roflskate

"Ocelot? You can never tell what he's really thinking."

A lifelong spy, and in-game one of the most important behind-the-scenes figures in 20th Century geopolitics, Ocelot is, first and foremost a deceiver. In the majority of the main series, he is often working towards a larger goal, often in an adversarial role (with the exception of MGSV, and very arguably MGS3) with characters often not understanding his motivations until the bitter end. Sometimes he even goes through self-hypnosis to allow for a more "authentic" performance. As such, trying to determine his true personality and motivations from the different facades that he puts on over the years can be a difficult task, even for those who call him an "ally".

Despite this, there are a few immutable facts that Ocelot reveals about himself throughout the course of the series. Arguably, foremost among them, is his love and devotion for Big Boss/Naked Snake/John, one of the protagonists (and sometime antagonist) of the series. Though Ocelot first meets Snake as an enemy in Metal Gear Solid 3 his "infatuation" (as it is called by one of the characters) is apparent even then, with him trying to emulate his idol in increasingly ridiculous ways. While the two men do eventually become friends and colleagues, this "pure love" (referred to as such by series creator Hideo Kojima) continues on for the rest of Ocelot's life. Throughout the series, he goes to absurd lengths for the other man, from only agreeing to join Cipher (a secret organization bent on manipulating geopolitics) on the condition that Big Boss is also permitted to join, remaining by his bedside as often has he could spare for the nine years that he was in a coma, and finally, through a series of improbable events, creating a fake personality to take down the Patriots (a successor to Cipher, the very same organization he helped found) and free Big Boss from their grasp, giving his life in the process. If nothing else, his loyalty and affection for Snake is unwavering.

This devotion comes with a flip-side, however. Ocelot often expects others to sacrifice just as much for Big Boss as he does. He is fine with using hospital residents and workers as a diversion in a gunfight, because he believes they fully understood what they were getting themselves into when taking Big Boss on as a patient. He also sees no problem with creating a "perfect" body double of Big Boss out of a former medic, saying it was what "he would have wanted" despite having no real indication that this would be the case. Furthermore, he is also more than willing to do anything if he believes it advances his goals of helping or protecting Big Boss. This includes, but is not limited to: Becoming the chief interrogator (read: torturer) in the Soviet prison camps in Afghanistan in order to help mask his true goal of keeping Snake safe, all the while gaining an infamous reputation (he even admits that he allowed himself to "get caught up in the old Russian pride" and had "no real cause" for being as cruel as he was with some of the men he interrogated), manipulating Liquid Snake (one of Big Boss's clone "sons") into threatening to launch a nuclear weapon, and betraying and murdering one of his oldest Soviet friends in cold blood to help advance his goals of bringing down the Patriots and saving Big Boss.

Though he is often unscrupulous (though perhaps this is a bit of an understatement) in his actions, it would be wrong to say that Ocelot is completely amoral. As a young man, he expressed horror when Colonel Volgin, his superior officer, used a nuclear weapon on their countrymen. In Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, we see what is probably the closest glimpse of his "true" personality (where, for the majority of the game, thanks to self-hypnosis, he believes that he is working with Big Boss instead of his body double). In contrast to Miller, the other member of mission control, Ocelot is far calmer and level-headed. When faced with Quiet, an enemy sniper, he argues that Venom Snake (said body double) should spare her because she might be "useful" later on, and then demands that the men give her the most "humane treatment" that they can. When he discovers that Huey Emmerich, one of Miller and Big Boss's former colleagues has murdered his wife because she refused to allow their son to participate in his experiments, he's disgusted by his actions, calling him a "petty hypocrite", among other things. He's mildly offended when Miller, who says that he gets "too many kicks from his 'art of interrogation'" (perhaps not a wholly inaccurate statement, especially considering that as a young man he once called torture "the ultimate form of expression" and "not all that bad") implies that he'd use the same interrogation tactics on children that he does on adults. He also functions in the role of "tactical instructor", where he passes on some of the lessons Big Boss taught him, and takes it upon himself to raise DD, a stray "dog" that Venom Snake finds. All of these actions help demonstrate that despite the lengths he's willing to go to in order to achieve his goals, he can be surprisingly reasonable. and almost compassionate when the occasion calls for it.

Ocelot is ultimately a complicated man with a surprisingly simple, and almost understandable motivation. It would be easy to describe him as an unrepentant sadist with no qualms about betraying anyone he comes across for his own nefarious reasons. Equally, it might also be easy to describe him as a tragic misunderstood figure who only wanted to make sure that future generations could grow up free, and allow the man he idolized to live his life. But like so many things, the truth is somewhere in-between.

SKILLS
► Expert Marksman: True to his name, Ocelot is an expert with handguns, and revolvers in particular. In addition to his superb aiming skills, and quick draw abilities, he also uses the ricochet effect of bullets to take out enemies that are hiding in cover. He's also rather fond of spinning his guns (which took on a practical purpose when he used this method to dispatch of a swarm of killer hornets...).
► Master Spy: Trained from a young age in the art of espionage, Ocelot has successfully infiltrated a number of different organizations over the years (including: the CIA, NSA, KGB, and GRU) with no one questioning his loyalty until it's too late.
► Skilled Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Following his first defeat at the hands of Naked Snake in the early 60's, Ocelot begins to learn CQC (Close-Quarters-Combat). He demonstrates this on a number of occasions, from his last showdown with Snake at the end of Operation: Snake Eater, to his time in the Diamond Dogs, where he summarily takes down a child soldier with a single move when others had difficulty with him.
► Proficient Hypnotist: Going hand-in-hand with his experiences in espionage, Ocelot is also a skilled hypnotist. In the 1980's, he was tasked in part with using his abilities to help make Venom Snake into a near-perfect copy of Big Boss. To fully commit to the deception, he also used hypnotherapy on himself so that he would believe Venom was the genuine article, until the "time was right" to remember the truth.
► "Interrogation" Specialist: Ocelot is exceptionally skilled when it comes to extracting information from others through certain methods of "interrogation" (or torture, if you want to be more accurate).
► Tactical Instructor and Trainer: During his time with the Diamond Dogs, Ocelot was tasked with training the troops. In addition, he also took it on himself to train a "dog"/wolf named DD, to great success.
► Multilingual: In addition to speaking fluent Russian and English, Ocelot can also speak French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian. As a fun aside, in the case of French, he deliberately mispronounces words, due to likening the language to the decadent court of the Russian Tsars.

ABILITIES(?)
► Possible Latent Psychic Abilities: While never stated in-game, it is implied that Ocelot inherited at least some degree of his father's spirit medium abilities. In the Digital Graphic Novel adaption of MGS2, it is outright addressed, with his father's spirit showing up to lecture him on his shoddy medium skills.

Strengths/Weaknesses:
Strengths
► Adaptable
► Quick-Witted
► Perceptive
► Strategic
► Skilled Combatant

Weaknesses
► Obsessive
► Duplicitous
► Sadistic
► Vindictive
► Revolvers are a pain to reload

Items:

► (2) revolvers (Tornado-6 Heavy Revolvers)
► (1) bandoleer for extra bullets
► (1) pair of boots, adorned with spurs
► (1) cowboy-style duster jacket
► (1) red scarf
► (1) "diamond dogs" armband

SAMPLES
Network Sample: TDM Link

Prose/Action Sample: A meme!

thread tracking
the beginning of a beautiful friendship (psl) - w/kaz miller
interrogation meme - w/cassandra anderson
a memory of something lapsed (psl) - w/big boss
heart meter - w/kaz miller
random scenario - w/venom snake
ask me anything (2) - w/various
tfln - w/badou nails
dear_player - w/old!ocelot
ask me anything (1) - w/various
"sexting" meme - w/big boss