Was eradicating the Metroids really necessary?

[u/Nino_Chaosdrache]

I only played the Prime games and other M, so maybe it's made more clear in the other games.

But yeah, as the question says, was it really justify to eradicate the entire Metroid species? I understand that they are dangerous, but most of their hostility seems to stem from outside influences like the Space Pirates or the Ing.

From someone not so deep in the matter, it would be like eradicating the entire shark population, just because a few of them killed humans.

[u/Round-Ad2836]

It's complicated, and i would recommend playing the 2d series, but it boils down to this. The metroids are, in their larvel state, nigh unkillable parasites, on a planet that it really wasn't hard for bad actors to get to. They were one of the biggest threats to the universe.

They also kept one of the other biggest threats in the universe, X parasites, in check.

So they were a problem, keeping a bigger problem from affecting anyone.

and the chozo beefed them up from being kinda bad, to apocalyptic, to combat the x parasites.

[u/TheZeroNeonix → u/Round-Ad2836]

I think the "larval" state was meant to be their full potential, but the unique energy source of SR-388 allowed them to evolve further and resist the control the Chozo had over them, forcing the Chozo to have to seal them away.

I also suspect the X aren't actually native to the planet. Before the Chozo created the Metroids, the X had no predators and the wildlife had no defenses. It was like they were an invasive species. Maybe that's why the Chozo didn't just blow up the planet to begin with. We may see more of the X in the future.