Samus Aran | Metroid

Overview: The daughter of Rodney Aran and Virginia Aran, she lost her parents during a Space Pirate raid on her home of K-2L. Later, 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 and served under the Commanding Officer Adam Malkovich. Though she ultimately left to become a Bounty Hunter, she was nonetheless hired by the Galactic Federation on many occasions. Equipped with her cybernetic Power Suit, Samus has become famous for accomplishing missions previously 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 repeated 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. Having received an infusion of Metroid DNA to save her from an X infection, Samus is now the last "Metroid" in the galaxy.

Appearance: Samus Aran is slender and light-skinned with a muscular physique under her Power Armor, though her superhuman abilities may be accountable to her muscle/bone density given her hybrid genetics and augmentations. Her hair color is blonde, her eye color is blue with a green tinge, and she appears to be Caucasian. Samus typically wears her blond hair in a modified ponytail with a red hairband, with a lock on either side. The exact hairstyle, however, can vary. She is described as being very tall at 6'3 feet tall (or 1.9m). She also weighs 198 pounds. Samus is said to be in her late twenties, although whether or not this is true is unknown. She is described as one of the Federation's youngest workers, though, before she left.

In Metroid Dread, the Power Suit is upgraded. It is blue and white in color, and has shoulders similar to the PED Suit, with organic-like strands covering the outer and inner layers. The helmet and visor are elongated and sharp, akin to that of the redesigned Varia Suit in Metroid: Samus Returns. The talon-like extensions of the previous helmet are absent, but retain the visor's three points.

Personality: Samus is a heroine of few words, and a fearsome warrior. She remains quiet, humble, and solemn despite her great accomplishments, and has devoted her life to maintaining peace in the galaxy. Her main enemies are the Space Pirates - especially Ridley, who was personally responsible for the death of her mother. Despite her tragic origins, Samus has been shown to have unparalleled willpower and resourcefulness, succeeding where thousands failed and stopping at nothing to save the galaxy from any threat that may arise. Such is Samus' determination that she was even willing to sacrifice herself to prevent the spread of the body-snatching X Parasites.

Although Samus works for the betterment of the galaxy and frequently collaborates with the Galactic Federation, she is a lone wolf at heart, only accepting their orders due to their common goals and bounties. She has little respect for authority and dislikes being told what to do, only allowing such supervision from those she trusts such as Adam Malkovich, and rejecting others such as Raven Beak or even the Galactic Federation when their goals no longer intersected with hers. In her youth, Samus had an especially strong rebellious streak due to her turbulent emotional state; this earned her the attention of her colleagues, resulting in Adam Malkovich developing the phrase "Any objections, Lady?" to acknowledge her at the end of briefings.

Despite her reputation for combat, Samus is also known for her compassion, and has consistently stood up to secure the helpless and downtrodden. Three notable instances of this were when she volunteered to single-handedly save the Luminoth race from the brink of extinction, when she helped innocent Etecoons and a Dachora escape a self-destructing Zebes, and when she swore to Quiet Robe to put an end to Raven Beak's evil ambitions. In Metroid II, Samus bonded with a baby Metroid born in front of her eyes, and chose to spare it, possibly recalling her three-year-old self during the massacre on K-2L. She entrusted it to the Ceres Space Colony, expressing faith that the specimen might be used for good. When Samus witnessed the Metroid sacrifice itself to save her from Mother Brain, she was heartbroken for some time.

Witnessing her parents' deaths at the hands of Space Pirates left Samus with post-traumatic stress disorder, which manifested as a severe panic attack upon her first encounter with Ridley in adolescence. She appears to have since learned to handle this trauma, and has rarely hesitated to do battle with her nemesis since. Upon learning that Ridley had survived their first battle on Zebes, Samus expressed only silent anger and wasted no time rushing to her Gunship to chase him to the planet Tallon IV.

During the events of Metroid: Other M, Samus was in an especially vulnerable state following the death of the Metroid hatchling, the destruction of her childhood home Zebes, and an unexpected reunion with her former CO, Adam Malkovich. Due to this, the game is rife with inner monologues by Samus to share her angst with the player. Desperate to prove she had overcome her old habits of being rebellious and insecure, Samus willingly placed herself back under Adam's command on the BOTTLE SHIP in an attempt to regain his trust. When facing the cloned Ridley, Samus realized she was not over her insecurities after all, causing her to enter a state of shock (likely a relapsed PTSD attack). Afterwards, she briefly relapsed into rebelling against Adam, even believing MB's lie that he endorsed the BOTTLE SHIP's Metroid program, but upon gaining full confirmation of Adam's trust outside Sector Zero, she completely regained her composure. Metroid: Other M's unique depiction of Samus garnered significant criticism for being perceived as inconsistent with her more independent personality in other Metroid games, as well as the questionable implications of her submissive behavior towards Adam throughout the game.

Abilities: Samus Aran's infusion with Chozo DNA (later revealed to be a combination of both Thoha and Mawkin DNA), as well as her warrior training since her childhood, has transformed her into a superhuman athlete. She also possesses a lithe figure that allows her to crawl through tunnels and gaps that would normally require the usage of the Morph Ball. As a result of the Chozo's influence, Samus is capable of running at speeds and jumping at 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.

Training at the Galactic Federation enabled her to have excellent marksmanship skills and combat ready skills. She is not only good at hand to hand combat, she excels with equipment and weapons. Most notably is her arm cannon that she frequently uses when in her many variants of Power Suits, as well as rocks.

Biography: Childhood: Samus Aran is originally a native inhabitant of the Earth colony K-2L, where she lives with her parents, Chief Rodney Aran and Virginia Aran. When Samus is three years old, the colony is visited by the Chozo, who hope to obtain some of the Afloraltite that the colony mines there. During this visit, Samus catches the attention of Old Bird, one of the Chozo elders. The two of them go for a walk, where they begin to strike up a friendship. Samus begins to call him “Grandpa Bird” and Old Bird introduces her to Pyonchi, a Rabbit-Squirrel whom she adopts as a pet.

However, a Space Pirate raid led by Ridley soon commences on the colony. Finding herself face-to-face with Ridley himself, the naïve Samus asks him if they can become friends. In response, Ridley attempts to kill Samus, but her mother pushes her daughter out of the way at the cost of her own life. Meanwhile, Samus's father sacrifices himself to destroy Ridley’s cargo ship. Little does Ridley know that, in killing Samus’s mother and attempting to kill Samus, he succeeds in creating his greatest enemy.

Now orphaned, Samus is the sole survivor of the attack on K-2L. Eventually, the same group of Chozo find her alone and stranded on the destroyed colony and Old Bird decides to take custody of Samus. The Chozo bring her to their planet, Zebes and raise her. In order to survive the planet's harsh conditions, Samus is infused with Chozo DNA, and later gifted an advanced Chozo Power Suit.

Samus trains under the Chozo for many years, and has surpassed the physical limits of ordinary humans by the age of 14. The Chozo are initially unsure if she is able to become a true warrior until they witness her compassion for a flock of Iono Feria that have become insane as a result of exposure to the Badger Clover. After Old Bird tells Samus that she has his confidence, she leaves the planet for the Federation.