A

Alert Mode

When an enemy soldier spots the protagonist in MGS games, all soldier's A.I. will switch to Alert. Back-Up will arrive and they will hunt down the player character and proceed to shoot first and ask questions later. The status bar in the top right corner changes red and a countdown is displayed starting at ninety-nine seconds. If the enemies lose sigh of the player character they'll enter Evasion Mode.

ArmsTech Industries (AT Corps, ArmsTech Security)

Army's Heaven

Arsenal Gear

The true secondary setting of MGS2. It is a mobile fortress with twenty-five A.I. controlled Metal Gear RAY mechs guarding it. It serves as the final stage of the S3 plan, in which events aboard it are recreated to resemble the Shadow Moses incident in MGS1. Following the completion of the project, Arsenal would be used by the Patriots to take control of the internet, "creating context" (Rose Patriot A.I.) so that they would have the final say on what information is passed on to future generations.

But the A.I. in charge, GW, is severely damaged internally by a worm created by Emma Emmerich as were the remaining RAY guards who were then finished off by Solidus Snake, following Raiden destroying the majority of them. Arsenal Gear became nothing more than "a gigantic coffin," (Solidus) and initiated an emergency course to Federal Hall, where the final battle of MGS2 took place between Raiden and Solidus Snake.

B

Beauty and the Beast Unit

Big Boss (Naked Snake, John Doe, Jack)

Big Shell

An off-shore cleaning facility created to deal with the pollution caused by the Tanker Incident. It has two main Shells, one and two, both of which are surrounded by six nodes. This is where the player begins their mission as Raiden, to save the hostages captured by the Sons of Liberty, specifically the current President and find out of the terrorists have nuclear capabilities.

The true purpose of the Big Shell, as discovered later in the game, is to house the new Metal Gear, Arsenal Gear, itself serving as a recreation of the events in MGS1. The Big Shell was crippled by a bomb of Fatman, then by a Metal Gear RAY mech. Once Arsenal Gear preparations were complete the Big shell was destroyed and sank into the ocean.

Boss, The (The Joy, Mother of Special Forces, Voyevoda)

The last child of The Philosophers, The Boss wanted to make the world whole again after The Philosophers split it into pieces. She was the daughter of the last living founder who he himself was killed after telling her the story of the organisation. Boss went on to create the Cobra Unit, an elite special forces unit who's code-names were based on emotions, End, Fear, Fury, Joy, Pain and Sorrow. She fought in World War II a long with the unit while she was pregnant with The Sorrow's child. She gave birth on the battlefield but her child (Revolver Ocelot) was taken from her by The Philosophers. Later she would go on to be exposed to radiation twice preventing her from having any more children. It was at this point that she saw the planet from space during the Mercury Project in 1960. This inspired her to unite the world, a choice that would inadvertently set the rest of the franchise's story-events into action.

Being half-American, half-British she also spent time in the SAS, serving a long side Zero, before she met Naked Snake. They spent ten years together, training in espionage and developing CQC (whether they had an intimate relationship as well is unclear, but they were closer than love and hate as Naked Snake put it, most think it was more like mother and son), until she left him for a mission.

The one thing The Boss valued above all else was loyalty, which is why she stayed with the U.S. after everything that had happened to her, and continued to do so when she was ordered to kill her former lover The Sorrow who had gone back to Russia (after the cobra Unit disbanded after WWII ended), in 1962.

Two years later The Boss was ordered to die at the hands of her apprentice in the events of MGS3. Originally a mission to infiltrate Volgin's unit in order to secure The Philosopher's Legacy for the U.S. Volgin's firing of a U.S. made nuke on Soviet grounds put the two superpowers on the brink of nuclear war. The Boss was chosen as a scapegoat, who had to betray her comrades, The Cobra unit, and die for her country at the hands of Naked Snake while continuing her original mission of acquiring the Legacy.

"Her death at your hands was a duty she had to fur fill
Out of duty, she turned her back on her own comrades
A lesser woman would've been crushed by such a burden
The taint of disgrace will follow her to the grave
Future generations will revile her
In America, as a despicable traitor with no sense of honour
And in Russia, as a monster who unleashed a nuclear catastrophe
She will go down in official history, as a war criminal
And no one will ever understand her
That was her final mission
And like a true soldier she saw it through to the end
But I think, of all people, she wanted you to know the truth
She wanted to live on, in your memory
Not as a solider, but as a woman
But she was forbidden to tell you herself
And that's why she told me
Snake, history will never know what she did
No-one will ever know the truth
Her story, her debriefing, will endure only in your heart
Everything she did, she did for her country
She sacrificed her life and her honour for her native land
She was a real hero
She was a true patriot"

EVA - Epilogue of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

C

Caution Mode

A new thirty second countdown will appear for Caution Mode. The enemies will return to their usual A.I. routes but the back-up will stay, providing less areas for the player to sneak around. Once the thirty seconds are up the back-up will retreat and the guards will return to Normal Mode.

Cobra Unit, The

An elite special operations unit created by The Boss. A long with End, Fear, Fury, Pain and Sorrow, she took part in the landing at Normandy in World War II. Their missions involved destroying V2 rocket installations. They took on missions that were a lot more dangerous however, so much so that they were not allowed to be captured by the enemy. If it seemed likely that they would, they would detonate the explosive devices inside their bodies to prevent it, making each mission success or suicide scenarios. They disbanded after World War II ended, each returning to their home countries.

Whereas the U.S.A. and The Soviet Union were allies during WWII, they were enemies during the Cold War, resulting in The boss to be give orders to kill The Sorrow in Russia during a mission in 1962. The remaining five would reunite as part of Volgin's unit during the events of MGS3, The Boss however was only using them as one by one they were defeated by her apprentice Naked Snake. She herself met the same fate, ending the Cobra Unit.

Colonel Jackson

Jackson was the leader of Dead Cell and Fortune's husband. The Patriots framed him and he died in prison, which in turn caused the unit to turn rogue, just as they had planned. All this lead to them being recruited by Solidus to get their revenge on The Patriots, not knowing that they were taking part in the S3 Plan.

Crying Wolf

D

Dead Cell

Decoy Octopus

Dr. Madnar (Drago Pettovich Madnar)

E

End, The

A member of The Cobra Unit and hailed as the father of modern sniping, The End is in a constant state of sleep and only awakens for battle. As he is over 100 years he wouldn't seem the most able of enemies but like a plant he can photosynthesise, giving him more stamina than an average soldier in their prime. His boss fight is considered one of the best in the franchise, which involves a sniper duel with Naked Snake across three areas of the same environment.

The End is also remembered for being defeatable in several peculiar ways. One is before the boss battle itself, after a cut-scene has played all the main characters have already left except The End who is being pushed along on his wheelchair. If the player chooses to do so they can assassinate him there and then, leaving you to fight the Ocelot Unit is his place.

During the boss battle itself if you save the game, quit the game and advance the Playstation 2's internal clock by 7 days The End will die of old age. But if you save and go straight back into the battle The End will appear behind you and knock you out with tranquilliser shots from his sniper rifle, the Mosin Nagant. He'll then carry you to a make shift prison room where you wake up and have to run back to battle him again.

EVA (Big Momma)

Evasion Mode

If the player can hide from the pursuing enemies Evasion Mode will begin and the ninety-nine second timer will begin counting down. The guards and their back-up will actively search for the player, under boxes, tables and around every corner. If ninety-nine seconds pass without being spotted again the enemies will enter Caution Mode.

F

Fatman

Fear, The

Fortune (Helena Dolph Jackson)

FOX

FOXALIVE

FOXDIE

FOXHOUND

FROGS (Haven Troopers)

Fury, The

G

GENE

Granin (Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin)

Groznyj Grad

H

Hideo Kojima

Hideo Kojima is the mastermind behind the entire Metal Gear Solid franchise. After creating the Metal Gears and the Metal Gear Solids, he went on to create Kojima Productions where he could focus on all his creations with his own studio.

He joined Konami in 1986 and Metal Gear was released a year later to great success in various parts of the globe. He truly became a video game celebrity two games later (in the context of the Metal Gear Solid franchise, as he made the game Snatchers in-between Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid snake and Policenauts in-between Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake and Metal Gear Solid) when Metal Gear Solid was released on the Playstation in 1998. He has continued to redefine the stealth-action genre for another ten years with many more Metal Gear Solid games and has cemented his place in the gaming industry's all time greats.

Huey

Huey is a new yet familiar character to the Metal Gear Solid series. Debuting in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Huey's voice actors are the same as Otacon's voice actors. Given their strong resemblance it is all but confirmed that Huey is either Otacon's father, who drowned himself after finding out about his second wife's affair with his Otacon, or Otacon's grandfather who was friends with Granin and influenced the design of Metal Gear REX.

I

J

Johnny Sasaki (Akiba)

Johnny Sasaki (MGS3)

The grandfather of Johnny Sasaki (Akiba), he served under Volgin during MGS3. He was the soldier guarding Naked Snake when he was in jail after being tortured, clear by the J on his forehead. In a conversation with Naked Snake he revealed that the first born of every generation of Sasaki are named Johnny. His fate is left up to the player after they escape jail. He isn't seen again.

K

Kenneth Baker (President of ArmsTech)

L

Laughing Octopus

Les Enfants Terribles Project

Liquid Ocelot

For Liquid Ocelot (Liquid), see Liquid Snake. For Liquid Ocelot (Ocelot), see Revolver Ocelot.

Liquid Snake (Liquid Ocelot)

M

Mei Ling

Meryl Silverburgh

Metal Gear

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake

Metal Gear D

Metal Gear Mk II

Metal Gear RAXA

Metal Gear RAY

Metal Gear REX

Metal Gear TX-55

Metal Gear Solid

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Metal Gear Solid: Integral (VR Missions, Special Missions)

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops

Metal Gear Solid: Rising

Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes

N

Naomi Hunter

Normal Mode

The only mode in which the enemy patrols have no knowledge of your presence. Guards can get suspicious upon hearing noises or spotting something that's not right such as footprints. Finding the player character will go straight into Alert Mode, finding an unconscious or dead guard will prompt them to go into Caution Mode.

O

Olga Gurlukovich

Otacon (Hal Emmerich)

Outer Haven

Outer Heaven (Ideal)

Outer Heaven (Mother Company)

P

Pain, The

Patriots, The

After Zero provided benefice to Ocelot in their plan to end the Philosophers they spoke about inviting Big Boss to form The Patriots [1970 - Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops]. Three more people, Sigint (The DARPA Chief), Paramedic (Dr. Clark) and EVA (Big Momma) joined and the six of them became the founders of the Patriots. Their goal was simple, to recreate the world as The Boss had envisioned, "the Philosophers have split the world in two, I intend to make it whole again," (The Boss). But as they set out to repair one split, another appeared within themselves.

Zero's interpretation of The Boss's vision was that of a uniformed state, in which to accomplish he amassed more power, more wealth and more influence. He made Big Boss the organisation's icon to draw the people to him, a position Big Boss resented. He felt Zero had misinterpreted The Boss's will and was drifting further away from it.

Zero feared he was losing Big Boss and to make sure he kept him as a part of The Patriots he commissioned Paramedic to begin the Les Enfants Terrible project. In 1972, with EVA being the surrogate mother, the sons of Big Boss were born. Big Boss left The Patriots in disgust intending to oppose Zero which left him to the events of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. EVA also left, siding with Big Boss, but not traveling with him. Ocelot stayed loyal to Zero in order to relay information to Big Boss.

After Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake Big Boss's body was later captured by Zero and held as a prisoner unable to die. Years later Paramedic was murdered prior to Metal Gear Solid 1 by Gray Fox and Sigint was tortured to death by Ocelot during MGS1, only an elderly Zero remained as the last Patriots member.

Patriot AI Network

Having no interest in letting the next generation take over running The Patriots for him, Zero created a "digital Mount Rushmore" to rule over the U.S. and fur fill the ideals of The Boss for him. They were GW, TJ, AL and TR with one A.I. to govern over them, JD.

At some point they deviated off the path that Zero had set them, who's own path had gone off-course in the context of what The Boss believed in. Zero had already passed the age of 100 years and was unable to stop it. The Proxy AIs created the S3 Plan [Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty], the War Economy and the SOP system. Eventually they were destroyed by FOXALIVE as Ocelot and his Liquid persona had planned.

Philanthropy

Philosophers, The

Psycho Mantis

Python

One of the bosses from MGS: Portable Ops. Python fought along side Naked Snake for many years after The Boss left (prior to MGS3) and was the only person he could count on in battle. But during one mission Python was injured to the point were he couldn't regulate his own body temperature. He was fitted with a cooling suit by the C.I.A. who trained him to become an anti-Snake agent. If Naked Snake ever turned on the U.S.A. Python would be ready.

While Naked Snake was trying to clear his name during Portable Ops Python engaged him in combat but was defeated. If you don't kill Python he'll join Naked Snake and become a playable character for the rest of the game.

Q

R

Raging Raven

Raiden (Jack, Jack the Ripper, White Devil, Snake)

Rations

The Metal Gear Solid franchise's take on healing food. It has special properties such as freezing if its owner is out in the cold for too long.

Revolver Ocelot (Liquid Ocelot, Shalashaska, ADAM, Adamska/Adam, Major Ocelot)

As the only character to appear in MGS 1, 2, 3 and 4 Ocelot has interacted with all four Snakes at different points in the story. He is the son of The Boss and The Sorrow, one of the last members of FOXHOUND and a founding member of The Patriots.

Ocelot was born during World War II and was immediately kidnapped by The Philosophers. He would be trained in the ways of a triple agent, skills he would use in MGS3. Working for the C.I.A. and directly under the American branch of The Philosophers, Ocelot posed as a former NSA code cracker that had defected to Russia's KGB, who had infiltrated the GRU Colonel Volgin's unit. At the age of 20 he had already become a major.

He had been given the codename ADAM and orders to assist Naked Snake in destroying the Shagohod and killing The Boss in order to prevent The U.S. and Soviet Union going to nuclear war with each other. He succeeded in both as well as his priority of securing a microfilm with records of the transactions of the Philosopher's Legacy. Whether he knew who his parents were at the time was unknown.

During this time Ocelot looked up to Naked Snake as a man and as a warrior, becoming infatuated with him. He ate the same things he ate and fought the way he fought learning CQC through watching Naked Snake and The Boss use it. It was Naked Snake who suggested that Ocelot use Revolvers, calling him his name that he goes by today. Ocelot also gave Big Boss something, blindness in his right eye. The muzzle fire of his gun firing during the torture scene is what causes Naked Snake to wear an eye-patch, which he does so for the rest of his life.

During MGS: Portable Ops, Ocelot, beneficed by Zero, killed the members of the American branch of The Philosophers. Together they created The Patriots with Naked Snake, now known as Big Boss, Sigint, Paramedic and EVA. The idea was to re-shape the world in the way that The Boss wanted, something Ocelot was more than happy to participate in.

Ocelot stayed behind in Russia to provide intel of any further activities. Then The Patriots divided in half over Zero and Big Boss disagreeing over how they should achieve The Boss's idea of making the world whole again. Big Boss left the organisation following the discovery of the Les Enfant Terrible project with EVA following. Ocelot himself continued to follow the orders of Zero, but secretly keeping Big Boss informed, placing himself firmly in Big Boss's camp.

Then the events of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake happened, after which Zero had the bodies of Big Boss and Gray Fox brought back to life in the U.S. Gray Fox to be experimented on and Big Boss to be kept a live in a brain-dead prison. Naturally Ocelot and EVA were enraged by this and put their plan that would last fifteen years into action. To save Big Boss and end Zero's Patriots.

Two obstacles were the two Zero supporting Patriot members, Sigint and Paramedic. Paramedic, going under the name of Dr. Clark, performed drug therapy experiments on Gray Fox before going a head with the Genome project and turning him into the first Cyborg Ninja. Gray Fox broke free and killed her. Meanwhile during the Shadow Moses incident in MGS1, Ocelot killed Sigint, known then as the DARPA Chief, pretending to have done it accidentally while torturing him with the Metal Gear REX launch codes.

It was during this event that Ocelot served as the right-hand man to Liquid Snake. During this takeover, he had his arm cut off by Gray Fox, was the only surviving member of FOXHOUND, wasn't infected by the FOXDIE virus and reported the events to the President, George Sears, Solidus Snake. Post MGS1 Ocelot sold the Metal Gear REX specs on the black market in what have could've been an attempt to even the playing field against The Patriots. <To be continued>

Rose (Rosemary)

Rose Patriot A.I.

Much like the Roy Cambell Patriot A.I. this version of Rose is part of the Patriot Proxy A.I. Network. This specific A.I. only speaks prior to the final boss-fight of MGS2, assuming control of Rose's Codec functions when contact is lost with the real Rose in Arsenal Gear.

It joins in with its A.I. counterpart in explaining to Raiden the concept of the S3 Plan and how it figures into their plan of helping a long the Human race. The concept of creating context for future generations as opposed to censoring the current one. It has a thorough knowledge of the relationship between Raiden and Rose and uses it to show Raiden how he himself is a perfect representation of the sort of person that needs to be saved by the S3 Plan, one of the masses that they claim to want to protect.

This A.I. also takes an interest in Raiden's denials that he is not simply a weapon. Explaining to Raiden through details of names used by the U.S.A and Japan of fighter planes (Raiden and Jack) that he is indeed a pawn in a game, just like he said.

Whether this A.I. was one of the core A.I. lead by JD is unknown. But by The Roy Campbell Patriot A.I's explaination that "only GW" was destroyed by Emma Emmerich's worm cluster, it is a possibility.

Roy Campbell (Colonel Campbell, Chicken Fox)

Roy Campbell Patriot A.I.

S

S3 Plan (Selection for Societal Sanity, Solid Snake Simulation)

Screaming Mantis

Sergei Gurlukovich

Gurlukovich was a long-time friend of Revolver Ocelot during his days as a spy for the U.S.A. in Russia. This friendship was what helped form the mutually beneficial support of Liquid Snake's takeover of Shadow Moses Island in Metal Gear Solid 1 (Sergei provided the aircraft that Liquid was defeated in by Solid Snake).

Sergei himself a long with his mercenary unit would join up with Ocelot in the hi-jacking of Metal Gear RAY in MGS2. Once Ocelot revealed his true colours to Sergei, he was gunned down by the same bullets that killed the Scott Dolph. It was never revealed why Ocelot lied to Sergei about betraying Russia after the Cold War when he was always an American spy from birth and a founder of the Patriots (it can be assumed as one of a number of MGS2 to MGS3 ret-cons).

Shadow Moses Island

Shagohod

Sigint (Donald Anderson, The DARPA Chief)

Solid Snake (Old Snake, David)

Solidus Snake (George Sears)

Sons of Big Boss

Sons of Big Boss is the name of the terrorist group who take over Shadow Moses Island in MGS1. It includes the members of FOXHOUND and all the genome soldiers. Because of the gene therapy taken by them to have Big Boss's isolated "soldier gene," Liquid considers them a part of his father's legacy too.

The group represents Liquid's wish of restoring Outer Heaven for the sake of his father Big Boss. Some want to carry on Big Boss's wishes in his memory like Sniper Wolf, others like Psycho Mantis just wanted an excuse to "kill as many people as I could."

Sons of Liberty

Sons of Liberty is the name of the terrorist group who take over the Big Shell in MGS2. It includes Solidus Snake, Revolver Ocelot, Dead Cell and the Gurlokovich private army lead by Olga Gurlokovich after her father's death two years prior.

The group represents Solidus's plan to free to world from the Patriots. All involved have something against the Patriots, Solidus's grudge over their global monopoly and Dead Cell over their commander Colonel Jackson. Olga and her army on the other hand simply had no-where else to go.

Sniper Wolf

Sorrow, The

Sunny Gurlukovich

T

Tanker Incident

U

V

Vamp

Volgin (Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin, Colonel Volgin, Thunderbolt)

Vulcan Raven

W

X

Y

Z

Zero (Major Zero, Major Tom)