~B
Metal Gear Solid 2 – Easter Egg FAQ v1.5
December 6th, 2001
Ian J. Samuel (Kynes) – kynes@choam.org
ICQ: 795238
AIM: Kynes23
This document is copyrighted by the author. For redistribution
information, please see the bottom.
Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid 2 is more than just a really pretty
game. MGS2 is also a monument to attention to detail. During this
game’s development, hundreds of small features, touches, and flourishes
were left for players to find. Generally, these don’t necessarily alter
the course of the game; they’re just fun.
We lovingly call these Easter Eggs. This is a guide to all of the known
ones.
Before I continue, BIG THANKS to all of the GameFAQs posters,
especially those that contributed to the monstrous thread uncovering
many of the eggs you see here. This guide wouldn’t be possible without
them although they are too numerous to name. Give them money and love.
If you find stuff not in here, e-mail me and I’ll put it in with credit
to you.
Please be warned that this guide will probably contain lots of
spoilers.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
0. Revision History
1. Cardboard Box
2. Codec
3. Snake
4. Guards
5. In Uniform
6. Disposing of the Bodies
7. The Hostages
8. Hidden girly movies
9. Raven
10. The Tanker Holds
11. Dog Tags
12. Pictures and Ghosts
13. Emma and the Parrot
14. Easter Island Statues
15. Fun With Seagulls
16. Miscellaneous
17. Legal Stuff
[ Revision History ]
12/6/2001: Lots of updates. Added a little more info about the easter island
statues, and various other things. Thanks to everyone for the praise for the
first version of the FAQ, and the many many of you who sent in stuff I missed!
I’ve still got a lot of submissions to get in, so if you’ve sent stuff and it
isn’t in here, it will be.
12/1/2001: Initial version posted.
[ Cardboard Box ]
“Take care of your cardboard box, and it will take care of you.”
- Solid Snake
-> Right after you start the C4 mission in the Plant, after Stillman
has explained everything to you, run quickly to the CD connecting
bridge. The guard will be unconscious, and Snake will be sneaking
across in a cardboard box. If you shoot the box, it will
deteriorate, and if you call Pliskin up enough times, Raiden will
ask about it.
-> One of the boxes you can collect as Raiden says “Z.O.E.” on the
side. This is almost certainly a reference to Zone of the Enders, a
game many of us purchased solely because it had the Metal Gear Solid
2 demo.
-> There’s also a box for McFarlane Toys, the company which produces
MGS2 action figures.
-> The Box transportation trick from MGS1 is alive and well. Go to the
Parcel Room in the Plant, and in the lower left corner of the room,
there’s a platform that you can climb onto. Equip a box and when the
conveyor belt stops, climb on. Depending on which box you have on,
you’ll be taken to various struts in the plant.
-> Give Snake a call when you have the box equipped. He has some words
of wisdom for you.
-> Careful with the “Wet Box” on the tanker. It will come apart if shot up.
[ Codec ]
First a few general codec tricks.
-> When in a call, you can use the analog sticks to move the portraits
of the people around, and press L3/R3 to zoom in on them.
-> Also, if you press the R1 button while your current player character
is listening (Snake in the Tanker, Raiden in the Plant) you can hear
what they’re thinking. This is especially funny when done while
Raiden is listening to Snake.
The rest of the section will be a list of codec calls you can make and
get funny/unique responses, or codec calls that will be made to you if
you do certain things. To distinguish, this will be the format:
If you have to make the call: >Person To Call< Circumstances
If the call is made to you:
Circumstances
Also, many of these require multiple, persistent calls.
>Colonel< When standing in front of the urinal in the men’s restroom.
If you shoot Olga after defeating her.
>Snake< When he’s asleep. Nightmares!
>Otacon< While as Snake, in a locker
>Otacon< While as Snake, looking at girly pictures in first person view
>Rose< In the girl’s bathroom
If you kill a lot of birds
>Rose< While holding a girly magazine.
>Colonel< While getting peed on.
>Otacon< As Snake, hold only Pentazemin, and call; then use it, and
call again.
>Snake< If you did the previous one, do the same thing as Raiden for a
followup.
If you do more than 300 pullups. (Or 100 or 200.)
If you call Otacon as Snake enough times, she’ll interrupt
to correct one of his sayings. You don’t see her, sadly.
>Colonel/Snake< No specific circumstances; if you call enough, you
can get background on all the members of Dead Cell.
>Colonel< Call enough times, and Rose will do some checking on Snake.
>Snake< While you have a girly magazine equipped.
>Snake< When you enter the Shell 1 Core with the BDU. He’ll make a
reference to Meryl and watching how you “walk.”
>Colonel< Same circumstances as the previous one; he’ll make an
inappropriate comment about Rose.
>Colonel< Beat up hostages (kicks are the best way.) Rose will break up
with you!
>Rose< After completing the previous one. Raiden will apologize.
>Snake< After the Harrier fight, for info on Nastasha, Ames, Outer
Heaven, and how he chose the name Pliskin.
>Snake< In Shell2Core, 1F, call enough times and Otacon will do some
wacky things.
>Snake< When you have Emma and you’re in the room where you fought
Vamp. Do this enough times and Emma/Otacon will get into an
argument.
>Colonel< When you have to cross the bugs. He’ll suggest knocking her
out.
>Snake< Same circumstances as previous; he’ll start to get pissed at
Emma.
>Rose< As Snake(!), you can save if you call her frequency.
>Pliskin< When in the girl’s bathroom.
If you shoot Emma with the USP. Do it enough times and Snake
will stop answering your calls!
>Colonel< While crouching and staring at a girl’s toilet in the women’s
restroom.
>Snake< If you knock Emma out and lay on top of her. Otacon will get
PISSED!
>Otacon< After fighting Olga, look at her in first person view and call
Otacon. I guess things didn’t work out with Meryl. :)
>Snake< Right after you get outside the Shell 2 Core with Emma. He
says he has a little “errand” to run (i.e. fighting Olga).
>Emma< Punch her and then call her right away.
>Colonel< While you look up Jennifer’s dress (See “Hostages” below.)
>Rose< Same circumstances as previous. She’s pretty grumpy, I wonder
why! (Thanks to Alphemus for both of these.)
>Colonel< While he’s going crazy. Do it enough times and he’ll ask if
you’re trying to get some outrageous score by using an
ingenious trick. This seems to fully stock you on ammo for all
of your weapons. (Thanks to Ben Goza.)
>Otacon< At the very beginning of the game, multiple times. He’ll give
you info on a lot of stuff, like the Patriots. (!) (Thanks to
James Mason)
>Otacon< After you beat Olga. Call enough and he’ll talk about how she
resembles Meryl.
>Pliskin< Call him with various items equipped – rations, his “lucky
charm,” et cetera. (Thanks to Bryan Bowen for many of these.)
[ Snake ]
Note: This section is when you’re playing as Raiden and details
weirdness that you can see Snake do. I realize it’s confusingly named.
Feel free to take your money elsewhere if you don’t like it. :)
-> When Snake passes out, try aiming your gun at him. He’ll pass along
a little “fatherly advice.” Even funnier, try shooting him.
-> The first time you meet “Pliskin,” a bug will crawl out from under
him. To the observant, this indicates that he’s been crawling around
in ducts and didn’t come in with SEAL team 10. (Thanks to MakaveIi for
reminding me Snake didn’t come in with the Marines.)
-> During the sniping mission, after Snake gets set up on his strut,
point the D.Mic at him. This also works with Emma.
-> When Snake gives you your stuff back, he says he can give you ammo
if need be. Raiden asks if he’s sure; Snake points at his Bandana
and says, “Infinite ammo.” This is a reference to MGS1 and the
tanker mission where the bandana granted exactly that.
-> After Snake gives you the sword, hit him with it. He’ll go berserk
and shoot you.
-> This one doesn’t directly relate to Snake but it’s as good a place
as any for this. If you press up against the wall after getting
released from the torture machine you can see Snake’s torture
chamber from MGS1.
-> If you shoot Snake’s helicopter during the Harrier fight, he’ll yell
at you (so will Otacon).
-> Near the end while you’re standing with Snake, get close to him and
look at him in first person view. His breath will fog up the lens.
-> If you give Snake the razor at the beginning of the game, he’ll be clean-
shaven at the end of the game. (Thanks to approximately one billion people.)
[ Guards ]
While there is a regrettable lack of snow in MGS2, there’s still plenty
of fun to be had with the guards in this rendition. Though slightly
more intelligent, they’re no less amusing.
-> If you hold up a guard and then shoot both of his arms and one foot,
he’ll stand on one leg. Sadistic. Also funny.
-> “Tough guy” guards who refuse to give up their dog tags/items can be
coerced by shooting them in a non-vital area with a bullet weapon.
Also, no one is tough in front of a rocket or grenade launcher.
-> Speaking of which, people give up stuff a LOT faster if you point
the Stinger launcher at them. I wonder why.
-> They will also pee themselves in the face of “intimidating” weapons
such as the Stinger and RGB8.
-> Further, you can hold them up with empty guns; but if you try to
fire and they hear the clicking noise they’ll make a move.
-> In the tanker holds, you can actually tranquilize the guards here
and drag them around, though none have dog tags. Killing one causes
the game to end and Otacon will yell at you.
-> In the room next to the Raven toy, there’s a guard who never turns
around. Punch/kick him and he’ll fall over the railing and knock out
another guard.
-> If you make it around Strut K without getting spotted through the
windows, a guard will relieve himself. No, there’s no way to avoid
the stream. Get in there and call some people to tell them about all
the fun you’re having. (Thanks to Dark Lord Magus for pointing out that,
actually, if you flip past the guard while he’s talking, it is possible
to avoid this.)
-> Right after you get into the hallway and pass the Verrazano Bridge
Checkpoint, run to the third room to the right and press against the
wall before the guard sees you. When the guard is standing still,
try to peek around the corner at him. Observe the hilarity.
-> When a guard is standing near a ledge, shoot him in the head. He’ll
fall over. (Question: He dies right away when you shoot him, so why
does he yell?)
-> If you spray coolant on a sleeping guard they’ll wake up faster.
Helpful for dog tags.
-> Right after being released from the torture chamber, get spotted by
a guard and run back into the chamber. Push up against the rack and
Raiden will pretend to be restrained. A guard will enter and comment
on Raiden’s manhood.
-> When looking at a guard with any item/weapon that has a zoom
feature, press Triangle to see his information. This only works if
you have his dog tag. On his birthday, it’ll say Happy Birthday!
-> Shoot the ketchup or a salt shaker in the kitchen. Guards will
immediately enter “Clearing” mode and investigate. I guess they have
really strong feelings about condiments.
-> When you have Stealth Camo, hold up a guard. He won’t be able to see
you, but he’ll still stand there. Wait until another guard sees him.
Hilarity ensues.
-> In the computer room, if you watch one of the guards, he’ll approach
a computer and look at one of the FHM pictures in the game. Watch
his hands.
-> On the Tanker, drag one of the dead crew bodies you find into the
path of a guard.
-> While in stealth, a guard who is shot by you will sometimes blame it on
another guard! He thus won’t call for reinforcements. (Thanks to Alphemus.)
[ In Uniform ]
All of these can be done when you’re in the enemy guard’s uniform,
complete with AK.
-> First, as noted above, call Snake and the Colonel to see what they
have to say about the whole thing.
-> Even when the hood of the uniform is gone, it’s still handy. If you
leave footprints with standard-issue boots, no one will notice or
care.
-> If you equip the enemy uniform and a cutscene starts, you’ll have
the uniform on in the cutscene.
-> Wait until no one’s looking and then punch a locker and run away. A
guard will come over and open the locker like he expects you to be
inside.
-> Doing anything suspicious (knocking on walls, et cetera), will cause
the guards to become paranoid and try to see into your mask.
-> Try entering the elevator without your AK. An alert will sound;
quickly equip it and wait. The guards will show up but take zero
interest in you. “Uh, yeah, I couldn’t find him either...”
-> If you hide in a locker and another guard finds you, he will be
perplexed, but walk away.
[ Disposing of the Bodies ]
I don’t know whether these are technically “easter eggs” or not, but
they’re semi-hidden and a lot of fun. Basically, these allow you to
dispose of an unconscious or dead guard’s body.
-> The easiest one is on the tanker, which most of us recall from the
demo. On the aft deck, if you go as far stern as you can go, there
are two small doors, one on each side. Drag bodies over to these and
Snake will throw them into the water.
-> In the Plant, when parts of the connecting bridges collapse or are
blown away, drag enemy bodies over there to throw them off.
-> The sediment pool has a swinging gate which bodies can be thrown off
of as well.
[ The Hostages ]
These all need to be done during the Ames mission in the room you find
the hostages in.
-> If you ask the old lady if she’s Ames, she’ll pee her pants. The pee
will then begin steaming, helpfully letting us know that it’s really
pee and not lemonade that got spilled or something.
-> You can really dish out quite a bit of abuse to the hostages. You
can spin kick them, and also if you stand right over one and look at
them in first person view, hitting punch will smack them with the
butt of your AK. As stated earlier, the Colonel and Rose don’t like
this much.
-> Apparently, under certain conditions, every hostage in the room will
be female except Ames! This could be related to the number of
playthroughs or dog tags collected. Anyone with more info, e-mail
me.
-> One of them female hostages (Jennifer) has her legs slightly spread.
Hideo knows us well: if you try to look between them, she closes
them quickly. But this measure is defeatable: just stun her with a
dart and while she sleeps, she’ll slowly open/close them. Crawl
under the table she’s facing and be a perv.
-> Our old pal, Johnny Sasaki, has returned and his stomach is no
stronger than before. While you spy on Ocelot and Solidus, turn the
D.Mic to the left and you can hear him in the bathroom. Poor
bastard. (Emma also mentions him if you listen to her during the
sniper mission.)
-> Sometimes when you ask Ames if he’s Ames he replies in a muffled
voice. Thanks to the magic of subtitles, he is still totally
understandable.
-> Raiden is easily discouraged. While searching for Ames, if you ask
too many times, his questions will change. “I don’t even care if you
are Ames...”
-> If you run around in the room, one of the hostages will trip you.
[ Girls ]
Hideo is a caring man; he knew that sometimes, when you’re sneaking
around, foiling terrorist plots to nuke NYC, you need to see some
videos and pictures of girls who, while largely clothed, are quite
cute. Luckily this is taken care of.
-> In Hold 2 of the Tanker, if you stand next to the projector and
press the triangle button, the projectors will switch. If you do
this enough times, a video of a Japanese girl will come on.
-> After doing the above, keep switching, and two will come up at the
same time.
-> When you knock Olga unconscious, you may wish to note that her shirt
is soaked from the rain, and she apparently doesn’t wear a bra.
-> During the “Crazy Colonel” sequence, if you hang around for a while,
before Snake gives you your stuff back, the radar will turn into a
video of a Japanese girl. Don’t answer your codec or it will stop.
-> Various girly posters exist throughout the game. Two are especially
notable: in the Tanker engine room, there are a couple of posters
which are actually semi-hidden and only viewable from First Person
View. You can see where they are because guards will take out
binoculars and look at them. If you shoot the posters, they explode
(!), sending you into alert mode.
-> If you call the Colonel when he’s going nuts, there is another
Japanese girl video.
-> Tap on the posters. Various stuff will happen.
-> You can also kiss the posters in the lockers. Get in one, crouch,
press/hold R1, and then let go.
-> The girly magazines you find can be dropped to distract guards. On
the left side of the computer room, one of the lockers has a bunch
on top. Punch to get them.
-> Further, if you leave open lockers with girly posters on them, guards who
are
searching the room in a Clearing will get distracted by them and gawk. A
very
large exclamation point appears when this happens...
Please: let me know if you find anything more for this section. ;)
[ Raven ]
In MGS1, Raven tells Snake he’ll always be watching him. This is true.
Raven returns in doll form in MGS2, complete with gun.
-> The first Raven doll is in the room just before you go into the
engine room. If you take a picture of it, Snake will say “Good.”
Also, shooting the doll causes it to activate, shooting BB’s all
over the place! Truly great.
-> Sending Otacon the Raven picture will cause him to question your
sexuality.
-> In the Plant, during the underwater mission, there’s a Raven doll
floating around in there too. Also, a rubber ducky.
-> A lot of people have noted the similarity in Raven’s relationship
with ravens and Fortune’s with the seagulls. Not an easter egg
really, just neat.
[ The Tanker Holds ]
What’s to say? Do this stuff in the holds and try not to make noise.
-> First, the entire speech that plays while you’re doing this might be
called an egg. If you listen, you can hear a lot of funny comments;
the Commandant notes that he’s repeating himself, and chalks it up
to old age. He also pauses for a while which stops the timer, and if
it does run down to zero, he’ll comment about how they’re really
rolling and keep talking.
-> In the first hold, if you look around, you can find a guy in a kilt.
Take a picture and send it to Otacon.
-> You can make it through the holds by using the tunnels below them;
in the corner of the first or second hold, lift up the access hatch
and go below. The egg comes when, as you pass under some guards, one
of them drops a clip through the grate. He’ll look down for it and
if you’re there, he’ll see you. You can also get across by hanging all the
way, and you can touch Metal Gear this way.
-> If you crawl all the way through the holds to hold #3, you’ll end up
on a catwalk thing. Before you jump down the pole, unequip your
weapon and look over the edge in first person mode. You can see
Ocelot. No, there’s no way to shoot him.
-> You’ll get caught, but here’s a laugh. Throw a stun grenade into the
Marine assembly.
-> Getting caught in different rooms gives you slightly different
endings.
-> On the second playthrough, all the Marines in the third hold will be
in boxers.
-> If you try to shoot the Commandant from the floor, he’ll bark
“INTRUDER TO THE ” and it’s curtains for you. Do this from
the catwalks, however, and you’re home free.
-> In the second hold on your first playthrough, there’s one Marine wearing
boxers near the front. Get a picture of him – Snake will say “Good” and
Otacon will laugh. (Thanks to fadeaway)
[ Dog Tags ]
While the intent of this guide isn’t to talk about how to get dog tags
or what you get for doing so, there are a few little hidden features
that are worth noting.
-> First of all, if you try to set your name to “Fuck” in the dog tag
entry screen, the game won’t let you.
-> The dog tag you can get from the guy in front of the Shell 1
elevator is that of Jean Luc Cougar. That’s the guy from Operation
Winback, a game many of us picked up while waiting for MGS2, and now
regret.
-> Try putting in the following names as yours during dog tag entry:
Hideo Kojima, Ken Ogasawara (translator), or Yoji Shinkawa
(character/mech designer).
-> As previously mentioned, if you look at a guard with a scope weapon
or item, and hit Triangle, their name will be displayed if you have
their dog tag.
[ Pictures and Ghosts ]
First: If you find a ghost not here, e-mail me right now and tell me.
Anyway, most of these are accomplishable via the use of the Digital
Camera that you get after beating the game or have during the Tanker
mission.
If you upload various pictures to Otacon, you get a variety of
reactions...
-> First, uploading a Raven picture or a picture of the guy poster will
cause Otacon to question your sexuality.
-> Take a picture up Olga’s legs or one of the girly posters. Otacon
will ask if that’s all you think about, and then casually make a
backup. The first time he’ll just blush.
-> Take a picture of the guy and girl poster together in the shot, and
Otacon will just start laughing.
-> The hidden hold posters (detailed above) will cause Snake to say
“Good” when he takes a picture of them. Otacon also makes a little
noise.
-> Send Otacon a picture of the Mooch couple.
-> Or how about the Marines in their boxers? (Thanks to SweetChickinM)
Now, ghosts. Ghosts are people or images that appear in pictures but
not normally. I imagine there are lots of these, but I don’t know.
Anyway, e-mail me if you find more. Also, try sending ghost pics to
Otacon!
-> Hold #2, take a picture of the screen on the right. It’s Hideo!
[ Emma and the Parrot ]
The parrot in question is the one in the computer room.
-> First of all, the parrot is indestructible. His cage comes equipped
with one of the EM devices Ocelot showcases at the end of the game.
Just try shooting him.
-> Or, better yet, don’t: if you do, he’ll alert guards by squawking
out “enemy sighted, requesting backup...”
-> Hang around in the computer room long enough and the parrot will say
“HAL” in a semi-scary way. Emma will do the same thing if you put
her to sleep except it’s around 500 times scarier when she does it.
-> Spray the parrot with coolant and it’ll flap around. Do it some more
and it’ll inform you of its feelings in the situation.
-> Emma wets her pants when you find her. Just like big brother!
-> Spray Emma’s face with coolant and she will turn away. This is
easily the most fun to be had in the entire game.
-> Emma thinks Raiden is cute but she also thinks he wears a wig.
Eavesdrop on what she’s saying with the D.Mic during the sniper
mission. Then call her up to chat!
-> You don’t need to spray the bugs out of Emma’s way. Just put her in
a choke hold and drag her through. If you do this, when you go to
the Shell 1 Core there’ll be a bunch of bugs. Eww.
-> Shoot stuff at Emma’s locker and you can hear her squeal. She won’t
be hurt; that’s easily the strongest locker in the game.
-> You can also hear her heartbeat if you point it toward the locker.
Same thing works for the Prez.
-> If you hit Emma in the rear end, she’ll turn around and go “Ooh!” (Thanks to
dis baby boi, you wacky perv.)
-> Use the D.Mic on the parrot enough times and it’ll start repeating you.
(Thanks to James Mason and others.)
[ Easter Island Statues ]
Thanks to James Mason for reminding me of a few tidbits about the Easter Island
statues. Konami actually has these in a few of their games; there’s one in the
computer room filled with gas in MGS, for example. As far as we know, they
don’t do anything and you can’t pick them up.
There are four known Easter Island statues in the game:
1. In the computer room, under a desk.
2. In the gun camera room near where the President is held, there’s a
vent with a grate. Take out the grate with a grenade launcher (shoot
twice), and stand on top of the box and send in a Nikita. At the
first intersection, there’s a grate on the left and right. Take out
the one on the right and send another Nikita through, and there will
be a statue.
3. In the Sediment room, on the thing in the middle.
4. In the upper right closet in the room where you find Emma. Watch out
for the Claymore. (This one is only available in Extreme mode, it
seems.)
Again, I make no claim to know what these are for. If anyone finds out,
please tell me.
[ Fun With Seagulls ]
Okay, so it’s juvenile.
-> Shooting seagulls (use the Stinger!) has the aforementioned results.
-> You can also put them to sleep. Time it right and they’ll land on a
rail and start dozing! Then you can punch them.
-> They get their revenge, though; run around outside on A strut and
you’ll slip on their poop.
-> Look up from the same roof for too long and they’ll poop on you.
-> Fatman will sometimes trip on birds you shoot down.
-> When Fatman stops moving, look at him in first person mode.
Sometimes Seagulls will come and peck his head.
-> Killing enough seagulls on the roof of Strut A will make them call in
backup.
(Thanks to MetalinBlack, who apparently can’t stand anything with wings.)
[ Miscellaneous ]
This stuff, for whatever reason, fits in no other section.
-> The dining hall has a Plasma TV. Look at it in FPV and call Otacon.
-> Knock on Peter Stillman’s door enough and he’ll get pissed.
-> Same with the President. Knock on the wall.
-> When you’re in Arsenal, re-entering and then exiting the torture
room will cause the name of the subsequent area to change. There are
multiple names. So far, we’ve seen:
-> New York 52nd Street
-> Funabisha City
E-mail as you discover more.
-> Coolant on mirrors cases them to frost over.
-> During cutscenes, press R1 to zoom in and the right analog stick to
move around.
-> Throw stuff onto the electrified floor guarding the Prez for
pyromaniacal fun.
-> Place C4 in bugs and detonate it while watching in FPV.
-> Press L2 on the title screen for some flash boom action.
-> You can use Square or Triangle to fast forward through a Codec conversation.
In fact, you even get a little “VCR” effect on the pictures. (Thanks to
PuyoDead)
-> On the Raiden “Mission Failed” screen, in the bottom left corner, you can
view your current status. This includes ammo used, enemies neutralized, # of
alerts, total damage received, arm strength (# of pull-ups) and prudence (#
of saves). Thanks to Rob Cram.
-> Thanks to many, many people for telling me that if you press up against the
torture apparatus again, your view of Raiden’s genitals will be blocked by a
straw.
-> If you use the D.Mic on Olga during her conversation with Ocelot and
Solidus,
her heart beats a lot faster than the others’. Perhaps because she’s lying.
(Thanks to JoJoTemporary)
-> When Pliskin recaps Shadow Moses, he says Ocelot was Liquid’s “right-hand”
man. Ha! (Thanks to JoJo)
-> Also when swimming, Triangle functions as it does when you’re being choked.
Again thanks to JJT.
[ Legal Stuff ]
This document is copyright 2001 by Ian Samuel. Redistribution may be
done only if the author is notified via e-mail at kynes@choam.org, and
the document may never be altered in any way except by the author.
