The wills and actions of the subversive, pan-government collective known as the Patriots are at the core of most events in the dense Metal Gear canon. Though the presence of the seemingly omniscient conglomerate is not directly addressed until the more chronologically recent entries in the series (see MGS2: Sons of Liberty, and MGS4: Guns of the Patriots), the epicenter of the government/military-conspiracy ripples it creates sits way back on the timeline, back beyond the Cold War and Second World War.

(Note: While the legacy of the Patriots sprawls far, far beyond the narrative arc of Metal Gear Solid 3, we'll be addressing the origin and actions of the group up through Snake Eater.)

Before the Patriots, there were the Philosophers, a non-disclosed concordance between the United States, the Soviet Union, and China. The first assemblage of Philosophers, known as the Wisemen's Committee, was established following the events of World War I. The intent of their collaboration was to pool the resources and influence of their respective nations and keep the world from falling into further costly and needless conflicts.

The accord stood for years, until the Philosophers' scope and power rivaled that of the national bodies they represented. Corruption soon steered their actions from world peace and prosperity to subversion and control. The reach of the Philosophers exceeded that of the government, and soon turned inward to manipulate facets of economy, society, and war. During the eventual Second World War, the Philosophers once again combined their respective resources, reaching a figure estimated at one hundred billion dollars. This pool of wealth was filtered into the funding of wartime research, including rockets, nuclear weaponry, and the enlistment of unique soldiers like Cobra Unit. After the end of the war, the funds were redistributed among the three nations.

In the aftermath of the conflict, Boris Volgin, a high-ranking Soviet officer and father of MGS3's Colonel Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin, stole the collective sum of the funds (known as the Philosophers' Legacy). The theft of the Legacy created great tension between the Philosopher nations. The fight between the feuding superpowers to reclaim the Legacy formed the global climate and active undercurrent for the Cold War.

The culmination of events in Operation Snake Eater led to the United States coming into half of the Philosopher's Legacy. These funds were later stolen from the Director of Central Intelligence by Ocelot as part of an effort on the part of Zero to combat what he saw as the corruption of the Philosophers and carry on an interpretation Boss's vision for the world through a new group: the Patriots. Along with Zero and Ocelot, the Patriots included EVA, Signint, Para-Medic, and a somewhat reluctant Big Boss. Zero and Big Boss's differing interpretations of the Boss's will (the former envisioning world unification through control, and the latter a world in which soldiers were not tools of the government) led to Big Boss's departure, though not before Zero initiated his insurance policy for the survival of the Patriots: carrying on the legacy of its icon and greatest soldier through Les Enfants Terribles project.