I always find it puzzling that everyone seems to take everything the catalyst says as a fact. So the catalyst says that all synthecis would die in the destroy ending, even Shepard, since they are partly synthetic. If Shepard lives, then why does everyone believe that EDI and the Geth die. Does the catalyst even know what would happen to them? They aren't completely reaper-tech.

I have just discovered this channel and just watched your trailer analysis. As an old ME-fan you've blown my mind. Thank you and keep it up.

The multiverse/alternate universe thing is so played out across all forms of media these days. I feel like it's a lazy way to fix or fill in plot holes. I hope the Mass Effect team doesn't try and go that route.

Ugh multiverse is kind of sloppy writing, but still a good theory

They gotta canonise an ending, ideally keep romances, geth/quarian results, etc. Having the same story play out no matter what would just devalue the choices at the end of ME3. Synthesis ultimately would just be too boring a setting, unless the very reason it would be chosen is undermined. Destroy would leave the galaxy in a completely ruined and disconnected state. The recovery effort would be immense and shouldn't be left to a handful of references. And a post Control setting where the reapers can't just solve every problem is one that, like the synthesis ending, would betray the reason it was picked from the start.

Keelah I've missed unhinging my mind jaw for crazy ideas. Great job!

Yoooooo my deaf ass loves you so much for including built-in subtitles for this video

Step 1-same, step 2-Shepherd (as evil AI/crucible or mad man) step 3-new prtoganist fighting the mess shepherd created in the galaxy...

Let's not forget Asari can live hundreds of years. From either endings being canon, Liara outlives all organic species in the milky way upto a certain point. Being the shadow broker, she will know eventually where the remaining species are located throughout the milky way. Suppose the geth survive all this nonsense and become the dominant synthetics across the galaxy, who's to say that Liara eventually won't become the big bad. We already had an andromeda initiative, along with the timeline jumping forward 600 years. I would love to see Liara hide behind electric storm clouds and find a way through worm holes across galaxies ending up in andromeda with the geth closing in on her. This would be a fresh twist on the story and would help the series move forward. In the end she would wipe out the geth by aligning with a far superior force, which cannot be defeated. This would leave a cliffhanger and both milky way and andromeda would have been trodden upon. I feel shepards story is complete and revisiting the past derails from a new story. Liaras turn onto Big bad would be the twist we all need.

I found this channel after rediscovering my love of Mass Effect and I love it! Keep it up!

Playing off the idea of how Shepard can come back, and somehow making all the endings cannon, what if synthesis and control were merged where Shepard energy rewrote dna and his energy and consciousness was saved and stored by the reapers to control them and keep him alive. Then, if something kills them all what if Liara’s mission was to find the remaining fragments of Shepard from dead reapers, download them, and then basically do a Lazarus 2.0 where Shepard returns with a new synthetic body grown from his own dna where Shepard is the fusion of human and a living AI with fragments of his past choices still recoverable. And because of that he can almost have similar abilities as Ryder in andromeda with his sam implant but Shepard is a synthetic so obviously he can do more. Or she sorry I played as male shep lol. I think combining those two endings would work like that, and it can work with destroy as well cuz we can use Lazarus 2.0 to bring Shepard back somehow cuz his consciousness was stored digitally somewhere

That has incredible potential for fanfic - The romanced companion faces all the pain of losing the Shepard they fell in love with, but here's a different Shepard in their life every day. And the alternate Shepard being scraped up from goo to go save some other universe, surrounded by strange, older versions of people they knew before they died. Ouch.

Alt-Universe traveling Liara IS insane.... HOWEVER, if a certain DLC is indeed canon (*cough* Citadel DLC) and not just an "Purgatory/alternate reality episode" then it's established that Shepard has a clone. It is much easier to explain Liara retrieves the body of this clone, which may not actually be dead, from the Citadel, and implants a "Shepard persona" which she had already constructed for her "next cycle fail-safe", thus providing Player's A, B, and C with a living Shepard. This could also be a Player D option, and thus the breathing body we actually see, not Shepard's original body, thus each Shepard is fully organic with no synthetic parts, and since it is a loaded persona, this will give players the option to modify their Shepard from the Trilogy, just like the Lazarus Project allowed ME1 players to change their Shepard in ME2. It's also possible that Cerberus didn't make just one clone... Another possibility with Player D is that Star Child claims if Shepard chooses Destroy, he/she will die, but Player D proves Star Child wrong, just like Geth-Quarian Peace Players prove him wrong about Synthetic-Organics will always destroy each other, so Star Child appears to be lying as it refuses to ever admit that it is wrong. Shepard's living despite the synthetic parts being "destroyed" can indicate that the Synthetics are not truly destroyed, merely disabled until repaired/rebooted, thus allowing for living Reapers/Geth/EDI in Players A, B, and D.

No, Shepard can come back much more easily: Control: Pops out of a random reaper cloning pod jusy as they are all blown up by the new bad guy. Synthesis: Same as above with cybernetic implants. Destruction: Cerberus lazarus project 2. Same Shepard, its just everyone gets some unique dialogue referencing it ("Hey, how does it feel to be tank grown Shep?" - Grunt) Remember, he's not dead in the blue and green endings, just absorbed into some crazy complicated tech. This is of course total crap as a story device. At that point he'll achieve Goku levels of refusing to stay dead.

I think the multiverse direction would also be a cop-out. We all agree that that trilogy ending with the boy was absolutely different than the entire game we had been playing. Why not admit defeat and redo it the right way.

Something just occurred to me: **what if** the figure in the reveal video is EDI? I mean if we wanna get technical she *could* join N7 since she’s unshackled… and it solves the whole not looking quite human aspect of the helmet. Now *why and how* she’s in N7 is a whole other thing. The hidden thing in the pocket that you mentioned could be her “mobile emitter” to borrow a phrase.

The default choice could’ve have been a lie to our Shepard as we died, the new shepard could be one of many like us from mass effect 2 in being rebuilt to help fight the reapers. Multiple shepards in the galaxy fighting reapers and liara is in search for the one that survived

I greatly would prefer a new protagonist or canonizing perfect destroy over some alternate universe hand waving never established in the trilogy. In my mind some alternate universe Shepard who didn’t fight the reapers is just cosplay - they are not Shepard - period. My theory is the Cerberus clone we never see die in the Shore Leave DLC (or another - who says Cerberus only created one?). Add in Liara’s final goodbye and a touch of Search for Spock and you have your original Shepard back. Granted you can refuse Liara’s offer I believe, but honestly if you did you deserve to stay dead IMHO ;). Repopulating Krogan, Quarians and possibly Geth from Andromeda can solve most of the consequences. However, Ireally don’t like basically nullifying the choices you make, it is at least logically consistent. Lastly, with respect to the teaser and the N7 helmet fragment; I would caution the following; in no scene is Shepherd ever seen wearing a helmet once the dash for the beam starts. Yes in Perfect Destroy it’s shown but this always struck me as a goof that made no sense. While originally I was so excited for ME5 and Shepard’s return the more I see the silly compromises needed to make that happen the more I’d prefer a cleaner start with Perfect Destroy as Cannon. PS: I believe the Star Child says organics will be ‘perfected by integrating fully with synthetic technology, and Synthetics will gain full understanding of organics’. It is not stated that that there would never be conflict between races again. Also even the Geth who fully understood each other were in conflict with each other (Heretics). Conflict is inherent between individuals, that is just the unavoidable consequence.

Problems with theory: atmosphere on alchera not breathable, trailer shows no mask. No one has green eyes or skin tint. Plus many dead reapers who were not present on the dead world. So synthesis ending not possible and control ending not likely due to look on trailer. Destroy ending is thus implied on trailer. Snowy world has the same moons as the one crashed on by the Normandy at end showing a tropical zone with air and life. It likely has a frozen zone as well. And a planet with life may have been attacked by reapers who are now dead due to the destroy ending. This planet is also the same seen in the ending old man storyteller sequence.

Me throughout the video: 😃🤔🤯🤔🤨 I still don't want alternative universes in Mass Effect, because it would negate Shepard's sacrifice, if that's what you chose. But the rest is pretty cool! I thought you'd say the Opposition is the bad guy not the Jardaan, but it could be either since we don't actually know which one is the good/bad side. Also if the Jardaan are bad that would jeopardize the survival of the Andromeda Initiative.

In a franchise that hinges on the choices you make, alternate universes would just be a cardinal sin, nothing matters. Writing a one size fits all opening that completely obliterates the differences between the three endings would be just as bad as writing a series about choice and making the end choice come down to what color you get in your ending. It would be cool if they did something with perfect ending sheppard still alive but I don't need him to be the protagonist of this new game. His story is over, living or dead. Let's get a new protagonist so we don't have to come up with some kind of ressurection story about why Sheppard has to start back at level 1 again. I would say your theory works if the next Mass Effect game was going to be a book, but it's a game and thus not very likely imo.

Wouldn't we all love to be a fly on the wall of Bioware writers' meetings! Very interesting but the alternate universe solution goes too far for me! I always saw the silly endings they stuck in there last minute as dream sequences. The writers could just show Shepard getting zapped, flash parts of each "dream" depending what you picked, then show Shepard awakening, shaking it off, going to the beam and really unleashing the crucible destruction of the reapers (and only the reapers)-cut to Shepard breath. :)

I just thought to comment here because I recall in one of your previous videos of the perfect destruction ending and just reiterate, it is true, but it’s not just them not putting the nameplate on the memorial wall at the very end of the cut scene you see N7 dog tags what looks like to be your character shepherd And right before it cuts the black you hear and see an inhalation of air

Sorry for coming in late but I literally stumbled across this vdeo this morning. My thought on who the villian of the new story is, is exactly who it always was. The Catalyst. Confused? So here where I'm coming from. In ME3 when we reach the Catalyst it tells us that its solution, the Reapers, will no longer work because of the fact that SHep is there. But the question is how did Shep get there? If you replay/rewatch ME3, you will find the hint in the scenes before reaching the Catalyst chamber. Shep and Anderson have a nice little moment where we finally say goodbye to Anderson. After Anderson passes we then get contacted by Hackett and told that the Crucible is not firing. Shep rises and makes their way to the control console. This is the important bit. Before they reach the console, Shep passes out. They never, even accidentally, touch the console. While unconscious, they are raised up to the Catalyst chamber. As nothing Shep did could have caused this, the only solution is the Catalyst. The Catalyst wants Shep in that chamber. When the Catalyst tells us that its solution will no longer work, it isn't being honest. If you look at the unfolding battle, it is clear that the Reaper solution is working just fine. Further, if we reject the Catalyst's options, Destroy, Control, Synthesis, we will get an ending where the Catalyst shuts down the beam and fades out, leaving the Reapers to complete the Harvest. While this may not be a typical ending, it must still be taken into consideration. These elements prove that the Catalyst is lying to us. Other hints of the Catalysts dishonesty exist as well. It tells us that AI always turns on its creations, yet the evidence from the Geth/Quarian war says otherwise. The Quarians were the ones that tried to destroy the Geth, and the Geth fought back, and having escaped, opted not to wipe out their creators. The reason for why the Geth are antagonistic in the series can be gleaned in each game. ME they were those who were convinced to join Saren's war. In ME2 they are a combination of those who are still loyal to Saren, and those who found themselves being targeted due to anti Geth sentiments raised by Saren's actions. In ME3 they all turn due to the Quarians attempting, once again, to wipe them out. Another example is when discussing the Synthesis option. The Catalyst tells us that it has been attempted before, but that the people of the galaxy weren't ready. Given that this solution can only be triggered by the beam in the Catalyst chamber that means that someone needed to be there to make that choice, and if someone did make that choice, then the Catalyst is lying when it claims that Shep is the first to reach that far. Knowing that we are there because the Catalyst wants us there, and knowing that it is being less than honest with us, what does it want? I imagine that is what the knew game will cover, but we can draw clues from the options it gives us. Destroy. This is the first option we are given by the Catalyst and it is the most destructive option, in that all synthetics are wiped out. So why include this option? Because it has been the idea that was first planted in our brains way back in ME, and not having that option would scream that the Catalyst wants something else. It is easier to hide a lie among truths. It tells us that destroy is an option but tells us of the dire consequneces of that option, effectively saying, "yeah, you could choose this option, but you'd be stupid to do so." Control. The Control option emerged in ME2, from TIM. In ME3 we learn that TIM is a puppet for the Catalyst when the Catalyst tells us that TIM could never control the Reapers, because the Catalyst already controlled TIM. While this may seem odd to offer this option it is again about laying the foundation for the option it wants you to pick. Control has been an idea floating in our brains since ME2. Including the option, and the warning that TIM was its puppet the Catalyst is saying "yeah, you could choose this option, but the one who was putting it out there someone that you had problems with." Synthesis. This is the option that the Catalyst wants you to make. It has only surfaced at the end of ME3, and is proposed by the Catalyst itself. Remember how we got there? It needs a living being to trigger the galaxy changing beam. It can't do it itself. While the Catalyst includes the other options, and gives very compelling reasons to not pick them it offers no such caveats with Synthesis. This is the option it wants us to pick. That's why it brought Shep to the Catalyst chamber. No matter Shep's choice they aren't making it out of that Chamber alive, even in the "prefect destroy" opotion. Yes, they live, but they are in dire need of medical aid, and no way for it to reach them, and so they would eventually die. The rule of 3 comes in here. 3 minutes without air, 3 hours in a hostile enviroment environment, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food. Remember the Catalyst turned off the beam, and raised up Shep, demonstrating that it controls that area, and so could easily turn off the air. They, however, could have left a message for whoever comes next, a warning that the Catalyst can't be trusted. Whatever Synthesis trully is, I imgine that if we picked it, then there would have been those who are outliers who "were not ready yet", and so never turned. Note that in the trailer Liara doesn't have Synthesis eyes, suggesting that she is no longer part of the Synthesis, either because it was never chosen, or if it was chosen, that the effects are breaking down. Catalyst and the non reject endings. All these points lead me to believe that the villian for the next story is the Catalyst. If we choose Destroy, yes the Reapers are destoyed, but so is the very infrastructure of the galaxy that lets us communicate and travel between the stars. The Catalyst has been in this position before, against a galaxy that was more advanced than what currently exists and still repeatedly beat the organics because in order to defeat it you need to reach it, and it decides who gets to it. How long does it take to make a Reaper? ME2 hints that it only takes a couple of years, and with the galaxy in such turmoil those still under the Catalyst's control could easily turn out a small army of Reapers, and this assumes that no Reapers survived the crucible blast. Plus how many individuals were spirited away during the war without a trace. We know that the energy from the blast disapates with distance, which is why the Normandy survived, so if a resevre force of Reaper remained in dark space, then there could be more Reapers than we know. Machines do love their backups, and the Catalyst has been doing this for a long time so keep a reserve force beyong range makes sense. If you choose Control, Shep becomes part of the system, and uses the Reapers to help rebuild everything. But how long does that last. I doubt that the Catalyst lacks the ability to resume control over the Reapers, so it is just waiting until the Reapers have put things back together again and then once more begins the cycle. This time the Catalyst needs to move more carefully because the relay network is still largely intact, and being repaired. However the races of the galaxy also think that the Reaper threat is over. Remember, they don't know about the Catalyst, and that it was controlling the Reapers. While it needs to be cautious it is better placed to resume the cycle once it resumes control. By careful use of Reapers to spirit away remote systems it could effectively build more Reapers, without galactic awareness, and when such places are found they could easily be dismissed as victims of the Reaper war, and I doubt anyone is doing detailed investigations of every world that shows signs that Reapers spirited away their whole organic lifeforms. As for the presence of dead Reapers on planets, we have seen that Reapers can be killed, it just takes a lot of firepower, and so you can include dead Reapers on any world and just dialogue/data entry it away. Plus the Reapers still possess indoctrination abilities and are now working closely with the races of the galaxy, so when the Catalyst resumes its efforts it'll have a willing slave army If you choose the Synthesis ending then, in theory everyone becomes part of this new collective whole. However Liara, who was part of this whole is seen in the trailer, and doesn't have Synthesis eyes. If you discussed the option with the Catalyst, then you'll know that it has been tried before and failed. In this option the effects of Synthesis are breaking down, and the Catalyst knows that its latest attempt has failed, and once again it needs to resume control over the Reapers, and then start moving again. I also imagine that it can make use of those still under the effects of Synthesis, effectively giving it a greater non Reaper force, plus, as far as I'm aware, Reaper indoctrination is still an issue. As the Catalyst tries to halt the colapse of Synthesis, those who are free of it see those under its effects as being Reaper controlled, not entirely accurate, in that the Catalyst controls both the Reapers and those who are part of the Synthesis, but close enough. All options however can start with either the Reapers believed to be all destroyed, or having retreated from the galaxy, and those individauls under Catalyst control being the antagonists, and those not under Catalyst control being the protagonists. One interesting thing to consider in the Synthesis option is that we may start out fighting, unkowingly for the Catalyst, before we become free, and switch sides with out much difficulty. Just some dialogue choices and data entries to compensate for the differences. As for who our hero is, I think we'll start off with Liara, who learns that things aren't all they seem to be, and as part of our story we will set out to retrieve Shep, and use them to uncover the truth

The only ending that would take the reapers off the table without affecting behavior would be a renegade Shepard choosing control in which he or she just goes back to dark space and allows conflict and let chips fall where they may. You are right Synthesis really messed with the universe IMO.

Why the Jardaan? Why not the species that fought them and appeared to have won? Also, the Genophage isn't a problem. If you didn't solve it, someone else did shortly after the Reaper War. Boom, done.

Destroy gives you a new setting in that the galaxy needs to rebuild AI and technology.

The one bone I have to pick in terms of not seeing something mentioned is the fact that in the trailer, Liara doesn’t have green eyes, which means the synthesis ending isn’t accounted for among the four player possibilities, no matter whether it’s important to who the new villain is or not. Assuming that the Liara we see in the trailer is the Liara from the trilogy, of course. After all, it could be that she is from the same alternate universe that she’s gone to get Shepard from…

There's already a canonized ending in that Liara isn't killed by the deathbeam when you can potentially take her to the final rush. The only real difference in the 3 endings is whether people are half synthetic, half organic or not. And given that the story could be about an outside threat, just make synthesis something that people don't mention except occasionally at important game intervals. It has to be unintrusive to not be considered a bad ending. The control and destroy endings can essentially be the same as the Reapers are either destroyed or leave. There is nothing in that ending that requires the Reapers to be ever present except the star child's assumption of what Shepard would do with the control. If Shepard decided to steer the Reapers away from the galaxy, that's essentially the same as them all dying. They aren't around anymore, that's what matters. The ACTUAL biggest obstacles are whether certain species still exist. The Geth and Quarians were exterminated after some choices. You could have Quarian presence low in game and just say either most of them are busy on Rannoch OR the remaining Quarians are exiles who fell out with their people and thus were not present when the flotilla was exterminated. Geth are robots so it's easy to cheese a way for them to be rebuilt again. The Krogan aren't completely eliminated so you'd just have to find a way to acknowledge the genophage if it is still going on. The death of the Councilors felt like a big deal but in the second game their impact is fairly minor. So, the best match in my opinion is Any Quarians you meet are not related to the flotilla i.e exiles. Any Krogan you meet are in limited number. They should be having internal conflict either as a result of the continuation of the genophage or the result of expansion. Large emphasis should be placed on Wrex and/or Bakara (if they are alive) keeping things from getting worse and trying to keep diplomacy channels open so that the curing of the genophage doesn't feel cheap and pointless. Maybe the Geth could be rebuilt by the Quarians if they are alive and if both are dead the exiled could be the ones helping to build them (maybe that's the kinda thing that got some of them exiled in the first place.) Aside from Liara and maybe Garrus, squadmates should be fairly new. Other squadmates from previous games should have a smaller role like Wrex in ME2. That's the only way I could see this done without excluding species with an undetermined fate which would be the laziest way to do this.

They could just canonize the Indoctrination Theory, which would also work.

so playing with your alternate universe theory a bit, do the reapers have to loose in that universe it could be that Shepard was never brought back and so the galaxy fell? the reaper corpses could mean the galaxy went down swinging but ultimately lost and now Liara and friends are under attack from the reapers of this alternate universe who have found a way through the anomalies into our Shepard's universe so to fight them off Liara and the crew go to the alternate universe to grab that Shepard's body and mass effect 2 them in hopes of fighting off a new reaper invasion. I doubt that is what is going to happen but the idea of jumping into a universe where the reapers won is interesting in a what if kind of way.

These are all the clues I’ve found that point towards the Jardaan being (or created by) the geth: -They are not originally from heleus -Geth clicking sound in remnant walls (servers to house geth consciousness) -Floating paths similar to geth consensus mission in me3 -Remnant observer mandibles (like Poc) move like legion’s to express emotion -Khi Tasira could be an ark, as it is similar in design and was a temporary habitat for the Jardaan before they completed Meridian. -Codex states that Jardaan had to be at least a type I civilization on the Kardeshev scale. Geth are at most type II, especially after me3 (reaper code + dyson swarm construction). The only races we know of that are possibly more advanced than the Jardaan are Leviathan, Reapers and Geth, if they are not a brand new race. -Jardaan were capable of large scale cooperation and were roughly human sized -Monoliths have similar architecture to newly built quarian city in me3 ending -The geth had an interest in dark energy phenomenon on Haestrom, scourge is a dark energy weapon. -Geth will play an important role in the next game -Both Geth and Angara are included in N7 2023’s poster and are interacting with each other

Very interesting theories 😁. The Jardaan and the Jheln i think will have a significant part to play in the next mass effect imo, then there is 'the opposition' as well. There's barely any information on the jheln as it is except for one mention amongst the details about the scourge.

would be very cool if the reapers, instead of hibernating in dark space...actually travel from galaxy to galaxy in local cluster doing same thing trying to find the "Solution". and Scourge was Andromeda's solution to defeating the Reapers.

Amazing vid. You remind me of gamermd83 back in the the early trilogy days. I think the Jaardan will be allies but the "opposition" who set off the scourge will be the new villains.

Interesting theory! I guess this could also be supported by Liara creating the time capsule about Shepard no matter what, so the alternate Shepards could get up to speed. And the alternate Shepard who has no recollection of the events with the reapers would also cover group E - people who never played the original trilogy in the first place, who I'm sure Bioware have in mind too. So I could see them going this direction. Though personally I would prefer taking it a step further and finding a loophole where the original Shepard's memories could somehow be preserved in the sequel as having things I did constantly explained to me would feel slightly jarring.

Think the issue wouldn’t be the endings but rather the quariens and geth Unless they would be brought from the mirror universe as well

I love the: "Shep Uploaded" I find it funny, i don't know why

The only way to fix the plot is starting from the beam blast before the ending.

i just finished my 3rd playthrough of the trilogy, these videos are giving me excellent copium for the next 5 years

Things I wished the game had focused on: - we gathered all these teams for what again? -the arachnids I wanted to know more about them -those spider creatures fixing the citadel we weren’t allowed to interact with… what happened, who made them? I’d love to find out more about them -who created the reapers and why couldn’t we go to their homes?

This is really well thought out. I only feel that the multiverse situation also brings along multiverse villians. It is possible that the Andromeda enemies coming while Situations A, B, C, and D are being resolved. Or, It could be a situation of only Situations "A, C, and D" where Anomalies are appearing everywhere and causing problems and Another Universe is mixing in. More than likely, A, C, and D will only be included and B will be left out. The idea of a positive situation switching to a problematic one is less likely. Let's face it only Nice people like the world to be in a happy place. So we will probably start with Everything messed up. Also Only the geth that were outside the System will survive. Which is probably why they only show that Disc. So we will probably be facing a Super computer version of the geth. As well as Probably other Major Enemies coming from other versions of the universe. Possibly even Universes that have lost and are far worse than just a reset.

also, would be very cool to find new friends/enemies in Segue 1, the little galaxy hanging off of the Milky Way...outside the relay network.

It's sad that I had to search Mass Effect and scroll for a long time to see something as high-quality as this.

There's nothing that says there only has to be one big bad, and also nothing that says there's only going to be one more ME game. The original trilogy had different antagonists in each game even though the reapers were the real villains behind the scenes. ME1 had Saren and the Geth with Sovereign being a shadowy figure until right at the end, ME2 had the Harvesters with Harbinger pulling the strings, and ME3 we finally faced the Reapers themselves. What if we're in for another trilogy? Let's have some fun and presume your theory is correct in that Liara and co. are retrieving Shepard from an alternate universe where he's still laying there flash frozen on Alchera. Remember how the Leviathans see themselves as being above the other races, and the only reason they weren't still in charge of the galaxy is their own hubris in creating the Reapers? That was their civilization's undoing, but not the end of their species. It's possible that the Leviathans could see the aftermath of the Reaper war as an opportunity to take charge again, and we already know that they can easily destroy (or possibly control) Reapers based on ME2 and ME3 so them deciding to take over again could still happen in a control or synthesis playthrough. Maybe there would be more time to find a solution to defeating the Leviathans in the control/synthesis endings because the Leviathans would first have to deal with whatever Reapers survived the war, and especially in the synthesis ending because there would be less inter-species squabbling over who would be in charge in the aftermath and the races would be working together. Destroy would be a little trickier but that could be explained by the Leviathans perhaps being intrigued by Shepard passing on what they would likely see as the obvious choice with the most immediate benefit (control) or the biggest long term benefit (synthesis) and instead opting to destroy the Reapers at the cost of significant damage to civilization across the galaxy, as well as destroying all synthetic life (unless the star child was lying about that part like many theories suggest) and leaving everyone vulnerable to another powerful race such as the Leviathans. How would they know about the choices given to Shepard by the star child? They created the star child. Why wouldn't they also be affected by the synthesis ending? They created the star child, and they watched the crucible being built, so it stands to reason they would know how to avoid it's effect. In a destroy/perfect destroy ending the Leviathans could perhaps opt to offer their assistance in rebuilding the mass relays in exchange for influence over policy and giving each government orbs to communicate through, which could easily translate into them taking control of leaders through the orbs and staging a bloodless coup in each government. Shepard would be the only one to truly understand what is going on since he was the only one to actually meet a Leviathan face to face and know what they are truly capable of. But that would be an advantage left to perfect destroy Shepard since that meeting takes place in ME2, which never happened for "alternate universe" Shepard. Perhaps the first time alternate universe Shepard meets a Leviathan in ME5 they contact him in the same way as in ME2 and he learns everything then, while "prime universe" Shepard tells them where to stick it because he's played that game before. The Jaardan could still make an appearance in ME6 or even toward the end of ME5, potentially giving the player a choice between allying with the Leviathans against a common foe once again or refusing, which would cause them to go back into hiding. That could influence how (or even if) the Leviathans appear in ME6. Do they stand by and watch the milky way races fight the Jaardan without interfering, or do they take a more active role against the invaders? ME7 could see a return to Andromeda. Lots of things to do there with filling in plot holes and unresolved arcs from Andromeda, like finally finding out what happened with the missing Quarian Ark and the true origin of the Scourge, leading to a way to neutralize it and subsequently defeat the Jardaan. But yeah it's just theorycrafting that probably doesn't matter much in the end, but at least it's fun.

Yes, I believe that planet could be Alchera. Why the Shadow Broker would return to where she decided to give Shepherd's remains to Cerberus versus the Collectors is a mystery for now and finding a helmet piece certainly would bring a pang of nostalgia. Yes to the Scourge being a possible story plot. No to the alternate Universe cop-out. Lastly, no to Shepherd being the protagonist in the future of Mass Effect. All of your ending theory-craft is done purely to bring Shep back. Frankly, I hope BioWare leaves the ending resolutions to a Memorial VI and moves on to another exciting story of impending doom.

hopefully they keep the story simple. I think the dead reapers imply that the destroy ending was canon. Then if they do this, the main antagonist would be Geth/AI, which was heavily implied in ME3 as a consequence of destroying reapers. Also, the main goal would be repairing mass relays/trying to bring the galaxy together, which I think is implied by the trailer, as many voices are seemingly sending 'signal lost' pings into space, looking for other life. There will be too much writing slosh, what ifs, and contradictions if they try to make all endings hold true. Also I think the liara scene is simply her recovering shepard's body for cerberus in ME2. I don't think it means anything more. If they want a new ME to be successful, they need to look back at what made ME1 great - simple story that introduces new universe with interesting characters. Making destroy ending canon would do this, as the galaxy is now completely cutoff from each other, with a goal of repairing mass relays and trying to recover. Also introduce geth/AI war, which was implied as a consequence of destroying reapers. And please have linear gameplay... ME:A open world was not good.

What do you think of the ancient AI you can find on Veold? It intentionally lies about its true nature, despises organics and predates the angara. It also resembles geth with its single eye light. It never got any kind of resolution in Andromeda so do you think they might explore its origins in the next game?

Hi! Please Help, in legenday edition ps4 , with more than 5000 resources and full reputation, the Catalist dont mentioned “sinthesis” final option 😔 (so, not availaible), somebody knows what is wrong? In this version, need more military resources?

Honestly they should just cannonize the most popular choices from the trilogy Rachni live Council was saved from sovereign Genophage cured with wrex and eve alive Quarians and geth find peace All squadmates live except, Virmire Sacrifice, Mordin, Thane, and Legion Perfect destroy ending. Thats the only way to please the most fans, while still being able to tell a good story. And we also have the data from the LE to show this.

My idea would be to sidestep all the endings altogether, and have the Reapers ‘win’. Essentially, Shep bleeds out when they collapse, and what we get after the elevator starts, is Shep’s mind playing out as it dies, coming up with wild ideas. In the real world, the Reapers destroy the crucible, and the forces of the galaxy order a full retreat. You can come up with various ways in which a fair amount of each race could outrun and hide from the Reapers until they finished their harvest. You can then jump ahead a couple hundred years, and have the setting of the game be a kind of post-apocalypse rediscovery of the galaxy we knew from the trilogy. This way, it gets around the complex issue of having 3(or 4) different states of the galaxy moving forward, and doesn’t invalidate anyone’s ME3 runs, because what they experienced IS what THEIR Shepard experienced as they died. And for extra zest, the perfect destroy with Shep drawing a breath, could in fact be them waking up in the rubble of the crucible after the Reapers destroyed it in this proposed outline.

honestly I was just hoping they would pull a "Lost" card and the endings are just purged out of existence with enough creativity it could work

I think one thing is obvious to me: regardless of how well-made it was, I need to get my hands on a copy of Andromeda Deluxe because its relevance seems due for the next game and I’m totally out of the loop 👀 Also, I don’t know how relevant this is but to put it out there, Casey Hudson’s concept art shared on N7 Day 2019 includes a depiction of the Normandy. “ . . . so many stories yet to tell”, he said. Considering that their core concept hasn’t changed since he left Bioware, it might be safe to say that at least some version of the Normandy crew will be back.

So… while not a theory it’s self, I have and Idea on how to inform some future theories. First: see who all are known to be on the teams making the next Mass Effect. Get an idea of their writing style, and what plot mechanics they frequently use, and or like. Mix and match those plot points in a way that works within the ME universe. Though we should still let our minds run crazy on how to smoothly progress the story. We should also have a few theories about what the writers are likely to come up with (within the context of their style and past works. And I just completed Deus Ex: HR/MD, loved them, and can’t wait to see what the Narrative Director (Mary DeMarle) comes up with for Mass Effect!)

Dang, well done! You know there is something that a lot of people do forget. Shepard wasn't fully human. Shepard was brought back in ME2. Miranda had to use bio synthetic fusion. Thus, this makes Shepatd similar to Miranda, Oriana, and Grunt. I know that's not a popular idea, but honestly, can anyone say it completely wrong? So since the Reapers have been around for Billions of years, couldn't Shepard just grow a new body if his/her mind was in control of the Reapers.? As for synthesis, it was Shepards bio synthetics fusion that finally made synthesis an option for "stopping the cycle." So Shepard DNA is pretty much available. Now, if Shepard breath after destroy well, that sloves itself. If not, what if Liara and Miranda were eighter working together to bring back Shepard by trying to find enough pure Shepard DNA. Or maybe they are racing each other. If Cerberus is going to come back, who is better than Miranda using it to restart project Lazarus? So there you have my bring Shepard back opinion. However, you sent me a reply a few videos back that I couldn't respond to to dealing with a severe illness. Which is why I haven't been online much. You said you didn't see Bioware pushing Liara on players to be Shepard LI. Please allow me to make my case. 1. Liara is the only LI from ME1 or ME2 that bioware wrote that can not die. Some LIs in more ways than one. Yes, Traynor and Steve do live in ME3, but Shepard dies. 2. Bioware gives Shepard mult opportunities to pick Liara or choose Liara over a different LI Hell Liara even tries to break Shepard and another ME2 LI in Miranda former office, which, if you think about, really takes a "quad" if it Shepard and Miranda, Liara is trying to break up. Everyone else it a one-shot chance unless it's Kaden or Ashley, but still, they are far short compared to Liara. 3. Bioware never lets the crew confront Liara, who gives Shepard to Cerberus. Sure, Tali or Garrus can get called romances with Shepard, but no one questions Liara And the fact Liara gave Shepard body to Cerberus isn't a factor in Shepard trail? 4. When Drew Karpyshyn left Bioware and 2 of the reasons, admittedly, there were more than 2 was EA pushed completion on ME3 and wanted market research to used in story writing. Since bioware pushed so much time and effort in Shepard and Liara, especially Femshep and Liara, what could the team do with fans wanting Miranda, Tali, and Jack to be romanceable to Femshep. 3 very popular downloadable Mass Effect MODS is Femshep being able to romance them (note I didn't say the most popular) So how does Bioware "protect Liara"? They have Tali favorite vid be "Fleet and Flotilla" growing up, and then have Her and Garrus end up together. As for Miranda and Jack... OH They don't get along due to "sexual tension." BIoware even goes as far as to have BroShep suggest this even if he is in a romance with Miranda or Jack. Finally, who would ever let their girlfriend or boyfriend get away with the things bioware let's Liara get away with? Seriously.

I know it was a jest but the clone in the citadel DLC technically exists in canon so chances are it would be a clone than an alternative universe shep. Also before ME3 the original reason for the Reapers was that wide scale use of Mass Effect technology created Dark Energy pockets that would expand and consume the galaxy hence the Reapers would have to cleanse the Galaxy of sapient beings that use the technology in order to allow for Dark Energy levels to return to normal (or to harvest it, i can't remember fully), we see hints of this with Haestrom or the mention of Dark Energy from Veetor. I hoped that the Scourge is the result of no cleansing effort being implemented but that's just my head canon. Would be nice to see this being the galaxy wide calamity that needs to be solved if they went with this route and connects Andromeda with the Milky Way.

You know I really like this theory especially when you also explained how with every choice and consequences in terms of replacing or mirror based on player choice im not the only one who noticed this and has said you can used this in the next mass effect game. Its the simplist and yet adds more excitement based on player choice and the possible experience they get based on choice and even add multiverse but in a way that's not lazy and can be done well through intimate character development and character arcs. But i wont get too hyped about this because its a theory.

Theory for shepherd’s return for synthesis/control endings. Using advanced technology, artificially creating a bio-synthetic body, that nether qualifies as a clone, nor as a mechanical approximation of one (like from terminator) but a fabricated (or in loose simpler terms, a 3d printed) recreation of shepherd’s body (and probably a nice Segue into character creation) A perfect melding of man and machine. And for perfect destroy, maybe they use a fraction of salvaged data from project Lazarus, to help shepherd heal (but don’t have him as bad off as he was last time he needed it, for example: at the start of ME2) or do… if you didn’t get the perfect destroy ending. (But that’s a stretch, and most of the research and equipment is no longer available. Sooo. Maybe something else that acts as a similar Deus Ex Machina)

I think it will be a default destroy ending. With a paragon run. Quarians saved Genophage cured Rachni saved Everything else depends on how much detail BioWare goes into. And what they remember.

Who are the bad guys? The Leviathans. They basically say this at the end of their mission. Also if the reapers are alive they would be pissed. If they’re dead there is nothing to stop them from taking over (well other than Shepherd). How can EDI and Geth live after distraction? Hard reset prior to explosion. It wouldn’t be hard to wright it in to the ending. As for Hero? The only hero I can see coming back and fixing the ending is Shepherd. But to do that it would have to be shortly after the ending otherwise some fans would be disappointed that Shepherd can’t get back with LI.

I would absolutely canonize one Shepard with a single path they took along each choice. We’ve had over 10 years to develop our head canon, now it’s time to scrap all the vague, shallow bullshit ME 2 and 3 had to resort to to accommodate some of the more odd choices and make an actual, solid game that can support future installments. All that without creating even more branching yet superficial alternate versions just to accommodate “player choice”.

I still doubt the alternative universe theory but it is interesting to hear. I think control would have Sheppard rebuilding his/her body with reaper tech. In synthesis liara or another protagonist would use newly accessible tech to rebuild Sheppard. Not sure about basic destroy but in perfect destroy Sheppard could end up in something similar to a bantha tank from Star Wars healing slowly from traumatic wounds and might come out with deficits.

The best ending is the do nothing ending don’t @ me

cool ideas

The curing and not curing the genophage is not a problem going forward. The cure did not work or does not last. It doesn't present a problem in the cartoon with the baby Krogan because Krogans can still have babies. It would be easier to treat each ending as cannon and merge them in the first chapter so subsequent chapters won't have to carry those choices. A method to accomplish that is each choice does not last. 1. Synthesis does not last. Over time the DNA is rejected. 2. Control did not destroy Shepard and does not work. It converted Shepard into energy but eventually reorganized back to matter. 3. By doing nothing we see what Leviathan really can do. After they mopped up the Reapers they left. I don't want to write an essay but you get the point. Instead of commonality the merging is done over time and the choices did not go exactly as stated.

would the alternite universe shepard be the same! like personality and memory wise cuz i think it would suck if this shepard is way different like not being a soldier like the main one was

How about going through time to if the reaper war never happened

Atharia, I just saw ME3's ending. In the epilogue, the starchild asks grandpa for one more story.... but, (I it seems to me) the kid says "the shepard", not "shepard". If this is the case, the next story should include "a shepard", but not "the shepard we all now and love". Would you please comment on this avenue,, thanks

If there's no major time jump, then the question must be asked as to why there are Angara in the promo images. Bioware is very particular about what they reveal and how they do it, so either the Jardaan brought them with them (which would be kind of weird), or there's going to be a lot of hand-waving taking place. I'm of the opinion that the big bad is going to be the Kett, or something Kett-related. The Jardaan appear to have been obsessed with the continuation of life as a whole (the "machinery of life must continue"), so why they would become an invading force would require some thought. Of course, the answer to the question of what caused the detonation of the Scourge weapon in the first place has yet to be answered - so it could be THAT. Something Reaper-scale, but with entirely different motivations. It'll be interesting to find out!

I dont know why the new game should be about saving the galaxy again, you can make a good mass effect game about a young man or woman surviving a postwar galaxy as a colonist for example and bring shepard as your teammate for a mission, the thing is they need to canonize one ending and most probably will be perfect destroy

The plot could just be about Liara struggling to let go of Shepard and causing multiversal problems in trying to find him to say her goodbyes. Maybe an evil/indoctrinated Shepard gets into our home universe and is threatening everything unless we can return him to his own universe, which might be a dying "refusal" universe. Or maybe he was abducted from his universe near the start of the game's events, critically destabilizing his own universe, so he's gone "rogue" from our perspective out of rage that his own universe was sacrificed by our universe's Liara just for her to get some semblance of closure. Multiverses also allow for all three endings to be "canon" by having us visit and witness all three of the post-credits universes.

So I have a heavy duty tinfoil hat theory So the N7 in 2023 teaser trailer is a renegade EDI not the EDI we know. So when we destroyed EDI on Luna she broadcast that help message at the same time cerberus downloaded, so did the alliance military instead of the cerberus paragon version EDI we get a alliance military renegade EDI that is N7 trained and is trying to take out the OG squad mate that killed her on Luna in ME1 that is why we see her hair outline in the 2023 teaser poster. How it ties in to your video I don’t know. Other then liara is looking for clues at the normandy SR1 crash site of why surviving crew members of SR1 are turn dead so that is my tinfoil hat theory

So in 3/4ths of the playthroughs we wont be playing as our original shepards? I dunno. I don't think theres any clean way to bring Shepard back. I think you have to lose a lot of integrity to do that. Multiverses are too big of a leap

Don't make me finish andromida

Here's the thing: with Bioware's history of "changing plots", if this was the original (actually quite interesting, if a bit speculative) idea, it won't be now, because they always change things if players guess the next steps (ie, Bioware's writers cheat). If we want a good game, seriously, we need to stop speculating just in case we move them from the more interesting storylines (ie, dark matter) to the 3-colour endings because they dropped enough breadcrumbs for players to guess the ending. I'm only half joking.

I'm confused on Alchera. Yeah it has the three moons, but the methane ammonia atmosphere without wearing a breathing apparatus... hmm.

very cool video and ideas :D but in the end I hope, they will not bring shepard back as the protagonist. maybe its just me, but I think we can move on now from shepard and make another cool character

I need you and Kala to do a collab immediately please

They also make another shepherd clone struggling to live up to the original . Have him/her created by earth and looked down on by the citadel council for being a knock off. Then have him prove himself and the galaxy to be his own person and that they can save the galaxy.but hey... that's just a theory 😅

Good theories, however it seems like you’re implying the player will import their ME3 save. As many players will have that on hardware 2 generations old (Xbox 360, for example) I doubt importing saves will be considered for the new Mass effect. Yes there’s legendary edition, but there are still many, many people whose ME experience was during the initial release. Makes me feel nostalgic just thinking about it 😂

The first step in solving most problems involves using a hammer. I'm sorry I had to add a bad joke at some point. That being said, great video. I also like the Jardan being the villains. Like I said use a hammer.

Synthesis ending doesnt pass the test. If everyone is sythesized, the same weapon that would kill reapers would kill everyone. Also, you run into the problem of the andromeda ppl coming back and not being synthesized.

👍🏼

I don't think alternate universe theory is real I do think the endings will not matter

I was pretty much with you all the way up to bringing the alternate universe Shepard into it. I just think it is a bad idea. Alternate universe Shepard is simply not Shepard, even if they look the same and have the same DNA. You put identical twins into very different environments from birth and they will be completely different people. Now, take a genetically identical Shepard from a universe where they didn't save the citadel from Sovereign, the geth and Saren, did not destroy the collectors on a suicide mission through the omega 4 relay and did not unite the galaxy in a fight to end the Reapers and you have someone who isn't Shepard. And why would Liara want to go to all the effort to pluck a not-Shepard from a random alternate universe?

But if you're Shepard from alternate universe, do you really want to find yourself away from the actual universe and people you care about? Wake up and be told that you have to fight some big bad for guys that might look familiar, but have emotional attachments to another version of you? The clone we meet at one point cannot live with this weight and decides to end their existence rather than to be a second. OK, maybe you, as a new Shepard, are told, that once you defeat the big bad they will return you to your reality. But that's still a dirty thing to do to a person you don't know. I wager fighting the big bad under this kind of duress would not end good. And you might as well just join the big bad just to spite the "saviors" of your life.

I love the thought that you put into this video, but I don’t want Shepard to be the protagonist. I think that Shepard’s story is over and we need a new threat and a new protagonist. I’m also good with a time jump because I want to see how the choices we made in the trilogy affect the far future. I’m good with no ending being canonized, because that would make us play the trilogy over and possibly make different choices to make different world states. I do appreciate the time you put in to come up with these theories. They do make me think.

Only downside to your steps is swallowing the pill that we will never get a Asari/Turian/Quarian/Krogan/Salarian protagonist for a change. Im just sick and tired of the protagonist ALWAYS being a human. Humanity isnt the center of the universe Bioware.

I am certain a tweet was put out by another content creator stating that bioware already said the destroy ending was cannon AND shepherd wasn't going to be in this one, so why all the mental gymnastics???

I like your theory a lot, but it has one plot hole in my opinion. What about Leviathan ? Because let's be real, the only reason we were not all their vassal races worshiping them as gods is because of the Reaper threat forcing them to stay low key. We know they can destroy a reaper and mind control us through the orbs and we have placed those orbs all around the galaxy during the fight against the reapers. So they can absolutely try and take back control of the galaxy. I wrote a huge post on why I believe Leviathan is the creator of the Crucible in the comments section of your last stream just a couple of hours ago, I'll paste it as an answer of this post for anyone interested but I want to focus here on how this would help with having Leviathan being the villain no mater the ending. In short The AI on the citadel, the crucible, wasn't as powerful as we were led to believe, he was in fact shackled at least partially that's why the catalyst works as it does, the crucible is forced to offer the 3 solutions, destruct included. And when you think about it even control is bad for it because Shepard replaces the AI in controlling the Reapers. Only synthesis might be a good option for the catalyst because it fulfills it's purpose, preventing synthetics from whipping out organic life. But really if we go with the theory that the crucible is invented by Leviathan then in fact all 3 endings could be a trap : -Destroy really kills all the reapers and the AI leaving all the evolved races of the milky way weak after the reaper war and ripe to be conquered by Leviathan. -Control might be a way to remove the reapers from the AI control because Leviathan cannot influence it, but it could have planted a seed in our brain when we were underwater facing them ans thanks to this they can force us to destroy the reapers we now control . -Same with synthesis, it might give Leviathan an edge over the reapers, maybe now that they're more similar to us and/or because they have Shepard's DNA they can also mind control them, after all we don't know exactly what they did to us when they were in our brain. And of course if they made the crucible's plans they would have made sure not to be affected by synthesis themselves. So leviathan waits for us with or without the reapers to repair enough so that interstellar travel and communication is again possible then uses the orbs to take back control. If the reapers are still around they force the reapers to destroy themselves, maybe using the omega 4 relay then destroying the side where the collector's base was, that way the reapers are trapped in the black holes thing or destroyed by the relay explosion (could tie in with the destroyed relay teased in 2020). They don't keep the reapers around, even under control, because it's too dangerous, reapers are the only force strong enough to be a real threat to them. Of course they don't control every single living being in the galaxy, just enough in key roles like governments and military officers, something like that. They also control the citadel and through it the relays so one thing that needs to be done to be able to fight back is to have our own relay network that we control, not just for travel but also for communications. Remember that the comm buoy work through the relays too so every interstellar communication could be intercepted by Leviathan's minions if we used the normal network. This would explain the human made relays with Cerberus colors. And also if the Jardaan were the new enemy Leviathan would still be a big player because when they defeated the reaper in the DLC they didn't use weapons but their mind, some sort of biotic power maybe ? So I would assume that the electromagnetic wave that grounded us and many other vessels before ours was also created using biotics and not a weapon. When we saw them they didn't seem to be using any kind of technology really, no lights in the water indicating a city or anything mechanical around. Plus they could also probably use the orbs to control the Jardaan themselves. It would make sense that the only reason they couldn't beat the reapers is because they couldn't mind control them but that's not the case with the Jardaan who are very advanced technologically but still organic beings.

i think the alternate universe theory might be too far fetched there has to be a more "viable" solution, otherwise i dont think we are getting back shep :(

Problem with the test: The trailer includes Geth. If a player choose the destroy ending (perfect or not), then the Geth would have been destroyed. Thus, they could not be in the trailer without making either Control or Synthesis ending cannon. Thus, we know that the Destroy ending is not cannon.

Why couldn’t they clone shepherd and the memories. Just a thought

I think the protagonist of the next game will be the daughter of Shepard and Liara.

Hey....Let the people getting paid to come up with the next Mass Effect do some of the work..wait a minute...

Please don't bring up the alternate universe theory. Its probably project Lazarus 2, Liara trying to recover some DNA left of Shepard in Alchera. Let's say hi again to Miranda.

great job 💯👍