< Metroid

Metroid/Characters


A list of characters and tropes associated with Nintendo's Metroid , its Metroid Prime subseries, and Metroid: Other M.


The Main Two

Samus Aran

Debut: Metroid

"My past is not a memory. It's a force at my back. It pushes and steers. I may not always like where it leads me, but like any story, the past needs resolution. What's past is prologue."

Samus Aran in Zero Suit and in Varia Suit, respectively


  • Action Girl: The first big example in video games.
  • Anti-Heroine: Type I and Type II.
  • Arm Cannon: Her primary weapon among a veritable arsenal.
  • Badass:
  • Badass Longcoat: Owns one in the manga, and yes, she can still kick your ass with it. Plus, a Nice Hat to boot.
  • Beauty Mark: In the Super Metroid developer interview, Yoshio Sakamoto alluded to one on the left side of her lip. It's finally seen in Metroid: Other M.
  • Boobs of Steel: Easily the greatest warrior and hunter in the cosmos, Samus is more than adequately equipped.
  • Bounty Hunter: Purportedly her profession, but some overseas developers think Nintendo's refusal to include actual bounty hunting in the games indicates it's a translation screw-up. Despite this, they seemed to have no problem with the manga showing her hunting bounties.
  • Building Swing: The grapple beam in Super Metroid and grapple lasso in Metroid Prime. This becomes less important with the space jump/screw attack, but Metroid Prime 3 gives the lasso more functions to keep it relevant.
  • The Chosen One: According to Chozo prophecy.
  • Clothes Make the Superman: Although she is still a bit agile outside the suit, Samus is unable to take down even a basic Space Pirate trooper without its help. Averted in Super Smash Bros., for Competitive Balance reasons. That might be because she was basically unarmed (that paralyzer doesn't really count) without it.
  • Combat Stilettos: The Zero Suit did not have them until Metroid: Other M.
  • Cool Ship: Her Gunship.
  • Determinator: An absolute given, considering her suit's defences rely on maintaining a zen level of focus during battle, which doubt can cripple. But one particularly impressive display of willpower she displays is in Metroid Prime 3. She staves off Phazon Corruption longer than any of her fellow bounty hunters, in spite of being given the largest dose of radioactive venom by her arch-nemesis. And even retains her mind when at its very origin. With the poison coursing through her veins she descends into the core of the planet Phaaze and wipes the floor with her dark doppelganger, endures the cancer being (unimaginably painfully) purged and somehow manages to escape back up to the surface before the world blows apart.
  • Doom Magnet: Inherited from the Chozo. Person, planet, species... once she gets there, if they haven't already suffered tremendously (and they often have), they will. Not necessarily by her design or intent, mind you, but it inevitably happens anyways.
    • Subverted with the Luminoth, as she actually does help them out with no negative side effects to them in the long run.
  • Fan Service: Gameplay runs that are quick and/or yield higher percentages of completion often show Samus in more revealing attire.
  • Genius Bruiser: She knows a fair bit about mechanics, evidenced by designing her own gunship in Metroid Prime 3, repairing circuitry, energizing dead systems, and by her notes in some scans.
  • Hair of Gold: A gorgeous blonde, and about as kind of a mercenary as you could possibly know. She has to be an optimist to endure what she's been through.
  • Half-Human Hybrid: In the end, she's anywhere from as much 95% human to as little as 10%. For most of the series, she's mostly human with a little Chozo, but then Metroid Fusion adds in Metroid. From ther,e fans will debate about whether exposure to X Parasites has messed up her genes further or not; Nintendo itself has been silent. The game shows the X parasites were destroyed by her Metroid vaccine. Metroids eat life energy, not solid food, so she's not integrating absorbed X physically into herself, but fans still argue.
      • Ever wonder why she looks different in the Fusion endings?
  • Heartbroken Badass: So far her family, adoptive family, adoptive Metroid child, mentor, and close friend/possible boyfriend have all been horrifically killed, with her unable to do anything about it.
  • Heroic BSOD: Has had several, although it only got in the way of her work in Metroid: Other M.
  • Hurting Hero
  • Hyperspace Arsenal: Her suit can hold over 200 missiles, even in the NES game. Later games not only retain this missile carrying capacity, but add things such as power bombs and ammunition for much stranger weapons.
  • Innocent Fanservice Girl: To an extent, as she was raised by aliens. Non-mammalian aliens, at that. Not to mention that she's not entirely human herself anymore.
  • Knight in Sour Armour
  • Mama Bear: Ask Mother Brain. Oh wait, we can't, it suffered Samus' rage after it killed that Metroid baby...
  • Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds: Basically everything she steps on triggers a Self-Destruct Mechanism.
  • Never Trust a Trailer: All promotional material for the first game outright lied and said that Samus was a male cyborg. This extended to the game manual itself. Of course, this was to preserve the surprise at the end.
  • Not Quite Flight: The space jump in the 2D games; downgraded to a Double Jump in Metroid Prime, but then get the screw attack in those games, and she's back to jumping canyons. The shine spark also qualifies.
  • One-Man Army: She was called in to Zebes to solve what orbital bombardment could not.
  • Parental Abandonment: Thanks again, Ridley.
  • The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Is a bounty hunter who is yet to be seen doing any actual bounty hunting. Her work would suggest she's more like a mercenary.
    • She claimed to be searching for a bounty in Super Metroid, so it could be assumed most of the games we play are special situations where someone contracted her, or she's just sidetracked and she would be hunting bounties if not for it.
    • For Metroid Prime 3, Retro Studios initially planned for Samus to do some actual bounty hunting. She'd get a list of possible jobs to do, earn rewards, and use the cash to buy upgrades for her equipment. Nintendo didn't like the idea, and after some back-and-forth, Retro realized there was a language issue, and that "bounty hunter" isn't exactly the best description of what Samus is supposed to be. The Retro developers started joking that she was a "pro-bono hunter" instead.
  • Powered Armor
  • Raised by Natives: By the Chozo.
  • Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?: In Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, logs left by the troopers mention the two planets full of Space Pirates she's blown up. One of the ones who mentions the story thinks that the act was too much for a single human to accomplish...
    • Although it's worth pointing out that, chronologically, she had not yet blown up any planets when that comment was made.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Implied that she has a very massive one against Mother Brain and Ridley.
    • In Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, the final battle on Phaaze is implied to be this as well, considering Samus' reaction to each of the Hunters' deaths, making it clear that by the time the final fight comes, she's ready to rip the one responsible (Dark Samus) apart.
  • Rocket Jump: Bomb jumps: as bombs float in air, it can be done at least twice in all games, and taken to ridiculous levels in some. Powerbombs can be used for this effect too in the games where they aren't explicit room cleaners.
  • Rolling Attack: The boost ball can be used offensively. The speed booster can also become this trope in Zero Mission if Samus is in the right terrain.
  • Samus Is a Girl: Obviously.
  • Shell-Shocked Veteran: Was diagnosed with PTSD in the manga, which is supported by her Heroic BSOD in Metroid: Other M.
  • Shoulders of Doom: Since Metroid II on the Game Boy couldn't use color to differentiate between the different suits, the Varia suit was given big honking shoulders to distinguish its sprite from the regular Power Suit. The design has carried over since then to every subsequent game in the series.
  • The Silent Bob: In the Metroid Prime trilogy.
  • Sobriquet: Space Pirates call her The Hunter.
  • Spy Catsuit, Form-Fitting Wardrobe, Sensual Spandex: The Zero Suit. To date, it's still the most modest clothing she's worn outside of her Power Suit.
  • Statuesque Stunner: Possibly. It's unclear if her given 6'3" height and 198 pound weight is with or without the power suit, but she's significantly shorter than the average male human in Metroid: Other M. In the Metroid Prime games, she's just as tall or taller than the Federation personnel and about the same size as most of the bounty hunters (except the three from Metroid Prime 3), so it is easier to believe there.
  • Stun Guns: Her Paralyzer. Super Smash Bros. Brawl adds a whip mode.
  • Survivor Guilt: Notice how she hits all the "psychologically damaged" tropes?
  • That Makes Me Feel Angry: Samus in Metroid: Other M does this more than a few times.
  • Transhuman: As of Metroid Fusion, parts of Samus's suit are fused to her nervous system, and she's part Metroid and Chozo. Despite that, she does still resemble a human.
  • Unstoppable Rage: In Super Metroid, when Mother Brain kills the Metroid hatchling that imprinted on her as its mother. Which just gave her the Omega Beam. Cue Curb Stomp Battle.
  • Walk, Don't Swim: How Samus handles water; becomes less of a problem with the gravity suit or gravity boost.
  • Wall Crawl: The Spider Ball. It is limited to magnetic surfaces in Metroid Prime, but since Samus can combine it with the boost ball to force herself away from one place and stick to another, it was necessary.
  • Wall Jump: Generally becomes redundant when she gets the space jump and screw attack, except for Metroid Prime, where the space jump and screw attack are used for wall jumping.
  • Warrior Poet: Introspective, calculating and spiritual. That one silent scene of Samus surveying the burning, destroyed Chozo Temple at the end of Metroid Prime before closing her eyes with some curious, subdued emotion; cements her forever as one of these.
  • You Killed My Father: And my mother. And my adoptive alien race.

Metroid

Debut: Metroid
"Skreee!"

  • Achilles' Heel: They're really weak to ice attacks, but the SR388 and Tallon IV strands outgrow this weakness eventually, trading it for others.
  • Asteroids Monster: Fission Metroids, the pieces don't share the original whole's weaknesses either.
  • Attack Animal: For the Chozo. The space pirates and Ing, not so much.
  • Batman Can Breathe in Space: Phazon Metroids, which to be fair, may be because of their ability to leave local space times but miniroids do it too without that benefit.
  • Bizarre Alien Biology: They are flying jellyfish with mouths like leeches and weakness to cold and/or missiles.
  • Boss in Mooks Clothing: First two games, of the wolf pack variety.
  • Combat Tentacles: Hunter Metroids and Metroid Hatchers.
  • Endangered Species: After Metroid II, which is after Zero Mission and the Primes.
  • Everything's Better with Dinosaurs: The Zeta, Omega and Queen Metroids are basically alien dinosaurs.
  • Gone Horribly Wrong: They were created by the Chozo to counteract the X Parasites on SR-388. They did that... and proceeded to devour everything else as well.
  • Ground Pound: How Hopper Metroids attack after entering hyper mode.
  • Insectoid Aliens: Alpha and Gamma Metroids fall into this category.
  • Intangible Man: Phazon Metroids.
  • Joker Immunity: They are almost as bad as the Daleks in terms of going extinct and coming back.
  • Ledge Bats: Fission Metroids in the impact crater.
  • Life Energy: What they eat.
  • Metamorphosis Monster: SR388 goes Infant-Larva-Alpha-Gamma-Zeta-Omega with some becoming queens. Talon IV have even weaker than normal infant stage before larva, which becomes hunter or fission. In Prime three we see Mini-Phazon-Hopping-Hatcher.
  • Miracle-Gro Monster: Instead of metamorphosing, the Super Metroid just kept getting bigger. Metroid Prime was also small at one point in time.
  • Monster Lord: The Queen Metroids. Mother Brain sorta plays this role in lieu of a Queen. The Metroid Prime commanded a few as well.
  • Personal Space Invader: They were worse in the first game where it took multiple bombs to dislodge them, which might result in you accidentally being blown back into their grip. It only takes one to get them off in Metroid II and Metroid: Zero Mission.
  • Power-Up Letdown: The stage between Phazon and Hatcher can't even fly.
  • Shoddy Knockoff: In-universe: the Mochtroids are this to the genuine article. Sure, they drain Samus' energy, but they can't latch onto her properly, and they are weak against pretty much any weapon, not just ice and missiles. And they don't even have the right number of nuclei.
    • Arguably all of the non-SR388 Metroids count as well (the ones in the Prime series), since they lost their invulnerability to everything but cold. Justified in that Metroid physiology changes depending on where they're born, and they were all infused with Phazon.
  • Starfish Aliens: There is not a single thing in their biology that makes any sense by our standards.
  • Stationary Boss: The Queen Metroid; if you can't beat it, you can leave and come back with more ammo.
  • Summon Bigger Fish: The basis of their existence.
  • Vampiric Draining: No puncture wounds though. Those teeth/claws are used for gripping their victim, not as the mechanism for the draining.

Galactic Federation

General Adam Malkovich

Debut: Metroid Fusion (mentioned), Metroid: Other M
"Any objections, lady?"

  • Authority Equals Asskicking: Is actually seen in battle gear in Metroid: Other M.
  • Badass: If the INTERGALACTIC QUEEN OF BADASS respects you, it's a given.
  • Badass Normal
  • Brain Uploading
  • The Captain: In Metroid: Other M, he leads his squad into the BOTTLE SHIP.
  • Dead Little Brother: Ian Malkovich.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Though it is questionable if it was even necessary, something the computer in Metroid Fusion even mocks him for.
  • I Did What I Had to Do: His sacrifice of Ian Malkovich, and himself.
  • Mission Control: In Metroid: Other M, after telling Samus that if she wants in on his investigation of the BOTTLE SHIP then she'll have to conduct herself as one of his soldiers and obey his orders to the letter, he spends most of his time in the command center monitoring her progress and issuing commands. His helpfulness in this regard is questionable.
  • More Expendable Than You: His reasoning for going to Sector 0 in Samus' place.
  • Nerves of Steel: He ordered a ship to detatch, saving the lives of his crew while sacrificing his brother in the process. He does not break down at all.
  • Nice Hat: Maybe it is a symbol of his authority, or maybe his authority lets him get away with it?
  • Something Only They Would Say: "Any objections, Lady?"
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Adam gets called out by Samus for shooting her in the back and then letting her linger long enough to almost become food for a possibly invulnerable Metroid.

Anthony Higgs

Debut: Metroid: Other M

"Hey punk! Don't you know how to treat a lady? Let me teach you a lesson about subtlety!"

Lyle Smithsonian

Debut: Metroid: Other M

"I'm fine, but did it have to be bugs?"

James Pierce

Debut: Metroid: Other M

Maurice Favreau

Debut: Metroid: Other M

Keiji "K.G." Misawa

Debut: Metroid: Other M

  • Never Found the Body: The Deleter disposed of it in a pool of lava. As a result, he is officially listed as "Missing in Action" in the post-credits character log.
  • The Quiet One: He doesn't really seem like the type who doesn't talk much, but nevertheless he only gets about two short lines in the game.
  • Token Minority: Not completely token due to Anthony, but the only squad member of Asian descent.
  • Translation Convention: For his name for some reason. In English speaking countries, it was flanderized to K.G. despite it being Keiji in Japan. Note that the two names are pronounced the same and that there was no reason for it considering that another Keiji was in another game roughly around the same time.

Fleet Admiral Castor Dane

Debut: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

"Godspeed, Samus."

Bounty Hunters

Sylux

Debut: Metroid Prime Hunters

  • Ambiguous Gender: Sylux is never referred to by gender-specific pronouns, leading to the common fan theory that Sylux is female.
  • The Blank: Like Weavel, his armor gives no indication of him having any sort of face. Whether he even has one is probably going to be left unsolved until gamers actually get a peek underneath his suit.
  • Bounty Hunter: A notorious one specifically opposed to the Federation and Samus Aran by extension since they frequently hire her.
  • Color Coded for Your Convenience: The hunter, the shock coil, and the doors it opens are all blue.
  • Cool Ship: The Delano 7.
  • The End - or Is It?: The apparent appearance of the Delano 7 at the end of Metroid Prime 3 may count.
  • Lightning Gun: The Shock Coil: its stream jumps to the nearest target, so little aiming is required, but it is sort of short ranged. Sylux can recover health when using it.
  • Roar Before Beating: In the intro, though Sylux had already beaten someone, presumably the fighting wasn't over.
  • Rocket Jump: So far the only example to rival, possibly even surpass Samus, taking this trope to Not Quite Flight levels. The jumps you can make are impressive, and in low gravity, you really can fly in Sylux's alternate form, the lockjaw.
  • Sequel Hook: Again, the possible Delano 7 appearance, which fits in line with the Sequel Hooks from the first two games.
  • Tron Lines: Both on Sylux's armor and ship.

Weavel

Debut: Metroid Prime Hunters

  • The Blank: Possibly. It's not entirely clear if that yellow section of his head where his face would be is a cybernetic face or just a visor. A fan theory is that he's a Ki-Hunter, which would make that yellow part his actual face if true.
  • Bounty Hunter: What he has been reduced to. It is unknown whether he retains any loyalty to the space pirates or has simply decided to work for his own benefit.
  • Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Weavel's suit has a mild green tint and the battle hammer is green.
  • Cool Ship: Though it's not as prominent as the Delano 7, it can be seen in the intro movie, where Weavel is using it to evade the GF Police. It's also briefly seen on the Oubliette.
  • Mark of Shame: His new cybernetic body is a constant reminder of Weavel being completely wasted by Samus. In fact, it's the reason why he is no longer a high-ranking Pirate.
  • Parts Unknown: Said in the game's intro.
  • Remember the New Guy?: Apparently, Weavel lost his body while fighting Samus on Zebes in the first game. In Brinstar. Which never contained any Pirates at this point in the chronology, neither in the first game nor in Metroid: Zero Mission.
  • Space Pirate: Though technically, he is no longer officially affiliated with them.
  • Splash Damage: The battle hammer has a bigger blast radius when used by him
  • Swiss Army Appendage: He has the trademark Space Pirate scythe, which he only uses in his alt-form during game play. This one is actually a rather mild example as far as Pirates go, because while Weavel's scythe is merely attached to his arm, Pirate tend to replace their arms with such scythes.
  • The Turret Master: He can split his body in half and the lower half will become a turret.
  • We Can Rebuild Him: He was originally just a high-ranked space pirate (probably a Commando or Trooper) until he was completely blown to smithereens by Samus and rebuilt as a cyborg.

Noxus

Debut: Metroid Prime Hunters

  • An Ice Person: By way of his Weapon of Choice, the Judicator. He can release a vapor wall that freezes enemies in place when he charges a shot.
  • Bounty Hunter: Though most of the industrial world considers bounty hunting to be a criminal activity, Noxus became a bounty hunter specifically to fight criminals and other forms of "evil". Times have really changed in the space age.
  • Color Coded for Your Convenience: From the hunter himself, to his ice weapon, to the doors that can be opened once Samus gets his weapon, his main color is purple.
  • Everything's Better with Spinning: His alt. form has him curl up and spin like a top.
  • Hero Antagonist: The only reason he even ends up fighting against Samus is because his goal is to keep the Ultimate Power out of the wrong hands. Presumably, Samus and the Galactic Federation would fall under "the wrong hands."
  • I Have the High Ground: In the game's intro.
  • Knight Templar: He left his home world to go on a crusade against all evil in the universe.
  • Natural Weapon: The Vhoscythe.
  • Spin Attack: In his alternate form.

Kanden

Debut: Metroid Prime Hunters

  • Beware My Stinger Tail: His alternate form shoots explosive stingers.
  • Bounty Hunter: Though, he does it less for the "bounty" part and more for the "hunter" part.
  • The Brute: He is one of, if not the largest, bounty hunters, and has one of the least sympathetic goals.
  • Color Coded for Your Convenience: Though the hunter himself is green, his weapon, the Volt Driver, is yellow, as are the doors that Samus can open once she gets this weapon.
  • Extra Eyes: He has four eyes in biped form and lots of markings that superficially look like eyes. The stinglarva appears to have seven eyes in official art, or rather six with one of those markings as a big eye spot.
  • For the Evulz: The main reason he became a bounty hunter, and the reason why he is searching for the Ultimate Power of the Alimbics, is because it gives him a chance to fulfill his killing potential.
  • Gone Horribly Wrong: He was originally a lab experiment to create a super-soldier, but he escaped.
  • Humanoid Abomination: This is what you get when you combine an unnaturally augmented scientific experiment with a mind that is just barely holding onto its sanity.
  • Interface Screw: His special weapon, the Volt Driver, can do this. It homes in on the target when he fully charges it.
  • Nightmare Face: Let's just say that his face is rather unnerving.
  • Rocket Jump: How the sting larva jumps, though not as good at it as the morph ball or lockjaw.
  • Stuff Blowing Up: In his intro, a building blows up behind him; possibly the facility he came from, but who knows.
  • Super Soldier: The reason the scientists made him in the first place, though their final product would not be a good soldier. They at least succeeded at making a killer.
  • Tron Lines: Well, more like Tron Circles.

Spire

Debut: Metroid Prime Hunters

  • The Big Guy: He has a sympathetic goal, making him one of the more heroic bounty hunters when they eventually team up. He's also bigger than all, with the possible exception of Kanden.
  • Bounty Hunter: To support his search for his kind, or find answers as to what happened to them.
  • Collision Damage: The Dialanche, as seen in the intro. It has to be right when he transforms or at full speed, though, so you're better off using the attack button instead.
  • Color-Coded for Your Convenience: From the hunter himself, to his magma weapon, to the doors that can be opened once Samus gets his weapon, his main color is orange.
  • Creator In-Joke: Retro based his design off a creature from one of their canceled projects. Nintendo Software Technologies wrote his back story with that in mind.
  • Last of His Kind: Indeed, the reason why he is seeking the Ultimate Power in the Alimbic system is because it may provide him with an opportunity to find out what happened to the rest of his species.
  • Magma Man: In fact, according to his scans, his body contains "molten ferrous compounds normally found only in a planet's core." His weapon of choice shoots lava grenades, and charged shots light things on fire, doing more damage when he uses it. He can also move through lava without taking damage.
  • Shout-Out: Spire seems very similar to Gorons, in that both are rock-based creatures that role up into boulder-like balls.
  • Silicon-Based Life: Which probably explains why he is at home in molten environments, one theory is that such creatures would have to live in incredibly hot environments or else move extremely slow.
  • Wall Crawl: His Alternate form can do this.

Trace

Debut: Metroid Prime Hunters

  • Bio Augmentation: The Triskeleton is the result of this.
  • Bounty Hunter: He entered this field of work in hopes he would find suitable worlds for his kin to conquer, which makes you wonder how he ever gets work. That or technology that would revolutionize his empire.
  • Cold Sniper: His weapon, the Imperialist, is a red laser that actually has a sniping scope of sorts. As such, it has the longest range of any of the hunters' weapons.
  • Color Coded for Your Convenience: From the hunter himself, to his sniper weapon, to the doors that can be opened once Samus gets his weapon, his main color is red.
  • Exclusively Evil: His race, the Kriken, thrives off of being this, almost to the extent of putting the Space Pirates to shame.
  • Glass Cannon: Samus, or at least the scan visor, suspect him of being one of these.
  • Human Ladder: He stands atop a mount of what can be presumed to be other Kriken in the intro.
  • Invisibility: What happens when he fires his weapon while standing still. This can be quite irritating when you have to fight him. His alternate form has invisibility when standing still as well.
  • Raymanian Limbs: Well, his head has no connection to his body.
  • Rite of Passage: His involvement in the story has him seeking the Octoliths as part of this. He fails, of course, but then again, the "Ultimate Power" he was looking for didn't really exist in the first place.
  • Shout-Out: Krikens are this to Irken.

Rundas

Debut: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

"Between the two of us, this should be a breeze."

  • An Ice Person: He can generate ice and control the movement of the ice he creates.
  • Badass: The scan visor says his threat level matches Samus's.
  • Big Damn Heroes: With only seconds to spare, Rundas saves Samus from reaching the reactor of an energy shaft after she just dueled Ridley in a free-fall battle. This was his Establishing Character Moment, and part of what made him so endearing to the fandom.
  • Bond One-Liner:Gives one after shooting down two flying transports.
  • Bounty Hunter: Believes himself to be the best in this field, the scan visor says his threat level matches Aran's.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: Emphasis on the crazy. You can tell Rundas is really not himself when Samus is sent to see why contact was lost with him.
  • Deadly Upgrade: The P.E.D. makes some of his attacks almost impossible to dodge.
  • Destructible Projectiles: He can stop certain shots with his powers, but given their nature, certain shots can stop his powers.
  • Dying as Yourself: Maybe. When he is beaten, he seems to look around, confused. He almost tries to speak, but is impaled by an ice spike. It is uncertain whether this was him euthanising himself, or possibly Dark Samus killing him. But it makes it even more sad.
  • Elemental Armor: Sometimes encases himself in it, other times uses it to provide cover. It's surprisingly durable but not unbreakable; the easiest thing to do is trick him into helping you with it.
  • Expy: He visually resembles Noxus and has ice powers (to Noxus's freeze gun). He fights much differently, however, and is not a Knight Templar.
  • Hand Blast: They have the same sound effect as the Prime ice beam.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: He kills at least one enemy this way and himself.
  • Irony: When he is attempting to halt the argument, he mentions that they are the good guys, justice will prevail, and all that stuff. Guess what happens to each of the Hunters barring Samus a few weeks to a month later?
  • I Work Alone: According to Federation reports, this was his attitude before he met Samus (who he seems to bond with); it explains some of his actions on Bryyo too.
  • Justice Will Prevail: He claims this as the hunters are all arguing: "Hey, relax. We're the good guys. justice will prevail and all that stuff... right, Samus?"
  • Literally Shattered Lives: to a pirate
  • Little No: When his personal armor starts to break. So little you might not even recognize it.
  • Mega Manning: Samus gets Ice Missiles from Rundas.
  • Morph Weapon: He can create a variety of shapes to hit things with.
  • Not Quite Flight: Like old school Iceman, but better at it.
  • Painfully-Slow Projectile: He shoots out a whole bunch to track a target and distract it while he zips off elsewhere; his serious shots are much faster.
  • Space Fighter: His "Phrygisian-class gunship".
  • Super Mode: After getting the P.E.D. suit and icon helmet.
  • Trophy Room: Is rumored to keep trophies from all his successful hunts.

Ghor

Debut: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

"That seems... inefficient."

  • Arm Cannons Akimbo: Two in his armor in addition to a Chest Blaster
  • Beam Spam: When desperate, he uses his smart bombs, missile salvos and plasma beams all at once
  • The Big Guy: With his suit; outside of it, Rundas is larger than him.
  • Blade Below the Shoulder: Power armor has two.
  • Bounty Hunter: Though Ghor is just as likely to be called for tech support. That goes a long way in explaining how he can afford to be so charitable with his bounty money...
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: He was sent to save the Elysians from this fate, but succumbed to it as well.
  • Cool Ship: His suit is his ship.
  • Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Subverted in that he is a really nice person, but played straight with his murder frenzy in his battle suit.
  • Deadly Upgrade: Emphasis on deadly, he seems to benefit the least from the P.E.D..
  • Deflector Shields: he uses them offensively too.
  • Good Counterpart: Ghor is a federation fighter who after being rebuilt resembles the space pirates(at least the ones in Metroid Prime 3). Compare to Weavel, a space pirate, who after being rebuilt resembles a federation marine.
  • Grappling Hook Gun: Strictly offensive; he doesn't need to building swing since his suit flies.
  • Macross Missile Massacre: From his armour suit's shoulders.
  • Malevolent Mugshot: His level of malevolence is questionable, but his face was temporarily all over Sky Town.
  • Mega Manning: Samus gets a plasma beam from Ghor.
  • Nice Guy: When not in his suit.
  • Pet the Dog: His scans say that he occasionally works for free or even gives his bounty money to whoever has been harassed by his bounty targets.
  • Playing with Fire: His main weapon is the Plasma Cannon. Not exactly fire, but it is hot, and he even uses it to heat up his blades in close quarters combat.
  • Shockwave Stomp: In his flying heavy suit.
  • Shoulder Cannon: Two in large armor.
  • Shout-Out: His backstory, with him having to replace his body with a cybernetic one that alters his personality, seems inspired by General Grievous, except that Ghor isn't a villain. Not initially, at least.
  • The Smart Guy: Without his suit. Despite bounty hunting being his preferred profession, he's often asked to crack or control computer systems.
  • Spin Attack: Both with his "attack claws" and sweeping around with his chest blaster.
  • Super Mode: After getting two P.E.D. icons, the other one might be for his larger armour.
  • Unskilled but Strong: He logically assesses his situation and strikes with state of the art weaponry, but is still lacking in pure combat skill according to federation reports on him.
  • We Can Rebuild Him: 94 percent of his body got blasted to bits in combat.

Gandrayda

Debut: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

"You know, you should never trust strangers, Sammy."

Space Pirates

Ridley

Debut: Metroid
"Kill as much as you want! Have fun!"

  • Arch Enemy: To Samus.
  • Asskicking Equals Authority: There's a reason he's the leader of the space pirates.
  • Back from the Dead: See Joker Immunity below.
  • Badass: It's heavily implied that the only person in the entire galaxy who is a threat to him is Samus.
    • Let's see what he (chronologically) accomplishes:
      • Prior to the series, he single-handedly annihilates dozens of space colonies (including the one Samus lived in, whoops) and occupied Zebes, wiping out the remnants of the Chozo civilization.
      • He fights Samus one-on-one in Metroid and, while losing, manages to not only survive the fight but escape the endgame explosion, and lives through his injuries long enough for the pirates to save his life by making him a cyborg.
      • In Metroid Prime, the newly roboticized Meta Ridley is more or less the only Space Pirate to live through the destruction of their frigate, and later survives not only a thrashing by Samus but being blasted by the statue guardians of the Artifact Temple.
      • In Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, he lays waste to a whole Federation outpost before dragging Samus into a freefall battle. He not only survives, he takes in so much Phazon, he becomes a full-blown Leviathan guardian. And, unlike other powerful beings of Phazon, he lives through Phaaze's destruction at the end of the game.
      • In Super Metroid, he attacks a science facility, steals the baby Metroid from right under Samus' nose, and fights her again. He finally dies in this game, and it takes the fifth canonical beatdown by his archnemesis coupled with being caught in an exploding planet to kill him.
      • His clone in Metroid: Other M wreaks havoc in the station and slaughters scientists and even some soldiers while still an infant. The frequency of his voice is driving the other beings in the Bottle Ship into a frenzy, meaning that even when he's not around to directly make things worse, he's making things worse. Killing the clone requires no less a being than a friggin' Queen Metroid, and this is after he's worn out in another battle with Samus. Adam Malkovich considers the clone such a threat that he chooses to make a Heroic Sacrifice rather than face it, considering Samus the only person reliably able to battle Ridley.
      • Even in Metroid Fusion, the worn-out, dead, frozen husk of his clone is suitable for X parasite cloning. Yes, a clone of a clone, and he's still an endgame boss.
      • Let's put it this way: Adam Malkovich expressly considers Ridley to be just as much of a threat as a station full of invincible Metroids. He is probably the only thing in the universe that can scare Samus stiff (though that has been attributed to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). That is how dangerous this guy is.
  • Batman Can Breathe in Space: And fly, and survive re-entry without issue. His species is known as "the Space Dragons", suggesting they have adapted to vacuum environments.
  • Big Eater: In Metroid: Other M, he eats constantly as "Little Birdy" in order to hasten his metamorphosis.
  • Breath Weapon: What did you expect from a dragon? Ridley can spit plasma hot enough to melt through spaceship hull.
  • Brown Note: In Metroid: Other M, it's revealed that the frequency of Ridley's voice drives space pirates and some other creatures into a murderous battle frenzy, essentially making Ridley a perfect military commander. It also may have had something to do with Samus' mental breakdown.
  • Creepy Child: In Metroid: Other M. Somehow ironic how Ridley seems to be creepier when he's a cute newborn chicken thing.
  • Deader Than Dead: Let's see: as of Metroid Fusion, his clone was reduced to ash, and then the station it was on was sent to a planet that then exploded. On the other hand, he's already been cloned once, and since Samus is an outlaw at the end of Metroid Fusion, it's not impossible that he won't be revived in some fashion, given that Ridley is the natural choice to hunt down Samus.
  • The Dragon: He's not only an actual dragon, but he's the penultimate boss in all of his appearances.[1]
  • Early Installment Weirdness: The American art for the first Metroid game showed Ridley as a weird dragonfly thing instead of the more familiar space dragon. This might have been due to the art being based on his in-game sprite, which admittedly was rather vague on his appearance beyond "winged monster".
    • Not to mention him being the same size as Samus.
  • Evil Counterpart: Perhaps this is Alternate Character Interpretation, but he and Samus tend to parallel one another, with being extremely powerful and intelligent. They are also presented with the same option of killing or sparing each other as a child with opposite results. Additionally, Ridley and Samus are just as unkillable; Samus as a player character can "continue" if killed, and Ridley "continues" every time he dies.
  • Genetic Memory: His clone in Metroid: Other M seems to know EXACTLY who Samus is.
  • Genius Bruiser: It's All There in the Manual. Finally somewhat shown in Metroid: Other M.
  • Informed Attribute: The intelligence that he exhibits in the manga, and which pretty much all supplementary material talks about, is never really touched upon in-game. Then again, we rarely see him when he's not fighting Samus, so who knows. Though it does get shown a bit by his clone in Metroid: Other M.
    • It's also exhibited during his attack on Norion in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, as he tries multiple times to attack Samus while she is in Morph Ball mode, incapable of really fighting back. After this fails, he drags her into a freefall battle; considering Samus can't fly, even if he lost the fight, she'd still fall to her death. And then Rundas shows up to save Samus, ruining all the fun.
  • Joker Immunity: Officially averted in Super Metroid, where he canonically died. The ones in Metroid Fusion and Metroid: Other M are clones.
  • Lack of Empathy: He cruelly mocks Samus for her PTSD-enduced memories of her mother being killed by Ridley, as well as that he absorbed a bit of her cells.
  • Lean and Mean: Except the Metroid: Other M clone, who is more muscular but no less mean.
  • Leitmotif: The most memorable one in the series.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Able to tear around the screen at an amazing speed given his size, as well as deal out considerable damage to Samus.
  • Might Makes Right: In the manga: "In battle, nature sides with the strong! You shall realize just how worthless your ideals and such are -- AH HA HA HA HA HA!"
  • Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Hilariously, he is a space dragon who is the leader of the Space Pirates and often comes back from the dead, sometimes as a cyborg. If you count that he is capable of invisibility in Super Metroid, he is a literal Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot.
  • Our Dragons Are Different: He is anorexic and can fly in space here.
  • Psycho for Hire: The manga and some of the Data Logs in Metroid Prime imply that his reason for being with the Space Pirates boils down to a sadistic love of killing other beings.

Space Pirate Datalog: We believe our creation, now called Meta Ridley, will become the mainstay of our security force, a job he will certainly relish.

  • Razor Wings: Averted: the designers went out of their way to make sure players would not have to worry about his wings in the 2D games.
  • Robot Me: Mecha-Ridley in Metroid: Zero Mission.
  • Suddenly Voiced: His appearances in spin-off material give him the ability to speak. He never speaks in-game.
  • Unexplained Recovery: Metroid Prime was the first game to even make mention of his recovery, and the explanation for it was not very detailed.
  • We Can Rebuild Him: Meta-Ridley and later Omega Ridley.
  • Your Size May Vary: This led to discussions about whether he wasn't a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl because he was "too big."

Mother Brain

Debut: Metroid
"'Defective product'.... Me...?!! A defective product... You dare claim that I am defective...!!"

  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Retconned in the Metroid Prime series as an organic machine built by the Chozo, instead of the Space Pirate leader. This is in the manga too. The manga reconciles these roles (she takes the pirates over), but Metroid: Other M seems to disregard both the Metroid Prime series and a bit of the manga (saying that the pirates can't function without her).
  • Big Bad: More often than not. Could be considered the most prominent Big Bad of the main series.
  • Brain In a Jar
  • Death by Irony: Almost manages to kill Samus in Super Metroid, but is suddenly attacked by the fully-grown baby Metroid she stole, which chomps her head in retaliation. Ha!
  • One-Winged Angel: In Super Metroid. Yikes.
  • One Bad Mother: Everyone just calls her Mother in the manga. This gets referenced in Metroid: Other M.
  • Sassy Black Woman: In the non-canon Captain N show.
  • Scare Chord: The melody for her battle music in Super Metroid consists of these.
  • Spikes of Villainy: They serve no practical purpose otherwise.
  • Stationary Boss: Most of the time.
  • Sympathy for the Devil: In Metroid: Other M in the form of Melissa Bergman.
  • Turned Against Their Masters: Depending on which source you are looking at, she either let the Space Pirates into Zebes to kill the Chozo or took over the Space Pirate when they came into Zebes then had them kill the Chozo.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: In the manga, it's explained that her true goal is to bring order into the galaxy.

Zebesian Space Pirates

Debut: Super Metroid
"Science Team has vapor for brains."

  • Armored Coffins: Their boarding pods.
  • Butt Monkey: In Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, especially. "Surely, we are cursed."
  • Comedic Sociopathy: "They were promptly shot."
  • Creative Sterility: Almost all of their tech is stolen or reverse-engineered.
    • But while they steal a good deal of their technology, they are also extremely active in researching and improving their home-grown tech. The Hazard Shield (which is required for them to put up with the acid rain on their base world) is a good example.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Part of what makes many of the logs so hilarious.
  • Elite Mooks: Pirate commandos, dedicated to hunting the hunter.
  • EMP: They have grenades that produce them, which is strange since they don't work very well against their sworn enemy Samus.
  • Eternal Engine: Their homeworld is like this, complete with a perpetual shower of acid rain.
  • Evil Knockoff: Their attempts to reverse-engineer Samus's technology.
    • According to logs taken from the original Metroid Prime, the pirates did some poking around into the Morph Ball technology, but only to have their results break every bone in the test subjects' bodies. Needless to say, that venture took them nowhere.
  • Exclusively Evil
  • For Science!: Even they think that their Science Team has vapor for brains.
  • Genre Blind
  • Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: In Metroid Prime 2: Echoes only.
  • Mooks: Out of all Space Pirate troopers, they are most prominent and iconic species.
    • Airborne Mook: Pirate aerotroopers, flying pirates, aero mines, preeds...
    • Aquatic Mook: Aqua pirates use technology similar to the gravity suit and Aquadrones are built to patrol the depths.
    • Giant Mook: Elite Pirates. Omega Pirate is a Giant Giant Mook. Also berserker knights, of which the Berserker Lord is the boss version.
    • Heavily Armored Mook: Armored Pirates Troopers and Armoured Militia. Advanced and assault troopers count too.
    • Kung Fu-Proof Mook: Advanced pirate troopers are resistant to most beams, assault troopers can't be targeted by missiles and only the hyper missiles bother them, the beam troopers are immune to most weaponry besides the beam they are imitating...
    • Mecha-Mooks: Aeromines, Crawlmines, Crawltanks and various drones.
    • Nocturnal Mooks: What the shadow pirates are supposed to be, but some are too stupid to stay in the shadows.
    • Shield Bearing Mook: Some try this in Metroid Prime 2 and Metroid Prime 3.
    • Slave Mooks: Pirate Militia are made up of criminals forced into service and captured slaves. Disobedient militia supposedly become rations for the real troops.
    • Superpowered Mooks: After they discover hypermode.
  • Only Sane Man: Any pirate writing the log entries about how dumb Science Team and High Command are.
  • Professor Guinea Pig: The entire species is one of these.
  • Too Dumb to Live: The Space Pirates as a whole don't seem to have much care for personal safety. Their Science Teams seem positively suicidal.
    • They even have to warn personnel not to use Metroids as target practice.
    • Hell, they have to keep reminding personnel not to keep them as pets.
  • Visible Invisibility: Shadow pirates are pretty much invisible by unaided human eyes in the dark; naturally, some will attack in broad daylight, where they are only slightly obscured.
  • Wall Crawl: Varies from game to game whether the current crop Samus is up against can do this.

Kraid

Debut: Metroid

"ROAAAAAAR"

  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Not in the first game though.
  • Bizarre Alien Biology: A giant dinosaur with the standard claws and teeth? Pretty normal as far as video game monsters go. Three eyes? That's only slightly pushing the envelope. Spikes that shoot out of its belly that Samus can jump on? Alright, now that's not exactly normal.
  • The Brute: With Ridley and Mother Brain in the first game.
  • Disc One Final Boss
  • Early Installment Weirdness: Kraid was actually really tiny in the original Metroid. Metroid: Zero Mission retconned this out when it made him gigantic as well.
    • Also, the green on his body that is portrayed as scales in all later games is portrayed as fur in the original's American artwork.
  • Fake Ultimate Mook: "Fake Kraid" in Super Metroid was actually in the same room as Kraid in the original. This was to add dramatic effect once the player entered the next room and saw just how gigantic the real deal was.
  • Spike Shooter: In Metroid and Super Metroid.
  • Tactical Suicide Boss: He would be invincible if he never opened his mouth or shot spikes out of his belly. Partially justified in that being shot in the eyes with missiles really, really hurts.

Phantoon

Debut: Super Metroid

  • Bonus Boss: In Metroid: Other M, appearing as a Giant Space Flea From Nowhere.
  • Eldritch Abomination: The biggest in Metroid's lore... So far... It exists on multiple plains of reality at once and what Samus has fought so far is only its head.
  • Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: Its appearance in Metroid: Other M. Since it shows up after the credits with no context, it is unknown if Phantoon was another of the corrupt Federation faction's bio-weapons or if this was the original Phantoon and it simply took over what was left after the Bottle Ship operation was shut down (during the Boss Rush leading up to it, left-over bio-weapons can be seen coming out of portals similar to the ones the Rage Hands come out of).
  • Our Ghosts Are Different: It exists as both a multidimensional corporeal form and an astral form. And while it can be driven away, it'll always come back. The Coverns, on the other hand, are explicitly ghosts comprised of multiple souls.

Ki-Hunter Pirates

Debut: Super Metroid

  • Airborne Mook: Their wings can be shot off, but they are still dangerous when grounded.
  • Bee People: Exactly how their social structure runs is not clear but they are bee-like and they have a "king".
  • Beware My Stinger Tail: And claws too.
  • Bug Buzz: Learn to hate and fear it in Metroid Fusion.
  • Eyeless Face: Their larval stage, until Metroid: Other M decided to give them eyes.
  • Insectoid Aliens: Unlike the "Zebesians" up there, who are more like reptiles/avians in insectoid armor.
  • Natural Weapon: The main difference between them and the other Pirate foot soldiers is that they never seem to brandish any weapons besides those they were born with.
  • Taking You with Me: In Metroid: Other M, they try to latch onto you and explode if they take heavy damage. Thankfully, only in Metroid: Other M so far.
  • Third Eye: A large one in the center of their head.
  • Wall Crawl: As zeros, their larval stage.

Non-Affiliated Bosses

Amorbis

Debut: Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

  • Casting a Shadow: Not on their own, but once attached to the dark sphere, they will be capable of flinging safe zone-neutralizing shots of darkness or channel thick purple energy beams.
  • Feed It a Bomb: The only way to damage them is to let them inhale you and then lay a bomb in their mouths.
  • Pivotal Boss: While using dark attacks.
  • Sand Worm: While not to Dune levels, they are close. Very large sand worms Amorbis are.
  • Suicidal Overconfidence: Averted for your benefit.
  • Wolfpack Boss: What's that? You've beaten giant worms before, not too long ago in this very game you say? Fine, here's three of them bigger than any we threw at you before!
  • Worm Sign: The sand above where they're about to emerge will begin to flow outward as if being pushed up from below. If the sand you're directly standing on is doing this, MOVE.

Chykka

Debut: Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

  • Barrier Change Boss: While any weapons will damage it, during the second phase it switches between being weak to light and dark.
  • Big Creepy-Crawlies: Chykka is a big dragonfly thing.
  • Deader Than Dead: You can scan Chykka's corpse after the battle is over (nearly every other boss either fades away or explodes), which basically goes to ensure you in no uncertain terms than the creature is finally dead:

"Bioscan complete. Target Chykka has been terminated. Lifesigns are at flatline. No regenerative ability in effect. No evidence of symbiotic corpse possession. Resurrection does not appear likely."

  • Enemy Mine: Some ing possessed creatures may show up while you fight it; naturally, they focus on you, not the giant bug that provoked them.
  • Giant Flyer: Once an adult.
  • Grimy Water: Lives in and shoots it at you.
  • Hermaphrodite: Self-impregnating, no less.
  • Marathon Boss: One of the longest boss battles in the series.
  • Rapid Aging: It started out as an egg.
  • Sequential Boss: The first phase is against its larval form, which for all intents and purposes behaves like a fish in the dark waters. After being defeated, it retreats and rapidly metamorphs into its adult stage, which is a massive wasp-like insect that alternates between light and dark forms.
  • Shockwave Stomp: In the larva sequence. That's when you shoot it.

Quadraxis

Debut: Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Nintendo Power had an article on this boss with a side by side comparison of its model with Samus's, asking if that was a fair fight.
  • Demonic Possession: Presumably, it had joined the war against all living things before the Ing took it over.
  • Everything's Better with Spinning: Sometimes, during its first phase. Subverted, since getting sucked into a top-like mech to be battered is anything but better.
  • Humongous Mecha: Possibly THE largest boss in Metroid history. The Command Module is nearly the size of Samus's ship.
  • King Mook: It is essentially a gargantuan Quad robot. Even down to the Command Module and Main Body being able to fight separately.
  • Mighty Glacier: It is fast enough to keep you in its sights if you try to run circles around it (and you may end up doing so just to keep from being underfoot), but its forward momentum is less than impressive in its initial state. Indeed, it takes a little while for Quadraxis to simply lift a leg. Luckily for it, there are walls that prevent Samus from simply running away.
  • Yin-Yang Bomb: Its Annihilator Beam.

Others

The Chozo

Debut: Metroid

  • Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: It's stated in Metroid Prime that at least some of them have done this.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Samus and the Metroids are proof enough that you do not want the Chozo mad at you.
  • Doom Magnet: Whatever they touch, be it planet, species or individual, is universally ill-fated in some way. Planetary destruction and being driven to the brink of extinction happen a lot where they've been.
  • A Fate Worse Than Death: The Chozo on Tallon IV returned from their Higher Plane of Existence to deal with Phazon, but many were twisted into insane ghosts by it while sealing the bulk of the stuff away.
  • Gone Horribly Wrong: Both the Metroids and Mother Brain were created by the Chozo to make SR-388 and Zebes nicer places to live. In both cases, the Chozo got a lot more than they bargained for.
  • Neglectful Precursors: Not even they, with all their technical and spiritual skill, have what it takes to take care of the doom that follows them around like a puppy they fed. Only Samus does.
    • In their defense, the prophetic Chozo of Tallon IV stocked up their ruins with power suit upgrades specifically to help Samus save the day in the future. It's implied that the Chozo on other worlds did the same.
      • They seem to zigzag all the precursors tropes. Their neglectfulness is mentioned above, their Abusive Precursors status is established by the fact they made the Metroids, then subverted into Benevolent Precursors both by the aforementioned upgrades, and the fact they originally made the Metroids to stop someting worse.
  • Our Ghosts Are Different: Some left their bodies and the game's dimension behind; later, they returned to the game's dimension, still without those bodies. The ones that got stuck in the game's dimension because of phazon madness are what they call ghosts.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: What they used to be. Prime shows they consider Samus's weapons to be ancient but whether that has to do with being primitive to them or simply because no one's bothered to choose the warrior's path for so long is up for debate.
  • Seers: Those on Talon IV had visions of the future, but they were not perfect visions.
  • Steampunk: They have done some dabbling in this, as seen by the observatory they left on Elisia.
  • Sufficiently Advanced Aliens: A major reason why Samus' suit has such impossibly advanced technology is because these guys didn't have to worry much about regular physics.
  • Technical Pacifist: For a race sworn not to hurt other living creatures, it seems odd that they'd train the galaxy's greatest Badass (and create its worst living weapons...).

Metroid Hatchling (Baby)

Debut: Metroid II: Return of Samus

X

Debut: Metroid Fusion

  • Aquatic Mook: They create some mermaid pirates if you stick around to see it.
  • Artificial Stupidity: The SA-X. Doubles as multiple crowning moments of funny if exploited.
  • Back from the Dead: Done to the Space Pirates as well as Nightmare and Ridley by mimicking them.
  • Body Horror: Through the process of infecting hosts, the X either take over or mimic the body, typically while mutating the original form into something much worse. Samus doesn't have even have to be fully infected for this trope to come into play for her.
  • Cosmic Horror Story: They'd fit right in one just as well as any eldritch creature, which is why Metroids were made.
  • The End of the World as We Know It: This is more or less what happened when the X made a comeback on SR-388. It's also what would have happened elsewhere had the Galactic Federation gone through with their plans to capture the SA-X.
  • Genetic Memory: They retain the intelligence and memories of what they transform into.
  • Hidden Depths: At first, they seem like a mindless species of parasites running purely on instinct. Over the course of the game, you begin to learn that they're ruthless, intelligent, and capable of acting against instinct for their own ends.
  • Humanoid Abomination: Aside from the SA-X, their efforts to mimic humans end up failing, as it results in them becoming gelatinous humanoid blobs wearing lab coats instead. They end up refining the process eventually, to the point where a Core-X perfectly mimics a scientist in order to set Sector 3 on the fritz.
  • Intangible Man: Yes they can go intangible and ignore most physical barriers. However, it is implied by the powerbomb that large enough explosions can still affect them, and it'd stated by Adam that big enough ones can kill them.
  • Stealth Pun The X infect a machine with the acronym B.O.X. So, it's the X-Box.
  • The Soulless: Never had one to begin with.
  • The Virus: Though not literally viruses, you do fight both infected victims and mimics made by the X using their hosts' DNA.
  • You Will Be Assimilated: They even retain the host's knowledge and memories.

Luminoth

Debut: Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

"Through vigilance and strength, we create peace."

  • Always Lawful Good: Though we really only learn about their species wide interactions, founders heroes and the desperate actions they take in the face of an enemy bent on their annihilation, so anyone could come off like that.
  • Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: They are basically humanoid moths. So, it's natural that they would have a deep attraction to light.
  • Badass Preacher: The Luminoth usually speak about peace and all that, through strength and if necessary war, and come off as a race that would rather not fight. But as soon as the Ing invade, they wasted little time in preparing for war, and while they failed, they still did a pretty good job. Added to the fact that if you scan the bodies of some of the dead ones, you'll see that the grand majority went down fighting, or at least holding their post; a notable example of the latter would be one female Luminoth that held her post, even though she was starving to death. The Luminoth are pretty hardcore.
    • Special mention should go to J-Stl and A-Kul. J-Stl killed at least 100 Ing in his last stand, and who knows how many he killed in total. A-Kul: went into Dark Aether, a god awful dimension filled to the brink with Ing that would kill her the second they got a chance and whose very air was deadly, found one of the ten keys to the temple that had all been hidden by the Ing, fought her way to the Sky Temple, and managed to place it there AND leave clues to the other keys before dying.
    • The Sentinels of the Temples are perhaps the epitome of this, especially since they probably really are preachers. Scans reveal every one of them went down fighting. The one in Agon died while fending off innumerable Ing hordes, finally succumbing to superior numbers. The one in Torvus was possessed numerous times, and fought off each of them. The Ing finally realized that they couldn't break his will and killed him. And the one in the Sanctuary Fortress was so badass, the Ing had to turn his own weapons of war against him, unable to defeat him themselves.
  • Bilingual Bonus/Punny Name: Their species name is basically a combination of the Latin "lumen" for light and "moth".
  • Higher-Tech Species: They developed their unique technology through a combination of contact with the Chozo and their own experimentation on Aether. In fact, they might very well have gotten the chance to join the Chozo as Sufficiently Advanced Aliens had they not gotten embroiled with the Ing.
  • Hopeless War: Both against the Ing and their own machines. The machines aren't able to combat the Ing well themselves, but are not priority targets for them beyond extra weapons systems.
  • Human Popsicle: All but U-Mos are in stasis until the crisis is over. In the final scene, they all get out and bow down before Samus in gratitude.
  • Insectoid Aliens: They're basically giant moths.
  • Kneel Before Frodo: What they do after Samus destroys the Ing.
  • Light Is Good: Sort of. The light of Aether is supposedly part of what makes their technology possible and it is what kept the Ing from immediately overrunning them, but from Federation data, it can be implied it is also what makes Aether "dimensionally unstable", which is what allowed Dark Aether to form in the first place.
  • Most Writers Are Human: The fact that Samus is fighting to help a species of humanoid moths against a species of very definitely non-humanoid creatures is significant.
  • Psychic Powers: More than one of them had these at least, but it is not clear how many.
  • Robot War: The machines they created for war, and even those for peace, decided that all living things must die while the Luminoth were already in the middle of the Ing war. Only the most basic maintenance bots remained loyal, though they weren't of much help, having no combat ability.
  • Weather Control Machine: One of the marvels they made use of.

Ing

Debut: Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

  • Back From the Brink: All that time between Samus making planetfall and getting the Energy Transfer Module? She could very well have gotten possessed by an Ing had she not been extremely lucky.
    • Not only that, but they would've succeeded in killing the few remaining Luminoth and stealing the last of the Light of Aether had Samus arrived at the Great Temple any later than when she did. The light world would've been destroyed as theirs became the default one, and they would've likely expanded beyond Aether, as warned by U-Mos. The only two known species that they probably wouldn't completely screw over are the Phazon beings, which they descend from, and the X, both of which possess similar qualities to the Ing.
      • Just imagine if they somehow possessed each other.
  • Beam Spam: Warrior Ing can channel energy from other dimensions through portals. They primarily use this tactic to push targets out of safe zones.
  • Bee People: They behave like them.
  • Dark Is Evil: Not every species on Dark Aether is necessarily evil, but these guys are by far the dominant force on the planet and are very evil.
  • Demonic Possession: What they're good at.
  • Elite Mooks: Hunter Ing and Ing Storms, both capable of flight.
  • Endangered Species: The only Ing still alive are the ones who managed to possess another creature, as they can't live on Aether by themselves. The space pirates have a darkling Metroid on display at one of their bases, as revealed in a Metroid Prime 3 scan.
  • Exclusively Evil
  • The Heartless: "The Ing are creatures of shadow and darkness, knowing nothing of peace or mercy."
  • Intangible Man: Hunter Ing; they still can't handle the light of Aether, but Samus's light beam is trivial to them.
  • Invisibility: Some Ing have methods of this, to the point they can hide from echolocation and sonar. Mostly notoriously their flying caches.
  • Mini-Mook: Ing larva and Ing storms.
  • Mook Carryover: They make a point to possess Pirate Troopers, as they are already used to following orders.
  • Rite of Passage: Ing are forced to fend for themselves as larva, then fight dangerous opponents after maturing. The idea is to make the young ones rely on each other and hate all other lifeforms, and it seems to work.
  • Starfish Aliens: Unfriendly ones at that.
  • Taking You with Me: After their world begins to die, several Warrior Ing attempt to prevent Samus' escape from Dark Aether so she'll die with them, but she just jumps over them and continues going.
  • Wall Crawl: All of them that are mobile but don't fly can seemingly do this.
  • Wall Master: Darkling Tentacles.
  • You Will Be Assimilated: They seem to take a page from the X Parasites, in that both mutate other creatures into new forms. The Ing possess live hosts, however; their attempts to bring back dead bodies were pretty pathetic (though freaky). All X need is DNA; they eat the prey first, then start making copies. Before you write the Ing off as less dangerous, know that they can possess Metroids, which X cannot work with at all.

Metroid Prime/Dark Samus

Debut: Metroid Prime

  • Ax Crazy: Dark Samus during the events of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes was certainly depicted as being completely insane, namely due to being imbalanced at a molecular level, almost to Kefka Palazzo levels.
  • Bag of Spilling: Just as much as the real Samus, it seems.
  • Barrier Change Boss: It can only be harmed by one type of beam. It routinely shifts which beam that is, indicated by the color of its armor.
  • Big Bad: Of the Metroid Prime Trilogy. It doesn't really come into the role until the third game though.
  • The Chessmaster: In Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.
  • Combat Tentacles: Is seen projecting these from her armor in concept art. In fact, these are how Dark Samus was made!
  • Curb Stomp Battle: Her skirmishes with the space pirates on Aether all see her quickly cut through them. Then she applies it to the hunters from Metroid Prime 3, in case anyone had doubts about her threat level already.
  • Deflector Shields: Has them at a couple points
  • Demonic Possession: Tries her hand at it in the third game.
  • Early Bird Boss: Some of her abilities are things Samus could duplicate or at least counter if the power-ups were present in the Prime series. She also uses super missiles long before the player can get them.
  • Eviler Than Thou: Even though she initially helps Warrior Ing attack Samus, some of the space pirates she is seen fighting with over some phazon were Ing possessed, suggesting one of them went back on any possible deals that could have been made. Since Ing don't make much use of the phazon they already have, it can be assumed they were simply trying to halter Dark Samus.
  • Evil Knockoff: Though unlike the SA-X from Metroid Fusion, Dark Samus isn't quite as much of a carbon copy, seeing as it used to be a Metroid and has some distinct abilities.
    • Expy: Of SA-X. Metroid Fusion was in development before Metroid Prime, and they were handled by different teams, so it's a bit nebulous which is the Expy of which.
  • Flight: A consistent ability she keeps after developing it that Samus doesn't really have, though at points she can only hover over the ground.
  • From a Single Cell: Or single phazon particle... It takes destroying every bit of phazon in the universe to finally kill her.
  • Hoist By Her Own Petard: Thrice.
  • Humanoid Abomination
  • Invisibility: She tries a few different forms of it.
  • Joker Immunity: Justified. She can reform herself from phazon particles. You destroy her for good in Metroid Prime 3 though.
  • Laughing Mad: Dark Samus often laughs rather maniacally in some of her appearances in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.
  • Mega Manning: First some space pirates armor and weapons, then the phazon suit and finally she acquires the abilities of other Hunters besides Samus during the events of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.
  • Mind Control: Does a whole lot of it later.
  • Mook Maker: In Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, she could produce copies of herself.
  • Pet the Dog: Despite her psychopathic nature, she actually shows some degree of compassion towards Metroids held captive by the Space Pirates in the second game. This makes sense because she is a Metroid.
  • Recurring Boss: Fought three times in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.
  • Sanity Slippage: Inverted: She starts out as being completely insane in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. By the time of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, however, she has become sane enough to make complex plans that ensure that she succeeds, although she does retain a high degree of instability.
  • Shadow Archetype: To Samus obviously, but given the series continuity, this is partly retroactive. In Metroid Fusion, Samus talks about how the SAX must be stopped before it ever realizes potential and becomes a threat to the galaxy, which is exactly what we see Dark Samus do. The kicker is that by becoming part Metroid, she is even more like Dark Samus despite having an opposite motivation and is fighting what functionally might as well be her old self since it has most of her old abilities.
  • Short-Range Shotgun: Cruelly averted.
  • Sobriquet: She is referred to by the space pirates as the Dark Hunter. After she took over, they take to calling her the Dark One, and the Black Demon.[2]
  • The Worm That Walks: Made of Phazon.
    • Though that depends on to what extent you consider Phazon to be sentient/separate beings or just a substance.
      • And, somewhat more literally than the trope above it suggests, as the Chozo once referred to it only as "The Worm".
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: Despite her name and her comfort in its atmosphere, Dark Samus is not from Dark Aether, nor is she a Darkling. Meaning the Light Beam is worthless against her, but the Dark Beam is devastating.

Phazon

Debut: Metroid Prime

"Darkness... coming..."

  • Applied Phlebotinum: It's a mutagenic substance that the Space Pirates exploit for a power-up. Samus herself gets to experience its potential during the final battle against Metroid Prime in the eponymous game then goes whole-hog and uses it for her own power source by Metroid Prime 3 (not by choice, but it has its upsides).
  • The Corruption: Phazon usually prefers to kill and absorb weaker beings, but if the victim is strong enough, it is instead mutated and becomes an agent of Phazon.
  • Eldritch Abomination: Revealed in Metroid Prime 3 to be basically a huge transdimensional being with a heart the size of a planet.
  • Fungus Humongous: There are some giant mushrooms that seem very heavily saturated with Phazon.
  • Genius Loci: Its core is Phaaze, a huge sentient planet.
  • Green Rocks: Phazon has quite a diverse range of uses: mutating plants and wildlife, being weaponized, driving creatures and several major characters insane, etc.
  • Kryptonite Is Everywhere: Justified, as this is Phazon's goal.
  • Nonstandard Game Over: When Samus spends too much time in Hypermode, the Phazon will corrupt her and turn her into a replica of Dark Samus.
  • Psycho Serum: Phazon tends to drive its infectees insane if it does not kill them.
  • Scenery Gorn/Scenery Porn: In the midst of Phazon twisting environments into strange forms, it does make things very pleasant to look at.
  • Sentient Phlebotinum: It seems to be more self aware than grass, but does not seem to be particularly intelligent.
  • Toxic Phlebotinum: Everything it doesn't kill, it turns a violent killing machine, usually with a shortened lifespan. The space pirates discovered a strain that could be integrated into an organism's DNA and give it a higher tolerance to the substance but it still only worked in one case. Three if you count Samus and Metroid Prime.
    • If you break canisters of Phazon around Ing, they die. The Ing live on a toxic planet and still can't take it! The Emperor Ing survived and started hording it.

Nightmare

Debut: Metroid Fusion

  • Body Horror: As if its organic components weren't horrific enough already, as it takes damage in Metroid Fusion, its face begins to melt off.
  • Cyborg: Inverted. It's a machine with organic components installed. Those organic components are what let the X infect it, much like its fellow machine-with-organic-parts, the B.O.X. security droid.
  • Gravity Master: It can slow Samus down, stop her ability to space jump and cause her missiles to prematurely crash before hitting it. Metroid: Other M shows it can also create miniature black holes to absorb and redirect Samus' shots. It can not unload its full arsenal while doing this, however.
  • Larynx Dissonance: Its voice sounds less like a looming bioweapon and more like a crying baby.
  • Nightmare Face: Six horrid little yellow eyes and saggy, snot-green skin. In Metroid Fusion, the face starts to melt as you shoot it!

Gorea

Debut: Metroid Prime Hunters

  • Batman Gambit: It sent the distress signal to all of the Hunters in the galaxy so that they would find the Octoliths and set it free.
  • Big Bad: Of Metroid Prime Hunters.
  • Cognizant Limbs: While Hunters has no lock-on feature, Gorea's arms have their own health bars. As does the seal sphere.
  • Combat Tentacles: Either this or a Tractor Beam, depending on how you interpret it.
  • Curb Stomp Battle: The fight between it and the other antagonists of the game see's Gorea win pretty easily.
  • Despair Event Horizon: The survivors of its initial assault were said to seem lifeless, even if they weren't injured.
  • Dishing Out Dirt: Its second phase does this.
  • Eldritch Abomination/Humanoid Abomination: Was originally the former, but became the latter after stealing that form from the Alimbics. It degenerates a little as you fight it though.
  • Guide Dang It: How to unlock its final phase. More specifically, you have to shoot a number of colored panels on the walls of its arena in a certain order with the proper weapons corresponding to the color of the panel. This is actually hinted at in several of the logbook scans, but it's so vague that most people needed a guide to figure it out anyway.
  • Improvised Weapon: It likes throwing the frozen colonies of cyanobacteria that float around in its prison.
  • Mega Manning: First phase.
  • Only a Flesh Wound: It blowing up its arms doesn't bother it much in fact, the limbs are the only thing Samus's weapons can damage. The final stage is against a flying torso! If you're not quick, it will grow them back.
  • Oubliette: Tailor-made cans.
  • Raymanian Limbs: Its head, much like Trace.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: Apparently, no one thought to gag it though, since it can still talk or otherwise send messages.
  • Sealed Good in a Can: One of these acts as its Restraining Bolt.
  • Soiled City on a Hill: The Alimbics got invaded by aliens. They built a lot of weapons, chased out the aliens, declared themselves invincible, and told everyone to stay away. Gorea then came and wrecked everything.
  • Telepathy: How it communicates.
  • Verbal Tic Name: The Alimbics call it the first thing it said.
  • Villain Teleportation: Once you unlock its final stage.
  1. ↑ Except for Zero Mission.
  2. ↑ These come from bonus material called Another Side Story.
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