Okay......very long.....should probably post this somewhere else, but here it goes:
Contrary Characterization of Thane Krios in me3
Most Thanemancers or Thane fans, saw the massive shift in character arc for our favorite (and nearly only) Drell in me3. Many well thought out forum posts and essays on Group Threads, give example after example of Thane's character breaking portrayal in the third installment of this game trilogy. I could easily reference them (and a few of my old posts), but instead, I will focus on the dialogue exchange between Thane and Shepard, and the personal letter from Thane to a romanced Female Shepard. This letter was originally included in the DLC
Lair of the Shadow Broker, and was subsequently sent after the death of Thane (to a romanced Shepard) in me3. I will use this letter and contrast it to the small amount of dialogue that was written for the interactions between Shepard and Thane, in Huerta Hospital, prior to the Citadel Coup.
First for reference (courtesy of Mass Effect Wiki), the letter in question:
Siha,
I write this with a heavy hand, knowing you will read this letter when I am no longer able to share my thoughts. I am dying, Siha. Perhaps because of the differences between our species, I can hope that time will treat you with kindness and dim the hurt of my passing to faded recollections that a drell would forever remember with perfect clarity.
Selfishly, however, I could not leave this world without leaving a piece of me behind that would never fade.
I once accepted my fate. Nothing remained but a shell destined to die. I only had to choose the when and how of my passing. I had refused to be confined to a bed, gasping horribly as my life beeped away to machinery I had no use for. I thought of my Irikah, broken, bloodied, and betrayed by my absence. Of Kolyat, small and afraid, bravely pushing at his eyes to stem the flow of tears I had entrusted to him to cry... for both our sakes.
The expectation to move swiftly to my end vanished upon uniting with your cause. You awoke me, Shepard. My heart quickened its sluggish beat if only to remain at your side and protect you with everything that I am. I was content to simply watch, take the time left given and praise all I know for allowing me to walk my final days with hope and certainty that I am worthy of more than my cold isolation, solely because you believed.
I love you. If all else whispers back into the tide, know this for fact. By grace given me by the Goddess Arashu, I bid her divine protection to you, my warrior-angel, my Siha, to succeed in your destiny. To light your path through the coming darkness. To give you hope, when all seems lost.
I will await you across the sea.
Thane*NOTE*
@Julia_xo, was kind enough to provide me with the dialogue between a romanced Shepard X Thane, in me3. This dialogue was transcribed with an imported Shepard who had romanced Kaidan in ME1, and Thane in ME2. My own limited experience with me3 (never finished the game) was with a Thane exclusive romance. Some differences do apply, but very little changes regarding bulk of dialogue. It should also be noted that @utaker1988 also did a breakdown of the "Letter" sent to romanced Shepards. It is somewhat buried in the Thane Thread, but was a very good read. Hopefully we will find it again; deserves a reposting.
I will outline this as unjarring as possible.....trying to be kind to ones' eyes.
1. Opening dialogue with Thane in Huerta Hospital is autodialogue. Before we have a chance to even interject, Shepard is saying that she is here to see the VS (*Special Note* All the dialogue up to the Interrupt, is auto-dialogue. No chance to vary it or interject our Shepards own voice. An admitted sore spot with me and many RPGers.):
Thane: I sent a few messages while you were incarcerated, but I suspect they never got past the guards. What are you doing here?
Shepard: Visiting a friend, Kaidan. He got hurt protecting me.
Thane: The human biotic in intensive care. *cough* I saw the the marks of an implant.
Shepard: Yeah.
(and if Kaidan was romanced in ME1)
Thane: We have spoken. He was holding out hope that a woman would visit him. Is there something I should know about you two?
Shepard: (We were intimate once) We were together for awhile before the first Normandy was destroyed.
Thane: And grew apart I gather?
You can imagine how upsetting this was to those that romanced Thane. Here is the man we chose to romance, the man we intimated going to a desert with, a man who confesses his fear of death, and a recognition of things worth living for (i.e. Kolyat, friends/lover), bowing out to the VS. I am not suggesting that the VS couldn't come up in discussion, but honestly.....this shows how tacked on the romance really was. This plays out very similar to a non-romanced Thane, which even then, the
options in how we proceed with the dialogue should have been left to player control. **I admit I am going off formula with this little aside; it isn't terribly related to the Romance Letter, but I still believe it was worth mentioning.**
2. The next set of dialogue that finishes off the first part of Thane/Shepard conversation at Huerta, could be examined two ways, but I contest that nearly all Thanemancer would view it a particular way:
Thane: Your enemies may try to finish him off here. I will look out for him.
Shepard: I appreciate it, Thane.
Thane: I am near the end of my life. It is a good time to be generous. I have only a few loves left and you are my last. Let me do what I can for you.
Now for an excerpt from the "Letter":
"The expectation to move swiftly to my end vanished upon uniting with your cause. You awoke me, Shepard. My heart quickened its sluggish beat if only to remain at your side and protect you with everything that I am." The last line of his dialogue may seem fitting with what is stated in the letter, but in said letter it is clear he is meaning Shepard. Protecting others FOR her may be noble, but using the words, "....if only to remain at your
side and protect you with everything that I am.", does suggest that he was intending to
remain by her side and aid her in any capacity that he could. He clearly chooses not to. The next set of dialogues will point to his loose reasoning.
3. The Interrupt. If romanced, a Paragon Interrupt will flash. Here are the results of ignoring it and taking it:
If Kiss interrupt is not taken:
Thane: Kepral's Syndrome will unfortunately keep us apart.
If Kiss interrupt is taken:
Thane: Well.... I see you want to make up for lost time. I should warn you that you may not want your final memories of me to be in this hospital. Kepral's Syndrome is.... not kind.
I could easily point to the first part of the "Letter" regarding the interrupt, him discussing memories, but selfishly wanting to give them to Shepard. He notes about the differences of the species (Drell/Human) and how we have imperfect memories. Yet he expresses a need for Shepard to have them of him in both ME2 and the "Letter". It is of note that one of his most telling lines in ME2 suggests a "fear of being forgotten".... (something that actually happens in me3).
4. We finally get a chance to ask him to join us. Those that didn't romance him, or pay that much attention to him, would probably see this as silly. But the conversations you have in ME2 suggest that he would fight by a friended/romanced Shepard till his dying breath. So without further ado, what have you got to say about helping us Thane:
Shepard: (Can't you come with me?) I'm back on the Normandy on an important mission. Sure could use you.
Thane: I would not be as I was before. I need daily medical attention. And if I know you, you will want to fight the Reapers somehow. You need the best at your side and I am not at mine.
Shepard: (You can still help.) You don't have to wrestle down Krogan and break their necks. I'm sure we could find you lighter work.
Thane: I'm at peace with what I've done in my life, Shepard. There comes a time when one must rest from war and conflict. It's not your time, but it is mine.
That last line. This is the "homogenizing" of the
different Thanes (i.e. non-romanced, romanced). He is not using the customary "Siha", but instead the all encompassing "Shepard". AND most disturbing....."I'm at peace with what I've done in my life..." Once again, I quote from the "Letter" the following passage:
"The expectation to move swiftly to my end vanished upon uniting with your cause. You awoke me, Shepard. My heart quickened its sluggish beat if only to remain at your side and protect you with everything that I am. "I will also add the following line from ME2: "Time for me is short, Siha, but any I have is yours to take." How could we not expect something more from Thane in me3. Before this game came out, I had avoided the "leaked script". My assumption on how Thane would be treated (especially romanced) in me3 was based on lines like the above. Not only lines he said in ME2, but the letter we were shown in the Dossier from
Lair of the Shadow Broker. It is reasonable then that those that didn't look for spoilers based on an old script, might have good logic to expecting more from his character. More than what we were given, which simply put; a dying Drell. And that leads us to the only other bit of conversation we can have with Thane; Keprals, his death, dying.
5. I will break this up into two parts:
Shepard:(How long will you live?) Do you know how much time you have left?
Thane: I've been to several doctors. My favorite gave me three months to live... nine months ago. It's freeing to find no requirements placed on me. No responsibilities, no fears. It is a good end to a life.
Timeline alone is "bridge-pinching" enough, but the line regarding "responsibilities" and "no fear" is truly character breaking. His final romance scene in ME2 alone shows that he in fact
does fear. I am not suggesting that I would wish those terminally ill to be fearful till the day they pass. Far from it. What is important, is that his character in ME2 now realizes that there are more things to live for (son, lover...), and so being fearful of losing those things is natural; humbling. This allows the player to better connect with Thane as a LI, and gives Thanemancers a reason to hope that his character will in fact survive the last installment in the trilogy. This doesn't mean that Thane was guaranteed a cure, but simply lasting till the end of the third game through life extending means or sheer will, was completely reasonable.
Shepard:(Does it hurt?) Are you in a lot of pain?
Thane: At times. The oxygen transfer proteins don't form correctly. Your human equivalent would be hemoglobin. As a result, my blood is low in oxygen. No matter how much I breathe in I get tingling, numbness ...and that is the best of it. As for my brain, I cannot track the damage. I just experience dizziness from time to time.
I would highly recommend anyone who is interested in the changes to Kepral's (yes, changes) from ME2 to me3, to read the "Medical Discussion" on the "#SaveThane" Group Thread. @BeanieBat has written an essay describing the inconsistencies of Kepral's Syndrome from ME2 to me3. @Moira-chan has also written a well thought out piece on how a blood transfusion after the Kai Leng stabbing should have kept Thane alive for longer. The two essays go to show that the writing for Thane's character in me3 in regards to Kepral's Syndrome, the
disease many wish to define him by, fails in the narrative. Because this is already covered by those two talented ladies, I will simply direct the readers once again to the group discussion mentioned above.
6. The conclusion. I will include both the dialogues for a non-romanced Thane and a romanced Thane:
Shepard: I wish the best for you, Thane.
Thane's response (nonromanced): And I for you. Do not grieve for me. I have good doctors. My son visits regularly. Perhaps we will keep up via the extranet now that you are free. Until we meet again, Shepard.
Thane's response (romanced): I think of us often Siha, but we always knew it would come to an end. Live well in the time you have, perhaps we will see each other again.
First, this is the only time during any of this conversation that Thane will mention his son. BUT, only if you imported a non-romanced Shepard. I would argue (and yes, this is simply subjective) that the non-romanced is much more character consistant; even for a romanced Thane (minus the "untilwe meet again, Shepard."). Kolyat should have definately been mentioned with a romanced Thane/Shepard. His fears of dying were not solely based on his feelings towards Shepard, but also to getting his son back in his life. I know that
I was hoping for a conversation regarding his son. His life outside of Shepard is what made his character rich; engaging. That includes his son.
Examining the Romanced response, I point once again to the "Letter":
I was content to simply watch, take the time left given and praise all I know for allowing me to walk my final days with hope and certainty that I am worthy of more than my cold isolation, solely because you believed.
I love you. If all else whispers back into the tide, know this for fact. By grace given me by the Goddess Arashu, I bid her divine protection to you, my warrior-angel, my Siha, to succeed in your destiny. To light your path through the coming darkness. To give you hope, when all seems lost.
I will await you across the sea. Key points; words like "believe" and "love" are not even close to being reflected in the dialogue given us in me3, yet here in this letter (that we ARE given in me3) he says these very words. And last but not least....."I will await you across the sea." How do we go from "...perhaps we will see each other again" to being together in the
beyond. I understand that he is suggesting that they may see each other again while he is alive, and that he does have a few tacked on moments on his deathbed, but it is these first conversation exchanges that establish the lack of relationship in me3. For a romanced Thane, this is probably the final immersion breaking straw. It is then that most Thanemancer's realize that they no longer have any hope for a continuation of said romance. Our LI of choice as been "cut"! I have no doubt that some say you should have been prepared for that. No. This isn't about whether or not he should live or die, but about his Romance arc and to a certain degree his loyal non-romanced arc as well. The Thane many of us see at the end of ME2 is completely wittled away (and all in the span of about 6 months). The "imposter" as some of us joke about, is just waiting to die.
I will add that there are other fine BSN'ers who have also analyzed Thane's brawl with Kai Leng (@RShara among others......forgive me for my lack of "eidetic memory"....heh!) and have illustrated just how ridiculous that showdown really is. If one is interested in reading more about it, doing a general search for "Kai Leng" on the boards should give you some good analysis.
Epilogue (sexytime)
Those that romanced Thane are generally convinced by the end of these dialogues, that the LI arc is decimated. To add a cherry to the top though, we add the "Romance Scene":
Shepard: (Let's find some privacy) I've got a few free moments. Do you want to spend a little time together?
Thane: I'd like that. You should understand that my cardiovascular system is not what it was...Mmm.
*insert make-out here*
Shepard: You were saying something?
Thane: I missed you, Shepard.
I have so very little to say about this; it speaks volumes by itself. But a quick snap-shot; Shepard sounds like a horny teenager, the audio of Shepard and Thane's "intimacy" is cringe-worthy, and finally....."Shepard". NOT Siha. Subjectively I find myself speechless with disgust. Not because they grope each other in front of a GIANT WINDOW, or make horny noises, but it is the "casualness" of this moment. Not intimate. Just......nothing. I will leave it at that.
Thank you for reading.
*EDIT* for format fail.....bleh!
Modifié par coldwetn0se, 11 juin 2012 - 03:40 .
Thane as permanent squadmate. 
It's difficult to play ME3 without him after taking him to every mission in ME2.
![=]](https://lvlt.forum.bioware.com/public/style_emoticons/default/sideways.png)
) and I honestly do not get what Thane's quote has to do with the rest of the original passage.
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