Gray Voice

(also translated as Grey Voice) is a Chozo from Zebes who acted as a Chozo DNA donor and surrogate father figure to Samus Aran.
==Biography==
=== Metroid manga ===
Gray Voice was a Chozo living on Zebes, and a close friend of Old Bird. When Old Bird returned from K-2L's ruins with the orphaned Samus Aran, Gray Voice initially objected to adopting a human child on the dangerous planet of Zebes, but relented as there was no alternative. Gray Voice was one of two Chozo to secretly donate his DNA to help Samus adapt, making it likely that he was of the Thoha tribe, as the other donor Raven Beak was of the Mawkin tribe.
Eleven years later, Gray Voice and Old Bird oversaw Samus during a Power Suit training exercise in Crateria. Gray Voice was disappointed in her performance, impressing upon her the role of a galactic protector. When Samus later showed Gray Voice some Badger Clover she had picked, he immediately assembled Work Robots to burn the field, as the flowers were a poisonous invasive species. This incurred the wrath of the Iono Feria, who attacked Gray Voice with leftover Space Pirate weaponry, forcing Samus to save him and peacefully disarm them. Afterwards, Gray Voice ordered the extermination of the Iono Feria, infuriating Samus.Metroid: Volume 1. Chapter 2. 2003.
Years later, Mother Brain betrayed the Chozo by allowing Space Pirates to invade. Gray Voice supposedly sided with Mother Brain, becoming a leader of the Pirates and leaving his fellow Chozo at their mercy.Metroid: Volume 1. Chapter 6. 2003. When Samus was captured, Gray Voice spared her life by offering her a leadership position, secretly disappointed by her failure to fight Ridley. After the Body Adaptation Machine was sabotaged, Gray Voice ordered Ridley and the Pirates to disperse to find the perpetrator.Metroid: Volume 2. Chapter 9. 2003. Finally, his faith was restored when he watched Samus overcome her post-traumatic stress disorder and heroically work to evacuate the rest of the Chozo.Metroid: Volume 2. Chapter 11. 2003.
With Mother Brain now alone, Gray Voice returned to her chamber and staged an attack equipped with Chozo battle armor. However, he was forced to fight when Ridley returned, and ultimately couldn't overcome his pacifistic genetic alterations, faltering and allowing Ridley to impale him. Bleeding out, Gray Voice activated defense systems to help Samus to escape Zebes with the survivors, before Ridley killed him with his plasma breath.Metroid: Volume 2. Chapter 12. 2003.
 Samus only learned of her genetic connection to Gray Voice after his death, seeing his ghost on her return to Zebes.Metroid: Volume 2. Chapter 16. 2003.
=== Other appearances ===
Gray Voice's only named appearance was in the Metroid manga, though he may have originated as an unnamed Chozo close to Samus in the Super Metroid comic. Additionally, Old Bird has frequently been depicted with a taller Chozo next to him - while this Chozo's appearance varies, they are mostly assumed be a stand-in for Gray Voice. This taller Chozo appeared in one of the Japanese endings for Metroid Fusion, in the drawing that Samus made as a child in Metroid: Zero Mission, and supposedly silhouetted alongside Old Bird in a flashback in Metroid Dread.
==Trivia==
*Gray Voice is one of two characters in the Metroid series that have acted as a surrogate father to Samus, the other being in a way Commander Adam Malkovich.
*The manner in which Gray Voice was killed by Ridley was given a brief reference in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate via Ridley's Down Special Skewer, as well as in the trailer A Piercing Screech where Ridley killed Mega Man by impaling him in the chest with his tail.
**On a similar note, the manner in which Ridley finished him off resembled the Plasma Scream Final Smash.
*In the climax to Metroid Dread, it was revealed that Samus carried two Chozo DNA strands, one for Thoha and one for Mawkin. As the Mawkin DNA explicitly came from the main antagonist Raven Beak, it is implied Gray Voice was responsible for the Thoha DNA. This also means Gray Voice was ultimately responsible for Samus retaining her human form after getting the Vaccine "Metroid" procedure in the beginning of Metroid Fusion, as Raven Beak, while posing as ADAM, indicated that the procedure under normal circumstances would have immediately turned Samus into a Metroid and that her Thoha genes slowed the process of transforming into a Metroid down significantly.
==Gallery==
Metroid eManga Chapter2 cover.png|Gray Voice, Old Bird, and Samus in the Metroid e-manga.
Metroid Volume1 Ch5 ZebesFolks.png|Samus remembers Gray Voice and her family on Zebes.
Metroid Volume1 Ch6 GrayVoice.png|Gray Voice sides with the Space Pirates.
Manga Armored Gray Voice.png|Gray Voice faces Mother Brain in ancient Chozo armor.
Metroid v2 ch12 11.jpg|Gray Voice is mortally wounded by Ridley.
Super Metroid Nintendo Power Comic 4 Page 3.jpg|Possible appearance in Super Metroid comic.
Ob4.PNG|Possible cameo in Metroid Fusion's Child Mode ending.
Gfs 52848 2 2.jpg|Drawing of Old Bird, young Samus, and Gray Voice (right).
MetroidDread Samus DNA Infusion Flashback.png|Possible cameo in a flashback in Metroid Dread (silhouetted on the right).
==Notes and references==
ru:Серый Голос
it:Voce Grigia
zh-tw:灰音
Category:Chozo characters
Category:K-2L
Category:Zebes
Category:Tourian
Category:Galactic Federation
Category:Deceased
Category:Recurring Characters