Characters of the Metroid series

Metroid^[a] is a series of nonlinear science fiction action games published by Nintendo, featuring side-scrolling, metroidvania, and first-person shooter elements. The player character and protagonist of the series is Samus Aran, a space-faring bounty hunter who battles Space Pirates and a species called the Metroid.

Protagonists

Samus Aran

Main article: Samus Aran

Samus Aran (サムス・アラン, Samusu Aran) is a bounty hunter and the protagonist of the series. Her homeworld was attacked by the Space Pirates, and her parents were murdered by their leader Ridley when she was young, which led to her being taken in by the Chozo, who saved her life and raised her to become a warrior. She wears a futuristic suit with weaponry and movement in mind, allowing ease of movement while having decent armor and blaster cannons (and other weapons, such as missiles, unlocked early in most games). It is also likely the reason Samus is able to survive on other planets. Samus also appears in the Super Smash Bros. series as a playable character.

Chozo

The Chozo are a mysterious, birdlike species that are featured throughout the Metroid series. The origins and age of the Chozo race and civilization are unknown. They were once spread across several planets in the Metroid universe, notably Elysia, SR388, Tallon IV, Zebes, and ZDR. Lore entries in Metroid Prime suggest that the race may have traveled to a higher plane of being as opposed to dying out. The sage-like Chozo were extremely advanced in technology, and took pride in their elaborate statuary. They also exchanged knowledge with other species, including the Luminoth of Aether, the Reptilicus of Bryyo, and the Elysians of Elysia (robots which the Chozo themselves built). Lore found in Metroid Prime 3 specifically mentions a fellowship of enlightened races that once existed between the Chozo, the Luminoth and two other species known as the Reptilicus and the Ylla. While the former three have been expounded on in the series, the Ylla are only mentioned in this piece of lore and have yet to be seen.^{[‡ 1]} The Chozo were also responsible for raising Samus, infusing her with their DNA and creating her Power Suit, and for the creation and breeding of Metroids to combat the X Parasites.^[1] While in the Japanese versions of the games, the beings are only ever identified by the generic term chōjin-zoku (鳥人族, lit. "bird-folk race"), a misunderstanding during the localization process led to the mistaken adoption of the descriptor chōzō (鳥像, "bird statue"), rendered "Chozo", in the English versions instead. In Super Metroid, some of the Chozo statues would rise up and attack Samus; these bosses are called Torizo, substituting the native Japanese word tori ("bird") for the usual, Chinese-derived chō. In the late game of Metroid Prime Chozo ghosts appear and attack Samus. Although originally allies, the Chozo became maddened by the Phazon corruption of their planet, and could no longer distinguish friend from foe. In Metroid Zero Mission, Samus is able to enter the Chozo Ruins.

In Metroid Dread, the social structure of the Chozo is explored, revealing they are split into two tribes: the peaceful Thoha, who left their warrior traditions behind to become scientists, and the Mawkin, who retained a warrior culture. The Thoha initially colonized SR388 and encountered the X parasites, genetically engineering the Metroids to serve as their predators. For this reason, the Metroids are calm in the presence of Thoha genes and hostile towards Mawkin. While the Thoha feared both species, the leader of the Mawkin, Raven Beak (who is a biological donor to Samus), saw potential in the Metroids, and ordered the killing of all but one Thoha (Quiet Robe) so they would not obstruct his plans. One Mawkin soldier, however, was infected with an X while returning to ZDR and a pandemic broke out, leaving Raven Beak and Quiet Robe the only known living Chozo when Metroid Dread takes place. Since they are both killed during the game, the Chozo are believed to be extinct as of Dread.

In the Metroid manga series, which is a prequel to the original game, two Chozo who had a hand in Samus's origins were introduced as Old Bird and Gray Voice. When Samus lost her family to the Space Pirates, they took her under their wings and raised her to become the galactic savior she is today, and Gray Voice was one of the Chozo who donated his DNA to Samus. Gray Voice later feigned joining the Space Pirates in an attempt to destroy the renegade Mother Brain.

Galactic Federation

The Galactic Federation (銀河連邦, Ginga Renpō) is the governing body of the galaxy formed by an alliance of alien species^{[‡ 2]} and often contracts Samus with difficult missions to complete, which typically make up the majority of the games. Samus trained in the Federation's military before becoming a bounty hunter, leaving some time after a disagreement with her commanding officer, Adam Malkovich in the events of Metroid: Other M.^{[‡ 3]} The Galactic Federation's troopers also use powered armor, and their technology usually bears multiple versions of their symbol, a stylized cross-shape. Troopers are also given a basic repeating assault weapon, and in Metroid Prime 3, some are equipped with the Phazon Enhancement Device.

Baby Metroid

The Metroid larva is chronologically the last Metroid of its race following the events of Metroid II: Return of Samus and its remake Metroid: Samus Returns. At the beginning of Super Metroid, Samus describes how a Metroid larva hatched from an egg and immediately imprinted upon her, believing her to be its mother. She brought the larva to Ceres Space Colony, where scientists learned that they could harness its power. Just after she left the colony, she received a distress call and returned to find the scientists dead, and the larva stolen. The search for the Baby Metroid is the source of conflict in the story. When encountered by Samus, the Baby Metroid attacks Samus and nearly drains all her energy. During the final battle against Mother Brain, the Baby Metroid comes to Samus' aid by recharging her energy, but is destroyed by the Mother Brain. Samus avenges its death by destroying Mother Brain with an extremely powerful weapon given to her by the Metroid. After a planet-wide self-destruction, Samus mourns the death of the Metroid. In Metroid: Other M, the Baby Metroid is mentioned in the opening cutscene as it serves as a reminder for Samus' loss of loved ones in her life. Later, on Bottle Ship's Sector Zero, she encounters a Metroid that resembles the Baby Metroid, but it immediately attacks her only to be saved by Adam Malkovich.

TheGamer ranked the Baby Metroid as the 3rd best Metroid character, calling its sacrifice in Super Metroid "one of the most emotionally-satisfying moments in the series".^[2]

Supporting characters

Adam Malkovich

Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama (Japanese); Dave Elvin (English)

Samus' former commanding officer in the Galactic Federation army, he only appears in person in Metroid: Other M, but plays a major role in the events of that game. At first, he does not accept Samus' assistance, but lets up after she defeats a hostile on the bridge. After this, he is responsible for authorizing the use of Samus' weapons, with the exceptions of the Seeker Missile and the Diffusion Beam, which are found instead, and the Gravity Feature, which Samus activates herself while leaving Sector Zero. He is generally cool and collected even when under fire, but some of this is temporarily lost when he sees Ridley on the control room monitor. He was nonetheless able to outwit James when he suddenly appears in the Control Room. Samus and Adam are shown to have had a very close relationship: Samus does not explicitly mention it herself, but he sees her as a daughter as she saw him as a father. It was this that drove him to first detach his ship and a space liner with three thousand passengers on board from a repair ship with his brother on board in the past, and enter Sector Zero of the Bottle Ship in Samus' place in the present: both of these actions were taken for the greater good, and for the good of Samus herself. Upon entering Sector Zero, he activates the laboratory's self-destruct protocol, sacrificing himself. While Samus vows not to grieve his death, she also vows not to forget him, and gives him a thumbs up sign instead of a thumbs down, indicating that she knows what he would have wanted: for her to live her life for the both of them. In Metroid Fusion, it is revealed that the Navigation Computer of the ship is Adam Malkovich's consciousness in computer form. This computer consciousness returns in Metroid Dread, albeit impersonated for most of the game by Raven Beak.

Etecoons and Dachora

The Etecoons and Dachora are friendly creatures that Samus encounters on planet Zebes in Super Metroid, and show her how to perform the Wall-jump and Shinespark, respectively. At the end of the game, during the escape from Zebes, Samus can help the Dachora and Etecoons to escape as well by going to an earlier room and blasting open the wall, providing an exit for them. After the planet explodes, they are shown flying off to the right, if Samus took the time to save them. Samus meets them again in Metroid Fusion at the Habitation Deck. After releasing them, they find shelter on board Samus's ship. Later on, it is revealed they have a hidden talent with ships.

The optional saving of the Etecoons and Dachora in Super Metroid has become a popular element of speedrunning events at GDQ. During the event, viewers are able to either donate money towards "saving the animals", which wastes time, or towards "killing the animals", by escaping normally letting them die off-screen, with the winning option being conducted by the speedrunner. As of early 2017, these donations pulled in nearly $100,000.^[3][4]

Antagonists

Metroids

Artwork of the larval form of the Metroid species, from Metroid: Samus Returns

The Metroids (メトロイド) are floating, predatory jellyfish-like organisms with tripartite nuclei and the titular characters of the series. They are capable of siphoning an undetectable life energy from any life form, generally causing Samus's health to rapidly decrease.^[5] Created by the Chozo as a type of bioweapon in order to combat the more dangerous X Parasites,^[6] they are one of the primary plot points in the Metroid games as Samus either fights them or tries to prevent the Space Pirates or Galactic Federation from harnessing their powers for evil.

Metroid II: Return of Samus and the remake Metroid: Samus Returns established a five-stage life cycle in which those Metroids native to their home planet SR388 go through two stages of ecdysis followed by two stages of mutation, thus maturing through five previously unknown forms: Alpha Metroid, Gamma Metroid, Zeta Metroid, Omega Metroid, and the uncommon Queen Metroid (the latter as the primary antagonist of the game).^[1] They are frequently shown to be vulnerable to ice-based weaponry such as the Ice Beam and freeze guns. These weapons can freeze most Metroids instantly, and often all it takes to finish them off after this is a strong impact such as one from a missile.

Game Informer writer Ben Reevs called the Metroid their favorite alien race in video gaming, praising how their appearance is "truly alien" and that they "pose an immediate and real danger" when they appear.^[7] Kurt Kalata of Hardcore Gaming 101 called their design "iconic", and praised their first appearance in the original Metroid, saying that it was "a moment of shock and terror almost unlike anything in any other NES game", especially if the player did not know how to beat them.^[8]

Mother Brain

Main article: Mother Brain

Mother Brain (マザーブレイン) is a recurring game boss and a major antagonist in the series. The Chozo created it as a councilor, and as a means to "accelerate their plan to link the galaxy into one unified society".^{[‡ 4]} During the Space Pirate invasion of Zebes, it saw the Space Pirates as a "perfect force capable of restoring true order to the universe", and successfully established itself as one of their leaders.^{[‡ 4]} At the same time, Mother Brain attempted to persuade Samus to be an ally in order to "build a new age for the universe" by claiming that because it built the power suit that Samus wears, she is indebted to Mother Brain.^{[‡ 4]} Mother Brain is depicted as a large brain with cybernetic spikes and a single eye, usually contained in a glass tube which Samus must break in order to injure it. In Super Metroid, Mother Brain also rises from the floor and reveals a grotesque body after her tank is destroyed. Samus seemingly destroys Mother Brain in the original Metroid, but again confronts it in Super Metroid. It was revealed in Metroid Prime 3 that the Galactic Federation had constructed biomechanical supercomputers called Auroras, and that there were plans for a "Future Aurora Complex", which appears to be the Mother Brain depicted in Super Metroid.^[9] In the first cutscene for Metroid: Other M, the scene of Mother Brain destroying the baby Metroid is reenacted in an FMV cutscene, and the main antagonist, MB, is an android housing an AI cloned from Mother Brain's genetic material from Samus' suit.

Space Pirates

A hostile group known as Space Pirates (スペースパイレーツ, Supēsu Pairētsu), or Zebesians (ゼーベス星人, Zēbesu Seijin), serve as the antagonists of the Metroid series. They are a group of "interstellar nomads" resembling humanoid reptiles, insects, or crustaceans who plunder colonies and ships and exist in an insect-like hive society. Considering their appearance throughout the series, especially the Prime series, they could be considered arthropod-like reptiles. A single Pirate may have many biological differences from the other individuals of their species, most likely because of their willingness to perform self-experimentation and mutation. Important leaders include Ridley, the Space Pirate commander, Mother Brain, the bio-mechanical defense of Zebes controlled by the Space Pirates, and Kraid, a recurring boss. The organization also includes a winged, mantis-like species, the Ki Hunters. The Space Pirates are interested in Metroid research, especially in using Metroids for energy generation, as soldiers, and for experimentation – their Phazon experiments produced all the Metroid variants seen in the Prime games with the exception of Metroid Prime itself. The organization is destroyed during the climax of Super Metroid, but a group within the Galactic Federation itself resurrects the Space Pirates, along with Ridley and the Metroids, to be used as bio-weapons, explaining their continued presence in Other M and Fusion.

Series director Yoshio Sakamoto stated that the Space Pirates that invaded Zebes took "Zebesian" as a general name for themselves after the conquest of the planet, comparing it to people who referred themselves as "Americans" when they emigrated to the United States.^{[‡ 5]}

Ridley

Main article: Ridley (Metroid)

Ridley (リドリー) is the archenemy of Samus Aran, an intelligent and sadistic dragon-like entity that despite being killed multiple times by her, is always revived by the Space Pirates (or accidentally by the Galactic Federation in Metroid: Other M) using cloning or robotics. Other than Samus and the titular Metroids, Ridley is the only character that has appeared consistently throughout most of the games in the series (the exceptions being Metroid II: Return of Samus for the Game Boy, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes for the GameCube, Metroid Prime Hunters for the Nintendo DS, Metroid Prime: Federation Force for the Nintendo 3DS, Metroid Dread and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond for the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 respectively). He is directly responsible for the invasion of Samus' home planet and the death of her parents and is the franchise's most frequently recurring villain, though he doesn't typically act as the primary antagonist in individual games.

Kraid

Kraid (クレイド, Kureido) is a gigantic lizard-like beast and as a member of the Space Pirate's High Command. His most prominent feature is his grotesquely oversized belly.^[10] First appearing in the original Metroid, he is the first part of the mini-boss duo along with Ridley.^[11] In Super Metroid he appears in his giant form, two screens tall and almost a screen wide. Metroid: Zero Mission retconned his size and appearance, showing he did not grow between games.^[12] He was also slated to appear in Metroid Prime as a boss in the Phazon Mines, with a metal dome covering his head and blue Phazon veins on his belly, but was removed due to time constraints.^[13] Kraid returns in Metroid Dread after being captured and experimented on by Raven Beak where he is shown as the first and most significant boss of Cataris, a lava filled zone used to heat the rest of the area he is present in, and is the second boss of the overall game.^[14][15] Kraid also makes an appearance in the background of the Brinstar Depths stage in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate where he periodically slashes and rotates the stage.^[2][16]

TheGamer listed Kraid as the 7th best character in the Metroid series, calling him "terrifying", "ruthless", and "iconic".^[2] Polygon's Michael McWhertor praised the intentionally-added "quick-kill" strategy for Kraid in Dread, which uses bombs—items normally not acquired before Kraid's battle—to drastically reduce the length of the fight, calling it "a fun little reward for Metroid sequence breakers from developers MercurySteam and Nintendo."^[17]

Metroid Prime / Dark Samus

Metroid Prime and its later form Dark Samus is the main antagonist of the Prime subseries. It is a strange, black-carapaced, red-eyed creature with a humanoid face within its shell and the ability to control and horribly mutate anything it attaches to. Metroid Prime appears in Metroid Prime as the final boss, and after its defeat, reforms itself by stealing Samus' Phazon Suit to become Dark Samus, a black-colored doppelgänger of Samus. Metroid Prime was formed when a Phazon meteor known as a Leviathan impacted on Tallon IV, released its living core, and enticed and fused with a Metroid unfortunate enough to cross its path.^{[‡ 6][‡ 7]} It caused severe damage to the Chozo colony before the Artifact Temple was built to contain Metroid Prime inside the impact crater of the Leviathan. According to the NTSC version of Metroid Prime, Space Pirate miners discovered the creature, eventually dubbing it "Metroid Prime" after containing it with security units and drones brought to their laboratories to perform experiments.^{[‡ 8]} Metroid Prime broke free and managed to assimilate several weapons and defense systems from fallen security units before going back to the impact crater.^{[‡ 9]} The PAL and Trilogy versions however deny this, with the Pirate Logs only stating that the Pirates picked up life signals coming from within the Artifact Temple.^{[‡ 10]} After Samus gets all of the artifacts, she is able to enter the impact crater and fight Metroid Prime. After its defeat, the creature takes Samus' Phazon Suit to reconstruct itself into a body similar to hers, resulting in the being referred to as "Dark Samus".

In Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Dark Samus arrives in Aether while chasing the planet's Phazon. Shortly after, Samus arrives and encounters Dark Samus many times, eventually defeating her as Dark Aether was destroyed, but a post-credits scene shows Dark Samus reforming herself in deep space.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption shows a team of Space Pirates returned to Aether to pick up Phazon, and eventually found Dark Samus, who killed a third of the Pirates and brainwashed the rest to be their leader. After discovering Phaaze, Dark Samus begins her mission to spread Phazon across the universe - one of the planets hit was the Pirate Homeworld, in order to turn the rest of the Space Pirates into followers of Dark Samus. In an attack to the Galactic Federation vessel G.F.S. Valhalla, Dark Samus steals a supercomputer, the Aurora Unit 313, which is used to implant a computer virus into the Galactic Federation's network of Aurora Units, crippling it. Shortly after, Dark Samus leads an attack on Norion, corrupting Samus and other bounty hunters with Phazon. After Samus destroys the Leviathans of four planets, she goes to Phaaze, where she finally defeats Dark Samus, who then merges itself with the Aurora Unit 313 in a last-ditch effort to defeat Samus. After the Aurora Unit is destroyed, Phaaze explodes, and all Phazon in the galaxy is rendered inert.

Dark Samus appears in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U as an Assist Trophy and an alternate costume for Samus. She also appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with a similar set of moves to Samus, being labeled as an Echo Fighter.

IGN listed Dark Samus as the 88th best video game villain, describing her as being a "creepily evil doppelganger" that never truly dies.^[18] TheGamer listed her as the 6th best Metroid character, calling her "one of the most evil and horrifying entities in the series."^[2] GamesRadar+ ranked her as being the 4th best fictional evil clone, praising the fact that "[while] evil clones in other games tend to be one-off gimmicks, [she] endured long enough to be the central villain", and stating that unlike "other dark clones [who] just want to bump off their originals, Dark Samus wanted to conquer, and she came awfully damn close – and may come back to do so again".^[19]

Sylux

Voiced by: Laith Wallschleger^[20]

Sylux is a bounty hunter and former Federation trooper. He is considered to be Samus' rival, harboring a great hatred towards her and the Galactic Federation as a whole.^[21][22] His main weapon is the Shock Coil, an electric-based prototype weapon stolen from the Galactic Federation, which drains energy. He can also transform into a alternate form called the Lockjaw, which acts similarly to Samus' Morph Ball, and has a ship named the Delano 7.^[22][23] Sylux was introduced in Metroid Prime Hunters (2006), where he tries to find the "ultimate power" that is said to be located in the Alimbic Cluster. He and fellow bounty hunters battle Samus throughout the game, and are saved by her from Gorea at its end.^[22][23] The Delano 7 appears in the special ending of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (2007), which is unlocked after reaching 100% completion, in pursuit of Samus Aran.^[22][24] Sylux also appears in the special ending of Metroid Prime: Federation Force (2016), unlocked if a Metroid egg is rescued in a previous mission, in which he infiltrates a Galactic Federation research station, and releases an infant Metroid from a stasis tube.^[22][25]

Sylux appears in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (2025) as the main antagonist.^[22] Sylux along with Space Pirates, attack a Federation facility holding a mysterious artifact using Metroids, inadvertently activating the artifact, which sends him, Samus, and several Federation soldiers to the planet known as Viewros.^[26] Decoys of Sylux are fought throughout the game.^[23] In visions seen by Samus, it is revealed that Sylux is a former Federation commander and the sole survivor of his platoon after a disastrous mission against the Space Pirates, in which he wanted the pirates' superweapon for himself and recklessly disobeyed his superiors, getting his men killed; Samus then destroyed the superweapon after receiving orders to do so, making Sylux hate Samus and the Federation, as the death of his men were now for nothing.^{[23][better source needed]} After Samus and the Federation soldiers who are with her reach the Great Teleporter on Viewors, Sylux, who also possesses the psychic abilities of the Lamorn, emerges and is seemingly killed after dragging and fighting Samus in another dimension, which acts as the final boss fight. As Samus and her friends are about to leave, Sylux returns and damages the teleporter, forcing Samus' comrades to hold him off, seemingly sacrificing themselves so that she can leave the planet before the Teleporter stops functioning.^[23][27]

Nightmare

The Nightmare (ナイトメア, Naitomea) is a gravity-controlling, monster cyborg originally created by the Galactic Federation's secret bio-weapons project.^{[‡ 11]} In Other M, Samus encountered the Nightmare for the first time in her life while on her journey to Sector Zero on the Bottle Ship. The creature fights Samus twice; once when she tries to enter Sector Zero, and again when she tries to exit the same sector.^[28] In Fusion, an X parasite infects and revives Nightmare contained in Sector 5-ARC. It escapes and destroys ARC's data room.^{[‡ 11][‡ 12]} Samus confronts Nightmare-X, defeating and absorbing its Core-X, obtaining the Gravity Suit upgrade.^[29]

X Parasites

The X Parasite is a unique parasite witnessed in Metroid Fusion, Metroid: Samus Returns, Metroid Dread and the Metroid manga. They are the main antagonists of Fusion.

The appearance of an X Parasite is simple: a basketball-sized, floating gelatinous life form. The structure of their bodies allow them to slip through the tiniest crevices of any organism or synthetic surface; their soft form also allows projectiles to harmlessly pass through them. Additionally, they have the ability to split into smaller colonies via asexual reproduction.

X are capable of infecting other organisms and mimicking their prey's DNA and memories. They do this by infecting the organism's nervous system where they then start reproducing at an exponential rate, killing the host creature in the process. Once that is accomplished, the X absorbs the DNA of their host and is then able to use it to mimic their prey perfectly. X can also mimic biomechanical technology, such as the Security Robot B.O.X. and Power Suit.

The final X Parasites are contained in Elun on the planet ZDR, and midway through Metroid Dread are released by Raven Beak to hinder Samus. The bosses Escue, Golzuna, Experiment No. Z-57, as well as the Chozo Soldiers, are all X, and Raven Beak himself is infected by an X after being defeated by Samus. The detonation of ZDR at the game's finale presumably marks their extinction.

SA-X

Main article: SA-X

In Metroid Fusion, after being infected by the X, Samus' infected Power Suit components were surgically removed and sent to B.S.L. station, but this allowed the X to mimic Samus and her Power Suit, creating another doppelgänger of Samus called SA-X. The SA-X mimicked Samus at her most powerful, proving to be a dangerous foe for the weakened Samus, and passed on some of Samus' Power Suit abilities to Core-X. SA-X also gained Samus' Ice Beam and Metroid hunting knowledge, making SA-X the only X capable of taking on the X parasites natural predator, the Metroid, which was secretly being bred on the B.S.L. station.

Reception

TheGamer praised the series' "fascinating selection of Bounty Hunters, antagonists, and old acquaintances", noting their "intriguing backstories and personalities."^[2]

Notes

1. Japanese: メトロイド, Hepburn: Metoroido