Squiggly Squid

shepard:

Illusive Man: "The technology from that base could have secured human dominance in the galaxy. Against the Reapers and beyond."

Shepard: "Human dominance, or just Cerberus?"

Illusive Man: "Strength for Cerberus is strength for every human.

"Cerberus is humanity."

Have I mentioned lately this is why I like Saren better than TIM?

Saren was focused on saving the galaxy from the Reapers.

TIM wants to use the Reapers to rule the galaxy.

Saren, the most decorated and trusted Spectre the Council has ever known. Stops at nothing to get the job done and protect Citadel Space. Lets nothing get in his way, no matter how many die to achieve it.

And he can't see a way out.

That's absolutely terrifying. And you only learn this half way through the game! They don't start with that, they let you get your footing and a sense of the scale and danger. THEN they drop the "I wish there was a better way, but the REAL enemy is just too powerful" reveal.

It's not just "a Big Bad at the end of the final dungeon", Saren's a person with history and presence and a surprisingly empathetic driving motive behind him.

Meanwhile, TIMmy is a garden variety bigot with delusions of world galactic domination.

He didn't bring you back, Miranda and Wilson and their teams did that. He didn't build or design the SR2, he didn't make EDI, he... didn't do much of anything. And it's not his money paying for it, since Cerberus was dependent on Alliance funding and then "contributions" from asshats like Henry Lawson. He's not even capital in this situation, he's a wannabe techbro living off of burning his investors' capital. All his expensive suits, payed for with someone else's dime. And like a true wannabe techbro, all his "game changing" projects... how does Joker put it? "Get loose and start killing all his guys". Even Shepard, arguably his most successful project, turns on him without consequence. Paragon or Renegade.

So... why are we supposed to be impressed again?

I'm just so curious to know more about the personal details that you have for shepard shepard! :3

aww, hi you! this is sweet!

I actually have something about her re: coffee. People who read Cipher know that when Garrus finally makes her a mug (as she had been abstaining) we find out that her usual way of taking it is with sugar and milk. I never explained it but I imagine it was probably a bit surprising that someone like her doesn’t take it black. There’s a reason.

Disordered Eating CW here.

She’s earthborn, and food was scarce growing up. She had to fight for every bit, and hoard what she could. Becoming part of the Reds made access to food easier, but you had to stay on their good side and if you displeased them, you’d only get scraps. It left her with some permanent hangups around food, one of which is that in high-stress situations, she will neglect eating. It’s a bit more complex than self-punishment, but that does factor into it.

Now, you’re right: during the war, she was a serious caffeine consumer. And she’d take it black, just the way it came straight out of the machine. Express track down her gullet, slam the mug back down, get back to work without passing out. She was consuming amounts of coffee that would have left anyone with a weaker metabolism (read: every human, Cerberus rebuilt her stronger) a jittery mess. What she wasn’t consuming copious amounts of however were calories. Definitely not enough to keep doing the work she was doing. She wasn’t starving herself, but it simply wasn’t enough.

Garrus noticed. Garrus conspired. Garrus assigned himself The Commander’s Executive Coffee Officer and made sure that she always had a mug by her elbow, and that there was stuff in that mug that at least had a little bit of caloric energy in it. Sugar and milk, two things that are intensely unappealing to a turian, but that became his secret weapon to keep Shepard on her feet.

Inquisitor Jane Shepard of the Ordo Xenos - vigilant protector of humanity from alien threats. Many criticised her for her radical methods, but result is irrefutable.

i like to think that after the war Shepard impulsively buys all the corny couples' t-shirts she can find.