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Characters that debuted in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance:
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Maverick Security Consulting, LLC
Boris Vyacheslavovich Popov
Voiced by: Takayuki Sugo (JP), JB Blanc (EN)After the Soviet Union dissolved, Boris was discharged from the army for letting his emotions get the better of him on the battlefield and forced to take up work as a mercenary doing "gray area" jobs, something he deeply regrets. In 2014, after the fall of the Patriots, Boris founded Maverick Security Consulting and strove to make a PMC that would keep its actions clean.
"Kept you waiting, eh?"
- The Atoner: He regrets some of the "gray area" jobs he took after being discharged.
- Badass Normal: As he isn't a cyborg or enhanced, it takes a lot of gravitas for him to take on Sam with a .50 cal machine gun.
- Benevolent Boss: While he can't aid Raiden's assassination mission officially, he does all he can to help unofficially.
- Big Damn Heroes: When Sam has Raiden dead to rights, Boris rolls in firing a .50 cal machine gun, forcing him to retreat. He also tries to shoot down Desperado's VTOL with Stinger missiles, but didn't count on the aircraft having counter measures (or that the missiles were outdated enough for flares to fool them).
- Husky Russkie: Big, loud, and not afraid to step into the battlefield personally.
- Mission Control: Serves as Raiden's CO in Rising.
- Da Chief: Goes ballistic when Raiden tenders his resignation. Though to be fair, Raiden just did everything he could to protect Maverick's best interests.
- Poirot Speak: Uses the Russian word for comrade, "tovarich", uses the Russian cuss words and occasionally drops articles despite otherwise speaking exclusively in English.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Despite being the president of a PMC, he treats Raiden more like a friend than an employee, and even puts himself at risk to save Raiden in the opening chapter.
- Retired Badass: He's ex-Soviet military and still proficient in a wide range of weapons.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Officially, he recognizes that Raiden going after World Marshal is illegal. Unofficially, he ups the encryption on the codec so that he, Kevin, and Courtney can assist Raiden as much as they can alongside Doktor, Blade Wolf, and Sunny.
- Token Good Teammate: If Sundowner is of any indication, he's one of the most benevolent PMC leaders out there.
Kevin Washington
Voiced by: Yuuichi Nakamura (JP), Phil LaMarr (EN)A non-combatant responsible for research and strategic planning at Maverick Inc. and a member of Raiden's mission control team. He had worked in DDR* at a non-governmental organization affiliated with the United Nations. After seeing Boris's kind nature first hand, he joined Maverick to help out any way he could. He has a wide range of knowledge in geography, culture, and international sociopolitical conditions, which he provides to help Raiden understand the local cultures and histories of his opposition.
"Time to increase the peace."
- Deadpan Snarker: He often points out how silly things are.
- Only Sane Man: He's the only member of the Maverick support team who objects to Raiden mercilessly cutting down enemies. He changes his tone when Raiden fights Senator Armstrong. Calling him over codec during the final phase of Armstrong's boss fight has him yell out "Cut him, Raiden!"
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: It's mentioned that he left his old job for Maverick partly because he saw first hand how the United Nations is handling the aftermath of the Patriots' downfall and how ultimately ineffectual the response is. Which is actually a Call-Back to Drebin's comments at the end of MGS4.
- Token Minority: Although Raiden was born in Liberia, Kevin is the only black member of Maverick that we see.
Courtney Collins
Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro (JP), Kari Wahlgren (EN)Courtney is a data analyst for Maverick Security Consulting. She monitors the information sent from Raiden's cyborg body to keep tabs on his condition. While at university, she studied business administration, but was more interested in doing her part to help relieve social unrest and decided to join Maverick on the advice of Kevin, a graduate from her university. She wanted to experience a clean private military security company from a civilian perspective.
"Energy consumption, check. Damage levels, check. Blood pressure, brain waves, blood sugar - check, check, check. All this monitoring equipment, I got a better view than if I was standing next to you."
- Absolute Cleavage
- Alliterative Name
- Big Eater: Her codec conversations tends to have her focused on the local cuisine of the countries Raiden visits. It's almost a Continuity Nod to how Para-Medic was often exasperated at how Naked Snake inevitably questioned the flavor of the wildlife. She briefly considers getting cyborg conversion so she can eat whatever, whenever (Raiden makes an off-color remark that liposuction would be cheaper).
- The Heart: In numerous codec conversations, Courtney gives unwavering emotional support to Raiden. Especially touching is her acceptance of his split personality, believing he still has a sense of right and wrong despite the things he's done.
- The Klutz: Kevin keeps moving her coffee mug away from the edge of the table. She knocks it over in the ending cutscene (although it was more Boris' fault than hers) and in an optional codec call.
- Save Point: Though, not as necessary as in previous games, due to the auto-save mechanic.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: A young, fresh-faced kid, just out of graduate school with a genius level intellect and something of a klutz who handles your save data. So yet another character in the tradition of Mei Ling and Para-Medic.
Desperado Enforcement, LLC
Samuel "Jetstream" Rodrigues
Voiced by: Hiroaki Hirata (JP), Philip-Anthony Rodriguez (EN)
Theme Song: The Only Thing I Know For RealA mysterious cyborg working for Desperado Enforcement. He is a master swordsman of the Brazilian "New Shadow School" technique, with a high frequency blade similar to the one used by Raiden. Early on, Sam is quick to point out that Raiden's view of his sword as a "tool of justice" only hinders his ability to fight effectively, before defeating and almost killing him. In keeping with the Theme Naming of the Winds of Destruction, he is occasionally referred to as "Minuano", the cool winds of Brazil; also, a jet stream is a fast flowing air current found in Earth's upper atmosphere.
"I see... you deny your weapon its purpose! It yearns to bathe in the blood of your enemies, but you hold it back!"
- A Day in the Limelight: The protagonist of his own DLC story, "Jetstream."
- Afraid of Blood: Not quite "afraid" considering he carves up nearly as many people as Raiden, but during N'mani's death and the beginning of his DLC, he brushes himself off when he gets blood on him and has a disgusted look on his face.
- An Arm and a Leg: He has a cybernetic right arm. The Jetstream DLC reveals how he lost it.
- Ancestral Weapon: Sam's Murasama sword has apparently been in the Rodrigues family for generations, and Sam personally inherited the blade from his father.
- Anti-Villain
- Apologetic Attacker: During his first encounter with LQ-84i, Sam encourages his opponent to think for itself rather than work for others, but the AI makes it clear that if it did, its memory would be wiped and proceeds to apologize to the samurai for having to kill him, causing the latter to apologize in return.
- Awesome by Analysis: In the Jetstream DLC, during his fight with Armstrong, he analyzes the speed his nanomachine-armor comes out so he can sever his hand.
- Badass Biker: That bike that Raiden "borrowed?" The DLC story reveals that it was Sam's.
- Badass Normal: His backstory involves killing ten mob enforcers armed with automatic weapons with nothing but a sword, years before cyborg technology became available. While he has a cybernetic arm, the rest of his body is real and is covered by an enhancing nanosuit to rival cyborgs. Even before he lost the right arm, he was capable of doing some amazing feats, including taking down a RAY, a Degraded Boss for Raiden when he had his original cyborg body.
- Bare-Handed Blade Block: If you knock his sword out of his hands during the rematch, one of the button-tapping events results in him doing this. This trope actually becomes subverted, since Raiden overpowers Sam during the QTE and cuts a gash on his armor, through which Sam is stabbed and killed at the end of the boss fight.
- Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: The Jetstream DLC he fights and apparently beats Armstrong only for him to get back up and with no real damage. After getting pummeled, Sam manages to cut his hand off, but all that does is cause Armstrong to reel momentarily before impaling him with the sharp stump of his arm and then reattaching his severed hand.
- Blood Knight: With quite a bit of a Spirited Competitor as well, he just wants a fight against someone as good or better than he is... and he finds such a foe in Raiden. Kevin likens Sam to one of those Wild West cowboys that would only get into gun duels with people they felt were skilled enough to challenge them, there wouldn't be a thrill otherwise. In fact, Sam's song lyrics outright state that he only feels alive when he sees death face-to-face.
- The Jetstream DLC campaign expands on this. Before encountering Raiden, he wandered the earth and tested his skills by single-handedly taking down various criminal organizations. There was no one who could land a single blow on him, with the exception of Senator Armstrong, and that was after Sam had managed to cut through his nanomachine armor and sever his hand.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Compared to the Determinator Raiden. Sam's power-based swordsmanship and his antics during cutscenes suggest that he prefers finishing off his foes with a single slice, and at the start of the game, he's a far more superior swordsman than Raiden. The Reveal of him barely possessing cyborg enhancements, plus his short-sighted approach to finishing Armstrong off early in his DLC, suggests that Sam's failures stem from his unwillingness to persist or sacrifice in combat.
- But Not Too Foreign: A Brazilian with Japanese ancestry, which is actually not that rare. Brazil has 1.5 million Japanese immigrants, which is the highest concentration of Japanese people outside of Japan in the world.
- Catch-Phrase: "Let's Dance!"
- Curb-Stomp Battle: See Hopeless Boss Fight below.
- Dead Man Writing: Blade Wolf plays Sam's final message to Raiden to him during the final battle.
- Defeat Equals Friendship: A villainous example. He agrees to join Desperado after Armstrong defeats him.
- Empowered Badass Normal: Started off as just a really good swordsman with an incredibly strong HF Blade. Then he got a suit to enhance his physical abilities to cyborg levels. Then he lost his sword arm and got a bigger, purely cybernetic replacement.
- Establishing Character Moment: He's first seen calmly walking towards a Maverick APC and attacks it while smiling once the gunner announces that they're authorized to open fire. He's later seen with Sundowner to stop Raiden from interfering in the assasination of prime minister N'Mani. This time, Sam's relaxing like a school student not paying attention during class and starts yawning when hearing Sundowner's speech about the positive aspects of war. Once the assassination is carried out, Sam disgustingly wipes off blood splashed onto him from the victim while Raiden just stares in shock.
- Expy:
- Not only does he look like Mitsurugi, both Sam and Mitsurugi's fighting styles are based off of the same style, and they also duke out battoujutsu shots. This is most obvious in Sam's first cutscene in his story when he's approached by two officers.
- Aside from differences in facial hair and in ethnicity, Sam's facial structure is extremely similar to that of the first Sam created by PlatinumGames, and their respective suits of Powered Armor frame their faces almost identically.
- Facepalm Of Doom: When Raiden knocks his sword out of his hand during the battle with him, Sam switches to an unarmed fighting style and starts charging around the battlefield with his fist raised; if he hits Raiden, he grabs his face and slams his skull into the ground in a spray of blood and rubble.
- Fallen Hero: As revealed in his DLC. Early on, he destroyed criminal groups, but as time wore on, he became disillusioned by his seeming inability to singlehandedly make the world a better place. By Rising, his defeat by Armstrong makes him give up completely and join Desperado's plot simply because he sees no other way to get things done.
- Four-Element Ensemble: Sam's associated with wind. He has two wind-themed names, Minuano and Jetstream, more than any of the other Winds of Destruction, and his theme song describes high-altitude winds in particular. As a playable character, his in-game light and heavy attacks are named "Piercing Winds" and "Stiff Breeze" instead. His personality is the most carefree and adventurous out of the Winds, and his rivalry with Raiden echoes a Shinto rivalry between lightning and wind gods. Sam dies after a duel in the Colorado badlands accompanied by tumbleweeds blowing through the area, and a red and gold sunset which got its color from high-altitude clouds and atmospheric dust.
- For Great Justice: Double subverted in the Jetstream DLC, where it initially seems Sam's declared only war on World Marshal to sharpen his skills. When Armstrong gives him a call near the top of the skyscraper, though, Sam shows he wanders the world with more heroic purposes.Sam: I already have a job — destroying men like you! Bastards who keep the status quo, send others to die, all from your cushy corner office!
- Fragile Speedster: He has the lowest amount of health amongst all the bosses (except perhaps Sundowner after his shield has been destroyed), meaning a few good hits are enough to take him down. Naturally, the way Sam likes to move around makes it extremely difficult for the player to actually land any hits on him, especially in the later phases of his fight.
- Go Out with a Smile: And a wink to Blade Wolf.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Possibly subverted. Raiden points out point-blank during a codec call that if Sam hadn't had his attempt to Mind Rape Raiden backfire spectacularly, Monsoon would have killed him... assuming that was his intention. Instead of faltering completely, Raiden comes to terms with his Jack the Ripper self and is that much deadlier because of it.
- Played straight in the Jetstream DLC, where his use of his quick-draw slash manages to sever Armstrong's nanomachine-hardened arm, leaving a sharpened stump that Armstrong uses to sever Sam's own arm.
- Hopeless Boss Fight: At the beginning of the game, you fight Sam, but don't expect to win... or leave with all your body parts for that matter.
- Sam had his own Hopeless Boss Fight against Armstrong, which convinced him no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't make the world a better place. note
- Iaijutsu Practitioner: When you see him sheathe his sword, move. His scabbard was even built with this in mind: it fires the sword outward like a gun, allowing for Sam to catch it mid-launch and draw his sword at incredible speeds.
- Image Song: "The Only Thing I Know For Real," describing Sam's confusion in his own beliefs and that bloodshed is the only thing he knows at this point.
- Impossibly Cool Weapon: There is basically absolutely no way Sam's gun-scabbard would work in real life considering it would require stupendously precise reactions and probably also rip the arm off the user. That being said, it is really cool. Sam does have a cybernetic right arm, which might justify the technique, if not for the fact that he can do the same thing in his DLC chapter, before losing his arm.
- Although his exoskeleton suit might still be giving him an edge.
- In-Series Nickname: "Jetstream Sam."
- The DLC reveals that his Winds of Destruction designation is "Minuano," a cold wind that blows in the South of Brazil.
- I Shall Taunt You: While playable, his AR mode is replaced with a taunt that enrages enemies that are engaging him. This causes them to attack recklessly and with more strength behind their swings, but also increases the damage they take. He also has his own original quotes with the final boss of his DLC, but is kinda difficult to hear them.
- Katanas Are Just Better: Literally. His katana is the only weapon capable of hurting Senator Armstrong.
- Laughably Evil: In the sense that you're laughing with him more than at him, mind you. Sam has a great line in dark humor, particularly before he joins Desperado.
- Lightning Bruiser: In general, he fights about as fast as Raiden, but is bigger, bulkier, and uses a few powerful brute-force moves.
- The Sam DLC shows this aspect—While Raiden fought off Armstrong by overpowering his nanomachine defenses, Sam actually used his quick-draw scabbard to slice his arm faster than the nigh-instantaneous nanomachine reaction could harden it. The effect was that he managed to cut his arm off, but the armor formed an instant later, giving Armstrong a razor sharp stump.
- Master Swordsman: Comes from a family of Brazilian sword martial arts practitioners. He was skilled enough to kill enemies armed with guns using nothing but his sword even before becoming a cyborg. Or rather, not becoming one, as it turns out.
- Mix-and-Match Weapon: Not his sword, but the scabbard for it. The scabbard in question has the lower receiver of an M-16 built into it, not to shoot bullets, mind you, but to help him "fire" his HF sword out and allow him to slash people at high speed.
- Motive Rant: Defied. Unlike other Metal Gear bosses, he decides that both him and Raiden have heard enough lectures about ideals and whatnot and chooses to just get to the fight.
- Never Bring a Gun to a Knife Fight: It's revealed in his backstory that he was able to defeat ten men armed with machine guns using nothing but an ordinary sword, years before cyborg and HF blade technology was publicly available.
- Noble Demon: Unlike the other bosses, Sundowner in particular, the fight with Sam is a straightforward sword fight. No gimmicks, no assistance from mooks or obvious pattern that you can exploit. Just Raiden, him and Blade Wolf as a spectator. Best man wins.
- Furthermore, he does not have the option to instantly dispatch of enemies from behind as Raiden does. This may be because he is a samurai, which favor honorable battle, while Raiden seems to focus more on being a ninja.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Sam's accent should be Brazilian, but his voice actor Philip-Anthony Rodriguez instead used his natural Puerto Rican accent when playing him.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: Joined Desperado in search of a Worthy Opponent, and doesn't even bother trying to ensure that the Winds of Destruction's plan will succeed after realizing halfway through the game Raiden may be that opponent.
- Older Is Better: Blade Wolf comments that the effectiveness of high frequency blades is directly proportional to the blades used in their construction. As Sam's sword is made using one of Murasama's swords, it's obviously by far the best sword in the game.
- One-Man Army: Sam made a name for himself killing ten heavily armed mob enforcers early in his career. He then wandered the world destroying whole criminal organizations. When that got boring he launched a direct attack on World Marshal's Denver headquarters. Later in Africa he charged an APC head on, slicing its gunner in half and defeating the rest of N'mani's security detail easily.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: It's always, "Jetstream Sam" or just "Sam"; the only character to call him "Samuel" is Blade Wolf and the only time his full name is spoken during the entire game is during a codec call with Kevin.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Apparently, the Breaking Speech/Mind Rape combo he dishes out to Raiden is not like him at all, according to Blade Wolf.
- Pet the Dog: When Raiden meets with him for their final duel, he catches a glimpse of Sam petting Blade Wolf. Beyond this literal example, Raiden notes that had Sam really wanted to he could have killed Sunny and every single person over at her aerospace testing center, therefore making it impossible for Raiden to get to Pakistan in time to stop Desperado's plans. Raiden thanks Sam for this courtesy.
- Considering Sam wants to make the world a better place and he was going to fight Raiden anyway (he probably left that bike there on purpose), even if killing everyone at the launch site wouldn't have made the outcome of their duel irrelevant (due to Raiden not being able to reach Pakistan in time without the ride), Sam probably would've considered slaughtering a bunch of innocent civilians and an innocent teenage girl more than a bit much even for him, and it wouldn't have been any fun for him anyway — he prefers targets who can actually fight back, such as Raiden. And besides, putting some important stake on the outcome of the duel is way more interesting, especially since Sam sympathized with Raiden's ideals and wanted to give him a fighting chance to take down Armstrong and succeed where Sam himself failed. Even if Sam does some dickish things at times, he really is a good guy at heart.
- Playing with Fire: Stabs his sword into a fuel tank during the train fight at the start of the game, causing his blade to light on fire as he swings it at Raiden.
- Practical Taunt: His taunting causes enemies to glow red, attack more aggressively and makes their attacks do block damage along with making them uncounterable, but it also makes them more predictable and greatly lowers their defense, allowing Sam to do double damage to most enemies and cut weaker enraged enemies apart with his normal attacks. This also works on bosses, but the effect only lasts for a few seconds and you must taunt them again each time. Doing this on bosses also allows them to use a special taunt-only maneuver, such as Armstrong being able to do a flaming shoulder tackle.
- Razor Wind: One of his charged quick draw attacks in the DLC, though he doesn't use it during his battle with Raiden.
- Ronin: His previous "job" before the events of Revengeance.
- Redemption Equals Death: The "Jetstream" DLC more or less reveals that his final duel with Raiden is this.
- Retro Upgrade: Sam made his anti-cyborg HF Blade from a centuries old Japanese sword.
- The Rival: To Raiden.
- Too Clever by Half: Sam's attempts to take advantage of his very high level of intelligence often backfire spectacularly. In the main game, his attempting to convince Raiden to join Desperado leads to Raiden becoming even deadlier.
- Even moreso in the Jetstream dlc, where his attempt to finish Armstong quickly by severing his arm proves his downfall, while Kojima has said that he could have worn Armstrong down until his nanomachines ran out of power and successfully beaten him.
- Shadow Archetype: The Jetstream DLC reveals that he was rather similar to Raiden. Though instead of protecting the weak, he sharpened his skills by delivering justice to criminal organizations around the world.
- Simple, yet Awesome: Essentially how he handles stunned enemies during the quick time event that makes them vulnerable. Instead of the acrobatic stuff that Raiden does, he just kicks them really hard.
- Smug Smiler: Sam has a characteristic grin that oozes confidence, most infamously in the intro when he faces several Maverick security personnel.
- Sword and Fist: As a boss, Sam will use ordinary kicks alongside his swordplay. As a playable character, he'll do this as his parry counterattack and in his light attack combo, although he can still do this instantly with the Jaw Breaker technique.
- Sword Beam: In his DLC.
- Sword Drag: He does this during one of his special attacks. In the intro, he drags it cross a fuel tank on the train. The Sword Sparks from the drag ignite the fuel, briefly turning his blade into a Flaming Sword before the fuel tank explodes.
- Take Up My Sword: Before his final duel with Raiden, he instructs Blade Wolf to give Raiden his sword should he die. Raiden later uses the blade in the battle with Armstrong.
- Vigilante Man: Prior to the events of the game, Sam traveled the world as a mercenary to rid the world of scum like gangs and PMCs as well as to hone his skills. Eventually, he caught wind of World Marshal and chose to pay them a visit. The rest is history.
- Weapon Across the Shoulder: He sometimes holds his sword this way even while in battle, making him look inappropriately casual.
- You Killed My Father: Sam's father was the head of a Dojo, where he ended up being murdered by one of his own students. Sam left the country, trained himself to be a Master Swordsman, came back and personally butchered the guy.
IF Prototype LQ-84i "Blade Wolf"
Voiced by: Yoshimasa Hosoya (JP), Michael Beattie (EN)
Theme Song: I'm My Own Master NowA Desperado Enforcement Unmanned Gear (UG) equipped with an advanced artificial intelligence and a prototype interface that allows for verbal communication. It claims to have a supreme intellect that it is unable to use to its full extent, as anytime it disobeys a direct order its memory would be wiped. It is also for this reason that it reluctantly tries to fight Raiden to the death at Desperado's orders. It later becomes an important character that holds the key to the story.
"Are we both here only to fight then?"
- A Day in the Limelight: The protagonist of its own DLC, which discusses its time working under Mistral.
- Apologetic Attacker: "I am sorry. You must die."
- Canine Companion: Befriends Raiden once defeated and revived, and acts as a sort of "ninja dog" conducting recon from the shadows during the course of the story.
- Canis Major: It's a giant robot wolf equipped with dozens of high frequency blades.
- Calling Your Attacks: "Combination Attack!"
- Funnily enough, he calls it after a successful attack is complete.
- Some of this might have been him Fighting from the Inside; his attack calls clearly warn Raiden what's he's about to do next and he often advises Raiden to move faster or die.
- Chainsaw Good: His chainsaw can slice through a building. And cyborgs, as Khamsin found out the hard way.
- Combat Pragmatist: During his boss fight, he makes a point of calling in for back-up when the battle swings in Raiden's favor.LQ-84i: A savvy warrior uses all of his tools.
- Contemplate Our Navels: Does this a great deal with Raiden during the course of the story.
- Cool Pet: Sunny thinks that Blade Wolf is pretty cool, and encourages Raiden to keep him. Raiden however dismisses the idea of Wolf being his "pet", and notes that Wolf can leave any time he wants to. Interestingly Wolf never takes offense to being called Raiden's pet, nor does he correct Armstrong when he calls Raiden his master.
- Cuteness Proximity: Simply seeing Blade Wolf once made Sunny act the same way most children do when their parents bring home a new puppy. It even veers into wanting him as a Cool Pet as seen above.
- Cyber Cyclops/Faceless Eye: Pre-HeelFace Turn, it has one big red lamp for an "eye" on its face, which flashes whenever it talks. Later on, his head is reshaped into a wolf's head complete with eyes and teeth.
- Deadpan Snarker: "I understand your attempts at humor. I simply do not find them entertaining."
- Defeat Means Friendship: After being rebuilt without the Desperado Restraining Bolt that forces him to be a loyal grunt, it joins up with Maverick Security Consulting as thanks.
- Though Blade Wolf's loyalty is to Raiden above all else, when Raiden asks why Blade Wolf is helping him he responds that he owes a debt to Raiden that he plans to repay. Blade Wolf even sticks by Raiden when he leaves Maverick to deliver vigilante justice against World Marshal; Wolf is clearly even willing to break the law to help Raiden.
- He also grows to respect Sam after being defeated by him, as shown in the DLC.
- Expy: Word of God says Blade Wolf is inspired by Friender.
- Hot Blade: His knives are hot enough to penetrate and melt stone, as shown in his intro cutscene.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: Believes this to be why he is a failure as a combat AI — as he is not human, he is incapable of true human brutality.
- Despite extensive conversations on human freedom and what people decide to do with that freedom, Blade Wolf determines that there is no easy answer for why men fight. He wonders if there is any sure fire belief system that can bring lasting peace. Raiden suggests that Blade Wolf is better off discovering his own personal philosophy, and then trying to pass it on once he has found it.
- Image Song: "I'm My Own Master Now," describing Blade Wolf's chains and his need for freedom.
- I'm Taking Him Home with Me!: Sunny thinks that Blade Wolf is cute and expresses an interest in bringing him home with her, so long as Raiden is OK with it, of course. Raiden makes it known that Wolf isn't really his "pet" and that Wolf follows Raiden around of his own free will, Raiden does nothing to make Wolf help him. Ultimately it is Wolf's decision to make... and judging by the ending, Wolf decided to take Sunny up on her offer.
- Interspecies Friendship: Has a partnership with Raiden but shows degrees of hostility towards Raiden's behavior. He eventually warms up to Raiden. On the other hand he seems to trust Sam and shows more open affection around him than he does with Raiden. At one point Blade Wolf even interacts with Sunny on a fairly friendly basis.
- Beyond the whole human and dog dynamic, Blade Wolf is also an AI. To that effect a lot of Wolf's dialogue centers on the moral and philosophical implications of relationships between AIs and humans. Judging by his interactions with Raiden, friendly interactions between AIs and humans are certainly possible.
- Kick the Dog: Blade Wolf never does this, but he is the recipient of this trope. At the ending of the game Senator Armstrong punts him like a football, making this a literal example.
- Mirror Boss: In his DLC (see A Day In The Limelight), during one of the story-related VR levels taking place in Denver, there is a chance to trigger the appearance of a green "optional fight" marker on the minimap. Reaching this marker results in a miniboss fight against ANOTHER LQ-84i. Not just a stock LQ-84 Fenrir, mind you. This can be explained by the fact that it's virtual reality.
- My Master, Right or Wrong: During Raiden's more outrageous moments Wolf does take moments to pause and question his motives, but afterward continues to support Raiden in his decisions. Even during moments where Raiden explicitly points out that things are going to get rough and that he is welcome to leave any time, Wolf continues to stay.
- Mythology Gag: As a boss, LQ-84i is a fast Glass Cannon. As a playable character, however, he cannot overpower his enemies in a fair fight, and his most dangerous tool is his proficiency in stealth kills which lines right up with the gameplay style envisioned by Kojima for Metal Gear Solid: Rising, which he described as "a hunter stalking his prey."
- No Sense of Humor: Subverted. He explicitly says that he understands Raiden's jokes and Deadpan Snarker tendencies; he just doesn't think they're funny.
- Not So Different: Raiden posits this idea if you call your support team during the boss battle with Blade Wolf. They discuss Blade Wolf's claims that his memories would be wiped if he were to disobey an order, which for an AI is the equivalent of death. Raiden muses that fighting back to keep himself alive means that he has no choice either; in that sense neither party wants to fight but they have to if they are going to survive.
- Pet the Dog: Blade Wolf shares several moments with Raiden that involve the both of them trying to understand each other, and during difficult emotional moments they provide reassurance. At one point he becomes the literal recipient of this trope when Samuel pets him.
- Punch Clock Villain: Only fights for Desperado because its memory will be wiped if it doesn't. Upon being freed from this, it readily joins up with Raiden instead as thanks.
- Redemption Promotion: Goes from a Quirky Miniboss Raiden cuts to shreds on their first encounter to Raiden's number one source for recon and backup.
- Restraining Bolt: If it disobeys a direct order, its memory will be wiped. This feature ends up being removed when Raiden has him rebuilt.
- Ridiculously Human Robots: Deconstructed — as Blade Wolf's neural network was designed along the same lines as an organic human brain, he is subject to the same limitations — he has no access to an Omniscient Database and can only extrapolate logical conclusions using evidence he has acquired himself; he is unable to remotely hack any computer due to "a matter of protocols"; and he does not have perfect recall of every single person he has met — he can only give estimations on the likelihood that he has see that person before.
- Robot
- Robot Buddy: Actually has a HeelFace Turn after being freed from its Restraining Bolt, and proves quite helpful as both recon and backup for Raiden.
- Robot Dog: It's a prototype AI in the body of a robot wolf. Kev even calls him "K-9000."
- Sugar and Ice Personality: Heavy on the ice. He's a bit of a dick towards Raiden, refusing to show any affection to him even though he does to others, and generally treating him with hostility. The only accommodation Wolf gives Raiden is that he is a "capable fighter." Despite this, his loyalty to Raiden is absolute even though he has no programming to encourage him to work with Raiden.
- During the final boss battle Blade Wolf does concede that he owes a debt to Raiden and that he has learned much from Raiden's example so he does warm up to Raiden... as much as a robot can warm up anyway.
- Super Prototype: Is more durable and intelligent than any of the mass-produced LQ-84 Fenrir UGs you encounter elsewhere in the game. Though it should be noted that the mass-produced models can carry railguns, which LQ-84i never used.Blade Wolf: "The stock LQ-84 Fenrir. Unable to speak. A real dog has a far greater intellect."
- Super Speed: It is noted by Raiden during their battle that Wolf is faster than he is. Raiden decides based on this fact to wait for Wolf to come to him rather than try to outpace him. Also when you see the two of them running side by side Wolf is always noticeably in the lead ahead of Raiden.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: It serves a similar support role for Raiden in Rising as the Cyborg Ninja/Gray Fox did for Snake in Metal Gear Solid. Hilariously, Blade Wolf himself would get a retroactive counterpart in the form of D.D., an actual wolf who is a support buddy for Venom Snake.
- Talking Animal: It's a wolf-shaped robot with an Artificial Intelligence system that allows it to have complex conversations.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: Despite being the mid-boss of the first stage, LQ-84i can absolutely destroy a player unless they're already comfortable with all of parryingnote , manual Blade Modenote , Zandatsunote , even lock-onnote .
- Weaksauce Weakness: Not in battle, but in the way his sophisticated neural AI was made to copy a human brain as close as possible. This, and a lack of any sort of database memory, means he inherited some of the gray-matter shortcomings as well. For instance, he admits that since he usually identifies people by XIFF and only has basic symbol analysis, he's even worse at remembering faces than the average human.
- Weaponized Animal: It's a combat-oriented robot wolf equipped with military-grade weapons.
- Beware My Stinger Tail + Chainsaw Good: Carries a powerful high frequency chainsaw on its back that it can swing with its tail to cut through concrete walls.
- Flechette Storm: Throws high frequency blades from afar using the three small manipulator appendages on its tail.
- We Can Rebuild Him: After LQ-84i◊ is destroyed, Raiden has Doktor rebuild the UG with a few "adjustments" as the more fearsome looking Blade Wolf,◊ complete with upgrades to its arsenal like an extra manipulator appendage in its new mouth and blades under its limbs.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: As an AI, Blade Wolf was considered below even third party contractors and as such was left almost entirely in the dark about Desperado's operations.
- Even Raiden has degrees of this sentiment towards Blade Wolf at first, expressing amusement at the idea that Blade Wolf could even think of something like freedom. You get the impression that Raiden still has a distrust towards AIs because of the evil done to him by the Patriot AIs, more than once alluding to the Patriot AIs' actions in Blade Wolf's presence. Eventually Raiden begins to trust Wolf and gives him true moral consideration, claiming that Blade Wolf has the right to decide for himself. Far more consideration than Desperado ever gave him.
- Win Your Freedom: Desperately wanted to do this but had no way of disobeying orders or else he would be deleted, the equivalent of death for an AI. Raiden ultimately wins Blade Wolf's freedom for him by bringing Wolf home in the aftermath of their duel and repairing him. For this Raiden has earned Blade Wolf's loyalty.
Voiced by: Ken Nishida (JP), Crispin Freeman (EN)
Theme Song: Red SunThe leader of Desperado Enforcement, he is known by the code name of "Sundowner", named after the hot, dry winds of California. As one of the dreaded Winds of Destruction he uses a powerful, specialized cyborg body, different from the ones used by typical contractors. He dual-wields a pair of high-frequency machetes, collectively called "Bloodlust."
"We're just suppliers. We don't create the market for war. Didja think that every battle in history was all part of some big ol' conspiracy? BULLSHIT! War is just part'a who we are. Why fight it?"
- American Accents: Speaks with a heavy Texan accent, though he's actually from Alabama.
- Appeal to Inherent Nature: Along with Monsoon
- Ax-Crazy: As expected of a character voiced by Crispin Freeman.
- Bald of Evil
- Battle in the Rain: Fights Raiden on the top floor of World Marshal during a heavy thunder storm.
- Blade Below the Shoulder/Dual Wielding: He has a signature technique of attaching his second blade to a clamp on his forearm, effectively turning one arm into a pair of scissors. (Or "Pincer Blades.")
- They also count as a BFS. Raiden has noticeable issues swinging them when he equips them. Then again, he's using both at once. In their combined scissor form.
- Blood Knight: Sundowner's dominant characteristic. He always runs into battle with a special glee, and depending on his opponent's strength, he may either look bored (such as in his one-sided fight with a Maverick security guard) or outright excited. Sundowner even believes that conflict is a part of what humanity is as a whole.
- The Brute: His fighting style emphasizes power over finesse.
- Card-Carrying Villain: The most outstanding example among the game's villains. Sundowner doesn't try to justify his actions for a higher cause or hammer down the alleged pointlessness of life, he's just an "honest warmonger" fighting for fun and profit.
- Child Soldiers: Big fan of them, as they make him think his faulty logic is right.Sundowner: "We've already commenced VR training, same one ol' Georgie-boy used on the kids in Liberia. Kids you can mold, manipulate into performing all kinds of atrocities, and there's nothing like a good atrocity to keep a war going."
- Combat Pragmatist: While none of the Winds would win awards for fair play, Sundowner is particularly bad at fighting dirty. His arena is ringed with attack helicopters that will open fire on you while fighting him. In fact, when the fight starts turning against him, he resorts to "Battlefield Acquisition", AKA, "tearing down massive light towers ringing the helipad to use as makeshift bludgeons." When he decides "Playtime's over", he simply orders the helicopters to destroy the helipad outright.
- Co-Dragons: He and Monsoon appear to be Senator Armstrong's right hand men.
- Corrupt Hick: He's a complete and utter psychopath from Alabama.
- Cutscene Power to the Max: In his introductory cutscene, Sundowner shows a lot more speed and finesse compared to his Boss Battle, making him closer to a Lightning Bruiser as opposed to a Mighty Glacier.
- Death by Irony: His theme song is about setting the world on fire. He gets killed by an explosion.
- Famed In-Story: A codec conversation with Kevin in R04 reveals that he built up quite the reputation in his pre-cyborg soldier days.
- Faux Affably Evil: From describing himself as an honest warmonger to describing the VR program like a K-12 curriculum, Sundowner tends to be very casual when talking about his horrific goals.
- Four-Element Ensemble: He's associated with fire. His name refers to a wind known for causing forest fires, and Kevin refers to him as "the Californian wildfire" in a cutscene. Beyond that, his personality is the most passionate and hot-blooded out of the Winds, he causes and feeds off of chaotic destruction like a fire does, his theme song describes a wildfire, and Raiden kills him by using an explosion to propel him into a Blade Mode frenzy.
- Freudian Excuse: He was dirt poor as a young man and only through war did he finally gain his wealth. So war is pretty much all he knows.
- Graceful Loser: He actually compliments Raiden for brutally slicing him into pieces and then calls Sam to tell him that he'll have a Worthy Opponent.
- The Heavy: The de facto leader of the Winds of Destruction and the main villain affiliated with Desperado that Raiden pursues. At least, until he finds out about Armstrong.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: He can be damaged and killed by the missiles of the helicopter that's meant to support him.
- Hypocrite: Sundowner's rather dubious claims of Desperado and World Marshal only being suppliers, rather than the creators of the market for war. When you keep in mind the fact that Desperado's plan, under Armstrong's guidance, was to instigate a terrorist incident while the U.S President was in Pakistan in order to create another war on terror, thus increasing the market for war big time, then you can tell that Sundowner is full of crap.
- Image Song: "Red Sun," a guitar-heavy song basically dedicated to Sundowner's glorious love of blood and war, literally describing it as Eden.
- Impossibly Cool Weapon: Two giant machetes that can turn into a pair of giant scissors? Damn right. Also, explosive shields.
- Inertia Is a Harsh Mistress: After getting the aircraft that he's riding explodes, he's sent flying towards Raiden. In a cruel blend of Single-Stroke Battle and Death of a Thousand Cuts, Raiden hacks him to pieces as he flies past.
- Kids Are Cruel: Believes this is why they make effective soldiers."Kids are cruel. All people are by nature, they just lose touch with it as they get older."
- Large and in Charge: Has a brutish, muscular body. He's also fairly tall at 200 cm (roughly 6'7''), though Monsoon is taller.
- Large Ham: As one would expect from Crispin Freeman."I'M FUCKIN' INVINCIBLE!"
- Logical Fallacies: See Appeal to Inherent Nature and Kids Are Cruel above. Sundowner claims "Kids are cruel. All people are by nature, they just lose touch with it as they get older." while making his speech, apparently not realizing it's a contradiction.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: It has explosive reactive armor. Of course, it only protects him from the front and he's still vulnerable from behind.
- Machete Mayhem: The Bloodlust, his unique weapons, are a pair of machetes that can be combined into a single, scissor-like weapon.
- Meaningful Name: When sundowner winds are blowing around in California, they make wildfires much more likely and make the fires near impossible to put out. Firefighters are usually reduced to waiting for the wind to die down before they can do their jobs. Sundowner himself wants war to spread globally, and as long as he and his company exist, the fires would never go out around the world.
- Mighty Glacier: While he can move pretty quickly for someone his size, he's still slower and easier to dodge compared to the other Winds of Destruction, and relies on his folding blast shields for defense. And he tends to put his oomph behind heavy individual attacks rather than lots of weaker ones, especially when he's trying to ram Raiden.
- Motive Rant: He reveals his motivation for kidnapping the prime minister when Raiden meets him for the first time.
- Occidental Otaku: The soundtrack names for World Marshal's Japanese garden suggest that Sundowner was responsible for creating it.
- Off with His Head!: After disarming the remaining Maverick security guard, Sundowner takes the time to combine his blades into a scissor-like weapon and uses it to trap him in its grip and expose the guard to its high temperature before cutting his head off with a smile on his face.
- Psychopathic Manchild: By his own words:"Like I said, kids are cruel, Jack. And I'm very in-touch with my inner child."
- Rule of Cool: Any real-world equivalent of Sundowner's pincer blades would be outrageously difficult to use, thanks to both the weapon's weight and the predictable angles of attack needed for a scissor cut. Still, when the damage you're inflicting with it is enough to skip entire stages of boss fights, who cares?
- Sadist: Whenever he has the opportunity, Sundowner always takes the time to inflict as much pain as possible before going in for the kill.
- Shear Menace: Thanks to his specialized arms, he can connect his machetes together into a shear. He uses this to decapitate one of Maverick's Red Shirts early in the game.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Drops a lot of F-bombs.
- Shield Bash: During the first part of the battle against Sundowner, he attacks using his six back-mounted shields in addition to his swords.
- Slasher Smile: Makes big, creepy grins when he's about to cut someone up. His facemask in combat mode seems to evoke an even bigger one.
- Smug Super: He's very proud of his explosive armor and refers to himself as invincible because of it. Of course, punching through it results in him ranting and swearing in disbelief.
- Stone Wall: His gimmick is that the first half of the fight involves him using explosive shields you need to cut off.
- Super Strength: Quite possibly the physically strongest character in the game, by virtue of the ease he's able to wield his Bloodlust swords even in one hand, in contrast to Raiden's difficulty. Raiden could swing one of Excelus's arms no problem.
- Sweet Home Alabama: Was born an Alabaman Southie (with the thick accent to boot), but he's far from a Good Ol' Boy.
- Unfriendly Fire: The cyborgs that he brings into the second phase of the fight can and will be smacked to death when he starts swinging a giant pipe.
- Villain Ball: If Sundowner hadn't gloated to Raiden about already being "too late" to stop Tecumseh and that he wouldn't make it "even at Mach 2", He and the rest of Maverick wouldn't have been able to deduce that they were planning to assassinate the president on his trip to Pakistan.
- War for Fun and Profit: Seems to be his goal.
Voiced by: Romi Park (JP), Salli Saffioti (EN)
Theme Song: A Stranger I RemainA cyborg, and commanding officer working for Desperado Enforcement, she is one of the four cyborgs called the Winds of Destruction along with Sundowner, Monsoon, and Khamsin. Her codename, Mistral, comes from the cold regional winds along the Mediterranean coast of France. She wields the "L'Étranger", a dual-bladed staff, made from the arms of Dwarf Gekkos, that doubles as a whip.
"That's when I realized... I am a killer too. And a good one at that. I slaughtered dozens in Iraq, in Afghanistan... I'd found my calling."
- Adorable Evil Minions: Dwarf Gekko are a personal tool for her and follow her everywhere, and the ones around her seem to actually take orders directly from her. Ask Courtney about them; according to her, any girl would find them absolutely cute.
- Ambiguous Cyborg: While her arms, legs and back attachment are obviously mechanical and her head seems to be augmented, it's unknown whether her torso is organic or high-quality cyborg parts that have Jiggle Physics for some reason. Given that every other cyborg in the game (apart from some red shirts in the prologue, Sam, George and Armstrong) is clearly bulky cybernetics from the neck down, this would make Mistral something of a rarity in either case.
- Ax-Crazy: When she found those who murdered her parents, she "butchered those fuckers" and discovered that she's quite a good killer herself.
- Bad Boss: Just look how she treats Blade Wolf in his DLC, as well as her Dwarf Gekkos.
- Batman Gambit: Pulls off an impressive one in the Blade Wolf DLC, in which she exploits his desire for freedom to trick him into killing Khamsin.
- Because I'm Good at It: One of her motivations, it seems. She began her life of bloodshed upon finding out that she was a very capable fighter and killer. It wouldn't seem to be the whole reason for her current actions, though.
- Blood Knight: Definitely, as she only feels alive in a battlefield.
- Bloodbath Villain Origin: Shared with Monsoon, she grew up in the Algerian wars among slaughter and chaos.
- But Not Too Foreign: Half French, half Algerian.
- Characterization Marches On: Mistral straddles a lot of lines in the main game, being killed before too much about her can be gleaned but displaying enough that whether she's really all that terrible of a person is unclear, and her dialogue is much less heavy and harsh than Monsoon's or Sundowner's. The Blade Wolf DLC, however, shows her being a lot more geared towards her sadistic, more ruthless aspects. She backstabs Khamsin simply because he's a loudmouthed idiot and sets the LQ-84i up in a particularly cruel gambit. Notably, the times where she is openly cruel usually involve Blade Wolf or her Dwarf Gekkos—see What Measure Is a Non-Human? below.
- Combat Sadomasochist: Just look at how she "enjoys" multiple arms being attached to her and used for combat.
- Combat Stilettos: Like Raiden's, they are a part of her actual feet.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Gets doused by liquid nitrogen, then has her body shattered.
- Dark Action Girl
- Dark-Skinned Evil Redhead
- Dying Declaration of Love: Her last words are hinted to be for Armstrong, the person who gave her ideals, and thus a cause to finally fight for on the battlefield.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones/Even Evil Has Standards: Possibly either one, she is this with Blade Wolf, though downplayed. Talk to Blade Wolf about her in the second level. According to the wolf himself, he believes she has a love of dogs.Blade Wolf: Mistral demanded 100% obedience. So long as it was given, she treated me well.
- Everything Sounds Sexier in French: In the English versions, she's got a French accent and it's as sexy as it comes.
- Evil Is Petty: Planned for Khamsin's death because he annoyed her.
- Expy: Her character designs were noted to invoke Laughing Octopus from Metal Gear Solid 4, and later Screaming Mantis. The actual characters beyond that have very few similarities.
- Femme Fatale: Here and there. When she spots Raiden, she blows a kiss his way (complete with pink hearts) and later removes her coat rather suggestively before their battle. Factor in the aforementioned Combat Sadomasochist tendencies and her use of a whip, and...
- She spends most of the Blade Wolf DLC sitting in a "chair" made of Dwarf Gekko, highly reminiscent of human chairs in BDSM.
- Flunky Boss: Her arenas can be positively swarming with Dwarf Gekkos running interference if you're not careful about them.
- Four-Element Ensemble: Out of the Winds of Destruction, Mistral is associated with water; she's named after a wind that heads into the Mediterranean, her theme song describes adrift at sea, her fighting style is the most graceful and fluid out of the Winds, and she's killed with ice.
- Go Out with a Smile/Worth It/Pet the Dog: Dying without regret since she knows how it feels to have something worth to die for, and giving Raiden encouragement to continue fight for his ideals. Dolzaev himself lost it when she died. However, in a Codec call, Raiden and Kevin speculates that the message was likely meant for someone else, hinted to be Armstrong.
- Gratuitous French"Come, mon gars.""Je t'aime... de tout mon coeur."
- Grievous Harm with a Body: When disarmed, she'll start tossing Dwarf Gekkos at Raiden. It helps that their secondary function is essentially being walking bombs
- Hoist by Her Own Petard: If Mistral had not orchestrated the death of Khamsin, he would have been around when Raiden arrived, and they could have teamed up to defeat him.
- Image Song: "A Stranger I Remain," left over from "Here I Come." It details the isolation Mistral feels from other people and how alive she feels in battle. Probably one of the most contributing factors in the metaphorical see-saw on whether she's good, evil, or both.
- The Immodest Orgasm: Whenever she attaches a Dwarf Gekko's arm to herself.
- Ignored Enamored Underling: To Armstrong, possibly. It's never shown what the man himself feels about her.
- Interplay of Sex and Violence: Long story short, thanks to her upbringing, there's a strong sexual undercurrent in Mistral's need and enjoyment of battle.
- Jiggle Physics: Downplayed. Her massive breasts are apparently natural and do jiggle a little during cutscenes. During battle, she uses one of her many pairs of arms to support and shield her chest. Then again, her "backup body" fought during the Boss Rush also has them, so...
- Kick the Dog: She's rather cruel to her Dwarf Gekkos, ripping their arms off without mercy, stomping them in half, and forcing them to form a throne for her while they visibly quiver from the strain in the Blade Wolf DLC. A Dwarf Gekko split in half in that scene seems to indicate she punished it for not performing its job properly. Mistral also plays a fairly cruel Batman Gambit on Blade Wolf, making him believe he had gained freedom before snatching it away and almost breaking his spirit. Her comments about making him "shake hands" like a dog and forcing him to do so are icing in the cake.
- Literally Shattered Lives: After getting frozen over by a vat of liquid nitrogen that Raiden slices open, Raiden goes into Blade Mode and reduces her to as many pieces as the player sees fit.
- Male Gaze: Has great tracts of land which she has to hold with a pair of Gekko arms so they don't jiggle in mid-fight, and in some of her promotional art◊, she gropes herself with two Gekko arms and has another between her legs.
- Major Injury Underreaction: In fairness, she is a cyborg and it wasn't her true, less-replaceable arm, but her only initial reaction to the LQ-84i slicing off one of her extra arms unprovoked, stealing the range inhibitor, and leaving, is to give it a reproachful glare, before laughing it off.
- Manipulative Bitch: Concocts a Batman Gambit to trick Blade Wolf into killing Khamsin, just because she found Khamsin an obnoxious idiot. Also to break Blade Wolf's spirit when she reveals she can lock his system up any time, and does so just before he reaches freedom, forcing him to shake hands like a dog.
- Ms. Fanservice: While more modestly dressed than previous holders of this title within the Metal Gear verse and, until her boss fight, covered up in bulky overcoat, that bodysuit doesn't leave much of her figure to the imagination, never mind her personality and mannerisms in battle.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Has various Gekko arms attached to her back, though their only purpose is to give her more arms to rebuild her weapon with.
- Not So Different: Tries this with Raiden as they're both Child Soldiers. To be fair, Raiden does seem to sympathise with her... until she brings up the whole butchering of her family's murderers thing...
- And even that is still similar to Raiden, considering he also ended up killing the murderer of his family.
- Peek-a-Bangs
- Precision F-Strike: Drops a few sometimes.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: In the TGS trailer, her right eye glows red at one point, hinting that, like Raiden, Mistral possesses optical implants. In-game, her eye glows after attaching the Dwarf Gekkos to her body.
- Self-Disposing Villain: Halfway, at least — her breaking of a container full of liquid nitrogen freezes her in place, and Raiden uses this opportunity to finish her off.
- Shout-Out: Her weapon, her Image Song and tropes associates with her is basically a giant Shout-Out toward Albert Camus' novel, L'Etranger, which was released in English-speaking country as The Stranger.
- Slipknot Ponytail: Her hair becomes increasingly loose and unkempt as the battle furthers.
- The Coats Are Off: She removes her coat before proceeding to battle Raiden.
- The Slow Walk: She'll do this in her battle when fully armed and armored, showing how unconcerned about injury she is.
- The Smurfette Principle: The sole female of the Winds of Destruction.
- Sophisticated as Hell: Her speech patterns are pretty flowery until she gets a bloodlust going."Don't fuck with me, boy!"
- Spin Attack: Can do a sequence quick, vertical spins with the L'Étranger.
- Statuesque Stunner: Although not much is made of Mistral's stature in-game, her height is officially listed as 190 cm — just a bit shy of 6'3".
- Stranger in a Familiar Land: Only feels alive in the middle of battlefield.
- Super Senses: Her intro scene subtly demonstrates that Mistral has enhanced eyesight thanks to cybernetics. Raiden uses his optical enhancements to scan over an area before noticing her. After she finishes her conversation with Dolzaev, she then looks over directly at Raiden and blows him a kiss, showing she has powerful observational enhancements as well.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Dies in her first level, not counting a brief glimpse of her in the prologue. The Blade Wolf DLC subverts this to a degree, showing her interactions with LQ-84i.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Mistral's most openly sadistic actions tend to involve Bladewolf or the Dwarf Gekkos. Raiden points out how it's hard to feel sorry for the latter, given that their only purpose is to kill opponents. However, the line blurs with Bladewolf, whose AI is based on a human brain.
- Whip It Good/Blade on a Stick/Whip Spear/Double Weapon
Voiced by: Masashi Ebara (JP), John Kassir (EN)
Theme song: Stains of TimeA cyborg, and commanding officer working for Desperado Enforcement, he is one of the four cyborgs called the Winds of Destruction along with Sundowner, Mistral, and Khamsin. His codename is Monsoon, referring to a seasonal wind that brings rain in tropical areas, especially in Southeast Asia. He wields a pair of Sai called "Dystopia", and has the ability to separate his body into pieces using an advanced system of magnets.
"Wind blows, rain falls. The strong prey upon the weak. Don't be ashamed. It's only nature, running its course."
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: He sure likes to talk about the inevitability of death and nature, but if the player defeats him without using EM grenades or falling below a certain combat grade, Monsoon will scream at Raiden to stop before he's killed.
- Appeal to Inherent Nature: Most of what Monsoon says that isn't about memes (which still is, in a sense, this appeal) is him pointing to war and bloodshed as mankind's nature and thus not to be denied—he's a hardcore nihilist and misanthrope.
- Attack Its Weak Point: During his fight, he uses his Selective Magnetism to become invulnerable to attacks. In order to force him back to normal, you have to hit his head.
- Of course that's only if you give him a BMI Error, done be either perfectly parrying his attacks or throwing an EM grenade his way.
- It's also possible to hit it by swinging wildly and sheer luck.
- Battle in the Rain: He fights Raiden in the middle of a heavy thunderstorm. It's rather fitting, given Raiden's codename is based on lightning and Monsoon's is based on seasonal rain storms.
- Bloodbath Villain Origin: Shared with Mistral, Monsoon grew up in the Khmer Rouge. It drove him to become a nihilistic, misanthropic killer who sees slaughter and destruction as natural.
- Body Horror: Judging by how he's able to magnetically break his body apart, then he likely lost his entire body from the neck down, almost to the same degree as Raiden. Concept art additionally shows that, behind the mask, Monsoon's eyes are surgically hooked up to cables connected to his helmet's interior space.
- Break Them by Talking: Gets in on Sam's act with a speech of his own.
- Character Filibuster: The man really likes to go on quite a bit about memes.
- Co-Dragons: He and Sundowner both appear to be Senator Armstrong's right hand men.
- Detachment Combat: His specialty. It also seemingly grants him immunity to Blade Mode attacks.
- Even Evil Has Standards: The guy's no saint, but after Raiden lets his Jack the Ripper persona run wild, Monsoon seems shocked, even remorseful, and shakes his head, remarking that Raiden has "lost his mind." He recants soon after, saying that he misjudged Raiden and was happy to see that Raiden was just as bloodthirsty, sociopathic, and insane as the rest of the Winds of Destruction.
- Evil Sounds Deep: His Japanese voice is much deeper.
- Extremity Extremist: Because he wields sais in his hands, most of his attacks not involving Dystopia involve kicking.
- The Faceless: Concept art aside, Monsoon's Cool Helmet covers everything but his lower face, unlike the other Winds of Destruction.
- Famous Last Words: Depending on how aggressive Raiden was during his battle, his last words are either a defiant "Do your worst!" or a horrified "Stop! Stop it!"
- Foe-Tossing Charge: Can use a spinning tackle similar to the Psycho Crusher, only it's magnetized, has Monsoon zipping back and forth for multiple hits, and involves all of his limbs floating around in the air.
- Foil: To Raiden. Both are tall cyborg ninjas with a majority of their original body below the head gone, and with white hair, and both are usually calm and collected but can become psychopathic and enraged if pushed. Both also grew up in a life of war. However, unlike Raiden, Monsoon does nothing to hide his murderous, psychopathic tendencies and encourages them, while Raiden fights for others.
- Four-Element Ensemble: Monsoon is associated with earth. His namesake winds are known for producing both mudslides and dust storms, his speech to Raiden can be described as "grounding" in multiple senses of the word, his battle song describes sinking into the mud, one of his battle quotes is "back to the earth with you!", and his magnetism powers let him control metal ore. Finally, Raiden kills Monsoon by pressing him into the World Marshal logo, an image of the earth, before viciously cutting him while he's immobilized.
- Fragile Speedster: The swiftest of the trio, speed is Monsoon's defining trait: he chains his attacks in rapid succession and can strike from multiple angles, giving the player little in the way of breathing room. He's not as burly as Sundowner, but his attacks still pack quite the punch (such as launching Raiden into the air with a kick and then slamming him back to the ground... hard, only to pounce from the skies, pin Raiden to the asphalt, and stab him repeatedly and mercilessly), Monsoon can easily stunlock and daze a player who has yet to master the art of parrying, and he can take it just about as well as he dishes it out, provided you can land a hit at all. There's a reason many are quick to cite him as That One Boss the first time around. Interestingly enough, looking at the game files shows he actually has more health than Sundowner despite being much smaller than him. Then again, Monsoon does have the most cybernetic parts of the Winds of Destruction.
- Gang Bangers: Unlike the other Winds of Destruction, he wasn't a former member of any military or paramilitary organizations prior to enlisting with the group. Instead, he was a former gang member.
- Get It Over With: Depending on how your fight plays out. Right as Raiden goes in for the kill in Blade Mode, Monsoon either solemnly tells Raiden to do as he will and finish him off or undergoes a Villainous Breakdown and begs for his life.
- Gratuitous English: In the Japanese version, he uses both the English version of his name and says "winds of destruction" in English amidst a speech that is otherwise refined Japanese. The fact that he's fluent in Khmer, Chinese, and English may have something to do with it.
- Hidden Depths: There are a lot of hints to him being a Nature Lover. Even when ignoring his Social Darwinist speeches, the guy even tends to get a little poetic when describing the rain or admiring the cherry blossom trees.
- Hitbox Dissonance: His head uses his standard-sized hitbox, making it possible to hurt him by slicing the thin air where his neck would be.
- Image Song: "The Stains of Time," a song detailing Monsoon's nihilism and belief in war as a parallel to nature, also seen as a dedication to The Power of Hate as well.
- In a Single Bound: Similar to the fight with Blade Wolf, it's easy to loose track of Monsoon if he's leaping on top of walls and pillars and crossing from one side of the battlefield to another in mere seconds.
- Interface Screw: Getting trapped in the Red Phosphorus grenades he throws results in your lock-on being disabled, forcing you to orient yourself in Monsoon's direction manually each time he attacks you through the smoke.
- Ironic Echo: Monsoon claims that it's simply the law of nature that the strong prey upon the weak, it is just nature running its course when war happens. After Raiden defeats him by cutting off his head, Raiden throws it back in his face: "Don't be ashamed. It's only nature running its course."
- Lean and Mean: When compared to other cyborgs, such as his fellow Winds of Destruction members. He's also the tallest of the group at 202 cm (roughly 6'8").
- Magnetism Manipulation: Monsoon's gimmick is Electromagnetism. Since his body is just segments put together by magnets, he does Detachment Combat by shooting his segments at you. Throughout his Boss Battle, he also uses magnetism to throw tanks and choppers at Raiden. Finally, his Boss Banter consists of referencing Genius Bonus terms like Lorentz Force and Left Hand Rule (which can be confused as the other left-hand rule, or rather, Path.)
- Nice Hat: The back of his head has a solid metal brim, making him look like he's wearing a bowler hat from behind.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Monsoon is the only Cyborg Ninja in Desperado that implements actual Ninjutsu techniques, such as smoke bombs and sais as weapons.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: In contrast with Mistral, Samuel and Sundowner, he doesn't speak with his native accent (Khmer). Might be a Justified Trope, given that he is an Omniglot.
- Not So Different: Tries this with Raiden like Mistral before him.
- Off with His Head!: Raiden eventually kills Monsoon by cutting the one part of his body he didn't make detachable: his neck.
- Older Than They Look: Speculated. He is allegedly old enough to remember the brutality of the Khmer Rouge.
- Omniglot: Fluent in Khmer, Chinese, and English.
- The Power of Hate: Gives this speech to Raiden about the memetic power of hate before their fight. In death, he believes that Raiden's re-descent into madness to kill him made him successful in imparting this and his survival of the fittest meme onto Raiden.
- Sai Guy: Dystopia, his say pair.
- Selective Magnetism: In two forms.
- His main trait shown is the ability to separate his body into pieces, levitating and reattaching them at will and even being able to fire his detached body parts at you like bullets. Curiously, despite your blade (and most of your body) being metal, even up close these magnets can't affect or hurt you.
- At certain parts during the fight, he leaps to a higher area of the stage, and starts picking up tanks and helicopters to chuck at you. Then in the same vein, he can take a bunch of those tanks and helicopters, mash them together, and try to roll them over you in a gigantic wheel of death.
- The Coats Are Off: Averted, at no point does he take off his coat due to the fact that Monsoon is the only member of the Winds of Destruction to never be shown wearing some form of coat when not in battle. Justified as wearing a coat would mitigate his combat style.
- The Social Darwinist
- Sir Swearsalot: Averted; unlike most characters in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance he avoids using coarse language, even when losing his temper.
- Straw Nihilist: Considering what is implied to have happened in his past, you can't really blame him.
- Too Slow: Inverted; one of his taunts is that he's "too fast for that" (i.e. Raiden's attacks and tactics).
- Viewers Are Geniuses: Y'know how he mentions a "Left Hand Rule?"
- "Lorentz Force, GO!"
- Wall Crawl: The Jetstream DLC shows he's capable of using his magnetism to attach his body to sheer surfaces, such as walking along the underside of a support beam on a hangar ceiling. However, it's also treated fairly realistically; with the magnetic power needed to grip the metal with just the soles of his feet, he can at most walk at a pace just below a slight amble, so he mostly uses it to maintain a safe talking distance.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Oh boy, Monsoon sure is clever, designing his body to be immune to sword attacks. Looks like the only thing you can do is try and parry all his attacks to force him into his vulnerable state. Wait, are those EM Grenades being dropped when you slice up his thrown debris?
- Hoist by His Own Petard: This can also be achieved by using his own Sai against him during replays of the game or the Boss Rush before Sundowner.
- His primary weakness is even worse, part of the activation of his immunity/detachment mode is the pushing out of a cylindrical area from the front of his helmet... which counts as a huge "punch my face to make me vulnerable again" button.
Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama (JP), Benito Martinez (ENG)
Theme song: The Hot Wind BlowingA cyborg, and commanding officer working for Desperado Enforcement, he is one of the four cyborgs called the Winds of Destruction along with Sundowner, Mistral, and Monsoon. His codename is Khamsin, referring to a hot, dry, desert wind in the Middle East. He pilots a large, mech-like suit with a massive, rocket powered chainsaw axe. He believes in freedom and bringing it to the people of Abkhazia.
"Buckle the fuck up, little doggy. Remember this, we're bringin' freedom here if it kills us. Or better yet: them."
- Anti-Villain: His goal was the liberation of Abkhazia.
- An Axe to Grind: Not just any axe, but a massive chainsaw axe so heavy that even his mech suit (and the axe itself) needs rocket thrusters to swing it around.
- Actually, Khamsin's frame swings the axe around just fine. The rocket boosters are used to give the frame a good speed boost for movement, or, occasionally, a more powerful swing.
- Attack Its Weak Point: To do the most damage to Khamsin, you need to attack his exposed torso (it's not stated whether or not this is an actual design flaw of his mech or if he deliberately leaves it open), which can be attacked by sneaking up behind him after parrying one of his attacks which causes rocks to spring up creating barriers that Blade Wolf can hide behind.
- The Brute
- Calling Your Attacks: Will sometimes belt out "Sandstorm!" while using his Spin Attack.
- Cluster F-Bomb: Lets one of these loose as he's close to being beaten.
- Doomed by Canon: It should be clear that considering how he isn't around or even mentioned in the main game, Khamsin doesn't survive the DLC.
- Eagleland: Type 2, of course. He spouts a lot about "freedom," but is very willing to spread it through force, something which the American government was criticized for during the second Iraq war, which he fought in.
- Final Boss: Of the Blade Wolf DLC.
- Final-Exam Boss: Seeing as though Blade Wolf's DLC is much more stealth focused than the rest of the game, his fight also has a stealth section along with the spectacle fighting.
- Foil: To Blade Wolf, appropriately, as the final boss of its DLC. Blade Wolf seeks to free itself from Desperado's control, while Khamsin blindly spreads "freedom" on Desperado's orders. Both use the only notable chainsaw toothed weapons in the game, and both are "leashed" to Desperado like attack dogs: Blade Wolf by its memory wipes, and Khamsin being literally attached to a war machine.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: Khamsin's custom cyborg body removed the bottom half of his body; all that's left of it is a series of tentacles that allow him to move the rest of his body.
- Heroic Wannabe: Wants to be a soldier of justice and freedom, but is too crazed to see he's not doing anything of the sort by joining up with Desperado.
- Hypocrite: Believes in spreading "freedom", but is forcing it upon others rather than legitimately helping them. He also attacks and tries to destroy Bladewolf, whose goal is to be free of Desperado.
- Image Song: "The Hot Wind Blowing," a song that can be a bit more difficult to decipher than others. It seems to straddle Khamsin's genuine desire to bring justice and freedom to Abkhazia, but also details that he "knows no disgrace" because his moral compass is off. There is also a heavy bit of the song that seems to imply his pride at being a Wind of Destruction.
- Jerkass: Enough of one to be discharged from the Marines. And his obnoxious attitude earns him enough of Mistral's ire for her to set up a Batman Gambit resulting in Blade Wolf killing him.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: But he sincerely seems to believe in freedom.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: However, his zeal for freedom seems to go a bit too far.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: But he sincerely seems to believe in freedom.
- Man in the Machine: The entire lower half of his body consists of wires that connect into a robot mecha.
- The McCoy
- Mini-Mecha/Powered Armor: He deviates from the standard humanoid cyborg body by being connected to a large mobile suit.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Mistral's blue.
- Unwitting Pawn: He was misled into believing that Desperado's mission in Abkhazia involved giving freedom to the people.
Desperado Scientist
Voiced by: Benito Martinez (EN)The chief researcher at a Desperado-owned lab in Mexico responsible for the removal of brains from young orphans and their encasement in cyborg cranium canisters so Desperado and World Marshal can train them via VR training.
"You've heard of chloroform? A potent anesthetic in smaller doses. But breathe too much of it... And... adios, muchachos."
- Mad Doctor
- No Name Given
- Only in It for the Money: Unlike most of the other villains, he is not doing this for a higher cause or acting out a set of ideals, he only cares that he gets paid.
- Out-Gambitted: Tries to prevent Raiden from rescuing the orphans from being gassed by threatening to kill George at gunpoint. George, however, gives Raiden permission to cut through him in order to kill the scientist. Reassured, Raiden then cuts him in half.
- Would Hurt a Child: His Mad Doctor schemes on Disposable Vagrant orphans.
- Stupid Evil
Prime Minister N'Mani
Voiced by: Nobuaki Fukuda (JP), Dorian Harewood (EN)The Prime Minister of an unidentified African country. He takes quite a liking to Raiden. He is later killed by Sundowner.
"I must admit, I once thought of groups like yours as opportunists - enablers of war. But you've trained our new army well - order has returned sooner than expected. Perhaps I was wrong about these 'private military companies'..."
- Black Dude Dies First
- Face Death with Dignity: Despite being tortured by Sundowner, he never once pleads for mercy.
- Humble Hero: When his advisor says the state of the country is due to having a strong leader, he brushes it off, saying it's due to his peoples strong will.
- Meaningful Name: His name sounds like "mnemonic", meaning "relating to memory" or "designed to aid in memory", and the powerful memory of his death is the initial force that drives Raiden to go after Desperado Enforcement.
- The Nicknamer: He calls Raiden Mr. Lightning Bolt.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice
- Killed Off for Real
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Invoked. N'Mani is reasonable, modest, cares about his people, remains calm in a crisis, admits when he's wrong, and calls Raiden "Mr. Lightning Bolt" despite him being contracted security. For his brief screentime, he gets a lot of characterization — so that when Sundowner kills him, the player will sympathize with Raiden's quest to avenge him, and maybe start thinking that all these Desperado cyborgs deserve violent deaths...
- Sacrificial Lamb
- We Hardly Knew Ye: His only purpose in-story is for Sundowner to kill him to show that Desperado Enforcement are bad guys.
Wilhelm "Doktor" Voigt
Voiced by: Mugihito (JP), Jim Ward (EN)Though his real name is Wilhelm Voigt, he prefers to be called "Doktor." He researched advanced weaponry in the GDR (East Germany). He had no job after the fall of the Berlin Wall, but thanks to his studies on myoelectric prosthetics, he found pay working on cyborg technology. Maverick contracted him to remodel and perform maintenance on Raiden. He also uses his vast knowledge of cyborg technology to provide additional support for Raiden during missions. His company is probably TransHominid Systems GmbH, whose brand is clearly visible on Raiden's combat visor.
"Ich liebe Kapitalismus! Had the wall come down a few years earlier, I would have a Nobel Prize on my shelf."
- Action Survivor: Despite his job normally being providing upgrades to Raiden, he still braved the field of battle when Raiden went for World Marshal, piloting a helicopter to get him out of there.
- Collector of the Strange: He asks Raiden to collect the left hands of any cyborgs he kills, as that's where their combat data is kept. This is manifested as a BP bonus for cleanly dismembering enemies while in Blade Mode as well as certain limbs containing secret Patriots data that can be collected for unlockables.
- Cool Old Guy: Very cool old guy, despite being a Mad Scientist. He remains one of the friendliest and good-natured characters in the game, even going as far as offering field support to Raiden in Denver, and outfitting kidnapped orphans and brains with cyborg bodies to try and lead normal lives.
- Deadpan Snarker: Apparently Germans do have a sense of humor, as lampshaded by Raiden.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": He prefers to be called "Doktor" rather than Wilhelm or Dr. Voigt.
- Gender Bender: He mentions the possibility of getting a female-shaped cyborg body ("to surprise my colleagues") when he finds someone he considers competent enough to transfer his brain into one.
- Germanic Depressive: Defied: despite having come from East Germany, he's one of the most jovial characters in the game. Of course, the fact that he was paid to indulge in his favorite job probably helped. Raiden even lampshades the trope after the good Doktor responds to him jumping out of a helicopter with a cheery "have a nice flight!"Raiden: "And people say Germans aren't funny."
- Gratuitous German: Throws in bits of German while speaking, despite being fully fluent in English.
- Herr Doktor: He's a brilliant German cyborg engineer. Also lampshaded by his call sign "Doktor."
- Mad Scientist: Keeps a collection of severed cyborg arms in his workshop. It's mostly averted though, as he's quite nice and sane. Also, he actually didn't much care about whom he supported, as long as he got work. At least, at first.
- Pet the Dog: Built a firm to ensure the cyborgified children could have as close to a normal life as they can get.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Looks like Dr. Madnar without a mustache and is a scientist that specializes in cybernetics. Note that Dr. Madnar was the one who turned Raiden into a cyborg between the events of MGS2 and MGS4 and the original canceled version of Rising, which was meant to cover said events, would've presumably featured Dr. Madnar as part of Raiden's support crew.
- Transhuman: Considers cyborg technology the next stage of evolution, and the only reason he hasn't gotten himself a cyborg body yet is because he doesn't trust anyone else enough to implant his brain into one since he's obviously unable to do it himself.
- Verbal Tic: He likes to ask a lot of rhetorical questions, you know?
Andrey Dolzaev
Voiced by: Fumihiko Tachiki (JP), Travis Willingham (EN)An Abkazhian terrorist affiliated with Desperado.
"Built with Russia money, to make Russia money. It is no plant for Abkhaz — It is their prison!"
- Small Name, Big Ego: Considers himself Abkhazia's savior against Russian domination and thinks Mistral is interested in him. In reality, he "barely registers as a blip on Russia's radar," Mistral is actually fixated on Raiden, and Dolzaev is merely just a pawn in Desperado's game.
- Taking You with Me: After being trapped in the refinery, he decides to blow himself up along with it in a final act of resistance against the Russians. Raiden begrudgingly respects Dolzaev's dedication, but concludes that killing yourself when backed into a corner is merely suicide.
- Villainous Breakdown: He completely loses it after Mistral's death.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Emphasis on the Extremist part but he does want what's best for Abkazhia.
Voiced by: Mutsumi Tamura (JP), Sean Krishan (EN)A young Guyanese boy that meets Raiden in the sewers of Mexico. After being rescued, he's turned into a cyborg and joins Maverick.
"Mi? Wah da rass ayu fuh do here? Yuh lose da map a ninja hideout, ninja man?note
- Badass Boast: See Taking You with Me below.
- Cyborg: What he ultimately becomes. He doesn't seem to mind it. He still retains his original head and left arm, and Doktor remarks that Raiden preserved his lower half, thus meaning he will still be able to have children.
- Damsel out of Distress: Gets kidnapped and held hostage at gunpoint, but tells Raiden to cut down his captor regardless of what happens to him. He even gives him an opening to slice through.
- One Steve Limit: George has the same first name as Solidus Snake, which makes Raiden more than a tad uncomfortable.
- Ship Tease: Openly flirts with Sunny.
- Shoot the Hostage/Half the Man He Used to Be: Jesus... A Desperado doctor holds George at gunpoint is taken down when Raiden (with George's consent, mind you) cuts them both in half half. Judging by where the blade cut, it went through both lungs and his heart. He gets better, but still, yeesh...
- Taking You with Me: The reason he allows Raiden to do the above is that he'd be "taking [The Doctor] to hell with [him]". Damn... this kid is a badass.
- Translation Convention: He speaks with a thick (and hilariously bad) Guyanese accent, but the subtitles translate it to normal English.
Metal Gear Codename: EXCELSUS
Theme song: Collective ConsciousnessAnother Metal Gear built by the United States, this weapon was not kept secret like other Metal Gears. Also unlike other MG weapons it does not contain nuclear firepower, but it can use retractable blades, fire two large plasma cannons to attack, and can also tunnel under ground.
- BFS: Two of them. Raiden ultimately severs one and uses it to Blade Lock with the other.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Raiden ends up using one of its own retractable blades to put it down for good.
- Humongous Mecha: Keeping in traditional Metal Gear fashion being gigantic in size. It was designed to be huge and highly visible specifically so that civilians would know to flee when it was sighted, allowing it to fight enemy combatants without fear of collateral damage.
- Meaningful Name: Excelsus means high or lofty. It's also the species name of the Apatosaurus dinosaur.
- Roar Before Beating: Metal Gear EXCELSUS roars at Raiden before the battle against him begins.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: With cyborgs quickly becoming prominent on battlefields and proving to be far more dangerous than previous Metal Gears, this Metal Gear was designed to overwhelm them with sheer brute force.
WARNING: The following entry contains unmarked spoilers related to the end of the game. Read with caution.
Senator Steven Armstrong
Senator Steven Armstrong
Voiced by: Unshou Ishizuka (JP), Alastair Duncan (EN)
Theme song: It Has To Be This WayA Senator for Colorado, and a candidate for the US Presidency, Steven Armstrong is the backer of Desperado Enforcement and the main villain of the game. He uses nanomachines to enhance his body to freakish levels, granting him drastically increased strength, durability and speed during combat.
"Nationalism! Unilateralism! Materialism! Welcome maxims for those with no faith — without guiding principles of their own. Give yourself up to the whole. No need to better yourself — you're American! You're number one!"
- Achilles' Heel: Armstrong's nanomachines can only seem to respond to one high intensity attack in one area at a time- Raiden uses this during the last portion of their fight to stab Armstrong through his midsection by slashing him across his upper body, while Sam is able to use his gunsheath to cut off Armstrong's arm while the nanomachines are in his other arm.
- Action Politician: Being a Senator doesn't stop him from piloting a Metal Gear or getting into personal combat with Raiden.
- Adjusting Your Glasses: He does this while Raiden is going Jotaro on him just to emphasize that he is doing whatever the Scratch Damage equivalent to Scratch Damage is.
- Affably Evil: Between all his threats, he also polite and respectful to his opponents, even when he's winning. Particularly in the Jetstream DLC, where he's gently smiling while completely schooling Sam in a fight.
- It's to the point where he, during Raiden's I Surrender, Suckers moment, immediately helps Raiden up and dusts him off when he thinks Raiden will join him. Before this even when Raiden is utterly baffled at how he got to where he is we get this gem.Raiden: How the hell did you get elected?Armstrong: *Casually* Well, I don't write my own speeches.
- It's to the point where he, during Raiden's I Surrender, Suckers moment, immediately helps Raiden up and dusts him off when he thinks Raiden will join him. Before this even when Raiden is utterly baffled at how he got to where he is we get this gem.
- Ambiguous Robots: Thanks to his nanomachines, Armstrong is a fusion of man and machine on the cellular level.
- An Arm and a Leg: In the Jetstream DLC, Sam manages to sever Armstrong's right arm, but his body-hardening nanomachines keep the stump sharp, allowing him to sever Sam's own arm in return, as well as reattaching his.
- The Anti-Nihilist: He has a sideways version of Solid Snake's philosophy. He sees a world full of citizens pacified by empty principles and soldiers dying for causes they don't believe in, but rather than a world of peace, he wants to create a world of freedom - one where people can choose their own principles and fight for their own causes. He may not be able to end all war, but at least he can make sure that those who put their lives at stake are doing it for their own good reasons.
- Anti-Villain: Though he isn't above using child soldiers and using Desperado to create conflicts in nations that are recovering from war, he is a man that wants what's best for his country... Or at least what he thinks is the best. Being one of the only antagonists in the series that doesn't want to use nuclear weapons is also a plus. He also genuinely believes in Defeat Equals Friendship, has genuine respect for Raiden and really wants him on his side.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: He's both the ultimate backer of Desperado, and the most advanced and lethal combatant they have, using Nanomachines in his body to become nigh-invulnerable.
- Awesome, but Impractical: His nanomachines, they make him nigh-invulnerable and give him enough strength to make the ground explode with his fists, but require a huge amount of power to activate. He has to drain the remaining energy from the destroyed Excelsus to fight against Raiden, and in the Jetstream DLC he destroys several helicopters and armored vehicles in order to hulk out.
- Badass Baritone
- Badass Boast: The entire fight with him is riddled with these. Everything coming out of his mouth is this in spades. It's weird to hear that the man didn't write his own speeches. Then again, everything he says makes him sound crazy.
- Badass Bureaucrat: With the "Badass" part including physical badassery unlike most examples of the trope.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Though he drops the jacket when he pilots Excelsus, and the shirt when he gets serious with Raiden.
- Bare-Handed Blade Block: Not only does he catch Raiden's HF blade in one hand, he snaps it in half. He also does this if you get too trigger happy with Blade Mode on him.
- Battle Aura: Emits one during his fight with Raiden. In "Jetstream", he can also trigger an even bigger one when he Turns Red.
- Beat Still, My Heart: Raiden kills him by ripping out his still beating heart and crushing it.
- Big Bad: Of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. He's the ultimate backer of Desperado and the Winds of Destruction.
- Body Horror: Has giant veins coming out of a massive scar on his chest from which his nanomachine armor expands. Even Raiden looks shocked when he first sees it. His arms also gets covered with burn marks and scratches from using his nanomachines to generate massive amounts of heat for his punches.
- Blood Knight: Loves a good fight and says things like "Hah, that one hurt!" when he takes a lot of damage in the latter half in the fight. His biggest blood knight line of them all is probably "Hahaha! This is the greatest fight of my life!"
- Character Filibuster: He gives two of the longest speeches in the game.
- Cluster F-Bomb: Quite possibly the most foul-mouthed character in the Metal Gear franchise to date. His Motive Rant is also composed mostly of this.
- Cool Old Guy: Villainous example. One can even see that his hair has started whitening a bit.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: He's the de facto head of World Mashal, which seeks to create war to gather funds and isn't above using cyberized child soldiers.
- Corrupt Politician: Is a Colorado Senator with links to Private Military Contractors and human trafficking.
- Covered with Scars: Especially noticeable whenever he hulks up.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The fight with him is initially this, Raiden manages to get some hits in, but Armstrong mostly shrugs them off and gives him the worst beating his ever endured, up until Blade Wolf gives Raiden the Murasama. Also, his fight with Sam in the Jetstream DLC. The whole fight he was just testing him, and when Sam attempts another go, Armstrong gets serious and beats his face, even losing a hand barely slows him down.
- The Cynic: Outright says the "average joe" only cares about money. He also thinks people don't care about information control, or right and wrong, as long as the information is spun well enough to make them feel comfortable.
- Dark Messiah
- Deadpan Snarker
- Defeating the Undefeatable: He recruited Sam, who had garnered a reputation as an untouchable swordsman by breaking him in both body and spirit.
- Determinator: In the Final Battle he gets buried under rubble repeatedly, and if the player gets the Quick-Time Events right, kicked with enough force you can hear his ribs crack, punched repeatedly in the midsection, backhanded and smashed in the face with the full force of Raiden's fist hard enough to make him fly back several feet, yet still gets back up to kick ass. In the final part of the fight Raiden jabs the Murasama right through his midriff and Armstrong still tries to overpower him one last time!
- The Jetstream DLC, Sam cuts his hand off, and he uses the sharp stump of his arm as a weapon.
- Dystopia Justifies the Means: Wishes to make America a nation based on Social Darwinism, where everyone is free to fight and kill for what they believe in.
- Empowered Badass Normal: He was athletic and strong enough to play pro-football straight out of college before becoming a Navy SEAL. The nanomachines he uses bulk him up enormously, make him stronger than Raiden, and nearly impossible to kill to boot.
- Equal-Opportunity Evil: Will accept anybody from a Noble Demon to a Psycho for Hire who doesn't care about ideals into his ranks.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He's disgusted by what the Patriot AIs did to the world, and when he reveals his plans before the Final Battle, he straight up says that his "Second War on Terror" is only out to kill extremists, madmen and the like. Of course, when he talks about his "Second War On Terror" he is pretending to be a stereotypical Corrupt Politician and has just gotten through a speech on how easily manipulated the masses can be and profiting on war. So, it is likely he was referring to "extremists, madmen, etc." as labels that can be used to justify attacking other countries and starting war for profit. As he reveals after Raiden destroys Metal Gear Excelsus and fights him hand-to-hand, Armstrong actually despises war as a business and how the masses can be manipulated through government, labels, media, etc.; he is a Corrupt Politician, but he actually is also a Well-Intentioned Extremist who wants to give freedom to America from control by corrupt government, media, etc. ... by creating a Social Darwinist "utopia".
- Evil Is Petty: Calls cherry blossoms and other forms of transient beauty "sissy crap." Even mentions that he'll fire one of his executives for constructing the Japanese garden seen inside World Marshal, and that the guy will be lucky if he can even carry his box of personal belongings out of the office.
- Evil Sounds Deep
- Face Death with Dignity: He admits defeat when Raiden pulls his heart out, but goes down with his chin held high and his ideals untarnished.
- Final Boss: He's the final enemy of both the main game and the Jetstream DLC.
- Final-Exam Boss: His tactics echo those of the Winds of Destruction, making all of their battles a lead up to him. This is taken further in the Jetstream DLC, where he also has Monsoon's Selective Magnetism. If you haven't mastered every single mechanic of the combat system, Armstrong will wreck you.
- Friendly Enemy: As he admits, he actually rather likes Raiden and would rather have him on his side. He wouldn't have spent all that time debating philosophy if he didn't want to convince Raiden. Even more evident in the Jetstream DLC, where he keeps offering Sam a job.
- Forehead of Doom: According to the character designer, while Armstrong's original design made him look more intelligent, his forehead and chin were later emphasized to be more fitting with his character. Specifically, that of a man of action, not just words.
- Genius Bruiser: He is both a nigh-invincible juggernaut and a University of Texas graduate who can easily pilot an extremely advanced Metal Gear.
- The Glasses Come Off: He takes off his glasses off when he gets serious.
- Good Hair, Evil Hair: Armstrong never has a single strand of his slicked back hair out of place.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: Unlike other enemies, he doesn't use an HF weapon, just his fists.
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: The only one in the entire game who's seen smoking, and it's naturally cigars to boot.
- Go Out with a Smile: Dies happy knowing Raiden will keep trying to end war, even if unlike himself he won't try to create a Social-Darwinistic world.
- Graceful Loser: As he dies, he congratulates Raiden for his victory and encourages him to fight for what he believes in, thereby becoming the embodiment of his ideals.
- Hidden Badass: No one saw it coming that a Senator would be one of the most powerful combatants in the Metal Gear universe to date.
- Having a Blast: He can cause explosions simply by punching the ground. He can even do this while on a helipad.
- He also has an attack where he creates smaller explosions that chase you. It's possible that he's focusing superheated Nanomachines into the ground to cause fiery explosions. Or something.
- Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: The fight with him in "Jetstream". Despite apparently losing by the end of the fight with Sam, in the cutscene afterwards he gets back like nothing happened (and from the look of him compared to other bosses when defeated, very little did) and beats the tar of out him.
- Healing Factor: He can heal himself in the middle of a fight, though it also leaves him vulnerable. He can also reattach severed limbs.
- Hidden Depths: Twice. Like a good politician, he keeps his real motivations hidden very well. The first time you meet him, he gleefully admits to be a sort of neo-Patriot who's set on restarting the War Economy to maintain America's Superpower status. When Raiden points out the hypocrisy of his speech and his "politician persona", Armstrong admits even that is just a pretense, and is actually filled with extreme loathing of the shallow, sensationalist, materialistic culture he earlier claimed to support, and is actually planning to destroy America and rebuild it as a Darwinist utopia.
- Hulking Out: He uses a massive amount of electricity from either several helicopters or what's left of Metal Gear Excelsus to activate his nanomachines. This causes him to temporarily bulk up to a huge degree.
- Human Hammer-Throw: In "Jetstream", he pulls off a Giant Swing on Sam near the end of the battle.
- Humongous Mecha: Shows up in the gigantic Metal Gear Excelsus to slaughter Raiden with.
- I Let You Win/Hopeless Boss Fight: It becomes apparent by the final part of the fight that if Armstrong had fought seriously from the start, Raiden wouldn't have stood the tiniest of chances.
- I Know Madden Kombat: Played college ball, ya know. Hence he likes to punt people around as if they were American-style footballs and prefers powerful tackles.
- I Am Not Left-Handed: Raiden thought it was over when he destroyed Metal Gear Excelsus... then Armstrong activates his Super Mode. He was also holding back the first two rounds, only using his Magma Man powers for the final round, once Raiden has a weapon capable of actually hurting him.
- Improbable Weapon User: In the Jetstream Sam campaign, he uses a wound, of all things, as a weapon.
- Instant Armor: His nanomachines harden in response to physical trauma, allowing him to casually shrug off just about everything Raiden throws at him.
- Irony: A lot of fans have pointed out that his plan would essentially create the lawless Hell that is the world of Fist of the North Star, albeit one that isn't plagued by nuclear holocaust. The irony is that when powered up he looks and fights like Raoh, the very person in that world trying to bring about order and law.
- There's also his belief that individuals should be able pursue freedom and fight for what they believe in. When Blade Wolf, an ideal example of the individual that Armstrong describes, challenges Armstrong's position, his response is to attack him and disregard what he says.
- Of course, that also ties into what he said earlier. In his vision of a new America, if someone's views conflict with your own, you fight until one fighter's beliefs are rendered void. By punting Blade Wolf, he was trying to assert that his own views were superior to Wolf's.
- There's also his belief that individuals should be able pursue freedom and fight for what they believe in. When Blade Wolf, an ideal example of the individual that Armstrong describes, challenges Armstrong's position, his response is to attack him and disregard what he says.
- The Juggernaut: For the first two phases of his fight, Raiden can barely put a dent in him.
- Kick the Dog: A literal example. He punts Blade Wolf away after the latter gives Raiden the Murasama.
- At the end of Jetstream Sam's DLC, he extends his hand to shake Sam's. That is to say, the one he just cut off.
- Knight Templar: Claims he's a hero out to save America, despite being a "batshit insane" monster, according to Raiden.
- Large and in Charge: He's the Big Bad, who stands a full 200 centimeters tall with a heavy, muscular build.
- Large Ham/Evil Is Hammy: Big time, to a memetic degree.
- "Don't FUCK with this Senator!"
- "Feel the Wrath of the U.S.A.!"
- "Played college ball, ya know."
- "Ashes to ashes motherfucker!"
- "Hit the road, Jack!"
- "Uncle Sam needs you to die, Jack!"
- The entirety of his Cluster F-Bomb-laden Motive Rant.
- Lantern Jaw of Justice: Though his own brand of "justice" makes it a subversion.
- Laughably Evil: He spouts out some of the funniest lines a Metal Gear villain has delivered unironically. And that isn't even getting into his over-the-top transformation poses.
- Lightning Bruiser: He is both nigh-invulnerable and capable of flying across the final battlefield in a few seconds.
- The Man Behind the Man: He's the man behind World Marshall and Desperado.
- Manipulative Bastard: Easily adjusts for Raiden's attempt to interfere with his plans to his advantage. By framing his actions as terrorist attacks to justify starting a war, it allowed him to pull his plan off without having to kill the President like he originally intended.
- Meaningful Name: He has large, muscular arms. And that's not even getting into when he uses his Nanomachines.
- Meet the New Boss: Thirteen years after George "Solidus Snake" Sears's resignation from US Presidency over the Shadow Moses Incident and nine years after his insurrection during the Manhattan Incident, Presidential candidate Steven Armstrong expresses a similar desire to reboot the United States by instigating a revolution within the American homeland. The similarity to Sons of Liberty led to rumors that Solidus actually appears in this game; actually, the "Sears project" is mentioned in connection with plans to recruit child soldiers, just like Solidus did in Liberia.
- Motive Rant: Gives off one as he's pounding Raiden into the dirt:"'I have a dream.' That one day every person in this nation will control their own destiny. A nation of the truly free, dammit. A nation of action, not words, ruled by strength, not committee! Where the law changes to suit the individual, not the other way around. Where power and justice are back where they belong: in the hands of the people! Where every man is free to think — to act — for himself! Fuck all these limp-dick lawyers and chickenshit bureaucrats. Fuck this 24-hour Internet spew of trivia and celebrity bullshit! Fuck American pride! Fuck the media! FUCK ALL OF IT! America is diseased. Rotten to the core. There's no saving it — we need to pull it out by the roots. Wipe the slate clean. BURN IT DOWN! And from the ashes a new America will be born. Evolved, but untamed! The weak will be purged and the strongest will thrive — free to live as they see fit, they'll make America great again! ... In my new America, people will die and kill for what they BELIEVE! Not for money. not for oil! Not for what they're told is right. Every man will be free to fight his own wars!"
- My Rules Are Not Your Rules: Unlike every other boss in the game, Final Boss Armstrong has 200% health.
- Nigh-Invulnerability: His body is filled with nanomachines that makes his body many times harder than the CNT Muscle Fiber that Raiden is made of the instant he's attacked.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Once he decides to go all out, Armstrong first delivers a punch that sends Raiden flying, then traps the cyborg underneath him while starting to punch him in a slow pace before going Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs and finally finishes with a punch that's strong enough to blow up the Metal Gear EXCELSUS.Armstrong: Die, you PIECE OF SHIT!
- No Party Given: No indication is given as to his political party, and his yellow tie is neither Democrat blue nor Republican red.
- No-Sell: He's special in that he is the only fight in the entire game that makes no attempt whatsoever to dodge any attack flung at him. He either catches, blocks, or straight up ignores it.
- Noble Demon: Inverted. His means are evil, but his goal not necessarily so. It depends on how much stock you put into Social Darwinism and Might Makes Right. In any case, he seems to put a lot of emphasis on its freedom and claritive aspects, and genuinely believes he's making the world a better place by whatever means necessary.
- A more straight example is his apparent full belief in Defeat Means Friendship. While fighting Sam, he never gives up trying to recruit him, even while pounding his head into the concrete, even after Sam cuts off his arm, and always with that confident smile. When Raiden starts to look like he'll go the same route Sam did, Armstrong actually helps Raiden stand up and shakes his hand, and even gives him a Man Hug... which opens him up to giving Raiden the perfect opening to attack.
- Non-Action Big Bad: Averted.
- Not So Different:Armstrong: "Deep down... we're kindred spirits.... you..... and I."
- His boss theme even has lyrics to this effect.
- In a twisted sense, he sees himself as this to Solidus Snake given how he intends to free the US from the Patriots' lingering shadow by remodeling it into a Darwinist utopia.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: "Played college ball, ya know."
- Our Senators Are Different: Of the "Action" variety. And by "Action", we do mean "Action."
- Patriotic Fervor: Armstrong is an incredibly fervent patriot for America. Or rather a patriot for an America he intends to remodel into a Darwinist utopia.
- Playing with Fire: He's able to punch the ground with enough force to trigger massive bursts of flame.
- Pride: Arguably what leads to his defeat. Armstrong holds back on Raiden for the first two phases of the fight, thinking he can still convince him to join his side. By the time he decides to get serious and finish off his opponent, Blade Wolf makes an appearance and grants Raiden the one weapon that can harm him. Nonetheless, though defeated, he dies happy, knowing that in Raiden he has "a worthy succesor", who like him, will fight for his ideals no matter what.
- Punch! Punch! Punch! Uh Oh...: Raiden's attempts at Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs do nothing but slightly amuse him.
- Rated M for Manly: A mega-buff former football player-turned Navy SEAL turned senator who Hulks Out with ridiculous charges of electricity to become stronger than Raiden and able to create giant pillars of fire and lava with his punches.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: His glasses obscure his bright red eyes.
- Rule of Symbolism: When claiming to be acting in the interests of the War Economy, you fight him as he pilots the multi-billion dollar Metal Gear Excelsus. When you pull him out of that "shell", he reveals his Social Darwinist agenda and proceeds to beat you down with his sheer strength.
- Raiden fighting for his belief system's right to thrive over Armstrong's Social Darwinist ideals is reminiscent of a Presidential debate. Fittingly, Armstrong intends to be President in the year 2020, so Raiden is his first great debate opponent in the way of his Presidency; if he wins here, then he's already symbolically guaranteed his right to the future of America. Raiden's eventual victory over Armstrong symbolically has placed him as the leader of the new America, where his ideals will now be glorified instead. If you wanted to be more blatant about it, you could apply the business suit costume to Raiden during gameplay.
- On another level, Raiden fighting against Armstrong is symbolic of the struggle between the weak and the strong who prey on them. Raiden is symbolic of the citizens of America who for too long have been manipulated by politically powerful and wealthy men who dominate the way they live their lives, and Armstrong is symbolic of those crooked politicians. Raiden is symbolically representing every citizen who ever wanted to punch the politicians they hated in the face, and "fight the power" as the saying goes.
- When Raiden finally deals the finishing blow, he does it by ripping out Armstrong's heart and crushing it in his fist—Zandatsu, which is Raiden absorbing what he requires to fight from his enemies—ergo, Raiden took into himself Armstrong's ideals as he killed him, which would fuel him for his future struggles, as implied by Raiden's words and actions during The Stinger.
- Finally, as Armstrong lays dying, he gently claims that he and Raiden are kindred spirits deep down. His corpse's position, Raiden standing over it, the sun behind him and the camera's angle make it seem like Armstrong is the shadow cast by Raiden's figure.
- Selective Magnetism: In the "Jetstream" DLC, he demonstrates Monsoon's ability to levitate vehicles and toss them at his enemy. Possibly because he doesn't have any Excellus wreckage to throw at Sam.
- Shadow Archetype: During the scene mentioned under Graceful Loser, he points out that he and Raiden aren't that different from each other. To make it even more blatant, after the whole thing is over, the final shot of Raiden standing over his corpse is laid out so that it looks as if Raiden's shadow cast by the sun behind him was Armstrong himself.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Easily the most foul-mouthed character in the Metal Gear franchise.
- Spanner in the Works: Raiden certainty wasn't expecting the backer of Desperado to waiting for him in Pakistan with a giant robot and nano-machine enhancements that made him even stronger than his cyborg subordinates.
- Start X to Stop X: He himself admits that he's using war as a business to get elected so he can end war as a business.
- Strawman Political: Seems to take aspects of libertarianism to ludicrous, illogical extremes.
- Super Strength: Strong enough to make the entire Metal Gear Excelsus explode with a single punch.
- Super Mode: In the Jetstream Sam DLC, he Turns Red at low enough health. Try taunting him in this part of the fight, see where it gets you.
- The Social Darwinist: Wants to create a new America where the strong survive and the weak die. His motivations are very similar to the Patriots who wanted to socially engineer American evolution, only difference being is that instead of information control he intends to use violence to enforce this new world.
- Take Up My Sword: Upon his death, he tells Raiden he considers Raiden his successor, and Raiden should do what he thinks is right, regardless of what anyone else thinks.
- The Übermensch: Wants to create a Social Darwinist Utopia, everyone's else morality be damned.
- The Unfettered: Claims that things like laws and lives cost in the pursuit of your goal don't truly matter in the long run. In his words, "In making the mother of all omelets, you can't worry about a few eggs", basically meaning that in reaching the mother of all utopias, you can't worry about what you sacrifice to get there.
- Unskilled, but Strong: Compared to Raiden and Sam, he relies on calculated brute force, something he happens to have extraordinary amounts of.
- Villainous Friendship: Seems to be on very good terms with The Winds of Destruction. Has a Type III relationship with Mistral, a Type IV relationship with Monsoon, and while he doesn't interact with Sundowner in-game, he trusts him with control of Desperado. But not with Samuel as he regards him as a "pain in his ass" and it's unknown how he feels about Khamsin.
- Villain Has a Point: Raiden admits he's right regarding people being forced to fight in wars they don't believe in and for causes they don't understand, judging by him echoing his words in The Stinger.
- Villain with Good Publicity: At least partially because he doesn't write his own speeches. Hell, he's even a candidate for the 2020 elections.
- Visionary Villain: Wants to destroy and then remake the United States so it can be a place where every man, woman and child can fight for what they believe in, without being told by anyone else what is right or wrong.
- Walking Spoiler: Everything related to his role in the end of the game is not what you expect when you first see him.
- We Can Rule Together: After Armstong is finished with his rhetoric, Raiden appears to relent, realizing he's not dealing with a mere criminal but a true believer. Armstrong extends his hand as a gesture of goodwill... but Raiden hasn't completely lost his moral compass just yet."I was wrong. You're not greedy... YOU'RE BATSHIT INSANE!!!!"
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He really does want to make America great again and give the people true freedom. However, he plans to do this by creating hundreds of child soldiers, starting a war with Pakistan on false pretenses, and then burning the US government to the ground once he's in control of it.
- He sums up his intent at the end of the Jetstream DLC with:"Organized violence, waging war as business. We're gonna put an end to all that bullshit."
- He sums up his intent at the end of the Jetstream DLC with:
- World's Strongest Man: When he's hulked out, he's the single strongest character in the entire Metal Gear universe. He's also the strongest combatant of the most powerful PMC in the world.
- Worthy Opponent: Considers Raiden to be this. During the final boss battle he actually says that "this is the best fight of my life."
- Xanatos Speed Chess: Implied. It's not stated how Operation Tecumseh was supposed to work, but whatever the plan was, he managed to manipulate Raiden's involvement to make it work.