While Ridley is commonly portrayed as a destructive beast in the games, the official Metroid manga delved a great deal deeper into the persona of the Space Pirate General. Ridley first appeared in chapter one, where his violent disposition and love of death and destruction is made apparent when he orders his entire legion of Space Pirates to annihilate the peaceful inhabitants of K2-L as he looked on. His ability for cruelty is further made concrete when he attempts to kill a small girl who tries to befriend him; killing her mother while trying to shield the child. He, like many of his Space Pirate brethren, also believes in the superiority of certain races over others, counting himself among the privileged elite species and the lower races seen as something only to exterminate.
Despite these bloodthirsty tendencies, Ridley has shown to be an intelligent and competent battle tactician orchestrating a great many successful battles as well as proving a serious threat on his own. Interestingly, his traits as a competent leader seem to be on a genetic level, as the Mystery Creature, Ridley's adolescent form, seemingly leads various creatures into attacking Adam Malkovich's squad while he handles Samus alone. However his quick temper and his arrogant belief that nothing can defeat him often undermines these qualities, leading to a great many defeats for him as well.
Ridley also seems to grudgingly show respect to those that are natural at commanding others, such as when Gray Voice is ordering the Pirate Troops to their battle stations; Ridley, taken aback, smirks at being told by Gray Voice to attend to his job and sarcastically addresses him as "Sir Military Commander" when he flies off.
He has also shown to have a very sadistic sense of humor evidenced by his various comments against Samus upon their first meeting since K2-L. Ridley even goes so far as to taunt her by saying that he may have eaten and incorporated the cells of her mother's corpse into his body and sardonically wonders what part her cells reside in and proceeds to bring his foot down on Samus angrily saying "At least pay your respects!"; referring to her dead mother, showing just how much joy he takes in the suffering of others. This sadism can also be seen in Other M as Ridley toys with Samus before being interrupted by Anthony.
