#space mami

she likes cheesy 80s hair metal

he likes cheesy 80s power ballads and prog rock

for example Imani was a small child when the First Contact War happened, living in a tiny colony at the ass end of the galactic frontier. the fear among colonist families like hers must have been off the charts

then the batarians showed up years later

part of why Imani fights so hard for Ash and pushes back against that shit is because she’s a survivor of Mindoir and obviously the batarians are a whole different kettle of fish from turians as an occupying force but if you ask Imani she wouldn’t be so sure what the right decision was. and obviously she errs on the side of protecting civilians. Talitha OTOH might feel very differently about it, considering what happened to her bc she didn’t get rescued like Imani did. she very well might feel death is preferable to surrender. this is a matter of perspective! 

meanwhile just about everyone who fought the turians at Shanxi and just about all the Alliance brass were earthborn humans who had NFI what life was like in the colonies beyond being stationed there

beyond the usual blatant misogyny ( “she’s a bitch”, “she’s a racist” (unlike every other Normandy crewmember lol), “I can’t/don’t want to fuck her so too bad she has to die”)

the idea that Ashley has to be some kind of sacrificial lamb to absolve herself of some generational sin is just really gross to me and it never sat right with me even if I am moved by the idea of the Williams family name getting the respect it deserves because of Ashley’s heroic sacrifice.

first of all it’s a faulty premise to me to begin with

because given what we know about what went down at Shanxi, via the comics, I cannot and will not blame General Williams for making that call to surrender. he was between a rock and a hard place and did what a leader does, look at the situation and make a judgment call. he should have gotten a fucking medal for it as far as I’m concerned. that move saved civilian lives, and the only reason the Alliance shat on him for it was pure bullshit machismo and misplaced pride imo. “the first human colony to surrender to aliens” is a hell of a lot better sounding to me than “the first human colony to get wiped out by aliens”

so I don’t even think there’s a sin that needs absolving any damn way

but even if I were to buy the argument that what Granddad Williams did back in the day was unconscionable, i am not gonna sit here and blame Ash for it, like it was enough to put a stain on the family name so bad it could only be removed by her dying, instead of living on to prove everybody wrong and working side by side with a turian on a ship designed jointly by humans and turians and being a big goddamn war hero and becoming the second human Spectre

this argument reeks of misogyny to me because lbr how many male characters are subjected to that kind of burden by fandom, judged like that. no one’s trying to argue that [insert dude fave here] needs to die because of some shit his family/ancestors did. these characters are generally embraced and loved for going against the grain or w/e and gassed up and given the chance to live and make up for their folks mistakes. shit, look at Dorian (despite him not even rejecting the most heinous aspect of his society and even being an apologist for it at times lol)

Ashley’s story is just as compelling if she survives

ftr, Imani’s canon VS is Kaidan, and it was purely a tactical decision. Kaidan was the tech expert on the bomb and had to be protected, because that bomb had to go off at all costs. it was the entire objective of the mission. I don’t even have an AU where it’s the reverse, the AU is that they both survive because Imani finds a way to save Ash. because well she’s Imani and #noonegetsleftbehind

I love both characters to death and even though Virmire works for me from a narrative standpoint (unlike that garbage with the Hawke twins, which is why Mari’s siblings both survive in her canon), it still pains me from a less-than-objective standpoint that the option to save them both was removed from the final game, just because I love them both

ultimately there is no right or wrong choice there, as always it depends on the player character and their particular personality and leadership style and the kinds of decisions they make under pressure

and obviously people can play however they want I mean you do you it’s your game have fun

it’s just the arguments people get into, as usual with Bioware fandoms and controversial plot choices. the often heinous way folk try to justify themselves and shit on people who decided differently. Kaidan gets it too, especially in light of ME3 and biphobic str8s killing him because he’s bisexual in the last game

Imani: Ash you can’t make the Council pay your bar tab

okay but

what if the underlying conflict Imani and Kaidan had in their relationship wasn’t over the Space Maury involving Liara and Kaidan not being able to handle Imani being poly and Imani being resentful that she was forced to choose between them

what if instead it was Ashley’s death and Kaidan’s survivor guilt and his inability to believe Imani when she said it was purely a tactical decision and Imani’s guilt that she wasn’t able to save them both

shared grief + the stress of the mission putting a strain on the relationship rather than bringing them close together

...and then Kaidan loses Imani too

oh my god