History Fridge / MetroidDread

* A single Chozo Warrior is powerful enough to be a miniboss. Imagine how terrifying was the Chozo army in its prime, when there were thousands or even millions of them.

!!Fridge Horror

!!Fridge Brilliance

* If Ridley hadn't kidnapped the baby metroid, Raven Beak would have and Samus wouldn't have survived the rescue attempt.

* Regarding the names of the two tribes: The more scientific, peaceful tribe is called the Thoha, which (especially given the Chozo's BuildLikeAnEgyptian tendencies) might conjure up Thoth, the birdlike Egyptian god of wisdom, while the tribe that Raven Beak, who mimics Adam throughout Samus' mission, belongs to is called the Mawkin. Mawkin. Mocking. Mockingbirds can mimic other bird calls. Samus, having Chozo DNA, is essentially a bird herself, and Raven Beak was mimicking the "calls" that a "bird" like Samus would respond to in order to carry out his plan. In addition, Thoha is a bit of an anagram of 鳩 (hato, Japanese for "pigeon," pigeons being a type of doves, symbols of peace) plus an H, while Mawkin looks and sounds a lot like 猛禽 (mōkin, Japanese for "bird of prey"), reflecting the two tribes' different personalities.

* Regarding the names of the two tribes: The more scientific, peaceful tribe is called the Thoha, which (especially given the Chozo's BuildLikeAnEgyptian tendencies) might conjure up Thoth, the birdlike Egyptian god of wisdom, while the tribe that Raven Beak, who mimics Adam throughout Samus' mission, belongs to is called the Mawkin. Mawkin. Mocking. Mockingbirds can mimic other bird calls. Samus, having Chozo DNA, is essentially a bird herself, and Raven Beak was mimicking the "calls" that a "bird" like Samus would respond to in order to carry out his plan. In addition, Thoha is an anagram of "hato" (Japanese for "pigeon," pigeons being related to doves, symbols of peace) plus an H, while Mawkin looks and sounds a lot like "moukin" (Japanese for "bird of prey"), reflecting the two tribes' different personalities.

* The Chozo name for the X seems to be "Eris" (it might be "Eddis", but as we've never seen the word in Chozo writing, we can't say for sure), which is brilliant for two reasons. Number one, Eris was the Greek goddess of discord, which fits perfectly with the chaotic, shapeshifting, dangerous X (plus, it's not only the name of a real dwarf planet, which fits the space theme) but one that was once considered the tenth (Roman numeral ''X'') planet and, in the past, was called Planet ''X'' and ''X''ena (after another famous fictional warrior woman much like Samus)). Number two, the game was developed by the Spanish company Creator/MercurySteam, and the name sounds similar to "equis", Spanish for the letter X.

* The Chozo name for the X seems to be "Eris" (it might be "Eddis", but as we've never seen the word in Chozo writing, we can't say for sure), which is brilliant for two reasons. Number one, Eris was the Greek goddess of discord, which fits perfectly with the chaotic, shapeshifting X. Number two, the game was developed by the Spanish company Creator/MercurySteam, and the name sounds similar to "equis", Spanish for the letter X.

* Samus seems particularly nonchalant except against the most serious of threats, even casually dealing with Corpius and Kraid when they were down to their last stand, which seems at odds with the rest of the series… but it makes sense. Not only has she already had a sense of self-confidence throughout the series (besides ''Other M''), but this game is the tail end of the franchise thus far. Contrast to ''Prime'', where she may PowerWalk but is still always cautious and on-guard to shoot the nearest threat; that was a Samus fresh off beating Mother Brain the first time, still in her relative rookie period. Meanwhile, ''Dread'' has her give off a SeenItAll aura, killing with brutal efficiency before moving onto the next objective. She's not even all that startled by her BagOfSpilling since ''Fusion'' happened so shortly ago for her; the only things that really get her cautious are Raven Beak, a few ambushes, and the bigger X bosses. After an entire series, Samus is firmly in ExperiencedProtagonist territory, and it shows.

* Samus seems particularly nonchalant except against the most serious of threats, even casually dealing with Corpius and Kraid when they were down to their last stand, which seems at odds with the rest of the series… but it makes sense. Not only has she had a sense of self-confidence throughout the series (besides ''Other M''), but this game is the tail end of the franchise thus far. Contrast to ''Prime'', where she may PowerWalk but is still always cautious and on-guard to shoot the nearest threat; that was a Samus fresh off beating Mother Brain the first time, still in her relative rookie period. Meanwhile, ''Dread'' has her give off a SeenItAll aura, killing with brutal efficiency before moving onto the next objective. She's not even all that startled by her BagOfSpilling since ''Fusion'' happened so shortly ago for her; the only things that really get her cautious are Raven Beak, a few ambushes, and the bigger X bosses. After an entire series, Samus is firmly in ExperiencedProtagonist territory, and it shows.

* Samus seems particularly nonchalant except against the most serious of threats, even casually dealing with Corpius and Kraid when they were down to their last stand, which seems at odds with the rest of the series… but it makes sense. Not only has she had a sense of self-confidence throughout the series (besides ''Other M''), but this game is the tail end of the franchise thus far. Compare and contrast to ''Prime'', where she may PowerWalk but is still always cautious and on-guard to shoot the nearest threat; that was a Samus fresh off killing Mother Brain the first time, still in her relative rookie period. Meanwhile, ''Dread'' has her give off a SeenItAll aura, wasting little energy if possible and killing efficiently before moving onto the next objective. She's not even all that startled by her BagOfSpilling since ''Fusion'' happened so shortly ago for her; the only things that really get her super cautious are Raven Beak, ambushes, and the more serious X bosses. After an entire series, Samus is firmly in ExperiencedProtagonist territory and it shows.

** This may factor into why Quiet Robe's X was able to help Samus escape ZDR too. Maybe an especially strong loyalty or desire can overpower the X's natural will to consume. Of course, this questions the very nature of X Parasites, making one wonder about every creature on the BSL; maybe the SA-X's tireless hunt for Samus was merely a corruption of her already thorough desire to seek and destroy.
** What exactly triggered the self-destruct after Raven Beak's defeat. In all likelihood, it was ADAM. ADAM states very casually after the X get loose that they'll need to destroy the entire planet to keep them contained, but that it can't be done until Samus has dealt with Raven Beak and gotten to her ship. The moment that Samus defeats the X-possessed Raven Beak, a countdown starts; more than likely, that was ADAM. But why didn't he warn Samus first? Because he ''couldn't''; the entire reason Samus kept needing to link with the terminals to speak with him was because their communications were cut. He just had to start the countdown and trust that Samus would make it to the ship.
** Why does ADAM already know what Samus's Metroid Suit is capable of the moment that she reaches the ship? Because by the time she reached it, their connection was reestablished and he'd already downloaded the data himself. However, if he knew Quiet Robe was on the ship, it's possible the two of them discussed what needed to be done to save Samus.

* Samus seems particularly nonchalant except against the most serious of threats, even casually dealing with Corpius and Kraid when they were down to their last stand, which seems at odds with the rest of the series… but it makes sense. Not only has she had a sense of self-confidence throughout the series besides ''Prime 3'' and ''Other M'', but this is at the tail end of the franchise thus far. Compare and contrast to ''Prime'', where she's always cautious and on-guard or ready to shoot the nearest threat even if she has a bit of a PowerWalk; that was a Samus presumably fairly fresh off of killing Mother Brain the first time, still in her relative rookie period. Meanwhile, ''Dread'' has her give off something of a SeenItAll aura, where she wastes little energy if possible and kills efficiently before moving onto the next objective, and she's not even all that startled by her BagOfSpilling since ''Fusion'' happened so shortly ago for her; the only things that really get her super cautious are Raven Beak, ambushes, and the more serious X-infected boss fights. After an entire series, Samus is firmly in ExperiencedProtagonist territory and isn't afraid to show it whatsoever.
* The Dread Suit absorbing the Phantom Cloak from Corpius makes sense, given that the Fusion Suit was capable of doing something similar -- and, according to the developers, the Dread Suit ''is'' the Fusion Suit after regenerating most of the metal exoskeleton fragments that were excised due to X-corruption in ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion''.
* Samus' iconic ShouldersOfDoom were always somewhat obtrusive, and even if they did in some way aid in powering her armour, they would obscure her vision somewhat. With the reveal of Chozo wearing armour, it makes sense. For the Chozo, who have longer necks and wider shoulders, this is less of an issue, and was likely a relic from the original unmodified design.

* The Chozo name for the X seems to be "Eris" (it might be "Eddis", but as we've never seen the word in Chozo writing, we can't say for sure), which is brilliant for two reasons. Number one, Eris was the Greek goddess of chaos, which fits perfectly with the chaotic, shapeshifting X. Number two, the game was developed by the Spanish company Creator/MercurySteam, and the name sounds similar to "equis", Spanish for the letter X.

** Then there’s the matter of the X-possessed Quiet Robe. It waits inside Samus' own ship — the ONLY way off the planet that's about to explode — and simply just appears behind her when she makes it back. Instead of commandeering the ship or attacking her, it lets her absorb it. The brilliance kicks in when you recall the game's intro — it states X can absorb and recall their host's memories. (Though it is stated that they can only do this when the host is alive, it wouldn't be the first time assumptions have been made about the X and found to be wrong.) Quiet Robe's memories and desire to aid Samus thus overpower the X’s survival instincts long enough for the X Parasite, and the Thoha tribe's innate ability to control Metroids, to be absorbed into Samus so she could seal off her life-draining powers and be able to escape the exploding ZDR.

* As a RewatchBonus, it becomes more and more clear over the course of the game that ADAM is not himself. This culminates near the end, where he begins addressing Samus as "Samus Aran" and tells her to "fulfill her destiny". The real ADAM is much more familiar with Samus than that - it's clearly shown in the opening cutscene. He challenges Samus about the pay for the job, and even calls her Lady. Raven Beak would never do such things.

** Furthermore, Raven Beak leaves Samus in the deepest part of the planet, with no abilities besides her Fusion Suit itself, the Long Beam, and Missiles. Imprisoned underground, she begins to make her way back to her ship, [[spoiler:as Raven Beak prepares to use either her or her Metroid DNA to [[GalacticConquerer take over the galaxy]]]]. [[VideoGame/SuperMetroid The last Metroid is in captivity]]... but the galaxy is ''not'' at peace.

* Samus' Metroid power briefly awakens when she sees the mural of Raven Beak ordering the slaughter of the Thoha Chozo. The only other times it involuntarily awakens this early is during moments of extreme stress (i.e. Raven Beak's first attack) - this could mean Samus is terrified at seeing the facsimile of Raven Beak, or it could show her fury at seeing the massacre of the Thoha.

** Counting the ''Prime'' games, she didn't even talk to U-Mos in ''Prime 2'' who was in just as (if not more) awful of a predicament as Quiet Robe. This shows just how much she respects the Chozo.

** Furthermore, Raven Beak's name combined with this and the silhouette of his helmet essentially translates to a [[StealthPun Stealth]] PunnyName; Of course a bird-man who is essentially a Space Pirate would be called "Blackbeak."
** Alternatively, you could look at Raven Beak X's fate as Samus defeating an amalgamation of all the threats she's faced over the course of the mainline games (ignoring the Prime series)- A Space Pirate Commander, an X-Parasite, and Raven Beak himself. There was no way that Samus "I've killed more planets than the Galactic Empire" Aran wasn't going to take it down.

* The Chozo-made Storm Missiles having similarities to the Luminoth-made Seeker Missiles is not a coincidence - as detailed back in ''Echoes'', the Luminoth and the Chozo were once friends, and their engineers and craftsmen most likely traded notes.
** Many fans have also pointed out that Raven Beak uses dark and light arm cannon attacks in his battle, most similar to the Luminoth's Darkburst and Sunburst. His lacking the Annihilation Beam makes sense, too - it was a late-war creation by the Luminoth, made long after they'd gone their separate ways from the Chozo.
* Why do the Chozo Soldiers use spears instead of arm cannons? During Samus' flashback, the monitor showing the DNA transfer has both Raven Beak and Samus' right arms highlighted in red. This implies that the use of a Chozo arm cannon is somehow related to DNA. Why would it be this way? Chozo arm cannons are so adaptable it's almost scary - just look at how many different weapons and tools Samus and Raven Beak can use! Especially compared to arm cannons from other societies, such as the hunters in ''Prime Hunters'' who only really use their Affinity Weapons to their full potential.

* It's common knowledge that the silhouette of Samus' Fusion Suit helmet resembles a Metroid, and that the three circles on her back symbolize their nuclei. A new addition in ''Dread'' is the facemask covering her mouth and nose under her helmet - combined with the sharp bottom of her visor, it's actually reminiscent of a hooked beak, like a Chozo.

* ZDR’s sudden destruction after Raven Beak’s death comes out of nowhere, but it does make sense considering Raven Beak’s characterization and ego. It stands to reason the that, if the Itorash fell, Raven Beak probably died along with it, so he probably rigged the planet to explode in the event of his death. Either because he does believe in his goal of bringing order to the galaxy enough to understand the X must be eliminated if he can’t be there to stop th event of his death, or because he’s too proud and hateful and just wants to invoke TakingYouWithMe.

* Having choked out Samus after their battle, Raven Beak repeats his proverbial {{catchphrase}}, "''hadar... sen olmen''" or "power is everything." Moments later, Samus takes his words as advice and fully draws on her power (and ''his'') as a Metroid to absolutely ''wreck'' his shit.
* There's something poetic about Samus defeating Raven Beak by exploiting a structural weakpoint in his armor - she's been blowing holes in doors and alloys throughout the entire ''Metroid'' series. Speed Booster Blocks? Open with Speed Booster. Raven Beak's helmet? Open with ''Metroid fury''.

* The Chozo name for the X seems to be "Eris," (it might be "Eddis," but as we've never seen the word in Chozo writing, we can't say for sure) which is brilliant for two reasons. Number one, Eris was the Greek goddess of chaos, which fits perfectly with the chaotic, shapeshifting X. Number two, the game was developed by the Spanish company Creator/MercurySteam, and the name sounds similar to "equis," Spanish for the letter X.
* Kraid's precence after Super Metroid may seem odd at first glance, given Zebes was outright destroyed at the end of that game. But the Galactic Federation managed to get ahold of Ridley's remains somehow, a feat that would've faced the same challenges. Given at that point Ridley had been brought back by the space pirates twice, and Kraid once, the most likely answer is the space pirates had samples of genetic material on hand for future attempts should things go sour once again. If these made it off Zebes before it blew up, or wasn't even on the planet to begin with, then the samples would've escaped Zebes' destruction. With the Federation seemingly clamping down on space pirate activity and the group seemingly ceasing to be a major threat afterward, most likely the GF captured space pirate assets that contained a backup of Ridley's DNA, while Kraid's DNA fell into Raven Beak's hands at some point. Chances are he was raiding the last remhnants of the space pirates hoping they might have preserved a metroid sample, which presumably failed as those samples either didn't make it off Zebes, ended up in Federation hands, or else the pirates never got the time to set aside DNA samples from their resurrected metroid breeding program before Samus wiped everything out as usual.

** Raven's brutal disposition, his association with the colors purple and red, disregard for his own men, and his growing wings in the second phase harken heavily to '''''[[ArchEnemy the cunning god of death himself.]]''''' Raven Beak is more or less a twisted combination of the Chozo, a race she loves and was raised by; and Ridley, the one creature she despises the most for destroying her childhood.

** And then imagine being in this society when it gets an X epidemic. Since they had no cure, the Mawkin were forced to just quarantine their infected brethren within Elun (which seems like it wasn't originally made as a quarantine bay, judging by the architecture). Oh, and by "infected brethren" that eventually meant ''literally everyone''. Only those who could retain their loyalty, such as the some of the Chozo Soldiers, were allowed freedom. The end result? All Mawkin were either mindless X zombies or destructive killing machines loyal to Raven Beak - no in betweens.

* Kraid's presence on ZDR puts a chilling spin on ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid''. Because Zebes was destroyed the only way Kraid could be on ZDR is that '''''Raven Beak and the Mawkin were on Zebes and looking for the Baby just like Samus.''''' Kraid wasn't even the objective, just something the Mawkin took with them when they failed to recover the Baby before Mother Brain killed it.

* Quiet Robe's X copy turning out to be benevolent and helping saving Samus at the end isn't the fridge horror part. Remember that the Thoha tribe created the Metroids to drive the X to extinction, which in turn caused ''the entire rest of the franchise'', and then realize that for all of their fears, paranoia and the GodzillaThreshold they crossed to ensure the safety of the galaxy. The very existence of a benevolent X Parasite flies in the face of everything they and anyone else knows of the species, which could very well mean that had more research been done into the X to figure out how to trigger this on a wider scale, the central conflict that haunts the series and shaped all of Samus's life from the first game onwards could've never had to happen.
* The penultimate boss of the game is Raven Beak’s right-hand-man, an Elite Chozo Soldier in golden armor, who midway through the boss fight is revealed to be another X-infected host. On its own this may not seem much, until you realize that the Chozo-X is guarding the entrance to the transport pod leading to Raven Beak’s ship, which would seem odd given how careful Raven Beak has been in order to avoid infection...Unless he has somehow discovered a means to tame and control at least some of the X Parasites that have infected his Mawkin brethren into serving as his most elite soldiers. This is even hinted in one of the unlockable images shown in the art gallery which depicts Raven Beak and a group of Mawkin Chozo standing ominously as one of their own is being infected by an X Parasite. While the other Mawkin are clearly horrified at what is happening to their fellow warrior, Raven Beak looks to be calmly observing the infected Chozo as if he has found yet another weapon that he can use for his army.

** Samus' battle with the Elite Chozo Soldier is also a sneak peek at Raven Beak's plan - he's pitting his two ultimate warriors against each other to see who is worthy of being called his right-hand-man.
* Samus's [[WaveMotionGun Hyper Beam]] in the Metroid Suit is obscenely overpowered, seemingly due to draining Raven Beak and his ship simultaneously given how similar it is to his own beam cannon attacks. But then the last time Samus got the Hyper Beam was from the HeroicSacrifice of the Baby Metroid in its overgrown state -- which implies that Metroids simply have this amount of life energy power in the first place naturally. And if that's the case, the universe is lucky the Chozo designed them to absorb rather than exert, or else they'd be destroying ''everything'' like Samus could.

* When the Galactic Federation finds out the X might not be extinct, they send out robots with ''DNA extracting'' technology. Considering that both Fusion and Other M made the existence of a powerful pro-bioweapons conspiracy in the Federation clear, it’s likely that the EMMI’s mission wasn’t just investigation, but also ''appropriation'' of the X. After seeing what a disaster trying to control the X was in Fusion, Raven Beak taking control of the EMMI might have actually saved the galaxy in the long run.

* The fact that the Storm Missiles and Raven Beak's Black Hole and Sun creating attacks resemble the Seeker Missiles, the Darkburst, and the Sunburst attacks from ''Echoes'', carries the unfortunate implication that the Luminoth specifically met the Mawkin when they met the Chozo. Or at the very least, the Mawkin were the only ones to truly take any of the technological ideas from the Luminoth as we haven't seen this among Chozo technology at all before now.

* It seems strange that the E.M.M.I. each come with an ability for Samus to absorb - each one even has the initials of an ability in their designations. We already saw in ''Fusion'' that the GF is capable of replicating Samus's power-ups, so it seems that they tried working them into the Exelion Star Corporation's newest project too. Not only that, but the GF's response upon rediscovering the X was to send E.M.M.I.s rather than immediately call the one woman in the galaxy immune to them. Overall, it seems that the GF is exploring ways to ''replace Samus'' with machines that they can control.
** Which makes sense, both for evil and not-evil reasons. Samus has shown herself to be one of the best ways to take down the forces of evil- X Parasites, Space Pirates, Phazon, evil Chozo, and so on. However, as good as she is, she's only one woman. She can't be everywhere at once, and if something were to happen to her- like when she got infected back in ''Fusion''- they'd be royally screwed. Having a way to fight back against the darkness of the universe makes sense. Further, Chozo technology is some of the most advanced tech in the universe, and wanting a slice of that pie is something very understandable. What they might want with these technologies is where this can verge into the Fridge Horror category, but not necessarily.

* If the player sequence breaks past Kraid, they can progress all the way until the X outbreak and further. Returning to Kraid's lair in Cataris, his roars can still be heard in the rooms preceding his chamber... but upon entering his room, he's ''already gone''. This time those roars weren't just him having a tantrum, they were him unsuccessfully fighting off the X!

* Samus seems particularly nonchalant except against the most serious of threats, even casually dealing with Corpius and Kraid when they were down to their last stand, which seems at odds with the rest of the series.. but it makes sense. Not only has she had a sense of self-confidence throughout the series besides ''Prime 3'' and ''Other M'', but this is at the tail end of the franchise thus far. Compare and contrast to ''Prime'', where she's always cautious and on-guard or ready to shoot the nearest threat even if she has a bit of a PowerWalk; that was a Samus presumably fairly fresh off of killing Mother Brain the first time, still in her relative rookie period. Meanwhile ''Dread'' has her give off something of a SeenItAll aura, where she wastes little energy if possible and kills efficiently before moving onto the next objective, and she's not even all that startled by her BagOfSpilling since ''Fusion'' happened so shortly ago for her; the only things that really get her super cautious are Raven Beak, ambushes and the more serious X-infected boss fights. After an entire series, Samus is firmly in ExperiencedProtagonist territory and isn't afraid to show it whatsoever.

* Samus' iconic ShouldersOfDoom were always somewhat obtrusive, and even if they did in some way aid in powering her armour they would obscure her vision somewhat. With the reveal of Chozo wearing armour, it makes sense. For the Chozo, who have longer necks and wider shoulders, this is less of an issue, and was likely a relic from the original unmodified design.
* Raven Beak referring to Samus as the last and most powerful Metroid, something the fandom also does. [[AscendedFanon Looks like Nintendo watches Metroid sites, talk about Ascending Fan ideas]].

** Relatedly, the beginning of the Game has ADAM avert a lot of ShowDontTell by telling Samus about the E.M.M.I.'s capabilities, behavioural patterns and what she should do around them, whereas other games would have demonstrated this through gameplay and interacting with the E.M.M.I. repeatedly. This seems odd until it's revealed that the ADAM you're speaking to is actually Raven Beak, and he's intentionally constructed Samus's ordeal throughout ZDR to push her to her limits against strong, relentless foes to fully awaken the Metroid DNA within her. In effect he's like a game master setting out the rules for the challenger to proceed throughout the maze-like corridors of the planet, with the E.M.M.I. units functioning as persistent obstacles that must be treated differently than any other foe in the game- just like the player themselves have to treat the E.M.M.I. encounters.
** The first E.M.M.I. encountered is almost specifically weakened to teach Samus how to kill them, lacking the armour plating, mobility or climbing function of the others, and the central unit Samus drains to form the Omega Cannon with is already dead when she enters the room. With the above in mind, plus the fact that the first E.M.M.I. isn't even fought in an E.M.M.I. Zone, it's clear that this was intentional, as a WarmupBoss designed to showcase to Samus how to handle the E.M.M.I. going forward. Of note is that the fully-functioning White E.M.M.I. that Samus encounters as the first 'proper' E.M.M.I. encounter ''lacks'' the ability to crawl into small spaces, despite ADAM claiming it's a standard feature and the rest of the E.M.M.I. units having it, whereas the white one can't do it even when it's not damaged. In that regard, it's likely that Raven Beak [[HandicappedBadass intentionally disabled the white E.M.M.I.'s ability to do so]] in order to give the weakened Samus a fighting chance to avoid it, meaning that even the first 'complete' E.M.M.I. she faces isn't fully capable as it would be. The first E.M.M.I. also being damaged where the others are not also makes sense- rather than fighting and damaging all seven E.M.M.I. himself, Raven Beak only damaged one of them enough to subdue it, hack into its systems, and from there hack into the others to reprogram all of them at once, so as to best utilize the full capabilities of the machines against Samus without having to break them all first.
** ADAM treats the E.M.M.I. Zones like it's a natural part of the E.M.M.I. protocol even though the first E.M.M.I. is encountered outside of the zone and it's evident that the E.M.M.I. zones were created by Raven Beak rather than the Galactic Federation. This is one of your earliest hint you are not talking to ADAM at all, but rather Raven Beak. Also on the subject of Raven Beak impersonating ADAM, given the Chozo's technological advancements, it's likely he was using the Itorash's communications protocol to packet-sniff Samus' gunship and her directions from ADAM as a basis for his imitation.
** By all means this could also explain the game's general linearity despite being fairly hands-off compared to ''Fusion''. From her encounters, to having to survive the E.M.M.I. that always are strategically in her path to progress even if you try SequenceBreaking, to the release of the X Parasites from Elun and the battles with them in the aftermath, the entire game is one gigantic planetary research facility that Raven Beak hastily improvised as an insane training ground for Samus. This is likely the only game in the series where an antagonist can claim that for the whole game, besides the Space Pirates pre-designing their areas and defenses, and parading around as ADAM only reinforces guiding Samus to where he needs her to be.
** In hindsight, the final E.M.M.I. (07PB) is also the one where Raven Beak likely intended to end his test upon Samus one way or another. Shortly before you face it, Samus has her encounter with an escaped lab experiment and visibly has to resist giving into her Metroid instincts... something that the game makes a point of showing Raven Beak watching. Shortly after that, the final E.M.M.I. forcibly puts Samus in a do-or-die situation where she either gives into her Metroid instincts and drains it, or she is dead. You're not given any chance whatsoever to evade unlike the other E.M.M.I. and this would suggest that Raven Beak decided to give Samus one final push to either get her to show her powers or die, and he amplified its visual and auditory detection abilities to ensure she could not use the Phantom Cloak to evade it like the rest.
* Raven Beak claiming that he is [[LukeIAmYourFather Samus' father]] because he ''contributed'' to the DNA enhancements the Zebes Chozo did after Samus was born is a bit of a stretch. He's not the only donor, and Samus didn't personally know him until ZDR. Thing is, ''that's the point;'' Raven Beak is such an egomaniac that he assumes that ''any'' of his DNA means all the other Chozo doesn't count, and he's trying to [[ManipulativeBastard screw with Samus]] even after it's revealed he was hijacking ADAM. Of course he's going to claim that, in order to establish an emotional hold on Samus - which ''does not work'', because if anything, Samus is personally offended by the implication [[GoodParents Old Bird]] was less of a father than Raven Beak is, and insults the memory of Grey Voice, a genetic contributor who [[HeroicSacrifice gave his life]] to save her. No wonder she comes to personally hate him by the end of the game.

** On top of this, it's revealed at the end that Raven Beak has been putting Samus through a trial to make her stronger and draw out her burgeoning Metroid powers. It makes a fair bit of sense that Samus would gain quite a bit of power running Raven Beak's gauntlet when he in-fact ''wants'' her to become stronger. He values power above all so naturally, if he's going to have Samus under him, he will not tolerate any weakness whatsoever. Thus, Samus ends up gaining a lot of power, just to keep up with the test Raven Beak is putting her through.

* The business with the Metroids' tame nature towards the Thoha tribe, hostility towards the Mawkin tribe, and how these elements interact within Samus can be headscratching at first, but upon some closer examination, it all checks out. Samus was to be the Chozo people's collective child, the chosen heiress to all their great works. This would include the Metroids, thus she was given Thoha genes via Gray Voice in order to tame them. By itself, this would create a plot hole, since the Metroids of course don't regard Samus calmly. These genes are offset by Raven Beak's own contribution of Mawkin tribe genes, contributed for the sake of granting Samus the superhuman potential of the Chozo, but at the cost of inheriting the DNA the Metroid react ''especially'' violent to in that the Mawkin and Thoha were at odds and the Metroids were bred with that in mind. To make a long story short, the Mawkin genes that make Samus a SuperSoldier ''cancel out'' the effect the Thoha genes would have had otherwise to let her interact with Metroids peacefully.

** The Core-X that used to be Experiment No. Z-57 dunks itself into lava to avoid being absorbed by Samus. Letting itself seemingly die is behavior completely antithetical to the X, so why did it do that? At the end of the game, a purple X takes over Raven Beak and mutates into a mishmash of every boss Samus faced - including Kraid, who was also fought in a lava-filled area, and also fell into it at the end of his boss fight. The Core-X probably finds Kraid's remains in the lava and absorbs them to become stronger.
** Then there’s the matter of the X-possessed Quiet Robe. It waits inside Samus' own ship - the ONLY way off the planet that's about to explode - and simply just appears behind her when she makes it back. Instead of commandeering the ship or attacking her, it lets her absorb it. The brilliance kicks in when you recall the game's intro - it states X can absorb and recall their hosts memories. (Though it is stated that they can only do this when the host is alive, it wouldn't be the first time assumptions have been made about the X and found to be wrong.) Quiet Robe's memories and desire to aid Samus thus overpower the X’s survival instincts long enough for the X Parasite, and the Thoha tribe's innate ability to control Metroids, to be absorbed into Samus so she could seal off her life-draining powers and be able to escape the exploding ZDR.
** The X's ability to absorb and recall its hosts' memories is also a possible reason why the purple X (and not any other X infesting the planet) seemingly appeared out of nowhere and assimilated a weakened Raven Beak after his ship crash-landed. One of the purple X's hosts was Kraid, who was captured and abused as a pet/slave by Raven Beak. Kraid's memories would naturally make the purple X ''pissed'' at the evil Chozo and find a way to ruin his life, yet possibly impressed with his strength to find and assimilate him -- and with old enemy Samus right there too, it also couldn't pass up the chance at taking her out too. By his X assimilating Raven Beak (and quickly getting taken out after), Kraid [[TheDogBitesBack finally got his revenge]] on the Chozo who abused him.

* If one uses SequenceBreaking to reach Elun early and free the X, all bosses prior to that point won't show up if you return to their arenas. The out-of-universe explination for this is that the game thinks you've beaten those bosses already, but even in-universe it still makes sense, as now the X are roaming around and consuming everything.

** The Mawkin are an entire tribe of {{Blood Knight}}s with the same technology as the Chozo that settled on Zebes or [=SR388=]. While the latter two Chozo groups may have decided to lightly terraform those planets to make it easier for them to travel across it, it's possible that the Mawkin ''liked'' living on a DeathWorld from the start. If anything, they may have made getting through ZDR more punishing on purpose all so they could satiate their "power is everything" mindset.

** A major reason why Zebes and [=SR388=] took skill and effort to get through was, of course, due to their hostile terrains and ecosystems, even discounting the Space Pirates or the mutated Metroids. The Chozo who settled on those worlds were the ''peaceful'' ones. The Mawkin Chozo, meanwhile, are a tribe full of {{Blood Knight}}s. If ZDR was somehow even more of a DeathWorld compared to the aforementioned two planets, why ''wouldn't'' the Mawkin want to settle there?

** A major reason why Zebes and SR388 took skill and effort to get through was because of their hostile terrains and ecosystems, even discounting the Space Pirates or the mutated Metroids. The Chozo who settled there were the ''peaceful'' ones. The Mawkin Chozo, meanwhile, are a tribe full of {{Blood Knight}}s. If ZDR was somehow even more of a DeathWorld compared to the aforementioned two planets, why ''wouldn't'' the Mawkin want to settle there?

* The X Parasites on ZDR seem far more ravenous than their brethren brought onto the BSL from [=SR388=]. In ''Fusion'', the X, while still dangerous, didn't infect absolutely everything on the ship all at once. Going to SRX shows live Hornoads jumping in the background, still uninfected by X until one decides they need a host to fight Samus, and the Etecoons and Dachoras are completely ignored by them for being too weak to be worth possessing. The X in ''Dread'', according to "ADAM"/Raven Beak, completely take over the planet and everything on it mere minutes after being released from quarantine. Assuming that's not a lie, why are the X on ZDR much less picky about hosts? Well, the X on [=SR388=] had free reign on the planet and could eat whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. The X on ZDR were kept in quarantine for who knows how long thanks to Raven Beak with only the beings in Elun to eat, which probably ran out quick. The X on ZDR were ''starving'', and Samus just let them out to a planet-sized buffet.