Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain released as a tragically unfinished product, but it still stands as one of the finest action games of this console generation, even if its story polarized fans with its bizarre twists. A lot occurs during the epic adventure in an attempt to bridge the saga's past and present, and it is easy to miss several large revelations.

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This list will help cover the bases as each entry explains the biggest spoilers present in The Phantom Pain. It's a shame Kojima was unable to finish the game properly, but the artist moved on and is gearing up for Death Stranding's November 8th release.

10 Venom Snake's Identity

Phantom Pain Venom Snake in the helicopter

The opening heavily implies that Venom Snake is not Big Boss, but somebody else made to look and act like him. The last mission finally relays that a medic on Big Boss's ill-fated helicopter was given extensive plastic surgery and manipulated into believing he was the legendary soldier.

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As huge a discovery this would be for anybody, the medic seems to take it in stride, accepting his new identity. Kojima has toyed with similar themes ever since Metal Gear Solid 2, and The Phantom Pain dives head first into it once more.

9 Why Quiet Is Scantily Clad

Quiet MGS V phantom pain on mother base

Quiet's design came under intense scrutiny upon her reveal. Kojima promised a rational explanation to her curious wardrobe, and while the game provides a logical reason, it still split fans down the middle.

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The life-threatening injuries she received in the game's opening were treated with a parasite that caused her to breathe through her skin, like photosynthesis. The logic is sound in canon, but she could just as well have had another, more pragmatic design. Most are still unsure what statement Kojima was trying to make with the character.

8 Why Miller Is Against Big Boss In Metal Gear 2

Veteran fans of the series will recall how Miller assisted Solid Snake in during the Zanzibar Land incident in Metal Gear 2. During the events of Peace Walker and Ground Zeroes, these same aficionados were wondering what strained the two's close relationship.

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In the end, Miller turned against his closest ally through a serious betrayal of trust. After discovering Venom Snake's identity, he vows to bring the real Big Boss down one day.

7 Huey

Huey MGS V tortured on mother base
Huey MGS V tortured on mother base

In a masterful subversion of expectations, Huey undoes Metal Gear's well worn innocent scientist trope by making a Huey Emmerich an unrelenting psychopath who has no concept of right and wrong.

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He comes off as innocent and harmless, but he locked his lover in an air-tight chamber, leading to her slow suffocation. He also used his son, Otacon, in scientific tests. Snake and Miller learn of this after already suspecting him of going behind his back in attempt to sell weaponized parasites on the black market.

6 Child Soldiers

Eli MGS V Liquid Snake
Eli MGS V Liquid Snake

Partway through the story, Snake decides to rescue child soldiers and make them a part of Mother Base. One of these children is Eli, who is more recognizable under the name Liquid Snake. After Mother Base obtains Metal Gear Sahelanthropus, Eli steals it and flees with the other children.

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It may seem like something else should happen afterwards, but that's his last appearance. In one of the series' biggest plot holes, players have no idea what happens to Eli in between The Phantom Pain and Metal Gear Solid, and Episode 51 on the bonus Blu-ray disc doesn't count.

5 Quiet's Fate

Quiet and venom snake MGS V
Quiet and venom snake MGS V

Quiet kept her lips sealed because her speech would spread a plague and destroy Mother Base. The last mission involving her sees Snake going to rescue the sniper, and the two fight off a massive horde of Soviet soldiers.

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Eventually, They are stranded in the desert and Quiet is forced to speak over radio to order a rescue. Because she has activated her parasites from speaking English, her return to Mother Base would cause a catastrophe. In a heroic final act, she walks off into the desert wilderness, leaving her fate to the elements.

4 The Man On Fire

Man on fire MGS V hospital introduction

Vengeance is a powerful emotion. In Metal Gear Solid, it's enough to bring the dead back to life. The mysterious flaming entity simply knows the Man on Fire was Colonel Volgin's body reanimated with the help of the Third Child, later known as Psycho Mantis. Volgin was Metal Gear Solid 3's main antagonist and died at the end of the 2004 classic. In their last confrontation, he was moments away from ending Venom Snake before realizing he wasn't the same Big Boss who killed him back in 1964. The flame subsides and Volgin dies once more, this time for real.

3 Venom Snake After The Phantom Pain

Venom_Snake mgs 5 broken mirror
Venom_Snake mgs 5 broken mirror

Venom Snake didn't just disappear after taking out Skull Face and contributing to universal nuclear disarmament. In fact, he was one of the first characters in the entire franchise. As Big Boss, he planned and executed the Outer Heaven Uprising, which was the first Metal Gear. He met his fate at the hands of Solid Snake. Big Boss in Metal Gear 2 was the actual character people played as in Snake Eater and Peace Walker.

2 The Parasites

MGS V parasites vial
MGS V parasites vial

Parasites play a major role in the story. The vocal chord parasite is used as a weapon against cultural groups, since it can be manipulated to target certain languages. In addition to this, certain parasites gave people special abilities. Quiet's photosynthetic sustenance resulted from this. The Pain and The End from MGS3's Cobra Unit utilized the similar organisms for their extraordinary battlefield capabilities. They were also the precursor to the nano-machines developed and used in the chronologically later games.

1 Skull Face

Skull face MGS V
Skull face MGS V

Skull Face worked with Zero as far back as Snake Eater; he and his XOF unit were behind Snake the whole time, making sure his mission was successful. Despite working for him, Skull Face loathed Zero and put him into a catatonic state. His plan during The Phantom Pain was the distribute nuclear weapons to most countries, voiding the United States and Soviet Union's nuclear supremacy. He had control over all the weapons, though, and could deactivate or arm them at will. Skull Face viewed the Patriots' plan of world unification as evil and the sterilization of cultures, and intended to use the vocal chord parasite to destroy the English language in retaliation.

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