So what is exactly is the Other M? How about this. (SPOILERS)
By Hailinel 18 Comments
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Metroid: Other M is a strange title. And as it turns out, there are a lot of Ms in this game. But rather than plumb the depths of philosophical debate in the esoteric manner of the Double Rainbow Guy, allow me to say it straight out.
Other M = Mother
I know, I know. It's such an obvious conclusion that anyone with a basic knowledge of English and anagrams could come to it. But ultimately, the mysterious Other M of the title isn't so mysterious. Nintendo isn't trying to pull a fast one here. One of the most basic and essential themes of the game's story is that of motherhood.
For starters, there's Samus herself. Those with a knowledge of the previous games should understand why. At the end of Metroid II, Samus has eliminated almost he entire Metroid population from SR388, from the most basic form all the way up to the queen. But one last egg remains. It hatches, a baby Metroid emerges, and it immediately clings to Samus as though she's its mother. Despite it being her mission to destroy every last Metroid, Samus can't bring herself to kill it. She spares its life and ultimately presents it to scientists for study. Then in Super Metroid, after Ridley captures the baby and takes it to Zebes, Samus gives chase and searches high and low through the rebuilt space pirate hideout for it. Ultimately, it finds her, and it almost kills her; its body grown to giant proportions due to the pirates' experiments. Then, when it finally realizes it's attacking its "mother," it flees, as though ashamed of itself.
And then of course, there's the iconic scene at the end of Super Metroid. Samus, on the verge of dying, is rescued by the baby, who not only assaults Mother Brain and restores Samus's energy, but gives her the power to utterly annihilate Mother Brain upon its death. Ultimately, its behavior was not that of a dangerous parasite and a threat to galactic peace, but that of a child protecting its mother.
In Metroid: Other M, there exist two new characters. One is the head research scientist on the Bottle Ship; a woman named Madeline Bergman. The other is an android named MB, named for the fact that her programming is meant to emulate aspects of Mother Brain. MB was designed to telepathically control the wild creatures on board the Bottle Ship, just as Mother Brain exhibited control over the creatures of Zebes. In particular, she was given a human form in order to establish a bond with an infant Metroid, just as Samus's bond had formed. Yet this bond was also responsible for awakening emotions in MB.
Madeline, in the meantime, treated MB as a daughter. She even gave her a more human name; Melissa Bergman. Just as Madeline saw MB as a daughter, MB saw Madeline as a mother.
Unfortunately, with the emergence of MB's emotions, so too arose a pattern of increasingly dissenting behavior towards the research team. Eventually, the other scientists felt that MB's personality needed to be rewritten. Madeline, whose protests went unheeded, could do nothing to stop them as they dragged MB away. MB saw this as the ultimate act of betrayal; one of a mother turning her back on her daughter at a time of great need. The end result of all of this was a supreme act of rebellion against Madeline and the crew as MB used her power over the creatures on board to take total control.
And all of this happened because Samus showed the baby a mother's compassion and chose not to pull the trigger back on SR388.
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