Phazon Core (creature)

A Phazon Core is found in the center of all Leviathans. Samus Aran encounters these beings in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption after defeating the core guardian of the seed.
Before the core reveals itself, Samus must use the power-up received after the battle (Hyper Ball, Hyper Missile, then Hyper Grapple as the game proceeds) to destroy certain growths around the chamber, which act as locks to the core. Destroying them causes Phazon streams to gush into a small opening in the ceiling and summon the Phazon Core. Samus must then vent the extra Phazon out of her suit to overload the Core and destroy it. While Samus leaves, the core falls to the ground and explodes, sending Phazon flying in all directions.
As Samus's Gunship flies away, the Leviathan corpse can be seen exploding and collapsing (Metroid Prime Trilogy and PAL versions only), bringing a stop to the spread of Phazon on that planet.
==Biology==
Leviathans are grown in serpentine wombs, deep within the planet Phaaze. While inside, they slowly reach maturity, living on a diet of concentrated Phazon fed to them through the womb from Phaaze. As this process happens, the Leviathan and its womb are pushed closer to the surface of Phaaze. Over time, Leviathans develop a Phazon Core, which allows the Leviathan to produce Phazon on its own. When the Leviathan is fully matured, it reaches the planet's overworld and is launched into space to corrupt other planets. Upon impact, the Leviathan may possibly attract a powerful native life-form to enter it. The creature is then corrupted by large amounts of Phazon, and now serves to protect the Core of the Leviathan with its life. The Core then acts somewhat like the Leviathan's womb; it begins feeding the corrupted creature with Phazon. In the case of the Bryyo Seed, the creature that protects the Core, Mogenar, is fed with a cascade of liquid Phazon from the Core. Some time after, the Phazon Core itself seeps deep into the planet and begins to change the ecosystem, transforming the planet into a Phaaze clone.
The Phazon Core resides in a chamber at the heart of the Leviathan, and is enveloped in a layer of protective skin while inactive. When provoked, the Core will emerge from the ceiling to assess the situation. The Core is connected to the Leviathan by a large tube sprouting from the base of the creature, which leads under, behind and above the core and which also splits into several smaller veins that suspend it from the ceiling. The Core itself a grey mass that is insectoid in appearance. Its method of vision is a singular blue eye. Beneath the eye is a set of two primary mandibles and four secondary ones underneath them. Two feelers emerge from either side of the Core's eye, and blotches of Phazon can be seen dotted around the Core's body. Finally, two antennae stem from the top of the Core, which lead into another set of veins to the ceiling.
According to the scan of the Phazon Core from the Leviathan Battleship, these Cores are invulnerable to all weaponry, including the Hypermode weapons. Only the venting of an enormous and excessive amount of Phazon energy from a particularly corrupted being that is aimed towards the Core can overload it.
==Official data==
===Leviathan Battleship scans===
;Phazon Core
:"Target appears to be a portion of the Leviathan's core. Invulnerable to all weaponry."
;Organs
:"Leviathan optical organ. Target appears to be sensitive to any type of weapon fire."
===Logbook entry===
The log scan of the Leviathan Infant describes the entire life-cycle of the Leviathan, while at the same time giving insight on the creature's Phazon Core throughout its life and after death.
===Metroid Prime Trilogy art booklet===
"When a Leviathan strikes a planet, it creates a Phazon Core which emits a strong toxin called Phazon all over the planet. Phazon is a powerful substance with the ability to completely corrupt living beings through genetic mutation. Over the course of a couple years, Phazon corrupts the entire planet, at which point the planet is reborn as a Phaaze clone."
==Trivia==
*Based on the room Samus teleports to in the Leviathan Battleship and the information written in the Space Pirate Data log titled The Leviathan, it would seem Phazon Cores are nestled within their respective Leviathans' skulls.
*In Metroid Prime, even though Samus goes through two rooms in the Impact Crater that would potentially hold the core, it is missing; in a room also called Phazon Core, a large bone-like pillar stands in the middle, and in the chamber where the Core would likely be connected to, called the Phazon Infusion Chamber, Metroid Prime is suspended from a hole similar to the ones in which the Cores are located.
**Chozo Lore in the first Metroid Prime game refers to a creature living within Tallon IV's Leviathan as the Worm. With the later release of Metroid Prime 3, it would seem the Phazon Core organisms are more fitting of the description detailed by the Chozo, more so than the Metroid Prime creature. Both the Worm and Phazon Core are stated to be nurtured in a womb, and both entities ultimately seep into the planet, spreading Phazon and destroying the planet's ecosystem from within. However, because a sequel to Metroid Prime was not originally considered, the Phazon Core was probably not even thought up when this lore was being created by the developers.
**The lack of any true Phazon Core on Tallon IV's Impact Crater is theorized to be the result of the heavily mutated Metroid Prime's hunger. The theory, found here, suggests that an earlier form of Metroid Prime devoured the original Phazon Core and gained its ability to produce Phazon, effectively taking its role as the source of all Phazon on Tallon IV.
*Because the Leviathan that hit planet Aether in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes was nowhere to be seen on the planet or in the Dark dimension that was created upon impact, the Leviathan Core was also not seen in this game. It is likely that the core of that Leviathan was destroyed with the Dark Dimension.
*In the original, standalone NTSC version of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, the destruction of the Phazon Cores merely results in the sudden evaporation of Phazon from the Leviathans (as the latter lose their glowing blue hue and smoke is seen extruding from them), with no explosion occurring as in all other releases.
*The art booklet of Metroid Prime Trilogy somewhat contradicts the ingame scan of the Leviathan Infant. In the former, it is said that the Phazon Core is created when the Leviathan impacts a planet; in the latter, it is stated that the core is developed at the end of the Leviathan's infant stage.
==Gallery==
File:Impact Crater Screenshot 3.png|The hole from which Metroid Prime was suspended. Similar in appearance to the holes from which the Phazon Cores descend (bar the teeth). 
Phazoncore.jpg|Samus is instructed to fire Phazon at the core.
ru:Фазоновое Ядро (существо)
Category:Species
Category:Phazon
Category:Leviathans
Category:Phaaze
Category:Bryyo Seed
Category:Elysia Seed
Category:Pirate Homeworld Seed
Category:Parasitic
Category:Derek Bonikowski