Mass Effect 3 Theories (ME1/2 Spoilers Alert)

[Steampunk Viking]

So the end is nigh for the Mass Effect series (well, Shepard's story at least) so I'm sure by now people have racked up some interesting theories about what's going to happen, especially given that Bioware like making seemingly minor things important in the course of their stories, so let's hear them! I personally have a few things Bioware may have up their sleeves.


There are alot of tensions between certain races, and as we all know, Shepard has to recruit them. The Geth could be reprogrammed in Mass Effect 2, they may be recruitable (and we already know Legion will appear if he survived). The balance of maintaining the loyalty of these armies and having them get along as well could work similarly to the arguements that happen in Mass Effect 2 - Geth and the Quarians? Krogans and the Salarians/Turians? Even Humans and the Turians prehaps? Maybe we'll see the Rachni take a bigger role as well.
I reckon that Cerberus (who as we now know will be working for the Reapers) are being groomed by the Reapers to become the next Collectors and are already being genetically coded just like they did with the Collectors. Why do I think this? The Illusive Man does have weird looking eyes, it's prehaps a product of genetic enhancements, but more so, anyone who has read Mass Effect: Ascension will know that Cerberus were majorly interested in Biotics in Humans at the same time that the Collectors were abducting Human Biotics. Coincidence? Also, Cerberus suddenly get uppety about Humans being abducted but are well known to abducted many Humans themselves for experiments... a bit like the Collectors!
Speaking of which, where does this leave the Collectors? Why would Cerberus attack them if what I said was true? Prehaps the Collectors are seen as inferior now the Humans are the new favourites and Cerberus are being tested by the Reapers to prove their theory. The Illusive Man probably wanted the Collector's station so he could continue the research to help the Reapers.
The Human Reaper... criticised by many as a poor plot hole, I think differently. We already know the Reapers harvest the universe, prehaps they are watching all life to find a superior species to assimilate into their beings, making themselves stronger... it's already insinuated that the Reapers are part organic. Also, anyone else think that, excluding the tentacles, that the Reapers main body work looks kind of the same shape as a Collector's head? Hmmm...
Toombs, if he survived the first game, will try and kill you. Maybe.

Think of any more? Share away!

 

[Kopikatsu]

The Human Reaper... criticised by many as a poor plot hole, I think differently. We already know the Reapers harvest the universe, prehaps they are watching all life to find a superior species to assimilate into their beings, making themselves stronger... it's already insinuated that the Reapers are part organic. Also, anyone else think that, excluding the tentacles, that the Reapers main body work looks kind of the same shape as a Collector's head? Hmmm...

Retribution revealed that the Reaper's goal is to cause other races to 'ascend' by becoming Reapers themselves. Basically, Reapers see mortality as an inferior form of existence and want to 'save' said mortals by turning them into immortal Reapers.

Just sayian.

 

[Steampunk Viking]

The Human Reaper... criticised by many as a poor plot hole, I think differently. We already know the Reapers harvest the universe, prehaps they are watching all life to find a superior species to assimilate into their beings, making themselves stronger... it's already insinuated that the Reapers are part organic. Also, anyone else think that, excluding the tentacles, that the Reapers main body work looks kind of the same shape as a Collector's head? Hmmm...

Retribution revealed that the Reaper's goal is to cause other races to 'ascend' by becoming Reapers themselves. Basically, Reapers see mortality as an inferior form of existence and want to 'save' said mortals by turning them into immortal Reapers.

Just sayian.

Oh, I haven't read Retribution, but that makes things a bit more interesting. That could be twisted into some very interesting ways.

 

[Zhukov]

My own little theory:

Aria, the Asari in charge of Omega, is really Aleena, that one Asari commando that Wrex told a story about in ME1.

EDIT:
Video evidence from someone who clearly agrees with me:



Yeah, there are a ton of connections there.
- Aria mentions that she's had commando training and that she's had different names in the past.
- "...professional rivalries"..."better to disappear than be forced to kill someone".
- "You'd be surprised how long some entities can hold a grudge"... "not even the first Krogan I've pissed off."
- Then, just for the kicker, she even drops the "better luck next time" line.

 

[Yassen]

Considering the entire plot was leaked you could probably have all your answers if you searched for them. I haven't looked it up myself, I want to see what happens firsthand. However according to some opinions I've read from others.... it's not impressive. Guess we'll see.

 

[Steampunk Viking]

Also, if the Rachni are dead/extinct, Shepard will probably have to recruit an additional race to join the cause, and make up the numbers.

Maybe not - Bioware have said previous choices may make it easier/more difficult to obtain a perfect ending.

I'm thinking the Illusive Man is indoctrinated (maybe, after all he's sided with the Reapers). Perhaps all of Cerberus is indoctrinated by now.

I'm thinking this as well since Saren was known to implant himself with Reaper tech whilst under indoctrination. It could very well be the Illusive Man did the same at some point.

EDIT: Oooo, thinking about it, if Cerberus strive for Human perfection, coupled with the fact the Reapers are trying to turn Humans into Reapers (as said in a previous post) - maybe Cerberus believe they can claim the ultimate Human upgrade... immortality? Even if the Reapers skimmed the whole "assimilation" detail, coupled with indoctrination, it could very well be the Illusive Man sees this as tempting.

 

[Erttheking]

Here's the thing, the galaxy is going to have to go up against hundreds, maybe even thousands of reapers, and it took an entire Alliance fleet to destroy just one, from what I've learned about the reapers, it was a pretty big one but still just one. So I asked myself, how are they going to do this without pulling something out of their ass. And, to my great surprise, I actually got an anwser when I did some research.

Ok, bear with me on this one, do you remember in the first Mass Effect when Soviergn was disabled the very second you killed Saren for the second time? When Soviergn was controlling him directly? And did you notice that Harbinger broke the link between himself and the Collector General right before he got fried. I think that if a Reaper is controlling someone directly and that person is killed, it sends a neural shock through the link and disables the Reaper. Maybe this can be done to Harbinger, the leader of the reapers, and it will trickle down to the rest of the reapers, maybe the final battle will be one on one between Shepard and Harbinger's puppet general, maybe the Illusive Man of Kai Ling...maybe ANDERSON!

 

[Steampunk Viking]

Here's the thing, the galaxy is going to have to go up against hundreds, maybe even thousands of reapers, and it took an entire Alliance fleet to destroy just one, from what I've learned about the reapers, it was a pretty big one but still just one. So I asked myself, how are they going to do this without pulling something out of their ass. And, to my great surprise, I actually got an anwser when I did some research.

Ok, bear with me on this one, do you remember in the first Mass Effect when Soviergn was disabled the very second you killed Saren for the second time? When Soviergn was controlling him directly? And did you notice that Harbinger broke the link between himself and the Collector General right before he got fried. I think that if a Reaper is controlling someone directly and that person is killed, it sends a neural shock through the link and disables the Reaper. Maybe this can be done to Harbinger, the leader of the reapers, and it will trickle down to the rest of the reapers, maybe the final battle will be one on one between Shepard and Harbinger's puppet general, maybe the Illusive Man of Kai Ling...maybe ANDERSON!

Come to think about it, I did wonder why Harbinger was quick to abandon the Collector General when the ship exploded... that's a brilliant theory and it actually seems like a reasonable way to kill the Reapers. I was curious as to how they might kill an entire fleet of them...

 

[Kopikatsu]

Major ME3 Spoilers:

Spoiler

Protheans have a magical super weapon that can shut down Reapers. Yeah, that's it. One Prothean is still alive, and he has access to it. Guess what happens there?

As for the Illusive Man, he isn't indoctrinated. The entire Council is though. Yes, it's exactly as stupid as you imagine it to be.

And for the Collector Base, as far as I can tell, not much changes. Shepard accuses Illusive Man of 'failing' if you don't blow it up, and the Illusive Man says that you're too short sighted if you do blow it up.

 

[Coldie]

Let's see...

There are alot of tensions between certain races, and as we all know, Shepard has to recruit them. The Geth could be reprogrammed in Mass Effect 2, they may be recruitable (and we already know Legion will appear if he survived). The balance of maintaining the loyalty of these armies and having them get along as well could work similarly to the arguements that happen in Mass Effect 2 - Geth and the Quarians? Krogans and the Salarians/Turians? Even Humans and the Turians prehaps? Maybe we'll see the Rachni take a bigger role as well.

Krogans vs. Salarians are definitely in, it was even demoed in a Genophage Cure mission. Geth vs. Quarians - after it was showcased in ME2 like that, yeah, they're in. Rachni are making an appearance, as well. Not sure where Turians or Asari come in, but they probably will.

I reckon that Cerberus (who as we now know will be working for the Reapers) are being groomed by the Reapers to become the next Collectors and are already being genetically coded just like they did with the Collectors. Why do I think this? The Illusive Man does have weird looking eyes, it's prehaps a product of genetic enhancements, but more so, anyone who has read Mass Effect: Ascension will know that Cerberus were majorly interested in Biotics in Humans at the same time that the Collectors were abducting Human Biotics. Coincidence? Also, Cerberus suddenly get uppety about Humans being abducted but are well known to abducted many Humans themselves for experiments... a bit like the Collectors!

According to some book or comic or whatever, Illusive Man is half-assimilated. He was rescued halfway through the Husk-ing procedure, so that's the husk eyes. Maybe he's indoctrinated on top of that, maybe not. But what if you got this backwards... what if it's Cerberus that wants the Reapers to be their "Collectors"? They certainly have the ambition for it. And the stupidity. (And the game needs a humanoid enemy, I guess, too.)

Speaking of which, where does this leave the Collectors? Why would Cerberus attack them if what I said was true? Prehaps the Collectors are seen as inferior now the Humans are the new favourites and Cerberus are being tested by the Reapers to prove their theory. The Illusive Man probably wanted the Collector's station so he could continue the research to help the Reapers.

Did Cerberus ever attack the Reapers? All they do is gather up their technology and mcguffins, including the [failed, naturally] attempt to grab the Collector Base. Why would Reapers need to test anything when they can just assimilate and indoctrinate and assume direct control? On the other hand, given enough research, the insane human supremacist group certainly wouldn't mind assuming control of the nigh-invincible army to see the aliens driven out of their galaxy and hear the lamentations of their krogan.

The Human Reaper... criticised by many as a poor plot hole, I think differently. We already know the Reapers harvest the universe, prehaps they are watching all life to find a superior species to assimilate into their beings, making themselves stronger... it's already insinuated that the Reapers are part organic. Also, anyone else think that, excluding the tentacles, that the Reapers main body work looks kind of the same shape as a Collector's head? Hmmm...

Each Reaper is a nation, according to ME1's Sovereign. The simplest explanation is: that's how they reproduce, which is as dumb as it sounds. There looks to be a bunch of "Prothean/Collector" Reapers in their fleet, and in a few years there will be a bunch of "human" ones, no doubt. A Pan-Galactic Millenial Zoo. The technological and biological diversity of the most powerful races, preserved for eternity in their prime. Right before they either engineer their own destruction or become powerful enough to resist the Reapers (thus dominating the galaxy and preventing the rise of new civilizations). Crude, boring, but efficient.

 

[badgersprite]

Here's the thing, the galaxy is going to have to go up against hundreds, maybe even thousands of reapers, and it took an entire Alliance fleet to destroy just one, from what I've learned about the reapers, it was a pretty big one but still just one. So I asked myself, how are they going to do this without pulling something out of their ass. And, to my great surprise, I actually got an anwser when I did some research.

Ok, bear with me on this one, do you remember in the first Mass Effect when Soviergn was disabled the very second you killed Saren for the second time? When Soviergn was controlling him directly? And did you notice that Harbinger broke the link between himself and the Collector General right before he got fried. I think that if a Reaper is controlling someone directly and that person is killed, it sends a neural shock through the link and disables the Reaper. Maybe this can be done to Harbinger, the leader of the reapers, and it will trickle down to the rest of the reapers, maybe the final battle will be one on one between Shepard and Harbinger's puppet general, maybe the Illusive Man of Kai Ling...maybe ANDERSON!

That's fucking brilliant. That actually makes sense. There obviously is a weakness there, even if it isn't necessarily caused by the host dying so much as just temporarily weakening them long enough for other ships to attack. Even if they can't get a Reaper to jump into a pawn's body (because, if they know they have this weakness, why would they?), they could definitely produce some sort of virus that would jump them into, say, willingly sacrificed geth platforms. This could also add a time element. "Defeat the Reaper before it infiltrates the geth network."

Other thoughts:

1. I think we're going to learn about the race that built the first Reaper. I'm thinking it was some immensely technologically advanced race who realised that even with all their knowledge and wisdom and even with mass effect fields, exploring the vastness of space would be impossible for an organic lifeform. So they create the first Reaper. Either it actually was an artificially intelligent machine, or it's a hive-mind computer where recreations of the minds of their greatest scientists were all uploaded together into the ship, creating a new consciousness. Reaper goes crazy. Mass Relays are built. New Reapers harvested from your organs, etc, etc. Not necessarily in that order.

Maybe it would be better if they don't explain the origins of the Reapers, but I'm thinking their origin is something along those lines.

2. You know those dossiers in Lair Of The Shadow Broker? I think those were all hinting towards storylines in the next game. Like, for example, Garrus has a sister and Samara has her two daughters and they've all been named. I think these characters will show up in ME3. Other things that could possibly happen include Jack tracking down her biological family, Miranda ending up at war with her father and having the chance to take over his "dynasty", trying to find a cure for Kerpal's syndrome and having to choose between Thane and every other drell in existence. You know, that sort of stuff.

3. Building your own mass relays. Something about the ending will probably involve something like this being pulled off. Hey, being BFFs/lovers with the Shadow Broker and possibly having the Council in your pocket (either because they're all human or because you saved them) has its advantages. That would be pretty badass if you could construct your own version of the Conduit from the first game and then send in this army of reinforcements right the fuck out of nowhere in the most epic flanking manoeuvre in history.

4. Other than the batarians, I have this sinking feeling that one of the races is going to flip their evil switch for no reason, which would really suck. Like, I mean, even if you made all the right choices, something that was once a two-sided issue is going to get decided for you, basically, by making one side evil. Like salarians vs. krogan, quarians vs. geth, rachni vs. everyone else. I'm hoping I'm wrong or that it wouldn't be the whole race that suddenly turns evil, but, well, you were wondering who would replace the Collectors, and I just have this awful feeling that we're going to end up with a generic chaotic evil race. :/

Krogans vs. Salarians are definitely in, it was even demoed in a Genophage Cure mission. Geth vs. Quarians - after it was showcased in ME2 like that, yeah, they're in. Rachni are making an appearance, as well. Not sure where Turians or Asari come in, but they probably will.

Turians vs. humans is kind of a legacy of the universe, so I wouldn't be shocked if that flared up again. Asari are just kind of stuck in the middle because they just want to love everybody. ;_;

Asari fight among themselves with their internalised racism or "homophobia" I guess you'd call it more than anything else, and that's probably going to be Samara's involvement in the game - see above, re: still has two daughters who will probably do...something.

5. The relationship partner/s you chose will actually have an impact on the game story rather than merely being a subplot, just because it would be really cool if that happened. Like, if you got a different mission, or something changed about the story based on who you romanced, whether you cheated on them with someone else. Altered cutscenes in the endgame would also be cool too, because, hey, people are invested in this.

 

[Kopikatsu]

Major ME3 Spoilers:

I take it these are the leaked spoilers?

Spoiler

They pull a deus ex machina? Can't say I'm surprised.

The council? Really? But that would mean Anderson or Udina . . . OOOOooooOOOOoooooo . . . interesting.
Does it make any difference if the original council is still alive?

Oh, an lol at TIM accusing us of "failing". It was him that wanted that base be left intact.

Spoiler

It doesn't specify if this was a recent thing or they were always indoctrinated. But they're indoctrinated regardless of whether Anderson or Udina is in there.

No, Shepard accuses TIM of failing to devise a way to stop the Reapers. (He has, and he wants to brainwash them using the super weapon and use them as tools. Shepard says no.)

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Here's the thing, the galaxy is going to have to go up against hundreds, maybe even thousands of reapers, and it took an entire Alliance fleet to destroy just one, from what I've learned about the reapers, it was a pretty big one but still just one. So I asked myself, how are they going to do this without pulling something out of their ass. And, to my great surprise, I actually got an anwser when I did some research.

Ok, bear with me on this one, do you remember in the first Mass Effect when Soviergn was disabled the very second you killed Saren for the second time? When Soviergn was controlling him directly? And did you notice that Harbinger broke the link between himself and the Collector General right before he got fried. I think that if a Reaper is controlling someone directly and that person is killed, it sends a neural shock through the link and disables the Reaper. Maybe this can be done to Harbinger, the leader of the reapers, and it will trickle down to the rest of the reapers, maybe the final battle will be one on one between Shepard and Harbinger's puppet general, maybe the Illusive Man of Kai Ling...maybe ANDERSON!

That would be both plausible and awesome. Though if they make me kill Anderson, I will cry.

As for the rest of the Reapers. Alliance + Turians + Asari + Quarians + Geth + Krogan + Rachni = Epic Space Win.

 

[Erttheking]

Major ME3 Spoilers:

Spoiler

Protheans have a magical super weapon that can shut down Reapers. Yeah, that's it. One Prothean is still alive, and he has access to it. Guess what happens there?

As for the Illusive Man, he isn't indoctrinated. The entire Council is though. Yes, it's exactly as stupid as you imagine it to be.

And for the Collector Base, as far as I can tell, not much changes. Shepard accuses Illusive Man of 'failing' if you don't blow it up, and the Illusive Man says that you're too short sighted if you do blow it up.

Wait, is that definite or is that just a rumor, because frankly that doesn't make too much sense, why hasn't the Prothean used the weapon?

 

[gregitaly]

Anti-Shepard.
So we have a series, with a main character who is only referred to as Shepard (Shepherd), who dies and comes back to life and is now our only hope for salvation. Who could this possibly be a reference to? Hmmmmm.
With that in mind I think it would be a huge misstep on Bioware's part to not introduce a "Anti-Shepard character as an agent for the Reapers. Whose personality is the polar opposite of however you played your Shepard these last two games. If you played Paragon, he's Renegade and vice versa.
I think I'm expecting to much, but would be cool nonetheless.

 

[Kopikatsu]

Major ME3 Spoilers:

Spoiler

Protheans have a magical super weapon that can shut down Reapers. Yeah, that's it. One Prothean is still alive, and he has access to it. Guess what happens there?

As for the Illusive Man, he isn't indoctrinated. The entire Council is though. Yes, it's exactly as stupid as you imagine it to be.

And for the Collector Base, as far as I can tell, not much changes. Shepard accuses Illusive Man of 'failing' if you don't blow it up, and the Illusive Man says that you're too short sighted if you do blow it up.

Wait, is that definite or is that just a rumor, because frankly that doesn't make too much sense, why hasn't the Prothean used the weapon?

I don't really remember, I just remember that Shepard doesn't agree with whatever the Prothean wants to do, and so he takes it from the Prothean. And it was part of the leaked information.

 

[Erttheking]

Major ME3 Spoilers:

Spoiler

Protheans have a magical super weapon that can shut down Reapers. Yeah, that's it. One Prothean is still alive, and he has access to it. Guess what happens there?

As for the Illusive Man, he isn't indoctrinated. The entire Council is though. Yes, it's exactly as stupid as you imagine it to be.

And for the Collector Base, as far as I can tell, not much changes. Shepard accuses Illusive Man of 'failing' if you don't blow it up, and the Illusive Man says that you're too short sighted if you do blow it up.

Wait, is that definite or is that just a rumor, because frankly that doesn't make too much sense, why hasn't the Prothean used the weapon?

I don't really remember, I just remember that Shepard doesn't agree with whatever the Prothean wants to do, and so he takes it from the Prothean. And it was part of the leaked information.

You know if that turns out to be true I'm gonna be pretty upset that the game got spoiled for me, I thought that your post was about a spoiler I already knew, like Cerberus being indoctrinated. And if the Prothean has a super weapon, why go to the bother of recruiting an entire fleet in a game that's about "victory through sacrifice?"

You know, I think that might be false, I mean it doesn't make any sense, there's that whole bit about the Prothean not using the weapon, and if the Council was indoctrinated, how come they didn't just open the portal for the reapers.

 

[boag]

Considering the entire plot was leaked you could probably have all your answers if you searched for them. I haven't looked it up myself, I want to see what happens firsthand. However according to some opinions I've read from others.... it's not impressive. Guess we'll see.

Indeed, its kind of hard to enjoy a speculation thread when most of the answers are already out there in a nice .txt file.

The question then becomes should people share this information in speculation threads, or do you let them continue to have their "fun", creating theories that would only fit in the confines of fanfic.net

 

[boag]

that doesn't make too much sense

You will find these words to sum up every Mass Effect 3 spoiler that has been leaked.

 

[boag]

Anti-Shepard.
So we have a series, with a main character who is only referred to as Shepard (Shepherd), who dies and comes back to life and is now our only hope for salvation. Who could this possibly be a reference to? Hmmmmm.
With that in mind I think it would be a huge misstep on Bioware's part to not introduce a "Anti-Shepard character as an agent for the Reapers. Whose personality is the polar opposite of however you played your Shepard these last two games. If you played Paragon, he's Renegade and vice versa.
I think I'm expecting to much, but would be cool nonetheless.

so if its an antithesis and you played an assholish female sheppard that was a total slut, then she would be confronted by a male righteous sheppard that was saving himself for marriage.

Would the only way to stop the counter part is to steal his virginity?