Also aka: Ishmael, Saladin, Jack, and Vic Boss
Real Name: John
Naked Snake was a legendary folk hero and mercenary. He started his career fighting in the Korean War alongside Boss, learning pretty much everything he knew from her. During this time, he was present and involved in the Bikini Atoll hydrogen bomb test. However, they went their separate ways in the late 50s. He started his solo career working for the CIA’s Civilian Irregular Defense Group program (a covert ops group) during Vietnam before America officially entered the war. He later joined the Green Berets where he served for many years. He became a highly decorated soldier.
The Events of Metal Gear 3: Snake Eater
This is the point where he reunited with his mentor Boss working for the CIA’s Fox Unit. She supervised him during the Virtuous Mission. This was a mission where Snake infiltrated Russian soil to extract Russian defector and scientist Sokolov. However, Snake was betrayed by Boss who attacked Snake and threw him off of a bridge. She then delivered Sokolov and an American tactical nuclear warhead to GRU officer Volgin. Volgin then used Sokolov’s Shagohod tank to unleash the nuclear warhead on Russian citizens. Kruschev believed that the attack had come from America itself instead of a rogue element in his own military. Snake had survived the fall and was detained by American military forces for interrogation. He was cleared of any charges as he had been betrayed.
After Nikita Kruschev challenged Lyndon B. Johnson to prove that the Americans were not behind the attack, the CIA sent Snake back to the scene of the crime to infiltrate Volgin’s operation for proof. This was called Operation Snake Eater. Snake was able to successfully obtain the information he needed while also fighting off The Boss’ Cobra Unit, an elite squad of superpowered soldiers and The Boss herself. He reluctantly shot his mentor dead after she asked him to end her life. He also was able to defeat and severely injure Volgin, leaving him for dead. Snake and female agent EVA escaped with a slush fund but EVA betrayed Snake and stole the money. Still, Snake had proved America’s innocence in the nuclear attack and was showered with praise from the military and the President. It was here that he officially earned the code name of Big Boss.
The Events of Metal Gear: Portable Ops
Snake continued to call himself Naked Snake as he felt he had not earned the right to be called Boss. He traveled to Colombia where he was confronted by the FOX Unit which he used to be a part of. The FOX Unit had separated itself from the CIA and had gone rogue. It turned out that Snake was being framed for leading the FOX Unit’s revolt and he had to fight them to prove his innocence. At this point, Naked Snake formed the FOXHOUND Unit out of old allies and new friends to hunt down FOX.
Between Games
Snake was contacted by several former allies to join a group called The Patriots, a shadow government organization that secretly controlled The United States. The Patriots sought to exaggerate the legend of Big Boss. Through the Patriot’s influence, the legend of the Big Boss grew larger. He now cast a huge shadow. However, the Patriots grew worried that they would lose the real Big Boss and so they started a project to clone him. This gave birth to his three “sons” Solid Snake, Liquid Snake, and Solidus Snake (not Gaseous Snake). Disgusted, Big Boss rejected any connection to these three and left the Patriots to wander the world.
The Events of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Having abandoned his FOXHOUND Unit and the United States, Snake founded a mercenary organization called Militaires Sans Frontières aka Soldiers Without Borders. A military without a country, their first major mission was to assist with a conflict in Colombia. An unknown military claimed to be an “international police force” but they were clearly the CIA. Snake was initially reluctant to join the battle but was won over by the rebels. He joined with a socialist party military unit in Nicaragua in combat that included Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Colombia. In the end, it was revealed that Snake had been manipulated by the Soviet government to conquer South America in order to win the Cold War. After this, Snake finally came to terms with The Boss’ memory and started calling himself Big Boss. He and his allies constructed their base known as Mother Base as soldiers of Outer Heaven. Big Boss had once again found himself caught in the petty squabbling between the US and Russia, struggling to protect the people caught in between.
The Events of Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes
The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency sent word to Mother Base that they wanted to inspect the structure after the MSF had purchased nuclear fuel from Uzbekistan. However, Big Boss and his inner circle knew that the real reason for the inspection was the shadow government organization The Patriots trying to get eyes on Mother Base after their defeat by the MSF and Big Boss’ rejection of his own membership. Big Boss denied access to IAEA inspectors as the MSF was a private organization and not a signatory country in the Non-Proliferation Treaty. However, Big Boss was betrayed by scientist Huey Emmerich who sent a subsequent letter agreeing to the inspection. This caused Big Boss to temporarily dismantle much of the personnel of Mother Base to keep their operations private.
Big Boss then elected to go on a solo rescue mission to retrieve double agent Paz whose loyalties had been divided between the MSF and the Patriots. He only brought along a helicopter pilot and a medic as support staff. Big Boss was able to rescue agents Chico and Paz in Cuba. However, Paz had been implanted with a bomb in her abdomen. Big Boss and the medic were able to perform emergency surgery to save her life.
However, Big Boss and his crew returned to Mother Base as it was under attack by the XOF, a military arm of The Patriots. The inspection had been a smokescreen. In the middle of the battle they also tried to interrogate Paz about her involvement but she sacrificed herself after it was discovered that a second bomb had been placed in her abdomen that the previous surgery missed. In the heat of battle, Big Boss and the medic were caught in a blast and both of them ended up in a coma for nine years.
The Events of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Big Boss finally awoke from his coma to find that he and the medic had been tended to in a hospital in Cyprus. It was here that Big Boss, along with his close confidants Ocelot and Miller, came up with a plan for moving forward. They would start up another mercenary group in Big Boss’ name but they would convince the medic that he was Big Boss. The real Big Boss helped the medic escape the hospital after it came under attack. At that point, Big Boss disappeared and let the newly christened Venom Snake believe that he was Big Boss in a conflict divided between Afghanistan and Angola.
Events Between Games
Big Boss continued to act as a mercenary in parallel to Venom Snake and their combined exploits garnered Big Boss the reputation as The Legendary Soldier. He also worked as a military instructor and worked to help integrate former child soldiers back into society. The American government once again tried to harness his genes through experiments involving Gulf War soldiers. It did not work. He returned to the United States to reassume leadership of FOXHOUND. At the same time, he maintained control of his mercenary group now called Outer Heaven.
The Events of Metal Gear (the PC/NES game that started the franchise!)
A young man named David had been recruited out of the Green Berets to work with FOXHOUND. Big Boss knew that David was one of his three clones and decided to take David under his wing. He gave David the codename Solid Snake and taught him everything he knew, passing down knowledge that he had learned from The Boss. During this time, the US government learned that Outer Heaven was developing the combat mecha Metal Gear. Big Boss assigned Solid Snake to infiltrate Outer Heaven (his own base) in order to destroy Metal Gear. During the mission, Big Boss was surprised by how good Solid Snake was and tried to manipulate him and sabotage the mission to save the Metal Gear project. Solid Snake went against orders and succeeded in destroying Metal Gear. Solid Snake (Big Boss’ “son”) was confronted by Venom Snake (his doppelganger) who once again called himself Big Boss. Solid Snake was able to kill Venom Snake and destroy Outer Heaven. The real Big Boss used these events to fake his own death and go into hiding.
The Events of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
Big Boss participated in conflict on the border of the former USSR and was able to carve out land to create a new nation called the Zanzibar Province. He intended to create a nation dedicated to soldiers where they would be respected instead of just used as political tools. He gathered refugees and war orphans as his soldiers and citizens. He once again began production on a new Metal Gear model. These actions attracted the attention of Solid Snake who was sent by the US Government to once again destroy Metal Gear. Big Boss’ mercenaries were once again no match for Solid Snake who was able to succeed in his mission. Big Boss was driven mad by this latest failure and he was defeated in combat by Solid Snake. He was left for dead with severe burns from a makeshift flamethrower.
The Events of Metal Gear Solid
Big Boss was rescued by The Patriots and injected with nanomachines which healed him but also put him into stasis. Therefore, he was not directly involved in the events of the game (The Shadow Moses incident). The central conflict was instead between two of his clones, Solid Snake and Liquid Snake with Liquid Snake dying.
The Events of Guns of the Patriots
Big Boss’ body was reassembled using biological material from his clones Liquid Snake and Solidus Snake, the latter of whom he never managed to meet. Big Boss surveyed the new landscape of the world. He encountered Solid Snake about to commit suicide in Arlington cemetery. When Solid Snake stopped himself, Big Boss emerged and commended him. He now called his clone “brother” and told him part of his story. He especially focused on the formation of The Patriots. After that, he succumbed to a genetic virus that was created during the Shadow Moses incident originally designed to kill Solid Snake. He smoked one last beloved cigar as he died on top of The Boss’ grave, lamenting the day that he killed her.