Biography of Dark Samus

Dark Samus is a sentient alien being born from Phazon. This creature is biologically a Metroid/human hybrid. She is born after the dying Metroid Prime absorbs Samus Aran's Phazon Suit and her DNA. She has several encounters with Samus during her search for Phazon on the planet Aether, and later on, reappears as the mastermind of the Space Pirate invasion of Galactic Federation space. She is destroyed by Samus on the planet Phaaze. Below is a full account of her history.

Death and rebirth

The birth of Dark Samus

After Samus defeats Metroid Prime on Tallon IV by overloading it with the Phazon Beam, the creature begins to destabilize, and in a desperate move, it absorbs her Phazon Suit and subsequently explodes. Little does Samus know that as she leaves the planet, a new enemy is born from her DNA and the remains of Metroid Prime. The Phazon Suit is a necessary component of this fusion, as Metroid Prime has destabilized and no longer has a body. With its acquired human DNA, as well as the Phazon Suit as a body to construct itself into, Metroid Prime forms itself into a new enemy - the creature known as Dark Samus.

Search on Aether

Dark Samus, as she appears in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

Dark Samus, now with a new form based on Samus's Power Suit (though now black and dark blue in coloration with skeletal features and Phazon markings) and instincts that command her to absorb and spread Phazon, manages to leave Tallon IV in search of Phazon. Dark Samus eventually discovers the planet Aether, which is rich with Phazon. A Leviathan from Phaaze landed on the planet fifty years prior, ripping open a second, dark dimension, Dark Aether. Dark Samus explores Aether and absorbs any Phazon that she can find on the planet.

Pirate raids

The Space Pirates, prior to Dark Samus's arrival, have established a base on Aether. Once Dark Samus arrives, they initially believe that she is Samus Aran, but are perplexed by her strange dark-colored armorsuit and actions. She only raids their base to obtain Phazon, killing any who deny her. Some of their Metroid specimens are also reported as stolen, and the Pirates—having spotted her at one time near the containment tanks attempting to breach them—believe that this "Dark Hunter" is to blame for the theft. Dark Samus also destroys their stealth field generator in one of her raids, causing disastrous results for the Pirates.

Encounters with Samus

Samus Aran eventually lands on Aether to investigate a missing team of Galactic Federation Marines who have landed on the planet in pursuit of a Space Pirate starship. Samus first encounters Dark Samus in the Marines' base, where Samus follows her into a Portal to Dark Aether. There, she finds Dark Samus absorbing Phazon, with several shadowy creatures above which Samus will soon learn are the Ing. Dark Samus fires a shot at the Light Crystal that protects her from Dark Aether's poisonous atmosphere. With the Light Crystal broken, the Ing steal most of Samus's abilities while Dark Samus flees. Samus escapes through the Portal with only a few pieces of equipment intact. It is initially unclear if this means that Dark Samus is working directly for/with the Ing Horde, though it is only due to the Ing deciding to attack Samus over the far less vulnerable Dark Samus, as the former cannot resist Dark Aether's atmosphere. A Pirate scout witnesses this encounter and learns that they are not allies, but foes. The Pirates then consider employing Dark Samus to kill Samus, with precious Phazon as a reward, though they do not get the opportunity to put this plan into action.

Dark Samus engages Samus in the Agon Wastes.

The next encounter takes place in the Agon Wastes, within the Pirate base. Dark Samus appears in front of Samus, behind a locked gate, and leaves. Unable to bypass the gate, Samus explores the rest of the base and reaches a room full of Phazon collected by the Pirates. There, Samus has her first battle with Dark Samus. Once Dark Samus is defeated, she begins to destabilize and unleashes a massive Phazon explosion before collapsing and disintegrating into Phazon particles in the air.

The particles that Dark Samus transforms into manage to reach the Torvus Bog. As Samus bypasses an underwater Multi-Lock Blast Shield, she enters a hall filled with Phazon particles. As she exits the water, a large glowing light passes in front of her, phasing through the door ahead, energizing it. As Samus enters the next room, she sees the bright cloud swerve around the room until it reaches the center in front of a Luminoth Statue, where the smaller particles of Phazon soon enclose around the bright light. Within seconds, the mass of collective Phazon particles transforms into Dark Samus, though she does not fight Samus. Instead, she merely laughs maniacally and disappeared.

Dark Samus within the Sanctuary Fortress.

After obtaining the Spider Ball, Samus is exiting the Sanctuary Fortress where she sees more Phazon particles within a hall leading to the Sanctuary Entrance. As Samus is about to reach the entrance's bridge, she receives a surprise visit by Dark Samus, who rapidly teleports onto the center of the bridge. Dark Samus stands and performs a violent laughter, overloading the bridge with her power before teleporting away once more. These actions cause the bridge to explode and become unstable, eventually falling completely apart into the abyss below. With the bridge destroyed, Samus is forced to locate an alternative route across the chasm leading back into the Temple Grounds.

Samus later sees Dark Samus in the Sanctuary Fortress firing at several Dark Pirate Troopers; this confirms that the Ing regard her as an enemy and not an ally as believed at the beginning. She disposes of them and begins absorbing several canisters of Phazon (showing just what happens if Dark Samus is denied Phazon). Samus pursues her foe, cornering Dark Samus within an elevator and battling her once more. Samus defeats her once again and the doppelgänger, losing stability in her body, allows herself to fall off the top of the tower as a hasty retreat before Samus attempts to stop her.

Dark Samus and Samus face off as Dark Aether collapses around them.

Final battle

Once Samus has defeated the Emperor Ing and absorbed the remaining portion of the planetary energy, Dark Aether becomes unstable and begins to collapse. Samus, having only eight minutes to escape, hurries out of the Sky Temple and begins moving toward the exit. However, her hopes of escape are seemingly crushed when Dark Samus appears, blocking the exit with a Phazon wall. Due to the huge amount of Phazon that she has absorbed, Dark Samus has begun to deteriorate, causing her suit to become transparent and revealing her organs along with a humanoid skull with three yellow eyes inside her helmet. The eye on the back of her hand (featured on the arm that reached out of the pool at the end of the first game) is also rendered visible (though with a smaller pupil and yellow rather than blue).

Both Samus and Dark Samus engage in a grueling battle, though Samus manages to defeat her once again by taking advantage of her foe's sole weakness: an overload of Phazon. Samus absorbs Dark Samus's Phazon into her Charge Beam and shoots it back. The attack penetrates Dark Samus's Phazon shield, and causes Dark Samus to destabilize, just as she did as the Metroid Prime, and she collapses, defeated once again by her own attacks. She painstakingly reaches out in an attempt to touch Samus (possibly trying to absorb the Light Suit like she did the Phazon Suit), but dematerializes into a cloud of Phazon particles at the last second. Samus escapes Dark Aether and brings peace to the Luminoth on the planet, and it seems that Dark Samus perishes along with Dark Aether.

Yet, even though Dark Samus lacks a corporeal form, she still exists, and as shown in the 100% ending of Echoes, in which the Phazon particles again reform into Dark Samus's body; it will be only a small amount of time before she will return.

Return

Dark Samus at the beginning of Corruption.

Sometime between the events of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, the Galactic Federation, seeing great use for the mutagenic substance, takes some of the Phazon from Aether. However, they leave most of it behind, and the Space Pirate crew of the battleship Colossus soon collects the remaining Phazon. However, they soon find out to their horror that they have unknowingly taken the particles of Dark Samus as well. Using the Phazon collected by the Space Pirates, Dark Samus regains her physical form (now with a more armored appearance, as opposed to her previously organic appearance) and exterminates a third of the Space Pirates aboard the ship. She then uses her Phazon energy to brainwash the rest into accepting her as their new leader, with the promises of incredible riches and power.

The seeds of scheming

With the Pirates so suckered into her schemes, a quasi-religious cult begins to form around her and they follow her every whim. She teaches the crew to convert the Colossus into a mighty Phazon-fueled craft. She then leaves them for several months to locate the source of all Phazon - the planet Phaaze. During her absence, her followers maintain order by executing those who doubt that she will return. During her journey, she encounters a Leviathan and uses its energy to take control of it, which leads her to Phaaze. For Dark Samus, the chance to control the source of all Phazon is a chance to control the universe. Dark Samus absorbs a tremendous amount of Phazon, increasing her power to new heights. She then returns to the Pirates with the Leviathan and commands them to follow her through the wormhole to Phaaze. She then reveals her plan to take control of the planet and to accelerate Leviathan production, spreading Phazon strategically across the universe. How to do this is a dilemma, but a solution is soon presented in the form of the Federation's Aurora Units.

Raid on the Valhalla

Under her orders, the Space Pirates attack the G.F.S. Valhalla and steal the ship's Aurora Unit, Aurora Unit 313. If the survivors of the raid expected mercy, they do not receive any. Under Dark Samus's orders, the Pirates jettison the survivors into the cold depths of space. The Aurora Unit is corrupted with Phazon and implanted into Phaaze, allowing Dark Samus to directly control the planet and all of its assets - including the Leviathans. The first Leviathan that she controls is sent to the Pirate Homeworld. According to Space Pirate Data, the Space Pirates on the planet that have not been brought under Dark Samus's control fight back against the Leviathan, but fail. All remaining Pirates are brainwashed. Dark Samus presumably also uses 313 to infect the other Aurora Units (in particular, Aurora Unit 242 of the G.F.S. Olympus and Aurora Unit 217 of Skytown, respectively) with the corruption virus.

The invasion of Norion

Next, Dark Samus sends three more Leviathans to planets important to the Galactic Federation - one to Norion, containing the important Base Sector Zero; one to Bryyo, the Federation's primary source of Fuel Gel; and the last to Elysia, containing SkyTown, a vital research facility. Presumably, she also proceeds to cause an anomaly to Samus's cryostasis while the latter is on her way to Norion. While the Bryyo Seed and Elysia Seed collide without any trouble, Dark Samus encounters opposition on Norion - specifically, in the form of Samus Aran and three other Bounty Hunters: Rundas, Ghor, and Gandrayda. Just before they activate the Defense Cannon to destroy the oncoming Leviathan, Dark Samus confronts them, crashing through a window and repelling the hunters' attacks with a Phazon shield. Despite the hunters' efforts, she overpowers them and corrupts them with Phazon. Believing her work to be done, Dark Samus flies off, but Samus, using the last of her strength, manages to activate the Defense Cannon and destroy the Leviathan before falling unconscious.

After this, Dark Samus herself remains on Phaaze and does not appear to the Bounty Hunters, busy performing their duties of destroying the Leviathan Seeds. However, due to her "mark of corruption" that she has left on all four of the Bounty Hunters, all but Samus succumb to Phazon corruption and become completely possessed by Dark Samus (this is most evident in the cutscene just prior to the battle with Rundas). Over the course of the game, Samus is forced to defeat all three of them. Each time one of the hunters is defeated, a shadowy apparition of Dark Samus appears before them, absorbing their bodies and powers. This form is a black collection of smoke that has what may be tentacles acting as "wings". After each absorption, Dark Samus swoops down and flies away. This form depicts Dark Samus's visor.

The final confrontation

Dark Samus is confronted for the final time in her Sanctum on Phaaze, where she challenges Samus to a grand final battle. However, after being injured considerably, Dark Samus calls forth the stolen Aurora Unit 313 and merges with it in a last-ditch effort to defeat Samus. After a grueling two-part battle, the Aurora Unit is destroyed, and because it is directly linked to Phaaze's core, it begins a chain reaction that culminates in Phaaze exploding. As a result, Dark Samus is ejected from the Aurora Unit while exploding into Phazon dust with agonized cries, and thus is destroyed for good.