Mass Effect 3/WMG: Difference between revisions

The first is [[Mass Effect (Franchise)/WMG|here]], and the second is [[Mass Effect 2 (Video Game)/WMG|here]].

Unmarked spoilers of ''[[Mass Effect 1 (Videovideo Gamegame)|Mass Effect 1]]'' and ''[[Mass Effect 2 (Video Game)|Mass Effect 2]]'' (including DLC)!

General, squad, and romance theories are here. Storyline, final battle, post-game, and multi-player theories are [[Mass Effect 3 (Video Game)/Page 2/WMG|here]].

As the conflict dragged on and the Reapers gained more ground, the Council even started accepting [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil|Batarians]] and [[Mecha -Mooks|Geth]] into the Spectres. The new Spectres were organized into four-man strike teams (Spectres have been described as sometimes working in small groups) and sent on search and destroy missions across the galaxy directed at Reaper armies, Cerberus bases, and Geth installations. Despite that fact that this strategy emphasized quantity over quality, these operations were generally met with success (More often then not, multiplayer sessions tend to conclude with the players surviving every wave and winning the game), and even managed to effect the outcome of the conflict as a whole...

* The multiplayer characters are stated to be N7 soldiers (that got wider recruitment due to necessity) set up by Admiral Hackett. And SPECTREs aren't just Badass soldiers, they are a combination of things.

** Hackett's email explains that they're ''colloquially'' referred to as "N7 Special Ops" because they were initially ''commanded'' by N7 operatives. They're not officially N7 themselves.

* There's actually something in the [[MEMass Effect 3]] material revealed already that heavily hints at this; the child in the vent. Shepard is the only one who sees him, Anderson conveniently doesn't return to the room until he's pulled his [[Stealth Hi Bye]], said [[Stealth Hi Bye]] makes no sense considering Shepard realized the kid was there because of the noise he was making in the first place, and most tellingly, the child's reaction is downright ''bizarre.'' You'd think a terrified kid's response to an adult in a military uniform offering help against the massive clusterfuck going down around him would be something ''other'' than a monotone "You can't help me." Now, it's certainly believable that a child in this situation would be scared beyond rational thought, but he's ''not'' scared, he's calm to the point where this reaction is surreal. "You can't help me" could be symbolic of Shepard's helplessness and his indoctrination actively working to alter his mindset to a negative outlook; "you can't help a single child, how can you help anyone." This continues when Shepard sees the shuttle the kid gets on destroyed by a Reaper. The child is also pulling a [[The Sixth Sense|Bruce Willis]] at this point, he directly interacts with no one, he doesn't touch anyone, and, even as Alliance personnel are helping wounded make it to the shuttle, ''none'' of them so much as bends down to help the kid up when he has to vault into the shuttle on account of being too short to step into it.

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ythY_GkEBck&feature=plcp&context=C43f8f9cVDvjVQa1PpcFOPa1SyQGwtELi-Nx-3mpnmVHh5MNV2scs= This video] made an argument that the entire ending sequence was a [[Battle in Thethe Center of Thethe Mind]] with Anderson and TIM all representations to different parts Shepard's mind, and that the destroy ending is the only one that allow you to fight off the Reaper's Indoctrination.

This would explain the hints that TIM has access to some Reaper tech and why he wished to get his hands on the collector tech at the end of [[MEMass Effect 2]]. TIM wants to replace the Reapers with Humanity in the driver's seat.

** The Reapers don't want to destroy all organic life, and have never made any effort towards such a goal. They only destroy spacefaring civilizations that use the Mass Relay network. Plants, animals, even sentient creatures that don't practice space travel, like the Thorian or humans (who got spared when the Prothean research station on Mars was destroyed) are left completely untouched.

{{quote| '''Harbinger:''' Shepard?!<br />

* Asari husks named Banshees are confirmed. Krogan husks (no official name yet) have also been unvieled.

Everyone except Joker, Liara, and Ashley/Kaiden dies unless you import a save, because the same thing happened in ''[[Mass Effect 1]]'' -- Shepard—Shepard blazed through as fast as possible, doing almost no side-missions. You will also start [[MEMass Effect 3]] as a new player character unless you import a save.

** Miranda can die. Take her to the final boss with no loyalty, and she dies (or send her as an escort non-loyal). As it is, I would ''hope'' they don't do this. It's possible they won't, since you ''must'' have at least two living party members, plus Kaidan/Ashley. Liara will most likely serve as your new intel person--whatperson—what the Alliance, and then Cerberus did for you previous, the Shadow Broker will do for you now. You will probably get a new teammate early on to fill out a squad. It may be possible that certain party members always leave, like Samara or Kasumi, and therefore you always have room for a few extra squadmates.

** I agree except for the bit about the Shadow Broker--ifBroker—if you didn't complete the DLC, then that didn't happen. Although I suppose they could just say Liara raided the lair without you...

** If you did not play Arrival then the 103rd Marine Division did the mission. Anderson says that you where grounded "For the shit you did", if you played the DLC he will say that you where grounded for killing 300,000 Batarians and destroing the mass relay

* [[Jossed]]. ''ME3'' will use an interactive comic to make choices for previous games, like the [[PSPlay Station 3]] version of ''ME2''.

** The [[PSPlay Station 3]] interactive comic gives you the option of killing or sparing the rachni queen, saving or sacrificing the council, killing or saving Wrex, Saving Ashley or Kaiden, and who you romanced(including an option to not romance anyone), and placing Anderson or Udina on the council(the single most meaningless choice of the lot). One assumes that as they've hyped up the number of affects [[MEMass Effect 2]] decisions will have on [[MEMass Effect 3]], the comic will have considerably more options.

Think about it, an ACTUAL escort mission would be intense, visceral, and terrifying because you are protecting someone you presumably care a good deal about. And if there is one thing [[Bio WareBioWare]] is good at, it's creating characters the player cares about. Seriously, each character gets at least as much love as the cast of ''[[Firefly (TV)|Firefly]]'' or any other cult sci-fi franchise. And [[Bio WareBioWare]] is just awesome enough to restore what has always been the scrappy level to possibly a crowning moment. Especially if the mission is scripted to fail.

** This would be much better. More like the final mission for ''[[Halo: Reach]]'' than anything. You know he's going to die, you know there's no chance of ultimate survival, you're just trying to make his end as glorious and deserving as possible. Or maybe you even play from Thane's perspective, like the Joker mission in ''ME2''. You are Thane in his last standoff, to protect the shuttle which is taking the rest of the team to safety, and when the shuttle is finally gone, you at last die, glorious. Dammit, now if that mission isn't in the game I'm going to be depressed.

** Agreed, but only partially. I'm willing to believe that if ''ME3'' is a large enough game, explanation might be given. Or hell, maybe it'll be left a mystery and up to the interpretation of the player. Some things are just better left a mystery. However, [[Bio WareBioWare]] have already confirmed that this trilogy is about ''Shepard''. After that, who knows where ''ME4'' and beyond might take us.

** I have a feeling that the Reaper problem will be resolved by ''Mass Effect 3'', mainly because that even with the Reapers gone there's still so much going on in the world of Mass Effect. You've got the Batarians trying to dick over everyone, a possibility of the Yahg finding a way off their homeworld, the inevitably awkward reintroduction of the Rachni into the galaxy, etc. [[Bio WareBioWare]]'s managed to set up many games' worth of material that don't involve the Reapers at all.

*** I'm 90% sure Shepard has the option to solve some of those issues in [[MEMass Effect 3]]. He gets the Rachni to help with Reapers, which earns them the trust of the galaxy (and can do the same with the geth) and he deals the batarians somehow (possibly by feeding them to the Reapers). Even if they just drive the Reapers into darkspace without genociding them, the galaxy will only have MORE time to properly prepare for their return, and may even get the tech they need to go out there and hunt them down.

** No, I think the crowd singing it would be a bit [[Narm|narmynarm]]y.

*** Or the game could [[Lampshade Hanging|acknowledge]] how [[Narm|narmynarm]]y it is by giving you the paragon option of trying to not to laugh out loud.

Why? Do you need an excuse to put [[Tim Curry]] in anything? His voicing a character in ''Mass Effect 3'' would make it grounds for So Awesome It Will Blow Your Mind. [[Bio WareBioWare]] if you're reading this, get on the phone with his agent and give him whatever he wants. The mere mention of his being in ''Mass Effect 3'' would probably be enough to get anyone who's ever visited TV Tropes to buy it and we are not a small market by any stretch of the imagination. Plus there's the OH I DON'T KNOW, his rabid fanbase that would buy this game just to hear his sexy, sexy voice. Um, if you'll excuse me, [[Firefly (TV)|I'll be in my bunk]].

* [[Bio WareBioWare]] seems to share your wishes. Look and listen to Donovan Hock from the Kasumi loyalty mission. Looks very similar to [[Tim Curry]] and has a ridiculous accent like he had in ''[[Congo (Film)|Congo]]''. And of course, like many Tim Curry roles, he is a villain.

''ME1'' had Ashley and Garrus. ''ME2'' had Miranda and Thane. That's twice that [[Bio WareBioWare]] used the "male alien, female human" pattern. For the third game they're going to invert it, and have a female alien and a male human on the cover. Liara and Joker are the only squad members (potential, in Joker's case) who are ''guaranteed'' to have survived the events of both games, and guess what pattern they fit in?

* I'd put money on James Vega instead of Joker. Joker is awesome, but he's not a squadmate, he's your pilot. As for Liara, I have a feeling they'll want to showcase new squadmembers for [[MEMass Effect 3]].

{{quote| '''Garrus (or Grunt, or Tali, or anyone):''' I've had enough of your xenophobic diatribe. *PAWNCH*<br />

(beat)<br />

** Also, Legion ''NEEDS'' to say something about how the Reapers desire [[Memetic Mutation|COMPLETE]][[ThisPunctuated! IsFor! SpartaEmphasis!|...]][[Hey, It's That Voice!|GALACTIC]][[ThisPunctuated! IsFor! SpartaEmphasis!|...]][[Resident Evil 5|SATURATION]].

{{quote| [[Hilarious Outtakes|"I don't need anything else. I have big balls. In less than five minutes we will reach Vader's Death Star. George Bush will be released into the atmosphere, ensuring complete global masturbation. Oh fuck it! We'll do it live!"]]}}

*** Thirded with great enthusiasm. [[Bio WareBioWare]], are you reading?

* ...will determine who you're aligned with in ''[[Mass Effect 3 (Video Game)|Mass Effect 3]]''. Many debates have been had about whether or not to destroy or save the Collector Base is the right decision, but whatever decision you make could have much bigger consequences. If you destroy the base and sever ties with Cerberus, the Alliance/Council could welcome you back, since you've shown Cerberus doesn't own you. [[Gas Leak Coverup|Hopefully the Council will be nicer this time around.]] And if you save the base for Cerberus, your alliance with Cerberus will still hold in the third game, Cerberus being the ones helping you out and not the Council.

* So the question now is, what *does* your choice regarding the Collector base do to change [[MEMass Effect 3]]? The strength of the indoctrinated Cerberus operatives? Whether or not The Illusive Man was indoctrinated? The weapons the player could have access to? The Collectors being extinct or not?

** The Collectors are extinct regardless; the postgame information in [[MEMass Effect 2]] mentions this. Even if you choose to save the Collector base, a massive pulse of radiation from the reactor destroys all lifeforms in the base, just not the structure itself.

* Confirmed, although they try to use Reaper tech to control husks (and ultimately Reapers themselves) regardless of your final decision in [[MEMass Effect 2]]. Needless to say, the Reapers take notice and [[Hilarity Ensues]].

== [[Bio WareBioWare]] is using the premium DLC of ''ME2'' to refine ''ME3''. ==

[[Bio WareBioWare]] is using it to test what does and doesn't work gameplay wise, and everything they find will be used in ''Mass Effect 3''. Additionally, ''ME3'' will have occasional gameplay shifts - Overlord has a free-roaming map between the stations, and Lair of the Shadow Broker has a car chase. [[Bio WareBioWare]] will keep trying new things in future DLC to see fans' response to it. All this will result in ''ME3'' having a plethora of gameplay styles and being one of the best games of all time.

* '''Arrival''' seems to break the pattern by being only pretty good, and not really introducing any gameplay innovations. Aside from that, though, I'm pretty sure [[Bio WareBioWare]] actually said they were using the DLC to refine the gameplay.

** Personally I like what Arrival did for the story, other than simply explaining why you're on trial in the beginning of [[MEMass Effect 3]]. You have to kill an entire colony (which probably includes human slaves) in order to only *delay* the threat of mass genocide by a species that almost no one believes exist. And on top of that, the colony belongs to perhaps the single most uncooperative race in the galaxy, and you know you'll need everyone working together to survive, and you just gave them 304,942 *more* reasons to not listen to you.

***** Maybe the ship will actually take on the reapers. the ship is powerful....what if the storms are part of it's power. think about it, settle on a planet, and boom, storm breaks, as a shield mechanism, and then boom, dead reapers, it's time to move on. not to mention, the ship also can collect reaper parts, and make them harmless, rebuild a reaper and "Viola!" you now have a reaper reaper.

The series' main page had to be split into six different pages to handle all the tropes, so it seems pretty obvious that Bioware wants to use as many tropes as possible. But wait! How will they use any fantasy tropes? Well, halfway through ''ME3'', it'll turn out that the Reapers can't be stopped, so Shepard and company will go back in time several million years, to whenever the Reapers were created, to try to stop their construction. This society will have [[Schizo -Tech]], an [[Anachronism Stew]], and all sorts of other stuff that doesn't appear in the present, but enables [[Bio WareBioWare]] to try new things. It may or may not be based on ''[[Dragon Age]]'', for crossovers, and it immediately gets [[Halfway Plot Switch]] and several [[Time Travel Tropes]] as well. Near the end, the characters will realize they're in a video game for all the fourth wall tropes, and they'll abuse that to defeat the Reapers.

* It stays in the realm of we expected... Thank goodness for that.

== Like the Illusive Man staffing the ''Normandy SR-2'', [[Bio WareBioWare]] will recruit everyone who used to work for [[Dark Void|Airtight Games]] to help make ''Mass Effect 3''. ==

[[Bio WareBioWare]] reads trope pages. If they also watch [[Zero Punctuation]], they've already taken over a certain underfed franchise so that Shepard and his crew will navigate the environments in '''''[[Jet Pack|JETPACKS]] TO BEAR MCCREARY MUSIC!!!'''''

* Even batter--afterbatter—after Shepard saves the galaxy, Khalisa will try to smear him, only to get carried away by an angry mob.

== [[Bio WareBioWare]] will announce that ''ME3'' will be [[PSPlay Station 3]] exclusive ==

And the [[Ruined FOREVER|resulting]] [[Fan Dumb|shitstorm]], possibly followed by [[Bio WareBioWare]] announcing EDI-style "that was a joke", will prove that the folks at [[Bio WareBioWare]] are the ultimate trolls.

Much like the first scene of ''[[Mass Effect 2 (Video Game)|ME2]]'' the Earth rescue will be [[Bio WareBioWare]]'s way to reset your character . It will start off with Shepard attempting to get as much of Earth's population off world while under fire. It will be a mix of [[Tear Jerker]] and [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] with multiple Squad deaths. As Shepard is providing cover for the last ship leaving Earth he gets hit by a powerful explosion. We see legs and arms flying off. We switch to first person point of view as the medics try to save him, everything is confusing and he faintly hears the medic put him under. As everything fades to black we hear his labored breathing. He looks out the window just in time to see Earth implode as we hear a heartbreaking one woman wail..

* Confirmed by [[Bio WareBioWare]]. "The game begins with Shepard on Earth, standing trial for the events that went down during the Mass Effect 2 "Arrival" DLC. The Reapers invade; Shepard escapes to the Normandy, and the plot begins."

''ME2'' got a small musical element with Mordin. Why not kick it up a notch? After all, if [[Bio WareBioWare]]'s going after all the tropes, why not the musical ones? It's an even better reason to hire Tim Curry. He could get the [[Villain Song]]!

* Alternatively, you find out refund guy really was full of crap and has been harassing the poor shopkeep for years.

{{quote| '''Refund Guy:''' GOD DAMMIT!!!}}

* Alternately, if [[Bio WareBioWare]] is going for super-mega-[[Tear Jerker]], have Shepard be investigating the ruins of a Reaper-beseiged Ilium, and notice a familiar-looking turian and quarian, [[Killed Off for Real|dead]], [[Dying Declaration of Love|and holding hands]].

What most people hated about the Mako was its bad traction. While the Hammerhead fixes that by being a hover tank, it brings up new issues. Combining the two into a hover APC will get the best of both worlds: it'll have the strength and combat capability of the Mako, and the climbing capability of the Hammerhead. It won't necessarily need to be as fast as the Hammerhead (especially since it has more armor), but it'll have the boost feature to cross large, featureless areas quickly, in addition to being able to pick up/scan resources without leaving it. In keeping with the [[Theme Naming|shark theme]], it could be called the Izak, after the [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Izak_catshark:Izak catshark|Izak catshark]] for a [[Genius Bonus]], but other suggestions are welcome.

Remember that [http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Septimus ol' Septimus fellow] and how he mentioned [[Foreshadowing|Shepard would make a good general himself one day]]? This Troper believes [[Bio WareBioWare]] snuck in a sly little signal that ''Mass Effect 3'' will be bigger than we realize, and this was before ''Mass Effect 2'' was even announced.

** Cereberus has only one leader. The entire point behind the name came from the fact that the first mass relay humanity found was actually what they first thought was Pluto's moon Charon. When it was discovered, a manifesto was published that humanity needed a guardian against possible aliens surfaced. As Cereberus was Pluto's guard dog into the underworld they named their organization Cereberus. That would be an interesting plot but it is shot down by canon.

* Turns out dark energy plays no role at all. Which is actually kinda disappointing, with how much it was built up as a plot point in [[MEMass Effect 2]].

* Paragon; You are being sued for false representation, because you declared that several businesses were ''all'' your favorite store on the Citadel.

* Honestly it was a long time in coming and [[Bio WareBioWare]] actually was going to use female Turians in the first game but then scrapped it. Garrus' sister? If Solus has any family? That would be cool!

** Given that the turian homeworld is a playable level it is very possible we will see female Turians.

== You will find an [[Doctor Who (TV)|undamaged police box]] in London. ==

We know from Game Informer that the Alliance is claiming the SR-2 and running it through a scrape-down, but there's no way Shepard would let just any Alliance hack rummage through their ship. So naturally, Hackett and/or Anderson pulled some strings to make sure that Adams would be the one to do the job. The resulting cutscene would be a [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|heartwarming reunion]] if Tali is still with you (Adams was something of a father-figure towards her in the first game), and possibly a [[Crowning Moment of Funny]] if Ken and Gabby are [[TheEven KnightsHeroes WhoHave Say SqueeHeroes|fans of his]].

* '''[[Fling a Light Into Thethe Future]]''': Ensure that the next generation of organic life will have a chance to defeat the Reapers.

* '''[[Battle TechBattleTech|Fear Itself Will Be Our Ally]]''': Destroy a Reaper with an Atlas walker.

* '''[[Mechwarrior|This is the Burn that Fixes Everything:]]''' Destroy an Atlas with only [[Kill It Withwith Fire|Incinerate and Incendiary Ammo]].

* '''[[Xenogears (Video Game)|You Shall Be As Gods]]''': Use Cerberus' prototype Human-Reaper to destroy another Reaper.

* '''[[Genius Bonus|Hope It's]] [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Mako_Shark:Mako Shark|Not]] [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammerhead_Shark:Hammerhead Shark|Another]] [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_shark:Lemon shark|Lemon]]''': Acquire the new reconnaissance vehicle.

** Genius.

* '''[[Firefly (TV)|I Call]] [[I Call It Vera|It Vera]]''': Fully upgrade the Assault Rifle.

{{quote| '''Shepard:''' There is an entire galaxy of races '''united and ready''' to face you.}}

* '''[[X-Men (Videovideo Gamegame)|Welcome to DIE!]]''': Kill 6 enemies with a single biotic power.

* '''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Basically... run.]]''': Convince the Reapers to leave non-violently.

* '''[[StarcraftStarCraft II (Video Game)|The hell's this 'check engine' light?]]''': Kill 40 enemies in a single Atlas Mech.

*** Alt title: '''[[Babylon 5|Some Favors Come With Too High A Price]]''' for defeating Cerberus/TIM.

** Alternatively: '''Hold The Line'''

* '''[[Stargate Universe (TV)|The Design Is Clearly Prothean]]''': Find the Prothean Derelict.

** Alternatively: '''[[Stargate SG-1|Star]][[Farscape (TV)|scape]]''': Witness [[Claudia Black|Daro'Xen]] removing a helmet.

* '''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation|The Best of Both Worlds]]''': Witness a fleet action against the Reapers.

* '''[[Portal (Video Gameseries)|You Are In Space]]''': Send your adoring fan into orbit.

* '''[[In the Name of Thethe Moon]]...''': Fight off the Reapers on Earth's moon.

** Or, if you want a more serious name, '''[[StarcraftStarCraft|In Utter Darkness]]'''.

** Obligatory reference title: '''[[Section 8 (video game)|Falling With Style]]'''

* '''Worst Birthday Ever''': Start the game on April 11th11 (Shepard's birthday, according to the ME Wiki).

* '''Equal Oppurtunity Asskickers''': Fight with one of each playable races in your squad

* '''All Around The Galaxy''': Fight in every map

* '''Last, Best, Hope For The Galaxy''': Reach level 20 with each class in multiplayer.

Think - if the Council is saved, a new "Golden Age" of peace is allegedly ushered in - and defense spending is directly proportional to galactic tension, so races will be less ready for war. But if you go Renegade, an arms race between the Turian Hierarchy and the Alliance has pretty much already broken out by Mass Effect 2 (the news mentions that the turians are upping their dreadnought production, and the asari have ceded their portion of defense responsibility to the turians). Presumably the Alliance will have to match this. So when the Reapers turn up, both races will already have borderline war economies, and a Paragon Shepard in [[MEMass Effect 3]] can pull an [[Enemy Mine]] and get everyone working together again, only with loads of dreadnought battleships and attack carriers, for insane [[Magnificent Bastard]] points.

Bioware seems to have a trend of having former ''Star Trek'' alums usually playing bad guys of varying degrees in their games. ''[[Mass Effect 1 (Videovideo Gamegame)|Mass Effect 1]]'' had Marina Sirtis as Matriarch Benezia (and Armin Shimmerman as the salarian councilor though he's not actually a bad guy), ''[[Mass Effect 2 (Video Game)|Mass Effect 2]]'' had Michael Dorn as Gatatog Uvenk, and even ''[[Dragon Age]]'' has Kate Mulgrew as Flemeth and Tim Russ as Zathrian (who is admittedly a little grayer than outright evil). They'll continue this trend with ''[[Mass Effect 3 (Video Game)|Mass Effect 3]]''. Calling it right now; [[Leonard Nimoy]] as a Reaper.

Just like how [[MEMass Effect 2]] came on 2 disks, [[MEMass Effect 3]] will have 3. Seems like there's more content than ever before. Gonna need the 3rd disk to cram it all in.

That would be just silly, won't it? In actuality, it's a mono-molecular piece of straight wire constructed (and disintegrated after a few seconds) by the omni-tool's nanomachines. It is so thin as to be practically invisible, so for safety reasons a wide blade shape is projected around it so that the soldier will know where to move it to without slicing his own head of. Or maybe it's not even a hologram: just an augmented reality image in your futuristic, ocular implant HUD serving the same purpose. To outside lookers it seems like you are waving your hand in the air near someone and that someone gets cut.

** Intai'sei's description is startlingly similar to [[Star Wars|Tatooine's]] -- an—an arid, humid planet where most of the population lives in the vast deserts across the planet, operating remote outposts like research stations, wind farms, and -- dareand—dare I say it? -- moisture farms. Perfect place for the protagonist of the next series to start.

** Tsar Bomba (a 50-megaton fusion nuke) flattened a village 55 &nbsp;km from ground zero and could cause third-degree burns 100 &nbsp;km away. I'm pretty sure Covenant ships are smaller than 55 &nbsp;km (5 &nbsp;km if I'm not mistaken). And remember that it took a mass accelerator that made a "Great Rift" stretching across the southern hemisphere of a planet light-years behind the target to kill a Reaper. As a rule of thumb explosives are most effective ''in'' atmosphere while kinetics are most effective ''outside'' one.

* Confirmed. Glyph, Liara's drone assistant from the Shadow Broker base, reveals that [[Taking You Withwith Me|one colony detonated its nuclear arms on itself to take the invading reapers down with them.]] On Earth however, the Reapers were [[Genere Savvy]] enough to attack the nuke silos and take the option off the table.

****** And why would it matter that Joker treats ManShep and FemShep the same? Bioware have already said there will be same sex relationships in [[MEMass Effect 3]] for all we know Joker may be bisexual.

* When asked, [[Bio WareBioWare]] responded, "you have to play it to see it." So, maybe?

** [[Hey, It's That Voice!|Wait a minute,]] a romance between [[Knights of the Old Republic|Bastila]] and [[Buffy|Oz?]] Mind. Blown.

{{quote| "You're not gonna tell anyone about this, are you? Like Shepard? She doesn't need to know...she's standing right there isn't she?"}}

* ''She already has a body.'' She is the ''Normandy''. And we all know Jeff ''loves'' her smooth curves. As for Legion, I reckon the poor bastard(s) will be confined in EDI's Friend Zone. Seriously, they can literally transmit ''millions'' of informations every second. They would run out of conversation topics ''much'' faster than any organic couple.

*** {{spoiler|''The Art of the Mass Effect Universe'' confirms that EDI gains a robotic body with an uncanny resemblance to [[Marvel Comics]] ''Jocasta''. Makes her inevitable as a squad member and, given the stuff at the tail-end of [[MEMass Effect 2]], a romance with Joker}}.

**** Possible as they are confirmed by [[Bio WareBioWare]] to once again be part of your squad.

** Likelyhood of this WMG took another jump since Rafael Sbarge allegedly confirmed when asked by a fan that he has [http://social.bioware.com/forum/Mass-Effect-3/Mass-Effect-3-Character-and-Romance-Discussion/VS-KaidanAshley-quotpotential-confirmationquot-for-ss-romance--7729001-1.html recorded the dialogue for a MaleShep/Kaidan romance]{{Dead link}}.

** I can understand Tali and Jack, but not Miranda or Thane. Thane ''was'' romanceable by both genders, but it was removed in the final game, like Ashley and Kaidan. ''ME3'' takes place when he's on death's door; if he was interested in Male Shepard, he would have said something. I also don't buy Miranda suddenly being bisexual, either, for three reasons. Firstly, there's absolutely ''zero'' evidence of this. Her partners have always been men (Jacob, the guys in the Shadow Broker dossiers, and Shepard of course). Secondly, I doubt it fits into whatever plan her father had for her. Remember that she was custom-designed -- Idesigned—I'm not going to debate nature vs. nurture here, but she's trying to have a baby, and she's specifically going after ''men'' to get it. She doesn't want a sperm donor, she wants a father, which would imply, again, heterosexual. And thirdly, with the reaction she got from the fandom, making her bisexual would just push her firmly into [[The Scrappy]] territory.

**** No, the argument is that if Miranda was bisexual ''then she would have come on to Shepard in ME 2.'' She didn't, therefore she's straight. The idea that Bioware is going to waste its time making straight LI's from previous games bisexual in ME 3 -- and use some lame handwave like "oh, they didn't know Shepard swung that way!"<ref>Which wouldn't work for Miranda, seeing as she spent two years learning everything about them.</ref> or "oh, they were just too nervous around Shepard to suggest the possibility!"<ref>It's actually ''Shepard'' who mostly kicks off the romance, and Miranda flirts with Male!Shep just before that, and ''not'' with Fem!Shep.</ref> -- is—is, quite frankly, absurd.

***** What the fuck? Maybe her feelings changed. Maybe she USED to be really set on finding a male partner to try and have a kid, found out she couldn't (as in her dossiers) and then decided what the hell, [[Fem Shep]] is right there. Maybe it took her longer to come around to an attraction for women. Maybe sexual orientations are not immutable and set in stone! Maybe, even, one can just shrug and say 'you know what, it's [[Bio WareBioWare]] deciding to try something new, and it's not the first time there have been a few minor inconsistencies'. It's a frankly ''tiny'' "plot point" to "mess up" by having Miranda react slightly later to a [[Fem Shep]] romance than to a [[Man Shep]] romance, which can easily be explained by "it's just coincidence, shut up and enjoy your game". I mean, seriously. Let's look at my above argument. If she leans more towards men, maybe it just takes longer to consider a relationship with women than with men- I'm speaking from experience here, by the way, this is something I often notice in both myself and my bi friends. The gender you prefer tends to be the gender relationships start quicker with. But honestly? I've got to say that I don't really care. When it comes down to it, arguing so strongly against a ''romance side-plot'' of all things because of a minor, gameplay/development related inconsistency seems nonsensical to me. Why throw even the merest possibility of something people might find engaging and rewarding away because people somehow can't buy "she just started a bit later with [[Fem Shep]] than [[Man Shep]] because a couple random variables coincidentally delayed her reactions?"

****** (Oh, and no, that would not "make her straight". You may well be able to argue that she ''wouldn't be attracted to Shepard'' in that situation, but Miranda not being attracted to a single woman does not make her auto-straight. Seriously, your argument has ''nothing'' to do with her sexuality and everything to do with her attraction to [[Fem Shep]] specifically. I mean, I've argued my piece on why it'd be possible to swing it and explain why it was absent in [[MEMass Effect 2]] without being an inconsistency, not least that the [[Man Shep]] and [[Fem Shep]] storylines don't ''have'' to sync up because they don't overlap, but one can also just say "hey, Shep's a soldier, maybe she prefers girls that are more femme".)

** Jack and Miranda are clearly not interested in a homosexual relationship. The above troper mentioned the reasons for Miranda. Jack on the other hand flat out states that she tried it and didn't like it if you push her dialogue far enough as femshep. However Thane and Tali were both originally homosexual options and with homosexual relationships now confirmed to be in ''[[MEMass Effect 3]]'' might still be available for that to occur.

* It's hard for a girl like her to resist the draw of [[Firefly (TV)|Adam]] [[Chuck|Baldwin]], after all.

* Sure, people could die in the second game, but there wasn't really a choice, per se. The third game ''will'' have a sadistic choice, since [[Bio WareBioWare]] seems to like them and it will be... between your love interests.

* The third game will introduce some more characters who will be romance options. I think that's a forgone conclusion, though it may be possible [[Bio WareBioWare]] will give up introducing new romance plots so they can focus on resolving the old ones from the first two games. I personally find that unlikely, but I digress. Some new characters will probably be introduced, maybe Samara will finally cave, whatever. Anyways, if you were disloyal, there will be tension between your lovers in the third game. They will demand you make a decision, of course...but it won't be in the way you expected. If there are, in fact, two or even three people in your life, a special scenario will be triggered. In it, like that oh so special section of Virmire, you will be forced to choose: whom you will save... and whom you will leave to die.

* As Ashley is now the second human Spectre and a legendary hero, the Williams name is already clean

{{spoiler|Harbinger fired directly at Shepard during the final battle. A single Reaper Destroyer kills Shepard in one hit with its beam attack. A Destroyer is not even close to the power of Harbinger, the oldest and most powerful of all the Reapers. The following events involving the Catalyst aren't real, whatever they are.}}

* Alternatively, Bioware could troll us with a happy ending DLC being announced on April 1st1.

*** [[Bio WareBioWare]] could be [[Lying Creator|lying]]. The screenshots we've seen of James so far look awfully like Big Ben (right down to the haircut). And Ben's line, "Don't know who they are or what they want" sounds exactly like what a [[Naive Newcomer]] like James would say.

== Mass Effect 3 will feature the following new squad members (Cumulative): ==

**** Jossed by EA. [[MEMass Effect 3]] is not coming to Steam; if you want it digitally, you'll have to go through EA's Origin.

*** [[PSPlay Station 3]]: Nathan Drake or maybe Ratchet

{{quote| '''Shepard:''' Master Chief, we need to save the galaxy!<br />

'''Master Chief:''' Again? Alright.<br />

''12 minutes gametime later...''<br />

*** A Collector teammate would fit with the [[My Species Doth Protest Too Much]] theme that [[Bio WareBioWare]] has been doing with teammates in general. Would be different to explain how one can exist, though, unless they pull a Legion and say that the Collectors you've been fighting in ME2 are a rogue faction serving the Reapers, while most of them are independent and hiding elsewhere. That, however, doesn't fit with what we know about their origins...

{{quote| '''Sheperd:''' You okay?<br />

*** Or maybe, the collector will be female and one of the romance options and their appearance is in fact, armor over something else. After all, the collector's edition of [[MEMass Effect 2]] allowed for Shepard to wear collector armor.

** A [[Destroy All Humans!|Certain Furon]]. This one's pretty out there even by WMG standards, but hear this troper out. In 2005, Pandemic entered a partnership with [[Bio WareBioWare]] to join forces. It's possible that, when Pandemic went under, they left Crypto to [[Bio WareBioWare]] "in the will" so to speak. There'd have to be some serious retconning with the Furons' backstory, but Bioware could make it work. I for one would love to see Crypto trying to get into every female squad member's pants via cheesy pick-up lines and innuendos.

**** That would be too awesome for words. An added bonus is as a parting gift from the Council finally Anderson will be granted Full SPECTRE status. He would be the old war horse on board that both Paragon and Renegade Shepard could talk to about his choices and his romances.

**** Perhaps not, I can't see him becoming a Spectre. As he mentioned himself, he is "too old to go gallivanting across the galaxy" and won't become a Spectre but I can see him as retiring the council and becoming [[Four -Star Badass|Admiral Badass]], perhaps being Hackett's replacement, and leading Humanities charge against the Reapers.

**** Considering the fact that the trailer showed London getting decimated by no less than EIGHT Reapers, and that Anderson was born and raised in London, I want him at my side firing an assault rifle as we take back the city.

*** Further weight to this theory. In ''Mass Effect: Invasion'' {{spoiler|Cerberus has taken control of Omega and Aria is in exile. And she is}} ''[[spoiler: pissed]]''. {{spoiler|Perhaps one of the [[MEMass Effect 3]] missions will be to help Aria regain control of Omega.}}

{{quote| '''NPC:''' ::Blathers on about a sidequest::<br />

'''Harbinger:''' DIRECT INTERVENTION IS NECESSARY.<br />

*** PLEASE YES!!!!!!!!! And have one of his combat lines be a sarcastic [[Serenity (Film)|"Too bad we don't have any grenades!"]] and one of his I'm hit lines be [[Firefly (TV)|"That was my favorite shirt!"]]

*** Captain, now Major, Kirrahe is confirmed to appear in [[MEMass Effect 3]], at least in the demo. Whether or not he'll be a squad/crew member is yet to be seen.

{{quote| '''Shepard:''' Okay, Kolyat. Just remember that you're part of a team now. Don't shoot anyone without my say-so. If I'm shooting at them, that counts as my say-so. Got it memorized?<br />

*** Which you can't do so it's out of the question. Unless...[[Back Fromfrom the Dead|he comes back from the dead.]]

*** Not likely; if he survives the showdown in ''[[Mass Effect 2 (Video Game)|Mass Effect 2]]'', you can actually talk to him before you leave that part of Ilium. He's calmed down, perfectly rational, somewhat embarrassed over how crazy all those drugs made him, and grateful that you kept him from getting his ass shot full of holes while he was higher than a hippy on the third day of an open-air festival.

**** Even better! His calmed rational manner would hide the fact that he has indeed become a TRUE BIOTIC GOD. Players using him for the first time will end up going OMGWTFBBQ when he sweeps the floor and leave even Jack and Samara eating his dust. The funny thing is he will still be very humble thinking he's a weak biotic.

** Saren. Think about it. [[BaldursBaldur's Gate|Sarevok]]...Saren...You could recruit the [[Big Bad]] of the first Baldur's Gate, in the expansion pack of the second game. And there was much asskicking, when Baal's two most hardcore offsprings teamed up. I can imagine Bioware doing the same trick for the second time, if only because of the alliteracy. Right, I ''did'' notice that Saren is theoretically unavailable being, you know, dead. In fact, he managed to die ''twice'' in just five minutes. [[What If|But.]] Nanotechnology or other forms of [[Applied Phlebotinum]] would work just fine to repair the body. Of course, then the question: "What about Sovereign? Why didn't it self-repair?" would spring to mind, but we would be so overcome by the awesome that the previous point would just go and cry in the shower.

*** Initially, I thought he might be Anderson's son by Kahlee Sanders, but the timeline says no. Assuming [[MEMass Effect 3]] takes place directly after ME2, he'd be 19 - 20 at best, which is way too young. Ah well. One cliche removed from the list. But the family name can't be a coincidence, so I'm in the "somehow related" camp as well.

** Kelly. If she survives she knows full well just how big a threat the Reapers are, and after the bad endings have her eviscerated it'd be nice to see her [[Took a Level Inin Badass|take ten or twelve levels in badass]]. Plus with Cerberus after Shepard now she could be part of some [[Sadistic Choice]] fans are fond of.

* We got Tali, Liara, Garrus, and the Virmire Survivor as returning squad mates.

** It'll also give Jacob some [[Hidden Depths]], [[Rescued Fromfrom the Scrappy Heap|rescue him from the scrappy heap]] for those fans to whom he ''is'' a Scrappy, and show that he's not just just a [[Nice Guy]]. With his abs, he'll probably punch out a krogan.

** Not a Spectre. Jacob is leading a band of soldier and scientist defectors from Cerberus. One of whom he got knocked up. Sorry femsheps who romanced him in 2.

**** Cell 1 is probably supporting their political and militarty operatives (Ambassador Udina & Rear Admiral Mikhailovich are WAY too closed minded... they're either Cerberus agents or Terra-Firma party supporters. Or both.) as well as their corporate fronts (Sirta Foundataion and Hahne-Kedar both seem shady to me. Mostly since the item drops in Cerberus bases in ME1 were mostly theirs, especialy Sirta.), Cell two handles Projects like Firewalker and Overlord, and is subsequently wiped out throughout the course of the [[DL Cs]]DLCs, and Cell 3 is the Lazarus Cell, your crew.

** Regardless, Miranda should play a significant role in [[MEMass Effect 3]]. Aside from Shepard, she probably knows more about what is going on than anyone else in the galaxy.

*** [[Bio WareBioWare]] has said she has "unfinished business" with Shepard, and will be returning.

* Mordin: He will open up a new clinic. A ''musical'' clinic. The doctors will sing opera or something while working to calm patients down. If Mordin's in a bragging mood, he'll entertain patients by having the staff musically reenact ME2's finale. Which may or may not be to the tune of [[Go, Ye Heroes, Go and Die|When The Foeman Bears His Steel]].

*** The above troper seems to have the general idea. The E3 gameplay demo shows Mordin trying to move a female Krogan inside a stasis pod while under fire from Cerberus operatives.

{{quote| '''Zaeed:''' ''You just cost me twenty years of'' '''''my life!'''''<br />

And remember<br />

*** Apparently, you're at least right about the hair.

** Or get Liara to get her into Eclipse as a biotic merc, the Eclipse elite overlook her criminal record and makes herself a distinguished record and is seen leading a squad of Eclipse mercs under her command, all of which is willing to help Shepard gain a bit of leeway.

{{quote| "No carrier... No carrier..."}}

*** Now all we need is a message from the "beings of light" on [http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Klencory Klencory], giving Shepard a [[Mission Fromfrom God]].

** Liara has been confirmed as a full squadmate for [[MEMass Effect 3]].

* Confirmed! Kaidan/Ashley is made a Spectre in [[MEMass Effect 3]] and returns as a squad member.

* Seems to me that there are just too damn many party members already in the ''[[Mass Effect (Video Game)|Mass Effect]]'' franchise, not to mention the ones that people want to see that ''ME3'' will consist of you gathering everybody you want in your party, and then splitting them up to either go with Shepard or do something equally important, like in ''[[Fire Emblem|Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones]]''.

** The party size will be smaller than [[MEMass Effect 2]]. However, there will be numerous cameo party members. Anderson is with you during the first levels on Earth.

** It could be like in ''[[BaldursBaldur's Gate]] 2'', where you can only have a set amount in your team at any one time, but can be "swapped out" at various meeting places. As with ''[[BaldursBaldur's Gate]]'' and other RPG's, it could well be possible to play through the game and miss a good chunk of the possible companions.

* Despite being killed at the end of the first game, Cerberus was able to bring back Shepard from the dead after the Commander's death. Perhaps the Reapers do the same for Saren, and he may initially be an antagonist. At some point in the game, however, the option will be either to execute him again or to make Saren a party member; he'll be the 'hidden' character, much like Legion was. Depending on how Saren died in the first game, his membership in the party could be handled in a couple different ways. For example, if he died in a straight-up firefight with Shepard, he'll still be the evil, sadistic murdering psychopath he was as ME1's [[The Dragon|Dragon]], but will join up with Shepard for revenge against the Reapers once he discovers that they never intended to spare any organic life like he originally thought. If, however, Shepard was able to convince Saren that he had become indoctrinated and caused him to commit suicide, Saren will instead become [[The Atoner]] and attempt to redeem himself after a lifetime of committing unspeakable acts of evil by helping to protect all the life in the galaxy by defeating the Reapers. The other way is that he will start off still as evil as he was in the first game no matter how you dealt with him, but the option will exist for a Paragon Shepard to redeem Saren over the course of the game. There is precedent for the first game's [[Big Bad]] becoming a redeemable party member; see [[Scary Black Man|Sarevok]] in Throne of Bhaal, which was also a [[Bio WareBioWare]] game. And it also seems like Mass Effect isn't quite done with Saren considering he is name-dropped quite a bit in the sequel, and that they went to the trouble to make use of his image for the Kasumi DLC. And if there are party members in Mass Effect 3 we've already met in the first two games, well, that could very easily include Saren.

*** The decision to save or fight Saren was unaddressed in [[MEMass Effect 2]], whereas a lot of the other choices (rachni queen, Shiala, Parasini) were incorporated. If Saren returns inn-full, that decision could affect what happens.

*** This would allow them to do an awesome [[Shout -Out]]:

{{quote| '''Shepard''': Excuse me, Mr Mercenary Agent, do you have any powerful folks I could hire to fight the [[Eldritch Abomination|Reapers]]?<br />

* Saren was working with the geth during ''ME1''. He also had tech upgrades routinely installed by Sovereign (see those freaky tubes coming out of the back of his head?) What if his personality was uploaded into the geth "cloud" before you actually killed his body, possibly during one of those "upgrades"? Alternatively, while Sovereign was taking over Saren's mind, the geth currently living in Sovereign (or Nazarra, as they might prefer) got a peek at his brain and decided to make a copy. After Saren died and Shepard killed their god, the geth wanted to know more about Shepard. As one of the minor characters, Eddie Vance, in ''ME1'' says when you ask him about how Spectres are held accountable, "If you need to take down a Spectre, ''send another Spectre''." However, the geth didn't want Shepard "taken down"-- they—they wanted to know more about them. They only had one Spectre. So, they take the aspects of Saren's personality that didn't consist of KILL ALL HUMANS, put them in a upgraded mobile unit, and sent him on his merry way. It makes sense that they would do that-- Legionthat—Legion would be a sort of midway point between organics and synthetics; the personality of an organic (explaining the [[What Is This Thing You Call Love?]] scene, among others), but in the form of a synthetic. Since he would be operating in organic controlled space, he would be able to operate much better than any actual geth. Think about it-- Legionit—Legion is a tech expert/sniper, just like Saren apparently was (robots can't have biotics). Legion is, for some reason, obsessed with Shepard, much like Saren was. Hell, he even sort of looks like him, with a robotic arm that looks quite similar to Saren's and those moving faceplate things that no other geth has being analogous to Saren's side crests that no other turian has.

** Thane, of course, will have a mission where you can try to get his Keprals cured.

** You help Jack track down her birth parents, who were unaware all this time that their daughter was really alive.

** Miranda will be trying to deal with her infertility--quiteinfertility—quite possibly by tracking down (and eventually confronting) her father to get the data used to create her. Either she could try to use it to find out what went wrong and correct it via gene therapy (perhaps the outcome if Shepard romanced her), or to create a baby much the way he did (perhaps even with the desire to use Shepard's genes the way her father not only used his own modified genes but also picked out optimal traits from others).

** We'll get to meet Garrus' family--specificallyfamily—specifically, his sister and sick mother (female turians!). Attempts to get his mother much-needed medical attention and simmering family drama ensues.

* Successfully completing your background-specific mission in the original will allow you to recruit either Talitha (Colonist), Finch (Earthborn) or Zabaleta (Spacer). All three will have [[Took a Level Inin Badass|greatly bettered themselves]] through Shepard's influence. The mission would be considered successfully completed if you're sent the corresponding letter in ''Mass Effect 2''.

== [[Doctor Who (TV)|The Doctor]] will feature in [[MEMass Effect 3]]. ==

== Dead squadmates will return... as an enemy in ''[[Mass Effect 3 (Video Game)|Mass Effect 3]]'' ==

== There will only be six or seven squadmates in [[MEMass Effect 3]] ==

[[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|Characters that you can convince or allow to join your squad, if you so desire]]. Namely, Kal'Reegar, some ME-2 squadmates, a Raloi, a female Turian, a female Drell, and/or a Collector.

The first two ''[[Mass Effect (Video Game)|Mass Effect]]'' games obvious had Seth Green, who was in [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]. The second game brought in Robin Sachs who was also on [[Buffy]]. And [[Sarah Michelle Gellar]] basically played the character (sans [[Doesn't Like Guns]]) in the DLC [[Nazi Zombies|Call of the Dead]] for ''[[Call of Duty: Black Ops (Video Game)|Call of Duty Black Ops]]''. Might she, or possibly another actor (veteran video game actor [[Eliza Dushku]] perhaps) get a role?

* You don't have to go quite that far out of your way. From Mass Effect 1, the Protheans had [[Human Popsicle|Life support]] pods. Say that one stayed active for fifty thousand years. {{spoiler|This one may be more right then you think. One of the DLC squadmates is confirmed to be called "The Prothean".}}

* Saren doesn't even make an appearance.

**** On that day (either April 1 or the global release of post-March 15) Bioware will issue a statement confirming a "true" ending and shows the mob of angry and disillusioned fans that they were in fact being played, ending it all with the two words: RELEASING CONTROL.

* Detailed [https://web.archive.org/web/20120513050259/http://w11.zetaboards.com/Theorycraftng_HUB/topic/7688087/1/ here].

** And it will be extraordinarily well-written and will introduce tons of cool, interesting ideas and characters into both the gameplay and the mythos. However, the game will be rushed to release before Obsidian can [[Knights Of The Old Republic 2|finish]]/[[Neverwinter Nights 2|polish]]/[[Fallout: New Vegas|debug]] it.

** Bioware DID say that players might want to hold on to their [[MEMass Effect 3]] saves, so you might be on to something.

** Like most fans I dearly want this to be the case, but I must say Bioware are putting a lot at risk in doing this. When you buy a new game chances are you would expect it to be complete and working. It'd be like buying a new car and then have to pay extra for steering or to be able to refuel. Now in the day and age of download content if some time down the track the writers thought, "Hmm, you know leaving the game with Shepard bleeding and working for the Reapers. On second thoughts we need to do something to fix that," then it'd be okay. It'd be like getting [[Rock Band]] and three years later the rights for ''Know Your Enemy'' became available and you could download it. But to do this from the start? To knowingly have something that fans would not like and then make them pay more to make it better? A lot of them would feel really upset at being scammed like this.

*** Well it looks Bioware is listening to the fans after all: http://venturebeat.com/2012/03/21/gamers-held-the-line-mass-effect-3-ending-is-being-addressed/

At the very end of the game, the player can have an interaction with Liara where she uses her mental powers to communicate with the Shep. This could very easily be a chance for her to get pregnant by the Shep, in case [[Someone to Remember Him By|she lives and Shepard doesn't]]. Obviously, this is more than [[Unfortunate Implications|slightly]] [[Child Byby Rape|disturbing]] if Shepard wasn't romancing Liara, but still somewhat in character.

** It IS canon that no-one in the present cycle has a clue how they work, and the one the Protheans built was a thousandth the size... Yeah, that makes sense.

** Or they could just be rebuilt, this time with better understanding of how they work. After all, either their creators, or at least their corpses will still be around to help in that goal. Matriarch Aethyta gets the last laugh after all.

== DLC will follow up on clues from Tali's [[MEMass Effect 2]] recruitment mission ==

There was a clue that [[MEMass Effect 3]] never followed up on that the sun was burning so hot you had to stay in the shade or it overloaded your shields because Dark Energy was destroying it. When asked for a cryptic clue about what the big new project they're planning was, the response was [https://twitter.com/#!/masseffect/status/179687674049867776 The sun, it shines.] It's clearly labeled as trolling, but maybe someone is trying to be clever.

*** Congratulations...

== Javik actually belongs in a Prothean warrior caste species ==

He admits himself that the Protheans culturally indoctrinated other species into the Empire, as well as that the war against the Reapers had been going on for centuries when he was born. Maybe the original Protheans had already perished at this point (or fled to Ilos), and Javik's people, being the toughest, most uncompromising and warlike lasted longer than any other component of the Empire, and began to perceive themselves as the "true" Protheans in the process.

== There will be DLC which picks up from the ending on the disc, serving as the "True" ending ==

* Alternatively, the sequence after Harbinger nearly killing Shepard will turn out to have been a hallucination or a dream, and the game will pick up from after that.

{{quote| "We always intended that the scale of the conflict and the underlying theme of sacrifice would lead to a bittersweet ending—to do otherwise would betray the agonizing decisions Shepard had to make along the way. Still, we wanted to give players the chance to experience an inspiring and uplifting ending; in a story where you face a hopeless struggle for basic survival, we see the final moments and imagery as offering victory and hope in the context of sacrifice and reflection."}}

'''CONFIRMED!''' [http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/355/index/10214299/1#10215581 Check it out!]{{Dead link}}

[[The Angry Joe Show (Web Video)|Angry Joe]] spells it out pretty clearly [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M0Cf864P7E&feature=g-u-u&context=G22d6f7fFUAAAAAAAAAA here]. The reasoning basically boils down to the massive number of inconsistencies with the setting and plot holes that show up at the last moment, and the sudden massive change in Sheperd's personality. My guess would be that it's the same guy who wrote Deception. Also the fact that Bioware had previously assured fans that they ''would not'' have this ''exact'' ending.

*** The beam doesn't hit Shepard head on. S/he just gets blasted by the shockwave. The chatter isn't aware of anyone getting in the beam, but the people on the other side of radio are hardly omniscient. Shepard was unconscious for a long time, so many things could have happened in the meantime. Joker isn't outrunning the energy of the Crucible, but the collapse of the Relay Network; he implicitly made a jump right as the system was collapsing, and it's not going smoothly. Presumably the Normandy picked Shepard's people up during his/her unconsciousness to prepare for attack or retreat when Shepard calls for it. Yes, it leaves many things for implication instead of spelling them out, but there are no major inconsistencies that can't be explained by Shepard's unknown period of unconsciousness.

== With the indoctrinated theory in mind, The Ending DLC will play out differently, depending on your final decision: ==

* {{spoiler|Maybe he/she will have a [[Dying Moment of Awesome]]. [[Fridge Brilliance|Of course]], [[Word of God|Bioware]] confirmed that this will be the final appearance of [[Mass Effect (Franchise)/Characters/Commander Shepard/Characters|Commander Shepard]].}}

== In Tune with the Indoctrination Angle Bioware could fix the ending by restoring actual choice as a fourth way: ==

The ending of [[MEMass Effect 3]] was incredibly strange but is aluded to more than once in the game: Even the Prothean VI mentions something along the lines of them being aware that someone aside from the Reapers controls the cycles, they just couldn't figure out who. So it will be incredibly difficult to fix this ending with the one we should have gotten (Shepard awakens from passing out by a combination of factors and the Star Child is inside his/her head) and then makes it to the switch in time (or not, there could be an ending where the bad guys most definitely win) because Anderson didn't actually have the input commands to trigger the catalyst. The cataylst proceeds to send out a null wave of RED energy (to match the Reapers shield color) deactivating them. Shepard afterwards appears to die but then depending upon choices is either saved or given a heroes funeral, cut to LI (if male shep, Ash with their child or femshep Liara with their child as a hook to continue the expanded universe). That would have been more in tune with the canon set up by Mass Effect, earn your happy ending, etc. As an alterante, the Reapers are in and of themselves the very synthetics who rebelled against and destroyed their creators and the Star Child is actually their catalyst; this episode set off the entire cycle system to begin with. That being said Shepard could either kill the catalyst (as a Renegade action) or talk the catalyst into sacrificing itself (a Paragon Action) to end the Reapers. The Crucible in this sense would serve as a mechanism to force the catalyst to reveal itself because it cannot abide the destruction of all it has created. The sacrifice of the catalyst could thereby serve as the final object lesson averting everything it has feared all along because this cycle is different and the reason why: Commander Shepard. Shepard can survive the meeting or perish, the point is you can still have an amazing ending and not ditch the whole point of the entire series (we make choices, we live with our choices) while you're at it. The ending they have now pretty much blows up the canon of the entire series, either way organic life is seriously backtracked to the dark ages, millions are marooned causing extinctions of entire species from emptying the populace of its best and brightest in order to save the populace. The ending would also be more in line with the series-long portyral of Shepard who has spent countless hours bucking the odds, taking on fate and not meekly submitting just because an energy being says to him/her that this is the only way....

== Another fourth option, if [[Bio WareBioWare]] doesn't go with the Indoctrination Theory. ==

The Catalyst already says that if you wait too long, it will lose control of the Reapers. [[Take a Third Option|Make that another alternative.]] Without the Catalyst's influence, some of the Reapers revert to their pre-indoctrinated state, resulting in complete chaos on the Reapers' side. Some Reapers would self-destruct upon realizing [[Tragic Monster|what the others turned them into.]] Others would turn on each other in revenge for their taking part in their conversion. A handful of Reapers, including Harbinger, stay loyal to the Reaper cause and make a run for the Citadel. Harbinger in particular lands just above the decision platform and, seeing the Catalyst as a traitor to the Reapers, tries to replace him. Cue epic boss fight as the Normandy and your fleet move in to stop him.

In this boss fight, Shepard can't actually damage Harbinger; only stop him from firing with some well-placed Cain shots (or some other last-minute superweapon). The actual damage is done by the Normandy and Sword fleet, dealing blows more frequently if your EMS is high. If Shepard dies here, there's no reloading; the Reapers win and you get the worst ending. If Harbinger is defeated, however, all of the Reapers are either destroyed from within or no longer hostile to organics. Earth is saved, the Relay Network is intact, and we get a proper final boss fight. Hey, even the [[Rescued Fromfrom the Scrappy Heap|Catalyst gets to do]] [[Heroic Sacrifice|something good for a change.]] Sounds like an ending to me.

We know that Bioware has been prone to lying with this installment of the series. They lied about Javik appearing even without the From Ashes DLC, they lied about the wildly branching paths in the endings, they lied about the multiplayer not being required to get your so-called [[Golden Ending]]... What guarantees us that, as the blog post of March 21 says, the enraged reaction to the endings was something that actually surprised them? No, they were seeing this from a mile, and in fact were counting on it happening, because it means people would be eager to see the ending expanded upon, explained and/or modified to give a better feeling of closure, and will pay for DLC that promises exactly this. This, my friends, proves just what a big bunch of [[Magnificent Bastard|Magnificent Bastards]]s they are, since everything until now has gone [[All According to Plan|EXACTLY AS PLANNED]].

* Perhaps they originally planned to release the DLC anyway, but didn't anticipate that the reaction would be this extreme. Charging people extra for the DLC could make things even worse.

As a way of getting revenge on the interlopers who try and get in the reaper's way. Furthermore, it explains and alieviates the [[Fridge Logic]]/[[Fridge Horror|Horror]] behind the endings. (That or the crucible is designed to destroy the rlays in such a way that the relaynovas don't happen)

** Actually, it's written in the codex, that destruction of a relay releases enough energy, to destroy every terrestial world in the system. It's also written, that the leaders considered destroying them to stop the reapers, but they resigned, because there would be too many casualties. Fortunately, Shepard doesn't seem to care about such petty details.

*** The Relays are ''not'' destroyed in the same manner in ME3 as the one in the Arrival was. Compare the animations and see the difference. In Arrival the energy of the Relay is released in one massive explosion, while in ME3 the Relays are torn apart because they can't handle the energy bursting through them. And the Relays still don't destroy entire solar systems, their destruction simply makes them unreachable.

** From here we can still get a bad, decent and good ending. If Shepard had been a pure renegade in the game s\he learns the Normandy has flown off and succumbs to his\her injuries and dies when the Crucible fires. If paragon or neutral s\he collapses and remains conscious long enough to see a figure running from a shuttle. Shepard later wakes up with one of his\her special forces soldiers from multiplayer (which will tie that in as [[Bio WareBioWare]] seemingly really want) who turns out to be...Shepard, or at least the [[Distaff Counterpart]]\[[Spear Carrier]] default appearance to who the player is. To still give a bit of a [[Downer Ending]] s\he says how the resources that went into the Crucible was massive, crippling an already devastated galaxy, before leaving Shepard to heal up until s\he is up to play through that promised playable epilogue.

** As an [[Easter Egg]], if Shepard romanced no one during the trilogy then Shepard's [[Opposite SexGender Clone]] will try to romance him\her.

Earth has jungles and they'd be low on the list of Reaper targets. More to the point the shockwave hits the Normandy before it hits the Mass Relay. As such the Normandy has to be still in the Sol System, which leaves only one planet with life.

* Just one problem: two moons. The planet has a huge moon and a small moon hanging in the horizon when Joker steps out of the Normandy. All signs indicate that they were in the middle of a Relay jump when the Crucible energy broke their flight, and they fell to an uncharted system.

* Harbinger attempts to get you to accept your status as the Human Reaper through mind-screwing;

* As above, except Anderson is also a potential candidate.

If you choose synthesis or control, you become the Human Reaper; the next scenes are Shepard's dying dream as he becomes fully Reaperized, as he tries to believe in Earth and his team's salvation. If you choose destruction, nothing happens, but you've denied the Reaper's the ability to reproduce this cycle (as a corollary, the Protheans weren't made into a Reaper either because either their champion, maybe Javik, wasn't present, or because their champion resisted). You then wake up badly wounded on Earth, intent on winning this war. Alternatively, the Crucible really does destroy the Reapers if you let it; it's just that no organic has ever resisted before.

It's hard to believe that humanity, in its three years as a Council Race, wouldn't have granted Spectre status to several of its best and brightest. Considering the news announcement of the Virmire Survivor's promotion ''also'' makes a note that private ceremonies are held for Spectres who will be operating covertly, it's not outside the realm of possibility that the Council is served by more human Spectres than the two of which we know.

They only said they would change the endings after going through a ton of player feedback. To me that implies they are happy with the ending they intended, but realized that the players were either interpreting it completely differently or just confused. They keep describing it as "bittersweet", "uplifting", and invoking "victory through sacrifice"; going by fan reaction the most common interpretation seems to be "and then everybody in the galaxy, or at least the combined fleet and the Normandy, died horribly off-screen" which only a maniac would interpret as any of those things.

* This is certainly the most likely solution. Hopefully they will also add options for Shepard to seek clarification with the Catalyst and argue against it with some of the points that the fans have presented; not necessarily to change its mind, but to tell us why it has not considered these issues.

== Bioware will add an ending where Shepard survives. ==

And in it Shepard just decides to say "Screw it!" and flee with the crew of Normandy to some unknown garden world, and leave the galaxy for the Reapers. That should teach the most annoying fans what heroic sacrifice means.

== The endings are a bid to indoctrinate the player. ==

== Marauder Shields is Nihlus ==

Complications arising from the discharge of the Cruicble created a wormwhole that sucked him into the faraway world of Tamriel. However the blast permanently stuck his hair in an spiked point, and everything in Tamriel is twice the size it is in our diemenson, making Conrad seem like a midget. After a brief period mourning the death of his hero, Cornad developed a fixation with the local Arena games and took to worshiping the godess Azura.

== The Reapers cull organics to prevent a [[Half -Life 2|Combine]] invasion ==

Since the Reapers decided to put the Citadel above London...for some reason, the UK is effectively doomed no matter what happens.

* If Shepard was a Renegade, the Batarian mistrust for humanity will continue to grow and the Batarians will resettle, but will decline any support from the Earth Systems Alliance and possibly the rest of the Council. This will lead to a slow, painful rebuilding process and may result in an end to Batarian civilization should they fail.

== The sequel will take place after a 100 year timeskip. ==

The plot will most likely revolve around the technological revolutions resulting from the study of the Reaper technology, combined with the new freedom from the subtle Reaper control over the civilization, as well as reconnecting to colonies that have been isolated since the destruction of the Citadel, and did not have the good fortune to possess quantum entanglement communicators, that have been developing in culturally and technologically different ways than the mainstream galactic society. There will most likely be a major conflict between the old and new orders, neither which can be considered purely black or white in terms of morality, and will probably hold wildly different philosophies concerning synthetics and transhumanism which will play a major role in the development of a post-Reaper society.

I know this sounds like a long shot, but bear with me. The Citadel is [[Green Lantern|Oa]], and the Reapers were created by the Guardians of the Universe a long time ago. [[Superman (Comic Book)|Kryptonians]] and Martians were annihilated by the Reapers in previous cycles. The [[The Flash|Speed Force]] is attributable to element zero, as is the function of [[Green Lantern]]'s rings. [[Wonder Woman|Amazons]], [[Aquaman (Comic Book)|Atlanteans]] etc. not existing is due to the Guardians successfully managing to remove magic from the universe.

The Reapers were created most likely as probes or war machines. As they gained sentience and then knowledge, they realized that organics would eventually wipe themselves out. They were programmed with the alien equivalent of the [["Three Laws "-Compliant|three laws of robotics]], and eventually came to the conclusion that some organics must be sacrificed to preserve life as a whole. Unfortunately, the best solution the Reapers could come up with was to grind them up into paste and make more Reapers. At the same time, this also satisfied their other law of robotics, preserving their own existence. Over time, they developed a kind of god complex, and consistently failed to see the flaws in their logic.

== [[Bio WareBioWare]] skimmed through this page when creating the ending. ==

Looking back on some of these WMG's before the game came out, I noticed an awful lot of similarities between some theories about the ending {{spoiler|(the Relay Network being destroyed, the Citadel being a Reaper itself, the story about "The Shepard", etc.)}} and the actual ending. Either it's a massive coincidence, or [[Bio WareBioWare]] [[One of Us|hires an inordinate number of tropers as its employees]], or they looked at our ideas and picked some of them.

This is Bioware...writing is one of their strongest points. Even people who hated [[DA 2]]DA2 say that the themes, writing and dialogue was good.