Headscratchers / Metroid Dread

Unmarked Spoilers ahead!

• Why did Raven Beak personally attack Samus at the beginning of the game? Wasn't his plan to let the E.M.M.I.s do that for him so they could extract her DNA?
  • Raven Beak is the type of guy who would get his hands dirty to get immediate result. Why bother with the E.M.M.I.s when you can just kill Samus then extract her Metroid DNA? But then he realizes Samus has potential to become even more powerful and thus decides to put her through an obstacle course that are the E.M.M.I.s to make her awaken her Metroid powers. Then, if she beats all the E.M.M.I.s, she will either join his campaign or he will kill her and then extract her DNA from her corpse to create an army for himself. Yeah, he got greedy and committed typical Bond villain mistakes, but he legitimately is almost impossible to beat that it doesn't matter to him.
    • In a way, it's a win-win scenario for him. His main goal is to awaken Samus' Metroid DNA in order to have the resources to create an even more powerful bio-weapon than an ordinary Metroid would have been, and what better way to do that then pit her against the deadliest obstacles at his disposal? If she overcomes them all and fully awakens her Metroid potential, he can either convince her to join him or just defeat her and force her to submit. If the E.M.M.I.s end up killing her, then he can still fall back on his original plan of extracting the Metroid DNA from her—which the E.M.M.I.s would have conveniently just done.
  • He intended to just take her out and get her DNA right then and there — but as he explains later on, he let her live because he saw a glimpse of her power awakening, and wanted to let it develop more. If Samus hadn't shown that flare up at the start, he would have just killed her.
• So the E.M.M.I.s' names each correspond with the upgrades they drop (e.g. E.M.M.I.-02SM drops the Spider Magnet). What could the first one, E.M.M.I.-01P, stand for?
  • Maybe it was the Prototype.
    • Internal files refer to it as "emmi_proto", so this is most likely.
  • Alternately, it gives you Practice.
  • It does teach you how to Parry the E.M.M.I.s' deathblows.
• What was Kraid doing on ZDR? Didn't he die in Super Metroid?
  • Who said he died? Yes he sank into the ground in explosions, but we didn't actually see him die. It's possible he just fell through and landed somewhere else, injured.
    • Even if that were probable - it's not, seeing as it's hard to imagine a more straightforward way to show "dead" in 16 bit than "exploded and crumbling into the ground" - who went and got him? And why, and how? Also, why do these Tourian statues keep lighting up after the bosses die-seemingly-but-not-actually? Surely it's more parsimonious to assume cloning/Kraid is one of a species (there is lil' Kraid on the way to his boss fight in SM)/there's no explanation and you just have to go with it.
    • Ridley exploded in mid-air and then the planet exploded shortly after yet his body was retrieved and completely intact when you X-Parasites get to him in Fusion. Gameplay and Story Segregation is likely in play here. Kraid may have simply retreated from Samus, or been presumed dead.
    • Wasn't the Ridley seen in Fusion his clone from Other M, which was turned into a mummified husk by the Metroid Queen?
  • The Chozo Archives show a snapshot of the Mawkin Chozo chaining Kraid up in Cataris. This means that they very intentionally captured him and brought him to ZDR, likely due to his affiliation with the chaotic Space Pirates who threaten order in the galaxy. When did they do this? Why not just kill him? No confirmed info yet.
    • The problem with the Chozo Archive image is that the Mawkin Tribe outside of Raven Beak had been wiped out by the X Parasite, with Raven Beak sealing the infected away until Samus frees them during the game. So assuming that this happened ages ago, how were there any Mawkin left to go out and capture Kraid? Though this is all assuming that there is only one "Kraid" in the first place.
  • We would have thought, but... the amount of times Ridley returns would indicate the same scenario. Did Kraid revive? Is this a Kraid clone? If this is the same Kraid as in Super Metroid, how did the Mawkin capture Kraid that fast to send to ZDR after being defeated by Samus?
  • The Galactic Federation was somehow able to get their hands on Ridley's DNA despite him also dying during the events of Super Metroid, and remember as well that the end of that game leads to the entire planet blowing up. Getting ahold of Kraid's DNA would pose the same challenges. As for how the GF and Raven Beak got ahold of either of those, the most likely answer is the space pirates presumably had genetic material on hand for that specific purpose, logical given they'd brought Ridley back twice by the time of Super Metroid, and Kraid back once. Assuming they had the sense to not store it on Zebes (or ships containing said material left Zebes before Samus did what she does best to planets), then the samples were presumably captured later on. The GF intercept material usable for backing up Ridley, while Raven Beak steals away with Kraid's genetic material at some point.
• Why did Kraid die in the lava at the end of his boss battle? Wasn't he sitting in it that whole time?
  • Doesn't mean it wasn't painful (See his full character model here◊). Plus, what Samus really did was break the pipes supporting his giant metal collar. Without them it was much too heavy, weighing him down so he drowned in the lava instead. Watch the way he grips at the sides of the chamber to hold himself up.
  • It could be possible that Kraid somehow survived the encounter with Samus. The lava was just there as torture from the Mawkin tribe. The final X parasite was likely the one that killed Kraid and absorbed it as shown when absorbing Raven Beak to become the abomination known as Raven Beak X.
  • His initial lava bath was also before Samus fought, and grievously injured him. Sinking into lava with internal injuries can't be good. Also note that his mouth and stomach wound were initially above the lava, but obviously went under when he sank. That means the lava could then get inside him. Just because his skin is lava proof, doesn't mean his insides are.
• Why did ZDR explode at the end of the game? Besides it being a series tradition.
  • A reasonable explanation is that the crash of Itorash somehow destabilized the planet's geothermal network and caused it to go boom.
  • In the Network Station before beating the purple E.M.M.I., ADAM tells Samus that destroying the planet may be enough to stop the X Parasites, but not Raven Beak, since he'll just take his ship and fly away if he senses the danger. Now, considering that this ADAM is actually Raven Beak, it makes one wonder if he planned all along for ZDR's demise. Why else would he talk so casually to Samus about destroying ZDR, as if he could do it at the drop of a hat? As if it's standard protocol? Maybe he had a way to initiate a self-destruct, which somehow got triggered in the scuffle.
  • It’s possible that after quarantining the X Parasites in Elun, Raven Beak set up a planet-killer bomb similar to the one that destroyed Zebes on ZDR in case they escaped containment. As soon as Samus boarded the Itorash, Raven Beak could have started the detonation sequence thinking he would have enough time to capture/kill Samus, acquire a sufficient DNA sample to produce his clone army, and get off-world before the bomb exploded.
  • It could be a Dead Man's Switch triggered by Raven Beak's death, since the countdown only starts after Raven Beak X is defeated. He seems the type to pull a spiteful If I Can't Have You… absolution.
  • Considering that one of the soldiers came back as an X parasite, Raven Beak thought ahead to destroy the planet as a backup in case his original plan completely fails with Itorash holding the self-destruct trigger.
• The very premise of the plot is that Samus is the last trace of Metroid DNA in the galaxy, which is the very reason why Raven Beak sends out the video of the X Parasite to lure Samus to ZDR. But this opens up an enormous question : how did he even know in the first place that she has Metroid DNA? The surgical operation she underwent at the beginning of Fusion was clearly top-secret, as the Federation would not be advertising the fact they had a cell culture of a Metroid after very publicly announcing the extermination mission to SR388. And there's no indication Raven has any interactions with the Feds.
  • Raven Beak has been planning galactic domination for years, and has access to Chozo technology. He easily defeated the E.M.M.I. and then somehow reprogrammed them to hunt down Samus. And he easily impersonated ADAM the whole time. It stands to reason that Raven Beak had the means to spy on the Federation's deepest secrets, and there is no reason why he wouldn't. After all, Raven Beak would suspect that some of the Federation people were like him, desiring for a Metroid army, and thus he would look for top-secret Metroid cloning facilities to hijack and steal the Metroids for himself. And through there, he would find about Samus' Metroid DNA vaccine and her mission to destroy the X Parasites.
• Why did the Thoha program the Metroids to react with hostility to the Mawkin? That seems antagonistic and petty, unless they were aware of the Mawkin's plans for galactic domination. But if that's the case, why ask them for help on SR388 at all?
  • Maybe the Thoha didn't program the Metroids to specifically attack Mawkin. Rather, they programmed them to be loyal only to the Thoha. The Mawkin weren't on the safe list, so they get attacked like everyone else.
    • Raven Beak (as ADAM) outright states "Metroids are programmed to identify Mawkin as enemies." So there was definitely some sort of intention there on the Thoha's part.
    • That's assuming Raven Beak is not lying his ass off to make the Thoha look worse and thus justify his Final Solution to Samus. It's entirely possible that he is just plain bad at controlling Metroids (the Feds and the Pirates failed to as well). The only ones who can ever control Metroids are merciful or motherly influences like Samus, Mother Brain, or a Queen Metroid. The Thoha were also kind enough to the Metroids to not incur their wrath, but the Mawkin are much too cold-hearted.
    • If that were the case then Samus's powers would flare up at any creature her Metroid DNA felt threatened by. We see that only the Mawkin Raven Beak triggers that response at first.
  • The Thoha didn't ask for the Mawkin's help. Quiet Robe mentions they were just aided by the Mawkin during the process of sealing the Metroids, meaning Raven Beak's tribe could have interfered in the whole affair by their own volition instead of being requested to do so. It was likely something close to an Enemy Mine situation where the Mawkin had interest in having the Metroids sealed for later capture.
    • While possible that the Mawkin showed up uninvited, Mawkin Chozo Soldiers can be seen on SR388 as early as the initial excavation. They worked with the Mawkin for much longer than just the Metroid fiasco.
  • It's possible that the Mawkin had commented that the Metroids would be a good bioweapon, and the Thoha decided to add anti-Mawkin bias as a precaution against the tribe trying to take the Metroids for their own. The Chozo Memories show the Mawkin coexisting with the Metroids when the Thoha are around, so it's not like the Metroids had uncontrollable aggression. It just ensured that Mawkin would never be able to control Metroids.
• Why did Grey Voice and Old Bird feel the need to allow Raven Beak to contribute to Samus' regimen of genetic engineering? And why were the Mawkin Warrior aspects introduced far later compared to the initial Thoha modification that occurred when Samus was still in infancy?
  • Plus, Grey's genes already endowed Samus with Super-Strength and adaptability to the harsh climate of Zebes. So what did Ash-ka's DNA contribute to her exactly?
    • Raven Beak is hinted several times to be the strongest Chozo that has ever lived, so it likely made sense to let him donate some of his DNA to Samus, especially if the Chozo intended her to be their future champion. Plus, would any of the Chozo have the courage to say no to Raven Beak?
    • If the Mawkin Leader had had that much pull and influence, then Samus would have been raised on ZDR as his personal Tyke Bomb. Besides, Grampa Bird could probably have used some Old Master Psionics to put Raven Beak back in his pram if he got too uppity. They taught Samus everything she knows, not this Stargate aficionado!
  • It's likely that Grey Voice's DNA allowed her to adapt to Zebes' climate, while Raven Beak's was the reason for her enhanced physical abilities. Raven Beak probably elected to donate his DNA so that he might have some sway over Samus should she become a useful asset in the future, but at the time she wouldn't have been important enough to his plans for him to bother with showing an interest in raising her.
  • Not the case, the manga, (yes it's canon, Zero Mission's Chozodia mirror boss confirms it), shows that Samus already possessed◊ enhanced physiognomy beforehand◊. She looks to be around ten years old or even beginning adolescence during the second procedure; so it was years later and for different factors. Perhaps the ability to wield Omega and Hyper Beam weaponry or harness Aeion energy, since the grafts were for her weapon arm and heart.
  • Samus is meant to be the ultimate legacy of the Chozo, as well as the galaxy's protector, so it stands to reason they would infuse her with genes of various Chozo tribes, including the Mawkin. Raven Beak, being the best of his tribe, would naturally be chosen to donate some of his genes. Raven Beak likely agreed if only because, like Mother Brain, he saw the procedure as the Chozo creating a new bioweapon to later use.
• So near the end of the game, we find out that Metroids were engineered to find Mawkin Tribe Chozo as natural enemies, explaining why Samus' metamorphosis started in the first place. But soon after that, we find out that Raven Beak, the guy who triggered the metamorphosis in the first place, was one of the genetic donors to Samus. So how come the Metroid vaccine didn't react to being injected into Samus sooner? Or why did the hatchling imprint her as their mother? Unless the genetic donation wasn't enough to mark her as being a Mawkin, and the hatchling thing would be a case of Nature Versus Nurture.
  • Samus didn't just have Mawkin DNA in her; she had Thoha DNA as well. The Metroid vaccine likely didn't react due to the Thoha genes pacifying the Metroid DNA in spite of the presence of Mawkin genes already present in her body. When she was first confronted by Raven Beak, his Mawkin presence was enough to trigger the violent reaction, and once that part of her Metroid DNA was awakened her Thoha genes wouldn't have been enough to completely suppress the Metroid DNA anymore; all it could do at that point was slow down her transformation.
• Why did absorbing the Quiet Robe-X revert Samus back to normal?
  • Perhaps something about it being a combination of Thoha DNA augmented by X Parasite DNA gave her that extra bit she needed to stabilize or control her metroid form?
    • Or perhaps some of Quiet Robe's wisdom.
    • Samus has been absorbing powerups throughout the game, and we know that Thoha have the ability to control Metroids. It's very possible that Samus just plain absorbed that from QR-X, and used the new ability to control her rampant Metroid powers.
• What was ADAM doing while Samus was gone in ZDR for so long? Did he tell the Galactic Federation?
  • I think it's fair to assume that ADAM was still the one talking to Samus directly in that first elevator ride down, where he acknowledges that communications will be cut off. Knowing that, he was probably waiting for some time before he presumed her M.I.A., trusting her to find a way back to the surface.
  • If Raven Beak could pretend to be ADAM to talk to Samus, who's to say he couldn't have pretended to be Samus to talk to ADAM?
• If Samus wears a Zero Suit underneath her Power Suit, then does that mean Raven Beak wears one under his suit too?
  • Why yes! In fact, if you beat Raven Beak's 0:00:00 speedrun completion record, you'll get to see Raven Beak in his Zero Suit with his glorious, shredded eight-pack chest in full view! But you'll never beat it, so you're not worthy to see it.
• Hanubia has fully functional starships with the engines running, ready to take off. Why didn't any of the X use those ships to escape the planet and continue their spread across the galaxy? Especially some of the Chozo X copies, who would know to use technology?
  • It's possible that the memories and experiences in the Chozo-X were degraded after so long in isolation. Bear in mind that the majority of them are like the Zombie Researchers from Fusion, barely held together by their own sludge, and the ones that can still hold themselves together seemed to be hibernating.
  • Those might not even be space-capable vessels. Maybe they're strictly meant for atmospheric use only.
  • Who said they didn't?
• What killed the first Central Unit? The 100% ending screen — IIRC for Artaria — shows that Raven Beak was the one who messed up E.M.M.I.-01P, but was the Central Unit a casualty of that battle?
  • It likely was Raven Beak to show Samus that the Central Unit's energy can be used to defeat the E.M.M.Is.
  • Alternately, it was E.M.M.I.-01P that destroyed the Central Unit after it found Raven Beak's base and started snooping around, which then triggered Raven to come investigate what just wrecked one of his machines and eventually find and break -01P.
• How did Raven Beak and Quiet Robe establish the E.M.M.I. Zones so quickly in between subduing the E.M.M.I. robots and Samus' arrival? It doesn't make sense for the the Federation to have limited them to small patrol areas — ones that are obviously artificial locations that clash greatly with the rest of the regions they're in, and are connected to the Central Units — which are ostensibly Chozo biotech.
  • The Federation clearly didn't establish the E.M.M.I Zones, since most of them have objects in the background of Mawkin design (i.e. fountains in Ferenia, Robot Chozo Soldier production in Dairon). It's likely that the Mawkin already had Central Units installed to run ZDR. Since we know Mother Brain was capable of controlling creatures and robot lackies, and that the Mawkin were already making bioweapons, the Central Units would have that function as well. This would make the process quite simple: just hook the E.M.M.I.s up to ZDR's network and make the Central Units build their own mini-Tourians out of the planet's infrastructure.
• Why didn't ADAM notice or warn Samus of the stowaway on the ship when she got back?
  • An explanation scarily in line with his Other M portrayal is he already knew Quiet Robe X was no threat, let it onto the ship, and simply did not tell her about it.
  • Samus was about to accidentally drain the ship of its energy. Warning her kinda took priority. How he knew she could drain the ship is another question all-together, though.
    • That explanation is invalidated by the fact that Samus's communications with ADAM were only cut while she was far from the ship. The moment Samus reached roughly the same distance she'd been when she lost contact with him, ADAM could have immediately said, "Stop. There is an X on the ship." Ironically though, that also explains why ADAM knew of Samus's new abilities: now that she was back in range, he could just download the logs from her suit. That aside, the only answers that make sense to are that A) ADAM didn't know about the stowaway (which in itself can be Accidental Nightmare Fuel if any X or other hostile lifeform ever stows away again) or B) ADAM and the X had a conversation and discussed how to save Samus... but even then, it wouldn't make sense to not warn Samus or reassure her while she had the X at gunpoint. So the bottom line is: We Don't Know.
  • Did he need to warn her? Samus can't be infected by the X and her Metroid DNA means being close to her is a death sentence for them. There were far more pressing matters to deal with at the moment, such as her out of control powers.
• When fighting Experiment Z-57, Samus already has the gravity suit which gives her normal physics in water and protects her against extreme cold and lava! When Z-57's Core X dip itself into lava, she could've just jumped into the lava and absorb the Core X. Instead, she hanged onto a ledge. Why?
  • Note that she completely destroys the Core X of Raven Beak and Kraid. She presumably hates those two so much (or maybe she hates RB and feels Kraid isn't worth it), that she just wants them dead. Z-57 could inspire similar feelings of revulsion. If she did dive down and intercept the Core X before it hit the lava, she'd then almost certainly land in it. Even if it didn't damage her, she'd still need to get back out it. Just because she can survive something, doesn't mean she likes doing it.
  • She is still considered a Glass Cannon throughout this whole game. Jumping in while in its Z-57 form could destroy her armor and lose her abilities to endure extreme heat, a risk Samus knows not to take. Additionally, that time window of that is too fast to react. By the time Z-57 transformed into an X, the X landed on lava in slightly less than a second, thus not enough time to absorb.
• The doors to Elun seal shut behind Samus when she enters, and are open when she gets back. Presumably this was done by Raven Beak, ADAM (Raven Beak) even says that it was. Why did he do it? The whole game seems to his gambit to force Samus to use her full Metroid powers, so was he releasing them to trigger those powers?
  • I think you answered your own question.
• Once Samus reached the surface, why didn't ADAM try contacting her directly via radio?
  • Maybe there was still jamming going on coming from Hanubia, which looks to be a militarized facility.
• Why didn't Raven Beak just destroy Samus's ship and the real ADAM with it while she was unconscious at the beginning of the game? He was never planning to let her leave ZDR alive, anyway. It should have been trivially easy to find the ship parked next to Hanubia considering he watched her walk out of the elevator shaft that connects to the surface.
  • This is gone into in the first entry. Basically, Raven Beak was indeed planning to kill Samus and destroy her ship, but he saw her huge potential Metroid powers and decided to test her. If she accepted his offer to be a soldier, great, he's got that power on his side; if not, he can just kill her himself and extract the Metroid DNA then.
  • Remember how he spared the last Thoha member (Quiet Robe)? Similar reason. He could find the ship useful for future applications.
    • Good point. The ship hosted a complex Federation AI that could be useful to Raven Beak's agenda. If he destroyed it, more Feds might be on their way too, resulting in all-out war.
• How is it that the Varia Suit in Dread protects against extreme heat but not cold? The logic is the Fusion Varia was specially modified to protect from cold, but shouldn't anything thermally insulative work both ways protecting from heat and cold? And why would the Gravity Suit have cold protection if it's meant to withstand lava and water (which can't be as cold as what it protects against without freezing solid)?
  • Around this point in time, Samus' Metroid DNA is more integrated to her. Additionally, in the beginning of the game, Samus's defeat made her a glass cannon. She needed an extra layer in the form of the Gravity Suit to protect her from environmental cold.
• E.M.M.I.-02SM (White) is the only E.M.M.I. that can't fit into small spaces. We see that this is because it has impractically large armor plates over its face. The others don't have such large "fins", so they can fit into small spaces. So why does this have the design flaw?
  • Complete shot in the dark here, but 02SM has one of the earliest designations of the E.M.M.I. so it's possible that it was an older design that had yet to be updated to match its siblings. 01P might have even shared this flaw, but Raven Beak busted it up before we got to see its body in top condition.
• This is mostly in the name of curiosity and speculation, but how did Raven Beak originally contain the X? Given how quickly they overrun the planet once released and that the Thoha shouldn't have had any way to actually kill a X (no Metroids-that we know of- and Raven's Beak arm cannon shouldn't have been able to), this suggests they never made it out of Elun in the first place. I can believe that Raven Beak would already have a maximum security prison like Elun already built, but how did he get all the X in there?
  • One of the secret images shows the X that stowed away with the Mawkin on their trip back revealing itself- since they had time to react, Raven Beak presumably rushed to lock down the area(and doom everyone but himself it seems). Basically, they got to Elun, and they were canned in before they could spread and leave.
• Both times we see Mother Brain, she either requires a vat of some kind of cerebrospinal fluid or a mechanical body to provide nourishment. By contrast, the Central Units can float without connection or obvious means of being powered, with little more than a defensive metal shell. Why are they capable of this and not Mother Brain?
  • In all likelihood, the Central Units were built with more-advanced technology than Mother Brain was.
    • Alternatively, Mother Brain's larger size (almost twice as large) and extensive powers (enough telepathy to command all the Zebesians on Zebes) compared to that of the Central Units may have required a more comprehensive support system.
• When fighting Experiment Z-57, Samus already has the gravity suit which gives her normal physics in water and protects her against extreme cold and lava! When Z-57's Core X dip itself into lava, she could've just jumped into the lava and absorb the Core X. Instead, she hanged onto a ledge. Why?
  • She may have just assumed the Core X died. As Dread's ending shows, Samus clearly has made incorrect assumptions about the X before.
  • This was asked and answered up above. Possible explanations are: she didn't want to absorb Experiment Z-57 out of personal reasons or she didn't want to risk taking a lava bath (particularly when she may not have had an easy way back up).

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