Or a mint lotion

...until he gets angry

And yet secretive and powerful. Reminds me of Meryl Streep’s Miranda Prestly

If you're looking for more of that narration like voice, look up "eyewitness Martin Sheen" And you'll find a series of fun educational videos that he narrates in the exact same tone of voice

Quarz_dk You should've been able to choose the Alliance or Cerberus, or, if you had Full assets up to that point, Both.

Shame that he's pretty stupid in the third game

He was a tragic hero. It's why he was the best. He's relatable to Shepard in some way for sure.

Yes, his development is surely surpassed average on Mass Effect series

God I love the illusive mans theme, as well as the atmosphere of his office, it fits him perfectly.

"human space marines shoot aliens is all i need. for the emperor

Yeah, but the game feels so different compared to ME1. I really liked the scale of the universe, the openness of environments, the amazing sidequests, mako driving. It all felt so real. ME2's plot kinda sucks (shepard dies within the first minutes of the game, you are forced to work with cerberus, the council denies the reapers for some unknown reason even though there is no logical reason for that, etc.). You can see what both games are like if you compare their citadels. ME1 citadel is grand, with every location having it's own different atmosphere and feel, though sometimes it was a bit too large for people and had some issues. ME2 citadel is... a single small skyscraper with about 5 floors. The size, scope and atmosphere are removed, in favor of a more streamlined and less confusing experience for the general crowd. You can't even visit the presidium except look out on it from a balcony. This applies to almost every system in ME2. The skill system was simplified into oblivion, planet scanning may have been faster than mako exploration but it much worse. In ME1, you could spend days just doing sidequests, exploring the far reaches of space. You can't do that in ME2. The N7 missions are terrible, and always end at a moment where you expect some explanation to the mission, what was the cause of the event? What were these strange creatures i had to fight? instead you get a terrible arcade-like you win screen, where you don't even get an explanation about what happened before the mission. like, sure it's cool to know that cerberus apparently took note of these creatures, but it would be much better if we knew more about what they were, for example. this is an opinion, but i also really didn't like the orange color scheme. in general, ME2 is okay-ish, but horribly overrated. ME1, on the other hand, is a work of art and an amazing game, that created the awesome mass effect universe and much of it's lore, created the iconic music like uncharted worlds, and created the amazing characters like garrus, tali, joker, etc. The original trilogy was very good, but it could have been SO much better if they didn't abandon ME1's openness and atmosphere.

To this day ME2 still holds it's place as #1 sci-fi RPG. The work speaks for itself.

@@Robertward111 i didn't say it was bad. ME2 is quite good, but ME1 and ME3 are just so much better. Your description of ME2 would apply better to ME1. ME1 is an actual RPG, ME2 is a shooter with (very) light RPG elements. ME3 also does rpg elements better.

ME2 was completely different to ME1, simply because of it’s extremely advanced atmosphere and universe. ME1 had that same level of detail but in a very different manner of execution; it was ominous, open-ended and ambient. ME2 was tighter, and in order to improve on ME1, the developers had to cut out many of the things that made ME1 beautiful but also slightly flawed, such as clunky exploration and bland, repetitive environments. Of course ME2 had its flaws as well, I mean lowering the scope of places like the Citadel felt unnecessary, but the immersion value as a result of this tone-down was well worth it. The biggest difference between the two games is that ME1 focused on a specific style of storytelling and atmosphere, whilst ME2 had a more diverse yet streamlined one. It’s for that reason why I felt ME2 was a superior game, and not because of the story; the main story is pretty mediocre and works only really because of TIM and the suicide mission, the latter of which being dependent on the side missions of the game. ME2 felt like a working universe because of it’s smaller scale, whilst ME1 felt slightly blander due to it’s scale being too large for the actual written content it had. They are both fucking masterpieces, and ME1, to me, is more impactful since it was my first taste of real sci-fi and because I loved the ambience and atmosphere, but ME2 was a game I played 3 years later as a teenager, and so saw it through a more critical outset. It’s for that reason why I think that ME2 is marginally better, even if it does sacrifice it’s RPG roots for a more unique approach.

someone somewhere said IM is one of the greatest examples of character assassination and I couldn't really visualize what that meant this helps lol

@@dankmeme682 Its when you make someone evil/bad almost out of nowhere because you need the audience to shift their views. They couldn't have Shepard working with Cerberus in ME3 for many reasons. This is one of the ways they 'forbid it'.

​@@dankmeme682 he was always a bad character carried by the voice acting,his theme song and "looking cool"

@@RobertEdwinHouse9He was but he had nuance. Like he literally brought you back from the dead because he was one of the few people who understood how amazing Shepard was and how we all needed him.

true, but after the countless cycles of harvesting, the reaper's at the time were so arrogant and powerful, that they didn't think anyone would be able to obtain the IFF.

37 million years is nothing for the Reapers.

You just blew my mind

Reaper security is just like America's security -quite shotty.

@Joseph 4917 that's exactly what the reapers thought tho

I am your 69th like. Yes, I would indeed like a cookie.

It's a shame that taking the Paragon option means TIM died before he could utter the one line that pretty much sums up his character perfectly if Shepard had been the one to shoot him. As he laid dying on the ground while Shepard opens up the Citadel arms, he utters his last words to Shepard: "There...Earth...I wish you could see it like I do, Shepard. It's so... perfect." That's the crux of TIM's entire motivation. Everything he did. All the manipulations he made. All the atrocities he committed. It was all in the name of saving the home planet of humanity that he loved so much. Even if in the end, he was corrupted by the Reapers' indoctrination, his one sole motivation never changed; it's just twisted into serving the Reapers' plan instead, and that's what makes TIM's fall so tragic. The Paragon suicide ending is good in its own way, but it's ultimately a repeat of Saren's suicide in the first game. The other way for TIM to die actually allows him to go out with these haunting last words, which I really love.

Very similar to Saren.

Just like Saren. Very nice of the devs to do that.

Actually, he was already touched by Reaper technology in Mass Effect: Evolutions. For all we know, he was slowly indoctrinated from that point which lead him to eventually use the Cerberus' troopers indoctrination-enhancement to further indoctrinate himself to give the Reapers more control. But that's only a theory, one that I do not support.

I've been reading about TIM ever since I made the comment and I'll agree that it's possible that he has control of his mental faculties up until the Reapers allowed it. I also feel stupid for not realizing that his eyes should have been a dead give-away that the Reapers already controlled him even before Shepard meets him. Because he started having those blue eyes after being touched by the Reaper tech, if I'm correct. But what I don't understand is why would the Reapers allow him to destroy one of their own, the Human Reaper Larvae, if they already have access to him.

To be fair, the Illusive Man knew nothing of the Reaper-Larvae when he sent the team in, chances are that he knows nothing of it until long after he sends ships in to secure the Collector Base location, though he mentions that EDI did upload schematics of the base so that is questionable. Either way, indoctrination is a slow process and the Illusive Man's process was incomplete because he touched a person who touched the Reaper artifact. He may have had more free control than intended until around ME3. Alternatively, the theory is false and he was merely imparted knowledge and abilities from the Reaper artifact.

"Alternatively, the theory is false and he was merely imparted knowledge and abilities from the Reaper artifact." That's what makes indoctrination so scary. There's almost no way to measure how far down the hole a person is under the Reapers' control.

Let me scare you some more: Rana Thanoptis; the asari you find on Virmire who dissected brains of indoctrinated subjects, if you let her live through ME(1) and ME2 then in ME3 she kills several asari officials. In a cell, she mentions hearing voices--much like the salarian on Virmire who then runs into a glass door and kills himsels becase he ''has to do what it says.'' She then commits suicide in custody. She is mentioned in news to have been indoctrinated. In other words, you are correct.

Yeah, after Anthem and Dragon Age 4 i really hope they will continue the ME series. The ME series is my favorite of all Bioware games. At least dlc for Andromeda will make me so happy:)

From what i know there won't be any singleplayer DLCs for Andromeda (I was really hoping to see Quarians). They will probably add some multiplayer content, but i don't really care about it. Mass Effect is my favourite game, where i spent hundreds of hours in singler player mode. It's sad to see it gone :(

Damn what a shame if that''s is true. I was really hoping for singleplayer dlc content for Andromeda. I also don't care about the multiplayer content because it is not as fun as it was in Mass Effect 3.

Jaguar550 The rumour was false as confirmed by Mike Gamble and Fernando Melo (producers) but there still prob won't be anything :(

Oh oke man thanks for the info.

According to the books, Illusive Man was indoctrinated well before Mass Effect 2.

He was indoctrinated before, but just like with saren it took much time for him to fully turn

He even put a bullet in the head at the end like saren did

marylain69 I hate that, it ruins his character completely

@@TheArtofUTube Not saying you're wrong, but that makes no sense for them to write that. Why bring Shepard back or bother stopping the collectors then if he was indoctrinated the whole time?

jomnix Yeah if I remember correctly in the shadow brokers ship it says he smokes 4 packs a day

In the mass effect universe, we have cured cancer and everything that comes with smoking, so he can smoke all he want and not get damaged by it. It sais so in one of the books, if i remember correctly :)

i believe he does it for the added edge it gives psychologically, notice when negotiating he puffs and pauses. Almost as if the cigarettes and booze are another veil like the hologram....hiding his true intentions.

ikr, ive always found it strange that he smokes because hes a high end person, hes well off, so smoking doesnt suite him, as obviously its usually the lower class and lowly educated who smoke

@Patrik Johansson - yep, but theres still no point in smoking though

"stop it. get some help."

00IriVids00 they just want him dead so much i guess

Hard light construct that can punch? I mean the omni tool materialises enough to make lethal stabs So... 'shoot it till it dies' at the ready position

On Mars Liara doesn’t know he’s a hologram until she turns around and on Thessia she’s keeping her aim on Kai Leng

Consider it a force of habit.

They are pointing at Leng

Writing drop by the time of ME3 because the multiplayer crap done by EAware 😡😡😡

well. he broke apart. hard to say when his indoctrination began, but the moment he got his hand on the collector base (remnants) he was on a fast way down. at this point the reapers were fully commited and there was no more use for subtlety. the reapers have played this game for millions of years. they have become exceedingly good at it. and every way to defeat them using their own technology against them was paved by the reapers. the illusive man was walking down a path prepared by the reapers from the very start.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely + desperation breeds rash decisions. In ME2 he thought he had everything within his grasp, by the time Shep destroyed the Collector base he realized he had less time to reach a solution than he initially thought. He got desperate in an attempt to come out ontop - he threw caution to the wind and gave himself husk treatments (not sure when but that was likely the earliest point of his indoctrination), he shifted perspective from destroy to control/join. He went insane because all that power was laid out infront of him but he wasn't fit to wield it - he craved it so completely that cold calculating badass was turned into a deranged madman. He still had his intellect and funds but it was in the hands of someone who'd been pushed beyond the brink of sanity. It was a natural progression and a damn good one given how he reached that point

Comment above mine explained it beautifully. The character moved gracefully. Its more the ending that pissed people off. He was an incredible character from start to finish. Control is his main drive. Loss of Control is anathema to his entire being. His shift makes sense.

@@TheVergile I think he got indoctrinated by the human reaper larva he moved in the middle of Cerberus HQ. He saw what it did in the derelict reaper but he still did the same mistake. Besides, he already got in contact with reaper tech way before the games.

He was brilliant deuteragonist in 2. His turn to antagonist was forced, anticlimactic and made his character pointless.

@@mateuszjesionkowski3741 He pretended to be the good guy that's willing to make the hard choices in Mass Effect 2 so that he could use Shepard or do you forget what Cerberus did in Mass Effect 1?

@@wilberdebeer4696 Cerberus' actions in ME 1 were... questionable, but they worked FOR humanity, not against it or in spite of it. In ME 3? Ehh...

Lol why do middle eastern men sound so SUS when complimenting other dudes. Just say "oh he's a good looking guy"

ShOtGuNOfRivia magic

Fuuuuuuuck

God Dammit

Yeh but, the station has an exact location. It's not like you can hide the fucker. The Illusive man has got the station circling that tinpot star just to have a sick vista when he wakes up. It just makes me feel annoyed more that there was no polish or care given to the story in the 3rd game when you see shit like this.

Who says they didn't blindfold Miranda?

It's alright, He went back in time and became a layer, Got Married, Had and affair with a friend of his wife, Went to hospital, Got Married and broke up with his Husband. I've not seen all of Grace and Frankie

How's Leon?

He was never a anti hero. Most people forget that their were quite a few missions in Mass Effect 1 where you find disrupt Cerberus operations where they experiment of aliens and various other dubious things. There's a reason why the Illusive man never brought you to the main base or important base of operations because he knows that Shepherd would never have joined him if he knew the full extent of their operations.

more like anti villain

@@wilberdebeer4696 they literally Turned a colony into husks Cerberus and TIM could have been handled Better in ME3 but they were assholes since day 1

indoctrination made him age quicker.

Plus change in art direction/tone.

His eyes were already machine-like in ME 2, the only thing that really changes is their brightness, which I attribute to improvement of graphic quality between ME 2 and 3. As for the star, that's more a reflection of if the player chose a more Renegade or Paragon path for Shepard (I had high and nearly equal scores in both and it was a blue star with an orange core, and I've seen walkthroughs that went completely Renegade and it was completely orange).

The Illusive Man?

Yes.

He's not the brightest.

@@random3857 may be not the best hewas really was a big machiavelli style in da mass effect In his earlier life he was a merc too...

Nope, the color is determined by the choice you made in the collector base （Keep or destroy the base）

At certain angles, he literally does =)

Thanks man!:D

No problem :D

It wasn't an easy choice, but it was the right one. We made it and we have to accept that making right choices is rarely easy

@@kapitan19969838 it's easy to say that when your life isn't the one gone, the sacrifice was just too costly, most of the galaxy's population could've been saved Imagine if the Reapers came and all the races were armed with weapons specifically designed to take them out, casualties minimal

@@danielendless The good ol' "ends justify the means" morality, eh?

Well he probably just doesn't want to admit to liking a violent psychopath political extremist while still having to work in liberal Hollywood.

I really like how his voice gives out when he says "easy"

*Bioware fucked him up

He says basically the same line in the Renegade option for breaking up the Tali and Legion fight in ME2.

It would be cool if they actually one and Illusive Man is alive to lead it, he literally is the best hope for humanity on Mass Effect, sad his character was bastardized and strawmanned when he made perfect sense, treated like a cartoon villain.