Ing (video game species)

A fictional evil race that is the major foe of Samus Aran in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. They are the dark equivalent of the Luminoth. Their name possibly stands for "thing," and is the Luminoth word for terror. Ing generally take on a shadowy hideous insectile look, unless they have possessed other life forms, in which the host remains mostly the same, except that it takes on a black hue and an Ing-like eye structure. To avoid damage, the Ing can transform into puddles of dark matter and slither around for long periods of time.

The Ing appear to have some sort of a social class, much like colonies of ants. Inglets make up the lowest class of the Ing community, and the highest ranks of Ing consist of Sub-guardians and Guardians.

Hunter Ing have the ability to warp out of the local space-time continuum, phasing in and out of existence in different planes, and making them much harder to destroy.

Aside from their projectile abilities, Ing have commonly taken possession of native life forms. This process appears painful to some, but leaves the host much stronger, often with new abilities. According to Luminoth lore, the host completely loses their own identity once the possession is complete. Once aware of this, the Luminoth resolved to take their own life rather than be posessed by an Ing.

The Ing are manifestly hostile towards all non-Ing lifeforms in Aether, and various log entries found throughout the game mention them launching attacks against Samus, the Space Pirates, the Space Marines, and even the Metroids.

During the course of the game, they not only steal but learn to make use of Samus's signature abilities. Nevertheless, her armor itself seems resistant to posession. This is because of the Luminoth's Energy Transfer Module, which was already collected before the Ing attempted to possess her.

The Ing Leader, known as the Emperor Ing, dwells in a structure the Luminoth have dubbed the Sky Temple, within which is stored the stolen half of Aether's life energy that was used to create Dark Aether. Although it initially manifests itself as a huge, worm-like pillar with tentacles and a large Ing eye structure, being damaged by Samus causes it to enter a chrysalis phase before hatching into a large, spider-like mutated form that looks much like a gigantic warrior Ing and fights surprisingly like the first form of Metroid Prime.