Agon Wastes

The Agon Wastes, also known as Agon Sector, the Land of Sand and Ruin Agon砂と荒廃の地アーゴン - Official Metroid Prime 2 Japanese website in the Japanese release, and previously the Agon Plains are an area in the east of planet Aether. Back in the Golden Age of the Luminoth, these lands were vast, lush plains stretching out as far as the eye could see. The region was scorched when the Leviathan crashed into the planet, leaving nothing but a barren, arid desert. The Agon Wastes also house the Agon Temple, the guardian of which was I-Sha before his death. Its Dark Aether counterpart was the Dark Agon Wastes.
The Agon Wastes are home to many unique creatures, such as Lumites, Sandiggers, and Sandbats. The Space Pirates have a mining facility in its cave systems, and almost all of Agon is under their command. Few signs of Luminoth civilization can be seen, as the Pirates have mined the sector to search for its resources.
==Areas and main rooms==
This sector can be divided into two areas:
===Mining Area===
This area has little current Space Pirate activities and has some Luminoth ruins and technology in various places. Most of the rooms are open.
====Main rooms====
*Agon Temple
*Mining Plaza
*Mining Station A
*Portal Terminal
===Space Pirate mining facility===
An old Luminoth mining facility that has become the main base of operations for the Space Pirates (who crashed here). Most of the area is subterranean.
====Main rooms====
*Central Mining Station
*Command Center
*Main Reactor
==Similarities to Chozo Ruins==
The Agon Wastes are somewhat similar to the Chozo Ruins from Metroid Prime. Like the Ruins, the region is desert-like, and has ruins left behind by the ancient species that lived on the planet. They each have ambush predators such as Sandiggers from Metroid Prime 2: Echoes or Beetles from Metroid Prime. Counting the Great Temple as a sub-area of the Temple Grounds, they also both act as the second areas explorable via the natural route of the game. Lastly, they seem to both have statues, like the statue of the Amorbis, or the many Chozo statues and relics, and in Metroid Prime's case, most Chozo Artifacts.
==See also==
*List of rooms in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes Bonus Disc/Agon Wastes
*List of rooms in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes/Agon Wastes
==Development notes==
Kynan Pearson implied that the Agon Wastes were referred to as the Sandlands in development.Kiwi Talkz. "#114 - Kynan Pearson Interview (Metroid Prime 2, Donkey Kong, Level Design, Management etc.)". YouTube. November 12, 2021. Retrieved May 16, 2022. (starts at 8:11) He also pronounces the name as "Ay-gon", whereas Jack Mathews pronounced it in an interview as "Aggon" (as in "agony").Kiwi Talkz. "#116 - Jack Mathews Interview (Metroid Prime Trilogy, Prototypes, Business, Armature Studios etc.)". YouTube. November 26, 2021. Retrieved June 7, 2022. (starts at 17:43)
Prime World Editor reveals that some room files within the Agon Wastes contain the name Alamo, specifically the Space Pirate base and its Dark Counterpart of rooms. Alamo appears to be a developer reference to the real life Battle of the Alamo, suggesting that part of the Agon Wastes was inspired by the in-universe location of the same name.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alamo_Mission The name "Alamo" may have also likely been chosen due to the amount of large-scale battles taking place within the area, or due to being the Pirate's base of operations within the desert climate (many if not all dark rooms internally reuse their Light World counterpart's name followed by "dark" in the file name). Coincidentally, both the Alamo and Retro Studios are housed within the state of Texas.
==Trivia==
*A-Kul's Clues refer to the Agon Wastes as the "scorched land" or the "dry land".
*Agon is a Greek word that meant a contest, competition, or challenge that was held in connection with religious festivals. In its broader sense of a struggle or contest, agon referred to a contest in athletics, chariot or horse racing, music or literature at a public festival in ancient Greece.
**Agon, of course, also has possible relation to the English word agony, which is a common synonym for suffering.
*Before its Energy Controller is restored, Agon is plagued by lightning storms, though Samus is never struck by the lightning. Like the other regions, Agon becomes sunny when its energy is returned, and lightning begins to plague the Dark Agon Wastes instead.
*From Agon Wastes to Torvus Bog just below the Torvus Temple, the connection is an elevator that goes downward into Torvus. However, the two ends of the elevator, Transport to Torvus Bog and Transport to Agon Wastes respectively, are on opposite sides of the planet, yet there is scarcely a difference in elevation.
*The color code of Agon is Amber.
==Gallery==
Portal_Terminal.jpg|The Portal Terminal, the first room with a portal to Dark Aether.
Agon manga.png|Metroid Prime: Episode of Aether
Agon Sky.png|The skybox of the Agon Wastes.
Agon Demo Sky.png|An earlier version of the area's sky, as seen in the Metroid Prime 2: Echoes Bonus Disc, with a prominent moon.
== References ==
ru:Пустыни Агона
 
Category:Desert/Ruins areas