Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain gets so close to closing the circle between the prequels following Big Boss and the original Metal Gear. The former takes place in 1984, while the first game in the series is set in 1995. A lot happens in the eleven year interim which is vital to understanding the whole franchise.

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The once legendary IP is dormant, but with the way the gaming medium works there is always a chance it could rise up once again with either a remake or a brand new title further exploring the lore. If it did, perhaps it could further explore one of the following plot details below.

10 Kingdom Of Flies

MGS V phantom Pain Eli AKA Liquid Snake

Eli's Kingdom of Flies is reduced to a passing mention in the ending crawl describing world events from the following thirty years instead of a full-fledged mission as originally intended.

After escaping Mother Base with Sahelanthropus and the other kids, Eli forms a small colony with the other children on an island. Venom Snake chases the boy and discovers the island to be infected with the vocal cord parasite. He orders a napalm strike to eliminate the deadly parasite, leaving Eli behind to die. However, Eli is saved by Psycho Mantis at the last possible moment.

9 Liquid Joins The SAS

Metal Gear Solid Liquid Standing by Rex

After his wild childhood endeavors, Liquid Snake joins the SAS, or the Special Air Service. In the fiction he is the youngest person to ever join its ranks. During the Gulf War he was taken as prisoner, but rescued in 1994.

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His hatred towards Big Boss in Metal Gear Solid is more understandable after playing through The Phantom Pain. Ironically, Venom Snake was not his true biological father.

8 Frank Jaeger And Gustava Heffner

Cyborg Ninja Twin Snakes

Frank Jaeger's change of allegiance in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake goes back to his relationship with Czech figure skater Gustava Heffner. The couple fell in love during the 1988 Olympic Games and tried to settle down out west.

Unfortunately, her attempt at asylum was denied, forcing her to return to her home country in disgrace. After this tragic separation, Frank Jaeger, later known as Grey Fox, grew disillusioned with world politics.

7 Huey Emmerich Remarries

Huey Metal Gear Solid 5

]Huey makes it back to land after Venom Snake exiles him on a raft for his grotesque transgressions. He reunites with his son, Hal Emmerich, and eventually remarries.

This woman had her own child whom players will remember as Emma Emmerich from Metal Gear Solid 2. The tragedy which ripped the family apart would not transpire until after 1995, however.

6 Naomi Meets Big Boss

Naomi Hunter MGS 4 Act II

By all accounts, Frank Jaeger orphans Naomi Hunter some time in the late '70s. However, the enigmatic character would not meet Big Boss until sometime in the '80s in Mozambique.

The leader of Outer Heaven helped her and Frank move to the United States, where Grey Fox continued to take care of her out of guilt for murdering her parents.

5 Sniper Wolf Meets Big Boss

Sniper Wolf MGS the twin snakes

Sniper Wolf was born into conflict in Iraqi Kurdistan and knew nothing else in her early years. During her death speech in Metal Gear Solid, she describes growing up fearing for her life and regularly losing family members before Big Boss saved her some time in the mid-1980s.

Her disdain for the rest of the world came from their reluctance to stop the fighting in her home region.

4 Ocelot Becomes A Mercenary

Sometime after Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early '90s, Revolver Ocelot leaves Mother Base and becomes a mercenary.

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He also strengthened his relationship with Sergei Gurlukovich, feigning his desire to see Russia restore its former power, something which would only come to light in Metal Gear Solid 2. The mysterious gunslinger was playing the long game all this time, always helping Big Boss from the shadows.

3 Raiden Becomes A Child Soldier

Metal Gear Rising Revengeance Raiden

Raiden was just a child when the First Liberian Civil War broke out in 1989. At around six years old his parents were killed and he was trained by Solidus Snake to be a child soldier.

During his time fighting, he witnessed and took part in countless atrocities, most of which are too sickening to put into writing. Shortly after the war ended in 1997, Raiden fell into the Patriots' hands.

2 Miller Becomes A Survival Trainer

Metal Gear Solid 5 Kaz Miller

The end of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain sees Miller and Ocelot agree to coexist despite their differing loyalties between the two big bosses.

Sometime before Metal Gear, Miller leaves Mother Base and becomes a survival trainer, eventually meeting and training Solid Snake. His part assisting Snake in Metal Gear 2 makes more sense, since he has a clear reason for wanting to put Big Boss in the ground after feeling betrayed.

1 Complete Nuclear Disarmament

Phantom Pain Disarmement

This one is kind of a part of the main game, but is only accessible on the PC version. Never the less, it is vital information connecting The Phantom Pain to the 1987 franchise debut.

Outer Heaven is such a threat in Metal Gear because it has nuclear weapons and the rest of the world has gotten rid of its weapons of mass destruction. Knowing this also goes along way towards understanding the difference in Metal Gear's 1990s versus the real world's 1990s.

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