Solid Snake

Solid Snake
Metal Gear character
Promotional illustration of Solid Snake for Metal Gear Solid
First game	Metal Gear (1987)
Created by	Hideo Kojima
Designed by	Yoji Shinkawa (Metal Gear Solid series) Ikuya Nakamura (Metal Gear: Ghost Babel) Tsubasa Masao (Metal Gear Acid series)
Voiced by (English)	David Hayter
Voiced by (Japanese)	Akio Ōtsuka
Motion capture	Mizuho Yoshida (Metal Gear Solid 2, The Twin Snakes) Ryoji Okamoto (Metal Gear Solid 4) Ian MacDougall (Metal Gear Solid 4 [facial capture])
Portrayed by	Giacomo Talamini (Metal Gear Solid: Philanthropy)
Fictional profile
Real name	David / Dave (Metal Gear Solid (The Twin Snakes))
Aliases	Iroquois Pliskin (Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty) Old Snake (Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots) Perfect Warrior Legendary Hero "The Man Who Makes The Impossible Possible"
Nationality	American
Affiliations	FOXHOUND (Metal Gear series) CIA (Metal Gear series) Department Of Defense (Metal Gear Solid) Philanthropy (Metal Gear Solid 2) Hired assassin (Metal Gear Solid 4)

Solid Snake is the main hero and the primary protagonist of the Metal Gear main series and its sequels. A former Green Beret and a highly skilled special operations soldier engaged in solo stealth and espionage missions, he is often tasked with destroying models of the bipedal nuclear weapon-armed mecha known as Metal Gear. Controlled by the player, he must act alone, supported via radio by commanding officers and specialists. While his first appearances in the original Metal Gear games were references to Hollywood films, the Metal Gear Solid series has given a consistent design by artist Yoji Shinkawa alongside an established personality. The character has been well received by critics.

During the Metal Gear Solid games, the character has been voiced by Akio Ōtsuka in the Japanese version and by actor and screenwriter David Hayter in the English version.

During his debut appearances, Solid Snake's visual appearances were references to popular actors, and he was given his own consistent design in Metal Gear Solid. Such design shows him as a brown-haired adult wearing a dark "sneaking suit", as well as a bandana. This appearance has remained mostly consistent throughout subsequent installments, with minor changes due to his advancing age. During Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, he disguises himself by wearing a Navy SEAL uniform. Nevertheless, he still wears his sneaking suit for missions and has access to different disguises to make him look like other characters, as well as his younger self. He also establishes Philanthropy, an Anti-Metal Gear Organization carrying the motto "To let the world be", with his best friend Otacon.

He possesses an IQ of 180, and is fluent in six languages. Solid Snake has been on the battlefield for most of his life; a hardened veteran, he has his emotions buried very deep inside himself during his missions, every one of which has different motives. He is also immediately shown as a loner, often with no intentions of taking orders from anyone anymore and he shows no sign of longing for the army or the country he was part of. However, along with these traits he nevertheless has a more human side, being flirtatious, self-sacrificing and with a strong belief that even on a battlefield friendship and love can flourish, and that violence is not glorious. But Snake's perceived stance on violence may be a case of denial, as Snake's enemies and at least one of his allies have claimed that, in truth, he enjoys killing, and label him as more evil than the people he has killed. When he is not on duty, he acts as a musher.