freethought said:
Are you sure about this? It seems to me Big Boss did break free of the fate the befell the Boss. He wasn't beholden to any power higher than his own, at least that's my understanding. Do we have any kind of proof that Big Boss was just a puppet of the Patriots?
The fact that both met similar ends is probably pertinent. I just think the circumstances couldn't have been any more different; The Boss lost her son, her lover, her family, her home, her country and her honour all in the service of her political masters, Big Boss on the other hand, was killed by his son in pursuit of his own twisted dream.
Well there are a few hints. One, in MPO Big Boss is clearly opposed to the use of nuclear weapons, he is hihgly personally driven to stop the nuke from being lunched, and a woman he saves (Elisa) speaks to him about her fear/hatred of nucealr war, etc. Big Boss is also told that his future son(s) will both ruin and save the world, she even tells him he will build a new Metal Gear. Then add the fact that The Boss was seen as villain by everyone, it was her role, when in reality she was just following orders. And how Big Boss actually accepts, after the MPO mission (and after being used once again), to become the leader of Fox Hound because he feels he has to pass over what has been handed down to him. And the fact that it is almost certain he accepted to join The Patriots.
The "villain" of MG2 makes no sense under that light. It is far more likely that after years of trying to do things right, he ended up in the same situation as The Boss. He gave everything up, sacrificed everything, for the mission. But in the end he didn't escape his fate.
The Snake Eater mission and the similarities between the way The Boss acts and Big Boss in MG2 are pretty strong.
Anyway that's what I think the retconing will show. And it would make sense, if it's his grave in MGS4 that Snake salutes. It has the same words as those on The Boss', and it shows how in the end he lived and died in the same way as her, and now Snake is saluting him because after all these years he realized something he had not till now.