(Spoilers) - New enemy faction hinted at? [ Edited ]

[lagruej]

This one is open for interpretation - but I've beaten the game 3 times now, and I've come to the same conclusion every single time.

When you first visit the remnant city - you can find scourge craters - and slowly unravel that the Jardaan were attacked and forced to abandon their plans.  This enemy also presumably triggered the Scourge.  

So I mean... it's kinda obvious the Kett did not do that.  They can't even figure out how to navigate the scourge or find Meridian, and they have little to no understanding of Remnant tech even though it has all been deactivated for about 600 years, giving them ample time to study it.  It just seems to be that the Kett would not have been the ones to attack in the first place.

Then you get the space battle - and the turrets on the station absolutely devastate the Kett - the Jardaan probably wouldn't have backed down from an enemy they could easily wipe out.

This to me, implies a new enemy - something far, far more dangerous - the equivalent of Reapers.  Something so powerful it sent a race, we can attribute as being as god-like, into hiding.

The only bubble popper here is that we know the Kett showed up around the same time as the scourge.  But what if they were chasing something - or better yet - what if they are running from something?  (Much like the Cabal in Destiny trying to escape the Darkness - presented as an enemy at first - then you realize their situation is similar to your own.)  

 What do you guys think?  

[pyrion · Accepted solution]

When you first visit the Remnant city, if you actually read the fluff, they refer to their enemy, presumably the ones that unleashed the Scourge, as "the opposition." I realize it's pretty generic, but I'm thinking "philosophical opposition," meaning probably the same species as the Jardaan, but philosophically opposed. Especially notable in that the Scourge seems to go after Remnant tech specifically.

As for this mysterious "benefactor," I doubt it's the Illusive Man, simply because his whole schtick was control. If he bankrolled the Andromeda Initiative, he'd have left with it. Whoever the "benefactor" is, it's someone who went with them. You don't invest that kind of capital just to die of old age wondering if it was worth it.

[VladVonCastein]

My greatest fear for this series is that Bioware writers ran out of creative juices...  Jardaan = Protheans (Plus minus change it up a little...)  creators of the Scourge = Reapers (+-) (or the leviathans(if the scourge turn against their masters).  Benefactor inc = ceberus/Mr. Illusive(+-).  Kett = collector (exaltation vs reaping/collecting humans) etc.  Ryder doesnt equate Shepard though...    Unfortunately...  Far from it...  Ryder<Shepard.

[lagruej]

I can't speak for everything you said.

But I am convinced the Benefactor is the Illusive Man and Cerberus was involved in the Ark - though I don't think that part signals lack of creativity - it's totally in the Illusive Man's character to consider every aspect... to consider that maybe they would not win against the Reapers, and to set up an insurance plan.

However everything else - I really, really hope they avoid.  Protheans, Leviathans and Reapers (and anything trying to mimic their roles) need to stay away.  Or else Bioware is gonna have to do some serious explainign as to why the Reapers never harvested Andromeda when it only takes us 600 years to get there... surely they could do the same, hell they could have hit multiple galaxies in the 50,000 years between harvest.  But still - no, they need to stay in the Milky Way because that would be lazy.

I can clearly see how the Kett are a mirror image or Reapers, so I hope that's not a continuing trend.  They need to make the Jardaan something new, not like the Protheans.  

[PandaTar]

But that was the obvious thing stated since the beginning. Kett didn't control the Scourge, as they were also hindered and destroyed by it. They say it somewhere in the game that something used the Scourge as a weapon and made the Jadaar had to retreat, way before the Kett were thought about.

I think both the Kett and these Jadaar might not be from Andromeda.

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@lagruej wrote:

I can clearly see how the Kett are a mirror image or Reapers, so I hope that's not a continuing trend.  They need to make the Jardaan something new, not like the Protheans.

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Yeah, that. There's only this much deja vu we can endure.

[VladVonCastein]

I wrote about this on another thread, but let me paste it here for discussion sake.  

With regards to the benefactor, think it's someone totally new, The Illusive Man's dead at the end of ME3 and that severely limits any story advancement/involvement, a more commercially viable plot maybe to have the benefactor with his/her resources and elite troops be in Andromeda.  The murder of Jien Garsen strongly suggest this(I mean it would be very unlikely that the illusive man or someone still in the milky way would order her execution).  

On the topic of the Illusive man, there are theories that Cora is related to him but unless she's lying about her past, she seem to know her parents well, they are merchants who cant afford to give her private classes on biotics and had to send her to the alliance.  Unless he's an uncle or she's adopted by her parents...  Random coincidence with her surname...  Any thoughts?

Wild speculation here:

Or maybe... She's really his daughter, she's lying about it all along, sent to spy on Alec Ryder, heard his conversation with Jien Garson and decided to execute her.... She's supposed to be the next pathfinder but Alex Ryder screwed her over...  SHE's the BENEFACTOR! lol...  

[PandaTar]

Another wild speculation: the Benefactor is an AI, somehow related to Legion.

[lagruej]

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@VladVonCastein wrote:

I wrote about this on another thread, but let me paste it here for discussion sake.  

With regards to the benefactor, think it's someone totally new, The Illusive Man's dead at the end of ME3 and that severely limits any story advancement/involvement.

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Sorry but no my friend.  Nothing that happens in ME3 makes a lick of difference because the Initiative leaves for Andromeda before ME3 even started.  Illusive man is still alive, when we deployed.  Of course this doesn't prove it's him - it just doesn't disprove it either.

I don't know about Cora - I've speculated, but there isn't enough to go on.

[PandaTar]

It could be the Illusive man, although he wouldn't have left to Andromeda. Leaving someone to follow up some plan, like a Miranda-would-be, like Cora, would make sense. However, personally, I hope there's no Illusive man in this plot. It would start stressing the point of reliving what's been dealt with already.

[JucieN7]

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@VladVonCastein wrote:

My greatest fear for this series is that Bioware writers ran out of creative juices...  Jardaan = Protheans (Plus minus change it up a little...)  creators of the Scourge = Reapers (+-) (or the leviathans(if the scourge turn against their masters).  Benefactor inc = ceberus/Mr. Illusive(+-).  Kett = collector (exaltation vs reaping/collecting humans) etc.  Ryder doesnt equate Shepard though...    Unfortunately...  Far from it...  Ryder<Shepard.

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Well sure there are similarities and I had the same thought, but then I thought a bit more about it and about cultures in general.
There will always be an advanced culture that has been extinct or vanished somehow. Due to an enemy, due to a meteor or whatever. And centuries or even thousands of years later a new culture finds their pieces and tries to understand them. That doesn't mean all those vanished cultures who had advanced technology are the same. I think Protheans and Jardaan are very different. The only similarity is that they has been vanished and left buildings and technology back.

Some speculation:
Imagine you had the power of the creators of the Scourge...there are mainly two types of powerful/advanced peoples: the ones that use their power/advanced technology to destroy and conquer and then the ones who use their power/advanced technology to help and/or leanring more. I know it is not that simple, but I guess you get the point. I think the Jardaan are more the second type. They make a cluster habitable and create a new species to live their (whatever purpose they may have had). The creators of the Scourge are type one and fight/conquer. I guess the Jardaan and the Scourge-People may have been rivals. Maybe both advanced. The Jardaan came to the Heleus cluster and started to make it habitable and maybe the Scourge-People noticed that and didn't like it. Maybe due to the Jardaan being in their territory, maybe because they don't like people creating new life and playing God. 
For me there has been a war in the Andromeda galaxy between the Jardaan and the Scourge-people. That had started with the Scourge (because the Jardaan didn't seem to know what or who made the Scourge). 

I hope that is kind of understandable as my English is not that good  

[pyrion · Accepted solution]

When you first visit the Remnant city, if you actually read the fluff, they refer to their enemy, presumably the ones that unleashed the Scourge, as "the opposition." I realize it's pretty generic, but I'm thinking "philosophical opposition," meaning probably the same species as the Jardaan, but philosophically opposed. Especially notable in that the Scourge seems to go after Remnant tech specifically.

As for this mysterious "benefactor," I doubt it's the Illusive Man, simply because his whole schtick was control. If he bankrolled the Andromeda Initiative, he'd have left with it. Whoever the "benefactor" is, it's someone who went with them. You don't invest that kind of capital just to die of old age wondering if it was worth it.