THE PARTY ENDED 14 YEARS AGO BUT THEY’RE STILL HERE
Recently I finished ME3 and the trilogy for the first time, and weirdly, Jacob Taylor is one of those characters I find increasingly interesting the more I think about him, precisely because I don't think the games ever quite realized what they had with him or just didn’t give a chance to his character, and, after looking at his romance/presence in the games, I can’t help but be a little frustrated with what they did with his character. (Which I assume is a popular sentiment when it comes to him) It's the typical 'wasted potencial' feel which is why I decided to ramble about it.
He is often criticized as one of the weaker companions in ME2, and I understand why. Compared with the rest of the Normandy's crew, Jacob initially seems almost aggressively… ordinary. Miranda is a genetically engineered Cerberus operative with an awful father and a sister she is desperate to protect, Jack is a survivor of horrific experimentation, Mordin is a brilliant scientist confronting the consequences of his role in the genophage, Thane is a terminally ill assassin trying to reconcile his past with his relationship with his son, Garrus is the vigilante Archangel, Samara is a Justicar bound by an uncompromising code, Legion raises questions about individuality and artificial intelligence, etc etc
And then there is Jacob. He's literally just a guy, a soldier/veteran. But I think that works for him, and he feels like a breather in his interactions after you’re done with other squadmates' quests or conversations.
He was in the Alliance, left, joined Cerberus, and doesn't seem particularly invested in Cerberus itself. He isn't trying to prove himself, avenge anyone, uncover some great conspiracy. He likes working with people he respects, he likes doing something useful, and he likes the occasional drink and hanging out, it seems.
(I also want to acknowledge that there is valid criticism of Jacob's writing specifically in the context of him being a black man, and one of the few black squadmates/prominent characters in the games. His characterization and loyalty mission have been discussed in relation to harmful stereotypes, particularly around the portrayal of his father and the ways his story intersects with ideas about Black masculinity, abandonment, and family. I don't want to dismiss those criticisms simply because I personally enjoy him as a character. If anything, I think they're part of why his writing feels so frustrating,there is a potentially interesting, relatively understated character underneath a story that doesn't always know what to do with him. The fact that I think Jacob could have been a great character isn't an argument that his existing portrayal is above criticism; it's precisely because I think there is something worth preserving that I find the missed opportunities so frustrating.)
The value of having someone who is simply normal
One of the things that made Mass Effect 2 simultaneously fantastic and overwhelming for me is how many companions it has. With the DLC characters included, Shepard is surrounded by an absurd number of people with extraordinary stories and dramatic personal conflicts. Almost every time Shepard walks into someone's room, there is another tragedy, political crisis, philosophical question, or family problem of some kind waiting to be addressed! Ladies, ladies....... calm down!
That makes characters like Jacob, Zaeed, and Kasumi valuable precisely because they provide a different kind of energy. Their stories don't need to carry the same thematic weight as Mordin's or Thane's to be enjoyable! On the contrary, I think Kasumi and Zaeed having these almost “heist/action movie” type of quest was very fun fun and it’s different and made the game not feel heavy and serious all the time, while not seeming too out of place.
Jacob could have occupied a similar space, but in a more grounded and developed way that wasn’t just a one and done quest. After talking to Mordin about the genophage, Shepard can talk to Jacob and simply have a normal conversation. After dealing with Jack's trauma, Miranda's family, or Thane's impending death, Jacob can be the person who says, essentially, "When this is over, let’s have a drink on the Citadel."
For a character like Shepard, it can be extremely important and grounding! Shepard is almost never allowed to simply be a person. Everyone knows who Shepard is. Shepard is the Commander, the Spectre, the person who died and came back, the person Cerberus resurrected and their biggest most important project, the person responsible for stopping the Collectors, Reapers, and eventually the person responsible for saving the entire galaxy....whew!
Jacob is one of the people who…is a soldier and not much else. He sees Shepard as important because his job told him they were important and it was a huge project. That is the foundation of what I think could have been a fantastic friendship (and even romance) arc.
Jacob and the absence of roots
The most interesting thing about Jacob, to ME!, is his lack of attachment.
He seems to have spent most of his life treating everything as temporary. Jobs, locations, relationships are temporary. He doesn't appear particularly frightened by this. If anything, he seems comfortable with it and he took it as his life philosophy. And that makes the possibility of Jacob eventually discovering that he actually does want roots in a time where the world is ending much more interesting. Like the feeling he realized this “too late”.
Jacob's character is sometimes interpreted primarily through his father. Ronald Taylor abandoned his family and eventually became the monstrous ruler of a stranded crew, so it is tempting to read Jacob's reluctance to form attachments as a direct consequence of his father's abandonment. But I don't think the games actually establish that strongly enough.
Jacob doesn't spend Mass Effect 2 obsessing over his father. When he receives the alert about the MSV Hugo Gernsback, his reaction is essentially disbelief, his father must be dead after so long, so something about the report must be wrong, it’s not like he has this realization and utter grief and desire of meeting his father again. His loyalty mission is excellent and very memorable as a mission, but it doesn't necessarily feel like the culmination of Jacob's own emotional storyline in the same way that, for example, Thane's relationship with Kolyat or Mordin's confrontation with the genophage does. It almost feels like the game is bringing back an old ghost simply because Jacob is the one squadmate who happens to have a missing father. I think Kolyat is actually a useful contrast because he demonstrates what it looks like when a father's absence is genuinely central to a son's character. Kolyat's relationship with Thane has been profoundly affected by his father's absence, resentment, and eventual return. With Jacob, that same kind of emotional wound simply isn't as evident.
Jacob's father can certainly be part of the explanation for why he doesn't form roots, but it doesn't need to be the explanation. Perhaps Jacob simply learned to live that way. He doesn't need to stay, to settle or build a permanent life. He can move on.
There is an interesting thematic parallel that ME3 could have explored between Jacob and his father: both men, in very different ways, encounter a life that seems more appealing than the one they currently have and choose to pursue it. Ronald chooses to stay on the island and abandon his family and crew for a life where he has power and control. Jacob chooses to build a life with Brynn rather than continue waiting for Shepard, realizing that he wants something different from the transient existence he had before.
Jacob even compares himself to his father in ME3, wondering whether perhaps they aren't so different. I think that comparison could have been interesting if it were framed as Jacob being afraid that he has inherited his father's selfishness. But the actual comparison comes off as uncomfortable because the situations are so morally disproportionate. Jacob cheating on Shepard and eventually choosing another life is hurtful and selfish, but Ronald Taylor's actions involved the systematic abuse and exploitation of his entire crew.
The character arc Jacob almost had!
This is where Mass Effect 3 could have done something wonderful with him. Jacob meets Brynn and the people working at the refugee facility before Shepard's imprisonment is even over. He has apparently known them for around a year, meaning that this isn't simply a story about Jacob meeting a woman after Shepard disappears for six months and immediately "replacing" Shepard with her.
For a man whose defining characteristic in ME2 is his lack of attachment to things, this could be an incredibly meaningful development: Jacob realizes that he likes having people to protect, he likes being needed, having somewhere to return to. And most importantly, he realizes this at exactly the worst possible time! The galaxy is ending. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. Everyone is desperate to survive, and Jacob suddenly understands that he doesn't merely want to survive. He wants something to survive for. He just got back from a suicide mission, quit his job and now he’s discovering something new about himself after reflecting on the Mediterranean..!
It doesn't require another traumatic backstory or a giant personal quest, it’s almost mundane. Jacob Taylor, who spent his life assuming that he didn't need permanence, discovers that he wants to have dinner with the same people tomorrow, or something so simple that he used to take for granted.
Shepard and Jacob as mirrors?
This also creates a strong parallel between Jacob and Shepard. Jacob is just Jacob. Shepard is Shepard.
Jacob is an ordinary person who has never considered himself particularly important. Shepard is a person whose identity has become inseparable from their reputation and responsibilities.
Jacob can leave Cerberus, can leave the Alliance, can choose where he lives. Jacob can choose Brynn. Jacob can choose a family. Shepard's life is not like that.
Shepard has the Normandy, the crew, the Reapers, the Council, Cerberus, Earth, and eventually the fate of every species in the galaxy.
And yet Shepard may eventually realize that they want some of the same things Jacob wants, a life after the war, however that might look like. There is something especially telling about Jacob teasing Shepard about this. Shepard can mention wanting a family/settle down when they meet him again in ME3, and Jacob essentially points out that everyone knows Shepard loves the Normandy too much for that.
Shepard already has a home. It just happens to be a spaceship full of people. Jacob, meanwhile, has spent his life without one, of feeling like he doesn’t have something solid or in place for him. And by the end of the trilogy, their positions can almost reverse.
Jacob is beginning to build something permanent. Shepard is preparing to risk everything one final time. Jacob's arc could therefore have been about learning that he wants a place to stay, while Shepard realizes that they want that too but may never have the opportunity to build them.
Why the romance fails despite having an interesting premise...to me!
This is why I don't actually think the fundamental idea behind Jacob's romance is inherently bad. In fact, I think it could have been really interesting, even if it ended badly/bittersweet!
The problem is that the games don't give it enough time. Jacob isn't a squadmate in ME3, he barely appears! Shepard doesn't have the opportunity to spend hours talking to him, fighting alongside him, or gradually working through their relationship the way they can with Kaidan or Ashley.
That makes the infidelity especially difficult to sell. The line "Come on, Shepard. Did you want me to wait forever?" line is frustrating, because, again, Kaidan/Ashley are RIGHT THERE. Shepard was gone for six months, yes, but Kaidan and Ashley had already spent three years living with the consequences of Shepard's disappearance from their lives in me1-2 and ther emprisionement in me3. Jacob's relationship with Shepard was much newer, and he had every reason to believe that Shepard might never come back and Jacob's entire character is built around not settling down, very different from the “Yearner 3000 Alenko”.
And that's actually where I think there is a genuinely interesting story buried underneath the execution. Jacob had left Cerberus and was spending that time reflecting on what was actually important to him. After that, he was reconnecting with Brynn who needed his help, someone he had originally met as an acquaintance while they were both working for Cerberus, and eventually becoming part of a community of people he wanted to protect.
Jacob could genuinely love Shepard and still come to the realization that he wants a life that Shepard may not be able to give him. The tragedy isn't necessarily that he stopped loving her; it could be that, for the first time in his life, he finally figured out what he wanted and realized that loving Shepard might not be enough to make their futures compatible. We had the Thane romance where it was doomed from the start for circumstances outside of their control, but it didn't end well because Thane ended up dying. Jacob’s romance could also be one of these types of romances.
He doesn't have to decide that Brynn is "better". He doesn't even have to stop caring about Shepard, he can simply realize that he wants something Shepard may not be able to give him, and while they love each other, it isn’t enough for the relationship to work out.
Desperate times and desperate choices
A particularly compelling version of Jacob's romance would be one built around desperation. The Reaper war creates a very specific psychological environment. Nobody knows whether there will be a tomorrow. Jacob could reach a point where he thinks:
“If the galaxy ends tomorrow, do I really want to spend tonight waiting for a life that may never happen?”
Perhaps he gets close to cheating. Perhaps he actually does! Perhaps he has a moment of weakness with Brynn and immediately realizes something devastating… He doesn't actually want a different woman, he wants the future he imagined with Shepard!
Or perhaps the story goes in a quieter and sadder direction. Jacob realizes that he wants a family. Shepard realizes that they might want one too. But Shepard cannot promise one.
Shepard has a war to finish. There is no guarantee Shepard will survive, or even what she wants after the war is done. It would make Jacob's romance a story about two people who genuinely love one another discovering that love does not necessarily mean they want the same future. And that is far more interesting than simply making Jacob a cheater.
Brynn should have been part of Jacob's story regardless
I think she should exist whether or not Shepard romances Jacob.
Much like Garrus and Tali's relationship, Jacob's personal life should continue to develop independently of Shepard's romance. For a non-romanced Jacob, Brynn represents the culmination of his realization that he wants to build something for himself. For a romanced Jacob, Brynn creates a conflict between the life he is beginning to build with the refugees and the love he already has for Shepard.
That way, the character arc remains Jacob's. It doesn't become a punishment for choosing him as a romance option.
**EDIT/ADDED (I forgot with how long this post was already!)
Of course, this could work if the writers genuinely wanted Jacob's romance to end badly or bittersweetly that bad, in the same way Thane's does. it could be interesting to have a romance that simply doesn't survive the war, not every relationship has to end happily (Similar to Solas from Dragon Age, for example) But again, Thane already exists, and fills that slot.
Again, it would be a much harder thing to sell with Jacob because, unlike Thane, the player isn't given the expectation from the beginning that this relationship is doomed. And after investing in Jacob's romance in ME2, having him suddenly build a life with Brynn largely off-screen understandably felt like a betrayal to a lot of players.
Personally, I think the happiest version would be one where Jacob's realization of what he wants ultimately brings him closer to Shepard rather than away from her. His desire for belonging doesn't have to begin with Brynn; it could have begun with Shepard in the Normandy. Whether they are lovers or simply close friends, Shepard could be one of the first people who makes Jacob realize that he actually likes having someone to come back to after the suicide mission. Brynn and the refugee community could then help him understand what he wants from life, without making Shepard disposable in the process. His arc can still end with Jacob choosing a life for himself and if the romance was intact, choosing to build that life with Shepard.
The missed opportunity of his loyalty mission
This is also why I think Jacob's loyalty mission could have been different.
The Hugo Gernsback mission is memorable and disturbing, but it doesn't plant the seed for Jacob's eventual realization about family and permanence, or…change him as a character in any way, to be honest. In fact, Jacob doesn't seem to have spent the years before this mission desperately searching for his father, grieving him, or hoping that he was still alive. He is mostly confronted with the discovery that his father has been alive and doing something horrific and that’s it, besides the mention that his father's revelation haunts him here and there. The mission gives us more information about Ronald Taylor than it gives us insight into who Jacob is becoming or what this revelation changed in him.
A more character-focused loyalty mission could have introduced some aspect of the Mumbai cell, or another part of Jacob's life outside the Normandy, where we actually see the first signs of him questioning whether he wants to keep living without attachments. Maybe Shepard gets to see Jacob interact with people he has known through Cerberus, or people he has helped, and notices that he is more attached to them than he admits. Maybe the mission forces him to choose between simply completing an objective and protecting people he has come to care about.
It wouldn't even need to be a dramatic revelation. The important thing would simply be to plant the seed there. Then, when ME3 arrives, Jacob's relationship with Brynn and the refugee community becomes a natural continuation rather than a sudden development.
The important realization wouldn't be that Jacob is afraid of being like his father(?) or come to the acceptance that his father was a monster. It would be that Jacob is beginning to understand himself, he isn't actually incapable of attachment. He simply never had a reason to choose it before!
Using Mordin as a comparison
Mordin's development is so effective because the game forces him to confront his own ideas through direct experience. The genophage isn't abstract anymore.
The consequences of his scientific work aren't abstract. and he sees what happened to the krogan. He sees what his former student AND the female krogan are willing to do and endure due to this. He has to confront the fact that his work continued beyond his own intentions and that the people affected by it are not statistics or a theoretical population. They are people standing in front of him. His character changes because his understanding changes.
Jacob could have received a quieter version of the same treatment, because he doesn't need to suddenly uncover some enormous hidden trauma or have his entire worldview shattered. His character is already relatively stable. Could be something simply mundane like realizing he likes to be needed and protecting people.
And that realization could be so different precisely because it is so ordinary.
Kaidan proves that "ordinary" can be compelling
Kaidan is another excellent example of this. Kaidan doesn't undergo a gigantic transformation throughout the trilogy. He doesn't need Shepard to solve his life. His L2 implants don't need to be "fixed." His old students don't need to be rescued with Shepard’s help. His career doesn't need to be rebuilt.
He's simply a person who already has a fairly solid understanding of himself. His story is largely about relationships, trust, and what kind of future he wants. By the end, his feelings for Shepard are refreshingly uncomplicated. He just wants that cookie real bad ! And have a life with them hopefully after the war!!
Jacob could have had something similar while remaining distinct. Kaidan can represent the person who already knows what he wants, Jacob could represent the person who only discovers it at the end of the world. That difference would make them complementary rather than redundant.
James Vega is another example of the value of a smaller arc, it’s also relatively straightforward. His major emotional conflict is essentially that he made a disastrous call in a previous mission and wants to prove that he is capable of becoming better. He doesn't need Shepard to resolve his entire existence, etc
In a way, Jacob's character arc could have culminated beautifully alongside Shepard's. (in a more romance focused lenses?) Jacob begins the trilogy believing that he doesn't need roots, he is comfortable with things being temporary. He can move from the Alliance to Cerberus, from one place to another, from one job to another, without needing to define himself by any of them.
Shepard, meanwhile, begins the trilogy already surrounded by people, but becomes increasingly consumed by the identity of Commander Shepard. Their relationships, their crew, and even their own sense of self become intertwined with the responsibility of saving everyone else.
And by the end, their trajectories almost cross. Jacob, who spent his entire life moving from one temporary thing to another, is finally someone who has somewhere to go home to. Shepard, meanwhile, is about to risk everything for a future they may never get to experience.
And that's why I don't think Jacob needed to become a more dramatic character. He didn't need the biggest loyalty mission, the darkest backstory, or some enormous revelation to make him interesting. In fact, I think trying to make him more like the rest of the ME2 cast would have missed what makes him valuable. Because Mass Effect is a story about saving the galaxy, but it is also a story about what the galaxy is being saved for.
Mordin's story is about the consequences of choices made on a galactic scale. Thane's is about mortality and the people we leave behind. Tali's is about the fate of an entire species. Legion's is about identity and the rights of an entire synthetic civilization. Almost every companion can connect their personal story to something enormous.
Jacob could have represented something much smaller, like the “ordinary” life worth saving. A home. A family. Friends. People who need and love you. Somewhere to return to when the fighting is over.
And perhaps that's why I find the idea of Jacob being "just a guy" so compelling. It shouldn’t be a lack of character, it could have been the point of his character. Everyone else is extraordinary in some way, and Jacob could be the person who reminds us that you don't have to be extraordinary or highly advanced technologically to have something worth fighting for.
He spends most of his life believing that he doesn't need attachments, only to discover that he actually wants somewhere to belong. And Shepard spends the trilogy becoming a symbol to the entire galaxy, only to be reminded by people like Jacob that underneath Commander Shepard, there is still just a person who wants a future, too! Either for them or the galaxy, all life. The future is still out there, there will be a tomorrow!!
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