Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy game explains what happened to Groot’s species, a detail that is overlooked, so far, in the MCU films. Groot is a member of the flora colossi, a humanoid species of plant lifeforms that originate from Planet X. Different iterations of Groot are usually accompanied by different stories of his people, and Marvel’s GOTG provides its own unique story on the fate of the flora colossi.
[Warning: Major spoilers for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy are below.]
Planet X and the branch worlds of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy are one of the few systems that have a monarchy established as their form of governance. In every instance where Groot’s species is discussed, the flora colossi are, in one way or another, depicted as creatures that have little regard for other sentient lifeforms. Prior to his character joining the Guardians of the Galaxy, Groot used to share the mentality of his people. The original Groot was once a villain, but he has since become the more compassionate member of the Guardians.
Square Enix gives ample attention to each of the Guardians in Marvel’s GOTG, providing each of them with a greater backstory than what was shown to fans in the MCU. In fact, Square Enix takes the backstory of Groot a step further by shedding light on what happened to his people, and what they were like. A brief history of the flora colossi is explained through Groot’s Guardian collectibles.
What Groot’s Guardian Collectibles Reveal In Marvel’s GOTG
By collecting and interacting with each of Groot’s Guardian collectibles in Marvel’s GOTG Star-Lord is able to gather a deeper understanding of Groot’s history, and what happened to the members of his species. There are three collectibles for Groot that need to be found in order to gain insight into the history of Planet X and the flora colossi. The first collectible is a broken translator device that can be found in chapter two. After reaching Nikki’s hideout, players can head to the small area with three monitors. The broken translation device is behind the two boxes.
Interacting with any of the Guardian collectibles aboard the Milano will trigger dialog options between Star-Lord and the appropriate Guardian. In this case, the broken translation device begins the conversation with Groot. The only characters in Marvel’s GOTG that can understand Groot are Rocket and Mantis, so a repair translation device has Star-Lord eager at the thought of communicating with Groot. Unfortunately, Rocket explains to Star-Lord that the broken translation device doesn’t include Groot’s language and that “Groot” is a language that can only be found on expensive translation devices. Rocket further explains that Groot’s native language is Taluhnisan, and that he is able to understand it after more than 10 years of working alongside Groot.
Additionally, Rocket was able to study a spreadsheet of Groot’s lexicon to help him better understand the flora colossus. One of the defining characteristics of Groot’s species is that it sounds as if he is constantly saying “I am Groot.” However, there are many changes within his vocal cords that go undetected by those who can’t speak Taluhnisan. Rocket is a highly intelligent character in Marvel’s GOTG, and his difficulty understanding Taluhnisan shows that the flora colossi were also intelligent enough to develop and understand the nuances of their vocal cords to communicate with one another.
Groot’s second Guardian collectible is a cold case file that can be found in chapter five. Players will need to re-route the power in the reception area of Ko-Rel’s ship and enter the control room with five computer stations inside to find it. Looking to the left of the flight of stairs that Star-Lord will exit through, the cold case file can be found between the water station and computer terminal. Groot’s final item is a deeproot plant found in the thirteenth chapter of Marvel’s GOTG‘s story. Immediately after entering the forest full of poisonous plants, players can stay to the right-hand side to find the deeproot plant in front of two red trees.
Marvel’s GOTG: Groot Explains What Happened To His People
After interacting with the cold case file aboard the Milano, Star-Lord learns that the Collector reported Groot as stolen property 14 years ago. Rocket and Groot arrive to answer Star-Lord’s questions, and Rocket confirms that Groot had lost his entire planet. According to Groot, the Collector found a splinter of him at the start of the war amidst the wreckage of Planet X. After recovering the splinter, the Collector planted Groot and was shortly stolen by Rocket after he sprouted.
Groot, as far as he knows, is the only surviving member of Planet X, and attributes his survival and revival to the Collector. Fans of the MCU films saw an example of this in the Guardians of the Galaxy 2014 movie when Groot was shown dancing as a sprout in one of the final scenes. Unlike the James Gunn films, however, Groot is able to recall his life before being planted in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
As the conversation continues, Groot reveals that the Chitauri blew up Planet X with an experimental doomsday device at the very start of the Galactic War. Planet X was the capital of all the branch worlds that was the home of many flora colossi. After Planet X was destroyed, Groot explains that the remaining branch worlds mobilized against the Chitauri, but were ultimately wiped out as well. The order of events appears to be that Groot was on Planet X when it was destroyed and that the branch worlds were destroyed after Groot was just a splinter. This is one of the stark contrasts between Groot in the MCU and Marvel’s GOTG game. It’s possible that Groot had to be told what happened to the other branch worlds after he was replanted, and this is supported by the fact that Groot presumes that he is the last of his kind.
The last bit of information revealed about Groot’s species begins after interacting with the deeproot plant aboard the Milano. At this point in the GOTG game, Mantis has joined the Guardians and joins in this conversation between Groot and Star-Lord. Mantis understands that the deeproot plant reminds Groot of home, and asks Groot if that makes Rocket his maintenance mammal. Maintenance mammals were servants to Groot’s species, particularly to himself and other high-ranking officials. Like Star-Lord in Marvel’s GOTG, Groot was the son of a king – or better known to Mantis as Taluhnia.
Mantis is able to understand and communicate with Groot because of her ability to see other timelines in their universe. She explains that her ability to understand Groot’s native language is the result of a timeline where his species not only survives but is the dominant species in the galaxy. Additionally, Taluhnisan is one of the most spoken languages in that timeline. There isn’t a full explanation as to why the flora colossi had a more aggressively expansive mindset, or if the galaxy was forced to learn or naturally learn Taluhnisan as Rocket did when he met Groot. Although it’s a brief explanation, this last bit of information shows what could have happened had the flora colossi not been attacked, and that Groot’s species is more aggressive than he typically shows himself to be in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
