transhumanism and ideology in metal gear rising: revengeance
and besides ... this isn't my sword.
metal gear rising: revengeance is many things. a marvel of batshit insane hack-and-slash spectacle in many places, while also a presentation of genuine political ideologies and meaningful social commentary one would expect from metal gear in others. the statement that ‘metal gear rising is deeper than it seems’ is not a new idea; several other writers have covered this fact in various well-written and insightful pieces. rather than treading over the well-spoken ground of other writers, i’d like to focus on a factor not often spoken about regarding this game: transhumanism. in the current real world, the most common and functional applications of transhumanism are prosthetics, exoskeletons, medical implants and technological organ supplements or replacements such as pacemakers. even something as simple as cosmetic surgery is a form of transhumanism.
however, in metal gear rising’s far-flung future of…2018, cybernetic enhancements, cyborgs and sentient robots are commonplace, showing transhumanism has advanced much further than it did in our primitive reality. the world of metal gear is fraught with the consequences of technology for humanity both good and bad, such as global surveillance, manmade diseases manufactured to wipe out languages, and the titular metal gears essentially being walking nuclear bombs.
despite being set at the end of the timeline and being tonally very different to the rest of the series, the game’s writer, etsu tamari, ensured that rising is no different. throughout the story, the player is shown mercenary groups employing private police forces made up of enhanced, hive minded combatants, as well as orphaned children being abducted to be turned into cyborg child soldiers, firmly setting rising in a technological dystopia.
however, the most striking displays of transhumanism in the game are the main characters themselves: the morally grey cyborg ninja raiden and the equally morally questionable (or sometimes outright evil) antagonistic members of the private military company desperado are all affected by transhumanist enhancements in some way. these enhancements manifest in a variety of forms; nanomachines forming an impenetrable second layer of skin; disposable and replaceable robotic limbs allowing massively increased dexterity in offense or defense, or a completely non-organic body capable of splitting into pieces and reforming at will. no matter the specific type of enhancement, the effects of transhumanism are clearly visible in all of rising’s major characters.
let’s start with rising’s protagonist, the cyborg ninja raiden. first appearing as a human soldier in metal gear solid 2 and gaining a few cybernetic enhancements in metal gear solid 4, raiden returns in rising with only a few body parts of flesh and blood left — only his head and eyes are untouched by robotics. however, in the opening scenes of rising, raiden loses an arm and eye at the hands of his rival, jetstream sam, replacing them immediately with cybernetic parts and losing some of his last human features — specifically, his window to the soul.
while raiden’s enhancements obviously give him an edge in battle, there are other, more philosophical reasons raiden has no qualms with losing his physical humanity and embracing his cyborg nature. his outspoken desire to bring about justice and protect the weak, even calling his sword ‘a tool of justice’, originate in japanese buddhist philosophy: raiden is noted to be an adherent of ‘issatsu tashō’ — ‘killing one in order that many may live’. this can be seen in his willingness to kill the mercenaries of desperado, and later senator armstrong, in order to save innocent people from their dangerous, violent ideologies.
during his encounter with armstrong, this philosophy is laid bare in their ideological argument: raiden criticises armstrong’s ideology, stating “not when you’re purging the weak, right? what do you know about the weak? you weren’t born poor. you’ve never been hungry. you don’t know what it’s like to fight and steal and kill just to survive.” as such, raiden would prioritise his ability to save the innocent — vastly improved by his enhancements — over maintaining a human body and welcome his new identity.
by extension, it can be inferred and seen in his actions that raiden would live by the buddhist concepts of annica and annatā — impermanence and non-self. these concepts state that all of existence is transient and nothing lasts — everything is always changing. raiden’s ever-changing, ever-improving cyborg body lines up with annatā’s doctrine that there is no single ‘essence’ that a person is tied to and cannot be changed — in this case, raiden’s human body is being left behind as he embraces his changing existence. his continual look towards the future also accompanies the philosophy of annica — he is always trying to bring the world forward, while desperado attempts to maintain the status quo and keep the world as it is.
the ending of the game even shows that after saving the children abducted by desperado, raiden and his fellow freedom fighters set up a youth program for them, offering education and training to help them integrate into society, as well as ensuring they don’t return to the streets. throughout metal gear rising, raiden’s philosophies and actions consistently demonstrate his acceptance of transhumanism.
now for raiden’s rival, jetstream sam — the cool brazilian wind. easily the most charming and memorable member of desperado, sam wants little more than a worthy opponent to overcome through skill alone, serving as the vergil to raiden’s dante. as revealed in expository codec calls, sam is descended from centuries of japanese-brazilian samurais and incredibly proficient in kenjutsu; he carries a love for combat in his blood and the murasama blade in his hand, passed down from his father.
earlier in life, sam used his skills to take down organised crime groups as a mercenary but gave this up due to realising he could not change the world to the degree he wished to, and eventually joined desperado as a forfeit for his defeat against armstrong (as shown in the game’s additional prequel chapter).
the most notable element of sam’s character is his cybernetic enhancement — or rather, his lack thereof. unlike the rest of rising’s cast, sam is almost entirely free of cybernetics, bearing only an armoured exoskeleton suit and a metal arm (which he only has thanks to armstrong bisecting his organic limb). despite this, sam holds his own against raiden incredibly well, ironically returning the favour by bisecting raiden’s arm and cutting out his eye in their first meeting and putting up a solid fight in their desert duel.
even against armstrong’s nanomachine-armoured body, he only loses due to not knowing the full extent of the nanomachines’ potential. these repeated demonstrations of strength are what make the blood soaked reveal of sam’s lack of enhancement at the end of raiden’s duel so powerful; he’s been besting raiden and other enhanced individuals through skilled swordsmanship and martial arts alone.
sam acts as raiden’s foil in the game — rather than becoming stronger and forging a new identity through transhumanist enhancements, sam has rejected this, maintaining his natural body and honing his skills through pure training. he represents the desire to hold on to humanity and tradition, accepting a possible disadvantage in combat against cyborgs in order to improve himself naturally and honour his family’s samurai legacy.
after he falls to raiden’s sword, sam posthumously hands over his ideology to raiden in the form of the murasama, which raiden acquires while battling armstrong — as a metaphor for sam’s philosophy, raiden’s use of the murasama represents an acceptance and respect for tradition simultaneously alongside his embracing of transhumanism.
serving as raiden’s final challenge in both gameplay and ideology, steven armstrong is a force to be reckoned with. after having somehow gained a seat in the senate as colorado’s representative, armstrong kicks off rising’s story by partnering with desperado in order to start a war between america and pakistan under false pretenses — a false flag operation to kickstart the war economy and improve america’s previously implied recession. in his own words: “the only value left is dollar value — the economy. so we’ll do whatever it takes to keep it humming along. even war. especially war!”
armstrong even co-opts reagan’s famous campaign slogan in the line “we’ll make america great again!” — a line that, in hindsight, has increased in political gravity in the years since the game’s 2013 release. however, after clashing with raiden and accused of being a “typical politician” with “no principles, just like all the rest”, armstrong admits the truth.
his grand monologue reveals that his claimed aim to improve the economy was purely to secure votes and goodwill from americans, and his true ideology lies in a social darwinist, ‘might makes right’ philosophy — “the weak will be purged and the strongest will thrive — free to live as they see fit!”. he even tries to justify this aim by stating that it will end the exploitative war economy by ending the concept of war entirely — “i’m using war as a business to get elected so i can end war as a business!” to achieve this, armstrong aims to burn america as it stands to the ground, starting afresh with a social darwinist society in which strength is all that matters.
to this end, armstrong’s adaptation of transhumanism in his cybernetic enhancements — nanomachines coursing through his body able to instantly transform skin into an impenetrable surface and form sharp points or blunt clubs in place of hands — metaphorically represent his ideology in a physical form. they are rigid, immovable, existing only to grant strength — armstrong’s nanomachines are his ideology in themselves.
even when raiden calls armstrong out on how flawed his ideology is in the aforementioned line regarding ‘the weak’, armstrong ignores raiden’s logic and twists it to support his own steadfast perspective: “but you did survive! through sheer force of will, following your own set of rules! with your own two hands you took back your life!” armstrong is completely unwilling, possibly unable, to change his worldview, as no amount of logic can alter his assuredness that strength is all that matters; with his nanomachines making him powerful and practically invincible, he feels that he has proven himself right.
as the antithesis to raiden and sam, armstrong’s application of transhumanist technologies is purely for egotistical purposes, going against the core principle of transhumanism being the advancement of all of humanity through technology, not just the one percent. raiden struggles immensely in his fight against armstrong, until he acquires sam’s murasama blade, capable of piercing armstrong’s nanomachine-protected skin. this could be read as raiden’s cyborg technology being outmatched by the pure power of armstrong’s enhancements, but sam’s humanity ultimately being what raiden needed to cut through armstrong’s dehumanising, purging ideology. raiden’s line after acquiring the murasama — “and besides…this isn’t my sword” — also communicates his understanding that holding the last remnant of sam’s humanity is what allows him to finally overcome armstrong’s unwavering nature.
even after raiden inevitably cuts armstrong down and rips out his heart, armstrong is unflinching in his certainty that his ideology will live on; he refers to raiden and himself as “kindred spirits” and claims raiden is a “worthy successor” due to his ability to kill for what he believes in, despite raiden’s reasons for killing and justice-centric ideology being radically different to his. raiden’s final lines in the ending solidify the inaccuracy of armstrong’s view of raiden, criticising private military companies like desperado for “fighting for reasons they don’t understand, causes they don’t believe in” and affirming that “i’ve got my own war to fight” — a war against warmongers like armstrong, who represents the physical benefits of transhumanism corrupted by horrific ideology: power in the wrong hands.