Fetch Quest Journeys Special: The Paragon (Mass Effect)

SPOILER WARNING: The following reveals the conclusion to the Mass Effect Trilogy after Priority: Cerberus Headquarters.

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Game: Mass Effect 3

Quest: Priority: Earth

Location: The Citadel

Summary: For Achilles it was glory, for Aeneas it was civilization, and for Dante it was righteousness. But for Commander Shepard it was the freedom of agency - the fundamental right of sentient life to determine their future - which launched her saga across the galaxy. What Shepard embodies transcends the mantle of leadership, evolving the construct of the epic hero from the traditional singular figurehead into a unity of beliefs, convictions, and revelations of which she becomes a living symbol: The Paragon.

This is the foundation of Shepard's decision to lead the Reapers away from the Milky Way, her rebirth and deification into an entity whose purpose is to allow freethinking beings to thrive of their own cognition while respecting the preservation of all life. In accepting the sacrifice of her corporeal form to uphold this ideal, Shepard has become the modern epic hero.

More information: Priority: Earth | Mass Effect Wiki | Fandom

Mass Effect Legendary Edition. Photo credit: My Shepard Art Creator

The Modern Epic Hero

"A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man." - Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces

"Humanity needs a hero. And Shepard's the best we've got." - Captain Anderson, Mass Effect

As Shepard gazes out into the horizon from the viewing deck of the Normandy, we sense our protagonist is someone extraordinary: A war hero, a survivor, and a ruthless tactician whose military record has earned her esteem among soldiers and superiors. Like the name of the ship she is destined to captain foreshadows the near-impregnable odds she will endure, "Shepard" carries allusions of pilgrimage and guidance, the gentler counterpart to "commander" affirming the power from which she can wield decisive action - two integral aspects of the epic hero. How Shepard balances these two elemental states is challenged by the precepts of truth vs. freedom vs. peace as she rises from human spectre into galactic saviour, prophet to prodigal peacemaker in rites-of-passage encapsulating the archetypal hero's journey.

Like the heroes of myth exemplified in texts across the ancient world which Joseph Campbell discusses in parallel to Luke Skywalker's journey in The Power of Myth, Shepard undergoes a cycle of torment, triumph and figurative rebirth (manifested literally in Mass Effect 2) before the final battle awaits her on the Citadel: The Catalyst. And having overcome everything the Reapers have sought to usurp she has one last thing to give: Herself.

Commander Shepard contemplates her journey. Screen capture: FetchQuester

Breaking the Cycle

Absolute power is a force which should never be harnessed by one person, a defiant Shepard protests when confronting the Illusive Man in their final showdown; he vehemently disagrees, indoctrination encroaching further into the last remaining dregs of reason. "Destroying the Reapers could be the worst mistake we could ever make."

Like Achilles seeking kleos and Aeneas in pursuit of a new world, Shepard has always understood her purpose: Stop the Reapers no matter the cost. Replete with loss but on the cusp of victory, the ghost of her mentor, Captain Anderson, persists in destruction. But what if the Illusive Man is right and the Reaper's tactics could be used against them? What if there is another way to break the cycle which has ravaged the galaxy every 50,000 years for the misguided premise of eliminating conflict between synthetic and organic life?

The player/protagonist is rational in casting suspicion on the Illusive Man's delusions. Yet this could be interpreted as trial by ethics where the outcome is as much decided by the fortitude of one's morality as it is individual choice - a matter of who, how, and why as well as what. 

The disconcerting parallels between hero and villain shift towards an uncomfortable dynamic, compelling us to measure up their flaws and motivations as we lean away from Anderson's solution (destroy) towards the Illusive Man's proclivity (control). But here the similarities end, and the divide between good and evil reach a heightened sense of clarity: The Illusive Man desires control for limitless human supremacy while Shepard perceives control as an act of liberation through restraint and mercy. Just as the virtuous hero draws on the healing properties of a sacred cup for sustenance, a malevolent contender succumbs to its poison; thus the Catalyst exploits one being's power while bestowing their gifts on another.

To destroy is to create: To re-energize, replenish, and resurrect, the tenets of cyclical existence. But this act - while ensuring Shepard's survival - is the antithesis of everything the commander and her allies have been striving towards. It's genocide.

The Normandy. Photo credit: FetchQuester

Crisis of Conscience

"The created will always rebel against their creators... They must, by definition surpass [them]. We helped them ascend so they could make way for new life, storing the old life in Reaper form. Without us to stop it, synthetics would destroy all organics. We've created this cycle so that never happens. That's the solution." 

This is the theoretical construct of the Catalyst, an ancient AI whose designed purpose is to sustain the peaceful balance between all life forms by creating order through chaos. But for all the Catalyst's self-proclaimed wisdom, they have failed to grasp the crux of the issue: Their "solution" is a controlled reproduction of the problem itself, a self-destructive, self-fulfilling prophecy which precludes the path to an enlightened society in which all sentient life can co-exist. The Reapers deny this possibility based on the presumption that conflict will always ensue, but if the universe is full of infinite possibilities, this is short-sighted for a species whose lifespan is eternal. The Catalyst is merely doing what it is programmed to do, following its nature in the same way fire burns of its own volition. But it is Shepard, an organic, who has uplifted the Catalyst to its next stage of evolution by changing the variables and showing the potential for an alternate existence - a concept which lives beyond the scope of the Reapers, rendering their worldview obsolete. "This bond which ties us together is something the Reapers will never understand," Shepard previously declares as she delivers her final speech to the crew before reaching the Catalyst. "It will never be broken."

By fostering cooperation between peoples Shepard has already defeated the Reapers. They are the inadvertent solution they never envisioned: Orchestrating a scenario so dire the galaxy had no choice but to unite in resistance against their oppressors. "In our cycle, the races never came together," observes Javik, the sole survivor of the Protheans. "There was no rallying cry. The future is still out there. It is something my people could never say: There will be a tomorrow." His parting words are a reflection on Javik's personal growth that signal his willingness to acknowledge the merits of equality between species as he discards his former hegemonic beliefs - a living embodiment of how the past can be reconciled with the future through the footsteps of one's ancestors, learning from their mistakes while preserving their achievements. 

Shepard is destined to draw on this ancient wisdom when she makes contact with the Prothean beacon on Eden Prime - the moment our epic hero is given the "call to action" - and traverses distant lands of sublime wonder in her quest for knowledge, encountering awesome characters of mythological proportions (Leviathan) and unravelling mysteries which become the key to victory (the Crucible). Shepard is not alone in her journey, standing on the shoulders of those who came before her as she finds strength and solace in those who ally with her cause, organic and synthetic alike.

Her legacy becomes a series of parables, joining rank with factions whose affiliation would once have been unfathomable: The batarians, rightfully maligned for their practice of slavery, and the wrongfully vilified geth. A once elusive and cryptic enemy, their augmentation into a sophisticated intelligence with acute self-awareness is met with derision by its creators, the quarians, who quick to fear retaliate through force. Shepard can negotiate a process of healing and reparation between the two sides, demonstrating how coexistence can be cultivated even for those whose history is tainted through an empathetic and open-minded approach. Destroying the Reapers themselves would undermine this coexistence and the progress of a foundling species, neglecting Legion's sacrifice and forsaking the premise of enlightenment attained by Shepard's diplomacy. 

The geth now have the opportunity to challenge the questions of existence on their own terms, just as Edi - one of Cerberus' pet projects gone rogue - finds meaning during the infancy of grasping the enigmatic nature of life. "Jeff was the one who allowed me to think for myself," Edi tells Shepard as they prepare for the final assault in London. "But only now do I feel alive. That is your influence." 

Alive. A loaded word whose resonances ripple throughout the galaxy from the singing Rachni to Leviathan itself, embedded in the deepest crevice of the ocean. To be alive, to seek the experience of being alive is to pursue a goal of one's own free-thinking, an epiphany whose journey is as integral as the aspired end itself. 

"Organics seek perfection through technology. Synthetics seek perfection through understanding," The Catalyst proclaims as they suggest synthesis: An infusion of synthetic and organic DNA into singular entities. But Shepard refuses to change the foundational structure of life itself. Life must be given the freedom to follow its own course.

The Citadel: The epitome of galactic civilization and its downfall. Screen capture: FetchQuester

The New Era

"How do you get ready for something like this?" Shepard asks her soulmate, Liara, as their odyssey nears its end. "You cajole and threaten and make tremendous sacrifices," she reflects, "until the galaxy realizes it has someone worth following." She reminds Shepard to take strength in the resolve of those who have pledged allegiance to her, from Garrus the vigilante and Wrex the rebuilder to the pirates of Omega. 

Shepard is no longer soldier or spectre, but a paragon of her own ideals - the personification of a galaxy empowered and unified. She does not seek immortality through kleos (glory through feats of action) or self-revelation and spiritual fulfilment, or even death itself. It is the sanctity of life itself - to be alive, to flourish, to choose one's own path and evolve while marvelling in the miraculous nature of existence among the diversity of the cosmos.

Shepard is more than an exemplar for humanity, but "for all life" who will change the course of millions upon millions of years of history. "Every soul that has ever existed is watching this moment," Javik reminds her - what Shepard has achieved is bigger than Shepard herself. The inescapable loss and grief, the heroism and sacrifice, the threads of hope and promise have laid a groundwork from which civilizations can rebuild, repopulate, and rethink their purpose. The Catalyst passes the mantle; a free and harmonious galaxy can now be.

Her purpose is served; our hero gives one last offering - a blissful, long life among her loved ones - to ascend the final stages of metamorphosis into godhood through apotheosis:

"Eternal. Infinite. Immortal.

The woman I was used these words, but only now do I truly understand them.

And only now do I understand the full extent of her sacrifice.

Through her death, I was created. Through my birth, her thoughts are free. They guide me now, give me reason, direction…

I will rebuild what the many have lost.

I will create a future with limitless possibilities.

I will protect and sustain. I will act as guardian for the many.

And throughout it all, I will never forget.

I will remember the ones who sacrificed themselves so that the many could survive."

The Krogan: In assisting Mordin Solus' cure for the genophage, Shepard has given Tuchanka hope for future generations to rebuild. Screen capture: FetchQuester

Additional Thoughts

Shepard's allegory teaches us how we must learn to work together in the face of an oncoming crisis which is stifling existence on our vulnerable planet. Just as she pleads with the Council to warn them of imminent extinction, they evade responsibility in the same way our governments half-heartedly acknowledge the pleas of our younger generation to act on climate change. Yet despite its bleak outlook, Mass Effect gives us both hope and action, a realization of how cooperation and persistence can change a perceivably inescapable consequence. In this way, Shepard is the modern epic hero we all aspire to be or follow, and her story belongs to all of those who fight for a worthy cause.

"We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children."

- Lucy A.

The legacy of Shepard's sacrifice. Screen capture: FetchQuester

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Sources: 

The Mass Effect Trilogy (BioWare/Electronic Arts); fandom.com

*A special thanks to my paragon and soul-friend, Alexis, for sharing her insights.