Code Talker

Overview

Code Talker is an unplayable character in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. After rescuing him from the mansion in the Lufua Valley, it is possible to develop the Parasite Suit with abilities similar to those that the Skulls Unit wears.

History

Code Talker's real name and age are unknown, though it is believed he is around 100 years old due to his childhood memories of being torn from his family and being sent to an American Indian boarding school. The school staff gave him the name "George" and forbade him from speaking his native Dine language, forcing him to use only English words or be punished while they "civilized" the Natives into American culture.

At some point, Code Talker was invited by a predecessor to DARPA to study an old man infected with parasites (implied to be The End from Metal Gear Solid 3). He grew incredibly fascinated studying the organisms and, after exhausting his observational research, decided to get a firsthand experience with the parasites by covering his own body with them. He somehow managed to form a symbiotic relationship with the parasites, offering them nourishment from water and sunlight on his own body as they would excrete natural sugars and proteins that could sustain his blood, allowing him to live a longer lifespan than normal humans.

However, between his childhood memories and the gradual disappearance of his tribe in the present, Code Talker grew discontent with his country and tried to find a way to use his knowledge against them. He soon met Skull Face, who had taken an interest in the parasites he was studying near Central Africa. Skull Face offered to help Code Talker weaponize the parasites and protect his fellow Navajo, and Code Talker agreed. However, Code Talker soon discovered that Skull Face planned to use the parasites to ethnically cleanse all non-English speakers in the world.

The two came to a head when Skull Face demanded to know if there was an antidote to the parasites and threatened to infect Code Talker's fellow tribesman in America. Code Talker soon broke and told him that radiation could kill the parasites. Even though Skull Face's threat turned out to be fake, he left Code Talker in a colonial mansion in the Lufua Valley to rot.

Eventually, Venom Snake found Code Talker sitting inside the mansion, and after some trouble evacuated him to Mother Base in the Seychelles. Code Talker mentioned a cure he withheld from Skull Face, another parasite called "Malbachia" that could immunize the infected Diamond Dogs, but at the cost of rendering them infertile for life. Still, the Diamond Dogs accepted his help, and gave the Malbachia to all their infected soldiers.

From that point on, Code Talker stayed in a wheelchair at Mother Base, offering counsel and helping the Diamond Dogs to destroy the vocal chord parasites, even after an English strain was discovered. He also offered some counsel to Quiet when she admitted in the Dine language that she had originally been sent to kill Big Boss with the English parasites on her body, but refused to follow her orders.

Background

The name Code Talker comes from the real life Native American Code Talkers in World War 2, who composed a code for the US Marine Corps (USMC) in the Pacific Theater that the enemy could not translate even if they intercepted the message. Several Navajo Code Talkers were commended by officers in the USMC for their skill and bravery during the Battle of Iwo Jima. Though some of the codewords are still used today in the USMC, the use of Navajo Code Talkers in the field was ended around the Vietnam War.

In the game, Code Talker claims that he helped the US craft the code that the soldiers would use on the battlefield, though he never actually appeared in battle himself.