Metal Gear Solid.net

How old is Solid Snake?

HOW OLD IS SOLID SNAKE?... I bet a lot of people want to know! I'm determined to find out too!

I'm on a mission - a mission to find out Solid Snake's exact age! Come and join me on this top-secret op!

First, we don't know much about Snake, except the fact that he's in his 30s in the game. (Oh great! He could be anywhere between 30 and 39!)...But we do know that Snake has a twin brother, and that can come in very handy with dates...

In the game and in information about Snake, we find out that he was born in the 1970s, but that's only a help to us if we know what year the game takes place in...

...No problem. There are a few clues in the game as to when it takes place. For example, when Liquid Snake has just jumped into the cockpit of Metal Gear Rex and is starting it up, he shouts "Now I'll show you the power of the weapon that will lead us in the 21st century". That tells us that the game takes place around the year 2000.

Also, when Solid Snake is talking to Kenneth Baker, he says "But I thought the nuclear age ended with the turn of the millennium". That means the game takes place in 2000 or over.

Previous events can also come in handy. Snake was involved in the Gulf War, which took place in 1991. We don't know much about him then, but we do know (after listening to the Briefing) that his twin brother, Liquid Snake was in his late teens.

Also, in 1995, Snake went to Outer Heaven. But that doesn't tell us much, seeing as we don't know how old he was then.

But in 1999, Snake went to Zanzibar, which confirms that the game takes place in the 21st century like we worked out earlier...

Here's another clue: Snake went back to Outer Heaven, renamed Galuade 7 years after he first went there. If that was in 1995, 7 years later must have been 2002. But is that before or after Shadow Moses?

OK, so what year does the terrorist attack at Shadow Moses take place? We need to know...Well, when Snake's in the cell after Ocelot's torture, talking to Campbell and Naomi on the codec, he starts talking about his friends and family and mentions Zanzibar - Campbell says "It happened in Zanzibar 6 years ago". Brilliant! Now that we know that, we can work out the year that the game is set in. If you add 6 to 1999, you get 2005. Bingo! The year is 2005 during MGS at Shadow Moses Island!

Now, how old is Solid Snake? Bearing all these facts in mind, we can work out his age...

He must have been born between 1970 and 1979
In 1991 he was in his late teens
The Zanzibar Riot happened in 1999, 6 years before Shadow Moses
He is in his 30s in the game (at Shadow Moses)

If he was born in 1970 or 1971, during the Gulf War he would have been in his early 20s, but we know that he was a teenager, so that can't be right.

If he was born between 1976 or 1979, he would be in his 20s in the game (at Shadow Moses)...

So, he must have been born between 1972 and 1975. This means that during Shadow Moses he is 30-33 in age.

BUT, we can narrow it down a bit more!...

When Snake's in the torture machine listening to Liquid's conversation with Ocelot and Wolf, one of the first things Liquid says is "After 30 long years, finally the two of us meet". Snake and Liquid were separated at birth right? That suggests that Snake's about 30 years old...Although Liquid might have just been rounding down the exact number of years so that it sounded good...I mean, he could have said something like this: "After 32 years and 2 and a half months, finally the two of us meet". That might be more accurate, but sounds stupid, so we still don't know exactly how old Snake is...

CONCLUSION

We've narrowed it down as far as we can go for certain. Let's see the facts that we now know!...

If he's 30 at Shadow Moses (MGS), he was probably born in 1975 and was 16 during the Gulf War.
If he's 31 at Shadow Moses, he was likely to be born in 1976 and was 17 during the Gulf War.
If he's 32, he probably was born in 1973 and was 18 in the Gulf War.
If he was 33 at Shadow Moses, he was born in 1972 and was 19 during the Gulf War - the oldest he can be.

But, another thing we might need to know is the time of year that the game takes place in. Well, at the end, if you complete the game with Meryl, Snake will say while they're sitting on the Snowmobile looking out across the horizon, "It'll be Spring here soon". And also in the briefing Snake says he has to be at Anchorage next Saturday for the Iditarod which takes place at the begining of March. This tells us that the game takes place in February.

This isn't really that desperate to know because we don't know what month Snake and Liquid were born in, so we can't tell how old he is exactly. Who knows? Maybe it's Snake's birthday while he's at Shadow Moses Island! (I doubt it, but there's a 1 in 365 chance it is!)...

HOLD ON!!!!! - New information has been supplied! At Komami's official Metal Gear Solid 2 website it has information on the Game Boy Color game! It says that Solid Snake was in his 30s at Galuade. Because we know that Galuade was 7 years after Outer Heaven and therefore in 2002, Snake must've been 30! This means SOLID SNAKE IS 33 AT SHADOW MOSES ISLAND and must've been born in 1972!

Maybe in Metal Gear Solid 2, we'll find out some more information about Solid Snake to prove what I've said! On the other hand, it might completely disagree, but let's hope not! I'm sure we'll find out a lot more about Snake sometime! If Snake was born in January, he might be 34 during MGS, but it is more likely that he's 33...

NEWS JUST IN - the dates above are confirmed in MGS2, but not ages... but if you work it out Snake must be 35 on the Tanker and 37 on the Plant...

MORE CONFIRMATION: My efforts to prove that Snake was born in 1972 have also been confirmed at the end of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater where a timeline shows that Snake was definitely born in 1972! Awesome!