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[Rifneno]

Ever since I read this, I've been pondering the line about the Illusive Man.  The sun in his background is a clue to his location...  but what would it be?  I think we were mistaken that the red to blue change at the end was just a reflection of his mood (especially since it's the opposite of his mood) or just symbolism over our paragon/renegade choice.  But what would make a star change color?  I'm not an expert on astronomy, so off to google I went.

"Red supergiants can become blue supergiants if their nuclear reactions slow for whatever reason"

Ooo jackpot.  I think the pieces of the puzzle are starting to fall into place.  Remember that the renegade ending has Shepard preserving the base but using a powerful radiation pulse to kill the collectors, and the paragon ending has Shepard triggering a meltdown in the reactor core which utterly obliterates everything.  I know, unlikely anyone where doesn't remember, but I'm recapping.  Now remember Haestrom's sun, Dholen.  It was aging far more rapidly than it was supposed to.  Legion refered to the geth on Haestrom as heretics... I don't really get how the heretics have control of Haestrom if they're the weaker geth faction, but regardless the implication is that heretic geth are doing something at the Reapers' behest that's burning out Dholen.

Conclusion: the star that TIM's base is near was being affected in the same way by a device at the Collector Base.  Thus when Shepard destroys the base, its nuclear fission slows down to its presumably normal rate and it turned blue again.

This doesn't really let us pinpoint TIM's location because we know almost nothing about whatever the Reapers are using to age stars.  In fact we weren't even sure they were at all, it was within the realm of possibility that whatever was happening to Dholen was a natural but undocumented process.  I tried to search the ME wiki for some relevant information such as planet descriptions or codexes that might provide more subtle hints, but the search was pretty much futile thanks to the Blue Suns.  Damned mercs.  If anyone remembers any little tidbits that might shed some light on the matter, please share.

Could he be somewhere beyond the Omega-4 Mass Relay himself?  Unlikely.  We don't see any stars or anything of that nature past the relay.  The black orb you see in the far distance there (and at the title screen) is a supermassive black hole.  Scentists currently believe that a supermassive black hole is at the center of every spiral galaxy, and certainly at the center of ours.  Realize that astronomers take words like "supermassive" very, very seriously.  This black hole is estimated to have 4,100,000 times the mass of our sun and 6.25 light hours (or 4,191,250,000 miles, for perspective) wide.  ...  Annnyway, Miranda was seen beside the Illusive Man at that base during the prologue.  Which means if the base was in the galactic core...  well, serious implications for Miranda's character, which I don't think they'd do to a squad member let alone a LI.  But if he isn't there, that means that whatever tech the Reapers are using to damage (or drain? maybe that's how they got back to the Milky Way?) stars is capable of doing from a large portion of the galaxy away.

Thoughts, anyone?

[BentOrgy]

Where was it said the heretics were the "Weaker" faction? If anything, the game makes them sound like the opposite, considering we've run into them a hell of a lot more than the other. And of course their in control of it, Haestrom was a Quarian colony, and who did the Geth run out again?

And even the ME wiki itself states that the Geth were "Not" the reason behind Dholen's rapid aging. All that is said is a bunch of "Dark Energy" speech. Hence, (Not to mention the Reapers apparently view the geth as minor annoyances, and little else.) there's no reason to think that the Geth or Reapers were behind it.

And while your theory about the star in TIM's.... Office, is interesting, and you obviously put thought into it, I'm thinking this is another "Fans making the story cooler than it is," thing. It more than likely was symoblism, and nothing else.

[Rifneno]

BentOrgy wrote...

Where was it said the heretics were the "Weaker" faction? If anything, the game makes them sound like the opposite, considering we've run into them a hell of a lot more than the other. And of course their in control of it, Haestrom was a Quarian colony, and who did the Geth run out again?

And even the ME wiki itself states that the Geth were "Not" the reason behind Dholen's rapid aging. All that is said is a bunch of "Dark Energy" speech. Hence, (Not to mention the Reapers apparently view the geth as minor annoyances, and little else.) there's no reason to think that the Geth or Reapers were behind it.

And while your theory about the star in TIM's.... Office, is interesting, and you obviously put thought into it, I'm thinking this is another "Fans making the story cooler than it is," thing. It more than likely was symoblism, and nothing else.

The codex entry "Geth: Heretics."

Conversation with the geth programs dubbed "Legion" have brought to light a profound schism in geth society. Where Saren Arterius approached the geth in the dreadnought Sovereign, some of them chose to follow him; most did not. Saren's followers were allowed to leave geth society, but were dubbed "heretics" by those that remained. 

This revelation implies several things. First, the majority of geth chose not to attack organic society. Second, the geth forces the Council and Alliance fleets have battled the last two years represent only a small portion of their actual military and economic power, perhaps as little as five percent of mainstream geth society.  Third, this schism suggest that individual geth possess more free will and perhaps even personality than previously suspected. Without such individuality, no geth could have deviated from the group decision to join or reject Saren's mission. There could not have been a division. 

Finally, there is the matter of Legion's word choice. The geth used the English word "heretics" to describe Saren's followers. Of the many words Legion could have chosen (nonconformists, dissenters, rebels, etc.) only the word "heretic" suggests a broadly accepted geth philosophy or religion, and that the actions of Saren's allies violated the orthodoxy.

So yeah, the only advantage the heretics would have over the main geth faction is anything the Reapers gave them.  They're greatly outnumbered by the faction Legion belongs to.  As for the Reapers viewing the heretics as a "minor annoyance nothing else," that's flatly untrue.  The Reapers certainly don't bear any love for "lesser species," but they definitely have the heretics doing their bidding.  They aided Saren in his attack, and Saren was just a Reaper tool himself.  Legion specifically states that Nazara (Sovereign) contacted the geth when it found out about their war against the quarians and viewed the geth as a possible ally.  Moreover, Legion's entire loyalty mission revolves around stopping a virus designed by the Reapers to brainwash the main geth faction into serving them as the heretics do.  There's no question that the Reapers are actively working with the heretics.

The wiki says that the quarian scientists agreed that the geth aren't responsible for Dholen's condition.  The quarians can certainly just be wrong.  Especially if they don't believe the Reaper "myth," as most people not directly allied with Shepard don't.

As for the symbolism, I'd agree if they didn't specifically say that the star is a subtle hint to his location.

[95Headhunter]

Nothing so fancy, I don't think. Mass Effect: Retribution mentions that the Illusive Man frequently moves his base of operations.

Presumably in the paragon ending, as Miranda has now defected (and is shown in the prologue to be physically in the same room as TIM), TIM chose to move his base somewhere else to avoid Miranda leading Shep to him. And this new location happened to be a blue sun.

That being said, I'm pretty sure blue suns aren't actually quite that blue. And it also implies that TIM's base can move pretty freaking quickly.

[Rifneno]

95Headhunter wrote...

Nothing so fancy, I don't think. Mass Effect: Retribution mentions that the Illusive Man frequently moves his base of operations.

Presumably in the paragon ending, as Miranda has now defected (and is shown in the prologue to be physically in the same room as TIM), TIM chose to move his base somewhere else to avoid Miranda leading Shep to him. And this new location happened to be a blue sun.

That being said, I'm pretty sure blue suns aren't actually quite that blue. And it also implies that TIM's base can move pretty freaking quickly.

Aside from the color, the star appears to be the same.  Same size/distance and more tellingly it has that same odd.. I don't even know how to describe that movement you see on it.  As for not looking that blue...



That would be Grissom, a massive star that the planet Solcrum orbits. You'll note it's just as blue, and again, that weird... movement I guess you'd say, on the surface. ME doesn't seem to distinguish between giants and supergiants (and hypergiants, if any have been in ME) but Grissom would almost certainly be a supergiant.

I doubt TIM is moving his base because Miranda might lead Shepard to it if she's dead.

BogdanV wrote...

It might as well have been a giant projection. A "live" wall if you will.

If it's just a picture, how could it be a clue to his location as the lead writer said?

[Raven4030]

Or as somebody else said before, maybe it's just a stylistic choice and ultimately the color has nothing to do with anything? The sun being a hint to TIMs location was probably in reference to how it looks in general and NOT to it suddenly changing colors based on Shepard's actions.

Just because a flag is blowing the wrong way in a photo does not mean it's a secret message from enemies of the state.

[Rifneno]

Raven4030 wrote...

Or as somebody else said before, maybe it's just a stylistic choice and ultimately the color has nothing to do with anything? The sun being a hint to TIMs location was probably in reference to how it looks in general and NOT to it suddenly changing colors based on Shepard's actions.

Just because a flag is blowing the wrong way in a photo does not mean it's a secret message from enemies of the state.

Oh, sure, it's a reference to how it looks, and color definitely doesn't fall into that category.  I wish we had a facepalm smiley.  /sigh  Disagreeing is fine, however mocking a fan theory on about a piece of fiction by comparing it to real life conspiracy nuts on the the awe-inspiring counterpoint of "because." is simply belligerent.

Yeah, I'm nuts.  They'd never put a little hint in it that's totally insignificant then later turns out to be a major plot point.

[Raven4030]

Rifneno wrote...

Oh, sure, it's a reference to how it looks, and color definitely doesn't fall into that category.  I wish we had a facepalm smiley.  /sigh  Disagreeing is fine, however mocking a fan theory on about a piece of fiction by comparing it to real life conspiracy nuts on the the awe-inspiring counterpoint of "because." is simply belligerent.

Yeah, I'm nuts.  They'd never put a little hint in it that's totally insignificant then later turns out to be a major plot point.

I mock your fan theory because it's built on the premise that a red supergiant will turn blue because of a slowdown in the fusion reactions within the star, and completely ignore the fact that the star will be red if you take a renegade option, even though the star is neither red nor blue for 99% of the game. Hence, your theory falls apart because your starting premise (and, indeed, your only premise) is false since the star in the background does not actually change from red to blue at any point and so is utterly meaningless in using the star to divine TIMs location.

And again, there is the little side note that in the novels TIM actually moves his base around for security reasons, and after the SNAFU with the Reaper tech it is highly, HIGHLY improbable he is in the same place (though I will not be shocked if you have to infiltrate that very base sometime during ME3)

[Rifneno]

BogdanV wrote...

If it's just a picture, how could it be a clue to his location as the lead writer said?

Yeah.. totally forgot about that. Well, my first reaction was that its a video/live feed because having such a large viewport pointing directly to a unstable(?) star wouldn't be too safe. Like Legion said, windows are a structural weakness. Then again, maybe the station's shielded by a large kinetic barrier.

Radiation shields more like.  The star in the picture I posted is close enough to the one behind TIM that it may actually be the same model, so it's probable that the one he's near is a supergiant.  Which is.. not really a good place to find life.
You're right, it certainly doesn't make sense from the point of view of that being just a window.  If nothing else, it's too dim when it's blue.  Blue stars are the most luminous, often ten times as much as red, but the light against TIM just looks like he's in front of a box of blue Christmas lights.
*shrug*  'was just a thought.