Otacon

Dr. Hal "Otacon" Emmerich was the chief engineer of Metal Gear REX. He became a close friend of Solid Snake after Snake rescued him during the Shadow Moses Incident in 2005. Later that year, he and Snake founded the anti-Metal Gear NGO Philanthropy. Following the Guns of the Patriots Incident, he became the adoptive father of Sunny. A devoted fan of anime, Hal's chosen nickname was derived from "Otaku Convention", which he directly mentions to Snake during an in game conversation. Like his biological parents, Hal was a gifted scientist, possessing a high intellect in computer programming and mechanical engineering. A big fan of Japanese animation shows, especially that of the sci-fi and mecha genres, his hobby also gave him an optimistic inspiration and drive to help create new beneficial technologies and innovations for society with his genius, which was also reinforced with a sense of responsibility and level-headed perspective, especially during his experience of the Shadow Moses Incident. He also did not wish to create weapons of war, in particular weapons of mass destruction. He was also a selfless individual, willing to sacrifice himself to save Snake and Meryl. Hal was a self-confessed hacker, which proved invaluable during Philanthropy's intelligence gathering activities. At some point prior to the Big Shell Incident, Hal had illegally manipulated his and Emma's account on the internet, which his sister later discovered and told him off for during an argument. Because of Sniper Wolf's death, he also has a hard time coping with women he knew personally being killed, including Emma Emmerich (his stepsister) and Naomi Hunter. Over time, Hal became Snake's closest friend and ally, having formed their own handshake, as shown by the duo after Otacon's stepsister, Emma, died of her wounds. Otacon remained loyal to Snake throughout the years, even when Snake began suffering from accelerated aging and was becoming more distant. Hal claimed to have a fear of heights, informing Solid Snake of this in 2005 after watching him rappel down a communications tower. However, he later became a proficient helicopter pilot, having flown helicopters in 2009 (in the Harrier fight and in rescuing hostages) and 2014 (Naomi's escape from South America, Snake's insertion into/recovery from Shadow Moses, and during the attack on Outer Haven). He previously underwent VR training on the Kamov KA-62 civilian model, explaining his ability to pilot the KA-60. While highly intelligent, his wisdom and thoughtfulness left something to be desired; Otacon's poor attempts to interpret literature and Chinese proverbs for Solid Snake in 2007 prompted Mei Ling to interrupt one of their Codec conversations. Like his father Huey before him, Hal and his sister Emma had difficulty controlling their fear, having wet themselves when confronted by possible danger. Snake poked fun at this during a Codec conversion inside a locker during the Tanker Incident, in which Hal mentioned "I was the one inside the locker that time. We're equal now, huh?" to which Snake responded "Not unless I wet my pants," to which Otacon replies "That's a low blow." Other than that, he would come to differ greatly from his father, developing a righteous mind whereas Huey had been much more prone to treachery. Hal had the habit of adjusting his glasses on occasion by pushing them up his nose. Even after he stopped wearing them for a brief period in 2014, he still touched the top of his nose during Codec conversations with Snake. Hal told Snake in a Codec conversation that he believed aliens had been visiting Earth for thousands of years. Hal Emmerich was born in 1980 to scientists Huey Emmerich and Strangelove via Caesarean section. Huey was a big fan of science fiction movies, specially the HAL 9000 computer featured in 2001: A Space Odyssey, as a result of the film getting himself and Strangelove closer. Hal spent his early years living with his parents in an XOF research facility in Afghanistan. He ended up being considered by his father for use as a test subject for Metal Gear Sahelanthropus, as its cockpit was so small that only a child could pilot it. This resulted in a huge falling out between Hal's parents. Strangelove vehemently disagreed with Huey's proposition. Wanting to protect Hal from Huey's experiment, Strangelove secretly hid Hal in America. In retaliation, Huey sealed Strangelove inside the Mammal Pod where she later suffocated. Hal's father, having been exiled from Mother Base, returned to America and eventually reunited with Hal. In the 1990s, his father married British native Julie Danziger. Danziger had a daughter of her own, named Emma, who adopted the Emmerich surname. Hal and Emma often times played "House" together in their youth. While living at the family home, Hal was seduced by his stepmother Julie (despite him still being a young teenager) and they had an affair. Circa 1997, Hal's father, after learning about this, committed suicide by drowning himself in the family pool. He dragged Emma with him, but she managed to survive.[9] Emma expected Hal to come to the rescue, but Hal didn't know it was happening as he was with Julie at the time. Surviving the incident, Emma always claimed to hate her brother because she believed he had abandoned her. Afterwards, Hal, experiencing tremendous guilt for "betraying" Emma and his role in his father's suicide, ran away from home and didn't see any of his family members until several years later, although he did maintain contact with Julie via letters, where he ended up learning about Emma's intense aquaphobia as a result of the "accident." Hal dropped out of school but through Internet-based self study, he secured acceptance to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he earned his PhD at a young age. He also earned additional Bachelor's and Master's Degrees from Princeton University. Scouted by the FBI as a student, he joined their ERF (Engineering Research Facility). After being caught monitoring and hacking their central database, Hal was forced out of the FBI. Eventually, Hal was hired by the defense contractor ArmsTech. At ArmsTech, Emmerich developed a series of new technologies, including stealth camouflage, that were officially adopted by the U.S. Army. Following this, he became the lead engineer for the Metal Gear REX project. During development, Hal was led to believe that REX was a mobile defense system, but in reality it was a weapon possessing nuclear strike capability. In 2014, Roy Campbell contracted Solid Snake and Hal to help eliminate Liquid Ocelot, the CEO of the Outer Heaven mother company because of the booming war economy. Snake and Hal reluctantly accepted, and Otacon assisted Snake from their aircraft using Metal Gear Mk. II. Their first mission in the Middle East was a failure after Liquid activated a first test attempt at disabling the SOP system in his own PMC troops. When Snake then infiltrated South America and managed to rescue Naomi Hunter, Hal piloted the helicopter which was able to get Naomi, Snake and Raiden out. He also bore a grudge against Vamp due to his sister's murder. Afterwards, aboard the Nomad, Otacon and Naomi became romantically involved, and he started to not wear his glasses because Naomi commented that he looked "handsome" without them. He also cited his experience of making Metal Gear REX to explain to Naomi why they weren't stopping the Cyborg Ninja project. However, Hal was crushed when Naomi rejoined Liquid and Vamp again in Eastern Europe. Returning to Shadow Moses Island, Naomi confronted Snake, Raiden and Hal (via the Metal Gear Mk. III) after Raiden defeated Vamp. It was then Naomi revealed having terminal cancer, suppressed only by the life supporting nanomachines. Naomi then injected herself with the nanomachine-suppressing syringe to disable them, effectively committing suicide and ending their brief affair. Devastated, Hal could not help but recall how many women in his life whom he had loved had died. Hal later assisted Snake when they were aboard Outer Haven and helped to disable Liquid's restored GW. After Ocelot himself was defeated for good, Otacon was seen attending the relatively small wedding of Meryl Silverburgh and Johnny Sasaki. After witnessing Sunny making her first friend in the outside world, he finally gave consent for her to live on the outside. It appeared as though Otacon was aware of Snake's plan to kill himself, as when Sunny asked when he’d be back, a tearful Otacon explained that he was sick, and he would be gone for a long time. The two watch the sunset in the horizon, ready for the new era. When Snake did not commit suicide, Otacon and Snake had a short conversation about what they would do now. Hal states he’ll gladly remain at Snake’s side, chronically the remainder of his friend’s life, as Snake waited to see what the era would bring. Sometime after the Guns of the Patriots Incident, Hal officially became Sunny's legal guardian and adoptive father. It was thanks to his connections that Sunny was able to work in Solis Space & Aeronautics. He also started to take more care about his appearance, becoming more attractive. According to a Codec call with Sunny, he spent most of his time seeking partners 'on Saturday nights', though he still had the bad habit of keeping women at arm's length (probably due to the fact that every woman he fell in love with died in unfortunate circumstances).