Darkling

A Pirate Commando before (left) and after Ing possession (right).

Darkling is a Luminoth term used to identify Ing-possessed creatures and mechanisms. Most of them will have the word dark added to the front of their unpossessed counterpart's name. The term Darkling is also used to identify original bioforms that can only be seen on Dark Aether.

History

The Dark Quad is an example of a mechanoid Darkling.

On their very first visit to Aether, the Ing race immediately knew how to invade the bodies of native beasts and made contact with the Luminoth as Darklings, attacking them on sight. Possessing simple-minded animals is seemingly an innate ability, and it is stated they are capable of this at a very young age. Taking over sapient organic beings such as Luminoth, however, was something that had to be learned, as the Ing were not capable of this until some time passed since the start of the war for planetary energy . Eventually, they learned to do the same for artificial intelligent machines near the conflict's final stages, prior to Samus's arrival to Aether.

Darkling-possession is the Ing Horde's solution to gaining access to the light dimension, in which its atmosphere is otherwise fatal to them. An Ing invades the opposite dimension by creating a small Portal and emerges in as the black fog to possess the nearest being within its range, be it synthetic or organic. If an Ing wants to possess a being on Dark Aether, its homeworld, it needs only to lunge itself at its target and envelop it in its liquid, semi-gaseous, or intangible form, which will then be "absorbed" into said host's body. A Darkling's body allows the dark Ing within to survive in the light dimension, and the presence of said Ing prevents the light body from deteriorating inside their corrosive dark dimension. Some Ing have brought their possessed victims to their homeworld and added them to the Ing Horde; as a result, their army is composed of a variety of beings, ranging from mechanoids to wildlife, pure Ing, and others. The Luminoth were the first highly intelligent organisms targeted for Darkling-possession, creating Dark Luminoth and thereby leaving no choice for the light-dwelling race but to kill their possessed friends and family. Later sapient life-forms that fall under Ing control are the Space Pirates who have come to Aether seeking Phazon and the Galactic Federation soldiers sent after them.

Since the Ing are a sentient and intelligent race, any animal relying on instinct or robotic entity with basic programming becomes a vastly larger threat when converted into a Darkling, as their low intelligence is replaced with the invading Ing's greatly advanced mind. It is largely due to this that the Ing Horde nearly wins the war against the Luminoth. By converting a portion of Light Aether's beings into Darklings, the Ing strategically attacked with military precision important locations and stole the planetary energy from three of the light planet's four Energy Controllers in order to stabilize their own world and destroy the Luminoth's (the fourth controller is protected by Samus's intervention).

Description

The Dark War Wasp, a classic Darkling. Little has changed from the standard War Wasp besides its head structure, coloration and in-game damage potential.

The victims of Darkling-possession gain an altered physical appearance following the Ing's corruption: one change that is seen in all but one possession is an overall purple/darker shade of coloration (the lone exception to this is the Quadraxis drone). Other possible changes are the growths of thorns and spikes on the possessed being's body, and the least common mutation is the addition of one or several red glowing spheres on the Darkling; these spheres are likely the same cluster of red particles present in several pure Ing.

According to a Logbook entry, the controlling Ing can leave the host's body any time it wishes to do so; there is no known method to separate the entities without the former's consent. Killing a Darkling will end the lives of the host and the inhabiting Ing. Possession is also possible with deceased bioforms, though it seems that the time usually required for complete parasitic fusion, a mere few seconds, is exponentially extended in this case. Until the fusion is finished, the "resurrected" Darkling will have slow movements and reflexes, similar to a typical zombie. The Ing must be certain if their potential hosts are healthy or clinically dead before taking control: a scan in the Dark Agon Wastes reveals that, following a biosystem shock, a Space Pirate suffered cardiac arrest during its conversion into a Darkling, causing the deaths of both individuals.

An Ing that fuses with an entity tends to greatly increase the latter's natural health and/or offensive capabilities; in most cases, the combined being is more powerful than the lone Ing, but now shares the high vulnerability to light-based weaponry. However, if a powerful Ing is to possess a weak host for whatever reason, the resulting Darkling is likely to be weaker than the invader's pure form. This scenario seems to intentionally take place during a young Ing's trials to adulthood, where it will prove its worth by using a weak individual in the battlefield and graduate to the control of stronger entities. There exist some limitations to their ability: a lone Ing possessing an incredibly powerful and immense being is seemingly impossible, and instead requires an untold amount of Ing members to successfully take over such a being. This is the case for the Quadraxis. Interesting to note is that some bioforms' minds, despite being possessed, are difficult to control and are not fully accessible by the Ing. This renders the invading race incapable of utilizing some of their hosts' natural abilities, such as the sonic blast attack from the Bloggs being nonexistent in the Dark Blogg.

Quadraxis, a powerful Darkling.

Darklings usually have Aether counterparts, such as the Dark Splinter and the Splinter. However, some are not known to have any: the Dark Phlogus, the Amorbis, and Darkling Tentacles are a few examples. These creatures could be considered as original Darklings, as they were seemingly born on Dark Aether without having any light counterpart possessed and/or brought over to the dark world. Below is a list of all Darkling organisms encountered by Samus in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, divided into two categories: those confirmed to be Ing-possessed entities and the previously described original Darklings.

Ing-possessed entities

• Dark Alpha Splinter
• Dark Blogg
• Dark Diligence Drone
• Dark Grenchler
• Dark Ingsmasher
• Dark Missile Trooper
• Dark Pirate Commando
• Dark Pirate Trooper
• Dark Preed
• Dark Quad MB/CM
• Dark Shredder
• Dark Splinter
• Dark Tallon Metroid
• Dark Trooper
• Dark War Wasp
• Corrupted Sentreye
• Bomb Guardian (Dark Alpha Sandigger)
• Grapple Guardian (Giant Dark Grenchler variant)
• Spider Guardian (Dark Pillbug)
• Power Bomb Guardian (Dark Sporb)
• Quadraxis (main body and head module)

Original Darklings

• Amorbis/Dark Amorbis
• Chykka Larva/Chykka/Dark Chykka
• Chykling
• Dark Phlogus
• Darkling Tentacle (potentially a pure Ing)
• Ingclaw (potentially a pure Ing)
• Nightbarb
• Webling/Dark Webbing (potentially a Dark Luminoth Webbing)

The Darkling Tentacle and Ingclaw are peculiar entities, as their names and Logbook entries describe them as being both pure Ing and Darkling.

The Webling is a more bizarre case due to the fact that its potential light counterpart, the Luminoth Webbing, is a nonliving, non-sentient, inanimate object. All in-game evidence regarding Darklings have always pointed towards the fact that the Ing can only invade the bodies of organic beings (alive or dead) and robots (online or offline), making the Webling a contradiction of sorts. However, there are no scans related to the Webling or Luminoth Webbing that state any connection whatsoever between the two, leaving the possibility that the former is an original Darkling with a structure simply identical to the latter.

Countermeasures

The Power Suit notifying Samus of a failed Symbiotic possession attempt.

Samus Aran and specially armored Luminoth seemed to be immune to any form of Darkling-possession, the former having acquired the Energy Transfer Module early on in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, which generates a constant supply of light energy from within, thus rendering it impossible for her to become a Darkling. An Ing attempting to possess Samus following the Energy Transfer Module's acquisition will simply leave her body mere seconds after enveloping and/or entering her, though she may receive damage from the Ing's corrosive body. If the special armor of a Luminoth is to break and allow access to an Ing, the wearer would be prepared to end their own life before losing their will. There are uniquely powerful Luminoth, however, that possess incredible stamina and psychic durability, and capable of fending off Darkling-possessions without the use of the aforementioned armor: A-Voq is one such Luminoth that repelled numerous Ing-possession attempts.

Light Crystals and Light Beacons also appear to provide some protection against Ing possession on Dark Aether. An Ing attempting to possess Samus's body will leave immediately should Samus enter a field of light, and the Ing almost never attempt an Ing possession attack on Samus while she is standing in the center of an active light field.

Destruction of Dark Aether

It is unknown if any Darklings survive on Light Aether when Dark Aether collapses, though it is a possibility, and it is known that at least one Dark Tallon Metroid is kept as a specimen by the Space Pirates on one of their homeworlds and dissected for research purposes.

If any number of Darklings remain on Aether after the Luminoth awaken from their life-preserving stasis, it is probable they are disposed of by the latter, given their deep hatred for the Ing race.

Trivia

• Darklings share many similarities to individuals possessed by spirits and demons.
  • If the Luminoth Webbing is indeed a candidate for Ing-possession, the resulting Darkling would be akin to a poltergeist event, during which inanimate objects such as dolls are moved and controlled by malevolent ghosts.
  • The behavior of Darklings also bear a strong resemblance to the Symbiotes from Marvel comics, specifically the alien symbiote worn by Spider-Man that later became known as Venom. It is unknown if this alien symbiote served as one possible inspiration for the Ing. When a Warrior Ing tries to possess Samus, the attempt fails due to her Energy Transfer Module, and the HUD displays this text: "Armor systems online. Symbiotic possession attempt failed."
• Dark Phlogus, Darkling Tentacles, and Nightbarbs are odd cases, because the only creatures that could potentially be their natural forms are only seen on other planets; the Puddle Spore and Reaper Vines are found on Tallon IV, while Nightbarbs on Bryyo share the same name. If the mentioned Darklings are not original beings, then it is possible that the Chozo, Luminoth, and Bryyonians, having all met each other at some point in the past, exchanged a few forms of wildlife from their respective planets, thus explaining how the Ing are able to possess these extraterrestrial bioforms.
• The Quadraxis drone is the only Darkling that does not retain a darker shade of coloration after the Ing fully possess it. Curiously, when the Ing are first attempting to get it active, the drone's body momentarily turned dark purple with glowing blue "eyes" before reverting to its normal color scheme.
• The corpses of Keybearer Luminoth found throughout Aether seem to be wearing smooth, glowing armor pieces not found on living Luminoth nor among normal Luminoth corpses; these Keybearers are possibly wearing the special armor designed to protect their wearers from Ing-possession.
• Ironically, despite being dark-based creatures, some Darklings are still vulnerable to certain subcategories of dark energy. For example, if a Dark Pirate Trooper or Dark Pirate Commando stumbles upon Dark Water, it gets incinerated. Other examples would be that the Dark Missile Trooper and Dark Pirate Commandos remain susceptible to the Entangler's effect.
• It is a common misconception that Dark Samus is a Darkling due to the "Dark" prefix in her name. Using the Light Beam on her inflicts very little damage in comparison to the Dark Beam, evidence that the doppelganger originates from the normal dimension. Furthermore, Dark Samus as a Darkling would entail Samus being possessed by the Ing.