Liquid Snake

"Brother!"

- Liquid Snake

Liquid Snake is a clone of Big Boss created alongside Solid Snake and the main antagonist in the video game; Metal Gear Solid, as well as the GameCube remake; Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes.

In the video game Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, he appears as a child, and frequently causes problems for Venom Snake. By the end of the game, he directly instigates the climax, and can be considered one of the game's primary antagonists.

Past
Liquid was created in 1972, alongside his “brother”, Solid Snake in the Les Enfants Terribles project. In the project, eight clone embryos were developed after Big Boss’ DNA were inserted into egg cells, which were then placed in the womb of a surrogate mother. Six of the embryos were eventually aborted to allow the last two to develop. These two were genetically enhanced; one received Big Boss’ dominant traits and the other his recessive ones. After nine months, Liquid and Snake were born, but Liquid would come to believe he had received Big Boss’ inferior recessive traits.

Phantom Pain
In 1984, Eli dissappears in Africa and becomes commander of a group of child soldiers in the Angola-Zaire border region. Venom Snake is ordered to extract him to Mother Base. After a fight between the two, Venom is the victor and takes Eli and his soldiers to Mother Base, with Venom confused with 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, throwing Eli into a fit that he would ever 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, Tretij Rebenok, the boy who would become Psycho Mantis, let himself be used as a conduit by Liquid 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 from Tretij Rebenok who had intercepted it before it could be destroyed when Venom Snake discarded it.

At some point in time, he met up with Venom Snake and Ocelot again, the latter telling him that his father "[wasn't] around." He 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 planned 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 behaviour 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's 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 "flying giant." 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.

Learning the whereabouts of Eli and their stolen Metal Gear, remnants of XOF were deployed on the island to reclaim their investment. Slowly approaching Sahelanthropus, an XOF marksman attempted to snipe Eli while he was in the cockpit of the Metal Gear, only to be saved by Tretij Rebenok. A full blown fire fight ensued, resulting in XOF initially pulling out and Venom Snake intervening. Eli had infected the area with the parasite, thus forcing everyone present, including Eli, Venom Snake, and Ocelot, to wear breather masks and hazmat suits, declaring that he'd die, as he had wished for so long, as it ensured he broke the curse of his heritage.

After being defeated, Eli lamented that his fate was written into his genes as Venom Snake looked over him. As Diamond Dogs prepared to sterilize the entire island with napalm, Venom Snake pointed his gun at Eli, before deciding against pulling the trigger on the boy, instead placing the weapon a few feet away from him with a single bullet left in the chamber. He then left Eli to decide his fate, with the latter pointing the gun to his own head, implying he was intending to commit suicide. However, Tretij Rebenok stopped him, and instead extracted the parasites from him and convinced Eli to leave with him. Eli vowed that it "[wasn't] over yet", foreshadowing the uprising that led to his battle against Solid Snake.

Post Phantom Pain
Liquid grew up in the United Kingdom, with his real name becoming heavily classified. He became a member of the Special Air Service at age 18, the youngest person to ever do so, and was highly skilled in parachuting, repelling, scuba-diving, free climbing, and use of small arms and combat vehicles. Liquid was assigned to a SAS unit during the Gulf War to find and destroy Scud missiles. However he was actually assigned to act as a sleeper agent for the British SIS, only to be taken prisoner by the Iraqi forces.

In 1994, Liquid was freed by the US government and after Big Boss was apparently killed by Solid Snake, Liquid grew even more jealous of him. He’d been denied his own chance for revenge against Big Boss, believing he’d chosen Liquid to receive his inferior genes. Liquid eventually joined FOXHOUND in 2000 along with his old ally, Mantis, the former becoming its field commander. He put the codename system and personal identifiers back in place, making the unit smaller so it could be as elite as possible.

Launching his Uprising
In 2005, Revolver Ocelot convinced Liquid to launch a rebellion against the government, which he did during the testing of Metal Gear REX on Shadow Moses Island. Liquid, along with the rest of FOXHOUND and the Genome Soldiers took over the islands nuclear weapons disposal facility, claiming REX under the name the Sons of Big Boss. They also captured Donald Anderson, chief of DARPA, and Kenneth Baker, president of ArmsTech, and threatened to launch a nuclear attack on the White House unless they received Big Boss’ body. Liquid’s uprising was deliberately launched at the time as the START III Accord was being signed between the US and Russia.

If REX’s existence was revealed, then people would lose confidence in America’s dedication to non-proliferation and cause international controversy. However Liquid hit a major road bump in his plans when Anderson was killed by Ocelot during an interrogation. Now unable to get his activation code for REX, Liquid came up with a back up plan. He had Decoy Octopus disguise himself as Anderson to wait for rescue from the US forces. Liquid planned to have Snake, knowing he’d be sent in to deal with the threat, unwittingly activate REX for him. To help ensure this, Liquid had McDonell Benedict Miller, Snake’s old mentor, murdered, so he could pretend to be him and contact Snake on his Codec, having tricked Colonel Campbell into giving him a position on the mission support staff.

Taking on Snake
Later, Liquid alerted the Genome Soldiers that Snake was about to arrive, before taking the helm of a Hind D gunship to deal with a pair of F-16s that had been sent out by the Pentagon. His skills allowed Liquid to shoot them down and then threatened to launch a nuke if they tried something like that again. Liquid then contacted Snake, impersonating Miller, and offered to help him, but another wrench was thrown into the works of his plan when Decoy Octopus died strangely after meeting Snake. When Baker died in a similar way, Liquid quickly set out to figure out what was going on, but ordered Ocelot and Vulcan Raven not to kill Snake, wanting to see what he could do. After Snake was captured by Sniper Wolf, Liquid tried to take a DNA sample from his brother so as to learn more about the Genome Soldiers’ mutations.

After Snake awoke, Liquid finally met with him face-to-face for the very first time, before ordering the launch preparations for REX be continued since there had been no response to his demands. Liquid suspected that the government had a secret weapon and there could be a spy in his group, wondering about a strange ninja who’d killed twelve of his soldiers. Liquid left Snake at the mercy of Ocelot’s torture, but warned Ocelot not to kill him like he did Anderson.

Snake eventually managed to escape the medical facility he’d been held in, but Liquid went after him in his Hind D as he was crossing the communication towers. He continued to pursue Snake, before the two finally faced off and the Hind D was shot down with Stinger missiles, but Liquid escaped. He continued to impersonate Miller and trick Snake into believing his mission support adviser, Naomi Hunter, was a spy. This allowed Liquid into finally trick Snake into activating Metal Gear REX with Baker’s PAL card. Liquid was later informed by a Pentagon spy that Decoy Octopus and Baker was killed by FOXDIE, an assassination virus Snake had been infected with. Liquid then demanded a vaccine for the virus, as well as a billion dollars he could use to correct the mutations of the Genome Soldiers.

Liquid decided to make the superpowers of the world fight against each other and selected Lop Nor, China, a nuclear test site, as his first attack target. A nuclear attack on a largely population center would put an end to any negotiations and the US would be forced to reveal its state secrets to stop China from launching a counter attack. Liquid would then sell the nuclear weapon system to the highest bidder and with Metal Gear REX and the Gurlukovich Mercenaries, Liquid would turn Shadow Moses Island into a new Outer Heaven. Then Liquid would make the world erupt into a Third World War, creating a world in which soldiers always had a role, as Big Boss had always wanted. After Snake activated Metal Gear REX, Liquid revealed how he’d deceived him and locked him in the launch control room, releasing nerve gas into it. Snake managed to escape with help from Hal “Otacon” Emmerich and caught up with Liquid. He told Snake about the FOXDIE virus and that the Pentagon was focused on recovering REX and the remains of the Genome Soldiers. Liquid declared his hate for Big Boss and that he wanted to surpass him, before taking command of REX and engaging Snake.

Snake managed to damage the Metal Gear’s radome, before Gray Fox completely destroyed it. Liquid was forced to open the cockpit to see and Snake managed to fire Stinger missiles into the cockpit, badly damaging REX and knocking him unconscious. Liquid survived and brought Snake to the top of REX, using Snake’s Codec to threaten the Pentagon, calling them the Patriots. Liquid then told the awakened Snake that he’d survive as long as Snake did and the fight hadn’t ended even with the destruction of REX. Liquid said that he wanted to give soldiers a purpose after they had been used and betrayed by politicians. He also told Snake that he’d realized how much his brother really enjoyed the thrill of a battle and that he’d welcome the war-torn world he was going to create, even though Snake protested he was wrong. Liquid proceeded to explain to Snake about their origins and the creation of the Genome Soldiers, as well as that he wanted Big Boss’ body, to fix the Genome Soldiers’ genetic mutations.

Liquid also revealed that he’d brought Meryl Silverburgh up to the top of REX as well and wired her up to a time bomb. The two Snakes then engaged each other in hand-to-hand combat and Liquid was defeated, getting knocked off the Metal Gear. However Liquid survived and pursued Snake and Meryl in a jeep as they were trying to escape from an imminent nuclear bombardment by the US government. Liquid fired at them with a FAMAS rifle, but Snake held him off with his machine gun until the jeeps crashed. He tried to kill Snake and Meryl, trapped under their jeep, but was suddenly killed by the FOXDIE virus.

Legacy
Liquid’s corpse was recovered and his right arm was removed, replacing the one Ocelot had gotten cut off by Grey Fox. His body was then put in cold storage, only to be stolen by Philanthropy. During the Big Shell Incident, Liquid’s personality took over Ocelot and revealed himself to Snake, saying that he had been drowning in time, but he’d lived on through his transplanted arm. Liquid proceeded to steal the Metal Gear RAY on the USS Discovery and destroyed the tanker, before retreating. In 2009, Liquid sent Snake and Otacon an anonymous tip about the Big Shell so as to lure him to the Arsenal Gear, because his personality took over Ocelot whenever Snake was nearby.

As the Big Shell Incident drew to an end, Liquid completely took over and told Snake and Solidus Snake of his plans to destroy the Patriots using their own spy to find them. Taking Metal Gear RAY again, Liquid crashed Arsenal Gear in New York and left to find the Patriots. In 2014, Liquid’s personality had completed fused with Ocelot, creating Liquid Ocelot. However, Ocelot had used nanomachines and hypnotherapy to appear to have been taken over by Liquid so as to deceive the Patriots. Ocelot had also gotten rid of the arm he’d taken from Liquid and replaced it with a robotic prosthetic to restore order to his mind.

Personality
Liquid Snake is resentful, arrogant, brash, and loud, as opposed to his calm and collected brother. He is very resentful, bitter and angry towards Big Boss, believing he’d chosen him to receive the inferior genes when he was created. Liquid’s entire drive was his desire to prove himself superior, breaking free of what his genes have determined. He never realized he had the superior genes and ironically, Snake proved what Liquid had wanted to prove. Liquid also hated the Patriots for their part in his creation and swore to kill them in an extremely gruesome manner. He is skilled at imitating others, but has trouble maintaining a disguise when he’s excited.

Liquid doesn’t seem to care much for his allies, thinking them of as little more than pawns as his real goal was just to prove he was superior to his brother and was more than happy to tarnish Big Boss's ideals. However he does have some sense of honor and pride, fighting Snake unarmed, one-on-one.

Abilities
Liquid is a highly skilled soldier and possess high endurance and durability, surviving numerous events that would kill others, along with other enhanced natural abilities and genius-level intellect. Liquid is a highly skilled pilot, as shown from his ability to fly a Hind D, an extremely hard to pilot helicopter, during a blizzard and take down a pair of F-16 jets. Liquid is also skilled in hand-to-hand combat and can fluently speak French, Spanish, Arabic, and Malay.

Trivia

 * Liquid speaks with a British accent due to growing up in the UK and has some Japanese heritage from the egg donor in the Les Enfants Terribles.
 * He was confirmed to be returned in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, as a boy named Eli where in this game, more of his past eventually revealed.
 * According to the cardboard box trophy in Super Smash Bros Brawl, Liquid like Solid Snake and Big Boss, is fond of cardboard boxes.
 * In the original script for Metal Gear Solid 2, Liquid was to have faked his death from FOXDIE and to be he main villain of at least the tanker chapter, but was scrapped.
 * In Metal Gear Solid 4, a ghost of Liquid appears in the cockpit of REX’s remains if a photo is taken of it.