Revolver Ocelot is right up there with Solid Snake and Big Boss as far as iconic video game characters go. Introduced in Metal Gear Solid, his presence can be felt in each subsequent game. Even when he doesn’t appear, Ocelot finds a way to inject his presence into the plot, retroactively or otherwise.
Given just how narratively dense Metal Gear can be a franchise, it should come as no surprise that Ocelot’s character is seldom clear cut. He’s a difficult character to understand. Even knowing his motivation doesn’t help nail down moment to moment actions. Ocelot’s constantly shrouding himself in mystery, making him one of Metal Gear’s more interesting characters.
10 Ocelot Appears More Often Than Solid Snake
Solid Snake appears in five main games over the course of the franchise: Metal Gear, Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid, Sons of Liberty, and Guns of the Patriots. Ocelot appears in Metal Gear Solid, Sons of Liberty, Snake Eater, Guns of the Patriots, Portable Ops, and The Phantom Pain.
Revolver Ocelot is also the only character to play an active role in both the Solid Snake and Big Boss story arcs, actively influences the events from both halves of the series. Ocelot also ends up tying both major story arcs together, his presence ultimately leading to the rivalry between Snake and Liquid by proxy of Ocelot and Kaz.
9 Ocelot Was In Love With Big Boss All Along
While Snake Eater isn’t exactly subtle about it, serving as a major part of Ocelot’s development in Metal Gear Solid 3, it’s a detail that’s relegated to the subtext. Metal Gear Solid 4 further plays with the idea by having Ocelot kiss Snake during the final battle, and The Phantom Pain more or less confirms Ocelot’s infatuation with Big Boss.
It’s interesting to note that Ocelot’s softer tendencies only came around in detail after Big Boss was introduced as a playable character. Something about seeing Ocelot so invested in one man ultimately makes him more compelling and helps to make him a more nuanced character.
8 Big Boss Is Why Ocelot Fetishizes Torture
On the other hand, Ocelot’s infatuation with Big Boss isn’t depicted as entirely healthy. He’s downright obsessed with the man, almost going so far as to idolize Big Boss as a proper icon and not a person. This also extends to Ocelot’s nastier traits. It was watching Big Boss be tortured that woke him to his fetish.
Tortue is the ultimate form of flattery to Ocelot. Watching Big Boss be tortured showed to Ocelot that there were ways to appreciate someone’s resilience and strength. The fact Big Boss survived and came back stronger only furthered Ocelot’s love of torture. He must have loved torturing Solid Snake in MGS1.
7 Ocelot Is The Sorrow’s Son
Attentive fans will likely catch this sooner rather than later, but it’s nonetheless a detail that’s tricky to pin down. All throughout Metal Gear Solid 3, there are allusions and references to the baby that The Boss gave up. It’s very strongly implied that this baby is Ocelot to the point where this ends up being outright canonized.
Metal Gear Solid 3 also reveals that The Sorrow was The Boss’ lover, more or less saying that he was Ocelot’s father without saying it directly to the audience. It’s genuinely fascinating that the parentage of one of the series’ most important characters is handled entirely in the background of another character’s backstory.
6 Liquid Really Did Possess Ocelot
This little detail was also Kojima’s way of quietly and cleanly explaining Liquid’s possession of Ocelot in Metal Gear Solid 2 for any fans who were desperate for an answer. Ocelot was possessed by Liquid because his father had supernatural abilities linking him to the dead. Ocelot had Liquid’s haunted arm in MGS2 making this a “natural” explanation.
Of course, Metal Gear Solid 4 tries to retcon this out with Nanomachines while still ridiculously implying that Liquid still did possess him in spite of the Nanomachines. Come MGSV and Kojima even references Ocelot’s supernatural heritage, proving once and for all the lack of cohesion when it comes to the Liquid Ocelot dilemma.
5 Ocelot Is In Every Solid Snake Saga Game
The Metal Gear series is composed of two major story arcs: the Solid Snake saga and the Big Boss saga. Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake are arguably a part of the Solid Snake saga (and the latter is indeed an important entry in the franchise,) but the main story arc mostly pertains to themes and threads introduced in MGS1.
With that in mind, Ocelot appears in every Solid Snake saga game. More importantly, he’s the only character who was in every single Solid game up until Peace Walker. Even then, Ocelot is directly mentioned and comes back in The Phantom Pain anyways.
4 No One Ever Manages To Outsmart Ocelot
Ocelot is an active antagonist for four games straight and while Solid Snake does kill him in the end, he never actually managed to outsmart him. No one does, really. Ocelot outmaneuvers every single character in every game he appears in. Metal Gear Solid 4 is really the only time he fails, and even then that’s debatable.
His goal all along was to dismantle the Patriots and he succeeds. He may not have instilled Big Boss’ vision for the world, but he at least defeated their greatest threat all while using Solid Snake in the process. It’s almost comical how much of the series Ocelot orchestrates.
3 Ocelot Isn’t A Hero For Betraying The Patriots
Because Ocelot technically helps save the world at the end of Metal Gear Solid 4, it’s not unusual for some fans to come away with the impression that Ocelot was ultimately a hero. He helped defeat the Patriots and remove their grasp from the world, the exact same goals as Solid Snake, so he must be a hero, right?
It’s important to keep in mind that Ocelot wanted more than the Patriots gone. He specifically wanted to thrust the world into perpetual warfare, ensuring soldiers always had a place in the world and that Big Boss’ vision was intact. Ocelot basically wanted a worldwide wild west.
2 Liquid Is Liquid Ocelot’s The Dominant Personality In Japan
Interestingly, there’s a major difference in regards to Liquid Ocelot’s voice actor between regions. In Japan, Revolver Ocelot’s voice actor had passed away so the team ended up having Liquid’s voice actor voice Liquid Ocelot. In the west, however, it was decided to keep Ocelot’s voice actor in order to better match the model to the voice.
Regardless of region, this leads to some side effects. In the west, while the game refers to the character as Liquid, Ocelot maintains a very pivotal presence to the point where the twist he was in control all along may not be surprising. In Japan, however, Ocelot speaks just like Liquid, really giving the impression that the Ocelot persona is gone.
1 Ocelot Is Tied To The Major Plot Twist In Numbered Games
It doesn’t matter the twist. So long as it’s a numbered game and Ocelot is around, he’s going to be involved in the twist. Ocelot ends up orchestrating the events of Shadow Moses in Metal Gear Solid, manipulating Liquid who was manipulating Snake. Ocelot steals the RAY for himself, uses it to betray Solidus, and ties it into his plan to betray the Patriots in MGS2.
Ocelot was working for the United States all along in Snake Eater, helping keep the plot moving according to plan; Ocelot was working against the Patriots all along in MGS4 and he wasn’t possessed by Liquid at all, and Ocelot is inherently tied to MGSV’s twist where it’s revealed that Venom was only Big Boss’ body double.