The Metroid timeline can get pretty confusing and Dread only closes out one of Samus' many stories. Here is a breakdown of her entire journey so far.

The release of Metroid Dread marks the end of Samus' main journey, the timeline for which began with the original Metroid - the keyword being "main." The timeline of the Metroid series has many narrative threads running through it, and the insights they offer don't always add up to the same story. Trying to make sense of the inconsistencies and true canon can be somewhat difficult, but this breakdown aims to resolve that.

[WARNING: Spoilers ahead for the Metroid series including Metroid Dread]

The overall narrative of Metroid is currently made up of two main storylines surrounded by smaller, independent ones. Of the main two, the primary storyline consists of Metroid, Metroid 2: Return of Samus, Super Metroid, Metroid: Other M, Metroid Fusion, and Metroid Dread. The secondary storyline is the Prime series and is told through Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime Hunters, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Metroid Prime: Federation Force, and Metroid Prime 4, rumored to release in 2023.

It's important to note that Metroid: Zero Mission and Metroid 2: Samus Returns are remakes of the first two games, but their respective names get used interchangeably by the lore community. For this list, we will only use the remakes' titles when discussing information specific to those versions. With that primer out of the way, here's the breakdown of the Metroid timeline, beginning with the Metroid manga.

Metroid Manga Volumes 1 & 2 Show Samus' Origins

The Metroid manga was released alongside the first game's remake, Metroid: Zero Mission, and tells the story of Samus' upbringing. Shortly before Samus was born, the governing bodies of the Milky Way came together to form the Galactic Federation in order to "protect the peace of the galaxy" from every one of Metroid's dreadful enemies. Samus' family lived on Star Colony K2-L, where her father led the mining and transporting of Afloraltite, the energy source used to power the ships and caravans of the Federation.

One day, two hooded figures appear and request to borrow large amounts of Afloraltite. They are revealed to be Chozo, a race of technologically advanced and pacifistic bird-like humanoids. Samus bumps into and connects with Old Bird while his companion Gray Voice continues negotiations, but there is no Afloraltite that can be spared. As the Chozo leave, the Space Pirates invade, and their leader, Ridley, leads an attack that kills everyone on the planet except for Samus.

The Chozo see the attack and return to check for survivors, finding Samus and taking her to Zebes, the Chozo homeworld. The conditions on Zebes are too harsh for non-native lifeforms, so the Chozo council and Mother, their planetary A.I., decide to force Samus’ evolution by infusing her DNA with Chozo DNA, which enhanceed her physical abilities and allowed her to use the Power Suit.

When Samus gets older, the Space Pirates invade Zebes while she's off-world. Samus returns to save them only to find that the Space Pirates were taking orders from Mother, now dubbed Mother Brain. When Ridley appears, Samus' PTSD is triggered for the first time, and she begins to have flashbacks to when he attacked the Afloraltite colony. The Chozo are able to help Samus overcome her flashbacks while Gray Voice sacrifices his life to fight off Mother Brain and Ridley. As he dies, Samus feels a strong connection to him and discovers that Gray Voice was the one that offered his DNA to her, thus making him her surrogate father - just one of Metroid's emotional story moments for Samus.

In the end, Samus realizes her duty is to protect the galaxy on her own terms and begins her life as a bounty hunter. Volume 2 ends right where Metroid begins, marking the end of her origin story. Due to inconsistencies with later games, there's an ongoing debate as to whether any of this is truly canon, but for those who want to read the manga and come to their own decision, Redditor dogface914 provides links to translated PDFs.

The Original Metroid & Samus Battle Against The Space Pirates

Samus makes her return to Zebes after learning that the surviving Space Pirates have rebuilt their base, Mother Brain is still alive, and that they are in control of a dangerous bioweapon called Metroid. Samus explores the Space Pirate base, killing every Metroid she encounters along the way, as well as some defeating reoccurring bosses like Kraid and Ridley for the first time. After Samus makes various Power Suit changes via ability upgrades and new weapons, she confronts and defeats Mother Brain. This causes the Space Pirate base to fall apart, but Samus makes it to her gunship and leaves Zebes before it could collapse on her.

Metroid: Zero Mission extends this ending by shooting Samus out of the sky and crashing her ship next to the Space Pirate's mothership. With her Power Suit damaged, she makes her way to nearby Chozo ruins and acquires an even stronger Power Suit before returning to the mothership. Upon entering, Samus discovers a giant robot made in Ridley's image that she quickly defeats. Samus then takes an escape pod to finally leave Zebes as the mothership, and all its Metroid research, is destroyed.

Metroid Prime Reinvents Metroid's Gameplay

Released well after Metroid 2 and Super Metroid, Nintendo's Metroid Prime trilogy takes place between the events of the first and second game. It begins when Samus receives a distress signal and intercepts a Space Pirate frigate above the planet Tallon IV. While exploring, Samus discovers a restrained Ridley who has been reborn with cybernetic enhancements, becoming Meta Ridley. Before she can do anything, the Parasite Queen emerges and though Samus defeats the Queen, it causes the frigate to fall towards Tallon IV.

Samus escapes, but an explosion heavily damages her Power Suit and abilities. Meta Ridley also escapes and travels to Tallon IV to reunite with the Space Pirates, and Samus follows, landing next to Chozo ruins. She learns that the Chozo discovered a dark energy source called Phazon, though she doesn't know about Metroid's Space Pirates' various experiments with it. Phazon arrived on a meteor that impacted near the Chozo civilization and after witnessing the effects of the Phazon it released, they sealed the crater beneath a temple. To open it, Samus scours Tallon IV in search of the Twelve Chozo Artifacts.

Upon returning to the crater's temple, Meta Ridley finally appears and attacks Samus, destroying many of the Chozo artifacts, but is defeated by Samus once again. She enters the crater and discovers the Metroid Prime, a huge, mutated Metroid created by the constant absorption of Phazon. They engage in a grueling battle in which Samus is victorious, but the surrounding Phazon becomes unstable as a result. Samus barely escapes before the crater implodes, but with the source now destroyed, all the remaining Phazon on the planet is nullified. Though Samus' journey on Tallon IV ends here, those who get 100% completion are treated to one of the Metroid series' best secret endings, in which a hand bursts out of the puddle of Phazon left behind by the Metroid Prime.

Samus Faces Other Bounty Hunters In Metroid Prime Hunters

The Galactic Federation receives a telepathic message from the Alimbic system, which claims that "the key to ultimate power" resides there. Samus is sent to investigate it, but several bounty hunters intercepted the message as well. Over the course of her journey, Samus discovers that the Alimbic life came to an end when a meteor that carried a being called Gorea crashed into the planet. Gorea used its ability to mimic biology and drain abilities to go on a near unstoppable rampage. The last of the Alimbic people managed to use their energy to seal Gorea in the Oubliette starship.

In order to enter the Oubliette, Metroid's Samus needs to improve her gear, get Octolith keys, new abilities, and the game's best weapons in order to get through various obstacles and seals. Along the way, Samus comes to blows with the other bounty hunters but chose to save the ones stuck in the Oubliette. These manage to reach the center of the ship and, in their desire to claim the ultimate power, accidentally release Gorea, who immediately begins draining them of their abilities. One of these bounty hunters is Sylux, a powerful and mysterious hunter that may play a bigger role later.

Samus battles Gorea in the Oubliette's main room and is nearly defeated until she finds the Omega Canon. Its devastating power proves too much for Gorea and the creature falls, the Oubliette begins to self-destruct. In the final moments of Metroid Prime Hunters, Samus is in her Zero Suit as a vision of three Alimbic beings thank her, before suddenly waking up in her gunship with her Varia Suit intact.

Samus Plays With Darkness & Light In Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

In her next mission, Samus is sent to the planet Aether to investigate a distress signal from a group of Federation Marines. Upon arriving, she finds that all the marines have been killed by native creatures possessed by inter-dimensional beings called the Ing. After journeying further into Aether, Samus discovers a dimensional rift that's being manipulated by a dark figure wearing a Power Suit. This figure becomes known as Dark Samus, whose hand emerged from the remains of the Metroid Prime from the first game.

Samus begins her first battle with one of Metroid's hardest bosses and discovers that the rift opens to a dark version of Aether, but the Ing join the conflict and strip Samus of her weapons and abilities. She quickly recuperates and explores a nearby temple to look for clues as to what's going on, where she meets U-Mos, a member of the Luminoth race. He explains that, like Tallon IV, a meteor crashed into the planet and opened a dimensional rift between Aether and Dark Aether. The Ing emerged shortly after and battled the Luminoth for control of the Light of Aether, the planet's main source of energy.

In her journey to restore the Light of Aether, Samus comes to blows with the Ing and Dark Samus multiple times. They attempt to keep the Phazon rift open long enough for Dark Aether to replace Aether, but Samus defeats them. Dark Samus dissolves into a cloud of Phazon particles and the full Light of Aether eradicates the Ing, Dark Aether, and the dimensional rift. Samus boards her gunship and leaves Aether for her next adventure - however, players that achieve 100% completion are rewarded with a cutscene of Metroid's Samus and her gunship leaving the planet is extended to show Phazon particles gathering in space, reforming Dark Samus.

Samus Faces A New Threat In Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Samus and three other bounty hunters are about to leave for their next Federation mission until an emergency message says that one of their bases is under attack. The team travels to Norion to aid the Federation base, only to discover that a bio-organic meteoroid is heading towards the planet. This meteoroid is later discovered to be a Leviathan Seed, whose only purpose is to crash into a planet's surface and release Phazon. Before the group can address it, Dark Samus appears and blasts the group with Phazon energy. Samus manages to activate the planetary defense systems and destroy the incoming Leviathan Seed before falling unconscious.

Samus wakes up a month later and is informed that that Phazon she absorbed is corrupting her, similar to the Hiss corruption of Tommasi from Control. Samus is given an augmented Power Suit which slows the corruption and allows her to utilize the Phazon energy, but only to a small degree. She is sent out to investigate three planets in which the Leviathan Seeds have successfully embedded themselves and destroy them. She travels to Bryyo, Elysia, and the Space Pirate homeworld and battles against Space Pirates, her internal corruption, and her fully corrupted comrades from the start of the game.

The Leviathan seeds are successfully destroyed and Samus learns that the origin point of Phazon is a sentient planet called Phaaze. Samus travels to the planet's inner core and battles Dark Samus one final time. Being a creature of pure Phazon, Dark Samus' defeat begins a chain reaction that destroys Phaaze, which renders all the Phazon in the galaxy completely inert. As is the case with previous installments, if players achieve 100% completion, a secret cutscene reveals the possible return of Sylux, though Metroid Prime 4's release is still uncertain.

Players Are On The Other Side Of Samus In Metroid Prime: Federation Force

In a unique twist, players take control of Federation Marines in a unit known as the Federation Force. Their job is to eradicate the last of the Space Pirates following the events of Metroid Prime 3. When they arrive at the Bermuda system, they hire Samus to help gather information about the surviving Space Pirates, who they discover are building a massive battleship called Doomseye.

The battleship is heavily cloaked, so the Federation Force travels to three different planetary sub-stations to destroy the cloaking relays and reveal the Doomseye in orbit - which promptly fires on and decimates the Federation Fleet waiting in orbit before putting up a force field. The Federation Force manage to infiltrate the ship, only to find that Samus is being bossed around by the Space Pirates after having been brainwashed.

Samus is sent in to fight the Federation Force, but they manage to knock Samus out of her brainwashed state. Now unified, they successfully fight back the pirates and disable the force field. The surviving Federation Fleet ships fire on the Doomseye and destroy it while Samus and the Federation Force escape. In a post-credits scene, a Galactic Federation lab is revealed to have a Metroid egg in incubation, likely stolen from the Space Pirates. A figure that heavily resembles Sylux watches the egg hatch and release a Metroid larva.

Metroid 2: Return of Samus Sheds New Light On The Metroids

Not long after the battle in the Bermuda system, the Galactic Federation finally deems the Metroids to be too dangerous to exist and send Samus to SR388, the Metroid homeworld. Samus arrives to find that many Metroids have mutated beyond their jellyfish-like forms, making the Metroids' role in the series story far more dangerous than previously thought. Knowing this, Samus begins to exterminate all the Metroids of SR388, including the Queen.

During Samus' journey back to her gunship, she stumbles upon a Metroid egg and a larva pops out. Samus prepares to kill it just as she had every other Metroid but is unable to do so when she realizes that it imprinted on her as its mother. The two escape the tunnels of SR388 and return to Samus' gunship. While the original ends here, Metroid 2: Samus Returns includes an additional fight with none other than Ridley.

Further cybernetic alterations have turned him into Proteus Ridley, and he attempts to steal the Metroid and destroy Samus. He fails at both when Samus not only bests him, but the brilliant Metroid larva attaches to his biological head and drains him of enough life force to incapacitate him. The two are now able to leave SR388 and Samus takes the Metroid to a laboratory for further research.

The remake offers two additional story moments that have major ramifications. The first is yet another post-credit scene in which one of SR388's native creatures is infected by what would become known as the X Parasite, which rapidly mutates it into something far more dangerous. The second are the Chozo Memories, which reveal a huge twist to the overall narrative. The Chozo had traveled to SR388 long before the Galactic Federation, where they discovered what the X Parasite from Metroid Fusion and Dread truly is.

Knowing its danger, the Chozo created the Metroids as a weapon to destroy the parasite but quickly lost control of them. In their final attempt to seal the danger, the Chozo led the Metroid deep into the planet and sealed them there. Though the status of the X Parasite was unknown after this debacle, the Chozo escaped to the surface where a rescue party was waiting for them. For reasons not yet known, the party's leader, a Chozo general wielding an arm canon, ordered them to slaughter the escaping Chozo.

Super Metroid Has An Emotional Surprise Ending

Super Metroid is the third installment in the main Metroid storyline and kicks off with Samus receiving a distress signal from the lab that has the baby Metroid. She arrives just in time to see the Metroid being stolen by Ridley, yet again. Before she can intervene, Ridley destroys the ship and flies towards Zebes with Samus is in hot pursuit. When she lands, she finds that the Space Pirates have rebuilt yet again.

Samus, now determined to rid the galaxy of all these threats, kills the remaining Space Pirates, the Metroids they were attempting to use as weapons, and seemingly kills Kraid and Ridley for good. Learning that Mother Brain is still alive, Samus makes her way to the core of the base but is stopped when a giant Metroid descends on her and begins draining her. It stops however, as the two realize the Metroid is the same one Samus saved. Together, the two confront Mother Brain but Samus is quickly overpowered and nearly killed.

The Metroid swoops in at the last moment to heal Samus and attack Mother Brain. Sadly, Mother Brain doesn't take much punishment before killing the Metroid who, in its final moments, gives the remainder of its energy to Samus in the form of the powerful Metroid equipment upgrade, the Hyper Beam. Fueled by a combination of grief and power, Samus destroys Mother Brain and starts yet another planet destroying chain reaction. With this, the Space Pirates are finished, the Metroids are seemingly extinct, the Chozo homeworld has been destroyed, and Samus returns to the Galactic Federation for rehabilitation.

Other M Showcases Samus' Relationship To Adam

While in rehab, Federation doctors formally diagnose Samus with PTSD, which was first addressed by the Chozo in the manga. Unknown to Samus, scientists have also removed the baby Metroid's DNA from her Power Suit in order to begin cloning it. After her recovery, Samus responds to a distress signal from a Federation vessel known as the Bottle Ship. This ship is now a derelict genetics lab that's become infested with hostile creatures, embracing the horror elements of Metroid.  Thankfully, Samus quickly kills the creatures with the help of a Federation platoon led by her old friend, Adam Malkovich.

Adam reveals that this station was created to clone the Metroids to make them into Federation bioweapons, clone and reprogram the AI that made up Mother Brain (now called MB) and create experimental life-forms. He was designated as the lead on this project and, realizing the danger of the Federation's hubris, attempted to shut it down multiple times. When he was refused, he decided to take matters into his own hands, but the ship was overtaken before he could take any action himself.

Many fans still think Other M is the series' worst game due to this convoluted story that includes a traitor within the platoon, the discovery that MB is masquerading as a scientist, a battle against another clone of Ridley, the depiction of Samus' PTSD, and Adam's method of destroying the program. He locks himself in the cloning lab, known as Sector Zero, and sacrifices himself by blowing it up, thus destroying all DNA and Metroid research. Samus then confronts MB and defeats the cloned Queen Metroid, bringing an end to one of the series' more divisive games.

Metroid Fusion Gives Samus A New Suit

Samus returns to SR388 as the bodyguard for a Federation research team, where they encounter the X Parasite. Samus is infected and taken into medical care by the Federation. Doctors surgically remove her Power Suit in order to give her a vaccine made with Metroid DNA, which cures the infection. With her newfound immunity to the X Parasite and the new Fusion Power Suit, she is sent to investigate a distress signal from the lab that held her infected Power Suit.

She arrives only to find that the Power Suit has become a mimic of Samus that roams the facility. As she explores the facility to find a way to bring down the suit, she begins communicating with the lab's AI which turns out to be the uploaded consciousness of Adam Malkovich. He guides her through the facility while avoiding the infected suit, now known as the SA-X, until she stumbles in a secret lab filled with Metroids. Before she can process it, the SA-X enters and attacks her and the Metroids.

Samus escapes the lab with the help of the AI, now named ADAM based on its namesake, as the Metroids and SA-X destroy each other, but she soon realizes there's at least ten more of them. Somehow, the SA-X can asexually reproduce and now poses a massive threat to the Federation and the galaxy. Though Adam urges her to leave, Samus knows that she needs to stop them and determines that the best way to do so is to crash the station into SR388. The two manage to hurl the ship towards the planet and watch from above as it crashes down to the surface, not only killing the X on board, but destroying SR388 as well. Sadly, this is not the end for the X Parasite.

Metroid Dread Brings The Franchise Timeline (So Far) To A Close

Not long after Metroid Fusion, Samus is informed that the Galactic Federation received a video transmission showing the X Parasite on the planet ZDR and fear that something may have discovered how to kill the E.M.M.I. robots that they sent down to investigate. Due to her immunity, the Federation contracts Samus to recover the robots. Samus arrives and explores the caverns until she enters an open room where a heavily armored Chozo is waiting.

The Chozo, known as Raven Beak, fights Samus and easily defeats her. Though she is stripped of her upgrades and abilities, Raven Beak spares Samus and she immediately begins her journey to recover what she's lost and complete her mission. This is made difficult by the E.M.M.I robots, who have been reprogrammed to hunt Samus. Thankfully, Samus can communicate with Adam via relay stations spread across the planet and he helps her navigate ZDR while avoiding the E.M.M.I.

Samus eventually meets Quiet Robe, a Chozo scientist who reframes the Chozo's tragic history, which was first depicted in Chozo Memories from Metroid 2: Samus Returns. He belonged to the Thoha tribe, who initially discovered the X Parasite and developed the Metroids to eradicate it. When Raven Beak arrived with the Mawkin tribe, he ultimately ordered the Thoha to be killed because he wanted to use the Metroids as a weapon, whereas the Thoha wanted to destroy them. Quiet Robe was sparred due to having the knowledge of and ability to create Metroids.

Quiet Robe also reveals that the E.M.M.I. are hunting Samus in order to extract her Metroid DNA but is killed before he can give her all the answers. Samus is now determined to stop Raven Beak, which takes her across ZDR to collect every powerful item she can. She eventually enters the area of Elun which had successfully quarantined the X Parasite until Raven Beak released them all upon her entry. The X Parasites spread and reanimate everything Samus has defeated along the way. In her last confrontation with an E.M.M.I., Samus drains it of its power, confirming her suspicion that the Metroid DNA is turning her into a Metroid.

She confronts Raven Beak on his ship, the Ikatosh, where he reveals that he's been masquerading as Adam in order to guide Samus into situations that would awaken her Metroid abilities. After defeating her in another duel, he makes one last reveal. The Chozo DNA she was given as a child came from two sources: Gray Voice of the Thoha tribe, and Raven Beak of the Mawkin. With the revelation that he is also her father, Samus' powers fully awaken and upgrade her Varia Suit into the Metroid Suit.

In their final battle, Raven Beak is infected by the X Parasite and mutated into a horrible monster, but Samus easily destroys him with her Metroid infused Omega Canon. The planet begins to self-destruct and Samus races back to her gunship, destroying any remaining X Parasite along the way. She boards her gunship but is informed by the real Adam that interacting with her ship will drain it of its power. At the same moment, Quiet Robe appears behind her, now reanimated by the X Parasite.

His Chozo spirit has somehow kept the X Parasite from fully consuming him and uses his final moment to let Samus absorb him. Doing so reverts her Metroid Transformation and allows her to make it off ZDR just in time. Though Metroid Dread marks the end of the main storyline, it's not the end of Samus' journey. It's unclear where the series will go next, but the final "see you next mission" message assures fans that they will eventually find out.

Next: Metroid Dread Proves Samus Aran Deserves More Metroid Games

Source: Reddit