Naked Snake AKA Big Boss is one of the most complex characters in the Metal Gear universe which is saying quite a lot. He was first introduced as a villain in the 1987 game Metal Gear and was again the villain in the 1990 game Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. There was more to the character than met the eye however and his origins were the focus of the 2004 game Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. We learned that Big Boss is actually a hero who has saved the world numerous times and simply wants soldiers to be able to choose what they fight for rather than being pawns of their governments.
To achieve this goal Big Boss does commit some questionable acts and you can understand how from some perspectives he is a tragic villain. In the more recent Metal Gear Solid games we’ve only seen Big Boss as a hero who is mentally and physically scarred by the events of Snake Eater. We still don’t know how he went from a hero and a patriot and turned into a mercenary. It seems these questions are going to be answered in the upcoming Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, which will show Snake’s transformation into Big Boss.
Read moreHideo Kojima discusses the process of transforming Snake into Big Boss