Biography of Ridley

Ridley is an infamous high-ranking Space Pirate. After orphaning Samus Aran and creating his own arch-nemesis, he has many battles with her, and survives each and every one until his true death in the explosion of Zebes. Below is a full account of his history.

Biography

Backstory

Ridley on a Space Pirate ship, in the Metroid E-manga.

Nothing is known of Ridley's pre-Space Pirate background, if he has any. No other members of his species appear in the canon of the games, though another member does appear in the manga Metroid EX, where they are described as rulers of the Space Pirates. The game manual for Metroid refers to Ridley as "the original life-form of Zebes", claiming that he is native to Zebes. However, this connection has never been brought up again in any subsequent material, leaving its canon status up for debate.

Nevertheless, Ridley is one of the most powerful and respected Space Pirates, often leading the troops during battles and other excursions. Ridley is outfitted with at least one cybernetic implant: a transmitter located at the base of his skull, which allows his fellow Space Pirates to remotely communicate with him. He also appears to be held in considerable favor by High Command.

Meeting Samus Aran

In Cosmic Year 2000, Ridley tracks a Chozo craft to Planetary Colony K-2L and discovers the planet's large quantities of Afloraltite. He leads a Space Pirate raid to steal the mined Afloraltite, allowing his soldiers to plunder and kill as many humans as they want as long as they avoid damaging the Afloralite reserves in the process. Amidst the chaos, he meets a three-year old girl - Samus Aran - who approaches Ridley and bravely asks to befriend him.

Samus and her past with Ridley, in one of Metroid Fusion's endings; this was the first time their past together was ever depicted.

Ridley is amused by her naivete, deciding to quickly kill her with his plasma breath. However, Samus's mother pushes her out of the way at the cost of her own life. Ridley is largely unfazed and continues to sadistically burn down the facilities due to knowing full well that there is no chance of any blowback due to their having secured the Afloraltite. In one of the Space Pirate cargo ships above, Samus's father detonates the Afloraltite, sacrificing himself to sabotage the Pirates. Ridley notices the ship burst into flames before the wreckage rains down on top of him, gravely injuring him.

Miraculously, Ridley survives the hellfire. In order to regain his strength, he feeds on the flesh of the deceased humans to regrow his body's cells, and eventually escapes K-2L to reconvene with the Space Pirate forces. This defeat is a huge blow to his ego, and he fosters a grudge over the failed excursion, albeit unaware that Samus has survived.

Reunion on Zebes

Over a decade later, Ridley is part of the Space Pirate force that invades the Chozo colony on Zebes to establish a central command center with the rogue Mother Brain and Gray Voice. Gray Voice claims that he has corrected Ridley's "genetic flaws" with Chozo technology, though the extent of this modification is unknown and possibly refers to the Body Adaptation Machine process.

When the adolescent Samus confronts Mother Brain and Gray Voice, Ridley attacks her. This triggers Samus's post-traumatic stress disorder regarding the raid on K-2L, and when she removes her Power Suit for more air, Ridley slowly recognizes her as the little girl from that fateful day. However, Gray Voice orders Ridley to let her live so she can be convinced to join the Space Pirates, which he begrudgingly obeys. Ridley then moves to kill Platinum Chest, but is interrupted by explosions caused by Kreatz and Mauk that disrupt the Body Adaptation Machine's operations on his troops. Gray Voice then orders Ridley to find the cause of the disruption. He flies around Zebes, but can only hear the chaos forming in his ranks as Samus's friends fight the Pirates and free the prisoners.

Ridley saves Mother Brain from Gray Voice, in Metroid: Volume 2.

When Gray Voice betrays Mother Brain, Ridley arrives to defend her. Ridley is happy to fight the traitor, impaling Gray Voice with his tail to mortally wound him. The dying Chozo activates a defense system to destroy the Space Pirates pursuing Samus and the survivors, before Ridley finally kills him with his plasma breath. The survivors escape Zebes thanks to the intervention of Commander Adam Malkovich and the Galactic Federation Army, who force the Space Pirates to retreat underground.

Zero Mission

Ridley holds a grudge against Samus Aran and Adam Malkovich for their insolence, but he also holds pride in Mother Brain's plan to use the Metroids as bioweapons. His flagship, the Space Pirate Mother Ship, leads a space battle against and the Galactic Federation Army above Zebes.

Ridley fighting Samus, in Metroid: Zero Mission.

However, Ridley quickly returns the mothership to Zebes following the defeat of his comrade Kraid at the hands of Samus. He reaches his personal lair just in time to ambush her, screeching from above. Samus is surprised, but quickly overcomes her emotions and defeats him in combat, engulfing him in flames. Ridley's defeat opens the second of the Stone Statues, granting access to Tourian.

At the end of Samus's Zero Mission, she encounters an incomplete robotic replica constructed by Ridley himself, Mecha Ridley, inside the mothership. She destroys the robot, but in doing so, triggers a self-destruct sequence set to obliterate the ship in five minutes. Samus escapes the explosion and departs Zebes in a hijacked Escape Ship.

Cybernetic Revival

Meta Ridley at the Artifact Temple, in Metroid Prime.

Though wounded beyond fighting capability, Ridley survives his supposed death on Zebes. After the destruction of Tourian, three Space Pirate research ships from Zebes's orbit escape to regroup elsewhere; the crippled Ridley is brought onto one of them, the Frigate Orpheon. By order of High Command, the Pirates reconstruct Ridley's body with bionic implants, converting him into the cyborg "Meta Ridley". His transformation reaches its final stages by the time the Orpheon arrives in planet Tallon IV's orbit. The crew intends for him to act as the head of Tallon IV's Pirate security force upon his completion, banking on his notoriously brutal disposition.

By the time the Parasite Queens go berserk on the Frigate Orpheon, Meta Ridley's body is still incomplete, and he remains in Biotech Research Area 2. When the Orpheon begins exploding due to Samus, Ridley awakens. Samus enters his chamber just in time to see him break free from his restraints and escape the frigate, descending to the Pirate bases on Tallon IV. Samus rushes to the Exterior Docking Hangar and pursues him to the planet below.

Meta Ridley shakes Samus' pursuit, forcing her to search for him via ground-based recon. She only briefly spots him flying over the Phendrana Shorelines in the Phendrana Drifts, possibly towards the Glacier One facility or the Phazon Mines to alert the Pirates there of the hunter's arrival.

Samus wreaks havoc on the Space Pirates' Phazon experiments and collects the twelve Chozo Artifacts required to access the Impact Crater. When Samus is about to unlock the Artifact Temple, Meta Ridley arrives to destroy the Chozo Totems, preventing her from entering the crater to cut off the Phazon supply. Ridley fights Samus once again, but is rendered vulnerable by his weak chest armor, and ultimately receives so much damage that his plasma wings short out and force him to battle grounded. Once Samus thoroughly weakens Ridley, the temple's Chozo Statues activate and blast him with lasers. Ridley falls into the abyss around the crater, disappearing in an explosion in the mist.

Phazon Crisis

Meta Ridley attacking Samus on Norion, in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

Despite his fall, Meta Ridley somehow survives and returns to the Space Pirates yet again, this time joining the Pirates of the homeworld on Urtraghus. At some point, Dark Samus infiltrates the Pirate Homeworld and corrupts all the Pirates there with Phazon, including Meta Ridley. This bends the entire faction to her will, and they begin serving her to spread Phazon throughout the galaxy.

Meta Ridley participates in the Pirate invasion of Norion. He is first seen by Samus from afar in Cargo Dock A, when he flies overhead and causes a PED Marine to exclaim. He later attacks Samus while she is vulnerable traversing a Morph Ball tunnel at Cargo Dock C, but she evades his grip using her Bombs, and he retreats. Ridley then ambushes her in Generator C just as she is about to activate it, descending with the intention of crushing Samus, but instead breaking through the glass floor, sending both of them hurtling down the Generator Shaft. Samus is forced to battle him as they fall thousands of meters underground, and since Ridley is not fully healed from his fight on Tallon IV, she defeats him with little struggle. At the battle's conclusion, Samus delivers several shots directly into Ridley's throat, leaving him to fall the rest of the way down the Generator Shaft as she is rescued by Rundas.

Despite this long fall, Ridley survives the battle and somehow returns to Urtraghus. There, he becomes the Pirate Seed's guardian; the massive quantities of raw Phazon provided to him directly by the Phazon Core heals his injuries and transforms him into "Omega Ridley". Whether he willingly enters the Leviathan or is forced by Dark Samus is unknown. Nevertheless, Samus fights him again in order to destroy the Leviathan and stop the corruption of Urtraghus. He curls up and appears to explode into Phazon, but Samus being blinded by light and subsequently overloaded by the Phazon shockwave leaves his fate up for debate.

Metroid Extermination

Proteus Ridley on SR388, in Metroid: Samus Returns.

Ridley somehow survives his defeat as Omega Ridley, and with the destruction of Phaaze at the hands of Samus, his body is cleansed of all Phazon. Though he retains some cybernetic implants from his time as Meta Ridley, he has regenerated enough flesh to shed roughly half of his armor, now called "Proteus Ridley". With Phazon only a memory, the Space Pirates return their attention to the Metroids.

Proteus Ridley travels alone to SR388, where he discovers that Samus has already exterminated all but one of the Metroids on the planet. He intercepts Samus and the baby's departure, abducting the helpless specimen and goading Samus into a battle. After receiving damage, Ridley attempts to escape with his prize, but Samus gives chase and forces him to let go of the Metroid. Samus retakes the baby and blasts Ridley's wing before he can close the distance, slamming him into a nearby cliffside and pinning him under debris.

However, Ridley casts the boulders aside and redoubles his offensive. He throws Samus against a wall and pins her to the ground, about to finish her off until the baby latches onto his head to save her. Ridley is able to repel the creature, but has released Samus, letting the baby heal Samus with the energy it has absorbed. Samus and the baby fight Ridley until he collapses, unconscious.

Shortly after Samus and the baby's departure, a Hornoad gnaws at one of Ridley's mechanical claws before being consumed by an X Parasite. This reveals that Ridley has discarded some or all of his mechanical components, implying that he has finally regenerated all organic components of his body.

Final Battle

Ridley with the last Metroid on the Ceres Space Colony, in Super Metroid.

After shedding his remaining cybernetics and departing SR388, the fully organic Ridley presumably follows Samus to the Ceres Space Colony, where she has delivered the baby for Galactic Federation research. Samus has left the station when Ridley arrives, and he mercilessly kills all of the station's inhabitants.

A distress call is intercepted by Samus, who quickly returns to Ceres. Ridley hides in the shadows until Samus comes upon the baby's containment capsule, ambushing her before she can take it. Samus returns fire, leading Ridley to activate the colony's self-destruct sequence and flee with the Metroid. Samus escapes the colony and pursues Ridley.

Ridley returns to Zebes, where the Zebesian Space Pirates have rebuilt their underground fortress since its destruction long ago, again seeking to propagate Metroids. Samus begins a rampage across Zebes, hunting the four Space Pirate leaders to unlock the Golden Statues and enter the new Tourian. Ridley is the last of the four to fall, hiding in his lair deep within Norfair. He again attempts to ambush her from the shadows, but this time, is soundly defeated, his body exploding into pieces at the end of the battle. However, he has successfully delivered the baby to Tourian, leaving its shattered capsule in the following room.

Following Ridley's defeat, the baby perishes in the climactic battle between Samus and Mother Brain. This battle also leads to the self-destruction of the entire planet Zebes, a last-ditch attempt to destroy Samus, which fails. With the Zebesian Space Pirates annihilated and Ridley's remains consumed in a planet-destroying explosion, it seemed that Ridley has finally met his end. This event marks his first true death.

Rebirth

Ridley's infant form "Little Birdie", in Metroid: Other M.

After the final battle on Zebes, Samus believes that the planet's destruction has taken with it Mother Brain, the Zebesians, the baby, and Ridley. Unbeknownst to her, DNA samples of Ridley and the Metroids linger on the surface of her Power Suit when she returns to the Galactic Federation. These samples are collected and sent to the BOTTLE SHIP, where a pro-bioweapons faction of the Federation uses them to clone Metroids. However, they fail to recognize Ridley's DNA, and he is unintentionally cloned in the process as well. This results in the birth of an infant of his species, which the scientists nickname "Little Birdie". With no potential for use as a bioweapon, Little Birdie is raised as a pet.

At some point, Little Birdie plays dead to lure an unarmed Lab Worker into its containment area. Once its cage is open, the creature kills him and escapes into the BOTTLE SHIP. MB witnesses the aftermath of this incident shortly before she is restrained, leading to her rebellion and massacre of the station's personnel.

While investigating the derelict space station, Samus comes across the remains of the unfortunate Lab Worker in the cage, and she feels a chill as if a "dark intelligence" is present. Shortly afterwards, Samus enters a simulated rainforest, where a shrill shriek heralds the arrival of two aggravated Griptians - in reality, the shriek comes from Little Birdie, and has frightened the Griptians into attacking. Samus then meets Little Birdie, deeming it no threat as it comically fails to open a piece of fruit and flees into the bushes, but feels disturbed as it silently watches her leave. In subsequent rooms, such as the Observation Room, the shriek is again heard, provoking wildlife such as a Dragotix into attacking Samus, though she does not recognize it as Little Birdie. This culminates in the Biological Experiment Floor, where Little Birdie's screech provokes Zeros, and subsequently Kihunters and a King Kihunter, to attack Samus. After Samus empties their nest, Little Birdie arrives and begins to ravenously devour the honey, growling aggressively at her. She feels manipulated by the creature, but leaved it alone and follows Adam's orders to head for the Exam Center.

Ridley's adolescent form "Mystery Creature", in Metroid: Other M.

After discovering Cyborg Zebesians in the Exam Center, Samus looks out a window to find the 07th Platoon engaged in battle with a "Mystery Creature". As she exits the building, the creature waits to ambush Samus, pinning her to the ground and screeching to summon other bioweapons to keep the 07th Platoon occupied. This targeted attack implies that the Mystery Creature has inherited Ridley's disdain for Samus. Samus repels the creature with the help of Anthony Higgs, who grazes it with a shot from his Plasma Gun and forces it to retreat, smashing through a wall.

Recuperating, the group discovers the mutilated body of Lyle Smithsonian, and Samus follows a trail of green blood to find the empty corpse of Little Birdie ripped open, indicating it was only the juvenile form of the Mystery Creature and has recently evolved thanks to the nutrients it has consumed (possibly including from Lyle's body). Adam orders Samus to follow the creature to the Sector 3 / Pyrosphere. With no success finding it, Adam instead tells Samus to search for survivors in Sector 2 / Cryosphere.

After Samus unknowingly meets MB, Adam notices that the wavelength frequencies of the Mystery Creature are growing more aggressive, and thus orders Samus to return to hunting it in the Pyrosphere. He preemptively authorizes use of the Plasma Beam if she encounters it. Samus eventually finds the lizard-creature's husk bound to a wall, again with its back torn open from within, indicating another evolution. She continues until the Geothermal Power Plant, discovering Anthony in a face-off with the Mystery Creature's new form in the darkness. It destroys the bridge to the exit, stranding Samus and Anthony on a wide platform.

The cloned Ridley fights Samus, in Metroid: Other M.

Once Samus opens the magma-eruption port, lava floods the room and illuminates it to reveal the beast's final evolution: Ridley. Samus is shocked by his reappearance (possibly relapsed PTSD), having believed she would never see him again, and feels her world come down as she realizes how quickly her victory on Zebes has been undone. Ridley takes this opportunity to grab her, tormenting her further to make her shed her Power Suit. Anthony comes to the rescue, forcing him to drop Samus with his Plasma Gun, so Ridley turns his attention to the soldier. Ridley quickly overcomes Anthony, knocking him off the platform and towards the lava below using his tail. This brings Samus back to her senses, and she composes herself enough to use the Plasma Beam to fight Ridley once more.

After Ridley's body is sufficiently ravaged by Samus in her rage, he falls to the platform, bloodied and seemingly unconscious. Samus, after peering over the edge to see if Anthony has survived, is suddenly attacked again by the awake Ridley. The two briefly scuffle, until Ridley uses his plasma breath to soften part of the wall and ram through it, again escaping into the BOTTLE SHIP. Afterwards, Samus turns her attention to pursuing the Deleter and discovering MB rather than finishing off Ridley, avoiding him entirely.

When the disguised MB alludes to a "presence" that made the bioweapons go berserk, Samus first assumes she means Ridley, before being corrected that it was MB. Later, before Adam detaches Sector Zero, he gives Samus several final orders, one of which is to kill Ridley. Adam compares his threat to that of the Metroids, and states that only Samus is capable of defeating him. However, this turns out not to be entirely true.

Ridley's husk, in Metroid: Other M.

The injured Ridley has retreated to a room in the Bioweapon Research Center, struggling with his wounds. Suddenly, the door to Room MW opens (likely thanks to Dr. Madeline Bergman), allowing a Queen Metroid to emerge. Though Ridley roars defiantly, he is quickly killed when the Queen Metroid sipons the energy from his body, leaving him a lifeless husk. Samus later discovers this husk, shocked at what could have killed him.

During Samus's return to the BOTTLE SHIP to retrieve Adam's helmet, Ridley's husk is no longer present. It is assumed that the Galactic Federation Army extracts the husk and transfers it to the Biologic Space Laboratories research station, where it is frozen to be preserved.

X infection

Neo-Ridley, in Metroid Fusion.

The husk of Ridley's clone is collected from the BOTTLE SHIP and stored on the Biologic Space Laboratories research station, in Sub-Zero Containment. His frozen husk can be seen on the Main Deck as early as the beginning of the game, though Samus receives damage from the extreme cold.

When the main silo of the Central Reactor Core goes offline, Samus is stranded in an elevator and forced to find another way to the Main Deck. This leads her to stumble inside the Sub-Zero Containment chamber, witnessing the Ridley husk's eyes glow before crumbling as a Core-X appears from within. This X Parasite travels to Sector 1 (SRX) and uses the DNA of Ridley's clone to perfectly imitate the thawed husk.

After Samus sabotages the Metroid research and is ordered to leave the B.S.L. station, she exfiltrates via a Tourian-like area that leads her to the imitation husk. The X proceeds to heavily mutate it, resulting in a far more menacing creature called "Neo-Ridley". This duplicate is much louder and more feral than the Ridley that Samus knows, but she is still able to defeat him and the Core-X. Samus absorbs the X, obtaining the Screw Attack ability and permanently eliminating Ridley at last.