Characters of the Mass Effect universe

This article describes notable characters who appear in the Mass Effect fictional universe. These characters are explored in the novels Mass Effect: Revelation, Mass Effect: Ascension, Mass Effect: Retribution, and Mass Effect: Deception; the comic series Mass Effect: Redemption, Mass Effect: Evolution and the video games Mass Effect, Mass Effect Galaxy, Mass Effect 2, and Mass Effect 3. This list describes only major protagonists, antagonists, and party members that appear in the games, novels, and comic, although these storylines feature much larger supporting casts consisting of dozens of minor characters.

Commander Shepard
Lieutenant Commander Shepard is the main player character in the Mass Effect trilogy. Shepard's gender, appearance, history, combat-training and first name are determined by the player before the game begins. Shepard is 29 years old in the first game though is biologically 29 or chronologically 31 years old in the second game, and roughly 33 in the third game. The default male Shepard, the model used by BioWare for trailers, is called John while the female default name is Jane; both defaults are of the Soldier class. Shepard is a veteran soldier who begins the game as a candidate to become the first human "Spectre" agent. As the game progresses, Shepard undertakes a series of important missions and is authorized to do whatever it takes to get the missions done. At the end of the game, Shepard kills villain Saren Arterius and helps defeat the Reaper Sovereign. One of the most important decisions Shepard makes is at the end of the first game, and determines the fate of the Citadel Council and humanity's role in the galaxy. Shepard can choose to have the Council saved, resulting in humans being granted a Council seat; Shepard can order Sovereign to be attacked directly, which unintentionally kills the Council and results in a new, human-controlled Council being created; or Shepard can order the Council to be left undefended, which dooms the Council and sets humanity up to be the dominant species in the galaxy.

One month after defeating Sovereign, Shepard's ship, the SSV Normandy is destroyed by an unknown warship, killing Shepard. Shepard's body is recovered by Cerberus, a rogue human agency who has been keeping tabs on Shepard for the Commander's actions in Mass Effect. Over the course of two years, Shepard is rebuilt through Cerberus's Lazarus Project, headed by future squad mate operative Miranda Lawson, which uses a combination of cutting edge cybernetics and nanotechnology. Upon making a sufficient recovery, Shepard investigates the disappearance of human colonies.

Regarding the issue of Shepard's death, BioWare Director Casey Hudson explained that based on decisions made during Mass Effect 2, Shepard can die in some of the game's multiple endings. Hudson stated "If you do die in the ending of Mass Effect 2, it will not come as a surprise, nor will it be random. It will be pretty obvious that you headed into the final mission knowing that Shepard probably wouldn’t make it out alive." Hudson also confirmed that team members would be affected by the player's decisions as well: "You might have an ending where Shepard’s entire team survives, or where the entire mission is a bloodbath and everyone (including Shepard) is killed, or anything in between." Lastly, Hudson revealed that if the player's Shepard dies in the second game, he or she will not appear in the prospective Mass Effect 3; instead, the third game would have to be played with a new Shepard started in that game, or with one who survived Mass Effect 2.

Shepard returns once again as the main protagonist in Mass Effect 3. In this game, Shepard is grounded after the events of the previous game. Suddenly, the Reapers attack Earth, forcing Shepard to flee the planet. The game's main plot sees Shepard travelling across the galaxy and trying to gain support from the alien civilizations to launch a final mission to save Earth and defeat the Reapers once and for all. According to Bioware, Mass Effect 3 will conclude Shepard's story and mark Shepard's final appearance in the series. Depending on the player's actions in the final battle, Shepard will either sacrifice himself to control the Reapers, sacrifice himself to destroy the Reapers, or merge with a laser to form a new organic-synthetic life form. However, if you destroy the Reapers and all synthetic life and you have enough military strength and a high readiness level, he/she'll be shown to have survived.

The male version of Shepard is voiced by Mark Meer, while Jennifer Hale lends her voice to the female version. Fashion model Mark Vanderloo was the model for the default appearance of the male commander Shepard.

Liara T'Soni
Dr. Liara T'Soni is an asari companion. In the first Mass Effect, she is 106 years old, barely an adult by asari standards. She has a passion for studying and working with Prothean technology. T'Soni is an expert in the field of Prothean archaeology, specifically evidence concerning the Protheans' demise. She is, in fact, found in a Prothean ruin, trapped in a kinetic bubble prison. T'Soni is a possible romance interest for both male and female Shepards. The asari have only one gender, and can reproduce with any gender or species. Liara's class is unique to her as an asari Scientist, skilled mainly in biotics, but unable to build skills in weapons and tech abilities. Unlike the human equivalent Adept, however, T'Soni can learn "Electronic" skills.

T'Soni is the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, a well-respected and powerful asari biotic. It is unknown precisely who T'Soni's other parent is, except that she was another asari. In the Mass Effect 2 DLC Lair of the Shadow Broker, on the Shadow Broker's ship a video of an asari looking at a picture of Liara can be viewed. This asari is the Matriarch that is the bartender on Illium, and in Mass Effect 3, both the Matriarch, Aethyta, and Liara can be goaded into conversing with each other in the Presidium. There is a certain social stigma attached to this, as the asari believe that for them to improve themselves, they should mate with other species to gain new genetic properties. If two asari mate as Liara's parents did, then it is believed that nothing is gained from the relationship. The term "Pureblood" is used as a cruel insult for children born of two asari. When asked about her second parent, T'Soni is only able to speculate that her parents were possibly embarrassed by the union, but she does not know for certain.

In Mass Effect 2, T'Soni initially depicts a radically changed personality. Acting much more like her mother Benezia, T'Soni has become an information broker on Illium in direct rivalry to the Shadow Broker. Having improved as a biotic, she uses threats and other intimidation tactics to extort information. If the player imported a Shepard from the original Mass Effect that romanced Liara, she greets Shepard with a kiss. Liara assigns Shepard an optional quest to assist her in hunting down an agent of the Shadow Broker spying on her, known as the Observer. Liara's anger at the Broker stems from when he recovered Shepard's body and was prepared to sell it to the Collectors during the events of Mass Effect: Redemption. After certain dialogue choices, the player is finally able to break through her shell and reveal the real Liara, revealing that her darker personality is nothing more than a facade. T'Soni took pains in getting Shepard's body from the Broker and gave it to Cerberus so they could bring Shepard back to life. Liara knew that Cerberus would use Shepard for their own uses, but still gave them Shepard's body as she cares for Shepard and could not let the Commander go. She feared that Shepard would hate her for this, and apologizes. In spite of wanting to join Shepard, she declines Shepard's offer to join the team to continue her quest for revenge against the Shadow Broker. She expresses regret that she cannot join Shepard's squad.

However, she makes a new appearance in the Mass Effect 2 DLC Lair of the Shadow Broker and joins your crew temporarily as Shepard decides to help her hunt down the Shadow Broker. Shepard gradually breaks her hardened shell after lecturing her about mindlessly running into battles, but at the same time she states that she won't stop "to enjoy the scenery" until she's done. As the Shadow Broker is killed, Liara takes the opportunity to fill in his now vacant role. She says she will use her newly bestowed status to help assist Shepard's ongoing mission to fight the Reapers. It is also possible to resume the player character's romance with Liara at the end of "Lair of the Shadow Broker".

It has been confirmed that Liara T'Soni will return as a permanent squad member in Mass Effect 3 and there will be consequences for players that were unfaithful to her as a romantic interest in Mass Effect/Mass Effect 2. Regardless of whether or not Lair of the Shadow Broker was completed, she will become the Shadow Broker, but if it wasn't, she took on the Shadow Broker alone, but with Feron's death.

Upon meeting a surviving Prothean, Javik, she is initially overjoyed to have one serving aboard the Normandy, but slowly becomes more disappointed, having previously imagined the Protheans as the "keepers of wisdom and enlightenment" of their era, only to find them to be "cold and ruthless warlords". Eventually, this relationship reaches a breaking point after the fall of Thessia, where Liara is in Javik's quarters, frustrated with him for "not having the answers". Shepard can either diffuse the situation, or allow Liara to walk away. If the former happens, the two will begin to respect and appreciate each other.

Liara is voiced by Ali Hillis, and her face and body is modeled after actress Jillian Murray.

Miranda Lawson
Miranda Lawson is a Cerberus officer and appears in Mass Effect 2 as a Normandy crew member who is also Shepard's second-in-command. She also had an appearance in Mass Effect Galaxy. In Galaxy, Miranda communicates with Jacob Taylor as a hologram, and is his main source of information on how to stop the batarian threat. In Mass Effect 2, Lawson is revealed to be a high ranking operative of the pro-human organization Cerberus, and has been genetically altered for superior intelligence and physical traits. She is shown to be a capable leader, exemplified with her being one of the few members of the squad who can successfully lead a fireteam in the final mission without anyone dying, despite feeling she doesn't command respect like Shepard does. Lawson is leader of Cerberus' Lazarus Cell, tasked with reviving Commander Shepard. Aboard the Normandy, she is Shepard's second-in-command and Executive Officer, and files mission reports directly to the Illusive Man.

Lawson was the artificially created daughter of Henry Lawson, a rich and powerful businessman from Earth. Rather than give her a human mother to randomize her genetic code, Henry took his own DNA and doubled his X chromosome, hoping to create a dynasty. Unhappy with his attempts to exert control over her life, Miranda joined Cerberus and secretly sent her sister into hiding to protect her from their father. Provided the player completes a mission to prevent her sister's abduction, she ultimately becomes loyal to Shepard. In one of the story's possible endings, she proves her loyalty when the Illusive Man gives her an order to prevent Shepard from destroying the Collectors' Space Station by refusing and announcing her resignation before ending the communication abruptly.

Lawson is a possible romance option for a male Shepard.

Miranda Lawson will make an appearance in Mass Effect 3 if she survives the events of the suicide mission in Mass Effect 2. After defeating the Collectors, she left Cerberus. Shepard meets Miranda on the Citadel, where she expresses her concerns that Oriana was found by her father. If she was not warned about a Cerberus attack, she will be killed by Assault Troopers under orders from the Illusive Man.

She is later encountered on Horizon after the events at Thessia. Shepard finds out that Oriana is being held by her father, Henry Lawson, in a Cerberus facility disguised as a shelter. Miranda, Shepard, and Henry come face to face, and Shepard can either diffuse the situation diplomatically or shoot Henry. If Shepard allows Lawson to leave, Miranda will attack her father, but dies from injuries sustained by Kai Leng. If Shepard previously warned Miranda about Leng's return to Cerberus, and the situation was resolved peacefully, Miranda survives and assists in the war effort.

Miranda is voiced by and modeled after actress Yvonne Strahovski.

Ashley Williams
Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams is a 25-year-old human Alliance Marine who enlisted straight out of high school. Williams is a competent non-commissioned officer. She joins the party during the first mission, replacing Corporal Richard L. Jenkins (who was killed in action). Ashley is a pure soldier, skilled with weapons and heavy armor but unable to use advanced tech abilities or biotics. She is a possible romance interest for a male Commander Shepard. She hails from a military family: her great-grandmother, grandfather, and father all served in the Alliance Navy. Her family suffers from the dubious service history of her grandfather, however, as he is the only human officer to ever surrender to an alien force, specifically the turian fleet at the colony of Shanxi. Williams says that she and her father have been passed over for many a promotion because of the stigma her grandfather still holds among the Alliance brass. Her mother raised Ash and her three younger sisters on various colonial worlds while her father was on duty. Williams is religious, though her precise faith and denomination are never elaborated upon, except for her belief in Judgment Day and a greater power. She also occasionally expresses "human-centric" views, as a result of her grandfather having been disgraced in the First Contact War against the turians.

Late in the game, on the planet Virmire, Williams is one of two characters who can opt to assist a salarian commando unit in their assault on Saren's lab complex. During the assault, the player is confronted with a choice that may result in Ashley being killed when a nuclear warhead is detonated. If she is, later dialogue indicates the salarian and turian governments have awarded her their most highest medals, honoring her sacrifice for soldiers not even of her own race.

Williams appears in Mass Effect 2, provided she lived through the first game. The Illusive Man, using her connection to Shepard as bait, lured the Collectors to Horizon. Now an Operations Chief, Williams is first seen defending a colony against a swarm of paralyzing Collector "seekers," but ultimately is overwhelmed and paralyzed by a bug. Upon being rescued, she voices disapproval towards Shepard's alliance with Cerberus. Should there have been a romance between Shepard and Williams, she will later send him an apologetic email, expressing her desire to be with him once more.

Ashley Williams returns in Mass Effect 3, provided she survived the events of the original game. Prior to the game's release, it was said that players that keep her as a romance interest (as indicated by her portrait on Shepard's desk not being face down) in Mass Effect will be rewarded. During the events of Mass Effect 3, Williams is commissioned as a lieutenant commander and has become the second human Spectre. She is seriously injured during the game's mission on Mars, but makes a full recovery and, depending on the player's actions, may join Shepard's team onboard the Normandy.

Ashley Williams is voiced by Kimberly Brooks.

Kaidan Alenko
Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko is a 32-year-old human male, Alliance Navy officer who accompanies Commander Shepard from the very beginning of the game. Alenko serves as a possible love interest for a female Shepard. In game, he is what is known as a Sentinel, a soldier highly skilled in both tech skills and biotics, though with little in the way of actual combat ability. Alenko has had a troubled relationship with his biotic abilities - he is one of the rare users of the controversial L2 implants, which have since been discontinued due to the long list of horrible side-effects discovered after their initial creation. Kaidan is regarded as "one of the lucky ones" as he only suffers from migraines, though many others suffer from crippling physical pain or insanity. If questioned by Shepard, Kaidan reveals that as a teenager he killed an instructor, a brutal turian mercenary, at the biotics training facility he attended, during biotics training by breaking his neck with a full-force biotic kick. The death had been an accident, as Kaidan was enraged when the instructor injured a girl he admired.

Late in the game, on the planet Virmire, Kaidan is one of two characters who can opt to assist a salarian commando unit in their assault on Saren's lab complex. If Ashley is selected to lead the unit, Kaidan is the primary technician for activating a bomb that destroys the facility. During the assault, the player is confronted with a choice that may result in Kaidan being left behind when the nuke is detonated.

Alenko also plays a role in Mass Effect 2, provided that he survived in the first game. Since the first game's events, Alenko had been promoted to staff commander (one grade above Shepard's rank of lieutenant commander) and is stationed on the planet Horizon to help protect a human colony from the Collectors. The Illusive Man, using Kaidan's connection to Shepard as bait, lured the Collectors to Horizon. The Collectors attacked the colony and he was stung by a Collector Swarm, leaving him temporarily paralyzed. Shepard soon learns that Kaidan was sent to the colony to install a network of defense cannons to safeguard against future Collector attacks. After multiple firefights with the Collectors and Harbinger, Alenko is ultimately rescued by Shepard. The two reunite with a handshake (or a warm embrace if the player chose to import a Shepard from Mass Effect that had pursued a romantic relationship with Kaidan) and Shepard tells him that he/she has been dead for two years. However, upon learning that Shepard is working with Cerberus, Alenko grows suspicious and refuses to join Shepard on his/her mission. Later on, if Shepard romanced Kaidan in the first game, Kaidan will send him/her an apology letter stating that his earlier behavior was a result of his concern and worry for him/her and that he would still like to be romantically involved after the Collectors have been defeated.

Players that keep him as a romance interest in Mass Effect 2 will be rewarded.

If he survived the events of the first game, Alenko returns in Mass Effect 3. In the intervening months since the end of Mass Effect 2 he has been promoted to the rank of Major and placed in command of a covert Alliance special operations team of human biotics. He has been summoned to testify at Shepard's trial following the events of the Arrival DLC story, and is present when the Reapers arrive at Earth and attack Vancouver. Kaidan connects with a new squadmate, marine James Vega, and makes his way to the Normandy SR-2, which has been confiscated, examined, and refurbished to serve in the Alliance as Admiral Anderson's personal flagship.

After arriving at a pinned-down Shepard and Anderson to evacuate them, Kaidan accompanies Shepard and Vega to the Prothean Archive on Mars under orders to retrieve intelligence that Liara T'soni has uncovered there, believed to be crucial to the war effort. The group is joined by T'soni as they engage Cerberus troops who are attacking the base to secure the same Prothean data for The Illusive Man. After confronting Cerberus' mole at the facility, the synthetic infiltrator Dr. Eva Coré, Kaidan is badly injured. Shepard disables and captures the gynoid for study, and rushes Alenko to Huerta Memorial Hospital on the Presidium of the Citadel for treatment. Shepard can then check in on Kaidan as he recuperates—he is initially unconscious, but once Shepard completes a mission Alenko sends a message to the Normandy saying he is awake and would welcome a visit. The two can discuss the Major's injury (a dialogue chain that can first hint at flirtation with a male or female Shepard, or interest in renewing intimacy with a previously-romanced female Shepard), recent activities and promotion, family back on Earth, and their tense encounter on Horizon months earlier. Kaidan also mentions that Donnel Udina has put his name forward to become the second human Spectre, and that he is considering accepting. This visit also represents an opportunity to present a 'get well soon' gift to foster trust later in the story.

Once Shepard completes another mission off the Citadel, s/he receives another e-mail from Kaidan saying his is about to be discharged and would appreciate another visit for the Commander's advice. Returning to the Citadel and offering words of encouragement further builds confidence between Shepard and Alenko, who will not be available for interaction again until Udina—conspiring with Cerberus—attempts a coup against the Citadel Council to seize control of their fleets for the liberation of Earth. During this battle Alenko appears in his new capacity as a Spectre, providing protection for the Council members who are being led by Udina into a trap. Shepard arrives to intervene, and in the ensuing confrontation if Kaidan still suspects Shepard of colluding with Cerberus he is shot (either by Shepard or by a squadmate) in order to stop Udina. Alternatively, if Shepard has worked to regain Kaidan's trust, he takes Shepard's side, and will shoot Udina if Shepard abstains.

If he survives the coup attempt, Kaidan later meets Shepard at the Normandy dock and offers to re-join the crew. Shepard can either accept him aboard, or advise him to stay behind and gain him as a War Asset. Later, if Shepard has consistently been understanding and encouraging toward him, Kaidan sends an e-mail inviting Shepard to dinner on their next visit to the Citadel. Conversation instigated during this 'date' represents (male or female) Shepard's opportunity to 'lock in' a romantic relationship with Alenko or to rebuff his advances. If pursued, Kaidan appears at Shepard's cabin on the eve of the assault on The Illusive Man's headquarters and the two can consummate their relationship (though triggerable dialogue between Kaidan and Shepard in the Starboard Observation Louge suggests that they've spent the night together at least once already). Alternatively, Shepard can turn him down to avoid "distraction," presumably terminating the romantic relationship.

During the final battle for Earth, Kaidan appears again at the forward operating base in London, having re-connected with his biotic special operations unit. If he and Shepard have pursued a romantic relationship, their 'farewell' turns affectionate one last time; they kiss, Alenko states his desire to hold Shepard again and Shepard says Kaidan had "better be there when I come back." Shortly thereafter the final 'push' to the Citadel begins and the two are separated.

Following Shepard's final decision and the completion of the campaign, Kaidan may be seen stepping off of a crashed Normandy on an unknown world following the catastrophic disruption of the mass relay network.

Kaidan Alenko is voiced by Raphael Sbarge, also known for his role in BioWare's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords as Carth Onasi.

Garrus Vakarian
Garrus Vakarian is a male turian and an officer in the Citadel Security Force (C-Sec). He has never liked or trusted Saren and was investigating his activities, but wasn't able to prove any blatant acts of treason. He chafes under the red tape, rules and regulations of Citadel Security and had become unsatisfied with his role there. He believes in using any means necessary to either prevent or solve crimes, almost seemingly regardless of the consequences; this is a direct result of a case he was involved with that came to an unsatisfactory conclusion. During his investigations, Garrus came across a case in which a salarian named Doctor Saleon had sold many organs through the black market. When his employees were questioned they were found to also be Dr. Saleon's test subjects as they were growing the cloned organs inside their own bodies, in many cases resulting in traumatic physical and psychological injuries. Unfortunately, the doctor escaped C-Sec custody and fled the Citadel, and Garrus felt that it was the hesitation and regulations governing C-Sec that allowed Dr. Saleon to escape.

Before joining C-Sec, Garrus spent time in the turian military. During his service with C-Sec, targeted as a Spectre candidate, but was dissuaded against it by his father, a C-Sec officer who was strictly "by the book" out of personal fear that Garrus would end up like Saren. When given the opportunity to pursue Saren alongside Shepard - who is not bound by rules and operates outside the law - he is happy to accept. He is a turian Agent, skilled at both weapons and engineering, similar to an Infiltrator class. Depending on Shepard's advice and actions, Garrus may at one point apply for the Spectre program, with or without re-applying for C-Sec in the process.

In Mass Effect 2, after the Normandy was destroyed, Garrus Vakarian went on to pursue a life of vigilantism, making his way to Omega, a lawless space station where various criminal syndicates compete for power. Garrus earned the alias "Archangel" after sabotaging mercenary activity there, although he avoids attacking the asari Aria T'Loak, the de facto leader of Omega. (Aria helps Shepard find Garrus, although she only knows him by his "Archangel" alias) When Shepard finds him, Garrus is holed up in his base as three crime syndicates send waves of mercenaries to kill him. During the final onslaught, Garrus is badly injured by an attack from a gunship, leaving him with facial scars and damaged armor. Garrus nevertheless makes a swift recovery after joining the team.

Garrus' loyalty quest involves a search for a former turian squadmate, Lantar Sidonis, who betrayed Garrus' team during his time on Omega and caused their deaths at the hands of the crime syndicates. After finding a lead on the traitor, Shepard and Garrus locate Sidonis on the Citadel, and depending on the player's actions, Garrus will either kill Sidonis or allow him to live to endure a guilt-ridden life.

In Mass Effect 2, Garrus is a potential romantic interest for a female Shepard.

Garrus is a member of Shepard's squad for most of Mass Effect 3, provided he survived the events of the suicide mission in Mass Effect 2. After defeating the Collectors, Garrus realized what little time the galaxy had before the Reapers arrived. With the Council still unwilling to listen, he went to his father on Palaven, relaying all the events beginning with the Eden Prime war, so he could convince the primarch. Eventually, Garrus gains a "Reaper task force" to improve turian defenses, which bought Palaven a limited amount of time when the Reapers invaded. If neither he nor Tali were romanced in Mass Effect 2, they will begin a relationship.

Garrus Vakarian is voiced by Brandon Keener.

Urdnot Wrex
Wrex is among the last of the krogan Battle Masters. They are rare individuals who can combine biotic abilities with advanced weaponry. Wrex quickly gained fame for his battle powers and became a leader of one of the smaller Urdnot tribes at a very young age. To date, Wrex is the youngest krogan to be granted the honor in 1,000 years. Following the krogan genophage (a salarian bioweapon which causes a genetic mutation that causes stillbirth in 99.9% of the krogan population), Wrex realized that his people had degenerated from the honor-bound people they once were and had become senselessly violent, preferring death in battle rather than saving their culture through peaceful means. Wrex turned his back on his people when his father, a krogan warlord who wanted to resume the war, betrayed and attempted to kill him. Wrex escaped, though not before taking his father's life in retaliation. During the past three centuries, Wrex has worked as a bodyguard, mercenary, soldier and a bounty hunter. One operation as a mercenary was with Saren Arterius as his employer, though Wrex immediately sensed something very troubling about the turian and left the contract without even waiting to get paid. His instincts were right: every other mercenary on the ship they were on turned up dead within a week. Despite his menacing appearance, Wrex rarely loses his temper. Likewise, Wrex doesn't voice his thoughts very often. But when he does, people are more than willing to listen. The mere threat of his anger is enough to ensure that.

Late in the game, at the planet Virmire, Wrex learns that Saren is developing a cure for the krogan genophage to create an army of krogan soldiers. Uncertain as to who he should listen to now, Wrex has an angry confrontation with Shepard over whether or not the facility should be destroyed. Depending on the player's choices during that time, Wrex can be killed by either Shepard or Ashley, or he may survive.

Wrex returns in Mass Effect 2, provided he lived through the first game. If Wrex survived, he is encountered on the krogan homeworld, Tuchanka, where he has united the various krogan clans under Clan Urdnot to strengthen his ailing race in the face of the genophage. He introduces many modernizing reforms to krogan society, but faces fierce opposition against more traditionalist clans. Should Wrex have been killed in the previous game by either Ashley or Shepard, the player will be sourly greeted by Wrex's brother, Wreav.

It has been confirmed that Urdnot Wrex returns in Mass Effect 3, provided he survived the events of Mass Effect and has become one of the most powerful krogan leaders. Wrex promises to bring the krogans to war alongside their ancient enemies, the Turians and Salarians, in exchange for a cure to the genophage.

If Shepard sabotages the genophage cure, on the next visit to the Citadel after Rannoch, Wrex reveals that he has obtained a copy of the "sabotage the cure" conversation between Shepard and the salarian Dalatrass. He will either be killed by Shepard or C-Sec officers.

If Shepard remains committed to curing the genophage, Shepard will warn both Wrex and the female Krogan "Eve" about the sabotaged Shroud on Tuchanka. Both would be eternally grateful for Shepard's actions after Mordin's sacrifice.

Wrex is voiced by Steven Barr

Tali'Zorah Vas Normandy
A 24-year-old female quarian party member, Tali'Zorah (nar Rayya) is introduced as a person who possesses information that can implicate Saren in the destruction of the human colony of Eden Prime. Saren himself sends assassins after her, and once Shepard rescues her, she is able to join the party if the player chooses. Tali is on a "Pilgrimage," which is a quarian coming-of-age rite in which a young quarian leaves the home fleet and finds something valuable, which is brought back to the fleet to prove their willingness to contribute to the community. She has some trouble adjusting to the quiet atmosphere of the Normandy because the ships she lived on at her home were all rather loud and clunky, and silence usually meant an air filter or some other important component had broken. Later on in the game, it is revealed that her father serves on the fleet Admiralty board making him a prominent figure amongst the quarians. This puts Tali under more pressure than most to ensure that she finds something important during her pilgrimage. Later in the game, either on Feros or in the main geth base in the Armstrong Nebula (in an optional side quest), Shepard can find information on the geth that can be given to Tali so she can complete her Pilgrimage.

In Mass Effect 2, having completed her Pilgrimage, Tali is considered an adult in quarian society, earning the name Tali'Zorah vas Neema. She is first encountered by Shepard on the human colony Freedom's Progress, which had been attacked by the Collectors prior to their arrival. Tali and her small group are trying to retrieve a quarian present in the colony who had not been abducted during the Collector attack, but the terrified quarian had reprogrammed the colony's security mechs to attack any intruders. Shepard helps neutralize the mechs and recover the quarian survivor, named Veetor. Shepard can choose to turn Veetor over to Tali for medical treatment or over to Cerberus for interrogation. Either way, however, Tali does not accompany Shepard at this point in the storyline. Tali then goes on a mission with a small team for the quarian Admiralty Board to the planet Haestrom, deep in geth space, to study Haestrom's star. The study group is detected and attacked by geth, and most of the quarian team is wiped out (one of the quarian Marines, Kal'Reegar, may survive, depending on the player's actions). She joins Shepard once Shepard rescues her from the assaulting geth force.

Tali's loyalty quest involves her being tried for treason. Shepard and Tali travel to the quarian flotilla and it is revealed that Tali had been working with her father to discover more about the geth, periodically shipping him pieces of disabled geth. For unknown reasons, the geth were reassembled, reactivated, and subsequently killed everyone on board the research ship Tali's father was stationed on. Once Shepard and Tali battle through said ship and recover evidence that indicates the fault lies with Tali's now-deceased father, Rael'Zorah, the team returns to the main quarian ship. The player may choose to either heed Tali's plea and deny finding evidence that would dishonor her father, or present the evidence to the quarians. If the former option is taken, Tali is exiled. If the latter option is taken, Tali remains part of the fleet but does not become loyal to Shepard, and further incites a political firestorm among the Admiralty Board. However, depending on Shepard's Paragon or Renegade score, the outcome of the trial may be influenced dramatically. As a Paragon, Shepard speaks eloquently about the role Tali played in the first game and how she illustrated to the galaxy the worth of the quarian people; as a Renegade, Shepard accuses the tribunal of not caring about Tali's fate and instead keeping its own agenda about their war with the geth in mind. Additionally, if certain tasks (turning Veetor over to Tali on Freedom's Progress and saving Kal'Reegar on Haestrom) are completed prior to the trial, a third option of inciting the crowd to support Tali becomes available. Taking any of these three paths prevents the exile of Tali while still maintaining the honor of her father. Regardless of the player's actions, the trial results in Tali staying with Shepard, whether by choice or exile, and thus gives her the "vas Normandy" designation permanently.

In Mass Effect 2, Tali is a potential romantic interest for male Shepard.

Tali returns as a permanent squad member in Mass Effect 3, provided she survived the events of the suicide mission in Mass Effect 2. However, Tali may or not leave the party, depending on Shepard's stance toward the Geth. If Shepard allows Geth VI to upload the Reaper program to empower his race, the Quarian Migrant Fleet is decimated by the Geth for good and Tali commits suicide by removing her mask and throwing herself from a cliff, otherwise, the Geth are vanquished by the Quarians who finally retake their home planet and agrees to aid Shepard's war effort against the Reapers, with Tali stays at the party for the rest of the game. Alternatively, if certain conditions are met before the upload, Shepherd can broker a ceasefire between the Quarians and Geth, allowing Tali's people to resettle on their homeworld with the help of the Geth and both factions join the galactic coalition. If neither she nor Garrus were courted, they will enter a relationship with each other.

Tali is voiced by Ash Sroka (originally credited as Liz Sroka).

Jacob Taylor
Jacob Taylor is the protagonist of Mass Effect Galaxy, and is the first party member of Mass Effect 2. In Galaxy, he is a former Systems Alliance soldier who is re-recruited to investigate the batarians and discover why they have sent Jath'Amon, who claims to be an ambassador seeking peace with the Citadel Council. With the help of "Alliance" (actually, a pro-human terrorist group Cerberus) informant Miranda Lawson, he uncovers and thwarts Jath'Amon's scheme to assassinate the Council.

During Mass Effect 2, Jacob has become a full member of Cerberus and is Miranda's lieutenant. He joined Cerberus after seeing the Alliance sweep his exploits during Galaxy under the rug. Taylor is highly respectful of Shepard due to their shared background in the military. Thirteen years before, he had cut ties with his father, who was the XO (Executive Officer) of a lost spaceship, the Hugo Gernsback. Taylor joins Shepard early on in the game on the Cerberus space station where Shepard first awakens after his/her revival.

Taylor's loyalty quest involves a search for his missing father after a distress beacon activates. His father's ship, the Hugo Gernsback, had crashed ten years ago, but the beacon was only sent out just recently. Shepard and Taylor journey to the crash site and the sure survivors of the crash deranged from toxic food harvested from the planet's environment. Taylor locates his father and realizes horrible truths regarding his father's abuse of power. Shepard and Taylor may either call the Alliance to send aid to the survivors and arrest Taylor's father for his crimes against his men, leave him unarmed to be killed by those he hurt, or leave him with a pistol with little ammunition so that he'll take his own life.

Jacob is a romantic option for a female Shepard.

Jacob Taylor will make an appearance in Mass Effect 3 provided that he survived the events of Mass Effect 2. After defeating the Collectors, he became disillusioned with Cerberus and left the organization. He is encountered with a group of defecting Cerberus scientists, including Brynn Cole, who he began a relationship with and is about to bear his child. If a female Shepard romanced him previously, it will not continue.

Jacob is voiced by Adam Lazarre-White.

Thane Krios
Thane is a 39-year-old drell assassin who is dying of a disease known as Kepral's Syndrome, exclusive to drell. He is encountered on the asari-dominated world of Ilium. Raised on the hanar homeworld after the hanar saved the drell from extinction, Krios was trained as an assassin from the age of 6, making his first assassination at age 12. He met his wife during an assassination mission when she stepped in front of Thane's target in order to stop him. Thane's wife was murdered many years ago by mercenaries attempting to capture him. This event caused him to abandon his young son, Kolyat, a decision that still haunts him.

In the mission to gain Thane's loyalty, Shepard and team must travel to the Citadel to stop Kolyat from following in his father's footsteps and taking up the career of assassination. Kolyat's contracted target is a turian racist who extorts human rackets while promising to reduce crime in the Citadel Wards. Shepard will stop Kolyat from performing the assassination if the mission of successful (and may even kill the target personally if Shepard is Renegade). Thane then talks to his son and makes things right with him. If the mission is completed, Thane will become a loyal member of Shepard's team.

Thane Krios is a possible romantic interest for a female Shepard in Mass Effect 2. He tells Shepard that he has not talked of his past to anyone until he met her, and that she is "very kind." If the player pursues the relationship further, Thane will admit his feelings for Shepard and call her "siha", one of the angels in Drell religion. Before the suicide mission, Thane will go up to Shepard's cabin and tell her that before he was diagnosed with his disease, he had no fear of death. But now that he has met Shepard, he is afraid of death and does not want to die. Thane begins to shed tears, but Shepard comforts him, and the two spend the night together.

Thane appears in Mass Effect 3 if the players didn't let him die in the suicide mission in Mass Effect 2. Thane appears in the Hospital on the Citadel, and tells Shepard he is now in the terminal stages of his illness and cannot join Shepard in the fight against the Reapers. Later on in the game Cerberus attacks the Citadel and Thane (if he was interacted with beforehand, otherwise Major Kirrahe will fill his role) assists Shepard in thwarting an assassination attempt on the salarian Councilor and is stabbed by assassin Kai Leng whom escapes. If neither Thane nor Kirrahe are alive, Leng will be successful in his assassination.

After the remaining Cerberus forces have been routed, Shepard visits Thane in the hospital where doctors tell him that due to his blood loss and his illness there is nothing they can do but make him comfortable as he dies. Thane is visited by his son Kolyat, and Thane asks him and Shepard to recite a prayer. As Kolyat and Shepard recite the prayer, Thane passes away. Shepard tells Thane that he hopes the prayer helped him find peace. Kolyat replies that Thane wasn't praying for himself, but for Shepard. Thane's name is shortly afterwards added to the memorial wall in the Normandy, alongside other crew members who have fallen.

Thane is voiced by Keythe Farley.

Grunt
Grunt is a tank-bred krogan that can be recruited as a party member.

Initially, Shepard is meant to recruit Okeer, a krogan warlord and radical scientist who has been developing a small army of krogan to weather the Genophage. When Shepard arrives to recruit him, Okeer is working for the Blue Suns mercenary group: they provide the funding for his genetic research, and in exchange he gives them his "reject" krogan as soldiers or live ammo subjects. In the process of doing so, however, he became increasingly obsessed with creating the "perfect" krogan. By the time Shepard and crew blast through the Blue Suns' defenses, their leader decides to pull the plug on the project and gases Okeer's lab. Though Shepard and crew defeat the Blue Suns leader, it is too late to save Okeer, who leaves Shepard with a tank containing his "legacy", his "perfect krogan". If and when Shepard decides to awaken him, the krogan recalls Okeer's last words and chooses one of them, "Grunt", as his name. While initially hostile towards Shepard, he can be persuaded or intimidated into working for Shepard.

In the mission to gain Grunt's loyalty, Shepard must travel to the post-apocalyptic krogan homeworld, Tuchanka. Shepard and the team arrive in the Urdnot clan's bunker; here it is revealed that Grunt is coming of age and must perform a ceremonial rite to gain admission to a clan. As a member of Shepard's crew, Grunt selects Shepard as his krantt -- a krogan's loyal brother-at-arms. During the ritual, Shepard's squad must survive attacks by varren and ultimately survive a Thresher Maw on foot. Defeating it will earn the "Big Game Hunter" medal and earn renown for the team: they are the first to defeat the Maw since Urdnot Wrex. After surviving or defeating the thresher maw, Grunt is inducted into Clan Urdnot. Instead of staying on Tuchanka, Grunt continues to serve under Commander Shepard, whom he names as his battlemaster.

It is confirmed that Grunt will make an appearance in Mass Effect 3 if he survives the events of the suicide mission in Mass Effect 2. He appears leading "Aralakh Company", an elite squad of Krogan troops culled from the very best of all of the clans. He accompanies (not playable) Shepard's squad on a short series of missions that result in the finding of either the Rachni Queen from Noveria, provided she survived the events of Mass Effect, or an artificial Rachni Queen. If the Rachni Queen was saved, Grunt personally holds off several Ravagers to cover Shepard's escape. If he wasn't loyal in Mass Effect 2, he will be killed; if he was, he survives and contributes to the war effort. Grunt doesn't join the Normandy crew, but will be encountered again shortly before the penultimate battle in Reaper-ravaged London on Earth.

Grunt is voiced by Steve Blum.

Mordin Solus
A brilliant salarian scientist, yet also a competent soldier due to his membership in the salarian Special Tasks Group earlier in his life, Mordin Solus is found on Omega and possesses a hyperactive and eccentric personality as well as a rapid and stilted manner of speaking. He is often considered by many to be a "mad scientist" with questionable ethics—he was a key member in the team that researched the remodification of the krogan genophage, an action that he feels guilty about but considers the best possible solution to a once growing problem. Mordin believes in acting in the best interests of the galaxy; his scientific work is governed by strong moral standards and unquestionable respect for all forms of life. Acquiring Solus will open up the research laboratory on the Normandy, where Shepard may unlock and research upgrades for both the squad and the Normandy.

Solus' loyalty quest involves Maelon, a former assistant and student who has apparently been kidnapped by Blood Pack mercenaries. Shepard and Solus head to Tuchanka, where they battle through the hospital-bunker of an opposing clan of the Urdnot Clan. The team learns that Solus' student had not been kidnapped at all and had been willingly researching a cure for the krogan genophage. Depending on the player's choices, Mordin may or may not kill his former student, and may either destroy the genophage cure data or keep the data for later use when necessary.

If Shepard proceeds with a romantic relationship with a crew member, Mordin will offer advice to ensure that Shepard and the crew member have a safe and pleasurable experience. However, Mordin himself is not a romantic option, though if Shepard speaks to him several times with no love interest chosen, Mordin will misinterpret Shepard's friendliness and politely decline. If prompted, he will also note that he has an interest in the works of Gilbert and Sullivan and will sing an altered version of the Major-General's song from The Pirates of Penzance.

Mordin Solus returns in Mass Effect 3, providing he survived the suicide mission in the previous game, and is now studying female krogan in hopes of curing the genophage. If players choose to go through with the cure, Shepard warns Mordin that the Shroud (a construct the salarians created to help cleanse Tuchanka's atmosphere) they plan to use to disperse the cure was tampered with by the salarian's years ago and is now suffering from terrible damage due to the Reaper attack. Mordin volunteers to go to the top of the Shroud to fix the sabotaged systems knowing he wouldn't be coming back. Shortly after fixing the system and dispersing the genophage cure, Mordin is killed by an explosion in the Shroud control room. Afterwards, Mordin's name is added to the memorial on the third floor of the Normandy of all the crew members who've died.

If Mordin died in Mass Effect 2, his role is replaced by Padok Wiks.

Mordin is voiced by Michael Beattie in Mass Effect 2, and voiced by William Salyers in Mass Effect 3.

Samara
A nearly thousand year old Asari Justicar, Samara is highly skilled in her use of biotics. A member of a highly respected and feared monastic order, Samara has forsworn all possessions and family to fight for absolute justice. She is on a quest to track down her elusive daughter, who has been killing innocents for hundreds of years by burning out their nervous systems during sexual encounters. Shepard meets Samara on Illium, where she is found investigating the Eclipse mercenary group who smuggled her daughter off-world. After Shepard aids in said investigation, Samara joins him/her.

Samara's loyalty quest involves her daughter, Morinth, who is an Ardat-Yakshi, an asari afflicted with a genetic condition that makes them aggressive sexual predators and voracious killers. Morinth may be found on Omega, in the V.I.P. section of the Afterlife. Samara and Shepard formulate a plan in which Shepard attracts the attention of Morinth and is taken to her apartment, where Shepard is to distract Morinth until Samara moves in for the kill. Depending on the player's actions, either Samara or Morinth will be killed, and the survivor will stay with the team and be loyal to Shepard.

Samara returns in a small role in Mass Effect 3, providing she survived the suicide mission in Mass Effect 2. Shepard encounters here while investigating the disappearance of asari commandos at a temple home to Ardat-Yakshi. Shepard discovers that the temple is under attack by Reapers, who are turning the asari into husk-like monsters called Banshees. Shepard encounters Samara while investigating the temple; she reveals that she is looking for her other two daughters in hopes of finding out what happened. Shepard and Samara manage to locate her daughters, and discovers one has been wounded and is under the influence of Reaper indoctrination. Shepard activates a bomb the asari commandos brought and manages to escape with Samara and her surviving daughter. Her wounded daughter manages to break free of Reaper control and holds the Reaper forces off long enough to trigger the bomb sacrificing herself. Once outside, Samara tells her daughter that the Justicar Code forbids an Ardat-Yakshi living outside the temple and since there is no temple she must die. However Samara cannot bring herself to kill her only remaining child, so she chooses to kill herself instead. If the player triggers the Paragon Interrupt, Shepard restrains Samara and her daughter states that she will stay behind at the temple. Samara, grateful to Shepard, promises to assist him in the war and becomes a War Asset.

Samara is voiced by Maggie Baird.

Morinth
Morinth (birth name, Mirala, as given in the dossier kiosk on Samara in ME2:LotSB) is the biotic, fugitive daughter of Samara, the Asari Justicar. She is an Ardat-Yakshi or "Demon of the Night Winds." Ardat Yakshi are asari with a gene mutation that causes them to ravage the nervous systems of anyone with whom they mate. The process acts as a narcotic to the Ardat-Yakshi while leaving the mate dead or in a vegetative state. Samara is pursuing Morinth in order to end her reign of terror. Morinth will only join Shepard's mission if he or she chooses the Paragon/Renegade dialog options and helps Morinth trap Samara so that Morinth can execute her, disguising herself as her mother so that only Shepard knows of Samara's death. Otherwise, Samara kills Morinth. If she joins the mission, Morinth is a possible romance option for Shepard, although it results in his or her death.

At the beginning of Mass Effect 3, when Shepard returns to the Normandy SR-2 he receives and e-mail from Morinth, explaining that she slipped off the ship following the events of ME2: Arrival, as she didn't want to endanger herself or Shepard by possibly being revealed as an Ardat-Yakshi in the middle of Alliance Headquarters. She also said she was getting bored and needed to stretch her legs.

Following the events of the mission to Lessus, Liara's network has intercepted a couple of (unopened) e-mails from Morinth to her sisters.

Morinth reappears in the final battle in London as a named Banshee. She behaves no differently from any other Banshee and must be killed the same way.

Morinth is voiced by Natalia Cigliuti.

Legion
Legion is the name given to Geth Platform 2A93, a unique geth terminal with 1,183 active geth A.I. programs housed inside it. Legion belongs to the true geth (the geth fought in both games are referred to as "heretics", and do not represent the geth majority, who believe that organic life does have the right to exist). EDI gives the platform the name "Legion" based on the Gospel of Mark 5:9, wherein a man who is possessed by demons refers to himself by saying "My name is Legion, for we are many". Legion is separated from the geth at large, having acted as a stand-alone unit since the events of Mass Effect. It is a skilled hacker and marksman and generally prefers long-range combat, as it is first spotted protecting Shepard's squad from attacking Husks with a sniper rifle on board a derelict Reaper. It has a certain fascination with Shepard, and previously repaired itself from damage sustained in its travels with pieces of Shepard's old N7 armour. When Shepard asks Legion why it did this, it first rationalizes with "there was a hole" and then states "no data available" when pressed. Unlike other geth, which contain roughly a hundred geth identities within each unit, Legion possesses over a thousand geth identities. This was done in order to grant Legion with sentience, as the usual amount of geth programs housed in a platform would amount to little more than feral behaviour without the aid of the geth's neural network. Legion's primary mission was to find Shepard as well as destroy a virus capable of turning all geth into Heretics. In the mission to gain Legion's loyalty, Shepard must travel to a Heretic station and either choose to destroy all Heretic geth or to reprogram the Heretics own mind-altering virus so that the Heretics will rejoin the true geth. After completing the mission, Legion will become loyal to Shepard and will eventually reveal that the Heretics decided to help Sovereign in the original Mass Effect in order to receive a Reaper body so that all geth could upload themselves and join together into a single consciousness. The true geth believe that all life should achieve their future through their own means and that the process is as important as the results. Legion reveals that the true geth intend to do this by building a massive Dyson Sphere.

Legion returns in Mass Effect 3 if it survived the suicide mission from the previous game. After defeating the Collectors, Legion returned to the Perseus Veil to prepare the geth for war against the Reapers. Regardless of whether the heretics were rewritten or destroyed, the quarians, in an attempt to retake Rannoch, their homeworld, attacked first, forcing the geth to accept Reaper aid. In turn, the Reapers grant the geth greater intelligence and fighting ability, but are controlled. It is then captured by the heretics, who use Legion to broadcast the Reaper signal to all geth from a dreadnought, even to those beyond the Perseus Veil. Shepard rescues Legion, who assists Shepard in wreaking chaos on the geth fleet by using an improved organic-machine interface from Project Overlord which allows Shepard to enter the geth collective and sever their connection to the Reapers, throwing their fleet into disarray.

Prior to attacking the geth base on Rannoch, Legion reveals that it has the Reaper code in its platform. After assisting Shepard in destroying the Reaper leading the attack on the Rannoch, Legion attempts to upload the Reaper upgrades to the geth to give them true intelligence similar to what it has developed, but with free will. However the code is incomplete, and the only way to prevent the quarians from slaughtering the geth is for it to disperse its own code throughout the collective, effectively deactivating it. Legion, in its final moments, refers to itself as "I" and not "we", signifying that it has become a true individual rather than a gestalt intellect, then deactivates. If certain conditions are met, such as preventing Tali's exile in Mass Effect 2 and saving Admiral Zaal'Koris, Shepard and Tali convince the quarians to break off their attack after being told the geth do not seek to harm them, and that a geth sacrificed itself to give the quarians their world back. However, if the quarians are chosen over the geth, Legion will attack Shepard, stating that Shepard "will not decide the fate of its people", and is destroyed by Tali. Regardless of how the situation between the quarians and the geth is resolved, Legion's name is engraved on the memorial wall on the Normandy.

If Legion was sold to Cerberus in Mass Effect 2, then it will appear as an enemy on Cronos Station. Regardless of whether it was sold or it did not survive the suicide mission, its role is replaced by a "Geth VI" constructed in Legion's likeness, with the non-standard elements (the N7 armor and the hole in its torso) recreated via hologram.

Legion is voiced by D. C. Douglas.

Zaeed Massani
Zaeed is a human bounty hunter that is available in downloadable content that was shipped with the game on release, holding the reputation as the galaxy's most feared bounty hunter and co-founder of the Blue Suns mercenary group.. When joining Shepard's crew, Massani mentions a mission of which he would greatly appreciate the completion, if Shepard has any free time. There is no small amount of animosity between Zaeed and the current leader of the Blue Suns, Vido Santiago, the latter having shot the former in the face during an argument about whether or not to hire batarians. Zaeed was against the plan, as he saw them as terrorists. Shepard can go with Massani to the Blue Suns' base and either quest after the death of Santiago, or rescue a group of innocents from the base.

It is confirmed that Zaeed Massani will make an appearance Mass Effect 3, if he survives the events of Mass Effect 2. A few months after the defeat of the Collectors, Zaeed was contacted once again by Cerberus. However, negotiations ended badly and Zaeed now seeks out jobs that hinder his former employer's operations.

After the Cerberus coup on the Citadel, C-Sec gets a tip that the volus ambassador, Din Korlack, was feeding information to the organization. Korlack, who allied with Cerberus during their campaign against the Collectors, cut ties to the organization after the coup. He was kidnapped by mercenaries led by Zaeed, and is contacted by Shepard, who gives Korlack information that causes Zaeed to realize that he was duped, turning the latter against his partners. If Zaeed was not loyal in Mass Effect 2, he will die saving Korlack; otherwise, he will assist in the war effort.

Zaeed is voiced by Robin Sachs.

Kasumi Goto
A human character obtained through downloadable content in Mass Effect 2, Kasumi is a master thief whom Shepard recruits on the Citadel on Cerberus's behalf. However, Goto wants Shepard to help her steal back her deceased partner/lover's "graybox", a device containing his memories, some which could implicate the Alliance if it gets into Citadel's hands, from Donovan Hock, an arms dealer responsible for his death. Goto gets Shepard into Hock's party using an alias ("Solomon Gunn/Allison Gunn") in order for her to break into Hock's vault (as well as stashing weapons inside a statue of Saren given to Hock as a "gift"). After getting a voice and DNA sample from Hock as well as cutting the power, the pair successfully break into the vault, arming themselves with the weapons hidden inside the statue of Saren. Goto finds her partner's graybox amongst the vault of priceless artifacts, including the Statue of David and the Statue of Liberty's head. Hock discovers them and orders his men to attack. Goto and Shepard fight their way outside where Hock is waiting for them in his gunship. Hock is killed in the battle and the pair escape. Goto listens to her partner and boyfriend's message, telling her if she receives this message, then he is dead. He tells her to destroy the graybox, as it contains information that could implicate the Alliance if it falls into Citadel hands as well as making her a target. He also tells Kasumi that he loves her and that she doesn't need his "memories" as they are already inside her. Goto either spares or destroys the information based on Shepard's choice, and if it is decided it needs to be destroyed, either Shepard or a tearful Kasumi will.

Kasumi returns in Mass Effect 3, provided she survived the events of Mass Effect 2. She reappears on the Citadel, giving an anonymous tip to salarian Spectre Jondum Bau, who has been trying to catch her for years, about hanar operatives being aware of an Alliance black ops raid in batarian space. Kasumi helps Shepard and Bau help track the hanar responsible, who has defected to the Reapers and uploaded a virus to disable Kahje's defenses. She stops the virus, but the console was booby-trapped, and appears to be killed when it explodes. If Kasumi was loyal, she reveals that the information about the raid was the information hidden in Keiji's graybox. She also explains that the raid was carried out on batarians who have come across Reaper technology, which was why Keiji warned that it would implicate the Alliance. Furthermore, she will also reveal herself after the console's explosion, saying it was a perfect way to escape Bau's pursuit. She then agrees to lend her assistance to the Crucible project.

Kasumi is voiced by Kim Hoy.

Jeff "Joker" Moreau
Joker is the pilot of the Normandy. He suffers from Vrolik Syndrome, which makes it difficult for him to walk, and thus he usually remains in the pilot's seat. During the years between Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, he is recruited by Cerberus to fly their revamped Normandy SR-2, having been grounded by the Systems Alliance in the aftermath of the loss of the SSV Normandy. Joker is quickly irritated by the onboard computer, EDI. When Shepard and his/her team leave the ship so the Reaper IFF can be installed, the Collectors attack the Normandy; Joker and EDI are forced to team up to turn on the ship's defenses and repel the attackers, making Joker the only character who is playable besides Shepard. If the player's actions caused Shepard to die, Joker confronts the Illusive Man at the end of the game.

Joker is voiced by Seth Green, and it has been confirmed that Seth will reprise his role as Joker in Mass Effect 3. Shepard can convince him and EDI to begin a relationship.

Jack
The product of a Cerberus experiment to enhance human biotic ability, Jack (designated "Subject Zero" by Cerberus) carries a hostile personality that is the result of the torture and captivity she endured while she was imprisoned at a remote Cerberus outpost during her childhood. She later escaped and became involved in crime, murder, and religious cults, all in an attempt to find some meaning for the horrible treatment she was forced to endure.

Jack's loyalty quest involves her finding some closure from her past; she asks Shepard to take her to the facility where she was raised and blow it up. Shepard and Jack travel to the abandoned facility, disrupt mercenary activity there, and destroy the facility. If both Jack and Miranda's loyalty missions have been completed, a fight ensues between Jack and Miranda, which Shepard must quell. If the player has a high enough Paragon or Renegade score, he/she can stop the fight. The later in the game that the fight occurs, the more likely it can be resolved in a neutral manner. Otherwise, he/she is forced to side with either Jack or Miranda, causing the other to lose her loyalty to Shepard unless he/she later speaks with her and passes a difficult Charm/Intimidate check.

Jack is available as a romantic option for male Shepard and can be approached two ways: either a one-night stand that leaves her distrustful of Shepard, or slowly gaining her trust, revealing a more vulnerable side to her personality. She tells Shepard of a man that she once loved in the past who died, leaving her with a sort of "survivors guilt". Shepard tells Jack that he will not give up on her, something that initially confuses her but she warms up to. En route to the final mission, she comes to Shepard in his cabin, tells him she has been thinking a lot about him, and that he's right and she needs someone. Jack gives in, and shows a very vulnerable and emotional side. Tears roll down her face as a tender scene ensues, culminating with her smiling peacefully while they lie together on his bed, and she finally achieves true happiness.

It is confirmed that Jack will make an appearance in Mass Effect 3, if she survives the events of suicide mission in Mass Effect 2. After defeating the Collectors, she was approached by the Systems Alliance and was offered a teaching position at the Jon Grissom Academy to train biotic students. She accepted, though she was forced to tone down her behavior and profanity. She is present during the Cerberus attack on the station, defending her students from being captured. With Shepard's help, she, Kahlee Sanders, and the students managed to escape. If Shepard does not help Grissom Academy in time, she is encountered as a Phantom during the raid on Cerberus headquarters.

Jack is voiced by Courtenay Taylor.

David Anderson
David Anderson is the protagonist of the novel Mass Effect: Revelation and mentor of the player character Commander Shepard in Mass Effect.

In the novel, David Anderson is depicted as a young lieutenant who discovered the massacre at the research station on Sidon and led the ensuing investigation into those responsible for it. Lt. Anderson is considered one of the Alliance's 'elites', having been trained in the N7 Marine program, graduating from the Arcturus Academy, as well as serving with honor in the First Contact War between the turians and the Alliance. Before he began his investigation of the massacre at Sidon, Anderson served as the Executive Officer of the SSV Hastings. During the investigation, Anderson fell in love with key witness/prime suspect Kahlee Sanders. However, they mutually agreed not to continue a romance after the investigation, in part because she was assigned to a classified scientific project, and also that their careers made marriage impossible. Anderson was capable and had been considered a suitable candidate to represent humanity in the Office of Special Tactics and Reconnaissance (Spectre) of the Citadel. However, Saren Arterius, a turian and the antagonist of Mass Effect, blamed the failure of a mission on Anderson, effectively eliminating his chances of being selected.

In Mass Effect, David Anderson is the commanding officer of Commander Shepard, the central character. At first he commands the Normandy, but is quickly put into early retirement to give Shepard command of the Normandy. After that, he can be found on Citadel Station, beside the human Ambassador, Donnel Udina. When the Normandy is locked down by the Council, he unlocks it by either going to the Ambassador's office and overriding it (after punching out Udina), or sneaking into C-Sec and changing it there (and getting shot in the process). After the Geth invasion of the Citadel and both Saren and Sovereign are defeated, the player can choose him to become the human representative of the Council.

By the time of Mass Effect 2, Anderson is promoted to the rank of Admiral in the Systems Alliance Navy. If he was selected as the Council representative, he retains Ambassador Udina as his advisor. While Anderson is happy to see Shepard alive, he harbors some distrust due to Shepard's alliance with Cerberus.

Anderson appears as a supporting protagonist in the novel Mass Effect: Retribution, where he has shown an increased dissatisfaction with Udina and the Council. He is reunited with Sanders, who seeks his aid in helping a Cerberus defector, Paul Grayson, who has been subjected to experiments with Reaper technology. Anderson rekindles his romance with Sanders and ultimately resigns his commission, with both feeling they need to be more proactive in finding a way to fight the Reapers. They continue in this capacity in the forthcoming Mass Effect: Deception.

In Mass Effect 3, Anderson is on Earth for Shepard's court-martial hearing. The trial is interrupted by a Reaper attack on Earth. Anderson becomes a temporary squadmate, helping Shepard reach the Normandy. Ultimately, he chooses to stay on Earth to help survivors of the attack. Towards the end of the game he and Shepard manage to use a Reaper transport beam to board the Citadel in order to open the Citadel's arms so the Crucible can dock. They are confronted by the Illusive Man, who takes control of Shepard and forces him to shoot Anderson. After Shepard deals with the Illusive Man, he opens the Citadel arms and collapses by Anderson. Anderson tells him its been a long time since he's just sat down and looked at Earth, and that he's proud of Shepard. Shortly aftewards, Anderson succumbs to his wounds and dies.

He is voiced by Keith David.

Donnel Udina
Donnel Udina is the current human Ambassador to the Citadel Council.

In the original Mass Effect, Commander Shepard meets Udina upon his arrival to the Citadel. Udina scolds the Commander for his evident failure on Eden Prime. Throughout the game Udina is depicted as more antagonistic than anything towards Shepard, but Anderson assures him that Udina is just doing what he feels is best for humanity. He appeals Shepard's case towards Saren to the Council, and after Saren is found guilty and the Commander is made a spectre, gives Shepard command of the Normandy. When the Normandy is later locked down by the Council and Udina refuses to help, Anderson may knock him unconcious and use his computer to release the ship. After the Geth invasion of the Citadel and both Saren and Sovereign are defeated, the player can choose either Udina or Anderson to become the human representative on the Council.

In Mass Effect 2, Udina may be the human Councilor or Anderson's advisor if Anderson was chosen. He is surprised to see Shepard alive after the Commander was presumed KIA 2 years earlier and acts just as hostily towards him as before. Depending on whether the original Council was saved, Udina may or may not reinstate Shepard's spectre status.

Udina is confirmed to return for Mass Effect 3. He is the human Councilor, regardless of who is chosen at the end of Mass Effect. In desperation, Udina turned to Cerberus, and staged a coup in order to overthrow the Council. During the Cerberus attack on the Citadel, Udina's treachery is revealed by the salarian Councilor, and is killed by Shepard or Kaidan/Ashley.

He is voiced by Bill Ratner.

Steven Hackett
Admiral Steven Hackett is Admiral of the Alliance Navy's Fifth Fleet.

Hackett does not physically appear in Mass Effect, but frequently calls for Commander Shepard's help in side missions on various explorable worlds, many of them dealing with Systems Alliance security. Hacket is generally much more appreciative of Shepard's decisions than Udina. He later leads the System Alliance's reinforcement fleet to the Citadel and the attack on Sovereign.

Hackett makes his first actual appearance in Mass Effect 2's final DLC pack, Arrival. Hackett asks Shepard to do him a personal favor and rescue his friend, Dr. Amanda Kenson, from a group of batarians who have captured her. After Shepard returns to the Normandy, the Admiral personally debriefs Shepard to find out exactly what happened during the mission, which resulted in the destruction of an entire star system, its Mass Relay, and 300,000 batarian colonists.

Admiral Hackett is confirmed to return for Mass Effect 3. In the demo he is revealed to have been mobilizing the Alliance fleets upon the Reapers' surprise attack on Earth.

He is voiced by Lance Henriksen.

Harbinger
Harbinger is arguably the main antagonist of the series. Harbinger is a Reaper, and directs the actions of the Collectors, an insectoid race serving as the Reapers' slave caste. Harbinger's primary avatar is an arachnid-like creature with 4 glowing yellow eyes (referred to as Collector General in captions). However, its true form shares the basic design of Sovereign, the exception being glowing eyes similar to its thrall. Implants within each Collector drone enable Harbinger to control them directly, increasing their power, and enabling him to speak through them. When engaged in battle with Collectors, Harbinger will frequently use this ability to possess Collector drones. Harbinger develops an interest in humans after Shepard kills Sovereign, as they are one of the few species to defeat a Reaper. Harbinger directs the Collectors to abduct human colonists and use their genetic material to create a human-based Reaper. Harbinger expresses an interest in acquiring Shepard alive, instructing its troops to preserve Shepard's body if possible. After Shepard destroys both the Collector Base and the prototype hybrid, Harbinger tells Shepard that their victory is meaningless, and all that humanity has accomplished has been to acquire the full attention of the Reapers. He then abandons the Collectors, berating the General for his failure before releasing its control over him seconds before he is killed. This is likely to avoid making the same mistake that Sovereign made by not releasing control of Saren at the end of the first Mass Effect game, which ultimately led to its demise. Harbinger asserts that the Reapers will "find another way" to invade the galaxy. Harbinger is later seen alongside countless other Reapers, slowly approaching the Milky Way galaxy. Harbinger also makes a brief appearance at the conclusion of the final DLC pack "Arrival" via hologram, in which he ridicules the futility of Shepard's actions and mocks that "Your leaders will beg to serve us". He ends the contact by remarking that the galaxy should prepare itself for their arrival. If the pack is completed before the suicide mission is undertaken, Harbinger will appear in hologram form as the Collector General, otherwise he will appear in his Reaper form.

In Mass Effect 3, Harbinger is leading the assault on Earth. It attacks Shepard during the final battle, killing two squadmates if the player's Effective Military Strength is low. Depending on Shepard's choice in the end, Harbinger either collapses and dies on Earth (the Destroy Ending) or departs from Earth and the galaxy (Synthesis and Control Endings).

Harbinger is voiced by Keith Szarabajka.

The Illusive Man
The Illusive Man, originally known as Jack Harper, is introduced as the antagonist of Mass Effect: Ascension, and returns for Mass Effect 2. He is the ruthless leader of the Cerberus organization and was responsible for Cerberus' split from the Systems Alliance military shortly before the events of Mass Effect. His ultimate goal is to elevate humanity to its "rightful place" in the galaxy.

Harper was said to be a normal civilian before the discovery of extraterrestrial life. It has been revealed in the Mass Effect: Evolution comic book that he fought in the First Contact War against the turians. His demeanor is of a driven businessman, rather than the xenophobic extremist he is portrayed as by enemies of Cerberus. He is virtually never met in person, and with the exception of Liara T'soni and Miranda Lawson, deals exclusively through holographic communication. Harper's cryptonym derives from his designation in official Alliance reports, which in turn derives from an anonymous anti-alien manifesto released during the First Contact War described as "survivalist rhetoric written by an illusive man" which sparked the foundation of Cerberus.

In Mass Effect 2, the Illusive Man forces Commander Shepard into an uneasy alliance to investigate the disappearance of several human colonies, which both Shepard and the Illusive Man believe is somehow connected to the Reapers. Cerberus actively provides Shepard with information and supplies. In the ending, while setting up the bomb to destroy the Collector Base Shepard is provided by The Illusive Man the option of using a timed radiation pulse to destroy the Collectors in the base, thus giving Cerberus access to their technology. If Shepard chooses to destroy the base, he criticizes Shepard, claiming that the commander is "too idealistic" and chokes on the hard decisions. If Shepard decides to spare the base, the Illusive Man congratulates him, saying that adapting the base's technology could be humanity's greatest achievement since the discovery of the mass relays.

The Illusive Man is also the antagonist of the novels Mass Effect: Retribution and Mass Effect: Deception and the protagonist of the comic Mass Effect: Evolution.

The Illusive Man returns as a major antagonist in Mass Effect 3, working with his organization Cerberus to research ways to obtain control of the Reapers and give humanity the upper hand against all other races in the galaxy, thus he works against Shepard's efforts to look for a way to destroy them. Ironically, despite all his efforts to control the Reapers, it was Shepard, who ultimately kills him, that is allowed to do so if he desires when he reaches the catalyst, thanks to his reconstructed body.

The Illusive Man is voiced by and physically resembles Martin Sheen.

Saren Arterius
Saren Arterius is a former turian Spectre and the main antagonist of the first game. He is known for "getting results" by any means necessary. More often than not, he has resorted to killing anyone and anything in his way - be it the target, any witnesses, or even innocent bystanders. In the novel Mass Effect: Revelation, he tortures and kills his victims mercilessly, rarely having any regards for sentient life or the lives of anyone in his way from getting the job done. In addition, Saren was responsible for sabotaging Captain Anderson's Spectre candidacy because of his hatred of humans. His seething hatred of humanity is speculated to have stemmed from the loss of his brother Desolas at the hands of the Systems Alliance in the First Contact War.

After the events of the novel, and before the start of the first Mass Effect game, Saren takes command of an army of geth through the use of a Reaper known as Sovereign, an ancient ship that supposedly predates the protheans. With a machine army at his command, he uses them to both do his bidding and oppose the player across the story of the Mass Effect video game. One of his main goals at first appears to be unleashing the genocidal Reapers upon the galaxy once again to take revenge on humanity. In reality, he is merely assisting Sovereign in bringing the rest of the Reapers into the galaxy to prove that organics are worth enslaving, rather than exterminating.

In the game it is revealed that Saren had known about the Reaper threat and had independently tried to discover a means to stop it. While it is unknown how Saren found Sovereign, the Reaper slowly began to manipulate Saren through subtle subliminal messages into helping it bring back the Reapers. During the geth invasion of the Citadel, Saren uses the prothean Conduit to gain access to the Citadel to allow Sovereign to activate the Citadel Mass Relay. The player can then either attempt to kill Saren or appeal to Saren to fight his indoctrination, prompting him to commit suicide. Either way, Shepard later has to fight Saren, who has been revived and controlled by Sovereign through his grafted cybernetics. Upon defeat of the Sovereign-manipulated Saren, Sovereign itself loses its defenses and is destroyed.

Saren is voiced by Fred Tatasciore.

Matriarch Benezia
An asari matriarch who is in league with Saren. She is also the mother of Liara T'Soni. During the course of conversation, Liara speculates that Benezia was ashamed of mating with another asari, but is not entirely certain if that was the case. She is enslaved by Sovereign into finding the location of the Mu Mass Relay. She is killed by the player after revealing this fact and (if Liara is present in the shore party) making peace with her daughter. She is a master of Biotics.

Benezia is voiced by Marina Sirtis.

Sovereign
A member of the race labelled by Protheans as The Reapers, who was left behind as a vanguard and espionage unit for the next Reaper invasion, Sovereign was tasked with monitoring organic evolution and to hence activate the Citadel relay once organic advancement had reached a critical point. It is a massive (3 km), artificially intelligent starship, far larger in size and power than any dreadnought hitherto created by the presently known organic species. In addition, Sovereign is the largest ship capable of landing on a planet's surface and is believed to have an enormous element zero core.

Sovereign is shown as a powerful adversary. It is equipped with resilient armor and a powerful direct energy weapons capable of destroying capital ships. Sovereign also possesses a power known as indoctrination, which enables the Reaper to gradually assume control of the minds of organic beings. The AI Vigil reveals that indoctrination is shared by all Reapers, who utilize it to enslave organics and turn them into spies and infiltrators.

In the Mass Effect universe, Sovereign would function to activate the Citadel relay to bring back the Reapers and continue the cycle of eradicating sentient life. However, shortly after the genocide of the Protheans, the last race to be exterminated, a secret Prothean enclave managed to hide on Ilos and use their replicated mass relay technology, the "Conduit"(a miniature mass relay), to return to the Citadel and disable the signal that summons the Reapers, effectively isolating Sovereign.

Many millennia later, when Sovereign determined the cycle should begin again, the signal failed. Unable to regain control of the Citadel, Sovereign spent hundreds of years wandering in secret, the galaxy now controlled by the new races, trying to find out what went wrong and how to continue the invasion as planned at the heart of galactic civilization, the Citadel. With meticulous care, it began its long investigation, never acting openly and using indoctrination to gather agents for specific purposes.

It is not exactly known what Sovereign's activity during this time was, except that approximately two thousand years ago, Sovereign indoctrinated the Queens of the newly discovered Rachni to instigate a bloody and relentless war against the other races. The rachni were eventually defeated in this war and wiped out.

Around 2165, the turian Spectre Saren Arterius, was led to Sovereign by a Reaper artifact recovered from illegal Alliance research. Saren's activities after this are a mystery, but it is presumed he was indoctrinated by Sovereign. Saren was convinced that no resistance was possible and that by helping Sovereign resume the extinction cycle, he could prove to the Reapers that organics could be useful so that some may be spared. Sovereign also seeks out the Geth, who view it as the apex of their own evolution. A splinter faction of the geth decides to aid Sovereign, worshiping it as a god. Sovereign viewed Saren and the geth as merely tools, but nonetheless enlists them.

During Shepard's discourse with Sovereign in Saren's laboratory on Virmire, Shepard learns that Sovereign is not an ancient Reaper warship, but an actual Reaper. Sovereign claims to Shepard that organic beings have an inherently limited epistemology that prevents them from understanding the actions of the Reapers. Sovereign refers to itself as "the vanguard of your destruction".

At the climax of Mass Effect, Sovereign directly attacks the Citadel with the aid of a Geth fleet, where it devastates the fleets defending the citadel. Saren manages to infiltrate the Citadel by traveling through the Conduit. There, Saren disables all surrounding relays (cutting off reinforcements) and prevents the arms of the citadel closing, allowing Sovereign to dock with the Citadel, after which Saren closes the Citadel around it as it works to reopen the Citadel Relay and usher in the next galactic invasion. Subsequent to Saren's death, Sovereign possesses Saren's corpse through cybernetic implants, transforming him into a robotic adversary for Shepard. The Reaper itself, after being rendered temporarily defenseless with the death of its Avatar, is destroyed by the Alliance Fleet.

In Mass Effect 2, it is revealed that the council tried to convince the galaxy that Sovereign is nothing more than a geth warship. It is implied that most of its remains were claimed by "unauthorized salvage". The geth platform known as Legion also reveals that Sovereign originally identified itself as Nazara, and that the name Sovereign was in fact coined by Saren.

Sovereign is voiced by Peter Jessop.

Human-Reaper Larva
The "Human-Reaper Larva" is an under-developed Reaper made hidden inside the heart of the Collector Base. When Shepard reaches the base's core, it is revealed that the thousands of human beings abducted by the Collectors were being taken back to the base to be processed into "genetic paste" in order to create this new Reaper, possibly to initiate the Reaper form of reproduction. Shepard and their squad then fight a final wave of Collectors as they attempt to destroy a series of tubes connected to the Human-Reaper, which will weaken the structural support of the Reaper, and cause it to fall to its death. However, as Shepard plants the bomb (or radiation pulse) to defeat the Collectors, the Human-Reaper climbs back up to where Shepard is and engages the team in combat. Ultimately, Shepard destroys it, ending the game's main storyline.

In Mass Effect 3, it is revealed that Cerberus has recovered either the brain or the heart of the Larva in order to augment the power of Cerberus HQ, Cronos Station, depending upon whether the Collector Base was preserved or destroyed in Mass Effect 2 respectively.

The Shadow Broker
The Shadow Broker is a secretive entity that serves as the galaxy's greatest information broker, selling any and all information to the highest bidder. Though its operations often skirt both sides of the law, the Broker's presence is generally regarded as a necessary evil among the general populace. In the original Mass Effect, the Shadow Broker hires Urdnot Wrex to assassinate a traitorous operative named Fist. It is mentioned in dialogue by Wrex and others that the Broker always acts through intermediaries, and face-to-face meetings are impossible. Some even speculate that the Broker is an artificial intelligence or a group of individuals. In Mass Effect: Redemption, the Shadow Broker serves as a principal antagonist, and it is suggested that the Broker is indeed a sapient individual. The Broker is hired by Harbinger to acquire the body of Commander Shepard. The Broker's plans are foiled by Liara T'Soni, who has been hired by the Illusive Man to recover Shepard's body for Project Lazarus. Liara eventually confronts the Shadow Broker, who appears as a shrouded, phantom-like figure, only to discover a mechanical proxy in his place. In Mass Effect 2, the enmity between Liara and the Broker continues, as Liara has set up a competing organization. The Broker places an operative known as the Observer to monitor Liara and assassinate her when the time is right. However, Liara discovers and neutralizes the Observer with Shepard's help.

The Mass Effect 2 downloadable content pack Lair of the Shadow Broker marks the actual debut of the Shadow Broker as Shepard and Liara attempt to discover his identity and hunt him down. It is revealed that the Shadow Broker is a Yahg, a pre-spaceflight race of predators discovered by the Citadel Council in 2125. After the Council's ambassadors were attacked and killed for acting as equals to the yahg, the Council severed contact with the race and declared their homeworld Parnack off-limits. The original Shadow Broker sent his agents to capture a yahg for study. Once the yahg was determined to be highly intelligent and adaptable, the Broker then covertly had the yahg replace one of his operatives, intending to use him for high risk operations. Instead, the yahg secretly killed the original Broker and took his place. After a tense confrontation and battle between the Broker, Shepard, and Liara, the latter ends up taking the Broker's place, just like he had done. Liara uses her new position in a benevolent manner as well as uses the Broker's resources to aid Shepard in the fight against the Reapers.

Kahlee Sanders
Kahlee Sanders is introduced in Mass Effect: Revelation, and returns in Mass Effect: Ascension,Mass Effect: Retribution, Mass Effect: Deception, and Mass Effect 3. She is the daughter of Systems Alliance Admiral Jon Grissom, and participated in artificial intelligence research on the planet Sidon; it is during the events on this planet that she meets and falls in love with David Anderson, but the relationship is not pursued. A decade later, she becomes a director of the Ascension Project, which was looking into experimental techniques to improve biotics. When she discovers the Cerberus organization's ties to the Project and intentions, she becomes disillusioned and seeks to dismantle the Project.

Jath'Amon
Jath'Amon is the central antagonist of Mass Effect Galaxy. A batarian, he arrives in Citadel space to negotiate with the Council on behalf of his people. It is later discovered that he is a terrorist mastermind, and that his plan all along was to get close to the Council members and expose them to a deadly biological weapon. His plan is disrupted by Jacob Taylor, and he is arrested by C-Sec.