Raiden (Metal Gear)
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| Raiden | |
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.jpg/250px-Raiden_(Metal_Gear).jpg) Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, as illustrated by Yoji Shinkawa. |
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| Game series | Metal Gear series |
| First game | Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty |
| Created by | Hideo Kojima |
| Designed by | Yoji Shinkawa |
| Voiced by (English) | Quinton Flynn |
| Voiced by (Japanese) | Kenyū Horiuchi |
| Motion capture actor(s) | Eiji Morisaki |
| Information | |
| Real name | Jack |
| Also known as | "Jack the Ripper", "White Devil". Briefly assumed the codename "Snake" before the Big Shell incident. |
| Nationality | American (originally from Liberia) |
| Affiliations | Small Boy Unit (Liberian Civil War), Force XXI (sometime before 2009), Pseudo-FOXHOUND operative unknowingly employed by the Patriots (2009). |
Raiden (雷電 Raiden?), whose real name is Jack, is a character in the Metal Gear series.[1] He is the protagonist of the Plant Chapter, the main act of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and a character in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. His role as the protagonist of Metal Gear Solid 2 was a controversial twist, both for the unexpected substitution of the established hero, Solid Snake, and for his androgynous appearance, the latter so much that the ridiculing of his effeminate appearance became a running gag in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and several early Metal Gear Solid 4 promotional videos featured on Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence.
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[edit] Concept and creation
According to the series creator, Hideo Kojima, the decision to make a new character the main protagonist of Metal Gear Solid 2 instead of Snake stemmed from the developer's desire to develop Snake from a third-person perspective, as well avoid treating Snake like a rookie again. Kojima has also stated that Raiden's character and its perception by the audience were important for the overall feel of the story (i.e. they contribute to a sense of lack of control, being subjected to major manipulation by unknown, deceptive and/or mysterious persons, and a general lack of knowledge about the conditions and motives of several characters as well as the twists and turns of the plot).[2]
Designer Yoji Shinkawa noted in the Making of Metal Gear Solid 2 featurette that he and the other character designers took a great deal of inspiration for Raiden's appearance from the biseinen (or "handsome man") archetype.[3] Kojima had received many pieces of fan mail and one letter stuck out at him from a female which stated she did not want to play a story with an old man. He later took this into consideration, along with his team to design a character that would be more appealing to women. The end result was Raiden.
Raiden's real name, Jack, was taken from the name of Leonardo DiCaprio's character in the movie Titanic. Concurrently, his love interest in the game is named (Rosemary) after Kate Winslet's character in the film.[4] His role and status were also likened by the designers to those of the jack in a deck of playing cards, with Fortune representing the Queen, Solidus Snake the King, SEAL Team 10 the expendable "spot" cards and Solid Snake as the Ace.
Konami kept Raiden's starring role in Metal Gear Solid 2 a secret right up until the game's release in North America, even going so far as to replace Raiden with Snake in teaser trailers and other preview materials (although Raiden did appear in a few preview trailers in his scuba gear, his presence was not as emphasized as the other characters).[4] The presence of Raiden in the game was announced to the Japanese press on the same day as the game's release in North America.[5]
[edit] Character overview
[edit] Metal Gear Solid 2
In Sons of Liberty, Raiden is initially introduced in the Big Shell chapter as "Snake", serving as a member of what appears to be a newly-reinstated FOXHOUND. He is then given a new codename, "Raiden". Through encounters with Iroquois Pliskin (Solid Snake under disguise as a Navy SEALS operative) and the Dead Cell terrorist unit holding the "Big Shell" facility, he discovers he is being manipulated by a powerful government-controlling organization known as The Patriots.
Later in the game, Solidus Snake reveals information on Raiden's childhood in Metal Gear Solid 2. According to Solidus, Raiden was originally part of the Liberian Civil War during the early 90s, where he was orphaned. Taken under Solidus' wing (due to Solidus Snake having secretly killed Raiden's unidentified parents), Raiden is trained to become a child soldier and the leader of Solidus' "Small Boy Unit". By showing aptitude for genocide and mass murder, he was given the nicknames "Jack the Ripper" and "White Devil." After the conflict, Raiden disappears from one of the relief centres, taken by the Patriots.
After gaining US citizenship and joining the military, he takes part in the US Army's Force XXI trials, and during his indoctrination into a false reformed FOXHOUND unit, undergoes VR training where he carries out simulations of Solid Snake's previous missions. It is during this time that he meets and falls in love with Rose, whom he impregnates and is reunited with at the end of Metal Gear Solid 2.
[edit] Metal Gear Solid 4
.jpg/256px-Raiden_(MGS4).jpg)
Raiden appears in Guns of the Patriots. He appears in this game wearing a Cyborg Ninja exoskeleton, much like the one the character Gray Fox wore in the original Metal Gear Solid (which was featured as an alternate outfit for Raiden in the extra missions mode in Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance), armed with a similar high frequency blade. According to lead character designer Yoji Shinkawa, Raiden is "falling apart" due to his belief that Rosemary had a miscarriage.[citation needed] His relationship with Rosemary ended sometime between the events of MGS2 and MGS4 without him knowing it was a ploy to protect herself and their child.[6] Most of Raiden's body parts have been replaced by cybernetic prosthetics; the only parts of his original human body which remain are his head and spine. He also appears extremely pale - due, according to Hideo Kojima, to the fact he now has white artificial blood.[citation needed] Raiden saves Snake's life and tells Snake to look for Big Mama (EVA). At the end he is reunited with Rose and their son at an undisclosed hospital, with all his human parts and organs back to his original state.
[edit] Other appearances
Although Raiden himself does not appear in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, the character is the subject of much self-parodying through the game. When the player begins the game, they are asked to choose their favorite MGS game. If "I Like MGS2" is selected, the main character Naked Snake will be disguised as a character resembling Raiden during the introductory cut scene. The character in question, Major Raikov, appears later in the game as a Soviet officer who has an implied homosexual relationship with the game's antagonist, Colonel Volgin.
Raiden appears in an early promotional trailer for Metal Gear Solid 4 (shown at E3 2005), literally fighting for control of the franchise with Solid Snake in a series of comedic sequences. A sequel to this trailer was produced titled "Metal Gear Raiden: Snake Eraser", in which Raiden travels to the past to assassinate Solid Snake's genetic progenitor, Naked Snake, but fails in comical fashion. "Metal Gear Raiden" was first shown at TGS 2005 and was included in the Secret Theater mode in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. In the English version of this trailer, Raiden was voiced by Charlie Schlatter, Raikov's voice actor, instead of Quinton Flynn.
Raiden makes a small cameo in Super Smash Bros Brawl as a sticker and a mention on trophies.
[edit] References
- ^ Jeremy Parish, “Raiden,” Electronic Gaming Monthly 225 (January 2008): 93.
- ^ The Final Hours of Metal Gear Solid 2. Featured article at GameSpot
- ^ Metal Gear Saga Vol. 1 DVD
- ^ a b The Making of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty DVD packaged with European version of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
- ^ The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2
- ^ Metal Gear Solid 4 Global Site. “A cyborg soldier clad in a full-body exoskeleton. During the 2009 Big Shell incident, Raiden was used as a test subject for the Patriots' S3 Project, meeting Snake, Vamp, and Olga Gurlukovich in the process. He learned of the Patriots' existence as they manipulated him behind the scenes, and set out to rescue Olga's daughter Sunny from their clutches, only to disappear afterward. He fought in the Liberian civil war as a child soldier.”
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