Mass Effect (video game)/Characters/Party Members

This page is for listing the tropes related to party members who first appeared in the original Mass Effect game.

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

Gunnery Chief/Operations Chief/Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams
""Why is it whenever someone says 'With All Due Respect' they really mean 'kiss my ass'?""

"Voiced by: Kimberly Brooks"

A human Systems Alliance Marine who specializes in weapons skills and heavy armor. One of two possible romance options for a male Shepard. Returns as a party member and romance option in Mass Effect 3 if she survived the first game.

"Ashley: Tell me you didn't hear that.
 * A Date With Rosie Palms: If you're male and turn down the chance of romancing her, Ashley will mention finding her own entertainment in her bunk.
 * Action Girl: Of all of the characters in Mass Effect 1, only Wrex can match her for sheer toughness, and no one is as adept with weapons as her. This continues in Mass Effect 3, where her skills are mostly focused on dealing damage (as opposed to James, the other soldier character, whose skills are more focused on survivability).
 * Affectionate Nickname: "Skipper", towards Shepard.
 * All of the Other Reindeer: In the military, due to being the granddaughter of the only general to ever surrender to aliens, even though he surrendered to spare his men and civilians. For this, he was considered a General Failure and promptly Kicked Upstairs.
 * She reached the rank of Gunnery Chief before we meet her, although she says that she had 'crap assignments' until that point. Regardless, she reaches the rank of Lieutenant Commander by Mass Effect 3, so she's managed to work past this.
 * Ambiguously Brown: Confirmed by devs to be mostly Hispanic.
 * Anti-Hero: Type II or III
 * The Atoner: A lot of her actions are fueled by her desire to restore her family's good name.
 * Attempted Rape: If you pursue all the dialogue options with Ashley, she'll tell you about her kid sister who beat up an overly pushy (and horny) boyfriend with aikido.
 * Badass: She's not someone you screw with.
 * Badass Spaniard: Word of God says she's Latina.
 * Battle Couple: With Shepard in the first and third game if romanced.
 * Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Male Shepard in the second and third games, if romanced in the first.
 * The Big Girl: Class 4. Fairly boisterous personality, and only surpassed in straight-up combat effectiveness if Shepard him/herself is a Soldier.
 * Big Sister Instinct: Part of her back-story involves her taking a leave of absence from the Alliance to help her little sister deal with an overly clingy boyfriend.
 * Boisterous Bruiser
 * Brutal Honesty: One consistent trait about Ashley is that she never bites her tongue when voicing her opinion.
 * Bruiser With a Soft Center
 * Clingy Jealous Girl: A mild case; she feels threatened by Liara's relationship with Shepard.
 * Covert Pervert: Pops up if you romance her in the first game. Along with the A Date With Rosie Palms entry, she'll mention that Commander Shepard has a great ass. Twice.
 * Seems to be a family trait. Her sisters comment on Male Shepard being cute in the first game, with Ashley turning around and realising that Shepard is standing right there
 * Seems to be a family trait. Her sisters comment on Male Shepard being cute in the first game, with Ashley turning around and realising that Shepard is standing right there

Shepard: 'Fraid I did.

Ashley: *Mortified* Shoot me now."

"Ashley: If you expect to get me in a tinfoil mini-skirt and thigh-high boots, I want dinner first... Sir!"
 * Cool Big Sis: Acts as one to her younger sisters.
 * Cultured Warrior: Hey, just because she can drill you between the eyes at four hundred meters doesn't mean she can't like poetry. She even tries to romance Shepard with it.
 * Date Rape Averted: During one of her Backstory conversations, she'll talk about how her Marine father taught all his daughters how to defend themselves. One foolish boy tried to put some unwanted moves on Ashley's younger sister. It didn't end well for him.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Despite being dedicated to following protocol, she's definitely isn't shy about sassing Shepard.
 * Determinator: Due to her grandfather being the only human to surrender to alien forces, the entire military hates her and assigns her to the lowest and most degrading posts they can. Despite this, she signed up for the Alliance anyway to help redeem her family name.
 * Shepard notes in the third game that the very first time they met Ash she had just seen her entire platoon wiped out by geth and instead of laying down and giving up, her response was to pick up her gun and kept firing. Shepard implies that if they hadn't shown up, she would have likely continued to do so even if it meant she had to defend the colony by herself.
 * Did I Say That Out Loud: Pops up several times if Shepard is in a romance with her.

"Ashley: I'm no fan of aliens, but Cerberus has a habit of being... extreme."
 * Drink Order: To cope with the impending Reaper attack, James gives her a bottle of alcohol. She drinks the whole bottle.
 * Dying Declaration of Love: Averted. If you romance her, she refuses to say "I love you" until both of you come out of the endgame alive.
 * Even Bigots Have Standards: She invokes this in Mass Effect 2 to rebuke Shepard' offer of working with Cerberus.

"Ashley: Just shut up and kiss me."
 * Family Honor: The driving force behind her service in the Alliance military.
 * Fan Girl: Mildly towards Shepard if s/he has the War Hero background.
 * Fan Service Pack: In the third game, it seems that her promotion included a boob job or six, which has led to the amusing meme 'brb, Virmire'.
 * Including the lingerie she wears in the romance scene with Shepard. That definitely can't be regulation military issue. Might be a perk of being a Spectre, though...
 * Fantastic Racism: A surprisingly nuanced version of this -- she doesn't trust aliens and has issues with turians in particular because her grandfather was the commander at the garrison at Shanxi, who was also the only human commander to ever surrender to alien forces. As a result, the Williams name is something of a curse, and Ashley suffers for it. Whether this comes across as a sympathetic Freudian Excuse or petty blame-shifting on her part is down to the player.
 * The logical (and Real Life) reasoning behind this is that she overcompensates distrust of aliens because as a Williams, she is already under (unfair) scrutiny for being an alien-sympathizer or not pro-human enough. Similar in concept to Armored Closet Gay except a much milder case that the player can help persuade her out of. It's important to note that even if she doesn't trust aliens, she vehemently criticizes the Terra Firma party for its blatant racism.
 * She also expresses sympathy for Tali the instant she hears how the Council shafted the quarians after the geth went rogue. Tali is also the only alien whose presence on the ship she doesn't object to. It appears that her beef is mainly with the Council races. Furthermore, if she is romanced in 1 but left for Tali in 3, she takes it fairly well. If Shepard cheats on her with Miranda or Jack on the other hand, she gets pretty mad.
 * Her issue with Liara is mostly as a romantic rival. She will urge Shepard to speak to her after s/he kills her mother, Benezia.
 * Given that her grandfather was branded The Quisling by Humanity for doing something so heinous as surrendering in order to save civilians, its entirely possible that simply has trust issues and doesn't trust anyone. Given her reaction to Shepard being involved with Cerberus in the second game and the fact she takes a long time to trust them again in the third, this might be the case. Ashley doesn't hate aliens, she just doesn't trust them to not let her down.
 * This also fits with her being religious. So far, her faith in God is because they are the only person who hasn't let her down.
 * This trait seems to be completely gone by 3, replaced with a distrust of Shepard because s/he was working with Cerberus.
 * First Girl Wins: If romanced.
 * Friendly Sniper: She can use sniper rifles, though cutscenes always show her wielding assault rifles.
 * Good Looking Privates
 * Good Old Fisticuffs: Her sisters know fencing and aikido. Ashley knows Marine hand-to-hand and admits that she's "more or less a straight-up puncher".
 * Hero Worshipper: To Shepard with the War Hero background.
 * She angrily berates a colonist in ME2 who insults Shepard, declaring that they're in the presence of a god.
 * Hidden Depths: Her views on human/alien interaction actually delve much deeper than simple racism. While she has trust issues, her views fall more along the line of "we shouldn't become too dependent on them."
 * Highly-Conspicuous Uniform: Her default armor in the first game is white and pink. Pink.
 * Hot Amazon: Especially her redesign for Mass Effect 3.
 * Improbable Age: Supplementary material says she's 25 in the first game, which is really pushing the suspension of disbelief if she's a senior NCO.
 * Truth in Television: During war, you'd be shocked how fast and far someone can advance in rank.
 * In the Back: She'll kill  this way if you take too long
 * In the Blood
 * I Uh You Too: She and Shepard do this. They "want each other to be happy".
 * Knight in Sour Armor
 * The Knights Who Say Squee: If Shepard has the War Hero background, she has a little hero worship at the start of the first game.
 * Les Yay: A decent amount with a female Shepard left over from when she was meant to be a Gay Option. Then the second game takes it even further.
 * Letting Her Hair Down: As of Mass Effect 3.
 * Locked Out of the Loop: One of the main reasons why . Shepard seems to be the only one to think it might be a good idea for her to know what the hell is going on. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late. At least until the third game.
 * Majorly Awesome: Or rather the Alliance Navy equivalent, Lieutenant Commander, by Mass Effect 3.
 * Military Brat: Ash is pretty quick to let you know that she's the fourth generation of Williams to be in the military.
 * Mutually Exclusive Party Members: With.
 * Noble Bigot With a Badge: Obviously, her views are influenced by her family's Dark and Troubled Past, but she believes that alien races are just as susceptible to Fantastic Racism as humans are (which may not be inaccurate) and that humans should be prepared to go it alone. In any event, she still has concrete standards (namely loathing for the direction the more racist Terra Firma party has gone, and an absolute refusal to work with Cerberus due to their terrorist activities). She also works well with all teammates, human and otherwise, in the field.
 * Optional Party Member: In the third game, after
 * Overranked Soldier: As mentioned previously, Gunnery Sergeant is a somewhat implausible rank for a 25-year old woman to hold especially when she faces the kind of stigma that Ashley holds during a time of relative peace (i.e. before the Geth attack on Eden Prime). Somehow, in the space of 2 and a bit years between Mass Effect and Mass Effect 3, she is able to earn a commission and be promoted to Lieutenant Commander, a rank that normally takes many years to earn even for people who began their careers as young Ensigns.
 * Overshadowed by Shepard: Much like Garrus, she is an extreme badass and a fine leader . But when Shepard is around, there's no doubt who's the boss, or why.
 * Exemplified if Shepard is the one to kill, at which point s/he immediately takes total charge of the situation.
 * Peek-a-Bangs: Replaces her Prim and Proper Bun in Mass Effect 3.
 * Pet the Dog: If you talk to her after the Noveria mission she'll tell Shepard to go comfort Liara . She also expresses a hope that having Tali be on their team will improve people's views of quarians during one of the game's many long elevator rides. As well, she takes the Virmire assignment of leading an assault force of salarians without complaint. In fact, the salarians come out of it with nothing but respect for her (especially if she doesn't survive).
 * Pink Means Feminine: Argubly subverted.
 * Prim and Proper Bun: In the first two games, although Ashley herself is hardly prim and proper.
 * Properly Paranoid: Ashley does not trust the Council because she feels if push comes to shove, they will put the good of their own races ahead of humans. Come the second game, her misgivings were proven right.
 * Real Women Don't Wear Dresses: Arguably a subversion. She's an undeniable badass and certainly never seen wearing a dress in the games, but when Shepard mentions that he can't see her in a dress, the way she hesitates (Damn... right... you can't!) implies she thinks she's supposed to be this way. If you pursue a relationship with her, she's also revealed to be a romantic at heart, while still keeping up appearances of being a hardass.
 * Should Shepard cheat on her with Miranda in the second game, she angrily notes that when she goes into battle its in armour, not swim-wear.
 * Which is hypocritically hilarious if you use the alternative outfit for Ashley in combat (which is her skin-tight leather suit).
 * Real Women Love Jesus: Maybe. It's left deliberately ambigious what religious denomination she belongs to, save for that it's monotheistic.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: To Kaidan's Blue Oni.
 * Redemption Equals Death: Potentially discussed; after learning about her family's backstory, Shepard can express concern that she hopes for an opportunity to fall on her proverbial sword in order to redeem her family name.
 * Not to mention news reports from the second game:
 * Religious Bruiser: "Hey, if they're trying to find God, I'd be happy to speed them on their way."
 * Semper Fi
 * She Cleans Up Nicely: Recent Mass Effect 3 scans are showing this for Ashley in her civvies.
 * Shoot the Dog:
 * Shout Out: Her name is a reference to Evil Dead's protagonist. During the Virmire stage, she can also make a comment about her "boomstick."
 * She also romances Shepard with by quoting Walt Whitman (AKA Dead Poets Society).
 * Shut Up Kiss: Invoked in the third game if the romance was continued.
 * Shout Out: Her name is a reference to Evil Dead's protagonist. During the Virmire stage, she can also make a comment about her "boomstick."
 * She also romances Shepard with by quoting Walt Whitman (AKA Dead Poets Society).
 * Shut Up Kiss: Invoked in the third game if the romance was continued.

"Shepard: That's a pretty pessimistic way of looking at things, Chief.
 * Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids:

Ashley: A pessimist is what an optimist calls a realist."

"James: You know the Commander?
 * Space Marine
 * Star-Crossed Lovers: With male Shepard in the second game if romanced in the first.
 * Straw Civilian: Holds this view of non-military folk, particularly politicians. Granted, most of the time she seems to be right.
 * Survivors Guilt
 * Take That: She gives one to those who have a problem with people having religious beliefs.
 * The Unfair Sex: If romanced previously, Shepard calls her out on this attitude in 3, noting that if they chose to romance someone else in the second game, it was only because Ashley made her feelings abundantly clear on Horizon that they were over.
 * We Used to Be Friends: Basically has this with Shepard in Mass Effect 2, which carries over to Mass Effect 3.

Ashley: I used to."


 * What the Hell, Hero?:
 * Violently Protective Girlfriend: Comes into play if you romance her, especially if she
 * The Worf Effect: She gets beaten to a bloody pulp by Eva Core at the beginning of Mass Effect 3, which leaves her hospitalized for a third of the game.
 * On the other hand, she did go hand to hand with a highly advanced mech, who proceeded to repeatedly smashed her head against a shuttle, likely instantly knocking her out. Unlike Shepard, Ash hasn't got a reinforced bone structure which allows them to headbutt a Krogan.
 * On the other hand, she did go hand to hand with a highly advanced mech, who proceeded to repeatedly smashed her head against a shuttle, likely instantly knocking her out. Unlike Shepard, Ash hasn't got a reinforced bone structure which allows them to headbutt a Krogan.

Garrus Vakarian
""Fighting a rogue Spectre with countless lives at stake and no regulations to get in the way? I'd say that beats C-Sec.""

"Voiced by: Brandon Keener"

A turian C-Sec officer who joins Shepard's team after becoming dissatisfied with regulations at C-Sec. Specializes in technology and long-range combat. Rejoins Shepard as a squadmate in Mass Effect 2. Fan demand made him a love interest for the female Shepard. He returns as a squad member in Mass Effect 3, provided he survived the second game.

"Garrus: It's so much easier to see the universe in black and white. Gray? ...I don't know what to do with gray."
 * Adorkable: In his romance with female Shepard. First he agrees to Shepard's offer of casual sex, but each time you talk to him after that he's increasingly awkward, worrying about all the ways their Interspecies Romance could crash and burn. By the time he shows up in Shepard's quarters, he's babbling from nerves. Finally he confesses it's because he feels like Shepard is the only real friend he's got left, and after all his failures, he wants their relationship to be something that finally goes right.
 * Come Mass Effect 3, he's not as nervous around her if she continues to see him.
 * Though he can be similarly adorkable if
 * Alien Blood: After
 * Always Someone Better: It's heavily implied that Garrus feels somewhat inferior when compared to Shepard.
 * Shepard can intentionally miss during a bottle shooting match in the third game. The look on Garrus' face that he's a better shot than Shepard speaks of how much of a win this is for him.
 * Anti-Hero: Although friendly to his squadmates, his actions place him firmly in Type III territory on the Sliding Scale. Renegade Shepard can influence him to Jump Off the Slippery Slope to Type IV.
 * Although by the third game, he seems have gotten quite a bit softer regardless. It might even be safe to label him as a Type II by that point.
 * Asskicking Equals Authority: In the third game, he's one of the highest ranking officers in the entire turian military due to his prior experience fighting Reapers. Partly justified as the turian military (and turian society in general) is a self-described meritocracy and they don't have nearly as much problem rapidly promoting people as humans do.
 * Babies Ever After: If he's romanced, during the final conversation with him in Mass Effect 3, he brings up the possibility of finding out "what a turian-human baby looks like" after everything's over. Shepard can either agree with him and suggest adoption (Garrus points out that there's going to be a lot of krogan babies once the Reaper war is over) or claim that they'd be terrible parents ("I think two trained killers are enough for one family").
 * Badass: Anyone capable of defending themself against three different mercenary groups all at the same time for more than a day is undeniably badass. Basically, in the time between Mass Effect 1 & 2, he became the turian's answer to Frank Castle.
 * To paraphrase Joker, Garrus removed the stick from his ass, and now he's using it to club people to death.
 * Bash Brothers / Battle Couple: As Shepard puts it, "If I'm walking through hell, I want someone I can trust by my side."
 * "I hope you're aware that this plan has me walking through hell too."
 * "There's no Shepard without Vakarian."
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Garrus is generally a nice guy, if bitter about C-Sec and his own failings... but get him angry and he'll go commando on your ass.
 * Bizarre Alien Biology: Turians are one of only two known species (the other being quarians) that have a dextro-amino acid based biology. As such, they can't consume any food or drink made for levo-amino acid biologies (humans, asari, salarians, krogans, etc.) without, at the least, not getting any nourishment from it; or at the most, having a fatal allergic reaction.
 * Black and White Morality: Garrus prefers to see the world like this. Unlike Samara, he's willing to give mercy a chance if Shepard persuades him to.

"Garrus: That's unfortunate. Hospitals aren't very much fun to fight through.
 * Breakout Character: Like Tali, he becomes far more plot relevant and fleshed out in the sequel, in addition to being a Love Interest.
 * In 3 Garrus, along with Liara, also has the most conversations/interactions with Shepard. Keep in mind, this is done despite the fact that Garrus could actually be dead in the player's import.
 * Byronic Hero: In the sequel, after he's been put through hell on Omega. Depending on the player's actions, he can fall further into this trope or start to be pulled out of it.
 * Catch Phrase: "Just like old times..." Being one of only two squadmates that have been full-time in all three games, he's prone to saying this. Usually in a casual manner about some danger or other.
 * Character Development: Paragon Shepard can help him undergo a surprising amount of this, with Garrus slowly coming to realize that regulations and safety precautions, while sometimes obstructive, are often there for very good reasons.  Or, if Renegade, you can encourage his Cowboy Cop tendencies and have him   Unfortunately, he seems to backpedal between games if you've encouraged him to work within the system -- which makes sense, considering
 * The irony here is that Garrus' Cowboy Cop tendencies would have made him right at home in post-ME1 C-Sec. He muses at Captain Bailey's cutting through red tape and encouraging of beating suspects, "Things have changed around here."
 * Cold Sniper / Friendly Sniper: Ruthless when scopin' and droppin' but very friendly outside of battle.
 * Continuity Nod: Only a minor one, but Garrus says after ending a conversation with him, "I'll be here if you need me" or "Need me for something?" . This is one of his general lines when on a mission from the first game.
 * The third game also has multiple references to Garrus and his calibrations.
 * Cowboy Cop: Deconstructed in that he has to leave C-Sec in order to indulge his Cowboy Cop urges; just like in real life, actual police forces would not tolerate Cowboy Cops. Deconstruction is taken further in Mass Effect 2, where he is now a vigilante bordering on Knight Templar whose actions have resulted in multiple mercenary gangs teaming up to kill him. And even still, he notices that his work still hasn't changed very much at all.
 * The Cowl: As Archangel, befitting his role as the Mass Effect universe's very own "Space-Batman".
 * Cultural Rebel: Garrus frequently displays this, being relatively lax compared to most Turians when it comes to bending the rules and also recognising that following military protocol is not always the best course of action, particularly when it prevents him from helping people.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Probably the most sarcastic character next to Joker:

Shepard: Garrus, what is fun to fight through?

Garrus: Gardens, electronic shops. Antique stores, but only if they're classy."

"Shepard: There's no Shepard without Vakarian."
 * Death By Irony: The Shadow Broker's dossier on Garrus reveals that he is a fan of dishing out these types of deaths to criminals. This includes shooting a weapon smuggler in the head with one of his own smuggled weapons, and coughing on a quarian virus specialist turned serial killer.
 * Death Faked for You: After you recruit him on Omega (and kill a metric crapton of mercs to do it), the mercs spread rumors that he died in the battle and Garrus is happy to accept them. They pretty much had to, because the true story of Garrus and Shepard's team completely owning all of them would have destroyed their reputation.
 * It could also be that the mercs are pretty sure he died when
 * Determinator: Held out against a band of three mercenary companies single-handedly for over a day.
 * Everyone Can See It: Kelly and Kasumi comment on how Garrus and female Shepard would make a good couple.
 * Fan Nickname: Space Batman, considering his vigilante actions in ME 2.
 * There's also GARrus
 * Foil: To Paragon Shepard, where he essentially takes on the role of the "Batman" to Shepard's "Superman".
 * Friends With Benefits:
 * His romance with female Shepard starts out this way--Shepard suggests they have casual sex "to blow off steam" and Garrus, after a moment of shock, agrees. As things progress the relationship becomes more emotional, but the dialogue is never quite overtly romantic.
 * In Mass Effect 3, they can receive a full Relationship Upgrade if you romanced him in ME2 and don't choose to break up with him.
 * Get a Room: His reaction to Tali and Shepard flirting while on board a geth dreadnought.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: Put a few clues together and you'll figure out one of the pieces on Garrus's visor soundtrack is from an in-universe porn movie.
 * Glass Cannon: Garrus can put out a lot of pain from an extreme distance, but for one of your "combat" characters, he is relatively fragile.
 * Good Scars, Evil Scars: Gains some shortly into Mass Effect 2 after getting a rocket to the face; on a human face, his would definitely look like evil scars, although he's a good character.
 * Gut Feeling: Garrus often trusts these, which lends even more to his Cowboy Cop status.
 * Headbutt of Love: Since turian mouths are structured very differently from humans and fluid exchange can lead to anaphylactic shock, this is how he shows affection for female Shepard during their romance scene.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners/ Platonic Life Partners: With Male Shepard and Female Shepard (if not romanced), respectively.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners/ Platonic Life Partners: With Male Shepard and Female Shepard (if not romanced), respectively.

"Garrus: You know me. I always like to savor the last shot before popping the heat sink (Beat) Wait, that metaphor went somewhere horrible."
 * With any Shepard who didn't romance him, after a poignant bonding moment in the third game he sarcastically wonders if Shepard is going to propose. This happens to be the same moment in which, with a romancing Shepard, he does propose.
 * He Who Fights Monsters: Lets his obsession with revenge get away with him in the second game; you can choose whether to stop him or encourage him.
 * Hey It's That Voice: Company of Heroes players will be unsurprised by his sniper skill, since he was an American one there.
 * : Gives one to Shepard in 3 if they're in a romance during their Citadel outing. And it's just as beautiful as you would expect.
 * Honor Before Reason: He often obsesses with seeing villains get their just desserts, regardless of whether pursuing them is the wisest course of action. He wrestles with himself over whether it's because of his pride, or because of his values in justice. If you take him down the Paragon path, he admits it was his pride that wanted him to hunt down Dr. "Heart" more than it was to seek justice.
 * Hoist By His Own Petard: Performs this for many of his targets as Archangel. For ordinary criminals he just executes them via bullet to the head, but for special criminals he uses special means, e.g. damaging a saboteur's environmental suit so that it kills him by suffocation, killing a weapons smuggler with his own smuggled weapons, killing a drug dealer by giving him an overdose of his own drugs, and a quarian viral specialist serial killer with a cough. The only criminal he breaks this pattern for is a slaver, whom he set ablaze, fractured the face with his rifle butt, and shot multiple times in every limb and primary organ. Though if the target was a Krogan (and the use of the term "primary organ" suggests that he was), this may have been barely enough.
 * Hurting Hero: In the sequel; especially pronounced when pursuing a romance with him. Gets turned Up to Eleven in the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC, where a dossier on him reveals  Liara says to Shepard that she's giving him peace.
 * Although its also revealed that
 * In Mass Effect 3 it gets worse, due to . He worries constantly about his dad and sister during the course of the game, even praying for their safety at one point.
 * If It's FemShep, It's Okay: Subversion of the Interspecies Romance kind. Garrus doesn't have a fetish for humans... just female Shepard. In that case, "Yeah... definitely."
 * If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him: Used in a sidequest and potentially subverted. Though it's less about killing them, more about not being obsessed with killing them to self-destructive levels.
 * I Never Knew You Had A Weakness For Men With Scars, Shepard: He's very surprised to hear that female Shepard is interested in him as a romance option. He doesn't mind as long as they can work things out, though.
 * Innocent Bigot: In the first game he'll make some unprovoked and offensive racial comments to Wrex (essentially telling him he's a credit to his species) and Tali (blaming the quarians for unleashing the geth on the galaxy). Gets better in the sequel, possibly on account of working with Shepard's team and then his own multi-race squad on Omega. By ME3, he's clearly very close friends with both Tali and Wrex, and even apologizes to Tali for that three-year-old comment.
 * Interplay of Sex and Violence: More than one way to work off stress, I guess.
 * In the Blood
 * It Got Worse: In the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC for Mass Effect 2, a file on him reveals
 * It's All My Fault: In Mass Effect 2, he blames himself for the death of his squad and feels he has to kill the traitor to avenge them. And according to turian culture, it is his fault -- if someone is placed into a position they weren't qualified for, the stigma is on the guy who put them there.
 * Knight in Sour Armor: In the second game he's become like this. He's frighteningly devoted to his ideals, but expresses a lot of disappointment about how little he's changed things for most of Omega's residents.
 * The Lancer: Promoted to Lancer in the sequel. Aside from Miranda and Jacob he is the second to Shepard.
 * Also, on the final mission he always does well when assigned to command the backup; both Fire Teams are good assignments, and he's as good as Grunt when it's time to Hold the Line.
 * Back in the role again in 3, sharing with Ashley/Kaidan this time.
 * Let's Wait Awhile:

"Legion: Telemetry indicates that the calibration of Normandy's weapon accuracy could be increased by .32%.
 * Lost Forever: If you don't recruit him in Mass Effect, not only is he gone for the game if you wait too long, but you can't romance him in Mass Effect 2.
 * And if you don't romance him in 2, you can't start a new one in 3.
 * Made of Iron: The guy survives being shot by a gunship only a few meters away. And after the battle and a short rest in the sick bay he's able to get up and laugh when Shepard jokes about his new scars.
 * Magnetic Hero: As Archangel.
 * Mark of Shame: Bears this after Sidonis backstabbed him and gets hit with a gunship barrage...it applies to both his armor and face.
 * The McCoy
 * Memetic Badass: In-universe is considered one on Omega as "Archangel".
 * His skill with calibrations is also considered legendary, to the point where he even manages to beat Legion in improving the Normandy's Thanix cannon, something that Legion deemed impossible.

Garrus: You couldn't squeeze .34% out of it?

Legion: Negative. That threshold is impossible.

Garrus: You sure? Take a look now.

Legion: Scanning. Normandy's weapon systems have been improved by .43%. How did you accomplish this?"

"Tali: She got you turian chocolate?
 * Morality Chain: Paragon Shepard acts as one for Garrus, preventing him from going too far into Knight Templar territory and becoming like the very criminals he so despises. Its heavily implied that Garrus is very aware of this.
 * My Greatest Failure: Sidonis. Turian culture places the stigma of a failure not on the individual, but on whoever put that individual in the position they weren't ready to handle. As a result, Garrus feels he is as guilty as Sidonis for the betrayal.
 * My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Admits that he's not a very good Turian.
 * Mythology Gag: In ME3, everyone gives Garrus a hard time about his calibrations.
 * Noodle Incident: There were rumors during his Archangel days that he killed three men with one bullet. When asked, Garrus insists he can't claim that honestly: the third merc died from a heart attack.
 * Number Two: By ME2, he's pretty much Shepard's right-hand man (even if unofficially) and probably the most trusted fellow soldier and combatant. This continues into ME3 if he's still alive.
 * Oblivious to Love: It becomes a minor running gag that he's completely unaware that Dr. Michel has a major crush on him.

Garrus: She said she saw it and thought of me... why?

Tali: *snickers* Oh, nothing.../(to a female Shepard romancing him): Watch yourself, Shepard."

"Garrus: I'm Garrus Vakarian and this is now my favourite spot on the Citadel!"
 * Oh Crap: Garrus explicitly says this when seeing two heavy mechs being airdropped and when seeing the elevator bomb on Sur'Kesh.
 * One-Hit Polykill: When asked if he really killed 3 guys with one shot during his days as Archangel, he denies it. The third guy had a heart attack.
 * One-Man Army: Held off three mercenary companies single-handedly as Archangel.
 * Only Known By Their Nickname: Archangel is a nickname Omega's residents gave him for his good deeds.
 * Optional Party Member: You can complete the first game without him.
 * Overshadowed By Awesome: Garrus is basically Paragade Shepard... except he's not the main character.
 * Even the Shadow Broker knows this - his file on Garrus notes the turian's excellent leadership skills, with the note that he's unlikely to develop to his full potential if he stays in Shepard's shadow.
 * As of Mass Effect 3 he seems to finally come out from Shepard's shadow and into his own. The turian hierarchy's put him in charge of a special Reaper Task Force and during the course of the game, he's seen playing leadership roles to turian soldiers and refugees. Shepard him/herself notes that s/he's seen multiple turian generals saluting him and can ask him about his rank and what he thinks about becoming Primarch someday (Garrus is not crazy about the idea).
 * Shepard can intentionally miss while shooting bottles with him on the Citadel, leading to Garrus gloating like a madman that he's a better shot than Shepard and triumphantly declaring;

"Joker: What's the hard part about treating a turian who took a rocket to the face?
 * Red Baron: 'Archangel'.
 * Relationship Upgrade: Potentially with Female Shepard in the second game. In the third game, they either break up or get another relationship upgrade, from Friends With Benefits to a committed monogamous relationship.
 * Sarcastic Devotee: Second only to Joker.
 * Scars Are Forever: Even with advanced medical technology, he's still got the scars he received from the gunship when you meet up with him in ME3, six months later. However, a side conversation with Dr. Chakwas suggests that this is his choice, as she thinks he likes them.
 * Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: In spades.
 * Self-Deprecation: Swaps jokes about humans and turians with Joker afew times.
 * Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: In spades.
 * Self-Deprecation: Swaps jokes about humans and turians with Joker afew times.

Garrus: Figuring out which side took the rocket."

"Kelly Chambers: You two would make such a cute couple!"
 * Shutting Up Now: In Mass Effect 2, he pokes fun at Tali over the things she revealed in the elevators in the first game, then basically has this response when she threatens him with a shotgun.
 * Sir Not Appearing in This Trailer: He was never officially confirmed to be a squad member in Mass Effect 2 -- all the promotional shots of him focused on the meeting with him on Omega. As of November 2010, he still doesn't have a bio on the ME2 site.
 * Space Police
 * Stupid Sexy Flanders: Because of his Adorkability and GAR factors, he commands a relatively sizable shipping following even among straight male fans of the series.
 * Sure Why Not: Fan demand got him upgraded to a love interest in Mass Effect 2. He even uses a way of showing affection common in many GarrusxFemShep fics. Probably because bodily fluid exchange could cause one of them to go into shock, as Mordin points out.

"Shepard: You can't predict how people will react, Garrus. But you can control how you will respond. In the end, thats what really matters."
 * Tron Lines: The alternate appearance pack gives him these (as well as fixing the gash in his armour).
 * Vigilante Man: As Archangel.
 * Undying Loyalty: There is probably NO ONE that Shepard can trust to have his/her back more in a firefight than Garrus. No matter what Shepard does, Garrus will always be willing to follow him/her to hell and back.
 * We Help the Helpless: How he describes his unit's actions on Omega in Mass Effect 2.
 * "Well Done, Son" Guy: He joined C-Sec instead of pursuing membership in the Spectres because of his father.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: He gives this reaction if you allow the Council to die at the end of ME1 and he is in your party, although it depends who the other party member is.
 * If you  in 3, you have the opportunity to confess what you did to him. He wearily admits that he *would* have chewed you out for it a few years ago, but with everything going to hell he might have done the same thing himself.
 * What Would Shepard Do?
 * The Woobie: In universe example. Kelly Chambers says that she just wants to give him a hug and tell him it will be OK. D'awwwwwwwwww.
 * You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Paragon Shepard invokes this during the first game when Garrus wants to show no mercy to Saren for being a traitor. Shepard rebukes him, stating that when they confront Saren, they will give him the chance to return to face justice first and only shoot him if they are left with no other choice.
 * This also occurs in the mission to track down Dr Saleon. Garrus is in favour of just outright shooting him, whereas Shepard points out that he will again be brought before a court of law. When they are forced to shoot Saleon, Garrus bitterly points out how pointless mercy was, causing Shepard to point out;


 * During his loyalty mission in the second game, Paragon Shepard can stop him from shooting Harkin and Sidonis, noting that this isn't like Garrus and that his mission for revenge is going too far and turning him into one of the criminals he so despises.

Lieutenant/Staff Commander/Major Kaidan Alenko
""We finally get out here and the 'final frontier' was already settled. And the residents don't even seem impressed by the view. Or the dangers.""

"Voiced by: Raphael Sbarge"

A human biotic Sentinel Marine in the Systems Alliance military who specializes in technology and biotic support powers. One of two possible romance interests for a female Shepard. Returns as a party member and romance option in Mass Effect 3 if he survived the first game.

"Kaidan: I just don't want you to think that I'm, you know...a whiner."
 * Actor Allusion: Kaidan's voice actor is the same as Carth Onasi's.

""After what I saw down there, I have never been more filled with rage.""
 * Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny: Kaidan is prone to the occasional non sequitur and odd, childlike observation.
 * Badass: He's both a biotic and a tech user. He can snap your neck with his mind or cause a synthetic to explode into a pile of useless scrap. He's also the strongest human biotic we know about besides Jack and biotic!Shepard.
 * Berserk Button: Don't threaten his boy/girlfriend. Necks will snap.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: For a really easy-going and nice guy, he can break your neck with a single powerful biotic blast, and is adept at making your weapons blow up in your face.
 * Biotic Training Of Horrors / Training From Hell: In his backstory.
 * Bi the Way: He can only be romanced by a female Shepard in the first game, but he can be romanced by a Shepard of either gender in the third.
 * Blessed With Suck: His L2 implants give him more oomph than the average biotic running the stabler and safer L3s, but he has to deal with frequent migraines. And he's one of the luckier ones in terms of side effects.
 * Blue Oni: To Ashley's Red Oni.
 * Canada, Eh?: His parents come from Vancouver.
 * Character Development:
 * In the first game, he takes a bit of convincing to loosen up and let himself go more often. Come the third, he has to convince 'you'' to take a "sanity check" with him on the Citadel.
 * He completely writes off Cerberus as a terrorist organization in 2, seeing Shepard working with them as a betrayal. In 3, after the mission with ex-Cerberus scientist Dr. Cole, he asks Shepard if the people in Cerberus were good people, and if the Illusive Man was a good person before he was now.
 * Covert Pervert: He's surprisingly knowledgeble about extranet fetish sites, approves of once the shock wears off, doesn't think he would survive an encounter with an Ardat-Yakshi and is caught staring at Diana Allers.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Not as apparent as the others tend to be, but he has his moments.
 * First Guy Wins: If romanced.
 * Flawed Prototype: Kaidan's biotic amplifier implants are L2, a model series that was made before humanity really knew what it was doing when it came to biotics. He suffers migranes... and he's one of the lucky L2s.
 * Gay Option: In the third game.
 * Good Looking Privates: Estrogen Brigade Bait. Say hello to the game's Love Interest for the female PC and male PC in ME3.
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Raphael Sbarge, who also played Carth in Knights of the Old Republic and Scorch in Republic Commando.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: If not romanced with Male Shepard. Shepard even calls Kaidan a brother to him.
 * Ho Yay: With male Shepard. A ton. In the first game it was mostly left over from when he was meant to be a full-fleged Gay Option. The second game managed to take it Up to Eleven even though he only had two scenes. The third game made it canon.
 * Locked Out of the Loop: One of the main reasons why  Shepard seems to be the only one to think it might be a good idea for him to know what the hell is going on. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late. At least until the third game.
 * Magikarp Power: He starts weak, but with high levels, no other party member even comes close to competing with him for sheer versatility.
 * Majorly Awesome: He's reached this rank in 3.
 * Master of None: The reasoning behind some fans' dislike for him. Even though he does become more versatile as time goes on and his array of support powers grows, he can never match any of his teammates in terms of combat power.
 * The Medic: Kaidan is the only squadmate to get the medicine talent, which decreases the recharge time on the first aid talent.
 * Military Brat: Not as prominent as with Ash, but still part of his background.
 * Mind Over Matter
 * Mr. Fanservice: It bears repeating. That voice.
 * Fan Disservice: In Mass Effect 3 you get to see plenty of shirtless Kaidan--
 * Female Gaze / Eating the Eye Candy: A romanced Shepard takes a good, long look at his rear as they return to the Normandy in 3. This took no time at all to go memetic.
 * Mutually Exclusive Party Members: With.
 * Officer and A Gentleman: He's polite, open-minded, and keeps strict control over himself and his biotic abilities. And he can kick your ass.
 * Optional Party Member: After
 * Perma Stubble: In 3.
 * Nice Guy
 * Real Men Wear Pink: If he survived the first game and Liara wasn't romanced, the second game's opening alarmingly shows him wearing the legendary Phoenix armor.
 * The Red Mage: Kaidan uses both biotic and engineer powers.
 * Semper Fi: A special operative, like all biotics, but still a Marine.
 * Space Marine
 * Star-Crossed Lovers: With female Shepard in the second game if romanced in the first. With male Shepard in the third game.
 * Suddenly Sexuality: Like Anders in Dragon Age II, Kaidan will make advances towards a male Shepard in Mass Effect 3 without even the slightest indication that he was interested in men beforehand.
 * Took a Level In Badass: In ME3.
 * Tranquil Fury: After the mission on Horizon, where, Kaidan's seething hatred of the Illusive Man manifests itself in him very calmly wanting to rip the man in half.
 * Star-Crossed Lovers: With female Shepard in the second game if romanced in the first. With male Shepard in the third game.
 * Suddenly Sexuality: Like Anders in Dragon Age II, Kaidan will make advances towards a male Shepard in Mass Effect 3 without even the slightest indication that he was interested in men beforehand.
 * Took a Level In Badass: In ME3.
 * Tranquil Fury: After the mission on Horizon, where, Kaidan's seething hatred of the Illusive Man manifests itself in him very calmly wanting to rip the man in half.

"James: You know the Commander?
 * We Used to Be Friends: Basically has this with Shepard in 2, carrying over into 3.

Kaidan: I used to."


 * What the Hell, Hero?: He's got some things to say about
 * In the first game,
 * In the third game,
 * The Worf Effect: He gets beaten to a bloody pulp by Eva Core at the beginning of Mass Effect 3, which leaves him hospitalized for a third of the game.
 * The Worf Effect: He gets beaten to a bloody pulp by Eva Core at the beginning of Mass Effect 3, which leaves him hospitalized for a third of the game.

Dr. Liara T'Soni/
""You were marked by the beacon on Eden Prime - you were touched by working Prothean technology. That is why I find you so fascinating.""

"Voiced by: Ali Hillis"

An asari scientist and expert on the Protheans who joins Shepard's team after being attacked by the geth. Also a powerful biotic with powers that can only be matched by an Adept Shepard. Possible romance interest for a Shepard of either gender. One of the few characters who can join your party in all three games, being permanent in 1 and 3, and available in 2 via DLC.

"Liara: Our travels now are somewhat different from my normal excavations. I would prefer lengthier studies... and fewer explosions.
 * Abnormal Ammo: Her new power for the third game is Warp Ammo.
 * Action Girl
 * Adorkable: Easily flustered because she's use to spending time alone and not around groups of people.
 * Adventurer Archaeologist, but not by her own choice. She occasionally makes references to encounters with pirate gangs and hostile wildlife in unexplored systems.

Wrex: It's good for you. A nice explosion now and then keeps the mind sharp."

"Liara: So, tell me what you want. If this all ends tomorrow, what happens to us?
 * Adrenaline Makeover: Compare Liara when you meet her in Mass Effect to Liara by the end of Lair of the Shadow Broker. Though of course whether the getting the guy/gal part gets played straight/averted/subverted/etc depends largely on the player's own choice.
 * Aggressive Submissive: "...how many times have you thrown him/her on the bed and peeled him/her out of his/her uniform?" Liara's father asks this about her and Shepard, and Liara tries to not make it sound so dirty.
 * Air Vent Escape: How she's reintroduced in 3. While being chased by a pair of Cerberus operatives.
 * All of the Other Reindeer: Due to being a "pureblood."
 * Anti-Hero: Type III in the sequel.
 * Softens up a least little in the third game. Like Garrus, she might even qualify as a Type II for that game.
 * Arbitrary Skepticism:
 * Aside Glance: Of gratitude when Shepard refuses to give her up to the krogan on Therum.
 * Attempted Rape: Twice in Redemption--a batarian and his cronies attempt to proposition/rape Liara. Both times they end up dead.
 * Babies Ever After: Alluded to during her romance scene in Lair of the Shadow Broker.

Shepard: I don't know. Marriage, old age, and a lot of little blue children?

Liara: You just say these things!"

"Kaidan: When was the last time you ate? Or slept?"
 * Badass Adorable
 * Badass Bookworm: For a girl who spends all of her time buried in her books, Liara is horribly deadly with her biotic powers.
 * How badass is she, you say? She's the only other character besides Adept!Shepard who can use Singularity, and her other biotic powers rival or even surpass Samara's, who is several centuries her senior. She's powerful enough that she can send a powerful biotic  with armed backup running for her life.
 * Hell, from her comments about looking after herself when encountering pirates and looters at Prothean dig sites, she seems to be the Space Indiana Jones.
 * Battle Aura: Uses her biotic glowyness to dissuade some enemies a few times.
 * Berserk Button: Harming Shepard.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Yet again. Liara's a very demure young asari who is entirely capable of turning an entire horde of geth into tinfoil with her brain. Ask  how seriously crossing her tends to go.
 * Doing a quest for her reveals that
 * Bi the Way: Sort of. Asari are a monogendered species, meaning they are all biologically female (can reproduce). However, they don't have any concept of gender divisions, and therefore can be equally attracted to any gender (or species, for that matter).
 * Bizarre Alien Biology: Asari reproduce by "melding", where they join their entire nervous system to their partner's and use the electrical impulses to randomize some of their own DNA for the offspring. Galactic science waffles on the subject, but it often turns out Lamarck Was Right - Aethyta had a krogan father, and notes that she seems to have "a bit of his mouth."
 * The asari are the setting's only known telepaths, and they use it as part of the mating process. It's not only logical that asari daughters take after their parents psychologically, it's almost inevitable given the depth of the melding.
 * Blue Skinned Space Babe
 * Break the Cutie:
 * Broken Pedestal:.
 * Came Back Wrong: One of Liara's fears regarding
 * Canada, Eh?: Mostly averted, but listen to Liara say 'Protheans'. It almost always comes out as 'Prootheans'.
 * Captain Obvious: During parts of Lair of the Shadow Broker. Frequently lampshaded by Shepard.
 * Character Development: In the first game, Liara T'Soni is a stuttering, bookish, nerdy girl.
 * Character Tic: Whenever something fascinates her, she adopts what could best be described as a standing up variation of the Thinker Pose.
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive: In the sequel, where she's somehow become an information broker despite no prior evidence that she had any skills in the field.
 * Still presented sympathetically given that she had to do this to succeed as an information broker.
 * Cutscene Incompetence / Cutscene Power to The Max: A really weird hybrid occurs when you first rescue her in Mass Effect 1. You're confronted directly by a Krogan Battlemaster and a small squad of Geth Shock Troopers after exiting the room you found her in via an elevator. In the cutscene right before the fight begins, you see her start glowing with a blue aura and balling her fists, which usually means she's about to unleash a biotic attack. Then the gameplay actually starts and she just cowers on the floor while the battlemaster charges you.
 * However she had been in a stasis field for a while by this point, so its possible she flared her biotics in an attempt to fight back but the strain of doing so was simply too exhausting. The Codex and 3 mention that biotics require a higher calorie intake to keep their abilities at full strength, whereas Liara can't even remember the last time she ate. It's safe to say she's not at her full strength during that scene.
 * A Day in The Limelight: Mass Effect: Redemption and Lair of the Shadow Broker.
 * Digging Yourself Deeper: In the first game, Liara's attempts to explain why she's so interested in you in purely scientific means leads to a series of flustered, ever-escalating double entendres.
 * Discount Lesbians
 * Distressed Damsel: You recruit her by rescuing her from a horde of bad guys, she doesn't fight once throughout the entire level, and she almost faints even after you've got her on the ship. Add this to her general naivete and she seems like the poster child for this trope. Then you actually take her into battle, and quickly realize that she can take care of herself.
 * It should be noted that when you rescue her, she's unarmed and fatigued from being held immobile for goodness knows how long. (If you save that mission for last, she thinks she's hallucinating Shepard's party.)
 * Discount Lesbians
 * Distressed Damsel: You recruit her by rescuing her from a horde of bad guys, she doesn't fight once throughout the entire level, and she almost faints even after you've got her on the ship. Add this to her general naivete and she seems like the poster child for this trope. Then you actually take her into battle, and quickly realize that she can take care of herself.
 * It should be noted that when you rescue her, she's unarmed and fatigued from being held immobile for goodness knows how long. (If you save that mission for last, she thinks she's hallucinating Shepard's party.)

"Liara: Incredible, the Beacon seems to think you are Prothean, Shepard. It must be from the Cipher you got back on Feros, all those years ago."
 * And she can't remember.
 * Double Tap: How she finishes off a pair of Cerberus operatives chasing her during her reintroduction in ME 3. After having already trapped them in a singularity and shot them center mass in mid-air.
 * Enemy Mine:
 * Failed a Spot Check: Notable if you bring  to Thessia.

"Liara: Xenobiology is not my field. Maybe someone in the labs knows."
 * Fling a Light Into The Future: Taking a cue out from the Protheans in 3 she plants several time capsules across many worlds to warn future species in the event that the Reapers aren't stopped. She even has a section devoted to the heroics of Shepard, and you can tell her how wish it told.
 * Go Mad From the Isolation: Liara seems to be on the brink of this in the first game if you decide to rescue her after the rest of the main story missions. By the time you get there, she's completely convinced you're a realistic hallucination. So, yes, all that time you spent flying around, she's been locked in stasis.
 * Guest Star Party Member: In Lair of the Shadow Broker.
 * Hannibal Lecture:.
 * Has Two Mommies: And the other mommy is an asari. Which is why she's shunned so much, as asari-asari relationships restrict genetic diversity ... and have a higher chance of causing genetic defects like the Ardat-Yakshi.
 * As seen in Bi the Way, ambiguously gendered asari are "female" in the eyes of every other race, possessing the same sex organs and characteristics as would be expected for mammalian females, though one asari serves as the "father," and upon meeting her, she doesn't know who her mother Matriarch Benezia's partner was.
 * Ultimately averted. Her "father" is . Even though Liaria's father is 'female,' she is very adamant that she is Liara's father, not her second mother. When Shepard mentions that humans would call her Liara's "other mother," Liara's father says "Well I'm not human, am I? Anthropocentric bag of dicks."
 * Hero Worshipper: Towards Shepard big-time.
 * In "Lair of the Shadow Broker", it's shown that her apartment is filled with souvenirs of her travels with Shepard from the first game, Prothean relics, a painting of Ilos, fragments of Shepard's N7 armour and a framed picture of the Normandy on her bedside cabinet.
 * In the third game, she programs a series of time-capsules to be sent across the galaxy in case the mission fails with one whole section of the archive devoted solely to tales of Shepard's exploits. If Shepard encourages her to be the one to decide how they will be remembered, she practically gushes over him/her.
 * Hidden Depths: "Lair of the Shadow Broker" features this in abundance.
 * Hot Blooded: Liara definitely comes across as this in the second and third game., her father, believes that this is because she's a quarter-krogan.
 * Hot Scientist
 * How Did You Know? I Didn't.: After, Shepard asks Liara how she knew that . She actually had no idea; she just made an educated guess on the spot.
 * In Universe Catharsis: "Lair of the Shadow Broker" provides closure for Liara's two years of mourning, grief and pain.
 * I Shall Taunt You: When confronting the Shadow Broker, she  Judging by the files on him,
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy:
 * If you have progressed far enough in the romance with Ashley or Kaidan by the time you get her romance dialogue, she admits she has a huge crush on Shepard but gracefully backs down, saying it is obvious Shepard already has strong feelings for Ashley/Kadian and that she doesn't want to come between them.
 * Also, in the second game, whether Shepard cheated on her or remained faithful to her, she will tell him/her that if s/he wants to move on, she can accept that and be happy for him/her.
 * Jerkass Facade:
 * The Knights Who Say Squee: Her reaction to meeting . Lampshaded by everyone, with Shepard joking that they'll hand over questions to Liara because she looks like she's about to explode.
 * Knight Templar: During the interim beween the first and second game, though Paragon Shepard can pull her back from this.
 * Knowledge Broker
 * Like an Old Married Couple: Throughout the duration of "Lair of the Shadow Broker", there is frequent humorous banter and interaction between Shepard and Liara.
 * The Medic: Her class skill in the first game adds to the amount of HP healed by medigel on top of the first aid ability.
 * Mind Over Matter
 * Minored in Asskicking: Most people find it more than a little odd that an archeologist would be so good at combat. Then Liara points out that since they have potential for containing incredible technology, Prothean ruins are popular targets for pirates and mercenary raids. And Liara has worked in Prothean ruins. Alone. For decades.
 * Number Two: In Mass Effect 3, she acts as an unofficial XO for the Normandy.
 * Not So Different: Noticable in the second game, when Liara at times begins to unconsciously channel her mother.
 * Older Than They Look: She's 106 years old, "barely more than a child." Asari live for about a thousand.
 * Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Averted. In Peak 15, she may say the following upon the end of the first engagement against the :

"Liara: Give me ten minutes and I can start a war."
 * Parental Abandonment: She never knew her second parent's identity, only her species (another asari--a major social no-no, because asari value genetic diversity ) and her relationship with her mother was apparently strained at best. In the third game, Shepard can find out that her father is, and encourage Liara to go talk to her.
 * Plot Armor: Liara will survive all the way to the final mission of Mass Effect 3, no matter what you do. That's not true of any other character on this page.
 * Relationship Upgrade: Liara can be pursued as a romance in 3 even if you previously turned her down in the first game.
 * Religious Bruiser: In the first game, at least, it's implied that she is quite religious.
 * Like Mother, Like Daughter: Her mother, Benezia, was an influential asari theologian before her Face Heel Turn.
 * Required Party Member: During "Lair of the Shadow Broker" in Mass Effect 2 and twice in Mass Effect 3. The first is on Eden Prime in the "From Ashes" DLC, where you need her knowledge of the Protheans. The second is the mission on.
 * Revenge: Her primary goal, as of Mass Effect 2, is to track down and kill for trying to  The DLC "Lair of the Shadow Broker" lets you achieve that goal in spectacular Roaring Rampage style.
 * Roaring Rampage of Rescue: "Lair of the Shadow Broker" is all about Liara rescuing Feron from the Broker after he was captured at the end of Redemption.
 * Schrodinger's Gun: Regardless of whether the player downloaded the "Lair of the Shadow Broker" DLC, Liara is still as of the third game. It's just that how she got there is a bit different:
 * : Potentially, if you make her fight alongside you to take down  in the first game. This is actually suggested by a party member, though, since Liara would know more about , who's causing problems for everyone, than anyone else, and you have to fight  one way or another.
 * She Who Fights Monsters: Played with. She becomes incredibly ruthless by the second game in her hunt for the Shadow Broker, even if Paragon!Shep is continuously trying to pull her back.
 * Shout Out: An archaeologist called L(i)ara...
 * Shrinking Violet: In the first game.
 * Skilled but Naive: At least in the first game. Not so much in the second game.
 * Slasher Smile: In Shadow Broker, she gets off a nasty one after dressing down the Shadow Broker, pressing all of its Berserk Buttons.
 * Squishy Wizard: Liara can only wear light armor and has low health. She makes up for it with spectacular biotic capabilities.
 * Comes back even more strongly in the third game, where she might be the only biotic on your squad (if Shepard isn't one, Kaidan's dead and you haven't bought Javik). This can turn her low CON scores into a distinct achilles' heel.
 * The Stoic: Post time-skip and post Break the Cutie in the second and third games she tends to act like this, almost never raising her voice and becoming somewhat The Comically Serious mixed with Broken Bird.
 * Not So Stoic: Still has moments of genuine emotion namely
 * Survivor Guilt: In addition to the guilt she feels for it's heavily implied (especially in a romance) that she felt great guilt for surviving while Shepard was killed.
 * That Came Out Wrong: Her first conversation with Shepard, in which her fascination with his/her exposure to the beacon leads her to referring to him/her as an interesting test subject.
 * Took a Level In Badass: She starts out as an awkward and bookish archaeologist. In the sequel,
 * Not to mention how many of the Shadow Broker's mooks she tears through.
 * What makes that scene even more powerful (and chilling) is that she's
 * Even before  she displays a lot of determination and ruthlessness in the "Mass Effect: Redemption" comic book. Apparently, working with Shepard was a very significant influence.
 * Redemption well and truly earned.
 * Lair of the Shadow Broker has her take two giant levels in badass. The first is when we encounter her in the trade center, where she's  Let's repeat that for clarification: Liara is making a freaking   flee from her. The second makes her potentially even more powerful than Shepard.
 * Lair of the Shadow Broker has her take two giant levels in badass. The first is when we encounter her in the trade center, where she's  Let's repeat that for clarification: Liara is making a freaking   flee from her. The second makes her potentially even more powerful than Shepard.


 * Undying Loyalty: To Shepard, possibly moreso than anyone else in the series. Can also fit with Violently Protective Girlfriend below.
 * Unresolved Sexual Tension: Even if you don't romance her, Liara's friendship with Shepard still has a level of this to it.
 * Violently Protective Girlfriend: Following Shepard's temporary demise, she took up a one-woman crusade to get his/her body back from the Shadow Broker and the Collectors. As of the end of the second game, she's still working to track the Broker down and make them pay for daring to touch Shepard.
 * She doesn't even need to be a girlfriend for this. Even if it's just a friend relationship, she will destroy you if EVER try to harm Shepard.
 * When you've got a millenium-long lifespan, spending a decade or two hunting down the jerk who messed with your buddy doesn't sound so unreasonable.
 * Virginity Makes You Stupid: Though she's depicted as naive, she's not exactly an idiot. Still, she's less streetwise than Tali, who hasn't even spent any time off of a ship, since she spent most of her time alone in Prothean ruins with the only people she ever meets being pirates or looters, who tend to wind up dead.
 * Tali also mentioned being trained to survive away from the fleet, however.
 * Tali is also a virgin when you first meet her.
 * "Well Done, Son" Guy: Yes. She has more than a little friction with her mother, Matriarch Benezia, and she never knew her "father" either.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Surprisingly absent in the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC- even if you've cheated on her with another squad mate, she doesn't get angry about it.
 * She does call you out about hooking up with another love interest - but then immediately apologizes for her outburst.
 * Woman in White: Her preferred outfit in Mass Effect 2 and 3, reflecting her new Stoic, Lady of War tendencies.
 * When She Smiles: In the second and third games post-Break the Cutie.
 * The Ingenue: Shy, sweet, and easily flustered? Yep.
 * You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Paragon Shepard's interrupts in Lair of the Shadow Broker reminding her of how she was when they met and urging her to not descend into Well-Intentioned Extremist territory, not even to protect them.
 * Youthful Freckles
 * Youthful Freckles

Tali'Zorah nar Rayya/vas Neema//
""Our Pilgrimage proves we are willing to give of ourselves for the greater good. What does it say about me if I turn my back on this?""

"Voiced by: Ash Sroka"

A quarian mechanist who specializes in technology and is traveling on her Pilgrimage to find technology or resources valuable to the quarian Migrant Fleet. Joins Shepard's team for protection when she finds information incriminating Saren, and remains both out of gratitude and to help bring down Saren. She is also a party member in the sequels, as well as a romance option.

"Shepard: I trust you too, Tali, but you don't have to prove anything to me.
 * Action Girl
 * Adorkable: A rare female example of the trope, particularly when you romance her in the sequel.

Tali: I know...well, no, not that I know...it's just that...well...it's not normally like this...I mean, wow...when did it get so hot in here?"

"James: Yeah, your quarian friend. The jumpy one with the glowing eyes? Sparks.
 * If romanced in Mass Effect 2, she becomes more confident in her relationship with Shepard in Mass Effect 3.
 * Affectionate Nickname:
 * James nicknames her 'Sparks' in 3.

Shepard: Uh-huh."

"Tali (after being told by Shepard to not lose sleep over a very rude volus): My brain agrees with you. My gut says I should jack his suit's olfactory filters so that everything smells like refuse!
 * A male Shepard who romances her calls her "." Joker quips that, every time he hears Shepard call her that, he expects her to be wearing a sash and tiara.
 * Apologetic Attacker:
 * Appropriated Appellation: During her loyalty quest
 * Badass: Just how Badass is Tali? Let us count the ways...
 * Badass Adorable: She can fight her way through hundreds of geth without breaking a sweat and yet she stammers when you romance her. She also names her combat drones and praises them for doing a good job of killing things.
 * Badass Bookworm: Being a quarian, she is required to know about advanced subjects like starship engineering. And even among quarians she is considered an expert.
 * Battle Couple: with Shepard if romanced in 2
 * Beautiful All Along
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Tali is right up there with Kaidan in the sheer niceness department. That doesn't change the fact that she is a monster with a shotgun, can easily lock down most enemies, and can potentially have the strongest shields in your entire party even without upgrades. And when provoked, she can get both vicious and creative.
 * Battle Couple: with Shepard if romanced in 2
 * Beautiful All Along
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Tali is right up there with Kaidan in the sheer niceness department. That doesn't change the fact that she is a monster with a shotgun, can easily lock down most enemies, and can potentially have the strongest shields in your entire party even without upgrades. And when provoked, she can get both vicious and creative.

Garrus: Remind me not to get on your bad side."

"Tali: He needs to die."
 * In Mass Effect 3, her response to  shows she can be quite frightening when she is well and truly angry.

"Tali: Just so you know, I'm running a fever, I've got a nasty cough, and my sinuses are filled with something I can't even describe. And it was totally Worth It."
 * Big Red Button: Though one doesn't really show up, she still points out the inadvisability of pushing them.
 * Bizarre Alien Biology: Quarians are one of only two species(the other being turians) that have a dextro-amino acid based biology. As such, they can't consume any food or drink made for levo-amino acid biologies(humans, asari, salarian, krogan, etc.) without, at the least, not getting any nourishment from it; or at the most, having a fatal allergic reaction.
 * Breakout Character: Like Garrus, her plot relevance surged up like crazy in the sequel, even becoming a Love Interest.
 * Blue Oni: Some people see this, with Kasumi being Red Oni. Tali, though she has her moments, is kind, calm, and uses her considerable skills to aid others. Kasumi is upbeat, energetic, and uses her considerable talents for thievery and espionage.
 * To further the point, Kasumi introduces herself as a fan of Shepard. Tali clearly is. So just how did she take some of Kasumi's initial offers?
 * Break the Cutie: She suffers an emotional breakdown while investigating her trial. You can potentially give her comfort by hugging her.
 * Bubble Girl: Comes from a race of them. Their weak immune systems force them to live in their envoronmental suits constantly.
 * But I Would Really Enjoy It: Tali is initially reluctant to sleep with Shepard, because their mutually Bizarre Alien Biologies would result in anything from allergic reaction, to drastic illness, to death for her. She assures you that this does not coincide with her desires.
 * Bubble Girl: Comes from a race of them. Their weak immune systems force them to live in their envoronmental suits constantly.
 * But I Would Really Enjoy It: Tali is initially reluctant to sleep with Shepard, because their mutually Bizarre Alien Biologies would result in anything from allergic reaction, to drastic illness, to death for her. She assures you that this does not coincide with her desires.
 * But I Would Really Enjoy It: Tali is initially reluctant to sleep with Shepard, because their mutually Bizarre Alien Biologies would result in anything from allergic reaction, to drastic illness, to death for her. She assures you that this does not coincide with her desires.

"Tali: (to Garrus) I'm glad the imminent destruction of all organic life has improved your career opportunities.
 * Can't Have Sex Ever: She works HARD to subvert this.
 * Assuming you romanced her, this is no longer a problem by the third game. Her body's immune system has adapted enough that she can have sex with Shepard safely.
 * Can't Hold Her Liquor: After the Horizon mission in 3, you can find her in the Normandy lounge getting hammered. Then if you go go down to the cargo bay to talk to Javik, you walk in on her drunk-dialing him.
 * Character Development: Tali is more mature in the sequel. Also, see Vocal Evolution.
 * Chekhov's Gun: You know that knife strapped to her boot that we never see her using? It can come up in one very important moment in 3 -
 * Clingy Costume: Like all quarians.
 * The Conscience: Acts as one of the voices of reason in the sequel... except on the topic of Artificial Intelligence.
 * Cooldown Hug: Shepard has the option of giving this to her after
 * Covert Pervert: It's fairly obvious during the second game that Tali has secretly lusted after MaleShep since practically day one. And the second he shows any romantic interest in her, the first thing she makes clear is that she wants him to do the honors, so to speak.
 * And to continue Lair goodness,
 * It should be noted that she downloads the vid regardless of whether Shepard is male or female.
 * Curtains Match the Window: A rather more literal example than most, both her visor and hood being purple in color.
 * Deadpan Snarker: To wit:
 * Deadpan Snarker: To wit:
 * Deadpan Snarker: To wit:
 * Deadpan Snarker: To wit:

Tali: (to Shepard) What could I possibly be suggesting? I mean, a young woman gets saved by a dashing commander who lets her join his crew and then goes off to save the galaxy? How could she possibly develop any interest in him?

Shepard: I'm not working for [Cerberus], they're working for me.

Tali: So you ordered the listening devices and tracking beacons that are all over this ship?"

"Shepard: That's a straw, Tali.
 * Death Glare: Tali manages to throw a withering Death Glare at Jacob during her briefing on the Normandy. Through an opaque helmet, which somehow makes it even more menacing.
 * Digging Yourself Deeper: Gets flustered and does this after accidentally revealing her attraction to Shepard in the second game.
 * Alternately, if neither she nor Garrus is romanced by Shepard, this is her reaction when
 * Disc One Nuke: In the first game, she was a ridiculously durable death machine with maxed out Electronics and "Quarian Machinist", which raised her shields to very high levels, and in the former's case let her sap the shields off any enemy in one go. It was very easy to max out both those skills very early in the game.
 * Drowning My Sorrows: She resorts to this once or twice during the third game. It takes triple-filtered turian brandy introduced through an "emergency induction port".
 * Drowning My Sorrows: She resorts to this once or twice during the third game. It takes triple-filtered turian brandy introduced through an "emergency induction port".

Tali: Emergency. Induction. Port."

"Tali: Give me some eezo and a circuit board and I'll have it making precision jumps."
 * The Engineer: In the first game, Chief Engineer Adams is impressed with her skill. In the second, she gets automatically promoted to chief engineer herself as soon as she's recruited.
 * In the third game, with the return of Chief Engineer Adams, she unofficially becomes Second Engineer and acts as his Relief. Adams comments that its good to have her back as she clearly knows the new Normandy's engines better than he does.
 * Enemy Mine: What she sees working with Legion as.
 * She also hates Cerberus and makes it clear that she's only there because Shepard is.
 * Even the Girls Want Her: She became a love interest in the second game and her fanbase rejoiced. Except for the ones who were disappointed she wasn't a love interest for Female Shepard.
 * Everyone Can See It: Her feelings for Male Shep. Kelly, Kasumi, Liara, and  can all comment on it.
 * In Mass Effect 2,
 * The Faceless: Justified. Her species has a weak immune system that means she must wear a special suit at all times.
 * Fantastic Racism: Sometimes slips into this, the Geth having become a major Berserk Button for the quarians.
 * Gadgeteer Genius: The quarians' hat, but Tali is especially so.
 * Gadgeteer Genius: The quarians' hat, but Tali is especially so.

"Tali: It's good to be back on the Normandy.
 * Hack Your Enemy
 * Hartman Hips: The mandatory mentioning of them along with the character is virtually a meme.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: With Female Shepard.
 * Holding Hands: Part of her romance path with Shepard.
 * I Call It Vera: Chikktika vas Paus, her combat drone.
 * I Can't Believe a Guy Like You Would Notice Me: Her reaction if Shepard expresses interest in a romantic relationship. Tali had actually been in love with Shepard since the first game, but assumed that he would never see past her helmet and see her for her.
 * If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her: An exorbitantly worded email from her father, but this is the general gist of its contents. It's a real shame you can't show it to Tali.
 * A more mild example with Kasumi after the night alone with Tali, where she simply says "Be good to her, Shepard."
 * Ill Girl: Something of a Running Gag concerning her; she finds the perception irksome.
 * The Immodest Orgasm: In the third game, a quick dialogue with a romanced male Shepard seems to poke fun at this.
 * The Immodest Orgasm: In the third game, a quick dialogue with a romanced male Shepard seems to poke fun at this.

Shepard: Let me know if it's too quiet for you to sleep. I'm sure I can find you someplace louder.

Tali: Hmm..."

"Ashley: Maybe we can talk about this when we're not on a damn Geth Dreadnought."
 * Made better if Ashley is with you.

"Garrus: I was there when you two had your thing, remember? Just get a room and work it out."
 * Most of the crews' reactions are priceless.

"Kaiden: Uh, if you like I could give you two some privacy."

"James: Okay, what am I missing?
 * The real kicker is if new guy James Vega is in the group.

EDI: Shepard and Tali became physically intimate during the fight against the Collectors.

James: Too Much Information.

Shepard: Thank you, EDI."

"Tali: Turian brandy, triple filtered and introduced into the suit through an emergency induction port.
 * Insecure Love Interest: Fits this trope like a glove during her romance. Averted in the third game.
 * Insistent Terminology: Falls into this when drunk on turian brandy.

Shepard: Thats a straw, Tali.

Tali: Emmeeerrrgency induction port."

"Ken: Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful bucket.. The whole suit is lovely, quite snug in all the right places...
 * It's Quiet... Too Quiet: She has trouble sleeping on the Normandy because the ship is so quiet. Justified, though; the ships in the Migrant Fleet are frequently bought used or are remnants from the Geth Uprising, so the engines, life support, and so on make noise when they're working. On the Migrant Fleet, a ship that isn't noisy is a  very bad thing .
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: She initially refuses Shepard's advances because she believes that he'll be hurt by their relationship.
 * Just Friends: Retroactively with male!Shep from the first game.
 * Latex Bio-Hazard Suit:

Tali: You know I can hear you!"

"Tali: (On joining envirosuits) I haven't trusted anyone enough for that, though. Except...well...um. No quarians. You know what I mean.
 * Les Yay: A bit towards Female Shepard.

Shepard: I appreciate the thought, Tali, and I feel the same way - but you don't have to prove anything to me.

Tali: I know. But I would be honored to join suit environments with you. I-if you were a quarian, and if we weren't already on a suicide mission, and--I-I'm going to tinker a little bit more, thanks for coming by."

"Tali: Go for the optics, Chikktika!"
 * Lost Forever: like Garrus, link up with her in 2 or forever hold your peace.
 * The Knights Who Say Squee: Towards Shepard. Upped in the sequel. BIG time.
 * A literal example, even if she isn't evil at all. are morally questionable at best, and beyond the Moral Event Horizon to some.
 * Matzo Fever: Since quarians are Ambiguously Jewish. "Tali" is actually a girls' name in Hebrew, according to Behind The Name.
 * Hot Gypsy Woman: Unless you subscribe to the notion they're space gypsies.
 * Or that they're Bedouin.
 * They've got shades of all three and more. Their "Admiralty Board" is rather Royal Navy.
 * Motor Mouth: She admits to this when she becomes nervous.
 * Noble Bigot: Make no mistake -- as selfless and heroic as Tali is, she hates synthetic lifeforms. And she's one of the more open-minded quarians. Of course, this is a Justified Trope given her situation. Her people were driven off their home planet and nearly genocided by their own created AI race, and the geth later . The fact that the quarians started it aside, Tali has more than a few reasons to be distrustful of if not hostile towards, say, Later, thanks to Character Development, the aforementioned open-mindedness pays off.
 * Odd Friendship: In 3, it seems that she and Legion have been in communication, and it's clear that they develop a strange fondness for one another even after the other admirals lead the quarians back into war with the geth.
 * Only Sane Man: Behind Jacob, Tali is one of the more sensible crewmembers on the Normandy, though she still has her issues.
 * Optional Party Member: Just like Thane, Samara, Grunt, Zaeed, Kasumi and, you can complete the second game without her. Doing this will come back to haunt you, though...
 * Orgasmic Combat: Her french acting
 * Pardon My Klingon: She uses the term "bosh'tet" from time to time.
 * Precision B-Strike: When she's truly mad, she tends to use the term "bosh'tet". She screams it at Kai Leng if she's brought along to Thessia.
 * Rank Up:
 * Realistic Diction Is Unrealistic
 * Reassignment Backfire:
 * Relationship Upgrade: Potentially with Male Shepard in the second game.
 * Rescue Romance: It even gets lampshaded by Tali that she often gets rescued by Shepard; not that she can't handle herself, but it certainly helped kick-start her feelings for him.
 * Is done in reverse as well when she saves Shepard in the third game- that is,  Also happens on the Geth Dreadnought, where Tali saves Shepard from falling to his/her death when the elevator is damaged by a rocket.
 * Required Party Member: In Mass Effect 3,.
 * Set a Mook To Kill A Mook: She can hack synthetic enemies and get them to kill each other. This includes Geth Primes, Geth Armatures, Atlas Mechs, and all types of turrets. Like most powers, it was nerfed heavily in the second game (it was considered overpowered in the first due to almost half of the game's enemies being synthetic), but was buffed again in the third.
 * Shoot the Dog:
 * Shout Out:
 * Required Party Member: In Mass Effect 3,.
 * Set a Mook To Kill A Mook: She can hack synthetic enemies and get them to kill each other. This includes Geth Primes, Geth Armatures, Atlas Mechs, and all types of turrets. Like most powers, it was nerfed heavily in the second game (it was considered overpowered in the first due to almost half of the game's enemies being synthetic), but was buffed again in the third.
 * Shoot the Dog:
 * Shout Out:
 * Shout Out:

"I don't know who you are, but Cerberus threatened the security of the Migrant Fleet. Don't make nice. [...] I assumed you were undercover, Shepard. Maybe even planning to blow Cerberus up. If that's the case, I'll lend you a grenade."
 * Shrinking Violet: In her romance with Shepard in the sequel. She gets more confident and flirtatious in the third game.
 * She's actually quite snippy. You sass her, she'll gladly return fire. Just ask Wrex.
 * Also, keep in mind that she isn't generally shy and is perfectly capable of having a conversation without stuttering or getting nervous.
 * Shutting Up Now: See Les Yay.
 * The Smart Guy: The tech and engineering expert.
 * Something Only They Would Say: How she can potentially realize that, yes, that is Shepard standing in front of her in the beginning of the second game. Only s/he would know about how she got the geth data for her Pilgrimage.
 * Squishy Technician: Her tech powers can be incredibly useful when trying to mezz enemies, especially when dealing with synthetics, but her physical durability is pretty poor, due in part to the general fragility of her suit and (in ME1 at least) the rarity of her armor upgrades. In Mass Effect 1 this is balanced out by pouring points into her Electronics skill and her "Quarian Engineer" Class skill, which increases her shields to the point where she can survive pretty much the whole game with the same suit she started with; in the sequel, she's a bit more durable in general and gets a loyalty power that drains enemies' shields or synthetics' health and replenishes (or even overcharges) her own shields.
 * Statuesque Stunner: She is the tallest female squad-mates, and as tall as M!Shep
 * Subordinate Excuse: The second game reveals that she goes with Shepard just as much to be around him as to save the galaxy.
 * Sure Why Not: Like Garrus, got upgraded to a love interest in the sequel due to fan demand.
 * Talking Lightbulb: What with being a quarian and all.
 * Terrified of Germs: Though not as terrified as most of her race, if her behavior towards male!Shep is any indicator. (Either that or If It's You It's Okay, though with germs as the feared entity instead of, you know, gay.)
 * Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: She wears purple.
 * To Absent Friends: Regarding Miranda of all people,.
 * Took a Level In Badass: At the beginning of the first game, she is a teenager in over her head, on the run from a few thugs. Come the third game--three years, more or less, in-universe--and she is
 * Tranquil Fury: Cerberus tends to be a calming influence on Tali.
 * Tranquil Fury: Cerberus tends to be a calming influence on Tali.

"(After listening to the Illusive Man talking about how to manipulate Shepard into trusting him) He needs to die."

"Tali: I thought I'd lost you.
 * Tsundere: After Shepard affirms he still wants to be in a relationship with her in the third game, she becomes much more relaxed around him, to the point that she starts displaying some of these traits.

Shepard: You were worried?

Tali: You bet I was! You dying because the geth overrode my hack? Think of my reputation!

Shepard: You were worried."

"Tali: He needs to die."
 * Underestimating Badassery: The Shadow Broker in 2 has a unique comment for each potential party member about how valuable eliminating them and Shepard would be. But Tali? He's surprised Liara brought her along, what with her botched research mission on Haestrom. Though he could just be trying to press her Berserk Button.
 * Undying Loyalty: Three guesses as to who.
 * Violently Protective Girlfriend: Gets a hint of this in the third game provided Shepard romancer her, especially if she  Also, she has four very simple words to say once

"Tali: My father would have hated you."
 * Vocal Evolution: At the very beginning of the first game, Liz Sroka hasn't quite settled the nuances yet; Tali's voice is higher and has less of an accent. Her performance throughout the second game is uniform.
 * "Well Done, Daughter" Gal: Tali is sure her father loves her, but regardless is said to be rather distant, and probably has similar expectations for her as much as everyone else.
 * And if you don't hug her during her loyalty mission, she remarks on how her father never used his "sick days" to show her his face...
 * Comes across in the third game when she gets hammered on Turian Brandy and admits in a conversation with Shepard that one of the reasons she admires Miranda is because she never changed herself to please her father. Even if half the time she was a "Cerberus Cheerleader Bosh'tet".
 * If romanced she also comments that she's getting drunk with her boyfriend. Her human boyfriend.

"Tali: Spiders, Shepard. Seriously. Spiders."
 * What the Hell, Hero?: She will call Shepard out if he/she betrays her trust.
 * Well, she also reacts that way when she finds out Shepard is working for Cerberus, has a functional AI on board, or recruits.
 * In the first game Shepard can call her out on her attempts to justify the quarians' attempted genocide of the geth when the geth became sentient (an action that led to the civil war that resulted in the quarians fleeing their homeworld).
 * What Would Shepard Do?:
 * Not as much as Garrus, but she tries, to the point of trying to emulate Shepard's nice job with the mining laser back on Therum with demolition charges. We'll just assume she forgot about how that kind of blew up in Shepard's face when s/he tried it.
 * Hey, it still got Shepard what s/he wanted.
 * Another example: When trying to help a fellow quarian on Illium who sold herself into indentured servitude to pay off stock market debts, Tali will follow Shepard's lead if you try to charm/intimidate a Synthetic Insights rep into buying her contract, offering increased business with the Migrant Fleet if you use Charm, and threatening to park said Migrant Fleet on top of Synthetic Insight's headquarters if you use Intimidate.
 * In 3, she'll state flat-out that  was because she thought Shepard would do the same thing in her position.
 * When You Coming Home, Dad?: Makes it very clear that she was never close to her father in childhood. Though that is sort of expected if your father is part of the leadership council for your entire race.
 * Why Did It Have To Be Spiders?: If she is brought along for the rachni sidequest in 3, she makes it clear she does not like crawlies. By freaking out when attacked by swarmers and screaming "Spiders spiders spiders spiiiiiiiiiders!!" A later conversation with Garrus reveals she's felt this way since day one. If you have the Mass Effect: Datapad iOS app, she even sends you an email on the subject.

"Tali: And for the record? Still totally Worth It."
 * Which makes sense if you brought her with you to Noveria in the first game. She was particularly vulnerable to rachni acid attacks back then,.
 * Worth It: Tali's response when she gets sick after her relationship with Shepard becomes intimate.
 * Which gets a Call Back in 3.


 * Wrench Wench: Quarians are the whole race of incredibly skilled engineers. And even among the quarians, she is counted one of the best engineers and geth specialists.
 * Note that it's not an Informed Ability. She is as skilled with technology as Legion and Kasumi. In other words, her level of tech-savvy rivals and the best human thief in the galaxy.
 * You Can't Go Home Again: In the sequel,
 * The Un-Reveal: Go ahead, romance her in the sequel. See how sadistic Bioware can be.
 * If you romance her in Mass Effect 3 you get a photo of her unmasked..
 * You Don't Want to Die A Virgin Do You: Seems to be her motivation to "find a way before the last fight".
 * If you romance her in Mass Effect 3 you get a photo of her unmasked..
 * You Don't Want to Die A Virgin Do You: Seems to be her motivation to "find a way before the last fight".
 * You Don't Want to Die A Virgin Do You: Seems to be her motivation to "find a way before the last fight".

Urdnot Wrex
""Anyone who fights us is either stupid or on Saren's payroll. Killing the latter is business. Killing the former is a favor to the universe.""

"Voiced by: Steven Barr"

A krogan battlemaster who combines close-combat skills and enormous physical strength and durability with biotic powers. Joins Shepard's team out of both an interest in fighting a good battle and because the money is nice. Becomes a progressive-minded overlord of the krogan people in Mass Effect 2 if he survived the events of the first game, eventually uniting them under his banner.

"Wrex: Let's just say no scalpel should cut where he cut."
 * Afraid of Needles: Mordin claims this about Wrex when he's eager to leave his lab and donate tissue samples later. It may or may not be true, but either way it's hilarious. But when he finally gets around to it...

"Wrex: My ancestors actually wore this piece of junk?"
 * The All Solving Hammer: One of the first things Wrex usually suggests when confronted by a problem is to eat the individual responsible.
 * Ironically, a Thresher Maw Hammer is exactly the solution to defeat a Reaper on Tuchanka in 3, by summoning Kalros.
 * Ancestral Armor: In the first game, he asks Shepard to retrieve his family's armor from a turian smuggler.
 * In a subversion the constant arms race had made it an unequipable piece of junk, and is only valuable for personal reasons.

"Wrex::"
 * Anti-Hero: Type IV or V in the original depending on your view;
 * Asskicking Equals Authority: He is a krogan, and thus tends to equate ass-kicking with respect. He may even discuss this with various other crewmembers, by asking them if they could beat Shepard in a fight

"Grunt: Okeer is dead.
 * Badass:
 * Badass Boast: I am Urdnot Wrex and THIS IS MY PLANET!!!
 * Badass Grandpa: Not overt, but Wrex hints that he was either born during or shortly after the Krogan Rebellions, making him very old, even for a Krogan.
 * Especially once you consider that, even though Mass Effect takes place in the future, Wrex would have been born when Earth still had Vikings.
 * Berserk Button: Any mention of destroying the krogan's chances of curing the genophage will provoke a violent reaction.
 * Big Good: Becomes this to the Krogans on Tuchanka if he lives past Virmire.
 * The Big Guy: Type 1 in the first Mass Effect, shifts to Class 5 if he survives to the sequel.
 * Bizarre Alien Biology: Krogan have secondary everything, from cardiovascular to nervous systems.
 * And four testicles, referred to in the fandom and then in the second game as a "quad".
 * Blood Brother/Blood Sister: He declares Shepard to be his if  To him, the krogan have no greater friend, no greater hero, than the commander.
 * Blood Knight: Though he's downright moderate compared to the rest of his species.
 * Bounty Hunter: One of many jobs he's taken over the centuries.
 * Bruiser With a Soft Center
 * Captain Obvious: "I raised the hammers; you have to activate both of them. My advice is: avoid the giant laser!"
 * The Casanova: According to the krogan females.
 * Cool Old Guy
 * Cutscene Incompetence:
 * Deadpan Snarker: Provides half of the snark in the first game.
 * Death Glare: Displays a great one in 3 when the Salarian Dalatrass insults the Krogan. The look on his face makes it clear that he wants nothing more than to pull out a shotgun and leave a large hole in the Normandy's bulkhead where she was standing.
 * For bonus points, its done in close up, so you get to see just how pissed off Wrex is, taking up the entire screen.
 * Dirty Old Man: In ME3, according to Eve, he's a bit... enthusiastic about fertile Krogan females.
 * Chivalrous Pervert: On the other hand, he respects women a lot more than the average Krogan
 * Driven to Suicide: A possibility, if you make a certain series of decisions. In ME3, if you
 * Enemy Mine: With the Turians in the third game. Despite the fact that neither Wrex nor Primarch Victus are quick to trust the other, Victus is completely in favour of curing the Genophage and Wrex makes good on his promise to send Krogan troops to aid in the defence of Palaven.
 * Victus and Wrex also seem to find common ground opposing the Salarian Dalatrass. She seems to clearly irritate them both.
 * Expy: He shares many traits with Canderous Ordo, of Knights of the Old Republic fame. Most notably, both come from a culture of Blood Knights, and are watching their people slowly die out.
 * Face Heel Turn:
 * Friendly Enemy: He mentions having one in an asari named Aleena.
 * The Gadfly: Especially in the first game's infamous elevator sequences, where he frequently says outrageous things to your squadmembers just to see how they react.
 * Genius Bruiser: He's one of the toughest squad members in the series and also one of the most intelligent.
 * Genre Savvy: When talking to Grunt in the second game.
 * Genius Bruiser: He's one of the toughest squad members in the series and also one of the most intelligent.
 * Genre Savvy: When talking to Grunt in the second game.

Wrex: Of course he is. You're with Shepard. How could he be alive?"

"Shepard: Yeah, humans don't have that.
 * Good Is Not Nice:
 * Good Scars, Evil Scars: All over his shell.
 * Good Thing You Can Heal: Initially believed Shepard survived being Spaced due to having a redundant nervous system.

Wrex: Oh.... It must've been painful then."

"Wrex:"
 * Hidden Depths: An exile from a barbaric race. Utterly ruthless. A one man army. The most vicious bounty hunter in the galaxy. Also the only squadmate to be affected by Ashley or Kaidan's death (other than them obviously) and quite possibly the most sensitive and caring character towards Shepard other than Liara and Kaidan. And he tried to end his people's infighting, pretty much making him the krogan equivalent of a hippie. Who says bloodthirsty, thousand-year-old reptilian warlords don't have hearts?
 * Two of them, in point of fact.
 * I Work Alone: Fortunately, he's a reasonable example of this trope; he prefers to work by himself, but he's perfectly willing to operate with small groups. Shepard also works in small groups, so he's got no problems with that. It's just being part of armies he has issues with.
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold:

""I have to make friends with the one turian in the galaxy who thinks he's funny.""
 * Just Eat Him: He's fond of using this to end arguments. It's generally effective at making people go away.
 * Like an Old Married Couple:
 * Kick the Son of A Bitch: He'll kill the local crime lord Fist after you get Fist at your mercy. Tali and potentially Shepard certainly don't disagree.
 * Knight in Sour Armor: Yes, he does help save the galaxy and eventually becomes chieftain of Clan Urdnot but he's also as cynical as they come.
 * Lightning Bruiser: He hits hard and fast.
 * Magic Knight: In addition to his substantial toughness and general combat skills, he's also a biotic.
 * The McCoy: To Dalatrass Linron's The Spock and Primarch Adrien Victus's The Kirk, in 3.
 * Meaningful Name: He's called Wrex because he wrecks stuff. Get it? It's funny because it's a pun!
 * Also, rex = Latin for king. Fits with him.
 * According to Word of God, they called him Wrex after a Tyrannosaurus Rex, which still comes from "king." This also leads to an amusing Continuity Nod in the second game, where Data on Grunt's extranet searches reveal that he went from searching about Wrex to reading about dinosaurs.
 * My Friends and Zoidberg: Invoked in 3 if you bring Liara and Garrus along to Sur'kesh, he's deeply happy she's there... oh, and Garrus too.
 * My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Wrex is somewhere in between playing this straight and averting it. He mostly embraces the overall krogan culture and attitudes, but he's far more willing than most of his race to acknowledge a lot of their actions are idiotically self-destructive (to the point of making some attempt to fix that in the second game).
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: Wrex in no way comes off as dumb, but he is much more sophisticated than he lets on.
 * Also works in a subversion to his Blood Knight tendencies. One of the elevator convos has Garrus eagerly wanting to see how the Normandy handles in a fight, to which Wrex retorts about the folly of getting into slugging matches in a ship meant for stealth.
 * The opening of the second game proves that Wrex was entirely correct about that.
 * Odd Friendship: With Shepard. Dialogue in 3 indicates that he's deeply fond of Liara...and Garrus, in his own way.
 * Also works in a subversion to his Blood Knight tendencies. One of the elevator convos has Garrus eagerly wanting to see how the Normandy handles in a fight, to which Wrex retorts about the folly of getting into slugging matches in a ship meant for stealth.
 * The opening of the second game proves that Wrex was entirely correct about that.
 * Odd Friendship: With Shepard. Dialogue in 3 indicates that he's deeply fond of Liara...and Garrus, in his own way.

""Shepard."
 * Optional Party Member: He doesn't have to be recruited to finish the first game.
 * Papa Wolf: Becomes this for his entire species.
 * Properly Paranoid: He was hired by Saren once, but eventually decided to leave without waiting for pay since it didn't take him long to get suspicious of the guy. Turns out all the other mercs he was working with were found dead a week later.
 * Proud Warrior Race Guy: Deconstructed; he knows full well that the krogan people are too attached to their short-sighted warrior traditions to save themselves from extinction. In the sequels, he reconstructs the trope by seizing power of Clan Urdnot and working to return the krogan to a proud warrior race instead of a race of thugs for hire.
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old: We don't know how old exactly Wrex is, but given that he defeated a Thresher Maw over a thousand years ago and hints that he may have been around during the Krogan Rebellions (which happened in 700 AD)... yeah, Wrex is very old, even for a Krogan.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure: About as reasonable of an authority figure as you can be for an entire species of Blood Knights.
 * Red Eyes Take Warning: And red skin, and red guns...
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Plays the red to Eve's blue
 * Revenge Before Reason:
 * Royal Blood: To a degree; his father was an overlord of the Urdnot clan.
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something: Wrex used to have a tribe of his own, though he fled Tuchanka after a fight with his father.
 * Self Made Orphan: In self-defense.
 * Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Believe it or not he embodies both sides of this trope. The latter is obvious but he shows a surprisingly caring side of himself after Virmire. He's the only character to talk about Ashley/Kaidan's death other than Joker and the Virmire Survivor, and the only character to comfort Shepard over it, telling you he respects your decision. The relationship between him and Paragon Shepard also fits this trope.
 * Slave to PR: He executes a gang leader against your orders because he was hired by the Broker to personally kill him. He even gives you the bounty if you don't bring him along and beat him to the punch - he won't take credit or payment for something he didn't do.
 * Sociopathic Hero: Mostly in the first game, less so in the sequel.
 * Arguable even in the first game. Wrex was willing to  He's certainly not the most moral party member, but someone who cares that much for his people shouldn't be called a sociopath.
 * As a mercenary Blood Knight, surely a certain amount of sociopathy is required, regardless of Virmire and his feelings about the krogan.
 * The Stoic: It's a significant moment whenever he really does emote.

"Wrex.""

"Wrex:"
 * When Wrex joyfully bounds out of his "throne" to greet Shepard with unabashed happiness in 2, it's fairly startling.
 * Stop Being Stereotypical: Dislikes the self destructive violence of the other Krogans and is working to change it.
 * Too Dumb to Live: What he thinks of anyone that goes up against Shepard. Which
 * Uncomfortable Elevator Moment: Wrex seems to really like the elevators.
 * Undying Loyalty: By the second game, even if he can't go with Shepard, it's clear that he has nothing but undying respect for him/her and will help him/her in anyway he can.
 * Use Your Head: In true krogan fashion, he uses this to assert his dominance.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: With Garrus.
 * Warrior Poet: To be fair, he mostly writes his poems with guns.
 * What the Hell, Hero?:
 * If he's taken to Noveria and Shepard spares the rachni queen. As he reminds you, millions of his ancestors died to defeat the rachni the first time.
 * If you deleted Maelon's research, he has some choice words for you in the last game - it takes rescuing Eve and following him to the Shroud before he's willing to call you a friend again.
 * If you deleted Maelon's research, he has some choice words for you in the last game - it takes rescuing Eve and following him to the Shroud before he's willing to call you a friend again.


 * Worthy Opponent: Considered his Friendly Enemy Aleena to be this.
 * Wrex views Shepard as one when they first meet, seeing Shepard as a warrior worthy of his respect. He drops hints in the first game that he believes in a fight Shepard could easily take him down, which considering Wrex once single-handedly defeated a Thresher Maw, says a hell of a lot.

Richard L. Jenkins
""We've got a Spectre on board! That's why I'm so wound up - I can't wait for the real mission to start."

Voiced by: Josh Dean"

An over-enthusiastic Alliance soldier from Eden Prime, he is assigned as part of your squad when everything goes to hell there. Continuing in the long Bioware tradition of early sacrificial party members, he dies in the opening few minutes.


 * Be Careful What You Wish For: He says he's itching for some action just before the Eden Prime mission. Too bad "action" in his case meant watching his homeworld get scorched and being gunned down by a pair of geth recon drones.
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer: Despite his boundless enthusiasm and naivety, various characters imply Jenkins was a very competent soldier.
 * Doomed Homeworld: Eden Prime is this for him. Pity he dies too soon for it to become a plot point.
 * Forgotten Fallen Friend: Averted - The Normandy crew is very upset about his death, and in the sequel Dr Chakwas reminisces about him over drinks with Shepard.
 * He's also on the memorial wall in the Normandy in Mass Effect 3, and Shepard will mention him during the Eden Prime mission if you download From Ashes.
 * One interpretation of when Shepard later encounters a young over-enthusiastic mercenary on Omega, the reason why they stopped dead in their tracks, turned slowly around and, if taking the Paragon interrupt, broke the kid's gun and ordered them home, was because he reminded them too much of Jenkins.
 * Guest Star Party Member: Despite being with you for at most a minute or two and dying right before the first fight, he is a fully functional squad member that can be issued orders and even has some skill points for you to assign despite never having an opportunity to use any abilities.
 * Hero Worshipper: To Shepard. This is rarely a good sign for a character's mortality rate this early in the story.
 * Hey It's That Voice: His VA would go on to voice another overly eager young man who gets shot first. However this time you can save him through the Paragon Interrupt.
 * Naive Newcomer
 * Leeroy Jenkins: Subverted, actually, despite the name. He follows Shepard's orders to the letter, though in the end it still doesn't do him much good.
 * Sacrificial Lamb / Red Shirt