Random Metal Gear Nonsense

TLDR: It's a slippery slope, but Big Boss losing sight of the good parts of war iafter all the trauma is what separates him as the villain from Venom/Kaz(not using child soldiers as fodder), Gray Fox(bonds formed in war), and say Ocelot("You're Pretty Good" - recognitiion of talent/skill = respect for a fellow soldier based on pure merit). Contextually in-game it's not portrayed as sinister. But in terms of the timeline it is as Venom goes on to become the villain in Metal Gear 1 and Outer Heaven, showing Diamond Dogs inevitably twists and warps to some extent, at least from the global narrative Solid Snake is fed. Metal Gear 1 is pretty light on narrative compared to Metal Gear 2 and Zanzibarland which is spiritually closest to Metal Gear Solid 1 in story and atmosphere, but MG 1 doesn't set up Big Boss(Venom) in person as a bad guy, closer to anOcelot than say a Skull Face. When you face Big Boss(venom) in Metal Gear 1 he reveals the betrayal or ties between Big Boss and the two organizations of Outer Heaven and Foxhound yet praises Solid Snake for being ultimate hero man but faces you determined to at least go down together: "You're pretty good, but I am too". But in Metal Gear 2 Big Boss(Naked) is far less 'heroic' , accepting war twists people and feeding that addiction by using Private Militarity Organizations as a way to belong ala MSF, Diamond Dogs, Outer Heaven and so on. It is a less hopeful variant of the Boss's speech, because he sees the loser being 'liberated' from consuming nature of war, effectively no living solider stops fighting and it's lost meaning and is done for its own sake Venom Snake is the "You're Pretty Good" side of Big Boss's legacy. Effectively it's the nihilism of war economies Metal Gear descends into. As Big Boss(Naked) puts it, the nightmares of war never go away and he treats Solid trying to overcome the nightmare as being 'childish' because a mercenary should accept it all and just crave war giving them purpose effectively embracing their existence as just predators, Zanzibarland being a preserve to give a Predator's existence meaning by enable them to justify their existence via conflict. Big Boss(naked) brags about making child soldiers, former victims of war into future soldiers, turning prey into predators. (this is at odds with how Venom was toward his own child soldiers). To Big Boss(naked), a cycle of hate and conflict is fine because it creates a cycle of purpose, soldiers will never lose their purpose or the satisfaction of war, never lose the place they belong. A soldier or predator in peacetime is only baggage, basically in Big Boss's belief. The battlefield is a place where "we are doomed to remain" , because even if it's hell, familiarity breeds comfort, never ending conflict creates never ending purpose to at least survive conflict or 'win'. It's Solid Snake who declares you don't have to live out the entirety of your life on the battlefield and can accept life instead. But Big Boss mocks solid for being unarmed. Here you see Solid quote Big Boss(Naked) "Never give up. Fight until the end. Always believe you will succeed, even when odds are against youl. " If you read that cynically, it's effectively "You're just a tool, so fight until you break. Don't think about failing or negative consequences. " Gray Fox's life shows you the tragic way to embrace that, choosing to die in the only place you belong by not just giving up on war. But ti's Snake who decides to win so he can then leave the battlefield: war isn't his "raison detre". Big Boss ends up burning a life screaming "I'ts Not Over Yet" hauntingly. That's why in Metal Gear 4 /Big Boss saying Solid doesn't have to fight and can just live is impactful. Basically "It's Over", the antithesis of the many men who ground themself to death against you, the Player. Solid Snake gets traumatized from conflict after conflict, but especially after Metal Gear 2 because Big Boss was a father figure to him as well as clone blueprint non sense. Snake brings up though after all the betrayal he finds it hard to open up or trust anyone in Metal Gear Solid, especially after failing to get Gray Fox to come to his senses, someone he calls one of his two only friends, someone who everyone looked up to and respected for military prowess. But as Gray Fox dies, he tells you why he decided to side with Big Boss(Naked):he owed his life to him twice over., once from slave labor another from torture. This is the tragic side of Big Boss(Naked)'s belief, because Gray Fox admits he doesn't like war but there isn't another meaningful way he can picture his life, he can't live 'normally'. Basically no matter how awful it was, being part of a unit meant you had somewhere to belong to. THAT distinction between Gray Fox and Big Boss(Naked) is what separates Big Boss N and Big Boss V: Big Boss(naked) doesn't see the traces of good in war anymore. No matter how bad war is though, you form bonds with people on 'your side' (it's well documented many former military personnel in the US at least miss the service because super organism structure of a Unit gives context and a feeling of belonging that we display as social animals; and once you leave it, the civilian world is much less cohesive and connected, so some break up PTSD into Traumatic Stress Disorder and Social Anxiety Disorder because not everyone suffers from the same post service issues). Gray Fox is tragic though because he was 'born and will die' on the battlefield, because he was dependent on war to give some meaning to his existence, to give him purpose, or bonds: "making people happy.... is something I could never do" - Gray Fox . Despite Gray Foxes dependency on war, in the end he betrayed Big Boss(Naked) by being the anonymous 'fan' on Solid's radio. Gray Fox was trapped in the nihilism of Big Boss, but despite it all, the bond he had with Solid, that was more than just a military allegiance. It was a fondness you form from mutual respect, trust, and similarity. The only tangible links/friends Solid has are people he served with and he basically had to kill one and then the man he was serving under. You can interpret it different ways but Solid Snake seems shaken up by Big Boss so much because in Metal Gear 2, his cynicism and acceptance of war for war's sake can't help but ring true to him. But War isn't so overtly evil or devoid of meaning as Big Boss(Naked) let on: in the Gray Fox was trapped in it but there was something real, something human between Gray Fox and Solid Snake beyond just loyalty or professionalism. Gray Fox wouldn't have helped Solid by being his 'radio fan' if it there wasn't. Big Boss(Venom) shows you another side of war, the mutual respect of results, skill, and in general the sportsmanship of it all. You see this idea echoed by how Naked Snake led MSF on the frontlines and Venom led Diamond Dogs, men who led and didnt just wield authority. 'Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery ' is an adage because it's true. When people truly admire someone, its's when they strive to live by their example. To Big Boss(Naked) after Ground Zeroes and the US betraying the boss, he lost sight of this. Big Boss(venom) didn't and it's largely pre Ground Zeroes Big Boss and Venom that inspired the cult of personality Big Boss(Naked) takes advantage of .