Why is Gray Fox obsessed with Solid Snake? Why does he desire death so much? What exactly happened to him after the events of Zanzibar Land? And above all, why, if he worked on the same side as Snake, do we later see him fighting for the enemy? These are questions that I always asked myself the first times I played the saga when I was young. Frank Jaeger, better known as Gray Fox, seemed to me an extremely impressive, deadly, and even sadistic character, but I had a great curiosity to know the man behind the exoskeleton and the situations that led him to become a lethal ghost.
Gray Fox, the legendary ninja whose past is marked by loyalty, tragedy, and a transformation that led him to become an iconic figure in the world of video games, rises from the dead to stalk us in our mission, and he does it with style. So these last few days, I’ve delved into researching and discovering things about him to share the complete story of this great character from Metal Gear Solid: Gray Fox.
The Perfect Soldier
Not much is known about Frank Jaeger’s parents, and the data provided by the saga tends to be confusing and contradictory. In MG2 for MSX, Fox tells us that he lived in Vietnam and was sent to a forced labor camp after the war, and that Big Boss rescued him. In Metal Gear Solid: Official Mission Handbook, it is said that he was born in 1970 and is half German-American, half Vietnamese. Later in Portable Ops, Gray Fox’s birth is contradicted, as it occurs during 1970, and he appears in this game under the alias Null. Then, in Metal Gear Solid V, it is mentioned that Big Boss was in a coma during the Vietnam War and did not wake up until 1984.
What is certain is that Frank has German heritage, and from an early age, he acted as a child soldier during the war. He grew up on the battlefield, leading to the first significant event in his life: during the Rhodesian Civil War (territory currently divided between Zambia and Zimbabwe), Frank Jaeger murdered a possibly British couple in the area, unwittingly leaving a girl orphaned. Seeing her on the banks of the Zambezi River, on the brink of starvation, Frank felt immense guilt and did something he had never done before; he decided to save her by giving her his rations and adopted her, raising her as his sister and giving her a name.
This murder forever marked his life, causing Frank (a young man who grew up in war, with a highly distorted concept of right and wrong) to swing between what was right and what was wrong. With these doubts in his head and a new sister, he goes to Mozambique to participate in the civil war. Apparently, Frank was captured and tortured, and it was none other than Big Boss who rescued him. Frank introduces him to his sister Naomi, and Big Boss decides to give them a chance by taking them to the United States.
During this time, Naomi attends college, and Frank, needing the adrenaline of battle, returns to Africa with Big Boss to finish the war. Upon returning, he makes an effort to start a new life. During the Calgary Olympics, he meets Gustava Heffner (Nastasha Marcova in the MG2 version for MSX), a Czech figure skater. Both fall deeply in love and try to build a home together, but these plans are shattered when the U.S. government denies asylum to Gustava, sending her back to her country and condemning her to persecution for attempting to desert.
With Gustava gone, Frank’s hopes of having a normal life disappear. His stay in the United States was not what Frank was accustomed to, and combined with his resentment for the Cold War policies that forced him to separate from Gustava, he becomes part of the FOXHOUND special forces unit when Big Boss is reinstated to lead it.
Frank was a perfect soldier, highly respected among FOXHOUND members, and due to his skills, he became the most decorated soldier in the unit, being given the code name “FOX”; his real name remained confidential. During his time in FOXHOUND, he helped train some soldiers, including a rookie Solid Snake, with whom he developed a friendship and became a kind of mentor.
Operation0 Intrude N312
Outer Heaven, a completely independent nation located north of Galzburg in South Africa, had become a sanctuary for military deserters from their countries who did not want to be used by their governments. In the heart of this nation, a powerful nuclear weapon was being secretly constructed, and under the command of Big Boss, Gray Fox was assigned to Operation Intruder N312, where he had to infiltrate Outer Heaven and investigate the nuclear weapon.
During his infiltration, Gray Fox successfully gathered information about the fortress, the weapons they handled, surveillance systems, and ultimately information about the nuclear weapon. However, he was later captured, and his last message transmitted to FOXHOUND was “Metal Gear.”
This is how the rookie Solid Snake is assigned to infiltrate Outer Heaven in Operation Intrude N313 with the goal of rescuing Gray Fox and collecting as much information as possible about Metal Gear. Solid Snake proves to be an efficient soldier, rescuing Gray Fox and destroying Metal Gear. When Big Boss reveals himself as the true leader of Outer Heaven, Gray Fox disappears from the lives of all his comrades, deserting FOXHOUND.
Gray Fox followed Big Boss to Zanzibar, where he trained mercenaries and earned the rank of lieutenant, being assigned his own command of soldiers to lead in Zanzibar.
The struggle between reason and duty
After the kidnapping of the Czech biologist Dr. Marv and seeing Big Boss’s plans to bring a new era of armed conflicts by building a new Metal Gear, Gray Fox began to conflict. Upon learning that it is Solid Snake who was assigned to the mission to stop Big Boss, Gray Fox decided to secretly pass information to Snake, simply telling him that he was his number one fan and thus becoming a kind of double agent who still wanted to be part of the war.
On the Bridge of Sorrows, Gray Fox meets Solid Snake, who is indicating to Dr. Marv and Gustava Heffner to cross. Gustava had been assisting Snake in rescuing Dr. Marv as part of the STB, and while she is crossing the bridge, Gray Fox, aboard Metal Gear D, destroys the bridge, unknowingly ending Gustava’s life. Fox urges Snake to leave Zanzibar, but the mission continues, and seeing that Snake does not stop his advance, Gray Fox tells him that their friendship is over.
While informing and warning Snake of the dangers, posing as his admirer, he also places obstacles to slow Snake’s progress. As Snake gathers important information in the detention area, Gray Fox decides to set a trap and makes Snake fall through a trapdoor in the room. Aboard Metal Gear, Gray Fox confronts Snake, but Snake ends up winning, causing the Metal Gear to catch fire. Fox, still alive and in an attempt to stop Snake and get the information he possesses, guides him to a room full of mines, where they face each other, once again, in hand-to-hand combat.
Snake emerges victorious again, and with a dying Fox from all the blows received, he reveals the truth to Snake: he did not follow Big Boss to Zanzibar because he felt indebted to him but because he cannot live outside of war, as he finds purpose in his existence in combat, despite hating war. He then confesses that he was the one who contacted Snake by radio to help him. Snake then bids farewell to his friend, who eventually explodes upon contact with a mine.
After the fall of Zanzibar, the Patriots recovered the remains of Gray Fox, which ended up in the hands of Dr. Clark (Para-Medic in Snake Eater and head of FOXHOUND’s medical staff). Clark was conducting gene therapy experiments, and Gray Fox’s remains served as the test.
El descent into madness
In a Frankenstein-style procedure, Dr. Clark managed to assemble Gray Fox’s parts using an exoskeleton that would give him extraordinary abilities and strength, finally reviving him. Genetic therapy was applied to essentially force Gray Fox’s body to accept the exoskeleton as if it were an implant and alleviate the stress caused by the electric shocks of the process.
Subjected to this torture for four long years, Gray Fox began to lose his sanity, forgetting who he was, and all he could remember were his last moments in Zanzibar, where his life should have definitively ended.
Naomi Hunter, his sister, who was also a geneticist, was assigned to FOXHOUND’s medical team as Dr. Clark’s assistant, and secretly following orders from Ocelot and EVA, Naomi frees Gray Fox, and he ends up killing Clark. It is Naomi who covers up the events of the laboratory, declaring Clark’s death as an accident and Gray Fox’s death as a result of the laboratory fire.
The experiments carried out on Gray Fox served as the basis for creating the Genome Soldiers, and the suppression of emotions in the nanomachines used in him gave rise to the SOP system, which would later be used by Liquid Ocelot.
One last fight
Motivated by his desire to die, as happened in Zanzibar, Gray Fox begins to develop an obsession with Solid Snake and dying at his hands. Infiltrating the Shadow Moses island, he begins to repeat the same actions he took during Snake’s mission in Zanzibar.
This is how he assumes a new identity, that of the Cyborg Ninja, and using optical camouflage, he spreads terror among the soldiers guarding Shadow Moses under the orders of Liquid Snake. During the confrontation with Revolver Ocelot, seeing that Snake is in danger of being injured, the Cyborg Ninja intervenes in the fight, using his high-frequency blade to cut Ocelot’s hand to prevent him from shooting Snake. But then, he starts experiencing electric shocks and spasms that force him to retreat.
The instability of the Cyborg Ninja is evident, and the aftermath of the experiments on him still torture him. However, within him, although a bit of sanity remains, using the alias Deepthroat, he makes calls to Snake to warn him, first, of the Claymore mines between the hangar and the nuclear storage building, and second, of the electrified floor on the way to rescuing Hal. But it is at this moment in the mission where the instability and lack of identity of the Cyborg Ninja are most evident.
Upon entering the door to the laboratory, we encounter the result of his psychosis and sadism: an entire unit of soldiers had been atrociously eliminated by the Cyborg Ninja, and as we turn the corner, we can see how he ends the life of one of them, as if it were nothing. When accessing the laboratory, we interrupt the ninja’s threats towards Hal. We don’t know the ninja’s intentions regarding Dr. Emmerich, but what is certain is that he probably planned to kill him too.
Then the battle begins, and we face a completely different and unknown Frank, with abilities he had never shown in previous battles. He is agile, fast, and especially deadly, and using weapons against him is completely useless. When facing each other with fists, we return to that fight in Zanzibar, giving the Ninja what he wanted from the depths of his soul. However, in the middle of the fight, he starts experiencing spasms and electric shocks again, screaming that he is losing control of himself and needs medicine, fleeing from the laboratory.
The entire encounter leaves Snake and Campbell in a state of shock; he was the same one who saw Gray Fox die, and it is impossible for him to still be alive. This is when Naomi explains it; Gray Fox had been revived by Clark for his experiments, but according to reports (which she herself conducted), Gray Fox had died in a fire. Later, Gray Fox releases us from the cell where we are prisoners, although this depends on our actions in the game.
When the final moment of the mission arrives, the confrontation against Metal Gear Rex, Snake finds himself at a complete disadvantage, and the Cyborg Ninja intervenes to help, damaging part of Rex with his laser weapon. It is at this moment that Gray Fox reveals himself, showing his emaciated face as a result of the experiments. He confesses to Snake that he was Deepthroat and that he was the one who killed Naomi’s parents, an event that haunted him all his life. Then, Gray Fox continues his fight, ending up trapped by Rex; it is then when he finally fulfills his wish to die. He destroys Rex’s radar, forcing Liquid to open the cockpit and expose himself. Despite Fox’s plea for Snake to shoot the cockpit, Snake cannot do it, as it could end up killing Fox.
In an attempt to finish off Fox, Liquid stomps on him, but the exoskeleton is quite resistant. Fox then tells Snake that the man known as Fox no longer exists, and that despite fighting being the only thing he knew how to do, he always fought for what he believed in. In a final stomp from Liquid, Fox finally fulfills his wish to die.
Hero or Villain?
Gray Fox’s story is a very tough one, that of a child raised by war where killing or dying was the norm. Since he murdered Naomi’s parents, he always struggled between what was right and what was wrong. The guilt he always carried on his shoulders defined his adult actions and ended up shaping that last sentence, fighting for what you believe, whether it’s something good or bad.
We know that Big Boss was only trying to fulfill The Boss’s wishes to establish Outer Heaven, whether it was a place or a kind of law where soldiers would not suffer abuse or exploitation by their governments. An ideal that was just for many, especially for those who had been victims of war, and for someone who carried immense guilt due to the education he received on the battlefield, this ideal was everything, even if it was distorted by Big Boss’s actions.
Since the adoption of Naomi, he always had a level of fear within him that only those who knew him very well could see. Gustava Heffner even said that he was a very intelligent man, with good manners, handsome, someone for whom she was willing to give up everything. But he was also a cold-blooded man, tenacious, something that defined him as a soldier.
How different would Frank’s life have been if he had stayed with Gustava? Would it have changed completely? Or would he have returned to the battlefield? I want to read what you think, so leave your conclusions in the comments box. In his own words, fighting was what he knew best, and perhaps having a normal life wouldn’t have made him happy. I believe he would have returned to war, as much as he hated it.
In fact, I think of Gray Fox, and I believe that nothing would have made him happy. He is someone who knew torture from a very young age and who, honestly, is not to blame for becoming the monster he was.
We, my dear digital legends, are the result of what we are taught, not only at school but also in our homes. From our habits to even our way of writing and thinking, we are a stone in constant erosion, and culture, environment, friends contribute to our personality and psyche. We go through life repeating what we are taught, especially what our parents leave us. We are not to blame for the education we receive, both at home and at school, but we are responsible for what we do with it.
Fox never had parents to raise him and give him an education because war took them away, and later, he repeats this by taking Naomi’s parents. However, by adopting her, he tries to amend the result of his upbringing. Our parents repeat the education they received with us, strict or not, because it is the only way they know how to educate, as they are the result of the education they received from their parents, and so on for generations, and we will most likely repeat this with our siblings, friends, and children.
But do we want to continue that pattern that has been reflected in all previous generations? Fox tried; he tried to break this by adopting Naomi, by trying to change his life with Gustava. Still, circumstances kept dragging him into war, into despair, until he ended up in Zanzibar, fighting to the death for that last ideal he believed in and that still kept him human.
And I believe in you, so if you liked this article, don’t forget to share it on social media. You can also help us a lot by subscribing to our channel so that you can enjoy the visual version of these words.
If you liked this article, you might also like: Metal Gear Solid: Naomi Hunter – Her story
What’s up, gamers! I’m Andrea Villasmil, the one weaving magic behind Joystick Latino. From the glorious era of Metal Gear Solid on the PS1 to today’s RPGs, video games have me hooked. Besides being the boss around here, I’m an editor and translator on this wonderful website. I’m also a music teacher, delving into the world of dubbing and voice acting.
Between psychological thrillers, RPG sessions, and delicious pasta dishes, I have a great time sharing my obsession for games on Joystick Latino. See you in the game, friends!
