Liquid Snake

Liquid Snake

Liquid Snake (voiced by Banjo Ginga in Japanese and Cam Clarke in English) is a requring antagonist in Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid series. As the Patriots are considered the main series' antagonists, Liquid is Solid Snake's archnemesis.

Background

Liquid Snake is introduced in Metal Gear Solid as the main antagonist. He is the twin brother of Solid Snake and the second of Big Boss' clones, during the Les Enfants Terribles project in the early 1970s. He worked as a sleeper spy for the British SAS, and later became the commanding officer of FOXHOUND as soon as Snake retired.

Metal Gear Solid

Liquid Snake is introduced in Metal Gear Solid as the main antagonist. He is the twin brother of Solid Snake and the second of Big Boss' clones. He battles Snake numerous times throughout the Shadow Moses Incident; inside a Hind, inside Metal Gear REX [after he used Snake to activate the PAL for REX's ability to launch nukes], and on top of a destroyed REX. Towards the end of Metal Gear Solid Liquid attempted to kill Snake, but before he could, he was killed by FOXDIE, leading Snake to question when "[his] time is up".

After his appearance in the original MGS1, Liquid Snake received the "Best Villain" award from IGN.

Metal Gear Solid 2

In Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Liquid's essence still exists, returning as a dormant personality that would possess former ally, Revolver Ocelot. This is because Ocelot transplanted Liquid's right arm onto his body, replacing the one that Ocelot lost to the Cyborg Ninja. Liquid would possess Ocelot via the right arm whenever Solid Snake was in the vicinity. He first appearance is when he hijacks Metal Gear RAY during the Tanker Chapter.

During the Plant Chapter of Metal Gear Solid 2, Liquid again possessed Ocelot towards the end, revealing that he was the one who sent the data of Arsenal Gear to Otacon and lured Snake out to the Big Shell, claiming Snake was "the only one who can free [him]". He then set off in RAY to hunt the Patriots, claiming he chose Ocelot as his "host".

It is still unclear whether or not Ocelot elaboratley acted these possessions, as a way of fooling the Patriot's, who were observing the events at the Big Shell, or was genuinely taken over by Liquid's spirit. In the overall canon, however, this is a negligible issue, as Ocelot appears with a prosthetic arm later in the series, after having Liquid's arm removed. This a move to retcon the series after the fan backlash following MGS2's release, given the divided opinion over Hideo Kojima's decision to explore such an unusually unbelievable story arc for the series' traditonally realistically grounded narrative.

Metal Gear Solid 3 & Portable Ops

Liquid appears neither in MGS3 nor Portable Ops, but is referenced once as an undiscovered snake near the end of MGS3 that replenishes to full stamina. He is referenced in Portable Ops as the "son who would bring the world to ruin".

Metal Gear Solid 4 (as Liquid Ocelot)

In Metal Gear Solid 4, he returns under the persona of Liquid Ocelot (voiced by Banjo Ginga in Japanese and Patric Zimmerman in English), having supposedly taking control of the "body once known as Ocelot". However it is revealed that Liquid's possession was only part of Ocelot's plan. As stated above, Ocelot removed Liquid's arm (perhaps due to the fact the 'possessions' by Liquid tended to occur when he was in close proximity to Solid Snake- an issue that would severely impair his ability to enact his plans) and had the latter's personality transplanted from Liquid's corpse onto himself via nanomachines and psychotherapy, becoming wholly Liquid Snake, as opposed to suffering infrequent bouts of Liquid's personality taking over, as a part of his plan to deceive the Patriots and release Big Boss from Zero's captivity. Therefore Liquid's entire second 'existence' as Liquid Ocelot was all a part of Ocelot's plan, who allowed Liquid to control his body so that he would continue his war with the Patriots, knowing that the Patriots would respond in a way he could predict, allowing him to form his plan to rescue Big Boss.

It is heavily debated as to who is actually in conscious control of Ocelot's body in MGS4. During the events of Metal Gear Solid 4, what we see is Liquid's personality and will in control Ocelot's body, enacting his plan in his war against the Patriots. It should be noted, however, that Liquid actually died during the Shadow Moses Incident due to FOXDIE. The Liquid we see here is a 'second' Liquid, 'Liquid's Doppelganger', given a second chance to cheat death and live on to realise his vision in a purely chemical form, controlling Ocelot as a nanomachine-induced personality. This theory is evidenced by the fact that Liquid Ocelot clearly seems to be able to remember his own death (as evidenced in the scene following the REX and RAY battle where he feigns a heart attack from FOXDIE), refers to his own form as 'This man's body', clearly depicting his acknowledgement that he is not within his own body, and he attempts to kill Snake on multiple occasions, despite the fact Ocelot needed him alive to upload FOXALIVE to the Patriot's network.

Liquid proceeds throughout to attempt to conquer the Patriots, assimilating SOP and causing a world-wide cease-fire by disabling every weapon in the world, and then stealing Metal Gear REX's railgun in order to fire a stealth nuke from his warship, Outer Haven. Snake succeeds in his mission, uploading the virus to GW and disabling Liquid's railgun, but also unwittingly crashes the Patriot's system. Liquid then reveals, atop Outer Haven, that he forsaw Snake's plan and played him into uploading the virus, believeing that the world would be plunged into anarchy without the system in place, recreating his vision of Outer Heaven. He then states they have a 'score to settle' as the last warring sons of Big Boss, and engages Snake in one last fist fight, to see who really is the greater clone. During the fight, Liquid's nanomachine-induced personialty begins to crack under the brutality of the battle, with Ocelot's persona slowly regaining control, as evidenced by the drastic changes in fighting styles as the fight progresses. As Snake delivers the final blow, Ocelot's personality surfaces for the first and final time in the game as Liquid finally 'dies', stating 'you're pretty good' along with his trademark gesture, knowing that he has fufilled his final mission.

Liquid 'dies' believing that he had finally won and defeated the Patriots and created Big Boss' vision, but he was unaware that FOXALIVE maintained the key aspects of the information society, such as the media, and internet, still maintaining a modern world while ridding it of the influence of the Patriot's control. Snake also defeated him despite the fact Liquid had his father's major genes.

Liquid's original corpse, as well as the corpse of Solidus Snake, was used to surgically reconstruct missing pieces onto Big Boss.