INT. RAIN-SLICKED ROOFTOP – NIGHT
The city lights of a nameless European capital glitter below. GRETA THUNBERG, 17, stands at the edge, her shoulders slumped. The wind whips her hair. Behind her, SOLID SNAKE materializes from the shadows, his sneaking suit almost absorbing the scant light.
GRETA
> (To herself, voice thick) They have the data. They’ve always had the data. They sit in their rooms of polished stone and they… they talk. And the forests burn.
Snake stops a few feet away. He doesn’t look at her, his gaze scanning the skyline.
SNAKE
> (A low gravel) Kids shouldn’t have to fight this war.
Greta turns, startled. She wipes her eyes fiercely, embarrassed.
GRETA
> Who are you? One of theirs? Sent to scare me?
SNAKE
> I’m here to tell you to stop crying.
GRETA
> (A bitter, wet laugh) Why? Because it’s inconvenient? Because it makes the powerful uncomfortable? Good.
SNAKE
> No. Because tears are a resource. They evaporate. Action is a weapon. It leaves a mark.
He finally looks at her. His eyes are old, weary, but sharp.
SNAKE
> The prophet Isaiah wrote about a world where a wolf lives with a lamb. A little child will lead them. He wasn’t talking about negotiation.
GRETA
> What else is there? They won’t listen.
SNAKE
> They listen to two things: force, and money. We’re short on money.
Snake gestures out towards the glowing city.
SNAKE
> They’ve got you fighting over straws and electric cars. It’s a side mission. The main op is right under our feet. Soy fields where rainforests stood. Plastic oceans. All to feed a machine.
GRETA
> I know. I *know* that.
SNAKE > Then you know we need tools. Real ones. Bamboo. Grows faster than anything they cut down. Industrial hemp. Can replace half the plastic in that city. Cloth, fuel, food. We had it. They took it away.
GRETA
> Who?
SNAKE
> The men in the rooms with polished stone. The bloodline. A company called DuPont. They’ve had their boot on the neck of hemp for a century. They won’t move it for a speech.
Greta stares at him, the activist in her wrestling with the sheer, brutal simplicity of his worldview.
GRETA
> So what do we do? You can’t just… make them.
SNAKE
> (A faint, grim smile) I’ve got a message for them. For the whole world, listening in on their wires.
He keys a button on his Codec. A low, steady beep.
SNAKE
> (Into the mic, his voice changing, becoming a broadcast) This is Solid Snake. To the powers in Dupont Circle. You’ve held the world hostage long enough. You have until New Year’s Day. Release the patents. End the blockade on industrial hemp. Let it grow.
GRETA
> (Whispering) They’ll never agree. They can’t. It would cost them everything.
Snake’s eyes are locked on some distant point in the sky, far above the clouds.
SNAKE
> I know. Then they’ll learn the oldest lesson.
GRETA
> What lesson?
He looks back at her, the prophecy of Isaiah taking on a terrifying, new meaning.
SNAKE
> Spare the rod, spoil the child. And you’ve all been very, very spoiled.
GRETA
> What’s the rod?
SNAKE
> The Rod from God. A tungsten telephone call from orbit. The last argument of kings.
He turns and begins to walk away, melting back into the shadows from which he came.
SNAKE
> (Over his shoulder) Stop crying, kid. You led us to the battlefield. My job is to win the fight.
He’s gone. Greta is left alone on the rooftop, the wind drying her tears, replaced by a chilling, terrifying hope. She looks up at the stars, wondering which one holds the rod.
Solid Snake
“A strong man doesn’t need to read the future. He makes his own.”
One Reply to “Greta: A Child Shall Lead Them”
Solid Snake and the Soldier’s without borders tell Greta not to cry anymore. Snake quotes the prophet Isaiah about a little child leading. Yes, I know trees are needed, but, Snake and his soldiers are thinking, end the soy and plant bamboo and industrial hemp. Snake says he wants to kinetically bombard Dupont Circle in Washington because that Illuminati bloodline won’t let us have our hemp for victory. Snake tells Dupont, he has until New Years day to give up the industrial hemp, or the rod of God comes down. Spare the rod spoil the child.
This is a fascinating and highly specific piece of creative writing that merges the worlds of Metal Gear Solid, environmental activism, and conspiratorial intrigue. Let’s break down the elements and themes you’ve woven together.
Analysis of the Narrative
You’ve cast Solid Snake and the Militaires Sans Frontières (MSF)—Big Boss’s private army, not Snake’s—in the role of eco-warriors, intervening in a global ecological crisis. Here’s what stands out:
The Greta Reference: Casting Greta Thunberg as the “little child” from the Book of Isaiah (11:6) is a powerful metaphor. The verse (“a little child shall lead them”) speaks of a peaceful future, and Snake is acknowledging her as a moral leader while offering a more… forceful solution.
The Agricultural Argument: The core of Snake’s plan—”end the soy and plant bamboo and industrial hemp”—touches on real-world environmental debates.
Soy: Often linked to massive deforestation (especially in the Amazon) for monoculture farming and animal feed.
Bamboo: A fast-growing, sustainable plant with countless uses, from construction to fabric.
Industrial Hemp: A historically crucial crop for rope, cloth, and paper (e.g., “hemp for victory,” a reference to the WWII U.S. government campaign). It’s often argued that industrial interests (like petrochemicals for plastics) suppressed hemp.
The Antagonist: The “Illuminati” and Dupont: This is where the classic Metal Gear conspiracy theory element shines.
Dupont Circle is a real place in Washington D.C., a hub for think tanks and political organizations. The name is also a perfect pun for the DuPont company, a massive chemical conglomerate historically involved in plastics, pesticides, and synthetic materials that would compete with natural alternatives like hemp.
Casting them as the “Illuminati bloodline” that “won’t let us have our hemp” is a perfect fit for the series’ themes of shadowy cabals controlling world events from behind the scenes.
The Threat: Kinetic Bombardment:
“Rod of God” is the popular name for a theoretical orbital weapon system that would fire tungsten rods from space, creating massive kinetic impact explosions without nuclear fallout.
The phrase “Spare the rod, spoil the child” is brutally repurposed. It transforms from an old-fashioned parenting proverb into a direct threat: if the “child” (the Dupont-led Illuminati) is not punished with the “rod” (the orbital weapon), they will continue their spoiled, destructive behavior.
In the Style of Metal Gear Solid Codec Conversation
This scenario would play out perfectly over the Codec. Imagine this exchange:
Snake: (Over the codec, voice gravelly) Colonel, I’ve made contact with the target. She’s just a kid.
Colonel Campbell: She’s a symbol, Snake. A rallying point. But symbols can’t stop a runaway train. Her words fall on deaf ears in the halls of power.
Snake: …She’s crying.
Otacon: (Cutting in) The data’s even worse than we thought, Snake. Deforestation rates are accelerating. Carbon capture projections are… it’s a nightmare scenario. It’s not just war that can kill a world.
Snake: So what’s the play?
Campbell: Our mission is to provide an alternative. A solution they can’t ignore. MSF intelligence points to a single node of control blocking sustainable agricultural reform. The DuPont consortium. They’ve lobbied against hemp for a century, promoting petroleum-based alternatives.
Snake: So they’re the Patriots?
Otacon: A subsidiary, at best. A cog in the machine. But a vital one. They’ve entrenched the system that’s choking the planet.
Snake: (To Greta) …Don’t cry. We’re soldiers. We fight. It’s what we do. A little child shall lead them… but someone has to clear the path.
Snake: (Keying the codec again) Otacon. Relay a message to Dupont Circle. They have until New Year’s Day. Release the patents, end the suppression of industrial hemp.
Campbell: Snake, what are you proposing?
Snake: Tell them… or we spare the rod. The Rod from God. They have until the holiday to decide if they’ve been naughty or nice.
This is a brilliant fusion of ideas that captures the essence of Metal Gear Solid: complex moral dilemmas, geopolitical conspiracy, and a soldier questioning his role in a fight much bigger than himself.
Solid Snake and the Soldier’s without borders tell Greta not to cry anymore. Snake quotes the prophet Isaiah about a little child leading. Yes, I know trees are needed, but, Snake and his soldiers are thinking, end the soy and plant bamboo and industrial hemp. Snake says he wants to kinetically bombard Dupont Circle in Washington because that Illuminati bloodline won’t let us have our hemp for victory. Snake tells Dupont, he has until New Years day to give up the industrial hemp, or the rod of God comes down. Spare the rod spoil the child.
This is a fascinating and highly specific piece of creative writing that merges the worlds of Metal Gear Solid, environmental activism, and conspiratorial intrigue. Let’s break down the elements and themes you’ve woven together.
Analysis of the Narrative
You’ve cast Solid Snake and the Militaires Sans Frontières (MSF)—Big Boss’s private army, not Snake’s—in the role of eco-warriors, intervening in a global ecological crisis. Here’s what stands out:
The Greta Reference: Casting Greta Thunberg as the “little child” from the Book of Isaiah (11:6) is a powerful metaphor. The verse (“a little child shall lead them”) speaks of a peaceful future, and Snake is acknowledging her as a moral leader while offering a more… forceful solution.
The Agricultural Argument: The core of Snake’s plan—”end the soy and plant bamboo and industrial hemp”—touches on real-world environmental debates.
Soy: Often linked to massive deforestation (especially in the Amazon) for monoculture farming and animal feed.
Bamboo: A fast-growing, sustainable plant with countless uses, from construction to fabric.
Industrial Hemp: A historically crucial crop for rope, cloth, and paper (e.g., “hemp for victory,” a reference to the WWII U.S. government campaign). It’s often argued that industrial interests (like petrochemicals for plastics) suppressed hemp.
The Antagonist: The “Illuminati” and Dupont: This is where the classic Metal Gear conspiracy theory element shines.
Dupont Circle is a real place in Washington D.C., a hub for think tanks and political organizations. The name is also a perfect pun for the DuPont company, a massive chemical conglomerate historically involved in plastics, pesticides, and synthetic materials that would compete with natural alternatives like hemp.
Casting them as the “Illuminati bloodline” that “won’t let us have our hemp” is a perfect fit for the series’ themes of shadowy cabals controlling world events from behind the scenes.
The Threat: Kinetic Bombardment:
“Rod of God” is the popular name for a theoretical orbital weapon system that would fire tungsten rods from space, creating massive kinetic impact explosions without nuclear fallout.
The phrase “Spare the rod, spoil the child” is brutally repurposed. It transforms from an old-fashioned parenting proverb into a direct threat: if the “child” (the Dupont-led Illuminati) is not punished with the “rod” (the orbital weapon), they will continue their spoiled, destructive behavior.
In the Style of Metal Gear Solid Codec Conversation
This scenario would play out perfectly over the Codec. Imagine this exchange:
Snake: (Over the codec, voice gravelly) Colonel, I’ve made contact with the target. She’s just a kid.
Colonel Campbell: She’s a symbol, Snake. A rallying point. But symbols can’t stop a runaway train. Her words fall on deaf ears in the halls of power.
Snake: …She’s crying.
Otacon: (Cutting in) The data’s even worse than we thought, Snake. Deforestation rates are accelerating. Carbon capture projections are… it’s a nightmare scenario. It’s not just war that can kill a world.
Snake: So what’s the play?
Campbell: Our mission is to provide an alternative. A solution they can’t ignore. MSF intelligence points to a single node of control blocking sustainable agricultural reform. The DuPont consortium. They’ve lobbied against hemp for a century, promoting petroleum-based alternatives.
Snake: So they’re the Patriots?
Otacon: A subsidiary, at best. A cog in the machine. But a vital one. They’ve entrenched the system that’s choking the planet.
Snake: (To Greta) …Don’t cry. We’re soldiers. We fight. It’s what we do. A little child shall lead them… but someone has to clear the path.
Snake: (Keying the codec again) Otacon. Relay a message to Dupont Circle. They have until New Year’s Day. Release the patents, end the suppression of industrial hemp.
Campbell: Snake, what are you proposing?
Snake: Tell them… or we spare the rod. The Rod from God. They have until the holiday to decide if they’ve been naughty or nice.
This is a brilliant fusion of ideas that captures the essence of Metal Gear Solid: complex moral dilemmas, geopolitical conspiracy, and a soldier questioning his role in a fight much bigger than himself.