This article is about Liquid Snake. You may be looking for his doppelgänger, Liquid Ocelot.

"We're losing our place in a world that no longer needs us. A world that now spurns our very existence. You should know that as well as I do. After I launch this weapon and get our billion dollars, we'll be able to bring chaos and honor back to this world gone soft." ―Liquid Snake

Liquid Snake, real name Eli, also known as White Mamba (Kikongo: "Nyoka ya Mpembe"), McDonell/Master Miller, or simply Liquid, was the leader of FOXHOUND during the Shadow Moses Incident. He was cloned from Big Boss's DNA as part of the Les Enfants Terribles project, along with his brothers Solid Snake and Solidus Snake. Liquid was led to believe that he had been created in order to express Big Boss's recessive genetic traits, and as such, was "inferior" to Solid Snake who supposedly had received Big Boss's dominant genes. Liquid therefore held a strong resentment towards Solid and wished to defeat him in combat, reclaiming what he felt was his birthright, and thus proving his superiority.

Possessing an IQ of 180, Liquid spoke seven languages fluently, including English, Spanish, French, Malay, Arabic and Kikongo.[3][8] His main language, English, was also spoken with an English accent of the Received Pronunciation dialect during adulthood, and a Central London dialect during his childhood. He was almost an exact double of Solid Snake in terms of appearance, with the only distinguishable feature being his darker skin tone and fair hair color. He also had a tattoo on his left arm, which resembled the Rod of Asclepius, but with a sword in its place and with the words "Temptation Revelation".

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Biography

Background

Warning: The following information is from outside Hideo Kojima's core "Metal Gear Saga." It has some level of canonicity within the continuity, but reader discretion is advised.[?]

An adult Liquid Snake was foreseen in Elisa and Ursula's prophetic vision in 1970, as the son of Big Boss that would "bring the world to ruin."[9]

Non-"Metal Gear Saga" information ends here.

In 1972, Liquid and Solid were born as a result of the secret "Les Enfants Terribles" project designed to create the perfect soldier, using the genes of Big Boss, who was at the time considered the "Greatest Warrior of the 20th Century". 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 his recessive traits. Nine months later, the twins were born and would later receive the codenames of Solid Snake and Liquid Snake, with Liquid being given the name "Eli" as his real name. A third clone was also later created who inherited a perfect identical genetic code to Big Boss. Liquid was later led to believe that he was the result of Big Boss's "inferior" recessive traits.

Early life and career

In 1974, the Patriots (Cipher) decided to use the two clones as an insurance policy against Big Boss, should he continue to oppose the organization. Cipher's business associate Kazuhira Miller was made aware of this plan. After the Les Enfants Terribles project was abandoned in 1976, Eli was taken to England,[3][10][note 1] Zero's homeland. In 1979, at the age of seven, Eli escaped his handlers while in Africa and disappeared, later becoming leader of a group of child soldiers.

In 1984, Big Boss and Ocelot, meeting in Dhekelia SBA Memorial Hospital, discussed, among other subjects, the Les Enfants Terribles project and Eli's disappearance in Africa, with Ocelot noticing that he was still on the loose, and that the British government had made no real effort to recover him, seeing it as a sign that they had essentially abandoned him. Ocelot then pointed out that it was highly likely that, in the course of using Venom Snake and Diamond Dogs to rebuild Mother Base and hunt for Cipher, Eli would be encountered, as their business would sooner or later bring them close to the area where he was last seen. Big Boss replied that he didn't see Eli as his son and had nothing to say to him, but added that if he was encountered he should still be treated like a human being and nothing more. During this time, after most of the adults disappeared, he took up several remaining child soldiers and formed his own militia where they raided several villages and killed people, doing so enough times that he became rather infamous for his raids, eventually having the locals demand that a PF wipe them out.

Later in 1984, a twelve year-old Eli, primarily known by the moniker "White Mamba," encountered Venom Snake. Eli and his band of child soldiers had taken up residence in Masa Village, and Venom Snake was sent to extract him, in hopes of having the group fall apart without their leader. He encountered Eli sitting on a throne-like garden chair with the head of a pig on a platter (evoking imagery used in the novel Lord of the Flies). During the encounter, Eli challenged Snake to a fight. After a brief struggle, Eli was thrown to the ground by his older opponent; unwilling to submit, he pinned Venom Snake to a wall using a chair, then proceeded to draw a knife in attempt to stab him. Venom Snake disarmed Eli and threw him to the ground, driving the same knife into the ground beside Eli's head. Snake subdued Eli and brought him and his group of child soldiers back to Mother Base, confused by Eli's inherent hostility towards him. Once at Mother Base, Venom Snake playfully slapped Eli on the back; angered by this display of apparent friendship with the man he hated the most, Eli stole Snake's knife off his back and attacked him with it. Snake easily subdued him once again using CQC and dislocated his arm, later popping it back into place and leaving him to hopefully calm down. As a child on Mother Base, it was planned for Eli to receive an education and be sent back into the world to become a useful citizen. However, his headstrong and irritable attitude made this process next to impossible.

Later, as Venom Snake returned to Mother Base from a day in the field, he witnessed Eli speaking with a fellow child soldier. The child mentioned his "papa" to Eli, making Eli throw a fit about the fact his compatriot would even look up to an adult. A Diamond Dogs soldier attempted to reprimand him, but soon found his own knife stolen and held at his neck by the enraged child. Ocelot attempted to confiscate the knife, but was met with resistance and was forced to perform CQC on him. After losing the knife Eli still put up his fists, but found himself quickly beaten back down. Ocelot then sent him off with a disapproving look, fully aware of the child's true origins.

During the final confrontation between Venom Snake and Skull Face's forces, Eli had smuggled himself onto a Diamond Dogs helicopter in an attempt so see some real action, much to the chagrin of Miller. Unbeknownst to either Venom Snake and Skull Face, Eli had been in contact with Tretij Rebenok, the boy who would become Psycho Mantis. Rebenok, who felt psychically attracted to people who were driven by strong hatred, had identified Eli's feelings of hate towards Big Boss as even greater than those of his former employer, Skull Face, and had therefore switched his allegiance to Eli and imprinted on him, allowing himself be used as a conduit by Eli to hijack Metal Gear Sahelanthropus in order for Eli to enact his vengeance against Venom Snake. Eli influenced the Metal Gear to chase down Venom Snake, but the Metal Gear was stopped by a narrow gap in the canyon it was running in, forcing Eli to switch the Metal Gear into a more humanoid configuration and later causing further mayhem with what seems to be a plasma whip. Wreaking havoc on Skull Face's forces, the Metal Gear decidedly attacked Skull Face himself, causing him to become trapped under a large amount of debris. Eli would then focus his efforts on attempting to kill Venom Snake once again by using the Metal Gear. After a prolonged battle, Venom Snake was able to incapacitate the Metal Gear, thus removing Eli's control over it. However, in the run-up to Skull Face's death, and the disposal of the parasite vials, Eli managed to receive the remaining parasite vial of the English language strain from Tretij Rebenok who had intercepted it before it could be destroyed when Venom Snake discarded it.

Eli was eventually subjected to a DNA test, which confirmed that he and Venom Snake were not a genetic match. This later turned out to be a foreshadowing to the fact that Venom Snake actually was a "phantom" of Big Boss and therefore had different DNA than him.

Diamond Dogs extracted Sahelanthropus and repaired it back on Mother Base; it was around this time Eli began to plan an escape for the various child soldiers at Mother Base, causing an "accident" involving pipes that killed one of the child soldiers, Ralph. While Venom Snake went out in search of the missing children, Eli began organizing a revolt against the adults on Mother Base, having the children construct makeshift weapons in order cause trouble for the mercenaries. Part of his plan involved taking advantage of Miller's new-found responsibilities for the children, allowing him and his band to avoid being put in containment for bad behavior on the base until Miller was relieved of his duties as the children's caretaker by Ocelot, having failed to keep the situation contained. Eli was eventually caught and placed under surveillance. Unfortunately, he had fully anticipated this and proceeded to escape the interrogation room with the aid of Tretij Rebenok and the Metal Gear in the middle of an interrogation session with Ocelot and Miller in attendance and Venom Snake watching in behind a two-way mirror. Eli then boarded the hijacked Metal Gear and left, though not before telling his "father" that he was not like him, and that he didn't need him any more.

Eli and Tretij Rebenok would take the rest of the child soldiers back to Africa via helicopter, establishing a new stronghold that was likened to the Lord of the Flies. They made it fifty miles inland upon arriving at Africa before they were forced to land the hijacked chopper due to it running out of fuel. Eli and his child soldiers then deliberately tied the chopper pilot to his seat with vines and duct tape to ensure Diamond Dogs, whom he anticipated would pursue him, found the pilot, sending a message that he intends to fight them. Unbeknownst to him, however, XOF, now reintegrated with Cipher, were also pursuing him and his "giant in the sky."[11] To prepare for Venom Snake's arrival, Eli and his soldiers set up traps all over the island and had banished the island's population.

Diamond Dogs had meanwhile also learned through their Intelligence Team that Eli had been infected by the English parasite strain, and was therefore more determined to capture him than ever, both to make sure the parasites were destroyed for good and also make sure they wouldn't fall into the hands of XOF again. Eli had meanwhile infected the island with the parasite, but, fortunately, his decision to hide out on a salt lake island meant that the parasite was contained for time being, as it was unable to cross salt water barriers naturally. And though Eli and his men weren't in any immediate danger from the parasite infection, as it only affected infected individuals whose voice had broken, but Eli's voice was, due to his advance ageing, starting to change, so it would only be a matter of short time before his infection would go into outbreak.

Both Diamond Dogs and XOF decided to move against Eli almost simultaneously, the former sending in Venom Snake with orders to capture Eli and his boys and recover Sahelanthropus, and the latter deploying a strike force to kill Eli and reclaim their investment. The strike force arrived slightly before Snake made his landfall, and despite Snake's best efforts, and many of them falling victims to booby traps set up by Eli's boys, they were able to locate Eli and Sahelanthropus' cockpit just before he did. Slowly approaching Sahelanthropus, an XOF marksman attempted to snipe Eli while he was in the cockpit of the Metal Gear, only for Tretij Rebenok to appear and shield Eli with his powers. A full blown fire fight ensued, with the XOF troopers throwing everything they had at Eli, but due to being in control of Sahelanthropus and having Rebenok on his side, he made short work of them, before discovering Venom Snake, who had taken cover behind some rocks nearby. Eli briefly opened the cockpit to taunt Snake, whom he still believed to be his father, the real Big Boss, declaring he would kill him and thereby break his heritage.

A fierce fight followed, but Snake ended up with the upper hand, being able to damage Sahelanthropus to a point it was unable to move and Eli had to eject himself from it. Ceasing this moment of weakness, the surviving XOF troopers moved in to make another attempt on Eli's life, with Snake desperately attempting to fight them off. During the fire fight, Snake suffered a head injury, which triggered a seizure in his brain, and made him momentarily unable to distinguish red and white colors, leading him to mistake the red-dressed Eli for one of the white-dressed XOF troopers, and he accidentally shot him in the heat of the battle. As the dust settled and Snake's temporary color blindness disappeared, he realized what he had done and ran to Eli's motionless body, lamenting his mistake.

Following Eli's defeat, the Diamond Dogs arrived on island in force, and while Eli's child soldiers were being evacuated and Sahelanthropus was being readied for transport, a medic was able to examine Eli, discovering that he was still alive, as he had donned a bulletproof vest prior to the battle, meaning that the shot had merely knocked him unconscious. Venom Snake ordered that Eli was to be evacuated too, but just then Eli started coming to, and the medical team, realized to their horror that his parasites were starting to go into outbreak. Still unable to stand, Eli lamented that his fate was written into his genes as Venom Snake looked over him. Eli declared that regardless of his status as a flawed copy of Big Boss, he still had every intention of one day surpassing and destroying his father, going on to say that he would even kill all of Cipher and then destroy everything Big Boss held dear. As Diamond Dogs prepared to sterilize the entire island with napalm, Venom Snake pointed his gun at Eli, preparing to mercy kill him, rather than let him die from the parasites or the napalm bombing. Snake, however, found that he couldn't pulling the trigger on the boy, as he had come to respect him too much, telling Eli that he was "one hell of a soldier." Eli's reply was merely to angrily declare his hatred of Big Boss once again. Snake then unloaded his gun before placing the weapon a few feet away from him with a single bullet left in the chamber, telling Eli: "That's right. Don't blame yourself. Blame me." He then left Eli to decide his fate.

Eli's first reaction was stumble forward and grab the gun, angrily it aiming at Snake's back. But as he watched Diamond Dogs leaving the island with Sahelanthropus and his former men, he realized the completeness of his defeat, and instead placed the gun against his own temple, preparing to commit suicide. But before he could pull the trigger Tretij Rebenok appeared before him and stopped him. Rebenok then used his powers to extract the parasites from him, and convinced Eli to leave with him, levitating them both to safety as Diamond Dogs started bombing the island with napalm. After they both landed in an undisclosed location near the island, a determined Eli started walking forward, with Rebenok following quietly behind him. As Eli glared forward into the distance, he vowed that it "[wasn't] over yet."[12][13]

Adulthood

In 1990, Liquid joined the British Special Air Service, becoming the youngest person in history to join its ranks, excelling at parachuting, rappelling, scuba diving, free climbing, and use of small arms and military vehicles. During the Gulf War in Iraq, he was assigned to an SAS unit to track down and destroy mobile Scud missiles. In truth, he infiltrated the Middle East as a sleeper agent for the British Secret Intelligence Service, but he was taken prisoner by the Iraqis and declared missing in action.[3] In 1994, he was rescued by the U.S. Government.[3]

After Solid Snake defeated Big Boss during the Zanzibar Land Disturbance in 1999, Liquid's hatred and envy for Snake grew, since he had been denied the chance to exact his revenge on the father he believed had chosen him to be the inferior clone.[14] He was eventually reunited with his old ally Mantis and the two joined FOXHOUND in 2000, with Liquid becoming its squad leader after Snake had already retired from the unit.[3] Despite codenames having previously been abandoned under Roy Campbell's command, new members of the unit adopted the system once more. In addition, Liquid's real name was highly classified.[15]

Main article: Shadow Moses Incident



In February 2005, FOXHOUND subordinate Revolver Ocelot convinced Liquid Snake to launch an insurrection against the U.S. Government, during a weapons testing exercise on Shadow Moses Island. Along with the other members of FOXHOUND and the Next-Generation Special Forces, they seized control of the island's nuclear weapons disposal site and Metal Gear REX. Calling themselves the Sons of Big Boss, the group took DARPA Chief Donald Anderson and ArmsTech President Kenneth Baker as hostages, and threatened the White House with a nuclear strike unless Liquid's demand was met: the body of Big Boss. The incident was deliberately brought about to coincide with the signing of the START III Accord between the U.S. and Russia: exposing REX's existence would put the signing of the treaty in jeopardy, erode confidence in America’s commitment to non-proliferation, and create international turmoil.

After Anderson died during Ocelot's interrogation, Liquid arrived at a setback, having failed to learn the DARPA Chief's activation code for REX both due to the botched interrogation and Psycho Mantis being unable to retrieve the code via his mind-reading abilities. Unable to back up his threat of a nuclear strike, Mantis suggested to Liquid that Decoy Octopus disguise himself as an imprisoned Anderson, to await rescue from U.S. forces.[16] Liquid anticipated that his clone brother Solid Snake would be sent in to eliminate the terrorist threat, and intended to trick him into activating REX for them, as a backup plan. Liquid also arranged for McDonell Benedict Miller to be murdered at his home so that he could assume the role of Snake's former mentor and influence his actions via Codec, after tricking Colonel Campbell into allowing him onto the mission support staff.[17]

Alerting the Genome Soldiers of Solid Snake's imminent arrival on the island, Liquid headed out to intercept two F-16s that had been launched by the Pentagon as a diversion. Using a Hind D gunship, provided to him by Sergei Gurlukovich, Liquid successfully shot down the two fighters with his uncanny piloting skills. He then issued a threat to the U.S. Government, warning that he would launch the nuke should they attempt a similar assault. While impersonating McDonell Miller, Liquid then made contact with Snake and offered his support to the unassuming operative. However, Liquid's plans were further complicated when Decoy Octopus unexpectedly died from unknown causes, after coming into contact with Snake. When Baker died under similar circumstances, Liquid set out to discover the cause of the mysterious deaths. Nevertheless, he ordered Ocelot and Vulcan Raven not to kill him, wishing to further see what Snake was capable of. During this time, Liquid secretly observed directly Snake's actions and reactions to killing his comrades.[18]

When Solid Snake was later captured by Sniper Wolf, Liquid intended to obtain a DNA sample from him, in order to learn more of the Genome Soldiers' various mutations. After Snake awoke from unconsciousness, Liquid introduced himself to his brother, meeting him face-to-face for the first time. He then gave the order to continue REX's launch preparations as planned, due to U.S. government's lack of response to his demands upon Vulcan Raven updating him via cell phone. He suspected that they must have an ace up their sleeve, and that there was may be a spy among his ranks, questioning the motives of the mysterious Cyborg Ninja that had managed to kill twelve of his men. He left Ocelot to interrogate Snake, but warned him not to make the same mistake as he did with the DARPA Chief.

After Snake managed to escape from the medical facility, Liquid attacked him with the Hind D as he attempted to cross over the communications towers. The Russian gunship menaced Snake several times before a final showdown on the roof of one tower. Following an intense battle, the Hind eventually went down in flames due to stinger missiles fired by Snake, though Liquid was able to survive.[19] Continuing his Master Miller impersonation, he then tricked Snake into focusing on his mission support adviser Naomi Hunter as an enemy spy. Utilizing the distraction, Liquid ultimately deceived Snake into activating Metal Gear REX with the ArmsTech President's PAL key, since he had been unable to do so without it.

Through information supplied by a spy in the Pentagon, Liquid learned that Decoy Octopus's and President Baker's deaths had been caused by FOXDIE; a DIA assassination virus with which Solid Snake had secretly been infected. He then added a FOXDIE vaccine to FOXHOUND's demands, along with one billion dollars to help correct the Genome Soldiers' mutations, using information gathered from Big Boss's DNA. Deciding to play the superpowers against one another, rather than take them head on, Liquid disregarded Ocelot’s suggestion of Chernoton, Russia, as a target, and instead chose Lop Nor, China, which was the location of a nuclear test site. Since firing a nuke at a major population center would make future negotiations impossible, an attack on a nuclear test site could still be concealed from the public. The U.S. would be forced to confess some of its state secrets to prevent a retaliatory strike from China, after which Liquid could sell the nuclear weapon system to the highest bidder. Not only that, but with Metal Gear REX in his possession, Liquid planned to join forces with Colonel Gurlukovich's forces, and turn Shadow Moses into a new "Outer Heaven." With these vast resources at his command, Liquid would drag the world into a Third World War, fulfilling Big Boss's dream of a world which always had a place for soldiers. Liquid, resuming his Miller disguise, also advised Snake to change the PAL key, although by the time Snake managed to change it to the red PAL key, he almost blew his cover in excitement that Snake was getting close to activating REX, although he summarily covered it up by claiming that he's just excited that Snake's about to succeed in the mission.

After Solid Snake unwittingly activated Metal Gear REX, Liquid revealed his deception as Master Miller to Snake and locked him within the launch control room. Having no more use for Snake, he released nerve gas into the room, though Snake managed to escape with Otacon's help. Eventually cornered by Snake, Liquid revealed the existence of FOXDIE to him, and that the Pentagon wished to recover REX and the Genome Soldiers' remains without damage. Expressing his hatred for Big Boss, Liquid told Snake that he intended to destroy their father by surpassing him, and escaped into REX's cockpit to engage Snake in battle. However, Gray Fox interrupted the battle, saving Snake from being crushed by Liquid, with Liquid vowing to "send [Fox] back to Hell" in retaliation. Snake and Fox then escaped to cover and conversed while Liquid was firing everywhere, looking for the two. He finally found them and open fired, focusing on Gray Fox first. Fox managed to attack REX with his armament, but Liquid managed to shoot him once, and slice his left arm off with the laser on REX. Pinning Fox down, he mocked the two, asking Snake if he was going to help him out at all, but Fox then destroyed the radome, exposing Liquid. Liquid, although impressed at Gray Fox's destruction of the radome, nonetheless killed Fox shortly thereafter by stomping on him with REX. He and Snake then went at it again. After Snake managed to score a few hits in the cockpit, REX was rendered inoperable, but the explosion knocked him out.

Having survived the explosion, Liquid dragged Snake to the top of REX, and directly threatened the Pentagon via Snake's Codec implant.[20] As Snake regained consciousness, Liquid told him that he wouldn't be killed so long as Snake lived, and even with the destruction of REX, his fight was not over yet. He explained to Snake that his ultimate goal was to give soldiers a purpose again, especially since soldiers continued to be abused by hypocritical politicians and political gambits. He also deduced that Snake, despite his protestations, enjoyed the thrill of battle and would welcome the prospect of a war-torn world, which he intended to create. Liquid then revealed to Snake the history of their own creation, as well as that of the Genome Soldiers, and the reason why they needed Big Boss's remains. He then revealed that while Snake was still unconscious, he had placed a prone Meryl Silverburgh on top of REX as well as wiring her to a timed explosive. With a bombing raid on the facility, ordered by the U.S Secretary of Defense, due to commence shortly, Liquid and Snake battled barehanded atop REX's ruins. Snake eventually managed to knock Liquid off to the floor far below.

Though it seemed that Snake was victorious, Liquid survived the fall from REX. A car chase ensued as Liquid raced after Snake and Meryl by jeep as they were trying to escape from the impending nuclear strike via a supply tunnel. Using a FAMAS rifle to attack, Liquid was kept at bay by Snake's machine gun fire, until both jeeps crashed at the tunnel entrance, just outside the facility. Minutes later, Liquid emerged from the wreck of his jeep, bloody and wounded but still alive. He staggered towards Snake and Meryl, FAMAS in hand. Just as he was about to kill them, as they were both trapped underneath their vehicle, Liquid suddenly lurched backwards and collapsed to the ground, succumbing to the FOXDIE virus.

After death

Afterwards, Revolver Ocelot informed Solidus Snake that Liquid had wrongly believed himself to be the inferior one right until his death.[21] Solidus had Liquid's body recovered, and the right arm transplanted onto Ocelot, replacing the one he had lost to the Cyborg Ninja. Afterwards, Liquid's corpse was put into cold storage.[22]

Meanwhile, Liquid's corpse was stolen by Solid Snake and Otacon to fake the former's death in 2007[22] and eventually ended up interred and later exhumed for DNA testing, which was mistakenly used to verify Snake's death in 2009.[23] By 2007, Liquid's personality had been implanted into Revolver Ocelot's mind. However, the presence of Liquid's transplanted arm resulted in an imbalance in Ocelot's psyche, resulting in Liquid manifesting sporadically. Liquid's personality presumably achieved full control over Ocelot's mind in 2009.

By 2014, Liquid's persona had completely fused with Revolver Ocelot's and created the new entity Liquid Ocelot despite the replacement of his transplanted arm with a cybernetic prosthesis. Being his doppelgänger, Ocelot retained Liquid's ambitions to set off to bring about his own vision of Outer Heaven as well as the destruction of the Patriots. During this time, a DNA chip containing Liquid's genome was used by Ocelot during a failed attempt to hack into the SOP system. It was revealed by Naomi that Liquid and Snake were not 100% identical genetic matches, even though they were similar enough to fool a DNA testing, which is why FOXDIE only affected Liquid in Shadow Moses but spared him. Meanwhile, EVA used body parts from Liquid and Solidus to reconstruct Big Boss. Liquid's likeness, alongside that of Solidus, Solid Snake and Big Boss, was later displayed in a Mt. Rushmore-like feature on Outer Haven's hull, at Shadow Moses Island. Liquid's persona ultimately faded away during Ocelot's final battle with Solid Snake.

Personality and traits

Liquid Snake generally displayed an arrogant and extroverted attitude in stark contrast to Solid Snake's more calm and collected personality. He was described as having an "attitude problem" by Miller. He was incredibly resentful and bitter towards Big Boss, believing he had been knowingly chosen by the man to be his "inferior" clone, whereas his brother Snake was endowed with "superior" genes. This drove him to surpass his supposed genetic destiny, and in essence, his father. His hatred was such that when Snake compared him to the then-detained Naomi Hunter regarding his motives, Liquid didn't even deny it. When he was younger, his hatred for Big Boss was intense enough that he reacted violently to even the mere mention of the subject of fathers or even parents, as evidenced by his becoming threatening to one of the soldiers in his squad when the latter relayed to him how his own father was doing with his work in the mines, as well as his instantly attacking Venom Snake when they first met after the latter expressed doubts that his parents named him "White Mamba", and was also severe enough that it overpowered both Skull Face and Volgin's control over Tretij Rebenok (both of whom did so due to their mutual hatred of Big Boss). In addition, he bore hatred towards the Patriots as he had hunted them down for some time, and vowed to deal with them in such a manner as to "cause even the reaper's stomach to turn." He was also shown to have a lot of self-loathing to the extent of being suicidal in his younger years, as evidenced by his comment about freeing himself from his cursed heritage when about to fight Venom Snake, his lamentation about his fate being written into his genes, as well as his deeply considering suicide until he was convinced otherwise. This self-loathing aspect was also present to a lesser extent with Ocelot's Liquid persona in 2014, as when humiliating Old Snake near the Volta, Liquid Ocelot acknowledged that both Solid Snake and himself were "shadows in the shape of men" and "freaks" who never should have existed in the first place.[24]

As a young boy, Liquid despised adult authority due to his handlers' treatment of him and broke away from them while in Africa to form his own personal militia. When Venom Snake captured him, Liquid did not say a word to him and rudely refused Venom Snake's offers of help. He hated being treated as a kid, as when Venom Snake patted him on the back, Liquid almost immediately tried to kill him by taking his knife, only to have his right arm dislocated, which Snake immediately put back after lecturing him about respect and loyalty. Even as a young child, Liquid showed psychopathic behavior, laughing in delight as he escaped Mother Base with Sahelanthropus and obsessively focusing his life on killing Venom Snake. The destruction Liquid caused while telepathically controlling the Metal Gear shocked even Skull Face himself. He also was bad at understanding basic biology.

Due to his genetic engineering and being endowed with Big Boss' superior soldier genes, Liquid had enhanced strength, speed, durability, knowledge and skills in combat. He was better than the average soldier, easily disarming and pinning one to the ground. Being a commander of a troop of child soldiers who raided several villages, he even held his own against Venom Snake in hand to hand combat, dodging and countering his CQC attacks and even evading his gunfire while pinning him to a metal wall with a plastic chair.

As he got older, his fighting and physical prowess had strengthened even more. He became the youngest member of the Special Air Service, excelling at parachuting, rappelling, Scuba diving, free climbing, and use in small arms and military vehicles. Liquid became the squad commander of FOXHOUND, possessed an IQ of 180, spoke seven languages (English, French, Spanish, Malay, Kikongo, and Arabic speaking it like a native).

In contrast to Solid Snake and Big Boss, Liquid showed an apparent lack of compassion and loyalty to his allies and only seemed to view them as pawns at best. After Snake defeated Psycho Mantis and Sniper Wolf, Liquid thought they were pathetic and foolish for not fighting more effectively. In addition, before Vulcan Raven fought Snake for the final time, Liquid told him "[his] existence [was] no longer needed in this world." He also implied that the only reason he even bothered trying to get Big Boss's genes to cure the various Genome Soldiers of their genetic problems was more due to feeling compelled to do so via sharing the same genes and self-interest rather than genuinely caring for their well being. However, he did seem to possess some skewed sense of pride and honor by letting Snake live to fight him unbound and unarmed in a one-on-one duel (presumably in an attempt to feed his ego). Despite his nature, Liquid was shown to be merciful as he let Meryl live when Ocelot offered to kill her. However, he did this moreso to use her as a pawn against Snake. In addition, he is also shown to respect opponents to a certain degree, as evidenced by how he admitted that Gray Fox was indeed worthy of his codename from FOXHOUND after the cyborg ninja damaged Metal Gear REX's radome beyond repair before making clear that Fox was finished.

In large part because of his upbringing and his knowledge of how he was conceived, he harbored a belief that he should follow what his genes told him, under the hopes that he would surpass his genetic destiny. He also largely believed for the same reasons that he couldn't become anything else than a soldier, and wouldn't have the right to even possess a real name, reacting angrily at one point when Snake claimed that he did have a name other than his codename. His loathing of his real name had been there since his youth, as he reacted violently when one of his fellow soldiers addressed him as such.

Liquid was an especially adept pilot; as demonstrated by his piloting of a Hind D during a blizzard when the gunships IR and navigation systems were nonfunctional, especially in combat against two F-16s, as well as co-pilot it from within the weapons operator's cockpit, which Revolver Ocelot attributed to the successes of the "Les Enfants Terribles" project.[25] He would later use the same chopper to combat Snake.

Liquid was skilled at disguising himself, as evidenced by his deception as Master Miller to trick Snake and the mission control into unwittingly activating REX with the PAL key. However, he did have trouble maintaining his disguise when undergoing intense emotions. This was demonstrated twice during the Shadow Moses Incident: the first time was when he reacted with anger over Ocelot leaving a time bomb among Snake's belongings when he escaped (causing him to narrowly stop himself and regain his composure when he came too close to saying too much). The second time was nearing the end of the mission, having a suspiciously excited reaction when Snake managed to heat up the key, causing Snake to wonder why "Miller" was feeling oddly happy about it.

Liquid often displayed high levels of endurance, having survived numerous, seemingly fatal, events over the course of his life. This survivability could be attributed to him possessing the dominant genes of Big Boss and, therefore, superior physical abilities compared to other clones. This included:

As a kid, he could take a lot punishment, including several CQC strike combos and slams from Venom Snake, but kept on fighting.

His body was able to withstand freezing temperatures for several minutes with little clothing or protection.

He was shot down in the Hind D, the explosion of which Snake could see from the top of the communications towers.

During the REX battle, Liquid survived the multiple stinger missile hits on the cockpit, and was still inside REX when it finally blew up. The force of that explosion was sufficient to bodily hurl Snake across the room and slam him into a wall. However, once again, Liquid emerged relatively unscathed, dragging Snake to the top of REX's remains for a final fight.

At the conclusion of the brawl, Liquid survived a fall of over 10 meters (40 feet) from the top of REX, when he had claimed beforehand that such a fall would kill even Snake.

Immediately afterwards, Liquid gave chase to Snake and Meryl, eventually causing both vehicles to crash. Dragging himself from the wreckage, staggering but still alive, he attempted to finish off Snake, but succumbed to FOXDIE before he could.

Japanese heritage

Being a somatic cell clone of Big Boss, Liquid Snake inherited mitochondrial DNA from the Japanese egg donor of Les Enfants Terribles. Liquid and Solid Snake were also somewhat aware of their Japanese heritage. During the Shadow Moses Incident, Liquid almost let slip his true identity, while posing as Master Miller, when discussing Snake's and Vulcan Raven's common ancestry.[26]

Unconfirmed history

The following information has been detailed in official Konami-licensed media, written by various external authors. Its status in the Metal Gear canon is unconfirmed.[?]

The Twin Snakes were born as a result of a ninth batch of clones, in Carlsbad, New Mexico.[27] After Liquid was sent to Great Britain, he experienced a harsh childhood where he received an education and combat training courtesy of MI5.[28]

Liquid Snake had been trained to resist torture.[29] He also had the uncanny ability to disguise himself in a multitude of ways, and spent time as a mercenary and assassin, having disdain for service in the military.[28]

His part Japanese heritage, alongside his knowledge of Arabic, allowed him to pass as half Turkish and half Caucasian during his sleeper agent duties, and used his time as a sleeper agent to quickly create contacts with various resistance fighters among oppressed Kurds and Islamic fundamentalists that were repressed as part of Saddam Hussein's pan-Arabist agenda, to which his contacts acted as the main reason why Liquid was able to remain inside Baghdad long after the beginning of the Gulf War despite the heavy presence of the Mukhabarat (the Iraqi Intelligence Service) agents and counterspies within the al-Amn al-'Amm secret police forces. In addition to the SCUD missile mobile launching platforms' locations, Liquid also uncovered details of mustard gas production as well as the movements of Republican Guard tanks, and filed the reports to coalition forces, who promptly used his information to plan a number of missions.[29]

During the Gulf War, Liquid Snake succeeded in destroying four mobile SCUD missile launchers before Iraqi paratroopers captured him,[28] with even Liquid being unable to comprehend how he was captured easily as he was being transported for the secret police's headquarters in a van with a canvas sack over his head. In addition, Liquid was believed to have been sold out by the SIS to get a new source of information from one of Saddam's closest associates. After being delivered to the al-Amn al-'Amm headquarters, he was subject to the torture of the secret police's interrogation squads. These torture rounds, as well as the interrogation squads' sadistic reactions to rubbing salt into Liquid's wounds under Saddam's command, were what led Liquid to believe that humanity, when absolutely free, were vicious and irredeemably evil, almost similar to beasts. His hatred of having his will constrained to the extent that the only "liberty" that it can be allowed is to live was also stemmed from the brainwashing in the POW camps.[29]

He was then brainwashed by the Iraqi government and assigned to undertake major terrorist activities throughout the Middle East before he was rescued in 1994.[28] During his time of brainwashing, he also set about creating international networks.[29] Upon hearing of the FOXHOUND unit during the 1990s, he expressed interest in it and dubbed his activities "jackal hunting," which was a rudimentary Middle Eastern equivalent of FOXHOUND. He also developed a resistance to extreme climate temperatures due to his missions in the Arab desert regions.[28]

By the time he became the commander of FOXHOUND, he started suffering mental instability as a result of discovering that the "genes" that he inherited from Big Boss as a result of the Les Enfants Terribles project were apparently recessive.[28]

Behind the scenes

Liquid Snake (リキッド・スネーク, Rikiddo Sunēku?) serves as the primary antagonist of the original Metal Gear Solid. Hideo Kojima made Liquid Snake a clone in order to create a strong opponent for Solid Snake, and thus a worthy final boss for a video game, citing that, "It's Snake who can surpass the Snake."[30][31]

Metal Gear Solid

The mission in which Liquid was captured in Iraq bears similarities to one of the mission outlines of a failed SAS operation during the Gulf War, Bravo Two Zero. During the Tokyo Game Show trailer of the game, the book detailing their exploits was also seen on Hideo Kojima's desk, implying that he used it as a basis for writing the character.[32]

Although Roy Campbell said Liquid was rescued after Snake retired from FOXHOUND, Liquid's briefing file says he was rescued in 1994, one year before Snake retired.

In the English version of the original game, Liquid mentioned that Big Boss had personally told him that he was inferior. In the Darkness of Shadow Moses instead has Liquid state his belief that Big Boss knowingly chose him to be the inferior clone (also included in The Twin Snakes remake), possibly suggesting that the two never met one another.

It remains unclear as to which clone was created to express Big Boss's dominant or recessive traits, since Liquid's exposition on Les Enfants Terribles is contradicted by Ocelot's later report to Solidus, regarding which clone was designated the "inferior" one. The subject of Big Boss's dominant and recessive traits, in regards to the clones' gene expression, was never revisited in subsequent games and sources. While a recap of Liquid's dialogue was included in the in-game novel In the Darkness of Shadow Moses, there is no mention of dominant and recessive traits, whereas the dialogue remains essentially unchanged in The Twin Snakes. The flawed understanding of dominance in genetics, demonstrated by Liquid in the English version, may actually be a result of mistranslating the ambiguous teminology used in the Japenese source, with the Gene Society of Japan recently proposing that its usage be replaced.[33]

In official artwork for Metal Gear Solid, Liquid is seen wearing dog tags, though they are not present in the game itself due to graphical limitations. The dog tags were later included in the The Twin Snakes remake, which the player can obtain from Liquid if he is knocked off the edge of Metal Gear REX, although he will retain them in various following cutscenes.

Although it can be difficult to notice due to the graphical limitations of the time, one can observe that both Liquid and Solid Snake share the exact same face model. The only differences being Liquid's longer blonde hair and darker skin tone. Otherwise both Solid and Liquid Snake share the same facial appearance right down to the scar on the left cheek.

AbbyShot Clothiers, a company that creates movie and video game-inspired clothing, created a trenchcoat similar to those worn by Liquid and other members of FOXHOUND.[34] The standard coat is priced at $399 CAD ($385 USD), while a custom sized version is priced at $499 CAD ($482 USD).[35] On a semi-related note, Liquid's attire also resembles that of Colonel Silver, a member of the Red Ribbon Army from the Dragon Ball franchise, who in the anime also shared the same Japanese voice actor as Liquid (Banjō Ginga). Liquid's trench coat also greatly resembles the one Big Boss wears in his MGS artwork and his appearance in MGS 4. This is likely deliberate to showcase his desire to imitate and surpass him.

Liquid's speech on the fictional Asymmetry Theory may be a reference to genetic diversity as individuals with genetic diversity from outbreeding (non-related mating) thrive while individuals made from inbreeding (related mates) have similar genetic codes and are less likely to survive than outbred indviduals because Liquid, Snake, and the Genome Soldiers all have the same genetic code, Big Boss'.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

In the original plot for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Liquid was intended to have faked his death from FOXDIE and was also to have been the main antagonist of the Tanker Chapter (which was originally supposed to be on an aircraft carrier).[36] However, this, along with most of the original plot, was scrapped due to tensions rising in the Middle East. According to character designer Yoji Shinkawa, Liquid living on via Ocelot's transplanted arm was added in as a direct result of Liquid's popularity, as he was originally slated to have a cybernetic arm instead.[37]

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Like his brother, Liquid Snake does not appear in the prequel Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, although he is foreshadowed on a few occasions, such as comments made by The Sorrow and Para-Medic, regarding Naked Snake's sons and his genes, respectively. In addition, the pre-end credits timeline also mentions the birth of the "Sons of Big Boss." On a related note, the game also first revealed the birth year of Solid Snake, being born in 1972 as noted in the timeline.

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops

Liquid Snake was given an indirect reference in Elisa/Ursula's prophecy towards Naked Snake, where she mentioned that one of Naked Snake's "sons" via Les Enfants Terribles would destroy the world while the other would save it. In addition, the main antagonist Gene had a similar dynamic to Naked Snake as Liquid had to Solid Snake, including a rivalry to determine who was fit to carry on the legacy of a famous soldier (The Boss, in their case). However, unlike Liquid, Gene was noticeably friendlier to Naked Snake in their interactions.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

During the 2009 Tokyo Game Show, Kojima stated that players would discover what caused Liquid to become one of the series' antagonists in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.[38] However, Liquid makes no actual appearance in the game and is only mentioned once, during Kazuhira Miller's secret phone call, as one of the "sons" of Big Boss. His later impersonation of Miller was also alluded to in two radio calls, both relating to the player (either as Big Boss or a male MSF soldier) using the "Miller" uniform. He does, however, make a cameo appearance in the English version of Peace Walker, on the front cover of the Liquid Magazine. This was changed from the real life Dengeki PlayStation magazine featured in the original Japanese version. The Liquid Magazine featured two lines uttered by Liquid on the cover: "We have no past, no future", in reference to his statement to Solid Snake regarding their creation for the sole purpose of fighting; and "Did you like my Sunglasses", referring to his line when Snake confronts him in the hangar, regarding his disguise as Master Miller.

E3 Battle

Liquid appeared as a participant in the Konami-sponsored event E3 Battle, where he defeated Aoba Anoa from Otomedius in the first round. He ended up facing off against and losing to Revolver Ocelot in the second round.

"LIQUID SNAKE

FIRST APPEARED IN

Metal Gear Solid (1998)

Former FOXHOUND squad leader and twin brother to Solid Snake." ―Liquid Snake's bio from E3 Battle

Metal Gear Solid V

Liquid also appears in the Ground Zeroes extra op, Déjà Vu. In the mission, Liquid appears in a flashback when the player drives a jeep underneath a bridge, depicting Liquid pursuing Meryl and Snake in the climax for Metal Gear Solid. He also screams Snake's name during this flashback, performed by Kazuhira Miller's English voice actor, Robin Atkin Downes. Aside from this, Miller mimics Liquid in the post-mission quiz relating to events from the original Metal Gear Solid, using either direct lines from the game or paraphrases relating to the context of the quiz. In addition, Miller also ends up succumbing to FOXDIE if the player manages to complete all ten questions correctly, causing an eleventh question to pop up where the player has to finish Miller's declaration of "FOX... DIE..."

Liquid made his debut appearance as the boy known as "Eli" in the E3 2013 trailer for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. In the trailer, he is described as "A Youth who Curses his Fate."[39] He also appeared in the E3 2014 trailer, showing him struggling with Big Boss. In this instance, the back of his jacket featured the words "Never Be Game Over," along with the Japanese characters 液体人間, roughly translating to "Liquid Man." His appearance in the E3 2015 trailer shows him jumping into the Metal Gear Skull Face leads Big Boss to, subsequently using it to chase Big Boss. He is also shown sitting next to an identical looking boy in a helicopter when Big Boss is heard saying "Les Enfants Terribles, Zero called it." However, it was later revealed that the boy in question was actually Psycho Mantis in disguise due to being attracted to his hateful reaction to Venom Snake.[40]

Eli's age, appearance, character description, and jacket decoration in The Phantom Pain trailers led to speculation that he was a young Liquid Snake. When asked about Eli's design in an interview with Game Informer, during the lead-up to Ground Zeroes, Yoji Shinkawa said he was forbidden to answer at that moment.[41] This connection to Liquid is further alluded in the E3 2015 trailer. Eli was confirmed to be Liquid in The Phantom Pain. As such, The Phantom Pain was the first game in the series to divulge Liquid's first name. The name "Eli" was similar to the biblical figure of the same name, who was a brother of King David and a high priest of Shiloh. Eli's descendants died at a young age due to their being corrupt and Eli punishing them too lightly, as a curse imposed upon God.

Owing to his being the child version of Liquid, he also conducted similar actions to his role in his debut game:

When escaping Mother Base, he tells Venom Snake, "I'm not like you!" before boarding Sahelanthropus, which are the exact same words he said to Solid Snake shortly before boarding REX.

When fighting Venom Snake at Bwala ya Masa during the White Mamba mission, Eli will sometimes yell "Not yet, Snake! It's not over yet!" which were the exact same words he later said to Solid Snake when pursuing Solid Snake and Meryl.

At one point, Eli is seen sitting to rotting boar's head, alluding to the book and film Lord of the Flies. In the Phantom Episode "Kingdom of the Flies", a scenario that was cut from the game (included in the Blu-ray documentary in the Collector's Edition), Eli's fate after hijacking Sahelanthropus is elaborated upon. The scene ends with a voiceover of Eli saying "Not yet! It's not over yet!" and a view of New York's pre-9/11 skyline, possibly alluding to the Big Shell Incident.

According to Hideo Kojima's notes in the Piggyback Collector's Edition Guide's art gallery, Eli, as he is still a child, was still "in development" and as such is physically and mentally not complete. As such, while he tries to play it cool, he feels weak and vulnerable truthfully.

Eli can be found on Mother Base, sitting in a chair on the top floor of the central command platform. However, he only appears when Venom Snake is leaving Mother Base on a helicopter.

Dummied content within the game suggested that Eli, as Liquid Snake, would have been playable in some capacity.

Reception

Liquid proved to be extremely popular upon his debut. Kojima, in a series of tweets, reflected that had he thought ahead beyond each Metal Gear game being the last, especially Metal Gear Solid, he would have spared Liquid and "split" his relationship from Snake in light of his popularity instead of having him die.[42] Liquid's popularity was large enough that he inspired in the creation of other antagonists such as Cecile Carlyle, the main antagonist of WinBack: Covert Operations a similar game to the Metal Gear series.

Comparison with other Snake characters

He is the only Snake who hasn't been seen using any tobacco products, not counting Liquid Ocelot (although Solidus Snake has never been seen smoking in the games themselves, he was seen smoking a cigar in the ARG viral marketing site "Make it Right" during the various videos.). He's also the only Snake to not be a playable protagonist (although there were plans to have him be playable in Metal Gear Solid V.). He is also one of only two Snakes to not either lose sight in an eye or the eye itself, the only other being Solid Snake, and is also the only one to not wear an eyepatch or similar technology regardless of the status of his eye (while Solid Snake didn't lose an eye or its sight, he nonetheless wore similar equipment to an eyepatch called the Solid Eye). He is also the only one of the Snakes to have never worked for the CIA under any capacity (while Raiden did not directly work for the CIA, he did belong to the Army of the Devil as one of the child soldiers of Liberia, which had been run by Solidus Snake who was revealed to be CIA paramilitary at the time). He is also one of only two Snakes to not be voiced by Akio Otsuka in the Japanese version, the only other being Raiden (they were instead voiced by Banjō Ginga and Kenyu Horiuchi, respectively).

While Big Boss's clones are most often referred to as his sons in the series, they are biologically more similar to identical twins, since they share more genes with him than children born by normal sexual reproduction.

Gameplay

Metal Gear Solid

When outside the control room of Metal Gear REX before Snake loses the PAL card, the player can contact Liquid, who will still answer disguised as Master Miller, even though Liquid will still appear to be sharing a conversation with Ocelot if the player looks at the control room in first person view (at this point, the player is unaware that Miller is really Liquid, and the player cannot look in First Person View while using the Codec. The player can, however, use the scope to view Liquid and call Master Miller).

When Solid Snake flashes back to when Meryl was shot, Liquid, disguised as Master Miller, tells Solid Snake "You can’t keep attacking yourself for things that happened in the past. That road leads to madness, believe me." As Liquid was trying to act in-character as Master Miller at the time he made this statement, it is unclear whether this was meant to imply that Liquid has gone through a period of extensive self hatred.

If Snake is killed during the torture session with Ocelot, Liquid will berate Ocelot for "doing it again," referring to Donald Anderson's death.

If Snake fails to defeat Liquid atop REX before the time limit runs out, Liquid will laugh maniacally during the Game Over screen. If the player pushes Liquid off REX in The Twin Snakes, Liquid will drop his dog tags.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Liquid (along with several other Metal Gear characters) made a cameo feature in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a mention in a collectible trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. According to the cardboard box trophy, "both Liquid and Solid Snake have a deep affection for cardboard." He also appeared as a sticker, depicting his Metal Gear Solid artwork, of which, when it is worn, the food effect will increase by 6.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Killing enough human enemies in Metal Gear Solid 4 will cause Old Snake to recall Liquid’s words to him at the end of Metal Gear Solid ("You enjoy all the killing, that's why!"). The shock from this episode causes Snake to throw up and his Psyche Gauge lowers drastically. Although, if you pause the game after Liquid's speech, then you will skip the vomiting and not lose any Psyche. Unlocking this flashback after downloading the trophy patch will also result in the trophy, "You Enjoy All the Killing, That's Why!", being unlocked. In Metal Gear Solid 4, Liquid's voice is heard over flashbacks taken from The Twin Snakes.

In Act 4, when arriving at the Supply Route where REX's remains are located, taking a photograph of the cockpit area with the camera will reveal a ghost of Liquid Snake.

During the opening stage of the final battle with Liquid Ocelot, images of Liquid from Metal Gear Solid flash on the screen, and the "Encounter" music from Metal Gear Solid is played. Liquid Ocelot's attack patterns in this stage are similar to the ones Liquid Snake used in the fistfight atop REX.

Metal Gear Solid: The Phantom Pain

When facing Eli, when he says "Not yet Snake, it's not over yet!" it means he will be hiding in his room and knocking him down once there will result in a cutscene where he is defeated by Venom Snake.

Appearances





Non-canon

Sources

Gallery

Notes

^ It was originally stated that Liquid Snake was moved to England upon birth, in the Briefing File for Metal Gear Solid.