Characters / Metroid - Bounty Hunters

Main Character Index | Samus Aran | Metroids | Space Pirates | X Parasites | Galactic Federation |
Chozo | Bounty Hunters | Other Antagonists | Others | Noncanonical Characters

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Samus isn't the only Bounty Hunter in the galaxy. Other aliens from different worlds take up the profession for wealth, power, or other personal reasons. They either serve as allies or rivals or even outright enemies to Samus.

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Alimbic Cluster Hunters

Sylux

Sylux

"Sylux is a resourceful tracker, and a deadly sharpshooter who harbors an intense hatred for the Galactic Federation and for Samus Aran for assisting the Galactic Federation in the past."

—Metroid Prime Hunters manual

• Ambiguously Human: Due to his armor covering his entire body, his species is currently unknown.
• The Blank: Like Weavel, Sylux's armor gives no indication of any sort of face. Possession of said face probably won't be known until fans get a peek under that suit.
• Bounty Hunter: A notorious one specifically opposed to the Federation and Samus Aran by extension since they frequently hire her.
• The Cameo: He appears at the end of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption's 100% ending in the Delano 7. He also appears at the end of Federation Force to steal the Metroid egg.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The hunter, the shock coil, and the doors it opens are all blue.
• Cool Ship: Sylux has two vehicles capable of interstellar travel. The one introduced in Hunters goes by the Delano 7.
• Death from Above: In the intro cutscene, delivered to an unsuspecting Federation trooper.
• The End... Or Is It?: The appearance of the Delano 7 at the end of Prime 3 counts. Likewise, his cameo at the end of Federation Force.
• Evil Counterpart: To Samus. It's heavily implied that the suit he stole was an attempt by the Federation to create a version of Samus's armor that a normal human being could use, with the similairites between the Morph Ball and Lockjaw being especially pronounced.
• Irony: Sylux has a reputation for being a sharp shot despite primarily using a weapon that requires very little aiming. However, physics engine exploits make Sylux the second best sniper in Metroid Prime Hunters next to Spire and behind Trace.
• Lightning Gun: The Shock Coil: its stream jumps to the nearest target, so little aiming is required, but it is sort of short ranged. Sylux can recover health when using it.
• Roar Before Beating: In the intro, though Sylux had already beaten someone, presumably the fighting wasn't over.
• Rocket Jump: So far the only example to rival, possibly even surpass Samus, taking this trope to Not Quite Flight levels. The jumps you can make are impressive, and in low gravity, you really can fly in Sylux's alternate form, the Lockjaw.
• Sequel Hook:
  • Again, the Delano 7 appearance, which fits in line with the Sequel Hooks from the first two games.
  • In Federation Force, he steals a Metroid egg in The Stinger.
• Sequential Boss: Your first fight with Sylux which culminates with the Delano 7 being called on you.
• Shock and Awe: The Shock Coil isn't really considered as such, but it takes the form of blue streams of electricity and its health-draining effects resemble those of the Grapple Voltage from Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.
• The Spook: Very little is known about Sylux both in and out of universe.
• Trap Master: Sylux's altform uses bombs like Samus's Morph Ball, but rather than detonating after a few seconds, they connect in pairs to form tripwires which wrap around any non Sylux figure large enough to set them off and then explode. Laying three causes them simultaneously detonate, so they are known as tri bombs.
• Tron Lines: Both on Sylux's armor and ship.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: The lockjaw compresses Sylux into a smaller form which hovers above the ground, moving at great speeds but having inertial issues.

Weavel

Weavel

"This cybernetic warrior is part of a Space Pirate special unit. Badly injured in a past battle with Samus Aran, Weavel's body has been reconstructed and fused with a Power Suit. The rebuilt Weavel has become a formidable and ferocious warrior."

—Metroid Prime Hunters manual

• Ascended Extra: He would have to be one of the pirates from the Zero Mission remake for his story to make any sense with the information we know. It is possible another game could occur during the time period though, as Metroid has been skipping around since Prime.
• Atomic Hate: The Battlehammer is fueled by a miniature nuclear reactor.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: He has an energy scythe built into his right arm.
• The Blank: Possibly. It's not entirely clear if that yellow section of his head where his face would be is a cybernetic face or just a visor. A fan theory is that he's a Ki-Hunter, which would make that yellow part his actual face if true.
• Bounty Hunter: What he has been reduced to. It is unknown whether he retains any loyalty to the space pirates or has simply decided to work for his own benefit.
• Color Motif: Weavel's suit has a mild green tint and the battle hammer is green.
• Cool Ship: Though it's not as prominent as the Delano 7, it can be seen as Samus approaches the Oubliette.
• Cutscene Power to the Max: Is seen using guns and rounds he never uses in game play, as well as using his scythe independent of the half turret.
• Detachment Combat: He can be significantly weakened if one of his halves is disabled though he can also pick up power ups in this state and end up with a larger health bar than any other hunter can have until he recombines.
• Elites Are More Glamorous: He wasn't just an ordinary space pirate, but the highest ranking member of a special forces unit before his encounter with Samus.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: His pauldrons don't match.
• Firing One-Handed: Unlike the other hunters, who all use some variety of arm cannon, his character model clearly shows that he's holding the Battlehammer.
• Full-Conversion Cyborg: After losing a fight with Samus, the only salvageable parts of his body left were his brain and spinal cord — everything else had to be replaced with mechanical implants.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: Initially torn apart by Samus and since weaponized.
• I Work Alone: It is true that Weavel himself is a Space Pirate. It is implied, yet not outright stated, however, that his objectives are completely on his own terms since it is not confirmed if he originated from the Pirate Homeworld.
• Parts Unknown: Said in the game's intro.
• Mark of Shame: His new cybernetic body is a constant reminder of Weavel being completely wasted by Samus. In fact, it's the reason why he is no longer a high-ranking Pirate.
• Non-Mammalian Hair: All the pirates we've seen so far have been reptilian or insectoid with feathers at most, yet he has a ponytail.
• Remember the New Guy?: Apparently, Weavel lost his body while fighting Samus on Zebes in the first game. In Brinstar. Which never contained any Pirates at this point in the chronology, neither in the first game nor in Zero Mission.
• Robot Hair: All that's left of the original body was some of the nervous system, yet he has a ponytail, presumably a artificial plume from his helmet/head.
• Space Pirates: Been one, though it's not confirmed if he is still officially affiliated with them.
• Swiss-Army Appendage: He has the trademark Space Pirate scythe, which he only uses in his alt-form during game play. This one is actually a rather mild example as far as Pirates go, because while Weavel's scythe is merely attached to his arm, Pirates tend to replace their arms with such scythes.
• Splash Damage: The battle hammer has a bigger blast radius when used by him.
• Sword and Gun: Though he never makes use of it, he could use his energy scythe while holding the Battlehammer in the other hand.
• The Turret Master: He can split his body in half and the lower half will become a turret.
• We Can Rebuild Him: He was originally just a high-ranked space pirate (probably a Commando or Trooper) until he was completely blown to smithereens by Samus and rebuilt as a cyborg.

Noxus

Noxus

"Noxus is a member of the Vhozon, a proud and reclusive race that inhabits the outer rim of the galaxy. A spiritual being who walks a harsh, righteous path, Noxus has become a bounty hunter to administer justice to the galaxy's criminals and evildoers."

—Metroid Prime Hunters manual

• Area of Effect: Charging the Judicator creates a spherical blast centered on him that freezes any enemies.
• Audible Sharpness: Heard whenever the Vhosythe attack connects.
• Bounty Hunter: Though most of the industrial world considers bounty hunting to be a criminal activity, Noxus became a bounty hunter specifically to fight criminals and other forms of "evil". Times have really changed in the space age.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: From the hunter himself, to his ice weapon, to the doors that can be opened once Samus gets his weapon, his main color is purple.
• Dramatic High Perching: In the game's intro, his Vhoscythe sits atop a tall piece of ice before he unwraps himself.
• Extra Eyes: He has four eyes.
• Fantastic Rank System: In his order, he has reached at least the fifth level of the Vhozon Codex in order to earn the Judicator.
• Freeze Ray: Uses the Judicator. He can release a vapor wall that freezes enemies in place when he charges a shot.
• Harmless Freezing: Not against his own weapon, but he can survive in extremely cold environments without protective gear.
• Hero Antagonist: His Plan A goal of destroying the Ultimate Power so no one can have it is actually the same as Samus' Plan B, which she ultimately succeeded where he failed. (Her Plan A was to claim it for the Federation). While his reason for fighting Samus is never directly stated, it's likely he doesn't consider the Federation trustworthy and Samus by extension since she's on their payroll. The Federation's actions in Metroid: Other M and Metroid Fusion would support this view.
• Knight Errant: While most Vhozon are reclusive, Noxus left his home world to go on a crusade against all evil in the universe.
• Literally Shattered Lives: Not in-game, but the official guide mentions this as a common tactic used by Judicator wielders.
• Natural Weapon: The Vhoscythe is just Noxus curling up and spinning. He can move just as fast as he can run in this state, in some situations faster, extend a blade from his body while in his state and the position prevents his head from being sniped.
• Pinball Projectile: Uncharged Judicator shots can bounce up to three times.
• Religious Bruiser: The Vhozon are described as a proud, monastic race.
• Sinister Scythe: He's not evil himself, but the blade that extends from his altform hits hard.
• Spectacular Spinning: His alt. form has him curl up and spin like a top.
• Spin Attack: In his alternate form Noxus constantly spins, so he's spinning when he attacks.

Kanden

Kanden

"A lab experiment gone wrong, Kanden was created to be the ultimate soldier, immortal and relentless. He is a ferocious, deadly and dangerously unpredictable Hunter. To prove himself as the finest bounty hunter of them all, he now seeks to attain the ultimate power."

—Metroid Prime Hunters manual

• Ax-Crazy: Thanks to the combat programming being too much for his brain to handle, Kanden is very unstable to say the least. Not only did he murder the scientists who originally created him — and blow up their lab, for good measure — but his main reason for hunting is not for money, but so he can make a profession out of killing.
• Beware My Stinger Tail: His alternate form shoots explosive stingers that detach from its tail.
• Bilingual Bonus: His name means "electric shock" or "electrode" in Japanese. Could also come from "kandenchi," Japanese for "battery."
• Blood Knight: He didn't choose bounty hunting for the money, but for the chance to hunt; and by extension, kill.
• Bounty Hunter: Though, he does it less for the "bounty" part and more for the "hunter" part.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: He had his original personality rewritten with combat programming. The scientists clearly Didn't Think This Through, because he snapped from the mental strain and killed them. The result is something whose entire personality is based on how to fight and kill without any sort of commanding force to reign him in.
• Bio-Augmentation: Along with some cybernetics, this is what made him so dangerous.
• The Brute: He is one of, if not the largest, bounty hunters, and has one of the least sympathetic goals.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Though the hunter himself is green, his weapon, the Volt Driver, is yellow, as are the doors that Samus can open once she gets this weapon.
• Extra Eyes: He has four eyes in biped form and lots of markings that superficially look like eyes. The Stinglarva appears to have seven eyes (or six, with one of those markings as a big eye spot) in official art.
• For the Evulz: The main reason he became a bounty hunter, and the reason why he is searching for the Ultimate Power of the Alimbics, is because it gives him a chance to fulfil his killing potential.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: As a result of a Super-Soldier project that went horribly wrong, Kanden went from an ordinary Enoema to a sadistic, Nigh-Invulnerable killing machine.
• Genetic Abomination: This is what you get when you combine an unnaturally augmented scientific experiment with a mind that is just barely holding onto its sanity.
• The Ghost: No other Enoema are seen in the Metroid franchise, thus it's unknown what a normal, non-Psycho Prototype Enoema would look like.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: Kanden was created by scientists to be the ultimate soldier. This involved enhancing his physical attributes tenfold and downloading data into his brain to make him ready for combat. The process overwhelmed his mind, raised his aggression and lead to Kanden destroying the lab where he was made, along with all those in it. Now there's a super strong, possibly biologically immortal, killing machine running around the galaxy; one that's too individualistic and erratic to be a good soldier.
• Half-Human Hybrid: He started as an ordinary Enoema before being fused with various genetic strands in order to give him the Stinglarva.
• Homing Projectile: The stinger bombs produced by the Stinglarva.
• In Harm's Way: He'll hunt and kill until he dies, retirement be damned.
• Interface Screw: His special weapon, the Volt Driver, can temporarily distort a target's vision from static electricity when they are hit by charged shots. It also homes in on the target when he fully charges it.
• Lightning Gun: The Volt Driver shoots ball lightning.
• My Skull Runneth Over: Kanden was given extensive combat encoding, but the information was more than he could handle and the process drove him insane.
• Neural Implanting: On top of having his physical abilities radically heightened, Kanden is said to have been given neural combat encoding to teach him to fight. Unfortunately this process drove him insane and made him extremely violent.
• Nigh-Invulnerability: One of the goals of the experiment was to create an unkillable super-soldier. It's unclear just how "unkillable" Kanden actually is.
• Nightmare Face: With all those eyes, let's just say that his face is rather unnerving.
• Psycho Electro: His weapon of choice is the volt driver, which is sort of like a combination between Samus's power beam and electro lob. According to the logbook, whether it's coming from the weapon or Kanden himself, the voltage of the electromagnetic field is comparable to lightning storms. Charging a shot causes them to home in on targets when he uses it.
• Psycho for Hire: He has at least enough sanity to land him a career as a bounty hunter, keeping him funded while satisfying his own bloodlust.
• Psycho Prototype: And because of it, we may never get to see the finished product.
• Rocket Jump: How his Stinglarva form jumps, though not as good at it as the Morph Ball or Lockjaw.
• Shock and Awe: His weapon shoots lighting bolts, you do the math.
• Stuff Blowing Up: In Kanden's intro, a building is seen violent exploding behind him as he emerges from his Stinglarva form. It's most likely the facility he came from, and that being the case, would be the end result of Kanden massacring the scientists who modified him.
• Super-Soldier: The reason the scientists made him in the first place, though their final product evidently has issues being controlled. They certainly succeeded at making their defective grunt a killer.
• Tron Lines: Well, more like Tron Circles.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: The Stinglarva he compresses into makes use of biological material from several predatory insectoid aliens

Spire

Spire

"Spire is the sole remaining member of the Diamonts, an ancient silicon-based life-form. He hopes that finding the Alimbics' source of ultimate power and solving the mystery of their lost race will help him solve the mystery of his own."

—Metroid Prime Hunters manual

• The Big Guy: He has a sympathetic goal, making him one of the more heroic bounty hunters when they eventually team up. He's also bigger than all, with the possible exception of Kanden.
• Be the Ball: When he becomes the Dialanche.
• Bounty Hunter: To support his search for his kind, or find answers as to what happened to them.
• Collision Damage: The Dialanche, as seen in the intro. It has to be right when he transforms or at full speed, though, so you're better off using the attack button instead.
• Color Motif: From the hunter himself, to his magma weapon, to the doors that can be opened once Samus gets his weapon, his main color is orange.
• Creator In-Joke: Retro Studios based his design off a creature from one of their canceled projects. Nintendo Software Technologies wrote his back story with that in mind.
• Hero Antagonist: Very determined to find out what became of his species, even if it means fighting Samus.
• Hidden Depths: In spite of his bulk making him a huge target, he's the second best imperialist user due to his high mobility...unless you exploit the physics engine, then Sylux is tied for second place.
• Last of His Kind: Indeed, the reason why he is seeking the Ultimate Power in the Alimbic system is because it may provide him with an opportunity to find out what happened to the rest of his species.
• Magma Man: In fact, according to his scans, his body contains "molten ferrous compounds normally found only in a planet's core." His weapon of choice shoots lava grenades, and charged shots light things on fire, doing more damage when he uses it. He can also move through lava without taking damage (though he can still be harmed by the lava from his own weapon, presumably why the description emphasizes the lava is "super heated").
• Pinball Projectile: Be careful when firing the Magmaul in close quarters.
• Playing with Fire: Technically lava, in this case, as he's a Magma Man who shoots super heated lava from his weapon.
• Rolling Attack: Seen the Hunters intro movie.
• Shout-Out: Spire seems very similar to Gorons, in that both are rock-based creatures that roll up into boulder-like balls.
• Silicon-Based Life: Which probably explains why he is at home in molten environments, one theory is that such creatures would have to live in incredibly hot environments or else move extremely slow.
• Spin Attack: Pressing the attack button will cause the Dialanche to open up into two segments and reveal two titanium limbs that will batter anything close in a circular motion before it snaps shut.
• Wall Crawl: His Alternate form can do this.

Trace

Trace

"Trace is a Kriken, one of the most hated and feared races in the galaxy. His quest for the ultimate power consumes him, and his every thought is bent toward bringing supremacy to the Krikens and honor to himself."

—Metroid Prime Hunters manual

• Always Chaotic Evil: His race, the Kriken, thrives off of being as brutal and militaristic as possible, almost to the extent of putting the Space Pirates to shame.
• Bio-Augmentation: The Triskelion is the result of this.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: While it's unknown how much of it is just his natural physiology, his left arm looks like a blade from the elbow down; and he gets to use it as part of his alt mode's lunge attack.
• Bounty Hunter: He entered this field of work in hopes he would find suitable worlds for his kin to conquer, which makes you wonder how he ever gets work. That or technology that would revolutionize his empire.
• Cold Sniper: His weapon, the Imperialist, is a red laser that actually has a sniping scope of sorts. As such, it has the longest range of any of the hunters' weapons.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: From the hunter himself, to his sniper weapon, to the doors that can be opened once Samus gets his weapon, his main color is red.
• Glass Cannon: Samus — or at least, her scan visor — suspects him of being one of these, relying on stealth rather than toughness for defense.
• Glory Seeker: To advance in Kriken society, he has to be.
• Human Ladder: He stands atop a mound of what can be presumed to be other Kriken in the intro.
• Invisibility: What happens when he fires his weapon while standing still. His alternate form has invisibility when standing still as well.
• Floating Limbs: His head has no connection to his body.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: The character art looks almost entirely red, but his character model shows him as mottled red and black with the red becoming brighter around his eye, chest, and hands.
• Rite of Passage: His involvement in the story has him seeking the Octoliths as part of this. He fails, of course, but then again, the "Ultimate Power" he was looking for didn't really exist in the first place.
• Scary Dogmatic Aliens: The Kriken Empire appears to be a group of the conquistador flavor. Not much is known of them, but they're described as being imperialistic and young Krikens are exiled from their society until they locate a planet that would be suitable for invasion.
• Secret A.I. Moves: In the strictly one-player mode, he can rapid-fire the Imperialist. We repeat; he is rapid-firing a sniper rifle. Only during his very first appearance, though, and only if you provoke him into doing it. The order you're intended to do it in is to fight Noxus and hide away as Trace tries to snipe you; but if you're skilled and stubborn enough, you can defeat Trace first. He flees on his own after you beat Noxus, meaning going out of your way to knock out Trace is a pure Bragging Rights Reward.
• Shout-Out: Kriken society is a pastiche of the Irken's.
• Spiders Are Scary: The Triskelion has a very creepy, spider-like look to it with its long legs and claws, and has a very nasty lunge attack on top of being able to turn invisible while standing still.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: He can become a three legged triskelion, which does not run especially fast but can move very quickly by jumping/lunging, giving him a different problem with inertia to Sylux's.

Phazon Incident Hunters

In General

• Bounty Hunter: Obviously. Though they are used more like Hired Guns sent to secure areas and clear out enemies in their sole appearance in the franchise, they are all officially bounty hunters like Samus.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: All three of them are corrupted by Dark Samus to the point that they becoming her slaves that carry out her will.
• Face–Heel Turn: Not willingly mind you, but they are eventually turned into pawns for Phazon that will kill Samus when given the chance.
• Fighter, Mage, Thief: Besides representing the three elements common to the Prime series, each of the hunters also represent these archetypes. We have Ghor as the Fighter, being the largest and most physically-inclined of the three; Rundas as the Mage, given his preference for manipulating the battlefield to give himself tactical advantage and bombarding his enemies with all manners of icy projectiles from as much distance as possible; and Gandrayda as the Thief, as she utilizes agility, stealth and shapeshifting to maneuver around her foes as she whittles them down.
• Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Subverted somewhat. On the guys' side, only Ghor is shown to be proficient in melee, his action debut showing him wrestling with a Berserker Knight and his boss fight having an equal number of physical and projectile attacks while Rundas is shown to be too reliant on his cryokinesis, with his only melee attack being an improvised ice sword. On the girls side, while it is played straight with Samus, Gandrayda is shown to enjoy getting close to her opponents, to the point that her weapon of choice is employed in close-quarters rather than at range.
• Killed Off for Real: Unfortunately, there is no way for Samus to save a single one of them as Dark Samus absorbs every one of them soon after they're defeated.
• Only in It for the Money: Unlike Samus who has personal ties to the Galactic Federation, the three bounty hunters are really only helping just for a paycheck. Though Ghor's bio states he may occasionally do jobs for free out of the kindness of his heart.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Downplayed in that they do get a few scenes to establish their personalities, but they don't last very long before being turned into dangerous and vile versions of themselves.
• The Worf Effect: They are all easily defeated and corrupted alongside Samus to establish what a threat Dark Samus has become to the galaxy.

Rundas

Rundas

"Subject is a native of Phrygis, a moon of Bes III known primarily for ice mining. The Phrygisian ability to manipulate and generate ice has come in handy in subject’s career as a Bounty Hunter. Intel suggests that he enjoys hunting, to the point where he keeps trophies from all of the targets he’s successfully captured or killed in his career. Subject is proud, cocky, and arrogant, and considers himself without rivals in his field."

—Galactic Federation Datafile RU-902

"That never would have happened if I'd been there."

"Between the two of us, this should be a breeze."

Voiced by: Christopher Sabat

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• Alas, Poor Villain: Most people didn't want to kill him despite being corrupted by Dark Samus. Sad music plays as he is dying as well.
• Ambiguous Situation: When he is beaten, he seems to look around, confused. He almost tries to speak, but is skewered to death by at least three giant icicles. It is uncertain whether he euthanized himself, his Phazon overloaded, or Dark Samus executed him by turning his own abilities against him.
• Big Damn Heroes: With only seconds to spare, Rundas saves Samus from reaching the reactor of an energy shaft after she just dueled Ridley in a free-fall battle. This was his Establishing Character Moment, and part of what made him so endearing to the fandom.
• Bond One-Liner: Gives one after shooting down two flying transports.
• Bounty Hunter: Believes himself to be the best in this field, the scan visor says his threat level matches Aran's.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Whatever the context of his death was, being impaled by at least three of his own giant icicles from underneath and then frozen is not a pleasant way to go.
• Deadly Upgrade: The P.E.D. makes some of his attacks almost impossible to dodge.
• Demonic Possession: If you look closely when fighting him Dark Samus's image will periodically overlap his and he has some very faint audio clips that may play and they suggest he does not like what he is doing.
• Destructible Projectiles: He can stop certain shots with his powers, but given their nature, certain shots can stop his powers.
• Early-Bird Boss: He has the least amount of stamina and hypermode resistance of the three bounty hunters, due to him having spent the least amount of time after total corruption before fighting Samus. Even with more stamina and hyper mode resistance, he would be much less formidable if Samus had the plasma beam or even more energy tanks to fuel hyper mode, as Gandrayada and Dark Samus may find out. But as Samus doesn't have those, the strengths of Rundas overshadow his shortcomings.
• Easter Egg: A few but one in particular, he can be seen watching Samus from afar after she leaves a downed Federation vessel on Bryyo if you look carefully. (as soon as you take any action beyond one step through the door he will take off).
• Elemental Armor: Sometimes encases himself in it, other times uses it to provide cover. Normally Rundas is something of a fragile speedster without the P.E.D.'s hyper mode but his ice defenses are surprisingly durable. Not unbreakable but the easiest way to get rid of them is tricking him into helping you with it.
• Epic Flail: In hyper mode he has a mix between this and a hammer toss. A missile shot at him while doing this can possibly result in him dropping it on his head, which knocks him straight out of hyper mode.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Inverted. Oddly enough, his voice clips are actually become higher-pitched after his corruption.
• Expy: He visually resembles Noxus and has ice powers (to Noxus's freeze gun). He fights much differently, however, and is fully on the Federation's side.
• Hand Blast: They have the same sound effect as the Prime ice beam.
• Hes Mine: Kills his own men after being corrupted so he can battle Samus by himself. It may be that and/or he was fighting his own corruption and attacking the enemies for it.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: Rundas is rough around the edges and more than a little boastful but he also saved Samus's life and out of the three Bounty Hunters, he makes the most genuine effort to bond with Samus while Ghor is more focused on getting the job done and Gandrayda is more content to try and outdo everyone else. It's backed up by how he credits Samus' abilities after saving her and how it's implied he was not happy about what happened on the GFS Valhalla ("That never would have happened if I'd been there."). It only makes his eventual corruption and death hurt even more.
• Homing Projectile: He's either got some advanced mapping technology on him, or some higher form of awareness, as Rundas has to manually guide his projectiles but can send them after you while doing something else, looking somewhere else.
• An Ice Person: He can generate ice and control the movement of the ice he creates.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: He kills at least one enemy this way and later, himself.
• Irony: When he is attempting to halt the argument Gandrayda and armored up Ghor are insisting on having in an elevator, he mentions that they are the good guys, justice will prevail, and all that stuff. This predates the corruption of their bodies, and by then all of them except Samus become evil.
• I Work Alone: According to Federation reports, this was his attitude before he met Samus (who he seems to bond with); it explains some of his actions on Bryyo too.
• Justice Will Prevail: He claims this as the hunters are all arguing: "Hey, relax. We're the good guys. Justice will prevail and all that stuff... right, Samus?" Headers the trope page, as well.
• Literally Shattered Lives: To any Pirate. You can see it in action while rolling through a tunnel beneath a hallway he runs through.
• Little "No": When his personal armor starts to break. So little you might not even recognize it.
• Morph Weapon: He can create a variety of shapes to hit things with.
• Not Quite Flight: Like old school Iceman, but better at it, as he generally reabsorbs his generated ice rather than leaving behind long slides of it and can travel much faster.
• Painfully Slow Projectile: He shoots out a whole bunch to track a target and distract it while he zips off elsewhere; his serious shots are much faster.
• Sacrificial Lion: The entire prologue is tailor-made to make the player like this guy. The first mission you take afterwards has you euthanizing Rundas after he succumbs to his Phazon infection.
• Smug Super: As what his log entry states, he's always full of himself. He is not far behind with Gandrayda in terms of this trope.
• Space Fighter: His "Phrygisian-class gunship".
• Super Mode: After getting the P.E.D. suit and icon helmet.
• Super Sliding: The bounty hunter Rundas uses his ice powers to create surfaces he can quickly slide on. He's able to do this in midair and even ice-surf up a vertical tunnel.
• Tragic Monster: Bonds with Samus at the start of the game, gets one third of the planetary defense system online (Samus still has to do most of the work since Gandrayda neglected to follow through) and directly helps Samus twice during the mission on Norion, the second time saving her life. Following his corruption, Rundas is possessed by Dark Samus and loses all of his free will, being unable to even speak, unlike his fellow hunters. And when it looks like Samus has managed to free him from Dark Samus's influence, he is suddenly killed by his own powers.
• Trophy Room: Is rumored to keep trophies from all his successful hunts.
• You Owe Me: He says this to Samus after saving her from falling to the bottom of the pit where she and Meta Ridley fought. Having him killed to put him out of his misery from his uncontrolled Phazon madness might count.

Ghor

Ghor

"Subject is a veteran of the liberation war of Wotan VII. Only 6% of subject’s birth-body remains: the rest is state-of-the-art cyberware. Despite his career and heavy cybernetic modification, subject is known for his high level of empathy and compassion. Ghor is rather gentle and approaches situations logically, but is not the most skilled of fighters. Intel suggests he even has a sense of humor. Subject has often championed the weak, poor, and downtrodden, working for free or giving bounty money earned to the victims of his targets. Subject can merge his cybernetic body into larger mechanisms, including gunships and fightercraft. This merging will alter Ghor’s personality and he will become incredibly aggressive and violent. Data indicates a high proficiency with computer infiltration and manipulation. High level of mechanical empathy with artificial intelligence."

—Galactic Federation Datafile GH-673

"Don't you feel the power? Soon, everything will be corrupted. Including you!"

^{Click here to see his unarmored form.}

"That seems... inefficient."

Voiced by: Edwin Neal

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• Ambiguously Human: Being 94% machine, it is unknown what species Ghor was originally and his cyborg body is decidedly non human with an almost insectoid design.
• Arm Cannon: Two of them in his armor in addition to a Chest Blaster. He simply has a wrist launcher when not armored up.
• Attack Its Weak Point:
  • In his first phase, successfully causing him to slide out of control and slam into the arena walls leaves his back open, which can be shot at to both stun him and cause him to turn around to be shot in the face.
  • In his second phase, boosting between his legs with the Morph Ball when he launches his area-sweeping laser will similarly stun him and allow you to get free shots on his face.
• Beam Spam: When desperate, he uses his smart bombs, missile salvos and plasma beams all at once
• The Big Guy: With his suit; outside of it, Rundas is larger than him and Ghor's potentially more relaxed.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: Power armor has two.
• Bounty Hunter: Though Ghor is just as likely to be called for tech support. That goes a long way in explaining how he can afford to be so charitable with his bounty money...
• Calling Your Attacks: Before trying to decapitate Aran with a plasma lance.
  "This turn of events is insignificant. I'll show you what I mean. Observe!"
• Car Fu: He hoists over his head then throws Samus' gunship at her...while using what counts as his own gunship.
• The Chessmaster: He deduced the Aurora Unit's plan to destroy the Elysian Seed within moments of Samus's arrival. To thwart the plan he severed the AU's connections to SkyTown and then immediately tried to destroy Samus's ship. But what really earns him the part is that he sabotaged the Spire's escape pod first of all, to ensure that even if Samus succeeded in assembling the Theronian bomb she would get blown up along with it.
• Cool Ship: His suit is his ship.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: He's still alive and screaming for a couple of seconds when Dark Samus absorbs him following his defeat.
• Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Downplayed. He's a Full-Conversion Cyborg, but he's actually a pretty swell guy under normal circumstances. It's when he links up with his battlesuit, armed to the teeth with various weapons, that his personality does a 180 to being aggressive and belligerent.
• Deadly Upgrade: Emphasis on deadly; he seems to benefit the least from the P.E.D. Suit.
• Deflector Shields: He uses them offensively too.
• From Camouflage to Criminal: Subverted. Much like Samus, he's a former military service member who became a bounty hunter. However, while bounty hunting would normally be seen as a criminal activity and Ghor does indeed hunt people for money, he's usually hired for tech work and often gives his bounty money to the victims of his targets, which also like Samus, implies he only hunts the worst of the worst. And the job he's hired for in-game is government-sanctioned.
• Full-Conversion Cyborg: The vast majority of his body — 94%, specifically —is completely mechanical; the other 6% is what's left of his original body.
• Genius Bruiser: He's quite clearly a rather clever intellectual, and he's a rather notable bounty hunter who links up with a massive battlesuit, both of these traits makes him quite the formidable foe.
• Glass Cannon: Without his suit. He is not particularly tough or fast but can still do a lot of damage.
• Good Counterpart: Ghor is a Federation fighter who, after being rebuilt, resembles a Space Pirate (at least the ones in Prime 3). Compare to Weavel, a Space Pirate, who after being rebuilt ironically resembles a Federation soldier.
• Grappling-Hook Gun: Strictly offensive; he doesn't need to building-swing since his suit flies.
• Ground-Shattering Landing: Invoked in his flying heavy suit.
• Macross Missile Massacre: From his armour suit's shoulders.
• Malevolent Mugshot: His level of malevolence is questionable, but his face was temporarily all over Sky Town.
• Mega Manning: Samus gets a plasma beam for defeating him.
• Nice Guy: When not in his suit. His scans say that he occasionally works for free or even gives his bounty money to whoever has been harassed by his targets.
• Plasma Cannon: What his main weapon is called. Ghor actually has four. One on his person and three situated in his larger armour.
• Playing with Fire: Not exactly fire, but the plasma he shoots is hot enough to set some things ablaze and he even uses it to heat up his blades in close quarters combat.
• Ramming Always Works: He'll try to charge Samus head-on with one attack in the first phase. If she freezes over the Fuel Gel spilled on the floor when he does, he'll slide out of control and crash into the arena walls, which leads him open to attack in the back.
• Shoulder Cannon: Two in large armor.
• Shout-Out: His backstory, with him having to replace his body with a cybernetic one that alters his personality, seems inspired by General Grievous, except that Ghor isn't a villain. Not initially, at least.
• Shows Damage: As the boss battle against him continues, Ghor's battle suit gets more and more damaged, which is best shown with how the front of his armor starts breaking up.
• The Smart Guy: Without his suit. Despite bounty hunting being his preferred profession, he's often asked to crack or control computer systems.
• Spin Attack: Both with his "attack claws" and sweeping around with his chest blaster.
• Stone Wall: With the suit, which is very durable compared to most suits in these games, very fast and heavily armed. It falls into this trope in that it doubles as Ghor's gunship and falls behind a few of them in maneuverability and firepower.
• Super Mode: After getting two P.E.D. icons, the second one might be for his larger armour.
• Unskilled, but Strong: He logically assesses his situation and strikes with state of the art weaponry, but is still lacking in pure combat skill according to Federation reports on him. It shows in the boss battle too, where most of Ghor's attacks are launched with intent to cover as much area as possible, but are highly telegraphed, while protecting himself from counter attack goes no further than raising a shield, entering hyper mode when it's gone and trying to runaway when it's clearly too late. Rundas and Gandrayada are much more deft and adaptable.
• We Can Rebuild Him: 94 percent of his body got blasted to bits in combat.

Gandrayda

Gandrayda

"Subject homeworld unknown. Possesses metamorphic ability similar to the biomorphs of Jovia XII. Can assume the form and abilities of most living things, including bioforms considerably larger than the subject. Scans are unable to determine subject’s age, but psych eval suggests a high degree of youthfulness. Intel suggests that bounty hunting is akin to a sport for her, one she enjoys considerably. Subject perceives the veteran Hunter Samus Aran as her chief rival, a rival she intends to surpass as soon as possible."

—Galactic Federation Datafile GD-202

"Space Pirate grey is definitely not my style."

"You know, you should never trust strangers, Sammy. This is gonna' be fun!"

Voiced by: Claire Hamilton

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• Ax-Crazy: After getting fully corrupted by Phazon and being turned into one of Dark Samus's lieutenants, she's become a lot more psychotic. According to Pirate logs, she not only goes around their homeworld killing them indiscriminately, she's incredibly giddy at the idea of gruesomely murdering Samus and presenting her bloody helmet to Dark Samus.
• Bounty Hunter: Aspires to be the best.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Like Ghor, she too is absorbed by Dark Samus while she's still alive. It's more unusual than cruel, but the process of absorbing their injured bodies sounded painful.
• Deadly Upgrade: The P.E.D. greatly enhances her amounts of Shapeshifter Baggage and stealth.
• Deadly Disc: Her signature weapon, as seen when she fights a Space Pirate aboard the GFS Olympus and Dark Samus on Norion, seems to be some kind of crystalline chakram with her same color palette. Interestingly enough, she doesn't use it the same way as her throwing blades, using it instead as a slashing weapon as part of a dash attack whenever Samus stays too close to her or as a way to focus energy into a large ball lightning projectile (which she showcased in the GFS Olympus.)
• Elemental Punch: Strikes the ground when she wants space. Distinct among the many shockwave boss attacks. Until Dark Samus takes it. She also seems to cloak her hands with electricity whenever she attempts to claw or pound Samus' helmet during the Shake Off Gandrayda segments of her fight.
• Energy Beings: It seems the reason Gandrayda is able to shapeshift is because her natural form isn't really physical to begin with.
• Finger-Snap Lighter: Sparks to electronics rather than flames to a lighter, being the future and all. She is only shown doing this after getting the P.E.D. though and even shows a distaste toward mechanical systems before getting it.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Any energy or projectile-based attack employed by her copies gives off purple sparks, seemingly indicating that Gandrayda isn't completely able to replicate the energy required by those attacks and is subbing it with her own. However, no such effect is applied to the shots she fired when she copied the Space Pirate in Norion or the Marine in the Pirate Homeworld.
• The Gadfly: Her very first scene is turning into Samus for no reason other than to mess with her, who does do a Double Take in response.
• "Get Back Here!" Boss: The main reason that makes fighting her so frustrating is that she spends 95% of her time jumping around, stopping only to change shapes or when she has managed to latch on to you.
• Green-Skinned Space Babe: Or pink, purple. Whichever you prefer.
• Hive Mind: She is able to take the form of several swarm bots at once thanks to the P.E.D., and this is likely how she controls them all.
• Homing Projectile: Air based blades and a ground based spark.
• The Infiltration: Is more interested in hunting bounties, but gets these kind of missions because of her abilities.
• Innocent Fanservice Girl: Though, to what extent she is actually innocent is debatable.
• Invisibility: She has a personal cloaking field.
• Laughing Mad: Just prior to fighting Samus, after she nearly shot Samus while her back was turned. And a more insane laughter toward the end of her Shapeshifter Swan Song, too.
• Life Drain: Grants this power via the Grapple Voltage. It can even be reversed for an Over Clocking Attack.
• Manchild: According to scans, her psyche has "a high degree of youthfulness." This shifts over into Psychopathic Manchild after she's corrupted by Phazon. Not only does she seemingly toy with Samus before attacking her, some of her extra animations in the "Shake Off Gandrayda" segments have her playing with Samus's visor while beating her (such as tapping or breathing on it).
• Mega Manning: Samus gets the Grapple Voltage after putting her down.
• Ms. Fanservice: Her visually female shape stands out when all the other bounty hunters wear bulky armor, are barely biological cyborgs or have oddly proportioned bodies.
• Parts Unknown: She is compared to Jovian creatures from where the Federation manufactures its steel but seems to surpass them in ability and little to nothing is known about where she really comes from or how her powers work.
• Personal Space Invader: During her boss fight, she'll try to grab on to Samus, attempting to either remove her helmet or snap her neck, beat her, or mess with her visor.
• The Rival: She really wanted to prove herself a better bounty hunter than Samus, who in turn didn't even know who Gandrayda was until Metroid Prime 3.
• Rubber-Forehead Aliens: Downplayed, as while she appears largely human compared to most other alien species in the Metroid series, she has a few decidedly non-human characteristics, such as the tentacle hair, transparent pink skin, weird bone structure, shapeshifting, and electric power.
• Secret A.I. Moves: When copying Samus, she can uses some abilities much better than the player and some the player never has access to.
• Shameless Fanservice Girl: Also a possible personality trait.
• Shape Shifter Guilt Trip: Her Shapeshifter Swan Song includes Rundas, Ghor, and most hauntingly Samus herself. She is effectively saying "You couldn't save them, you couldn't save me, and you can't save yourself".
• Shapeshifter Swan Song: Her last moment has her lose control of her shapeshifting transforming into random Space Pirates and fellow hunters.
• She-Fu: Her fighting style is full of acrobatics meant to disorient Samus as she bombards her with throwing blades and discharges of lightning from her chakram or her ground pounds. Even her dedicated melee attack has her spinning gracefully while dashing forward to slash at Samus with her chakram.
• Shock and Awe: It is her tell. She also seems to possess some talent for electrical manipulation, being able to operate machinery by simply clenching her fist or snapping her fingers and being able to throw around ball lightning as an offensive move.
• Smug Super: There is a reason why she considers Samus her rival and sees her profession as a bounty hunter being her hobby.
• The Spook: According to her scan, her backstory, including her homeworld and exact age, are unknown to the Federation. They don't even know anything definite about her species aside from its similarities to the inhabitants of Jovia XII.
• Spotting the Thread: As part of her plan to bring down Samus, she poses as a Federation Marine stuck in the Pirate Homeworld. However, there are several hints that observant players can pick up to deduce her identity:
  • Their identification code NZG-41 shares quite a few letter letters with Gandrayda's name. The G stands out the most, as Samus' Scan Visor identifies each form she copies by appending a -G to it (eg. Rundas-G, Samus-G, etc.)
  • Once Samus finds him, he's under assault not by Pirate Commandos or any of the other high-ranking pirates seen so far inhabiting Homeworld... but by a pair of Pirate Militia. If you avoid attacking them immediately and move a little closer, you can even see that they're missing their shots on purpose.
  • The way he speaks to Samus is quite off-putting, as he just seems to know exactly what Samus needs and how to get it. There's also the fact that when he reveals the existence of the Hazard Shield, he places too much emphasis on saying "if" (Samus) can acquire it, then she could "probably" make it to the Homeworld Seed.
  • The model used for this soldier is the same as regular Marines but if you pay close attention, the shots he fires at the Pirates are Hypermode shots, something that shouldn't be possible unless the Marine has their own source of Phazon like Samus or the Bounty Hunters.
  • Samus can scan him, but oddly enough the Scan Visor treats him as an unscanned object even if you have scanned Marines before in the Olympus or Norion. If you do scan him, the visor shows the regular Federation Marine flavor text, but it doesn't give her the option to see the full Logbook entry.
  • Most important of all... Why would the pirates allow a Marine to keep their full gear let alone remain alive?
• Statuesque Stunner: Her default form seems similar in height to Samus' unarmored self (though it's not easy to tell), who has been cited as 6'3 in imperial measurements via the Super Metroid Players' Guide, though the Metroid II: Return of Samus manual states that the height measurement are for her Power Suit. Combine that with Gandrayda's psychological evaluation and she might not have been fully grown even!
• Super Mode: When she receives a P.E.D. vest.
• Super-Strength: Look closely up top in one cut-scene when you are shown a trooper attacked by drones, and you will see Gandrayda kick a Space Pirate - an armored being taller than a human - some distance. On Norion, she throws one of them very far while disguised. And that was before she got corrupted/augmented and without something like Ghor's battlesuit. This trait, though otherwise not mentioned, may just have been taken by her ability to imitate much larger organisms and their abilities.
• Token Evil Teammate: Downplayed during the prologue, in which her datafile suggests she is a Blood Knight, while her treatment of Samus barely conceals her any passive-aggressiveness. She sure seems to take things lightly and some fans have not liked her as much as they did the other hunters. This is reflected when all the bounty hunters are corrupted. While Ghor retains hints of sanity, and Rundas' apparent resistance forces Dark Samus to directly possess him, Gandrayda turns into a bloodthirsty maniac. Despite this negative quality, Samus has a high enough opinion of her to reminisce about her along with Ghor and Rundas after Phazon is destroyed once and for all.
• Unknown Rival: She has a critical view of Samus due to wanting to be better than her, but Samus had evidentially never even knew Grandaya existed until Prime 3.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: She can fake Phazon corruption and even turn into things larger than herself or a group of much smaller things. Conservation of mass what? The other characters in the game don't understand it either.

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