Character Profile: Mother Brain

Mother Brain is a recurring final boss in various Metroid games, and since she is the last monster you face it’s believed she is the leader of the Space Pirates, giving orders and somehow manipulating the Space Pirates to do her bidding. Some believe Ridley is the real leader of the Space Pirates and the Mother Brain only controls Zebes’ defenses. However, in the Metroid Prime Space Pirate logs Samus gathers throughout the games it was revealed that there is a High Command that controls every activity of the Pirates. The members of High Command remain a mystery, but it’s possible they turned to the Mother Brain for guidance.

In the Metroid Prime games there is no Mother Brain as she was destroyed on planet Zebes during the events of the original game, but in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption it is revealed that the Galactic Federation had created organic super computers called Aurora Units that have an eerie resemblance to the giant brain floating in a glass tank. Some believe Mother Brain was created by the Chozo and the Aurora Units resemble her original design. It’s possible that when the Aurora Units became corrupted one of them ended up in Zebes and has been working with the Space Pirates in secret. This would explain why Mother Brain was “revived” during the events of Super Metroid.