Metal Gear Solid: Every Snake Ranked
1. Solid Snake
What makes Solid Snake a compelling character and multi-layered is his acknowledgment of social constructs and government corruption, yet maintaining faith in the face of cynicism outside of these institutions.
Snake sees beyond the condition of his existence unlike his brothers Liquid and Solidus, he rejects his lineage. Even with recessive genes he's proven it doesn't define who he is. The end of MGS1 left Snake finding his own reason for living and fighting for something beyond himself, whereas his brothers simply sought the construction of Outer Heaven and abolishing The Patriots for their a personal agenda, clout, and lineage.
His compassion and empathy towards Raiden exemplifies this as he tries passing this epiphany to Raiden because he, too, was disillusioned and naive. Even at the end of MGS4, when Snake was told FOXDIE would start a pandemic, he chose the route of suicide out of altruism. Solid Snake followed closer to The Boss's philosophy than any of his siblings and even his own father by becoming his own person and wanting to break the circle of conflict.
His altruism and empathy led him to stray from his predestined legacy and forge not only his own future, but help in creating a new one.