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Why President Johnson Grabs Raiden's Crotch

The President seems to mistake Raiden for Olga. More specifically, he seems to mistake Raiden for the unknown female Patriot agent at the Big Shell who just happens to be Olga. Johnson had known the Patriots would send someone after him, since he says "So you've finally come" upon meeting Raiden.

However, he'd been expecting someone to find and kill him on behalf of the Patriots ("I'm prepared to face the consequences of my betrayal"). Once Johnson realizes Raiden is not a Patriot assassin, he grabs Raiden's johnson and says "You're...a man...?"

In the Document of MGS2 script, this line reads: "You're...a man...? (it's not that woman)." The woman in question is most likely Olga.

Johnson had probably known, either ahead of time or by concluding on his own, that a woman had been secretly working for the Patriots at the time. He wouldn't know this woman's identity though, since he's just a pawn for the Patriots. (He has never met the Twelve Wisemen and his instructions come from a "cut-out," or anonymous messenger.)

The woman at the Big Shell (i.e., Olga) who Johnson apparently knows about has a different role than the one he'd imagined. The President's original expectation of a female assassin is met because Raiden is an adrogynous character. Johnson then doubts his first impression of Raiden, so he checks for himself.

Thanks to "Double Cross" for mentioning Document of MGS2 references.

Why Soildus Looks So Much Older Than Snake

Solidus' cells would be in a simulated older state. When your cells age, you age.

Cells are the most basic units that make up humans and all living things. According to popular theory cells deteriorate over time, and this biochemical deterioration reduces the cells' ability to replicate (and thereby produce fresh copies). As a result, the body can't replace older and sickly cells as quickly as before.

The visible effects of reduced cell replication, like wrinkled skin and slower blood clotting, are known to many as human aging. Solidus apparently has a premature aging condition, one that could be genetically engineered or completely natural. Snake is afflicted too, but his aging condition isn't as advanced as Solidus'.

Genes are believed to have some effect on the longevity of cells (i.e., how long before they have to be replaced). Solidus might've been engineered in such a way that his cells would "wear out" sooner, or at a faster rate, than the other Snakes.

For example, he could've been engineered to reach the state of Big Boss' physical prime more quickly than Snake and Liquid. President Johnson says Solidus is "neither Solid nor Liquid...a well-balanced masterpiece," so Solidus does seem to be genetically different somehow.

On the other hand, his aging could be an unexpected side effect from the cloning process. Or, his condition could be completely unrelated to being cloned. Progeria is a real aging condition that causes children to mature so quickly they die within several years. This fatal condition is present at birth and extremely rare, but you might've seen children with progeria on daytime TV talk shows or in tabloid newspapers ("The world's oldest 4 year old!").

The exact factors that determine the rate of aging are not known, so it's unclear how Solidus had come to look so old. The only sure thing is that his body cells--and thus his whole body--are in a biochemical state as though they are really old.

President Johnson says Solidus is the "third Snake...[who'd been] preceded by Solid and Liquid" Snake. In one of the MGS endings, Ocelot refers to Solidus as "the third one." The three Snakes are the same general age, yet Solidus would seem to be the last one born.

The main thing to remember is the difference between biological and chronological age. A discrepancy between these two things is logically possible--people with the progeria condition are living proof. Solidus is the "oldest" Snake biologically, but time-wise he is actually the youngest Snake.

Where Raiden Fights as a Child Solider

Raiden fights in Liberia, a country in western Africa. This country is mentioned three times in "The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2" script.

Thanks to "Double Cross" for pointing out this fact.

Raiden's Age

Raiden is probably 25 or 26 in 2009, depending on his day of birth. When Raiden wakes up inside Arsenal Gear in MGS2, Solidus says something like:

The eighties...the civil war. You were one of the best among the child soldiers that fought in that conflict. When you were barely ten years old, you became platoon leader of the small-boy unit.

Solidus' description is vague, but the natural assumption is that Raiden turns 10 sometime during the 1980s. It would follow that he should be 10 years old in 1980 at the earliest and 1989 at the latest.

However, Solidus does not directly say Raiden had become "platoon leader of the small-boy unit" in the 80s. The best assumption is that Raiden turns 6 during the 80s because he tells Rose, "I think I was only six when I held my first AK".

Considering that Raiden fights in Liberia, he would've turned 10 in the 90s while still fighting the same civil war from the 80s. Liberia's real civil war lasted from 1989 to 1997.

Snake's Age

Snake is about 37 or 38 in the year 2009. The BRIEFING mode in MGS reveals Snake and Liquid had fought in the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War as teenagers. Liquid's on-screen bio reads: "1990 Works for the British Special Force SAS to destroy the mobile Scud missile lanchers [sic] in the Gulf War." This information suggests Liquid, and thus Snake, are at most 19 years old at the time in question.

Snake deploys with the US Army Special Forces ("Green Berets"), so he is likely part of the Army. The minimum age for US military recruitment is 17 with parental permission, while the mininum age for combat deployment is supposed to be 18 according to international law.

Snake and Liquid are probably no younger than 18 during the conflict, for any number of reasons. Unlike Raiden, the Snakes fight in a legally declared war. They are also soldiers from two of the wealthiest countries in the world.

It's hard to imagine how or why democratic countries like the US and UK would draft or conscript underaged soldiers for war; these countries don't even force able-bodied adults into military service. (The US has not drafted men since the late 60s and early 70s, during the Vietnam War.)

Snake and Liquid could've been under 17 only if they'd committed criminal fraud and enlisted illegally. This scenario seems less likely considering the types of recording keeping available at the time, especially in industrialized countries.

Note that after Snake wakes up on the torture machine in MGS, Liquid says to him, "after 30 long years, finally the two of us meet." Considering this statement is made in 2005, and that Snake and Liquid had been separated at birth, it would seem they'd been born in 1975. This literal interpretation of Liquid's statement would mean they'd been only 15 years old in 1990.

However, Liquid might say "30 long years" instead of "34 long years" or "32 long years" for the same reason, near the end of MGS2, Solidus says George Washington had taken office "200 years ago." Solidus makes his reference in the year 2009, but Washington's real inauguration at Federal Hall had been on April 30, 1789...exactly 220 years earlier.

Liquid's "30" could simply be a rounded-off number like Solidus' "200." Therefore, Liquid's reference might not be literally true.

Furthermore, some people have pointed out references to Metal Gear Solid GBC/Ghost Babel. Both the game and its official website state Snake had "brought down the fortress state of Outer Heaven seven years ago." The events at Outer Heaven definitely happen in 1995, so Ghost Babel would be set 7 years later in the year 2002. Konami's website describes Snake as being in his thirties during this game.

Thus, in the year 2002 Snake would be at least 30. So, he and his "brothers" would've been at least 18 in late 1990. These two official references further support that Snake and Liquid are around 18 and 19 during the Gulf War.

When The Shadow Moses Incident Takes Place

It happens in 2005, either in late February or early March. A common misbelief is that Metal Gear Solid is set in the year 2010, but there's direct evidence in the game proving otherwise. After his first torture session with Ocelot, Snake tells Naomi that he'd killed Big Boss, his own father. Naomi is surprised to learn this, but Campbell adds it had "happened in Zanzibar six years ago."

All official Metal Gear literature states that the Zanzibar Land events happen in 1999. Therefore, when Campbell makes his statement 6 years later, the year would be 2005.

Also, Naomi says that shortly after Zanzibar's fall, Gray Fox had been "fitted...with a prototype exoskeleton and kept...drugged for four years." Then she says Fox had vanished after his master, some Dr. Clark, had supposedly been "killed in an explosion...two years ago."

So, the 4 years Fox spends as a test subject, plus the 2 years he'd spent in hiding until showing up in MGS, equals 6 years since the Zanzibar Land events. Naomi's statements support what Campbell says.

In the game's BRIEFING mode, Meryl's on-screen bio actually reads: "2005 Joins this exercise as a novice. She has no real combat experience..." The "exercise" in question would be the secret, Metal Gear Rex nuclear launch exercise which leads to the Shadow Moses incident.

A hidden section in this mode also reveals Snake had been planning to race in the Iditarod beforehand. The real Iditarod starts every year on the first Saturday of March in Anchorage, Alaska. Snake even says to Campbell, "Next Saturday I have to be in Anchorage."

This briefing happens while Snake is being transported to Shadow Moses, so the events of MGS would happen at most, 2 weeks before the first Saturday of March. Based on Snake's statement "There's a dogsled race this week," this time setting could be narrowed down to the last days of February or the first days of March. (To see this hidden section, exit the Briefing mode without watching any of the tapes, excluding the first one.)

What "Semper Fi" Means

Semper fidelis is Latin for "Always faithful." It is the official motto of the United States Marine Corps, and "Semper fi" is the shortened form that US marines commonly use.

Snake says this phrase to Raiden and Stillman in MGS2, and Stillman gets suspicious because Snake is supposed to be a Navy SEAL. Rivalries are common among different armed services, so Stillman has good reason to wonder about a naval officer who says a distinct marine saying.

Incidentally, semper paratus is the motto of the US Coast Guard, and it means "always prepared." The English word "fidelity" is a synonym for faithfulness and loyalty, and it comes from the word fidelis.

The Gender of Olga's Child

Olga's child is a boy according to Snake, since he refers to the child in the masculine sense at the end of MGS2. Snake tells Raiden something like, "I'll find him. Count on it. As long as you keep yourself alive, he's safe." Snake could've learned the child's gender directly from Olga, when they'd plotted to use Raiden to board Arsenal Gear.

Olga and Sergei do refer to the child as "my child" and "my grandchild," respectively. Olga seems to be in the early stages of her pregnancy on the tanker, so the gender of Sergei's "grandchild" might not even be known at that point. Also, Snake's statement at the end might just be a generalization. There's a slim chance Olga's kid is a girl, but for all intents and purposes the kid is a boy.

What "GW" Stands For

George Washington, probably. He was the first US President who led America's Patriot forces during the American Revolution. The Patriots of the Metal Gear universe seem to name "GW," their prized artificial intelligence program, in honour of George Washington. The "Document of Metal Gear Solid 2" script suggests the Patriots have extra AI systems, like "JFK," named after other famous US presidents.

Also, the plot of MGS2 ends on the 220th anniversary of Washington's inauguration.

Orgin of Names From MGS2

Scott Dolph, the Marine CO aboard the Discovery tanker, is named after an employee of Konami. General Dolph is pretty cool, if you forget he allegedly had an affair with Vamp. Mr. Dolph is probably scratching his head about that one.

James Johnson is the US President in MGS2. In real-life, Lyndon B. Johnson had been the US President in the 1960s. It might be a coincidence they have the same names, but the similarities between them is interesting.

Both men assuming the presidency from a man who unexpectedly left office; both men completed the unfinished terms of their respective predecessors; and both men won one election to remain the President. What's more, neither served two full presidential terms.

Lastly, both Johnson's and Johnson's predecessors were targets of assassination attempts; Solidus escaped the Patriots while John F. Kennedy did not escape his assassin.

Raiden is named for a World War II Japanese plane--the Mitsubishi J2M3 Raiden to be exact. His "real" first name is Jack.

Jack was the US Armed Forces' codename for the Raiden plane. It was standard practice to identify Japanese aircraft by codenames. In general, boys' names were assigned to fighters and girls' names to bombers.

REX and RAY were part of this naming convention, too. (This information about weapons and codenames is mentioned near the end of MGS2 for those who've forgotten.)

Gray Fox's ninja alias Deepthroat and Olga Gurlulovich's ninja alias Mr. X are both names of informants that gave Mulder information in the show, The X-Files. Much like the Metal Gear games, Mr. X only showed up when Deepthroat was murdered. (Just like MGS, Gray Fox murdered by Liquid Snake).

Rosemary is Raiden's girlfriend. "Rose" and "Jack" are the main characters in a certain romantic movie which, like MGS2, has a vessel sink at night in the Atlantic Ocean...Titanic

Snake's alias is an homage to the main character in the movie Escape from New York and its sequel Escape from LA. The former follows the exploits of a tough-as-nails, gun-for-hire in and around New York City as he tries to rescue the President of the United States.

Sounds pretty familiar. Especially when the guy's last name is Plissken (compared to Pliskin). Guess what his nickname is...Snake!!

Furthermore, Iroquois is a French version of the Algonquin word for "rattlesnake." The Algonquins were a Native American civilization that lived around the Great Lakes, including the present-day state of New York. MGS2 is set nearby in Manhattan.

The Arsenal Tengu are the futuristic looking soldiers Raiden and Snake fight toward the end of the game. The "Arsenal" part is obvious, but "Tengu" comes from ancient Japanese mythology.

Tengu were believed to be shape-shifting goblins who lived high in the mountains. They came down to the world to cause mischief and mayhem.

The Arsenal Tengu are really the Gurlukovich soldiers with powered combat suits. In a way they're shape-shifters too, because they go from being run-of-the-mill mercenaries to superhuman fighting machines. And they're mischievious because they try to kill you.

Fatman is called so because he is a man who is fat. Plus he wears a bulky bomb suit, which makes him fatter. "Laugh and grow fat" he says.

Pure genius.

Fat Man, on the other hand, was the codename of an atomic bomb dropped near the end of World War II. America's second of two nuclear attacks against Japan took place on August 9, 1945. About 45,000 people died instantly after Fat Man hit Nagasaki, Japan.

The character Fatman had probably been created as a reference to these events, since the connection fits with the series' theme of nuclear proliferation.

Who knows, maybe in a future MGS game there'll be a Little Boy character.

In MGS2 Solidus calls his group the Sons of Liberty. Besides being the game's alternate title, this term has historical significance--it's the name of a secret patriotic society in America's colonial era.

The Sons of Liberty were an underground organization formed by colonists, mostly craftsmen, after the Stamp Act was passed in 1765. The Stamp Act was a British law which required Americans to buy taxable stamps for all their documents and other items.

After the Stamp Act was repealed in 1766, the society organized itself to officially (ie, less violently) oppose future conflicts with Britain.

Several years later, the Sons of Liberty were among the Americans who helped set up the Contintental Congress. This Congress would eventually serve as the government which directed the Patriot movement during the American Revolution (1775-1783).

Soldius dubs himself a Son of Liberty because he, too, leads a revolution. Solidus takes on the Patriots society that dominates America, but in real-life the original Sons of Liberty had been American Patriots themselves. Talk about irony.

Frank Jaeger, sometimes spelled Yaeger, was Solid Snake's bestest buddy in the whole wide world.

Jaeger is best known as the cyborg ninja from Metal Gear Solid. After being severely wounded, he was chosen for genetic experiments because of his superior physical abilities and combat skills.

It's fitting then, that "Jaeger" translates to "hunter" in German. Interestingly, his adopted sister assumes the identity of a woman named Naomi Hunter.

Les Enfants Terribles is French; translated to English, it means "the terrible children." Les Enfants Terribles is the codename of the US government project that produces the Snake brothers Solid, Liquid, and Solidus.

In 1929, Jean Cocteau published a novel of the same name. His work was wildy popular with the French youth of its time, and 20 years later it was made into an equally prominent film.

I haven't seen the film or read the book, but in cause you're wondering, the story follows two alienated teenaged siblings and their incestuous love.

The term "enfant terrible" is also apparently used to refer to artists, especially classical musicians, from the baroque period in European history.

Baroque is a type of artistic style that is associated with European art and architecture from the 16th and 17th centuries. Modern musicians who use or have baroque styles are also called "terrible children" if they're famous enough.

The Tower of Babel is a high tower in Biblical references. According to the Book of Genesis, it was a huge undertaking that people on Earth started.

God was not happy with the project, so He made everyone speak different languages. The resulting communication barriers caused the project to fail and caused people to scatter across the globe.

(Ghost) Babel happens to be the title of the underrated Metal Gear Solid game for the GameBoy Color. It too involves an ambitious project, one which is very important to the game's plot. Go play it if you haven't already.

Otacon is the nickname of Hal Emmerich. It's a combination of "Otaku Convention," an annual gathering which celebrates Japanese animation, also known as anime.

Metal Gear Solid fans will know Otacon loves anime. A lot. Despite Otacon's shame about his family's connections to Japan, he's fascinated by the culture of its people.

Maybe Otacon's drawn to it out of guilt or some other deeper, subconscious reason; pyschology majors would say he'd make a fine subject for a cross-cultural case study.

Speaking of Hal, he's named after the artificial intelligence featured in 2001: A Space Odyssey. In this sci-fi movie, HAL-9000 is the calm and wise companion to the film's human protagonists, much in the same way Otacon is to Snake.

According to the filmmakers, "HAL" itself is an amalgamation of the words heuristic and algorithmic, which are the two main processes of learning.

Moreover, one of the astronauts in the movie is named David Bowman. In MGS, "Snake" tells "Otacon" his real name is...David.

And since we're still talking about this movie, HAL-9000 is the talking computer inside a travelling spaceship. The name of this particular craft will sound familiar to those who've played Metal Gear Solid 2.

You guessed it. The Discovery is the spaceship's name. It's also the name of the doomed oil tanker appearing in the first part of the game.

Incidentally, the submarine which carried Snake in the first MGS was called the U.S.S. Discovery. I think Hideo Kojima liked the name so much he gave it to two completely different ships!

Richard Ames, a Defense Intelligence Agency colonel, directs Snake's mission on Shadow Moses for the Patriots. Ames doesn't appear in MGS, but his actions are written about by his ex-wife Nastasha Romanenko, who does appear in the game.

Ames appears in MGS2 as an undercover Patriot agent working for the US Secret Service. In 1994 Aldrich Ames, a real-life official with the Central Intelligence Agency, was arrested for selling secrets to the Russian KGB for nearly a decade.

The connection between Richard and Aldrich Ames might be coincidental, but they are both high ranking officials in US intelligence agencies who secretly work undercover for outside groups.

Who or What Is Vamp?

Vamp is a member of Dead Cell.Born in Romania, his specialty is knives.When he was just a kid, he lost his family to a terrorist bomb that went off in a church they were attending.His body pierced by a crucifix,Vamp was buried under the rubble for two days before he was finally rescued.During those two days,he survived by feeding on the blood of his family to quench his thirst.That was how he acquired a taste for blood...
"Vamp" isn't for vampire. It's because he's bisexual...Rumor has it Vamp was the lover of Scott Dolph,the Marine Commandant who accidentally died two years ago.Scott Dolph was also the father of Fortune, the Dead Cell leader.But Vamp was her father's lover!

Why Does Fortune Want To Die?

Her real name is Helena Dolph Jackson... known to her friends as Lady Luck.She got the name because bullets seem to veer away from her in battle.People have heard her say that her fortune in battle was payback for the lousy luck she's had in life.The death of her father, the Marine commander.The conviction of husband and Dead Cell leader, Colonel Jackson.These events were followed by her mother's suicide the loss of a husband and the idea of a convict in the family apparently took her over the edge...Fortune was three months pregnant at the time and the shock of her mother's death led to the loss of her child.Add to this her husband's death in prison a few months later and to sum it up, in the six months after her father's death,she lost her family and everything that mattered in her life.She wants to die because she feels as if there's nothing left to live, but instead she thinks she cannot die and if trapped in a world of misery.

What Unit Is Olga Gurlukovich With?

Olga Gurlukovich is a lifelong member of the Spetsnaz, a secret Russian special forces unit. Spetsnaz comes from the Russian phrase "Spetsialnoye nazranie", which means troops of special purpose.

Easter Eggs Of Different Movies

Terminator 2: Judgement Day- Durring the Tanker's opening movie, as Snake jumps off the Washington Bridge and lands on the Tanker in a curled stance as electricity surrounds him, it's the same shot as when the Terminator is first introduced.

Titanic- As said above, Jack and Rose's name are from the main characters in Titanic. The Tanker also sinks at the bottom of the Atlanic as did the Titanic.

Mission: Impossible 2- At the end of the game as Raiden and Solidus go into a fighting stance on Federal Hall, Angelic Pigeons fly in the background. This happens alot in M:I-2 since it's Jon Woo's trademark.

Escape From Newyork- As said above, the names Snake and Pliskin orginates from E.F.NY.

Spider-Man- Raiden's Skull Suit (with mask) is very similar to Spider-Man's Symbiote suit from the "Secret Wars" episoids. Also, Solidus' Snake arms/tenticles are very similar to Dr.Octopus's metal tenticle arms.

The Matrix- Durring the encounter with Olga, as she shoots the bullet from the bottom of her knife. Snake dodges it as it barely misses him in slow motion. This happens alot in the Matrix.

Back to the Future- When Solidus Snake uses his acelerator to move around extremely fast, it leaves a trail of flames like the Time Machine in the movie.