After freeing Holly, Snake learned how to contact Dr. Marv by radio, but after discovering that he could only speak Czech and Slovakian, he was forced to locate his STB bodyguard Gustava Heffner. However, the two were attacked by Snake's former comrade Gray Fox while attempting a rescue, after being betrayed by his supposed ally Dr. Drago Pettrovich Madnar, resulting in both Gustava and Dr. Marv's death. Despite these events, Snake succeeded in recovering the OILIX formula, utilizing the polymimetic nature of a special brooch key, bequeathed to him by Gustava on her deathbed.
Deep in the heart of Zanzibar Land, Snake destroyed Metal Gear D and defeated Gray Fox, successfully thwarting the ambitions of Big Boss. As the man behind Zanzibar Land's rise to power, Big Boss returned for a final battle against his former subordinate. Snake ultimately defeated Big Boss with a makeshift flamethrower, consisting of a lighter and lacquer spray. Snake and Holly then escaped the fortress, fending off enemy troops in the jungle until they were extracted by helicopter. During the mission debriefing, Snake declined Campbell's request to rejoin FOXHOUND, stating that his nightmares were now over. Likewise, Snake also confirmed to Holly and Campbell that the cartridge he retrieved was indeed the one Marv used to store the OILIX plans, citing that Marv's signature was written backward on the MSX loading screen when used. Despite promising to have Christmas dinner with Holly following the mission, Snake stood her up and disappeared shortly afterward. Campbell also implied that this was not the first time Snake disappeared without warning.
Retirement
Following the conclusion of Operation Intrude F014, Snake returned to North America and retired to an Alaskan wilderness retreat, Twin Lakes. By this time, the military had deemed that Snake had committed several acts of misconduct during his career, enough for him to serve a lengthy prison sentence, should he be brought to account. Through his retirement, Snake attempted to try and forget his war-torn past and recover from PTSD, as well as come to terms with the fact that he had "killed" his own father. During this time, he began heavily drinking. He later became a dogsled racer, taking care of 50 huskies, and competed in the Iditarod.
Shadow Moses Incident
In February 2005, Snake was called back to the U.S. military when he was deployed by his former commander Roy Campbell to Shadow Moses Island. A rebellion had taken place at Shadow Moses by rogue members of FOXHOUND, who had threatened the U.S. with a nuclear strike and demanded that the remains of Big Boss be turned over to them. Unhappy at how Campbell had sent armed soldiers after him and had his personal effects confiscated, Snake reluctantly accepted the assignment on the condition that he only takes orders from Campbell, and that he be given full disclosure of all mission information. Due to his resemblance to the terrorist leader Liquid Snake, Solid Snake had his hair cut shortly before departing to Shadow Moses, to avoid being mistaken for him. Snake was charged with ascertaining their nuclear capability and rescuing their hostages: president of ArmsTech weapons manufacturer Kenneth Baker, and the DARPA Chief Donald Anderson.
Snake infiltrated the base alone, but quickly gained help in the form of Metal Gear REX developer Hal Emmerich and new FOXHOUND recruit Meryl Silverburgh, Campbell's niece. Metal Gear REX was a nuclear-armed bipedal walking tank developed in secret by the U.S. Army and ArmsTech. Although he largely was in shape for the mission, he did end up exhausted after climbing the flight of stairs up to Tower A's roof, causing Campbell to briefly joke that Snake's mushing had him get out of shape. However, he ended up being tricked into activating Metal Gear due to misinformation supplied by Liquid (who had infiltrated Snake's support group by posing as Master Miller, having had him murdered three days prior). With the help of the two aforementioned, as well as his former comrade Gray Fox (now the Cyborg Ninja), Snake succeeded in destroying REX and defeating the members of FOXHOUND, including Liquid. Prior to their final battle, Liquid taunted Snake with the knowledge that he had killed many of his brothers in the Next-Generation Special Forces, who like Snake, had been experimented on to replicate Big Boss�??s genes.
Snake soon learned that the mission had been a cleverly woven plot, prepared by the Pentagon. Through the secret, Pentagon-guided efforts of genetic engineer Naomi Hunter, Snake's body had become host to the artificial virus FOXDIE. Snake was outraged to hear that his mission was a government conspiracy and that he was merely sent as a carrier of the virus, which was programmed to kill Baker (for knowing too much about the project), and the FOXHOUND operatives just to ensure that the bodies of the Genome Soldiers and Metal Gear REX could be recovered undamaged. He was also reminded of the possibility that he had willingly returned to the battlefield because he enjoyed war, as commented upon by Meryl, Psycho Mantis, and Liquid Snake, and echoing Big Boss's words in Zanzibar Land.
Throughout the incident, Snake suspected that Campbell was concealing important information regarding the mission's true nature, although he later forgave Campbell after learning that the Pentagon had used Meryl as leverage in order to force him to cooperate with them (as they had deliberately sent Meryl to Shadow Moses the same day as the revolt). Snake also discovered that Naomi was the foster sister of Gray Fox, who desired revenge for what Snake had done to her brother and had modified the FOXDIE virus so that it would kill him in addition to FOXHOUND. However, she set the virus to a "wildcard" value, leaving him vulnerable at a later time.[36] To enable Snake some peace, Campbell reported Snake died when his jeep sank into the ocean. This cover story was short-lived, assuming it fooled anyone at all.
Post-Shadow Moses
Following the Shadow Moses Incident, Snake and Meryl disappeared after leaving the base, after Campbell faked their deaths by claiming that they had died after their jeep crashed into the ocean. Sometime later, Snake lost contact with Meryl. Because of his exploits at Shadow Moses, he also became a hero to the public, which greatly concerned the Patriots.
Revolver Ocelot, the sole surviving member of FOXHOUND, reported the events on Shadow Moses to U.S. President George Sears, for whom he had acted as a spy throughout the entire incident. He informed Sears, that it was the inferior clone Solid Snake, who had survived, stating that Liquid had wrongly believed himself to be inferior right until his death. Ocelot also reported that the FOXDIE in Snake would activate soon, although Snake would ultimately remain unaffected due to differences between his and Liquid's genetic codes. Three weeks after the Shadow Moses Incident, Naomi escaped from confinement at a high-security facility during debriefing due to someone breaking her out. As Nastasha Romanenko and the U.S. Government believed Snake to have been the one who broke her out (in actuality, it was Liquid Ocelot who did the deed), the U.S. military also added Snake's supposed involvement in her escape to his rap sheet.
Ocelot later sold REX's plans onto the black market, prompting Snake and Otacon to found the anti-Metal Gear NGO, Philanthropy. With the goal of eradicating all Metal Gear technology, Snake participated in investigating its development across the world, often by illegal means, which Philanthropy then exposed to the public via the Internet. His missions and activities in the group included data collection and various sabotage missions and were also extremist in nature. During one of these operations in a facility, Snake, along with Otacon, also stole Liquid Snake's corpse, which was kept in cold storage. Around 2007, Snake also began suffering the effects of accelerated aging.
The Manhattan Incident
In August 2007, Otacon received a tip from his estranged stepsister Emma Emmerich that a new Metal Gear was being developed by the United States Marine Corps, and was being transported via a Marine vessel disguised as an oil tanker. Solid Snake would later reminisce that the intelligence had been suspicious, but Philanthropy had grown complacent due to its previous successes in sabotage. Snake boarded the tanker while en route to its destination, and quickly discovered that a group of Russian mercenaries led by Sergei Gurlukovich had their own plans for Metal Gear RAY, arriving shortly thereafter to take over the vessel. Snake soon encountered Olga Gurlukovich (Sergei�??s daughter) onboard the tanker and proceeded to defeat her in a gunfight, knocking her unconscious with his modified M9 tranquilizer pistol.
Snake quickly made his way into the tanker's holds and, as per his mission objectives, secured photographic evidence of the new Metal Gear. Neither he nor Otacon could have predicted the reappearance of Revolver Ocelot on the tanker, who proceeded to detonate Semtex explosives onboard the ship in order to sink it. While attempting to stop Ocelot, Snake was confronted by the spirit of his deceased brother Liquid Snake, who had apparently taken over the mind of Ocelot through an arm transplant (Liquid's arm having been grafted onto Ocelot, to replace the hand he lost at Shadow Moses). Snake's presence had seemingly released Liquid's personality, who went on to comment that he had evaded the accelerated aging that Snake was now undergoing. After Liquid escaped in the stolen RAY, Snake successfully escaped the sinking tanker and made his way the surface of the river, where he was rescued by Otacon on a small boat. The two also rescued Olga, and, taking advantage of the situation, decided to fake Snake's death by using the corpse of Liquid Snake as a decoy.
Thanks to the photographs taken by a U.S. Army Cypher, the Patriots framed Solid Snake and Philanthropy in a smear campaign for the tanker sinking, simultaneously exposing them to the public and destroying their reputation. It was widely believed that Snake had been killed in the incident after Liquid's body was retrieved from the New York Harbor, its genetic similarity to Snake's providing apparent confirmation.
In April 2009, Snake had received Intel that a new Metal Gear was being developed at the Big Shell offshore facility, which was occupied by the Sons of Liberty, composed of the remnants of the GRU unit and other unidentified soldiers. Feeling that he had been in hiding long enough, Snake infiltrated the Big Shell by cutting a hole into the oil fence. He later knocked out several Gurlukovich sentries in the deep sea dock, and ascended to the roof of Strut A by elevator; Raiden, who had infiltrated shortly after Snake, briefly saw him, though his back was turned. Snake later disguised himself as Lieutenant Junior Grade Iroquois Pliskin, a member of the Navy SEAL Team 10 Alpha squad. He chose the alias as a reference to "Snake Plissken" of Escape from New York, and the name of a confederacy of Native American tribes headquartered in New York (also a Huron word meaning "Black Snake").
�??Pliskin�?� first encountered Raiden in the Strut B transformer room, which was strewn with the bodies of SEALs who had been killed by Dead Cell member Vamp. Raiden was nearly attacked by Vamp but only received a scratch from a bullet grazing his face thanks to an intervention from Pliskin. Vamp then went to attack Pliskin, but stopped short, remarking that Pliskin smelled just like "him." Raiden then picked up Pliskin's M4 carbine, which was not ID-locked like the other SEALS' weapons, and fired on Vamp to drive him off, who then left the area after being ordered to retreat. Claiming to have entered the Big Shell by a "fast rope descent from a navy chopper," Pliskin aroused Raiden�??s suspicions after a sea louse crawled out of his clothes. Pliskin told Raiden about Vamp's origins, as well as Dead Cell, though he wasn't able to continue on because he needed a few moments to recover from Vamp's attack, having become disorientated from blood loss. However, he also exaggerated slightly to Raiden, as he intended to go separate ways and watch him from afar until he could gauge whether Raiden was trustworthy enough for him to ally with. Before Raiden left, Pliskin provided him with a SOCOM pistol.
Pliskin later met Raiden and bomb disposal expert Peter Stillman within Strut C. Stillman provided the two with a coolant spray and sensor to disarm C4 explosives, which had been planted throughout the facility by Stillman�??s former protégé Fatman of Dead Cell. Pliskin�??s possession of headphones, usually worn by SEAL commanders off the battlefield, and his use of other military organizations' mottos ("Semper Fi" and "Who Dares, Wins" of the U.S. Marines and SAS, respectively), clued Stillman into the fact that Pliskin wasn�??t actually a SEAL. Pliskin then left to begin his bomb disposal of Shell 2 and located: the first C4 on the Strut H heliport behind some cargo; the second C4 on the ceiling of another strut (which required him to get onto a stand to reach it with the coolant spray); the third C4 planted on the back of a Gurlukovich mercenary; the fourth C4 in an area so narrow he needed to crawl inside to reach it; and the fifth C4 that required a much closer inspection to locate. Olga Gurlukovich became alerted to Pliskin's presence aboard the Big Shell, after seeing "a man in a cardboard box." This unorthodox tactic clued Solidus Snake into Pliskin's possible identity. Raiden also briefly witnessed the same man in a cardboard box, and called Pliskin about it and inquired if the man in the cardboard box was a member of Dead Cell, unaware at the time that Pliskin had been that man in question.
At some point later, Pliskin was contacted by Peter Stillman and requested that he investigate Shell 2 in case there were C4 planted that the C4 sensors couldn't pick up. Pliskin managed to stumble upon a large cache of C4 explosives that both were vapor-sealed and didn't contain any of Fatman's cologne, at the bottom of Strut H, and contacted Stillman and Raiden. However, he also ended up inadvertently activating the same C4 cache when he disarmed the last of Shell 2's decoy C4 explosives due to the same cache being rigged to activate when all of the decoy C4 were disarmed. Pliskin ended up knocked out in the resulting explosion shortly after Stillman's final message warning Pliskin and Raiden about the proximity microwave trigger with a seven-foot (two meters) radius, on the C4. He ended up surviving the blast with the help of Otacon. In addition, after Raiden questioned him about toxins being released after Shell H was heavily damaged, Pliskin revealed he never heard of that and decided to investigate, also revealing that Shell 2 did not contain any hostages, meaning they were most likely in Shell 1. He also implied that saving U.S. President James Johnson and the hostages wasn't his mission, arousing Raiden�??s suspicions further. Afterward, acting on Raiden's tip, Pliskin conducted a thorough investigation of Shell 2 and managed to hijack a Kasatka helicopter, with Otacon acting as pilot. Afterward, he then briefly introduced Raiden to Otacon, via Codec, although they had to cut the meeting short when Pliskin had to fight off several Gurlukovich Mercenaries who had spotted them and attacked.
Snake eventually met his genetic brother, the terrorist leader Solidus Snake, though he refused to acknowledge him as such. After aiding Raiden in his attack on Solidus�??s Harrier jet on the Shell 1-2 connecting bridge, Snake revealed his true identity and mission to him, as the latter had overheard Solidus using Snake's name. He also once again met Olga and explained to her that it was, in fact, Revolver Ocelot who had killed her father Sergei. Snake later helped Raiden, Otacon and Emma install the reprogrammed computer virus, a digital counterpart of FOXDIE, into GW (Arsenal Gear's AI system), shortly before Emma died after being stabbed by Vamp. Snake worked together with Olga, using Raiden in order to gain access to Arsenal Gear and to acquire a disc that contained information on the true identities of the Patriots�?? Wisemen's Committee. Once aboard Arsenal Gear, Snake gave Raiden Olga's H.F. Blade, and despite not being "a big fan of blades," he instructed Raiden on how to use it. He and Raiden then fought their way through an army of Arsenal Tengu soldiers. They were both eventually split up from one another, with Snake being captured by Fortune and brought to the top of Arsenal.
Atop Arsenal, Ocelot revealed his true colors to Solidus, Fortune, Snake, and Raiden. But before he could kill them, Ocelot's right arm began to twitch, and Liquid Snake possessed him once more, revealing that he had leaked the information about Arsenal Gear to lure Snake out to the Big Shell so that Snake could "free him [Liquid]." Liquid (in Ocelot's body) then set off in RAY to kill the Patriots via his host, with Snake in pursuit. Although Snake failed to stop RAY, he placed a tracker on the Metal Gear and explained later to Raiden that his plan was for him to find the Patriots by deciphering the source code of Emma's worm cluster, admitting that the disc they gave Raiden was a decoy. He also declined Raiden's request to help Snake in Philanthropy and save Olga's child, as he suspected that even after the S3 Plan was complete, the Patriots would still monitor Raiden's vital signs and thus place Sunny in further danger of being killed should he try to help, and also hinted that Rosemary did indeed exist and that he should maintain his relationship to her before joining. He then slipped away unnoticed to Otacon's car and left, being long gone by the time Raiden remembered about Snake. However, the data recovered from Arsenal showed that all 12 members had been dead for over a hundred years, and Philanthropy had lost their only lead. However, Snake eventually deduced that the information was a fake lead (or as he put it, five years later, "a load of crap").
Accelerated aging and CQC
After the Big Shell Incident, Snake's Werner syndrome-like symptoms gradually grew worse. His body began to age rapidly, with no doctors being able to diagnose the cause. In addition, in 2011, although Snake had earlier promised Raiden that he would rescue Sunny from the Patriots, he wasn't able to get that chance and ended up receiving Sunny via Raiden (albeit covertly on the latter's part). By 2014, Otacon and the various doctors who treated Snake estimated that Snake's life span would be a year at best.
Sometime prior to 2014, the Pentagon declassified documents relating to Big Boss's exploits during the 1960s, which evidently contributed greatly to his legend to the populace, and his CQC was also being taught in the military. Otacon initially believed that Snake lifted his self imposed the ban to show them how it's really done but Snake corrected him and said his body just simply reacts with the "real deal" when he sees their "cookie-cutter imitation" coming at him and adopted the use of a stun knife.
Guns of the Patriots Incident
It was not until 2014 that Snake, now occasionally referred to as Old Snake, resurfaced for a final time. Liquid Ocelot (a fusion of Liquid Snake and Revolver Ocelot) was the leader of a new Outer Heaven, this time acting as a single mother company to five of the largest PMCs on the planet. With PMCs now taking over the world's armies in terms of firepower, Liquid was finally on the verge of world domination. With the world once again in crisis, Snake was dispatched to the Middle East as a personal favor to Campbell to assassinate Liquid. In addition, he was to meet up with a PMC investigation group and was also given the cover job of inspecting PMCs.
Failed assassination attempt
Snake successfully made it to the PMC base that Liquid was using as his headquarters by disguising himself as a militia instructor for the militia in the region fighting off the Praying Mantis PMC, although he briefly lost the disguise after an ambush by several Gekko units, escaping with the use of his new OctoCamo suit. Snake once again met Meryl, who was now in command of the CID unit Rat Patrol Team 01. He also briefly witnessed the Beauty and the Beast unit when they wiped out a Middle Eastern militia platoon. However, he failed to assassinate Liquid in time due to the latter's sudden deactivation of the Sons of the Patriots system, which resulted in all the soldiers in the vicinity to experience mass convulsions from the sudden release of emotions, including Snake himself, although he was affected to a lesser degree. SOP was run by the Patriots with the purpose of monitoring and controlling every soldier engaged in combat action. Liquid's plan was to remove the system altogether, though his initial attempt had unforeseen consequences when it caused the PMC's Middle Eastern base to descend into chaos (although the chaos unknowingly saved him from Snake's mission to kill him).
Infiltrating South America
Later, Otacon received a message from Naomi Hunter, who had been there in the Middle East to save Snake when the SOP System went haywire. The message contained a distress call as well as an encrypted map of Liquid's South American base in Soliton Radar format (a sign from Naomi that it was truly from her), the location of which Olga's daughter Sunny was able to trace. In addition, he was able to arrive at Liquid's base, located in a mountainous region (implied to be the Andes) surrounded by forests, by landing at the El Dorado International Airport with the cover job of a UN inspector as well as gaining a 4x4 vehicle, driving it as close to the security perimeter as he could before sneaking into the region, due to Roy Campbell's influence. Although Snake initially was to meet up with a rebel group to aid him in getting into Liquid Ocelot's primary base, the Vista Mansion, he was forced to change plans after Laughing Octopus murdered some rebel soldiers and spared one under the condition that he does not forget "his" face (Laughing Octopus having disguised herself as Old Snake via FaceCamo at that time).
Snake made it to the base where Naomi was held, and she gave him a thorough medical examination. It was during this that Snake discovered the harsh truth: his aging was not part of any external source, but the way he was designed as a clone, and also that the FOXDIE that Naomi injected him with almost a decade earlier will finally claim his life within six months. This was because the FOXDIE was also starting to mutate due to Snake's rapid aging, and would eventually lose its ability to kill by specific DNA patterns and indiscriminately infect anyone and everyone, effectively turning Snake into a walking biological weapon who could cause the deaths of millions. Because of this, he asked if killing himself would have any impact on stopping FOXDIE. Naomi confirmed this, stating that FOXDIE will also die with its host. Snake also learned from Naomi that he had a new FOXDIE strand that was injected into him recently, and immediately deduced that Drebin 893 was the one who injected it into him.
After defeating Laughing Octopus of the Beauty and the Beast Unit, as well as procuring her FaceCamo, Snake escaped with Naomi with the help of Drebin 893, a "gun launderer" he had met in the Middle East. They also picked up Raiden, who was now a Cyborg Ninja. He also learned from Naomi that, despite what he and anyone else believed earlier, Solid Snake was neither a perfect clone of Big Boss nor was he genetically identical to Liquid Snake, which also explained why the previous FOXDIE virus was not able to kill him earlier.
In Eastern Europe
Raiden explained that he was acting under the orders of Big Mama, the leader of a small resistance group in Eastern Europe. He then disguised himself as a civilian in Eastern Europe, also putting his FaceCamo to good use by giving himself a younger look, and was tasked to meet up with a contact that Campbell supplied. However, Raven Sword anticipated this move and made sure to blacklist him if he carried the same nanomachines, which nearly resulted in his cover being blown before his contact, Meryl, managed to get him through. However, Snake and Meryl ended up getting into an argument regarding Liquid's threat level, as well as some of Snake's decisions. Snake, stalking a member of the resistance group, Paradise Lost, eventually found Big Mama, discovering she was the former Chinese spy who Big Boss had known, back when his codename was Naked Snake, as EVA. Due to her ties with Big Boss, she was able to explain most of the Patriots' history to him. She also revealed that she had Big Boss's body in her possession. After escaping an onslaught of Haven Troopers and defeating a second BB Corps member, Raging Raven, Snake found Liquid, who was in the midst of implementing the now perfected version of his plan. Taking control of the SOP system, Liquid used his now unbeatable army to kill every last soldier there, including Big Mama, save for Old Snake and the members of Rat Patrol. Luckily, in the chaos, Otacon was able to stow the Mk. II away with Naomi (who had returned to Liquid), and discovered Liquid's plan: to destroy JD and use GW to take over the Patriots AI system. As a result of the chaos in the final legs of the mission, he also received severe burns to the left side of his face.
Return to Shadow Moses and infiltrating Outer Haven
Knowing Liquid was planning to do this by using the only non-Patriot controlled weapon in existence - the rail gun from Metal Gear REX - Snake followed Liquid back to Shadow Moses Island. There Snake managed to defeat Vamp, BB Corps member Crying Wolf, and a Metal Gear RAY piloted by Liquid, with Snake himself piloting REX against the latter. However, he was unable to kill Liquid or stop him from stealing the rail gun in time, a prize which Liquid quickly equipped to his own recreation of Arsenal Gear, Outer Haven. Snake, Meryl and Rat Patrol team member Johnny "Akiba" Sasaki infiltrated Outer Haven from the USS Missouri, where Snake defeated the last of the BB members, Screaming Mantis, as well as finally destroying GW, the Patriots' former AI which Liquid had managed to reassemble. Unbeknownst to Snake, the FOXALIVE worm cluster that he had uploaded to GW, spread to JD and the rest of the Patriots' AIs. Atop Outer Haven, Liquid revealed to Snake that he had wanted him to succeed in uploading the worm, and thus eliminate the Patriots' control, though he was unaware that the societal collapse, which he anticipated would come about, had been averted. Snake faced his "brother" in hand-to-hand combat one last time, where it was revealed that Liquid Ocelot no longer possessed the right arm of Liquid Snake, but rather a cybernetic prosthetic instead. Snake ultimately defeated Liquid, with Ocelot's former personality temporarily reasserting control prior to his death. After performing his signature hand gesture and commenting, "You're pretty good," he passed away, having succumbed to the new FOXDIE virus within Snake's body.
Final encounter with Big Boss
Sometime later, Snake prepared to commit suicide to prevent the spread of the mutant strain of FOXDIE. He sat in front of Big Boss's grave with his gun in his mouth but ultimately was unable to end his own life. Big Boss then appeared, returning the Patriot to the grave of The Boss and explained the full history of the Patriots from his point of view, and euthanized the now-vegetative Zero himself. He also revealed to Snake that Revolver Ocelot was never truly possessed by Liquid, but had put himself through hypnotherapy and implanted himself with nanomachines in order to make himself "believe" that he was Liquid Snake. This was done to throw off the Patriots who, being a computer program, could only repeat the same processes and would send Snake in to take down Liquid if they thought he was alive. Big Boss also revealed that when Drebin injected Snake with modern nanomachines in order to make him compatible with SOP weaponry, he also injected him with a second strain of FOXDIE, which was programmed to kill Big Mama, Liquid Ocelot, and Big Boss himself, but also supplanted the original FOXDIE; thus, Snake was no longer in danger of becoming a biological weapon. Succumbing to illness from exposure to the new FOXDIE strain, Big Boss finally made his peace with Snake and urged him to live out the rest of his days "not as a snake, but as a man." Determined to fulfill this notion, Snake decided to quit smoking and retreated with Otacon and Sunny, this time for good, to live out the remainder of his life in peace, resolving to live long enough to see what the future held for the new world he helped to create.
