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Main Character Index | Metal Gear (Solid Snake | Big Boss / Naked Snake) | Metal Gear 2 | Metal Gear Solid (FOXHOUND) | Sons of Liberty (Raiden) | Snake Eater | Guns of the Patriots | Portable Ops | Peace Walker | Revengeance (Senator Armstrong) | The Phantom Pain | Acid | Acid 2 | Ghost Babel | Snake's Revenge

This page lists characters who first appeared in the original Metal Gear.

For other characters in the franchise, see the Metal Gear character index at Characters.Metal Gear.

For the final boss of this game, see Punished "Venom" Snake at Characters.Metal Gear Solid V.


Characters that debuted in Metal Gear:

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Solid Snake (!)

See Metal Gear — Solid Snake

Big Boss

See Metal Gear — Big Boss

    Gray Fox (Grey Fox) 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gray_fox_mg_3.jpg
"I was raised by adults to be a tool of war."
Click here  to see Gray Fox in MGS1
Click here  to see Null

AKA: Frank Jaeger, Frank Hunter, The Cyborg Ninja, Your #1 Fan, Deepthroat, Null
Voiced by: Kaneto Shiozawa (JP; MGS1), Jun Fukuyama (JP; [MPO=]), Greg Eagles (EN; MGS1), Rob Paulsen (EN; MGSTTS), Larc Spies (EN; MPO & MGSDGN)

"We're not tools of the government or anyone else. Fighting was the only thing... the only thing I was good at, but... at least I always fought for what I believed in."

Gray Fox is the only member of FOXHOUND ever to receive the Code Name of Fox, and not without good reason; Frank Jaeger had to grow up in harsh conditions. Originally a child soldier, he was one of the deadliest people on earth at just the tender age of eleven. Frank was rescued by Big Boss, who tried to leave him at a relief shelter where he could be safe, but he ended up getting abducted by the CIA/the Philosophers so they could turn him into the perfect soldier, codenamed Null.

After a series of complicated events, he ends up supporting Big Boss and Zanzibar Land, and then nearly dies, and is turned into the Cyborg Ninja. As the Cyborg Ninja, Fox helps his old buddy Solid Snake one last time in Shadow Moses to take down Metal Gear REX in the events of Metal Gear Solid.


  • Already Done for You: The Cyborg Ninja leaves quite a mess behind. On the plus side, he eradicates all enemies in the basement of the warhead storage building, and his magnetic field shorts out the door locks on Otacon's office.
  • Anti-Villain: In Metal Gear 2, where he defects because of his loyalty to Big Boss and mistreatment at the hands of the US government, not because of any misplaced anger. He even sends Snake anonymous support to apologise for his role in the conflict.
  • Ascended Extra: Given Fox's major role in both Metal Gear 2 and Metal Gear Solid, and the way Snake talks about him in later games as if Fox was some sort of mentor during the Outer Heaven incident, it's very surprising at how little Fox actually does in the first Metal Gear. He gets kidnapped, Snake rescues him, and he disappears for the rest of the game. The player can even kill Fox before untying him, which has no real effect in the outcome of the story outside of demoting Snake's rank by one star.
  • Back for the Dead: Unfortunately, thanks to Liquid, he goes back to being dead - for good.
  • Back from the Dead: In Metal Gear Solid.
  • Badass Boast: "A cornered fox is more dangerous than a jackal."
  • Because I'm Good At It: He laments that fighting was and is his only talent in life, but has some reconciliation in that he never sold out his beliefs and fought for a cause he felt was unworthy.
  • Big Brother Mentor: To Solid Snake.
  • Big Damn Heroes: His Dying Moment of Awesome starts when he swoops in out of nowhere to prevent Snake being crushed to death by Metal Gear REX.
  • Blood Knight: Not necessarily enjoying battle, but he does feel as though he needs war, as he isn't able to function in society if he is deprived of it.
  • Blood Is the New Black: The Cyborg Ninja's duds get sticky in the remake.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: The method of his training as Null was placing him within a memory/emotion depriving tank, and presumably left without free will as a result.
  • Char Clone: Hits two different points:
    • He is considered to be the rival to Solid Snake, and in MGS1, has someone he knows working on Snake's side. In Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, he even says they're rivals.
    • He is also The Mentor by helping Snake during the events of Outer Heaven, and continues to play this role even when the two are supposed to be enemies.
  • Child Soldier: Most of his origin story entails this, as early as someone working at a work camp in the early stages of the Vietnam War to as late as being deployed in the Mozambician War of Independence and later experimented upon.
  • Combat Sadomasochist: "Hurt me more!" Justified, as he wants to die especially after he was denied the chance to die by Dr. Clark and instead put through the Cyborg Ninja project, and preferably die a painful death of fighting.
  • Cyber Cyclops: His helmet does have eye slits, but the big orange light in between draws most of the attention.
  • Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: By the time he is a Cyborg Ninja, he "should be dead" but is kept alive through prosthetics, though it really seems to cause him more suffering than just dying would. Being a guinea pig for dozens of cybernetic and gene therapy experiments probably didn't help either.
  • Cyber Ninja: The first Cyborg Ninja.
  • Cyborg: What he unwillingly became between MG2 and MGS, thanks to Dr. Clark.
  • Death by Disfigurement: In Metal Gear Solid, he dies just after losing an arm. He didn't die from the injury, however, but by getting stomped (repeatedly) by Metal Gear REX.
  • Death Seeker: In Metal Gear Solid, he just wants Snake to put him out of his misery. Liquid is only too happy to oblige.
  • Desperation Attack: If his HP is completely depleted during his boss fight in Metal Gear Solid, he will unleash a powerful AoE shockwave that deals a good chunk of damage to your HP, and will deflect any bullets fired at him until he exhausts himself. This gimmick is completely absent in the Twin Snakes remake.
  • The Dragon: To Big Boss in Metal Gear 2.
  • Dying Moment of Awesome: He saves Snake's life and picks a one-on-one fight Metal Gear REX, inflicting critical damage on it before he's killed.
  • Family-Unfriendly Death: Metal Gear REX turns him into a bloody stain on the floor.
  • Friendly Enemy: Gray Fox and Snake are best friends and war buddies, but conflicting ideologies pit them against each other in Metal Gear 2.
  • The Friends Who Never Hang" He and Snake are best friends, but they are never shown spending any meaningful time together apart from a few minutes here and there on the battlefield.
  • Heel–Face Revolving Door: Definitely ends as a Face in Metal Gear Solid.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Gets killed destroying Metal Gear REX's radome, but this forces Liquid to expose himself for the second round against Snake.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: Snake consistently refers to Gray Fox as his best friend.
  • I Have Many Names - The only Metal Gear character to have more aliases than any of the Snakes or Ocelot (Frank Jaeger, Frank Hunter, Gray Fox, Deepthroat, Null, the Cyborg Ninja).
  • Katanas Are Just Better: Uses one as the Cyborg Ninja.
  • Killed Off for Real: In Metal Gear Solid.
  • Known Only by Their Nickname: Variation. Gray Fox is often identified by that name rather than "Frank Jaeger". However, Frank Jaeger is also not even his real name, as it was actually given to him by his comrades in FREMILO in reference to his means of killing soldiers (he acted as a frank young boy, yet then killed them with the ferocity of a hunter when the soldiers let their guard down). His real name (as in: birth given name) is unknown.
  • Legacy Character: Not him, but the Cyborg Ninja, which would go on to be this. The codename is used by Mr. X/Olga Gurlukovich in MGS2, and Raiden becomes one in MGS4 and MGR.
  • Machete Mayhem: In Portable Ops.
  • Man in the Machine: His organic body is grafted surgically to his robotic exoskeleton, and he has to constantly take anti-rejection drugs or suffer extreme pain. It's artistic license on Kojima's part, though.note 
  • Meaningful Name:
    • His surname "Jaeger" is German for hunter, as in Naomi Hunter's older brother, and is in itself derived from a common tactic he employed as a child soldier by stabbing Portuguese soldiers with a knife when they let their guard down.
    • Even Gray Fox has significant meaning to it. The code name is treated as a rank, and it aligns with Big Boss's "Naked Snake" code name; both men were named after their mentor's former unit, implicitly being regarded as dangerous as an entire Badass Army.
    • Also, his codename during MPO was Null, which is the German word for Zero and is meant to exemplify that he was a lost number in an unethical CIA project for creating the Perfect Soldier, due to being the Sole Survivor and Sole Success of the project.
  • Megaton Punch: The second to last phase of his boss fight in Metal Gear Solid. On later difficulties, it's a guaranteed One-Hit Kill.
  • Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: He didn't truly defect from America until after Operation Intrude N313, but it was made very clear that he was very sore about his country well beforehand due to their denying his lover Gustava Heffner U.S. citizenship, forcing her deportation, and thus being responsible for all the hell she has to endure in her birth country.
  • My Hero, Zero: He is known as "Null" in his youth during MPO (Null is German for Zero).
  • My Master, Right or Wrong: Justified due to Big Boss saving his life twice (arguably three, if one does not count Mozambique and counts the two times he saved him in Portable Ops).
  • Mysterious Protector: In Metal Gear Solid as Deepthroat.
  • Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot
  • Noble Demon: Even when he's a villain, he's downright chivalrous.
  • Nominal Hero: In Metal Gear Solid, where he is motivated purely by his desire for a fight to the death with Snake. He winds up as a Knight in Sour Armor by the end, choosing to die for something he believes in by saving his old friend.
  • Nothing Personal, When Snake talks about him to Naomi, he told her while they were on opposing forces in Zanzibar rather than on the same side, he states this is the reason.
  • Obi-Wan Moment: "Snake, we're not tools of the government or anyone else. Fighting was the only thing... the only thing I was good at... but at least I always fought for what I believed in. Snake... farewell."
  • Precious Photo: In his sister's locket in Metal Gear Solid 4.
  • Psycho Prototype: Kind of. While not quite a prototype, it is known that he was the only successful test subject in the Perfect Soldier Project, as most of the other test subjects died from the procedure.
    • He is, however, this to the Genome Soldiers, SOP troops, cyborg ninjas, and cyborgs in general. The experiments performed on him provided the make-up of entire armies and special units for a decade and then some after his death.
  • Recurring Boss: Null is fought twice in Portable Ops.
  • Redemption Equals Death: He wants to die, but believes that only a fight to the death with Snake will do. It isn't until his Heroic Sacrifice that he's finally allowed to rest in peace.
  • Retcon: His origin story in Portable Ops contradicts the original origin in Metal Gear 2. In Metal Gear 2, Gray Fox states that he first met Big Boss in Vietnam, where he was working in a labor camp as a half-white war orphan. In Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Naked Snake says he first met Gray Fox in Mozambique. Should also be noted that the official Metal Gear Solid 4 database doesn't even mention the former.
  • Shell-Shocked Veteran: Fits the bill: He needs war despite clearly not liking it, has been through war enough times that he cannot function in society, and is also implied to suffer from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder.
  • Sixth Ranger: To Snake's support crew in MGS.
  • The Slow Walk: In the Twin Snakes remake.
  • Stealth Mentor: In Metal Gear 2 (where he provides anonymous radio support) and Metal Gear Solid (where he helps Snake despite wanting a fight to the death).
  • Straw Nihilist: While he was under the persona of Null, he indicated that he saw no point in life, feeling that even if he doesn't kill anyone, they still die anyways, and remarks that the world is "full of death".
  • Super-Soldier: He was even referred to as the Perfect Soldier in Portable Ops.
  • Super-Speed: He was shown to be extremely fast even when he was not the Cyborg Ninja.
  • Trickster Mentor: In Metal Gear Solid, he wants to fight Snake to the death and help him save the world. In that order.
  • Together in Death: When Snake tells Fox Gustava would be waiting for him. Ends up subverted in Metal Gear Solid until he's Killed Off for Real.
  • Tyke-Bomb
  • Unexplained Recovery: Subverted: While he did ultimately survive Zanzibar Land, he also was recovered by a cleanup crew belonging to the Patriots and was experimented on by turning him into a cyborg ninja, and the process was heavily implied to be quite horrific and very, very painful. In fact, not only was he used as a guinea pig for the Cyborg Ninja project, but also the gene-therapy project as well, and had to be sedated with drugs for four months as they experimented on him. Also, at least two instances where Gray Fox encountered Snake before his final hurrah, he also spazzed out and seemed in pain, with the second time screaming for medicine as he was losing himself.
  • Walking Spoiler: He's the Cyborg Ninja in Metal Gear Solid.
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: What he goes through would be an understatement. He was a Child Soldier during the Mozambican War of Independence and killed dozens, if not hundreds of battle-hardened soldiers during the conflict. Big Boss rescues him, only for him to be taken by the CIA and used as a test subject which deprives him of all sensory reaction and emotions. He later kills Naomi's parents and adopts her as his sister, only to be reminded of his guilt over this action every time he looks at her. He ends up killing the very woman he loved in Metal Gear 2, wishing to make her happy and Snake could not keep his promise for them to be Together in Death. Finally, he is a full-blown Death Seeker, wishing to die by Snake's hand in Metal Gear Solid. He didn't get his literal death wish until Liquid crushed him with Metal Gear Rex.

    Dr. Madnar (Dr. Pettrovich) 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/madnar.gif

Dr. Drago Pettrovich Madnar was a Russian robotics engineer responsible for the creation of the TX-55 Metal Gear and its successor Metal Gear D.


  • Badass Bookworm: He is surprisingly spry for an elderly scientist. Notably, in Metal Gear 2, he manages to hold Snake in a prolonged stranglehold and almost kill him.
  • The Ghost: He repairs Raiden's cyborg body in Guns Of The Patriots, but he isn't actually seen or heard.
  • Heel–Face Revolving Door: He makes a Face–Heel Turn in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, voluntarily joining Big Boss in creating the Metal Gear D. But after his defeat at the hands of Snake, he feels enough regret to help Snake out by informing him of how to defeat Metal Gear D. He eventually makes a full Heel–Face Turn, helping Raiden and becoming an acquaintance of Otacon, whom he asks to deliver a formal apology to Snake for what happened in Zanzibarland.
  • The Mole: But only in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.
  • Obviously Evil: Even as soon as he's reintroduced in the sequel, he's not terrified about the idea of mass-produced Metal Gears, but more excited, spelling out that he's perhaps not entirely in the right mindset. While his original codec portrait is Albert Einstein, the reworked Shinkawa design also gives him something of a shadowed Thousand-Yard Stare, making him inherently creepier than any other character in the cast.
  • Orwellian Retcon: His last name was introduced in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
  • They Called Me Mad!: After he deflected to the USA following the events of the first game, he tried to integrate into to the local scientific community, but they found his theories too radical and ostracized him; the whole ordeal made him quite embittered.
  • Reluctant Mad Scientist: Big Boss took him capture and forced him to use his expertise to design the TX-55 Metal Gear. The same thing happened to him in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, where he was forced to design its successor, Metal Gear D. Expect in the latter case, he actually worked for Big Boss voluntarily, wanting revenge for the whole "They Called Me Mad!" thing he underwent between the installments.
  • Unexplained Recovery: How he survived Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake is unclear.

    Ellen Madnar (Elen Pettrovich) 
The daughter of Dr. Madnar and a former Bolshoi Ballet star.

    Kyle Schneider/Black Ninja (Black Collar)  
The leader of the Outer Heaven Resistance. Returns in Metal Gear 2, having defected to Zanzibar Land.
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: Joins up with Big Boss because he saved them from being killed in Outer Heaven's self-destruction even though he was technically Big Boss's enemy at the time.
  • Lost in Transmission: He ends up being silenced before he could report to Snake who the leader of Outer Heaven was.
  • Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Part of the reason why he defected to Zanzibar Land dealt with this trope, as most of his resistance was killed by NATO in an air raid, with them not even caring because they were war orphans and war refugees, and he himself was severely injured and experimented upon.
  • Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: He's not just any ninja, he's an astronaut ninja! Trained by NASA... somehow.
  • Shout-Out: The original name for his ninja getup was Black Collar, which was a tribute to Blackcollar (the title of a novel about space ninjas).
  • Trope Maker: The technical originator of the "Cyborg Ninja" trend in Metal Gear, where previously appearing allies would be reintroduced as antagonists or slightly more morally ambiguous allies later on. Although, as clarified below, he's not a cyborg.
  • Unexplained Recovery: He ends up returning as an enhanced ninja (not a Cyborg Ninja, that comes later with Gray Fox).
  • You Killed My Father: His main motivation for creating the resistance was because his wife and child were killed in an incident not revealed other than it involving Outer Heaven.

    Diane 
The former vocalist of punk band Thin Wall. Provides Snake with info on most bosses as well as Outer Heaven's weapons system and traps.
  • Boyish Short Hair: Justified as she was a punk star.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: If you call her when fighting Big Boss' Phantom.
    "This is Diane! I don't know how to defeat Big Boss... Now it's all up to you! Solid Snake! ... I... want to tell you... Er, nevermind... Be careful..."
  • My Sister Is Off-Limits: Her brother Steve answers when you call her outside a boss battle, making up excuses for why she's unavailable at the moment. One of his lines implies that he thinks Snake is trying to get in bed with her.

    Jennifer 
A member of the Resistance movement. Infiltrated Outer Heaven posing as a nurse in order to rescue her brother, who had been taken hostage. Helped Snake by giving him information on equipment and weapons.

Quirky Miniboss Squad

    Shotmaker (Shotgunner) 
A mercenary and prison warden at Outer Heaven; he guards the cell block where Gray Fox is held.

    Machinegun Kid 
A mercenary at Outer Heaven who guards the parachute needed for the jump into the Building 1 courtyard.

    Bloody Brad (Arnold) 
Two cyberoid units built by Dr. Madnar during his time as a captive in Outer Heaven.
  • Dual Boss: There are two Arnolds/Brads, but unlike the other bosses, the boss theme does not play in their room on the MSX and don't attack you in their room unless you step in front of them. You can destroy them immediately after getting the Rocket Launcher, and eventually you WILL need to destroy them to get the Level 7 keycard, which is needed to proceed to Building 3.
  • Mecha-Mooks: The Bloody Brads/Arnolds are two Terminator-esque cyborgs guarding one of the rooms in Outer Heaven.
  • Shout-Out: Originally named Arnold after Arnold Schwarzenegger, referring to his role in The Terminator.

    Fire Trooper 
A mercenary at Outer Heaven who guards the elevator that leads out of the Building 2 basement.
  • Fire-Breathing Weapon: His specialty is a flamethrower.
    Fire Trooper: I'm Fire Trooper! I will burn you alive!
  • All Germans Are Nazis: Subverted: He was a member of Outer Heaven and of German origin, but he was in fact a former member of the anti-terrorist German police division GSG9, which was created as a way to deal against terrorist threats without worrying about becoming another Nazi Germany.

    Dirty Duck (Coward Duck) 
A mercenary at Outer Heaven who holds the last keycard needed to reach Metal Gear/the end of the game and hides behind three POWs and a trap door. Should not be confused with Howard the Duck.
  • Awesome Aussie: His nationality isn't stated in the game or the manual, but his usage of boomerangs implies that he was Australian. It's also deconstructed, as he's shown to be a dirty fighter.
  • Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are: Zig-zagged but lampshaded.
    Coward Duck: I'm Coward Duck! You can't shoot me, can you?
  • Dirty Coward: Why do you think he has the name Dirty Duck? In addition to having three hostages in front of him, one of whom is the brother of a major resistance operator, but the hostages also have a trap door right in front of them, severely limiting the battle zone.
  • Human Shield: His specialty, besides his use of boomerangs and having a hidden trap floor smack-dab in the middle of his boss room.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: He used to be the commander of the terrorist group known as "Egg Plant".

    Metal Gear Codename: TX-55 
Created to serve as a deterrent to protect Outer Heaven from enemy nations.

It possesses two nuclear warhead launchers and it's one of the most compact Metal Gears ever created.


  • Puzzle Boss: In the MSX version you destroy it by detonating C4 on its legs in a sequence given to you by Doctor Madnar... except he forgot the last one. It's right. And it requires the precise amount of C4 charges you can carry at maximum.
  • Stationary Boss: The real battle is dodging two laser cannons while trying to apply C4 to Metal Gear's feet.
  • The Unfought: Technically, as Solid Snake destroyed it before it's activated.
    • Whereas in the NES Version, Snake destroys, not Metal Gear, but a Supercomputer that controls Metal Gear's nuclear missile launching capabilities.

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