LogFAQs > #896113777

And discussing all of that is important, because Snake is the only person in the world who strongly disagrees that he's a legend or a hero. Snake knows better than anyone else how terrible war is. He's fought through more battles than any other living human on the planet (with the exception of maybe Big Boss but he's AWOL for 99% of the Solid series anyway) and knows that it results only in death, pain, and destruction. And unfortunately for him, it seems that the life of a soldier is the only one available to him. Snake tried to get out of the game before and chose a life of isolation raising Huskies - which is adorable - but he gets sucked back in far too easily, simply because there's no one else who can do what Snake can do. Well, that and the uncomfortable fact that Snake enjoys the killing, a point that Psycho Mantis is eager to point out and that Snake is ashamed to be aware of.

It's inevitable that he would, on some level, enjoy what he does. Snake was created - not born, created - and raised to be a soldier, and he's damn good at it. It's what the world wants from him - to be able to use him, point him in any given direction, and then not be asked too many questions. What makes Snake's personal story over the Metal Gear Solid series so poignant is how it's all about Snake rebelling against the system that made him and is now trying to shackle him. The whole 'nurture vs nature' theme is a major one in the story and Snake is the one that proves that it's possible to become something more than what you were shaped by others to be. The most obvious examplle is when he defeats Liquid, who was literally engineered to be stronger than him, but it appears all the time in other places as well. He's constantly lied to and manipulated but always ends up discovering the truth. He was meant to be an unthinking soldier, less than human, but strikes up close friendships with several people and helps raise his adoptive daughter. He's meant to be a tool of the government, but ends up being a rebel/terrorist/whatever and fighting against any practice he believes is wrong. He was engineered to never have kids, but passes on his will to so many others regardless.

And possibly more than anything else, Snake's willingness to take on insane odds for the good of the world at large is ridiculous. There's many other people with backgrounds similar to Snake's, and all of them turned into villains (more or less). The one exception is The Boss, who is essentially Snake's progenitor despite Snake knowing almost nothing about her. Every other person who actually knew her failed to carry on her will, but Snake manages to despite the odds being stacked against him more than anyone else. The scene that most represents this part of Snake's scene is the microwave hallway, where he fries himself to get to the data center, eventually crawling on all fours due to the sheer amount of pain being inflicted on him, and he just keeps going. Not Big Boss, not Liquid, not Ocelot, not Zero, not anyone else did what Snake managed to. If you don't believe me, believe Big Boss, who spends most of the ending cutscene of MGS4 acknowledging that Snake fixed all of their fuckups.
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.