The G.F.S. Valhalla is a Galactic Federation Olympus-class battleship that is attacked by Space Pirates during a training mission in the Klar Nebula four months prior to the events of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Initial investigation by a Galactic Federation Reconnaissance Drone reveals that the ship has been utterly devastated by the attack, whose savagery is remarkable even for Space Pirates. A ship as formidable as the Valhalla has never before been attacked by the Space Pirates, suggesting mobilization and organization never before experienced. Equally unusual is that they left behind valuable technology frequently stolen in prior Space Pirate raids.

The Valhalla is rediscovered in the Gaflar System by the Galactic Federation halfway through Samus Aran’s mission on SkyTown, Elysia, and they ask her to investigate. Upon arriving, Samus discovers the Valhalla has become an unstable wreck, littered with mangled corpses of Federation Marines and Space Pirates alike and overrun with Phazon-based creatures, including countless Phazon Metroids.

After obtaining enough Energy Cells to fully investigate the remains of the battleship, Samus learns that, despite this unprecedented level of devastation, the only thing the marauding race stole is the ship's Aurora Unit — Aurora Unit 313. A recording of the AU’s final message is discovered by Samus in the Valhalla’s Control Room, along with a Space Pirate Boarding Pod containing the Leviathan Command Codes necessary to control the Pirates’ Leviathan Battleship.

Description

Samus can access the Valhalla as soon as after obtaining the Screw Attack. Samus is able to explore up to 18 rooms of the Valhalla, with the rest of rooms being blocked off by massive debris and destruction. Despite the widespread damage, some of these rooms remain partially functional; maintaining partial pressurization and basic device functions, such as active doors. While onboard the ruined vessel, the entire ship creaks with loud metallic noise and large shaking, providing the impression of falling apart anytime soon. Many of the rooms also resemble the G.F.S. Olympus, due to being similarly built. Two of the explorable rooms have received extensive outer hull damage, exposing its area to the vacuum of vast empty space. These rooms have lost pressurization completely and will suck out remaining air, as well as Samus, from any open doorway. Samus's own breath can be seen inside the bottom of her visor while inside these two rooms.

The enemy layout changes depending on Samus's current Inventory at the time of exploration, and her actions onboard the ship during investigation. The entirety of the ship is explorable with Energy Cells found during Samus's quest. Nine total is required to explore all the rooms. However, only five are required to reach the Control Room (three if Sequence Breaking is taken into account).^[1] Furthermore, it is possible to skip needing to use two Energy Cells in one room, requiring a minimum of only five to obtain everything aboard the ruined ship. Samus may need to halt her exploration early until she has obtained the Nova Beam, as it is required to enter the Aurora Chamber, which leads to the Control Room.

The general theme of the G.F.S. Valhalla is "Valhalla (theme)". After Samus passes through the ship's lone Green Door, "Abandoned Ship" will replace the first theme, playing throughout all rooms for the remainder of the mission.

Known GF occupants

• Aurora Unit 313 (Captured)

Known killed PED Marine Troops

• Ryan Powell
• Scott Petersen
• Luis Ramirez
• Michael Kelbaugh

Inhabitants

• Miniroid
• Phaz-Ing
• Jelsac (Only found if Samus explores the ship before collecting Seeker Missiles)

  

• Phazon Leech (Only found if Samus explores the ship before collecting Seeker Missiles)
• Liquid Phazon
• Phazon Grub
• Phazon Hopper
• Phazon Metroid (Only found if Samus explores the ship after collecting Seeker Missiles)
• Phazon Shriekbat (Only found if Samus explores the ship after collecting Seeker Missiles)
• Fuse Hint Scanbot
• Metroid Hatcher

Etymology

In Norse mythology, Valhalla (from Old Norse Valhöll/Valhall "hall of the slain") is a majestic, enormous hall located in Asgard, ruled over by the god Odin. Chosen by Odin, half of those that die in combat travel to Valhalla upon death, led by Valkyries, while the other half go to the goddess Freyja's field Fólkvangr. In Valhalla, the dead join the masses of those who have died in combat known as Einherjar, as well as various legendary Germanic heroes and kings, as they prepare to aid Odin during the events of Ragnarök, the prophesied end of the world. Their battle is doomed to fail, however, as Ragnarök will win the final battle, and all will perish.

Development Data

Internal data commonly lists the G.F.S. Valhalla as abandoned. Many internal room names of the Valhalla are also copied over from the Olympus room names with the "abandoned" title being added to them. This is similar to how rooms are internally structured in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.

Unused Galactic Federation Data entry

"What's the matter? All I said was that Komaytos look like little Metr-"

---

Non-canon warning: This article or section contains information that may not be considered an official part of the Metroid series in the overall storyline by Nintendo.

Trivia

• The dead troopers' names are the names of some of the staff at Retro Studios.^[2]
• Two themes play on the Valhalla: "Valhalla", and "Abandoned Ship".
• Since the Valhalla and the G.F.S. Olympus are both Olympus-class battleships, their layouts are extremely similar with many of the rooms in the Valhalla are parallels to rooms in the Olympus. Also, if Samus misses any Galactic Federation Data entries on the Olympus before it moves to its rendezvous location, the Valhalla contains them for her to scan and learn important lore. However, the Valhalla's rooms are placed differently, and for unknown reasons, the ship seems to rely on Energy Cells more than the Olympus, as many parts of the Valhalla require Energy Cells to energize them.
  • The Valhalla can be considered a dark-themed counterpart to the Olympus. This type of concept is similar to the room designs of Light Aether and Dark Aether from Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, since the idea may have been reused. Coincidentally, Dark Aether also held a gateway where nine keys are required to enter the final explored area, reflecting the Valhalla's role in leading to Phaaze.
• Despite the fact that the destroyed Valhalla has completely decompressed and lacks any sort of gravity function, this does not negatively affect any enemy creatures onboard, nor the Gravity Suit-less Samus. This fact was most likely overlooked by the developers, though it seems possible that some artificial gravity on the flagship remains functional in certain areas (artificial gravity has been known to function even in exposed parts of spaceships and space stations in the Metroid universe, such as the Exterior Docking Hangar on the Frigate Orpheon and the outer, damaged sections of the Celestial Archives). Strangely, however, this may not be the case within the fully decompressed rooms, such as Port Observation Deck and Aurora Chamber; in the former room, a deceased Marine is seen floating in mid-space, whereas Samus herself is not. Most of the creatures present appear to have ways of overcoming the lack of gravity (Phazon Metroids can float and many other creatures cling to surfaces for example). Curiously in the latter room, Samus is not sucked out from the large open hole leading to deep space where the Aurora Unit was stolen from. The first theory seems likely, as in another example, Samus is seen floating in space after opening the airlock in the Disposal Chamber, proving that she lacks any sort of anti-gravity equipment of her own during Corruption.
• If Samus uses the X-Ray Visor on the computer screens that read ERROR, she can spot the damaged ERROR texture moving in a wave motion.
• The Valhalla is the only area in the game to not be detected by an Elysian satellite searching for expansion locations.
• Its unused Galactic Federation Data entry states the Valhalla is the flagship of the 13th fleet, which may be a reference to the concept of unlucky 13, as the number is considered unlucky in several countries including the United States where Retro Studios is based. Additionally, its Aurora Unit is number 313, and the unused Galactic Federation Data entry states that during the Battle of Horus IV, the bridge crew was slain, which forced Unit 313 to take command of the ship. The use of these numbers may have been intentional, given the fate of both the Valhalla and its Aurora Unit in Corruption, but as the Galactic Federation Data entry is unused, it is unclear if any of this is actually canon.

• In Norion, within Generator A, Generator B, and Generator C, near each Energy Cell mechanism is two computer screens that both display a Galactic Federation ship that resembles the G.F.S. Valhalla. The console displays the name ALA, meaning wing, though it could be an abbreviation of the Valhalla. Even more curiously, there are three ports for Energy Cell mechanisms in each Generator on Norion, totaling nine Energy Cell ports, the same amount as the collectible Energy Cells used on the Valhalla. The placement of these computer screens could be alluding to the Energy Cell quest required to find the Leviathan Command Codes on the ship.
• If Sequence Breaking is used to skip obtaining the Screw Attack (which consequently skips having access to the Valhalla), the Valhalla will be open for exploration once Samus destroys the Leviathan Seed on Elysia.

Gallery

The Valhalla seen on the Galaxy Map.

Video

References