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In the ''), that later renamed themselves The Patriots. The organization's first appearance in the series was ''''. Through its main secret agent, Revolver Ocelot , the Patriots are often times implied in the storyline to be the cause of almost all the trials faced by the main protagonists of the ''Metal Gear Solid'' series ( Solid Snake , Raiden , and Naked Snake ), presenting it as the ultimate antagonist of the series. The actual members of the Patriots, whose personalities are unknown, are presided over by a Council of twelve individuals called the "Wisemen's Committee". There is no further information regarding the organization's depth apart from this in terms of structure and hierarchy. However, the Patriots employ numerous spies and agents spread throughout the government agencies of the U.S.A. It should be noted that typically when one refers to the Patriots, they are referring to the core 12 members of the Wisemen's Committee. The President Of The United States himself is subordinate to the Patriots. To become President, one must first pledge allegiance to the Patriots, which was revealed between a CODEC conversation between Raiden and the President. The Commandant Of The Marine Corps , Scott Dolph, knew of their existence, having referred to them as the "La-li-lu-le-lo". A man named "Richard Ames," identified as a former colonel, Secret Service agent, and a member of the DIA , was an agent of the Patriots before his death. Revolver Ocelot is also another Patriot spy. In ''Metal Gear Solid 3'', it was revealed that the Patriots are an offshoot of a larger international group known as The Philosophers . The Philosophers consisted of the leaders of the United States , the Soviet Union , and China . After the end of World War I , they formed a secret pact for unknown reasons, thus creating the Philosophers. By the time World War II had broken out, all of the original members were dead and the organization ran out of control, focusing on creating a new world order. During World War II, they agreed to pool together their respective countries' financial and military resources in order to defeat the Axis Powers . At the end of the war, a new order would be established with themselves in control. Atomic testing and its subsequent weaponry, rocket technology, and the Cobra Unit were the results of this pact. The father of the villain of ''Metal Gear Solid 3'', Colonel Volgin , was assigned to the money laundering activities of the group, and during the war, stole the money they had amassed. In 1964, the events of ''Metal Gear Solid 3'' explain how the U.S. branch of the Philosophers retrieves the money from Volgin. Upon finally acquiring all the funds from the various banks throughout the world in 1970, the U.S. branch of the ''Philosophers'' split from the international group and became the Patriots. With all of the power of the original group now in the USA, the Chinese and Russian branches seemingly faded away over the years. Although ''Metal Gear Solid 3'' explained the names on the disc that Otacon and Solid Snake had at the end of ''Metal Gear Solid 2'', it still left the identity or identities of the Patriots at the time of ''Metal Gear Solid 2'' as a mystery. However, ''Metal Gear Solid 3'' established that Ocelot was a Patriot spy during that game, and that he was reporting to the Director Of Central Intelligence of the United States . WHAT ARE THE PATRIOTS? There have been numerous theories about their origin before the release of Metal Gear Solid 3, as the only piece of information available occurs at the ending of '''', when they converse with Raiden through his CODEC radio. The Patriots insinuate that they are not quite "human." They appear to have all the characteristics of a disembodied computer AI , but claim to have existed for 200 years as a consciousness developed in the " Primordial Soup " of the White House. Near the end of ''Metal Gear Solid 2'', they appear as a skull-like visage that briefly flashes on and off in the middle of a codec conversation. One of the strongest theories, backed up by the declaration of the themes for each game by creator Hideo Kojima during the E³ 2004, is that they are beings born out of information, and are therefore Memes . This is reinforced by a conversation the player has at the end of the game:
There is no real reason to believe anything the Patriots say, because they consistently deceive everyone they deal with -- including their own agents, such as Revolver Ocelot. It's entirely possible their origin is simply a myth created to mislead the main characters, and dissuade them from pursuing the idea that the Patriots are real men who can be found and killed. A clue is given in the third installment of the ''MGS'' series. At the end of the game, Ocelot manages to retrieve the Philosopher's Legacy so that "the Philosophers can finally be revived" (quoted from the last telephone conversation Ocelot has with the CIA Director). It's impossible to know what Ocelot means by "revived," but if the Patriots are telling the truth and they are no longer human, this means that someone (most likely the CIA) managed to bring the American branch of the Wisemen's Committee back to life, or at least their memories or consciousness in a physical manifestation or digital form (supporting this is also this line, said by the JFK AI Rose on top of Federal Hall at the end of MGS2: "We started with genetic engineering, and in the end, we succeeded in digitizing life itself"). This is still pure speculation. A digital form seems most likely, as the entities that Raiden communicates with look like Colonel Campbell and Rosemary. Though the images of these two people are created by Raiden himself, not the AI. Otacon even suggests that the "Colonel Campbell" speaking to Raiden is most likely a combined form of computer AI and Raiden's own expectations. This supports the idea that the Patriots could also be a memetic of some kind, or they are indeed born out of information. It could also suggest that the Patriots are being metaphorical in an attempt to sound immortal and all powerful, as they are talking about the ideas behind the group and not the actual members. The idea that the Patriots are a particularly strong meme fits well with their self-description of not being human; the Patriots may have once been an organization with agents reporting to one another and to their leaders. However, over time, this formal organization may have deteriorated (or evolved) into an entity whose only central binding element was the original principals and ideals of the Wiseman's Committee. That is, the true nature of the Patriots is no longer that of an organization, but rather individuals who share the ideals, methods, and practices of the original Patriots; they are human, but not entirely, as there is no structured entity to report to. Regardless of their true nature, the Patriots have a strong interest in controlling the development of human civilization and evolution by way of controlling the information humans accept as fact (in essence, telling them what version of history to believe). Their purpose to create Arsenal Gear is to test the S3 ( Selection For Societal Sanity ), a system to control and select memes that are supposed to be "good" for the human race, and that Natural Selection cannot happen in the current information flow in which every piece is kept.
Another interesting theory is that The Patriots, in controlling the human race's development and culture, intend to maintain their own existence, which is the act of self-preservation common when considering memes and/or genes. Because the existence of the Patriots is bound to the society's, it would be in their interest to always spread their values (memes) throughout the society. It is also theorized that they actually do not exist at all. In MGS2, during a CODEC conversation between Solid Snake and Otacon, Otacon says that he has the names of the Patriots, but that they all died about a hundred years before the plant chapter of MGS2. Some speculate that the Patriots were only an excuse from the government to let Ocelot carry out his own will. AGENTS OF THE PATRIOTS
The Sons of Big Boss - Solid , Liquid , and Solidus were originally conceived out of Les Enfants Terribles, a Patriots project, but they later acted of their own accord (with the exception of Solidus who later worked with them afterwards). NAME ORIGIN "La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo" is essentially the romanized pronunciation of the five adjacent Japanese hiragana "ra, ri, ru, re, ro." (There is no "L" sound in Japanese, although the pronunciation of "R" syllables is halfway between the English "R" and "L" sounds.) A comparable idea in English would be an organization named "L-M-N-O-P". How this came to be an alternate appellation for the Patriots is as of yet unexplained, although some believe that certain people are only able to refer to the Patriots as the "La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo", hence why Marine commander Scott Dolph during his conversation with Ocelot refers to them as the latter, instead of the Patriots. Another theory is, codeword clearence the Patriots have set up via nano's, which the President mentions in ''MGS2'' to Raiden. When the word "Patriots" is said, people without codeword clearence will simply hear it as "La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo". This will lead people to believe that is their name, with their real name remaining unknown in their mind. Also in '''' Big Boss says the same words. |