You'll Never be Better than Commander Shepard, But their Companions Come Pretty Close

How "Mass Effect's" NPC Companions Stand Out

Nov 13, 2024

November is N7 Month and Senchas Claideb is visiting BioWare’s space opera RPG trilogy Mass Effect for the whole month! In this week’s post, we’ll be looking at the NPCs who help make Commander Shepard’s journey through the Milky Way less lonely and their struggle worth something.

This post will have spoilers, so if you haven’t already played the trilogy and want to, I highly suggest doing so before reading on!

Also, this is the song where the title comes from:

Since the companion roster in Mass Effect is so broad, I’ll unfortunately have to pare down my overview of NPCs for this post. I’ll be focusing on the original roster of companions from the first Mass Effect and how they develop by the third installment. Each companion by the end (should they survive) attains a sort of “best of the best” status alongside Shepard, the de facto savior of the galaxy. Players of Mass Effect most often focus on how their companions’ stories develop rather than fixating on the mechanical, gameplay aspect of the NPCs. As I mentioned in last week’s post, player choice affects the behaviors and ultimate fate of their companions as they follow their Commander as the role model in this struggle against annihilation.

Garrus Vakarian, Turian Agent, Rebel, and Best Friend

While not the first companion players acquire in Mass Effect, Garrus is considered by many as one of the best companions in the entire series. The Honest Trailers video on Mass Effect named him, “The best alien bro since Chewbacca.”1 Garrus joins Shepard in the first game out of a desire to bring the main antagonist, Saren Arterius, to justice. Saren and Garrus are part of the same species (turians), which is naturally inclined to discipline and military service, and members also tend to have a black-and-white mindset when it comes to morality. Garrus leaves his job as a Citadel Security (C-Sec) officer to join Shepard, believing that strict adherence to protocol allows for villains like Saren to evade justice. His outlook and struggle between doing the right thing and letting feelings of vengeance take over is explored in his personal mission that involves tracking down a mad scientist/possible serial killer. By the end of this task, players are able to choose whether to attempt to bring in the culprit for a just trial or kill him outright on the spot. Depending on which choice is made, Garrus’ morality and future plans change somewhat whether the merciful Paragon or ruthless Renegade option is picked; he either resolves to give C-Sec another chance or throw protocol to the wind while pursuing his dream of possibly becoming a Spectre, a special operative and soldier that takes orders directly from the Citadel Council.

At the time of Mass Effect 2 Garrus has completely abandoned returning to his old job and has taken up the role of the vigilante Archangel on the crime-ridden station Omega. No matter which decision is made in the first game during his personal quest, Garrus explains that he didn’t feel fulfilled working back at C-Sec, preferring the roving lifestyle he and the rest of Shepard’s crew lived while hunting down Saren and bringing the fight to those who deserved it. He mentions that when he began his life as Archangel, he initially had a team of fellow vigilantes but one of them, a fellow turian, sold the rest out and escaped and his personal mission involves tracking down the whistleblower with the intent of killing him. His outlook during his personal mission builds off the results from his assignment in the first game and can be changed over the course of this one as well. Players ultimately choose if Garrus goes through with assassinating his old ally or sparing him and rediscovering mercy as a result.

In the midst of the galaxy’s end by the third game, Garrus is brought back into the fold of official military business to assist his species in fighting off the Reapers. While he is mostly a consultant for the turian military, the fact they brought him on as one shows that he has gained some level of respect and trust from his people despite his vigilante activity and contempt for protocol. By this point, Garrus is firmly cemented as Shepard’s righthand man, having gone through some of the most difficult challenges anyone could face and being shaped by his leader’s decisions. There are several moments when Shepard and Garrus’ friendship is reflected on during this installment, one being them practicing shooting near the skyway on the Citadel despite both acknowledging the danger and illegality of it. This scene is simply a way for them to enjoy some time as friends away from the burdens of saving the galaxy and subtly defying the regulations of C-Sec. Another is Garrus’ “final goodbye” to Shepard before the last push against the Reapers where he imagines if either one of them dies then they’ll find themselves in some bar in the afterlife where they can finally rest. Garrus, by the end, seems to be somewhat of a shadow to Shepard. He, out of all the companions, is most affected by his leader’s actions and decisions. In turn, he becomes a great support in the final battle against the Reapers; he does not quite rise to the full status of being a leader, but utilizes his loyal personality and ideals of justice to carry out his Commander’s plans without question.

Urdnot Wrex, Krogan Battlemaster to Father of a New Generation

Perhaps the most “loose cannon” member of the original crew, Wrex is a member of a slowly dying, war-like, honor-bound species called krogan. Originally used as soldiers by the leading races of the Citadel, their rapid birth-rate led to the development of a genetic disease known as the genophage, which caused a decline in viable krogan pregnancies. Wrex abandoned his home planet due to a crushing betrayal he suffered at the hands of his father who disagreed with his philosophy on focusing efforts to rebuild and bolster the krogan race rather than spread themselves thin across the galaxy. His race’s propensity for violence led him to become a mercenary in spite of his original goals, and it is this inherent anger combined with a possible solution to the genophage (held by the villain Saren of all people) that leads to a stand-off with him and Shepard before a climactic battle. Successful completion of Wrex’s personal mission helps Shepard talk down their krogan ally from betraying the crew. Wrex is forced to wrestle with the fact that the “solution” Saren uses actually only breeds tank-born krogan clones meant only for war—an ironic fate for them, suggesting that the galaxy only views krogan as expendable soldiers.

When players reunite with Wrex in Mass Effect 2 (should he survive the first game), he is not available as a companion as he is preoccupied with leading the Urdnot clan on his home planet of Tuchanka. His methods of leadership are considered more progressive as he introduces ideas of diplomacy and rebuilding in favor of constant fighting with other clans. Wrex can also assist Shepard with initiating Mass Effect 2’s other krogan companion, a genetically-engineered, tank-born krogan named Grunt, into becoming a full-fledged adult. Furthermore, Wrex adopts Grunt into clan Urdnot, giving him further purpose beyond serving Shepard. This is a large step for Wrex as a leader as he accepts a member of his race, not born naturally, but still an individual who is serving to protect the galaxy alongside Shepard. He allows Grunt to undertake rites sacred to the krogan, blending tradition with progression, and thus giving the tank-born krogan youth a family he can fight for and return to following the end of the conflict.

Wrex’s role in Mass Effect 3 remains similar as in 2, however, now faced with the threat of the Reapers and possible extinction of his species (along with many others) he demands a cure for the genophage in exchange for providing krogan assistance to the war effort. Players can choose whether to save or doom the krogan race, but if the former route is chosen, Wrex continues to steer his people in the right direction. He goes as far as to declare a new word for “brave” in his language will be Shepard. With the genophage cured, the repopulation process begins for the krogan with Wrex being one of the sires of the new generation. Although he expresses anguish in his new role as a “stud” in the Citadel DLC, he nonetheless has finally achieved a purpose beyond the stereotypes his species.

Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, Quarian Mechanist to Admiral

Tali begins her journey through Mass Effect an outsider among aliens; her species, the quarians, have a less than stellar reputation throughout the galaxy due mainly to their creation of the geth, synthetic beings with artificial intelligence originally used as servants that turned on their creators. They are also known for being stand-offish due to their weak immune systems and are sometimes rumored to scavenge things that don’t belong to them. In the first game, Tali is undergoing a rite of passage known as the Pilgrimage, which is meant to endow young quarians with the responsibility of finding valuable resources for their people who are confined to a massive flotilla of ships known as the Migrant Fleet. Players may assist with Tali’s pilgrimage by providing her with geth data that no doubt would aid the quarians in retaking their homeworld.

In Mass Effect 2, Tali has proved herself as somewhat of a leader amongst her people. Players encounter her with a squad of quarians attempting to extract one of their own from a colony that had been beset by the Collectors, the mysterious alien antagonists of the sequel. Tali initially declines Shepard’s offer to rejoin the Normandy crew as she has more pressing matters to tend to among her people. She is eventually recruited during the second act of the game and soon after, players may begin her personal loyalty mission. This assignment involves her being brought back into the Migrant Fleet to stand trial for treason; she is accused of sending working geth parts to her father, Rael'Zorah, a member of the Admiralty Board that leads the quarians. She and Shepard go to the ship he conducted his studies on to find him and his associates slain at the hands of geth he rebuilt. Shepard is forced with the choice to expose Rael’s experiments, thus causing his name to be stricken from all records, conceal the truth, or utilize brute force in order to make the Admirals trying Tali stand down. Whatever the result may be, players learn more of the difficulties the quarians face and how keen they are to retake their home world from the geth through differing means—either engaging in total war against them, making peace, or simply learn more from them in order to exploit weaknesses or retake control of them.

Tali’s status among her people by Mass Effect 3 is one of the original inspirations behind this post as by now, should players have successfully kept her alive through the second game and exonerated her, she is appointed as an admiral among the quarian fleet. Although she is the highest rank of leader among her people, she still defers to Shepard as her “captain.” Her primary mission in this installment is to help her people retake their home world Rannoch from the geth. Should Shepard be successful in helping her out, whether than involves brokering peace with the A.I.s or dooming them, then the quarians will be able to retake their home. Tali relishes the idea of finally being able to settle down and for her people to have a home after generations of wandering through the stars. At the end of her arc, should all go well, Tali becomes a symbol for the quarians building a home; she is an engineer and a dreamer, but now she can finally use her skills to establish a life for herself and her people.

Ashley Williams/Kaiden Alenko, Virmire Survivor and Second Human Spectre

In the first Mass Effect, Commander Shepard’s crew includes two human companions who serve the player character loyally as soldiers of the Alliance, the primary human faction. Kaiden begins as a crewmember of the Normandy and is portrayed as a mostly optimistic, yet troubled soldier due in part to his difficult upbringing as a biotic soldier—an individual who is able to harness mass effect fields a bit like the Force in Star Wars. Ashley Williams is a marine from a military family that originally fought against the alien Citadel races during the First Contact War, thus she harbors a slight xenophobia. Shepard’s choices can drastically alter either companion’s personality and view points when it comes to meeting aliens and the overall goal of the mission to stop Saren. Ashley and Kaiden also serve as one of the most difficult choices to make in the first game during the climactic mission on the planet Virmire (the same planet where Wrex could also die). A nuclear bomb is planted in a facility run by Saren that breeds krogan clones and near the end of the mission, Shepard must decide whether to save Kaiden or Ashley before it goes off. Whatever the choice is, the rippling consequences are somewhat minimal compared to other companions in the series.

The Virmire Survivor’s role in Mass Effect 2 has received just criticism as they only appear once and vehemently denounce Shepard for being with the pro-human terrorist group Cerberus—who in fact resurrected Shepard after they were killed in the prologue of the sequel. There is no decent dialogue option to help Shepard explain the situation to the Survivor when they do meet and they are markedly absent from the rest of the game. If Shepard was romantically involved with the Survivor, however, they may receive an email from them explaining their feelings.

In Mass Effect 3, the Virmire Survivor also seems to have drawn the short straw in terms of character development. They still don’t fully trust Shepard until after the second act (if they even survive that), due to their involvement with Cerberus. If an understanding can be reached, then the Survivor rejoins the Normandy as the second ever human Spectre (the first being Commander Shepard). Again, their role remains fairly minimal but still exemplifies how far humanity is progressing in the galactic community and how the galaxy itself is changing in the face of the Reaper invasion. While they still defer to Shepard as their leader, it indicates a new step for humanity as serving members of this wider community and how their achievements are finally being noticed by the aliens who once thought them primitive.

Liara T’Soni, Mild-mannered Doctor to Archivist of the End

Likely the last NPC companion players acquire after the start of the game, Liara is debated to be the “canon romance option” for Mass Effect. Her role in the first game is primarily to help Shepard make sense of the visions they are having of the Reaper threat and how the species who preceded the current galactic community, the Protheans, dealt with the invasion in their epoch. Liara is also the daughter of one of the major antagonists in the game, the Matron Benezia who serves under Saren. For the most part, Liara is shy and soft-spoken, fulfilling the “egghead” role in the first Mass Effect but ultimately excited for this new mission and exceedingly loyal to Shepard for taking her on as a crew member. Players also learn a great deal about her race in particular, the asari, a long-lived all-female species that have a natural tendency towards biotics and melding minds like Vulcans.

While Liara is not a member of the “base roster” for the Mass Effect 2 companions, her primary role is explored in The Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC where she enlists Shepard to help her find and kill the elusive Shadow Broker. The eponymous antagonist of this DLC questline is a powerful crime lord who deals in trading secrets across the galaxy that has abducted one of Liara’s friends. Throughout this mission line, Shepard and Liara will discuss how she changed since the events of the first game and how her new dealings in tracking down the Shadow Broker have made her somewhat callous. By the end of the DLC mission, when the Shadow Broker is slain, Liara quickly takes up the mantel and begins distributing information throughout the galaxy. What is a constant talking point throughout this DLC is Liara’s loyalty and care for Shepard. Even if players don’t end up romancing her, Liara still provides unwavering friendship to her former Commander.

In Mass Effect 3, Liara maintains the Shadow Broker title and effectively serves Shepard and the Normandy as the primary source of intel. She shares several personal moments with Shepard reflecting on allies they have lost and the future of life in the galaxy. During one scene, she presents Shepard with a device meant to provide whatever species inherit the galaxy, should the worst come to pass, with information regarding the Reapers and the people who struggled against them. It is up to players what sort of information Liara leaves in the device, but it serves as something of a small hope that even if the galaxy fails, something may reemerge. In one of the most harrowing battles in the game, Liara is forced to watch her entire home world fall under Reaper control, in addition to learning the truth about her entire species’ religion—in that it was actually the Protheans who provided the asari with the knowledge and technology that enabled them to jumpstart their civilization. Even in the face of this tragedy and revelation, she stands by Shepard to help them put an end to the threat. Before the final push against the Reapers, Liara shares a moment with Shepard where they join consciousnesses, sharing memories one last time. Liara’s role is that of discovering and maintaining knowledge, and in the face of destruction she intends to not let anything be lost, especially memories of those closest to her.

The Best of the Best

Mass Effect’s companions, in my opinion, feel like a callback to early tabletop roleplaying levelling where characters didn’t necessarily just acquire new powers and features, but also status in the world of the game. Fighters in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons by level 10 were considered knights or warlords and received their very own keep and standing army; Wizards could set up shop in a tower filled with tomes of knowledge. Parties of player characters, should they survive long enough, could become legends or at least paragons of whatever their calling is. Mass Effect serves as an example that players and game masters can take from in order to view their characters as more than simply game pieces and understand what their choice in terms of race and class actually represents in the campaign’s world and story.

Thanks for reading this week’s post! Who are your favorite NPC companions in Mass Effect and why? Share your experiences with them in the comments!