It's been pretty solidly established by a massive collaboration of fans that the "ending" from where Shepard is knocked out by the Reaper laser when running for the Citadel transportation device is a hallucinated sequence in which Shepard is fighting off indoctrination. The choice you are presented with is actually whether Shepard beats the indoctrination, hence the "Destroy" option being the only one which shows the clip of Shepard waking up in the London rubble - she shakes off the indoctrination and that's where the real ending begins. Hopefully as free DLC. Think it sounds crazy? Here's a f**king tremendous amount of damning evidence presented by fans on the Bioware forums, compiled messily and in no particular order. The more you read the more irrefutable it becomes. You will come to realize it's either a genius maneuver or writing so bad that it makes The Phantom Menace look like rock solid logic. Enjoy.
Original Thread:
http://social.biowar...index/9727423/1
Basic Explanation:
http://m.fanfiction.net/s/7920772/1/ theory
Not to mention that I have yet to see anyone who thinks the indoctrination is wishful thinking offer up any sort of explanation as to why on the citadel Shepard and Anderson are being puppeteered, so to speak - controlled. How is this suddenly possible? What makes Shepard shoot Anderson, if there isn't any form of indoctrination going on?
1) Anderson suggests a lot of things to Shep, who agrees with pretty much everything. "Sounds like your description of the Collector base" and "You think they're making a Reaper", to which Shep replies "Sure."
2) The black 'tentacles' at the corners of the screen when you talk to TIM. The Rachni Queen describes this as a symptom of indoctrination. There are also whispering noises at the control panel.
3) Anderson and Shep are in pretty much the same place and there is only one way onto the platform, yet Shep never sees the admiral. This could mean that Anderson is part of Shep's subconcious and is being projected thus.
4) Going on from the subconcious thing, it could be that Anderson and TIM are the proverbial Angel and Devil on Shep's shoulders, two thoughts battling it out in his mind.
5) When TIM shoots himself, the lights in his cybernetics go out and he doesn't do a Saren and get reincarnated, a bit odd considering doing so would give the Reapers the chance to kill Shep once and for all.
6) Shep accepts the Catalyst's arguments without questioning him at all. This is not like Shep.
7) TIM is made to seem like a hero, bathed in Paragon blue and controlling the Reapers. Anderson is made to seem like the villain, bathed in Renegade red and destroying them.
8) Finally, Shep is in a part of the Citadel that has never been seen before, with shifting walls and dark long corridors, the very essence of a nightmare environment.
I've also noticed that when Shepard sits down after the Illusive Man kills himself that he has a fresh, bleeding wound, near around the area where Anderson was shot. Now why would Shepard be bleeding fresh blood, when he had not be hit in that area. Seems a little coincidental.
To add to my points above, I just rewatched all three endings and have come across something kind of interesting:
- In the 'CONTROL' ending, the Catalyst stands by watching the whole time. When Shepard puts her left hand on the console and the whole thing activates, we zoom in on the kid's face and it looks like he is smirking and practically saying "Ha, we won; you're indoctrinated and you let us survive." To me, this path seems like the one TIM was hinting at in his little monologue.
- In the 'Synthesis' ending, the kid is no where to be seen. I don't really know what that means; probably nothing. This path is the on Saren was taking in ME1, where he allowed himself to be 'implanted' with Reaper tech and became the next level of evolution.
--> The one thing I noticed about the two endings above is that SHEP DROPS HER GUN and both scenes (especially control) make a big thing about showing you this. To me, this seems like the final step to giving up. This gun (the M-6 Carnifex if I'm not mistaken) appears out of nowhere when the dream begins and does not only have an unlimited clip but is almost a symbol of defiance and her will to carry on. Shep dropping the gun shows that the Reapers have full control over her mind.
- The final ending, as we all know, is 'Destroy' (which is interstingly the right hand (right as in correct) path). In this, Shep begins by weakly limping towards the conduit and shooting single handed. But as the conduit breaks and the control of the Reaper's is released, Shep grips more tightly on the gun (a sybol of her will and defiance, remember) and finds a huge boost of energy: she stands up taller, grabs the gun with both hands and practically jogs towards the target. This all happens as she moves away from the Kid, who I believe is a figure of Reaper control. As she finally destroys it, the kid disappears in a burst of blue light, as Hackett and Anderson do in the Normandy's comm room. (Could it be a hologram?) In any case, this suggests to me that means that the indoctrination has been broken and this is why the 'Destroy' ending is the only one from which Shep can wake up from. The fire that washes over her at the very end could be a metaphor for cleansing, as in many texts this is the role of fire. This final path should be the obvious one for Shep to take canonically, unless she is a full renegade a*s!
- On a slightly unrelated note, the bonus 'Shep Breathing' scene is NOT on the Citadel. Why do I know this? Watch the video and look at her surroundings. She is lying in rubble. STONE rubble. There's no stone in the Citadel's construction, not that I know of; it's all shiny metal. She's in London still and she wakes up after the laser to the face incident.
- Finally, what if (and bear with me on this) there IS an actual reason that you need a high EMS score to use the 'Destroy' option. What if Shep wakes up in London and then goes on to fight the Reapers with the combined fleet, meaning a high EMS is not just nice but is in fact a necessity!
I apologise for the extreme length and incohesive nature of this post. I wrote it as I thought about it. It's probably all just wishful thinking, but I would like to believe that there is a lot of deep thought and symbolism in these endings. If so, my hat comes off to the writers as that would make it one of the best thought out endings I have seen. Still, I want to see a fitting ending with Shep alive where she is reunited with the crew and her LI. I'd love to know what everyone thinks about the point's I've raised here. And don't lose hope; we'll get our ending if it kills us!!
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The logic behind indoctrination theory is extremely tempting (some of the supposed "evidence" is less so) but I can't get around the fact that it would require Bioware to have deliberately shipped one of the most anticipated games of the last few years without the actual ending. That simply can't be the case. It beggars belief.
"As I get into the dream, I see the boy running and hear numerous whispers as well as view ghostly figures. These are obvious clues that everyone noticed being just like indoctrination victims however have you ever tried to resist the kid?
As soon as the kid runs away, I turned around and ran from him and guess what happened?
A whisper says "Shepard" in a human voice and the kid cries, forcing my Shepard to turn around.
I turn around again, doing the same thing and guess what happened the second time?
A whisper says "Shepard" in Harbinger's voice, or at least one similar enough to mistake it. This was tested on the dream right after the resolution of the genophage plot-line."
More evidence that it's a dream. When you reload the gun, the ejected clip falls in slow motion, even when you're still on Earth. It's very surreal, and I can't think of any other reason why they'd do that.
Codex--->The Reapers--->Indoctrination:
Organics undergoing indoctrination may complain of headaches and buzzing or ringing in their ears. As time passes, they have feelings of "being watched" and hallucinations of "ghostly" presences. Ultimately, the Reaper gains the ability to use the victim's to amplify it's signals, manifesting as "alien" voices in the mind.
Reptilian Rob wrote...
OH MY GOD.
Vega, remember Vega keeps saying "do you hear that hum?"
Shepard is boosting the signal!
In Mass Effect 2 Harbinger has lines about the viability of the various 'races' to becoming new Reapers. He specifically mentions the Geth and says they have "limited utility". If the Catalyst's explanation as to the Reapers' purpose is true Harbinger would not make any such assessment about a synthetic lifeform.
Werent we 'not supposed' to be able to comprehend the motives behind the reaper's genocide on biological life? Yet the stupid GC tells us: We synthetics, wipe out advanced organics, so they cant create synthetics, that wipe out organics...
Vigil on Ilos said that protheans couldnt recognize indocrination
Then, his mind makes up his crew and LI crashing on a world that seems almost too perfect, which is what Shepard cared about the most; his crew being safe. As long as they're safe, he can take not being with them. Then, breaking free from the indoctrination, Shepard wakes up from his unconcious state, takes a gasp of air, and is in the rubble of London, after being hit by the laser.
. It makes sense that in her addled brain she would imagine her crew (miraculously aboard the ship) escaping and landing on a paradise world.
It also makes sense (from a not making sense without the extra part of the game) as to why there was no final boss. ME 1 it was Saren/ Sovereign. ME 2 Human Reaper baby. ME 3... nothing?
And as many have pointed out, why put Harbinger, the Reaper seemingly obsessed with Shepard in for about 10 seconds before it 'runs away'.
It really does feel that its all working up to something bigger.
If you have your LI in your squad on Earth and get hit by that laser, Shep wakes up and is hearing Anderson ordering full retreat. Your LI's nowhere to be seen. When you made it to the Citadel, Anderson is there too. If he could follow
you there, why not your LI? S/he's obviously alive after the Normandy's crash. So, s/he has abandoned you, fled back to Normandy and flied off? Doesn't make any sense.
1. Only when your EMS is high enough to actually survive, when you first meet the Catalyst, does he say "Wake up," instead of "Why are you here?" One of your squadmates is telling you to wake up.
2. Here: dl. dropbox. com/u/26913187/end003_catalyst_m_D_Int. You can clearly hear FemShep's voice behind the Catalyst's. Your subconscious is trying to tell you there is still hope.
3. The pistol you find has an unlimited clip. This could simply be bad writing, but it just seems odd- this is not possible in the real world, lending credence to the idea that it's a dream.
5. While on the Citadel, during the final scene with TIM, and again with the Catalyst, I believe, you can clearly see traffic going on in the background. This makes zero sense at all. Unless husks have learned to drive air-cars.
6. Here: http:/ www. youtube. com/watch?v=WCXHzbEDK5E Go to 11:55 and watch until the shuttle is destroyed. Notice something? No one ever interacts with the kid. In what situation would adults and marines stand around and just let a kid struggle to pull themselves up onto the shuttle when time is of the essence to get out of there alive? Especially with a Reaper nearby? The kid is not real. He is a product of Shepard's mind- a foothold the Reapers have built through Shep's exposure to Reaper tech.
7. The kid. As stated, he is not real. This explains why Shepard continually dreams about one single kid after going through everything she has been through. There were many kids taken by the Collectors on horizon, and many people she has known personally who have died, (more so if she is Colonist, or Sole Survivor, or both). It also explains the final dream with the kid, where when Shep finally finds him, she sees herself and the kid burn- her subconscious is trying to warn her that following the kid results in her own death.
11. The Illusive Man should not be able to get anywhere near the Reaper base. What did he do, just hang around behind your squad the whole time and then jump out and make a run for the beam after Harbinger blew up your assault squad? Not to mention, this would now be three people that somehow made it to the beam despite the radios and the entire Alliance believing no one made it.
12. *The Xbox version of the game takes up 9 GB more space than the PC version. Why? Because the information for the actual ending is already on the Xbox disc, and they couldn't put it on the PC disc because we PC modders would have easily found it.* The PC version only requires 16 GB, when we were told the game would require 25 GB right up until the release date.
13. Building off of #11 and #4, why does Hackett contact Shepard as if he knows she is alive? If everything that took place was real, then the Alliance should believe that Shepard is dead, yet Hackett speaks to her over the console, just assuming Shepard is alive. Not to mention- why is Hackett able to connect to that console? Shep's radio equipment is fried from the laser blast, (as is her shields), so it can't be coming from her, it's clearly coming from the console in the middle of the Citadel. But why can Hackett just transmit directly into it? More importantly, why does he assume Shepard would be in that particular location? Hackett should have no idea that Shep made it to the beam, or even if somehow he assumes she made it, he should have no idea where on the Citadel she is.
Hence the definition of crucible. A test or trial.
When Shepard wakes up after being knocked out by the beam, he sees Harbinger fly off. Why would Harbinger just leave when Shepard (or that other crawling dude you see) is still alive? If that beam transport up to the Citadel is the only possible method of defeating the reapers you'd think he'd sit there and defend that sh*t with his cybernetic life.
1:18. Does that sound like a Reaper to anyone else?
yeap, or a harvester or something. That rubble has always been London for me regardless, the Citadel isn't made out of concrete.
May be it was before, but how does Shepard talk and hear radio without helmet?
There's almost 400 pages of great theory here for the Indoctrination ending, but there really only needs to be one paragraph that explains it all. One piece of clear, hard evidence:
The Destroy ending. When Shepard takes a breath, covered in rubble. Concrete and stone, NONE of that you see on the Citadel. Not only that, how would Shepard survive a fall from orbit? S/he's done it before: she didn't survive that time.
I didn't think about it before. I fought the Indoctrination theory because I have a very hard time with conspiracy theories in general, but after thinking about it, that scene alone tells me there's more going on here than meets the eye: and the Indoctrination theory is the best answer to that question I've gotten so far.
I know the subject of the eyes has been brought up a lot. But I've talked to quite a few people who don't see it, or don't think they're really what we think they are. So I got some screenshots and when necessary magnified them so you can see them better.
http://i638.photobuc...adus/timeye.jpg
That's the Illusive Man's eye in ME2. Note the pattern: an inner circle, an outer circle, and two orb shapes on the bottom left and right.
http://i638.photobuc.../controleye.jpg
This is Shepard's eye right after his face turned black in the control ending. This is the exact same pattern as the Illusive Man's. The only difference is the color. Which is similar to Saren's. I'll also note that the rest of the scene he seemed to be in immense pain as he's gripping the handles. After he turns like this, he simply looks deadpan and emotionless.
http://i638.photobuc...adus/syneye.jpg
This is Shepard's eye during the synthesis ending. He's further from the camera and a lot of the time it's distorted by the green pulses, but this is still a clear enough shot to tell, without a doubt, that he has the same eyes here as in control.
Hopefully this helps convince someone that doesn't believe the eye evidence, which I personally consider to be the strongest evidence of the indoctrination theory.
As for TIM, he's been moderately indoctrinated since the First Contact War where he was exposed to a Reaper artifact while fighting turians. It only got way out of hand when the Reapers invaded. Similar to Rana Thanopsis, who was slightly indoctrinated on Saren's lab in Virmire but only went crazy when the Reapers invaded.
Except there's no way he could have survived the attack that blows the building up in the next few seconds. The vent he's in
1) Has an "Electrified do not touch" sign next to it
2) Is in direct line of sight with the Reaper laser beam that destroys the building.
Yet the kid is unscathed.
Maybe he ran into the building, but anytime after that he's just a hallucination.
So when he says "You can't help me." Because he's dead at that point
The thing I always found weird about the kid at the beginning is that no-one on the overcrowded shuttle bothers to help the poor kid on board, he has to take great effort in crawling on-board himself - right next to the feet of several people facing his way. Heck even the marine that shuts the door conveniently misses him boarding, and those standing next to Shepard conveniently turn and not witness the kid either. If you watch the scene again, it does look like they went to great lengths to have Shepard, and only Shepard, see this kid.
The Starchild says he himself is the catalyst... yet when he talks about the new choices, he can't pick. So he lied/contradicted himself. Its a paradox. "I'm the catalyst! But I can't do anything...". Shepard is the one who does the doing, so he's the catalyst.
Sovereign: "By using our technology you develop along the path that we desire." Except you make synthetics all the time and we exist to kill you because you make them because that's the only way to stop the alleged chaos of the perpetual synthetic-organic death cycle that is disproven by the Quarians and Geth fighting us together. Yep. You develop in a way that is dictated by us except for the thing that you do which necessitates our existence.
Sovereign: "We are each a nation, independent." So, not a bunch of tools created by the Catalyst to kill organics for no reason?
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