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lurksunderthebed · 5 months

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Ghoap Analysis/Meta (2.3)

The Evolution of GhostSoap Redux

Discussion of Ghost and Soap's relationship after "Alone" and a dive into character motivations/backstory.

Answering the 'did they' or 'did they not' question between "Alone" and "Prison Break".

Part (2.3/?)

PLEASE READ PART (2.2) FOR FULL CONTEXT

Minor mentions of mwiii (23). Practically spoiler free to that game.

Warning: very long and meandering discussion. I probably should have shortened this. But even now I still think I missed things from "Alone" 😔

Alone Discussion

I think it would be fair to say that there was much that happened in "Alone" to think about. It's undeniable that Ghost and Soap's relationship had a turning point then. The intimate backdrop of two people fighting on their own for survival with only a potentially friendly voice in your ear for help is an evocative image.

One filled with flirting and banter traded in whispers, sneaking around scared enemies who will kill you if you're too loud, getting saved by someone you largely thought disliked you, that mad dash together to get out. It's all one very compelling picture to assume something happened. Something potentially romantic in nature.

Many in fandom have speculated on the nature of Ghost and Soap's relationship post mission: "Alone" and it's hard not to, really. Let it be said that the game writers knew what they were doing then and were a bit insane for doing so in a game largely meant for the male audience.

So the glaring question remains: Did Ghost and Soap get together between "Alone" and "Prison Break" in that nebulous in-between before the pair got to Ale's safe house or the time between the safe house and the prison break?

The answer to that—using the dialogue, current motivations, and timeline sadly suggests it's most likely they did not.

Since I already spent the last post discussing what Ghost may have been thinking and his motivations in "Alone", lets look at Soap's. To do so we'll have to dive into Soap's backstory.

John "Soap" Mactavish

What we do know of his background is actually a fair bit. Definitely more than we know of Ghost that's for sure.

It goes without saying that he's proudly Scottish. From the slang to the end in '23. Soap is a born and raised Scot.

According to wiki, and the current bio from the game, Soap tried joining the military at 16. His cousin who was/is SAS inspired him. He got denied many times till he finally joined at 18 and got chosen for SAS selection in 2014.

During this time in 2014, Captain Price was his evaluator to which he handily impressed all by scoring highly in tests. Soap was the youngest to pass and got labeled "the perpetual FNG", presumably because of his precocious age.

His first mission was with Price in Russia, where the captain saved his life. Later he further distinguished himself in Urzikstan with an act of courage, earning him prestigious medals as a result. Medals such as the Victoria Cross, the Gallantry medal and the Conspicuous Gallantry medal. All three of those medals irl, are awarded specifically in acts of outstanding bravery and valour.

In 2016 at the age of 20, Soap punched a military police officer and locked him out of his car. He did not face disciplinary action for this.

In 2019, at the age of 23 we have "Flashpoint", a potential first meeting of Soap and Ghost and we see him almost disregard orders by threatening to kill Makarov.

And finally in 2022, at the age of 26 we have the events of mwii.

What does this background bio tell us of Soap?

Well we can say he's a courageous hot headed type. One that acts on impulse, to the detriment of his own career. He's stupidly, fearlessly brave. He's been awarded for that bravery and he's ridiculously young for his rank and service. He's as fiery as his explosives. He's a thundercracker and loves to talk back to authority.

Doesn't this sound familiar?

The interesting point is that we can say that this characterization holds true whether we look at the 2019 version of Soap, the 2022 version and finally the 2023 version. Soap doesn't really change. He might be a bit more jaded, but that core nature stays strong. The military shaped his life from when he was a teenager to now as an adult, but who he is as a person never changes.

That means that his motivations and personality most likely wouldn't be any different from where we see him in mwiii(23) to now during "Alone" to between "Flashpoint" in '19 - "Kill or Capture" in '22.

It also makes determining what he may have thought throughout "Alone" easier to discern as a result.

Let's imagine we are Soap and try to reason out what might have gone through his head during the mission and more importantly why.

I've already stated earlier, that Soap and Ghost probably had a prior relationship. Soap most likely prodded Ghost into responses and Ghost largely ignored it.

Soap is used to Ghost ignoring him. He expects it but is visibly disheartened (pouts) when he's cut off. At this point, he also must be used to how standoffish Ghost is.

We see it in "Kill or Capture" where its contrasted in how friendly Soap is to the marines with Ghost looking appropriately forbidding and authoritative to them, barking out orders.

In "Cartel Protection" when the LT doesn't appreciate Rudy's jokes.

In "El Sin Nombre" when Ghost noticeably doesn't join into discussions with Alejandro, Graves and Soap about infiltrating the mansion.

"Dark Waters" where he stands apart while Soap and Graves congratulate each other for averting the missile launch.

Ghost is all professionalism and silence. We see nothing of his snark, his dark humour, his dry dead pans. We do see his eyerolls and "done with life" attitude, but otherwise he's very cold.

So the events of "Alone" must be a shocker to Soap. Soap who is used to getting back nothing from Ghost suddenly now has Ghost's full attention. Honestly it felt like Ghost spent more time talking to Soap than really being worried for himself. In fact half of that mission we have Ghost already in the church tower camping away while Soap is running around ragged.

Naturally, the first thing this hot headed guy does is snark back to Ghost. The amazing thing, is that Ghost doesn't ignore Soap this time, he actually engages and matches Soap's banter.

And guess what? Soap is excited. He's intrigued and he starts off by going for Ghost's first name. To which he's suitably chased off via horribly unfunny joke.

Soap in some sense must know he went too far because he pulls back. He asks things about Ghost, he pokes but never too hard. Soap needs Ghost's help. He can't have the man get too annoyed at him. And considering their current track record, that's an actual concern.

There's a reason why Soap never addresses the nickname that Ghost made up and it has everything to do with the fact that once he does, Ghost might just stop talking to him. Soap needs Ghost to like him. His survival depends on it.

The LT has a reputation for ruthless coldness, he's a deadly killer. He's infamous in their circles and even comes with an appellation and fearsome visage. He's a mystery. His motivations are a mystery.

So Soap tries his hardest to find out if Ghost does actually like him. If not for his own curiousity and because he wants Ghost to like him, then at least for his own sake. If Ghost likes him, then that means Ghost will wait for him.

Ghost himself gives off mixed signals about what he thinks about Soap. Soap thinks Ghost might like him, but its hard to tell. Especially when Soap is distracted by enemies and all we have of Ghost are his countless implications to Soap that he is indeed the emotionless killer that everyone makes him out to be. Ghost even states outright that he barely tolerates Soap and is only doing so because he "wants one of them to survive". Seriously, what a massive liar.

Naturally, Soap takes it as it is, but probably with doubts. Soap isn't an idiot, Ghost helps him with tips, he's constantly asking for status updates. The man must sort of like him at least. But Soap also called out Ghost about them being friends and only got silence back that time. With the ensuing silence (which Soap definitely doesn't want) and every effort on that vein being redirected, it's best to leave it at that and focus on surviving. Or at least he tries.

Because Soap can't help himself, he tests the new boundaries of their relationship in other ways.

Ghost seemed to like Soap's banter. If implying that they are friends meets Soap with disdain it's best not to go further into any emotional intimacy talks. So he goes for the tried and true classic next to snark: Flirting. I don't know what it is, in the military or just in general with male dominated areas. Homoerotic undertones and gay chicken jokes seem to be king.

But this time, Ghost responds back to it, he even encourages it. And we see the flirty exchanges between them.

Does this mean that Soap actually has a crush on Ghost and that he was just using the first chance he got to go for it?

Perhaps. Soap definitely admires him (as we see in "Prison Break"). It's a very real possibility. Maybe Soap genuinely wants Ghost to like him. It's clear from all Soap's efforts to be friendly to Ghost that Soap was just waiting for the day that the LT would warm up to him. Soap strikes me as very persistent. He could be flirting with the singular goal of getting into a relationship with Ghost.

Alternatively, perhaps Soap was just joking around and the flirting was another method of coping in high stress situations.

Perhaps it's a mix of his own curiousity, disregard to authority and his own comfort in snarky jokes. We've already established that Soap in '23 is virtually indistinguishable from Soap in '19 and '22. Soap likes to banter during missions. It stands to reason that perhaps this is his way of coping in high stress situations.

What we can say, is that regardless of their personal feelings toward each other prior to this mission, if they didn't like each other before, they certainly do now.

You can tell both of them are getting a kick out of the snark, and flirting. They actively engage each other on it. They're getting to know each other personally, and finding that they can match each other on their snark level. No other person in game banters with them the way they do with each other.

It's at least a potential for more.

But the question remains. Did something physical happen between the two during the car ride to Alejandro's safe house?

It's possible. Highly unlikely though, if we consider the motivation side of things. Why?

The point remains that Soap despite flirting, is still uncertain about Ghost's motivations after the event of "Alone". We somewhat see it in how surprised he was in "Prison Break" over Ghost's declaration of teamhood status, and in how Soap pesters Ghost about their relationship. Even the flirting in dialogue at this point is within the realms of plausible deniability; it could be passed off as joking. Soap tests Ghost, but never so far as to truly push him into transforming their relationship above the comfortable limits.

I don't see Soap moving overtly into something physical unless Ghost initiates first.

Now the question is: Would Ghost initiate anything?

So now we have to reconsider Ghost's motivations. That means, you guessed it, looking at his background as well.

Simon "Ghost" Riley

We don't know much about his backstory. The official bio says he was born in Manchester, UK. He presumably went under officer training as part of the SAS.

At some point Ghost met Price before Ghost's insistence on hiding his identity/face, due to his later comments in "Ghost Team". Ghost trusts Price and more or less implies it in "Alone". Price is the only other character allowed to reference Ghost as "Simon" by the LT himself.

Interestingly enough it was stated in a comment on Reddit by an account verified game Dev that Ghost and another character "Mace" introduced in cod warzone 2020 (who also wears a skull mask), were in the same unit, "but things had changed".

Mace's bio puts him as an ex US army ranger. We can extrapolate due to Cod: Ghosts that this is a nod to the ghost squad, an elite unit of soldiers who all wore the 09 ghost balaclava set in a different universe to the original cod modern warfare games. Presumably, Ghost, Mace and others all wore the infamous skull mask in an international unit. Mace being American and Ghost being British supports the international factor.

It's noted that Mace left that same ghost unit, to later on work as a mercenary. In "Prison Break", we learn that Ghost disdains mercenaries, as "bloody wannabes". Connected? Maybe.

We know that at some point in Ghost's life he was betrayed by someone very close to him. Trust is hard for him as a result.

Perhaps something happened in that ghost squad that led to Ghost being betrayed (maybe by Mace, maybe not).

Regardless, from whenever that betrayal happened, we know that Ghost stands apart from any other soldier and we see that in "Flashpoint" up to "El Sin Nombre". Then it all changes in "Alone".

Ghost's characterisation isn't static like Soap's. It's even in his bio. Ghost was more open at one point (he didn't start life wearing a mask and he wasn't always called "Ghost"), he gets betrayed and then becomes the brusque man we see in "Flashpoint" and "Kill or Capture".

Ghost changes and by tracking those changes we can more reliably see how the LT's interpersonal relationships transform as a result.

So let's recap "Alone":

Ghost likes Soap. He admires him and wants to trust him. The LT doesn't want him to die but he thinks Soap probably will. This makes trusting and caring for Soap a detriment.

Despite himself, Ghost waits for the sergeant and distracts him with jokes to have the man focused/not panicked. Ghost denies to Soap that he actually does like him/cares. He implies he is too cold for emotions, that he doesn't care. Ghost lies, he misdirects, he deflects. Anything regarding emotional closeness is shut down.

Snark is safe though. They banter and Ghost realises that he actually does enjoy talking to Soap. Ghost has the driest sense of humour. He loves to snark.

Ghost engages with some plausible deniability flirting too. One that is borderline risqué behaviour, but pulls back against any truly overt stuff.

On that note, we can read why Ghost flirts similarly to why Soap was as well. It could be a combination of snark, competition, romantic interest or just another way of coping in high stress situations. Ghost likes to deflect by making jokes. Taking it a step further seems to be a thing he would do so that both of them can stay focused.

Ghost saves Soap's life by sniping an enemy out of the church tower. Soap proves that he is the trustworthy/admirable man the LT saw in "El Sin Nombre", by surviving and saving Ghost's life in return in the getaway truck.

Ghost who has been a solo type of guy for so long after being betrayed, finds himself thinking that maybe, just maybe he has a potential partner. One that can keep up with him.

Soap and Ghost are a team.

Ghost who has known Soap for 3 years already, most of those 3 years spent ignoring him, has his whole MO changed after their getaway from Las Almas. Up to this point, Ghost avoided being close to people whether physically or emotionally.

Soap proves Ghost wrong about not being able to survive, his likeability, his whole everything.

Ghost now has to re-evaluate his own rules about teamwork, friendship and intimacy. If he was wrong about Soap (for 3 years!), then maybe he was also wrong about other people. Maybe he could be a part of a team again.

Maybe he can even trust others too. New people who he hasn't known since forever.

There's a lot going on there. But mainly, it has to be said that this is most likely the first time in a long time Ghost has connected to another person emotionally.

We can tell by the persistent nickname usage from Ghost how much the man cares. I've mostly avoided talking about it now, since one can argue that "Alone" is a high stress moment for Ghost, therefore of course he would use it during the mission. Him using 'Johnny' now, isn't as important as it is in other missions where he uses it when it isn't a particularly stressful situation.

Or is it?

During this mission, we see Ghost use 'Johnny' when he can't see/hear Soap in danger. The terms of his nickname usage changes. From only extremely high stress situations where Ghost isn't sure Soap is alive at the beginning, to now a more casual fond usage, as one would do to somebody they liked.

Their relationship is deepening and turning into something friendly—flirty even. We get lovely exchanges where all Soap and Ghost do is repeat their names back to each other. Something said by one of them, will always garner a response back. It's actually pretty cute and holds true to the end of cod mwii and straight into cod mwiii.

It's ridiculous how much the game emphasises this point. It really wants us to see how much names matter in the context of Soap and Ghost's relationship.

Does the difference in nickname usage indicate anything substantial between "Alone" and "Prison Break"?

Inconclusive, though I'm erring on the side of no. All it shows is Ghost becoming more familiar with Soap as something resembling a friend. Could it be more in time ? Yes. At this point, as I said earlier with Soap, it's a tentative potential.

Their flirting and banter, isn't a one off from "Alone". The game could've played it like it was and we could've seen no flirting at all in later missions. "Alone" could be an outlier; it was an extremely high stress moment. Lots of things that you normally wouldn't do could happen.

But this isn't the first and last time this happens. We see it directly in "Prison Break" and every new mission after, all the way into mwiii(23). They continue to flirt, banter and snark at each other. The potential is right there and thriving.

So back to the point. Does this mean Ghost's initiates something more physical after the relief of making it out alive?

Probably not. I'm sorry guys.

It's not impossible, but I really doubt a guy this allergic to emotional connection would want to jump headfirst into a physical relationship with the (1) guy he finds himself liking for the first time in ages. That's just asking for all sorts of complications.

Granted, perhaps his views on sex are completely opposite to emotional compatibility. Ghost could very much be a one night stand type, preferably with the mask on to keep his anonymity. Remember, this guy went out of his way to erase his identity. We even hear it in dialogue at the end of cod mw(19) from Price to Laswell during the formation of 141. There isn't a photo on the dossier and even the official group chat they have for 141 labels the man as simply 'Ghost'.

But even the 'whole Ghost as a serial one night stand guy theory' has a problem, as we see Ghost visibly shy away from getting close to people. Physically and emotionally. Touch is barely tolerated and we see in "Kill or Capture" that Ghost didn't like the fistbump Soap gives him. Touch from strangers might also go the same way. In that vein, it's hard to imagine Ghost even going out for one night stands if he just barely tolerates a casual fistbump. (With much side eye)

I suppose it could be very different if/when Ghost initiates contact himself. We don't know the exact details of how that all could happen. It does however, seem unlikely with everything we know so far with Ghost and his character.

And not to mention, there's also the added complication of fraternisation rules. Ghost is Soap's direct CO. It would get them both in trouble, at possible risk to their jobs, if a relationship was ever publicly discovered. Soap wouldn't care, we already know he flouts rules. And I'd argue that Ghost probably doesn't care deeply about rules either. No one in 141 does for that matter.

I could however see Ghost using this whole thing as a big justification to himself in not pursuing anything further. Ghost cares about Soap's wellbeing. He wants Soap to be better than him. Ghost dragging Soap down into a relationship that could get them booted out of the military seems counter intuitive to that care.

Or perhaps the adrenaline of the moment would make it all different? Adrenaline does funny things to a person. I could see Soap up for it. Ghost on the other hand ? Really, really hard to say. There's nothing saying it couldn't have happened. But there's also nothing to say it did either.

So what else are we left with to look at?

Timeline.

By virtue of timeline and Soap's previous injury, I'm going to say anything happening would've been extremely unlikely. (Though still possible).

"Alone" happens directly after the events of "Dark Waters". "Dark Waters" is set on Nov 2nd 1700 hrs. We see the group presumably coming back from the mission operation at an oil rig. One can only assume that it took a while in terms of transiting from boat all the way back to the base.

Then Graves betrays them and Soap and Ghost flee to Las Almas. By the time of the mission start of "Alone", the game places it as Nov 3rd 0000 hrs or 12 am.

Soap is injured and visibly in pain at the start of the mission. Somehow he manages to find Ghost and evade all the shadows, probably by running on pure adrenaline. Soap and Ghost find a truck and leave the city.

The next time we see them it's at Ale's base and there's some light in the background indicating time has passed between "Alone" at midnight to getting to the hideout.

There's no trace of injury on Soap. Perhaps Ghost patched Soap up. Ghost could have gotten supplies while he was running through Las Almas. It's possible something happened then when Ghost had to stop somewhere to deal with Soap's bullet wound. Some sort of adrenaline-fueled rush of passion that would make Ghost ignore all his better thoughts on staying away from the handsome snarky sergeant.

But the chances of them doing anything frisky in a time slot so narrow seems highly unlikely. It's probably not feasible all things considered. When we start "Prison Break" it's STILL Nov 3rd but at 0400 hrs. So the time elapsed between was a measly 4 hours.

Remember that Ghost and Soap are on the run from Shadow Company. Outside of the bare minimum of first aid, I can't see either of them spending the scant amount of time they have getting down and dirty.

Even then, if there was a free hour or so, that time would be best spent getting properly kitted up and checking over injuries. Let's also not forget that this is off the tailwind of "Dark Waters". Soap and Ghost had not had any rest in between whatever they might've gotten on transit back to base.

Not to mention when we see the timestamp for "Prison Break", Rudy, Ghost and Soap are already at the prison at 0400 hrs. There has to be transit time between the prison and the hideout. Ghost drove out of Las Almas to the hideout and then someone drove from the hideout to the prison. It probably would've taken a fair bit of time.

Hell, it doesn't even sound like they have enough time to spare patching up Soap, depending on how far out a drive this all was.

Rudy and group also spent time planning their prison break. We see helpful pictures drawn on maps. Gathering the kit and planning would eat into that 4hr time slot as well.

So yes. Tldr; there probably wasn't any time to do much of anything realistically.

Motivation wise and timeline wise, both of them heavily suggest that nothing happened in this time frame.

A shame. But we can however say that what happened between Ghost and Soap during the events of "Alone" remains a pivotal moment for them.

One that impacts Ghost's choices throughout the rest of the missions and conversely transforms his relationship with Soap (and the rest of 141 as a result). It establishes who they are to one another and how they interact with each other into arguably the rest of their known relationship from mwii (22) and further to the end of '23.

The one thing to take away from all this is this: when it comes to tracking the changes of Ghost and Soap's relationship, it'll always be Ghost determining where it'll go.

Soap doesn't push Ghost out of his comfort zone. Soap doesn't change. It's Ghost who decides how close Soap gets to him. It'll always be Ghost that sets the tone.

Alright that's all I have to say for now on this matter. This discussion really took all my energy. The next parts will again take some time as I recoup from this essay. Lol.

Onto part (2.4) hopefully the rest of mwii, whenever I get there.

Comments, questions, arguments. I'm free to answer any of that. There's so much to look at here and consider. A lot of this was guess work building up to this moment. So naturally I'm sure I've missed things.

#ghostsoap #soapghost #ghost x soap #soap x ghost #simon riley #simon ghost riley #john soap mactavish #call of duty #cod mwii #cod mw2 #call of duty modern warfare #soap mactavish #ghost cod #soap cod #meta #discussion #character backstory #mace cod #ghost squad

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lurksunderthebed · 5 months

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Ghoap Analysis/Meta (2.5)

The Evolution of GhostSoap Redux

Finally finishing Codmwii (22), via discussion of "Ghost Team" and "Countdown".

Discussing Ghost's face reveal and what it means to his character motivations/backstory.

Part (2.5/?) out of a series.

Brief mentions of MWIII. Practically spoiler free.

Please read the Alt text.

As I said more or less in my previous post, "Ghost Team" and "Countdown" doesn't have as many GhostSoap interactions by virtue of having the whole gang altogether again.

But what we do have however is the final evolution of Ghost as Trusting Teammate Ghost and a teasing look at our favourite masked character's face.

In this post, there'll be less analysis based on dialogue and more speculation/assumptions so take that as you may.

So let's look at "Ghost Team".

Ghost Team

Price: Alright, listen - We are taking back your HQ. We are getting our prisoner. We are killing Commander Graves.

Rodolfo: When?

Ghost: Now.

Price: This is a fight against our own... We are not 141 and Los Vaqueros on this. We're a team...

Ghost empties a bag full of skull masks onto the table.

Price: ...Ghost Team.

Ghost removes his mask in front of everyone, although the camera shows only the back of his head. Price nods and smiles at Ghost.

Price: Good to see you again, Simon.

Price removes his boonie hat.

Price: If you're in, take a mask... If you're not... Don't.

Everyone around the table takes a skull mask. The camera circles around Rodolfo, Gaz, Soap, Alejandro, Price, and finally Ghost as they put on their masks.

"Ghost Team" is bluntly named after Ghost finally deciding, hey these are all trustworthy guys and I'll show you the proof of my trust, by extending trust via face reveal. It's an extension of his previous statement in "Prison Break" that, "We're a team... all of us". It's like a switch with Ghost; once he decides to trust someone, to really consider them as Team, he proves it with his actions.

I know many out there were disappointed by Ghost showing his face to everyone, in fact I was too. In some ways it does feel a bit like whiplash to have Ghost struggle so hard to trust Soap and then in a span of 16 traumatic hours, he takes off his mask in front of all everyone. Remember this isn't just Rudy/Ale and 141, this is also a bunch of random soldiers from Los Vaqueros who were imprisoned seeing his face.

So why does he do that? And more importantly, does Ghost actually trust all of Los Vaqueros and Gaz as much as he now comes to trust Soap and Price?

To answer that we have to look at why Ghost might have decided to take off his mask, his thought process on doing so and the events leading up to this.

Let's go back to the cutscene before the whole reveal:

These are two separate frames that we are shown while Price is talking to Shepherd. We have Soap, Gaz, Alejandro and Ghost listening in.

Now this is again all interpretation and assumptions, but if you look closely, Ghost is noticeably a fair distance away from the rest of the gang.

For a guy who is extending a lot of trust by showing his face in the next scene, it's interesting that he's still framed as a man somewhat separate from the bunch. I know the framing was partially because showing all 4 men distinctly would mean placing them neatly like that.

But putting that aside, they could've placed Ghost closer to Soap. He could've taken Alejandro's spot on the opposite side of the table. It would make sense to group all of 141 closer together. Ghost has worked with Gaz since 2020 in Verdansk. They've known each other for 2 years already while Ghost has only known Alejandro (and los Vaqueros) for a whopping 5 days.

Again, they didn't. Personally, given how much the game relies on framing to indirectly inform players of character relationships, I'm going to read into this probably deeper than it's supposed to be.

One way to look at it, is that Ghost still isn't completely trusting of the rest. He still holds himself apart from the rest. Physical positioning actually does matter when we look at Ghost because 9 out of 10 times it isn't what Ghost is saying that matters insofar as what the man is actually DOING that determines his motivations.

It says a lot that the game decided to frame Soap and Gaz together and yet Ghost isn't placed closer to Price nor Soap—the two men we know he is the closest to.

Potentially, we can infer that Ghost taking off his mask in the next scene was a bigger leap of faith than thought before.

Ghost has decided to trust men (random Los Vaqueros) that he maybe hasn't personally talked to before. It's quite the jump, especially since we know that he STILL holds himself apart from everyone (even Price&Soap).

There's a couple ways we can look at why Ghost decided to do the face reveal.

Maybe Ghost showing his face happens more than we think and that's why it was so easy for him to reveal his face? Perhaps Ghost freely takes off his mask on his downtime and only truly cares about it being on or off while he's working.

It's possible. There's no way to determine Ghost's actions outside of him on duty. But even that doesn't fit right with the fact that we see him all masked up and bundled in layers in the bar scene at the end of this game and at the end of MWIII. Both times he could've gone with something more casual looking and less anon if he truly was someone a bit different than how he presents himself on the job.

Granted, the times we do see him in a more casual context, he's with his co-workers so it's not quite the fairest assumption to make. Perhaps he separates who he is with people who know him as Ghost with who he is when people don't.

But given what we have and what we already know of the man, I think it's fair to assume that how Ghost is in-game is probably how he acts when he's off duty.

After all, the one person (Price) who knows Ghost as both, the LT still isn't that close to. There's respect and trust but the casual joking friendship you see between Price and Laswell isn't there. That might be more on the fact that Price is still Ghost's superior so maybe the man just likes to keep their relationship on a strictly hierarchical basis. (Yes, I know Ghost jokes at Price in MWIII, but that was arguably more for Soap and also at Price's expense).

We know that showing his face isn't something Ghost does habitually. Soap hasn't seen it before and they've worked together for 3 years already, 2 of which they were in the SAME taskforce. They had to have seen each other a fair bit considering that Soap, Ghost and Gaz are apparently the only 141 operatives.

If there were more 141 operatives, I would expect them to come out in MWIII especially with the whole Makarov/brink of war thing, so unless any new info comes out I'm assuming that 141 is just Price, Ghost, Soap and Gaz with random loaned soldiers to pad their ranks when needed on missions.

So why does Ghost decide to take off his mask if him showing his face isn't a casual thing when he's off duty, nor does he fully trust PEOPLE as a whole?

Honestly, I see this as a massive leap of faith/hope and Ghost wanting to see things done right this time around.

As I said previously where I somewhat go into Ghost's backstory, there's an implication with Mace's inclusion that there was/is a unit of 'Ghost' styled operatives who might have all worn the ghost mask. Added with the fact that the reboot likes to take a lot of character depth from the older popular games in the franchise, it's not a stretch to assume Mace and Ghost being teammates are a nod to Ghost squad in cod: ghosts.

We know there was a betrayal of sorts, potentially one that might have involved those fellow ghosts. Mace left the unit and there's an ominous, "things are very different now" statement by the dev about Ghost and Mace's time as teammates.

Perhaps the title "Ghost Team" wasn't so much named after the man, Simon "Ghost" Riley, but rather after the 'Ghost' unit that Ghost and Mace were on.

Maybe Price calling them all "Ghost Team" was actually referencing that unit.

This is based on assumptions but hear me out.

We know Price obviously knows what Ghost looks like. The captain references the LT by name a couple times before: when talking about him to Laswell in the ending scene in 2019, in Verdansk (via comms) in 2020 and now here after Ghost takes off his mask. There's a relationship in between the lines that suggests that Price knew him before Simon Riley ever became Ghost.

Therefore we can also assume that Price also knows what happened to Ghost and potentially the details of that unnamed unit as his current direct superior. With Price's connections and his casual disregard for rules, I'd be surprised if he wasn't familiar with that hypothetical Ghost squad.

I think the biggest nod to this, is Price having on hand a bunch of skull balaclavas. He could've gone with plain balaclavas if just being anonymous was the concern, but didn't; the choice of a skull pattern was deliberate. This was potentially planned out prior to Price's rescue of the group in "Prison Break".

Unless Ghost just randomly keeps 6+ extra skully balaclavas on his body at all times, it's most likely Price that brought the balaclavas with him.

There probably wasn't enough time for Ghost to communicate to Price of Shepherd's betrayal and thus their need to hide their faces to fight the general. In "Alone", the LT even mentions it to Soap that they have to rely on themselves and not Price or Laswell. Heck at that point, Ghost didn't even trust Laswell. Only Price, Soap and everyone that got betrayed was deemed 'safe'.

I suppose Ghost could have sent a message to Price that they were going to break Alejandro out at the safehouse, but I'm not entirely sure there was enough time for that between everything that happened and Soap's injury. Plus Ghost and Soap were surprised to hear Price on comms. If Ghost was sure Price was going to show up, I doubt he would hide it from Rudy. And even if he knew the captain would come, it's likely he would change their plan to factor in Price's arrival. Therefore we can say that this was most likely all Price's initial plan. Not Ghost's.

Price clearly knew that to defeat Graves and Shepherd, they would have to 'go dark' so to speak. Obviously showing their faces would make the group war criminals. Naturally that meant they would have to emulate a unit that was probably well known to do missions completely anonymously without any country, rules of engagement, or signifier outside the skull mask. An international unit that carried out presumably the blackest of ops would be a perfect fit.

And to make it even more authentic, they have a member who was/is a part of that special group. Now the title of a game serves two purposes. Referencing Ghost's change from lone wolf to teammate as well as a call back to cod: ghosts.

So again, if this was Price's idea why does Ghost go along with it?

Well harking back to what I said earlier, it's assumed that Ghost has been betrayed by potentially his own ghostly teammates.

Ghost coming up to this point had no idea anyone other than Price, Soap and Los Vaqueros were trustworthy.

But then the events of "Alone" and "Prison Break" happen and Ghost sees Laswell being, "still solid as a rock". He gets rescued by Price unexpectedly. Soap shows that outsiders can be trusted by proving Ghost wrong about all his initial suppositions. Everything Ghost said to caution Soap— them not being able to rely on Price, them not trusting Laswell, Soap surviving, all of them were proven false.

And from seeing that, perhaps the man decides he wants to overturn his past experiences with betrayal to something better. Because now Ghost has hope. What else could he be proven wrong about?

This hodgepodge ghost squad might be a catharsis for Ghost in the sense that this time, he can get some revenge for being betrayed. He can have solid 'ghost team' members who have his back (unlike previously). He can let himself have a team again, with all the vulnerable trust that is implied with letting himself be a part of a team.

So Ghost taking off the mask makes more sense when we look at it as him trying to redo his own past as well. He is asking the rest of them to trust him by extending trust back (by showing his face).

But again that's just a theory. A video game theory.😎

I could be very wrong with everything here. It could just as well be as simple as Ghost after finding love trust from Soap, is so moved by the power of love trust that he felt compelled to take the next step in teamhoodness. Again, by asking the bunch to trust him by showing his identity.

The masks and the naming could just be based on Ghost and his apparently infamous legend. The guy has a bit of an ego about his skills. Maybe this plan was hatched by Ghost and Price together, and the LT wanted his ego stroked by having everyone dress up as him.

I also wouldn't put it past the man to randomly have 6 spare balaclavas on him at all times. He wears SKELETON GLOVES for god's sake. The guy is truly committed to the bit. Maybe he really is that eccentric/well prepared.

Who knows.

What we do have however, is the fact that Ghost taking off his mask was an action of trust and vulnerability. An action that wouldn't have happened without Soap being there and being his snarky lovable self.

Without Soap proving himself and working together with Ghost it's doubtful whether the LT would've opened up enough to show his face.

But enough of that. Lets talk GhostSoap interactions. It's sparse but boy do they stare at each other like no tomorrow.

It does feel a bit like grasping at straws to go, 'THEY'RE STARING AT EACH OTHER YOUR HONOUR. THAT MEANS ITS DEFFO LOVE!!! LOOK AT THEM SPARKS FLY!!!!'

But we've already established that stares are a form of wordless communication between the two. The game did it forcibly, by framing shots in each other's perspectives CONSTANTLY. This isn't the only time they've been long gazing into each other's eyes for an amount of time that would normally be uncomfortable for anyone else.

Soap is placed directly across from Ghost. The game wanted us to see Soap's expression when it pans teasingly behind Ghost's back and you're only left seeing Gaz, Soap, Alejandro and Price. This was all deliberate.

From start to finish, Soap barely takes his eyes off of Ghost. Even when Price is explaining things, Soap is very obviously looking Ghost's way. And Ghost is quite obviously staring back at Soap.

What could they be communicating between them here?

Well from Soap's expression on the third picture, it kind of looks like the sergeant is grinning. No doubt thinking back on his words where he flirts tells Ghost to show his face. Maybe Soap is stuck on the truth of Ghost's boasting. That Ghost really isn't an ugly guy at all. Quite the opposite indeed.

Really, it could be a multitude of things. One thing for certain is that we can see that they're both caught on each other from the very start of the conversation.

The funniest thing is that this isn't the first and last time we see Ghost and Soap seemingly ignore everything around them but each other. It happens in the cutscene in "Alone", here in "Ghost Team" and later in MWIII multiple times.

We can sort of excuse it here because this is the very first time Soap gets a look at Ghost's face in 3 years of working with each other. Anyone would be staring like the other would disappear in that circumstance.

Every other time though? Yeah... It suggests something very non-platonic in nature about their relationship. Let's not forget that they only really do this with each other. Not Gaz nor Price elucidates this sort of behaviour from either man. Both of them have a staring habit but it only seems to activate when the other is there.

Unfortunately, this whole cutscene was pretty much it for notable Ghost and Soap interactions in this mission. As I said earlier, "Ghost Team" doesn't have a lot of meaningful GhostSoap interactions. That can be said of "Countdown" as well, but we do get a few choice bits.

Let's look at "Countdown":

Countdown

Rodolfo closes the vehicle door as he and Alejandro turn to Soap.

Alejandro: Go... You have work to do.

Soap shakes hands with Alejandro and Rodolfo.

Soap: Keep fighting the good fight, hermano.

Alejandro: To the bitter end, my brother.

Rodolfo: Good luck, amigos.

Soap turns to go on the transport plane and taps Ghost on the shoulder to motion him to go as well.

Alejandro: Ghost...

Ghost turns around to face Alejandro.

Alejandro: No te pierdas, carnal. (Don't get lost, brother.)

Ghost: A huevo. (Of course.)

Alejandro and Rodolfo smile and laugh as Ghost boards the plane. The doors to the ramp close shut.

Now this scene is interesting when we contrast the Ghost of "Kill or Capture" to the Ghost now. The Ghost at the beginning of the game visibly hated being fistbumped. The Ghost now, doesn't seem to bat an eye at it. For a man that seems to treasure his personal space, this is a big moment. Soap is now solidly in the rarified group of (2!) members that are allowed to touch Ghost (without getting glared/intense side eyed back). The other being Price of course.

Let me reiterate that this whole process only took 7 days.

This is also compounded with Ghost actually engaging in friendly conversation with Alejandro and Rudy. If at the beginning of "Cartel Protection" where we see Ghost more or less stonewall any sort of friendly jokes/banter, here we see Ghost actually respond positively. He even raises a fist in a total bro gesture. 🥹 Antisocial Ghost who's him?

This is further reinforced when we look at the usage of Spanish by non native speakers. Notably Soap, Ghost and Graves.

Soap's Spanish usage is used to denote affection/care from Soap to Alejandro/Rudy. We know that Soap cares about Rudy and Alejandro because he makes an effort to ask personal questions about them AND tries to learn/use their language.

Graves by contrast uses it too. But none of that is meant affectionately. When we do see it, he's mocking Los Vaqueros and taunting them over the loss of their base.

And reflective of Ghost, the LT doesn't even mutter a word of Spanish at all to Rudy or Alejandro. His non usage is used to imply how he intentionally distances himself from everyone.

In "Cartel Protection", they asked Soap and Ghost whether they knew any Spanish. Throughout the game we see Soap learning and using Spanish to the delight of Alejandro and Rudy. Ghost did not join in to that cultural/language learning at any point up until this key moment here.

Perhaps Ghost was actively learning Spanish as well, paying more attention/care than anyone would've thought. Or maybe Ghost being the secretive troll he is, might have already known the language to some degree and refused to reveal it to Ale/Rudy. Which ever reason behind it, this scene was the perfect moment to show how far Ghost has come since 7 days ago.

From arrival via transport plane and instantly stonewalling Soap from making any jokes, to now leaving via the same transport plane and revealing something about himself—it's like deja vu except Ghost is the only thing different. The lightning is even the same. Ghost has been changed by the past events. His motivations now are evolving and expanding into something a little more friend shaped.

But sadly, that's the last time we see Ghost and Soap physically together since we see Ghost has been put on overwatch for the millionth time in Chicago.

We do however get some delightful exchanges at the end of the mission:

Soap: It's detonated.

Laswell: Copy that. Air Force will confirm. Thank you, Sergeant.

Soap: Yeah... Pleasure doin' business with ya, Laswell.

Laswell: Where's Hassan?

Soap: Not alone- he's got AQ guards with him. I'm gonna kill every one of 'em... and then I'm going for him. Out here.

Soap moves throughout the construction floor evading Al-Qatala guards.

Soap: Steamin' bloody fuckin'...

Ghost: Nicely done, Johnny. Now for the hard part.

Soap: That was the fucking hard part, L.T...

Ghost: Let's find out. You need to stay alive, take out the guards, and kill Hassan.

Soap: I just need a weapon.

Ghost: Make one.

Soap: Aye. Like old times, huh, L.T.?

Ghost: Seems like yesterday...

Soap: It was yesterday...

Ghost and Soap fall back into snarking at each other during critical moments. What's interesting is that because Ghost is on overwatch and we see Soap work with Price and Gaz, we now have a chance to compare [Ghost and Soap], [Price and Soap] and [Laswell and Soap].

There's an odd thought rattling around that Soap could just be a very flirty person by nature. He likes to buck authority. Maybe Soap snarks back to all his superiors.

But we find that might not be true at all, because Soap doesn't snark at Price ever. Not here in mwii(22), not in "Flashpoint" in 2019 and not at any time in mwiii(23).

Gaz actually jokes more with Price than Soap ever does with the captain. And that's wild because according to the official bio, Price has known Soap since the sergeant was 18! Soap and Price's relationship go wayyy back. To our knowledge it's the longest official relationship we know between any of the characters. Maybe Soap's relationship to Price is more respectful/devoid of any back talk?

Regardless, Soap doesn't pull any of that towards Price. He actually snarks more to Laswell and their relationship started around 2019/20 when the taskforce was formed.

We see this here with Soap in an echo of what was to come in mwiii(23):

Laswell: Copy that. Air Force will confirm. Thank you, Sergeant.

Soap: Yeah... Pleasure doin' business with ya, Laswell.

Laswell: Where's Hassan?

Laswell thanks Soap. To which Soap snarks back happily. Laswell shuts down any jokes and moves the convo back to more pressing matters.

Contrast this convo with Ghost congratulating Soap and then starting the snark up first cause he can't help himself:

Ghost: Nicely done, Johnny. Now for the hard part.

Soap: That was the fucking hard part, L.T...

I honestly think the snark came out of Ghost from all the sheer worry the LT had. Remember that Ghost jokes to distract himself and Soap. This is another extension of that.

When we look at this as a whole, we can read it as further framing of Ghost and Soap's relationship as something unique, something special to only them. Out of all the superiors Soap has ever been directly under, it's only Ghost that seems to snark back. They egg each other on and we see this with each successive line in the dialogue bit:

Soap: I just need a weapon.

Ghost: Make one.

Soap: Aye. Like old times, huh, L.T.?

Ghost: Seems like yesterday...

Soap: It was yesterday...

Soap doesn't really joke back to Price (though we don't see them interact outside of extremely critical time sensitive missions so it's a little debatable). Laswell sort of tolerates it, but forcibly moves the subject.

It's Ghost who previously ignored Soap, that entertains and even encourages him to snark.

Soap isn't like this with Alejandro, Rudy or Gaz. We see (1) instance of Soap being pouty about Gaz being right (for once) in MWIII and that's all we really see of Gaz and Soap's relationship to be frank.

We also don't see Soap snarking at Alejandro or Rudy. The one time we saw Soap quip back at anyone, it was at Graves specifically during the tank scene. And that snark was meant murderously of course.

On the other hand, It feels like Ghost and Soap could go on forever trading banter at each other for hours.

And they somewhat do when the mission suddenly becomes a crafting survival game at the end. It becomes a little segment similar to "Alone" where you have Ghost encouraging Soap to murder better via helpful tips about how to do so.

There's a call and response thing going on with the two of them. Every time Soap says something, there's an automatic response from Ghost. And we see this especially so, at the very end of the game:

Soap: Ghost...

Ghost: Soap...

Soap: Watch the window...

The window blows apart and Hassan walks up to Soap.

Hassan: We are not attacking...

Hassan hauls Soap up to his feet and brings him to his face.

Hassan: We are invading...

The scene shifts to Ghost on the rooftop of his building as he deploys his MCPR-300 sniper rifle and aims at the floor where Soap and Hassan are located. He sees Hassan hauling Soap over to the window preparing to drop him to his death. At this point, the player must shoot Hassan before Hassan can push Soap out of the building.

Ghost fires a shot that hits Hassan in the head. Hassan collapses to the ground, dead. Soap drops to his knees and looks at Hassan before looking back to Ghost's position.

Soap: Perfect shot, L.T.

Ghost: You called it, Sergeant. All stations- Hassan's down. Enemy KIA.

Like "Alone", which literally was just yesterday for them, all Soap and Ghost have to say is their names and one of them will respond similarly. It's like they're a perfect pair meant to always be framed together. We are introduced to these characters together and we see the depth of who they are as characters in contrast to one another. (I'm not counting warzone because Ghost/Soap being there was equivalent to a fun Easter egg tbh)

And finally we get to the circular ending of mwii(22). It ends like how it starts. The game itself starts in Ghost's perspective with a missile strike to kill general Ghorbrani. We are in Ghost's perspective looking through a scope to confirm the target.

Here at the end, we are in Ghost's perspective after looking down another scope to kill Hassan.

Except this time Ghost isn't solo.

SoapAndGhost worked together for everything to end happily. It's in the text explicitly. Soap praises Ghost on his perfect shot. Ghost is like, noo, you called it. It's a regular ole praise hot potato here.

From beginning Ghost (who works alone) to end Ghost (who works with Soap): the heart and soul of this game is centred on these two. The big emotional breakthrough is Ghost's evolution from lone wolf to devoted teammate.

Whatever people might think about the nature of their relationship, it's unmistakable how important these two are to each other in-universe, but also just when we look at how the game was written. These two are the crux of MWII.

If MW19 was emotionally centred on Farah's backstory and her growth as a character in which we see her literally grow from child to freedom fighter, MWII was emotionally centred on Ghost learning how to trust (outsiders) and be a part of a team again.

It's really no wonder people like to ship Ghost and Soap when the game is focused on their particular relationship. From the framing to the dialogue, this was all deliberate. The shots had to be created/animated, the dialogue had to be written (no ad lib from what it sounds). There was a reason to have all these borderline non-platonic cutscenes/lines. And again I'll thank everyone there who had a hand in those choices.

They took what could have been a very dudebro game into something that appealed to a larger (feminine) audience by making choices that went against the grain of what a typical fps game does. Especially one so painfully mainstream.

Thanks game devs for creating such compelling characters/relationships. You really did us a solid by making it.

Now the next thing to look at is this: How has Ghost and Soap's relationship changed between mwii(22) to mwiii(23)?

That's a tough question. There are differences though those are best talked about in comparison to how we see Ghost and Soap in 2019, 2022 and then to 2023. There's sadly nothing truly explicit and all we have to look at is context, stares and little touches. Which still is enough to sink our teeth into in my humble shipper opinion.

But if anything, given how little time mwiii(23) had to bake, I'm glad that there was an effort to at least sub textually in the dialogue try to communicate Ghost and Soap's relationship.

We could have had zero relationship growth in mwiii(23) guys. I'll forever be glad we got the tidbits we do have over literally nothing.

Does this mean I think mwiii(23) was a good game that did Ghost and Soap's relationship justice?

No.

But I actually don't think it was completely the worst. And looking back at certain dialogue choices after going through mwii(22), there was some reasoning behind it. Which somewhat makes the ending better, though I'm still bitter about the whole nonsensical plot.

Anyway. Thanks for reading my stupidly long post, anyone who's still tuned into the whole thing, you have my endless gratitude. 💕💕💕🥺

And thanks to all the gifers out there to make my life easier for these posts. You guys are the real troopers. 🫡

Part 3 will prob take a good time that might not happen anytime soon because I keep on getting side tracked with writing/plot bunnies. Sorry guys 😔

Also sidenote, I have my own thoughts on why the game chose to not have Ghost join in the killing of Graves and instead have Soap and Rudy do it. My ghost squad theory is admittedly weaker when we see the game deliberately choose them (not Ghost) to get revenge. But honestly, it was always going to be the player character insert (Soap) and one of Los Vaqueros. Not Soap and Ghost. After all, it's Los Vaqueros that had their base taken over. It makes narrative sense for one of them to help end it as well.

#ghostsoap #soapghost #john soap mactavish #simon ghost riley #ghost x soap #soap x ghost #cod mwii #call of duty modern warfare #simon riley #soap mactavish #ghost cod #ghost squad #meta

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