RaidShock wrote...
This may have been addressed already and if so, I apologize.
I personally love the indoctrination theory, as I believe it ultimately makes the most sense compared to the other possibilities. However, there are a number of holes in it, as has clearly already been established. It seems that the indoctrination theory assumes that Shepard has gradually become indoctrinated from his long term exposure to the Reapers and their technology.
However, if this is the case, why did the Prothean VI detect an "Indoctrinated Presence" only when Kai Leng arrived? Wouldn't it have done the same thing if Shepard had been indoctrinated? If so, then the indoctrination theory would have to assume Shepard becomes indoctrinated after those events occur, which leaves a very small window for indoctrination that goes against the fact that we know indoctrination typically takes a long time.
Any thoughts on this?
HUGE DISCLAIMER: I know most of what I write below is stated in a factual manner, but know that this is just huge speculation on my part. This is not what I actually think happened. It's what I -hope- might have happened, but I'm not trying to set anyone straight or anything. Just theorizing.Going through the Indoctrination process is much different than actually being fully indoctrinated. This has been discussed before. Shepard isn't a servant of the Reapers -yet-. But s/he could be, later. The Reapers simply don't want to rush it. They've seen what happens when you force the indoctrination. It fails. Climbing inside the mind of an organic only goes so far. The right combination of words can break even a long term indoc. Shepard got Saren to shoot himself. He was heavily indoctrinated, over a very long period of time. Yet his/her words undid all that hard work the Reapers did. The Reapers had to re-evaluate. They've had millions of years to perfect this technique, but for some reason, this cycle is different. Shepard, and humanity, and all the other races have proved that. By the end, they are all working together to stop the Reaper madness. This scares the crap out of the Reapers.
In my opinion? The Starbrat/Citadel isn't the Catalyst. Though you still need the Citadel in order to activate the Crucible, it CANNOT be done without an -organic- at the helm.
Shepard is the Catalyst. Shepard is the one who has to choose. Who has to set off the chain of events. NONE of this (Crucible business) would have been possible if Shepard hadn't rallied the forces of the galaxy to come together to build this thing. A Catalyst is supposed to be "a person or thing that causes a change."
Starbrat doesn't do that. The Citadel doesn't do that. SHEPARD does that, in conjunction with the Citadel and the Crucible. But ultimately, Shepard gets the ball rolling, so to speak.
Best guess? Starbrat is just a Reapers projection, there to try to derail the commander one last time. Perhaps Harbinger didn't notice that Shepard wasn't dead? Once they realized s/he made it to the beam, they paniced and sent the Starbrat up to intervene. It wouldn't even be that long of a trip. We can clearly see Reapers floating outside the Crucible's "windows."
He's there simply to take one last stab at fooling the real Catalyst into choosing incorrectly. And he takes the form the Reapers have been projecting in Shepard's dreams to try and make Shepard that much more conflicted about making the choice. The Dreams are literally the only thing the Reapers were willing to do in order to "push" Shepard towards the wrong decision, -should- s/he make it that far.
Think of the child, from the very beginning, as a Reaper projection backup plan. Just smoke and mirrors. They know from past experience that Shepard doesn't back down. And if for some reason this cycle's champion reaches their goal, the child is there to try to make sure this doesn't happen. TIM was also another barrier the Reapers tried to use. He failed. Shepard got him to shoot himself, because he finally realized he was indoctrinated.
On to just an interesting point about
endings plot developments like this in popular media....
Indianna Jones and the Holy Grail? There was only one right choice. All the other cups that were scattered about that room were fake grails, probably all lined with poison. More smoke and mirrors. Any other choice kills anyone who chooses "unwisely." Not that this is evidence in any way, but it's interesting. And feels like something the writers would probably respect in a "battle of wits" kind of way. Others have mentioned The Princess Bride, where both glasses are tainted. Both decisions in which the Reapers live? You could see them as "poison" or "tained" choices. There's also the lying doormen in Labyrinth. "This door leads to CERTAIN DEATH, and the other one leads to the way out. BUT, one of us always tells the truth, and one of us always lies. NOW GO." Not verbatim, but you get the gist.
Riddles wrapped in enigmas wrapped in pop quizzes. I think that's what the writers were going for. And for us to simply take the ending at face value? I feel is slightly foolish.
Modifié par Gallifreya, 15 avril 2012 - 01:31 .
Retour en haut
