Unanswered questions in the Metroid series

[TheBlackCat]

Some recent discussions here have made me think about some of the questions and plot holes that have yet to be settled in the Metroid series. The point of this thread is to try to make a catalog of these. Let's hold off on speculating about answers for now and focus on getting the questions settled first.

The ones I have been able to come up with so far:

1. Why did the Chozo not tell Samus about the x-parasite? This has always bothered me. She knew about the Metroids, so the Chozo obviously told here they created them, but she was obviously never told why they were created and apparently never asked. Why is this?

2. Who was the one who assigned Adam to watch over Samus in Fusion? Adam's stance on bioweapons and his relationship with Samus were obviously well-known to those in the GF military, so if they people behind the program knew that Adam was the A.I. then they had to know there was a high probability of him disobeying orders. And it is too big of a coincidence to just be chance. Someone had to have assigned him without those behind the bioweapons project finding out about it, and must have anticipated that he would likely disobey orders. Does this mean there is another faction secretly sabotaging the bioweapons program?

3. What were the space pirates before Ridley took control, and how did he do so? We know they are feral without a strong leader, but did they have such a leader before Ridley took over? Were they already violent or were they peaceful? Where did Ridley come from and how did he manage to take control of them?

4. Where is the wrecked ship from, and who was flying it? Who or what was Phantoon originally? Was it on the ship when it crashed, or did it come there later? Did it die in the crash, before it, or after it?

5. How was the Kihunter king on the Bottle Ship? Was it a clone or the original? If it is a clone, does that mean there is another out there? If so, how come the Kihunters no longer pose a threat as pirates at the beginning of Other M? If is the original, how did the bioweapons program get a hold of it?

6. Why does Samus have such an unusual name? Every other human in the series has a fairly typical name except for her, including both her parents.

7. Considering how quickly the x-parasite spread through the BSL, how come it didn't spread like that on SR388? There would have been no life left on the planet by the time the Chozo had chatted with Samus's dad, not to mention finished breeding and deploying the Metroids.

8. Considering the cold resistance can be removed from Metroids, was this limitation an accident on the part of the Chozo, cutting corners to save time, or an intentional failsafe in case the Metroids went out of control?

9. In Other M, was Ridley targeting Samus because of some sort of memories from their past encounters (either genetically encoded or psychic in some way), or was he merely targeting who he perceived to be the greatest threat?

10. How did Samus get accepted into the military in the first place? Was she recruited by Adam, did she volunteer to join his unit, or was her ending up with him after their earlier meetings a coincidence? You would think there would be laws to prevent someone that age from enlisting, did Adam or the Chozo pull some strings? Was she officially enlisted or some sort of outside "consultant"? Some of those questions apply to her position in the police as well.

I am sure other people have others, so please list all you can think of. This should be more plot-oriented rather than technology-oriented, though (we already have enough threads on suit technology).

[Mr.Vanni]

To take a stab @ 2 I'd say because A.I is programmable. So if programmed properly the margin of Adam "turning sides" would be non existent @ best and very minimal @ worst. Official Canon answers to your questions would be nice though but no such luck

[ddddd]

6: People sometimes give weird names to their kids. And Samus is not that strange, its the femenine of Seamus. Who knows, maybe sometime Samus as a name may get used by some people.

[Chris]

1. Why did the Chozo not tell Samus about the x-parasite? This has always bothered me. She knew about the Metroids, so the Chozo obviously told here they created them, but she was obviously never told why they were created and apparently never asked. Why is this?

The x-parasite was invented later on by the devs, it's purely an oversight.

2. Who was the one who assigned Adam to watch over Samus in Fusion? Adam's stance on bioweapons and his relationship with Samus were obviously well-known to those in the GF military, so if they people behind the program knew that Adam was the A.I. then they had to know there was a high probability of him disobeying orders. And it is too big of a coincidence to just be chance. Someone had to have assigned him without those behind the bioweapons project finding out about it, and must have anticipated that he would likely disobey orders. Does this mean there is another faction secretly sabotaging the bioweapons program?

Adam AI isn't Adam, I assume till fusion all other AI's haven't malfunctioned like this.

4. Where is the wrecked ship from, and who was flying it? Who or what was Phantoon originally? Was it on the ship when it crashed, or did it come there later? Did it die in the crash, before it, or after it?

Wasn't it confirmed it was the Chozo's?

6. Why does Samus have such an unusual name? Every other human in the series has a fairly typical name except for her, including both her parents.

Wendy was a made up name initially in Peter Pan.

7. Considering how quickly the x-parasite spread through the BSL, how come it didn't spread like that on SR388? There would have been no life left on the planet by the time the Chozo had chatted with Samus's dad, not to mention finished breeding and deploying the Metroids.

It probably came from somewhere else and the Chozo were able to contain it somewhat before inventing the Metroid to try eradicate it.

8. Considering the cold resistance can be removed from Metroids, was this limitation an accident on the part of the Chozo, cutting corners to save time, or an intentional failsafe in case the Metroids went out of control?

Probably yeah, or just an oversight by the writers.

9. In Other M, was Ridley targeting Samus because of some sort of memories from their past encounters (either genetically encoded or psychic in some way), or was he merely targeting who he perceived to be the greatest threat?

It would have attacked anyone. Only Samus had the memories. Perhaps MB was in on it though somehow, dunno if she could have influenced him?

[Hunter_Class]

Great Idea, I have some questions, but i believe I have some answers, or partial answers for some of your questions

1. Why did the Chozo not tell Samus about the x-parasite? This has always bothered me. She knew about the Metroids, so the Chozo obviously told here they created them, but she was obviously never told why they were created and apparently never asked. Why is this?

If you believe the Metroid Zero Mission Manga, the first time Samus hears about Metroids was on a Holoscreen message left by Old Bird. He explains that the space pirates attacked Zebes, and they had to flee because they had "one remaining concern" which was Metroid. He explained that they created the Metroids to fight "enemies other than the Space Pirates". However the project had failed and the only hope left of the universe was Samus.

The Holo message was left for the federation, so they did not mention as they did not want the federation to try to use the for personal gain.

The next time Samus hears about Metroids, she is getting a breifing before her Zero Mission about space pirates acquiring the "unknown lifeform" from SR 388, Samus identifies it as the Metroids of Chozo Origin.

Why the Chozo never mentioned it in the face to face meeting (such as the bar scene) is unknown.

4. Where is the wrecked ship from, and who was flying it? Who or what was Phantoon originally? Was it on the ship when it crashed, or did it come there later? Did it die in the crash, before it, or after it?

The wrecked ship was long since abandoned before Samus's Zero Mission (a similar area is seen in Zero Mission before Ridleys ship lands, see here) this area connects the early and late part of the games, and is swarming with wildlife, showing its long since abandoned.
A German guide for Super Metroid states the following in its description of the Wrecked Ship: "Many years ago, astronauts founded an ancient civilization on Zebes, but only their starship remains."
According to the Art work for M:OM, "Phantoon: A Ghost like Monster that was hidden on the spaceship the Ancient Chozo used to get to Zebes"
So Wrecked Ship is Chozo Origin, used to get to Zebes. Phantoon was always on there, just "hidden".

8. Considering the cold resistance can be removed from Metroids, was this limitation an accident on the part of the Chozo, cutting corners to save time, or an intentional failsafe in case the Metroids went out of control?

Maybe a loop hole put in by the Chozo, when Mother Brain created the overly aggressive Metroids. We know the Grey Voice worked with Mother Brain to create the Metroids.

10. How did Samus get accepted into the military in the first place? Was she recruited by Adam, did she volunteer to join his unit, or was her ending up with him after their earlier meetings a coincidence? You would think there would be laws to prevent someone that age from enlisting, did Adam or the Chozo pull some strings? Was she officially enlisted or some sort of outside "consultant"? Some of those questions apply to her position in the police as well.

We know the Chozo were a big part in helping the federation, its not to much to ask for their personally trained warrior to be allowed to try out for the police, she excelled her training here, was put on watch placement at Jigrad (Manga). Attracted the attention of the whole federation and Adam via the slaughter and capture of some Space Pirates (all seen in the Manga).
Now personally I believe after her infiltration of Zebes (Manga, not ZM), she asked Adam to pull some strings to get her in his squad for some combat experience.

I hope that helped slightly, now for some more questions
Chozo Questions:
11) What is the history of the Chozo colony of SR-388. Did it only exist before the X threat was discovered. If so, when the X were discovered did they give themselves a heroic sacrifice OR run away to ensure they don't get infected. Did it exist after the X threat and was set up from survivers of Zebes making sure their Metroid solution worked. If so what happened to them.

12) What is this at a Bar scene, it looks Chozo, but also looks small. related question:

13) What happened to the Chozo, not as a whole population but the individuals. Where is Old Bird, Platinum Chest or the other rescued Chozo, are they scattered around or have they congregated.

Phantoon Questions:
14) True origins of Phantoon, was it an ancient enemy or experiment of the Chozo, how did it get on board the ship.

15) When did Mother Brain first become aware of Phantoon

16) How did Phantoon survive the destruction of Zebes, did MB help?

Federation Question:
17) What is the human extent in the federation, we have seen that a large section of the Military and some Police higher ups are human, but what about in the central government. If Humans are clustered in the military side, is there as reason.

18) What is the extent of the corruption in the Federation

19) Is there a link between the last two questions. (All corrupt individuals seen so far appear Human)

20) Is there instead a link between corruption in the Federation and the use of Aurora units

Apologies for the long post.

EDIT: I've answered my own question, Question 16:
If Phantoon stopped possessing the wrecked ship but still lived in it. When the wrecked ship, or a escape pod or whatever containing the Etecoons and Dachoras escaped the destruction of Zebes, who is to say Phantoon didn't tag along for the ride.

[TheBlackCat]

Adam AI isn't Adam,

Are you sure about that? Samus's description seems to say quite clearly that Adam's brain was uploaded directly to a computer, and that it is Adam himself:

"Until today, I had no idea that the minds of leaders and scientists were frequently uploaded to computers. My incredible reunion with Adam may have saved the universe..."

7. Considering how quickly the x-parasite spread through the BSL, how come it didn't spread like that on SR388? There would have been no life left on the planet by the time the Chozo had chatted with Samus's dad, not to mention finished breeding and deploying the Metroids.

It probably came from somewhere else and the Chozo were able to contain it somewhat before inventing the Metroid to try eradicate it.

The description by the Chozo in the manga seem to imply that it is native.

9. In Other M, was Ridley targeting Samus because of some sort of memories from their past encounters (either genetically encoded or psychic in some way), or was he merely targeting who he perceived to be the greatest threat?

It would have attacked anyone. Only Samus had the memories. Perhaps MB was in on it though somehow, dunno if she could have influenced him?

He saw Samus through the window, then started climbing the tower towards the window. When Samus came out he saw her, stopped climbing, then jumped on her, apparently summoning monsters in the process to keep the others distracted This implies to me that it was specifically targetting Samus, and pretty much ignored the GF soldiers as soon as it saw her.

[TheBlackCat]

12) What is this at a Bar scene, it looks Chozo, but also looks small. related question:

Old bird is pretty short, not that much bigger than Samus when she was 3.

13) What happened to the Chozo, not as a whole population but the individuals. Where is Old Bird, Platinum Chest or the other rescued Chozo, are they scattered around or have they congregated.

In the manga they say their life span can no longer be extended, so most or all may have died of old age. They also seemed to have scattered even before the manga, with only a few left on Zebes, so I suspect they would have returned to wherever they were.

16) How did Phantoon survive the destruction of Zebes, did MB help?

There is no way to be sure that phantoon is a single being. The one in Other M is far larger and has a variety of different abilities, so it may not be the same as the on on Zebes.

17) What is the human extent in the federation, we have seen that a large section of the Military and some Police higher ups are human, but what about in the central government. If Humans are clustered in the military side, is there as reason.

All the officials in the central government that we have seen, including the President, are not human. There is also no guarantee that a large portion of the military is human. The military may be fairly segregated for one reason or another, and Samus, as a human, may interact mostly with the human elements in the military.

18) What is the extent of the corruption in the Federation

It doesn't seem to extend to the very top, since the GF council was on Adam's side. Adam also said that the GF military as a whole was on his side, and that only a small faction was behind the Bottle Ship incident. So I would say the implications are that it is small.

19) Is there a link between the last two questions. (All corrupt individuals seen so far appear Human)

n=2 doesn't mean much.

20) Is there instead a link between corruption in the Federation and the use of Aurora units

What would suggest that there is one?

If Phantoon stopped possessing the wrecked ship but still lived in it. When the wrecked ship, or a escape pod or whatever containing the Etecoons and Dachoras escaped the destruction of Zebes, who is to say Phantoon didn't tag along for the ride.

Then it would likely be on the BSL with them rather than the Bottle Ship.

[Chris]

Are you sure about that? Samus's description seems to say quite clearly that Adam's brain was uploaded directly to a computer, and that it is Adam himself:

I meant it's not Adam as a person, just his tactical prowess and such, they pretty much stripped it of personality and emotion, it wasn't till near end that all that emerged through dialogue with Samus.

[TheBlackCat]

Are you sure about that? Samus's description seems to say quite clearly that Adam's brain was uploaded directly to a computer, and that it is Adam himself:

I meant it's not Adam as a person, just his tactical prowess and such, they pretty much stripped it of personality and emotion, it wasn't till near end that all that emerged through dialogue with Samus.

I don't see anything to support that conclusion. There is no mention of that anywhere in the dialog, and if anything the dialog seems to imply his mind was uploaded pretty much identically to how it was before.

Besides, this doesn't really change anything. Tactically he also thought that the bioweapons were a bad idea (since they would pose more of a threat than a help). So even if he was stripped of personality and emotion he would still be against the research and thus likely disobey orders. And there was already a precedent for a an A.I. developing emotions, and since he was originally human he would be even more likely to do so.

So I think either way it is almost impossible the conspirators would have knowingly included him, there were too many risks when another mind or better yet an A.I. would have been far safer and provide the same benefits. It isn't like he was doing any great tactical analyses, and he was getting instructions from outside anyway so the A.I. didn't even need to be that smart.

[Infinity's End]

METROID PRIME QUESTIONS:
(I wrote a lot of these myself on the Wikitroid page for Metroid Prime concerning its origins. The majority of its mere existence is extremely undocumented, but many theories have been proposed.)

1.) If the Chozo created the Cipher to contain the Phazon and possibly the Leviathan Core, how did a Metroid get into the Impact Crater? (either before it landed on Tallon IV or after)
2.) Why are there Metroids on Phaaze and how long have they been there? (many think brought them there)
3.) How did Metroids get to be on Tallon IV? (either by the Space Pirates or by the Chozo)
4.) What exactly are the very Prime-like husks on Phaaze? (in the room you destroy the Leviathan Infant)

I came up with a pretty good theory on how all of it came to be, but it's written on the Wikitroid talk page that I linked above. Regardless, these questions are unanswered.

[Will Keaton]

Both the meteor that smashed into Tallon IV and the one that struck Aether had that crab-like thing that was Metroid Prime's first form. The crab-face that crashed into Aether became the Empeor Ing after the Phazon/Luminoth temple energy reaction created an alternate planet. At some point a metroid broke free of pirate containment and ate enough Pahzon to phase through solid matter. It then entered the impact crater and tried to eat crab-face. This is what created Metroid Prime. Whether the metroid was living inside crab-face parasiticaly or if the two sort of merged into one being is unclear, though in the end it doesn't make a bit of difference.

Granted this isn't confirmed in any game but it is the most straightfoward, concise solution to all our Phazon induced continuity probems.

[Infinity's End]

Both the meteor that smashed into Tallon IV and the one that struck Aether had that crab-like thing that was Metroid Prime's first form. The crab-face that crashed into Aether became the Empeor Ing after the Phazon/Luminoth temple energy reaction created an alternate planet. At some point a metroid broke free of pirate containment and ate enough Pahzon to phase through solid matter. It then entered the impact crater and tried to eat crab-face. This is what created Metroid Prime. Whether the metroid was living inside crab-face parasiticaly or if the two sort of merged into one being is unclear, though in the end it doesn't make a bit of difference.

Granted this isn't confirmed in any game but it is the most straightfoward, concise solution to all our Phazon induced continuity probems.

"Crab-face" is called a Phazon Core.
Your explanation is pretty much the exact same as mine that I had written a couple years ago over at Wikitroid.

I wasn't really concerned about finding answers for these questions, I was just posting them because they are unanswered in what has been released through official canon. Guess I should have been more specific about that.

[Lucid Flower]

The more I give it thought the more I have come to dismiss the idea of even giving Metroid an official cannon now. I love the original series, and the prime games, but neither entirely sync up at all. I honestly wish, and hope they just continue to "Run with it" and stick to the simple idea of telling stories about Samus, metroids, chozo, and all the other things we have come to love.

Best idea for a Metroid story:

1.Samus is a bounty hunter raised by Chozo.

2.Metroids, Space dragons, and laser beams!

3.??????????????????

4.PROFIT (Fun!)

[Trishbot]

Here's some of my unanswered questions, or questions I at least don't know the answer to that may have been explained and I either forgot or missed it.

1) Who/what is Sylux? What does Sylux want? And is anything going to come of Sylux's cryptic appearance in Prime 3's ending?

2) What were the Metroids created FROM? Energy can't be created or destroyed, but the Chozo apparently generated an entirely new lifeform to fight the X-parasites... but you can't just "build" life. They were genetically engineered, but I'm curious if they had to have been derived from a pre-existing species (such as, I dunno, the X Parasites?).

3) Seriously, what happened to the Chozo? Are there any Chozo left? Any survivors? Are they in hiding? Totally extinct? For a mysterious, all-important race of alien warriors, we know far less about the Chozo than we do about practically anything else in the Metroid cannon.

4) So, what were the X parasites doing during that huge absence between the creation of the Metroids that hunted them and their surprise rebirth in Fusion? Are they on other planets? Did the Space Pirates discover and harness them? Surely, we haven't seen the end of them...

5) Okay, so is Samus a bounty hunter still or not? She has been for decades, yet recently Sakamoto claimed she wasn't, that she actually doesn't "hunt bounties" like a bounty hunter does, and that she's merely a space adventurer. So will she be or won't she be going forward?

6) Does the Chozo-blood in Samus have any other side-effects beyond making her superhuman and being able to use their weapons? Any biologically abnormalities or racial instincts in her at all? She seems basically 100% human, but stronger. What part of her is, well, "Chozo"? I mean, if she had a kid, would she lay an egg, or does she preen herself? I guess that's even less easy to explain when the Chozo themselves remain a biological and historical mystery.

7) One very big question. Why are we not seeing more of in the games. I don't even care if it's flashbacks, we need more , and it's a crime that Adam has now, technically, been in more games than he has.

[TheBlackCat]

2) What were the Metroids created FROM? Energy can't be created or destroyed,

To be pedantic, technically it can (that is what e=mc^2 is about). But the metroids are clearly not pure-energy life-forms, they are organic (they even have DNA).

but the Chozo apparently generated an entirely new lifeform to fight the X-parasites... but you can't just "build" life.

Why not? People are working on that right now in real life, and they are having a great deal of success at it.

They were genetically engineered, but I'm curious if they had to have been derived from a pre-existing species (such as, I dunno, the X Parasites?).

That is unclear. The Chozo could have developed them entirely from scratch, or they could have been based on something else. I would say it is likely a bit of both, they probably used bits and pieces of DNA from other organisms along with their own custom-built bits. They probably could have built the metroid entirely from scratch, but given the rush they were under I find that extremely unlikely (even if they weren't under a rush this would almost certainly have been a huge waste of time with no benefit).

4) So, what were the X parasites doing during that huge absence between the creation of the Metroids that hunted them and their surprise rebirth in Fusion? Are they on other planets? Did the Space Pirates discover and harness them? Surely, we haven't seen the end of them...

I would assume they were driven into areas the metroids couldn't reach, such as cracks and crevices in rocks, and began taking over the planet again when the metroids were wiped out. By the time of fusion all the life on SR388 had probably been taken over. Some people have speculated that the crystaline substance the baby metroid clears out of the way at the end of M2 was actually related to the x somehow, which makes sense but would be a major retcon (although having metroids be designed to eat x-parasites by the chozo was a retcon to begin with).

5) Okay, so is Samus a bounty hunter still or not? She has been for decades, yet recently Sakamoto claimed she wasn't, that she actually doesn't "hunt bounties" like a bounty hunter does, and that she's merely a space adventurer. So will she be or won't she be going forward?

The manga specifically talks about her getting payed for a contract. In fact bounty hunting is central to the GF's approach to fighting pirates. I find it hard to believe they will get rid of that in the past, both with the pirates gone bounty hunting is probably no longer necessary going forward. That may explain why she is playing bodyguard to the scientists in the Fusion opening, she had to fine new work to pay the bills.

6) Does the Chozo-blood in Samus have any other side-effects beyond making her superhuman and being able to use their weapons? Any biologically abnormalities or racial instincts in her at all? She seems basically 100% human, but stronger. What part of her is, well, "Chozo"? I mean, if she had a kid, would she lay an egg, or does she preen herself? I guess that's even less easy to explain when the Chozo themselves remain a biological and historical mystery.

Unlikely. She was already 3 when she was infused with Chozo blood. Even if we assume this meant some sort of genetic engineering, most of the body's systems are in place (not finished, but in place and having the basic features) by the time you are born. The only major exception is the brain, which undergoes some pretty drastic development in the first couple of years (this is necessary because you can't fit too big a brain through a woman's pelvis), but that is also mostly done by age 3 as well. There wouldn't be much, if any, room for drastic changes in how her brain or body operates by that point. Stronger muscles and bones, more durable skin, a stronger heart, those are all plausible since they continue to grow and develop after birth. On the other hand changes to the layout of her bones or muscles, turning her heart into a 6-chambered heart, or having her lay eggs would not be possible since those things are fixed well before birth. It is currently unclear exactly how much the brain can change in adulthood, but indications are not a huge amount (and it is looking less and less).