BIOGRAPHY

Rosemary (informally referred to as Rose) is a confidante^[1] appearing in the video games Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001) and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008). She is referenced in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (2013). Her first appearance, in the Plant episode of Metal Gear Solid 2, was on the 13th of November, 2001.

Her primary role in both games is to provide support and insight via Codec. In Metal Gear Solid 2, she is a data analyst who makes the manual game saves and, after saving, shares her input on the mission at hand or her personal affairs with the protagonist. In Metal Gear Solid 4, she assumes the role of a psychological counsellor, offering advice on how to manage the new 'psyche gauge' mechanic. She is the girlfriend, later wife, of Raiden (previously known as Jack), who is the father of her son, John.

In the PAL and Japanese releases of Metal Gear Solid 2, if you select "1st Time" when starting a new game, a voice-over of Rose will walk you through the options before introducing the game as the first cutscene begins.

Outside of the main series, Rose is featured in Metal Gear Solid 2: Bande Dessinée, Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance's Snake Tales, Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence's Secret Theatre, and is a trading card in Metal Gear Acid 2 and Metal Gear Solid: Social Ops. She is a support spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

METAL GEAR SOLID 2: SONS OF LIBERTY

Rose and Jack codec from Metal Gear Solid 2.

Rose was born sometime in the early-to-mid 1980s. I personally put it at 1985. She worked at the Pentagon as a data analyst before being recruited by The Patriots as a spy. During her time undercover, she worked as an analyst for the U.S. Army and was stationed in New York City.

She was tasked with aligning her appearance, personality, and interests with the tastes of a U.S. soldier named Jack^[2]; to get into a romantic relationship with him and find out information about his past — kept classified officially and by himself.

Jack and Rose met on the 30th of April, 2007 in front of Federal Hall. Jack had interrupted her while she was giving out incorrect film trivia (whether King Kong climbed the Chrysler Building or Empire State Building) to a group of tourists. The two bickered over who had the accurate recall. A week later, they met "by chance" on the military base they both worked on. They went on their first date that same night: to the top of the Empire State Building.

Over the course of the relationship, Rose began to develop genuine feelings for Jack. She felt creeping remorse and insecurity over the untold circumstances controlling their relationship. She finds herself in a tricky situation, knowing there was no way to end her mission without jeopardising Jack's and her own safety, but wanting to be with him as herself.

Rose is part of the Codec team for the Big Shell mission. She is placed in the role of a mission analyst and, like Jack, it is her first field mission. This change was sudden and unplanned due to the intended analyst being, allegedly, caught up in an accident. Beforehand, Rose was blindfolded and brought to a secret location where she operated the radio separate from the rest of the team.

Her involvement in the mission is no coincidence. Rose was understood to be the only person Jack cared about; the only person who knew him. She could reassure him and motivate him to get back up. Strategically, having Rose present would guarantee emotional control over Jack. She, or threats against her, could convince him to go along with the mission objectives, no matter what.

During the misson, she's there to help Jack: professionally and personally. She researches new information, gives advice on how to proceed, and speaks casually about the scenario, their relationship, and plans for when they see each other again.

The mission takes place between the 29th and 30th of April, 2009, the latter falling on the couple's second anniversary. Rose presses Raiden on this during save talks^[3], trying to get him to remember the significance.

As the mission progresses, it becomes clear Rose has been trying to find the moment to tell Jack the truth about her. She voices insecurities in the relationship in a roundabout way, trying to find out how things would pan out if he knew the truth. After questioning him on a range of personal topics, she becomes fixated on what Jack was not telling her, why he acts so distant in private, becoming suspicious that he has really been cheating on her.

After learning the hidden truth about Raiden's childhood as a child soldier in the First Liberian Civil War, she breaks down in tears. Not being able to stand lying to him any longer, she confesses to being a spy. Due to the unplanned dissent, she is physically dragged off-air. Her distorted voice tells Raiden she is pregnant with his child. For the finale of the game, Rose is replaced with an AI that replicates her voice and appearance in order to insult and dissuade Raiden. It's revealed that the real Rose's nanomachines have been linked to Jack's: if he fails his mission and dies, so does she^[4].

During the final cutscene, the pair reunite in the streets of New York City and decide to continue their relationship, this time seeing each other for who they are instead of playing these false characters.

METAL GEAR SOLID 4: GUNS OF THE PATRIOTS

After his mission, Raiden becomes more withdrawn and unstable. He begins to believe the battlefield is all he's good for and a peaceful life with Rose and his soon-due baby is impossible. This causes him to frequently go missing.

In order to ensure the safety of their son in Raiden's absence, Rose conspires with Raiden's commanding officer, Roy Campbell. They stage a false marriage and pretend that Rose had tragically miscarried Raiden's child so they were no longer viable leverage against him.

There's a vagueness in how this played out: in some translations it's implied she lied directly to Raiden; in the original (and the dubious Metal Gear Solid 4 Database) it can be taken that Raiden heard it from an outside source. Without getting too into it, I find the version where he found out from somebody else after he left to be more accurate^[5].

Sometime during this period, Rose returns to school to study psychology and becomes qualified as a counsellor. She begins working to provide psychological support and stress-management techniques to combatants on the battlefield.

Rose's final cutscene in Metal Gear Solid 4.

From Act 2 of the game, Rose assists Solid Snake over Codec as one of the few permanent contacts. Her task is to monitor his vitals and teach him how to manage the psyche gauge. If psyche is high, she simply praises his effort. If psyche is low, she says pretty interesting things about therapy techniques and psychology beyond in-game mechanics. During boss fights, Rose will interpret the psychological state of the opponent, often expressing sympathy for them and urging Snake not to cause too much harm.

While Snake is making his way through the microwave corridor, Rose turns away from the monitor, distressed, unable to watch the suffering.

In the finale, she visits Raiden in the hospital and introduces him to his son, assuring him that what he heard about the miscarriage was a lie. There, they reconcile and decide to try again as a family. Raiden promises he will never leave her alone again.

METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE

Things at this point of the story are unclear as it's somewhat debatably canon. However, it's suggested that she supported her family with her work as a psychologist during the recession where Raiden struggled to find employment as a cyborg. He later gets a contract with a private military company to send money back to his family. This money meant that Rose and John could move out of the country to live in safety in New Zealand.

In the game's Codec calls, Raiden speaks of Rose and his son very positively. He preaches the happiness marriage and family has given him to his Codec team and claims it's really the "idiosyncrasies" that keep relationships interesting, implying they've worked things out between them.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I searched every avenue and crevice for canonical information for this page. It is genuinely disappointing to not have much to say about Rose that doesn't revolve around Raiden, even implicitly^[6]. I suppose, in some way, this aligns with her shunning her own individuality in order to carry out her assignment — playing a character Raiden was most likely to fall for. I don't mean to say that to let what is clearly a poor exploration of her story off the hook. She is not the first or last character to turn out like this.

For this page, I intended to use an informative style. I have tried my best not to speculate, make things up, or follow bias from my personal views. I'm only human, so I can't say my feelings have had zero effect on neutrality. If you want the personal, subjective, side on Rose, I'll point you to the Relationship page.

Anyhow, here's some trivia I couldn't fit into the flow of the main text:

Her cooking skills are notoriously poor. She enjoys awful-tasting food, so doesn't notice.
If Raiden shoots seagulls in Metal Gear Solid 2, or Snake kills wolves in Metal Gear Solid 4, Rose will become agitated and question their sanity.
She had a pet parakeet in childhood.
In Metal Gear Solid 2, Raiden can irritate Rose by calling her on Codec after performing specific actions. These include: searching for the bomb in the women's bathroom, equipping the pornographic magazine in the bathroom stall, peeking up the skirt of the hostage, staring at Emma in the locker, or escorting Emma. Rose will first criticise what he's doing; subsequent calls will result in curt replies and huffs. If he upsets her too much, she will manipulate the saving function to read "I WON'T MAKE YOU SAVE / DO NOT SAVE".
There is a trophy for ports of Metal Gear Solid 2 titled "Love Hurts" which can be achieved by making Rose kill Raiden in the Casting Theatre.
In Metal Gear Online, a tranquilised Raiden will say Rose's name in his sleep.
During the Ray battle at the end of Metal Gear Solid 2, the machines are named A05E (in a font where the A is easily misread as R) or similar variation.
In Metal Gear Solid 4, shaking a SIXAXIS controller while in a call with Rose will cause her breasts to bounce. Kojima moment.
Following the PlayStation 3 console's system clock, Rose will wear a different sweater for each day of the week.
If you get a Game Over as Snake and call Rose after continuing, she may comment on the method of your death.

NOTES

^ Defined as a character whom the protagonist confides in and trusts. In Metal Gear Solid 2, Rose is the person Raiden speaks to more informally and sentimentally than his other contacts, given their established relationship. In Metal Gear Solid 4, Rose works in the role of providing psychological support for Solid Snake. Similar to a therapist, she can be confided in by Snake for advice on managing psychological strain.
^The Jack/Rose naming pair is a reference to the tragic lovers in Titanic (1997).
^ The oft-quoted "Do you know what day it is tomorrow?".
^Confirmed to be true as when you get a Game Over as Raiden at any point in the story, Rose can be heard faintly gasping as their linked nanomachines kill her too.
^Source(s): Dude trust me.
^Ironically, in a Codec call, Rose says "I do NOT like being summed up as 'Jack's girlfriend'. The very thought of it makes me shiver". After that, every strategy guide and character profile promptly summed her up as Jack's girlfriend.