Patriots (Metal Gear)

For other meanings of Patriot(s), see Patriot.

The Patriots, also known as the La-li-lu-le-lo and The Wisemen's Committee, are a fictional organization in the Metal Gear series of video games.

In the series, the group controls the United States of America, and is dedicated to creating a new world order through acts of blackmail and manipulation on an untold scale, unknown to most of the world.

The Patriots' first appearance in the series is in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and their origins are further revealed in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Through main secret agents, the Patriots are the ultimate antagonist, as they are often implied in the storyline to be the cause of almost all the trials faced by the main protagonists of the Metal Gear Solid series, Solid Snake, Raiden, and Naked Snake.

Organization's History

As the American Philosophers

In Metal Gear Solid 3, The Philosophers consist of several people from the United States, China and the Soviet Union, described as "the true holders of power" in those nations. They are involved in every aspect of every war, and all are in positions of power and importance. The last of the original members dies in the 1930s, and as a result the organization begins to fall apart. After the end of World War II, the Philosophers begin to fight amongst themselves, and the world is "torn apart"- that is to say, the international alliance ceases to function. The Philosophers start pointless conflicts to keep the masses in line, but the key means through which the Philosophers will restore order to the world is the Philosopher's Legacy.

According to Colonel Volgin, The Philosopher's Legacy is a sum of approximately one hundred billion (10¹¹) dollars divided and hidden in banks all over the world. Established by the Philosophers during the two world wars, it was to be used after the war to create a new world order. The sum is stolen by the father of Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin during the chaos at the end of WWII, and consequently the different nations start to compete to recover it, triggering the events of MGS3. Eventually, the United States branch of the Philosophers succeed and rename themselves the Patriots. The American Branch only receives half of the Legacy, the other half received in the events of Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. With all of the power of the original group now in the United States, the Chinese and Soviet branches seemingly fades over the years.

As the Patriots

File:The Patriots.jpg

The Wisemen's Committee, as they were depicted in Metal Gear Solid 2.

By the events of Metal Gear Solid 2, the actual members of the Patriots, whose personalities are unknown, are presided over by a council of twelve individuals called the "Wisemen's Committee", although that may be a lie from the true leaders, based on information from Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops; even so, any mention of The Patriots usually refers to this committee. No further information regarding the organization's depth apart from this in terms of structure and hierarchy is given. However, the Patriots employ numerous spies and agents spread throughout the government agencies of the U.S.A. the Wisemen's Committee may not be the true "identity" of the Patriots (see controversy surrounding "What are the Patriots?").

Instead of being a power in the Patriots, the current President of the United States himself is now another subordinate to them, pledging allegiance to the group. However, By the end of the events of MGS2, President Johnson chooses to play out his assigned role that he was given by the Patriots by allowing Ocelot to kill him. The Commandant of the Marine Corps, Scott Dolph, also knows of their existence, and refers to them as the "La-li-lu-le-lo", and a man named "Richard Ames" (identified as a, Secret Service agent, and a Colonel in the DIA) is an agent of the Patriots, though is killed by Ocelot.

In Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, the antagonist, Gene, wishes to create a nation of soldiers, not unlike what Big Boss would try to accomplish decades later with Outer Heaven; however, as he tells Naked Snake, his idea of that nation is "an organization of shadows, without shape or form", that "will lurk deep underground and intervene in conflicts all over the world" and control history. Not only does that description fit in the description of the Patriots, but it is also similar to a voiceover of Old Snake used in trailers for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots about the "proxy wars" that are happening, supposedly, between Liquid Snake and the Patriots. Gene calls his grand nation "Army's Heaven"; Snake answers his speech stating that he is just using soldiers for his own goals and that his country "is no heaven to soldiers", for their ideal place "is outside [Gene's] heaven" - a clear reference to the name "Outer Heaven" and a subtle one to Big Boss's and Liquid Snake's plan.

Also, in Portable Ops Ocelot reveals that he plans to end the Philosophers and that "[they] will carry on the spirit of the true patriot", seemingly a reference to the Patriots; he also adds that "it's all part of [their] plan to make the world she envisioned a reality", which many assume to be a reference to The Boss's dream of a unified world. In a phone call between Ocelot and an unidentified person, Ocelot reveals that it was all a plan of that person, who had manipulated the FOX Unit behind the scenes. Ocelot tells the person that he or she wouldn't be using him as a puppet anymore, which may indicate that he hasn't been following orders during the incidents of the games but that he is acting on his own will, but immediately starts repeating, in a surprised and/or confused tone, what the person is telling him: "Battle data?... From the Perfect Soldier? Genes... genome?... I see... Intriguing..." - which seem to be references to genetic projects related to the "soldier gene" so refered to in Metal Gear Solid and possibly to the Les Enfants Terribles and Genome Soldiers projects. Ocelot promises the person that he will help him/her with the project, but on one condition, that they convince Big Boss to join them, "so that [they] can become the Patriots".

Many assume that the person with whom Ocelot is allied with is either Roy Campbell or Major Zero - the first, because Ocelot says "Well, I'll be damned" when he's contacted by the man who has been getting him information, and Campbell says the exact same thing when he meets Snake; the second, because Ocelot, who was collaborating with (and manipulating) Gene, had been informed, based on Gene's suposition, by "the man with the same codename as Null", who possibly is Major Zero (since "zero" and "null" both mean "nothing"). However it may be, it is safe to assume that man is the one behind the Patriots, and possibly also behind all the events of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, including the nuclear strike at Sokolov's lab by Volgin, according to Gene.

On another note, it seems that the Wisemen's Committee, who have been dead for more than one hundred years according to Otacon, are not the leaders of the Patriots, but of the original Philosophers, since Ocelot had been searching for documents about the Philosophers to start the Patriots.

Agents of the Patriots

• Revolver Ocelot - the highest-ranked known agent of the Patriots and a sleeper agent within various organizations. Ocelot is sent as a spy under the codename ADAM in Metal Gear Solid 3 where he eventually recovers the Philosopher's Legacy, and is charged with supervising the S3 plan in Metal Gear Solid 2 (although he is fed false information, believing that the S3 is totally different from what it actually was).
• Solidus Snake (George Sears) - a former President of the United States and a surviving offspring from the Les Enfants Terribles project, who attempts to fight the Patriots in Metal Gear Solid 2. He is chosen for the S3 plan because his relationship with Raiden bears a resemblance to the relationship between Snake and Big Boss.
• Richard Ames - Ames is killed by his own nanomachines during the Big Shell incident as part of the S3 plan. His death also could have been orchestrated by the Patriots due to the fact that he helps his wife Nastasha escape from them.
• Raiden (Jack) - though he had no knowledge of it, the Patriots use Raiden to initiate and complete the S3 plan. However, Raiden sometimes knowingly complies with the Patriots orders as a result of blackmail; when told to, he kills Solidus Snake.
• Rosemary - assigned to spy on Raiden during and prior to MGS2, but becomes romantically involved with him and carries his child.
• Jim Houseman - the Secretary of Defense during the Shadow Moses Island Incident of MGS1, who ostensibly commits suicide several days after failing to deploy a tactical nuclear warhead to cover up the situation.
• Olga Gurlukovich - because the Patriots have her child, she is forced to cooperate with them. As part of the Patriots' plan, she acts as the informant Mr. X and helps Raiden with his mission.
• Fatman - placed by the Patriots to test Raiden's abilities before enacting the Patriots' true exercise, he defects from Dead Cell shortly before his death.

What is "La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo"

It had been first hinted in the dialogue with President James Johnson in MGS2, and then confirmed in an interview with Yoji Shinkawa , that some characters, who do not have "codeword clearance", cannot call the Patriots by that name, because their implanted nanomachines force them to say "La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo" when they are referring to the Patriots. This leads other people to believe that "La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo" is the name of some kind of organization, while the real name and aims of the Patriots remain unknown in their mind.

"La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo" is again mentioned in Snake Eater. Naked Snake was given a password to test if the person was ADAM. The question was "Who are the Patriots?" and the answer was "La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo". EVA had no answer to this question, but gained the temporary trust of Naked Snake by killing the enemies who surrounded him.