Joystiq

Les Enfants Terribles

French for "The Terrible Children," this project was started in the early 1970s in an effort to produce clones of Big Boss after the FOXHOUND leader sustained serious combat injuries resulting in a coma. The government's effort to replicate the "world's greatest soldier" resulted in the birth of three "Sons of Big Boss" in Solid Snake, Liquid Snake, and Solidus Snake.

A total of eight embryos were created during the cloning process, but five were sacrificed to ensure the viability of the remaining three. Solid Snake received all of Big Boss' recessive genes, Liquid Snake his dominant genes, and Solidus Snake a supposedly perfect balance of both.

Only Solid Snake survives as of MGS4, in keeping with a theme of the series that one's genes don't control one's destiny.

11/06/08