So for all the people scratching their heads wondering what was jtav so against that she was compelled to write a subversive fic about it, I’m reposting my theory from elsewhere about how Miranda’s infertility will be addressed in ME3. Bear with me, it’s going to be a long post, but hopefully at the end of it, you can judge for yourself how likely Bioware will take this approach.
The pertinent facts:The backgroundThe news comes at the end of an optional DLC, in a series of dossiers, presented almost like an afterthought.
The facts as presented:As quoted from the Shadow Broker dossier:
“…we can confirm that the progressive damage renders you unable to conceive a child.”
Note how the phrasing of her infertility is intentionally and skilfully made ambiguous. You can take it as she’s already infertile, or that she’s still fertile, but will become progressively barren. The key word here is “renders” in present tense. There was thought that went into writing it. I’ll take the second reading: that Miranda is not entirely infertile yet.
Interpretation of the facts:Set aside your knee-jerk reactions for or against it and think why was it introduced? Also remember a story device can achieve many things at once. Which makes it far harder to untangle Bioware’s intentions behind introducing it, but I believe in this case, we can attempt to unravel why Miranda’s infertility was introduced.
As a means to flesh out charactersIt’s easy to recognise this one. Basically, all the dossiers opt to give us titbits of every squadmate with the least amount of resources needed. Miranda’s ipartner dating dossier and her chat transcript with Oriana falls into this category.
As a sympathy cardA lot of players have expressed that they feel far more sympathetic of Miranda after learning about this. I’ll set aside the question of why Bioware deems it important enough that they need more people to feel sympathetic towards her because that’s another topic for discussion (I have my own theory about this too). But it cannot be denied that yes, it generally made players feel more well-disposed towards her.
But note too that she’s not the only squadmate who has that sympathy card played out. Garrus’s dossier for example, talks about his dying mother and the estrangement he suffers from the rest of his family. Jack’s dossier talks about how her mother was tricked into giving her up.
More than a sympathy cardStill, no one single squadmate apart from Miranda has a dossier entry which has an effect on their attractiveness as a LI, or an effect on the LI epilogue. Surely, Bioware writers would know about the rabid fanbase their characters have. Introducing a piece of news like this has a discernable effect to players who have romanced her and players who potentially want to romance her. Already, a number of people have chose to opt for another LI because they imagine their Shepard can’t have children with Miranda.
As a sympathy card, it’s extremely heavy-handed to the extent of rocking the boat where Bioware says they give all the romances equal priorities. Notice too that her chat transcript with Oriana also serves the same purpose—making her more likeable, so why the double dipping?
What other reasons might there be introducing something so drastic?
Treatment: dos and don’tsOkay, here comes the tricky part. A lot of what I’m writing here is conjecture based on likelihood, perceived intentions and additional story benefits that could be reaped from such a disclosure. At any turn, I could be proven wrong for nothing else but the fact that I can’t prove any of my points with bare facts.
So given that this damning issue is out on the table now, the next few obvious questions are:
1.Does Bioware intend it to be resolved at all?
2.Will it be resolved?
3.How is it going to be resolved?
Does Bioware intend it to be resolved at all?Given that we’ve already established how heavy-handed it is, and the impact it has on Miranda’s status as a LI, we have to assume that there is a reason it’s introduced more than just character enhancement info, and that yes, they are going to do something about it.
Will it be resolved?This one has to take into consideration a lot of factors. ME3 as we have seen so far, seems to be focused on the Reaper threat to earth and the galaxy, and judging from the fact that ME2 didn’t seem to advance Shepard’s quest against the Reapers much at all, ME3 does seem to have a lot to do in this respect.
Thus we can assume that things like loyalty missions or any squadmate-specific mission, interaction will probably be at the minimal, with the exception of love interest. A romance can very well value-add to the Reaper fight tremendously for dramatic and emotional reasons. I’ll explain why this is pertinent later.
Given all these limits, there doesn’t seem to be a way to address the issue of Miranda’s infertility without derailing the plot and tempo of ME3. The clinical nature of the problem makes it go far beyond a romantic issue.
How is it going to be resolved?The easiest way to do this is of course to handwave the infertility issue away at the end of ME3. As Ieldra suggested, we could have player-influenced epilogues where Shepard and Miranda can have a talk and which dialogue choice you make will then affect the final ending to Shepard’s story.
a. You brought me back from the dead, this isn’t going to stop you – cure
b. Things can’t go the way we want to all the time. We’ll have to deal with it – no cure
Attractive as this sounds, it doesn’t do away with the fact that the issue gets introduced and then nothing was done with it. It’s a cop-out. And the impression is why even introduce it in the first place? If it’s not there, the above dialogue doesn’t even have to take place. There would be no need to spend resources creating that cut scene.
Also, the problem with medical dilemmas are they come with an on/off switch. You either get cured, or you don’t. There is no middle ground. This is akin to Thane suffering from Kepral’s syndrome. A cure would simply make light of his suffering, rendering it a cop-out. For example, an approach that prolongs his lifespan for a couple more years would actually skirt the issue of his illness being a cop-out. It will be addressed, somewhat, but not to the extent of making players feel cheated. However, the problem now is….isn’t this detracting from the fight against the Reapers? Any “cure” worth implementing will run into this danger.
So similarly, while I can see Bioware taking that approach with Miranda’s infertility, the fact is any “solution” can’t detract from the Reaper war is a serious consideration.
My TheorySo with all the above points in mind, what is my theory?
Have Miranda get knocked up. It’s a miracle baby; it’s the only chance (assuming you don’t meta other solutions post ME3 for a real cure) for her and Shepard to have a child. And in one shot, it addresses the issue without making it a cop-out (note I don't deny it still doesn't address the issue of her eventual infertility), but also prevents it from becoming too distracting to the main mission. It’s serendipity, no one saw it coming. She’ll have to tell Shepard, but depending on the timing, they’ll have to set it aside for more pressing issues. Or leave it to the epilogue to discuss the repercussions.
What about players that didn’t play LotSB and didn’t know she was suppose to be infertile? The news will still apply, but for those that purchased LotSB, it’ll have additional impact, thus value-adding to the revelation.
Breaking the news prior to the final fight would also add dramatic tension to the ending; ie. There is more at stake for the romance. It’d also tie in somewhat with the fact that it’s likely her father intended Miranda to become some sort of broodmare for his genetic ambitions. And so if Bioware intends to explore that angle, this approach will also serve that purpose.
ConclusionCan Miranda's infertility issue be resolved in another way taking into consideration all the story limitations I've listed above? Yes, there is 1 more option. Make it a post-reaper DLC or make it cross-media story (comic series). If that's the approach Bioware intends to take, then obviously nothing will be made of it in ME3. But a character specific DLC runs into many dangers, the primarily one in this case is it's so character-centric it may actually hurt sales.
Is it cheesy? Yes, it is. In fact, it reminds me of the Dark Ritual in DAO. But there already, Bioware has shown they are not above such cheese.
My intent here was to reverse engineer Bioware’s motives and thus determine their intentions, and so I haven’t included my feelings for or against this scenario. But for the record I want to state I absolutely *hate* this scenario and I wish to hell it’d never come to pass. The dangers of derailing Miranda’s character are very real, reducing her to a cameo or even a sidelined character with no real task to play in the defeat of the reapers except as a symbol or an auxiliary to Shepard. It takes away the power of choice from players, it railroads Mirimancers into one path and only one path. It makes Shepard out to be the super-sperm machine. As well as many more reasons which I’m sure Ieldra and jtav will be more than ready to voice out.
Modifié par Elyvern, 27 décembre 2010 - 05:05 .
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