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“ | This world is one of sadness... Battle brings death. Death bring sorrow. The living... may not hear them. Their voices... may fall on deaf ears... But, make no mistake... the dead... are not silent.. | „ |
~ The Sorrow confronting Naked Snake in the spirit world. |
“ | The Sorrow: Boss, you have to shoot me! The Boss: I can't! |
„ |
~ The Sorrow's final words to The Boss before she is forced to execute him. |
The Sorrow is a supporting protagonist of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. He was one of the members of Cobra Unit, fighting alongside the Boss. After a failed mission, he persuaded the Boss to kill him in order to protect her and their son from the Philosophers. After his death, as he promised, his spirit remained in Tselinoyarsk, where he appeared to her and Naked Snake on multiple occasions.
He is voiced in English by David Thomas, who also voiced president Nikita Khrushchev in the same game as well as Thunderbolt Ross in The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. In Japanese, he is voiced by Yukitoshi Hori, who also voiced Lu Meng in the Dynasty Warriors series.
Personality[]
Despite his experience as a soldier, he was deeply sorrowful over the lives that were lost, which earned him his codename in Cobra Unit. Nevertheless, he maintains a smile on his face in all his appearances, taking a degree of amusement from the situations he observes Snake in, in contrast to his lover, who was codenamed "The Joy," yet rarely is shown smiling.
He seeks to help those he and the Boss cared for, especially Snake, whom he appears to multiple times, giving him guidance and support, in the background, through various parts of Operation Snake Eater, as well as having him confront his inner demons in the spirit world by summoning all the people he had killed along with shedding light on both of their pasts and fates.
History[]
Early Life, Career, and Death[]
During the 1940s, he and The Boss fought together as part of the Cobra Unit in World War II. While the both of them were fighting in Normandy on D-Day, she gave birth to their son. He would go on to work for the Soviet Union as an agent after the war, but after The Boss failed her mission at the Mercury Mansion, they met at Tselinoyarsk, where he urged her to kill him, as the Philosophers would kill their son if the two of them both stayed alive, promising his spirit would remain with her. She reluctantly obliged and shot him in his left eye, killing him.
Operation Snake Eater[]
As the surviving members of Cobra Unit returned to Tselinoyarsk with The Boss, his spirit, as promised, began appearing alongside them without their knowledge, aside from some passing notice by The Boss. He first appeared to Naked Snake after The Boss, his former mentor, threw him off the Dolinovodno bridge, appearing in the rain weeping blood from the eye that The Boss shot. He would appear to Snake again when he was imprisoned at Groznyj Grad, offering him the frequency to unlock his cell door.
He would, shortly after, confront Snake after he jumped off a waterfall during his escape from Groznyj Grad and ended up in the Spirit World as he was drowning in the river. The Sorrow summoned all the spirits of the people Snake had killed up to that point, including the other members of Cobra Unit that had died at his hands, telling Snake he was a "part of his sorrow." As he was being tormented by these spirits, the Sorrow guides him out of the Spirit World, foreshadowing Solid and Liquid Snake to him, saying "light and darkness" dwelled within Naked Snake. As Snake was regaining consciousness, he revealed the true nature about his death to him, receiving a vision of his final words to The Boss along with further confirmation of his true fate from Major Zero.
He appeared once again to Snake when he returned to Groznyj Grad to confront Colonel Volgin, giving Snake the amount of time left before the C3 he had planted would explode, destroying the Shagohod hangar, as well as after Volgin was struck by lightning soon after, appearing next to Eva, smiling. He finally reunited with The Boss after her death at Rokovoj Bereg, where their spirits finally vanished.
Afterwards[]
He is later revealed to have cursed Volgin during the events at Groznyj Grad, turning him into the Man on Fire in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. His likeness later reappears during the events of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, appearing as one of the puppets of Screaming Mantis. However, the true spirit of The Sorrow would then throw Mantis back to the spirit world and recall his final words to The Boss to Solid Snake.
External Links[]
- The Sorrow on the Metal Gear wiki