Raiden (Metal Gear)

Raiden is a fictional 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 effeminate 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. In Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Raiden returns with an appearance different from his previous Metal Gear Solid 2 character design.

Raiden was originally designed to be more appealing to female fans, and in The Making of Metal Gear Solid 2, designer Yoji Shinkawa mentions that he designed Raiden in reference to what a "beautiful man" looked like.

Sons of Liberty

File:MGSraiden.jpg

Raiden in Sons of Liberty.

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. His features are concealed under a diver's mask. This deception is short-lived, as Jack removes the mask, revealing a youthful appearance completely unlike Solid Snake's. After his true identity is revealed, he is assigned the new codename, "Raiden", and infiltrates the Big Shell. His mission is to rescue President James Johnson from a terrorist group known as the "Sons of Liberty." In this mission, he is supported over his CODEC radio by the Colonel, his commanding officer, and Rose, who is an experienced data analyst for the military and Raiden's girlfriend.

Raiden goes on to team up with Solid Snake (masquerading as a U.S. Navy SEAL named "Iroquois Pliskin") and "Mr. X" (a disguised Olga Gurlukovich wearing an artificial powered exoskeleton), and discovers that the Big Shell is actually a front for "Arsenal Gear", a mobile battle fortress with an AI that controls the flow of information on the Internet (to protect the interests of an Illuminati-like group known as the Patriots), and that the Sons of Liberty were not mere terrorists, but instead trying to prevent its completion.

In the course of this mission, Raiden's forgotten past is revealed. As a child, he was adopted by Solidus Snake, who (unbeknownst to him) had killed his parents. Raiden became a child soldier from as young as the age of six, in Solidus' "Army of the Devil" as part of the "small boys unit" during the first Liberian Civil War. He later left Liberia for the United States and forgot his past. There he joined the Task Force 21 Corps, and trained through various VR simulations, including some which were based on the Shadow Moses and Tanker incidents that Solid Snake was a major participant in.

Raiden also learns that if he perishes or fails his mission, which is to eliminate the Sons of Liberty, Olga's baby will die. After disabling Arsenal Gear and the Metal Gear RAYs, Raiden confronts Solidus, discovers that the entire scenario was orchestrated by the Patriots for their S3 simulation, and that his commanding officer is actually just a digital construct created by GW, the Arsenal Gear's AI. He then completes his mission by confronting and killing Solidus, and is subsequently reunited with Rose, who is pregnant with his child. Template:Endspoiler

Guns of the Patriots

File:MGS4 Raiden.jpg

Raiden in Guns of the Patriots.

In the E3 2006 trailer for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Raiden appears wearing an exoskeleton similar to ones previously worn by the Cyborg Ninja and Mr. X. He is shown fighting against a dozen Metal Gear Gekkō units on the streets. He effortlessly dodges their attacks, disabling them all single-handedly with a high frequency blade.

Appearing on his helmet is the name "TOKUGAWA HEAVY INDUSTORY" (sic), an obvious reference to Policenauts (although, MGS2 also featured cardboard boxes with the Tokugawa logo).

After destroying the Gekkō units, he utters the words, "It's my turn to protect you, Snake." The trailer ends with the tagline "Raiden's Return!" followed by the date of release in 2007.

In an earlier interview, Hideo Kojima announced that once fans finish playing Metal Gear Solid 4, they are going to like Raiden very much. Raiden is also shown holding a baby in an early promotional flyer of the game.

Other appearances

While Raiden doesn't appear in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, several references are made to him in that game. Major Ivan Raidenovitch Raikov, an eccentric, homosexual Soviet major, is a dead ringer for Raiden (and has a name which, when translated to English, means "Son of Raiden", but is also a Japanese pun on the phrase "raiden no bitch" or "Thunderbolt's Bitch", a reference to his relationship with Colonel Volgin), and by answering a question at the beginning of the game with "I like MGS2", Naked Snake spends most of the opening sequence wearing a Raiden-like facemask during the initial HALO jump which spoofs Raiden's brief use of the Snake codename while wearing the scuba gear in Metal Gear Solid 2. The fact that Snake is referred by the name Jack (which also happens to be Raiden's given name), before being given his codename adds further to the joke.

Raiden also appears in several early Metal Gear Solid 4 promotional videos. In one, he is seen fighting with Solid Snake over the "main character" seat. In another, titled "Metal Gear Raiden: Snake Eraser", he makes a comically ineffective trip through time, attempting to kill Naked Snake and Solid Snake, so that he can be the star of Metal Gear Solid 4. This trailer (in which Raiden is instead voiced by Charlie Schlatter in the English version), is included as a bonus feature in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence.

In culture

Character development

According to the series' creator, Hideo Kojima, the decision of using Raiden instead of Snake as the main playable character was done in order 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 introduced in the original Metal Gear Solid). 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).

His given name, Jack, was derived from Leonardo DiCaprio's character in the movie Titanic, while his love interest in the game (Rosemary) was named after Kate Winslet's character from the same film. His name also pertains to the Jack in a deck of playing cards, with Fortune being the Queen, Solidus Snake being the King, SEAL Team 10 being the expendable "spot" cards and Solid Snake (who infiltrates the Big Shell posing as a SEAL Team 10 member named Iroquois Pliskin) being an "ace in the hole". The codename Raiden is a reference to the Mitsubishi J2M "Raiden" aircraft, which was nicknamed Jack by the Allied forces. In the fictional context, the Patriots selected this codename for Jack due to his role as a "living weapon".

Konami kept Raiden's presence in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty a well-guarded secret prior to its release, even to the point of editing pre-release footage of the game. (Scenes that featured Raiden were reprogrammed to have Snake in his place.) Although the game was leaked by pirates prior to its release, this secret was still unknown to the majority of fans.

Fan reaction

When English-speaking fans of Metal Gear Solid found themselves playing as Raiden for most of Metal Gear Solid 2, they reacted negatively to this unexpected twist in the storyline. This was partly due to the fact that Raiden's character was a secret until the game's release; people just assumed that they would be playing their favorite hero Solid Snake. Other areas of contention included Raiden's dashingly beautiful appearance, an effeminate voice in the English dubbing, his naïveté and inexperience, a sentimental and sometimes whiny personality, and a vulnerable position throughout the game; many perceived the character to be a weak-minded prettyboy.

In contrast to the American reception, Raiden was quite popular in Japan. However, Raiden's negative reaction among English-speaking gamers prompted Kojima Productions to alter his character design for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.