Mass Effect 2/Characters/Party Members

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


This page is for listing the tropes related to party members who first appeared in the second 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.

Party Members

Urdnot Grunt

I am pure krogan; you should be in awe.
"Grunt is...not a stabilizing element, Commander."
—Joker's description

Voiced by: Steve Blum

A young lab-grown krogan with a violent attitude who believes that might makes right.

  • Anti-Hero: Type V. Either this or a heavy type IV, since we can probably cut him some slack on account of him having the emotional maturity of a newborn baby.
    • Type III in Mass Effect 3. He's more than willing to give his life so that Shepard and crew can escape and is notably angry if forced to leave his men behind. He's still a Krogan and loves the fight, and isn't shy to assert dominance as leader of Aralakh Company.
  • Appropriated Appellation: He took the name "Grunt" from one of Okeer's last words. It's noted that there were some more impressive words to use as a name, but he liked "grunt" for its simplicity (and because it has no greater meaning).
  • Asskicking Equals Authority: How Grunt asserts his command of Aralakh Company (essentially a collection of the best warriors from every krogan clan on Tuchanka) in Mass Effect 3.
  • Badass: If you manage to kill off the entire rest of the team, Grunt can be rearguard on his own.
  • Badass Boast: "I don't need luck. I have ammo."
  • Become a Real Boy: The goal to secure his loyalty.
  • Beehive Barrier: His Fortification power.
  • The Berserker: Eventually matures into a relatively stable (by krogan standards) blood knight.
  • The Big Guy: Personality of a Class IV with the intelligence of a Class V. Definitely one of the strongest combat specialists. Just a wee bit unpredictable.
  • Blood Knight: Even moreso than normal for a krogan.
  • Blue Eyes: One of the few krogan to have them. It's rather striking.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: Any time there's a fight in the offing, Grunt will be all but jumping up and down with glee.
  • Born as an Adult: Or a teenager, anyway: he's designed to look younger than other krogan (e.g his head-crest hasn't merged into a single plate yet).
  • Buffy-Speak: When he talks, if it's not Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness, it's this.
    • On getting into cover:

"We should hide behind... stuff."

Grunt: Like holding a book for a child. Just 'remember this,' picture after picture. No help with finding a reason to care.

  • One-Man Army: Specifically designed by Okeer to be a krogan "lance" as opposed to their regular horde-based tactics.
  • Optional Party Member: While his recruitment mission is mandatory, you don't actually have to release him from his tank.
  • Parental Substitute: Shepard, particularly Paragon Shepard, acts as one to him.
  • Playing with Fire: He, like Jacob (and possibly Shepard) has regeneration-stopping Incendiary Ammo.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: Eventually. Being accepted into the Urdnot clan really heals his tattered ego.
  • Psychopathic Manchild: Many of his mannerisms come across as rather child-like at times. He also plays with action figures on his spare time when he's not busy killing stuff, eating and reading Hemingway. Make sense since he's less then a year old.
  • Sealed Badass in a Can: He's tank-bred, so he was actually created in the "can" rather than being initially sealed in it. When his tank is obtained, it's left up to the player when to open the can and let the Badass out. He even plays the "neutral" part of the trope straight: he doesn't care much about morality, only asskicking.
  • Smarter Than You Look: On top of being a krogan, a race not exactly known for its smarts, trailers made him seem quite basic in personality, but in fact he's conflicted, knowledgeable, and can talk with surprising eloquence on both these things and his frustration with the former.
  • Smug Super
  • Sociopathic Hero: He couldn't care less about saving humanity. He just wants a good fight. And he laughs quite maniacally as he's tearing into your opponents.
  • Stone Wall: He can become this if you level him right; maxing out his Fortification power and giving him the 'Krogan Pureblood' power can increase his health and defenses to the point where he will almost never die, but he won't do as much damage.
  • Super Soldier: Grown in a vat to be the "perfect" krogan.
  • This Cannot Be!: "I do not get sick!"
  • This Is Sparta: I. AM. KROGAN!
  • Trailers Always Spoil: Averted. Until the game was leaked, there was no indication that he was anything but a typical krogan Blood Knight.
    • Not so averted. The recruitment mission was clearly intended to make the player think they were getting Warlord Okeer as a squadmate. Getting Grunt instead was supposed to be a minor twist, but it was ruined by the pre-release trailer.
  • Ubermensch: He was created to be one, although he has little interest in it.
  • Ultimate Lifeform: Along with being the perfect warrior, this was what he was meant to be for the krogan species.

Grunt: I am pure krogan. You should be in awe.

  • Undying Loyalty: Even before his mission, he seems to have nothing but respect for Shepard, his "Battlemaster". He even threatens Uvenk for spitting on Shepard's name. This is because he loves to fight, and Shepard brings him along to fight "BIG THINGS".

Shepard is my battlemaster. S/he has no match.

  • Unstoppable Rage: Constantly. Apparently, this is the default state for his species. The Rite of Passage was devised simply to help teenage krogan get a handle on it... kind of like a young human's father taking him to a strip bar, except with guns and monsters. The sex comes afterward if a female is suitably impressed by the display.
    • The Codex notes, however, that the rage only became so commonplace after the krogans devastated Tuchanka in nuclear war (before that, it was extremely rare and regarded as pathological). Admittedly, the Codex is an in-universe resource.
  • Warrior Poet: According to the Shadow Broker's dossier on him, he has become a fan of Hemingway.
    • Heck, even his dialogue from the beginning. His word choice is exquisite.
      • This appears to be intentional on Okeer's part. Okeer similarly is surprisingly eloquent, even poetic, when speaking to Shepard upon their first meeting. It's entirely possible he programmed Grunt likewise.
  • We Have Reserves: He was engineered by Okeer to be an aversion to this trope: were Okeer to cure the genophage, the krogan would go back to spawning like mad and covering the galaxy with their hordes. Okeer believes the true future of the krogan is to have superior, elite warriors rather than cannon fodder, hence why he made the Super Prototype, Grunt, and threw away the thousands that did not meet his standards.
  • Worthy Opponent: One of the first indications that he views Shepard as one is the little smirk he gives when he realises Shepard had quietly pulled a gun and had it trained on Grunt the entire time Grunt had him/her pinned against the wall.

You offer one hand, and arm the other. Wise, Shepard.

  • Younger Than They Look: He's The Big Guy and a damned good one, but he's a Designer Krogan grown in a Krogan Jar and trained by Neural Implanting. You don't recruit him so much as "inherit" his Krogan Jar. When you crack it open and start chatting, you're basically witnessing his birth.
  • You Shall Not Pass: During his mission in Mass Effect 3: whether you choose to save his team or the Rachni, he has to escort you out of the caves and hold off a wave of ravagers. He survives if you completed his loyalty mission.


Jack a.k.a. Subject Zero

Turns out, mess with someone's head enough, you can turn a scared little kid into an all powerful bitch.
"I'm not saying anything about Jack. I'm not stupid."
—Joker's description

Voiced by: Courtenay Taylor

A powerful and unstable human biotic with a chequered past. Formerly a biotics test experiment of Cerberus. Romance option.

  • Abnormal Ammo: She gains Warp Ammo after you earn her loyalty, which increases damage against armor, biotic barriers and health, and does double damage to anything under the effects of a biotic power, like Pull or Shockwave.
  • And I Must Scream: If you don't rescue the students from Grissom Academy in Mass Effect 3 in time, Jack will end up being turned into a Phantom.
  • Anti-Hero: Strongly Type V; shows signs of moving up the scale to Type IV under the influence of Paragon Shepard.
    • As of Mass Effect 3, one might even go as far as to say she's moved up to a remarkably crass Type II. If nothing else, she is definitely approaching it: the closest she gets to dog-kicking is punching Shepard, who can take it, and exchanging rounds of insults that sound a lot more cheerful than in the previous game, more sardonic than darkly sarcastic. She also doesn't even try to deny it when Shep says she really cares about her students.
    • Lampshaded by her students, who lovingly call her "The Psychotic Biotic".
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Arson: she's guilty of theft of military property, destroying a space station, piracy, and vandalism; she's been a baaaaaaaaaaad girl.

Jack: They really liked that moon.

  • Ax Crazy: Hooooo boy. Even Grunt and Zaeed are impressed with her bloodlust.
  • Badass Boast: One of her lines when a new wave of enemies come onto the field is "Hello, dead people!".
    • Here's another: "If I die, I'm haunting you, Shepard."
    • She also gets one from Warden Kuril, who refers to her fearfully as "The meanest handful of violence and hate I've ever encountered. Dangerous, crazy and very powerful."
  • Badass Teacher: In Mass Effect 3.
  • Bald of Evil: Shaved her head for a cult, and kept it that way. While she is still a squadmate for you, she remains violent and generally psychopathic. By the third game, she's growing it out a little.
  • Bald Women: No hair? Check. Female? Check. Though she's growing her hair out by the third game.
  • Berserk Button: Being referred to as Subject Zero.
    • In Mass Effect 3, don't threaten any of her students.
  • The Big Guy: Class I.
  • Bi the Way: Possibly. She mentions that one of the first criminals she ran with was a woman and her boyfriend who "shared their bed" with her. However, if you keep talking to her as female Shepard, she says she doesn't play for that club. The dialogue for both lines is pretty ambiguous, but then, she's a pretty messed up girl who might not have her own feelings straight.
  • Boxed Crook: You were originally just going to borrow her from max security space prison/slave ship to finish a mission, but certain events have left her quite a bit less constrained.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: She was given euphoric drugs as a kid while fighting to condition her to equate killing with pleasure.
    • Will be programmed to fight for Cerberus if you don't do her Mass Effect 3 quest; you fight her at the Cerberus base.
  • Broken Bird: To say she's got issues is putting it hilariously mildly.

Jack: Turns out, mess with someone's head enough, you can turn a scared little kid into an all powerful bitch.

Jack: I'm not going to let [the Reapers] turn me into some fucked up bug thing.

  • Character Development: Depending on how you treat her, she can either stay a Dark Action Girl or show a softer side. This is shown in the two possible culminating scenes for a romance with her, one of which is just about sex, the other of which is far more tender.
    • It's worth noting that while assaulting the Collector base, if you choose her to man the biotic barrier through the Seeker Swarm room and she's loyal, she'll refer to you as "Commander" like she means it. For as violently psychotic and unruly a character as Jack is, that's speaking volumes about her development under Shepard's command.
      • More than that, she phrases the word Commander around appropriate statements. That is, instead of being smarmy and snarky, she uses more short and to the point phrases that you'd expect from more disciplined crew members.
    • There's also the Suicide Mission: if you choose to have her lead a team during it, her final words will be "Too many... tore me up. How'd you talk me into this? Heh... I wasn't supposed to care." Apparently, being around The Messiah long enough can make even Jack give a damn about everyone else.
    • If she's still alive in Mass Effect 3, she has become a teacher with a very strong bond with her pupils, due mostly to Shepard's influence.
      • As well as sticking it to the Illusive man by protecting biotics from people like him. Especially after Gillian's death at the hands of Kai Leng which would probably serve to solidify her resolve.
  • Cluster F-Bomb: Constantly. In fact, she drops all but two or three of the game's F-bombs... mainly because she's the only character who uses the word in regular conversation.
    • If you start to romance her and then push her away at the end (either to pursue a different partner or just For the Evulz), or if you side with Miranda in their conflict, all she will ever say to you from then on is, "Fuck off!".
    • Toned down a bit in 3 when she becomes a teacher at Grissom. Gotta set a good example for the students, after all.
  • Colony Drop: She committed "vandalism" by smashing a space station into the hanar's favorite moon.
  • Curse Cut Short:

Jack: Hey, Joker, f-- (Loading screen)

  • Cutscene Power to the Max: When she first appears, she tears through three YMIR mechs like they were made of wet cardboard. In normal gameplay, you're usually popping in and out of cover and gradually whittling them down.
  • Dark Action Girl
  • Deface of the Moon: Via Colony Drop.
  • Does Not Know How to Say Thanks: Pre-Character Development.
  • Drill Sergeant Nasty: As one of Grissom Academy's instructors in the final game. Remarkably, she gets high praise and respect from both her students and superiors for it. She's a little milder than some examples though: she admits to Shepard that the students are like her family, and they need her to believe in them, and puts up with it when they cheerfully mock her.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: She is slightly troubled by Shepard urging Niftu Cal, the "Biotic God", to get himself killed, even though she admits it was kind of funny.

That was mean... but damn funny.

  • From Nobody to Nightmare: Started out as a normal little girl. Years of being tortured and used has turned her into one of the galaxy's most notorious criminals.
  • Gender Blender Name: Lampshaded when she is first seen, and then never mentioned again.
  • Glass Cannon: She's very powerful offensively, but she's very frail in combat, second only to Kasumi.
  • Gone Horribly Right: Cerberus got what they wanted.
  • Hidden Depths: A Paragon Shep will peel away her layers, and even Taylor's voice acting will reflect this, as it goes from rough and masculine to soft and feminine by the time a romance is completed. At the end of the game, if she survives, no matter what her loyalty is, she will give Shepard a determined nod, which is tantamount to a salute... and this was a woman who had no interest in anything or anyone but herself.
    • The Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC also reveals that she writes poetry in her spare time under the pseudonym "Jacqueline Nought". Also detailed in her dossier is how Cerberus conned her mother into handing her over to them.
  • In-Universe Catharsis: Pretty much the entire point of her loyalty mission.
    • The achievement for gaining her loyalty is called "Catharsis".
  • Institutional Apparel: Her starting outfit is the remains of her Purgatory uniform.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In Mass Effect 3.
  • The Ladette: Her behavior isn't even remotely feminine.
  • Last-Second Word Swap: At the end of the Grissom Academy mission.

Jack: Screw you, f--flight lieutenant.

  • Love Redeems: The Paragon ending to her romance.
  • Mama Bear: Towards the students of Grissom Academy.
  • Megaton Punch: She's fond of using biotics to create these.
  • Mind Over Matter: Considered to be the most powerful human biotic.
  • Mini Boss: If you don't do the Grissom Academy mission before a set time, or not at all, she gets indoctrinated and works for Cerberus, becoming a mini-boss in the Cerberus HQ.
  • Morality Chain: Paragon Shepard becomes this to her. Acknowledged in Mass Effect 3 when she notes that some of Shepard's speeches rubbed off on her. Even she seems a little surprised by this.
  • Ms. Swears-a-Lot:

Jack: So fuck you. And thanks for asking.

    • In Mass Effect 3, Joker asks if she has a swear jar, because emptying it would buy another cruiser.
  • Murder Is the Best Solution: If you need an explanation this far into the entry, you need to get your eyes checked.
  • My Hero Zero: Well, Anti-Hero, but hey, considering the trope in question...
  • Mythology Gag: She sometimes screams I WILL DESTROY YOU! in the same way the human biotic mooks did in Mass Effect 1.
    • Mocked by Rodriguez in Mass Effect 3.

Rodriguez: I will destroy you!
Jack: Drink your juice, Rodriguez. You couldn't destroy wet tissue paper.

  • Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Inverted. Also, it would be too late for you to run anyway.
  • The Nicknamer: Refers to Miranda as "the Cheerleader" and Paragon Shepard as "King of the Boy Scouts" or "Queen of the Girl Scouts" depending on his/her gender.
  • Noodle Incident: While it doesn't get nearly as much attention as the "Colony Drop incident", all she says about stealing a military craft is, "Shouldn't have left the thing unlocked. Besides, parades are boring. I helped."
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Judging by the confrontation between them, she seems to think this way about Miranda; she says she'll keep Miranda alive so she can tear her apart herself after the mission.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: Considered to be the most powerful human biotic.
  • Plot Armor: She cannot die during her Mass Effect 3 sidequest, even if she was disloyal. That's not true of almost every other character on this page. However, it's a different story if you skip that mission altogether...
  • Power Perversion Potential: Biotic powers can be unstable during the act, but can also have "benefits". Mordin, as always, is the man to see.
  • Psycho for Hire: An incredibly rare protagonist example. She may develop beyond this if you gain her loyalty.
  • Rape as Backstory: It says something about her past when the multiple times she's been sexually assaulted count as some of the least traumatic memories.
    • It's a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming that if the player remains romantically interested in Jack, she'll openly kiss him in front of everyone, even her students, no longer afraid to show open affection.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Apparently, a recurring event for her. You add her to the crew right after she finishes one of these.
  • Samus Is a Girl: Basically, everyone including the Warden holding her in cryo shudder at the very mention of her and portray her as the ultimate force of destruction and puppy-kicking... and then you see this apparently small young woman break out of metal restraints and wipe out three heavy mechs with nothing but her biotics.

Grunt: That's Jack? Jack is tiny. *Jack starts wrecking the place* Let's get down there, I want to see!

  • Satisfied Street Rat: Although she's hardly 'satisfied' unless she's in a fight. However, she is somewhat pissed off at Cerberus for using her as a lab rat; while she does "enjoy the power they gave (her)," she's damn sore that "they didn't give (her) a choice."
  • Sex Equals Love: Averted. Kelly mentions that Jack pushes people away, but approaches sex casually, and warns that having a one-night stand with her is a bad idea. Having sex with Jack is an option fairly early into the game. If the casual sex option is chosen, she's really into it, but says that she doesn't want to play if you try and talk to her again. If you refuse sex with her and show interest in her as a person, she will eventually come out of her shell and begin to actually love Shepard. The culmination of the romance shows kissing, but doesn't imply sex... which makes sense considering how some abuse victims view sex in relation to those they love.
    • Then again, if you romanced her in Mass Effect 2 and meet up with her again in Mass Effect 3, it's implied she and Shepard fucked up and down the Normandy. Granted, could have been after the suicide mission and that scene.
  • Slap Slap Kiss: If romanced in Mass Effect 2, the first thing she does to Shepard in Mass Effect 3 is deck him. Then give him a passionate kiss.
  • Sociopathic Hero: "Heroic" is very much a stretch for her. At first.
  • So Proud of You: Some sadly-cut content from Mass Effect 3's endgame includes her reassuring her squad.
  • Stealth Pun: She once used "Jacqueline Nought" as an alias, with "nought" being the British term for the American "zero". The pun comes in when this makes her Jackie 0, a play on the tabloid nickname for Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
    • If she died in Mass Effect 2, this is her listed name on the Normandy cenotaph.
  • Stripperiffic: Her first costume is essentially a strap across her breasts and a pair of pants; her alternate costume is a bit more modest.
    • The third DLC outfit makes her a Badass Biker, with a leather jacket, pants and shades, so everything is hidden, including tattoos.
    • Her outfit in Mass Effect 3 is more conservative, but it still shows quite a lot of skin.
  • Super Soldier: Cerberus wanted to make her a powerful biotic warrior... and they succeeded.
  • Survivor Guilt: One of the reasons she pushes everyone away is that the last person who cared about her ended up dying in order to save her instead of betraying her as she'd expected he would. This made her even more violent and reclusive.
  • Tattooed Crook: All over.
  • There Was a Door: Justified: after being released from cryo, she has to escape somehow, and the quickest way is to break through walls with her biotics.
  • This Is for Emphasis, Bitch: Quite a few of her battle cries. She's fond of the B-word in conversation as well.
  • Token Evil Teammate: Even after recruitment, she remains a barely contained ball of homicidal rage.
  • Tomboyish Name: Jack.
    • In the third game, Liara reveals that her real birth name is Jennifer.
  • Tomboyish Ponytail: Sporting one in Mass Effect 3.
  • Trailers Always Spoil: Within the game, all you're told is that you're picking up a dangerous biotic named Jack; it's left as a surprise that she's a female until you see her the first time. The surprise is completely ruined by the fact that the character was introduced in promotional material prior to the game's release, including a personal character trailer. Although her name is only given as "Subject Zero" in this material, enough detail is given about how she is recruited that the only way her sex can come as a surprise is if the player goes into the game completely blind.
  • Troll: She was banned from the Citadel Newsnet forums for excessive and repeated swearing, derogatory comments, inflammatory comments, and circumventing worksafe filters.
    • She lasted 15 minutes in an online poker community before being banned for the same.
      • She also gets vanned a lot. You are actually supposed to get her out of the proverbial space van in her recruit mission.
  • Tsundere: If Shepard coaxes her out of her hostility and helps her find some personal closure, she displays a softer and more vulnerable side. Summed up in her last romance line of the series:

Jack: Don't get killed, dumbass. When this is over, I'm getting laid.
Shepard: I love you too.


Jacob Taylor

Somebody's got to take down the bad guys. Cerberus keeps that line, I'm on their side.
"Jacob is way too nice a guy for the number of ways he knows how to kill people."
—Joker's description

Voiced by: Adam Lazarre-White

A biotic and former marine who joined Cerberus to protect humanity, although he dislikes their extreme methods. He's also the protagonist of the iPhone game Mass Effect Galaxy. Also one of Mass Effect 2's romance options for the female Shepard.

  • Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: He and Dr Brynn Cole are together in Mass Effect 3 whether or not you romanced him.
  • Anti-Hero: Type II or III.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: One of the most non-confrontational, baggage-deprived guys on your squad, but check out his loyalty mission's Renegade ending for what he's capable of when pushed.
  • Broken Pedestal: His father.
  • Calling the Old Man Out: Was pretty pissed to find out what his father had been doing for the past 10 years.
  • Canon Immigrant: From Mass Effect Galaxy.
  • Chick Magnet: He's had a past history with Miranda, Kasumi totally digs him, and he can possibly romance a Female Shepard.
  • Derailing Love Interests: In Mass Effect 3, if you previously romanced him, he's already moved on to another woman he plans to settle down with.
  • Determinator: Early in his mission in Mass Effect 3, Jacob gets shot in the stomach protecting some Ex-Cerberus Scientists. While he gets briefly treated, Jacob continues to power through the mission while injured.

"You should get that wound looked at."
"I'm good. I mean, I will."

  • Disappeared Dad: For 10 years and counting... at least, until his loyalty mission.
  • Dogged Nice Guy: Inverted: female Shepard has to work to get him to open up to the possibility of a romance.
  • Don't You Dare Pity Me!: He doesn't want anyone thinking of him as a "baggage guy" or trying to "figure me out". You can actually convince him to break off the romance if you keep pushing him.

"Even if you were right, how small would my problems be if you could "fix" them with grad-school psych and a crying jag?"

  • Even Heroes Have Heroes: He begins the game as a mild Shepard fanboy.
  • Fantastic Racism: If Fem Shep rejects his romantic interests in favor of Garrus, he derisively refers to the turian as 'that cuttlebone'.
  • Female Gaze: There's a point early in the romance in which the camera seems to switch to Shepard's POV, and pans up from his groin to his face.
  • Hero of Another Story: Literally, with Mass Effect Galaxy. This put him in the rare position of a previous player character stuck as second-fiddle to another one.
  • I Can't Believe a Guy Like You Would Notice Me: He seems rather surprised when female Shepard tries to start a romance with him, but eventually runs with it.
  • I'll Pretend I Didn't Hear That: When Grunt starts talking about how appetizing the smell of burning plague victims is.
  • Insecure Love Interest: See the tropes immediately above and below this one.
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Implies this towards Miranda.
  • Knight in Sour Armor: He's generally a nice guy, but displays a lot of cynicism regarding the Alliance and Citadel governments after the events of Mass Effect Galaxy which led him to join Cerberus in disgust. Not that he's altogether fond of them either.
  • The Lancer: A position he shares with Garrus and Miranda.
  • Leave Behind a Pistol: At the end of his loyalty mission, the Renegade conclusion is to give a gun to his father to kill himself rather than face a court martial or be killed by males driven to violence by the local flora.
  • Magic Knight: Both a capable soldier and a powerful biotic.
  • Man Hug: How he assures Shepard he's ready to go post-loyalty mission.
  • The McCoy: Jacob and Miranda serve as the foils/voice-of-reason towards Shepard. Jacob general support actions that tend to be morally right, and is the paragon-voice point.
  • Military Maverick: He left the Alliance because he couldn't handle all the Obstructive Bureaucrats. Having said that, he also gets the prize for the other half of the trope: of all the party members, he holds himself to the strongest level of military behavior, and is the only person on the ship aside from Kelly (and a loyal Miranda, once) who actually salutes Shepard.
  • Mind Over Matter: Jacob is the closest Shepard's squad gets to an average human biotic.
  • Mr. Exposition: Early in Mass Effect 2. Justified because he's the only person around Shepard can talk to, and Shep's been dead for two years.
  • Mr. Fanservice: Why hello there Mr. Unneccessary In Camera Focus Shirt Removal Ripped Guy. His abs are rendered with more detail than some character's faces. Shadow Broker info shows that he's earned those abs with an insane workout schedule.
  • Nice Guy
  • Oblivious to Love: Not only does Shepard pretty much have to explicitly state her interest in him for it to register, but, by all accounts, he also doesn't seem to realize that Kasumi wants to jump his bones. Of course, since she's a downloadable character, he has no dialog related to her, so it's hard to tell.
  • Only Sane Man: The Illusive Man placed him on Shepard's team for relative emotional stability as much as skill.
  • Platonic Life Partners: With Miranda.
  • Playing with Fire: Aside from Grunt and Shepard themselves, he's the only one with Incendiary Ammo.
  • Plot Armor: Like Jack, he can't die during his Mass Effect 3 sidequest.
  • Precision F-Strike: An "S-Strike", to be more accurate. Shortly after the cutscene where Shepard releases Jack from cryo, as the squad enters a wrecked room with a few Blue Suns enemies fighting off escaped prisoners, Jacob will blurt out "Holy shit!" in face of all the chaos and destruction.
  • Privateer: A former member of the Corsairs, a black ops unit that the Alliance could disavow knowledge of if they were caught.
  • Static Character: His character changes the least throughout the story. This is deliberate: he's supposed to be the most emotionally-stable crewmember. Everyone else's loyalty mission involves some form of baggage from their past, while Jacob has to actually be brought into his loyalty mission by an outside actor.
  • The Stoic: He tends to express less emotion than most of the characters.
    • Shell-Shocked Veteran: Bring him along to the Derelict Reaper, and you'll learn that he hasn't gotten over Eden Prime as much you initially thought.
  • That Man Is Dead: His opinion of Ronald Taylor: no matter how the mission plays out, you'll hear some variation of it. "I've already mourned the man he used to be."
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: In Mass Effect 3, if romanced previously, he is shown to have cheated on a Shepard with Dr. Cole in the six months they were incarcerated. Even he admits he was a bastard for doing so if Shepard chooses to call him on it.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: He does a good job of not showing it though.
  • What You Are in the Dark: His backstory is full of this. He doesn't mind so much.

Jacob: Good deed's like pissing yourself in dark pants. Warm feeling, but no one notices.

  • Working with the Ex: In his words, his previous work with Miranda "got a little close - then it got really far apart." They're still on good terms, and she gives him the plot hook for his character mission to keep a promise. If he could only remember which promise...
    • And in Mass Effect 3, with Shepard, if you romanced him in the last game.

Kasumi Goto

I'm the best thief in the galaxy, not the most famous. Need to watch my step to keep it that way.
"I like Kasumi, but why do I feel like I need to check the Citadel for parts she may have pawned?"
—Joker's description

Voiced by: Kym Lane (credited as Kym Hoy)

A Classy Cat Burglar who is available in the Kasumi - Stolen Memory DLC pack for Xbox 360 and PC, and included on disc for PlayStation 3. She is so skilled that few are aware that she even exists.

  • Affectionate Nickname: She calls Shepard "Shep".
  • All Women Are Lustful: Her scene with Keiji. She also secretly watches Jacob, and admits to watching Shepard and his/her love interest during their love scene.
    • Stalker with a Crush: Her haiku implies that she spies on Jacob. In Mass Effect 3, she's only willing to rejoin Shepard's squad if Jacob is there as well.
  • Anti-Hero: Certainly a Type II. Despite being a shameless career kleptomaniac, she was willing to place herself in severe danger to protect a young artist purely on principle. She has a caring side, often showing concern for the rest of the squad. Of course, given that you have a squad of mercs, terrorists, Knights Templar and berserkers, her thieving seems pretty benign in comparison.
    • In Mass Effect 3, she helps the salarian SPECTRE agent assigned to hunt her down stop an indoctrinated hanar diplomat from dooming his entire species.
  • Ascended Fangirl: Describes herself as a fan of Shepard when she first meets him.
  • Back Stab: Her signature ability, called Shadow Strike.
    • Less of an actual Back Stab, but more "bop people with the omni-tool."
  • Boring but Practical: Her specialty, Shadow Strike, is a move where she cloaks, pops up behind an enemy, and... hits them on the back of the head. It's also nearly unavoidable once triggered, ignores cover, is a near-guaranteed stun, and does huge damage whether you're using it on a squishy merc or a walking tank.
  • Calling Card: In her early career, she left a rose in place of what she stole. Her partner eventually made her realize how unproductive this is for a thief.
  • The Caper: Her activity of choice.
  • Deadpan Snarker:

(On Korlus) She seems nice... in a mad scientist ethics-for-sale kind of way.
(On the Citadel) They're really selling the "geth did it" message. I bet you can't even say "Reapers" without inciting a panic. (airquote gesture)"Reapers!"

  • Demoted to Extra: While most of the Mass Effect 2 squadmates have smaller roles in Mass Effect 3, Zaeed and Kasumi suffer the most from it, likely due to being DLC characters.
  • Downloadable Content: She does not appear in the vanilla game at all.
  • Face Framed in Shadow: Aside from the glint of her eyes, we never see the top half of her face.
  • Faking the Dead: In Mass Effect 3, after helping you (and another Spectre who's trying to arrest her), she "activates an explosive failsafe" on a terminal and collapses in a bloody heap. The Spectre is fooled, but Shepard sees right through it. A good way to introduce the new Decoy ability.
    • Killed Off for Real: If you didn't go on her loyalty mission at all, it's not fake. Shepard simply looks on and then walks away. ...Of course, maybe she's faking her death towards Shepard too, but she certainly doesn't join your list of war assets.
  • Fan Girl: "Good to finally meet you, Commander Shepard. Kasumi Goto. I'm a fan."
  • Friend to All Children: She's a nice person in general, but she seems pretty fond of children in particular: the quickest way to get on her bad side is to injure or traumatise a child. One of her anecdotes involves a rare wholly charitable act, which was to rescue a child from slavery, and seeing what Jack and other biotic children went through on Pragia is enough to reduce her to tears.
  • Genki Girl: To an extent. While not as as empty-headed as the typical example, she is still pretty upbeat and happy, especially when compared to the rest of the team. She is even Japanese, fitting the stereotype.
  • Genre Savvy: From the second she sneaks up on Shepard in the third game she is dead set against being recruited to fight the Reapers. She was happy to take the Illusive Man's money before, but will not begin to allow Shepard to talk her into fighting. She still helps him\her though, she just won't come back to the Normandy. Unless Jacob is there.
  • Glass Cannon: She's excellent at incapacitating enemies up close, but she has low health and shields while her main ability often puts her in dangerous situations.
  • Gossipy Hens: If Shepard talks to her on the Normandy, she gossips about the other crewmembers and talks about rumors.
  • Highly-Visible Ninja: In her loyalty mission, she strolls right up to Hock's estate in her Spy Catsuit, not even bothering to take her hood down, and seems surprised when Hock turns her away in a brief stroke of Genre Savvy. She then uses her invisibility to get into the building anyway.
  • Hypocritical Humor: During the Hock heist, she notes that his password "Peruggia" refers to Vincenzo Peruggia, the man who stole the Mona Lisa back in the 1880's. Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC reveals that she has also stolen the Mona Lisa, but is offering it for sale. As well as the Koh-i-Noor Diamond and a number of other alien artifacts that are presumably as valuable.
  • In the Hood: Kasumi wears a hood at all times so no one can ever really see her face.
  • Invisibility: Uses the same invisibility device as the player Infiltrator.
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: She has a crush on Jacob, but will support Fem!Shep if she decides to romance him.
  • Just a Machine: Subtle but present.

"Sometimes [EDI] seems like a person, but when it comes down to it, I can't get past her being a computer."
"Killed or remade, what's the difference? They're only synthetics. Just fancy security mechs."

  • Kleptomaniac Hero: One quality she definitely shares with Shepard.
  • Knife Nut: You never see her using them in-game, but she gets very... enthused over a selection of knives on Tuchanka, and contemplates "borrowing" them sometime later.
  • Lampshade Hanging: When commenting on female Shepard's romance with Garrus, she notes that many people want them to be together.
  • Loveable Rogue: She's very endearing for a self-admitted kleptomaniac.
  • Magikarp Power: She starts out very weak. With the right allocation of skill points, she becomes a devastating Glass Cannon.
  • Meaningful Name:
    • Kasumi is a Japanese name that means simply "mist".
    • The Japanese word 'goto', the same word as her surname and which is pronounced mostly the same, also means "robber" or "robbery".
    • KASUMI is also the name of a cipher used in electronic security.
  • Meet Cute: When examining one of the paintings in her quarters, she'll tell you how she acquired it. She was hired to steal it, and when she went to take it, it had already been stolen. As she was leaving, she saw another thief with the painting, chased him down and tackled him. The other thief was Keiji, and he and Kasumi ended up as partners in crime as well as lovers. Neither of their clients ever did get the painting because they kept it as a memento.
  • The Nicknamer: She calls Shepard 'Shep' on a variety of occasions and designates the Illusive Man as 'Mr. Illusive'. The first may be something of an Ascended Meme as (Fem/Male)Shep is a common Fan Nickname for Shepard.
  • Not in This For Your Revolution: In Mass Effect 3, she's not interested in putting her life on the line to fight the Reapers. Her mind can be changed by simply stating she doesn't need to be on the front lines... her computer skills are a big enough asset.
  • Optional Party Member: A DLC character.
  • Outlaw Couple: With her former partner Keiji.
  • Phantom Thief: She's one of the galaxy's best thieves/hackers, but has no criminal record. On her loyalty mission, Kasumi even says that no one knows what she looks like.
  • Playful Hacker: She greets Shepard by taking over one of the Citadel's advertising terminals. Her hacking skills are actually on-par with both Legion and Tali.
    • If Shepard ignores her, she has about a dozen humorous comments from being a credit agency for help with collector agents to the offer of a sweet Japanese girl, before getting mad if Shepard doesn't bite.

Ad!Kasumi: OK, really? How many times does it take to walk past without getting interested?

      • She even starts helping the Spectre sent to arrest her with one of his investigations just cause.
  • The Pollyanna: She always reflects that things could be worse... even when trapped inside a derelict Reaper with dozens of husks that's slowly crashing into a star. Hey, at least it's not full of rats!
  • Recruiting the Criminal: Cerberus seeks her out to use her skills against the Collectors.
  • Shipper on Deck: She ships Ken/Gabby and Shepard/Any of the Mass Effect 2 love interests (if applicable). But she especially ships Tali and Garrus with Shepard for their respective genders.
    • With a hint of implied Joker/EDI shipping on the side.
      • Hardly. See Just a Machine above. Her comments seem to imply that she finds Joker and EDI's banter amusing, not that she sees them having actual couple potential.
      • Foreshadowing: Ken and Gabby together? Check. Tali and Garrus together? If you romanced neither? Check. Joker and EDI? Unbelievably, check!
  • Ship Tease: She has a crush on Jacob, of all people, although Jacob doesn't seem to notice.
    • Her Dossier in Lair of the Shadow Broker implies her to be a Stalker with a Crush. And the Jacob haiku specifically says at one point, "cloaked desire watches". This means exactly what you think it means.
    • Mass Effect 3 continues the trend. She inquires as to how Jacob's doing, and Shepard answers that s/he doesn't know. She quips that Jacob's re-recruitment would have clinched her own return in a second.
  • Shout-Out: One of her combat taunts is "Haw-haw!".
    • The hood and catsuit also make her look very similar to the classic Baldur's Gate thief sprite.
    • At the beginning of her loyalty mission, she mentions "Badass Weekly".
    • Crossing over with meaningful name, KASUMI also happens to be the name of a block cipher used in mobile communications.
    • One of the artifacts is an Ogre statue... that looks like an Ogre from Dragon Age Origins.
    • She's one big Shout-Out to Knights of the Old Republic 2. She visually resembles Visas Marr and her last name is Goto.
    • Her Palette Swap for completing her loyalty mission makes her clothes red, reminiscent of another master thief.
    • From Dead or Alive, apart from being a namesake of that series' protagonist, Kasumi's loyalty mission has her infiltrating the mansion of a crime boss named Donovan.
  • The Smart Guy: Along with Tali and Legion, she's an ideal choice for the Tech Expert during the suicide mission.
  • Spy Catsuit: Her outfit is as form-fitting as Miranda's.
  • Stealth Hi Bye: Her special ability involves this.

Kasumi: Now you see me...

  • Trademark Favorite Food: She loves ramen, and regrets not having stolen her grandmother's recipe.
  • Worthy Opponent: She considers Spectre Jundam Bau one, and, in fact, forwarded the information on the possibly indoctrinated hanar diplomat to him, claiming the galaxy needs more men like him. Even as he's trying to arrest her.

Kasumi: Nobody's perfect.

    • The feeling's mutual... Jondum openly admires her.

Jondum Bau: Her intelligence and skill are almost salarian.


Miranda Lawson

I have every respect for your abilities, Shepard. It's your motivations that concern me.
"I wouldn't say anything bad about Miranda. And expect to survive the reprisal."
—Joker's description

Voiced by: Yvonne Strahovski

A human biotic and tech specialist, "born" on Earth. Her father genetically engineered her for perfection, but couldn't have cared less about what she wanted. When she ran from him, Cerberus offered her protection, gaining her loyalty in the process. She first appeared in Mass Effect Galaxy. Romance option for a male Shepard.

  • Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: In her loyalty mission where she debates whether or not to talk to her sister.
  • Action Girl: Designed to be, indeed. Those biotics probably didn't come cheap.
  • Always Someone Better: If you choose to earn her friendship, she reveals she feels somewhat inferior to Shepard. She was designed to be perfect and easily accomplish impossible tasks she is set. Shepard is just a regular person but somehow manages to succeed in doing impossible tasks anyway and often completes them with results beyond what she could have done.
  • Anti-Hero: She's initially a Type IV, and depending on your actions, can move up to a Type III. In Mass Effect 3, she's something of a Type II, especially if influenced by a Paragon!Shep. She has no Kick the Dog moments, her entire quest arc is about her trying to protect her sister from her Complete Monster father, and along the way, she tries to save refugees of all races from a husk facility masquerading as a refuge.
  • Archnemesis Dad: The reason she joined Cerberus in the first place was to gain protection from her father. Which turned out to be a really dumb idea, since her father loves Cerberus and is closely connected to it. This comes back to bite her and Oriana in the ass in Mass Effect 3.
  • Baby Got Back: Justified. Miranda was designed to look perfect so it's obvious that her ass is a well-lifted, round bubble butt that would make most supermodels blush. And, to top it all off, most of the dialogue you have with her in her room on the Normandy will show it off... Even when her sister Oriana is the topic of a really serious discussion.
  • The Baroness: Sexpot variety.
  • Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Well, the the beauty part is debatable, but in Mass Effect 3, after she gets the crap beaten out of her by Kai Leng, she doesn't appear to have any visible wounds on her body aside from a few scratches on her face. This is especially weird if she actually dies from her wounds.
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: Paragon Shepard can cause her to resign from Cerberus, likely due to Shepard being the first person with authority over her to actually ask what she wants, not attempt to control her, and seeks her friendship with no ulterior motive for doing so.
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: With a male Renegade Shepard, their First Kiss pretty much comes about after he mercilessly teases and taunts her about her insecurities and is generally rude and challenging, which seems to be pushing all her buttons... with Miranda being flabbergasted and asking "Okay, what the hell was that?!" afterwards.
  • Berserk Button: Do not attempt to bring harm to her sister or get the idea of returning her to their father.
  • Black Bra and Panties: As seen in this video.
  • Bond One-Liner: In the third game, at the end of the Sanctuary mission if she's still alive:

Henry Lawson: (after releasing Oriana) Alright, take her. But I want out alive, deal?
(Miranda uses her biotics to throw him out the window)
Miranda: No deal.

  • Brainy Brunette: She was the head scientist of the Lazarus Project.
  • Broken Ace: A lot of her character development stems from the revelation that she's not as perfect as she makes herself out to be.
  • Buxom Is Better: As the engineers put it...

Daniels: I've got green across the board. The forward tanks are buoyant and elevated.
Donnelly: Are ya talking about the Normandy or Miranda?
Daniels: I'm talking about the one covered and protected, not bouncing in the breeze.

  • Canon Immigrant: From the Mass Effect Galaxy iPhone game and the Mass Effect Redemption comic. Notably, in the latter, she did not yet look like Yvonne Strahovski.
  • Character Development: Compare the first conversation you have with her after first meeting with the Illusive Man in Mass Effect 2 to the last one you have with her on the Citadel in Mass Effect 3. By the time you meet her in Sanctuary, she's not much of an Ice Queen any longer...
  • Combat Stilettos: Wears them for no explicable reason. Her DLC outfit removes them.
  • Crazy Prepared: She plants a tracer on Kai Leng, giving Shepard the exact location of the Illusive Man's base on Cronus Station, just because she had a feeling it'd be useful. Shepard is both relieved and grateful... before that, s/he was grasping at straws.
  • Cultured Badass: Enjoys classical music, particularly the Danish composer Carl Nielsen.
  • Deadly Change-of-Heart: Possibility in the third game. She finally sees the error of her ways, condemns Cerberus, then tries to repent by warning people about them and helping to take down one of the facilities where they kidnap people to make husks... then she gets stabbed by Kai Leng.
  • Death by Irony: If Kai Leng, the Illusive Man's new dragon, kills her in the third game. This will happen if you didn't complete her loyalty quest, didn't warn her about Kai Leng, or didn't hand over Alliance resources to her for reasons that she refused to explain.
  • Death of the Hypotenuse: If you romanced her in Mass Effect 2, but break up with her in order to rekindle your Mass Effect 1 romance in Mass Effect 3, she will die regardless of the help you give her.
  • Defector From Decadence: Paragon Shepard can cause her to resign from Cerberus.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Becomes notably less unpleasant as the story progresses... at least to Shepard. She's also generally nicer to Jacob, as well, due to their past relationship.
  • Designer Babies: She was specifically designed by her father as part of his "dynasty" and really, really wishes she hadn't been.
  • Died in Your Arms Tonight: One of her possible death scenes in Mass Effect 3 has her dying in Shepard's arms, reconciling with Oriana, and making Shepard promise to keep fighting, no matter what the cost. This earns her a name drop when Shepard kills Kai Leng.
  • The Dragon: To the Illusive Man, at least until the end of the second game. She's been replaced by Kai Leng as of Mass Effect 3.
  • Fatal Flaw: Her inability to comprehend that people will react other than the way she believes they will. She also seems to have the mindset of handing out as little information as possible, with complete disregard for how others will react to her doing so.
  • Femme Fatale: Beautiful, seductive, and utterly ruthless at first.
  • Foot Focus: She gets a couple of scenes which show off her stiletto heels.
  • Form-Fitting Wardrobe: Justified since this seems to be the go with almost all types of wardrobe in the Verse, including many of the armors and regardless of sex. Played straight that since her outfit is done to make it look leather-like, not to mention quite shining, it gives the illusion of more skin-tight and, say alluring.
  • Freudian Excuse: Much of her behavior makes more sense in light of her loyalty mission and the Shadow Broker dossier. Before meeting Shepard, only three people have never betrayed her to her knowledge: a childhood friend, the Illusive Man and Jacob. By the end of the game, it's entirely likely that only Jacob and the Illusive Man remain from that list. With the Shadow Broker dossier, it's clear that part of her affection for her sister comes from being unable to have children of her own, and despite being in a dating service, she ruthlessly cuts off one candidate who makes the mistake of trying to be interested in more than just sex. Since she cannot bear children, she's less interested in romance. Though these are played more subtly than most Freudian Excuse examples, once they're revealed, most of Miranda's personality is clearly defined by these.
  • Good Is Not Nice: She may be bitter, ruthless and bitingly critical of others, along working for Cerberus, but she's a good person at heart. She genuinely believes Cerberus is "pro-human", not "anti-alien"; she'll work hard to advance human interests, but has no desire to walk over aliens to do so.
  • Heel Face Turn: She's one of the Illusive Man's most loyal agents, yet Paragon Shepard can end up causing her to resign from Cerberus and hang up on the Illusive Man.
  • Hero of Another Story: While Shepard is building alliances in Mass Effect 3, he can meet with Miranda a few times, where she discusses a mission she's currently on involving her sister and father, and later Cerberus. Their stories eventually coincide, however.
  • Ice Queen: Explicitly called that by a soon-to-be-former Cerberus employee.
  • Informed Attractiveness: Despite being specifically engineered to be extremely beautiful, a lot of the fanbase finds her appearance... weird.
    • Possibly the Uncanny Valley in action. The other characters whose appearances were modeled after an actor had different voice actors and weren't human (Samara) or else were intended to be off-putting (the Illusive Man). Miranda's a little too perfect... which may be the entire point, and an intentional Uncanny Valley.
      • Or it could be that they had trouble animating her face. Miranda's expressions get weird sometimes.
      • Can be summed up fairly well by this comic.
    • Miranda's appearance becomes noticeably more attractive in softer or warmer lighting. But a great deal of the game takes place in the cold, bright white lights of the Normandy, which visibly isolates flaws very effectively.
  • Ink Suit Actor: Albeit with dyed hair.
  • Insufferable Genius: At first, although dialog shows her Pride is largely a security mechanism she uses to deal with her insecurity about being a Designer Baby.
  • Jerkass Facade: This seems to be the case. It appears that she's a cold professional to everyone she meets until she spends time around them and decides that she can trust them. At the start of the game, she'll shut down any attempt at personal conversation, but in her office aboard the Normandy, she's more open with Shepard. This is most obvious regarding Jack. If Shepard asks her about what Cerberus did, she'll say without hesitation that it was a mistake and was rightfully shut down as soon as the Illusive Man found out. But when Jack calls her out on it directly, she'll refuse to apologize.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She really does want humanity to succeed and will do what she can to keep those she cares about safe at any cost.
    • Despite her cold exterior she seems to genuinely care for Shepard even before being revived. When s\he begins waking up Miranda bitches out Wilson then helps Shepard stabilize with a warm smile.
  • Kick the Dog: She has a few moments.
    • In her very first appearance, if you try to get her to go back and save survivors in the overrun Cerebrus lab, she'll scold you for being shortsighted and refer to all the workers as "expendable".
    • On Freedom's Progress, she'll recommend taking Veetor for interrogation rather than letting Tali take him back for medical care, and will seem mildly disappointed if you let Tali take him.
    • Her fight with Jack. Confrontations between Party Members tend to be small Kick the Dog moments for all parties involved, even though they do have pretty justifiable reasons for being mad (e.g. Tali thought that the Geth transmitting data about her father's experiments would start a war, Legion thought NOT sending back the data would start a war, and even Jack had the excuse of Miranda making insensitive remarks about her past). What makes her fight with Jack in particular stand out though is the line "You were a mistake". Ouch.
    • Right after the Normandy gets attacked by the Collectors, and Joker, the sole survivor of the attack watches all his friends be dragged away by various cosmic horrors, the first thing she does upon getting back the ship is scold Joker for losing the crew and unshackling EDI (which saved the ship). Keep in mind that it was her brilliant idea that all the capable fighters aboard abandon the ship, leaving it wide open for attack.
    • Even her final romance scene could be interpreted as this. Despite both her and Shepard having private quarters containing a double bed, she chooses to have sex on the floor of the engineering deck... very close to where both love rivals and enemies Jack and Tali hang around.
      • Actually, the reason she chose that area was because it was the only part of the ship not being monitored, and she (understandably) wanted some privacy for her and Shepard's... quality time. The location is a coincidence. She also specifically says that she had it "cleared" so Jack and Tali aren't even around.
  • Knight Templar: She's a member of Cerberus, so this one is a given.
  • Knight Templar Big Brother: She keeps extremely detailed records on all her sisters' potential boyfriends. Even her sister finds that a little creepy.
  • Kuudere: Starts off as very cold and standoffish, but warms up a lot to Shepard as time goes on.
  • The Lancer: She's Shepard's executive officer, although she shares the overarching Lancer role with Jacob and Garrus.
  • Last Kiss: If she dies in Mass Effect 3 and is romantically involved with Shepard.
  • Law of Inverse Fertility: Judging from Liara's files on her, she's been trying really hard to get pregnant. Sadly, she has a benign neoplasm that makes her unable to conceive.
  • Like Father, Like Son: Subverted: they turn out to be very different people in the end. Both are highly talented scientists who use their intelligence to do the extraordinary. Miranda brings Shepard back to life, and Henry manages to control husks independently of the Reapers. However, while Miranda's only ethical quandary was whether to implant Shepard with a control chip (which she later regrets even considering), Henry sacrifices thousands, if not millions of innocent people to indoctrination in order to make his breakthrough, and never regrets a thing.
  • Male Gaze: The in-game camera spends a lot of time focused on Miranda's taut, firm buttocks.
  • The Mario: As a Sentinel-style "Cerberus Officer", she's probably the closest Shepard's team has to this, being somewhat capable in combat, a decent biotic, and good at using tech to disable enemies. Her passive skill also provides bonuses to the entire squad's health and weapon damage, making her a good tactical choice for any player class or squad makeup.
    • With a bit of Glass Cannon as well. She has low health (lower than Garrus's) and all three of her skills are geared towards offence.
  • Mind Over Matter
  • Morality Chain: A Paragon Shepard can become this to her.
    • Jacob also shares this role, being one of the few people that Miranda actually will listen to for advice.
  • Morality Pet: Her (much younger) twin sister Oriana.
  • Ms. Fanservice:
    • To finish the previous quote:

Donnelly: I don't know. Operative Lawson's uniform is very official: it always makes me stand at attention.

    • This is lampshaded during her loyalty mission (even if she's wearing the appearance pack armour).

Captain Enyala: I was just waiting for you to finish getting dressed. Or does Cerberus really let you whore around in that outfit?

    • And again by Ashley in Mass Effect 3, if you romanced her in the first game and Miranda in the second:

Ashley: I wear armor into battle, not a swimsuit!

  • Not So Different: To her father. For all her resentment over his domineering attitude and how he attempted to control her entire life, she herself veers dangerously to falling into this territory when trying to protect her sister Oriana. Not to mention, initially wanting to install a control-chip in Shepard's brain to keep them in line.
    • It is a sign of her character development that she does come to recognise this as one of her major flaws. In the third game, she has a minor breakdown over the lingering guilt she feels about the control-chip, realizing she very nearly became her father.
  • Number Two: See The Lancer above.
  • Older Than They Look: Thanks to her genetic enhancements, she'll easily live to half again the age most humans will reach. By now, this is well over 100... she's 35 right now.
  • Platonic Life Partners: With Jacob.
  • Plot Armor: She can only die during the suicide mission if she's disloyal and you bring her to the final boss fight, or if she's disloyal, and you get very, very unlucky when she's holding the line. If she is chosen as second squad's commander and gets shot, she will shrug it off, even if she's not loyal. This is mostly because she is depicted speaking in cutscenes at several points in the mission, and having her dead likely would've messed with the game's script.
    • Averted in Mass Effect 3, where there are three points in the game where Miranda can get killed off.
  • Self-Made Orphan: If she survives to the end of Mass Effect 3, she finally kills Henry Lawson along the way. Whether she lives past *that* depends on whether you warned her about Kai Leng.
  • Sexy Walk: Natch.
  • Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Literally. She's done her share of high profile internet dating. Hidden logs reveal her turning down many high profile suitors for some surprising and... not so surprising reasons.
  • Slap Slap Kiss: Her relationship with Shepard, if one is pursued.
  • Smug Super: Played straight to a greater extent, then deconstructed.
  • Space Clothes: Except in her alternate appearance pack armor.
  • The Spock: Jacob and Miranda serve as the foils/voice-of-reason towards Shepard. Miranda tends to support more immoral actions that are beneficial to the mission as a whole; she's the mouthpiece of Cerberus and its mission statement.
  • Spy Catsuit: Particularly her loyalty outfit. It is worth noting that the second appearance pack DLC takes pains to avert this: instead of form-fitting fabric and high heels, Miranda now wears armor very similar to the Medium armor from the first game, complete with combat boots and notably less emphasis on her curves. However, consider the fact that the Mass Effect 1 armors to which it emulates were still quite form-fitting.
  • Tempting Fate: She introduces herself by saying she's "an excellent judge of character" and that she's "never wrong". Between her loyalty mission and the suicide mission, the universe seems to be keen on proving she's, in fact, far from perfect.
  • Took a Level In Kindness: A bit by the end of Mass Effect 2. A lot by the end of Mass Effect 3, where she tries to warn as many people on Horizon as she can about a Husk facility masquerading as a refugee camp, and goes to extraordinary lengths to save her sister. A pretty far cry from the human supremacist from the start of Mass Effect 2.
  • Truly Single Parent: She doesn't have a mother. She was designed from her father's chromosomes mixed with a mishmash of female DNA.
  • Unresolved Sexual Tension: There is an undertone of this between her and a male Shepard during their conversations in Mass Effect 3.
  • The Worf Effect: She's built up as a perfect human specimen throughout Mass Effect 2 (though a monumentally arrogant one that often overestimates her own abilities) and a competent biotic. In Mass Effect 3, Kai Leng shows up, beats her half to death, takes her Sanctuary Data, and unceremoniously dumps her broken body in Henry Lawson's office. She'll actually die from these wounds if you don't warn her that Kai Leng is active and/or give her Alliance resources.
  • Working with the Ex: She headhunted Jacob for Cerberus, and it's suggested they had something at one point, but there's not much tension.

Mordin Solus

Lots of ways to help people. Sometimes heal patients; sometimes execute dangerous people. Either way helps.
"No surprise, Mordin acts superior to everyone. Like he's got tenure at FU."
— Joker's description

Voiced by: Michael Beattie (2), William Salyers (3)

Salarian doctor. Former member of salarian Special Tasks Group. Recruited by Shepard to combat Collector technology.

  • Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: Personal mission involves one. In which Mordin considers actions. Reasons for becoming Atoner also stated. Done fairly well.
  • Angst? What Angst?: Heavily affected by loyalty mission, fine by return to Normandy. Salarians possess short lifespans, learn to deal with emotional burdens efficiently. Came to terms during shuttle ride. Concern appreciated, however.
  • Anti-Hero: Type III.
  • Asexuality: Salarian. No sex drive. Gives Shepard The Talk anyway.
  • The Atoner: Upgraded Genophage. Perfect reason to atone for.
    • Ultimately zigzagged. Considers act inexcusable. Also considers act inevitable.
    • In Mass Effect 3, Fight to save female Krogan. Cure the Genophage. Do what needs to be done. sharp inhale Proud Posthumously.
      • On other hand, personal guilt may be causing rash decisions. Wreav dangerous and without Eve to stabilize him, likely to repeat Krogan Rebellions. *sharp inhale* Trick Krogans, fake death, get Salarian support, help with Crucible. Cure genophage when Reapers dealt with.
  • Badass Bookworm: Salarian doctor. Among smartest ever. Also incredibly skilled killer.
  • Badass Grandpa: Elderly by salarian standards.
  • Badass Labcoat: Wears labcoat over commando gear. *sharp inhale* Awesome.
  • Beige Prose: Naturally.
  • Berserk Button: Playing with Syringes. Hates reckless science.
    • Also metaphors.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Ran clinic on Omega. Mercs tried to extort a protection racket. They all ended up dead. Was gone five minutes.
  • Bizarre Alien Biology: Salarians need little sleep. Lifespan approximately forty years. Have almost perfect recall of any learned information. Egg-laying, have little understanding of romantic interaction.
  • Bond One-Liner: Non-lethal example, since victim was merely obstinant STG agent, not actually an enemy.

Mordin: Objection noted.

Mordin: Advantage of being salarian. Turians, krogan, vorcha - all obvious threats. *sharp inhale* Never see me coming.

    • Subversion, actually. Has killed many times, but never with medicine (says so himself during loyalty mission). Though Shepard can challenge him on whether upgraded genophage counts as killing with medicine or not. Likely a question he asked himself before.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Found several surveillance bugs. Destroyed some. Returned expensive one to Miranda.
  • Death Faked for You: If Wrex and Eve dead, can be convinced to fake genophage cure and help with Crucible project. Wreav too dangerous as leader without Eve to stabilize him. Pretend to have died in explosion.
  • Determinator: If Shepard is forced to shoot him. Manages to crawl toward console despite lethal wound. Almost reaches console before collapsing.
  • Dirty Business: Guilt for actions major part of character.
  • Dying Moment of Awesome: If deploying genophage cure, silently hums Scientist Salarian while going about work. Facility collapsing around. *sharp inhale* ...Exhilarating.
    • Inverted if Shepard shoots in the back. Crawl to workstation. Die before temperature change ruins cure. Senseless death. Even Shepard disgusted with self.
  • Even A Mad Scientist Has Standards: Hates unnecessary wastes of life. Only kills bad people. Always careful with medicine. Protege... *sharp inhale* not so principled.
  • Evilutionary Biologist: Subverts trope. Generally well-intentioned. Strong ethical guidelines. Fairly ruthless regardless.

Mordin: No testing on species capable of calculus. Simple rule. Never broke it.

Mordin: I made a MISTAKE! Focused on big picture. Big picture made of little pictures. Too many variables!

Mordin:I made a mistake!

  • Pet the Dog: Loyalty mission. Packed with these moments. Notably absolutely horrified at dead female krogan test subject. States that species doesn't matter. Acknowledges work as a cause.
  • The Professor: Nature of mission irrelevant. Know something about strange thing.
  • Retired Badass: Formerly served in special forces. Now doctor. Return to combat not problem.
  • Retirony: "Would have liked to run tests on the seashells."
  • Sacrificial Lion: In third game, arguably. End of first story act, first major character to die. Clear sign no-one else safe. *inhale* No-one. If killed by Shepard, good sign of how far s/he has fallen.
  • Science Hero: Uses vast scientific knowledge to help Shepard against both Collectors and Reapers.
  • Seen It All: Has encountered much in the galaxy. Little surprise. Reaction to Javik: "Ah, a Prothean. Excellent."
  • Self-Demonstrating Article: Terse talker. Speaks in sentence fragments. Emulated in this character trope list.
  • Sherlock Scan: Good at analysis. Displayed when first met Shepard.
  • Shoot the Dog: Has no problem killing one person. To save ten others, of course. Even created new strain of genophage. Krogan adapted to previous one. Does feel regretful about the latter. Started clinic to atone. All life precious.

"Lots of ways to help people. Sometimes heal patients; sometimes execute dangerous people. Either way helps."

    • Possibly on receiving end in third game. If not convinced to go along with sabotage, Renegade Shepard forced to shoot him to stop genophage cure.
  • The Smart Guy: Runs the lab.
  • Sophisticated As Hell: Noted in Shadow Broker Dossier. Example adequate;

"Specialist Solus suggests Commander Kirrahe has a foreign object in his cloaca [...] suggests that cloacal obstruction is in fact Kirrahe's cranium."

"Who's that? Pilot? No. Synthesized voice. Simulated emotional inflections. Could it be... no. Maybe. Have to ask. Is that an AI?" - Mordin learns about EDI

Mordin: I made a mistake!


Samara

Find peace in the embrace of the goddess.
"I feel like Samara could shoot me in a very tranquil manner, which doesn't make me feel any better about it."
—Joker's description

Voiced by: Maggie Baird

A member of an ancient cult of asari warrior monks who give up all personal property and spend their lives righting wrongs. They rarely leave asari space, but Samara is found on Illium, on the scent of a murderer she's spent centuries hunting...

  • Absolute Cleavage: Her suit is kept partially unzipped to expose her breasts.
  • Action Mom: She has three daughters and had to imprison two and hunt down the other because they're Ardat-Yakshi... basically Asari sex vampires.
  • All Crimes Are Equal: Although she has been shown to offer other alternatives than death to criminals, and she states during her talks that "if a Justicar is involved, a peaceful solution has long passed." In other words, she wouldn't chase after, say, a jaywalker with the same zeal that she would for a slaver or axe murderer. Just don't resist arrest.
  • Almost Kiss: See Tearjerker below.
  • Ancient Astronauts: In Dummied Out content from her Shadow Broker dossier, she was a crewmember of an asari ship that crashed on Earth in the Elizabethan era, was possibly responsible for the destruction of the Spanish Armada, and inspired none other than William Shakespeare to write a romantic sonnet about her.
  • Anti-Hero: Type IV due to the fact that the code basically requires her to kill anyone who gets in her way.
  • The Atoner: The Action Mom spoiler mentions why.
  • Badass Grandma: She's around 1000 years old meaning that she's old even by asari standards.
  • Big Damn Heroes: If Shepard doesn't have enough Paragon/Renegade points to resist Morinth, Samara comes in to save him/her.
  • Bullying a Dragon: Anyone who gets in her way.
    • Paragon Shepard in Mass Effect 3 grabs her hands to avert her attempt to commit suicide.

Samara: (restrained anger) Let. Me. Go.
Shepard: (firmly) No.

  • Captain Ersatz: Blue-skinned alien priestess. Calm as a Zen master. Huge breasts. Meditates cross-legged in a room with a view. Prays to the goddess. Unwise to rouse to violence. She even sounds a little like Zhaan.
  • Catch Phrase/Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "Find peace in the embrace of the Goddess." Usually followed by a sick, splattering CRUNCH.
  • Celibate Hero: After becoming a justicar, she put her mission before everything else. Her code does not forbid romance or sexual relations, but she remains celibate due to her personal choice. The fact that all three of her daughters are Ardat-Yakshi, with two of them Locked Away in a Monastery and the other being a Complete Monster who operates much like a Serial Killer may have something to do with it.
  • Combat Stilettos: She puts them to good use in her opening scene...
  • Death Seeker: A mild example, but she outright states that she has no plans for retirement and expects to die in battle.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: Somewhat likely to break your neck for stealing an old lady's purse, but she might just offer you a lesser punishment first.
  • Dissonant Serenity: Samara discusses horrific kills, contemplates her own death, and even crushes her own daughter's head with a super-powered biotic punch, all while talking in a calm, peaceful tone like she's lying on a beach. It's... unnerving.
  • Don't You Dare Pity Me!: "I do not want your pity, Shepard. I do not accept it."
  • Driven to Suicide: Potentially in Mass Effect 3, rather than kill her one remaining daughter Falere, and break her code, but you have a Paragon interrupt that can be used to stop her.
  • Glowing Eyes: Sometimes her eyes glow white when she is using her biotics. See here for an example.
  • Good Is Not Soft: An extreme case given how Justicars work.
  • Gory Discretion Shot: We don't get a direct view when she kills the Eclipse merc when you first meet her, nor when she crushes Morinth's head with one biotic punch (if you side with her over Morinth).
  • Grandma, What Massive Hotness You Have!: Well, she is almost 1,000 years old...
    • Asari live much, much longer than humans, but Samara is old even for an asari, so she qualifies for the trope.
  • Half Human Hybrids: Like Liara, she subverts this by being a pureblood in a society that favors hybrids. She understands much better than most where the stigma comes from.
  • Hot Mom
  • Intrigued by Humanity: Admits she finds humans fascinating for their sheer individualism and ability to hold a dozen opinions, sometime conflicting, on a single topic.
  • Knight Templar: Though she considers herself a Knight Errant. Mixed with a bit of Samurai.
  • Lady of War
  • Lawful Stupid: Averted. Prior to meeting her in person, everything Shepard hears about Justicars leads the player to believe that the Code requires them to act this way. In her very first scene, however, Samara proves capable of maneuvering herself and her Code to avoid an unpleasant outcome that she doesn't want. However, she makes it clear the code only bends so far. In her own words, she acknowledges that the universe is a gray place, but that the Justicar code is very much black and white.
    • In one later conversation it's implied that she often warns people the equivalent of "Do you really want to do/say that in my presence?". If they ignore her, well, probably Too Dumb to Live.
    • In Mass Effect 3, she manages to work around her Code again if Shepard stops her from killing herself. When Falere, her daughter, tells Samara that she (Falere) will stay at the monastery and that she's never needed its walls to follow her own code anyway, Samara decides that it satisfies the demands of her Code. And Samara will have to check on her often... as a Justicar should.
  • Life Drain: Reave, which restores your health if it hits an unprotected organic enemy (it damages armor and barriers too, but without the health boost).
  • A Lighter Shade of Grey: Asari Justicars were the original basis for the Spectres.
  • Mama Bear: The Code demands that she forsake all ties to her family. When the Ardat-Yakshi monastary is attacked by the Reapers, however, she immediately goes there in search of her daughters with the full intent of slaughtering anything and anyone who gets in her way. Once Falere is rescued, she is even willing to protect her from the Code by choosing to kill herself rather than Falere.
  • Married to the Job: She is so into her role as a Justicar that she rebukes any possibility of romance, even when she's sure she would find nothing but happiness with Paragon!Shepard. When she committed to becoming a Justicar, she also had to give up all ties to her family, and has not spoken to two of her daughters since.
    • Subverted in Mass Effect 3 if she is stopped from committing suicide. While she still adheres to the Code, she says that she will have to check in on her remaining daughter often... which she justifies by saying that it's what a Justicar should do with Ardat-Yakshi, after all.
  • Meaningful Name: Samara is Hebrew/Arabic and means "guardian (protected by God)".
  • Mind Over Matter: She is an extremely powerful biotic and - aside from perhaps Jack's escape from Purgatory - performs the most spectacular onscreen feats, from slowing falls to smashing people's heads to wrenching a car out of the air as its drivers try to escape.
  • Murder Is the Best Solution: A rare heroic example: thanks to her Code, anyone who opposes her is a criminal, and therefore should not be allowed to live.
  • Mutually Exclusive Party Members: Although it is possible to recruit Morinth, doing so will result in Samara's death at the hands of her daughter.
  • My Master, Right or Wrong:
    • It's left deliberately ambiguous whether she takes certain actions because she wants to, or because she has to. Some dialogue indicates it's highly likely that she takes no pleasure in a lot of things she has to do as a justicar, but the rules and the code are more important than her personal feelings. In fact, she may have sworn the code to get as far away from her personal feelings as possible.
    • Mass Effect 3 shows one thing that she flat-out refuses to do: killing her last living daughter, because said daughter is not a twisted sociopath. Though technically, she is fulfilling the code, as the code demands that a justicar who fails to fulfill the code pay for it with her life to atone.
  • Near Kiss: "Another time, another life."
  • Never Mess with Granny: Not actually a grandmother, for Tear Jerker reasons, but old enough to be one. An asari matriarch who is almost a thousand after all.
  • The Not Love Interest: She'll actively reject any attempt at romance. The interest is quite welcome, however.
  • Offing the Offspring: Her primary goal as a Justicar is to put down one of her daughters.
    • In Mass Effect 3, after saving Falere, her last surviving daughter from the Ardat-Yakshi temple's destruction, she'll state that her Code requires her to kill her daughter despite the fact that Falere has done nothing wrong, as there is no longer a monastery for Falere to be confined in. However, even after being required to forsake everything -- including family -- in order to become a Justicar, she loves her daughter and will not kill her. In order to avoid breaking the Code, she will choose suicide as her way out unless Shepard uses a Paragon interrupt.
  • Optional Party Member: None of the post-Horizon squadmates are necessary to finish the game.
  • The Paladin: A religious warrior who lives to serve her code and dispense justice.
  • Principles Zealot: No one else keeps their feelings and their actions as separate as her.

Captain Anaya: She would die defending an honest cop, but would fight an army of corrupt ones to her death.

    • Except in the case of her two law-abiding daughters Falere and Rila. She considers suicide preferable to killing them.
  • Really Seven Hundred Years Old: She's over 1000, old even for an Asari, and she really doesn't look it.
  • Sadistic Choice: The Code requires that she kill any Ardat-Yakshi not confined to a monastery. Her daughter is an Ardat-Yakshi, and the monastery had just been levelled. If a Justicar fails in her duties, the Code requires to kill herself to make amends. Guess what she does if you don't stop her. Fortunately, Falere will stay in the ruins to help rebuild, and if Samara hears about this, then the Code will be satisfied, but to make sure that she doesn't get any ideas about escaping, Samara will visit her when she can to keep an eye on her. Just like a Justicar should. That is the only reason.
  • Senseless Sacrifice: Shepard can make her suicide a pointless one. Shepard at his most pointlessly cruel.
  • Squishy Wizard: Like most of the Adept class, her physical durability isn't extremely high, but she can put out a lot of damage very quickly (she's also the only biotic teammate able to use assault rifles).
  • Statuesque Stunner: She is quite tall with very chiseled features.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: With Psychotic sex-vampire daughter Morinth.
  • Take a Third Option: Her occasional way of working around her code. In fact, her primary reason for joining Shepard in the fight against the Collectors was so she wouldn't be forced to kill innocents.
    • In Mass Effect 3, when forced to make a, for her, impossible choice between her innocent daughter's life and the demands of her code, she chooses the third option: suicide.
  • Training from Hell: The Path of the Justicar is, by her own admission, a difficult one. This includes the training it takes to become one. Many fail to survive it.
  • Villainous Incest: Averted. Most asaris prefer to reproduce with other species because doing it with their own carries the risk of producing Ardat-Yakshi, and pure-bloods are discriminated exactly for their potential to breed them. However, Samara never had the intention of producing children with the anomaly and is clearly trying to hide deep sadness over the fact that mating with her partner has ended in tragedy every time.
  • Warrior Monk: Though it's noted that other cultures would see her as a vigilante.
  • Worthy Opponent: According to her, Nihlus. After seeing him kill an unarmed civilian, she spent a fortnight tracking him through the wilderness. He escaped by forcing her to choose between going after him or letting more innocents die.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: If the player chooses Morinth over her. Shepard even says "Morinth is more useful".
    • Which can be interpreted as either ruthless practicality or simple self-preservation. Morinth, after all, is a known quantity by this point and only an idiot would die at her... hands. Samara explicitly says she would kill a Renegade Shepard if she hadn't already sworn an oath.

Thane Krios

An assassin is a weapon. A weapon doesn't decide who it kills. The one who wields it does.
"Thane seems like the strong, sensitive, murdering type. You know those are always great to have around. A real cuddler."
—Joker's description

Voiced by: Keythe Farley

A drell assassin who is said to be the best in the galaxy. He used to take contracts for credits, but is spending his last days trying to right wrongs. A romance option for female Shepard.

  • Affectionate Nickname: If romanced, he calls female Shepard "siha". He will call female Shepard "siha" without the romance being initiated, but he drops it—and doesn't explain what it means—if she doesn't reciprocate.
  • Anti-Hero: Type IV in his past, currently between Type II and Type III. He shows no hesitation to take down evil people like Nassana, but is very strict about his methods, shown in his absolute focus on protecting civilians and his disapproval towards Renegade Shepard's rough interrogation techniques.
  • The Atoner: Wishes to make the galaxy a better place before he dies and considers his assassinations of horrible people merely "removing the bad" rather than "making things better".
  • Back for the Dead: If he survives the suicide mission in Mass Effect 2, his only role in the third game is to be killed by Kai Leng during Cerberus' attempted coup on the Citadel.
  • Badass Bookworm: Aside from his work, all that interested him was his family and reading.
  • Badass Longcoat: Well, waistcoat. In the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC, his file reveals he wears the outfit not because Armor Is Useless, but because covering up his chest would worsen his illness.
  • Bizarre Alien Biology: Drell have perfect recall of anything they've ever done, though they can't always control it. Thane notes that with the ability to recall bad memories as well, this isn't always a good thing. And since the drell came from an arid world and are now living on a planet that's 90% ocean, they suffer from a degenerative illness that causes their lungs to eventually fail.
  • Click. "Hello.": Keep him alive for Mass Effect 3, and Kai Leng's assassination attempt on the salarian councilor doesn't quite go as planned.
  • Cold-Blooded Torture: While he is normally a clean and efficient killer, he notes that he took extra time with his wife's killers.
  • Cold Sniper: A highly trained sniper who rarely expresses emotion.
  • Cradling Your Kill: When he takes down Nassana Dantius during his introduction. After shooting her at point-blank range, he calmly and gently places her body on her desk in a peaceful repose.
  • Crusading Widower: In his backstory. After his wife's murder, he spent the next few years hunting down her killers. Emphasis on hunting.
  • Cultured Badass: He quotes Thomas Hobbes when explaining the fate of the drell homeworld.
  • Cutscene Power to the Max: Killing people with their own guns, impromptu stealth... justified in that he's an assassin, not a soldier: he's trained to get to the target quickly and quietly and take them out in a similar manner.

Thane: If I have to fight through guards, I've made a mistake. I rarely make mistakes.

Thane: (after Shepard offers to help him with his disease) Thank you, but if the best minds the hanar Illuminated Primacy have to offer can't fix my problem, I doubt your ship's medic can.
Thane: (after Mouse is startled by both his own presence and that of the Back from the Dead Shepard) Be still, Mouse. You may change your pants in a moment.

Thane: I accepted the Dantius commission because I didn't know what else to do. Looking back, it's clear I resigned myself to death. I would have fulfilled my contract.

  • Determinator: When you meet him in Mass Effect 3, he was given three months to live... nine months ago.
  • Disappeared Dad: Left his son Kolyat to be raised by relatives after his wife died. In his personal mission, he attempts to stop him from following his footsteps.
  • Dying Moment of Awesome: Or at least what finally brings about his death.
  • Even the Guys Want Him:
  • Evil Parents Want Good Kids: Though Thane took great pains to conceal his real career from Kolyat, he eventually finds out and tries to follow in his father's footsteps. Thane's loyalty mission centers on keeping that from happening.
  • Face Death with Dignity: He passes away from complications of late stage Kepral's Syndrome, abdominal trauma and blood loss. He dies having made peace with himself and his son, knowing that others consider him a hero. He says a final prayer not for himself but for Shepard.
  • Good Cop, Bad Cop: During an interrogation, Thane can either gently rebuke Shepard for beating up the suspect and calmly try to reason with the criminal... or just sit there and not do very much while Shepard beats up the suspect.
  • Green-Skinned Space Babe: A very, very, very rare male version of this trope.
  • Guns Akimbo: In the Blur trailer.
  • Guttural Growler: Has a rather deep and raspy voice, which seems to be something of the norm of his race since his son Kolyat has a similarly raspy, if somewhat higher-pitched, voice.
  • Hell-Bent for Leather: His entire outfit looks like leather. Fanfics are bound to make good use of it.
  • Hitman with a Heart: He joins you not for the money, but because he wants make the galaxy a better place before he dies.
  • Holding Hands: As part of the romance with female Shepard.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice:
    • In Mass Effect 2, not upgrading the Normandy's weapons by default leads to him getting impaled by a bulkhead during the trip through the Omega-4 Relay.
    • In Mass Effect 3, he gets stabbed by Kai Leng during the Cerberus coup on the Citadel, which eventually leads to his death.
  • Incurable Cough of Death: He's got one of these in the third game, thanks to late-stage Kepral's Syndrome.
  • In Love with the Mark: Sort of. His late wife was not his target, but got his attention when she stood in his line of fire to protect his mark from him.
  • Killed Off for Real: He gets stabbed while fighting Kai Leng, and the blood loss combined with complications from Kepral's Syndrome prove fatal despite a transfusion from his son.
  • Kill It with Fire: One of the Shadow Broker's dossiers lists his favorite methods of assassinating various species. One of the options listed for krogan? "Bomb".
  • The Last Dance: After he learned about his terminal illness, he decided to devote the rest of his life to making the universe a better place. This reaches a climax when he shames Kai Leng, despite a severe handicap.
  • Love Redeems: His wife made him realize that there was more to his life than assassination. Female Shepard makes him realize the same thing if that romance is pursued.
  • Magic Knight: He makes use of powerful weapons and his bonus power enhances his ammunition, but can still use powers like Throw and Warp.
  • Manly Tears: Of frustration more than of the warm and fuzzy kind, but still. Part of the romance.
  • Mind Over Matter: The only drell biotic seen thus far.
  • Mr. Fanservice: Repentant assassin with a spiritual side? Check. Soft-spoken and eloquent? Check. Humanoid yet exotically handsome? Check. Kelly's not sure if she finds him scary or sexy. Best part: reading the notes of the dev team as they tried to engineer him to have this reaction. It was, needless to say, a long and arduous process, and, ultimately, it seems a good deal of it relied on him being a Badass in a Nice Suit.
  • Neck Snap: He uses this on Nassana's bodyguards. The Shadow Broker's dossier indicates that this is in fact his preferred method of killing, although, if his target is krogan, he's equally willing to resort to explosives, though this is as much out of necessity as anything else, as krogan are very difficult to kill—not to mention have huge, muscular necks.
  • Noodle Incident: Responsible for an incident known as the "One-Hour Massacre" on Omega.
  • One Last Job: His assassination of Nassana Dantius. Then he talks to Shepard and decides to do One More Last Job.
  • Optional Party Member: You don't have to recruit him.
  • Orbital Kiss: At the culmination of his romance.
  • Photographic Memory: Drell can relive any memory they choose. Counts as Blessed with Suck for a hitman that has issues with his family.
  • Power Perversion Potential: Drell can remember any moment and effectively experience it again. Not so nice if you're remembering getting shot, but if you decided to dwell on, ahem, nicer experiences... points for the fact that Thane mentions it in-game.
  • Professional Killer: "You've spent too much time fighting thugs who think custom-painted armor makes them professionals."
  • Religious Bruiser: While not a bruiser per se, he's the galaxy's best assassin, and the only person to pray for his victims. And, of course, that scene:

"Amonkira. Lord of Hunters. Grant that my hands be steady, my aim be true, and my feet swift. And should the worst come to pass, grant me forgiveness."

  • Retired Badass: In the third game, he tells Shepard that it's his time to rest from conflict now that his life is almost over. Then the Cerberus coup attempt happens, and he has one last rumble with Kai Leng, saving the salarian councilor at the cost of his own life. In the hospital, Thane quips that Leng should feel ashamed that a terminally-ill drell managed to stop him from reaching his target.
    • Handicapped Badass: Dying by suffocating slowly and in constant pain because of it counts, right?
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Went on one after his wife was murdered. He notes that while he usually kills swiftly, he took extra time with her killers.
  • Romancing the Widower: If Shepard romances him.
  • Sacrificial Lion: His only role in Mass Effect 3, and the first unavoidable case of it in the game. He doesn't go out without a fight though.
  • Say Your Prayers: He's not praying for himself, he's praying for Shepard.

Thane: Kalahira, mistress of inscrutable depths, I ask forgiveness. Kalahira, whose waves wear down stone and sand. Kalahira, wash the sins from this one and set him on a distant shore of the infinite spirit. Kalahira, this one’s heart is pure, but beset by wickedness and contention. Guide this one to where the traveller never tires, the lover never leaves, the hungry never starve. Guide this one, Kalahira, and s/he will be a companion to you as s/he was to me.

  • Second Love: With female Shepard.
  • "Shut Up" Kiss: If he was romanced in Mass Effect 2, Shepard can give one of these to him during their one conversation in the third game.
  • So Happy Together: His romance ends this, expedited by Kai Leng.
  • Springtime for Hitler: He was going to his last mission to be killed in action, until Shepard showed up. Subverted because he decides that joining Shepard is a much better plan.
  • Stalker with a Crush: Subverted. After his future wife threw herself in front of his targeting laser to stop one of his missions, he became obsessed with finding her. Instead of going down the usual path of this trope, he fell on his knees in front of her and begged for forgiveness. Eventually, it worked.
  • Stealth Hi Bye:
    • He does this during his loyalty mission, but, unlike most instances of this trope, he does this in plain sight in the middle of a open lobby. When two people walk in front of him.
    • One of the Shadow Broker's surveilance tapes shows another example: while walking down a corridor, he steps into the shadow cast by a column and doesn't step out again.
  • There Was a Door: Silly troper, assassins never use doors. They drop from air ducts in the ceiling to kill their targets. With the target's own gun.
  • Troubled but Cute: Carries a lot of baggage from his life as an assassin and very much a male Green-Skinned Space Babe.
  • Tyke Bomb: Was trained to be an assassin since early childhood by the hanar. Killed his first target at the age of twelve. Mind, drell do live shorter lives... eighty years to humanity's hundred fifty.
  • Vigilante Man: He prefers to take contracts on people that he feels deserve to die.
  • Walking Shirtless Scene: Trust BioWare to come up with a good way to justify this trope (covering his chest could cause moisture buildup in his lungs, worsening his illness).
  • Wall Slump: In the third game, after being stabbed by Kai Leng. He doesn't die right away, but it's pretty clear that he's not going to last much longer.
  • Warrior Poet: Especially during flashback sequences, when he speaks almost in white rhyme.
  • What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: His photographic memory segments.
  • When You Coming Home, Dad?: His relationship with his son Kolyat, prior to his wife's death. This becomes a Whole-Plot Reference to the original song when Kolyat decides to follow in his father's footsteps and become an assassin. His loyalty achievement is even called "Cat's in the Cradle".
  • Worf Had the Flu: It seemed that Kai Leng was only able to beat him because he was already in poor physical condition at the time. Thane was suffering from the advanced stages of Kepral's Syndrome, which makes every breath painful, and is roughly 6 months past his best doctor's expected projections. Had Thane been at his peak, Leng would not have survived the fight, or at least would have ran like a little bitch much earlier.
  • You Are the Translated Foreign Word: Used as part of the romance with female Shepard. It's a name for the warrior-angels of the protector-goddess Arashu.

Shepard: I think my translator just glitched. What did you call me?
Thane: "Siha." Someday I'll tell you what it means.

    • He will call a female Paragon Shepard "Siha" even without a romance being initiated.
  • You Are Worth Hell: The romance for female Shepard: the love scene starts with Thane's frustration that now that he has something to live for again, he's started to fear death once more. Additionally, his Shadow Broker dossier contains a romantic letter in which he expresses his wish to protect and be with her, even if it means he will die a slow, choking death on a hospital bed. The trope isn't directly invoked to its full extent, however.
  • Your Days Are Numbered/You See, I'm Dying: "This was to be my last job. I'm dying."


Zaeed Massani

Rage is a Hell of an anesthetic....
"Zaeed is like you, but takes checks. As long as it's not my money, we're good."
—Joker's description

Voiced by: Robin Sachs

A character who is only available through the Cerberus Network DLC content. He is the best bounty hunter in the galaxy and has been hired to help Shepard. He's also the co-founder of the Blue Suns mercenary group.

  • Anti-Hero: A solid Type V in 2. He is only working for the money and will let innocent people die if he thinks his personal interests are more important. He is working for Shepard because he was paid.
    • Type IV in Mass Effect 3: he's started restricting his ruthlessness to Cerberus, who definitely deserve it.
  • Badass: Even Shepard calls him a badass.
    • Extremely apparent on his loyalty mission. If you choose the Renegade route, he coolly pops a heat sink and lets it ignite some oil, burning Vido alive. If you choose the Paragon route, he enters an utter screaming fury, empties his clip at Vido's ship as he flies away... and kills the guy next to Vido despite the ship being closed and armored. Vido's expression strongly suggests he shat himself as he got away.
  • Badass Normal: Aside from Tali, Kasumi, and Garrus practically every member of your team is a biotic, has cybernetics, is genetically engineered, or all of the above. Zaeed is a normal human who has none of these (except for an artificial eye), he's just a tough bastard with a gun. Yet he's still one of the strongest team members in the game, outdone only by Grunt.
  • Berserk Button: Don't call his fixation with taking Vido down a 'grudge' or imply that he needs to let go.
  • The Big Guy: Class I. Alllllll the way. In fact, he's right behind Grunt in pure combat prowess, and gives the whole team a massive defensive boost when holding the line on the suicide mission.
  • Bounty Hunter: Best in the business.

Warden Kuril: I got sick of seeing prisoners escape justice. Bounty hunters...aren't reliable.
Zaeed: Then you aren't hiring the right ones.

  • Catch Phrase: The man likes to say "Goddamn", that's for sure.
  • Cool Old Guy: Has plenty of fond memories of his past and likes telling old war stories for anyone willing to listen.
  • Demoted to Extra: While all of the Mass Effect 2 squadmates suffer from this in Mass Effect 3, Zaeed and Kasumi suffer the most from it, likely due to being DLC characters.
  • Determinator: He credits his survival of a headshot to this.

Zaeed: Rage is a hell of an anesthetic.

  • The Dog Bites Back: After negotiations with a Cerberus contract go sour post-Mass Effect 2, he starts taking jobs which disrupt their operations.
  • Downloadable Content: Zaeed makes no appearance in the vanilla game.
  • Even Evil Has Standards:
    • He's hardly a pleasant man, but what ethics he has are largely responsible for his "leaving" the Blue Suns (he disapproved of their hiring of batarians, whom he saw as terrorists), and he expresses disgust at Cerberus' imprisonment of biotic children if taken along on Jack's loyalty mission. He also dislikes corporate security, preferring to work for his contracts and care who he's killing. Also, take him with you whenever the Collectors are involved, and he is clearly disgusted and horrified by what he sees.

Zaeed: "Cheaper labor," he said. "Goddamn terrorists," I said.

    • If brought to Jacob's loyalty mission, upon seeing what Ronald Taylor has done, Zaeed states that anyone who does this to their own men deserves a knife to the spine. Though if you talk to him afterwards on the ship, he's less judgmental.
    • In Mass Effect 3, apart from working against Cerberus, he's also VERY disgusted when Din Korlack tries to bargain when lives are at stake and he has barely anything to gain.
  • Exactly What I Aimed At: Pulled off during his loyalty mission, although it isn't quite as successful as he'd hoped.
  • Foil: To Thane.
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: His extensive scars make it immediately clear he's not a morally squeaky-clean individual.
  • Heel Face Turn: In Mass Effect 3, after some "bad negotiations" with Cerberus, he's been actively taking jobs working against them.
  • He Who Fights Monsters: Paragon Shepard actually punches him and holds a gun to his head in order to hammer this point into Zaeed. By wanting to let innocents die in order to satisfy his need for vengeance, he's become no better than Vido.
  • I Call It Vera: Jessie, his old rifle. His attachment to it is quite strong despite the fact that it has been broken beyond repair for five years.
    • A message on Liara's information terminal in the third game shows that he's bought a parts kit for a discontinued assault rifle, indicating that he knows the Reaper War is going to be so bad that he'll need the most reliable weapon he ever owned by his side again.
  • Ink Suit Actor: Resembles his voice actor Robin Sachs, though besides the obvious scarring Zaeed looks older than Sachs is.
  • Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: He describes the best way to get a Krogan to talk: stick a knife behind his forehead plate in just the right spot and pry it right off. The thought of it apparently drives them mad.
  • Jerkass: He can be a real asshole. Then again, being shot in the face tends to affect your personality somewhat.
  • Karmic Death: If Shepard leaves him to die on his loyalty mission, mostly because Shepard doesn't even kill him, just refuses to help him as he burns in the fire. The irony is noted by Shepard as well.

Shepard: You started this fire Zaeed, it makes sense that you'd burn in it.

  • Kick the Dog: His loyalty mission is basically just one long kick the dog moment.

Zaeed: Let these people burn! Vido dies, no matter the cost!

  • Kill It with Fire: He gets powerful Inferno Grenades when you earn his loyalty.
  • The Mean Brit: "Walk it off. A little poison never hurt anyone."
  • Mismatched Eyes: One green, the other one a replacement cybernetic prosthesis for the eye that (likely) got blown out when he was shot in the head.
  • Murder Is the Best Solution: His first solution to pretty much everything is violence. It backfired on him prior to the second game, and may hit him again if Shepard plays the cards wrong in his loyalty mission.
  • The Neidermeyer: His stories and the Shadow Broker's info on him indicate that Zaeed was a horrible leader who was all too willing to let others die and not particularly well-liked by those he leads. This is a pretty big indicator that he's a poor squad leader in the endgame.
  • Normally I Would Be Dead Now: He survived getting shot in the head at point-blank range purely by sheer determination.

Zaeed: A stubborn enough person can survive just about anything.

  • Old Soldier: He practically embodies this trope.
  • One Last Job: The money he received from Cerberus as payment for joining Shepard's squad has made him seriously consider retirement. Either that or suicide via blowing his ship up near Omega.
  • Optional Party Member: He's a DLC character.
  • Psycho for Hire: Albeit a much more subdued and refined version than most.
    • He even gets a bit self-referential: he claims that the only person not to piss themselves when having a gun next to their heads are psychotic maniacs and trained killers. And they can be hard to discern sometimes.
  • Rebel Relaxation: In his room on the ship and during the pre-suicide mission briefing: he's the only one not standing at the table, opting to slouch against a wall near the end of the room.
  • Redemption Equals Death: Possible in Mass Effect 3 if Zaeed wasn't loyal in Mass Effect 2. He dies saving ambassador Din Korlack from the other mercs who had been duped into thinking Din was still a Cerberus sympathizer.
  • Retired Monster: He was once a very vicious merc and co-founded the Blue Suns.
  • Retirony: Played with. The Shadow Broker's intel reveals that Zaeed is contemplating retirement after finishing Shepard's mission and he is so annoyed by the thought that the best plan he came up with so far is invoking the trope himself, by committing a Suicide Attack on Omega.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: His real motivation during his character quest despite his initial claim that he's in it to liberate a factory of workers from the Blue Suns mercenary group, which he co-founded. It's possible for a Paragon Shepard to not only allow the target to escape in order to save the workers, but gain Zaeed's loyalty anyway in a scene that proves good is most definitely not soft and indecisive.
  • Say My Name/Skyward Scream: If he's left to die on his loyalty mission.

Zaeed: SHEPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARD!

  • Shouting Shooter: In his loyalty mission, if you pick Paragon.
  • Sociopathic Hero: He has some amusing war stories, but during his loyalty mission, it becomes apparent that he is chillingly ruthless in his pursuit of vengeance.
  • Sole Survivor: All of his stories usually result in everyone in his squad but him dying. Keep this in mind when choosing fire team leaders during the suicide mission.
  • Token Evil Teammate: Less than Jack, but more than Grunt.
    • Acknowledged enough that his name will not be inscribed on the Normandy's memorial wall if he dies.
  • Unflinching Walk: During his loyalty mission (if you chose the Renegade path).
  • We Have Reserves: Seems to be a believer in this.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Gets this from Paragon Shepard in his loyalty mission. The first is a straight-up punch to the face. The second is pointing a gun at him and threatening to leave him to burn for being willing to do the same for civilian factory workers. This will actually earn his respect enough so that he'll still be loyal in the end.
  • Whole-Plot Reference: The plot of his loyalty mission - going after a guy who left him for dead years ago (and just so happens to have a Hispanic surname) and shooting up a Smoke and Fire Factory to do so - certainly sounds like the plot of every bad 80's action movie ever.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Shepard can leave Zaeed to die during his loyalty mission if the player chooses. However, this requires 1) waiting until after the suicide mission to do his loyalty mission and 2) having at least two other surviving squadmates in addition to Zaeed.


Secret Party Members

Secret Character #1 SPOILERS

Legion

Organics fear us. We wish to understand, not incite.
"Having Legion around is just begging for a rifle up your ass. Without the sweet talk."
—Joker's description

Voiced by: D. C. Douglas

1,183 geth runtimes, operating on a special-purpose geth mobile platform, who are hunting for Shepard, complete with integrating a chunk of his/her armor into his/its/their[1] body.

  • Adorkable: Surprisingly, considering he's a geth.
  • Appropriated Appellation: From EDI... another AI, no less.
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The list of infractions on Legion's profile for the WoW expy are 2 counts of "suspected use of VI play assistance" ("directed use of twenty-seven pets without the use of macros" and "reaction time better than possible for organics", respectively), 1 count of "suspected use of hacking for server access" ("tactics better than possible without knowledge of underlying code behavior") and 1 count of "unsportsmanlike behavior", which is revealed to be "taunting during Genophage Elimination Platinum".
    • All of which were overturned, except for the last. Legion volunteered a 3-day suspension.
  • Ascended Fanboy: Implied by its inability to explain why it took a piece of Shepard's armor to repair itself. And the fact that it sorta blushed when pressed on the subject.

Legion: No data available.

  • Attack Drone: Like Tali and Engineer Shepard.
  • Awesome Yet Practical: Besides being chock full of unique and entertaining dialogue, and offering insights into what was until then one of the most stereotypical bad guy factions in the game, Legion is also an incredible powerful squadmate. He is a bit wimpy to start with, but he gets a shield boosting ability as his loyalty power and is after that pretty durable. The M-98 Widow Anti-Materiel Rifle you can research for him after the loyalty mission is also one of the two most powerful weapon any squadmate can wield. In terms of damage per shot, only Grunts researchable M-300 Claymore shotgun is better, but the Widow can be fired from a ridiculous range. He also has access to assault rifles for close to medium range combat and a wide array of tech powers that are only rivaled by Tali.
  • Badass Adorable: Quickly falls into this once you get to know it; despite being, well, geth, Legion's a very nice entity.
  • Badass Automaton: Both the original inspiration for the trope article and the current page picture. It's an incredibly effective sniper, a robotic Warrior Poet, and the best synthetic video gamer in the galaxy.
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: It's revealed in Mass Effect 3 that Legion's memory of Shepard welcoming him with (somewhat) open arms aboard the Normandy was deemed worthy enough to be preserved in the Geth consensus, along with other key moments of Geth history.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: A major case of Trailers Always Lie made fans think Legion would be a creepy stalker obsessed with Shepard in a most unhealthy way. The obsession is debatable, but Legion comes across as very mild-mannered. Which doesn't mean it's any less Badass: it's a deadly sniper who can match Tali'Zorah vas Normandy as a technician.
  • Blue and Orange Morality: If you pick the Renegade dialogue option that dismisses the crewmates' moral issues with reprogramming or exterminating the geth, Legion responds with:

Legion: No two species are identical. All must be judged by their own merits. Treating every species like ones' own is racist. Even benign anthropomorphicism.

  • Brainwashed and Crazy: Will be programmed to fight for Cerberus if you sold it to them in Mass Effect 2; you fight it at their base near the climax of Mass Effect 3.
  • Character Development: If Legion died in Mass Effect 2's climactic mission, then in Mass Effect 3, its role is filled by a sort of backup (spoilers in video). This backup has no memories from the past three years and no memory of working with Shepard... and it's a rather different character from the "real" one. It's much less friendly and more logical, disinterested when Shepard tries to connect with it, and it doesn't seem to have any grasp of emotion or trust. It never mentions beauty or souls. Those three years changed it a lot.
  • The Chosen One: Legion is unique even among the Geth in that his platform has far more programs running inside it than any Geth. He was made specially to investigate organics (and Shepard).
  • Closet Geek: Apparently quite the gamer, and certainly a very good one.
  • Cold Sniper/Friendly Sniper: It starts out as a pretty archetypal example of the cold trope before warming up to Shepard through conversation. Mechanical outlook aside, Legion's a pretty nice... group of entities.
  • The Comically Serious: Notably if you take him on an accidental "infiltration" of the Citadel.

Legion: Geth do not infiltrate.
Security: [to Shepard] You'll have to leave your personal synthetic assistant behind. They're not allowed on public transport any more.
[[[Beat]]]
Legion: ...Geth do not intentionally infiltrate.

  • The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: Hilariously invoked in the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC. Legion's online gaming profile indicates it has been hit with multiple infractions because it was so skilled, the game designers thought it was cheating. While it later challenged and overturned those relating to superior micro-management, reaction time and tactics, it accepted a suspension for taunting its inferior human opponents during an event.
    • Also invoked Loophole Abuse. It is against the rules to use VI assistance or agent programs when playing a videogame, just like today's multiplayer gaming and the rules banning bots. However, Legion is not a Virtual Intelligence but a full Artificial Intelligence, and there ain't no rule about an AI buying an MMORPG subscription.
  • Creepy Monotone:

Legion: Organics do not choose to fear us. It is a function of your hardware.

  • Crucified Hero Shot: It was in this pose when you find it in the Geth Dreadnought, being used against its will as an amplifier for the Reaper control signal.
  • Cyber Cyclops: As with its whole race.
  • Distinctive Appearances: It has N7 armor grafted to his frame to make sure you don't mistake it for another geth. And a massive hole through its chest, which oddly enough doesn't really seem to bother it much. Its replacement in Mass Effect 3, if it died on the collector base, has a holographic version of the armor and no memory of why it picked that.
  • Do Androids Dream?: As shown in its admiration for Shepard, Legion is capable of some degree of emotion, though it doesn't really understand it. The closest thing to anger you'll see is if you side with Tali during the loyalty confrontation... otherwise, it's just "Anger is an organic response. We understand the theory, but we do not experience it."
    • The Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC reveals that Legion has spent 75 hours playing the "Fleet and Flotilla" Dating Sim. It has a score of 15 ("Hopeless"). It's capable of some level of compassion, however.
    • This is also the kind of question ("Unit has an inquiry ... Do these units have a soul?") that caused the quarians to panic and launch a preemptive strike against the geth in an attempt to wipe them out, as the quarians assumed that the geth would eventually rebel and try to kill their creators.
    • Legion mentions that the geth have been quietly maintaining Rannoch, the quarian homeworld, as a form of memorial. When asked, Legion claims not to know why, but speculates that it is done out of sorrow for the death of so many quarians during the Morning War.
    • In the third game, it asks this question repeatedly, and right before its Heroic Sacrifice asks Tali, and she answers "yes".
  • Eleventh-Hour Ranger: If you want the best ending where everyone survives, it'll be this.
  • Even Heroes Have Heroes: Legion is an excellent sniper and one of the toughest Geth around, but the platform clearly thinks very highly of Shepard.
  • Expressive Mask: The plating around Legion's head/eye is articulated, allowing it to mimic organic expressions to an extent. Most likely intentional, as its platform was custom-made to interact with organics. In fact, the first time we see Legion, it's raising a Fascinating Eyebrow at Shepard's unexpected appearance.
  • Final Death: Legion is one of the only characters in Mass Effect 3 who is guaranteed to bite it no matter what you do. If you don't side with the geth, he tries to Neck Lift you to death, and you have to kill him. If you side with the geth or Take a Third Option, he pulls a Heroic Sacrifice to turn them all sentient. There is no outcome where Rannoch isn't the end of the road for him. Also, if you gave him to Cerberus in the second game, you'll have to kill him yourself during the attack on Cerberus Headquarters.
  • Glass Cannon: The only teammate you can equip with the Widow, but relatively fragile. Two prototype shield upgrades and a shield-boosting loyalty ability mitigate this.
    • Mitigate it to the point that Legion becomes one of the most durable party members, second only to Grunt and Soldier/Sentinel Shepard. At this point, he's more just 'cannon'.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: If you side with the geth or get both sides to stand down, Legion disseminates its personality to upgrade the other geth. Siding with the quarians means you kill them before they have the chance.
  • Hero of Another Story: Legion was the first geth to take up arms against the quarians. It's also hinted that Legion saved the quarians by letting them escape even though the geth could have finished them off once and for all. As a composite entity, he probably was compiled from these heroic Geth runtimes.
  • Hero Worshipper: Heavily implied to be one to Shepard.
    • In Mass Effect 3, it's revealed Shepard was the first organic since the Morning War that the Geth chose to interact with on a one-to-one basis. This was hinted at in Mass Effect 2 when Legion admits to having visiting worlds Shepard had gone to, implying that the Geth may have built Legion with the intention of opening a diplomatic dialogue with the galaxy, via Shepard.
  • I Am Legion: It's specifically named after the quote by Shepard after it's recommended by EDI, since it refers to itself as a group of "1,183 runtimes", rather than just one "geth" and always calls itself "We".
    • In the third game, except for right before its Heroic Sacrifice, where it refers to itself as "I" for the first and last time.
  • Insistent Terminology: Shepard is always "Shepard-Commander" and any quarian is given the title "Creator-[insert name here]".
  • Interface Spoiler: It's referred to as "Legion" in the subtitles when you meet it first. Oddly enough, when you talk to it later, it's referred to as "Geth". In addition, by the time you progress far enough to meet it, the party select screen will most likely have a single, gaping hole with a dossier in it, thus cluing the player in that there's another party member to recruit, and it just might be this "Legion" fellow.
  • Ironic Name: Named after a host of demons in the second game; in the third, Legion's Heroic Sacrifice makes him The Messiah to the Geth.
  • Jack of All Stats: When fully upgraded, it becomes arguably the most useful party member in the game. Legion's powerful sniper rifle makes it a better sniper than Garrus or Thane, its tech powers are almost as good as Tali's (only his lack of an Energy Drain ability puts it at a disadvantage in that department), his fully upgraded shields plus his "Geth Shield Boost" ability gives it almost as much durability as Grunt, and the fact that it can use assault rifles makes it good in a straight up firefight, like combat characters such as Zaeed, Grunt and Garrus. It just lacks biotics, being synthetic and all.
  • Kuudere: It starts off as very logical and analytical towards Shepard, although it warms up quickly and even has a What Is This Thing You Call Love? moment later in its dialogue path.
  • Late Character Syndrome: Recruiting it triggers the end game: there's only time for two more missions after that. You still have an opportunity to do missions you've missed at this time (and take him along), but it will cost you the lives of several crew members. During the final sequence, however, it's not particularly useful as there are no synthetic enemies on the Collector space station.
    • However, upgrading its sniper rifle makes it an incredibly effective sniper, especially against Harbinger. Also, its shield boost turns it into a poor man's Grunt, which is nice if you're leaving Grunt behind to Hold the Line.
    • You can largely bypass this issue if you save a bunch of sidequests until after the suicide mission, and bring Legion along for those. The problem with this is that there's always very little dialogue during combat missions that aren't recruitment or loyalty related. So unless you're planning on letting your crew go milkshake, it's mostly one or the other when it comes to Legion's dialogue and combat prowess.
    • You can also modify your saved game [dead link] to have it appear for squad use in the beginning of the game, after Freedom's Progress. You can get significant amounts of dialogue. It's also a potential game-breaker: you have a sniper who can easily be equiped with the Widow ("one shot, one kill" except against the toughest opponents) and has the combat drone which distracts enemies. It's entirely worth it though.
    • Legion is extremely useful in the "Project Overlord" DLC if you wait until after you finish the main storyline to play it.
  • Lens Flare: It's eye produces one whenever said eye is in view.
  • Lost Forever: If you give its deactivated body to Cerberus.
  • Machine Monotone: 99% definitely. When it asks a question, its air of curiosity is palpable. If Shepard says something that implies understanding of geth morality, it will show signs of happiness.

Legion: We wish to understand, not incite.

  • Mathematician's Answer: Fond of these.
    • It especially loves the "X or Y?" "Yes." kind, although it's likely doing that on purpose.
  • Mind Hive: Like all geth "platforms", Legion is a cluster of geth programs. It has cognitive abilities on-par with sentients because the platform they operate in was purpose-built for interaction with organic sentients, and can run around ten times more geth programs than the typical platform you frequently gun down. Specifically, Legion is host to 1,183 geth programs.
  • Mini Boss: If he was given to Cerberus in Mass Effect 2, he is battled towards the end of Cerberus HQ in the third game, working for Cerberus.
  • Mr. Exposition: Almost Legion's entire purpose in Mass Effect 2 is to provide an Infodump of how the Geth were retconned from Mass Effect 1 (it isn't even a matter of explaining vague technical data, very explicit aspects of Geth physiology from Mass Effect 1 function completely differently in Mass Effect 2). His loyalty mission may have an impact on Mass Effect 3, but that remains to be seen.
    • Boy howdy, does it...
  • My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Subverted. Turns out all those geth who worked for the Reapers are a relatively small sect of the species (5%) who have been branded as heretics by the non-genocidal members. The species at large just wants to be left alone.
  • Neck Lift: Don't expect it to go down without a fight if you side with the quarians in Mass Effect 3.
  • Never Trust a Trailer: Legion was officially announced by the dev team in the 'Enemies' trailer, which also talked about the Collectors and geth as a whole. The impression fans took away was that of a cold, calculating, absolutely terrifying opponent with a Creepy Monotone and a firm grasp of psychological warfare. Once encountered in the game... not so much.
  • No Need for Names: "We are all geth." Legion only adopts a name for their terminal at Shepard's insistence; it refers to itself as Legion a grand total of once, immediately afterwards:

Legion: Christian Bible, the Gospel of Mark, chapter five, verse nine. We acknowledge this as an appropriate metaphor. We are Legion, a terminal of the geth.

    • Technically, the problem was that Legion already had a name: geth. Given the geth's society, it's natural that they would be adverse to individualism. Also, Legion never uses the title to refer to itself specifically, that is, its geth runtimes, but rather its body, the terminal of the geth.
  • Not So Different: A rare positive example. Post-game, Legion mentions this about the geth and Shepard, if the latter destroyed the Collector base. S/he rejected the Collector tech the same way the geth rejected Sovereign's offer.
    • Also potentially to a Colonist Shepard in Mass Effect 3. Legion is heavily implied to have once been the argicultural unit shown in the Geth's memories that picked up a Sniper Rifle to defend other units during the Morning War. Legion was once a simple farmer. Sound familiar, Colonist Shepard?
  • Only Sane Man:
    • Being a robot tends to reduce strong displays of emotion, but it's telling when only two other playable members (Jacob and Tali) of your thirteen-member crew can qualify, and Tali is a borderline case.
    • It's arguable whether Legion itself even counts. Oddly, on one occasion (its confrontation with Tali) if Shepard points out that him trasmitting classified Quarian data could start a war, it admits that Shepard's right. This implies it didn't think its actions all the way through, which is weird considering it's supposed to be a purely logical machine that thinks at the speed of light.
      • Not so weird. Legion's understanding of humanoid emotional reactions is incomplete: that's part of why he's journeying with you, to learn about them.
    • Legion's loyalty mission makes mention that Legion requires its programs to reach consensus before it decides to act. It's plausible that the vote swung towards sending the data before Shepard pointed out a fair compromise.
    • Also plays the role in Mass Effect 3, where unlike its people, Legion actually realizes that siding with the Reapers no matter the circumstances is a really freaking stupid idea.
  • Optional Party Member: You can sell its body to Cerberus instead of activating it.
  • Pronoun Trouble: It's iffy on whether Legion should be referred to as a "he", an "it", or a "they", considering that Legion is made up of over a thousand geth programs that form a gestalt consciousness. Legion refers to itself as "we", although it can be hard to seperate whether it is speaking of the runtimes in the platform named Legion, or the geth species as a whole. In conversation, it suggests that the distinction may be meaningless. It does occasionally refer to itself as a single platform in the singular.
    • In the third game, it uses "I" for the first and last time right before its Heroic Sacrifice. EDI says that this indicates that it achieved full sentience.
  • Robot Buddy: The nicest geth you'll ever meet, if only because most of the others you've met used you for target practice after skewering people on pikes.
  • Rogue Drone: Played with. The 1183 runtimes co-inhabit a single (very durable) combat platform and the nature of their mission makes contact with the main geth Hive Mind very sparse, but they're less "rogue" and more "on a permanent deep-cover mission, maintaining radio silence at all times" due to The Reveal about the geth-heretic split.
  • Sliding Scale of Robot Intelligence: Level 4: the geth programs that comprise Legion are, together, capable of cracking just about any computer system in microseconds, and have technical skills on par with some of the best (if not the best) organic engineers in the galaxy. They're also beginning to develop emotions, though they do not fully understand them yet.
  • The Smart Guy: One of the correct options for tech expert in the Suicide Mission.
  • Stab the Scorpion: How Shepard and crew initially meet it.
  • Stalker with a Crush: Played with. When asked why Legion chose a piece of Shepard's armor to fix itself (there had to be plenty of more suitable material around and a substantial hole remains), it pauses awkwardly, looks away a little and very quietly answers "No data available".
  • Stop Being Stereotypical: What Legion thinks of the geth that sided with the "Old Machines".
  • Thank the Maker: An odd case. Legion is very respectful towards quarians and refers to Tali as "Creator-Tali'Zorah"; however, it is wary of them at the same time, though still willing to make amends.

Legion: We are immortal. Our gods disowned us. We must create our own reasons to exist.

  • Token Heroic Orc: Seems like this at first, but turns out that the geth you've been fighting are heretics, and most geth are in fact peaceful.
  • Took a Level in Badass: When Shepard is watching Geth memories, its subtly implied that the Geth farming unit shown to pick up a Widow Sniper Rifle to defend its fellow units against the Quarians in the war was Legion itself (though as a unique platform designed for dealing with organics and composed of over a thousand Geth runtimes, it is probably more accurate to say said geth donated at least one of its runtimes to Legion).
    • Notably, when Shepard notices that its the same weapon, Legion briefly pauses in the exact same way as he had previously done when Shepard had asked about his use of the N7 armour, before answering that it is an efficient design.
  • Troll: Of the "Social Experiment" variety. If you talk to Legion, it eventually reveals that they do this (1:30 in) to provoke reactions and study organics, in this case, using a fabricated story about a certain pattern of stars forming the face of a Salarian goddess when viewed from the Batarian homeworld, and a bunch of Salarians bought it until they tried to purchase colonization rights for those stars and found out they didn't exist.
  • Unexpected Genre Change: Its loyalty mission turns into a Tower Defense at the climax.
  • Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Very few people (including Citadel security) react to a Geth platform following Shepard around. Anderson hand-waves that the geth are no longer "the boogeymen they used to be", and that most people are assuming it's a trophy.
    • On the other hand, bringing Legion onto the Flotilla will definitely get a reaction, but once Legion is actually on board, the quarians - the fleet admirals in particular - won't bat an eyelash and will be more curious (or annoyed) than frightened. Justified, in that they created the geth. One admiral, who wishes to re-enslave the geth, is a little too chummy with Legion.
  • Walking Spoiler: Several ways, such as him being recruitable so late in the game, and being a non-hostile geth.
  • Warrior Poet: About as close as a generally logical robot can get. The Legion platform was specifically designed to interface with organic species, and Legion spends a significant amount of its time attempting to explain differences between geth and organic culture to Shepard. It also seems interested in learning about organics in turn, and also meditates on how the heretic and mainstream geth became so far apart.
  • What Is This Thing You Call Love?: From his dossier in Lair of the Shadow Broker:

Fleet and Flotilla: Interactive Cross-Species Relationship Simulator:



"Based on the Bestselling Vid!"



Playtime: 75 hours, 6 minutes



Player Score: 15 (Hopeless)

    • Legion will also reveal that the Geth have been keeping the Quarian homeworld clean and intact, even comparing it to a cemetery or memorial. If you ask it why, Legion will honestly not know, but will suggest that they did it out of sorrow for the whole war.
    • Legion's claim to not know why he chose to repair himself with a piece of Shepard's N7 Armour. It is notable that one of Legion's primary objectives was to study Shepard, having journeyed to numerous world's in their path and the N7 Armour used was found at the Normandy crashsite. It's implied that Legion did so as a form of rememberance, possibly experiencing a sense of loss over Shepard's death which it could not rationally quantify.
  • Where It All Began: It's implied that Legion was the first geth to kill a quarian. No matter what happens at Rannoch, he will die there.
  • Zerg Rush: Its common hacking tactic is to send all 1,183 geth within it to overload a firewall, more or less a walking DDOS attacker.

Secret Character #2 SPOILERS

Morinth

I am the genetic destiny of the asari!
"I was worried you were gonna dump Samara for some crazy soul-sucker with a death fetish. All lithe and sexy and...never mind."
—Joker's (poor, oblivious) description

Voiced by: Natalia Cigliuti

An asari serial killer that Samara is hunting. She is actually Samara's daughter. You can choose to kill Samara during the climax of her quest, and by doing so you can have Morinth join you instead of her mother. The Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC reveals that her real name is Mirala.

  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: Samara tells you that Morinth is not interested in potential mates who are polite and accomodating. You need to act like a bit of a jerk to get her attention.
  • Anti-Hero: Type V at best.
  • Armor-Piercing Question: She continually tries to psych out her mother by repeatedly mentioning that Samara was the one who gave birth to Ardat-Yakshi children.

Morinth: I didn't choose to be made this way... mother.
Samara: Enough, Morinth!

  • The Baroness: She is obsessed with dominating people, especially troubled artists and recluses.

"I love the moment you see it in your opponent's eyes: he knows you're better and he's going to die."
"I love any game where your opponent can believe he's about to win... just before you kill him."

  • Black Eyes of Evil: When seducing her victims, although the black eyes are a trait of the asari as a whole, not just her.
  • Black Widow: Not for money or anything, but power. Both psychic and good old-fashioned manipulation.
  • Blatant Lies: She claims that Ardat-Yakshi are "the genetic destiny of the asari." Ardat-Yakshi are sterile.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: If you choose her in Mass Effect 2, and she survives, the Reapers turn her into a Banshee you have to kill in London in Mass Effect 3.
  • Broken Ace: She is considered irresisible by anyone who meets her and Samara herself says that Morinth is her strongest and smartest daughter. She is also a match for a justicar in combat and very cunning to have evaded capture for 400 years. She is also a Sociopath.
  • Charm Person: Her "Dominate" special ability.
  • Dead Person Impersonation: If you choose to kill Samara, Morinth reveals she's quite good at imitating her mother's voice and does so for most of your missions.
  • Death by Irony: She tells you, "I love any game where your opponent can believe he's about to win... just before you kill him." She spends most of the mission thinking she's about to win.
  • Death by Sex: Due to a bizarre genetic quirk, she burns out the nervous system of anyone she mates with, instantly killing them. This process not only gives her a boost of power and knowledge, but it's extremely addictive for her. The effect is drug-like: the more that she does it, the more she wants to do it.
  • Depraved Bisexual: A complete psychopath who gets off on seducing and killing people.
  • Dropped a Bridge On Her: There's no way to prevent her from being turned into a Banshee in the third game. You've got to kill her. Granted, she probably deserves it.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Well, sort of. She agrees the Collector Base should be destroyed, although it's not clear whether she thinks this for moral reasons or because of a selfish sense of self-preservation. She knows the Collectors and Reapers represent a threat to her, and would likely sacrifice hundreds to save herself. In fact, she has.
  • Evil Counterpart: To Samara, natch.
  • For the Evulz: Her only real motivation is pleasure, and she gets pleasure from hunting and killing her victims.
  • Glass Cannon: Like Samara, Morinth can dish out a lot of damage but is rather physically weak. And unlike Samara, she doesn't get Reave to compensate for this, either.
  • A God Am I: Claims to be the "genetic destiny of the asari" despite the fact that Ardat-Yakshi cannot breed. Also, of course, the whole "setting herself as a goddess" thing she did, complete with demanding the sacrifices of daughters.
  • Gory Discretion Shot: You get one when Samara makes the kill. Apparently, it's so gory that even cast-iron Shepard averts his/her eyes.
  • Guide Dang It: Resisting her mind control, which is required to recruit her, takes a very high Paragon or Renegade score. If you can't make the check, Shepard sides with Samara by default.
    • For those who want Morinth, it's possible that you won't be able to choose her without editing saves, depending on the decisions you make during the game. Both the cause and solution have been explained on the official forums via Word of God [dead link]. Knowing how the system works, you could just use other methods.
  • Half Human Hybrids: Again, she subverts this by being a pure-blood in a society that prefers hybrids. As the pure-blooded daughter of a pure-blood, asari like her are the reason for the anti-pureblood stigma.
  • Heroic Willpower: Okay, maybe not heroic, but if she uses her Dominate ability on a collector that is subsequently possessed by Harbinger, Harbinger will briefly fight for you. In other words she can out-will a Reaper.
  • The Hedonist: Everything she does is for her own pleasure. Especially killing.
  • Horny Devils: Ardat-Yakshi means "demon of the night wind." In other words, she's a space succubus.
    • According to the Word of God, she's a space vampire. In fact, in conversations with Samara, you learn that Morinth once set herself up as a goddess on one world and was worshipped by an entire village; many vampire stories refer to entire villages being held in thrall. Most telling of all, the name of the vessel that transported Morinth from Illium to Omega is the "Demeter," the name of the ship that carried Dracula to England.
  • I Am the Trope: Insists that she is the genetic destiny of the asari.
  • Identical Grandson: If you choose to kill Samara and replace her with Morinth, the latter will reveal how she escaped from Thessia: not only is she a dead ringer for her mother, she can also mimic her almost perfectly (only Kelly and Kasumi notice any real difference).
  • Ironic Echo: "Embrace eternity!" It's an asari Catch Phrase for when they mind meld with another: with her, she's talking of a whole different kind of "eternity".
  • Laser-Guided Karma: If she survives Mass Effect 2. After having made a career out of murdering people using mind control, it's only fitting that she ultimately falls under the control of the Reapers when they turn her into a Banshee.
  • Manipulative Bastard: How she lures her victims.
  • Mind Over Matter: A biotic, like all asari. Her method of killing people makes her even stronger.
  • More Than Mind Control: What eventually happens to her victims. They're her willing slaves until she tires of the game and kills them.
  • Mutually Exclusive Party Members: With her mother Samara. Recruiting her will cause Morinth to kill her mother and take her place on Shepard's squad.
  • Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: She's an omnisexual mutant blue-skinned alien sex vampire IN SPACE! Too bad she's also a Complete Monster.
  • Nonstandard Game Over: Have sex with her. Every character thinks it's a bad idea.
  • Oh Crap: If Shepard resists her Mind Control, which requires incredibly high rankings in either Paragon or Renegade.

Morinth: (angry) Oh no, I see what's going on - the bitch herself found a little helper.

  • Optional Party Member: You can recruit her in place of Samara if you betray the Justicar during her loyalty quest.
  • Patchwork Kids: She is the splitting image of her mother, a fact that she has used to her advantage on more than one occasion.
  • Perky Goth: Darker and Edgier. When you first encounter her face-to-face, she seems very amiable in an Affably Evil, Wicked Cultured way, and all she seems to really care about is just 'lingering in the shadows' and 'experiencing as much pleasure as possible'. You might even start to think that Samara is overreacting, maybe her obsession has made her delusional. Except the 'Goth' elements aren't just an act: she's really an asari sex vampire who likes to kill and Mind Rape people, and she wants to keep doing it.
  • Pet the Dog: If she was alive at the start of the third game, she sends letters to her sisters in the monastery. She lies and tries to manipulate them, but still says she misses them. Whether this is sincere or not, it's the one time she ever seems to suggest caring about anyone.
  • Schmuck Bait: She's Death by Sex incarnate, and you still have the option to boink her. Guess what happens!
  • Serial Killer: Through sex, no less.
  • Smug Snake: Definitely exhibits this when attempting to lure in victims.
  • The Sociopath: Explicitly stated in the "mission complete" overview after ending Samara's loyalty mission.

Subject's expertise would have made her a valuable team member if sociopathic tendencies were mitigated.

  • Token Evil Teammate: Oh dear Lord, yes. Zaeed is practical; Morinth does because she wants to do it, because it pleases her. And you do not even met Zaeed unless you have bought out his DLC, making this her this by default on the base game.
  • Tragic Villain: According to Samara, though it doesn't make her any less evil.

Samara: Morinth is a tragic figure, but not a sympathetic one.

  • Underestimating Badassery: Played with: Shepard's role as bait is to demonstrate badassery to lure her out. However, if they have a high Paragon or Renegade score, they can completely shrug off her attempts at mind control, leading to Morinth having a minor Oh Crap moment when she realizes the person in front of them is far more dangerous than she thought.
  • The Vamp: Greatly enjoys seducing sympathetic individuals and tries to do so with Shepard, complete with the sob story about her mother and being persecuted.
  • Wicked Cultured: As part of his/her role as bait, Shepard must take advantage of her love for exotic music, art and drugs.
  • Won't Work On Me: To her mind control, if you have a high Paragon or Renegade score.
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Invokes this to get sympathy points, but it's all an act.
  • Wounded Gazelle Gambit: She tries to convince Shepard that she's the victim (it's not her fault that she's an Ardat-Yakshi) and that Samara is the evil one for trying to kill her. It's... not really all that convincing.

Guest Party Members

Wilson

Don't get too attached

"Miranda? But you're..."

Voiced by: Steve Blum

One of the Cerberus medical officers working on the Lazrus Project. After everything goes to hell, he helps you out after you heal him. When you finally meet up with Miranda, she guns him down for being the traitor who caused this mess in the first place, thus continuing the Bioware tradition of early game sacrificial party members.

Wilson: Miranda? But you're...
(Bang!)

Miranda: Dead?

  • The Mole: He started the disaster that led to Shepard's early awakening, but you don't know who he was working for at first. He was working for the Shadow Broker.
  • Oh Crap: His reaction to hearing that Shepard was still alive after sabotaging the Mechs.
  • Playing with Syringes: He helps bring someone back from the dead.
  • Too Dumb to Live: He had no reason to think Cerberus would let him live after he betrayed them.
  • Turncoat
  1. ↑ Legion uses "we", while the Mass Effect Wiki prefers "it".
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