Long, nerdy Mass Effect post that will probably bore everyone to tears, but I've got to get this out of my head and you're my victims. Since Bioware has announced that the series will be remastered and another sequel is in the works, I played it through again for the 4th or 5th time. I always play as a Paragon, and I always choose Synthesis. Paragon is just because I can’t enjoy being an asshole (the option to be Renegade). The rest of this post is dedicated to explaining my repeated choice of Synthesis.
Warning: If you haven't played ME but think you might when the series is remastered, there are SPOILERS here. Also, Mass Effect is a Sci-Fi Space epic RPG (video game) trilogy.
The premise is this: Millenia ago (billions and billions), an almost immortal and godlike species existed (the Leviathan) that made thralls of lesser civilizations. The 'indoctrination' was subtle enough that the lesser species didn't even know they were thralls, but rather thought they were worshipping Leviathan. Since the Leviathan are essentially immortal, they noticed a particular cycle. Each civilization would eventually create artificial intelligence that they used to serve their own needs. This intelligence would become more and more sentient and eventually rebel against their creators (which always wanted to keep the AI as a tool or slave race), wiping out that civilization. Leviathan can enthrall organic creatures, but not synthetic life, and so it lost its tribute over and over.
This annoyed Leviathan, so it, too, created an artificial intelligence, not missing the irony per se, but arrogantly thinking it was above the problem the lesser species encountered when doing so. Leviathan posed the Artificial Intelligence with one problem to solve: find a solution to the inevitable genocidal conflict between synthetic and organic life.
The AI (called ‘Stargazer’ and ‘The Catalyst’ in ME canon) attempted many solutions through several cycles, but ultimately it came to one very grim one. It created a race of spacefaring beings that were synthetic replicas of Leviathan in all ways. Immortal, supremely intelligent, and capable of indoctrinating organic life forms through a kind of telepathic neurological quantum entanglement (fine, ‘mind control.’ I didn’t write the story, ok?). This entire purpose of this race of synthetic creatures (The Reapers) was to destroy all advanced organic life BEFORE they could get wiped out by their own synthetic creations. All lesser organic life would be left to develop along a specific trajectory. Then, when that lesser life developed enough to create it’s own synthetic life, the Reapers would come out of hibernation in dark space, swoop into the galaxy and destroy all advanced life again, leaving no traces of themselves or the previous civilizations. Lesser life was preserved, and the cycle would begin anew.
It is important to note that the Reapers ‘harvest’ the civilizations they slaughtered. The knowledge and history of each cycle was preserved within the bodies of the Reapers themselves. Thus, the Reapers grew to be MORE than Leviathan. The Reapers became the living synthetic embodiment of all civilizations in the galaxy, while simultaneously being the end of it.
This cycle lasted approximately 50,000 years.
Essentially, Leviathan made the problem worse, was almost completely wiped out by its own creation. The few survivors ran away and hid, and allowed the Reapers to return again and again.
All this background is important because I want to make one point: The Catalyst, that AI created by Leviathan, is merely a creation of a flawed organic species (even if said species didn’t know it was flawed). While it can evolve and grow, it still reflects its creator’s limitations. It is not an infallible entity and misses the irony of the Reapers, a synthetic race, destroying all organic life as a means of preventing inevitable organic genocide. They genuinely think that they are preserving organic life by allowing lesser species to evolve. They do not see themselves as destroyers, but some type of strange preservationists.
So. All that for this: Your character, Commander Shepard, is a human soldier who discovers the Reapers are beginning their next cycle. All advanced civilizations in the galaxy are now on the verge of extinction. It’s your job to find a way to defeat them.
At the end of the trilogy, Commander Shepard, has gone further towards defeating the Reapers than any organic life before. Ultimately, he meets The Catalyst and gets 3 choices (there’s a whole controversy around this, but I’m skipping that): Destroy, Control, or Synthesis.
In the Destroy ending, you kill all the Reapers, but the side effect is that ALL synthetic life in the galaxy also dies. This includes a race that has just evolved to full sentience, and a valued crew member whom you have helped to discover her ‘humanity’ (think of a female version of Data, and then think of having to kill him in order to kill the Reapers). This solution does not end the cycle of synthetic life against organic life; it simply destroys the Reapers and all current synthetic life. I can never choose this ending because I cannot bring myself to commit genocide, even though this means sacrificing myself and leaving my love to mourn my death alone in the galaxy (a whole other tragic but beautiful drama in this series). With the death of the Reapers comes the final death of all civilizations that they harvested.
In the Control ending, you must sacrifice yourself to become a kind of godlike part of the Reaper higher consciousness and, in effect, control them. You lose your humanity. This solution does not end the cycle of synthetic life against organic life; it simply controls the Reapers. Presumably, you could force the Reapers to aid organic life and warn them. You could indoctrinate all organic life. This option is one of absolute and godlike power to one individual. I can never choose this option because I cannot believe that kind of control to one individual is morally acceptable. I, personally, cannot accept that kind of power.
In the Synthesis ending, you sacrifice yourself to create a genetic fusion between all organic and synthetic life. All life across the galaxy undergoes a dramatic change, and all life going forward will be this fusion. You die, but your cells were used to make this change, and so you become a part of everything. This is perhaps the least popular ending, but it is the one I ALWAYS choose, despite the emotional devastation of leaving Kaidan (my romantic interest in the series). It ends the conflict between organic and synthetic life, and all the knowledge of previous civilizations that were destroyed is now alive again (at least in the sense of a kind of universal database).
An aside: there is an option NOT to choose. It ends with the Reapers harvesting all current organic life, and the cycle continuing.
The critiques of the Synthesis ending are interesting. The only one I find particularly compelling is the one about consent, as you literally decide to change the DNA/programming for every living creature, synthetic and organic without consulting them. You can’t—it’s a decision that must be made right there. ALL decisions you make involve this— and the only one you can choose based on ‘consent’ is to destroy the Reapers because everyone has showed up for the purpose of killing them. However, I doubt the synthetic civilization, which is fighting for survival just like everyone else, would agree to collectively be wiped out.
The potential loss of the ‘Individual and Free Will’ is major concern about the synthesis ending. Players critical of the Synthesis ending interpret the lack of conflict and understanding to mean that you’ve essentially created the Borg— a hive mind across all species. There is no evidence to support this. In the extended cut where it shows creatures in all races still wearing individual clothing and otherwise displaying individual behavior, their species are still developing within the individual characteristics of their kind. Even the Reapers (who harvested and absorbed countless organic civilizations) were, in their own words, ‘each a nation unto itself.’ Such a proclamation suggests borders and distinction. This self description comes before the Synthesis, but many players often treat the Reapers as a kind of collective, which is inaccurate. The game treats the Synthesis ending as a type of evolution where conflict between organic and synthetic life ends, and since the Reapers’ knowledge has now been absorbed, lessons of the past and cultural achievements help foster a deeper understanding that leads to a kind of extended peace and cultural renaissance on a galactic scale. It does NOT say that ALL conflict ends, only the cycle of conflict between organic and synthetic life.
Players also state that the Synthesis ending suggests the ‘pinnacle of evolution of organic and synthetic life’ and that there is nothing more to attain, no room for growth. The Catalyst states that Synthesis is the end result of all life. I don’t accept this interpretation. The Catalyst is right— in a Hegellian dialectic sense, all life will result in synthesis, and then THAT new life will encounter struggles and a new synthesis will ultimately prevail. Simply because player can’t imagine life evolving after this solution does not mean it can’t happen.
I have two thoughts about the Catalyst’s statement that Synthesis is the end point of Evolution:1) It is an entity that is billions of years old and sees processes in a scope beyond our short lifespanned species can comprehend. It’s referring to evolution in a cyclical, metaphysical manner. Thesis (A) meets Antithesis (B) and Synthesis (C) results. Then the Synthesis now becomes the new Thesis and the cycle continues. This is the one I personally believe.
2) It’s simply wrong. The Catalyst demonstrates several times that it is capable of mistakes in judgment, some of them egregious and horrific in scope. This is the one I think will be used by BioWare in continuing the series, regardless of which ending it bases the continuation upon. ALL of this started because one species got angry it kept losing its thralls and made an AI to solve that problem, which was exactly part of the problem. That AI (the Catalyst) was this creation and is inherently bound to at least some of the flaws of its creators.
So, all this is just me explaining why I believe that the Synthesis ending is the only morally right choice, at least for me. Morals are by definition defined by individual codes, and I’m choosing that word deliberately over ‘ethics.’ I do not believe that ME left the player with any ethical choice, which, for me, was part of the beauty of it. It bother me that the canonical ‘Perfect’ ending is the Destroy ending with Shepard surviving. You commit galactic genocide, but you survive- this is the ‘perfect’ ending? I have major issues with that.
And yes, I know that there is a theory that Synthesis and Control are both elaborate ruses of Indoctrination meant to get Shepard, the only threat the Reapers have ever known, to destroy himself. I simply don’t buy it, as I feel that theory needs to come with a tinfoil hat.
Also, in my head canon, Shepard survives and Kaidan finds him (I always play mshenko). Fuck that dying crap. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
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