7. Ishmael Is Part Of Big Boss' Subconscious
Kojima Productions
The Rumour: Ishmael is a hospital patient who Big Boss meets upon awakening in 1984, wearing bandages over his face that obscure his identity, and in early trailers for the game, appears to assist Big Boss in attempting to escape the hospital. However, some believe that Ishmael may in fact merely be a facet of Big Boss' own subconscious, a figment of his imagination created by Big Boss' own post-traumatic stress disorder who, once the bandages are torn off, will presumably resemble Big Boss in some form.
How Likely Is It? Given that Kiefer Sutherland is also voicing Ishmael, it's pretty damn likely. In addition to this, in the earlier trailer, we see Ishmael recover from being on fire without a scratch, and perhaps most compellingly, he is only seen in a very small portion of the game so far: we haven't seen him hanging out with Big Boss post-rescue, suggesting he either dies, or as is more likely, he simply never existed. In addition to this, when the likes of Psycho Mantis might be around messing with everyone's minds (which we'll get to shortly), why wouldn't Big Boss start hallucinating?
8/10.