Mass Effect 2/Characters/Antagonists and NPCs

This page is for listing the tropes related to Antagonists And NPCs who first appeared in the second Mass Effect game.

For the pages listing tropes related to Party Members, NPCs and Antagonists who first appeared in other games in the trilogy, see the Mass Effect Character Index.

Harbinger


""ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL.""

"Voiced by: Keith Szarabajka"

The name for Collector drones possessed by the General to fight Shepard directly.

"Harbinger: Human, you've changed nothing. Your species has the attention of those infinitely your greater. That which you know as Reapers are your salvation through destruction. Harbinger: You Have Failed Me... we will find another way! Releasing control."
 * Authority Equals Asskicking:.
 * He's also apparently
 * Badass Boast: "I WILL SHOW YOU TRUE POWER." "THIS IS WHAT YOU FACE." and many, many more
 * You can listen to it here, at the 58 second mark.

"Harbinger: Shepard. You have become an annoyance."
 * Big Bad: Prime antagonist for the main storyline of the second game, controlling the actions of his surrogates in much the same way as Sovereign did. In Mass Effect 3, it is revealed that he leads the Reapers, being the most powerful and oldest of them all.
 * Big Bad Ensemble: While he's the top dog, the Shadow Broker (in 2) and the Illusive Man (in 3) are still separate threats in their own right.
 * Boss in Mook Clothing: Taken very literally. He doesn't appear in person, but takes over regular Mooks, turning that particular Mook into a hyper-powered biotic killing machine. What's more, it doesn't take a lot out of him, so even if you beat his host, he just possesses one of it's buddies.
 * Catch Phrase: "ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL" and all variations thereupon.
 * Collector Puppets
 * The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: Think you're safely in cover? Think again. He can knock you out of it at will.
 * Curb Stomp Battle:
 * Dangerously Genre Savvy: Nearly won several times both in and before the game. Shepard and Co. only survive one particularly devastating assault through sheer luck.
 * To be clear on how Dangerously Genre Savvy Harbinger is, he attacked and destroyed the Normandy with as much overwhelming force as he could muster, short of showing up personally, at the first opportunity. He was perfectly content to let his minions do his work for him while not risking himself at all. And he wanted undeniable proof that Shepard was dead, and would have gotten the body had the Illusive Man not intervened. Throughout Mass Effect 2, he lays several traps for Shepard, first deliberately attacking Horizon, then using a 'disabled' Collector ship as bait, and finally (and that last one got damn close). He refuses to even enter the same galaxy as Shepard until the Collectors are dead, and even then he had one last ace up his sleeve in the form of the Alpha Relay.
 * He keeps it up in Mass Effect 3; the first move the Reapers make is to steam straight towards Earth in the hopes of killing Shepard..
 * Demonic Possession: "ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL."
 * Demoted to Extra: He's still the apparent leader of the Reapers and thus the Big Bad of the game, but his only appearance in 3 is
 * To further emphasize this, remember how much he loved to speak and just wouldn't shut up in the second game?.
 * Evil Gloating: Less so than Sovereign, but still.
 * Evil Sounds Deep: Almost on par with
 * Fantastic Racism: Sort of. He's very interested in humanity in general and Shepard in particular, but makes dismissive comments about any non-human party members and their species.
 * It's a lot worse when you find out the reasons The drell and krogan were dismissed out of hand due to lack of numbers, while the quarians were actually considered due to their aptitude for cybernetics.
 * Fighting a Shadow: His favorite tactic.
 * "YOU ONLY DAMAGE THE VESSEL, YOU CANNOT HURT ME."
 * Fireballs: He's capable of shooting them. They're kind of like the Warp power that Shepard and co can use, except it's colored differently and also lights things on fire.
 * Glowing Eyes of Doom
 * Hero-Killer: After humanity proved itself a threat, he sent the Collectors to target them specifically. First on the list: that upstart who got Sovereign blown up...
 * In actual gameplay, whenever he gets on the screen and you're on a higher difficulty, wave goodbye to your squadmates. Their AI tend to make them hide behind cover while periodically popping out and shooting, which doesn't work so well when Harbinger has the ability to knock them out at will while at the same time setting them on fire. Also, half the squad powers don't even hurt him because he has armor instead of health.
 * At the climax of Mass Effect 3, Harbinger personally comes down and  Amazingly enough,   However, if your military score is too low,
 * Also, in the Suicide Mission, if you pick the wrong tech expert, squad leader, or both, then Harbinger kills your tech expert with a fireball.
 * Hopeless Boss Fight:
 * Implacable Man: "I WILL FIND YOU AGAIN."
 * Incoming Ham: "ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL."
 * I Am Legion: Alternates between using "I" and "we"; not only does he have an entire species worth of potential vessels, but
 * I Shall Taunt You: He is a very verbal son of a bitch.
 * Large and In Charge: The largest and oldest of the Reapers, and unquestionably their leader.
 * Large Ham: Harbinger doesn't emote that much, but his lines on the other hand...
 * Man Behind the Man: The first time you fight the Collectors, you'll be shown the Collector General possessing lower ranking minions.
 * Meaningful Name:
 * Mind Over Matter
 * Non-Standard Character Design:
 * One-Scene Wonder: in Mass Effect 3, he shows up exactly once.
 * Powers Via Possession: He can apparently force this upon those he controls. Includes heavy shield/armor upgrades and biotic-singularity-throwing as a package deal.
 * Reality Ensues:
 * Recurring Boss: Every time a Collector level rolls around, you'll encounter him again. And again. And again. And again...
 * Resistance Is Futile: "YOU CANNOT RESIST." "WHY DO YOU RESIST US, SHEPARD?" "EVOLUTION CANNOT BE STOPPED." And so on.
 * The Reveal:.
 * Scripted Battle:.
 * Spell My Name with an "S": It's Harbinger. Not Harbringer. There is no R in the middle.
 * Transformation Is a Free Action: Averted. His Transformation Sequence is several seconds long and he doesn't do anything else in the meantime. Since the sequence causes him to briefly rise into the air and out of cover, this is always the best time to attack him.
 * Transformation Sequence
 * The Unfought: Not counting the innumerable fights with possessed Collectors, you never directly confront Harbinger.
 * Villain Override: I WILL DIRECT THIS PERSONALLY.
 * We Have Reserves: "KILL ONE AND ONE HUNDRED WILL REPLACE IT."
 * "LEAVE THE DEAD WHERE THEY FALL"
 * (after having its current vessel destroyed) "THIS FORM IS IRRELEVANT."
 * Worthy Opponent: Gives a backhanded compliment that he considers Shepard to be one in Arrival.
 * "LEAVE THE DEAD WHERE THEY FALL"
 * (after having its current vessel destroyed) "THIS FORM IS IRRELEVANT."
 * Worthy Opponent: Gives a backhanded compliment that he considers Shepard to be one in Arrival.


 * Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Has his Collector goons simply destroy the Normandy and kill Shepard in the first ten minutes of the game. No drama, no gloating, just surprise and overwhelming firepower. Of course, there's not really much of a way that Harbinger could have seen his/her resurrection by Cerberus coming...
 * To be completely fair Harbinger has clearly read the Evil Overlord List as he attempted to verify Shepard's demise when he attempted to buy Shepard's body from the Shadow Broker. It didn't pan out, but he wanted proof and didn't just assume Shepard was dead.
 * You Have Failed Me:

The Collector General


""YOU PRETEND TO BE EVERYWHERE AT ONCE. I ALREADY AM.""

"Voiced by: Keith Szarabajka"

A special Collector that leads and coordinates the Collectors as a whole. Offering lucrative technological rewards in exchange for live test subjects, amongst the beings he's successfully retrieved were two dozen left-handed salarians, sixteen sets of batarian twins, a krogan born of parents from feuding clans, and two dozen quarians that never left the Migrant Fleet, but nobody knows what happens to the individuals concerned after the exchange is completed.

In addition, the General appears interested in human biotics, as well as Shepard in particular and the human race in general. Just as Saren used Husks to support his army of geth, the General also uses Husks to support his Collectors in a battle, but with three new types: Abominations (suicide runners), Scions (long-range bazooka men) and Praetorians (crab-like bosses).

The General appears to be the leader of the Collectors, using his drones as intermediaries to make contacts in the seedy criminal underbelly of the Terminus system. His most notable accomplishments include sending Golo to capture Paul and Gillian Grayson in Ascension, ordering the Collector Cruiser to destroy the Normandy and murder Commander Shepard in the prologue of Mass Effect 2, consorting with the Shadow Broker to acquire Shepard's body in Redemption, and ordering his drones to personally kidnap entire colonies of humans throughout the rest of the second game.

Apart from a brief holographic image appearing in Joker's cockpit and a possible encounter with him on Arrival, you never confront the General face-to-face, but you hear his taunts constantly, and he possesses various Collectors to fight you off. .


 * And I Must Scream: What happens to the beings that he's received, including the abducted human colonists.
 * This also happens to be.
 * Big Bad:
 * Eye Lights Out: Just before he dies.
 * Nightmare Face: There's something unsettling about its face.
 * Red Herring:
 * The Reveal:.
 * Shout-Out: He looks an awful lot like a member of another race of Abusive Precursors.
 * Tragic Villain:
 * The Reveal:.
 * Shout-Out: He looks an awful lot like a member of another race of Abusive Precursors.
 * Tragic Villain:
 * Tragic Villain:

The Human Reaper



 * Nightmare Face
 * Walking Spoiler:
 * Nightmare Face
 * Walking Spoiler:
 * Nightmare Face
 * Walking Spoiler:
 * Nightmare Face
 * Walking Spoiler:
 * Nightmare Face
 * Walking Spoiler:
 * Nightmare Face
 * Walking Spoiler:
 * Walking Spoiler:
 * Walking Spoiler:
 * Walking Spoiler:
 * Walking Spoiler:

Dr. Amanda Kenson


""Only a small fraction of the mass effect relays date back 50,000 years. The majority are far older, indicating they were created by a species predating even the Protheans.""

"Voiced by: Victoria Gay"

An old friend of Admiral Hackett, Dr. Kenson sent a shockwave through the galactic community by publishing research that proved the Mass Relays pre-dated the Prothean civilization. She is later incarcerated by the batarians who claim they stopped her from committing terrorist acts. .
 * Adventurer Archaeologist
 * Badass Bookworm: Not as badass as other examples in the series (she prefers to have her men fight for her), but she's decent in a fight and hardly someone you want to cross.
 * Deep-Cover Agent
 * Early-Bird Cameo: First appeared in Cerberus Daily News, revealing to the galaxy her findings that the mass relays were not made by Protheans.
 * Escort Mission
 * Guest Star Party Member
 * Moral Myopia:
 * Too Dumb to Live:
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Played with.
 * Guest Star Party Member
 * Moral Myopia:
 * Too Dumb to Live:
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Played with.
 * Too Dumb to Live:
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Played with.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Played with.

The Overlord /


"Voiced by: Jesse Gervais"

"Project Overlord" is a Cerberus program whose goal is to control the Geth by uploading a person's mind into a VI, creating a "virus with a face" that can exploit their religious impulses. David Archer, the project director's brother, volunteered for the procedure - unfortunately, the VI immediately went haywire and is now on a rampage to escape.


 * AI Is a Crapshoot
 * Arc Villain: He (and his small army of geth) only appears as the antagonist in his DLC, and isn't mentioned in the vanilla game.
 * Bald of Evil:
 * Body Horror/Medical Horror:
 * Brain Uploading
 * Catch Phrase: David Archer has "Square root of nine hundred six point oh one is thirty point one..." On the other hand, the Overlord himself has a catchphrase in the electronically distorted snarls it produces throughout the game.
 * Contagious AI: Infects and controls an army of geth and security mechs.
 * Cores and Turrets Boss
 * Digitized Hacker: As a VI, he can interface with any electronic device. It's noted that if he ever escaped his facility, he could cause a "technological apocalypse."
 * Gone Horribly Wrong
 * Machine Worship: The purpose of the project was to get the geth to see him as a sort of god-figure, letting him control them.
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge:
 * Sickly Green Glow
 * Start of Darkness: Before you finally face him, The Overlord shows you his origin.
 * The Unintelligible: While some of what he says is just noise, he also speaks heavily garbled sentences that become clearer over time. If you know what he's saying, you'll be able to understand him:.
 * Machine Worship: The purpose of the project was to get the geth to see him as a sort of god-figure, letting him control them.
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge:
 * Sickly Green Glow
 * Start of Darkness: Before you finally face him, The Overlord shows you his origin.
 * The Unintelligible: While some of what he says is just noise, he also speaks heavily garbled sentences that become clearer over time. If you know what he's saying, you'll be able to understand him:.
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge:
 * Sickly Green Glow
 * Start of Darkness: Before you finally face him, The Overlord shows you his origin.
 * The Unintelligible: While some of what he says is just noise, he also speaks heavily garbled sentences that become clearer over time. If you know what he's saying, you'll be able to understand him:.
 * Start of Darkness: Before you finally face him, The Overlord shows you his origin.
 * The Unintelligible: While some of what he says is just noise, he also speaks heavily garbled sentences that become clearer over time. If you know what he's saying, you'll be able to understand him:.
 * The Unintelligible: While some of what he says is just noise, he also speaks heavily garbled sentences that become clearer over time. If you know what he's saying, you'll be able to understand him:.

Tela Vasir


""This is REAL biotic power!""

"Voiced by: Jessica Anne Bogart"

An Asari Spectre introduced in "Lair of the Shadow Broker" who is handling the cases of the Shadow Broker's attempted assassination of Liara T'soni. She joins Shepard in his/her effort to track down Liara after she was attacked in her home.

"Shepard: Is that it?
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: She's a Spectre for a reason.
 * Badass: She's a Spectre. It's a job requirement..
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Determinator
 * Early-Bird Cameo: She was mentioned in the Cerberus Daily News in February and July 2010.
 * Fantastic Racism:
 * Flash Step: Does this to get to
 * Foe-Tossing Charge: Most players were taken by surprise by her special talent.
 * Foreshadowing:
 * Grey and Grey Morality: She's a Spectre; it comes with the territory. It's also what gives her more weight.
 * I Did What I Had to Do:
 * Implacable Woman:
 * Lightning Bruiser: Thanks to her
 * Made of Iron: Gets hit with a lot of attacks, but almost never shows up with a visible injury. Also probably the toughest boss fight in the entire game, partly due to the fact she charges around quickly and has 2 layers of crazy tough protection.
 * Magic Knight: Comes with being a biotic. Her special ability makes her especially stand out from other examples in Mass Effect.
 * Mind Over Matter
 * Put Down Your Gun and Step Away:
 * Underestimating Badassery: She does seem visibly unnerved when Shepard lists off the reasons why she should back down now.
 * Seemingly more so with the Paragon version;
 * Put Down Your Gun and Step Away:
 * Underestimating Badassery: She does seem visibly unnerved when Shepard lists off the reasons why she should back down now.
 * Seemingly more so with the Paragon version;
 * Put Down Your Gun and Step Away:
 * Underestimating Badassery: She does seem visibly unnerved when Shepard lists off the reasons why she should back down now.
 * Seemingly more so with the Paragon version;
 * Seemingly more so with the Paragon version;

Vasir: What?

Shepard: Vasir, I sacrificed hundreds of human lives to save the Destiny Ascension. I unleashed the rachni on the galaxy. So for your own sake, I hope your escape plan doesn't hinge on me hesitating to shoot a damn hostage."


 * What the Hell, Hero?:
 * What the Hell, Hero?:

The Shadow Broker, AKA


""I know your every secret, while you fumble in the dark.""

"Voiced by:"

A powerful figure in the galaxy's black market who specializes in finding secret information and selling it to the highest bidder. In the first game, he/she hired Wrex to assassinate a former agent who betrayed him/her.


 * Ambiguous Gender: Of the very little that's known about the Broker, his/her gender (or, as Barla Von points out, even whether the Broker is a single person or a group of agents operating under a singular title) is not among it.
 * Arch Enemy:
 * The Illusive Man considers also the Broker "his equal" in terms of influence and intelligence gathering, and vice versa.
 * Arc Villain: Main antagonist of Redemption, a comic set between Shepard's death and revival.
 * : In the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC,
 * Also.
 * Bad Boss: Treats his 'employees' as quite disposable. He allows a  He tortures a Drell who betrayed him and has his agents watch, to make sure they're properly motivated. When you've practically cleaned out his men, he basically shrugs and says they're easily replaceable.
 * Berserk Button:
 * Big Bad Ensemble: As much of a threat as Harbinger for the second game, though he is only encountered in Lair of the Shadow Broker.
 * The Chessmaster: The best player in the game, according to Anderson. The Broker somehow manages to sell info to everybody, but ensures that no faction ever gains the upper hand with it. (Gotta keep those customers somehow.)
 * Evil Sounds Deep: At first you think the Broker's using a computer to distort their voice/hide their identity. Then you meet, and realize that that really is the Broker's voice.
 * There are differences between the Broker's normal voice and the distorted one, however subtle.
 * Watch the scene again. The Shadow Broker's voice over communications is the same from
 * Hannibal Lecture:
 * Hidden Agenda Villain: Possibly the only antagonist more elusive than the Illusive Man.
 * Knowledge Broker
 * NGO Superpower: For good reason; when your organization spans most of the galaxy, has hands in business and political interests in nearly everything in said galaxy, and specializes in collecting and using information to both support those interests and manipulate governments and corporations, you definitely should have impressive resources. The Broker owns a personal army capable of deploying hundreds of loyal soldiers in minutes on Illium alone, along with a supremely well-engineered atmospheric airbase-warship, and the enormous amounts of money, hardware, and political influence one would expect from an organization of this scale.
 * No Name Given: All he's/she's/they're/it's known by is 'the Shadow Broker.'
 * Outside Context Villain: Even if you've played both games. Even the usual tactics of assuming that loyalty missions play to the strength of character involved won't help you too much. Expect the unexpected.
 * The Reveal: "Lair Of The Shadow Broker" clears up several of the questions surrounding the Broker.
 * Ungrateful Bastard: There's a side quest in Mass Effect in which you can provide the Shadow Broker with a copy of the data Shepard has gathered on Cerberus, after which agent informs Shepard that the Shadow Broker will be there to help Shepard when s/he needs it.
 * Also,
 * Villainous Breakdown:
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist:
 * NGO Superpower: For good reason; when your organization spans most of the galaxy, has hands in business and political interests in nearly everything in said galaxy, and specializes in collecting and using information to both support those interests and manipulate governments and corporations, you definitely should have impressive resources. The Broker owns a personal army capable of deploying hundreds of loyal soldiers in minutes on Illium alone, along with a supremely well-engineered atmospheric airbase-warship, and the enormous amounts of money, hardware, and political influence one would expect from an organization of this scale.
 * No Name Given: All he's/she's/they're/it's known by is 'the Shadow Broker.'
 * Outside Context Villain: Even if you've played both games. Even the usual tactics of assuming that loyalty missions play to the strength of character involved won't help you too much. Expect the unexpected.
 * The Reveal: "Lair Of The Shadow Broker" clears up several of the questions surrounding the Broker.
 * Ungrateful Bastard: There's a side quest in Mass Effect in which you can provide the Shadow Broker with a copy of the data Shepard has gathered on Cerberus, after which agent informs Shepard that the Shadow Broker will be there to help Shepard when s/he needs it.
 * Also,
 * Villainous Breakdown:
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist:
 * Villainous Breakdown:
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist:

The Blue Suns
The Blue Suns are, ostensibly, a corporation of Private Military Contractors founded by Vido Santiago and Zaeed Massani. In reality, they are a wide spanning criminal empire involved in the trading of slaves and drugs, and are in control of many planets in the Terminus systems.

The Blue Suns are a human dominated organization, however turians and batarians both also make up large parts of the group. Unlike the Eclipse, all races serve in all roles, from grunts to elite troops to commanders.

The Blue Suns in general

 * Authority Equals Asskicking: Commanders.
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive
 * Enemy Mine: Aria can help Shepard get their allegiance in Mass Effect 3.
 * Faceless Goons
 * Face Heel Turn / Villain with Good Publicity: Backstory revealed throughout the game, particularly from Codex entries and planet summaries, show that the Blue Suns have several Big Damn Heroes moments to their credit, though at least a few were less heroic intention and more circumstances working out that way while they achieved their main goals.
 * Highly-Conspicuous Uniform
 * Kill It with Fire: Blue Suns Pyros.
 * Mooks: The most commonly battled mooks in the game.
 * Elite Mooks: Centurions and Legionnaires. Like normal troopers, except with a Vindicator battle rifle or Scimitar shotgun instead of an Avenger series assault rifle, specialized ammo, and shields.
 * King Mook: Blue Suns Commanders, soldiers with three thick layers of protection (shields, armor, and health) who wield BFGs such as Claymore shotguns or Revenant light machine guns as weapons.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast
 * NGO Superpower: The amount of resources they have at their disposal is truly frightening. Among other things, they possess: hundreds of thousands of soldiers, heavy mechs and gunships that are just as advanced as the stuff the Alliance uses, at least three whole planets and all their people as workforce, several front corporations, a krogan cloning lab, the materials to make city destroying weaponry, and a refinery on Zorya.
 * Private Military Contractor
 * Shotguns Are Just Better: The turians seem to think so. Excepting Warden Kuril, all the turian Blue Suns troops wield shotguns. It actually puts them at a disadvantage most of the time.
 * The Jailer: They run a prison ship, the Purgatory.
 * Villain Team-Up: They team up with the other big merc groups to defeat Archangel early in the game. They lose.

Vido Santiago


""Actually, take your shot. Give me a reason to put you down like the mad dog you are. Again.""

"Voiced By: Richard Green"

The CEO of the Blue Suns and Zaeed's rival. He, along with Zaeed, were the founding members of the Blue Suns. However, years later, Vido betrayed Zaeed, shot him in the face, and left him for dead, leaving Vido the sole controller of the most powerful NGO Superpower in the Terminus systems. Zaeed still searches for him to this day.


 * Authority Equals Asskicking: Averted - when he and Zaeed founded the Blue Suns, Vido ran the business while Zaeed was the field commander.
 * Bad Boss: In Zaeed's loyalty mission, he threatens his soldiers with death if they retreat.
 * Badass Spaniard / Badass Beard: Subverted. He throws people in front of him to die and isn't even given a proper boss fight.
 * Brains and Brawn: With Zaeed.
 * Chronic Backstabbing Disorder:  figured this out the hard way.
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive: He's directly responsible for almost everything the Blue Suns do in the game. Some of his business practices include turning on clients when their opponents have higher bids, raiding and massacring cargo ships, and using slave labor on the Blue Suns ruled world of Zorya.
 * Cutscene Boss:
 * Death by Irony:
 * Dirty Coward
 * Early-Bird Cameo: In one side quest, you can find a datapad that mentions him by name even if you haven't downloaded the (free) DLC where he actually appears.
 * Greed: The reason he betrayed Zaeed? Zaeed's ethics meant he wasn't making quite as much money as he could've.
 * Gunship Rescue:
 * Karma Houdini:
 * Kill It with Fire:
 * Nothing Personal:
 * The Man Behind the Man: It's All There in the Manual. He appoints one of his batarian commanders as the 'official' CEO of the Blue Suns, but in reality Vido runs the company, with the other 'CEO' just being put there to protect him from assassination attempts.
 * NGO Superpower / Private Military Contractor: He runs one of these.
 * Villain Team-Up: Slightly. Comics reveal that he deals with the Shadow Broker and trades slaves with the Collectors. His soldiers also make up the majority of the resistance in the game.

Tarak
""Maybe you'll solve my problem for me.""

The leader of the Blue Suns on Omega, Tarak is encountered during the mission to recruit Archangel. Fed up with losing men and shipments to the persistent vigilante, he convinced the other merc groups to work with him to end their mutual enemy.

He and Zaeed also have a bit of history.


 * Aggressive Negotiations: According to his second-in-command Jentha, he can be quite the negotiator; given his temperament and the high likelihood that he's primarily dealing with other criminals, it's hard to imagine most of his negotiations would be particularly cordial.
 * Bad Boss: Jentha mentions that he's been both taking his frustrations out on her and planning to shoot any freelancers who are still alive if his initial plan fails.
 * Big Bad: In relation to his role in the Villain Team-Up on Omega, and from Archangel's perspective. From Shepard's perspective, he's just an Arc Villain.
 * Death From Above: Attacks Archangel's hideout with a gunship.
 * Enemy Mine: Teams up with rival gangs Eclipse and the Blood Pack to take down Archangel.
 * Flunky Boss: Drops troops while shooting from his gunship.
 * Old Friend: With Zaeed. The details are never brought up, but if he's present Tarak immediately goes from "Get these scum out of my face" to "Answer any questions they have." He even says it's good to see Zaeed.
 * Properly Paranoid: After one of Archangel's ambushes nearly killed him.
 * The Strategist: He seemingly came up with most of the plan.
 * Say My Name: "ARCHANGEL! You think you can screw with the Blue Suns?"
 * Storming The Hideout
 * Zerg Rush: The first part of his plan is to send the freelancers straight at Archangel's hideout..

Jentha
""You have to watch out for the other merc groups. They're almost as bad as Archangel.""

A Blue Suns Commander, and Tarak's second in command on Omega.


 * Affably Evil: She's very polite, considerate, and patient, and will gladly answer any and all of your questions. She also says not to be too hard on Tarak because he's under a lot of stress, and even warns you that he might kill all the freelancers regardless of what they do. She's still fanatically loyal to the Blue Suns.
 * The Dragon: To Tarak. From Shepard's perspective, she's a mere Mook Lieutenant
 * Dark Action Girl
 * Firey Redhead
 * Instant Armor: Tech Armor.
 * More Dakka: Like other Blue Suns Commanders, she's equipped with a Revenant light machine gun.
 * Punch Clock Villain

Warden Kuril


""Nothing goes wrong here.""

"Voiced by: Fred Tatasciore"

The captain of the Purgatory, a Prison Ship run by the Blue Suns that takes the kind of criminals no-one wants anywhere on their planet. He claims to be doing this "for the good of the galaxy", but regularly has prisoners beaten or spaced as an example to others, and much of his funding comes from selling inmates to people looking for payback. Cerberus arranges for Shepard to buy Jack from him, but it turns out his eyes are bigger than his stomach.

"Kuril: At an unspecified place and time. Squadmate: So it's an extortion racket?"
 * All There in the Manual:
 * Blackmail Is Such an Ugly Word: Whenever Kuril welcomes a prisoner, he gently asks the local authorities for a donation to keep the Purgatory running. If he isn't paid, he releases the prisoner back onto their homeworld...


 * Bullying a Dragon: One of the biggest offenders in the entire series.
 * Death Glare: When Shepard insists on keeping his / her guns, they have a glare-off. Kuril blinks first.
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: He's voiced by Saren, as if you needed more reasons to be suspicious.
 * Instant Armor: Tech Armor.
 * The Jailer
 * I Want Her Alive: Towards Jack.
 * Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Starts off as a Knight Templar, with questionable methods, but not harming innocents and trying to help the galaxy. Soon, you discover he is willing to leave dangerous criminals on planets that can't pay, and he is rather brutal to prisoners. All ambiguity goes out the airlock when tries to capture Shepard for a bounty.
 * Knight Templar: What he considers himself to be. It quickly becomes clear that he's just a slaver who uses this trope to justify his actions.
 * Mismatched Eyes: Oddly enough. His left eye is purple while his right is yellow.
 * More Dakka: He's armed with a Revenant Light Machine Gun.
 * Tattooed Crook: Inverted. His lack of face tattoos is the first sign something's not right about him. See All There in the Manual.
 * Underestimating Badassery: One of the best examples imaginable.
 * Underestimating Badassery: One of the best examples imaginable.

Jedore


""Being hired is merely the beginning. You must earn your place in the mighty army we are building.""

A Blue Suns commander encountered on Korlus. She is the financial contributor and overseer to Warlord Okeer's krogan cloning project.


 * Arc Villain: The Korlus mission.
 * Bad Boss: Spends the entirety of the mission where she's encountered insulting her troops over the intercom for being unable to kill Shepard right up until Shepard literally walks through her front door, and brushes off the dozens of dead Blue Suns, as well as Okeer and his vat-krogan, as replaceable. She refuses to send mechs to shield her men as they're panicking and being cut down, even though that's what mechs were originally designed to do.
 * Canned Orders Over Loudspeaker: Trope Namer. Sort of.
 * Flunky Boss: She fights alongside numerous krogan and a YMIR mech.
 * Instant Armor: Tech Armor.
 * Small Name, Big Ego: This woman's ego masses more than twenty Jupiters combined. Just listen to her go on at the Blue Suns about her "mighty army". Okeer claims his rejected krogan would be adequate soldiers for Jedore were she not such an awful leader; this is borne out by a reject krogan speaking to and obeying Shepard on sight, without question.
 * Smug Snake

The Blood Pack
The Blood Pack is a legion of mercenaries founded by a krogan battlemaster exiled from Tuchanka for striking a female in anger. The group operates in the Terminus Systems, and members are fought throughout Mass Effect 2 on places like Omega, Tuchanka and Pragia. While Eclipse are weighted towards tech / biotics and the Blue Suns toward straight up soldiers, the Blood Pack are more likely to sic varren on you or shove a flamethrower in your face.

Their hiring practices are somewhat narrower than the other two groups - they consist exclusively of krogan and vorcha. The latter make up the bulk of their ground forces but are treated with no greater respect than their attack varren; they're kidnapped and beaten into submission more often than they are 'recruited'.

The Blood Pack in general

 * Always Chaotic Evil: Vorcha, which make up most of the group.
 * Boomerang Bigot:
 * Although that may have something to do with
 * Enemy Mine: Aria can help Shepard get their allegiance in Mass Effect 3.
 * Faceless Goons
 * Grenade Launcher: According to the description for the grenade launcher available to the player, this is a popular weapon among them. In actuality, their troops just use the same ML-77 Rocket Launcher everyone else uses. However, the Blood Pack Warriors are able to fire some sort of red rocket / plasma ball thing from their shotguns, which could make them an example.
 * Healing Factor: Both the krogan and the vorcha. Can be countered with fire based powers like Incendiary Ammo and Incinerate.
 * Highly-Conspicuous Uniform
 * Kill It with Fire: Blood Pack Pyros.
 * Mooks
 * Elite Mooks: Krogan Warriors.
 * King Mook: The krogan battlemasters. All of them are named, but they fight identically, being like normal Blood Pack Warriors except with higher health and armor, the ability to use Warp, and a biotic barrier.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast
 * Private Military Contractors
 * Shotguns Are Just Better: The krogan certainly seem to think so. The Blood Pack Warriors are all equipped with Scimitar assault shotguns.
 * Villain Team-Up: Early in the game, the Omega chapters of all three big merc groups team up to get rid of Archangel. They lose.

Garm
A krogan battlemaster that leads the Blood Pack on Omega. He teams up with the Eclipse and Blue Suns leaders on Omega in order to kill Archangel.


 * Arc Villain Ensemble: With Tarak and Jaroth for Archangel's recruit mission.
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: Being a krogan battlemaster and all. He can apparently regenerate faster than most krogan can, according to Archangel.
 * Bad Boss: If Grunt is present during the mission, he shoots one of his Vorcha in the head just to prove a point.
 * Boom! Headshot!: See Bad Boss.
 * Enemy Mine: Works with the rival merc groups for the sole purpose of taking down Archangel.
 * The Brute: Serves as this in the Five-Bad Band on Omega.

Aresh Aghdashloo
""They did such horrible things to us. They must have had good reasons.""

"Voiced by: Fred Tatasciore"

A human biotic who was a test subject at the Teltin facility on Pragia. Aside from Jack, he was the only survivor of the mass breakout. He tries to restart the facility during Mass Effect 2, with the help of the Blood Pack.


 * Arc Villain: Only appears during Jack's loyalty mission, as the main antagonist.
 * Brainwashed and Crazy: He doesn't scream and rave like most examples of this trope, but his staring, twitching and his very un-funny Insane Troll Logic with regards to the Teltin facility leave you in no doubt that he's mad. As for the brainwashed, well, he went through much of the same stuff Jack did.
 * Shout-Out: His last name is likely a reference to Shohreh Aghdashloo, the voice actress for Admiral Raan.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist
 * Shout-Out: His last name is likely a reference to Shohreh Aghdashloo, the voice actress for Admiral Raan.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist

Eclipse
Eclipse is a mercenary corporation founded by an asari commando. They are employed as security or firepower. They appear as commonly battled Mooks in Mass Effect 2, where they are encountered on places like Illium, Omega and Bekenstein.

Eclipse in general

 * Authority Equals Asskicking: Like the other groups, some of their members, such as Wasea, Enyala, and Jaroth.
 * Enemy Mine: Aria can help Shepard get their allegiance in Mass Effect 3.
 * Faceless Goons
 * Highly-Conspicuous Uniform
 * Mooks
 * Elite Mooks: Eclipse Engineers and Vanguards.
 * King Mook: Eclipse Operatives and Eclipse Commandos.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast
 * Palette Swap: Their human units are just palette swapped versions of Blue Suns units, with at most one or two small attributes added (human vanguards have a slightly different head and toss Warps).
 * Private Military Contractors
 * Villain Team-Up: With the other two big merc groups on Omega, to take down Archangel. They lose.

Jaroth
The leader of the Eclipse mercs on Omega. Heavily involved in the red sand trade. He teams up with the other merc groups to take down Archangel.


 * Drugs Are Bad: He runs the red sand trade.
 * Even Evil Has Loved Ones
 * The Evil Genius: From Archangel's perspective. He controls the mechs, and helped Tarak plan the attack.
 * Hand Cannon: He's equipped with an M-6 Carnifex.
 * Hoist by His Own Petard: You can hack his heavy mech to kill all his mercs, and rarely him.
 * Kill It with Fire: Like other Eclipse Operatives, he possesses the Incinerate power and holographic Combat Drones.
 * Leeroy Jenkins: After you kill all his mercs either way (through normal gunfire or hacking his heavy mech), he comes charging out with a Carnifex.
 * We Have Reserves
 * What an Idiot!: He leaves a certain important datapad around for anyone to just pick up, including the freelancers walking around his base. Namely the datapad that contains
 * You Killed My Brother: The main reason he hates Archangel is because he killed one of Jaroth's top lieutenants- who also happened to be his brother.

EDI


""My replies were intended to provoke, though not to cause distress. Your reactions are atypical of most humans. You are interesting.""

"Voiced by: Tricia Helfer"

When the Normandy is destroyed in an ambush by the Collectors. Cerberus builds a second, twice as large and more powerful Normandy for Shepard's mission. It is now equipped with a shackled Artificial Intelligence called EDI ("Ee-dee", short for Enhanced Defense Intelligence) that runs the combat electronics.

In Mass Effect 3, EDI's avatar is no longer present. Instead, she.

"EDI: That is a joke."
 * AI Is a Crapshoot: She was built with averting this in mind; she only has access to the weapons systems and the communications array. Joker's still paranoid about it.
 * Appropriated Appellation: "EDI" stands for Enhanced Defense Intelligence, simply a label of her function. As EDI's character develops, it just sorta... becomes her name.
 * Audio Erotica: Samantha Taylor sheepishly apologizes for the times she mentions how sexy EDI's voice was when she finds out EDI is AI. Later on, a . Shepard him/herself agrees.
 * Become a Real Boy: Her character development in Mass Effect 3. There's shades of this in the second game also, since EDI spends a large amount of time trying to understand and rationalize organic behavior. However, it isn't until that she actually makes concerted efforts to feel "alive".
 * Black Box: initially has a number of "unspecified" functions.
 * Cannot Convey Sarcasm
 * Casting Gag: Voiced by known Cylon Tricia Helfer.
 * Catch Phrase:
 * Casting Gag: Voiced by known Cylon Tricia Helfer.
 * Catch Phrase:

"EDI: There is nothing wrong with off-duty distractions. Though some of your extranet bookmarks are technically illegal in council space.
 * Character Development: Goes through this in spades during the third game if pushed the right way.
 * Chekhov's Gunman: Remember that out-of-control AI on Luna?
 * Crew of One: If unshackled, she could potentially do the jobs of most of the human crew.
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Do-Anything Robot: Technically a "Do Anything AI". In Mass Effect 2, virtually every single obstacle Shepard faces is dealt with by saying, "EDI. Do stuff."
 * Doppleganger Spin:
 * Everyone Can See It: Her relationship with Joker even before
 * Exposition Fairy: Fortunately far less annoying than most examples.
 * First-Name Basis: A sign of Joker and EDI getting along is when she starts calling him 'Jeff' as opposed to 'Mr. Moreau.' Joker stops calling EDI "it" and starts calling EDI a "she". Significantly, the first time she calls him 'Jeff' is after.
 * Just a Machine: Averted with Paragon Shepard and Joker, both of whom are the first to treat EDI as a person and not just a tool to run the Normandy. Its likely what causes her to develop such Undying Loyalty towards them both throughout the second and third game.
 * "Just Joking" Justification: Uses this regularly, to varying degrees of effectiveness.
 * Just a Machine: Averted with Paragon Shepard and Joker, both of whom are the first to treat EDI as a person and not just a tool to run the Normandy. Its likely what causes her to develop such Undying Loyalty towards them both throughout the second and third game.
 * "Just Joking" Justification: Uses this regularly, to varying degrees of effectiveness.

Joker: Wha--?

EDI: That is a joke."

"EDI: I enjoy the sight of humans on their knees... [concerned look from Joker] EDI: That is a joke."
 * Humanity Is Infectious: In 3, EDI admits the reason she asks Shepard for a human perspective, instead of an Asari, Turian, Quarian etc, is because she's come to self-identify herself as a human. Its heavily implied to be due to the influence of both Shepard and Joker.
 * It Is Dehumanizing: Joker and Shepard both refer to her this way initially. Joker's switch to using "her" is more of a plot point than Shepard's, who can treat her as 'equipment' for the whole game depending on your dialogue choices.
 * Video records found in 3 show that the Illusive Man insisted on referring to her this way  Shows what he knew.
 * Ludicrous Precision
 * Master Computer: Invoked.
 * Master Computer: Invoked.

"Shepard: EDI isn't a crutch, Joker. I want your eyes on everything. Joker: Eyes are easy, Commander. I've got eyes covered. EDI: I believe covering your eyes would be counter to Shepard's intentions.
 * Mission Control: EDI pulls this duty alongside Joker.
 * Morality Chip: Inverted. EDI has multiple levels of programming controls that prevents her from rebelling,
 * No Sense of Humor: To an almost amusing degree, at least according to Kasumi. Then again, she's probably right.

Joker: Human intentions are tough to read. But keep trying, you'll get the hang of it."

"Cerberus Scientist: I think she was making a joke."
 * Though even she knows how groan-worthy probing Uranus is.
 * She gets better at it. When Cerberus tried to remote-hack the Normandy, they got an impressively explicit response from EDI.

"EDI: What Jeff and I are exhibiting is more a platonic symbiosis than hormonally-induced courtship behavior."
 * Parental Substitute: Invokes this toward Shepard in 3, asking them essentially to give her The Talk on how to begin a relationship with Joker.
 * Playful Hacker: Cerberus apparently tried to take the Normandy back remotely after Shepard ran off with it. When they sent the signal, EDI's response was to flood their inboxes with zettaabytes of porn from Joker's collection.
 * Playing with Fire:
 * Replacement Goldfish: Not EDI herself, but if you read between the lines and look at the Expanded Universe,, is named after another character from The Illusive Man's past. And . Ew.
 * Restraining Bolt: Initially limited to only cyber warfare activities during battle and monitoring by Cerberus programming blocks.
 * Robo Ship: Rumors abound about her and Joker in-universe from the likes of Mordin, Kasumi and, should you chose, even Shepard. EDI is not amused.
 * Restraining Bolt: Initially limited to only cyber warfare activities during battle and monitoring by Cerberus programming blocks.
 * Robo Ship: Rumors abound about her and Joker in-universe from the likes of Mordin, Kasumi and, should you chose, even Shepard. EDI is not amused.
 * Robo Ship: Rumors abound about her and Joker in-universe from the likes of Mordin, Kasumi and, should you chose, even Shepard. EDI is not amused.


 * Developed further in Mass Effect 3; once, EDI begins trying to understand organic relationships in more detail in order to try to comprehend Joker more.
 * : In Mass Effect 3, EDI


 * Shock and Awe:
 * The Smart Gal: Provides helpful advice on almost all missions and is very good at what she does behind-the-scenes.
 * Spaceship Girl: At least her voice.
 * Troll: Repeatedly provokes Joker because she enjoys watching his reactions.
 * Undying Loyalty: To Shepard and Joker.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: With Joker.
 * Can also be read as Belligerent Sexual Tension; at least Shepard thinks so. Plus, it's telling that after EDI is unshackled, she stops calling Joker "Mr. Moreau" and starts calling him "Jeff". Joker in turn stops calling EDI "it" and starts calling EDI a "she".
 * What Is This Thing You Call Love?: Subverted in Mass Effect 2. EDI states that she and Joker are engaging in a platonic respect and partnership, rather than hormone-driven courtship. Joker is creeped out by the suggestion.
 * What the Hell, Player?: Will chastise you if you make Shepard go into the opposite sex bathroom....or send probes to Uranus.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: With Joker.
 * Can also be read as Belligerent Sexual Tension; at least Shepard thinks so. Plus, it's telling that after EDI is unshackled, she stops calling Joker "Mr. Moreau" and starts calling him "Jeff". Joker in turn stops calling EDI "it" and starts calling EDI a "she".
 * What Is This Thing You Call Love?: Subverted in Mass Effect 2. EDI states that she and Joker are engaging in a platonic respect and partnership, rather than hormone-driven courtship. Joker is creeped out by the suggestion.
 * What the Hell, Player?: Will chastise you if you make Shepard go into the opposite sex bathroom....or send probes to Uranus.

Kelly Chambers


""You have unread messages at your private terminal.""

"Voiced by: Cara Pifko"

The Normandy SR-2's yeoman (and unofficial crew counselor), a perky young woman who has plenty of respect for both Cerberus and Shepard. Romanceable, despite not being a party member.


 * All Girls Want Bad Boys/Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Depending on how you interact with her as a Male/Shep, she'll admit to one of these two after recruiting Thane.
 * Anything That Moves: Doesn't care what race/gender her partner is, because "Passion is nice wherever you find it and intimacy brings understanding." Uh-huh. Fans have had a field day speculating about how the varren-carried STD got on board the Normandy.
 * Bi the Way: Kelly is very flirty, regardless of her interlocutor's gender.
 * Boldly Coming: As noted, Kelly's rather... open when it comes to romance.
 * Break the Cutie:
 * Up to Eleven in Mass Effect 3.
 * The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes:
 * Driven to Suicide:.
 * Ethical Slut
 * Fan Service: Apparently the entire point of her romance.
 * Good Bad Girl: She's a nice girl. She's can't be called 'pure' in any way whatsoever, but she's nice.
 * Heroes Want Redheads
 * And in the third game,.
 * Intimate Psychotherapy: Hinted at. She's a yeoman in title and in function, but as Shepard points out, this job could be done by a VI. Her actual main function is as the unofficial ship counselor, whose job is to keep stress in check among the crewmembers. She mentions that this duty is best fulfilled informally. On a totally unrelated matter she says "Passion is nice wherever you find it and intimacy brings understanding." Way to keep stress in check indeed.
 * The Mole:.
 * The Pollyanna: For crying out loud, she reacts to Garrus joining the crew by commenting on how she just wants to give him a hug and tell him everything will be all right. Lampshaded a little too;
 * Subverted like hell in Mass Effect 3.
 * Sexy Secretary
 * Shipper on Deck: Reportedly, in some cases she'll make some sly comments to you about you and your chosen partner if you start pursuing a romance.
 * She does so even before you start pursuing anyone/regardless of whether you do at all, stating i.e. that her female intuition tells her Tali wants to be "more than just friends" and you shouldn't be surprised if Jack comes onto you... She's a true Shipper!
 * The same is true for the female Shepard romances, even though she gets a little more gossip-girl-like when remarking how Shepard and Garrus would be a cute couple or how she likes Shepard even more after admitting she finds Thane attractive. The only ones she says nothing about are Jacob and Miranda.
 * There Are No Therapists:
 * The same is true for the female Shepard romances, even though she gets a little more gossip-girl-like when remarking how Shepard and Garrus would be a cute couple or how she likes Shepard even more after admitting she finds Thane attractive. The only ones she says nothing about are Jacob and Miranda.
 * There Are No Therapists:

Kenneth Donnelly and Gabriella "Gabby" Daniels
"''"Kenneth and I have been partners in crime since we graduated from tech academy. When he got the Cerberus offer, I insisted that it include me. He'd fall apart without me."''"

""Thanks, mum.""

"Voiced by: John Ullyatt (Kenneth), Dannah Feinglass (Gabby)"

Two of the Normandy's engineers. Also members of Cerberus, although not the evil kind. They have a snarky comment for every situation.

"Kenneth: You beat me at my own game. You're all right, Shepard. Gabby: It was so worth it to see you get taken down a notch."
 * All Men Are Perverts: Ken has appreciative things to say about Miranda and Tali's form-fitting outfits, perks up when Gabby tells him how little Jack is wearing, and even teases Gabby herself a bit.
 * Bi the Way: Possibly Gabby -- in 3, if Shepard doesn't push them into a Relationship Upgrade, she seems to seriously consider Kenneth's suggestion that she should try dating Traynor after Gabby informs him he doesn't have a chance. But this might just be to mess with him.
 * Break the Haughty: Kenneth is awfully confident in his Skyllian-Five Poker skills, but with enough Paragon or Renegade points you can show him otherwise.
 * Break the Haughty: Kenneth is awfully confident in his Skyllian-Five Poker skills, but with enough Paragon or Renegade points you can show him otherwise.

""Finally!"."
 * Deadpan Snarkers
 * Dude, She's a Lesbian: Gabby makes it clear to Ken that he's not Samantha Traynor's type.
 * Everyone Can See It: Several crewmembers comment on the fact those two would be perfect for each other if they ever got around to realising it.
 * In 3, should Shepard encourage them, they hook up, leading some of the crew to comment;

"Kenneth: I won't bore you with the tech, but there is an array of attenuators in the primary power transfer system that channels the field bleed... Gabby: Kenneth, you're boring the commander with tech."
 * Fiery Redhead: Ken
 * Geeky Turn On: At one point, after listening to Gabby spout some Techno Babble about what she had to after in response to the Normandy's armour being upgraded, Ken responds lustfully "I love it when you talk dirty.".
 * Girl-On-Girl Is Hot: Kenneth is a big believer in this. To the eternal annoyance of Gabby.
 * Greek Chorus
 * Honor Before Reason: Kenneth lost his job over defending Shepard and Gabby quit hers to stick with Kenneth.
 * Like an Old Married Couple
 * Loveable Sex Maniac: Ken. Constantly. Much to Gabby's dismay.
 * Pet the Dog: Shepard can use their Spectre status in 3 to have all charges against them for working with Cerberus dropped, getting them out of a detention cell and reassigning them to the Normandy's engineering staff.
 * Platonic Life Partners: Implied by Kasumi.
 * At least, until you're given the option to convince them otherwise in 3.
 * Quest Givers
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Ken and Gabby respectively.
 * Relationship Upgrade: Potentially in the third game.
 * Scotireland: Ken's surname is more commonly Irish, but can be found in Scotland. His accent is Scottish and he enjoys haggis.
 * Shout-Out: Ken's Scottish accent will remind players of a certain Star Trek character.
 * Techno Babble:
 * Techno Babble:

"Kenneth: We're off to kick the Collectors right in their daddy-bags."
 * Those Two Guys
 * Undying Loyalty: They hooked up with Cerberus because Ken refused to back down in defense of Shepard when the Alliance sold him/her out.
 * Gabby also has this for Ken--she joined Cerberus strictly because he did.
 * Unresolved Sexual Tension: At least on Gabby's behalf.
 * Unusual Euphemism:


 * Violent Glaswegian: Ken, though not so much violent as hotheaded and passionate, especially when it comes to defending Shepard.
 * Wrench Wench: Gabby.

Mess Sergeant Rupert Gardner
""Rupert! There's something different with tonight's meal! Seems like you put in more food and less ass.""

- --Crewman Hawthorne, regarding Gardner's cuisine

"Voiced by: Bill Ratner"

The Normandy's cook and all-around handyman, he's quite proud to have been with Cerberus, as he believes the Alliance and the Council to be useless. A former family man, he lost everything he had to batarian raiders.

""I wash my hands! Most of the time.""
 * Bald of Awesome
 * Dark and Troubled Past
 * Deadpan Snarker: Whenever someone talks smack about his meals, mostly.
 * Irrelevant Sidequest: Sends you grocery shopping for him on the Citadel, but at least he admits that it's a silly thing to ask his commander to do.
 * Jack of All Trades: By his own admission. This includes cleaning the restrooms *and* preparing meals.


 * Lethal Chef: According to the crew. Kasumi believes him to be an evil genius.
 * Non-Action Guy
 * Put on a Bus: No sign of him in Mass Effect 3.
 * Real Men Cook
 * Real Men Cook

The Illusive Man, AKA


""Salvation comes with a cost. Judge us not by our methods, but what we seek to accomplish.""

"Voiced by: Martin Sheen"

The enigmatic leader of Cerberus. He seeks to protect humanity, regardless of the cost. He gets Shepard to investigate the disappearance of human colonies. He is the protagonist of the tie-in comic Mass Effect: Evolution

In Mass Effect 3, he makes his most ambitious move yet - attempting to gain control of the Reapers and their technology rather than defeating them conventionally.

"Sexual liaisons (past week): Sani Shelani, Illium Entertainment's Sexiest Human Alive Brooke Karrigar, Skyball Champion Vela Vicious, Fornax Dream Girl 2185 Staci and Stephi Strong, the "Terra Firma Twins"
 * Affably Evil: To Paragon players. According to Retribution, this is a facade he uses to make it difficult to tell when he's lying.
 * If Shepard dies he seems genuinely remorseful in private, regardless of what s\he did to the Collector base.
 * Ambition Is Evil: He, and Cerberus as a whole.
 * Anti-Villain:
 * Appropriated Appellation: His anti-alien manifesto was derided by Alliance command after first contact as "survivalist rhetoric written by an illusive man". He kinda rolled with it.
 * Badass: If this prequel comic is any indication, old Mr. Illusive was quite the soldier. He's probably more of a Retired Badass now.
 * Batman Gambit: His plan to revive Shepard as-is through the Lazarus project is one of these, and it is even lampshaded at the beginning of the game by Miranda.
 * Benevolent Boss: He will do everything in his power to help out his subordinates...so long as they remain loyal and useful.
 * Bad Boss: Just don't betray him. Just ask In the third game,
 * Big Bad Ensemble: He's the second most recurring antagonist throughout the Mass Effect series, including the comics.
 * Non-Action Big Bad: In every appearance with him as an antagonist.
 * Body Horror:
 * By the Lights of Their Eyes
 * Call Back:
 * The Casanova: His dossier in the Shadow Broker DLC reveals this.
 * Call Back:
 * The Casanova: His dossier in the Shadow Broker DLC reveals this.

Matriarch Trellani (twice)"

""You think because I'm willing to use the enemy's tactics, that they're no longer my enemy?""
 * The Chessmaster: He pretty much is Cerberus, ensuring to be personally involved in all of their operations. Considering how intricate and far reaching their influence is, that's a lot of pawns.
 * He also successfully manipulates the galaxy's most skilled soldier into working with him by making it so s/he really had absolutely no choice in the matter, completely boxing him/her in. Add on the fact that for all of Mass Effect 2, he was responsible for pretty much everything that happened and even outthought the Collectors a few times.
 * We see even more of this in Mass Effect 3. He tries to ensure Shepard will be at ease working with Cerberus by recruiting Joker and Dr. Chakwas. He also specifically uses Kelly Chambers, Ken Donnelly and Gabby Daniels
 * Consummate Liar: It's nearly impossible to tell when he's being truthful or lying. Aria T'Loak notes that his very body language is cultivated to be just as inscrutable as his words. One of the few people capable of successfully lying to Aria's face.
 * Contemplative Boss: He spends an awful lot of time staring at that star.
 * Creepy Blue Eyes: And they glow. What's especially noteworthy is that they look similar to Saren's eyes from the first game, possibly to hint that.
 * Cunning Linguist: Apparently can speak the asari and turian dialects unaided by universal translator, although this is apparently because of
 * Devil in Plain Sight: Doesn't matter whether Shepard is Paragon or Renegade; you always get dialogue options about whether or not the Illusive Man is trustworthy, and whether he knows more than he lets on at the end of several missions (in both cases, often to his face). Granted, a lot of this is to do with Cerberus's reputation and the player's experience of them in the previous game, but even so, its clear that Shepard and other characters are wary of him and his organization, especially as the game goes on and it becomes more and more obvious that they are still up to no good.
 * Diabolical Mastermind
 * Did Not Do the Research: Or, perhaps, too much ego.
 * Dirty Old Man
 * Electronic Eyes
 * Empathic Environment: His office.
 * Enemy Mine: Mass Effect 2 revolves around an uneasy alliance between him and Shepard. Previously, he had one with Liara to secure Shepard's body from the Shadow Broker.
 * He seems to consider cooperating with non-humans as this kind of arrangement. Which is ironic considering that he helped save the entire turian race from indoctrination back when he was still a mercenary.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: The Cerberus facility that created Jack was actually a rogue facility outside his approval, and he ordered all of the surviving scientists from the project executed once he learned precisely what they were doing. Furthermore, his e-mail responses to both the Paragon and Renegade endings of the Project Overlord incident give further credence to the idea that he still tries to maintain some ethical standards in his research projects.
 * However, his response to "Overlord"'s Renegade ending claims while he thought the experiments went too far, he's happy that Shepard decided to keep the research subject within Cerberus. It's possible that while the Illusive Man would happily reap the fruits of even the most unethical projects, he might as well keep Shepard's loyalty by going along with what s/he chooses to do.
 * Evil Is Not a Toy:
 * Evil Mentor: Tries to be one to Shepard in Mass Effect 2, though it's entirely up to the player whether or not Shepard actually follows him.
 * Evil Smoking: We never see him without a cigarette. Made fun of in the Shadow Broker DLC: He smokes at least four a day and has seven drinks a day.
 * Expy: The Illusive Man's development in 3 is rather parallel to Saren's from the first game: they both are Well Intentioned Extremists who crosses the Moral Event Horizon to deal with the reaper threat.
 * Face Framed in Shadow: Although his facial features can occasionally be seen.
 * Fantastic Racism: Sort of; at the same time he does express respect for the achievements of others, and he did save the turians from being enslaved by Desolas back before he founded Cerberus.
 * Fatal Flaw: His Pride. He's so convinced that the ends justify the means,.
 * Fiction 500: He was able to get a multi-billion credit project to bring a person back from the dead together on fairly short notice. And build an improved version of the most advanced, experimental starship in the galaxy while he was at it. And this didn't really impede any of his other operations.
 * Although it is mentioned that the huge price of bringing Shepard back was offset by the valuable medical data obtained through the process.
 * From Nobody to Nightmare: It's mentioned that he was once an average man with a family.
 * Gameplay and Story Segregation:
 * Glowing Mechanical Eyes: Bizarrely, almost nobody comments on them.
 * Hidden Agenda Villain: He's trying to make humanity dominant in the galaxy. Beyond that, not even Miranda, his most loyal agent, has any idea what he wants.
 * I Am the Trope:
 * Ink Suit Actor: He resembles Martin Sheen. It's also fairly obvious that the photo of him in the Codex is a photoshopped picture of a younger Sheen.
 * It's All About Me: "Cerberus is humanity!"
 * Jerkass Has a Point: Despite everything he's done wrong, and the truth behind his actions and motivations in the third game, one of the three endings reveals that
 * Knight Templar: He believes that everything he does will be justified later on.
 * The Man: Shades of this: always shown in dim light, smoking a cigarette, a very rich and powerful fellow manipulating events from the shadows.
 * Manipulative Bastard: Although he is not as manipulative as he wants to think, what with trying (and failing) to persuade Paragon Shepard to
 * Meaningful Name: Everything, everything related to this man is covered in layers upon layers of meticulously planned deception.
 * Mysterious Employer: None of his subordinates know anything about him and the smart ones know better than to attempt to rectify that. In fact, many who work under his agents have no idea they're following his orders.
 * Doubles as a Mysterious Backer in general.
 * Necessarily Evil: His stance on some of his actions in 2 and just about everything he does in 3.
 * The Man: Shades of this: always shown in dim light, smoking a cigarette, a very rich and powerful fellow manipulating events from the shadows.
 * Manipulative Bastard: Although he is not as manipulative as he wants to think, what with trying (and failing) to persuade Paragon Shepard to
 * Meaningful Name: Everything, everything related to this man is covered in layers upon layers of meticulously planned deception.
 * Mysterious Employer: None of his subordinates know anything about him and the smart ones know better than to attempt to rectify that. In fact, many who work under his agents have no idea they're following his orders.
 * Doubles as a Mysterious Backer in general.
 * Necessarily Evil: His stance on some of his actions in 2 and just about everything he does in 3.

"Shepard, ."
 * Not So Different: 3 starts to show that he and are frighteningly similar.
 * Pragmatic Villainy: He complies with his employees' requests and is willing to work with aliens so long as it suits his goals.
 * Psychotic Smirk:
 * Punny Name: Some call him TIM.
 * Red Right Hand: Creepy, synthetic, glowing eyeballs.
 * Shut UP, Hannibal:
 * Slouch of Villainy: He sits rather casually in his lounge chair most of the time.
 * The Social Darwinist: Develops shades of this in 3 (an attitude Kai Leng embraces wholeheartedly). In this case, "evolution" =
 * Smug Snake:
 * Spanner in the Works: Part of how Cerberus operates in 3.
 * Start of Darkness: Mass Effect: Evolution
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To in Mass Effect 3.
 * Tom the Dark Lord: His Fan Nickname is essentially TIM, while his real name is . Go figure.
 * Totalitarian Utilitarian: It's quite telling how he tends to refer to his employees as "resources".
 * Tragic Hero / Tragic Villain: He needs quite a bit of whitewashing to be considered a 'hero', but the fact remains that he had the power, knowledge (his information network nearly rivals the Shadow Broker's), and charisma to stand a significant chance of defeating the Reapers.
 * The Unfettered: Is willing to allow any manner of horrible experiments happen to people in order to secure human dominance, even if those experiments are on other humans.
 * Ungrateful Bastard: Cerberus will oppose Shepard in Mass Effect 3 regardless of whether s/he ,
 * Utopia Justifies the Means: See the above quote. In this case, utopia = human dominance.
 * Villainous Breakdown: . He doesn't rant and rave, but he's clearly not pleased that.
 * In Mass Effect 3, he has a pretty epic one when . It ends with him either
 * Visionary Villain: Designed to be the best and worst of humanity all at once.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Though the "well-intentioned" part of it is entirely down to whether you agree with his notion - as some players inevitably do - that humanity has every right to crush the rest of the civilized galaxy under its collective foot and take charge.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?: In the third game,
 * Visionary Villain: Designed to be the best and worst of humanity all at once.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Though the "well-intentioned" part of it is entirely down to whether you agree with his notion - as some players inevitably do - that humanity has every right to crush the rest of the civilized galaxy under its collective foot and take charge.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?: In the third game,


 * Wicked Cultured

Captain Armando-Owen Bailey


""I'm with them [formalities] up until they keep people from doing their jobs.""

"Voiced by: Michael Hogan"

A human Captain of C-Sec, he unofficially acts as a liaison during Shepard's time on the Citadel. He's not big on formalities, but nevertheless gets promoted to Commander by the start of Mass Effect 3.


 * Anti-Hero: Somewhere between a Type III and IV.
 * A Day in the Limelight: Mass Effect: Inquisition, where it's revealed that
 * Canada, Eh?: Michael Hogan's northern Ontario accent comes through pretty strongly.
 * Commanding Coolness: Gets promoted to this by the time you meet him in 3.
 * Da Chief
 * Dirty Cop: A Zig-Zagging Trope. Bailey is obviously crooked, as he's willing to torture suspects and makes under the table deals with thugs, but at the same time he's actually a good person and acts as a Reasonable Authority Figure towards Shepard.
 * Grey and Gray Morality: Will bargain with crooks if it ultimately means it'll keep peace on the Citadel.
 * Foil: Towards Executive Pallin. Unlike Pallin, who was a by-the-book cop, Bailey is willing and able to bend the rules if he feels it gets the job done.
 * Hidden Heart of Gold: Willing to engage in dirty business to keep the peace, but he's anything but a thug - see below.
 * Knight in Sour Armor
 * Old-Fashioned Copper: On your first trip to the Citadel, you overhear him encouraging a younger officer to "make [the suspect] scream a little" to extract a confession, and then offers to do it himself if she can't handle it.
 * Noble Bigot: Subverted. Although this trope often goes hand in hand with Old-Fashioned Copper, Bailey is one of the few NPC's in the series to avoid this. During Thane's quest he shows empathy towards the alien population's fear of humans, observing that many of them have lived on the station since before humanity discovered space travel. All the more impressive given that many of the C-Sec officers throughout the game are very openly speciesist, including (at first) Garrus.
 * Parental Abandonment: "You think [Thane's] the only man who ever screwed up raising a son?"
 * Reasonable Authority Figure
 * Retcon: An accidental one regarding his name. A background news report in the second game refers to him as Owen Bailey, but the Lair of the Shadow Broker archives refer to him as Armando Bailey. A later Cerberus Daily News report patched up the mistake by giving him the rather unwieldy first name "Armando-Owen."
 * Retirony: Defied. He tells you he wants to retire to a nice place in the foothills on Earth, but then quickly adds that he won't be doing so any time soon.
 * Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right

Admiral Steven Hackett


""When Earth calls, you be there with your dress blues on, ready to take the hit.""

"Voiced by: Lance Henriksen"

Commanding officer of the Alliance Navy's Fifth Fleet. Voice of authority and giver of sidequests. Often heard, but never seen in-game (until Mass Effect 2's DLC, that is).

""You put Darius in power, but he was getting greedy. You wanted me to kill him." "The Alliance does not condone assassination. We would never give that order. Killing Darius was your decision alone - and because you're a Spectre, we couldn't reprimand you if we wanted to.""
 * Ascended Extra: Goes from being just a voice telling you about side-missions, to being arguably Shepard's most frequent and trusted contact in the Reaper War.
 * Badass: Orphaned at 12, showed chops in science and leadership, enlisted, became a frontier explorer, fought with distinction in the First Contact War, climbed from lowly Enlisted to the top flag office in the Alliance navy.
 * Four-Star Badass
 * Big Good: A large number of the side missions in the first Mass Effect come from him.
 * In Mass Effect 3, Shepard reports directly to him and he is, for all intents and purposes, the leader of the entire human race.
 * The Cavalry: Epically at.
 * Clint Squint: Seems to be the neutral state of his eyes.
 * Good Hair, Evil Hair: Hackett wears the classic Mirror Universe goatee and mustache combination, but he's definitely a good guy.
 * Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has a very prominent scar on his right cheek, and his right eye looks like it's taken its fair share of right hooks.
 * Gray and Grey Morality: As an Admiral, Hackett is naturally concerned with maintaining the law; however, following Shepard's promotion to Spectre, he has Shepard perform more "under the table" missions to maintain Alliance confidentiality.
 * Guile Hero/Chessmaster: Some of his missions (such as sending a Renegade!Shep to possibly assassinate Lord Darius) edges him closer to this territory.

"Hackett's entire response to a lengthy request email: Request denied."
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Molov, General Shepherd, Bishop, Detective Vukovich...
 * Ink Suit Actor: Preview pics for The Arrival DLC indicate BioWare decided to model Hackett's face off Lance Henriksen's.
 * Ironic Echo / Meaningful Echo: "You've done a hell of a thing."
 * Nerves of Steel: Probably the calmest and most unflappable human leader in the series. Even when Reapers tore the Alliance a new one.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure: He uses Shepard's loyalty to the Alliance to get him/her to take on some sensitive missions. However, he does at least acknowledge that s/he is doing him a favor and acts appropriately. At the end, he defers to Shepard as the (wo)man in the field, despite his much higher rank.
 * In Lair of the Shadow Broker,


 * Later in the same DLC, Liara
 * After Shepard is forced to
 * Rousing Speech:


 * Shoot the Dog: A lot of his missions seem to revolve around this trope. After the events of Arrival, Hackett tells Shepard that.
 * Shout-Out: Named after the former Genesis guitarist.
 * Supporting Leader: He leads the charge against Sovereign in the final act of the first game.
 * The Voice: Until The Arrival.

"Hackett out."

Detective Anaya


""You're free to go, Justicar. It's been an honor having you in my station...and it's nice you didn't kill me, too.""

"Voiced by: Cindy Robinson"

Anaya is a cop on Illium that Shepard meets when looking for Samara. She is quite helpful, as Shepard's cause might draw Samara away from Illium -- and therefore keep Anaya from having to arrest and be subsequently killed by the justicar.

"Shepard: You're not going to lock her up? Samara: Any attempt to put me in a passive restraint system will be regarded as a hostile action, and I will be forced to attack.
 * Bullying a Dragon: Though not by choice, only by proxy: her superiors ordered her to detain Samara, even though Samara's code would force her to kill Anaya to avoid it. Fortunately, both of them are willing to be reasonable about it.
 * By-The-Book Cop: She only accepts your evidence against Pitne For because Samara vouches for you.
 * Da Chief
 * Deadpan Snarker: Very much so.

Anaya: Yeah, that."

"Anaya: I'm a cop and I know my duty."
 * Friend on the Force: Will follow up on some of Shepard's leads if you go to her.
 * Hero Worshipper: Like most Asari, is in total awe of a Justicar like Samara, even if that Justicar will probably end up eventually killing her.
 * Honor Before Reason
 * My Orders, Right Or Wrong: She makes it very clear that she will follow her orders to detain Samara if Samara does not leave Illium, even knowing that her odds of survival are close to zero.


 * Reasonable Authority Figure
 * Shout-Out: After the mission, she sends you an e-mail titled Still Alive

Matriarch Aethyta


""What can I get ya, babe? Sorry, no sex. I just cleaned the bar.""

"Voiced by: Claudia Black"

An Asari Matriarch working in the Eternity bar on Illium because she had the blue laughed off her ass when suggesting her people build more mass relays. Bothered, but not too worried, about being confronted by Conrad Verner, and implies she would have dealt with him a lot more violently than Shepard.


 * Cool Old Lady: Thanks to being a Deadpan Snarker and Dirty Old Woman.
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Disappeared Dad: Well...technically.
 * Easter Egg:
 * Face Palm: Her reaction to Conrad's wife paying for his ticket out.
 * Flat What: Her reaction when Conrad says that he heard the bar is a front for dealing red sand.
 * Jade-Colored Glasses: She's faced a lot of crap.
 * The Ladette: To be expected. Her dad was a Krogan, after all.
 * Lamarck Was Right: "Scientists say that stuff about us getting genetic material from our fathers is crap. Seems like I got a bit of his mouth, though."
 * Nature Versus Nurture: She was raised by a krogan father, so it would have rubbed off, genetics or no.
 * Made of Iron: In one of the Shadow Broker archive videos, Matriarch Aethyta headbutts a krogan... and the krogan falls to the ground.
 * Mrs. Robinson: She flirts with Shepard quite a bit.
 * My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Her view towards asari's hat. She believes that they should be doing more constructive things with their Maiden Years.
 * Only Sane Man: Was laughed off Thessia for suggesting that they make a serious effort to study and duplicate the Mass Relays. After the third game.
 * Really Gets Around: "You find peace in whatever arms will hold you." Apart from, the lovers she sees fit to mention are a turian, an elcor, and a hanar.
 * The Nicknamer: Well, she only gives one example rather than tendency, but it's memorable enough to stick to mind: she calls Matriarch Benezia "Nezzy".
 * The Reveal:
 * Too Much Information: reaction to what she says about  magnificent rack.
 * Wolf Whistle: When fondly recalling rack.
 * The Reveal:
 * Too Much Information: reaction to what she says about  magnificent rack.
 * Wolf Whistle: When fondly recalling rack.

Doctor Gavin Archer


""If my work can spare a million mothers from having to mourn a million sons, my conscience will rest easy.""

"Voiced by: Simon Templeman"

A Cerberus researcher that was in charge of Project Overlord, a Cerberus project designed to find a way to communicate with and fully control the Geth in an attempt to prevent a possible second war with them by linking a human mind to the Geth Hive Mind via a VI. His younger brother, David, volunteered for the project, but the VI went rogue, leading to disaster.


 * The Atoner:
 * Heel Realization: That said,
 * Kick the Son of a Bitch:
 * This is especially evident if you play the mission after recruiting.
 * Heel Realization: That said,
 * Kick the Son of a Bitch:
 * This is especially evident if you play the mission after recruiting.
 * Kick the Son of a Bitch:
 * This is especially evident if you play the mission after recruiting.
 * This is especially evident if you play the mission after recruiting.
 * This is especially evident if you play the mission after recruiting.

The Quarian Admiralty Board


""This Conclave is brought to order...""

The current members that govern the quarian Migrant Fleet, composed of Rael'Zorah vas Rayya, Shala'Raan vas Tonbay, Han'Gerrel vas Neema, Zaal'Koris vas Qwib Qwib, and Daro'Xen vas Moreh. They play major roles during Tali's loyalty mission, being the judges in her trial and each member has a unique outlook on the geth/quarian conflict.

They return in Mass Effect 3, leading a massive Migrant Fleet strike on the heart of geth territory at Rannoch, the quarian homeworld.

The Admiralty in general

 * The Faceless: Quarians, obviously.
 * Fantastic Racism / Just a Machine : Zaal'Koris is the only one who reflects on both sides of the geth-quarian war. Gerrel and Xen are actively hostile in different ways, while Raan doubts that "they have different factions" will convince people.
 * Four-Star Badass: While they're all admirals, special points go to Han'Gerrel.
 * Gray and Grey Morality: All of the Admirals seemingly have the best interests of the Migrant Fleet at heart, but all of them have their vices. In rough order from lighter to darker shades of gray:
 * Zaal'Koris is a Jerkass to Shepard and Tali in court, but he remains the sole admiral who wants to make peace with the geth, believing that the other admirals are moving dangerously close to open war. Assuming Tali is acquitted and Shepard urges the Conclave to pursue peace with the geth, Koris warms up to the duo considerably.
 * Shala'Raan wants to avoid open war with the geth and is good at keeping the other admirals in line, but the other admirals imply that she's rather low-key about her own opinion and generally goes along with the majority side.
 * Han'Gerrel is a friendly and honorable man, but he believes total war against the geth, even with evidence they're not brainless murdering machines and that the geth who sided with the Reapers are heretics, is the only way to reclaim the quarian homeworld.
 * Rael'Zorah seemed to have been a strict officer and a clever fighter, but remained distant from his daughter Tali, though he still loves her dearly. Based on spoken dialogue from the other four admirals, Rael seemed to share Gerrel's opinion in driving the geth out of their homeworld.
 * Daro'Xen wants to find a method to reclaim the homeworld with a minimum of bloodshed on either side... by mind raping the geth back into slavery, and Tali's responses to Xen's dialogue suggest that Xen has a Mad Scientist or god complex.
 * Manipulative Bastards: The trial isn't about whether Tali really did endanger the Flotilla, but what course should the quarians take concerning the geth. Tali just got caught in the crossfire.

Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay


""I was there when Tali was born; her mother and I had synced our suits so we could be in the same open-air room. I was sick for a week, but it was worth it.""

"Voiced by: Shohreh Aghdashloo"

A close friend of Tali's mother, and flag officer of the Patrol Fleet. Her arm of the flotilla is responsible for picket lines, scouting, and extra-fleet escort duties. Stuck with the fairly thankless task of keeping the other admirals in line, she is sadly aware of the limits of her position and doesn't feel she can do much to change public opinion. If Tali dies in the Suicide Mission, she fills her shoes at certain points in 3's story, like Padok Wiks does for Mordin.


 * Da Chief: One of the patrol fleet's main duties is internal fleet law enforcement; as an admiral, she's more police commissioner than soldier.
 * Neutral No Longer:
 * Parental Substitute: Signs point to Raan becoming a surrogate mother to Tali after Tali's biological mother died in her youth. She's "Auntie Raan" to Tali.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure: She "wears holes in her suit" for Shepard and Tali's sake, has to keep Koris and Gerrel from bickering at each other in the middle of proceedings, and is the only admiral not trying to push her personal agenda ahead of the truth.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure: She "wears holes in her suit" for Shepard and Tali's sake, has to keep Koris and Gerrel from bickering at each other in the middle of proceedings, and is the only admiral not trying to push her personal agenda ahead of the truth.

Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib-Qwib


""They are our children, Shepard. We have all done horrible things to each other, but it has to end--for both groups.""

"Voiced by: Martin Jarvis"

An outspoken opponent of Homeworld invasion plans, supporter of geth peace endeavours, and commander of the Civilian Fleet. He's responsible for the well-being of the majority of the fleet's ship numbers.


 * A Father to His Men
 * Cassandra Truth: In a cruel twist of fate, he's the only one who believes the geth were justified in exiling them after attempted genocide due to the false assumption they'd go rogue and kill all quarians.
 * Fail O'Suckyname: He is proud of the Qwib-Qwib, and refuses to transfer over "petty insults".
 * Jerkass: The immediate impression we get of him, before we learn he's the most rational and open-minded about the geth conflict.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In addition to his desire to seek peace with the geth, he makes it clear that he has nothing personal against Tali and respects her greatly. If you ask him about the admirals' infighting after the first part of the trial, he'll apologize for letting it interfere with the proceedings. After you get Tali off, he'll thank Shepard for being there for her when the Admiralty board wasn't. Yeah, he's kind of a dick, but underneath it all he's a genuinely good person.
 * Jerkass Has a Point: He is one of the lone quarians who support peace with the geth.
 * Nice Guy: In 3, he's the only one to stand with Tali in resisting the other admirals' war fever, his main concern is protecting the civilians who make up the bulk of his fleet, and his fervent belief in the fundamental right to life for the geth remains. He ends up becoming more of a Reasonable Authority Figure than Shala'Raan at times and  is absolutely crucial.
 * Only Sane Man: In 2, he's the only quarian Admiral (in fact, one of the few quarians period) who wants to avoid war with the geth. Keep in mind that even Tali'Zorah, who may or may not be working with a geth at this point, thought of the geth as heartless machines. Koris is the only person to sit back and realize that the geth uprising (or the "Morning War" as the geth call it) was the quarians' own fault and the geth probably just want to live. He also is the only admiral who realizes that an outright war is suicidal (justified, since he's in charge of the civilian fleets). He is literally the only quarian in a position of authority who has come to these logical standpoints. The combination of all this pressure has made him extremely frustrated and desperate, and it makes your initial impression of him in Mass Effect 2 a harsh one. By the third game, he has his act together.
 * Ramming Always Works: When a geth ground cannon starts ripping through the quarian fleet, he crashes his ship into it.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure: Not immediately obvious in 2, since he seems too willing to get Tali exiled for the sake of politics, but by 3 he fits this trope absolutely perfectly.
 * Resigned to the Call:
 * Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The sensitive guy to Han'Gerrel's manly man. While Gerrel is a hawkish asskicker who leads the main battle fleet and would love nothing more than to get a piece of the geth, Zaal'Koris looks out for the civilian fleet and wants nothing more than to make peace with the geth, even if that means forgoing the homeworld. He thinks the price of war is simply too high.
 * Stealth Pun: He occasionally considers transferring to a ship with a respectable name like Defrahnz or Iktomi.
 * The Men First:
 * The So-Called Coward: Han'Gerrel views him as a coward because he believes in looking for a peaceful resolution to the Geth conflict.
 * Took a Level In Kindness: He's taken the complete opposite Character Development in 3 than Han'Gerrel did.
 * Took a Level In Kindness: He's taken the complete opposite Character Development in 3 than Han'Gerrel did.

Admiral Han'Gerrel vas Neema


""Blow up some geth on the way.""

"Voiced by: Simon Templeman"

Admiral of the Heavy Fleet, and a warhawk through and through. He's also a childhood friend of Tali's father. His fleet is the main military force of the Flotilla.


 * Attack! Attack! Attack!: Unless reined in, he will launch a full frontal assault on anything resembling a geth ship. This includes the geth dreadnought that a fellow Admiral and a hero of the fleet is aboard, and later on.
 * Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He initially comes off as the Reasonable Authority Figure, but also supports Revenge Before Reason when it comes to the geth and doesn't see anything wrong with his ancestors' attempted genocide.
 * Flanderization: In the second game he was the most vocal admiral about wanting to go to war with the geth, but was otherwise incredibly respectful to Shepard and was one of the most sympathetic admirals towards Tali during her trial. Come to the war in the third game, and he becomes single-mindedly obsessed with destroying the geth at the cost of the Migrant Fleet's civilian ships and . That said, we never saw him at war in 2.
 * Jerkass: Seems to have switched places with Koris in 3, considering his over-eagerness to destroy the geth dreadnought before Shepard and crew were evacuated from it.
 * General Ripper: And how!
 * Knight Templar: By 3. As they say, War Is Hell.
 * Leeroy Jenkins: He appears to have this propensity in Mass Effect 3 with his Heavy Fleet, much to the consternation of the other military fleet admiral, Patrol Fleet Admiral Shala'Raan.
 * Manipulative Bastard: Despite being a Leeroy, some of his tactics show a cunning political mind; by forcing the attack on the geth dreadnaught, he put Raan in a position where she either had to back him or risk the destruction of the whole fleet, giving him the chance to destroy the geth flagship and give the quarians a fighting chance again.
 * Nice Guy: In the second game, though he was always a believer in Revenge Before Reason.
 * Revenge Before Reason: Wants a piece of the geth in the worst way. Even if it means annihilation of his people.
 * Stop or I Shoot Myself: In essence, how he gets the rest of the fleet to follow his insane attacks. He places the Heavy Fleet in danger and warns the others that the Heavy Fleet will be wiped out without support, and if that happens, the quarians will be SOL when the inevitable counterattack occurs.
 * Talk to the Fist: When Han'Gerrel orders the Migrant Fleet to, the aftermath discussion gives Shepard a Renegade interrupt to gut-punch him and boot him off the Normandy. Still, militarily, he made the right decision to  Paragon Shepard can recognize this, and simply tell Gerrel to let him/her know before he starts shooting.
 * Took a Level in Jerkass: He goes from being a good friend of Tali and her father to willing to sacrifice her and Shepard to destroy the geth dreadnought. And that's not even covering what he does at the end of the Rannoch arc.
 * The Unfettered: He will stop at nothing to have his vengeance on the geth.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: In 2, he reveals that he believes Tali and Shepard about the Reaper threat (and is one of the few people in any position of authority to do so), and justifies the need to go to war with the geth by claiming that without a planet to shelter their noncombatants, the quarians would be unable to devote the full force of their fleet to the fight against the reapers.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: He attacks a geth ship that Shepard's on as soon as the defenses go down. No one else is happy about it. Shepard even gets to punch him for it.

Admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh


""Rael should have felt no more guilt experimenting on geth than I did while performing surgery on a childhood toy!""

"Voiced by: Claudia Black"

An eccentric but brilliant researcher, Admiral Xen is responsible for various research vessels in the fleet. Though her arm of the fleet is small, they play a critical role in technical advancement. She does not regard the geth as alive, but as malfunctioning machines.

"Xen: It has a name. Fascinating. The things I could learn under slightly different circumstances... Legion: This platform is not available for experimentation."
 * Chekhov's Gunman: Her interest in Rael'Zorah's research. When you keep quiet about it, she'll send you a message gloating about how she plans to use it on the geth (expose what Rael did and she'll be furious). Additionally,
 * Foe Yay: She acts a little too friendly when Legion is brought to the Flotilla, to the point where there are now more than a few fanfics shipping the two. (Referring to Legion as "marvelous machine" doesn't help things.)
 * For Science!: Introduce Legion to her and she'll express interest in experimenting on it, freaking it out a bit.

"Ash: She's not all the way sane, is she?"
 * Just a Machine: Doesn't believe at all that the geth are synthetic lifeforms, just machines that have malfunctioned, comparing them to starships (that are superior in various ways but are still just tools), and, if Shepard refers to  help beating the Collectors, she states that the same could be said of his/her pistol.
 * Mad Scientist: If Tali dies in the suicide mission, she does all the hacking during the dreadnaught mission. This includes making geth platforms dance for her (offscreen) amusement.


 * The Sociopath: Comes across as one at times, showing a marked lack of empathy towards others and her indifferent tone while discussing how she she performed complex surgery on her childhood toys.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist
 * You're Insane!: Tali's opinion of her plan to retake control of the geth, indicating that even among quarians, her views are extreme.

Admiral Rael'Zorah vas Rayya
""I promised to build my daughter a house on the homeworld...""

Tali's father. Somewhat distant to Tali due to the burden of being an admiral, he just wanted to build a house for his family on the homeworld.

"Tali: I'm having a drink with my boyfriend. My human boyfriend!"
 * Foreshadowing: Han's story about their pre-Pilgrimage adventure against batarian pirates tells us he has a reckless side and isn't afraid of bending the rules.
 * If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: See Papa Wolf.
 * Married to the Job: Raan implies he wasn't always that way, but after Tali's mother died, he threw himself completely into his work.
 * Papa Wolf: In his letter authorising Tali's transfer to Shepard's command, he notes his concern that Tali may be lead astray by Shepard's influence and that if any harm comes to her whatsover, he will not hesitate to bring the full wrath of the quarian Admiralty Board down on Shepard's head.
 * If Tali is romanced, she implies in 3 that.
 * If Tali is romanced, she implies in 3 that.


 * Sins of Our Fathers: When Rael's experiments go awry, Tali gets caught up in the political fallout.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist:
 * Workaholic
 * Workaholic

Kal'Reegar


""The geth might get me, but I'm not gonna die from an infection in the middle of a battle. That's just insulting!""

"Voiced by: Adam Baldwin"

One of a squad of Migrant Fleet Marines assigned to protect Tali on their mission to Haestrom. He's also the only one still alive by the time you get there, and whether he lives to see the fleet again depends on you.

"Tali: ...I didn't say anything about finding evidence, Kal. Kal'Reegar: Noticed that, ma'am."
 * Badass Normal: No known genetic mods, not a member of a species with extreme physical advantages over humans, and yet he successfully distracts an entire geth squad, including one of their walking tanks.
 * Character Witness: During Tali's trial, along with Veetor, assuming he survives and Shepard chooses to "Rally The Crowd".
 * Cultured Warrior: Implied by some of his throwaway comments; Kal's tactical knowledge can be very useful when trying to navigate the last part of Tali's recruitment mission, and if
 * Heroic Sacrifice:
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Jayne has joined the Migrant Fleet. They should rename whatever town/city is nearest to
 * Hidden Depths
 * My Fleet, Right or Wrong: He thinks that the quarian fleet shouldn't go to war with the geth; nevertheless, he states that as a soldier he will follow any given order.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: Insists he's "just a soldier," and he "just shoots things". However, he's smart enough to conclude that attacking the Geth for the homeworld would be suicidal, and also that Tali withheld evidence at her trial if you don't use it.
 * My Fleet, Right or Wrong: He thinks that the quarian fleet shouldn't go to war with the geth; nevertheless, he states that as a soldier he will follow any given order.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: Insists he's "just a soldier," and he "just shoots things". However, he's smart enough to conclude that attacking the Geth for the homeworld would be suicidal, and also that Tali withheld evidence at her trial if you don't use it.
 * My Fleet, Right or Wrong: He thinks that the quarian fleet shouldn't go to war with the geth; nevertheless, he states that as a soldier he will follow any given order.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: Insists he's "just a soldier," and he "just shoots things". However, he's smart enough to conclude that attacking the Geth for the homeworld would be suicidal, and also that Tali withheld evidence at her trial if you don't use it.

"Kal'Reegar: Tali's done more for this fleet than you assholes ever will!"
 * One-Scene Wonder: Two if you save him.
 * Precision F-Strike: If you choose 'Rally the Crowd' during Tali's trial, Kal will speak up on her behalf.

Aria T'Loak


""Don't. Fuck. With Aria.""

"Voiced by: Carrie-Anne Moss"

The closest thing Omega has to a ruler, Aria and her forces maintain what passes for order on the station. Not to be fucked with.

"Shepard: How do you plan on ? Aria: I think I'm going to employ violence."
 * Anti-Hero: Either Type IV or V from what you see of her; she's a crime boss whose crimes are All There in the Manual, and she allows all manner of crime and misery on her station short of.
 * Asskicking Equals Authority: She's been in charge of Omega for centuries by making sure people know you Don't Fuck With Aria.
 * Badass: In her backstory, she beats a Krogan Battlemaster to a pulp. In-game, all she needs is that voice and her attitude to keep the position even without doing any fighting.
 * Although she's quite capable of that, too; as shown in the comics, being the "queen" of Omega hasn't dulled her battle skills any. A Cerberus scientist expresses amazement at her biotic capabilities.
 * A Day in the Limelight: She gets a short comic series from her perspective on Omega, Mass Effect: Incursion.
 * Set to star in another 4 issue series called Mass Effect: Invasion.
 * Deadpan Snarker: She has her moments in 3.

"Shepard: You run Omega? Aria: I am Omega!"
 * The Don
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Think that Aria'd be okay with on her station if it doesn't bother her?
 * Also, when told that an Ardat-Yakshi's in Omega, Aria is quick to point Shepard to the right direction. On the other hand, this may just be because she likes Shepard (and doesn't want a justicar making a scene); she comments that it doesn't matter to her so long as the Ardat-Yakshi doesn't try to seduce her.
 * Evil Is Stylish
 * Femme Fatale
 * Genre Savvy: She has to be this to rule Omega for centuries.
 * I Am the Trope:

"Aria: Sometimes you'd rather disappear than be forced to kill someone."
 * Iron Lady: Anybody who can keep power in Omega for centuries is not to be taken lightly. Also, Mass Effect 3 shows that
 * Large Ham: While not as on the same level as Harbinger, Aria is quite hammy for someone played by Carrie-Ann Moss.
 * Lysistrata Gambit: One of the factors that led to her success in overthrowing the Patriarch for control of Omega was that - as she puts it when telling Shepard the story - the Patriarch's men had gotten used to "certain perks" that came with working with asari.
 * Mama Bear: If she sees it as hers, she protects it, whether it's Omega itself, her underlings, or.
 * In Mass Effect: Retribution she believes that . Unfortunately,.
 * Mysterious Past: No one knows where she came from or who she was before she came to Omega, and her name is just a pseudonym. Once Shepard gains her trust (or as much as Aria ever gives), Aria will allude to certain aspects of her past. It's strongly hinted that she's Aleena, the asari commando that Wrex was friends with centuries ago.


 * NGO Superpower: If Shepard assists Aria in building a force to, that force, the Terminus Fleet, will assist in the Final Battle - and only the krogan clans and geth fleet are more powerful. Repeat: she's got more firepower than an entire turian fleet.
 * Noble Demon
 * Not So Harmless: When she first came to Omega, Patriarch thought she was just another dancer. After crushing a few of his organs and breaking half of his bones, she's been ruling Omega for centuries.
 * Pet the Dog: Has a number of these off-screen, as befitting her Noble Demon status. She gives out Shepard's contact information to a wannabe-merc (if Shepard stopped him from joining the mercs going after Archangel) so he can thank Shepard, and gives Shepard's contact information to a grieving mother for the same reason. It's also implied that her reasons for asking Shepard to defend Patriarch aren't entirely to protect her standing.
 * A minor one in 3. If Shepard drinks enough in Purgatory to pass out, s/he comes to next to Aria on Aria's couch, despite the bar being a level and a half above where Aria is sitting.
 * Pragmatic Villainy: In Mass Effect 3, she puts her plans to on hold because she realizes that sending her forces against a target that's not the Reapers increases the chance of the Reapers winning. And if the Reapers win, then she'd be dead and unable to reap the rewards of her schemes.
 * Precision F-Strike: "Omega has no titled ruler, and only one rule. Don't fuck with Aria."
 * "I like it. Easy to remember."
 * Alluded to in 3. "It looks like there's only one rule on the Citadel."
 * Psychotic Smirk: Shepard tends to elicit a few sideways grins from her.
 * Screw the Rules, I Have Connections: In her first scene in the third game, C-Sec threatens to throw her off the station (it only took them three weeks to figure them out she was there illegally). She replies by ringing up the asari councilor (Tevos or Irissa), who waves her through at once.
 * The Starscream: Became this towards the former ruler of Omega, who she later made her Dragon.
 * Although according to Aria, Patriarch betrayed her; she simply retaliated. Violently.
 * Tattooed Crook
 * Worthy Opponent: She admits that she has a certain level of respect for the "Patriarch."
 * She also comes to respect Shepard, even if she will deride a Paragon for being a "Boyscout".
 * Worthy Opponent: She admits that she has a certain level of respect for the "Patriarch."
 * She also comes to respect Shepard, even if she will deride a Paragon for being a "Boyscout".
 * She also comes to respect Shepard, even if she will deride a Paragon for being a "Boyscout".

Urdnot Wreav
""Human sentiment tastes like piss. Don't spoil a death with it.""

"Voiced by: Jim Cummings"

Wrex's brood-brother who assumes leadership of Clan Urdnot if Wrex dies on Virmire (or if you never recruited him at all). In Mass Effect 3, he either fills Wrex's role as representative of all krogan, or appears briefly as a very reluctant follower of Wrex.

""Try not to get killed up there. Fight like a krogan, and you'll be fine.""
 * Asskicking Equals Authority: Standard krogan procedure. He gets the other clans to let him represent them through "a time-honored tradition of intimidation, threats and violence."
 * Blood Knight: Far more 'traditional' than his brother. Whereas Wrex works to create a neutral zone where all clans are welcome, Wreav only co-operates with clan Gatatog because the two of them are at a stalemate.
 * Jerkass: He's pretty much a typical krogan thug.
 * Mauve Shirt:
 * Miles Gloriosus: Wreav will take credit for curing the genophage, claiming he'll be even more famous than Shepard.
 * The McCoy: To the dalatrass's Spock and the Primarch's Kirk, only he's a lot less nice about it than Wrex.
 * Politically-Incorrect Villain: Treats the fertile females in 3 like property and makes disparaging remarks about other species.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: He's the red to--of all people--Wrex's blue.
 * Shiny New Australia: Before the final battle, he tells Shepard he wants "this thing you call Australia" in exchange for his help.
 * Smug Snake: Spends much of 3 trying to threaten Shepard. He basically exists to tell the player "You screwed up and now you're stuck with this guy instead of Wrex."
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Comes across as one of these for Wrex at first, but it soon becomes clear that they're very different in some very important ways--namely, that Wrex is trying to unite the krogan and revive their long-forgotten culture, whereas Wreav thinks the krogan are just fine the way they are.
 * Try Not to Die: Before you try to summon Kalros; it's the most concern he ever shows for you and your team.

Maelon Heplorn


""We've already got the blood of millions on our hands, Doctor! If it takes a bit more to put things right, I can deal with that.""

"Voiced by: Fred Tatasciore"

A salarian geneticist, former member of the salarian STG and student of Mordin Solus. He also worked on the  alongside Mordin. Unfortunately, he ends up getting captured by a krogan clan, Weyrloc, who are attempting to reverse the effect of the genophage.


 * The Atoner:
 * Chekhov's Gun: His research data on the genophage.
 * Hero Worshipper:
 * Horrible Judge of Character:
 * Just Smile and Nod: At the end of the loyalty mission,  Maelon can only smile and nod helplessly.
 * Mad Scientist: A well-intentioned one, though.
 * My God, What Have I Done?: He's been wracked with guilt, thereby accounting for the worst of his behaviour.   Thankfully, assuming he survives the loyalty mission, Maelon recovers by the third game.
 * Never My Fault: When asked about why  he blames Mordin's influence on his behaviour. Furthermore, when he's actively confronted   he once again blames Mordin's teachings, even going so far as to claim "" Mordin, who deplores, strongly disagrees.
 * Wide-Eyed Idealist: In spite of everything he's seen and done, Maelon still manages to be both idealistic and shockingly naive, even during . Case in point:
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist
 * Never My Fault: When asked about why  he blames Mordin's influence on his behaviour. Furthermore, when he's actively confronted   he once again blames Mordin's teachings, even going so far as to claim "" Mordin, who deplores, strongly disagrees.
 * Wide-Eyed Idealist: In spite of everything he's seen and done, Maelon still manages to be both idealistic and shockingly naive, even during . Case in point:
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist

Urz
A prize-fighting varren on Tuchanka. Urz will follow the player around in the area he is located in after being fed, Urz will even take part in the pit-fights run by the krogan.


 * Big Friendly Varren
 * One-Scene Wonder
 * Palette Swap
 * Retired Badass: Is actually a former pit-fight champion.
 * Team Pet: On Tuchanka.