Raiden (Metal Gear)

Raiden
Metal Gear series character
File:Raiden (Metal Gear).jpg Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, as illustrated by Yoji Shinkawa.
First game	Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Created by	Hideo Kojima

Raiden (雷電（ライデン）) (real name Jack) is a character in the Metal Gear series. 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 recurring joke in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and several early Metal Gear Solid 4 promotional videos.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Big Shell chapter

In Metal Gear Solid 2: 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 Solid Snake and the Sons Of Liberty terrorist unit holding the "Big Shell" facility, he discovers he is being manipulated by a powerful government-controlling organization known as The Patriots.

Despite revelations that he is under the command of an AI commanding officer and being used as a guinea pig to test a powerful information-control system, he is unable to prevent himself carrying out his objective. He is unwittingly responsible for a near-complete recreation of the events of the Shadow Moses incident of Metal Gear Solid. While sharing the same goal as the terrorist leader and his adoptive father Solidus Snake, by the close of MGS2 he is manipulated into killing him, mirroring Solid Snake's own patricide. His use as a human weapon controlled by disinformation forms the central crux of Metal Gear Solid 2; even his name, "Raiden", is a deliberate reference by his manipulators to Japanese interceptor aircraft used in World War II.

However, he is not without the possibility of salvation; as the game ends, Snake reveals to Raiden and the player the key messages of the title — that humanity must find something to believe in and not merely accept what we are told, and that we must pass on those beliefs that are important to us.

Early life

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 him having killed his unidentified parents), Raiden is trained to to become a child soldier and the leader of Solidus' Small Boys Unit. Raiden disappears towards the end of the conflict, 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.

Behind the scenes

According to the series' creator, Hideo Kojima, the decision to make Raiden the main protagonist instead of Snake stemmed from the developers' desire to develop Snake from a third-person perspective, as well as to avoid treating Snake like a rookie again (considering the fact that Snake was already acquainted with most of the gadgets and weapons in earlier Metal Gear titles). Hideo 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).

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 "beautiful man") archetype. Since Raiden was intended to be more appealing to female fans, the team thought it was important to make him conform more closely to the popular conception of male beauty.

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. 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, and SEAL Team 10 the expendable "spot" cards.

Konami kept Raiden's starring role in Metal Gear Solid 2 a secret right up until the game's release, even going so far as to replace Raiden with Snake in teaser trailers and other preview materials.) Although the news was leaked by Internet pirates shortly before the game's publication, it was not widely circulated, and most players were hence shocked when they began playing the game and discovered that Snake had been supplanted by Raiden as the primary playable character.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

File:MGS4 Raiden render.jpg

Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 4, wearing his new exoskeleton.

In the E3 2006 trailer for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Raiden appears wearing a Tokugawa Heavy Industries exoskeleton and fights several GEKKO Metal Gears armed only with his high-frequency blade. According to lead character designer Yoji Shinkawa, Raiden is "falling apart" and has had most of his body parts 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. Despite the dramatic physical changes he has undergone, he appears to have retained his memories of his previous experiences with Snake and FOXHOUND, and tells Solid Snake in the trailer, "It's my turn to protect you."

Although Raiden will not be a playable character in MGS4, he will be constantly present throughout the game serving as Snake's backup. He will reportedly be playable in the next iteration of Metal Gear Online, which will be included as a special feature on the MGS4 disc.

In the recent E3 2007 trailer, Vamp asks Raiden if he is immortal, to which Raiden responds, "No. I just don't fear death." Raiden displays this in combat by disregarding his own safety, ignoring damage to his body and going as far to stab through himself in order to strike Vamp. In a stark contrast to Vamp and Raiden's first encounter (which took place during Metal Gear Solid 2), Raiden is now able to match Vamp's fighting abilities. After a lengthy battle that ends in a stalemate of sorts, Raiden and Vamp impale each other, prompting Vamp to ask if Raiden is "the one to finally finish [him]."

Other appearances

Although Raiden does not appear in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, he is indirectly referenced several times in the game, most notably with the character of Major Ivan Raidenovitch Raikov, a Soviet army officer who bears a strong resemblance to Raiden. His middle name is a Russian patronym that translates to "son of Raiden", but is also intended to be a pun on the Japanese Raiden no bitch, meaning "Thunderbolt's bitch" (a reference to his relationship with the game's antagonist Colonel Volgin, whose body is infused with electricity). It is also revealed in a radio conversation with Major Zero that "Ivan" is Russian for "John", and the American nickname for John is "Jack" - a reference to Raiden's real name.

In addition, when the player first begins the game, they are asked for their favorite Metal Gear Solid game. If the player choses MGS2, the game will open with a sequence which features Raiden (referred to in the segment as "Jack") as the main protagonist (an attempt at tricking the player that Raiden will be the star of Metal Gear Solid 3). At the end of the introduction, however, "Jack" tears off the full head mask he has been wearing, revealing himself to be Naked Snake, the game's real protagonist.

Raiden also appears in several early Metal Gear Solid 4 promotional videos, literally fighting for control of the franchise with Snake in a series of comedic sequences. One of these promotional videos, entitled "Metal Gear Raiden: Snake Eraser", was included on the special features disc of Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence where Raiden attempts to "erase" Solid Snake by travelling back in time in a Terminator-like style and attempts to assassinate Naked Snake, all ending in failure in a humorous fashion.