Quiet (Metal Gear)

Quiet (Japanese: クワイエット, Hepburn: Kuwaietto) is a fictional character from Konami's Metal Gear series. Created by Hideo Kojima and designed by Yoji Shinkawa, she appears in the 2015 open world stealth game Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain as one of the game bosses opposing the protagonist Venom Snake, but can also become an ally able to go on missions with him.

The character is a mute skilled assassin and sniper with supernatural abilities belonging to the covert strike force XOF, a division of the American intelligence agency Cipher. Depending on the player's actions, she can be captured by Venom Snake and eventually used as a member of his Diamond Dogs mercenary group. Quiet was well received by players of the game, but was the source of criticism by some media for contributing to a seemingly oversexualized portrayal of women in video games.

Appearances

When Big Boss awakens in a Cyprus hospital from a coma in 1984, Quiet is one of many soldiers sent by Cipher to kill him. As she is about to kill whom she believes is her target, but in actuality is Venom Snake, the real Big Boss helps fight her off. She is covered in medical grade ethanol and other chemicals and lit on fire until she escapes via a window.^[2]

Quiet is then seen, deployed to Afghanistan by Skull Face and tasked with eliminating Soviet officers who are against his development of Metal Gear Sahelanthropus. After Venom Snake walks into her line of sight, she proceeds to open fire on him. After defeating her in a fight, the player can choose to kill her or capture her and bring her back to their base. If the latter is chosen, it is possible to eventually use her as a partner on missions.

Speaking to Code Talker in Navajo, Quiet reveals that Skull Face intended to use her against Venom Snake and his army by having herself be captured so that she could be taken to Mother Base and infect everyone with the English-language strain of the vocal chord parasites that she had been given. Quiet was further subjected to "parasite therapy", whereby parasites were introduced to her body to keep her alive after she was set on fire. It also gives her enhanced strength, mobility and speed as well as inhuman resilience, durability and recovery abilities. Unlike the Skulls unit of parasite-enhanced soldiers encountered through the game, Quiet retains an outwardly-human appearance. Due to her injuries, the parasites compensated for her burned epidermis, giving her the ability to "breathe" through her skin, requiring her to wear as little clothes as possible, as covering her skin would suffocate her.^[2] However, her time spent with Diamond Dogs made her genuinely change sides and she retained her silence to prevent an infection.

After a second parasite outbreak occurs on Diamond Dogs' base due to a mutation, Quiet disappears into Afghanistan, realizing that she could never guarantee the safety of Diamond Dogs. Believing that she has betrayed them, Venom Snake follows to investigate. Snake helps her fight off a Soviet regiment, but she is forced to speak English to save him when he is bitten by a venomous snake. Quiet disappears to avoid causing another epidemic; walking alone in the desert, her fate is unknown.

Conception and design

Quiet was modeled after, motion captured and voiced by Japan-based Dutch model Stefanie Joosten. She received a phone call from her agency to audition as a motion capture actress for an unspecified video game.^[3] However, being a big fan of video games she recognized Hideo Kojima at the audition and suspected it was for a new Metal Gear game.^[4] After getting the role and beginning the motion capture process, Joosten was shown artwork of the character, which she said looked almost exactly the same as the finished product,^[5] but was not told specifically what character she would be playing.^[6] The process took two years and, having never held a gun before,^[5] she received professional combat training in order to handle several weapons. Although the character does not speak, Joosten does provide her groans and hums.^[7] The hums are based on "Quiet's Theme", a piece composed by Akihiro Honda, written by Ludvig Forrsell and sung by Joosten for the game's original soundtrack.^[5]

When asked about Quiet during a June 2013 interview with Famitsu, Kojima replied: "In the game, Quiet is the main heroine. Whether she is friend or foe has yet to be revealed so I had to be careful when casting her role. MGS normally has old timers and old guys (laughs). Stefanie is very skilled in action but since she never held that type of gun, we asked her to do some training at home."^[8]

Speaking about Quiet's design just days after her full reveal in September 2013, Kojima Tweeted that he asked lead designer Yoji Shinkawa for a "more erotic" character. In response to the reaction to this statement, he clarified: "Maybe the phrase 'erotic' wasn't really [the correct word for] what I was trying to say. What I'm really trying to do is create unique characters. One of those is, of course, Quiet. She's a really unique character, I wanted to add that sexiness to her. It wasn't really supposed to be erotic, but sexy." He also said, "You're going to notice [when you play,] but there's limited dialogue with [Metal Gear Solid 5], and for that reason we really want to show the characteristic from each character. Sexy could be for guys, weapons, vehicles, it's really that characteristic." Shinkawa added, "From my perspective, it's not just the characters, but often I look at a weapon or a vehicle and think 'That's really sexy.' It's not just the characters, but the mechs and weapons [as well]."^[9]

Kojima also said about her clothing, "Once you see how she fits into the story, you will understand why she looks the way she does. Without any of this background I can certainly understand why there are concerns. I will say there’s a reason she looks the way she does and wears those clothes. And it’s all a part of the game, learning those reasons one by one."^[10] Joosten herself was surprised with the controversy, but said "When I got to see her design, I was shocked too. But everybody didn’t get to hear her story yet so I can understand people are angry about it or saying she is showing too much. But I am not bothered by it.”^[11]

Kojima later stated in 2015 "I know there's people concerning about 'Quiet' but don't worry. I created her character as an antithesis to the women characters appeared in the past fighting game who are excessively exposed. 'Quiet' who doesn't have a word will be teased in the story as well. But once you recognize the secret reason for her exposure, you will feel ashamed of your words & deeds."^[2]

Reception

Screenshot from a scene where Quiet undresses in the rain that was used by critics to point out her "needlessly sexual design"^[12]

Before the release of the game, the presentation of the female character Quiet was criticized by Halo designer David Ellis for being oversexualized and a negative affirmation of the stereotype of the game industry as "full of man babies".^[13][14] Konami released Quiet figurines in May 2015 as part of the game's promotion. The figure's soft, pliable breasts were criticized in social media and in the press.^[15][16][17]

The finished game drew more criticism of Quiet's portrayal in both reviews and opinion pieces.^[12][18] GamesRadar's David Roberts described Quiet as "one of the most complex and conflicted characters in MGS5", but that her depiction was an example of a "juvenile approach to sexuality" that typifies Kojima's work and the Metal Gear series as a whole.^[19] Michael McWhertor of Polygon described the justification for Quiet's lack of clothing as "inextricably tied to the game's convoluted story", and criticized how the game presented other female characters by "zeroing in on their jiggling breasts and panning across their asses in a silly, oversexualized way."^[20]

Of the other opinion, GameZone's James Wynne felt that the game's story explanation was a valid enough reason for her scantily-clad appearance and succeeds in Kojima's aim to make Quiet "a true antithesis to sexy-just-because female characters." He wrote that "Fan service doesn't erase the fact that Quiet is a strong, well-written character that doesn't need a man to save her. That puts her on a level comparable to The Boss, who was the most impressive female character to ever grace a video game."^[21]

Vince Ingenito of IGN called Quiet the most interesting character in the game, writing that her "warm, childlike sincerity and battlefield ferocity cause her to steal every scene she’s in." He did feel disappointed that she was also "required to be a lust-object."^[22]

In the initial release of the game, some players were disappointed that they lost the option of using Quiet as an ally after completing "Mission 45: A Quiet Exit".^[23] David Roberts of GamesRadar wrote few developers would be willing to incur the wrath of players by creating one of the most powerful characters in the game, "integrating her completely so as to make her absolutely vital during some particularly difficult missions, then taking her away forever. But it's one of the many ways Kojima is able to express the game's themes - of loss, of despair, of that lingering 'phantom pain' right there in the game's title - and I respect the hell out of Kojima for removing a core component of gameplay to express those themes."^[24] However, the November 2015 release of the Version 1.06 update adds the ability to bring Quiet back in the game. The player needs to complete "Mission 11: Cloaked in Silence" six times in a row without killing or leaving Quiet, to unlock a version of the mission titled "[Reunion]: Cloaked in Silence". Completing this new version of the mission will have Quiet return permanently with all of the equipment she had at the time she left.^[25]

References