Tallon IV

Tallon IV is a Wanderer-class Planet that was impacted by a Leviathan from Phaaze, fifty years prior to the arrival of Samus Aran during Metroid Prime. It was inhabited by the Chozo, but after the meteor impact, many left the planet for an unknown destination: all inhabitants who stayed either died out or became the savage Chozo Ghosts due to the corrupting influence of Phazon. The planet was described as a biological paradise prior to the Leviathan's arrival.

The Chozo
Tallon IV was chosen to be the dwelling place of a group of Chozo from Elysia who wished to regain their spirituality. Here, they would abandon their technology, instead making their homes out of the planet's resources. This civilization thrived for some time, but they eventually moved beyond the mortal realm. However, it would only be a small amount of time before disaster struck the planet.

The Great Poison
Five decades before the arrival of Samus Aran, a meteor-like object struck the planet with great force, beginning the planet's downfall. The Chozo were ripped back to the mortal realm due to the meteor's strike. They investigated it, and what they saw terrified them. The meteor had brought with it a terrible poison, which would eventually be named Phazon. The Phazon now spread through the planet, corrupting everything it touched. In addition, the meteor had brought with it The Worm, a horrifying creature of Phazon. The Chozo began to construct a temple in order to contain the Phazon; however, even as they did so, the Phazon gnawed at them, driving many mad. The Artifact Temple was completed, and while the the Phazon spread stopped, the damage was already considerable; the poison had already contaminated a good portion of the planet. The rest of the Chozo wasted away, leaving behind only their ruined civilization and specters of their former selves: those that guarded the keys to the temple were the only ones that remained untainted, while the rest were driven insane by the corruptive power of Phazon. In Elysian Lore, the survivors are said to have fled to an 'unknown destination' in Corruption.

The Space Pirates
After the events of Metroid, the Space Pirates fled from Zebes. It was only a short amount of time, however, before they discovered massive energy readings emitting from planet Tallon IV. They landed on the planet, and soon discovered the substance known to the Chozo as the Great Poison. Recognizing its immense potential, the Space Pirates named it "Phazon" and began experimenting with it, raising a stealth shield over the planet to hide their activities.

They began mining Phazon, as well. They found the Phazon to be particularly abundant in a certain area, and started mining operations in the area. However, they were unable to access the prime source of the Phazon, the Impact Crater, as the Artifact Temple's energy shield hindered them. Scans of the crater detected an unknown bioform dwelling within, which only made access to the crater more desirable to the Pirates. The Pirates began investigating the Chozo themselves and retrieved or destroyed some of their relics. They even managed to obtain some of the Chozo Artifacts, but were unable to retrieve all of them as they could not translate the hints on the Artifact Temple platform. Frequently hindered by wild animals and the Chozo Ghosts, they eventually pulled out of the Chozo Ruins area.

In the meantime, the Pirates began attempting to mutate Metroids, local wildlife and even inanimate objects with Phazon and began research in a secret base in the Phendrana Drifts and on the research frigate Orpheon which was in orbit above Tallon IV. They also tried mixing Phazon with Pirate DNA in their Phazon Mines complex and eventually managed to create the Elite Pirates and Omega Pirate after much trial and error. However, the Pirates would not go unnoticed forever...

Samus Aran's arrival
Unknown to the Space Pirates, Samus Aran had tracked them down, thanks to a distress signal emitted by the Frigate Orpheon when its Phazon-corrupted specimens had gone rogue. After exploring the vessel and causing it to crash into the planet, Samus escaped aboard her ship and went down there as well. There, she learned of the downfall of the Chozo, as well as the Space Pirates' experiments. After ruining the Space Pirate research, Samus then brought down the shield containing the Impact Crater and went down there to confront Metroid Prime. After a fierce battle, she was successful. However, in its death throes, Metroid Prime absorbed Samus's Phazon Suit and exploded.

Samus, having ended the threat of Phazon on Tallon IV, left the planet. However, deep within its depths, a new threat was born from the remains of Metroid Prime - Dark Samus.

Post-Phazon destruction
After Samus' defeat of Metroid Prime and the self-destruct of the Impact Crater, all traces of Phazon on the planet disintegrated leaving Tallon IV to heal itself. Scans in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, via Elysian satellite on SkyTown, confirms that the planet is once again self sustaining its standard ecology and stabilization as a result of the Great Poison no longer being present. It is unknown if the planet has returned to its pre-impact state, but it is highly unlikely in the present time frame and will most likely take hundreds of years or more to fully revitalize. Despite the long time it will likely take to return to its entire glory, the planet is once again capable of sustaining intelligent civilizations, but will most likely remain uninhabited except for the native bio-forms, thus leaving Tallon IV's environment to heal in peace.

Inhabitants
The planet has been inhabited by a number of bioforms, some brought to the planet by Space Pirates, while others are native.


 * Aqua Drone (Space Pirate)
 * Aqua Pirate (Space Pirate)
 * Aqua Reaper
 * Aqua Sac
 * Auto Defense Turret (Space Pirate)
 * Baby Sheegoth
 * Barbed War Wasp
 * Beetle
 * Blastcap
 * Bloodflower
 * Burrower
 * Chozo
 * Chozo Ghost
 * Cloaked Drone (Space Pirate)
 * Crystallite
 * Cyrlic tree
 * Dark Samus
 * Elite Pirate (Space Pirate)
 * Eyon
 * Fish
 * Fission Metroid
 * Flaahgra
 * Flickerbat
 * Flying Pirate (Space Pirate)
 * Geemer
 * Glider
 * Glowing spidervine
 * Great Tree
 * Grizby
 * Gronkat
 * Guide Stem
 * Hive Mecha
 * Human (according to artwork, they left technology in Phendrana Drifts)
 * Hunter Metroid
 * Ice Beetle
 * Ice Burrower
 * Ice Shriekbat
 * Incinerator Drone
 * Infant Tallon Metroid
 * Invisible Pulse Bombu
 * Jelzap
 * Lichen
 * Lumigek
 * Magmoor
 * Mega Turret (Space Pirate)
 * Meta Ridley (Space Pirate)
 * Metroid
 * Metroid Prime
 * Oculus
 * Olbap
 * Omega Pirate (Space Pirate)
 * Parasite
 * Phazon Elite (Space Pirate)
 * Plated Beetle
 * Plated Parasite
 * Plated Puffer
 * Plazmite
 * Puddle Spore
 * Puffer
 * Pulse Bombu
 * Ram War Wasp
 * Reaper Vine
 * Red frog floating egg jelly
 * Sap Sac
 * Saturnine
 * Scarab
 * Scatter Bombu
 * Seedling
 * Sentry Drone (Space Pirate)
 * Shadow Pirate (Space Pirate)
 * Sheegoth
 * Shriekbat
 * Space Pirate
 * Spider mold
 * Stone Creeper
 * Stone Toad
 * Tallon Crab
 * Tallon Metroid
 * Tallon fern
 * Tangle Weed
 * Thardus
 * Triclops
 * Trooper Pirate (Space Pirate)
 * Venom Weed
 * War Wasp
 * War Wasp Hive
 * Zoomer
 * ULF 6
 * ULF 23
 * ULF 30
 * ULF 49

Geology
Tallon IV has both a retrograde revolution and rotation. It is one of three objects in its solar system to have such an orbit, but it is the only known one to have such a rotation. This may or may not have been caused by the Leviathan impact, which left a large scar on the surface. It has no moons and is generally the outermost planet.

Tallon Overworld
Main article: Tallon Overworld

The overworld of Tallon IV is mostly lush jungle deluged by constant rain. This is also the area the Space Pirate frigate Orpheon crash-landed. Samus landed in this area. Meta Ridley is this area's boss. This is where Samus enters the Impact Crater and fights the Metroid Prime.

Chozo Ruins
Main article: Chozo Ruins

Ancient ruins of the once-prosperous civilization of the Chozo. The ruins contain many power-ups and lots of technology left behind by the Chozo. This is the home to the monstrous Flaahgra. The Flaahgra, once defeated, gives Samus the Varia Suit, which lets her traverse Magmoor Caverns.

Magmoor Caverns
Main article: Magmoor Caverns

Underground caverns of Tallon IV, filled with dangerous lava lakes and hostile creatures. It acts as a link between all areas of Tallon IV, with the exception of the Impact Crater. It is also the only area of the game that lacks a boss creature. It was named after the creatures that live in the lava in the caverns, Magmoors. The Ice Spreader can be found here after obtaining the Power Bomb.

Phendrana Drifts
Main article: Phendrana Drifts

Frozen wastes of Tallon IV's mountaintops. This area contains some Chozo-built constructions and is also the location of the Space Pirate research labs. The boss creature of the area is Thardus. Parts of this area are submerged under water.

Phazon Mines
Main article: Phazon Mines

The Space Pirate headquarters of Tallon IV. It is where Pirate Phazon ore mining activity takes place and also contains the experimental Elite Pirates and the Omega Pirate, the latter being the boss of the area. The area has elevators leading to the Tallon Overworld and the Magmoor Caverns. The bottom of the Impact Crater can be seen from the level two elevator. The Grapple Beam and Power Bomb are found here.

Impact Crater
Main article: Impact Crater

Final area of the game, which Samus only gains access to after gathering all of the 12 Chozo artifacts and defeating Meta Ridley. The Impact Crater is the heart of the Phazon infestation and contains the final boss of the game: Metroid Prime, a Metroid corrupted by the Leviathan to protect its core. It is accessed from the Artifact Temple.

Official website
object type: Planet

mass: 5.1 trillion teratons

dimensions: 13,400 km diameter

sentient inhabitants: 0

composition: metallic

"A Wanderer-Class planet, Tallon IV is one of two worlds within the Tallon system capable of sustaining life. Tallon IV follows an unusual retrograde orbit of 4.3 standard millicycles. Orbiting 778,000,000 km from the only star within the system, Tallon IV was at one time a main outpost of the Chozo. For reasons as of yet not completely understood, the Chozo civilization on this planet became extinct. The planet possesses an abundance of an energy source known as 'phazon'.

''A spiritual people, the Tallon IV Chozo lived peacefully on the planet leaving much of it unspoiled and technology-free. Over 150 millicycles ago, a large meteor collided with the planet, destroying everything within a 500 km radius and spraying an enormous plume of rock and debris into the atmosphere. The meteor was vaporized on impact, and jettisoned large quantities of impact debris, including a large quantity of some unknown material, into the atmosphere. This material, 'phazon', as it has been called in intercepted Space Pirate transmissions, created widespread destruction. Remnants of the debris still circle the planet in close orbit and during the last GFP survey, the impact site was still emitting high energy levels. The Chozo attempted to control the spread of radiation, creating a containment structure over the impact site. While the environmental effects of the impact were mitigated, it was too late for the Chozo who apparently succumbed to the ill effects of the deadly 'phazon' released by the collision.''

Though oxygen-rich and capable of sustaining life, Tallon IV has remained uninhabited since the demise of the Chozo."

Contradicting impact dates
In the North American release of Metroid Prime, the Chozo Lore and Pirate Data, caused a number of canonical issues. It was said in 'Phazon Analysis' that the meteor hit the planet 20 years ago. However, a Federation lore scan of the events on Tallon IV in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption says that the Leviathan's arrival was fifty years prior. These two dates conflict with each other.

This was remedied in the PAL version, as well as the re-release of the Metroid Prime Trilogy: instead of 20 years, the impact of the Leviathan was stated to be "indeterminable." This information seems to have been retconned, however, as recent sources claim that the Phazon meteors that struck both Tallon IV and Aether impacted both planets fifty years before Samus' arrival. The re-release of the Metroid Prime Trilogy uses the PAL version of both the Chozo Lore and Pirate Data, and the Metroid Prime Trilogy History brochure that came with the game refers to the impact as "50 years" ago, matching the date in Corruption.

Trivia

 * In Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Tallon IV can be seen in the background in the multiplayer level Sidehopper Station.
 * The reason for Tallon IV's numeration is unknown, as there are no planetary bodies also named Tallon in the FS-176 system, and there have never been any mentions of a Tallon I, II, or III in an outside system. The name may be derived from the historic regard from its Chozo discoverers to previous Tallons, or it may be a developer reference to the four talons/fangs of a Metroid.
 * Tallon IV bears some similarities to Bryyo, because of the fact that both planets have a "desert" region (Chozo Ruins/Bryyo Cliffside), an ice region (Phendrana Drifts/Bryyo Ice), a "jungle" region (Tallon Overworld/Bryyo Thorn Jungle), and a "lava" region (Magmoor Caverns/Bryyo Fire).
 * Tallon IV's diameter of 13,400 km is only 5% larger than Earth's 12,700 km diameter, thus making Tallon IV an Earth-sized planet. However Tallon IV is said to orbit FS-176 from a distance of 778,000,000 km, which is over five times the distance between planet Earth and and the Sun, similar to the distance between Jupiter and the Sun. Tallon IV has shown a climate similar to ours, possibly because of the power of its sun or because the Chozo terraformed it. The latter seems unlikely because there are a great number of native lifeforms and because the Chozo on Tallon IV decided to start a new life without technology. Also, Tallon IV's mass seems exaggerated. The 5.1 trillion teraton mass boasted by Tallon is about 850 times greater than Earth's mass of 5.9 billion teratons (a teraton being one trillion tons), and about 2.7 times greater than Jupiter's mass of 1.9 trillion teratons. Most likely, Retro flubbed the math when they input the numbers into the game, intending to measure the planet's weight in gigatons rather than teratons (thus making Tallon IV 5.1 trillion gigatons, or 5.1 billion teratons, slightly lighter than Earth, possibly due to composition). The alternative is that the "teratons" of Metroid do not equate to a trillion tons, but are rather substantially lighter.
 * The origin of the name Tallon IV probably was after the word "talon," a sharp claw most notably found on birds of prey. The addition of "IV" (4) may have also been used, since birds of prey have four "talons" on each toe.