Ing

The Ing are a warring, ferocious race of tribal beings native to Dark Aether, and are the arch-nemeses of the Luminoth.

History
During the Golden Age of the Luminoth, a stellar object (now revealed as a Leviathan) struck Aether with such great force that it caused a rift in space and time, creating Dark Aether and giving birth to the Ing. After having fought the Luminoth for decades of war, the Ing were on the verge of defeating them, having stolen all but one of their planetary energies, and with all but one of the Luminoth in stasis tubes in the Great Temple. However, after Samus Aran came to Aether, she eliminated their kind by destroying Dark Aether. Since their dark-aligned bodies could not stand Aether's different atmosphere, they were left without a dimension to reside in and collapsed within it.

Description
While Ing appear as nearly every Darkling creature in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, there are much fewer "pure" Ing, and they are always found on Dark Aether. Most "pure" Ing appear as stationary and largely ignorable growths, such as the Bladepod and Ingclaw, but the Warrior and Hunter strains of Ing are much more formidable. These Ing are best fought from the safety of a Light Crystal, which produces a field that they cannot penetrate. Even when Samus obtains the Dark and Light Suits, the Light Crystals can still be energized with the Light Beam or Annihilator Beam in order to produce deadly traps for the Ing. While Ing generally appear in quite small forms, such as the Inglet or Ingstorm, Warrior Ings are almost the same height as a Luminoth. Samus also encounters two Warrior Ings who have been mutated after absorbing her stolen equipment, the Jump Guardian and the Boost Guardian. Though each type of Ing has its own strengths and weaknesses, they share a common weakness to light energy.

During their war against the Luminoth, the Ing would generally attack by forcefully possessing nearby creatures or machines, which would darken their form, and generally increase their offensive prowess. They preferred to possess creatures with a natural talent for combat, such as Aether's predators or the Luminoth warmachines, and the extraterrestrial Space Pirates and Metroids were a favorite host. These possessed creatured were dubbed "Darklings" by the Luminoth. Though these hybrid creatures were generally more powerful than their original forms, they gained the Ing's signature weakness to light energy. It is unknown if any of the Darklings living on Light Aether survived the destruction of Dark Aether.

Emperor Ing


The eldest and highest ranking member of the Ing Horde is the Emperor Ing, who resides within the Sky Temple. It is the keeper of Dark Aether's primary energy source, which it feeds upon in order to grow in power.

Larvae
When Ing are still larvae, they are constantly in danger and travel in swarms to lessen this threat. As such, they grow to be aggressive and hateful of all other living things, making perfect soldiers. Ing Larvae are not common around Dark Aether, and are only found in the Ing Hive.

Warriors
Warrior Ing are the basic soldiers of the Horde. They are somewhat powerful, exercising extra-dimensional laser attacks along with various kinetic offensives. Like most Ing, the Warrior Ing can melt into a shadowy fluid, and slide across surfaces. Warrior Ing have only one eye, though with multiple pupils. Warrior Ing tend to congregate about rooms of importance, usually containing a Sky Temple Key or power-up.

Hunters
The Ing also retain elites to help in destroying specific enemies of the Horde, called Hunter Ing. These creatures are viewed as the second most powerful of all Ing, second only to the Emperor. They can avoid damage by phasing out of the local timespace, and are the only ones allowed to possess Pirate Commandos.

Ingstorm
When faced with large amounts of enemies, the Horde depends on the Ingstorm, tiny Ing that float in the air and emit a destructive energy that can chew through any substance. Luminoth are easily eradicated by Ingstorm. They are only found in the Ing Hive, Sky Temple Grounds and Dark Agon Wastes. The Light Suit is the only known item that can guard against the Ingstorm's corrosive attacks.

Inglets
Of course, not all Ing are used as soldiers to attack the Luminoth. Some, like the Inglets, are worker drones who labor for the Horde, carrying around vital materials and essentials for the soldiers. When attacked, Inglets can defend themselves, although their attacks are somewhat pathetic, and they can be destroyed easily. Inglets can, like Warrior Ing, shift into a liquid state and flow around areas. They are easy to destroy by Luminoth, and Samus as well.

Other Forms

 * Bladepod - Storage unit (Sky Temple Grounds/Dark Agon Wastes).
 * Ingworm Cache - Storage unit (Ing Hive).
 * Flying Ing Cache - Floating storage unit that is used to hold important items, such as Sky Temple Keys.
 * Ingsphere Cache - Storage Unit (Dark Torvus Bog).
 * Ingclaw - Stationary Ing growth that spews a poisonous gas. Ingclaws are not invulnerable to Dark Aether's atmosphere, and can enter a torpor when they are too affected..
 * Ing Webtrap - A creature used by the Ing to block doors.
 * Webling - A creature used by the Ing to block walls, which can be destroyed by a light beam.
 * Darkling Tentacle - A tentacle of a possibly large unknown creature.

Other Appearences
In Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, there is a Phazon-based creature known as the Phaz-Ing, which strongly resembles the Inglet. Because of the similarity in name and form, it is possible that this species, native to Phaaze, was in fact the ancestor of Dark Aether's Ing Horde, and was a passenger on the Leviathan that struck Aether.

Trivia

 * The Ing Horde's ability for possession is strongly reminiscent of the mythology behind demons. In function, this ability to possess and empower their host makes the Ing similar to the X Parasite, although the Ing are also able to control machines and Metroids.