Several years ago, when Matt Casamassina was an editor at IGN, he made the point that it was not fair to directly compare Metroid and Halo, because the two represent two different genres of games despite both having sci-fi and action/blaster elements. However, that does not mean that it does no good at all to compare/contrast the two. As there are new entries in these series (Metroid Dread and Halo Infinite), now is as good a time as any to do so to see what may be gleaned.
To begin with, doing so is helpful in the current times of gender confusion to clarify some things. In both series, the protagonists, Samus Arun and Master Chief, are presented as saviors of a sort in their respective universes. But the imagery makes the title fitting for one (Master Chief) and unfitting for the other (Samus). And this is primarily due to the masculine and feminine qualities of the two characters.
The stoicism; the muscular frame; the deep voice; the unflappability of Master Chief together exude a sense of calm and trust and strength that are very much compatible with the traditional archetype of the hero/savior.
Samus, on the other hand, with her slender, angular build, her blaster arm that resembles an insect stinger, and the unfeminine, unnatural way she moves and poses at times (an attempt to make a woman look tough) – these are all rather unsettling to view and bring to mind not a savior but something more like a scorpion. And if we recall the fable of the scorpion and the frog, we see just how far from the traditional hero archetype Samus is:
https://toadsnfrogs.com/scorpion-and-frog/
--Picture via https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/switch/323656-metroid-dread/images/2401.
Storywise, there is not much to Halo Infinite. It is mostly a resolution of one of the loose threads from the previous entry, mainly, what happened to the rogue, tyrannical AI Cortana. The creators seem to imply that AIs and actual, living beings exist after they die in ‘data packets’ that float about the area of their demise, as well as in holograms. The more interesting religious/philosophical threads – who are the Endless, what is the meaning of the ‘different’ Halo array, and so on – await their resolution in future installments of the series.
Metroid Dread, oppositely, while slim on cinematics (which is neither unexpected nor a bad thing for a Metroid game), offers up some interesting mythological imagery. At certain points in both MD and Metroid: Zero Mission, there are unmistakable representations of Egyptian hieroglyphics, thus connecting Samus with the mystery cults of ancient Egypt (interestingly, there are links to this same cult in the Halo series: https://confiterijournal.blogspot.com/2020/02/halo-esotericism-evolved.html):
https://metroid.fandom.com/wiki/Chozodia?file=Mzm3.JPG
https://cogconnected.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Metroid-Dread-Trailer-890x520-1-700x409.jpg.webp
This is only the start. Two Chozo in MD, Raven Beak and Quiet Robe, show a strong resemblance to the Egyptian gods, Set and Horus, respectively:
Quiet Robe/Horus:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Horus_standing.svg
Raven Beak/Set:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_(deity)
In the ancient Egyptian myths, there are major conflicts between Horus and Set, and this theme is present in MD in the battle between Quiet Robe and Raven Beak and the two Chozo tribes from which they originate. Samus, in fighting on the side of Quiet Robe, takes on the role of Isis, who aids Horus against Set:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_(deity)#Conflict_of_Horus_and_Set
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isis
Upon viewing pictures of Set, Horus, and other divinities in Egyptian mythology, it will be quite clear that chimeras play a large role in that system:
https://www.thoughtco.com/egyptian-monsters-4145424
And Samus in MD is also found to be a chimera – part human, part Metroid, and part Chozo. Various pictures of Samus in her Metroid-dominated form are here:
https://metroid.fandom.com/wiki/Metroid_Suit
This element actually has connections with modern evolutionary theory. Mr Edward Welsch wrote an excellent analysis of the latest film version of the sci-fi novel Dune, in which he pointed out the following:
In subsequent books, Children of Dune and God Emperor of Dune, Atreides’s son, Leto II, takes a final evolutionary step and genetically merges with the planet’s giant sandworms to extend his lifespan thousands of years. This will enable him to exercise perfect control over humanity’s evolutionary development as a living godhead controlling a galactic theocracy.
Here Herbert’s vision in Dune is admittedly bizarre, but it references the modernist theological views in vogue during the ’60s, especially those of the French Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. De Chardin, whose evolutionary theological books were condemned by the Vatican, saw humanity, the Church, and the entire universe moving toward a final evolutionary “Omega Point” in which the “Cosmic Christ” would be realized. Through the humanworm hybrid of God Emperor Leto II, Herbert seems to be suggesting an end point far stranger than anyone else could have imagined.
--https://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/dune-s-modernist-space-heresy/
Samus, according to this theory, with her chimeric DNA is actually a more advanced form of human being than ordinary men and women. Given all the special abilities she displays throughout the various games of the series, this is an idea the games’ creators seem to want to convey. Such is the transhuman/posthuman world some segments of the power elite would like to bring about.
As distorted as these archetypes (Master Chief and Samus) are, they can still nevertheless awaken within us a yearning for the truest, the highest archetypes of manhood and womanhood: the Lord Jesus Christ (the 2nd Adam) and the Most Pure and Ever-Virgin Mary (the 2nd Eve). St Proclus, the Patriarch of Constantinople, offers them both due praise in this 5th-century sermon preached for the Feast of the Annunciation (25 March):
Our present gathering in honor of the Most Holy Virgin inspires me, brethren, to offer her a word of praise, of benefit also for those who have come to this holy celebration. It is a praise of women, a glorification of their gender, which (glory) she brings to it, she who is both Mother and Virgin at the same time.
O desired and wondrous gathering! O nature, celebrate that whereby honor is rendered to woman! Rejoice, O human race, that in which the Virgin is glorified. “But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” [Romans 5:20]. The Holy Mother of God and Virgin Mary has gathered us here. She is the pure treasure of virginity, the intended paradise of the Second Adam, the place where the union of natures (divine and human) was accomplished, and the Counsel of salvific reconciliation was affirmed.
Who has ever seen, who has ever heard, that the Limitless God would dwell within a womb? He Whom the Heavens cannot circumscribe is not limited by the womb of a Virgin! He Who is born of woman is not just God and He is not just Man. He Who is born has made woman the gateway of salvation. . . .
Know then that our Redeemer is not simply a mere man, since the whole human race was enslaved to sin. But neither is He just God, Who does not partake of human nature. He had a body, for if He had not clothed Himself in me, then neither would He have saved me. But, having settled in the womb of the Virgin, He clothed Himself in my fate, and within this womb He effected a miraculous change: He bestowed the Spirit and received a body.
. . .
He alone is both in the bosom of the Father and in the womb of the Virgin; He alone is in the arms of His Mother and rides on the wings of the winds [Psalm 103/104:3]. He, before Whom the angels bow down in worship, also reclined at table with publicans. The Seraphim dared not gaze upon Him, yet Pilate pronounced sentence upon Him. He Who the servant smote is also the One before Whom all creation trembles. He was nailed to the Cross, and ascended to the Throne of Glory. He was placed in the tomb, and He stretched out the heavens like a curtain [Psalm 103/104:2]. He was numbered among the dead, and He emptied Hell. Here on earth, they cursed Him as a transgressor; there in Heaven, they glorified Him as the All-Holy.
. . .
--https://www.oca.org/fs/sermons/sermon-on-the-annunciation
The spiritual poverty of the pre- and post-Christian religions of the world is stark, as we can see from what is depicted in games like Halo and Metroid and movies like Dune. It is that very poverty, however, that will hopefully bring mankind back to the only place that will bring him true salvation, true peace, joy, etc. – to the Holy Orthodox Church.
--
Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!
Anathema to the Union!
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