These are among Snake’s most famous words from the fourth installment in the series. Snake doesn’t see himself as some heroic figure, even though the people around him do. ‘I’m just an old killer, hired to do some wet work’. Snake feels that what he does, the missions he carries out, are a necessity and even an obligation, even if he sometimes has to get his hands dirty. At the same time it reflects a certain stubbornness, believing that the mission is his duty and his alone, and this conviction is more important to him than a happy ending. In other words, he doesn’t have to come back alive, let alone be celebrated by others.