Gandrayda

The bounty hunter, Gandrayda
Gandrayda
Species	Unknown
Abilities	Transformation
Origin	Possibly Jovia XIII
Voiced by	Claire Hamilton
Debut	[[Metroid Prime 3: Corruption]]

Gandrayda is a shape shifting bounty hunter who was featured in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. She initially helps Samus Aran, but later is corrupted and becomes her enemy.

Biography

Bounty Hunter

Not much is known about Gandrayda's origins. Her species and homeworld is unknown, but Galactic Federation records have indicated a similarity to the inhabitants of Jovia XIII who, like Gandrayda, can assume alternate forms. Although her age is unknown, her psych evaluation suggested her to be quite youthful. The abilities of Gandrayda's are considerable, as she can assume the form of creatures larger than herself and assume their full power. A side effect though is that such transformations do not allow her to cover up weak points of these transformations.

She became a bounty hunter as a kind of sport, which she has relished greatly. Although she is a powerful combatant, transformed or not, she has largely been employed in reconnaissance missions where she was required to employ stealth. In her work as a bounty hunter, she considered the seasoned Samus Aran to be her primary rival and sough to surpass her as soon as possible.

Working with the Federation

During the Phazon crisis, she was hired by Admiral Dane to work with three other bounty hunters in dealing with a computer virus infecting the Aurora Unit network. Before Samus Aran even showed up, Gandrayda took the form of Samus and was only spotted when the real Samus Aran showed up and cause Dane to call her out on it. During the briefing, the G.F.S. Olympus was attacked by Space Pirates and Gandrayda went into action to make her way to Norion, the planet below.

On the planet, she assumed the form of a Space Pirate and was able to access one of the generators without resistance. She was soon followed by Samus Aran who had fought her way there. When Gandrayda spotted Samus, she turned on the Space Pirates and left the duty of restoring the generator to Samus. While she and the others tried to activate the cannon to destroy an incoming Leviathan, Dark Samus arrived and fired a powerful Phazon-charged beam that corrupted the four bounty hunters - though Samus was still able to activate the cannon.

Corrupted

As soon as Gandrayda recovered, she was deployed to the Pirate Homeworld to find any information about the pirate's plans. However she soon became corrupted and was made on of Dark Samus's field commanders. During her tenure on the planet, she would assume the forms of Space Pirates and if she found pirates not performing adequately, she would kill the pirate to instill discipline in the fighters.

Once Samus Aran arrived, Gandrayda assumed the form of a Federation Marine and sent her a distress signal telling of a mechanism 'he' discovered to offset the acid rain on the planet. Samus Aran located the stranded Federation Trooper and the two activated an elevator together. However, while Samus Aran disembarked to go further, the trooper fired a volley of shots which Samus dodged in her Morph Ball mode. The trooper transformed back into Gandrayda and she warned Samus Aran about being too trusting.

During the battle, Gandrayda used her own form to jump on to Samus and attack her, as well as using her cloaking device to hide from sight. To increase her power, she transformed into a Pirate Aerotrooper, a Berserker Lord, and the hunters Ghor and Rundas. When all these forms failed, she transformed into Samus Aran (although in the Varia Suit), but was defeated by Samus Aran. In her final moments she cycled through her transformations and Samus could only watch as Gandrayda reached her final end in the form of Samus herself. Following this, a ghost-like Dark Samus arrived to finish her off.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Gandrayda is featured as a Novice-rank Support Spirit with the effect of increasing the power of electric attacks. When fought in a Spirit battle, she possesses Dark Samus and is aided in battle by a Pikachu.