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Quamzin wrote...
This thread makes a great point, that I don't know has been shared yet here. The images and discussion have led me to believe the ending takes place inside Harbinger, not the Citadel.
It has been established numerous times in the ME series that indoctrination is strongest inside a Reaper. It's why Sovereign wanted Saren to use him as a flagship, and why the Cerberus kids went extra nuts inside the derelict Reaper. By keeping the super-important thralls indoors, the Reaper can slow-cook the indoctrination in a controlled, deceptive environment.
So it makes quite a bit of sense that Harbinger would touch down on Earth to scoop up Shepard, rather than destroy him. He is the galaxy's biggest renegade, or paragon, or both. Changing his mind without breaking it would be a sweet deal.
Taking it a step further, if he can at least convince Shepard the battle is over, Shepard might come over the comm and SAY so. That would do a good job of demoralizing and confusing the ground forces, especially if they realized the signal was coming from inside Harbinger (dum dum dum).
This could also explain why high EMS affects the ending. It means you had enough forces to pummel the crap out of Harbinger, and you are waking up in his wreckage.
I know I'm a fool for participating in this "Speculation for Everyone" social game. In that spirit, here's my foolish tl;dr interpretation of Indoc Theory, for you to quickly scroll past and ignore:
The Illusive Man helps the Reapers relocate the Citadel to Earth. Like Saren and Sovereign (BFFs), Harbinger convinces the Illusive Man that he's in control, and that the Illusive Man should use him as his flagship.
Harbinger notices you heading for the transport beam, much like the Eye of Sauron seeing Frodo slip on the ring in Mt. Doom. He makes a Nazgul-tastic beeline for your assault. TIM helps him identify you and Anderson on the battlefield, and he sucks you both up into his own transport beam, into his superstructure.
The slow molasses walk after the screen goes white is a buffer--Harbinger giving himself time to fire up the "holodeck", and shift the physicality of his superstructure to match. He's also convincing you and Anderson that you made it to the Citadel beam. You didn't.
Inside Harbinger, the Illusive Man is hanging out in the command center, waiting for you. Harbinger puts a carrot on a stick, and walks you and Anderson there in a straight line, showing you the same stuff. The circular command center is reminiscent of the office in the Cerberus Base--tailored to TIM's tastes, much as Saren's throne was tailored to his tastes on Sovereign.
You argue with TIM. Harbinger keeps things on a tight leash. The Illusive Man forces you to fire your gun, apparently at Anderson's stomach. However, there isn't any evidence of a bullet wound on Anderson. Anderson never really clutches the area in pain, either.
Paragon/Renegade options determine whether the Illusive Man redeems himself, and whether or not Anderson lives. If Anderson lives, it is revealed that Shepard firing on Anderson was an illusion--TIM actually forced Shepard to shoot himself, and Shepard has a nice, bloody wound to match. Anderson is just KO'd from exhaustion.
But just as killing Saren didn't stop Sovereign, killing TIM doesn't stop Harbinger. He changes his angle, and fires up the Starchild VI--something he's been working on since Shepard left Earth.
This is the last act of a desperate cuttlefish, because back on Earth, if your EMS is solid, your squadmates are pummeling the crap out of Harbinger. Harbinger's hoping you choose control (TIM) or synthesis (Saren), or even that you just sit there and refuse to decide. He offers a destroy option, but leverages the Geth against you--a race that recently trusted you enough to bring you inside their consensus, their existence, to prove to you that not all synthetics are jerks. Some of them actually, shockingly, respect organics, rather than wanting to destroy them. Harbinger and kids have been noodling around in the consensus as well, so they know this information will make you hesitate.
So you pick a color, and you get to see how Shepard's interprets the outcome of the fantasy choices Harbinger laid out for him. Without any other context, I think we've all agreed it's pretty lame. However...
...this has nothing to do with the battle raging out in the real world. That's where EMS should/will factor in. I believe that is the message the game is trying to get across... you bring the galaxy together, but in the end, Commander Shepard has troubles of his own. He can't win this war for them, but he's spent the whole game teaching them how to do it.
The snippet of Shepard in the rubble is based on EMS, because with enough EMS, your forces rout the Reapers. If you also resisted Starchild's disingenuous assertions, you wake up in a pile of busted Harbinger guts.
One last thought: The ending of ME3 reminds me of the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park... we were missing some portions of the DNA, so we stuck in some Indoctrination Theory DNA. We still ended up with defective dinosaurs. Darn.
I like but certain things don't add up.
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wait huh? At least that's what it looks like to me. Also.. the whole retake me campaign is a litle childish in itself. Take back masseffect from the people who gave it to you?
