Metal Gear Solid: Revolver Ocelot Explained

You're Pretty Good

It would appear that after all this time, Ocelot was still fighting the fight that Big Boss sought for: a world without borders. After their time together in Snake Eater, then being drafted together into Cipher, Ocelot stayed true to the Boss' will against Zero's vision of total rule.

Whilst they may have shared similar ideas across the years, by the events of The Phantom Pain, dissent was starting to creep into Ocelot's mind about where it was all going. A governing force is one thing, but a suppressive and controlling AI? That was too much. It would also explain why Ocelot "accidentally" killed Donald Anderson in Metal Gear Solid. After all, Anderson (aka SIGINT) was the man responsible for launching the AI in the first place.

For all his treachery and seemingly obvious "typical bad guy seeking world domination" traits, Ocelot was quite the opposite by the end.

That's not to say he gets a completely free pass.

He's no angel, having sacrificed many of his own soldiers through numerous experiments, test runs and wars throughout the decades. From a black and white standpoint, he's definitely in the darker shade of things for a lot of it.

However, for a man biding his time to overthrow the greatest threat to civilization since the 80's, he's certainly made true on it. Granted, this could have been avoided right back at the start before Zero and Big Boss' rift, but no one's clairvoyant.

But for a man painted as the villain of the piece, in not one but several games, Ocelot's redemption arc as a sort-of hero coming to light in MGS4 was a surprising one. Oh sure, it's not to say ruling under his forces would have been sunshine and roses, but over an oppressive AI system with a corrupt intention, makes you wonder which we'd prefer.

So there you have it! The long-winded, time-hopping, fragmented look at why Revolver Ocelot is one of the best villains yet not the true villain we think he is.

If you were just as confused as you were coming into this, then welcome to the world of Metal Gear. This was just one character in the long-running franchise. Wait until we delve into the history of Grey Fox, or a retrospective on the rest of the FOXHOUND unit. Or how Mei Ling ended up commanding a naval battleship...