It's also worth noting that the X are intelligent; there's a good chance that the Mawkin Patient 0 could have been intentionally obfuscating itself until it had created a critical mass of descendant X, or until it had some more X hidden away elsewhere on the ship of ZDR before confronting the rest of the tribe, thereby ensuring to.the best of its ability the success of its lineage.
Follow-up to this; the X that infect 'sentient' beings - anything as smart and complex as a person - also very clearly inherit the memories, skills, and *instincts* of the host. The SA-X behaved *like* Samus in many ways. Right down to one's choice at the very end, because "save people and fight Metroids" is what Samus Aran *does* . The one that took over Raven Beak immediately tried to continue his agenda, in the face of literally its perfect natural predator. Supposedly the resulting monster even *says* "Power is everything" as it's crawling forward. And the one that took over Quiet Robe? Sure, it turned the E.M.M.I back on. But it also clearly got to Samus' ship before she did. It very likely could have taken it and left her. Instead, it waited. And chose to sacrifice itself, to save her. Because Samus Aran is the last vestige of the Chozo, and protecting and loving their daughter is what the Thoha do.
@@PirateJohnson TBH it would be very difficult as the X is highly unstable in comparison to the Metroids. You know a Metroid will never turn into a perfect copy or infect you, however the X can do both. I’m not saying it’s impossible, it would just be difficult IMO. Although weaponised X sounds like a cool idea.
"Hello, Mawkin, Raven Beak here. I'm sure you're all thrilled to be back on ZDR and working hard to make preparations to capture the Metroids and spread order across the Galaxy. So, keep up the good work." "Raven Beak here, it has come to my attention courtesy of our new friend Quiet Robe that the Metroids were made to eradicate a blobular parasite species that can kill and replicate victims in seconds and is virutally impossible to kill except by draining its life energy or attacking it with hyper energy. On a related note, one of you, and I'm not going to name names, may have gotten infected with the parasite and spread it amongst our ranks. So, I'm going to need everybody to head on down to Elun so that we can use guardian drones to attack the parasites with hyper energy and kill them all." "Hello, Mawkin, this is Raven Beak. Quiet Robe ran the numers and the odds of actually eliminating all the parasites are, what were they, Quiet Robe? Uh-huh. Approximately 1829 to 1. So by packing you all into Elun, I have just created a massive breeding ground for them. Don't worry though, I had a backup plan just in case. As of this moment, the gates to Elun are locked and all beings who attempt to enter and exit will be killed. That's right, you've been doomed. If it makes you feel any better, being assimilated is probably too fast to be painful, so-What's that? Oh. According to Quiet Robe, the assimilation process is actually extremely painful and your last moments before assimilation will be by far the worst you've ever had. I would feel regret, but hey. It's better that they don't have access to ships." "This is Raven Beak, in case any of you remain uninfected, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that the human the Zebesian Thoha adopted killed all the Metroids and while we were busy dealing with the parasite situation and my backup plan to get more from the Zebesian Chozo was destroyed. Along with the planet. The good news is that human had to inject herself with Metroid DNA to survive an infection by the parasites and has been duped into coming here. So, the plan lives." "This is Raven Beak, as of this moment, the gates of Elun are now unlocked. I am hereby ordering you to go nuts. Infect as much as you want. Spread across the whole damn planet for all I care."
I have a degree in biology. I think your theory about the X having issues replicating some species that aren´t native to SR388 actually has some merit because a lot of real life pathogens (Virus, Bacteria and so on.) need a "key" to cause infection in a host cell. By that I mean that cells have an outer layer of proteines that act as a filter that allows nutrients the cell needs to pass through while not allowing anything else to get inside the cell, so what a lot of virus do is to fool the cell into thinking it´s absorbing a nutrient that has a similar molecular composition to the virus. An adaptation like this though requires for the virus to mutate from one generation to another, so it´s entirely by chance if they get a sucessful mutation or not.
Given your logic, everything seems really well thought out. RB would have had no clue WHY metroids even existed, due to his game of Duck Hunt on SR388. Due to essentially burning a library, he lost an even greater power, knowledge
You have no idea how accurate your explanation is. For example, the leprosy in some breeds of armadillos aren't a threat to humans, and can only infect other armadillos as that strain is only used to those bodies. In fact, think of your body as its own environment for a disease or parasite to adapt and survive in! Some diseases, such as Swine Flu were usually only a problem with pigs, but constant exposure to humans (as the pigs were our livestock) allowed it to eventually adapt to humans. Now imagine the puzzle a disease or parasite has to solve if they needed to survive in an advanced genetically engineered body that came from the other side of the galaxy! The fact that the X can even solve that puzzle, and solve it that fast makes them truly frightening. Keep in mind, I'm not a scientist, but I did go down a rabbit hole during a certain world event a few years ago. Now imagine if a Gravemind from Halo got infected by the X...
A theory that I've had for some time is that the actual reason it took so long to infect Samus is the Power suit, because it's bio-mechanical. We know the X can't take over machinery. Since the power suit is half biological, half robotic, it's perfectly possible that the X struggled especially to take over, though still succeeded in the end. The same could be possible with the Mawkin Patient 0. And since the X remembers what it learned and transferred it to it's descendants, then it's still perfectly possible that it got used to the mechanical aspects in time to infect Raven Beak instantly. Ultimately, this doesn't change the theory, it just adds more possiblity as to why the X might have taken some time to control its first hosts.
Keep in mind as well that Samus' armor is of highly exotic architecture right down to the mollecular level. It seems to be more akin to some type of hardlight construct than to a conventionally solid object. It shares genetic crosstalk with Samus on multiple levels, including the absorption of addon data from Core-X specimens and its Metroidification. It materializes and dematerializes in the blink of an eye, leaving clothing behind (usually zerosuit, but not always). Given the suit's biology merged with Samus' during the infection, I wouldn't be surprised if that eldritch architecture helped keep her somewhat stable... by virtue of making her body even harder to decipher. Bonus: Samus claims that during the surgical removal of "large portions of [the] suit", her physical appearance was altered. Yet it doesn't really appear that way when you see her without the suit. It's possible that she's not referring to her human body, but to her biomechanical body - the suit. In the opening pages of the Zero Mission manga, she refers to her suited form and unsuited form as "this body and that body", claiming both are semi-authentic representations of her as a person. She also claims that sometimes she wants to "spend [her] nights as a human". She doesn't think of the suit as something she wears, but as an integral part of her being, which seems to be physically true as well given she's able to rez it without external tools. ... ... I spend way too much time thinking about this fictional suit's implied architecture. Send help...
Metroid lore is always so good to talk about. I always thought raven beak was a great villain and this further explains why. He's not all knowing. He's powerful but overconfident. It costed him his race, the metroids, and his life. But till the bitter end he thought "fuck it I'll handle it. It'll all be worth it later." And the X were the perfect foil to that mentality. They prey on those who fail to understand them and respect their threat. They are the one thing he couldn't just overpower besides a very upset samus.
This made me just think... In Fusion. since Samus was the reason why X infested the ship, wouldn't that mean that all the X parasites on the ship had the option be a Samus X? But noo! You wanted to be a Fake Missile Tank.
I imagine transforming into an SA-X takes significantly longer and needs time and resources. In Dread we have many failed Mawkin Soldier transformations, who are called Chozo Zombies
It's also worth noting that Raven Beak's own thought process is an enigma, since he was very clearly shown to be extremely intelligent and also have some empathy since he *did* volunteer to give some of his DNA for Samus' infusion, so it was possible he was just a calm warlord before the Metroids gave him the sick idea of absolute power, which probably awakened his bottomless desire for domination. I don't think he would have predicted Samus herself having Metroid DNA as it's likely why he backed off from killing her last second, but using the X as a trap for Samus was very likely his original plan. Adding my own conjecture and speculation, It's possible him and Quiet Robe were monitoring the actions of the Galactic Federation and when they noticed SR388 get nuked, Raven Beak thought it was Samus doing it to destroy the X, and given he must have seen the events of Zebes' destruction on top of that, it's reasonable to assume he laid the X trap specifically to lure her out and kill her to clone her directly, or use the X which he had locked up to relentlessly create more SA-X (which I might add he probably had zero clue about the incident on the B.S.L. and probably would've gotten bodied harder than what actually happened in Dread if he made more than ten of them). Raven Beak was also probably aware of the Metroids but not the X, since his Mawkin soldiers were deployed with the Thoha to assist in colonization and eradicating the X, and were likely relaying the data back to him. It wasn't until they got to ZDR where he realized the gravity of the situation on SR388 and what the X actually were, and given they propagated amongst the Mawkin so effortlessly he quickly locked them up in Elun, despite his Hyper Beam being capable of destroying them (by proxy of Samus's Hyper Beam she partially stole from Raven Beak). The man-bird probably had to rethink the entire plan he set up for years on top of the E.M.M.I. arriving just to make a whole mess of the workstations he was trying to maintain alone with Quiet Robe. He even pre-emptively went to his sky fort cause he felt like if he stayed down there any longer he would be in severe danger since Samus would end up finding the X bunker. It's possible he was in very good standing with the rest of the Chozo until the incident on SR388 happened, otherwise they wouldn't have asked him for his input for Samus' infusion.
Raven Beak gave his DNA to Samus probably more for his interests, and because it would be important for the warrior they wanted her to be. In the manga Mother Brain says she was "just a weapon", before Samus replied that Old Bird never saw her that way. Mother Brain were probably talking more on the side of Raven Beak.
I haven't played every Metroid, so I am certain my reading of Dread is wrong. But I LOVED my reading of it. An X's replica has it's original mind fully in tact, but if the X want to disband or reform that mind will be physically torn apart. The Mawkin seem to have formed a symbiosis with their X's. As long as the X parasites have a reason to reform into their Mawkin then that Mawkin is essentially immortal. A sentient Star Trek dilemma.
Raven Beak does not strike me as stupid. If there is any flaw with his intelligence it is that he shows a habit of jumping in first and asking questions later which is what got him in so much trouble in the first place. Instead of playing the long game and working political angles with the Thoha during the Metroid containment incident he jumps straight to Genocide before he ever fully understood what he was getting involved in. That led to literally ALL of his problems. This causes Raven Beak to take several steps back and assist Samus in her investigation and hunt so he doesn't repeat his mistake again. In his final confrontation with Samus, he now understands the X and Samus's abilities and knows that he is still stronger. Maybe impetuous is the best way to describe RB but not stupid. It took me far too long to figure out that ALL of the "ADAM" debriefs were Raven Beak. The clue was that the REAL Adam calls Samus "Lady" while Raven Beak calls her by name. The only two times Adam was really talking was the elevator and when Samus was going to drain the ship dry with her Metroid suit.
I had always assumed the reason it took so long for the X to infect Samus was because it was struggling to infect her weird techno-organic armor, which was why pieces of the armor had to be removed to treat the infection, but this would also work as an explanation since while its not nearly as strong as the power armor, the infected Mawkin *would* still be wearing Chozo armor, it would still take time. Otherwise, yeah this makes perfect sense, no reason to explain what the X are to Ravenbeak when he's here to deal with the Metroids, and while its possible he may have told him later to keep the crew safe, Ravenbeak probably killed him before he ever got the chance
Plus, Metroid Fusion happened shortly after Super, and I assume that there were bits and pieces of Metroid DNA remaining on her suit when the Baby Metroid was killed. It could have slowed the X down, too
First I'd say it's completely possible that the Mawkin didn't know anything about the X. The Thoha knew about them and created the Metroid to deal with them then lost control of the Metroid. Raven beak was called to deal with the Metroids and it's completely possible that he wasn't told about the X. Furthermore he isn't stupid for failing to recognise and X infected chozo. Remember X take their hosts form AND memories. An X infected chozo could literally fool anybody it could answer any question, remember any password, and even pass any DNA test assuming you weren't looking for X parasite infection
All of these are great points, but something small I'd like to add: Given that the SA-X looks like a convincing enough imitation, and the fact that it transforms during the final battle, it's clear that X can alter their appearance. In fact, we see the Chozo Warrior bosses in Dread fight like a normal Chozo Warrior in the first half of the fight, and then transform for the second half. Both Fusion and Dread also make it clear that a hosts knowledge and memories are inherited by the X. So this first X that invaded that first Chozo would have gained actual sentience and reasoning. It simply makes sense then for it to conceal its own nature and pretend to be as authentic as possible until the Mawkin are at their most vulnerable, which is obviously when they far away from the Metroids on SR388. Y'know, like ZDR?
I mean, it's not out of character. Raven Beak regularly makes bad decisions due to his overconfident belief that he won't be hurt by them. He lets Samus live rather than killing her and taking the Metroid DNA in their first encoutner, he lets Elun be opened, he lets Samus get into Itorash, and he then proceeds to engage Samus in a fight and flaps his beak instead of blowing her head off because he thinks he'll be fine, only for each of these decisions to bite Raven Beak in the ass. Of course he'd assume that wiping out the Thoha in preparation for taking the Metroids would be a done deal.
The organisms from Zebes that were infected, were on the B.S.L. The period between Samus' power suit surgery and the time for the X to infect seems like enough time. Samus' surgery took place elsewhere, while her infected parts were sent and stored in the quarantine bay on the B.S.L. It could perhaps be the case that smaller organisms are easier to infect.
I've always thought it strange why it took so long for Samus to be infected while it took Raven Beak no time at all. At first, I thought it was the remaining DNA from the baby Metroid remains that showered on her that considerably slowed down the X's incubation, but your logic makes the most sense. It's like vaccines, because in order to fight the disease, your immune system has to become familiar with it. Thus, it would be easier the next time you're infected. Another question: were there other humans on SR388 or ZDR BEFORE Samus came? As far as I know, Samus was the only human who got infected during her mission that was the precursor to Fusion, so she probably may have been the first X infected human ever. Assuming that it incubated long enough to get the basic DNA data for humans from Samus before it got eradicated by the vaccine, it was able to infect one of the scientists to cause the meltdown attempt in Sector 3.
I wish I could subscribe multiple times. I love your videos and all the work that you put in to them. I hope you don't plan on stopping anytime soon! Keep up the good work!
Arguably a bigger question is why the X didn't just take over the chozo or why the chozo didn't just kill the infected one? Raven beak shouldn't have a problem vaporizing a single infected solider so he could've easily gotten rid of the problem, or if you want to argue that the x are immune to conventional attacks then the x had no reason not to infect all the chozo on board. Maybe I'm missing something, or perhaps the X and the Chozo are all just stupid.
An X parasite mimics it's host perfectly. Not only that but it fully gains ALL it's hosts memories and knowledge. If an X parasite wants to blend in you'll never find it. The hosts closest family would be fooled. Remember in Metroid fusion when samus finds a perfectly normal looking human trying to overload the main boiler on the bsl station but it turned out to be an Xcore. The X likely knew immediately where the chozo were going and waited for the ship to land on ZDR. And it was successful. The entire Mawkin tribe was infected with only Raven beak escaping
@@TetraGalaxyTelecast That X Mawkin revealed itself since it was already on ZDR, where most of the Chozo Mawkin population was, meaning it had more opportunities to spread its influence. And we're basing this off the idea RB cant just completely decimate X's with his arsenal.
General Kenobi! You are a bold one. In all seriousness though, this is a great video, and I will definitely be sending it to my friends. Heres to 10,000 subs!
Everyone gets metroid except for him. Also after he dealt with the X problem and goes back to try to get metroid "surprise, Samus wiped them out..." can't even imagine how Raven Beak took that news
Here’s a list of mistakes that Raven Beak made. 1. Not checking his tribe for X. 2. Killing off the entire Thoha tribe. 3. Getting Samus to let the X out of containment. 4. Expecting Samus to give him her Metroid DNA when he also said in Adam’s voice that “Metroids are biologically programmed to indentify the Mawkin tribe as enemies.”
Some thoughts. 1. Considering how the X are, would checking his tribe for X have truly stopped them from getting annihilated? There may not have been likely to survive anyways. 2. See above: it's possible with how vicious the X are, it could have been a lost cause as it were. Though for nefarious purposes in the end, at least he and Quiet Robe did survive. 3. That's more the bigger mistake of allowing Samus to gain power at all, thinking he would be in control in the end. Yes, he needed her to awaken her Metroid, and it worked, but such a plan in the first place... 4. Exactly. Even though I doubt she allows her DNA / unnatural instincts control her, he had no reason to believe his ultimate plan of her joining him would work, and the contingency plan of him just taking her out himself was foolish.
The gravity suit back with its blue lights in this video looks awesome!! Wish it kept its blue lights in the game! Love the design of the gravity suit in this game but that’s my one small gripe with it!
One question I have is, if the Mawkin didn't know about the X, then what about the Metroid seals? They helped the Thoha establish Metroid DNA seals, and that would have given them a clue about the origin and purpose of the Metroid species.
Given that there are literal statues of Raven Beak on SR388 (The ones in the background when you get an Aeion ability), it's safe to assume that the Thoha and Mawkin were working together to colonize the planet. Also, the fact that the Thoha programmed the Metroids to be aggressive towards the Mawkin means these two tribes aren't exactly friends; I theorize that they've been in a sort of cold war for decades, offering gestures of peace while secretly plotting each other's downfall.
I think you missed one thing that I didn't realize earlier: We see in the Samus Returns Chozo Memories that the Mawkin soldiers DID witness the X while guarding the Thoha.
He brings them up a few times: those Mawkin specifically likely did not survive those encounters. Same with the ones who witnessed the Metroids. How is a soldier supposed to fight something it has no experience fighting and survive?
I'd say the more stupid thing Raven Beak did was everything after they discovered the X infected Mawkin, which is basically nothing. After containing the X why didn't the try to find a new safer planet or make someway to combat the X. Unless I'm getting the timeline wrong they were doing nothing for years. Even when Samus arrived and he realized she had Metroid DNA, why not clone her then instead of letting her run around and destroy everything. Im pretty sure her clones would be easier to manipulate and would still have the capacity to awaken their metroid DNA.
*"I'd say the more stupid thing Raven Beak did was everything after they discovered the X infected Mawkin, which is basically nothing."* The first thing Raven Beak did was seal the X within Elun. *"After containing the X why didn't the try to find a new safer planet or make someway to combat the X."* To Raven Beak the X themselves were no threat. Raven Beak knew this and so did the X as the Aeon abilities of his Power Suit, especially his Lightning Armor, prevented him from getting infected, and his Hyper Beam was capable of vaporizing X-Parasites. *"Unless I'm getting the timeline wrong they were doing nothing for years."* Mhm… in order for the Mawkin to have have captured Kraid, the X-infected Chozo Warrior may have stayed hidden and undetected for many years, only revealing itself after much preparation sometime AFTER Super Metroid. (I theorize that the mysterious dead person in a power suit in Super Metroid outside of Kraid's boss room may have a Mawkin Warrior.) *"Even when Samus arrived and he realized she had Metroid DNA, why not clone her then instead of letting her run around and destroy everything. Im pretty sure her clones would be easier to manipulate and would still have the capacity to awaken their metroid DNA."* Raven Beak seemed to have learned about Samus having Metroid DNA in her from the EMMIs. Why did Raven Beak allow Samus to run around and destroy everything and just capture her in order to clone her? Well, initially, that was exactly his plan, however, when she started mutating, her DNA was actually fusing with the Metroid DNA, making her a more unique existence. He allowed her to run amok to allow her to further mutate into a Metroid, to which she was. I believe it was mentioned in Dread that initial clones of Samus would not have had this trait, her only use was the Metroid DNA which can be extracted from her in them (which was the true purpose of the EMMIs), while with late game Samus, the Metroid DNA merged enough with Samus that she herself was mostly turned into a Metroid. It's the difference between an army of cloned Metroids extracted from Samus to an army of Metroid Samus clones; It's no contest which would be the better bio weapon.
@@enforcerridley158 I like to believe that Raven Beak knew of the dangers of the X and The Metroid by the time he sealed them in Elun. And someone like him was like: "I have to use the X to force the Chozo or anyone to bring me Metroids" The X were bait... and if not... a good study material to maybe find a way to use it in his favor later. While Raven Beak probably prefers the Metroids since they are easier to handle with them being bio-engineered and thus able to be altered. (Aka just alter the Metroid DNA to not attack him but listen to him, wich is why he had Quiet Robe around too.) He wouldn't release the X since The X were a wild card....but would have been studied on cameras in Elun. And I think in those years on ZDR dealing with the X, Quiet Robe came up with a plan to control them in a way. Wich explains the ending of Dread. Raven Beak rather had Metroids under his control as that is very possible with a simple biomechnical brain like Mother Brain. (And ZDR had several smaller ones). Where as the X... as we saw with Quiet Robe. It would require being infected by the X to allow them to be "controlled" as we saw with Quiet Robe.
I think Raven Beak knew about Metroids before Thoha massacre. Mawkin tribe was fellow tribe of Chozo and I think they were alies, because Thoha were asking for help from Mawkins. Raven Beak had another plans for Metroids, that's why he killed them all!
I think this is a pretty sound theory honestly. Given that X recreations are not exactly the same as the original host, often having new features or just an overall more agressive look as well as different coloring (weirdly only Samus and the Chozo are basically identical copies besides the eyes), if your theory is wrong then yes they'd be idiots for falling for it
quick question don't x hosts and clones repeat their hosts last words? like quiet robe x and raven beak x did surely some Mawkin would find it strang one chozo was repeating the same phraze over and over not knowing it was the x hosts last words before death.
There are still a few seemingly uninfected creatures in Fusion lurking around in the backgrounds that the X can infect too. They presumably DID have at least some natural predators on SR-388 even before the Metroids were created... and before they wiped out massive chunks of the planet's fauna. EDIT: Now that I'm giving it more thought, this is a reach on my part, but seeing as the X are intelligent, it's possible that they deliberately didn't infect everything on SR-388 just to ensure that they had a food source. Again, probably reaching here.
In one’s native habitat resistances and immunities to common viruses and bacteria tend to develop. The animals on SR-388 likely developed some natural way to fight off X infection, whereas ZDR’s lifeforms had not.
I can only find that viruses need to get through cell surface receptors. Whether or not the success of getting through this allows for easier infection in other hosts, I don't know. However, the X are protozoa. I would assume this equally apply, but I have no clue right now. I do like this hypothesis, however. I was never a fan of Samus just withstanding the X longer, due to having Chozo DNA. Maybe that did play a role, but your hypothesis is way better.
This is one of the reasons I think the things they did to make the X "creepier" in this game not only fell flat, but did the lore a disservice. X infected creatures in Fusion were mostly indistinguishable from their uninfected counterparts, the only exception to this being as the X obtained more traits from more creatures and began to make stronger and more hybridized types. The blank eyes thing seemed to be entirely unique to SA-X, probably as a way to show it as "soulless" clearly and effectively within the confines of a limited color palette. That's the horror of the X as a concept - they are without a doubt extremely deadly, but the host blends right in with no tell whatsoever. It's like catching a virus and within a few days you're spreading and shortly after that you're dead, but absolutely never had any symptoms. Giving the X infected enemies obvious visual cues that they're infected defeats the entire purpose. Dread didn't benefit at all from their inclusion or the subplot of them wiping out a large portion of the Mawkin - all that did was eliminate the need for an explanation as to where several hundred angry war birds went, and to give Raven Beak a completely unnecessary final form. From a lore perspective I'm glad they've seemingly wiped them out entirely because I don't think I could take another game of them being used as a last minute plot device.
It's also worth noting that the X are intelligent; there's a good chance that the Mawkin Patient 0 could have been intentionally obfuscating itself until it had created a critical mass of descendant X, or until it had some more X hidden away elsewhere on the ship of ZDR before confronting the rest of the tribe, thereby ensuring to.the best of its ability the success of its lineage.
"One of the soldiers who returned from SR388 was actually an X in *disguise."* ~Quiet Robe
Yep, this is why.
Follow-up to this; the X that infect 'sentient' beings - anything as smart and complex as a person - also very clearly inherit the memories, skills, and *instincts* of the host.
The SA-X behaved *like* Samus in many ways. Right down to one's choice at the very end, because "save people and fight Metroids" is what Samus Aran *does* .
The one that took over Raven Beak immediately tried to continue his agenda, in the face of literally its perfect natural predator. Supposedly the resulting monster even *says* "Power is everything" as it's crawling forward.
And the one that took over Quiet Robe? Sure, it turned the E.M.M.I back on. But it also clearly got to Samus' ship before she did. It very likely could have taken it and left her.
Instead, it waited. And chose to sacrifice itself, to save her. Because Samus Aran is the last vestige of the Chozo, and protecting and loving their daughter is what the Thoha do.
@@Pyre, makes sense to me.
The X would be better to weaponize, than Metroids, IMO.
@@PirateJohnson
TBH it would be very difficult as the X is highly unstable in comparison to the Metroids. You know a Metroid will never turn into a perfect copy or infect you, however the X can do both.
I’m not saying it’s impossible, it would just be difficult IMO.
Although weaponised X sounds like a cool idea.
Given how Raven Beak acted, it would make sense for the Thoha to keep him in the dark about many things.
"Hello, Mawkin, Raven Beak here. I'm sure you're all thrilled to be back on ZDR and working hard to make preparations to capture the Metroids and spread order across the Galaxy. So, keep up the good work."
"Raven Beak here, it has come to my attention courtesy of our new friend Quiet Robe that the Metroids were made to eradicate a blobular parasite species that can kill and replicate victims in seconds and is virutally impossible to kill except by draining its life energy or attacking it with hyper energy. On a related note, one of you, and I'm not going to name names, may have gotten infected with the parasite and spread it amongst our ranks. So, I'm going to need everybody to head on down to Elun so that we can use guardian drones to attack the parasites with hyper energy and kill them all."
"Hello, Mawkin, this is Raven Beak. Quiet Robe ran the numers and the odds of actually eliminating all the parasites are, what were they, Quiet Robe? Uh-huh. Approximately 1829 to 1. So by packing you all into Elun, I have just created a massive breeding ground for them. Don't worry though, I had a backup plan just in case. As of this moment, the gates to Elun are locked and all beings who attempt to enter and exit will be killed. That's right, you've been doomed. If it makes you feel any better, being assimilated is probably too fast to be painful, so-What's that? Oh. According to Quiet Robe, the assimilation process is actually extremely painful and your last moments before assimilation will be by far the worst you've ever had. I would feel regret, but hey. It's better that they don't have access to ships."
"This is Raven Beak, in case any of you remain uninfected, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that the human the Zebesian Thoha adopted killed all the Metroids and while we were busy dealing with the parasite situation and my backup plan to get more from the Zebesian Chozo was destroyed. Along with the planet. The good news is that human had to inject herself with Metroid DNA to survive an infection by the parasites and has been duped into coming here. So, the plan lives."
"This is Raven Beak, as of this moment, the gates of Elun are now unlocked. I am hereby ordering you to go nuts. Infect as much as you want. Spread across the whole damn planet for all I care."
I have a degree in biology.
I think your theory about the X having issues replicating some species that aren´t native to SR388 actually has some merit because a lot of real life pathogens (Virus, Bacteria and so on.) need a "key" to cause infection in a host cell.
By that I mean that cells have an outer layer of proteines that act as a filter that allows nutrients the cell needs to pass through while not allowing anything else to get inside the cell, so what a lot of virus do is to fool the cell into thinking it´s absorbing a nutrient that has a similar molecular composition to the virus.
An adaptation like this though requires for the virus to mutate from one generation to another, so it´s entirely by chance if they get a sucessful mutation or not.
Given your logic, everything seems really well thought out. RB would have had no clue WHY metroids even existed, due to his game of Duck Hunt on SR388. Due to essentially burning a library, he lost an even greater power, knowledge
You have no idea how accurate your explanation is.
For example, the leprosy in some breeds of armadillos aren't a threat to humans, and can only infect other armadillos as that strain is only used to those bodies. In fact, think of your body as its own environment for a disease or parasite to adapt and survive in! Some diseases, such as Swine Flu were usually only a problem with pigs, but constant exposure to humans (as the pigs were our livestock) allowed it to eventually adapt to humans.
Now imagine the puzzle a disease or parasite has to solve if they needed to survive in an advanced genetically engineered body that came from the other side of the galaxy! The fact that the X can even solve that puzzle, and solve it that fast makes them truly frightening.
Keep in mind, I'm not a scientist, but I did go down a rabbit hole during a certain world event a few years ago.
Now imagine if a Gravemind from Halo got infected by the X...
A theory that I've had for some time is that the actual reason it took so long to infect Samus is the Power suit, because it's bio-mechanical. We know the X can't take over machinery. Since the power suit is half biological, half robotic, it's perfectly possible that the X struggled especially to take over, though still succeeded in the end. The same could be possible with the Mawkin Patient 0. And since the X remembers what it learned and transferred it to it's descendants, then it's still perfectly possible that it got used to the mechanical aspects in time to infect Raven Beak instantly.
Ultimately, this doesn't change the theory, it just adds more possiblity as to why the X might have taken some time to control its first hosts.
Keep in mind as well that Samus' armor is of highly exotic architecture right down to the mollecular level. It seems to be more akin to some type of hardlight construct than to a conventionally solid object. It shares genetic crosstalk with Samus on multiple levels, including the absorption of addon data from Core-X specimens and its Metroidification. It materializes and dematerializes in the blink of an eye, leaving clothing behind (usually zerosuit, but not always).
Given the suit's biology merged with Samus' during the infection, I wouldn't be surprised if that eldritch architecture helped keep her somewhat stable... by virtue of making her body even harder to decipher.
Bonus: Samus claims that during the surgical removal of "large portions of [the] suit", her physical appearance was altered. Yet it doesn't really appear that way when you see her without the suit. It's possible that she's not referring to her human body, but to her biomechanical body - the suit. In the opening pages of the Zero Mission manga, she refers to her suited form and unsuited form as "this body and that body", claiming both are semi-authentic representations of her as a person. She also claims that sometimes she wants to "spend [her] nights as a human". She doesn't think of the suit as something she wears, but as an integral part of her being, which seems to be physically true as well given she's able to rez it without external tools.
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I spend way too much time thinking about this fictional suit's implied architecture. Send help...
@@auralynn3862 I always thought of those lines (from the manga) more like the way she is seen, "the legend", and the person beneath the suit.
Metroid lore is always so good to talk about.
I always thought raven beak was a great villain and this further explains why. He's not all knowing. He's powerful but overconfident. It costed him his race, the metroids, and his life. But till the bitter end he thought "fuck it I'll handle it. It'll all be worth it later."
And the X were the perfect foil to that mentality. They prey on those who fail to understand them and respect their threat. They are the one thing he couldn't just overpower besides a very upset samus.
That's so Raven.
I see what you did there😉
Fun
This made me just think... In Fusion. since Samus was the reason why X infested the ship, wouldn't that mean that all the X parasites on the ship had the option be a Samus X? But noo! You wanted to be a Fake Missile Tank.
😂😂😂
I imagine transforming into an SA-X takes significantly longer and needs time and resources. In Dread we have many failed Mawkin Soldier transformations, who are called Chozo Zombies
It's also worth noting that Raven Beak's own thought process is an enigma, since he was very clearly shown to be extremely intelligent and also have some empathy since he *did* volunteer to give some of his DNA for Samus' infusion, so it was possible he was just a calm warlord before the Metroids gave him the sick idea of absolute power, which probably awakened his bottomless desire for domination. I don't think he would have predicted Samus herself having Metroid DNA as it's likely why he backed off from killing her last second, but using the X as a trap for Samus was very likely his original plan.
Adding my own conjecture and speculation, It's possible him and Quiet Robe were monitoring the actions of the Galactic Federation and when they noticed SR388 get nuked, Raven Beak thought it was Samus doing it to destroy the X, and given he must have seen the events of Zebes' destruction on top of that, it's reasonable to assume he laid the X trap specifically to lure her out and kill her to clone her directly, or use the X which he had locked up to relentlessly create more SA-X (which I might add he probably had zero clue about the incident on the B.S.L. and probably would've gotten bodied harder than what actually happened in Dread if he made more than ten of them). Raven Beak was also probably aware of the Metroids but not the X, since his Mawkin soldiers were deployed with the Thoha to assist in colonization and eradicating the X, and were likely relaying the data back to him. It wasn't until they got to ZDR where he realized the gravity of the situation on SR388 and what the X actually were, and given they propagated amongst the Mawkin so effortlessly he quickly locked them up in Elun, despite his Hyper Beam being capable of destroying them (by proxy of Samus's Hyper Beam she partially stole from Raven Beak).
The man-bird probably had to rethink the entire plan he set up for years on top of the E.M.M.I. arriving just to make a whole mess of the workstations he was trying to maintain alone with Quiet Robe. He even pre-emptively went to his sky fort cause he felt like if he stayed down there any longer he would be in severe danger since Samus would end up finding the X bunker. It's possible he was in very good standing with the rest of the Chozo until the incident on SR388 happened, otherwise they wouldn't have asked him for his input for Samus' infusion.
Raven Beak gave his DNA to Samus probably more for his interests, and because it would be important for the warrior they wanted her to be.
In the manga Mother Brain says she was "just a weapon", before Samus replied that Old Bird never saw her that way. Mother Brain were probably talking more on the side of Raven Beak.
I haven't played every Metroid, so I am certain my reading of Dread is wrong. But I LOVED my reading of it.
An X's replica has it's original mind fully in tact, but if the X want to disband or reform that mind will be physically torn apart. The Mawkin seem to have formed a symbiosis with their X's. As long as the X parasites have a reason to reform into their Mawkin then that Mawkin is essentially immortal.
A sentient Star Trek dilemma.
Raven Beak does not strike me as stupid. If there is any flaw with his intelligence it is that he shows a habit of jumping in first and asking questions later which is what got him in so much trouble in the first place. Instead of playing the long game and working political angles with the Thoha during the Metroid containment incident he jumps straight to Genocide before he ever fully understood what he was getting involved in. That led to literally ALL of his problems. This causes Raven Beak to take several steps back and assist Samus in her investigation and hunt so he doesn't repeat his mistake again.
In his final confrontation with Samus, he now understands the X and Samus's abilities and knows that he is still stronger. Maybe impetuous is the best way to describe RB but not stupid.
It took me far too long to figure out that ALL of the "ADAM" debriefs were Raven Beak. The clue was that the REAL Adam calls Samus "Lady" while Raven Beak calls her by name. The only two times Adam was really talking was the elevator and when Samus was going to drain the ship dry with her Metroid suit.
I had always assumed the reason it took so long for the X to infect Samus was because it was struggling to infect her weird techno-organic armor, which was why pieces of the armor had to be removed to treat the infection, but this would also work as an explanation since while its not nearly as strong as the power armor, the infected Mawkin *would* still be wearing Chozo armor, it would still take time. Otherwise, yeah this makes perfect sense, no reason to explain what the X are to Ravenbeak when he's here to deal with the Metroids, and while its possible he may have told him later to keep the crew safe, Ravenbeak probably killed him before he ever got the chance
Plus, Metroid Fusion happened shortly after Super, and I assume that there were bits and pieces of Metroid DNA remaining on her suit when the Baby Metroid was killed. It could have slowed the X down, too
First I'd say it's completely possible that the Mawkin didn't know anything about the X. The Thoha knew about them and created the Metroid to deal with them then lost control of the Metroid. Raven beak was called to deal with the Metroids and it's completely possible that he wasn't told about the X. Furthermore he isn't stupid for failing to recognise and X infected chozo. Remember X take their hosts form AND memories. An X infected chozo could literally fool anybody it could answer any question, remember any password, and even pass any DNA test assuming you weren't looking for X parasite infection
All of these are great points, but something small I'd like to add:
Given that the SA-X looks like a convincing enough imitation, and the fact that it transforms during the final battle, it's clear that X can alter their appearance. In fact, we see the Chozo Warrior bosses in Dread fight like a normal Chozo Warrior in the first half of the fight, and then transform for the second half.
Both Fusion and Dread also make it clear that a hosts knowledge and memories are inherited by the X. So this first X that invaded that first Chozo would have gained actual sentience and reasoning. It simply makes sense then for it to conceal its own nature and pretend to be as authentic as possible until the Mawkin are at their most vulnerable, which is obviously when they far away from the Metroids on SR388. Y'know, like ZDR?
Your videos always make my day. I hope you reach that 10 k.
I mean, it's not out of character. Raven Beak regularly makes bad decisions due to his overconfident belief that he won't be hurt by them. He lets Samus live rather than killing her and taking the Metroid DNA in their first encoutner, he lets Elun be opened, he lets Samus get into Itorash, and he then proceeds to engage Samus in a fight and flaps his beak instead of blowing her head off because he thinks he'll be fine, only for each of these decisions to bite Raven Beak in the ass. Of course he'd assume that wiping out the Thoha in preparation for taking the Metroids would be a done deal.
5:10 This is plausible, though we see that the specimens from Zebes get infected rapidly too, especially Zebesians.
The organisms from Zebes that were infected, were on the B.S.L. The period between Samus' power suit surgery and the time for the X to infect seems like enough time.
Samus' surgery took place elsewhere, while her infected parts were sent and stored in the quarantine bay on the B.S.L. It could perhaps be the case that smaller organisms are easier to infect.
Secrets were kept from him that could’ve saved him, his people, and ALL life on their home planet.
I've always thought it strange why it took so long for Samus to be infected while it took Raven Beak no time at all. At first, I thought it was the remaining DNA from the baby Metroid remains that showered on her that considerably slowed down the X's incubation, but your logic makes the most sense. It's like vaccines, because in order to fight the disease, your immune system has to become familiar with it. Thus, it would be easier the next time you're infected.
Another question: were there other humans on SR388 or ZDR BEFORE Samus came? As far as I know, Samus was the only human who got infected during her mission that was the precursor to Fusion, so she probably may have been the first X infected human ever. Assuming that it incubated long enough to get the basic DNA data for humans from Samus before it got eradicated by the vaccine, it was able to infect one of the scientists to cause the meltdown attempt in Sector 3.
I wish I could subscribe multiple times. I love your videos and all the work that you put in to them. I hope you don't plan on stopping anytime soon! Keep up the good work!
Arguably a bigger question is why the X didn't just take over the chozo or why the chozo didn't just kill the infected one? Raven beak shouldn't have a problem vaporizing a single infected solider so he could've easily gotten rid of the problem, or if you want to argue that the x are immune to conventional attacks then the x had no reason not to infect all the chozo on board. Maybe I'm missing something, or perhaps the X and the Chozo are all just stupid.
An X parasite mimics it's host perfectly. Not only that but it fully gains ALL it's hosts memories and knowledge. If an X parasite wants to blend in you'll never find it. The hosts closest family would be fooled. Remember in Metroid fusion when samus finds a perfectly normal looking human trying to overload the main boiler on the bsl station but it turned out to be an Xcore. The X likely knew immediately where the chozo were going and waited for the ship to land on ZDR. And it was successful. The entire Mawkin tribe was infected with only Raven beak escaping
@@madcap3450 well yeah, but that's if it wants to blend in. The gallery image shows it revealing itself, clear as day.
@@TetraGalaxyTelecast That X Mawkin revealed itself since it was already on ZDR, where most of the Chozo Mawkin population was, meaning it had more opportunities to spread its influence. And we're basing this off the idea RB cant just completely decimate X's with his arsenal.
If you ever travel abroad, check for “stowaways” on your way back.
The cause of his death wasn’t Samus or the X parasites. It was the fact that the only Metroid he ever had on hand wanted him dead.
General Kenobi! You are a bold one. In all seriousness though, this is a great video, and I will definitely be sending it to my friends. Heres to 10,000 subs!
Everyone gets metroid except for him. Also after he dealt with the X problem and goes back to try to get metroid "surprise, Samus wiped them out..." can't even imagine how Raven Beak took that news
Raven Beak could’ve also used the Metroids as a line of defense for ZDR against the X.
That’s also on the Thoha tribe.
This actually makes sense.
Its an good theory. Raven Beak was quite overconfident which might have prevented him to do further investigation.
Ok that Gravity Model looks SICK
Here’s a list of mistakes that Raven Beak made.
1. Not checking his tribe for X.
2. Killing off the entire Thoha tribe.
3. Getting Samus to let the X out of containment.
4. Expecting Samus to give him her Metroid DNA when he also said in Adam’s voice that “Metroids are biologically programmed to indentify the Mawkin tribe as enemies.”
Some thoughts.
1. Considering how the X are, would checking his tribe for X have truly stopped them from getting annihilated? There may not have been likely to survive anyways.
2. See above: it's possible with how vicious the X are, it could have been a lost cause as it were. Though for nefarious purposes in the end, at least he and Quiet Robe did survive.
3. That's more the bigger mistake of allowing Samus to gain power at all, thinking he would be in control in the end. Yes, he needed her to awaken her Metroid, and it worked, but such a plan in the first place...
4. Exactly. Even though I doubt she allows her DNA / unnatural instincts control her, he had no reason to believe his ultimate plan of her joining him would work, and the contingency plan of him just taking her out himself was foolish.
The gravity suit back with its blue lights in this video looks awesome!! Wish it kept its blue lights in the game! Love the design of the gravity suit in this game but that’s my one small gripe with it!
2:45
And how did that go?
Great as usual brother
We don't know how it's happened concretly, because it's just a single picture showing the fact of infected Mawkin Warrior.
raven beak is a dead bird for me.
Better dead than bread(ed)
One question I have is, if the Mawkin didn't know about the X, then what about the Metroid seals? They helped the Thoha establish Metroid DNA seals, and that would have given them a clue about the origin and purpose of the Metroid species.
Given that there are literal statues of Raven Beak on SR388 (The ones in the background when you get an Aeion ability), it's safe to assume that the Thoha and Mawkin were working together to colonize the planet.
Also, the fact that the Thoha programmed the Metroids to be aggressive towards the Mawkin means these two tribes aren't exactly friends; I theorize that they've been in a sort of cold war for decades, offering gestures of peace while secretly plotting each other's downfall.
I think you missed one thing that I didn't realize earlier: We see in the Samus Returns Chozo Memories that the Mawkin soldiers DID witness the X while guarding the Thoha.
He brings them up a few times: those Mawkin specifically likely did not survive those encounters. Same with the ones who witnessed the Metroids.
How is a soldier supposed to fight something it has no experience fighting and survive?
@@DefiantYeast0426 Whoops. Thanks for bringing that up.
I'd say the more stupid thing Raven Beak did was everything after they discovered the X infected Mawkin, which is basically nothing. After containing the X why didn't the try to find a new safer planet or make someway to combat the X. Unless I'm getting the timeline wrong they were doing nothing for years.
Even when Samus arrived and he realized she had Metroid DNA, why not clone her then instead of letting her run around and destroy everything. Im pretty sure her clones would be easier to manipulate and would still have the capacity to awaken their metroid DNA.
*"I'd say the more stupid thing Raven Beak did was everything after they discovered the X infected Mawkin, which is basically nothing."*
The first thing Raven Beak did was seal the X within Elun.
*"After containing the X why didn't the try to find a new safer planet or make someway to combat the X."*
To Raven Beak the X themselves were no threat. Raven Beak knew this and so did the X as the Aeon abilities of his Power Suit, especially his Lightning Armor, prevented him from getting infected, and his Hyper Beam was capable of vaporizing X-Parasites.
*"Unless I'm getting the timeline wrong they were doing nothing for years."*
Mhm… in order for the Mawkin to have have captured Kraid, the X-infected Chozo Warrior may have stayed hidden and undetected for many years, only revealing itself after much preparation sometime AFTER Super Metroid. (I theorize that the mysterious dead person in a power suit in Super Metroid outside of Kraid's boss room may have a Mawkin Warrior.)
*"Even when Samus arrived and he realized she had Metroid DNA, why not clone her then instead of letting her run around and destroy everything. Im pretty sure her clones would be easier to manipulate and would still have the capacity to awaken their metroid DNA."*
Raven Beak seemed to have learned about Samus having Metroid DNA in her from the EMMIs.
Why did Raven Beak allow Samus to run around and destroy everything and just capture her in order to clone her? Well, initially, that was exactly his plan, however, when she started mutating, her DNA was actually fusing with the Metroid DNA, making her a more unique existence. He allowed her to run amok to allow her to further mutate into a Metroid, to which she was. I believe it was mentioned in Dread that initial clones of Samus would not have had this trait, her only use was the Metroid DNA which can be extracted from her in them (which was the true purpose of the EMMIs), while with late game Samus, the Metroid DNA merged enough with Samus that she herself was mostly turned into a Metroid.
It's the difference between an army of cloned Metroids extracted from Samus to an army of Metroid Samus clones; It's no contest which would be the better bio weapon.
@@enforcerridley158 I like to believe that Raven Beak knew of the dangers of the X and The Metroid by the time he sealed them in Elun.
And someone like him was like:
"I have to use the X to force the Chozo or anyone to bring me Metroids"
The X were bait... and if not... a good study material to maybe find a way to use it in his favor later.
While Raven Beak probably prefers the Metroids since they are easier to handle with them being bio-engineered and thus able to be altered. (Aka just alter the Metroid DNA to not attack him but listen to him, wich is why he had Quiet Robe around too.) He wouldn't release the X since The X were a wild card....but would have been studied on cameras in Elun.
And I think in those years on ZDR dealing with the X, Quiet Robe came up with a plan to control them in a way. Wich explains the ending of Dread.
Raven Beak rather had Metroids under his control as that is very possible with a simple biomechnical brain like Mother Brain. (And ZDR had several smaller ones).
Where as the X... as we saw with Quiet Robe. It would require being infected by the X to allow them to be "controlled" as we saw with Quiet Robe.
I think Raven Beak knew about Metroids before Thoha massacre. Mawkin tribe was fellow tribe of Chozo and I think they were alies, because Thoha were asking for help from Mawkins. Raven Beak had another plans for Metroids, that's why he killed them all!
One question bothers me.
Serris' skeleton, that we find when we get to the tank we need to reach.
I think this is a pretty sound theory honestly. Given that X recreations are not exactly the same as the original host, often having new features or just an overall more agressive look as well as different coloring (weirdly only Samus and the Chozo are basically identical copies besides the eyes), if your theory is wrong then yes they'd be idiots for falling for it
Why didn't Raven just absorb the X parasite like Metroid does? Is he stupid?
He does... after Samus defeats him.
Forgot it's been 2 years since Metroid Dread dropped.
But the game explicitly states Raven Beak didn't know about the X before they found out that one of his soldier was infected.
I hate how much like venom x looked like in dread
quick question don't x hosts and clones repeat their hosts last words? like quiet robe x and raven beak x did surely some Mawkin would find it strang one chozo was repeating the same phraze over and over not knowing it was the x hosts last words before death.
He just did not know.
How were there even any native species left on SR-388 by the time the Chozo got there? They consumed all life on ZDR in a matter of hours.
There are still a few seemingly uninfected creatures in Fusion lurking around in the backgrounds that the X can infect too. They presumably DID have at least some natural predators on SR-388 even before the Metroids were created... and before they wiped out massive chunks of the planet's fauna.
EDIT: Now that I'm giving it more thought, this is a reach on my part, but seeing as the X are intelligent, it's possible that they deliberately didn't infect everything on SR-388 just to ensure that they had a food source. Again, probably reaching here.
In one’s native habitat resistances and immunities to common viruses and bacteria tend to develop. The animals on SR-388 likely developed some natural way to fight off X infection, whereas ZDR’s lifeforms had not.
I can only find that viruses need to get through cell surface receptors. Whether or not the success of getting through this allows for easier infection in other hosts, I don't know.
However, the X are protozoa. I would assume this equally apply, but I have no clue right now. I do like this hypothesis, however. I was never a fan of Samus just withstanding the X longer, due to having Chozo DNA. Maybe that did play a role, but your hypothesis is way better.
Is other M canon tho? Regretfully it seems to be canon.
I always thought the X were a more dangerous version of the flood from halo, at least the flood are structured to a degree
Lets get to 10K!
This makes sense to me!
WOOOOOOOOOOO WE EATING TODAY 🔥🔥🥹
we cant judge them, because of our own variant of it - the 2019 escapade!
makes us hypocritical!
The Better question is, how the hell did Raven Beak contain the X?
KENOBI
Wait, that comment was seven months ago?
This is one of the reasons I think the things they did to make the X "creepier" in this game not only fell flat, but did the lore a disservice. X infected creatures in Fusion were mostly indistinguishable from their uninfected counterparts, the only exception to this being as the X obtained more traits from more creatures and began to make stronger and more hybridized types. The blank eyes thing seemed to be entirely unique to SA-X, probably as a way to show it as "soulless" clearly and effectively within the confines of a limited color palette.
That's the horror of the X as a concept - they are without a doubt extremely deadly, but the host blends right in with no tell whatsoever. It's like catching a virus and within a few days you're spreading and shortly after that you're dead, but absolutely never had any symptoms. Giving the X infected enemies obvious visual cues that they're infected defeats the entire purpose.
Dread didn't benefit at all from their inclusion or the subplot of them wiping out a large portion of the Mawkin - all that did was eliminate the need for an explanation as to where several hundred angry war birds went, and to give Raven Beak a completely unnecessary final form. From a lore perspective I'm glad they've seemingly wiped them out entirely because I don't think I could take another game of them being used as a last minute plot device.
The X mutated their hosts into more aggressive forms in Fusion as well. Not as blatantly freaky as they were in Dread, but it still happened.