Samus Aran

Samus Aran (サムス・アラン, Samusu Aran?) is an intergalactic bounty hunter.

Orphaned during a Space Pirate raid on her home of K-2L, Samus was adopted by the mysterious Chozo and taken to Zebes where she was infused with their DNA and raised to become a warrior. Once she reached adulthood, Samus joined the Federation Police where she served under the Commanding Officer Adam Malkovich, but she ultimately left to become a Bounty Hunter, though she was nonetheless recruited by the Galactic Federation on many occasions. Armed in her cybernetic Power Suit, Samus has become famous for her accomplishments on missions others thought impossible. Her most renowned achievements are the destruction of the Space Pirate base on Zebes, her role in ending the Galactic Phazon crisis, her extermination of the Metroid species, and her disobedience of orders at the Biologic Space Laboratories research station where she chose to destroy the deadly X Parasites rather than turn them over to the Galactic Federation.

Childhood
Warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Samus Aran was originally a native of the Earth colony K-2L. She was living with her parents, Rodney Aran and Virginia Aran, when, at the age of three, the colony was visited by the Chozo. The Chozo had come in hopes of gaining some of the Afloraltite the colony mined there, but the colony was unwilling to give them any. Samus, however, caught the attention of Old Bird, one of the Chozo elders. The two of them went for a walk, where they began to strike up a friendship. Samus began to call him “Grandpa” and Old Bird introduced her to her new pet, Pyonchi.

However, a Space Pirate raid led by Ridley soon commenced on the colony. Samus herself had an encounter with Ridley, where she asked if they could become friends. Humiliated in front of his troops, Ridley attempted to kill Samus, but her mother pushed Samus out of the way at the cost of her own life. Meanwhile, Samus' father sacrificed himself to destroy Ridley’s flagship. Little did Ridley know that, in killing Samus’ mother and attempting to kill Samus, he had succeeded in creating his greatest enemy.

Samus was the sole survivor of the attack on K-2L. Eventually, the same group of Chozo found her alone and stranded on the destroyed colony, and Old Bird decided to take custody of Samus. The Chozo brought her to their planet, Zebes, and raised her with Chozo influence. Samus was infused with Chozo blood in order to boost her chances of survival on Zebes; she was later given the powerful bio-mechanical Power Suit built entirely from Chozo technology.

Samus trained under the Chozo for many years. By the age of 14, she was already well past the physical limits of ordinary humans. The Chozo were unsure at first of her ability to become a true warrior until they witnessed her compassion for a flock of Iono Feria that had gone insane as a result of exposure to Badger Clovers. Old Bird told Samus that she had his confidence and she immediately left the planet for the Federation.

Training and Jigrad
Samus joined the Federation Police, where she excelled far above any at the academy. Eventually, she was promoted to the Star-Trackers, an elite force that only one out of a million police officers is qualified for. Under Chief Hardy, one of her early assignments was to the human planet Jigrad, which the Space Pirates had recently enslaved and had ordered the construction of something. Samus, alongside her squadmates, Kreatz and Mauk, were sent to observe. When the pirates threatened to execute child slave Damara, simply for being unfit for work, Samus and her squad attacked without orders. This lead to the first Federation imprisonment and interrogation of a Space Pirate, a matter which also involved the military Adam Malkovich, leading to Samus and Adam's first introduction. The interrogation revealed that the space pirate’s actions on Jidrad was a simple distraction from their invasion of the Chozo’s planet Zebes. Hardy ordered Samus to wait for the Army to be deployed, but Samus, Kreatz, and Mauk disobeyed Federation orders and traveled to Zebes to help the Chozo. After a run-in with Adam, she was told she was given 48 hours before the army arrived.

Infiltration of Zebes
Samus, Kreatz and Mauk arrive at Zebes, and find out that the Space Pirates are hoping to gain the whole of Chozo knowledge. The Chozo have either fled or surrendered, and the first Metroid is rogue in the base. Samus discovered that Mother Brain and the Chozo Gray Voice have established a "satisfactory cooperative relationship" with the Pirates. In this relationship, Mother Brain will be the new leader of the space pirates, which will reunite the galaxy. Mother Brain offers Samus the role of "master" of the Space Pirates, an offer she quickly refuses. At this time Ridley arrives and taunts Samus over the death of her parents and her failure to join the pirates. All this causes Samus to fall into a state of posttraumatic stress disorder due to repressed memories of the K-2L attack. Samus was saved later by her squad mates causing a distant distraction, and the newly rescued Chozo help Samus get over her posttraumatic stress. Ridley attacks the group and Samus dons her power suit and defends the party from Ridley. Ridley then retreats to defend Mother Brain from an attack by Gray Voice, who revealed his true allegiance and is attacking the "defective product", Mother Brain. Samus learns of Gray Voice’s plight from the rescued Chozo Platinum Chest, and while wanting to help and fight, decides to help the evacuation of the Chozo and her team mates. While escaping, Samus feels Gray Voice's battle struggles, due to their shared DNA (Samus got Chozo DNA to survive Zebes when she was a child), through this link she hears his last request.

"Samus, I leave the rest to you. You have become strong, so strong. Samus I know that your fate is harsh, but, though this will be hard for you, there are many people in the universe who need your strength, I want you to save them, be it only one or many, I want you to help them, this is my request. You have become strong, my child."

After breaking atmosphere in an ancient Chozo ship, the Space Pirate Flagship looms ahead, but they are rescued by the Federation Army, lead by the Federation Army Special Ops Battleship VIXIV, commanded by General Adam Malkovich.

Federation Army
After the Infiltration of Zebes, Samus (who was between 15–17 years old at this point) worked on the VIXIV under General Adam Malkovich. Here she met Anthony Higgs and Adam's younger brother, Ian Malkovich. It is unknown how long she served with Adam’s unit, but it was long enough to develop a strong relationship with Anthony, Ian and Adam. Adam would always finish his orders with the question, "Any objections, Lady?" as a way of cementing the trust between the two of them. Samus felt like Adam was the only person who truly understood her, and she grew to view him as her best friend and surrogate father figure. Samus left the VIXIV after the death of Adam's brother, Ian, whom Adam sacrificed to save 300 innocents on the Lusitania.

After Federation
Samus vanished completely, abandoning her post in the GF Police. In Metroid: Other M, she states her reason for doing so was that she was still young and relatively inexperienced at the time. Samus did not resurface until a few years later; by this time, she had become universally-renowned as a Bounty Hunter by single-handedly hunting down numerous Space Pirates, including stopping an assassination attempt at the inauguration of Chairman Keaton. So much of her life during this time is shrouded in mystery that the public believes her to be a male cyborg, not the same woman who graduated first in her class at the GF Police.

Return to Zebes
After becoming the most famed and capable of all Bounty Hunters, succeeding in missions everyone considered impossible, Samus was summoned by the Galactic Federation. Previously, a Federation Planet Reclamation Division had been sent to capture Metroid specimens for study, but the Space Pirates had swept in, killed the crew, and stolen the Metroids. The capture of this creature was a disastrous blow to the Federation. A Metroid could leech life from its victims, was impervious to most weaponry, and could be cheaply cloned by exposure to beta rays for 24 standard hours. The Pirates had already tested their potential in a three-way simultaneous attack on several Federation worlds; the attack was a stunning success for the Pirates, who had suffered no casualties at all. With hundreds of Metroids under their power, the Space Pirates would inevitably begin a campaign to conquer the rest of the universe. Galactic Civilization would end.

After a long and harrowing search, the Federation Police tracked the Pirates to Zebes. They launched an invasion, but Pirate resistance was too strong. After much debate, the Federation decided to turn to Samus to infiltrate the base at Zebes. She was given two objectives:


 * "Destroy all Metroid organisms," and
 * "Defeat the Mechanical Life-Form Mother Brain."

Samus' "Zero Mission"
Samus arrived on Zebes and soon discovered that in order to access the central Space Pirate base in Tourian, she had to kill the two Pirate leaders situated on the planet: her old foe, Ridley, and his partner Kraid. After discovering various Chozo artifacts located in multiple locations on the planet that served as upgrades for her suit, Samus was finally able to access the lower depths of Brinstar, where she discovered Kraid waiting for her. A fierce battle ensued, with Samus ultimately coming out the winner. Samus then headed into the deep volcanic regions of Zebes, where she had several surprising encounters with Imagos, gigantic insects that grew from enormous grub-like larvae. When Samus arrived at Ridley’s lair, she soon encountered the Pirate leader, who had just arrived moments earlier after being sent to inspect the planet. Samus fought him with a murderous lust, finally being able to avenge her parents’ death. Unbeknownst to Samus, though Ridley was nearly burned alive after their battle, he did not die from his wounds.

After defeating Kraid and Ridley, Samus was granted access to Tourian, where she discovered that the Space Pirates had underestimated the Metroids’ intelligence. A massive breakout had occurred, and all Pirate personnel present at the time of the breakout were dead. Mother Brain herself, however, was protected by her Chozo-built facility and so was completely unharmed. As a result, Metroid cloning had proceeded as though nothing happened, so the Metroid population had risen to an astonishing level. Samus engaged the Metroids she encountered but found that they were impervious to most of her weaponry. Only by exploiting their weakness to cold with the Ice Beam could Samus hope to overcome them.

Samus soon arrived at Mother Brain’s chamber and fought her way past the defense systems. The two engaged in an arduous duel, but Mother Brain was ultimately defeated. Unfortunately for Samus, Mother Brain's death activated a hidden fail-safe that began a countdown for the self-destruction of the entire Pirate base. Samus barely managed to make it out to her gunship in time.

Ambush
Unfortunately, escape was not easy as Samus thought it would be. As soon she left the atmosphere, Space Pirate Fighters ambushed her; during the ensuing chase, Samus was shot down, and her ship crash-landed back on Zebes. Samus survived, but the explosion had destroyed her Power Suit. The only weapon left available to her was a mostly-useless stun pistol. Her only option was to sneak inside the Space Pirate Mother Ship, which had landed in a nearby valley, in hopes of hijacking a ship and escaping. The next morning, Samus climbed in through the ductwork and began her infiltration. Unfortunately, her plans were quickly botched when she was spotted by several Pirates, who quickly set off alarms throughout the entire ship. Though she managed to outwit them many times, Samus was ultimately forced to retreat to the nearby ruins of Chozodia.

In the ruins, Samus discovered a sacred Ruins Test which she had visited once as a young child. Upon her discovery, the Test activated; Samus had to face a mirror image of herself along with powerful bolts of lightning hurled by the hieroglyphic. Ultimately, Samus succeeded in passing the test, and the statue rewarded her with the Legendary Power Suit, and unlocked the three Unknown Items: the Plasma Beam, the Gravity Suit, and the Space Jump. Now more powerful than before, Samus stormed the Pirate Mothership, leaving many dead Pirates in her wake.

Eventually, Samus made it to the bridge of the Mothership where she discovered the Ridley Robot, a gigantic robot built in Ridley’s likeness. The robot engaged her in a fierce battle, but Samus was easily able to destroy it. As it shut down, it activated the self-destruct for the Pirate Mothership. Samus raced through the corridors of the Mothership, battling numerous Pirates along the way, until she managed to hijack a Space Pirate fighter. Samus quickly flew out of the ship and left Zebes as the Pirate Mothership exploded behind her. Samus had fulfilled her Zero Mission.

Mission at Tallon IV
Three years later, Samus’s next mission led her to another planet in the Zebesian system: Tallon IV. She intercepted a distress signal sent from the Space Pirate frigate Orpheon and immediately flew in to investigate. Once inside, she found dead and dying pirates everywhere while vermin ran amok in the ship. It did not take Samus long to discover the source: a Parasite Queen the Pirates had been performing experiments on had broken out and stationed itself in the Frigate’s Nuclear reactor core. Samus killed the creature, but the dying beast slipped into the reactor, causing a malfunction that threatened to destroy the entire vessel. Samus ran for her life through the ventilation tunnels, but to her great surprise, she found herself reunited with Ridley, who had been given many cybernetic implants and been transformed into Meta Ridley. Samus chased him through the ship, but along the way, an explosion rammed her into a wall, causing her Power Suit to malfunction. Of all its previous functions and upgrades, only the Arm Cannon remained functional. Samus quickly left the dying frigate and chased Meta Ridley in her gunship, but he proved faster than expected and soon disappeared from her radar. Samus was forced to track him on foot, and so, even in her weakened state, she chose to land on the planet below: Tallon IV.

The Metroid Prime
After passing through the jungles in the Tallon Overworld, Samus discovered an elevator which led to some deserted Chozo Ruins. There, she discovered that 50 years earlier, a colony of Chozo had come to the planet to regain their spirituality. Unfortunately, a mysterious meteor struck the planet, bringing with it a Great Poison and The Worm. The Great Poison quickly began spreading through the area, killing most life in its path and corrupting any beings which it did not kill. Many of the Chozo were driven insane and became menacing spirits; much of the others soon fled to an unknown location. The remainder of the sane Chozo, now reduced to mere ghosts, managed to seal off the Impact Crater within a seal called The Cipher, locking up The Worm and most of the Great Poison with it. The Space Pirates fleeing the destruction of the base at Zebes had then landed on the planet; they began mining the Great Poison (which they named Phazon) after discovering it could be used to enhance the fighting potential of various creatures, including themselves.

Samus journeyed through Tallon IV, regaining her lost weaponry and collecting sacred Chozo Artifacts, for the Chozo had prophesied that she was the one destined to destroy the Worm and the Phazon there. She also swept through the Phazon Mines the Pirates had set up, destroying the Phazon-infused experiments she found there. Samus eventually confronted the most powerful of these mutated Space Pirates: the Omega Pirate. After a challenging battle, Samus managed to defeat the beast, but in its death throes, it fell on Samus and melted into pure Phazon. The viral radiation dramatically mutated her Power Suit, turning it into the Phazon Suit; fortunately, this mutation proved beneficial as it allowed her to safely come in contact with and harness the power of Phazon.

Endgame
Having collected all the Chozo artifacts and suit upgrades, Samus returned to the Artifact Temple and activated the Cipher in preparation for entering the Impact Crater. Just before the statue's seal deactivated, however, Meta Ridley flew in and destroyed the statue. He then attempted to kill Samus, but Samus managed to burn off his wings then overload his life-support. Just as Meta Ridley was brought to death’s door again, the Chozo statues there fired powerful lasers at his chest, blasting him off of the mountain. The Chozo Ghosts within the statues then undid the seal themselves, allowing Samus inside the Impact Crater. Inside, Samus discovered the sleeping Metroid Prime, the source of all the Phazon. Samus managed to destroy its armor, forcing the creature to reveal its true form. Unable to damage it further with conventional weaponry, Samus was then forced to overload it by harnessing pure Phazon via her Phazon Suit. The Metroid Prime began to die, but in a last-ditch attempt to save itself, it shot out a tentacle and absorbed Samus’s Phazon Suit before exploding. Samus ran for her life as the entire Impact Crater burst into flames. Though Tallon IV had been cleansed of Phazon, The Worm was not yet dead and would soon be reborn as Dark Samus.

The Ultimate Power
Some time afterwards, a mysterious telepathic message was sent out from the Tetra Galaxy saying, "The secret to ultimate power resides in the Alimbic Cluster." Samus was sent by the Federation in order to determine the truth about this message. Unfortunately, the message had also been sent to other recipients and soon many others hunters began heading to the Alimbic Cluster, each with their own reasons for seeking the ultimate power. To gain the ultimate power, one had to find the 8 Octoliths which would power the Alimbic Cannon, allowing access to the Oubliette. The Octoliths were all under guard by robotic beings: the Cretaphids and the Slenches.

Between skirmishes with these beings and the other hunters, Samus discovered that the Alimbics, the former inhabitants of the Alimbic Cluster, had been experiencing a time of peace and prosperity until a monstrous being named Gorea had arrived in the form of a comet and began wreaking havoc upon their civilization. The Alimbics were forced to sacrifice themselves to seal away Gorea within the Seal Sphere, which was kept in the Oubliette. They also left a cryptic prophecy on how one might defeat Gorea.

After collecting all 8 of the Octoliths, and using them to activate the Alimbic Cannon, Samus and the other hunters raced to the now accessible Oubliette. The other hunters got there first, and inside they discovered an immobile structure. They began firing at it, mistakenly believing it to hold the ultimate power. To their great surprise, Gorea instead emerged from the broken structure. Samus arrived just in time to see Gorea shoot out massive tentacles and drain the other hunters of their powers. The defeated hunters vanished, and Samus alone remained to fight Gorea. She first activated the panels around the arena in accordance with the Alimbic prophecy, then began battling Gorea by exploiting its link to the Gorea Seal Sphere. Gorea then revealed its final form and continued its assault. Fortunately, Samus gained access to the Omega Cannon, which allowed her to defeat Gorea's second form. Gorea and the Oubliette exploded, while Samus escaped with her life. Once she was back in the safety of space, Samus received a vision where three Alimbic spirits appeared to thank her.

Dark Echoes
Samus was soon given yet another assignment from the Galactic Federation; this time, she was asked to track down a missing brigade of Federation Marines, GFMC Task Force Herakles. Samus headed to the planet Aether located in the Dasha region of space, where the troopers’ distress signal was coming from. Samus attempted to land on Aether, but her gunship was caught in the dimensional storms raging on the planet and was badly damaged. Very luckily, her ship landed not very far away from the troopers’ makeshift base. Immediately upon entering it, she could see that all the troopers had died in some sort of attack. Before she could discover the source, many of the dead troopers rose and began firing at her.

Samus fled the base, with the undead troopers in pursuit, but once she was safely outside, she discovered something very strange. A mysterious black and blue being wearing a suit similar to hers was entering a mysterious portal to an unknown location. Samus followed the being into the portal only to find herself in a nightmarish replica of the room she had been in before. The being was absorbing a massive node of Phazon before it. It began firing at her, but ultimately left her to the claws of the savage creatures surrounding them both. Faced with overwhelming odds and exposure to the poisonous atmosphere of the region, Samus was quickly overcome by the dark creatures.

Samus managed to make it back to the portal minus many of her suit upgrades, all of which had been stolen by the creatures that attacked her. She made her way through the catacombs of Aether until she discovered the source of the distress signal: the Federation troopers' damaged ship, the GFS Tyr. Accessing the ship’s log, she discovered that the Task Force had been stranded on Aether when their ship was damaged in pursuit of a downed Space Pirate frigate. Eventually, they were all killed after repeated assaults by Dark Splinters, though one of the troopers managed to send the distress signal before his death.

Samus’s ship was still repairing itself, so she went on a search to identify the cause of the attack and to recover her stolen weaponry. She began finding signs of an intelligent civilization living on Aether and chose to investigate. Her search eventually led to the Great Temple where she found dozens of beings suspended in cryogenic hibernation. Before she could investigate further, she was immediately attacked by an Alpha Splinter, which was almost immediately transformed into Dark Alpha Splinter. Samus managed to kill it, but a strange glowing object emerged from the dead insect and entered her suit.

Samus continued exploring the building until she encountered a being known as U-Mos, the Sentinel of the Luminoth. U-Mos informed her that his species, the Luminoth, had migrated to the planet after being drawn by its unique energy. They had lived in peace until a meteor much like the one that impacted Tallon IV impacted the planet, straining the planet’s fragile dimensionality and thus creating two different dimensions of the same planet: the original Aether and a twisted, corrupted version called Dark Aether. A malevolent race called the Ing had come with the Leviathan; it was the Ing who were responsible for the deaths and possession of the troopers. The Luminoth had been involved in a long war with the Ing for the Light of Aether and were at the verge of defeat when Samus had arrived. U-Mos also revealed that, after her battle with the Dark Alpha Splinter, Samus had recovered the Energy Transfer Module that had been stolen by the Ing years earlier. Now that she had it, she could transfer the planet's energy from Dark Aether to Light Aether; without it the shadowy dimension would collapse forever. Samus agreed to seek out the Energy Controllers to restore the Light of Aether to the Luminoth.

Samus’ mission took her all through Aether and Dark Aether, where she faced many Ing attempting to kill her for assisting the Luminoth, as well as several skirmishes with Dark Samus, the creature she had seen absorbing Phazon in Dark Aether. She also reclaimed her stolen weaponry from the various Ing Guardians who had made use of it, and she received Luminoth upgrades such as the Dark Suit. Once she had restored the three energy controllers to transfer the Light of Aether, U-Mos thanked her with the Light Suit, a suit that contained the Light of Aether within itself. Then, he told her of her most dangerous task: to reach the final Energy Controller, hidden within the Sky Temple. To enter the Sky Temple, though, she had to find the nine Sky Temple keys scattered about Dark Aether.

Within the Sky Temple, Samus faced the Emperor Ing, a mighty behemoth that ruled the entire Ing race. Although she was almost defeated, Samus prevailed, killed the Emperor, and obtained the last of the planetary energy. Without the energy, Dark Aether started to fall apart, leaving her with only eight minutes to escape. Samus raced down to the Sky Temple gateway, but before she could flee the crumbling dimension, Dark Samus confronted her once more. The two dueled it out to the death, but Samus took advantage of her foe's sole weakness—an overload of Phazon—and defeated her doppelganger once again. In her weakened state, Dark Samus attempted to steal Samus’ Light Suit, but instead dissipated into thin air. Samus then entered the portal, leaving Dark Aether to collapse behind her. The Luminoth, who had just returned from their cryogenic sleep, rejoiced and thanked Samus for freeing them from the Ing. Samus then gave them back the equipment she had borrowed from them, returned to her gunship, and she flew off into the vast darkness of space.

The Great Invasion
Six months later, Samus was summoned to the battleship G.F.S. Olympus in orbit with the rest of the Federation fleet above the planet Norion in the Kalandor region, where she would receive her instructions for her next assignment. On the way over, however, her cryostasis entered an anomaly (implied to have been caused by Dark Samus). She, along with fellow bounty hunters Rundas, Gandrayda, and Ghor, was ordered to deliver a vaccine to the Federation’s Aurora Units, which were suffering from a Space Pirate-engineered virus. Just as the mission briefing ended, the Pirates launched a surprise attack; all the bounty hunters, including Samus, headed down to their ships to assist with the battle at Norion’s main base, fighting any Pirates they encountered in the corridors. Upon landing there, Samus was informed the Space Pirates had disabled the generators to Norion’s planetary cannon; thus, she and the other hunters were given the responsibility of restoring them while the Federation Marines held off the invading Pirate forces.

Samus and the other hunters raced through the base, turning on each generator they found to restore power to the cannon. The situation soon became dire when the Federation discovered exactly why the Pirates where attacking: a massive Leviathan was headed to Norion. The invasion was intended to stall the Federation fleet until the Leviathan could arrive and crash into the planet, spreading Phazon everywhere. Samus headed to the final generator only to find her old nemesis Meta Ridley waiting for her. In the ensuing melee, Meta Ridley accidentally broke through the floor and the two of them hurtled down the 1600 meter shaft, dueling all the way. Just as Samus finished off Meta Ridley, Rundas came down to rescue her and the two flew out of the tunnel together. Samus restored the final generator and she and the other hunters went straight to the control tower to activate the cannon. As soon they made it to the top, Dark Samus, who was resurrected through high Phazon exposure and was responsible for the invasion, blasted them all with a massive Phazon laser to ensure that the Leviathan would not be destroyed. Luckily, Samus, though barely conscious, managed to fire the cannon just before she fainted, destroying the incoming Seed.

One month later, Samus awoke to find that she and her fellow hunters’ bodies were self-producing Phazon with no negative side-effects to their health. The Federation medics working on her had therefore equipped her with a Phazon Enhancement Device. Through this suit, she could take advantage of her own Phazon to enter Hypermode, a function that would allow her to energize her suit and weapon systems with Phazon, giving her access to devastating powers. Samus was then informed by the Aurora Unit 242 that her fellow hunters had awoken two weeks before she had. They had also been given PEDs and were dispatched to the planets Bryyo, Elysia, and the Pirate Homeworld, which had also been struck by Leviathans. Unfortunately, the Federation had lost contact with all of them one week later. Samus was then ordered complete the missing hunters’ missions to destroy each Leviathan, as well as finding out exactly what caused the Federation to lose contact with them.

Samus traveled to the planets Bryyo, Elysia, and the Pirate Homeworld to find upgrades to further enhance her abilities to destroy the seeds. However, she learned that her Phazon corruption, initially thought to be benign, could cause her body to overload with Phazon energy which she must then expel to prevent total corruption. She also learned that each of her fellow hunters had fallen to their own Phazon corruption; to protect herself, she battled each hunter in turn, killing them. As each hunter fell, Dark Samus showed up to drain the Phazon energy and their abilities from their bodies, with Samus powerless to stop her. With the help of her Phazon, Samus was able to successfully destroy the seeds at both Bryyo and Elysia. She also disabled the Pirate Homeworld’s planetary shield, allowing the Federation’s fleet to launch a full scale assault on the planet. Samus herself personally led a team of Demolition Troopers to destroy the security door of the cargo line leading to the Seed. There, she encountered and defeated her old nemesis once again, now reborn as Omega Ridley. All the Leviathans had been destroyed, but Samus had been corrupted to the point that she was now literally glowing with Phazon.

The Aurora Unit 217 then uncovered the location of planet Phaaze, the source of all Phazon and Dark Samus' place of origin. Traveling with the Federation via a wormhole created by the Leviathan Battleship, Samus arrived and descended to the planet. As soon she set foot on Phaaze, Samus absorbed dangerous amounts of Phazon and was nearly corrupted completely; fortunately, she managed to prevent this by venting all her available energy tanks and locking herself in permanent Hypermode. After venturing to the planet's inner sanctum, she encountered Dark Samus, and, after a long battle, Dark Samus fused with the stolen Aurora Unit 313 that was linked with Phaaze's core. Her efforts ultimately proved futile as Samus was able to overpower and destroy both her doppelganger and the Aurora Unit. Since the Aurora Unit was linked to the planet's core, its destruction caused a chain reaction that resulted in the destruction of Phaaze and the erasure of all traces of Phazon from the universe, including the Phazon inside Samus' body. The Federation fleet escaped via another wormhole, but lost contact with Samus in the process. Just as the Federation had given up all hope of Samus' survival, she flew in and reported that the mission had been completed, closing the curtain on the Phazon saga.

After leaving the celebrating Federation fleet, Samus returned to Elysia, where she mourned the loss of her fellow bounty hunters on this mission. Eventually, she left Elysia and headed off to find her next mission, but failed to notice a mysterious gunship following her.

Bermuda System and the Federation Force
After Corruption, Samus began an investigation into the Bermuda System, a three-planet solar system with abandoned Galactic Federation facilities. The Federation Force, a team of highly trained soldiers wearing Mech suits modelled after Samus's Power Suit, was already there. Samus worked alongside them to battle Space Pirates, saving the group from a Rokhor Beetle at one point. At a later point, she was taken hostage by the Pirates and somehow put under mind control. When the Force boarded the Doomseye, a large Space Pirate battle station, the Pirates used Bionian technology to increase Samus' size and forced her to fight the Federation soldiers. The Federation Force bested her and she was seemingly crushed by falling debris. The blow freed her from mind control, however, and after recovering, she saved the Force twice, first by destroying a group of Elite Pirates, and then by catching the soldiers with her ship when they were sucked into space. Samus told the Force that meeting them had been an honor, and then thanked them for saving her and the universe.

Metroid Extermination Order
What happened after this period of time is unknown. However, it is known that the Galactic Federation soon deemed the Metroids too dangerous to exist. After several failed attempts by their own troops, the Federation ordered Samus to exterminate them herself, given her long experience in dealing with the creatures.

Samus arrived on SR388 and landed her ship at the base of an active volcano, where the Metroids' lair had been traced to. Once there, she found that Metroids mutate into different forms, each stronger than the last. Every time she managed to successfully kill all the Metroids in an area, the lava level inside the volcano would drop, allowing her access to deeper levels where stronger Metroids were hiding. Her search finally led her to the Queen Metroid, which was responsible for the reproduction of the entire Metroid species. Samus managed to kill the beast and thus believed herself to have successfully eliminated the Metroids for good. As she continued down the tunnels, however, she found a single Metroid egg. As she stared at it, an infant Metroid hatched out of the egg and, upon seeing Samus, imprinted on her as its mother. Samus felt compassion for the infant and, going against her orders, took the Metroid Hatchling to her gunship and made preparations to leave the planet.

Before she could actually leave the planet with the infant, however, an unexpected threat arrived and grabbed the Metroid: her old foe, Ridley. Samus fought him over the baby, eventually grabbing his tail as he was flying away and proceeded to blast him directly in the exposed abdomen at point blank range until he was forced to let go of the baby Metroid before promptly blasting him in the wing and sending him flying into a cliff. However, Ridley rose from the rubble and resumed his attack on Samus, eventually blocking her attacks and throwing her against a wall before pinning her down to blast fire at her. She was saved by the baby, who proceeded to absorb enough energy from Ridley to rejuvenate her, allowing her to triumph over the Space Pirate leader. Afterwards, she then left the planet with the baby.

Personality
Samus is a melancholic, heroic loner of few words. Despite her great achievements, she remains quite lonely and brooding, and seeks revenge against the Space Pirates, especially Ridley, who is personally responsible for the deaths of her parents.

Samus is never shown to be traumatized by the Metroids she faces on her various missions, but was petrified when she first battled Ridley, suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder. However, she apparently learned to cope with this trauma after her first mission, as she has since faced and defeated Ridley without becoming paralyzed by fear. Instead, she appeared to express rage after discovering that he had survived their first battle, and has rarely hesitated to engage her nemesis in their subsequent showdowns.

Appearance
Samus Aran is a human, with a height of 6'3" and a weight of 198 lbs, without her armor. Despite this relatively high weight, her body is quite lean, although this may be accountable to her muscle/bone density given her superhuman abilities. Her hair is blonde, her eyes are blue with a blue tinge, and she appears to be Caucasian. Samus wears her hair in a high ponytail with a large red hairband, except for two locks on either side of her head. She also has sideswept bangs, with one lock hanging over her face.

Powers and abilities
Samus Aran's infusion with Chozo DNA, as well as her warrior training since her childhood, has turned her into a superior athlete. Her training began at the age of 3 and continued up until she was 14 years old. As a result of the Chozo's influence, Samus is capable of running and jumping heights far past normal human ability, as well as surviving falls that would otherwise kill an ordinary human. Samus is also more adaptive to foreign alien environments that normal humans cannot survive in, such as the majority of Zebes and Elysia.

Samus also demonstrates good sharpshooting skills. She is an excellent marksman, with incredible aim, and is tremendously deadly in combat. She exhibits prodigious puzzle-solving and hacking skills. She also possesses a lithe figure that allows her to crawl through tunnels and gaps that would normally require usage of the Morph Ball. All of these are, of course, augmented further by her Power Suit. If need be, Samus will engage in melee combat, often using kicks and wrestling tactics to weaken her foe for a point-blank shot.

The extent of Samus' training after she joined the Federation Police is currently unknown.

Power Suit
Main article: Power Suit

Samus' most notable piece of equipment is her Power Suit, which has become virtually synonymous with her identity. This suit was given to her during her time with the Chozo, and was built to be fused with her mind, body, and spirit. The original Power Suit was destroyed when Samus crash-landed on Zebes after an ambush by Space Pirates, but her duel with the Ruins Test gave her a new, upgraded suit, which is able to absorb dozes of upgrades of alien origin. The Power Suit's main purpose is to protect her from adverse environments and enemy fire, and can upgraded to dozens of other forms, each with its own different advantages. While some suits are stronger than others and have different abilities, they all maintain the same basic shape and usage.

Zero Suit
Main article: Zero Suit

Beneath the Power Suit, Samus wears a skin-tight body suit known as the Zero Suit. Because of its negligible weight, this suit allows Samus to perform at top physical performance level, and gives some weak protection from enemy fire. She also owns an emergency pistol known as the Paralyzer, which auto-charges to fire stunning shots, though it has no lethal capacity.

Gunship
Main article: Samus' Gunship

For transportation, Samus uses her Gunship, which usually resembles her helmet. Samus has been seen in four gunships of unique design. Her first ship design was used and destroyed on her initial Zero Mission, while the second was used in her mission to Tallon IV and the mission to the Tetra Galaxy. She has had other two ships custom-made for her in Aliehs III's shipyard: Her modular ship used in the invasion from Phaaze, which combined Chozo and Federation technology, and the ship for which she is best known. This gunship model was first seen in the mission to Aether, and is currently used by Samus today.