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Liquid Snake

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Liquid Snake
Metal Gear character
Liquid Snake from Metal Gear Solid
First gameMetal Gear Solid (1998)
Created byHideo Kojima
Designed byYoji Shinkawa
Voiced by
  • Banjō Ginga (Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2)
  • Yutaro Honjo (Metal Gear Solid V)
Motion capture
  • Mark Musashi (The Twin Snakes)
  • Vincent Giry (The Phantom Pain)
In-universe information
NationalityBritish
American

Liquid Snake is a fictional character from the Metal Gear franchise. Along with protagonist Solid Snake he is the a product of Les Enfants Terribles, a top-secret government project to artificially create soldiers by cloning the legendary soldier Big Boss.[1] He first appears as the main antagonist in the original Metal Gear Solid, where he leads the rogue FOXHOUND unit in a hostile takeover of a nuclear disposal facility in Alaska. The character returns in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain as a child mercenary nicknamed the White Mamba with his real name revealed to be Eli.

Appearances

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Metal Gear Solid

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Further information: Metal Gear Solid (1998 video game)

Liquid Snake (Japanese: リキッド・スネーク, Hepburn: Rikiddo Sunēku) was raised in the United Kingdom following his birth, and served as an operative for the British SAS and later became the field commander of FOXHOUND during Metal Gear Solid, leading Revolver Ocelot, Psycho Mantis, Sniper Wolf, Vulcan Raven, Decoy Octopus and the Genome Soldiers.[2] He leads the hostile takeover of Shadow Moses Island, Alaska to acquire Big Boss's remains and use his genetic information to treat the mutations affecting his subordinates, the Genome Army. Liquid harbors a strong resentment towards Solid Snake, as he mistakenly believes that Snake received Big Boss's superior genes while he was given only the flawed genes. In reality, it is Liquid who carries superior genes.[3]

Snake first meets Liquid after he is taken captive by the enemy and imprisoned in a medical room. The two battle each other multiple times throughout the story. First, Liquid tries to kill Snake by piloting a Hind D and pursuing him across the Communication Towers but Snake destroys the helicopter with anti-air Stinger missiles. Afterward, Liquid manipulates Snake into activating Metal Gear REX by disguising himself as Master Miller. Snake destroys REX but falls unconscious in the aftermath which allowed Liquid to take his brother to the top of REX's ruins and challenge to a fistfight. Snake prevails but Liquid survives again and pursues Snake in a jeep chase that results in a crash outside the island's facility. Just as he approaches Snake, Liquid suddenly succumbs to the same FOXDIE virus that had also been injected into Snake. Liquid's death leaves Snake in doubt of his own survival, as FOXDIE targets victims based on specific DNA.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

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Further information: Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Liquid's presence still had an influence. His right arm was transplanted posthumously as a replacement to Revolver Ocelot.[4] This resulted in Liquid's voice and mannerisms to be utilized by Ocelot whenever Solid Snake is nearby, such as when his host is confronted by Snake during the hijacking of Metal Gear RAY from the disguised tanker.[5] The rest of Liquid's body was being kept by an unspecified agency until being stolen by Hal Emmerich to fake Snake's death.[6] Liquid's personality took over Ocelot once again during the climax of Solidus Snake's takeover of the Big Shell with the intent of rebelling against The Patriots.[7] Liquid was the one to send Arsenal Gear crashing into Manhattan.[8]

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

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Further information: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Liquid's consciousness seemingly takes over his host's body as Liquid Ocelot. However, Liquid's personality is ultimately revealed to be an elaborate facade by Ocelot made possible through a process of self-hypnosis, in order to trick the Patriots' AIs.[9] The rest of Liquid's remains were used as spare body parts for Big Boss's restoration.

Metal Gear Solid V

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Further information: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Liquid Snake's next official appearance is in a prequel. The youth is a 12-year-old child soldier named Eli (イーライ, Īrai) who fled from his home in England after learning about his nature as a clone. He becomes an active mercenary in the Angola-Zaire border region in Central Africa where he sets up his own mercenary unit consisting entirely of children, nicknamed the White Mamba (ホワイトマンバ, Howaito Manba) or "Nyoka ya Mpembe" due to being the only white child soldier in the region.

Venom Snake first encounters Eli in Masa Village after it is taken over by Eli's group. After being subdued, he is taken into Mother Base where the Diamond Dogs staff try to re-educate him and integrate him into normal society along with the other child soldiers. However, Eli resists this treatment and rebels against the Mother Base staff, focusing his hostility on Big Boss's body double who is mistaken for his biological father.

When Eli sneaks into a chopper during Snake's deployment to OKB Zero in Kabul, he catches the attention of the young psychic known as the Third Child, who uses Eli's will to activate Sahelanthropus and attack Snake. After Sahelanthropus is neutralized and transferred to Mother Base, the Third Child infiltrates the place and befriends Eli, giving him a vial containing the English strain of Skull Face's vocal cord parasite. The two plot out an elaborate escape plan which involves helping other child soldiers escape and fixing Sahelanthropus with the assistance of its creator Emmerich. Ultimately, Eli succeeds in reactivating Sahelanthropus and hijacks the Metal Gear from Mother Base, escaping alongside the Third Child and the other child mercenaries.

"Kingdom of the Flies"[10] shows Snake pursuing Eli's group in an unnamed African island surrounded by saltwater, where the English strain of the vocal cord parasite has been spread to prevent access to adults. Snake confronts Eli and a battle ensues between Sahelanthropus and a battalion of Diamond Dogs soldiers. Eli is defeated but Snake is forced to abandon him when he displays signs of infections, as Eli has lost his immunity to the parasites as a result of undergoing puberty. Before Eli can die, the Third Child arrives and uses his psychic powers to remove the parasite within him. The two youths escape just as Diamond Dogs launches a Napalm airstrike to cleanse the island of the parasites. An image of the Manhattan skyline is seen while Eli vows revenge.

Concept and design

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Physical appearance

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Liquid Snake is almost identical to Solid Snake in terms of facial appearance and physique, with the only difference between them being Liquid's darker skin tone and medium-length blond hair. He has a tattoo of a snake entwined around a sword on his left arm, with concept art also showing a small piercing on his left ear and dog tags around his neck.[11] For most of Metal Gear Solid, Liquid is dressed in a brown trenchcoat but fights shirtless when he confronts Snake at the end of the game. When he disguises himself as Master Miller, he ties his hair in a ponytail and wears a pair of sunglasses, changing the tone of his voice as well. In Metal Gear Solid 2, when Liquid possesses Ocelot, his physical appearance changes as well, exposing the surgically attached right arm and letting his hair loose.

Eli in Metal Gear Solid V wears a wardrobe similar to his older self, consisting of a green jacket with no shirt and shorts. The back of his jacket has a drawing of a pig with an eye patch meant to resemble Big Boss and the phrase "Never Be Game Over" atop of it. Underneath the pig, the kanji 液体えきたい人間にんげん (ekitai ningen), which means "liquid person", can be seen. He carries in his belt a conch, a reference to the novel Lord of the Flies.

Casting

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In the original Metal Gear Solid, Liquid Snake was voiced by Banjō Ginga in the Japanese version and by Cam Clarke (credited as James Flinders in the PlayStation release) in the English version. Both actors would reprise the role in Metal Gear Solid 2. Stuntman Mark Musashi provided Liquid Snake's motion capture for Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes. The character's young version in Metal Gear Solid V was voiced by Piers Stubbs, who also provided facial capture, while his motion capture was performed by Vincent Giry. Yūtarō Honjō dubbed the character's voice for the Japanese version.

Reception

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In 1999, readers of GameSpot voted Liquid Snake into the list of top ten video game villains.[12] IGN included him in their 2011 list of top 100 video game villains, as number 53.[13] He was ranked as the 16th-coolest video game villain by Complex in 2012.[14] GameDaily ranked him ninth on their "Top 25 Evil Masterminds of All Time".[15] Liquid ranked first on IGN's 2008 list of the Metal Gear series' top ten villains,[16] also placing as seventh on their list of top ten Metal Gear boss battles.[17] Play ranked Liquid Snake the fifth-best Metal Gear character, adding he "has become one of the most iconic villains of the franchise and is still one of its most popular characters."[18]

Liquid was included on GamesRadar+ 2008 list of "outrageously camp bad guys" at fifth place,[19] also giving honourable mention on their list of "mega plot twists you never saw coming" to finding out Master Miller is actually Liquid Snake.[20] In 2011, UGO Networks ranked Liquid as the fourth-scariest fictional terrorist in entertainment,[21] also featuring him revealing himself in Metal Gear Solid on the list of the most shocking twists in gaming.[22] In 2012, GamesRadar+ featured both him and Solidus Snake at second place on the list of most evil clones in gaming, commenting that "as evil clones go, the ones that threaten the world with thermonuclear war and eradication rank as some of the worst,"[23] and also listing him and Solid Snake as having one of the best brotherly rivalries in gaming.[24] IGN also remarked their rivalry, saying "Few rivalries in games have spanned as massive and confusing a timeline as Solid Snake and Liquid Snake".[25]

References

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  1. ^ Kojima Productions. Metal Gear Solid. Konami. Liquid Snake: There's a killer inside you... You don't have to deny it. We were created to be that way. / Solid Snake: Created? / Liquid Snake: Les enfants terribles... the terrible children. That's what the project was called. It started in the 1970s. Their plan was to artificially create the most powerful soldier possible. The person that they chose as the model was the man known then as the greatest living soldier in the world...
  2. ^ KCE Japan. Metal Gear Solid. Roy Campbell: But he never once showed his face in Century House. He was taken prisoner in Iraq, and after that, there was no trace of him for several years. After you retired, he was rescued and became a member of FOX-HOUND
  3. ^ KCE Japan. Metal Gear Solid. Revolver Ocelot: Yes. The inferior one was the winner after all. ...That's right. Until the very end, Liquid thought he was the inferior one.
  4. ^ KCE Japan. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Level/area: Plant chapter, Shell 1 Core B1 conference room. Solidus Snake: "It's happening again?"/ Revolver Ocelot: "This damn right arm -- Liquid! It's almost as if it's having its revenge." / Solidus: "How much do you think we spent on that arm in Lyon? The best transplant surgery team in the world." / Ocelot: "I never trust a Frenchman. There's something going on. The incidents are becoming more frequent. Maybe that man's presence...."
  5. ^ KCE Japan. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Level/area: Tanker chapter, cutscene. Liquid Snake: The price of physical prodigy... Few more years and you'll be another dead clone of the old man. Our raw materials are vintage, brother. Big Boss was in his late fifties when they created his copies. But I -- I live on, through this arm. / Solid Snake: Liquid's arm?
  6. ^ KCE Japan. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Level/area: Codec conversation in Shell 2 Core. Raiden: "What about -- what about the DNA results from that body?" / Otacon: "That was Liquid's body. He and Snake are identical on the genetic level." / Raiden: "Liquid." / Otacon: "A deception -- for our own protection. We stole his frozen body from some organization. Kind of a hassle though..."
  7. ^ KCE Japan. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Liquid Snake: I'm off to bury the Patriots for good. / Solidus Snake: You know where they are? How? / Liquid Snake: Why do you think I chose Ocelot as my host?
  8. ^ KCE Japan. The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2. Liquid Snake: "Time to say goodbye." / Liquid Snake flips a switch inside RAY. / Solid Snake: "What are you doing?" / Liquid Snake: "I've started Arsenal's navigation program. The course will take me straight into Manhattan." / Raiden: "You're planning to -- to crash this thing into New York City!?" / Solid Snake: "It'll be a full scale disaster..." / Liquid Snake: "Disaster? That has a nice ring to it."
  9. ^ Kojima Productions. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots. Big Boss: And Ocelot... In order to fool the System... Used nanomachines and psychotherapy to transplant Liquid's personality onto his own. He used hypnotic suggestions to turn himself into Liquid's mental doppelganger.
  10. ^ "Phantom Episode: Kingdom of the Flies". Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain - Collector's Disc (Youtube) (Blu-ray Disc). Konami Digital Entertainment. September 1, 2015. ASIN B00UFOYR2I. Retrieved August 15, 2015.[dead YouTube link]
  11. ^ The Art of Metal Gear Solid. pp. 104–105.
  12. ^ "Readers' Choice: Top Ten Video Game Villains". GameSpot. Archived from the original on October 3, 2009. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  13. ^ "Liquid Snake is number 53". IGN. Archived from the original on July 6, 2013. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  14. ^ "19. Liquid Snake — The 50 Coolest Video Game Villains of All Time". Complex. 2012-11-01. Retrieved 2013-07-21.
  15. ^ "Top 25 Evil Masterminds of All Time". GameDaily. Archived from the original on December 8, 2008. Retrieved July 26, 2013.
  16. ^ Schedeen, Jesse (June 11, 2008). "Top 10 Metal Gear Villains". IGN.
  17. ^ "Top 10 Metal Gear Solid Boss Battles". IGN. June 11, 2008.
  18. ^ Smith, Sam. "Top 10 Best Metal Gear characters". Play. Retrieved April 22, 2013.
  19. ^ Meikleham, Dave (November 15, 2010). "The Top 7... Outrageously Evil Bad Guys". GamesRadar. Retrieved April 20, 2013.
  20. ^ Houghton, David (November 17, 2008). "The Top 7... Games with mega plot twists you never saw coming". GamesRadar+. Retrieved April 20, 2013.
  21. ^ Jensen, K. Thor (May 3, 2011). "The Scariest Fictional Terrorists Ever". UGO Networks. Archived from the original on May 25, 2012. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  22. ^ Jensen, K. Thor (November 10, 2011). "The Most Shocking Twists In Gaming". UGO Networks. Archived from the original on June 27, 2013. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  23. ^ "The Top 7... Evil clones". GamesRadar+. January 9, 2012. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  24. ^ Rubens, Alex (May 18, 2012). "The 8 best brotherly rivalries in gaming". GamesRadar+. Retrieved April 20, 2013.
  25. ^ "The Top 25 Video Game Rivalries". IGN. November 19, 2013. Retrieved April 19, 2014.

Bibliography

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  • Shinkawa, Yoji (October 1, 1999). The Art of Metal Gear Solid. Softbank Creative. ISBN 4797309504.
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