Ashkar Behek ("Raven Beak" in Chozo) is the main antagonist of Metroid Dread and the overarching antagonist of the Metroid franchise. He is the leader of the Mawkin Tribe, the overseer of Planet ZDR, and one of Samus Aran's genetic donors, seeing himself as Samus' "parent" which contributed to her physical prowess. He planned to use an army of Metroids to conquer the entire galaxy, previously slaughtering the Thoha Tribe for intending to eradicate the Metroids on SR388. In Metroid Dread, he intends to clone a Metroid army from Samus.
His Qualities[]
What makes him entertaining?[]
- When first properly introduced, he quickly beats Samus and nearly kills her, establishing him as one of the few fighters capable of beating her in a fight (and nearly does this a second time).
- His design as a Chozo warrior combined with a larger version of Samus' arm cannon, a cloak signifying his status as a ruler, and the crack on his helmet give off "Evil is cool" vibes.
- Not only is he a Chozo, coming from a species that had not yet physically appeared in the game despite numerous references to them, but he is an evil Chozo, contrasting himself greatly from his normally peaceful species.
- He has multiple reveals including:
- His stinger ending after getting 100% of items in Metroid: Samus Returns, which raised many questions and directly tied into the plot of Metroid Dread.
- His motives.
- Him pretending to be ADAM.
- Him being a genetic donor to Samus.
- This is also implied to be the reason as to why Samus is such a stronger fighter.
- Him being the reason that E.M.M.I.-01P is severly damaged, let alone even being capable of damaging it without the Omega Beam or Metroid powers.
- He is a cunning and intelligent schemer, luring Samus to ZDR and then successfully posing as ADAM to bring out Samus' latent Metroid powers.
- He has an entertaining and challenging boss fight that makes use of all the weapons and upgrades the player has acquired throughout the game, even those not normally used in boss fights in the Metroid series such as the Power Bomb.
- Compared to other main antagonists in the Metroid series, he has a more fleshed out personality and backstory (at least excluding the manga).
What Makes Him Detestable?[]
- He committed genocide on his own species and shows no signs of regret of this, including
- Wiping out the Thoha tribe on planet SR338 with the exception of Quiet Robe.
- Feeding members of his own tribe to a giant sea monster.
- Murdering Quiet Robe directly in front of Samus.
- It's implied that he committed horrific torture on Kraid.
- Spends the entire game trying to kill or manipulate Samus, who he views as his "daughter."
- Despite being implied to having locked his entire tribe away with the X Parasites, dooming his tribe to death, he release the X Parasites solely to further develop Samus' Metroid abilites, leading to all lifeforms on the planet other than Samus and (initially) himself becoming infected.
- He is arrogant, creating a mural of him ordering the execution of the Chozo tribe, taunting Samus about his own superiority during their second fight, and forgoing the opportunity to extract her Metroid DNA to attempt to create an army of Samuses with Metroid powers.
- This latter plan was overambitious and is what leads to Raven Beak's demise. He could have succeeded had he stuck with his original plan to simply extract her Metroid DNA after beating her in their first fight.
- He stands out from other Metroid villains in that he has committed atrocities against his own species and "daughter" and comes from a normally peaceful species that shuns violence.
External Links[]
- Raven Beak on the Villains Wiki
- Raven Beak on the Pure Evil Wiki
- Raven Beak on the Metroid Wiki