Ridley

## Life

### Death

August 26th, 8111Blown apart from the inside by Samus Aran in Norfair during the Final Conflict

## Appearances

### Appears in

Metroid
Metroid: Samus Returns

The Last Metroid

Metroid Fusion

**Ridley** is a high-ranking member of the Space Pirates, the archenemy of Samus Aran, and one of the most common recurring characters and antagonists in the *Metroid* series, appearing in most of the installments. The commander of the Space Pirates, second only to Mother Brain, he is one of the most dangerous and callous beings in the entire galaxy.

## History

### The K-2L Earth Colony Massacre

Not much is known about Ridley prior to the K-2L massacre, but he was the leader of the Space Pirates for that period of time in history. His decisions and tactics were outwardly aggressive, and he used the element of surprise to overwhelm and ambush cargo vessels and Federation ships. One of Ridley's less successful attacks was the raid of K-2L.

Ridley wanted to attain information on Federation trade routes, and intel about new technology they were developing behind the scenes. He knew of two scientists, Virginia and Rodney Aran, who were living on the planet, and thought they could hold information unbeknownst to him. But despite his best efforts, the Arans retaliated and began attacking him once he entered their humble home. Ridley entered a vicious frenzy and killed the two scientists, and smacked their young child unconscious with a flick of this tail. The ferocious general ordered the decimation of the colony, and it was burned to the ground with no survivors left behind.

But Ridley was stopped by a group of Chozo warriors, who came into the rescue and fought off the Space Pirates. The pirates fled the site, knowing they could stand no chance against battle hardened Chozo.

### Capturing Mother Brain

Ridley's rule as the head of the Space Pirates became less successful as the years progressed, with many missions and raids being botched due to their dwindling forces. The overall consensus amongst the Space Pirates believed that Ridley was not advancing the pirates to new heights, and their stagnation was leading to their eventual decline. Ridley was aware of this, and thought of two ways to progress the Space Pirates; genetic mutation and the Mother Brain.

Mother Brain was sending signals to the Space Pirates for days prior, and Ridley began to see that she could be the leader the Space Pirates needed. Ridley arrived on Zebes, and ambushed the Chozo sanctuary where Mother Brain was located. They successfully killed all of the Chozo there, including Gray Voice, and attained Mother Brain from her containment.

### The Metroid Initiative of Zebes

Under Mother Brain's orders, Ridley began sending out Space Pirates to steal Metroids, organisms created by the Chozo that could destroy the galaxy. Ridley helped transform the Chozo sanctuary into their base of operations, and creating Tourian for Mother Brain to reside and test the Metroids. Ridley felt irritated with the supercomputer, feeling that he was disrespected and treated like a lackey.

Returning from one of their raids, Ridley caught wind that Samus Aran had invaded their base on Zebes, and defeated Kraid. Descending deep into Tourian, he sent his Space Pirate legions throughout Norfair and Brinstar to find and apprehend the bounty hunter. Mother Brain found out it was Samus by using her psychic powers to probe her mind from deep within Tourian, and informed Ridley of her current motive, location, and her history.

Ridley ambushed and cornered Samus Aran in Norfair after she attained the data key to Tourian, and ruthlessly thrashed her. He shattered her armor, and taunted her with the loss of her parents. Ridley threw Samus into captivity aboard the mothership, and returned to Tourian to oversee the Metroid Initiative prosper.

However, the Metroids broke out of containment and caused havoc throughout Tourian, causing Ridley to flee and lock down the base to save his skin. Mother Brain scolded Ridley for poor management of the science team, but Ridley blamed Mother Brain for being horrible at communicating. Mother Brain scolded Ridley and used her psychic powers to overwhelm Ridley, causing the general to flee in rage. He tried finding a way to contain the Metroids, but was distracted once Samus broke into Mother Brain's chambers with the Varia Suit equipped.

The two battled once more, and despite Samus being on even ground with the reptilian general, Mother Brain proved to be helpful in stalling Samus by overwhelming her mind during the fight. However, Samus used her missiles to blast apart the bay doors holding back the Metroids, causing Ridley to get overwhelmed by them. Samus used this time to kill Mother Brain with a blast to her eye, turning the base's self destruct system on. Ridley tried to kill Samus once and for all, but he staggered as a Metroid sucked more and more energy from his chest, leaving him vulnerable as Samus shot gas canisters surrounding him. The gas canisters blew apart and sent Ridley flying back, and surviving Space Pirates found Ridley's malnourished, mangled body. Ridley was flown out of Zebes aboard a Space Pirate shuttle, living to fight another day.

### Rebirth

Ridley was put on life support following the destruction of Tourian, and the Space Pirates were desperate to find a way to prosper without their strongest units. However, they discovered Aeion energy from SR388 and tested it on themselves, resulting in increased strength and senses. Although it resulted in a decreased lifespan, the Space Pirates believed it was worth it for the strength and endurance needed to destroy the Federation.

Ridley was enhanced with parts from his prototype Mecha Ridley, and infused with Aeion energy to keep him running during the healing process. His new form, dubbed Proteus Ridley, proved successful in reviving the pirate general and bringing him back to his prior glory.

### Raid of SR388

The Space Pirates arrived on SR388 after attaining intel on the Federation's mission to exterminate the Metroids. Ridley not only wanted to mine the planet for Aeion, but also find ancient Chozo technology they could use for their army. With his rebirth, Ridley attained a newfound interest in scientific innovation, no matter how much of his own humanity had to be sacrificed. He found a Chozo drilling unit known as the Diggernaut, and turned it back on in order to help them discover more Chozo technology.

Ridley and his team fought off Gamma and Zeta Metroids throughout their expedition, but eventually Ridley found information that would prove vital to the future of the Space Pirates; that the Chozo created Mother Brain and have the blueprints to create her. Ridley also found information regarding their tech, and found materials needed to create said tech.

Ridley and Samus crossed paths at one point during their travels, and found out that Samus was exterminating the Metroids. He wanted to try and salvage any many Metroids as possible, so he sent the Diggernaut to stall as he and his team went further into the planet. Ridley was the only one to survive the Metroid den though, for all of his fellow pirates fell victim to the hatching baby Metroids swarming the area. Ridley managed to hide, allowing Samus to exterminate the Metroids for his own benefit. Once Samus killed the Queen Metroid, Ridley barged in and stole the last Metroid egg. He escaped the Metroid den, finding a path that led all the way back to the surface.

Ridley, with the Metroid egg, went back to the Space Pirate ship as other pirates began loading Chozo technology and blueprints. Samus followed suit however, and apprehended the space dragon before he could escape. The two battled once more, and Samus managed to knock the container out of his grasp. Adam Malkovich took the container and ran with it, but Ridley caught up and knocked the soldier aside to regain the Metroid egg. Samus eventually got the container and boarded it in her ship, but Ridley wouldn't let this be the end. He chased Samus throughout the sky, eventually grabbing onto the windshield to try and take her out. Samus crashed her ship into the side of a mountain, knocking Ridley back and causing rocks to collapse onto him. He was unconscious for a good while, but by the time he awoke, Samus flew away with the baby Metroid in her possession. Thankfully, Ridley had enough Chozo technology and Aeion energy in his possession to rebuild the Space Pirate armada.

### Attaining the Last Metroid

Ridley had a part in the resurrection of Mother Brain, and strengthened the remaining Space Pirate forces with Aeion and Chozo technology. Mother Brain, though heavily weakened, slowly regained sentience and was caught up on everything past her death. Ridley proposed a new plan, to capture the baby Metroid aboard the Frigate Orpheon for the creation of a clone army of Metroids. Ridley was given the authority to go through with the mission, and so he raided the Frigate and killed everyone aboard. Along the way, Ridley began stripping himself of his metallic components due to being fully healed. The healed Ridley was about to escape with the baby, until Samus arrived and battled him. Ridley sabotaged the frigate by tearing open the wall, sucking himself and most objects in the frigate out into space. Due to his ability to breathe in space, Ridley glided over to the shuttle he arrived in and escaped.

### The Final Battle

Ridley brought the baby Metroid to Mother Brain, and begun the cloning process for their new Metroid army. However, the Federation alongside Samus arrived on Zebes, so all of the Space Pirates' forces were sent out for one last confrontation. The Space Pirate forces were more powerful than ever before, and Stalker sabotaging the Federation from within helped them gain the upper hand.

During the chaos above their base, Ridley was growing suspicious of Mother Brain's true intentions. He saw the aftermath of one of her secret experiments, which was a hyper intelligent, zombified Space Pirate. Ridley realized that Mother Brain wasn't going to use the Metroid clone army to its fullest potential, and that she had ulterior motives. He became far more anxious and angry as the conflict with the Federation raged on, due to Samus closing in on Tourian and the Metroid clone army being released to deal with her and the Federation troopers deployed on the planet. To make things even worse, the baby Metroid broke out of it's containment in Norfair.

Ridley waited for Samus to enter Norfair, and revealed himself once she found out the baby was not there. Ridley proposed an idea to Samus; to make a temporary alliance and kill Mother Brain before she enacts her masterplan. Ridley believed that this final conflict with the Federation is meaningless, and that both sides are going to be wiped out if they don't stop Mother Brain. Samus refused Ridley's offer, and the general happily accepted that answer as well. But before the two could fight, Malkovich barged in and fired shots at Ridley to distract him. With one swift thrust of his tail, Ridley impaled Malkovich and left him to die.

Samus was enraged, and the two had their final clash. The two were equals in combat, and their battle was visceral and brutal. Ridley used everything in his arsenal to kill Samus, but she was just as quick and aware. However, Ridley finally beat Samus in combat, and was ready to kill his arch nemesis once and for all. But Samus blasted the beast in his mouth with a missile, and grabbed onto him. Ridley struggled to fling Samus off of him, as she deployed a Super Bomb and held it in her hand. Samus dropped the Super Bomb into Ridley's mouth, and the pirate realized his end was nigh. In his final moments, he grabbed onto Samus to take her with him. But as he let out one final screech, Samus pried herself out of his grasp and fell onto the ground below. Ridley's final scream echoed throughout Norfair as the bomb ignited, destroying parts of Norfair and rendering the Cunning God of Death as nothing more than a mutilated corpse.

### X-Parasite Breakout

During the X-Parasite breakout on the BSL Station, Samus found Ridley's remains frozen in a lab. Later on, she revisited the room when the main elevator broke down and saw the remains were dried and malnourished. Samus found out from ADAM that the Federation was storing remains of Ridley, Space Pirates, and other organisms for their own scientific gain. As she progressed through the base on her way to the Quarantined Lab, the X-Parasite that drained Ridley's corpse of its DNA appeared before Samus in a new, mangled form; Neo Ridley. The rabid, manic beast was barely able to hold itself together, almost melting and falling apart as it tried to kill Samus. The sentience of Ridley seemed to poke through at certain moments, but he was swiftly blasted apart by Samus, as his form slowly rotted and melted away.