So I was shooting the shit with jaybladeswrites earlier on his astute theory:
and I got into ranting the Cliff's notes of an MGS theory that I shelved months ago. Well, as many of you know...
https://www.reddit.com/r/DeathStranding/comments/8wer9e/goddammit_mads/
So, I'm gonna put my timefallcoat on and post an elaborated version for you all to voidout :D
Submitted for the approval of the BRIDGES Initiative, I give you.... ::knee-slapping drumroll::
METAL GEAR DEATH: STRANDING -The Dreams of the Patriot-
DISCLAIMER: It's important to understand that my theory comes from an alternate reality in which Konami covertly handed the Metal Gear Solid license ALONG with Mr. Kojima over to Sony. This immediately transpired following the completion of Metal Gear Survive. Also, this theory didn't make it to Trailer Four, so I shoe-winged some thoughts in.
Once more, I warn you that this is an overzealous theory and I may or may not be higher than a kite. You decide.
We good then? If so, then let's open a portal to this reality.
Let's start with the basics. In the MG timeline, The Boss is the first person in space. Being in space changed her drastically as she gazed upon the whole Earth. But more on her in a sec.
We "Ludens" here are actually PLAYING Death Stranding as it exists in present form. The lesser initiated watch the trailers and anticipate the next juicy bite. But us people blowing a gasket trying to solve the world's biggest proverbial Rubix Cube see a deeper meaning. Some of us accept DS's own identity, but feel there's another side of it that we'll sooner or later see. Others throw themselves over cliffs and expect to fly with our Metal Gear and Silent Hill Theories (unless it's Python and Selkan, they basically have jetpacks.)
As Mads and Norman have stated, there's interesting elements of social media involved. Some will take this linearally and have expectations to see some sort of Dark Souls mechanic when the game is finally in clear focus. I personally take this statement as a reference to everything we've been playing into thus far. You see, we've been playing this game together. Our theories and perspectives have formed an intricate web. We've been brought together.
The Boss happened to have a similar goal. Seeing one Earth made it her personal mission in life to unite the world by any means necessary. If war was humanity's common goal, then she'd change how war was fought.
Setting my theory in motion, I propose that the last three trailers, and maybe, just MAYBE T4 are dreams of The Boss. Each a separate dream, each representing a different point in time.
For example, T2 would be a dream of her past as she fought in the invasion of Normandy. I don't want to ran my speculations about each and every detail of this very elaborate scenario, but I'll give some highlights. The tank is monstrous looking because tanks were terrible beasts on the battlefield. Del Toro is a Patriot agent. Yes, a Patriot clearly wouldn't exist yet. Time and linearity don't apply in her dreams. It becomes prophetic in the sense that she sees a man from the future who would covet her legacy. He works for an initiative Her legacy is the baby, but more on that later. The doll winks out of metaphor for the Eye of Providence, I guess because it symbolizes the baby, who also winks, as being "The future powers that be's" next step in human evolution. The baby in a sense represents humanity's condition after the Patriots and SoP change the world. Del Toro, carrying "The Patriot's superbaby" is trying to escape the supernatural wrath of... can you guess who?! The Sorrow... None other than Mads Man himself. She perceived her husband using ropes of the past and weapons of the future to hunt down this immoral lackey representing what humanity cannot afford to become. If this dream is to be taken as prophecy, then let's discern what we, as viewers of her dream, are shown.
The "actual" baby in the technowomb, as I stated before is a metaphor for The Boss's legacy. One interpretation is that she sees a baby because she mourns the loss of her child to those who would raise him artificially to be a tool in their agenda. It could also represent Les Enfentates Terribles; artificially birthed superhumans that, in principle are motherless because they are the very sins of their fathers. Even in death, she knew that her husband would influence the future just as he did the past. This is why he commands WWII soldiers, yet sports contemporary equipment. Weather it's his child, or a child of the future, he feels it's his responsibility.
T1 brought us the concepts of loss and despair. Oceans of dead life washed ashore. The black strands, or pretty much anything of black goo for that matter stand for mankind's corruption. The strands connected to all the critters symbolize their inability to escape our ever-expanding corruption of the Earth.
So... who is this naked guy named Sam, and why is he among this all? Well, Sam IN HER DREAM represents her legacy; specifically the men that would carry on her will. Sam's big deal is that he reincarnates (and yes I know Kojima stated that this is a direct gameplay mechanic. I'll cover that.) Metaphorically, "Snake" has been reincarnated multiple times in legacy. Naked, Solid, Venom Liquid, and Liquidus. You COULD argue that Raiden was a part of that legacy too, but he actually resigns to his own identity at the end of MGS2. In this dream, Sam is but a metaphor. He represents mankind. The invisible monsters around him leave their marks on him. Those monsters, we call The Shadow Elite or... The Patriots.
Oh, so that's it? Norman Reedus is just doing this to symbolize us, the players of Kojima's ensemble-casted ARG, so we could feel like we're all a part of her dream of everyone being networked? None of this is real, so neither is he?
Nope. And this is where I'll probably start losing a few of you. Norman Reedus will play the next Snake. Dead Snake. A (once) blue-collar man named Samual Bridges (I actually know someone with that surname!) whose world was turned upside-down by the consequence of the "Invisible Hand's" interests (WWII.) I could take snippets of T4 and apply them here. First, I believe Lea Sydoux is The Boss. As she appears in the trailer, would probably be about the age of The Boss during the war. She was originally French, gaining a full American accent as she spent years around American roughnecks. The whole cave scene is just a metaphor for what was going on when she was talking to Dead Snake. In a more literal form, she and him had this conversation in the past, when she enlisted him for her combat unit after seeing him; a budding private, who was often tasked with the disposal of soldiers' corpses and porting munitions and food from camp to camp. She admired his determination and offered him a place in her unit.
Sam "Dead Snake" Bridges was good... real good. He learned fast and was honored into the Cobra Unit. His codename was probably just The Death or something, but he preferred the other name The Boss gave him.
Dead Snake was good... too good. Eventually, he did fall in battle, perhaps at the might of a monstrous tank. But since he was so imperative, she asked of her husband what he vowed he would never do with his powers... raise the dead. Dead Snake was his first. There wasn't much to it at first; he came back, but somewhat paler in complexion than before. He was still just as good; if not better, and it was quickly decided that he would front their operations and sacrifice himself when necessary. If he could keep coming back, then they had an incredible supersoldier. He was ultimately okay with this, and actually convinced The Sorrow to raise more of their fallen.
The legacy of Snake and the first supersoldiers had begun. Necromancy, son.
Dead Snake still fought with the Cobra Unit as one of their freaks, and maintained a close relationship with The Boss. The Sorrow as well valued his comradery, but more as a tool than a friend. He was perhaps even somewhat resentful of her favor of him.
Eventually, orchestrated events would lead The Boss to kill her beloved. Perhaps in reality, he had become too dangerous. Only she could stop his potential legion before it would undoubtedly overtake their agenda.
The Boss would eventually give birth on the battlefield. Dead Snake delivered her baby.
Um... cryptobiotes might represent a scientific explanation to The Sorrow, but I don't know why "eating them" would be a part of the future she was seeing in this bizarre reenactment of her first encounters with Sam. Maybe because she was French and enjoyed escargot. Yeah...that's it. /s
Timefall represents humanities overwhelming advancements, constantly raining down on us and making ideas, ways of life, and even some people obsolete. The founding Patriots sought to shelter mankind from this cycle by intervening. If they could become an umbrella of control over all, they could make all humans equally relevant... if for better or worse. SoP would be their raincoats. If you were disconnected form the system, you became obsolete and withered away near-instantly.
The "Chirals" as they've been currently labeled are the Sons of the Patriots, their soiled hands leaving the marks of their masters on man. They're invisible because they've been stripped of their individual identities by the system. Allergies to them could represent genome soldiers' rejection to the mutations of gene therapy.
The Floating five... Is Sam looking at the men that the baby he carries would become? If they're not the source of the corruption, then they symbolize the Snakes and their place above men... at least according to the Patriots. If they ARE the source, then they represent the five Patriot AI: GW, JD, TJ, AL and TR. One more parallel I could cast is that they're the founders; Shalashaska, EVA, Dr. Clarke, SIGINT, Major 0. There were six though, the last being Big Boss himself. Doubt Big Boss would also be represented by Sam, So I'm just gonna crumple and toss that one.
If you're super bored and made it this far, this is my personal favorite part. Voidouts and the giants. Let's just surf through this one because you can either take it or leave it. The giants represent Metal Gears. Abominable beasts that The Boss can't envision in their manmade mechanical forms because of the sheer, indiscriminate nature of their existence. If these weapons were to be manned, then a singularity would be made in human warfare. The men being dragged down into the goo are soldiers lead down the path to Hell with good intentions. The man who refused to let the "Metal Gear" take him alive could've been a nuclear physicist that was forced into the project and wanted out to the point of suicide.
The Sorrow appears as a spectre, still giving orders from beyond the grave. He carries the artificial womb as a nod to his son's captivity into an artificial life, and will influence him latently in the future.
In Limbo, Dead Snake waits to be reincarnated. Perhaps he was a willing test subject for nuclear fallout. Sure he'll come back, but the surrounding ...you know the story. The Boss dreams him here because she always wished him to be at peace between deaths on the battlefield. When we do control Dead Snake, we will visit this place, and he will always revert back to a fully-fleshed man while in this place. The waters of this Limbo, as opposed to the timefall, seem to have restorative powers.
The Cthullu lookin' monster swimming around still represents MG's, this one being RAY in particular, and its role in the new world.
On this note, I cannot explain Lindsay Wagner at this time. Best I can say is that she's the president of the US in that photo, because deep down she felt that a nurturing woman would better suit the leading of a nation that's given itself to the war.
Female president... Refer to Venom Snake's psychosis here. In dreaming, she saw the current US president (most likely Truman) as her deceased mother. This picture WAS taken in real life, but... yes.. I'm saying that that's actually Harry S. Truman in the picture. The Boss sees a prime/pregnant version of herself, and Sam "Dead Snake" Bridges; a newly decorated hero taking a photo op with the president following some sort of recognition ceremony.
HOWEVER, Lindsay Wagner appears as her youthful self to her daughter as her actual mother in a dream. How the line spoken in that tease pertains to The Boss, I can't solidify. But I do believe she is speaking to her daughter, and not our "Sam" as we would instantly assume. Mz. Wagner COULD also be voicing The Boss in HER form as we know her: from the VIRTUOUS MISSION.
Finally, let's jump back into WWII because ::deep inhale:: this is when this Metal Gear will take place. We control Dead Snake, and possibly even his comrades fro the Cobra Unit. It will be up to Mads (who will no longer have his contemporary gear, but WILL command an undead squad) to revive Snake a necessary. There will be times when he will need to self-sacrifice. But The sorrow will always revive him... he just needs to go through a process similar to Naked Snake's experience with him (a much more benign version at the behest of The Boss.)
Snake will fight with more than his weapons. He will rely on his connections to his allies as he utilizes their talents.
Maybe.
My final focus is the fact that we've seen gameplay. Yep. We see gameplay all around us. Simply put... T4 is indeed another dream of The Boss. In her prophetic perspective in the dream, she sees the man she mentored using all the skills he's learned, and how those skills COULD influence future generations (special training, advancements in technology, etc.)
How WE perceive the trailer should be the "fact" that it's obviously not Metal Gear gameplay. Well just as absurd as our deepest dreams are, so is my theory. The fourth wall breaking concept that we theorists represent The Bosses wish for unity and collaboration the world-over is supplemented by what could be Kojima's nastiest trick ever.
It's.... it's just a DECIMA tech demo of sorts. Fed to us in a form we couldn't possibly understand, yet we're driven to anyway. Just like the dreams we can manage to remember, because they were just so... out there.
So let's review some key bullitens:
*Norman Reedus will play the next (ORIGINAL) Snake. Mhmm, even I'm laughing at myself.
*Lea Sydoux is The Boss.
*Lindsay Wagner as Harry S. Truman and mother of The Boss. I'll happily take shit for that one :)
*MADS is The Sorrow. Probably about the most sensical part of the theory.
*Del Toro is a Patriot agent resembling the mistakes of mankind in the future. I don't believe he will appear in the game. And if he does, he will take on an entirely different character.
*The baby represents Les Enfantes Terribles and/or Shalashaska's plight.
*The giants are Metal Gears and their impending horror.
*Chirals represent SoP
*Necromancy will play a role.
*Entire new ways to play, as we may take command of a resigned Cobra Unit to represent their battle prime.
*The Trailers are a lie. Don't believe the hype... literally.
It's just a theory, and I felt it'd be fun to share at this point because Uncle Mads said so. If you like it and you wanna add something, great. Otherwise... carry on.
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