Raiden (Metal Gear)

General CVG character
name=Raiden


caption=Raiden in "", as illustrated by Yoji Shinkawa.
firstgame=""
series="Metal Gear" series
creator=Hideo Kojima
artist="Yoji Shinkawa"
voiceactor=Quinton Flynn
japanactor=Kenyū Horiuchi
motionactor=Eiji Morisaki, Takeshi Yoshioka (MGS4)
inuniverse=Metal Gear character
realname=Jack
Father(adopted)=Solidus Snake
aliases="Jack the Ripper", "White Devil". Briefly assumed the codename "Snake" before the Big Shell incident.
nationality=Liberian
affiliations=Small Boy Unit (Liberian Civil War) - Pre- Force XXI (sometime before 2009) - Pre-
Pseudo-FOXHOUND operative unknowingly employed by the Patriots (2009) - Free Agent - nihongo|Raiden|雷電|Raiden, whose real name is Jack, is a character in the "Metal Gear" series. [Jeremy Parish, “Raiden,” "Electronic Gaming Monthly" 225 (January 2008): 93.] ["Snakes and Gears: A Metal Gear Overview," "Game Informer" 182 (June 2008): 108.] He is the protagonist of the Plant Chapter, the main act of ', and a character in '. 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 running gag in ' and several early "Metal Gear Solid 4" promotional videos featured on '.

Concept and creation

According to the series creator, Hideo Kojima, the decision to make a new character the main protagonist of "Metal Gear Solid 2" instead of Snake stemmed from the developer's desire to develop Snake from a third-person perspective, as well as to avoid treating Snake like a rookie again. 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). [ [http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/video/btg_mgs2/index.html "The Final Hours of Metal Gear Solid 2".] Featured article at GameSpot]

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 bishonen (or "handsome man") archetype. [' DVD] Kojima had received many pieces of fan mail and one letter stuck out at him from a female which stated she did not want to play a story with an old man. He later took this into consideration, along with his team to design a character that would be more appealing to women. The end result was Raiden (ironically, the concept of an old man being used as the lead character is revisited in ').

Raiden's real name, Jack, was taken from the name of Leonardo DiCaprio's character in the movie "Titanic". Concurrently, his love interest is named Rose. 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, SEAL Team 10 the expendable "spot" cards and Solid Snake as the Ace.

Konami kept Raiden's starring role in "Metal Gear Solid 2" a secret right up until the game's release in North America, even going so far as to replace Raiden with Snake in teaser trailers and other preview materials (although Raiden did appear in a few preview trailers in his scuba gear, his presence was not as emphasized as the other characters)."The Making of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty" DVD packaged with European version of ""] The presence of Raiden in the game was announced to the Japanese press on the same day as the game's release in North America. ["The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2"]

Character overview

"Metal Gear Solid 2"

In "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 Iroquois Pliskin (Solid Snake under disguise as a Navy SEALS operative) and the Dead Cell terrorist unit holding the "Big Shell" facility, he discovers he is being manipulated by a powerful government-controlling organization known as The Patriots.

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 a civil war (specified to be the Liberian Civil War in "The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2") during the late 80s, where he was orphaned. Taken under Solidus' wing (due to Solidus Snake having secretly killed Raiden's birth parents), Raiden is trained to become a child soldier and the leader of Solidus' "Small Boy Unit". By showing aptitude for genocide and mass murder, he was given the nicknames "Jack the Ripper" and "White Devil."

"Metal Gear Solid 4"

Raiden appears as a non-playable character in "", now a cyborg as a result of The Patriot's machinations, and working as a free agent, he is recruited by Big Mama to find the corpse of Big Boss, and later lead Solid Snake to her resistance force "Paradise Lost". In South America, he informs Snake of Mama's whereabouts after fighting Vamp. Though victorious, he is severely wounded in the fight, necessitating a visit to Dr. Madnar in Eastern Europe so that he may receive fresh artificial blood. Raiden recovers to kill Vamp once and for all on Shadow Moses Island with the help of Snake, however, he is again incapacitated when he stops Liquid Ocelot's warship "Outer Haven" from crushing Snake, seemingly getting crushed himself in the process. Raiden again returns to assist Snake in his mission on Outer Haven, (albeit missing both arms), he manages to defend an exhausted Snake from a group of machete-wielding FROGs just long enough for him to upload a virus into Liquid's hijacked GW AI, which shuts down the "Sons of the Patriots" system. The virus then uses GW as conduit and destroys The Patriot's entire AI network, freeing America from their oppressive reign.

In the game's epilogue, Raiden is fitted with a new artificial organic body that closely resembles his original. Rosemary visits the hospital where he is recovering and reveals to him that their child was not miscarried, and that her marriage to Campbell was a hoax designed to protect her and their son from the Patriots. Upon learning this information, Raiden reconciles with Rose.

Other appearances

Although Raiden himself does not appear in ', the character is the subject of much self-parodying throughout the game. When the player begins the game, they are asked to choose their favorite "MGS" game. If "I Like "MGS2" is selected, the main character Naked Snake begins the game wearing the Raikov facemask, a character who is himself a parody of Raiden. Raiden himself appears in ' expansion pack, where the player earns him by completing the "Infinite Missions" mode on the Hard setting.

Raiden appears in an early promotional trailer for "" (shown at E3 2005), literally fighting for control of the franchise with Solid Snake in a series of comedic sequences. A sequel to this trailer was produced titled "Metal Gear Raiden: Snake Eraser", in which Raiden travels to the past to assassinate Solid Snake's genetic progenitor, Naked Snake, but fails in comical fashion. "Metal Gear Raiden" was first shown at TGS 2005 and was included as a featurette in "Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence". In the English version of this trailer, Raiden was voiced by Charlie Schlatter, Raikov's voice actor, instead of Quinton Flynn.

Raiden makes a small appearance in "Super Smash Bros Brawl" as a sticker.

Reception

"Game Informer" describes him as the "often-maligned star of Metal Gear Solid 2." ["Snakes and Gears: A Metal Gear Overview," "Game Informer" 182 (June 2008): 108.]

References