The majestically grand series, Metal Gear Solid, is a beloved franchise of fans, that is both ground-breaking and original. The game developers, with each entry, go above and beyond to provide visually stunning visuals with crafty, intricate puzzles to solve, all wrapped up in excellent storylines. Within each story, MGS has done a great job of providing new and intriguing characters, and one of those is the one known as Code Talker.
The white-haired, ancient-looking wheelchair-user scientist who also goes by the name George, is a Native American with a history of ingenious deeds and misdeeds. As a secondary character from MGS, it’s hardly a surprise that Code Talker is shrouded in a bit of mystery and that the game’s narrative doesn’t reveal all in a straightforward manner.
6 Heritage
A huge part of Code Talker’s story arc is his heritage as a Native American. From the Navajo tribe, Code Talker’s motives behind his deeds are very much rooted in his heritage. Originating from the southwestern part of North America, the Navajo tribe has a rich real-life history of music, ritual, oral traditions, and concepts. This latter art is facilitated by another aspect of Navajo history, one that feeds into MGS V’s storyline, and that is language.
Good old George, who's referred to as Old Diné, is a Navajo elder who is deeply passionate and connected to his heritage. Rocking the occasional traditional Navajo clothing and jewelry, Code Talker often talks in riddles that reflect his cultural philosophy using the language he loves.
5 Name
In 1942, at the height of World War 2, soldiers were drafted into a top-secret Marine Corps team to create an unbreakable code to use against the Nazis. Looking to their native people, the U.S. military drafted 29 men from the Navajo tribe. And, using their native language they were required to create the code, and henceforth, were known as Code Talkers.
In the fictional world of MGS V, it is implied that Code Talker was one such member and so derives his name. Code Talker’s Christian name, George, was an alias forced on him as a child.
4 Parasites
It would be fair to say that Mr. Code Talker, aka George, is a bit of a fan of Parasites. Not only has his life’s work revolved around parasites, viruses, and the like, but they also sustain his life. Born in the 1880s, George has outlived his years due to a symbiotic relationship that he has with parasites.
Having replaced many of his internal organs and now working as his optics, Code Talker is entirely reliant on these parasites that he’d discovered while performing autopsies. George had originally intended to harness these parasites to aid the wicked deeds of the game’s antagonist Skull Face but ended up personally infected.
3 Language
Being an avid preserver of his people's culture and art, George’s love for his native tongue is hardly surprising. Furthermore, it is a language that motivates several of his actions. As an implied member of the WW2 Navajo code-making group, George was an expert in the language and was eager to preserve it.
Code Talker’s love of his people’s language is matched by the hatred he felt in his early life against the U.S.A. for the treatment of Native Americans. The increasing loss of the Navajo language is a major point of contention to fuel his misdeeds.
2 Misdeeds
Code Talker has a backstory that includes a collection of misdeeds that involve his hatred for the U.S.A., language, autopsies, and viruses. As a biologist, George was hired by Skull Face to work some wicked ways and exact revenge on those that had harmed his people.
From his work as a biologist, specifically his parasitic research and autopsy on the human biological super weapon, The End, Code Talker engineered a virus that would use to exact the revenge he sought. Instructed by Skull Face to modify the Vocal Cord Virus, Code Talker’s adaptation would target the English language and erase it from Earth. Included in George’s scientific misdeeds is the act of injecting himself with The End’s photosynthetic parasite to gain knowledge.
1 Deeds
While George’s participation in the Marine Corps team, the Code Talkers, isn’t made explicit, the team’s use of the Navajo language is not one he is proud of. Still, making the fair assumption he was a member, helping to bring down the Nazi war machine certainly counts as a good deed.
Upon learning Skull Face’s plans included using the virus to wipe out every language except English, Code Talker deceived and disavowed his actions. During the course of MGS V, George is enlisted to tackle the virus he was partially responsible for. From Mother Base, Code Talker identifies and cures the Vocal Cord Virus among the population of people who speak Kikongo.