• In the timeline of MGSV Ground Zeroes, it’s mentioned that in 1977, a South African underground nuclear test site was forced to shut down due to international pressure. This site exists in real life, called “Vastrap.” In the game, the site would be located in a fictional South African province, called Galzburg, located in the Kalahari Desert along the tri-border between South Africa, Botswana, and Namibia.

• Sometime following this, the government is approached by Skull Face and XOF, who offer to buy the land under the guise of the SANR (South African Natural Resources) front company, and use it for R&D on vocal cord parasites, in exchange for fulfilling a contract as South Africa’s anticommunist deterrent against Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibian rebels, and Angola. Desperate due to their nuclear program being heavily criticized by the outside world (the 1979 Vela Incident being an example,) South Africa agrees to the deal.

• For the next five years, Vastrap is XOF’s underground laboratory and FOB. The various parasites seen in TPP are developed and tested there. After Skull Face’s death, XOF withdraws from Afghanistan and the Angola/Zaire border region, using Vastrap as their secret headquarters. The soldiers seen attacking Eli and attempting to take back Metal Gear Sahelanthropus in Mission 51 are deployed from there as well.

• My take on Chapter 3 of TPP would’ve seen Diamond Dogs discovering Vastrap to be XOF’s hiding place thanks to intel relayed from Ishmael (aka, the real Big Boss.) Ishmael would do backdoor dealings with the South African government to have DD take over XOF’s anticommunist deterrence contract and capture Vastrap for themselves. This would be accomplished by a massive, bloody battle in the desert and underground tunnels that would see XOF finally completely destroyed, their survivors either joining DD or scattering to the winds. Once captured, Ishmael orders Ahab (aka Venom Snake) and Revolver Ocelot to have Vastrap become the new “Mother Base,” which Ishmael would proclaim as “Outer Heaven.” This move would piss off Kazuhira Miller, eventually causing him to quit the company, briefly heading into early retirement.

• Over the next few years, Outer Heaven would fulfill their contract, sending soldiers to fight in the Mozambican and Angolan Civil Wars as well as the Namibian Independence War, and of course other warzones all over the world: Iraq, the Caucasus, Liberia, Yugoslavia, Somalia, Algeria, etc. Their soldiers become renowned as the best in the business of private military work. As well, they are often deployed domestically within South Africa to enforce apartheid.

• For the most part, things are peachy, although the world becomes increasingly suspicious of Outer Heaven when they begin building massive facilities above ground to demonstrate their strength and superiority - something Ishmael specifically told them NOT to do. The whole reason he had them move into an underground base from the prior open ocean facilities was specifically so they could keep their full power a secret from Cipher.

• Things change for the worse with the end of both the Cold War and the apartheid eras. At first, Nelson Mandela’s new government seemed to be fine with continuing to let Outer Heaven just do their own thing, until he outlawed the creation or storage of nuclear weapons anywhere on the nation’s soil as part of adhering to the United Nations’ attempt to rid the world of nukes. In a shock to the world, Outer Heaven reacted negatively to these new laws, and it ultimately resulted in them declaring independence from South Africa, becoming the world’s first “mercenary republic.”

• Concerned that Outer Heaven could have their own nuclear weapons, Nelson Mandela would demand action from the U.N. Security Council. They would ultimately decide to have the United States deploy their high-tech special forces unit, FOXHOUND, led by the legendary Big Boss, because of his experience with PMC’s. He decides to send agents Gray Fox and Solid Snake to investigate.

The Outer Heaven Uprising begins, in:

METAL GEAR SOLID 0: OUTER HEAVEN

My apologies, some weird glitch or shadowban or something happened with my last attempt. It seems I can’t make posts in the MGS sub so it just scrubbed the whole thing. Hopefully y’all can see this.

I wanna put something similar on a t shirt also.

Hideo Kojima worked on Ground Zeroes, but he handed off the work of MGSV to remote teams. The big clue here is the name Camp Omega. Omega is the last letter of the Greek Alphabet. It represents the end or last in a series, such as in electrical engineering to denote ohms Ω or Resistance, symbolizing the ultimate limit or conclusion. By releasing Ground Zeroes first as a secret Epilogue, Kojima would have created the Alpha and Omega which is a reference to God in the Bible being the beginning and the end.

https://preview.redd.it/s3t5jflltl0e1.jpg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3b7729bd7f4de651cba8be83f843bd3f57d80903

https://preview.redd.it/zo0j3kimtl0e1.png?width=1792&format=png&auto=webp&s=f61d16cc9873a43e6439a8c21b72901c5b8f49d1

Venom Snake is described as being "like a man possessed" by Kaz. Has a "demon" inside of him. Wotan in mythology is depicted as a god who can enter the world through great men, an ancient warrior spirit. Big Boss is the warrior spirit that has possessed Venom Snake, and Big Boss is the "Warrior spirit" of the Metal Gear universe. The parallels between Venom and Wotan continue past just being possessed though. Wotan was hanged for 9 days, making the number 9 sacred to the god. Venom Snake was in a coma for 9 years. Wotan is known for having wolves, or hounds accompany him. Venom Snake has has D-Dog and The Diamond Dogs. Wotan is often depicted with a beard, one eye missing and wearing horns. Venom Snake has one eye, a beard, and of course horns. Not to mention they are both great warriors and leaders of men.

Thinking of Venom Snake as Wotan allows us to connect MGSV to the concept of the Wild Hunt. The Wild Hunt is when Wotan leads an army of the undead to hunt usually things like Ogres. Note that MGSV was once called project Ogre. Venom Snake is always accompanied by phantoms, he carries them as diamonds into battle after all. The notion of being haunted by phantoms is a constant in MGSV. With PHANTOMS and HOUNDS Wotan hunts the Ogre, riding on the back of his horse. Skull Face here would be this mythical Ogre. The Wild Hunt was not only associated with war, but also plague. MGSV there is plenty of plague going around, a possible pandemic even. Wotan during the Wild Hunt would be seen as demonic in later Christian folklore.

Tbh, I'm not sure if Kojima intended any of this. This is just my understanding of the ancient myth, and noticing things similar to MGSV. I know that there are many different takes on the Wild Hunt myth from various cultures, around Europe, so obviously this isn't going to be 100% accurate to many of the myths you may know. Still I just thought this was an interesting thing to write, and not really in line with the normal r/metalgearsolid sub.

I have a written treatment about halfway done for my take on what Chapter 3: Peace could’ve been. Along the way, I decided to also have the mission introduction/loading screen background change to reflect the narrative. Hope y’all like it lol.

https://preview.redd.it/x699odo0zhxd1.jpg?width=950&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e061b70863a676f5929411747f4f8c4897df3886

TEW revolves around the study of human brain and a system called Stem, capable of creating simulated realities. There's lots of hints in the MGS games that imply that they ocurr in a simulation, the games even feature a device called the Koppelthorn engine that can create simulated environments. Kojima has a podcast called "Brain Structure" where he talks about creativeness.

https://preview.redd.it/zsoyhw2gzhxd1.jpg?width=444&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c78eb85f32b19b483c0ab15731c075334244ef47

The main antagonist of the games is Mobius, a group which goal is to take control of humanity via linking their minds to Stem. In Metal Gear, the Patriots want to control society.

https://preview.redd.it/ek9xz17nzhxd1.jpg?width=245&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=97a507eb3fdff4aa8d536b3f386d598f817340ce

Stem's main creator is Ruben Victoriano, aka Ruvik (the main antagonist of TEW 1), who experimented with people's brains in order to create the machine.

https://preview.redd.it/8s124p8xzhxd1.jpg?width=350&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5359aacbb4fab6adc6407838e7a14296a7fd458a

In Metal Gear Solid, Chico's real name is Ricardo Valenciano, sharing Ruvik's initials. It's been theorized that Venom is Chico. Venom will become the series' antagonist in Metal Gear 1 and Metal Gear 2.

https://preview.redd.it/hksow5y70ixd1.jpg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=da16f2c69fa90d1d46edc8a4615dd6ecbe40c103

Ruvik's face is scarred due to a fire, there's a theory that says that Skull Face (TPP's antagonist) is Venom, who gets burned in Metal Gear 2. Ruvik's appearance and Chico's TPP concept art share similarities.

https://i.redd.it/slpto42w0ixd1.gif

Inside Stem, Ruvik seeks revenge and has superpowers, Venom wants revenge on Cypher and is able to slow down time and has unlimited stamina.

https://preview.redd.it/muyhx5oe1ixd1.jpg?width=3672&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8acff82d222632d97e2f19286fc9173d72beab71

Stem's machine prototype, when looked from above, resembles an Odradek from DS.

https://preview.redd.it/bhnlp5sk3ixd1.jpg?width=450&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=27f31ae7c82be8d7840ac610ba55607795f10ca7

In one of the The Evil Within's DLC, there's a diary entry, regarding those who connect to Stem, that reads: They all experience the same ocurrences, the same settings, the same ocurrences. The "world" they inhabit becomes larger with every new visitor. This suggests that shards of each user's consciousness are left behind inside the Stem, creating a community. It's as if, internally, a new world is being built.

That would explain why, in games of the ruse, you can see elements from other companies's videogames.