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#REDIRECT [[Characters of the Metal Gear series#Meryl Silverburgh]]
{{Notability|date=October 2023}}


{{Redirect category shell|
{{Infobox character
| series = [[Metal Gear]]
{{R from fictional character|Metal Gear}}
{{R to section}}
| image = Meryl Silverburgh.png
| caption = Meryl Silverburgh from ''[[Metal Gear Solid (1998 video game)|Metal Gear Solid]]''
| firstgame = ''[[Metal Gear Solid (1998 video game)|Metal Gear Solid]]'' (1998)
| creator = [[Hideo Kojima]]
| designer = [[Yoji Shinkawa]]
| voice = {{Plainlist|
* [[Debi Mae West]] (''MGS'', ''MGS4'')
* [[Vanessa Marshall]] (''MGS2: Substance'')
* [[Kyoko Terase]] (Japanese)
}}
}}
| motion_actor = Eriko Hirata
| nationality = American
}}
'''{{Nihongo|Meryl Silverburgh|メリル・シルバーバーグ|Meriru Shirubābāgu}}''' is a video game character in the ''[[Metal Gear]]'' series by [[Hideo Kojima]]. She was originally a character from the 1994 Konami adventure game ''[[Policenauts]]'', which was directed by [[Hideo Kojima]]. After her original appearance, she was redesigned and reintroduced in ''[[Metal Gear Solid (1998 video game)|Metal Gear Solid]]'' as [[Solid Snake]]'s partner.

==Character design==
Meryl Silverburgh in the ''[[Metal Gear]]'' series is based on a supporting character of the same name in [[Hideo Kojima]]'s earlier game, ''[[Policenauts]]'' (1994), where Meryl was originally designed by Tomiharu Kinoshita. Kojima liked the character so much that he used her name, likeness, voice actress ([[Kyoko Terase]]) and other characteristics to the ''Metal Gear'' version of Meryl.<ref>{{cite magazine |first1=Ken |last1=Ogasawara |author2=Major Mike|title=Metal Gear Solid|magazine=[[GamePro]]|issue=111 |publisher=[[International Data Group|IDG]]|date=December 1997 |page=65}}</ref> Meryl's partner in ''Policenauts'', Dave Forrest, also shares the same given name [[Solid Snake]] has, whose true name is also Dave (David). In the final scenes of ''[[Metal Gear Solid (1998 video game)|Metal Gear Solid]]'', Meryl wears an orange goose down vest similar to the one Forrest wears in ''Policenauts''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gamespot.com/news/6179757.html|publisher=GameSpot|title=TGS '07: Kojima speaks|access-date = August 30, 2011}}</ref><ref name=ps1bookspnauts>{{cite web|url=http://www.konami.jp/gs/game/psonebooks/policenauts/introduction01.html|title=PSone Books Policenauts site - Introduction|language=ja}}</ref> Character designer [[Yoji Shinkawa]] stated that the staff purposely avoided mentioning her directly in the first sequel to ''Metal Gear Solid'' so that it could follow either of the two endings from the first game.<ref name=mgs2shinkawa>{{cite web|url=http://www.konami.jp/gs/game/mgs2/art/fourth.html|title=Metal Gear Solid2 -Sons of Liberty - Yoji Shinkawa Interview: Segment 4|quote=It can be either. When you escape with Meryl, Otacon is alive. When with Otacon (in ''MGS2''), it is not mentioned that Meryl has died.}}</ref>

==Appearances==
===''Metal Gear Solid''===
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Meryl is first introduced as the teenage daughter of [[List of Metal Gear characters#Roy Campbell|Roy Campbell]]'s deceased brother, Matt Campbell, who died during the [[Gulf War]]. Born to a house of military traditions, Meryl trained herself throughout her childhood in the 'arts' of soldiery. She admired the [[FOXHOUND]] unit (a high-tech special forces group), viewing the days when her uncle and [[Solid Snake]] were members as the unit's heyday, and wears a paint tattoo of the unit's old logo on her left shoulder. She joined the armed forces after graduating high school and received extensive psychotherapy to prevent any attraction to the opposite sex. Her weapon of choice is a [[Desert Eagle]] pistol.

She was recruited by the Next-Generation Special Forces (Genome Soldiers), a U.S. military unit, and assigned to Shadow Moses island in 2005 as an emergency replacement when several soldiers were reported missing. Following her arrival on the island, the unit involved with the exercise revolted along with members of FOXHOUND and took over the nuclear disposal site on the island and the [[Metal Gear (mecha)#Metal Gear REX|Metal Gear REX]] weapon being developed there. Meryl refused to join in with the mutiny and was taken prisoner and placed on the same holding cell level with ArmsTech President [[List of Metal Gear characters#Kenneth Baker|Kenneth Baker]], who gave her the card needed to activate REX. She manages to escape confinement and meets up with Solid Snake, and the two eventually begin working together. Meryl manages to stay hidden by disguising herself as one of the Genome Soldiers using the clothes she stole from [[List of Metal Gear characters#Johnny Sasaki|Johnny Sasaki]], the guard that was watching her cell. When [[List of Metal Gear characters#Psycho Mantis|Psycho Mantis]] takes control of Meryl's mind, Snake knocks her out before fighting Mantis. Later Meryl was shot and subsequently captured by FOXHOUND member [[Sniper Wolf]]. In an attempt to rescue Meryl and complete his mission, Snake engaged in a sniping duel with Wolf and was eventually lured into an ambush by her where he was also captured. Snake is then put through a series of torture trials by [[Revolver Ocelot]]; at this point, the player's actions dictate Meryl's fate. If the player successfully completes the torture section, Snake rescues a wounded Meryl in the final section of the game and they escape the facility together before their jeep crashes with [[Liquid Snake]]'s, allowing them to have their deaths faked by Roy Campbell and [[List of Metal Gear characters#Mei Ling|Mei Ling]]. However, if the player submits to the torture, Snake discovers that Meryl has died during her imprisonment and he leaves her body to be buried by the collapsing structure with the remains of REX. When Snake informs Campbell of Meryl's death, Campbell reveals that Meryl was actually his biological daughter, conceived from an affair between him and his sister-in-law, and this secret was kept from Meryl by her biological parents and they never get the chance to tell her in this alternate ending (the subject of Meryl's paternity is brought up again in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance]]'' during "Confidential Legacy", one of the non-canonical Snake Tales missions). The fictional publication ''In the Darkness of Shadow Moses'' by [[List of Metal Gear characters#Nastasha Romanenko|Nastasha Romanenko]], offered as a bonus feature with ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'', states that Snake and Meryl escaped together.

===''Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots''===
Meryl returns in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]'' as the commander of Rat Patrol Team One (RAT PT 01), a fictional division of the [[United States Army Criminal Investigation Command]] sent to investigate Liquid Ocelot's [[private military company]] activities.<ref name=mgs4>{{cite web|url=http://www.konami.jp/mgs4/us/top.html |title=METAL GEAR SOLID 4 GUNS OF THE PATRIOTS |publisher=Konami.jp |access-date=2013-11-22}}</ref> She is now aware that Roy Campbell is her true father, but openly resents him due to the circumstances of her conception and his marriage with Rosemary, who is her own age.<ref>{{cite video game|title=Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots|developer=Kojima Productions|quote='''Snake''': He's your father / '''Meryl''': As far as I'm concerned, we're still uncle and niece. I'll never forgive that womanizing piece of shit. [...] He... Remarried [...] His new wife's about my age. I hear she's even got a kid. It's as if he's given up on making up with his own daughter.}}</ref> She reconciles with him at the end of the game. At first, Meryl dislikes her subordinate [[List of Metal Gear characters#Johnny Sasaki|Johnny]] due to his clumsiness and stomach problems, but forgives him after learning he does not have [[Molecular machine|nanomachines]] in his body and falls in love with him after he saves her life on their missions and ends up marrying him at the end of the story. She also appears in ''[[Metal Gear Online]]'' as a playable character.<ref name="onlinexpansion">{{cite web|url=http://www.joystiq.com/2008/07/17/metal-gear-online-free-and-paid-expansions-available-today/|title=Metal Gear Online free and paid expansions available today|publisher=Joystiq|access-date=April 4, 2012|date=July 17, 2008|author=Yoon, Andrew}}</ref>

===Other appearances===
{{Unsourced|section|date=August 2023}}
Meryl is mentioned by name in ''[[Metal Gear: Ghost Babel]]''. According to No. 4 in the Special Stage Select mode, she is said to be a [[U.S. Army]] recruit who is taken captive in order to coerce Colonel Campbell into leading the Gindra operation. [[List of Metal Gear characters#Olga Gurlukovich|Olga Gurlukovich]], a character resembling Meryl, appears in ''Metal Gear Solid 2'' and plays a vital role within the story. Hal Emmerich "[[Otacon]]" points her resemblance to Meryl in a radio conversation with Snake, which is emphasized further in the Japanese version by the fact that they shared the same [[seiyuu|voice actress]]. Meryl herself appears in ''Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance'' (an expanded version of ''MGS2'') as a supporting character in a '"Snake Tales" mission titled "Confidential Legacy", in which she takes Olga's place as the boss of the Tanker stage. Her new polygonal model was also used in ''Substance''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s "Missions"' mode, as well as in "Casting Theater" mode.

Meryl appears in both volumes of the ''Metal Gear Solid Drama CD'' series. This [[radio drama]] adaptation of ''Metal Gear Solid'' contained non-[[canon (fiction)|canonical]] storylines set after the Shadow Moses incident featuring the characters from the game, where Meryl is an independent covert-op agent working for [[United Nations|UN]] Peacekeeping Force and is wearing the same type of sneaking suit Snake wore in the original game, which was depicted by character designer [[Yoji Shinkawa]] in the CDs' booklet. Meryl's sneaking suit from the ''Drama CD'' was made into an unlockable extra in ''[[Metal Gear Solid: Integral]]'', and later in ''[[Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes]]'' (without the bandana). Meryl themed figures and action figures were produced by Yamato, [[McFarlane Toys]], Studio Saru Bunshitsu, and [[Square Enix]]. Meryl also makes a cameo appearance in both ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'' and ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]'', and her costume is available to download in ''[[LittleBigPlanet]]''.

==Reception==
The character was mostly very well received by media for a variety of reasons. [[GameSpot]]'s Shane Satterfield named Meryl as his favourite character for being "a hottie, plain and simple" and "a cute redheaded soldier with a tough-girl attitude and a husky voice."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gamespot.com/features/qotw-who-is-your-favorite-game-character-2700185/?page=9 |title=QOTW: Who is your favorite game character?, Page 9 |publisher=GameSpot.com |access-date=2013-07-22}}</ref> She was the first "gaming crush" of [[GamesRadar]]'s David Meikleham, who commented: "This mangled mess of fugly [[32-bit]] [[Polygon (computer graphics)|polygons]] and even fuglier textures was the equivalent of sex on a CD back in 1999. Sexy, sassy and with a strength that reminded me of [[Ellen Ripley]], Meryl was a true pioneer for strong female gaming characters in a time when [[Lara Croft]] was a role model for lower back pain."<ref>[http://www.gamesradar.com/who-was-your-first-gaming-crush/ Who was your first gaming crush? | We remember the characters that won our adolescent hearts, minds and hormones] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131107055407/http://www.gamesradar.com/who-was-your-first-gaming-crush/ |date=2013-11-07 }}, GamesRadar US, April 21, 2009.</ref> Similarly, Wesley Yin-Poole of VideoGamer.com placed her on the top of his 2010 list of "video game crushes".<ref>Wesley Yin-Poole, [http://www.videogamer.com/pc/hl2/features/article/top_10_video_game_crushes.html?page=10 Top 10 Video Game Crushes | The female game characters who waggled our joysticks.], VideoGamer.com, 30/03/2010.</ref> Hanuman Welch of ''[[Complex (magazine)|Complex]]'' ranked Meryl and Otacon ''ex equo'' at fourth place on his 2013 list of video game sidekicks that deserve their own titles.<ref>[http://www.complex.com/video-games/2013/07/13-video-game-sidekicks-that-deserve-their-own-titles/mg 13 Video Game Sidekicks That Deserve Their Own Titles], Complex.com, July 12, 2013.</ref>

In 2012, [[IGN]] proposed [[Emma Stone]], [[Jennifer Lawrence]] or [[Alia Shawkat]].<ref>Lucy O'Brien, [http://uk.ign.com/articles/2012/09/24/metal-gear-solid-movie-our-dream-cast Metal Gear Solid Movie: Our Dream Cast | We build our ideal cast for the recently announced Metal Gear Solid movie.], IGN, September 23, 2012.</ref> In 2008, ''[[Chip (magazine)|Chip]]'' ranked her as the ninth-top "girl of gaming".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://download.chip.eu/en/Top-20-Girls-of-Gaming_1505633.html?tab=5&show=11 |title=Top 20 Girls of Gaming - Gallery 7 - EN |publisher=Download.CHIP.eu |date=August 22, 2008 |access-date=2013-11-21}}</ref> In 2011, Peter Rubin and Ryan Woo of ''Complex'' ranked her and Solid Snake as their seventh-most-favourite video game couple.<ref>Peter Rubin, Ryan Woo, [http://www.complex.com/video-games/2011/02/love-in-the-time-of-coleco-our-10-favorite-video-game-couples/snake 7. Snake & Meryl Silverburgh &mdash; Love In The Time Of Coleco: Our 10 Favorite Video Game Couples], Complex, February 24, 2011.</ref> Meryl was also ranked by ''Complex''{{'}}s Larry Hester as the "42nd-hottest" woman in video games in 2012,<ref>Larry Hester, [http://www.complex.com/video-games/2012/06/the-50-hottest-video-game-characters/meryl-silverburgh The 50 Hottest Women In Video Games], Complex, June 27, 2012.</ref> and the magazine's Michael Rougeau ranked her as the 26th-greatest heroine in video game history in 2013.<ref>{{cite web|last=Rougeau|first=Michael|url=http://www.complex.com/video-games/2013/01/the-50-greatest-heroines-in-video-game-history/meryl-silverburgh|title=50 Greatest Heroines In Video Game History|publisher=Complex|date=March 4, 2013|access-date=March 24, 2013}}</ref>

[[Debi Mae West]]'s voice performances as the character was also well received; [[Kotaku]]'s [[Brian Crecente]] accepted West to win the [[Spike Video Game Awards]] 2008 in the category "Best Performance by a Human Female".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://kotaku.com/5092519/our-spike-tv-video-game-award-picks |title=Our Spike TV Video Game Award Picks |date=19 November 2008 |publisher=Kotaku |access-date=2013-07-22}}</ref> GameSpot's Collin Oguro featured the [[Peeping Tom]]-style scene featuring Meryl in ''MGS'' on the list of the ten greatest [[easter egg (media)|easter egg]]s in gaming.<ref>{{cite web|last=Gouskos |first=Carrie |url=http://www.gamespot.com/features/the-greatest-easter-eggs-in-gaming-6131572/?type=tech |title=The Greatest Easter Eggs In Gaming |publisher=GameSpot |date=2005-08-19 |access-date=2013-11-22}}</ref> Meryl and Solid Snake together were included among the 25 best video game couples by IGN's Emma Boyes in 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uk.ign.com/articles/2012/02/14/the-greatest-video-game-couples|title=The Greatest Video Game Couples|publisher=IGN|author=Emma Boyes|date=February 14, 2012}}</ref> IGN PlayStation Team included "Love Connection: Snake and Meryl" on their ''MGS4'' wishlist in an open letter to Hideo Kojima.<ref>IGN PlayStation Team, [http://uk.ign.com/articles/2008/02/27/igns-playstation-ten-mgs4-wishlist IGN's PlayStation Ten: MGS4 Wishlist | What we want to see come Q2.], IGN, February 27, 2008.</ref>

However, GamesRadar's Chris Antista criticized the character for "fact that she's got the shoulders of a teamster topped with the fugly hair style of a [[LPGA]] Pro" and reminded her of ''[[Cooking Mama]]'',<ref>Chris Antista, [http://www.gamesradar.com/mediocre-game-babes/ Mediocre Game Babes | We give semi-sexy ladies another brief moment in the spotlight], GamesRadar, July 25, 2008.</ref> and Kojima-approved Square Enix's Play Arts Kai line figure of Meryl was criticized by Tony Ponce of [[Destructoid]].<ref>Tony Ponce, [http://www.destructoid.com/solidus-snake-figure-lookin-hot-meryl-not-so-much-220588.phtml Solidus Snake figure lookin' hot, Meryl not so much], Destructoid, 01.29.2012.</ref> Kojima Productions representative Ryan Payton acknowledged criticism that Meryl's romance with Johnny felt forced, as many fans were expecting the character to be paired with Snake following the announcement of her appearance in the game, but then went on to state that he did not expect Snake and Meryl to be romantically paired while reading an early script.<ref name=paytoninterview>{{cite web |url=http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=1&cId=3168349 |title=Interview: Kojima Productions' Ryan Payton |publisher=1UP.com |access-date=2013-11-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413232238/http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=1&cId=3168349 |archive-date=2016-04-13 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Women warriors in literature and culture]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

{{Metal Gear}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Silverburgh, Meryl}}
[[Category:Characters designed by Yoji Shinkawa]]
[[Category:Female characters in video games]]
[[Category:Female soldier and warrior characters in video games]]
[[Category:Fictional agents of the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command]]
[[Category:Fictional American Jews in video games]]
[[Category:Fictional female gunfighters]]
[[Category:Fictional female military personnel]]
[[Category:Fictional gunfighters in video games]]
[[Category:Fictional military spies]]
[[Category:Fictional police officers in video games]]
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[[Category:Fictional soldiers in video games]]
[[Category:Fictional United States Army personnel]]
[[Category:Metal Gear characters]]
[[Category:Video game characters introduced in 1994]]

Latest revision as of 19:18, 5 January 2024