Metal Gear Series/Solid Snake

Early Life And Career

Snake was born as a result of the Les Enfants Terribles project, which was an attempt to create the perfect soldier by cloning the "Greatest Warrior of the 20th Century," Big Boss circa 1972. During the Shadow Moses Island incident, Liquid Snake was under the impression that he "was the inferior one", having been granted the supposedly "flawed" recessive genes, whilst his brother received the "superior" dominant genes, hence his resentment towards Solid Snake during their confrontation and his believing himself to be "garbage from the day (he) was born," the leftovers of what they had used to create his brother, "the Legend," Solid Snake. In truth, it is revealed that Liquid is indeed the "superior" clone rather than Snake, although neither one is aware of the truth (at least until Liquid takes possession of Ocelot's body as well as his memories).

Details of his early life are largely unknown, the only clue being Snake's own comment that he was "raised by many people." In 1991, Snake infiltrated western Iraq during the Gulf War with a platoon of Green Berets. Not much else is implied about this other than Snake saying: "I was just a kid myself back then..."

Outer Heaven Uprising

Events in this section take place during Metal Gear.

Snake's career was notable enough that in 1995, he was recruited into the Special Operations group FOXHOUND as a Commando. Still a rookie, he was chosen to infiltrate the heavily fortified independent state of Outer Heaven near South Africa, rescue his fellow operative Gray Fox and other prisoners and destroy a new super weapon called Metal Gear. Unbeknownst to Snake, his superior who ordered him into Outer Heaven, Big Boss, the commander of FOXHOUND, was behind the uprising and actually counting on Snake's inexperience to lead him towards failure.

Using all of his training and abilities, Snake managed to destroy Metal Gear and defeat Big Boss. After the Outer Heaven incident, Solid Snake decided to leave FOXHOUND with an honorable discharge. He was then scouted by the CIA and spent six months as a deep cover agent before he was dissatisfied with the system and left. He then became a mercenary for hire. Earning enough money, he went into semi-retirement in the Canadian wilderness. During this entire period, he was haunted by nightmares of his battles in Outer Heaven.

Zanzibar Land Disturbance

Events in this section take place during Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.

In 1999, Snake's former commander, Roy Campbell, recalled him for another operation in Central Asia . Snake's mission involved deposing the rising dictator of Zanzibar Land, who turned out to be none other than Big Boss himself, and had command of another Metal Gear tank Metal Gear D. The former FOXHOUND agent Gray Fox was found to be working with Big Boss as well.

Snake destroyed Metal Gear D and defeated Gray Fox in a brutal fist fight in the middle of a minefield. He then confronted Big Boss, who was waiting near the Detention Camp's exit. The match to the death between the two occurred and Snake emerged victorious over his former commander.

As Big Boss was being burned alive from the makeshift flamethrower Snake created, Snake felt as if he killed his own father. It was only after he returned to base that he learned the truth. After the Zanzibar Land incident, Snake returned to North America and retired to the Alaskan wilderness retreat, Twin Lakes, to try to forget his war-torn past and recover from post-traumatic stress disorder which often led him to experience hallucinations and feelings of guilt. Snake decided to take up dog sledding in order to help take his mind off of such things. He owns 50 huskies and had been participating in the Iditarod.

Shadow Moses Incident

Cosplay of Shadow Moses era Solid Snake.

Events in this section take place during Metal Gear Solid.

In 2005, when members of recently re-formed FOXHOUND took over the nuclear disposal facility on Shadow Moses Island, Roy Campbell came forcedly calling on Snake again after sending armed soldiers to his cabin. This time, Snake found himself pitted against the Genome Army, an army of genetically altered soldiers using the genes of Big Boss, new members of FOXHOUND: Revolver Ocelot, Sniper Wolf, Vulcan Raven, Decoy Octopus, Psycho Mantis, and their leader, Liquid Snake.

Along the way, Snake periodically teamed up with Meryl Silverburgh, and Hal "Otacon" Emmerich, Metal Gear REX's designer. His support crew included his former commanding officer Campbell, data analyst Mei Ling, weapons expert Nastasha Romanenko and FOXHOUND's medical chief of staff Dr. Naomi Hunter.

Snake was successful in infiltrating the facility. He managed to neutralize all members of the FOXHOUND unit except for Revolver Ocelot, and was successful in destroying the Metal Gear REX prototype. However, Snake was implanted with the FOXDIE retrovirus as part of his mission objective without his knowledge. The virus was originally scheduled to kill Snake after he completed his mission. However, Naomi Hunter, who implanted the virus into Snake, changed the program and altered the incubation period to a wildcard value. Liquid, who was identical to Snake in the genetic level, was killed by the virus, confirming that Snake himself was still vulnerable to the virus at any random moment.

After the incident, Snake went into deep hiding with Meryl and no longer saw any reason to risk his life for his government again. They eventually parted ways (perhaps leading to Snake's chronic alcoholism: "I was held up in Alaska, drinking too much."), and Snake would return to action later with Otacon as a means of "fighting for a future." The two worked to create the first anti-Metal Gear political group, an NGO called "Philanthropy." They have since gained official United Nations recognition. This led to the destruction of countless Metal Gears all over the world's industrialized nations.

Tanker Incident

Events in this section take place during the "Tanker Chapter" of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

Following the incident on Shadow Moses Island, Metal Gear's top-secret technology was leaked into the black market through the machinations of Revolver Ocelot. As a result, countless variations of Metal Gear have sprung up in every corner of the globe, making the weapon an increasingly common sight in the armed forces of nuclear powers.

In 2007, Solid Snake, now a member of the anti-Metal Gear group "Philanthropy", has learned following an anonymous tip (that was later revealed to had come from Liquid Snake, living inside Ocelot) that a new prototype Metal Gear, designed to be a defense against other Metal Gears, has been developed by the U.S. Marines and is being transported secretly. To find out more about this prototype, getting support via the Codec from Otacon who is also a member of "Philanthropy," Snake must infiltrate the transport as it makes its way down the Hudson River, New York, disguised as an oil tanker.

Almost immediately following Snake's successful insertion onto the vessel, the ship was taken over by Gurlukovich Mercenaries, led by Colonel Sergei Gurlukovich and Revolver Ocelot. As Snake silently made his way to the bridge of the ship, he came into contact with Sergei's daughter, Olga Gurlukovich, and was able to tranquilize her. After the fight, Snake's picture was taken by a U.S Army Cypher.

Snake then made his way to the holds where Metal Gear RAY was being stored. After he took photographs of Metal Gear Ray, Ocelot and Gurlukovich's men raided the holds and prepared to steal Ray. Ocelot then revealed his true plans; he then betrayed and killed his friend Sergei Gurlukovich and Marine Commandant Scott Dolph before sinking the tanker and taking the prototype to an unknown location. Photographs taken by the U.S Army Cypher were released to the media and Snake was accused of sinking the tanker.

Framed for the terrorist act, Otacon and Snake then stole Liquid Snake's body and planted it at the scene, making it appear that Snake had been killed during the incident.

Manhattan Incident

Events in this section take place during the "Plant Chapter" of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

In 2009, during an incident at the Big Shell, Solid Snake turned up (under the guise of Iroquois Pliskin), and assisted alleged FOXHOUND operative Raiden in rescuing hostages, one of them being the current President. He also aids in discovering the plot of former President George Sears, who reveals himself to be Solidus Snake, the third "son" of Big Boss, brother of Solid and Liquid Snake and the one who ordered Ocelot to steal Metal Gear RAY. As the leader of the Sons of Liberty, Solidus was working to overthrow a mysterious underlying force that drives the United States' government called the Patriots.

The real reason Snake went to the Big Shell was to uncover a new type of Metal Gear constructed underneath the treatment plant known as the Big Shell. The entire incident was orchestrated by the Patriots from the start as part of the S3 Plan, with the exception of Snake's actual presence. Instead, Snake only became involved due to the information that was leaked to him and Otacon by Liquid (who became a dormant personality within Ocelot's right arm).

With Olga Gurlukovich's help (whom Snake rescued during the Tanker incident), Snake used Raiden as a decoy to infiltrate Arsenal Gear itself and replaced the MO Disk containing the identities of the Wisemen's Committee in Raiden's possession with a fake one. He helped Raiden neutralize an entire battalion of Tengu Commandos, before being captured by Fortune. However, Snake broke free (after Arsenal Gear's AI System broke down) and chased after the awakened Liquid when he took off with Metal Gear RAY. He was unable to capture Liquid/Ocelot, but still retained the MO Disk.

At the end of this mission, Snake began looking into where the Wisemen's Committee was and how Ocelot was involved. Otacon tells Snake about the Patriots information on the disk. Otacon discovers that the Wisemen are in New York, but had been dead for about 100 years, leaving them both in utter confusion.