Ridley

> "Nothing I could ever do could compare to the total devastation Void will deliver."
>
>

Ridley was a major antagonist in the New Kingdom series. He was the one to finally bring Void Termina into the dimension after numerous other failed attempts by Void. Before his involvement in the New Kingdom, he was a leading member of the Space Pirates who constantly fought his rival, Samus Aran.

## Description

### Physical Appearance

Ridley was a tall, thin dragon with large wings and a head resembling that of a pterosaur. His skin color varied due to his ability to camouflage. He had a wingspan of 21 feet and was 15 feet long from head to tail. After a botched reconstruction Ridley had been stripped of much of his body mass and was missing fingers and patches from his wings, though he was still capable of flight due to how little he weighed.

### Abilities

As a dragon, Ridley was capable of flight, had immense strength for his size and the ability to breathe plasma. He also had the ability to regenerate damaged parts and change his skin pigmentation. After he was brought back to life, Ridley lost some of his strength but was still capable enough to hold his own against Bowser Koopa in a fight.

### Personality

Ridley was exceptionally intelligent, but often never had any goals in mind besides pleasuring himself through violence. There was no explanation or reasons as to why he desired to kill and torture so much, he just enjoyed it. He was twisted and sadistic to the point that Void was able to reach into this world due to just how potent the negativity surrounding Ridley was. Ridley willingly allowed himself to be used by Void, as he saw what Void was going to do as a perfect opportunity to inflict as much suffering as possible on his world.

## Biography

### Early Life

Nothing is known of Ridley's pre-Space Pirate background, if he had any.

Ridley was one of the most powerful and respected Space Pirates, often leading the troops during battles and other excursions. Ridley was outfitted with at least one cybernetic implant prior to becoming Meta Ridley: a transmitter located at the base of his skull, which allowed fellow Space Pirates to remotely communicate with him. He also appears to have been held in considerable favor by High Command.

### Meeting Samus Aran

In Cosmic Year 2000, Ridley tracked a Chozo craft to Star Colony K-2L and discovered the planet's large quantities of Afloraltite. He led a Space Pirate raid to steal the mined Afloraltite, allowing his soldiers to plunder and kill as many humans as they wanted as long as they avoided damaging the Afloralite reserves in the process. Amidst the chaos, he met a three-year old girl - Samus Aran - who approached Ridley and bravely asked to befriend him.

Ridley was amused by her naivete, deciding to quickly kill her with his plasma breath. However, Samus' mother pushed her out of the way at the cost of her own life. Ridley was largely unfazed and continued to sadistically burn down the facilities due to knowing full well that there was no chance of any blowback due to their having secured the Afloraltite. In one of the Space Pirate cargo ships above, Samus' father detonated the Afloraltite, sacrificing himself to sabotage the Pirates. Ridley noticed the ship burst into flames before the wreckage rained down on top of him, gravely injuring him.

Miraculously, Ridley survived the hellfire. In order to regain his strength, he fed on the flesh of the deceased humans to regrow his body's cells, and eventually escaped K-2L to reconvene with the Space Pirate forces. This defeat was a huge blow to his ego, and he fostered a grudge over the failed excursion, albeit unaware that Samus had survived.

### Reunion on Zebes

Over a decade later, Ridley was part of the Space Pirate force that invaded the Chozo colony on Zebes to establish a Central Command Center with the rogue Mother Brain and Gray Voice. Gray Voice claimed that he corrected Ridley's "genetic flaws" with Chozo technology, though the extent of this modification is unknown and possibly refers to the Body Adaptation process.

When the teenage Samus confronted Mother Brain and Gray Voice, Ridley attacked her. This triggered Samus' post-traumatic stress disorder regarding the raid on K-2L, and when she removed her Power Suit's helmet for more air, Ridley slowly recognized her as the little girl from that fateful day. However, Gray Voice ordered Ridley to let her live so she could be convinced to join the Space Pirates, which he begrudgingly obeyed. Ridley then moved to kill Platinum Chest, but was interrupted by explosions caused by Kreatz and Mauk that disrupted the Body Adaptation Machine's operations on his troops. Gray Voice then ordered Ridley to find the cause of the disruption. He flew around Zebes, but could only hear the chaos forming in his ranks as Samus' friends fought the Pirates and freed the prisoners.

When Gray Voice betrayed Mother Brain, Ridley arrived to defend her. Ridley was happy to fight the traitor, impaling Gray Voice with his tail to mortally wound him. The dying Chozo activated a defense system to destroy the Space Pirates pursuing Samus and the survivors, before Ridley finally killed him with his plasma breath. The survivors escaped Zebes thanks to the intervention of Adam Malkovich and the Galactic Federation Army, who forced the Space Pirates to retreat underground.

### Zero Mission

Ridley held a grudge against Samus Aran and Adam Malkovich for their insolence, but he also held pride in Mother Brain's plan to use Metroids as bioweapons. His flagship, the Space Pirate Mother Ship, led a space battle against Adam Malkovich and the Galactic Federation Army above Zebes.

However, Ridley quickly returned the Mother Ship to Zebes following the defeat of his comrade Kraid at the hands of Samus. He reached his personal lair just in time to ambush her, screeching from above. Samus was surprised, but quickly overcame her emotions and defeated him in combat, engulfing him in flames. Ridley's defeat opened the second of the Stone Statues, granting access to Tourian.

At the end of Samus' Zero Mission, she encountered an incomplete robotic replica constructed by Ridley himself, Mecha Ridley, inside the Mother Ship. She destroyed the robot, but in doing so triggered a self-destruct sequence set to obliterate the ship in five minutes. Samus escaped the explosion and departed Zebes in a hijacked Escape Ship.

### Cybernetic Revival

Though wounded beyond fighting capability, Ridley survived his supposed death on Zebes. After the destruction of Tourian, three Space Pirate research ships from Zebes' orbit escaped to regroup elsewhere; the crippled Ridley was brought onto one of them, the Frigate Orpheon. By order of High Command, the Pirates reconstructed Ridley's body with bionic implants, turning him into the cyborg "Meta Ridley". His transformation reached its final stages by the time the Orpheon arrived in planet Tallon IV's orbit. The crew intended for him to act as the head of Tallon IV's Pirate security force upon his completion, banking on his notoriously brutal disposition.

By the time the Parasite Queens went berserk on the Frigate Orpheon, Meta Ridley's body was still incomplete, and he remained in Biotech Research Area 2. When the Orpheon began exploding thanks to Samus unintentionally plunging a Parasite Queen into the Reactor Core, Ridley awoke. Samus entered his chamber just in time to see him break free from his restraints and escape the frigate, descending to the Pirate bases on Tallon IV. Samus raced to the Exterior Docking Hangar and pursued him to the planet below.

Meta Ridley shook Samus' pursuit, forcing her to search for him via ground-based recon. She only briefly spotted him flying over the Phendrana Shorelines in the Phendrana Drifts, possibly towards the Glacier One facility or the Phazon Mines to alert the Pirates there of the Hunter's arrival.

Samus wreaked havoc on the Space Pirates' Phazon experiments and collected the twelve Chozo Artifacts to access the Impact Crater. When Samus was about to open the Artifact Temple, Meta Ridley arrived to destroy the Chozo Totems, preventing her from entering the crater to cut off the Phazon supply. Ridley fought Samus once again, but was rendered vulnerable by his incomplete chest armor, and ultimately took so much damage that his plasma wings shorted out and forced him to battle grounded. Once Samus had thoroughly weakened Ridley, the temple's Chozo Statues activated and blasted him with lasers. Ridley fell into the abyss around the crater, disappearing in an explosion in the mist.

### Phazon Crisis

Despite his fall, Meta Ridley somehow survived and returned to the Space Pirates yet again, this time joining the Pirates of the homeworld on Urtraghus. At some point, Dark Samus infiltrated the Pirate Homeworld and corrupted all the Pirates there with Phazon, including Meta Ridley. This bent the entire faction to her will, and they began serving her to spread Phazon throughout the galaxy.

Meta Ridley participated in the Pirate invasion of Norion. He was first seen by Samus from afar on Cargo Dock A, when he flew overhead and caused a PED Marine to exclaim. He later attacked Samus while she was vulnerable traversing a Morph Ball tunnel at Cargo Dock C, but she evaded his grip using her Bombs, and he retreated. Ridley then ambushed her in Generator C just as she was about to activate it, descending with the intention of crushing Samus, but instead breaking through the glass floor, sending both of them hurtling down the Generator Shaft. Samus was forced to battle him as they fell thousands of meters underground, and since Ridley was not fully healed from his fight on Tallon IV, she defeated him with little struggle. At the battle's conclusion, Samus delivered several shots directly into Ridley's throat, leaving him to fall the rest of the way down the Generator Shaft as she was rescued by Rundas.

Despite this long fall, Ridley survived the duel and somehow returned to Urtraghus. There he became the Pirate Seed's guardian; the massive quantities of raw Phazon given to him directly by the Phazon Core healed his injuries and turned him into "Omega Ridley". Whether he willingly entered the Leviathan or was forced by Dark Samus is unknown. Nevertheless, Samus fought him again in order to destroy the Leviathan and stop the corruption of Urtraghus. He curled up and appeared to explode into Phazon, but Samus being blinded by light and subsequently overloaded by the Phazon shockwave left his fate up for debate.

### Metroid Extermination

Ridley survived his defeat as Omega Ridley, and with the destruction of Phaaze at the hands of Samus, his body was cleansed of all Phazon. Though he retained some cybernetic implants from his time as Meta Ridley, he had regenerated enough flesh to shed roughly half of his armor, now called "Proteus Ridley". With Phazon only a memory, the Space Pirates returned their attention to the Metroids.

Proteus Ridley traveled alone to SR388, where he discovered Samus had already exterminated all but one of the Metroids on the planet. He intercepted Samus and the baby Metroid's departure, abducting the helpless specimen in one claw and goading Samus into a battle. After taking some damage, Ridley attempted to escape with his prize, but Samus gave chase, shooting him in the chest at point-blank range until he let go of the Metroid. Samus retook the hatchling and blasted Ridley's wing before he could close the distance, slamming him into a nearby cliffside and pinning him under debris.

However, Ridley cast the boulders aside and redoubled his offensive. He threw Samus against a wall and pinned her to the ground, about to finish her off until the infant Metroid latched onto his head to save her. Ridley was able to break free from the creature, but had let go of Samus, letting the Metroid heal Samus with the energy it had absorbed. Samus and the Metroid fought Ridley until he could take no more, and he collapsed.

Shortly after Samus and the baby Metroid's departure, a Hornoad gnawed at one of Ridley's mechanical claws before being consumed by an X Parasite. This revealed that Ridley had discarded some or all of his mechanical parts, implying that he had at last regenerated all organic components of his body.

### Final Battle

After shedding his remaining cybernetics and departing SR388, the fully-organic Ridley presumably followed Samus to the Ceres Space Colony, where she had delivered the last Metroid for Galactic Federation research. Samus had left the station when Ridley arrived, and he mercilessly killed all the station's inhabitants.

A distress call was intercepted by Samus, who quickly returned to Ceres. Ridley hid in the shadows until Samus came upon the baby's containment capsule, ambushing her before she could take it. Samus returned fire, leading Ridley to activate the colony's self-destruct sequence and flee with the Metroid. Samus escaped the colony and pursued Ridley.

Ridley returned to Zebes, where the Zebesian Space Pirates had rebuilt their underground fortress since its destruction long ago, again seeking to propagate Metroids. Samus began a rampage across Zebes, hunting the four Space Pirate leaders to unlock the Golden Statues and enter the new Tourian. Ridley was the last of the four to fall, hiding in his lair deep within Norfair. He again attempted to ambush her from the shadows, but this time was soundly defeated, his body exploding into pieces at the end of the battle. However, he had successfully delivered the infant Metroid to Tourian, leaving its shattered capsule in the following room.

Following Ridley's defeat, the infant Metroid perished in the climactic battle between Samus and Mother Brain. This battle also led to the self-destruction of the entire planet Zebes, a last-ditch attempt to destroy Samus which failed. With the Zebesian Space Pirates annihilated and Ridley's remains thought to have been consumed in a planet-destroying explosion, it seemed Ridley had finally met his end. This event marked his first true death.

### Reconstruction

Ridley's remains were actually recovered by a small group of surviving Space Pirates before the destruction of Zebes. These Space Pirates sent the body to Earth to be collected by The Studio, an organization led by Snatcher on Mushroom Island. Snatcher revived Ridley from the remains and Todd Robotnik attempted to reconstruct Ridley's body. His new body was crude, but it worked well enough for Ridley to function.

Though he mostly acted as he did before, at least initially, he did seem to behave strangely to other Studio members. This was because after he died, he came into contact with Void Termina for a brief time. Void was able to connect with him due to how evil Ridley was. This evil was also in Void's favor as Ridley automatically agreed to carry out the destruction of the universe when Void proposed it.

Ridley devoted a large amount of time into researching Kirby and trying to communicate with a Hocotatian named Louie.

### Arrival of the Hocotatians

The Studio planned on the arrival of the Hocotatians as Louie had an ability to mind control that Snatcher could amplify in order to enslave the population of the New Kingdom, but Ridley wanted to use this ability for a different purpose. The Studio set up defenses as soon as the S.S. Dolphin crashed to Earth, and Snatcher brought Louie to begin the operation. After Louie had partially fulfilled Snatcher's plan, Ridley convinced Louie to continue with an agreement the two had made in secret. Louie used a spore to take control of several heroes, before finally infecting Kirby, the target of Ridley. As Ridley began to frantically prepare something, Snatcher took notice of Ridley's behavior and confronted him.

As Snatcher tried to get an answer for Ridley's sudden interest in Kirby, Louie, fearing he had made a mistake, took the spore out of Kirby. He also ceased his control over other citizens as Snatcher cut off his powers from Louie. Kirby immediately obliterated the defenses of the Studio, and chaos broke out as heroes and citizens of the New Kingdom charged to fight The Studio. Bowser Koopa intercepted Ridley, but after a quick skirmish Ridley kicked Bowser away and fled to the Upper City.

### Death

Members of both the New Kingdom and The Studio pursued Ridley into the Upper City. Ridley finished his summoning ritual when the group caught up to him. As the skies darkened, Ridley told them about Void and the motivations Void held. Ridley then proclaimed it was too late for them as they all felt the presence of Void. Snatcher grabbed Ridley and threw him at an office building, finally killing Ridley for the last time. After the defeat of Void, Ridley's body was disposed of completely by burning it, making sure he could never return again.