Meryl Silverburgh

Meryl Silverburgh
Series	Metal Gear
First game	Policenauts (1994)
Created by	Hideo Kojima
Designed by	Tomiharu Kinoshita (Policenauts) Yoji Shinkawa (MGS)
Voiced by (English)	Debi Mae West
Voiced by (Japanese)	Kyoko Terase
Fictional profile
Nationality	American
Affiliations	Genome Soldiers (MGS) FOXHOUND (MGS4)

Meryl Silverburgh is the name of two different video game characters designed by Hideo Kojima. The most popular of the two is a recurring heroine in the Metal Gear series, introduced in Metal Gear Solid in 1998, who serves as protagonist Solid Snake's sidekick and love interest. She has been referenced in other games in the series and is scheduled to return in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

The other, lesser known incarnation was a supporting character in the Kojima game Policenauts in 1994. Hideo Kojima liked the character so much, that he used her name, likeness and other characteristics to the Metal Gear version of Meryl.

Appearances

In Policenauts

Meryl's partner in Policenauts (Dave Forrest) shares the same given name Solid Snake has, whose true name is also Dave (David). In the final scenes of Metal Gear Solid, Meryl wears an orange goose down vest similar to the one Dave Forrest wears in Policenauts.

In the Metal Gear series

Meryl is first introduced as the daughter of Roy Campbell's deceased brother, Matt Campbell, who died during the Gulf War. Born to a house of military traditions, Meryl trained herself throughout her childhood in the 'arts' of soldiery. She admired the FOXHOUND unit (a high-tech special forces group), viewing the days when her uncle and Solid Snake were members as the unit’s heyday, and wears a paint tattoo of the unit's old logo on her left shoulder. She joined the armed forces after graduating high school and received extensive psychotherapy to prevent any attraction to the opposite sex. Her weapon of choice is a Desert Eagle pistol.

She was recruited by the Next-Generation Special Forces (Genome Soldiers), an U.S. military unit, and assigned to Shadow Moses island in 2005 as an emergency replacement when several soldiers were reported missing. Following her arrival on the island, the unit involved with the exercise revolted along with members of FOXHOUND and took over the nuclear disposal site on the island and the Metal Gear REX weapon being developed there. Meryl refused to join in with the rebellion and was taken prisoner and placed on the same holding cell level with ArmsTech President Kenneth Baker, who gave her the card needed to activate REX. She managed to escape confinement and met up with Solid Snake and the two eventually began working together. Meryl managed to stay hidden by disguising herself as one of the Genome Soldiers using the clothes she stole from Johnny Sasaki, the guard that was watching her cell. When Psycho Mantis controlled Meryl's mind, she held her gun against Snake, but Snake, realizing she was not herself, managed to knock her out. Snake then dispatched of Mantis, but Meryl was shot and subsequently captured by FOXHOUND member Sniper Wolf. It has been implied that she was put through the same kind of torture as Snake as well as something worse. In an attempt to rescue Meryl and complete his mission, Snake engaged in a sniping duel with Wolf and was eventually lured into an ambush by her where he was also captured. Snake is then put through a series of torture trials by Revolver Ocelot; at this point, the player's actions dictate Meryl's fate. If the player successfully completes the torture section, Snake rescues a wounded Meryl in the final section of the game and they escape the facility together before their jeep crashes with Liquid Snake's, allowing them to have their deaths faked by Roy Campbell and Mei Ling. However, if the player submits to the torture, Snake discovers that Meryl has died during her imprisonment and he leaves her body to be buried by the collapsing structure with the remains of REX. When Snake informs Campbell of Meryl's death, Campbell reveals that Meryl was actually his biological daughter, conceived from an affair between him and his sister-in-law, and this secret was kept from Meryl by her biological parents and they never get the chance to tell her in this alternate ending (the subject of Meryl's partenity is brought up again in Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance during "Confidential Legacy", one of the non-canonical Snake Tales missions). The fictional publication In the Darkness of Shadow Moses by Nastasha Romanenko, offered as a bonus feature with Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, states that Snake and Meryl escaped together.

Meryl is mentioned by name in Metal Gear: Ghost Babel. According to No. 4 in the Special Stage Select mode, she is said to be an Army recruit who is taken captive in order to coerce Colonel Campbell into leading the Gindra operation. Olga Gurlukovich, a character resembling Meryl, appeared in Metal Gear Solid 2 and plays a vital role within the story. Otacon points her resemblance to Meryl in a radio conversation with Snake, which is emphasized further in the Japanese version by the fact that they shared the same voice actress. Meryl herself appeared in Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance (an expanded version of MGS2) as a supporting character in a '"Snake Tales" mission titled "Confidential Legacy", in which she takes Olga's place as the boss of the Tanker stage. Her new polygonal model was also used in Substance's "Missions"' mode, as well as in "Casting Theater" mode.

In other media and merchandise

Meryl appeared in both volumes of the Metal Gear Solid Drama CD series. This radio drama adaptation of Metal Gear Solid contained non-canonical storylines set after the Shadow Moses incident featuring the characters from the game. Meryl appeared in these scenarios as an independent covert-op agent working for UN Peacekeeping Force. She wore the same type of sneaking suit Snake wore in the original game, which was depicted by character designer Yoji Shinkawa in the CDs' booklet. Meryl's sneaking suit from the Drama CD was made into an unlockable extra in Metal Gear Solid: Integral, and later in Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (without the bandanna).

Reception

In 2000, Meryl was named as the favourite character of GameSpot's Feature Editor Shane Satterfield for being a "a hottie, plain and simple" and "a cute redheaded soldier with a tough-girl attitude and a husky voice". GameSpot also featured her Peeping Tom style scene in MGS on the list of the ten greatest easter eggs in gaming. In 2007, Tom's Games listed her as one of the 50 greatest female characters in video game history. That same year, GameSpot included her and the other "MGS girls" as tenth on the list of "the hottest asses in gaming". In 2010, UGO.com listed her among the 20 best Jewish characters in video games, calling her "the sexiest fictional Jew since Rhoda Morgenstern", and Complex featured her as a "a hot Jewish girl" on the list of the 50 "hottest women in video games".

External links

• Meryl Silverburgh - Stars - IGN