Gandrayda

Gandrayda is a Bounty Hunter who appeared in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

Biography
Gandrayda was a Bounty Hunter from an unknown location. However, she possessed metamorphic abilities similar to the inhabitants of Jovia XII. She could assume the form and abilities of most living things, including creatures and even machines differing significantly in size. Her age was unknown, though a psychological evaluation, her predilection for pranks, and her informal speech patterns in even military settings all indictate that she was relatively young, or at least immature in comparison to the other Hunters. She viewed Bounty Hunting as a very enjoyable sport and considered the veteran hunter Samus Aran her chief rival. She intended to surpass Samus as a veteran Bounty Hunter as soon as possible. Gandrayda was a very capable combatant, but was often hired for stealth and reconnaissance missions due to her ability to mimic creatures. Lore on the Pirate Homeworld referring to her as "Mistress Gandrayda" suggests that she became a Space Pirate—it is likely that she fell under the influence of Dark Samus after being corrupted by Phazon.

Aiding the Galactic Federation
Along with Ghor, Rundas, and Samus Aran, Gandrayda was asked by Fleet Admiral Dane of the Galactic Federation to help stop the Phazon corruption of the Aurora Units. Once the Space Pirates attacked the G.F.S. Olympus, the GF ship they are currently aboard, Gandrayda helps defend the ship by confronting the infiltrating Space Pirates. She then goes to Norion to help the Federation ground troopers and protect the base. When Samus arrives at Norion's Generator C, she finds a group of Space Pirates waiting for her. Just as she is about to fight them, one of them assaults his comrades. Once the other pirates are dead, it transforms into Gandrayda, who leaves "Sammy" behind to do the work of activating the generator.

Once the four Bounty Hunters reached the Control Tower to activate the cannon that would destroy the approaching Leviathan, Dark Samus appeared and fired a burst of Phazon at them, causing them to fall unconscious.

Corruption
Two weeks later, Gandrayda awakened to discover that Dark Samus's Phazon blast had caused her body to begin producing Phazon. With no visible negative effects, the Federation gave her a Phazon Enhancement Device in order to harness this new source of Phazon. Gandrayda was sent to find the Space Pirate's stronghold, but the Federation eventually lost contact with her. Unknown to the organization, Gandrayda had been corrupted by her internal Phazon a week after she left.

After another week, Samus Aran awoke, and some time later the Federation found the location of the Pirate Homeworld thanks to an emergency GF communication capsule from Gandrayda, but didn't know her current status; it is safe to assume this transmission pod was used by Gandrayda prior to her corruption. Samus infiltrated the planet and eventually received a transmission from a nearby Federation Marine designated NZG41. She managed to reach the Marine and helped him activate an elevator. She and the Marine went up the elevator, though once they reached the top, the Marine suddenly began firing at Samus, forcing her to dodge the shots in Morph Ball form. He transformed into Gandrayda, who was now maniacal due to her Phazon corruption and desired to battle Samus, saying, "You know, you should never trust strangers, Sammy... This is gonna be fun."

Battle
During the fight, Gandrayda will jump, flip, and run about the room, making it intensively difficult to shoot her. She can create throwing blades that will lock onto and "seek" Samus, though they can be shot down for power-ups. Gandrayda will also use a ground-based impact wave that streaks directly towards Samus. At close range, Gandrayda will attempt to strangle and claw at Samus and must be shaken off with the Wii Remote. If successfully shot with a fully charged beam, she will trip onto the ground, leaving her vulnerable for approximately 2 seconds.

After taking some damage, Gandrayda will begin to use her shapeshifting abilities to transform into different enemies. She'll revert to normal after several moments. She will also share the weak points of these forms, so Samus can damage her in the same way as she did those enemies. The following is a list of the forms Gandrayda will take at this time:


 * Berserker-G: She will employ energy waves, Phazon Orbs and a liquid Phazon gun.


 * Aerotrooper-G: She will use missile and energy-based attacks.

At 75% health, Gandrayda opens part of the roof, covering the outer portion of the battlefield in deadly acid rain, as well as lower the six structures around the room. She'll then continue her attack, and will also begin using new transformations.
 * Swarmbot-G: She will attack in a manner similar to a tornado. If Samus wanders too close, her energy will be drained. Shooting down the individual Swarmbots can reveal power-ups. However, using the Screw Attack is even more efficient.


 * Rundas-G: She will employ his freeze wave, an ice sword, flight ability, Ice Missiles.


 * Ghor-G (2nd Phase): She will employ missiles, the plasma beam, plasma shots, and she will also attempt to grab the Morph Ball.

When Gandrayda's health drops to 50%, she will re-raise the six aforementioned structures before mimicking Samus in her Varia Suit. While in this form, she will use the Boost Ball to bounce around the area and then pop up to fire a powerful Phazon beam. At 25% health, Gandrayda stops transforming and begins to use Hyper Mode, where she moves even faster and all weapons used against her outside of Samus' own Hyper Mode attacks cause insignificant damage. When her Hyper Mode wears off, Gandrayda turns invisible. Samus must use the X-Ray Visor to keep track of Gandrayda and attack her until she uses Hyper Mode again.

Once defeated, Gandrayda screams in agony as she rapidly cycles through different forms (a Space Pirate, Rundas, Ghor, a Berserker Knight, and finally Samus in the PED Suit) as she reaches out to Samus. Samus is unable to watch Gandrayda's death and looks away with a clenched fist as the wraith-like figure of Dark Samus arrives and absorbs her.

Gandrayda makes one last appearance in the Special Ending of the game, in which Samus takes a moment to mourn her fallen comrades on planet Elysia.

This is the music heard when battling Gandrayda:.

Powers and abilities
Gandrayda possesses powerful shapeshifting abilities. This allows her to assume the forms of various as well as copy their abilities and powers. Their seems to be no limit to her shapeshifting powers as she is able to assume the form of creatures significantly larger than herself such as Beserker Knights and Ghor, as well as transform herself into machines such as swarmbots. She is also shown to be extremely agile, able to make high and graceful jumps, flips, and cartwheels in the air. Gandrayda also appears to have some power over electricity. When she is not using her shapeshifting powers, she attacks from a distance by throwing electric orbs, and electric blades that home in on opponents. In addition, her power seems to affect machines as she was able to control the mechanism of the roof and stuctures during Samus's fight with her. She can also turn invisible to elude opponents.

Weaknesses
Though her shapeshifting powers allow her to infiltrate places with ease and help her in battle, her shapeshifting comes with the downside of also gaining the creature's weakness.

Trivia

 * Gandrayda is extremely vulnerable to Samus's Screw Attack. It can be possible to defeat Gandrayda in under forty seconds if Samus properly utilizes the Screw Attack. This vulnerability was reduced in Metroid Prime Trilogy.
 * During the attack on the G.F.S. Olympus, Gandrayda can be seen leaping and kicking a Pirate Militia and then finishing it off with one of her throwing blades in the Repair Bay Shaft before the blast doors close. She is gone by the time they reopen.
 * In keeping with the elemental themes of the Hunters in Corruption, Gandrayda seems to have power over electricity. Many of her attacks, including those resulting from her mimicry, create electrical sparks and interference in Samus's visor (an example is her Rundas mimic's ice giving off electricity), and she also opens the mechanical roof of the battlefield at one point just by clenching her fist. This is also reflected in the Grapple Voltage, the reward for her defeat.
 * A glitch can be exploited if, when fighting Gandrayda as Ghor, she grabs a Screw Attacking Samus with her whip and then slams her into the ground. Samus will be stuck in her unmorph animation and can be controlled with the game thinking that she is in Morph Ball form. This glitch is no longer present in the Metroid Prime Trilogy version of the game.
 * When fighting Ghor-G, it is possible to make him engage the third phase of his battle, though Gandrayda will usually change back before combat.
 * Gandrayda will copy the Hypermode visual effect when morphing into Samus, if Samus is still in Hypermode at the end of the battle.
 * It is only during this final scene that Gandrayda mimics Samus in her PED Suit. In battle, she appears in the Varia Suit.
 * Samus, and Gandrayda are the only two known female bounty hunters in the Metroid series (after the death of Gandrayda, Samus is the only known female bounty hunter).
 * Hacking of Corruption's code had revealed an unused temporary scan for a "Reptilicus-G" form, in which Gandrayda is able to become invisible to the naked eye. In the final game, she is able to do so without the need to shapeshift.
 * Oddly, the "Mistress Gandrayda" lore in the Pirate Homeworld can only be scanned after she has been defeated. This lore says Gandrayda had vowed to present to Dark Samus the real Samus' "bloody helmet" as a trophy. By the time Samus scans this lore, Gandrayda has apparently failed to fulfil said vow.