This page lists characters who first appeared in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.
For other characters in the franchise, see the Metal Gear character index at Characters.Metal Gear.
Characters that debuted in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake:
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Roy Campbell
"Snake, I'm not a colonel."
Click here to see Campbell in MPO
Old Voice: Takeshi Aono (JP), Paul Eiding (EN)
Young Voice: Toshio Furukawa (JP), David Agranov (EN)
"Snake, this mission isn't an order from Washington... not like the old days."
A rather amiable man, driven by duty, and one of Solid Snake's closest friends, Campbell has been around for a long time. He's an old friend of Big Boss and helped him defeat Gene in Portable Ops before helping establish FOXHOUND. He then helped Solid Snake fight Big Boss in Zanzibar Land and was forced to pull Snake out of retirement for the Shadow Moses Incident. The alternate ending of MGS1 reveals that he is Meryl Silverburgh’s father, a fact that she did not know for most of her life.
In MGS2, he doesn't appear, and is instead impersonated throughout most of the game by GW, the Artificial Intelligence created by the Patriots to control the United States media.
By MGS4 he is married to Rosemary, Raiden’s old girlfriend, and sends Snake on another mission, though it’s more of a personal favor, to hunt down and eliminate Liquid Ocelot.
- Affectionate Nickname: Snake continues to refer to him as "Colonel" years after he has retired from the military.
- Badass Normal: Seen best during Portable Ops Plus.
- Bad Liar: Colonel Campbell, during the briefing, as well as the overall story in Metal Gear Solid, is terrible at lying. In the opening briefing, he tries to claim he participated in the mission only because of inner desire for conflict, but Solid Snake saw through it. Later on when suspicious things occur Campbell is such a bad liar that whenever he tries to react with shock or deny any involvement he can't fool Snake.
- Colonel Badass: As a former Green Beret and commander of FOXHOUND, Campbell definitely qualifies.
- Characterization Marches On: He's much more snide and condescending to Snake in the opening minutes of Metal Gear Solid's briefing videos, a far cry from the good friend he presents himself as for the rest of the series. He is lying to Snake about a lot of things during the mission, but isn't happy about it.
- Chivalrous Pervert: In a few radio calls in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Campbell will often give advice to soldiers on how to land chicks when asking him for advice, for which the subject matter, although initially similar, actually turns out to be quite different (namely it pertains to the battlefield). He also gave similar advice to Big Boss when giving advice to commanding soldiers. He also gave up an opportunity to go out with a woman he was attracted to for his brother's sake, which served as the reason why he joined the Green Berets in the first place.
- Cowardly Sidekick: Subverted during Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. Campbell was initially reluctant to help with Big Boss's mission but he had a very good reason for his limited involvement in the action; his leg was broken at the time he met Big Boss and he also suffered from malaria. In spite of his injury and sickness he assists Big Boss with mission planning and truck driving.
- Defector from Decadence: In the non-canon game Ghost Babel, Campbell retired from FOXHOUND due to guilt after a person named ANONYMOUS (later revealed to be Steve Gardner) supplied him with false information that terrorists were arriving back in America. He dispatched FOXHOUND to eliminate them but it wasn't until after the fact that Campbell learned that the "terrorists" that he and FOXHOUND ambushed were actually the Black Chamber unit.
- Dirty Old Man: While he did apparently marry Rosemary, someone young enough to be his daughter, he actually faked the marriage in order to protect her as well as Little John, the son of Rosemary and Raiden, from the Patriots. He comes off as one in MGS2 as well; if you start doing perverted stuff like stalking around the women's bathroom and peeking under a female hostage's skirt, Rosemary will call to chew you out, while Campbell will sympathize with you. Of course, we discover later that it's not actually Colonel Campbell, and instead the Arsenal Gear AI.
- Do Not Call Me Sir: By Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, he's long retired from the military and is serving as a consultant for the UN. Still doesn't stop Snake from calling him "Colonel" like old times.
- Expy: His portrait in the MSX2 version of Metal Gear 2 was modeled after the likeness of Richard Crenna in his role as Colonel Troutman from the Rambo film series. As a result, it carries over to the 3D games.
- A Family Affair: Meryl's mother had a fling with him despite being married to his brother, making him Meryl's real father.
- I Was Quite a Looker: He was a good looking man back when he helped Big Boss.
- I Have Your Wife: This is the reason why Roy Campbell ended up taking part in the Shadow Moses Incident and why he had to keep secrets to Solid Snake. The Pentagon and the Patriots arranged Meryl's capture and it is implied that they would have her murdered if he refused to cooperate.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: He is Meryl's father.
- Mission Control: His role for most of the games, he gets Promoted to Playable in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops.
- Mission Control Is Off Its Meds: The AI impersonating him goes a little...loopy just before the charade is revealed.
- Reluctant Warrior: During the Shadow Moses Incident he was forced to lie to Snake and withhold information from him because Richard Ames, and The Patriots, threatened both his life and Meryl's life if he didn't.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Near the end of Metal Gear Solid, he disobeys orders from the Secretary of Defense to save Snake and Meryl. When that doesn't work, he fakes their deaths to protect them from the government.
- Shout-Out: His design was inspired directly from Colonel Troutman from Rambo. Likewise, his younger self seems to have some physical traits that mirror that of Shaggy.
- Sole Survivor: Of the Green Berets unit that was sent into San Hieronymo after the FOX unit ambushed him. He almost ended up "going back" on that had Snake not found the necessary drugs to eliminate his malaria infection.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Campbell was prone to moments of warmth and sentimentality, but in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, he comes across as more aloof and is quick to declare Snake a traitor and terrorist even though they were close friends. That's because Campbell never appears; it's the GW AI impersonating him. When he returns for real in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, he's more like his old self.
- Walking Spoiler: For Metal Gear Solid 2. The big spoiler being that the Colonel Campbell you spent the whole game talking to is just an AI; the real Campbell is completely absent.
Master Miller (McDonnell Miller)
"We just became the world's seventh nuclear power."
"The world calls for wetwork, and we answer. No greater good, no just cause."
AKA: Kazuhira Miller/McDonnell Benedict Miller
"We're not mercenaries. We're not a foreign legion. MSF's a business. A new kind of business."
Master Miller, real name Kazuhira / McDonell Benedict Miller, was the Japanese mentor of Solid Snake and helped him in Zanzibar Land. He had an extensive military background, including training Marines, Green Berets, the SAS, and even acting as a coach at a mercenary school twice a year before joining FOXHOUND.
In Metal Gear Solid, he does not appear at all, and instead is impersonated over CODEC by Liquid Snake. This fact comes to light near the game's climax after Miller's body is discovered inside his home with an estimated date of death three days before the Shadow Moses Incident. His murderer is implied to be either Liquid Snake or Revolver Ocelot.
In Peace Walker, he's the second-in-command of Militaires Sans Frontieres, serving under Big Boss.
In The Phantom Pain, he serves the same purpose, running Diamond Dogs.
- '80s Hair: He sported a mullet during the 1970s.
- Abandoned War Child: He was fathered and left behind by an American occupation soldier who had sex with a Japanese prostitute following the end of World War II.
- Ambiguously Bi: Kazuhira Miller is a notorious womaniser, but he also seems attracted to Big Boss: he asks him out on a date, and when Big Boss orders him to choose between "him or the women" after he was caught having a romance with a female recruit, Kaz asks "why can't I have both?!"
- An Arm and a Leg: In The Phantom Pain, Miller loses his right arm and left foot from his time as a captive in Afghanistan.
- Ascended Extra: Goes from a relatively minor member of Solid Snake's support team in Metal Gear 2 and Metal Gear Solid to one of the major characters of the Big Boss era with Peace Walker and The Phantom Pain.
- Badass Longcoat: Wears a khaki trenchcoat in The Phantom Pain.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Miller might be a person who never refuses kindness to anyone who wants it but if he wants to ensure MSF's expansion he will do everything he can to ensure it happens even if he must use ruthless means to do so.
- Big Damn Heroes: Miller, alongside the rest of MSF and the Sandinista group led by Amanda, managed to save Naked Snake at the last possible moment from Zadornov by storming the tower, seriously injuring if not killing most of Zadornov's group.
- Broken Pedestal: As revealed in The Stinger of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Big Boss planned to create Outer Heaven without his assistance. Kaz, justifiably furious, intends to help Venom Snake, as well as one of his sons, in order to eventually destroy him. Ocelot tells him that if he does, Ocelot himself will train the other son. Miller rolls with it and leaves Ocelot and never looks back. In the end Miller accomplishes his objective of destroying Big Boss. It is due to Miller's training that Solid Snake was successful in killing Venom Snake and placing Big Boss in a coma while everything that Big Boss built was destroyed.
- But Not Too Foreign: A military brat, Miller was born of an American soldier and a Japanese woman during the occupation of Japan. He's white enough that he can go by the name "McDonell Benedict Miller" twenty years later.
- By-the-Book Cop: Miller was a deconstruction of this trope while he was a JSDF officer. His skills in the force were unmatched, but the head brass chose not to promote him because they feared those skills.
- The Casanova: Miller is shown to be a playboy and womanizer during his youth. A notable instance is in Peace Walker in which he picked up Cecile on Naked Snake's orders partly because she was a blond Parisenne. This attribute also got him into deep trouble. In the same game, he asks Snake out on a date in an optional mission.
- Cerebus Retcon: In Metal Gear 2 and Metal Gear Solid he / Liquid's impersonation of him comes across as a pretty normal member of your support team and mostly just wants Solid Snake to do the best, complete the mission and save the world, as you'd expect. MGSV however establishes that he's been involved in torture, training child soldiers, tried to establish Outer Heaven with Big Boss, and trained Solid Snake to kill Big Boss just because the latter didn't want to work with him anymore. He is a much more complex and much, much darker character than his initial appearances let on.
- Characterization Marches On: When Solid Snake contacted Miller during the final battle with Big Boss in Zanzibar, the latter claimed that Big Boss was nothing but a monster that needs to be put down. The prequel era games instead presented him as Naked Snake's right hand man and close confidante. Nothing was said about how Naked Snake ended up becoming a Broken Pedestal for Miller until The Phantom Pain actually revealed this in the stinger. To say that Miller felt betrayed by Big Boss's decision to abandon him and build Outer Heaven without him while Miller was convinced that Venom Snake was the real deal is putting it quite mildly.
- Chef of Iron: A minor side plot in The Phantom Pain reveals him to be this...sort of. When Code Talker comments that he would like a hamburger, Miller cooks him one, but it's rejected. Miller keeps trying more and more high end and creative ingredients to make a burger to Code Talker's liking, but is rejected every time. Finally it's revealed that the reason Miller's failing is because he's overthinking things: Code Talker just wants a basic, cheap, processed fast food burger.
- Combat Sadomasochist: Is implied to be this in the (optional) mission to have Big Boss go on a date with Kaz. CQC him into unconsciousness and wait for him to wake up and he will act oddly happy about it. Doing it three times or more will likewise result in getting an S-rank for the mission.
- Cool Shades: A trademark of him since Metal Gear Solid. This is an important enough characteristic that the developers significantly altered his face portrait between the original game and its rerelease to make him more in line with his "appearance" in Metal Gear Solid.
- Didn't See That Coming:
- In the Ground Zeroes side mission "Eliminate the Renegade Threat", he sounds genuinely shocked if Big Boss decides to bring Glaz and Palitz back to Mother Base alive rather than killing them. Justified since Miller has spent the entire mission lecturing Big Boss on how much his clients want these men dead.Miller: Y-you're extracting the targets?! Well... okay then...
- He also has this reaction if you decided to extract mission objectives rather eliminate/destroy certain targets.
- In the Ground Zeroes side mission "Eliminate the Renegade Threat", he sounds genuinely shocked if Big Boss decides to bring Glaz and Palitz back to Mother Base alive rather than killing them. Justified since Miller has spent the entire mission lecturing Big Boss on how much his clients want these men dead.
- Distressed Dude: He is captured by the Soviets in Afghanistan in The Phantom Pain and Venom Snake has to infiltrate the country to rescue him.
- Dramatic Irony: Reviewing Mosquito, he states that the latter was a victim of misinformation and that Big Boss sold out his own comrades in order to hide from the world, and built his own P.F to strike back against him. This is exactly how it happens come The Stinger for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain where Big Boss does indeed goes into hiding and sold out his own comrades, and Miller decides to strike back against him. Sadly, the irony is lost to him.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: His position upon becoming a member of FOXHOUND. It's also the reason why his recruits often refer to him by the name "Hell Master". Despite this all of his recruits treat him with the highest regards and the title of Master is often used as a sign of deep respect towards him.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- He not only wanted Huey dead for causing the destruction of Mother Base, but during the latter's trial he's also disgusted upon recounting that Huey tried to put his two-year old son in the Sahelanthropus' cockpit and let his wife suffocate for objecting.
- Despite going off his rocker in order to achieve vengeance at any cost there is one line that he will not cross: killing a child. Any action that harms a child soldier will result in Kaz instantly ending the mission. He also makes sure to give captured enemy child soldiers a proper education in order to give them a chance at a peaceful life.
- Implied when he goes on to mentor Solid Snake. It was already understandable why he was upset with Big Boss apparently abandoning him, but while he initially claimed that he was going to train Solid Snake to destroy Big Boss as payback, it's clear that he later calmed back down from his vengeful phase over the years to become the ally he was originally shown as. This suggests that he honestly came to believe that Big Boss really needed to be stopped, possibly for reasons like Outer Heaven not turning out like he thought it would.
- Forgotten Fallen Friend: Despite his importance in shaping Big Boss's legend as well mentoring Solid Snake, Kaz was rarely mentioned after his death.
- Gay Option: A side mission in Peace Walker is explicitly called "A Date with Kaz" allowing Naked Snake to go on a date with him on a beach. While it amounts to "mess around with him using non-lethal weaponry as much as you want", most actions raise his affection meter and ends by the two of them climbing into "The Love Box" doing some... implied actions... inside of it. Also you can take pictures of him in a speedo if you have it unlocked. Also worth noting is that the mission has him calling Snake up and inviting him on the date rather then the other way around. Also in Metal Gear 2, he asks Solid Snake out to a fondue place.
- Genius Bruiser: He was described to be well-read and possess scientific knowledge. His stats on Mother Base suggest he is a decent medic, cook, R&D worker and combatant.
- Glasses Pull: Chapter 2 of The Phantom Pain opens with him giving a speech to Diamond Dogs about the possibility of Cipher spies in their ranks, during which he performs this, showing off his cataracts in plain sight.Miller: From here on out... (removes sunglasses) You will be my eyes.
- Handicapped Badass: Loses an arm and a foot by the time The Phantom Pain rolls around. And this is BEFORE he becomes FOXHOUND's survival trainer. He's also had cataracts his whole life, hence his Sunglasses at Night, and may very well be legally blind during the time of Phantom Pain.
- Heroic Bastard: He was heavily implied to have been the byproduct of prostitution in Post World War II Japan.
- Historical Person Punchline: In The Phantom Pain, "The Hamburgers of Kazuhira Miller" tapes have Miller having an epiphany of peacefully uniting the world with flavor additive-enhanced hamburgers rather than nukes or Metal Gears. This implies (based on his alternate English first name) that he ultimately becomes the founder of McDonalds in the Metal Gear universe.
- Honor Before Reason: In The Phantom Pain, when the Skulls attack during the Honey Bee recovery mission, Miller is adamantly against Venom Snake using the Honey Bee to fight them since part of the mission requirement was to bring it in with its ammo intact. This is despite the fact that he knows from firsthand experience just how dangerous the Skulls are; Ocelot rightfully points out that this is no time for restraint.
- Hunk: In a pair of his trademark shades, the man's a straight-up knockout.
- Hypocrite:
- In Ground Zeroes, he repeatedly goes on bleak, venomous rants about Paz being The Mole for Cipher during the rescue, when he himself was leaking info to Cipher behind Big Boss's back during Peace Walker. Furthermore, Miller chose to work for Cipher as a double agent, whereas Paz had no say in the matter.
- Of course, there's also Not What I Signed on For below, which could imply that he's upset that Cipher apparently betrayed him after all the assistance he gave them, and Paz had closer ties to them than he did.
- Identical Stranger: As of Peace Walker, he really does look enough like Liquid Snake for Liquid to have convincingly impersonated him in the first MGS.
- Impersonation-Exclusive Character: In Metal Gear Solid.
- Ironic Name: His name is actually Japanese for peace, and yet he's been in all sorts of different military groups. Tellingly, he stops using "Kazuhira" by the time he's aiding Solid Snake.
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: In The Phantom Pain, he outright calls Quiet a "thing" at one point.
- Keeping the Handicap: After literally losing An Arm and a Leg, he chooses not to get bionic limbs like Snake did, wanting to hold onto the phantom pain to fuel his revenge against Cipher and XOF.
- Killed Offscreen: He died shortly before the events of the first Metal Gear Solid. The true ending of The Phantom Pain implies that it was Ocelot who killed him.
- Military Brat: His father was one of Whitney's men among the American occupation force in Japan (GHQ).
- Miser Advisor: Some of his schemes get MSF and the Diamond Dogs in trouble because he thought it would be profitable for them.
- Mooning: Miller once did this during a monthly birthday celebration for various MSF members who had birthdates on that month due to becoming drunk while supervising Paz at the party. He also implied that the "real Kazuhira Miller" was like his butt.
- Mr. Fanservice: Absolutely
◊, especially in Peace Walker. You get a side mission that's basically just spending intimate time with him. - Murder Is the Best Solution: Shows this way of thinking twice in The Phantom Pain:
- Should Venom Snake choose to spare Quiet after their fight and bring her back to Mother Base, Kaz is very adamant on killing her. He even states outright that he would do so regardless of Snake's wishes if Quiet came back to Mother Base with him.
- When the various atrocities Huey has committed become public, Kaz, as well as everyone else at Mother Base, cheers for his death and is genuinely shocked when Snake instead opts to exile him.
- Not What I Signed on For: It's heavily implied that Miller did not know about Cipher's plans to nuke the East Coast of the United States to frame MSF if Naked Snake refused to rejoin them. To elaborate: Miller briefly worked with Cipher solely to expand MSF, even doing so behind Snake's back. He would not have asked for this assistance if he had known that Cipher planned to nuke the East Coast of the USA and then frame MSF for the deed.
- He's also quite pissed in The Stinger of The Phantom Pain: he was under the impression that he was working with Big Boss to restore MSF to its former glory and beyond to create the "Outer Heaven" where soldiers would always be welcome. Not to serve as a decoy under the Body Double Venom Snake while the real Big Boss quietly built the real Outer Heaven without his involvement.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: At the end of Ground Zeroes, the normally calm and collected Miller sees MSF go up in literal smoke. He gets angry about it, and chokes Paz with his bare hands, telling the "bitch" to "start talking".
- Properly Paranoid: Miller makes it very clear that he does not trust Quiet and Huey in The Phantom Pain, since Quiet is a former XOF agent and Huey is suspected at the very least of being complicit in MSF's destruction. It turns out that his suspicions are completely right. Quiet was sent by Skull Face to infiltrate Diamond Dogs to spread the English vocal parasite, and it's only a Heel–Face Turn that prevents her from doing so. It's also later revealed that Huey is responsible for many of Diamond Dogs' woes in Chapter 2 by secretly repairing Sahelanthropus for Eli and releasing mutated vocal cord parasites in an effort to sell them to Cipher. Though nobody seemed to disagree with Miller about him.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Ocelot's blue in The Phantom Pain.
- Retcon:
- Miller's original profile states that was a third generation American of Japanese descent. It was changed in Peace Walker to him being born in Japan, with his father being a GHQ officer under Whitney.
- While Kaz's disability isn't an outright retcon, the comic adaptation of Metal Gear Solid runs on the assumption that he has all his limbs intact - in the game itself, Liquid's disguise also runs on this to an extent.
- Revenge Before Reason: In trailers for The Phantom Pain, he is shown to openly favor more brutal and extremist methods for exacting vengeance upon XOF and Cipher for what they've done.
- Seppuku: The first time they met and Naked Snake kicked his ass, he asked him to be his kaishakunin and grant him an "honorable death"... so he could trick Snake into walking close enough to blow both of them up with a grenade. Fortunately for Kaz, it doesn't work, and Snake is impressed enough to let him live.
- Shout-Out:
- Although its not likely to be intentional, some fans have noted that he resembled either Johnny Bravo, Tyler Durden, or Albert Wesker.
- According to Hideo Kojima's twitter account, he apparently partly based the physical appearance of Miller in Peace Walker on the captain in Westworld, although most of the studio never heard of the film.
- Similarly to Campbell, Miller's dress uniform in The Phantom Pain is one to Colonel Troutman from the Rambo films.
- Suddenly Blonde: His original character portrait in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake was that of a middle-aged Japanese man wearing a headset◊. As a result, his portrait in the Updated Re-release included in Snake Eater was changed to be more in thread with his appearance in the first Solid game.
- Sunglasses at Night: Miller possesses sunglasses for every instance of his appearances (save for his original design in Metal Gear 2), even at times when it wouldn't have been beneficial at all. By the time of The Phantom Pain, they have evolved into an actual necessity since after being tortured, it's implied he's either legally blind or at least extremely photosensitive. An audio tape explains that Miller was born with cataracts due to his mother contracting an STD while he was in the womb, and the sunglasses are to help alleviate that. It's implied the Soviet torture exacerbated his pre-existing condition, so he may very well be blind or at least have significantly worse eyesight than he used to.
- Taking You with Me: In the backstory tape regarding when they first met, Miller had been severely wounded by Naked Snake and the Militaires Sans Frontieres, with his own guerilla army also being wiped out. He attempted to kill Snake by luring him close to blow up both of them with a grenade. Snake managed to keep the grenade shut to save both of their lives.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
Word of God confirms that this is his relationship with Ocelot in The Phantom Pain with the two only working together because of Big Boss. - That Man Is Dead: At some point he stops using "Kazuhira" and insteads opts for either "Master Miller" or just his American name, as Solid Snake knows him by. The Stinger of The Phantom Pain shows why.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: After everything he's endured up to The Phantom Pain, he embraces this idea in pursuit of revenge on Skull Face.Miller: The world calls for wetwork, and we answer. No greater good. No just cause.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: He's considerably more bitter, cynical, and irritable in The Phantom Pain than he was in Peace Walker. Justified, considering all he's been
through. Miller gets better after a while and Solid Snake's mentor interacted with was more approachable than his Jerkass persona. Snake is fooled by Liquid's disguise when he acts calmly and more rational. - Two-Timer Date: Actually did this trope once with two female MSF members. Let's just say that when the girls reported it to Big Boss, he made sure he let Miller know that it was a very bad move on his part.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Ocelot predicts the war economy seen in Metal Gear Solid 4 and puts the blame on Miller. Whether his downplaying of Big Boss's role is due to Ocelot's loyalty or because Miller played the greater administrative role in MSF/Diamond Dogs isn't clarified.
- Vengeance Feels Empty: While at the end of the day he's glad to have killed Skull Face, it doesn't bring back the friends and limbs that he's been deprived of. He starts to become increasingly bitter upon realizing that nothing will bring back what he's lost.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He worked for Cipher as a business partner, not for any malevolent intent, but rather so MSF can expand.
- We Used to Be Friends: Seeing how far Big Boss has changed over the years, Miller cuts all ties with him, even training Solid Snake to fight him.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Gives this to Venom Snake if he spares Quiet and extracts her. He then tells him he'll kill her himself once she arrives.
- Who's Laughing Now?: A subtle instance of this is alluded to in the briefing tape relating to Kazuhira's past. During his childhood, Kaz was frequently mocked by the other Japanese children for his distinctly Caucasian appearance (blond hair, blue eyes and tall stature). When Kaz's request to see his estranged father in America was granted, the older Miller arranges to have Kaz picked up by a limousine, causing all the kids who mocked Kaz to literally stand agape.
- Wouldn't Hurt a Child: In The Phantom Pain, while he authorizes incapacitating Child Soldiers, he explicitly forbids Venom Snake from using lethal force against them to the extent that killing even one of them is an automatic mission failure.
- You Don't Look Like You: Master Miller went from having a distinctively Asian appearance in the original MSX2 version of Metal Gear 2, to looking like a blond-haired Caucasian in Metal Gear Solid. Later ports of Metal Gear 2 gave Miller a new character portrait that was more consistent with his design from MGS1.
- Younger Than They Look: Despite being almost 60 by the time of MGS1, Miller's barely aged a day since the prequel era games. To the point where the 33 year old Liquid Snake can believably pose as him.
George Kasler (George Kessler)
A legendary FOXHOUND mercenary with intel on every active mercenary in the world. Helps Snake by providing information on the bosses he encounters.
- Living Legend: It is said that if you don’t know who he is, you’re unworthy as being called among the elite.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: His portrait in the original version was based on Dolph Lundgren.
- Tempting Fate: He told Snake there was no way he could beat Big Boss. We all know how that went.
Charlie
A chopper pilot who picks up Snake and Holly at the end. His dialogue with the former implies they're good friends, but he is never mentioned after Metal Gear 2.
- Big Damn Heroes: Rescues Snake and Holly as they're pursued by soldiers at the end.
- The Faceless: All we see of him is his chopper.
Holly White
A freelance journalist who infiltrated Zanzibar Land in 1999. The daughter of a French mother and a British father, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her reporting on the wars in Afghanistan. She was also a well-known director for KTV and received an Emmy for her acclaimed documentary The Unknown Bloodshed. Holly also worked as a fashion model for the magazine Depeche Vogue. Behind all of this, however, she served as an undercover agent for the CIA, which made use of her status and fame to further its intelligence operations.
- But Not Too Foreign: She's a journalist and CIA agent of British-French origin.
- Faux Action Girl: She was able to infiltrate Zanzibarland, but got captured and had to be rescued by Snake. Then at the end she hands you her gun and just follows you around.
- Girl of the Week: She and Snake become quite infatuated with each other during the events of the game, and at the end, he even invites her out for dinner. The Stinger then reveals that he not only went back on the dinner invitation but even hasn't contacted her since they got home.
- Institutional Allegiance Concealment: Holly uses her journalism career/experience to ensure the cover of her CIA activities. Which is Truth in Television since some intelligence agents/officers do masquerade as journalists/reporters. Which is usually a problem for actual journalists who go to hot zones and cover an event.
- Intrepid Reporter: Who works for the CIA.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Modeled after the likeness of actress Brenda Bakke in her role as Sgt. Nim in the Japanese sci-fi film Gunhed. Coincidentally, Bakke would later show up alongside Richard Crenna in Hot Shots! Part Deux.
- Spell My Name With An S: The original MSX2 version spells her first name as "Horry".
Dr. Kio Marv
A Czech scientist, responsible for the creation of the genetically-modified oil-producing microbe, OILIX. Dr. Marv accidentally discovered the basis for OILIX in one of his experiments, subsequently refining the concept to completion. OILIX was a microalgal organism capable of producing high amounts of petroleum-grade hydrocarbons, with relatively little expense and effort. He's kidnapped by Zanzibar Land agents, and had to be rescued by Solid Snake. He only speaks Czech and Slovak.
- Killed Off for Real: Died of a heart attack when Dr. Madnar strangled him.
- Sdrawkcab Name: Dr. Kio Marv's name is VRAM 0.1K backwards, a riff on the MSX booting sequence, as revealed during the ending.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Despite the fact that OILIX was supposed to end the energy crisis, and it was recovered in the end of the game, no mention of it was ever made again in the Metal Gear Solid games, and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots goes out of its way to state that there is still an oil crisis, although this may be an effect of the War Economy. In Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Doktor, after collecting around 20 left arms from cyborg commanders, will comment that the Patriots had been close to discovering a perpetual energy source prior to their destruction, although it is unclear whether this was intended to hint at the Patriots confiscating OILIX to research its properties and mass-produce it or not.Doktor: "More Patriot data, yes... Oh? I had no idea they were so close to a perpetual energy source. Fascinating..."
Gustava Heffner (Natasha Markova)
Formerly an Olympic gold medalist figure skater, Gustava was known as the "Ice Princess" both in professional ice skating and in the Olympics, where she previously won two championships in a row. During the 1980s, she met and fell in love with a Westerner named Frank Hunter (Gray Fox) during the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She tried to elope with him, but she was denied U.S. citizenship and could not leave her country. Because of her failed defection, Gustava was stripped of her competition rights and her family was constantly persecuted and humiliated. With very few places left to turn, Gustava joined the StB (the Czech State Police). She reveals that while in the service of the StB, she managed to kill a man. She was assigned to protect Dr. Kio Marv, acting as his bodyguard as well as his translator.
- Action Girl: Is far more capable than Holly, having evaded capture and successfully infiltrated Zanzibarland while protecting Dr. Marv.
- Disposable Woman: She's killed right after you meet up with Dr. Madnar and start to cross the bridge.
- Orwellian Retcon: She was originally named Natasha Marcova in the MSX2 version. The name change in later versions is thought to avoid confusion with the similarly named Nastasha Romanenko.
- Retcon: Thanks to an issue of Real Life Writes the Plot, the Previous Operations referred to her as a former StB agent when covering the events of Metal Gear 2 (the Soviet Union, and thus the Eastern Bloc, collapsed far sooner than expected in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake).
- Small Role, Big Impact: Her death was the very reason why Snake does not like women dying in front of him. Metal Gear Solid pretty much confirms this.
- Vasquez Always Dies: She dies while Faux Action Girl Holly survives.
Johan Jacobsen (Josef Norden)
A zoologist providing Snake with information on the wildlife of Zanzibar Land.
- Big Eater: Tends to randomly enter the subject of food in his calls, often saying that he just ordered something.
- Cool Old Guy: His portraits makes him look about 50, but he's old enough to have been an academic friend of Madnar's. Indeed, in his Metal Gear Solid 4 Database profile he looks notably older.
- Friend to All Living Things: Was a member of several environmental and animal welfare organizations. He also disapproved of FOXHOUND's use of Animal Motif codenames:"Why does FOXHOUND use animals for code names, anyway? Who came up with the idea that animals are so warlike? People, that's who. I just don't get it...Over and out."
- Stock Animal Facts: His codec calls are full of them.
Running Man
A mercenary in Zanzibar Land who holds the Level 3 keycard.
- Fragile Speedster: Unfortunately for him, his speed doesn't save him from being blown up by mines.
- French Jerk: He was formerly a French athlete.
- Gas Mask Mook: He was seen wearing a Gas Mask when fighting Snake. Justified, as the area they were fighting in was slowly being filled with nerve gas.
- Persona Non Grata: Was banned from the Olympic Games after he was caught doping (in other words, using steroids).
- Puzzle Boss: An extreme version in the fact that he never actually engages Snake directly, but spends the entire "fight" attempting to stay out of Snake's reach, meaning Snake has to lay traps for him.
- Super-Speed: His most apparent trait.
- Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: Was the former subcommander of a terrorist group (named "Les Enfant Terribles" in the original, which was edited out in rereleases presumably because it shared the same name as the government project that gave birth to Solid Snake.
Red Blaster
A mercenary in Zanzibar Land who guards a room prior to the roof of the Tower Building.
- Dirty Communists: Was formerly a Spetsnaz operative in the Soviet Union.
- Renegade Russian: Like Shotmaker before him, its unknown whether he planned to revive the Soviet Union when joining Zanzibar Land, although what is clear is that he was left without a job thanks to the Soviet Union's collapse. Also like Shotmaker, his being of this trope was also due to a Real Life Writes the Plot Retcon.
- Throw Down the Bomblet: His preferred tactic is to box his opponent in using tripwires and then pelt them with grenades from above. Grenades are also the key to defeating him.
The Four Horsemen (Ultrabox)
A four-man assassination team in Zanzibar Land who ambush Snake in an elevator in the Tower Building after he gets too far in Zanzibar's business.
- Multinational Team: At least one of the four members were former members of the Special Air Service regiment in Great Britain and the GSG9 Anti-Terrorist group in Germany.
- No Name Given: None of the individual names for these guys were spelled out.
- Shout-Out: Named after British new wave band Ultravox.
- Wolfpack Boss: The Four Horsemen all have equal health and all have to be fought at once in an elevator.
Jungle Evil (Predator)
A mercenary in Zanzibar Land who in a field outside the Detention Center and guards the last two numbered keycards in the game.
- One-Man Army: In his backstory, he apparently wiped out two whole companies of soldiers in Vietnam.
- Whack-a-Monster: He can only be harmed whenever he pops up from the tall grass in his area to take shots at Snake.
Night Fright (Night Sight)
A mercenary in Zanzibar Land who guards the cell in the Detention Center where Dr. Marv is being held.
- Boss-Arena Idiocy: He is completely invisible. Luckily for the player, his boss fight takes place in a large room that is full of surfaces that make noise when walked on.
- Dirty Communists: Non-Russian example: He fought alongside the North Vietnamese during The Vietnam War alongside a unit of guerillas who were more skilled in the job than even the Green Berets, implying communist ties.
- Hollywood Silencer: Kasler claims that his gun is completely silent, but in reality, it's no quieter than Snake's suppressed Beretta.
- Last of His Kind: Non-racial example: He is the last surviving member of the guerilla unit "The Whispers."
Metal Gear Codename: D
Metal Gear D was a nuclear-armed bipedal tank, redesigned from the original TX-55 Metal Gear, featuring a more streamlined design and improved weaponry, with the intention to be mass produced.
- Attack Its Weak Point: Its knee joints are its Achilles' Heel. Snake is able to take it out by lobbing grenades at its knees.
Metal Gear Codename G (Gustav)
Metal Gear G were meant to be smaller scale, mass produced walking tanks serving as infantry support. However Zanzibar Land was destroyed before they could be built.
- Expy: Inverted. the role the Gustavs would have potentially filled is strikingly similar to the Walker Gears in The Phantom Pain.
