Kazuhira Miller

Kazuhira Miller, also known as Kaz and McDonnell Benedict Miller, is a supporting character of the Metal Gear franchise.
Born to a American Allied officer and a Japanese prostitute, Miller was born and raised in Japan by his mother as his father returned to the United States. He offered support to Big Boss in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain, probably becoming his best ally. However, after learning of Big Boss's descent into villainy, Miller turns on him, vowing to aid in his downfall. Later, chronologically speaking, in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake he aids the Boss's son, Solid Snake in destroying Zanzibar Land. He seemingly returns as an ally in Metal Gear Solid, until the truth comes out. 
He is voiced by Robin Atkin Downes, who also played Tenzin in Uncharted 2, and voiced Minh Young Kim in the Gears of War series, Michael Becket in FEAR 3, Travis Touchdown in the No More Heroes series, and Cham Syndulla in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. In Japanese, he is voiced by Tomokazu Sugita, who also voiced Gintoki Sakata in Gintama. 
==Biography==
===Early Life===
Kazuhira was born in 1946, Yokosuka, Japan to an American GHQ officer named Miller and an unnamed Japanese mother, and has an unnamed paternal half-brother. Kaz's father met his mother during the country's occupation by the Untied States military, and she was a prostitute that Mr. Miller treated as a wife. Kaz's father had to return to the United States, and couldn't obtain Japanese citizenship, but gave Kaz's mother some money before he left, and she used it to set a shop to sell items such as cigarettes to occupied soldiers.
Kaz was often mocked by Japanese children for his Western appearance, and identified himself more with the United States as they had won the Second World War. When Kaz was ten years old, his mother became ill, and he had to run the shop by himself, and stumbled across a picture of his father. He began to show the picture to American soldiers, one of them told him that his father's name is Colonel Miller, who had retired from active duty and became a military instructor. Kaz became determined to go to America and to meet his father, and eventually sent a letter to him, requesting to travel to meet him.
When making it to the United States to get an education and meet his father, Kaz discovered that he had a half-brother, but he recently died in the Vietnam War, causing his father to enter a state of depression. Kaz then took his father's surname, and was supplied with money to enroll at an Ivy League school, and later graduated with a college degree. While in the United States, he witnessed the rise of the anti-Vietnam protest, and returned to Japan to find that his mother wasn't angry that he left her behind. However, she had forgotten who Kaz was, as her mind was affected by the disease she contracted during her time as a prostitute.
===Military Career===
Kaz later joined the Japan Self-Defense Forces, as he wanted to pay for his mother's hospital bills, and to get a taste for the battlefield. However, his life on the force wasn't as glamorous as he hoped, and didn't reach a high rank due to his superiors fearing his skills, and he longed for a more active battlefield than what life in Japan offered. By 1970, the Temple of the Golden Pavilion author Yuko Mishima's lost and committed suicide, Kaz decided to leave the JSDF.
After his mother's death, Kaz left Japan and began to drift around the world as a mercenary and a philanderer during the 1970s. In 1972, Kaz traveled to Colombia, and joined a band of revolutionaries and became a drill sergeant, and later gained the name "Master Miller". He eventually encountered Big Boss, and attempted to take his own life with a grenade, but failed. After Kaz fell unconscious, Big Boss liked Miller's spirit, and decided to have him taken to a field hospital. Once regaining consciousness, Big Boss offered Kaz a role in joining the Militaires Sans Frontières, and Kaz eventually agreed after dealing with defeat.
===Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker===
===Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes===
Miller remained on Mother Base as Big Boss went off to rescue Paz and Chico from XOF, but the base was attacked by the group. Kaz and Boss managed to escape in a helicopter and watched Mother Base be destroyed, which enraged Miller since he realized that the UN's inspection was nothing but a ruse. He then attempted to interrogate Paz on what she knew, but she jumped out of the helicopter to save Boss from a bomb placed within her stomach. The helicopter crashed into another due to the explosion, with Miller, Boss and the medic surviving the incident. Taken to a hospital, Kaz learned that Boss was in another coma and that the medic survived despite their injuries. Miller then returned as a mercenary, and received some support from Zero to do his activities.
===Creating Diamond Dogs ===
After Big Boss was put into a coma from MSF's destruction, Miller and remaining members of the group decided to create Diamond Dogs, where he started to train recruits. While training the Mujahideen to fight against the Soviet Army, Miller and his team were captured by the Parasite Unit, and being tortured by the Soviets.
===Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain===
In 1984, Kaz was rescued by Venom Snake, who was a medic chosen to become Big Boss' body double, but this secret was kept from Miller. After enduring torture and losing the MSF, Miller became vengeful and obsessed with destroying both Cipher and XOF. Due to losing his arm and leg, Miller decided to head Mother Base while Venom Snake went on missions, and communicated with Boss during said operations.
=== FOXHOUND ===
After eventually abandoning Big Boss and Diamond Dogs, under the name "McDonell Benedict Miller," he later served as a survival instructor for the SAS, the Green Berets, a U.S. Marine boot camp, and eventually FOXHOUND. He also went on to volunteer as a coach in a mercenary school twice a year. During his time as a drill sergeant in FOXHOUND, he was referred to as "Hell Master" and draftees called him "Master Miller" with the utmost respect. It was at FOXHOUND's training camp that he met Big Boss's son, Solid Snake. At some point, he married, and had a daughter, Catherine. 
===Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake===
In Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Miller was hired by Roy Campbell to act as a survivalist specialist in FOXHOUND's attack on Zanzibar Land. Miller offered his support to Solid Snake, by radio, providing information on survival techniques, and guidance on how to overcome the various obstacles Snake faced during his infiltration of Zanzibar Land. Such advice included code breaking and finding alternative uses for any equipment at hand, as well as moral support. In Snake's final battle with Big Boss, Miller called his former friend a monster, and aided Snake in defeating him, seemingly bringing on Big Boss's downfall.
== In other media ==
=== Super Smash Bros. ===
==== Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ====
Kazuhira Miller is an Ace (★★★) class Primary Spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He is a normal type Spirit who offers the "Trade-Off Ability" skill, which allows the player to start off with 30% damage but with slightly increased attack, defense, and move speed. His spirit battle takes place on the Midgar stage from Final Fantasy VII, which serves to represent Mother Base, where the player must fight one yellow Ken and three Solid Snakes, which represent Naked Snake, Solid Snake, and Liquid Snake. The player must defeat Ken within 1:30 in order to win, and the AI is difficult enough to make this fight not easy. Furthermore, when Ken is at high damage, all enemies will be buffed. Like all Spirit Battles, Miller's fight contains several references to his character and history. The music that plays during the battle is "Encounter" by Yasufumi Fukuda, an orchestral and electronic remix of the track from Metal Gear Solid that plays when Snake becomes spotted. 
His Spirit can also be purchased from the Vault Shop for 6000 G. The artwork for his Spirit is the same as his render from The Phantom Pain. 
== Quotes ==
==Gallery==
===Images===
MGS-GZ-Kaz.jpg|Kaz in Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes.
TPP_Miller_infobox.png|Kaz in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.
Kaz-MGSV-Render.png|Render of Kaz in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.
12141574 1013824108678560 4631119860646161697 n.jpg|Kaz in the hospital with Big Boss in The Phantom Pain.
Pic z 027 aiv2v1.jpg|An injured Kaz with Venom Snake, returning to base.
Kaz and boss.png|Kaz with Venom Snake, standing over Skull Face.
Eli huey big boss.jpg|Kaz with Venom Snake on mother base.
Miller_(MG2).gif|Kaz in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.
==Trivia==
*His name means "Peace" in Japanese.
*Throughout Peace Walker, despite his womanizing nature, Miller is implied to be attracted to Big Boss, such as in the Date with Kaz minigame, and the "Sauna" audio, where Miller and Big Boss's fight about his womanizing is dramatised, which features a lot of suggestive dialogue between them. In the game, having Snake in just his trunks initially embarrases Miller, but he eventually agrees he looks good. Paz comments in her diary that, despite his womanizing behavior, Miller only trusts Snake, and describes his attitude toward Snake as "infatuation".
**Koi no Yokushiryoku which is a song in Peace Walker was written by Kaz in story and sing by Paz. Which implied the one who is in love with Big Boss is not Paz but Kaz himself.
**The Phantom Pain depicts Miller and Venom Snake having no sense of personal space, with Hideo Kojima having to push for certain shots of the pair despite his staff's hesitancy. As well as this they have subtle interactions like touching hands while laying him down on a stroller, or Miller giving a rare smile to Venom after defeating Sahelanthropus.
*Throughout the game, Metal Gear Solid, gamers thought that Miller was talking to Solid Snake, until it turns out to be Liquid Snake under disguise in order to trick him.
*Exactly who killed him in Metal Gear Solid is unclear, although it is obvious that Liquid Snake at least ordered it. The Phantom Pain implies Revolver Ocelot would kill him, as Ocelot predicts that one of them would eventually have to kill the other after Miller turned on Big Boss.
*Miller makes an appearance in Super Smash Bros Ultimate as a support spirit, using the design from The Phantom Pain. As a LittleBigPlanet 3 DLC, his costume from Ground Zeroes is available for Swoop.
==Navigation==
Category:Male
Category:Military
Category:Honorable
Category:Video Game Heroes
Category:Vengeful
Category:Metal Gear Heroes
Category:Redeemed Villains
Category:Fallen
Category:Deceased
Category:Chaotic Good
Category:Supporters
Category:Friend of a Villain
Category:Tragic
Category:Right-Hand
Category:Non-Action
Category:Genius
Category:Disciplinarians
Category:Elderly
Category:Mentally Ill
Category:Casanova
Category:Spouses
Category:Parents
Category:Mentors
Category:Wrathful
Category:Siblings
Category:Protectors of Innocence
Category:Businessmen
Category:True Neutral
Category:Pawn of the Villain
Category:Defectors
Category:Villain's Lover
Category:In Love
Category:Pessimists
Category:Determinators
Category:Deal Makers