Harvest Theory (BSN Repost)

Andromidius wrote:Honestly this is less a theory, more stating the obvious. The Reapers sowed their crops, allowed them to grow and have now returned to reap their harvest.

Problem is, parasites have taken root and need to be eradicated.

(Edit: This is a positive post. +1)

Cssteele wrote:Okay, that I can get behind. Especially 'part two' there. The first bit about the Protheans and the Leviathans has no support, but it is an interesting theory.

Part two there is ... well, makes sense to me. I believed they wanted Shepard for the 'capstone' of the Reaper since back in ME2.

ALERT ALERT ITER HERE

Don't reply if you're just going to be a meany. You were warned. Now that that's over with, I'll take it from both a Literal and IT(or my own version of it) standpoint.

Literal:

Synthesis - He dies, but his 'essence' is spread in order to change all of the galaxy. In a way, think 'good husks' (with Shepard as the..um..heh.. 'Catalyst', the failures of the Reapers is brought to success) So he lives on in others.

Low EMS Control - He dies, but his 'essence' is put into a Reaper (a leader one?). Galaxy is kinda poop. So he lives on as as new Guardian of the galaxy.
High EMS Control - He dies, but his 'essence' is put into a Reaper (a leader one?). Galaxy is pretty alright. So he lives on as a new Guardian of the galaxy.

Low EMS Destroy - He dies, and Reapers are destroyed. Galaxy is kinda poop.
High EMS Destroy - He dies, and Reapers are destroyed. Galaxy is pretty alright.
Max EMS Destroy - He lives, and Reapers are destroyed. Galaxy is pretty alright.

Refuse - He dies, and the cycle is continued. Next cycle galaxy is at least hinted to have defeated the Reapers.

So he dies in all but one ending. He's copied into a framework for a Reaper AI in Control, and used as the framework for spacemagic in all synthetics and organics in Synthesis, but his ....well, as Harbinger (you know, the one who was supposed to be the 'big bad'?) put it: Pain is an illusion. The flesh is a machine.

Shepard, as we know him for 99% of the series, has died in all but one ending. Shepard, as we may wonder him to be (Dominator), lives in Control, to some players. Shepard, as we may wish him to be (Savior), lives in Synthesis, to some players. But again, that's up to perception. His mortal form is absolutely killed in all but one ending though.

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And now my personal Indoctrination take. Yay more interesting! First, will be what I think the ending slides, scenes, and wording by the Catalyst/Shep-AI/EDI/Hackett really mean, and then I will say what I think is actually happening outside of the dream. Again, personal take. Don't go flailing around calling me an idiot.

Messages:

Synthesis - EDI is in a dream world, and she can't even tell (as she 'lacks salient information'). She can't tell that she's in his matrix, and everyone else is trapped. Now, the Reapers truly understand organics, because they took what Shepard learned about organic-synthetic relations and utilized it into what is the new form of the cycle, one where Javik... doesn't question the Reapers. One where EDI doesn't reprogram herself ('learning'), but instead is grateful for being provided the means to emotions. One where all organic live is covered with green techno-squigglies.
Anyway, is Shepard dead here? Yes. He's at least part of a Reaper now, grats.

NOTE: I picked Synthesis on my first playthrough. I love the ideals of it, but disagree strongly with allowing the Reaper Controller to provide the means to it, in such a short timeframe. Spells out disaster to me, and the ending doesn't give me nearly enough answers on how it really plays out. EDI being happy can be hugely subjective information.

Low/High EMS Control - You're now just as bad as the Reapers. They, even in their arrogantassery, continued in the series to regard themselves as the saviors of the galaxy, even as they *kill off trilions* of its inhabitants. You embraced the methods and means that just 10 minutes ago, you were shouting down the Illusive Man over. In the end, you're shown to be on the inside of a Reaper, which regardless of your internal RPing, *every* Shepard would have been against until the end. If you chose Control to ensure peace, how will you enforce this peace? If you chose it to rule the galaxy, how will you exercise this rule? Your troops are husks of organics, and Reapers still have the blood of trillions on them. What's wrong with this picture? Is Shepard dead here? Yes. And in more ways than one...
All you do in Control is give the Reapers another chief personality to make into their new Shepard Reaper.

Low EMS Destroy - You stuck to the plan, to stop the Reapers at any cost. But it can be debated that the cost this time, was too great. The galaxy is hobbling along, and probably won't get on its feet for at least decades, if some other huge war doesn't break out. You've left the galaxy in huge uncertainty, and you know this is a 'Future Many Will Never See'. Dead? Yes.

High EMS Destroy - You were simply much more prepared, and had a much better fate after the Reapers' destruction. However, for some reason, it wasn't enough, and are you dead? Yes.

Max EMS Destroy - Hope. The embodiment of Shepard, by the time the end of ME3 rolls around. He climbed out of the rubble of the Council Chambers in ME1. He helped his allies out of it in ME2. And now, in ME3, he's stuck, weakened by the conflict both internally and externally, waiting for someone to pull him out of the rubble instead, this time around. Alive? No - they all but explicitly state it.

Refuse - You gave up. Amazing Shepard speech, yes, but it missed one thing... you saw an opportunity to stop the Reapers, and you didn't take it. While its a moral victory in some ways, it also means that Shepard, again, lost what makes him SHEPARD. In the view that the Crucible choice is more symbolic and metaphorical, it means that Shepard has lost any potential to stay as himself, and that the Reapers finally brought him down, no delusion required. You beat the Reapers, but they beat the galaxy. This is where you take the good parts of Javik's lessons into context, but when you pick Refuse, you didn't, and you failed. You retain some hope in the beacons, that maybe, next time, the next cycle's species will clue in earlier... that the Crucible 'doesn't work'.


To end, my Indoctrination take:

I think that Shepard actually lives in all the high-EMS endings but Refuse.

Synthesis - Shepard may survive, but he'll be Saren 2.0. The Paragon Shep hasn't used his ties to others as a strength, and instead it blinded him to what is happening to him. The Renegade Shep sees this as the way to get the job done, and to neutralize the threat. Both are capitulations to the Reapers, and when Shepard wakes up, he'll be fully converted to the Reapers, barring any standoff with his LI, close friends, etc. EDI and the geth themselves, would have rejected Synthesis at this point - why make this choice for them? You 'fell for it'.

Low/High EMS Control - Not sure how EMS will play into it, but I think that Control leads to Shepard being TIM 2.0. You'll not be fully indoctrinated, but quite enough to have your actions play directly and indirectly into the Reapers' intentions. You 'dug the wrong way', and in thinking you avoided the Reapers' 'solution', you grasped the same 'energy' that Synthesis was even made of. Yet, people will pick this because they think the Geth and EDI will die and Synthesis is just too far out for them. It's a trap, but still a more sneaky one. But come on! You've been warned against Control for at least 2 games now! If you played ME2, you should know about Control. If you played ME1 (and more), you should know about Synthesis!

Whether Shepard survives is up to Bioware, if there's any post-ending Mass Effect content (DLC, expansion, new game) that references the choice as an indoctrination attempt. If I'm wrong, ok, but this is my take so far.

Low EMS Destroy - You rejected the Reapers (sure I'll take your tech... and destroy it and destroy you) and Destroy was only given as an option because if it wasn't, then the whole damn illusion breaks down. Yet break it, you did... with a gun. Like the rest of the series. Illusion shatters. But, if EMS is really 'Shepard's Meter of Hope', then low EMS means you're still a goner. You fought indoctrination and won, but you didn't win in the battle for your life.

High EMS Destroy - Same as above, except you at least have hope enough for the galaxy to pull through.

Max EMS Destroy - I think that Shepard breathing in rubble is more of an easter egg, than a legit scene. It's a lead in to future content, but it doesn't mean that High EMS Destroy NEEDS to be the only one that Shepard's physical form survives in. Anyway, aside from that, Max EMS Destroy means that Shepard also has *hope in himself* to survive this war. You both fought Indoctrination, but also it's effect on your psyche.

Refuse - You're bleeding out in rubble, dead. Harbinger don't give a damn about you at this point, and you sorely disappointed him. He needs you alive and as you always were, not a 'coward' that won't even take the chance to destroy the Reapers. You aren't the anomaly they thought you were, and you succumbed to the pressure in the end.

What's interesting, is how the Protheans essentially did the same things as the Reapers... they enslaved the other races, and those who didn't want to be enslaved, were destroyed. They also 'ascended' lesser races by uplifting them.

I think the whole Leviathan orbs thing is definitely intended to make us think back to the "Prothean" artifacts we discovered in ME1 and ME2. Retrospective foreshadowing is nothing new.