Highlights
- The End was born in the 1860s, making him over a hundred years old during the events of Metal Gear Solid 3.
- Inputting the Konami Code on the map screen will permanently reveal The End's location during the boss battle.
- Players have the option to injure The End before his final battle, reducing his starting health but allowing for an epic sniper duel.
The End is a legendary sniper from the Cobra Unit, the team that aided the Allies greatly in World War II, in the Metal Gear Solid series. His boss battle in his debut game, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, has been cited as one of the most memorable boss encounters in the series.
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There are plenty of potentially obscure facts about him and his respective boss battle, including what his original codename was planned to be in development, the method of hearing his voice from beyond the grave, and how he and his abilities tie into the fifth game long after his death.
10 He Was Born Specifically In The 1860s
A concrete name is not given to The End when Naked Snake speaks to his companions for information; they all give a roundabout estimate of his age being “over a hundred years old.” Again, it’s not very precise with what his birth date was.
What is certain is that he was born in the 1860s. This is apparent from a leaked document that appeared before the E3 in 2004, which was eventually translated into English by fans. So, when compared to when the game takes place (Operation Snake Eater occurs in 1964) The End was likely born between 1860 and 1863. Again, not too precise, but it’s an educated guess.
9 The Konami Code Will Reveal His Position
Not only is he wearing a special ghillie suit, but The End is also photosynthetic with the surrounding forest. This increases his ability to hide from Snake during his respective boss battle, which takes place across multiple chunks of the surrounding area to really amp up the challenge.
While players can look out for the reflection of his scope or even capture and release his beloved parrot to find out where his current location is (among many other tricks), there’s a lazier solution to beat him: input the Konami Code on the map screen to permanently reveal his location.
8 Snake Can Injure Him Instead Of Killing Him
During a cutscene with The End being sat in a wheelchair, he’ll be wheeled through a doorway, ready for his final battle. It’s common knowledge with seasoned fans that a shot from a sniper rifle can detonate the nearby oil barrels, which will prematurely kill him. Thus, his battle is consequently bypassed.
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For those who don’t want to rob themselves of an amazing sniper duel but still want to give themselves an advantage, it’s possible to wound The End before he’s wheeled out of sight by an enemy soldier. When the boss battle takes place later on, he’ll have slightly less health to start out with.
7 He Can K.O. Snake In A Few Different Ways
The End doesn’t try to kill Snake. Rather, he favors using tranquilizer rounds and stun grenades. This makes him no less of a formidable opponent, however. If the player loses all their stamina, a cutscene will play of Snake attempting to run with difficulty, before finally getting knocked out. The End will taunt his recklessness and carry him to Graniny Gorki prison with the cell door open.
A similar cutscene will play if the player stays in one position for too long or saves their game and returns after a few days of waiting. Snake will be caught having a nap and gets knocked out. The End shuns him from afar for sleeping on the battlefield and, once again, carries him to the aforementioned prison, ready to wait for another attempt.
6 The End Originally Had A Different Name
The Cobras have different nicknames, often referring to a state of mind or something foreboding and inevitable. The End is appropriately named since he is on the brink of death but rises to the challenge of fighting Snake one more time before his eventual demise.
In development, however, his name was something completely different: The Doom. Sounds scary, but this was changed. One of the big reasons why was because of DOOM 3 being released too close to Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. In fact, his character was created based on a scrapped antagonist named “Oldman” who was intended for the second game.
5 The Boss Battle Was Intended To Last A Long While
Series creator Hideo Kojima was always ambitious with his ideas, though that sometimes resulted in some ambitious requests that were just not possible to pull off. For instance, according to interviews, he wanted the battle to take 1 to 2 weeks to finish. His reasoning was that he wanted to simulate a realistic sniper battle, where the player had to wear the enemy down and slowly gain an advantage to come out on top.
Apparently, Konami did some tests with the concept but concluded that it was just not feasibly possible to make happen, so it was ultimately canned.
4 A Humorous Cutscene Of Him Can Be Found In The Secret Theater
The updated release of the third game, named Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, had a plethora of exclusive content that was packed alongside. One of the quirkiest inclusions is undoubtedly the Secret Theater mode, which originally featured ridiculous versions of cutscenes from the base game.
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One of them is called ‘He’s Still Got It,' and features The End escaping from his wheelchair to stalk his new infatuation, EVA. He interferes in certain situations, going so far as to tranquilize Ocelot, so he unhands her. At the end, after discovering her and Snake getting intimate, he tries to get his revenge, only to be knocked over by her motorbike and then blown up. It’s a hilarious watch.
3 His Voice Can Be Heard From Beyond The Grave
The ‘Dead Man's Treasure’ Side-Ops is home to an interesting Easter egg. In these missions, items from fallen MSF troops must be collected, preferably without being attacked by their ghosts. All of these missions take place at night in the jungles of South America.
If the player repeatedly tries to make a call on the radio, there’s a slim chance that The End will be briefly heard, saying things like “This is The End,” and “Remember me, Snake?” It’s enough to give anyone goosebumps, but it will also reward players with the rare Neo-Moss uniform, based on his own.
2 Snake References The End In Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Conversations recorded on Miller’s tapes in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker will reveal some humorous dialogue between him and Snake. When Miller talks about the CIA snipers hidden in the woods, Snake gets a bit nostalgic and remarks on how it took him an hour to find a certain sniper. No prizes for who he’s referring to there.
He goes further, asking more oddly specific questions like if they shine from their heads (referring to The End being bald) and if they have parrots with them (The End had a pet parrot that served as his own personal spotter). A confused Miller responds by saying he’s “asking the wrong guy.”
1 His Body Harbors The Same Parasites As The Skulls
The explanation for The End’s ability to photosynthesize and regain health as a result is due to being infected with a parasite, which results in varying after-effects that would keep the host alive at all costs. This was discovered by the Navajo biologist Code Talker, who appears in Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain.
Supposedly, these same parasites were extracted from the intact remains of The End after his death (a micro-bomb would detonate, blowing up each of the defeated Cobra members). Code Talker mentioned how it would “live on past the host’s death, still aiding cell composition.” Skull Face would use this parasite strain on some of his own XOF soldiers, thereby creating the Skulls.