I’m not afraid of you.

Peebee - Phone Background.

me:

I don’t think there’s one right way to view Miranda, so I can only speak to how I feel about her (and Eliza Shepard really clicked with her, so I was very paragon in my interactions with Miranda in-game), but – 

She’s a cold, complicated, reserved, and outright unfriendly woman whose character arc doesn’t revolve around a romance softening her or completing her – it’s a familial one. And while Miranda definitely does have daddy issues (but really that’s a condition for employment on the Normandy), she’s content to leave those issues in the past so long as he leaves her and Oriana alone. 

It’s Oriana who’s the key to Miranda’s friendship (which is the gateway to everything else). I got the impression in the game that Miranda doesn’t just not trust easily, but she refuses to trust at all. Part of that is thanks to her father, part of that is the strongly-implied lack of cohesion or support between Cerberus cells, part of that is being so extremely gifted, part of that is just Miranda’s personality (she’s naturally pretty stand-offish, though that could just be attributed to her dad). She say that she doesn’t want friends, she’s clearly not so much surprised by Wilson’s betrayal as she is grimly resigned to it – Miranda’s a woman who’s lived her life by forcefully rejecting the idea of intimacy, in any form. 

(Just look at her dossier on the Shadow Broker’s ship; she asks for medical records from potential sexual partners, and as soon as one passes, she gives him a time and a room number, and that’s it.)

Until Oriana is threatened, Miranda’s quite content to be the efficient but untouchable XO. She follows the chain of command, even when she doesn’t respect Shepard’s decisions, but because there’s no great emotional investment there, she can simply stay focused on doing her job. 

But Oriana being in danger isn’t something that Miranda can handle on her own – not this time. So she has to swallow her pride, and ask Shepard for help. 

Imagine how she felt when Shepard said “Miranda, you’re part of my crew. How can I help?” I’m paraphrasing, but to have support offered unstintingly (should you decide to do so) must have come as quite a shock to Miranda. Living on the run from her father, trying to keep Oriana hidden and safe – she’s not used to kindness without an ulterior motive. 

That’s the key. Helping her sister, the one person in the galaxy that Miranda loves, is the way to make her trust you. I love that the loyalty mission is accomplished without turning Miranda into a damsel in distress – you save Oriana together, and along the way, Miranda slowly opens up to you about how she escaped her father’s house, how she got Oriana away, how she’s angry at herself for being betrayed by Niket. She’s never once weakened or diminished when she opens up; instead, I look at her trust in Shepard (both with the mission itself, and all the glimpses of her doubts and emotional turmoil you see during the mission) as a repayment for Shepard agreeing to help in the first place. It’s an exchange between equals. Between friends. 

Her loyalty mission ends with you seeing her cry, and then you get to see this lovely soft side of her if you talk to her afterwards, where she’s self-deprecating and wry and so proud of Oriana, and so quietly supportive. She’s won Oriana’s freedom again – this time with your help – and now she’s sitting back to let Oriana make of her life what she will. 

I love that. 

Of course, then you have the opportunity to pursue a romantic relationship with her if you’re playing as Male Shepard, but either way, Miranda repays your initial offer of support with unyielding trust. She tells the Illusive Man to go hell – abandoning a career as the only successful Cerberus project lead that we see on-screen (and by successful I mean ‘she didn’t get her whole squad killed because she thought experiments on Thorian creepers and the rachni were a good idea’). 

Her story isn’t built around being healed by a man or by romance in general, but by helping others gain agency and freedom – the two things she was never meant to have. No, she’s not always likable, and her belief in Cerberus’ ideals is never quite erased (she never says that she’s stopped supporting their goals of human ascendance – she just doesn’t agree with the Illusive Man’s methods), but she’s willing to listen, and grow, and trust, all while still being the sardonic ice queen superhero secret agent mad scientist that we saw in the beginning. 

She’s healed and empowered by family, biological and found. In ME3, when she could have taken Oriana and hidden in some bolthole while the rest of the galaxy burned, she made sure her sister was safe, then she handed anti-Cerberus intel over to the Alliance, got herself a fighter ship, and went after Cerberus itself. 

When you have her trust, she does not stint. 

I’m not a fan of her being portrayed as this femme fatale, or how the camera lingers on her ass constantly, because Miranda is so much more than a sex object. She’s one of the most intelligent, determined, and capable characters in the series, and while she’s certainly not interested in being likable, she’s full of surprising warmth and affection (in her own way) once you’ve earned it. 

It’s especially fulfilling to see her in a friendship with Female Shepard – two extremely capable, driven, talented, and brave women, neither of whom fit traditional models of femininity (Shepard is a soldier, and Miranda is too cold), and neither of whom have characters arcs that depend on being fixed by romance. It’s so moving, from my perspective, to have watched them go from “I’m not looking for friends, Shepard” to promising each other to be careful before the last battle. It’s so important to see female friendships explored, even if one (or both) of the women aren’t likable, or nice, or available simply for male consumption. 

Miranda doesn’t compromise herself as she forms a friendship with Shepard. She’s still herself, but I get the sense she’s finally comfortable in her own skin, now that her father is gone, and Oriana is safe, and she has someone she can turn to if she needs help. It’s not a simplification of her character, but an expansion. 

Morrigan: