>>719663637
The other 2 replies were born in 2007, the word you're looking for is "reputation", more specifically "Presence"
The Boss is notorious and well known enough to the point where even russians have their own nickname for her, shes a living legend
When you see Ocelot in a cutscene, you're like "cool I guess" but when she walks into a cutscene she captures your attention and the entire atmosphere changes, that is "Presence"
But she really doesnt have any charisma, her voice actress was pretty bad and delivered her lines in the same tone with little to no difference, there wasnt anything groundbreaking in her own philosophy also, what made her such a huge character was the circumstances around her death
For Big Boss he was forced to kill his own surrogate mother (and lover?) despite the fact that he didnt want to, moments before her death she pretty much schooled him and showed him things even he didnt know about example her child or her father, Big Boss realizes he is just a pawn and wants to break free, he is permanently disillusioned and goes off to start his own arc. Later on he also finds out the truth about her which fuels him even more.
For Zero he is one of the few to know the truth, that her death was genuinely undeserving and a hero and legend like her being forced to have to kill herself for her own country that literally betrays her, while also being banded as a traitor in such bullshit circumstances also made him disillusioned and spiteful. He witnessed the president and also saw through the insane group circlejerking and irony in Snake being given the "Big Boss" title, a reward for him killing his own mother who didnt deserve to die.
Their own circumstances and personal bias & history is how and why ultimately they completely misread Boss's philosophy and went on to fuck over the world
