DarkDoc25 wrote...
There is one hole in this theory that you may want to plug. Sheppard doesn't necessarily live in the "Destroy" ending. You have to "save" Anderson from TIM and have at least 4000 war assets, or not "save" him from TIM and have at least 5000 war assets. This is the only way to get the ending that implies he/she lives. Otherwise you don't get this ending even if you choose the Destroy option. All you get is the Reapers being destroyed and Earth being saved.
I say you may want to plug it because I like your theory. I didn't hate the endings, but they did feel off to me. I still don't get how Javik got off of the Normandy at the end when he was with me during the charge to the Conduit. And the fact that Anderson's choice was renegade while TIM's was paragon doesn't sit well with me.
I see your point but all that actually happens is that you don’t see if he survives or not... not exactly a solid, definitive reply, but not necessarily a giant hole in the theory...
My take would be this... the decision to shoot Illusive Man is a renegade decision... perhaps that fits but under the circumstances it would seem like a fairly positive decision to me… however, in the context of this theory, it ties in that this action is flagged as renegade because it defeats the ends of the Reapers... thus, allowing Anderson to die and/or not bringing a big enough fleet to challenge the Reapers would lead to Sheperds death... given the number of assumptions necessary to consider this entire issue its quite a complicated thought process, frustrated further by the influence of our own desires to believe anything but the ending we were given.