Psycho Mantis
Psycho Mantis is a male video game character who features in Metal Gear Solid.
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Biography
Psycho Mantis was a psychic male human born in a small Russian village before the collapse of the Soviet Union. His mother died giving birth to him, which made his father resent and hate him. He discovered his father's true emotions one day while accidentally reading his mind. He wondered if his father would kill him, and the shock of this revelation awoke his sub conscious, and inadvertently caused the deaths of everyone in the village (approx. 1,000 people). This release of psychic energy caused severe burns across his body, particularly his face. The official cause of death for the people of the village was found to be brain haemorrhaging and he was then taken into custody by the KGB, who found his psychic powers impressive. He was taught to control his abilities in a boarding school owned by Soviet Intelligence, along with other possibly psychic children. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Mantis was drafted as a psychic profiler by the FBI. He moved to the United States and began to work immediately for the FBI. He would enter the minds of a suspected killer and uncover the truth about their crimes. He eventually delved too far into the mind of a serial killer, and the killer's thoughts infected his mind, driving him insane. This created a violent multiple personality called the parasite. The parasite caused Mantis to go into killing rages, but he found he could use his mental abilities to control his alternate personality. This greatly reduced his psychic abilities, so after he was recruited by FOXHOUND, he let the parasite roam free in his mind, allotting him even greater psychic ability.
On February 26, 1984, Mantis was transported to a Moscow research lab from Czechoslovakia via a plane. During this time, he wore a gas mask to help prevent the thoughts and emotions of others from entering his mind. The plane's flight path took it near a hospital containing Big Boss and the comatose Venom Snake, whose hateful subconscious influenced Mantis's uncontrollable power, causing the plane to explode and crash. Being the only survivor, Mantis was recovered and sent to the lab, which focused on researching paranormal abilities in individuals, and given the codename "Tretij Rebenok". It was there that the comatose body of Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin was also being held. Mantis could sense the anger and resentment Volgin held for Big Boss, as the two were gradually awakening. Volgin's hatred influenced Mantis, causing his body to reanimate as the "Man on Fire." The two burned the entire facility down as their rampage began.
In the current incarnation of FOXHOUND, its members grew tired of their roles as puppets to the government, and attacked Shadow Moses Island, a nuclear disposal facility. Psycho Mantis used his powers to gather the aid of the Genome Army, a group of genetically enhanced soldiers. During the course of that game, Mantis attempts to stop Solid Snake's progress, at first taking control of Meryl Silverburgh, then revealing himself. Psycho Mantis is ultimately defeated by Snake, and tells Snake of his past before revealing the route ahead in his dying moments. He remarks that it is the first time he has used his powers for good, and that it felt "nostalgic".
Overview
Personality and attributes
By this time he had taken to wearing a gas mask, partially to hide his deformed facial features, but also to prevent the thoughts of others from entering his mind involuntarily. His real name was unknown, although he had been known as the Dream Robber. He would later work as a child soldier for XOF under the code name Tretij Rebenok (Russian for "Third Child").
Powers and abilities
His psychokinesis was also strong enough to envelop a barrier powerful enough to deter attacks from various weaponry, including small-grade portable rocket/missile launchers, against himself and objects as large as a parked chopper.[13] It is heavily implied that his being drawn to people who possessed "evil" thoughts, or at least those from Venom Snake/Big Boss, was due to having a degree of empathy for their desires for revenge due to his being experimented on for his powers to such an extent that he otherwise lacked any will or even emotions beyond a desire for revenge of his own.[14]
When influenced by the negative feelings of others, he was capable of channeling himself as a conduit, enacting the lusts of his respective host through his abilities - this is what allowed Skull Face and later Eli to control Metal Gear Sahelanthropus. Though Volgin and Skull Face would interchange between influencing his mind, Mantis would go on to develop a bond with the young Liquid Snake, thus supplanting Volgin and Skull Face's control over him. Though Liquid's resentment over his heritage acted as the catalyst for Mantis' attraction towards him, it was their shared young age that allowed Mantis to favor him over many others that influenced him before. It is heavily implied that this bond served as the basis of his joining FOXHOUND with Liquid as the leader.
He came to be recruited into the ranks of the High-Tech Special Forces Unit FOXHOUND that were a small, formidable elite black ops unit of the United States Army.
Notes
- Psycho Mantis was created by Hideo Kojima and Tomokazu Fukushima where he featured in the setting of the Metal Gear universe.
Appearances
- Metal Gear Solid:
External Links
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