character information: warisallweknow

warisallweknow

character information

Jan 01, 2020 00:08

THE BASICS

CODENAME: Gray Fox
LEGAL NAME: Frank Jaeger
CIVILIAN ALIAS: Frank Hunter
OTHER ALIASES: Null, Deepthroat

CANON SOURCE: Metal Gear
CANON POINT: Metal Gear 2, Zanzibar Land Disturbance, December 24th 1999.

AGE: 43
TRUE BIRTHDATE: 1956, day unknown
LEGAL BIRTHDATE: November 15th
GENDER: male
ETHNICITY: German-American/Vietnamese
NATIONALITY: Zanzibari, legally American

HEIGHT: 179cm (5'10'')
WEIGHT: 85kg (13st 6lbs)
BUILD: broad, lean, athletic
EYES: blue-grey
HAIR: white, previously platinum blond
DEXTERITY: ambidextrous, favours right

PERSONALITY

Before you can truly understand Frank Jaeger, you must first be aware of the kind of background he's coming from. He was born in war, raised by war, and has been fighting since he was old enough to wield a knife. War is an intrinsic part of who he is, and though he hates it with every fibre of his being, it's not something he can ever escape from. It is, quite literally, all he's ever known. The way Fox is as a person was greatly influenced by one man. Big Boss saved Fox several times-from the harsh life of a child soldier, from being used as a test subject in a government-funded project to create the perfect soldier, from torture as a prisoner of war-giving him freedom, a place to go and a reason to fight. To Fox, Big Boss is more than just a CO. He's a mentor, a father, and a friend, and Fox's loyalty to him surpasses all other loyalties. Unsurprisingly, many of Fox's values and beliefs mirror those of Big Boss.

After the hell he went through in childhood, and his time as the Perfect Soldier-when outside of battle he was kept in a sensory deprivation tank which wiped his memories and suppressed his emotions-he became extremely conscious of his sense of self and his own freedom. Fox is wary of people who try to use or control him or others (especially when those people happen to be the government). Freedom is one of Fox's strongest beliefs, and one which he will fight tooth and nail for. In fact, at least later on in his life, Fox makes a strong point of rejecting control and manipulation only ever fighting for what he believes in- a view which he passes on to Snake moments before he dies in Shadow Moses.

Although Fox has had no formal schooling, he is described in canon as an intelligent man. Fox is street-smart rather than book-smart, with cunning and a sharp mind gained through experience rather than education. He's an observer and a problem-solver, with keen perception and a mind for strategy that are to be expected from such a prominent member of FOXHOUND, Big Boss's lieutenant and the commander of the Zanzibar Land mercenary force. Unfailingly cool-headed under pressure, Fox has an almost uncanny ability to take the most hopeless of situations and not only come out of them alive, but to do his job and do it damn well at the same time. He's also one of very few people who would ever dare question or argue with Big Boss's opinions and plans- though only in private, as he knows better than to undermine his commanding officer's authority in front of his men. He won't hesitate to say exactly what he thinks and to offer his own opinion… But in the end, Big Boss's word is final. If his suggestions are ignored, Fox will be sure to compensate for any problems it causes himself.

For every bit that Fox is open with his opinions, he is closed with his emotions. After being used and manipulated throughout his youth, he's become a very guarded person, with a tendency to be reserved and distant even with loved ones. It's not the case of a lack of trust-though it may be, on some deeper level, a form of paranoia-but rather force of habit. Everything in his life reinforces the need to distance himself, from the events of his youth to the nature of FOXHOUND to his failed relationship with the Czech Olympic figure skater Gustava Heffner. In the last case, it's less a form of self-preservation, and more the need to protect others from the unavoidable pain that will come of getting involved with him. Fox and Gustava were engaged for a time and attempted to elope, but the US authorities rejected her bid for asylum and sent her back to her country. Gustava was stripped of her competition rights for her attempted defection, her family was persecuted and humiliated… and Fox, of course, blamed himself. Unable to faced her, and unwilling to cause her more pain, Fox simply disappeared from her life and never attempted to contact her again. This incident, however, sparked in Fox an enormous amount of resentment for the government.

Although he can sometimes seem it, Fox is not a cold person. In spite of his stoical habits, beneath the mask is a deeply emotional and even caring person. Gustava is one indication of this. However, it's best evidenced with how much he cares for his adopted sister, Naomi, who he raised himself from his early 20s after killing her parents during the Rhodesian Bush War. Naomi is undoubtedly the most important woman in his life, and he would do anything to protect her. Having never had a real family himself (Big Boss doesn't exactly count as a good example) Fox's attempts to make a family for her are awkward but admirable. Fox loves his sister; that much is obvious. But no matter how much he tries to be a good brother, there is always an intense amount of guilt there. He fears that Naomi will discover that he was the one who killed her parents, and hate him for it.

In a similar manner to Big Boss, Fox believes fighting to be his only real purpose, and certainly the only thing he's good at. Though he's tried, with both Naomi and Gustava, to lead some manner of a "normal" life, he's never really felt comfortable with such a thing. Away from the battlefield, he feels awkward and out of place, more like he's simply existing rather than living. As mentioned previously, even though Fox hates war more than anything, it's something he can't escape. He feels as though he needs war and a place to fight, and that, in his own words, he "can't make it in the normal world".

Fox's brusque and hostile attitude towards Snake (who is supposedly his best friend) during the Zanzibar Land Disturbance is an interesting example of Fox-the-soldier as opposed to Fox-the-person. Even Fox himself realised how selfish he was being: betraying Snake's trust, just as Big Boss had done four years ago; abandoning him, FOXHOUND, and his country in order to fight for his own beliefs; acting, to put it bluntly, like a complete asshole towards him with insults and threats… This acknowledgement of his own selfishness is why Fox chose to aid Snake with anonymous hints and tips over the radio, as a form of payback. Fox acts in the only way he knows how to act, and Snake, thankfully, knew better than to take it personally. In spite of everything, in spite of fighting on different sides, they were still friends, and Fox seems truly remorseful for his actions.

Fox's relationship with Snake itself is an unusual one, and quite possibly an unhealthy one, at least in Fox's case. Although they knew of each other before the Outer Heaven Uprising, it wasn't until afterwards that they became friends. Now, consider the situation: FOXHOUND was commissioned by the US government to infiltrate Outer Heaven and destroy Metal Gear… but the person behind Outer Heaven was also FOXHOUND's commander, Big Boss. In order to buy more time for Metal Gear to be completed and delay further action by the US, Big Boss sent in Fox, who was aware of the situation, and Fox allowed himself to be captured. Big Boss then sent in Snake, a rookie agent at the time and completely unaware of the situation, to rescue Fox, believing that he would fail. But Snake unexpectedly succeeds, rescues Fox, destroys Metal Gear and, supposedly, kills Big Boss. Taking into consideration Fox's relationship with Big Boss, and his undying loyalty to him, it seems odd that he befriended Snake afterwards. It may be simply the soldier's mindset-an ally today could be an enemy tomorrow, that's just the way that war works-and certainly that's part of why they remained friends even through the events of Zanzibar Land. But Fox had another, subconscious reason to be drawn to Snake, and this is where it becomes unhealthy. Snake looks like Big Boss. Although Snake is completely unaware of it himself (and most likely neither was Fox) for a time he became Fox's stand in for the man he had killed.

WEAPONS AND ABILITIES

WEAPONS: Machete, Beretta M9, Ingram MAC-11 SMG. His favourite weapons are his fists, however. As Fox states himself, "only a fool trusts his life to a weapon".

ABILITIES: While for the most part a normal human being, Fox's skill in combat is almost unparalleled. As a child soldier fighting in the Mozambican War of Independence, he was known for his cruel and brutal tactics used to take down soldiers far older and stronger than him: he would trick them into letting their guard down with "the innocent frankness of a young boy" and then kill them with "the cold cruelty of a hunter". In his early teens, he was a test subject for the "Perfect Soldier Project", which aimed to turn him into an even more efficient and ruthless killer. The result of this experimental project, of which Frank was the only survivor, was the development of incredible agility and reflexes so enhanced that he could block bullets with a blade.

Specialising in stealth, infiltration, espionage, and wet work, Frank was the only operative of the Special Forces group FOXHOUND-an elite black ops unit of the US army-to have received the codename of "Fox", the unit's highest commemoration, and had been decorated five times by the time he was 40. Long story short, he is quite simply the elite of the elite. Proficiency with a huge variety of weaponry can be safely assumed, ranging from blades like the knives and machete he has used since his childhood, to all kinds of firearms-including handguns, rifles, machine guns-and explosives. If any evidence is needed of his weapons skill, the following are his stats from Portable Ops, during which time he is only approximately fourteen years of age:

Hand-to-hand combat (falling under knife/CQC in the above stats), is where Fox really shines. His fighting style is unusual, mostly self-taught, and seems to be a mishmash of various martial arts, mixed with the CQC he learned from Big Boss himself. In combat, Fox is fluid, flexible, and highly instinctive. He's been fighting all his life, so it's something which is completely natural to him, and his enhanced reflexes and habit of inventing moves on the spot make him a fearsome and highly unpredictable opponent. Fighting is like breathing to him, only far more satisfying.

*character information