Metal Gear Musings: Olga Gurlukovich

There has been a lot of talk about the role of women in video games. The reality of the matter is that the gaming industry has difficulty portraying women as more than objects or victims. There is a lot of work that needs to be done with regards to the treatment of women in games. However, while I am in agreement with the idea that there is a problem, I also believe that there are exceptions to the rule. These exceptions are important because they illustrate that there is maturity within the gaming community. One of my favorite examples has to be Olga Gurlukovich. Yes, really.

The Metal Gear Solid series as a whole is a little confusing on its view of women. On one hand you have characters that are meant to be sensual like Sniper Wolf or EVA, you also have deep, dynamic characters such as The Boss or Meryl. If I had to pick a favorite character in the series of the female persuasion, it would have to be Olga Gurlukovich. She serves mainly as a bit character for most of the game and you only get brief moments of characterization from her, but she's actually really, really cool.

She was born to Sergei Gurlukovich, who commands a Russian private army. From the moment she was born and well into adulthood she lives the life of a soldier. When you are first introduced to her at the beginning of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, she is in the midst of an argument with her father. Sergei wants her to abandon her role in their mission to hijack Metal Gear Ray due to the danger. He insists that this is necessary because she is pregnant with his grandchild. Olga refuses to listen to his order and stays on board the tanker. While some people would call this irresponsible, I feel like that position is ignorant of who she is.

Having been raised in a private army and having to have dealt with combat her entire life, being a soldier is all she knows. It's familiar to her and the idea of not being apart of that is simply unacceptable. She sees herself less as a pregnant woman and more as a soldier in the middle of a mission. This rejection of the stereotypical “weakness” of a pregnant woman as seen in fiction is particularly admirable. It's true that it isn't exactly smart parenting on her part, but she's very early in her pregnancy. You can see the struggle for identity at play here. Life has put her in a situation where she has to change in order to benefit her child, but she doesn't want to let go of all the things that make up her identity.

While she has this crisis, Snake ambushes her and holds her hostage at gunpoint. This would be the point in most games where he would knock her out or beat her in some other, anti-climactic way. Just when we think that Snake has the upper hand in the situation, Olga pulls out another firearm hidden in the hilt of her knife and nearly kills him. In a situation where most women would be considered weak or helpless, Olga saves herself and challenges Snake to a fight. It is during this fight that we get to hear a little more of who she is and why she behaves as she does.

Years later, she joins Solidus' Snake's revolution against The Patriots. What;s interesting about this are her motives. You see, she isn't actually working for Solidus. She's actually a spy sent by The Patriots to assist Raiden in defeating his foster father. This sets up one of the most character-defining aspects of her arc: maternity. The short version is that The Patriots kidnapped her child after birth and held it hostage. If she wanted to see her child again, she would follow their orders. The orders she was given by them just so happen to entail betraying her entire unit. The very same unit that she has been with since birth, the unit she was willing to risk her unborn child's safety for. 

In the beginning of the game we see her as a dutiful soldier who is willing to sacrifice everything for honor. She rejects her femininity and all aspects thereof in favor of being a warrior. Years later we see a complete transformation of her character from someone who focused solely on her role in life as a fighter, to someone who is willing to sacrifice everything, including her family, for her kid. That is a satisfying arc that most females in gaming sadly do not get. The best part about her motivation is that it is not entirely wrong or right. The life of a soldier is a deadly one, and death is a very real possibility. You could argue that Olga's men knew what they were getting into when they aligned themselves with Solidus. You could also say that Olga was an evil person for selling her people out to a monster, and neither one is completely wrong or right. The main point is that Olga is a character that is worth discussing, worth thinking about, and a shining example of the kind of characterization females could have in gaming, if only developers tried harder.

Olga Gurlukovich, I salute you.