In fact Sheridan ends this war mostly by using...words. There is no videogamey boss fight, just Sheridan argueing together with his wife Delenn and two represantatives of the warmongering Old Races. And he says so many right things to them that translate perfectly to Mass Effect. And I think THIS would be exactly the kind of way we would have loved to see OUR Commander handle his final encounter with a certain "higher being"...all the way down to Sheridan's great last words at the end of this discussion...
Read it for yourself and make up your mind, I think it is quite enlightening...and makes you wonder why Bioware, after getting obviously A LOT of inspiration from this series (its truly amazing how many similarities to the Babylon 5 universe there are...), did not allow our Shepard to act like this! And tell the Star Child what he/she thinks of his twisted ideology, his choices and where exactly the Star Child can stuff all this...
Some short background-Info: This dialogue takes place mostly in Sheridan and Delenns (his wife) mind, during a large battle being waged outside between the fleets of the Vorlons and Shadows, sworn enemy representing ideas of order and chaos. Sheridan and his fleet of allied younger races is right in between, without much hope of winning or surviving by conventional means. There is also a planet with over six billion lifes at stake that is supposed to get annihilated by the Vorlons due to a Shadow base on it. But Sheridan somehow gets into contact with the two arch-enemies, and the future of the galaxy depends on how he will handle the situation. But we know these kind of situations, don't we?
I hope some of you enjoy it as much as I did!
Vorlon: We do not understand you. We wished only the best for you. We only want to help you.
Sheridan: You're destroying whole worlds!
Vorlon: The others are a disease. You have given us the opportunity to eliminate it. We are grateful? Why do you oppose us?
Sheridan: Because I don't like being used! Or lied to!
Vorlon: We have not lied! Our goal is the same as yours: to destroy the darkness!
Sheridan: Then why haven't you struck at them directly? You don't wanna answer that one, do you? See..I finally understood the rules of this war when I saw your planetkillers in action. You have had the technology to destroy Zhahadum (Shadow homeplanet) all along! So why haven't you used it?
Vorlon: You do not understand!
Sheridan: Oh, but I do understand! And that's what got you worried! A Vorlon said: understanding is a three edged sword.Your side, their side, and the truth! The truth is: We don't need you anymore!
Shadow, to Delenn: The Vorlons stand for order above anything else. No passion, no dreams, just discipline, obedience. They're frozen in place, an evolutionary dead end! Why side with the old? Embrace the new! Growth through pain and struggle. Conflict and war. You, of all people, should understand this!
2nd Shadow: Your race came out of the last war stronger, better. How much better..how much stronger will they be after this war? You will rise from the ashes with strength and power beyond your imagination.
Delenn: Until you do it to us again?
Shadow: It is...the cycle (hah!). It is the force of history itself. You cannot win against that. We have embraced it. We have helped it along by creating conflict. Weak races die, strong races are made even stronger. Evolution must be served. There is no other way.
Delenn: No! That's what you want us to believe.
Sheridan, to Vorlon: That's why you are really doing this! That's why you target planets that help the Shadows...and don't destroy Zahadum itself! You don't want to kill the messenger, you just wanna kill the message! Make it harder for them to get to us..guarantee we do things your way...
Delenn, to Shadow: After all, if you destroy the Vorlons, they'll never know you've won. They'll never see that you were right and they were wrong. It's about ideology.
Shadow: Of course. What isn't? Order...versus...chaos...Choose one.
Delenn: Yes...choose. But only from the choices you give us! Don't you see that this is wrong? when the other First Ones passed beyond the RIM, you stayed behind as guardians, shepherds(*g*) for the younger races. But you've lost your way. This isn't about teaching us or helping us. This is about you being right!
Sheridan, to Vorlon: You're trying to force us to decide which of you is right. You are like a couple of parents arguing in front of their child, manipulating them...trying to get them to take sides. Not for their benefit, but for yours! But what if the right choice...is not to choose at all?
Delenn, to Shadow: What if we reject the idea that we must decide which of you is right? What if we simply walk away?
Shadow: You cannot do that.
Delenn: Then the war will never end.
Shadow: That is correct.
Delenn: Then there is no hope.
Shadow: There is only chaos and evolution.
Vorlon, to Sheridan: There is only order and obedience. You will do as you are told.
Shadow, to Delenn: You will fight, because we tell you to fight.
Vorlon, to Sheridan: You will die for us when we tell you to die for us..because the others (younger races) know no other way.
Sheridan: That's where you are wrong.
Shadow: You've let them see! You've let them know! (The Shadows/Vorlons have been tricked, the entire fleet was able to see/hear this conversation, and Delenn/Sheridan are back in reality, on their ship. The Shadows and Vorlons send holograms of themselves, the conversation goes on)
Sheridan: The Vorlons ask only one question over and over: Who are you? to Shadow: You, for you the question is, what do you want? I have never heard you answer that question. Who are you? What do you want?
Delenn: You don't know, do you? You've been fighting for so long, you have forgotten. You've lost your way. So how can you guide us? How can we learn who we are and what we want if you don't even know anymore?
Sheridan: It doesn't matter which side wins this today. A thousand years from now, this will start all over again. You are as trapped in this cycle as much as we are. But we can't afford this anymore. We don't need it. We don't need YOU! We've learned to stand on our own. We'll make mistakes, but they'll be our mistakes, not yours.
Delenn: Your secret is out. All these other races know you for who you are. So, what now?
Vorlon: You do not speak for the rest! Shadow: They will not follow you if you are dead!
A Drazi-Ship sacrifices itself to safe Sheridan's ship from getting destroyed by Vorlons and Shadows...the allied fleet surrounds Sheridan's ship to protect it.
Delenn: The others (the allied younger races) have rejected you! How will you have a war when noone will fight for either of you?
Sheridan: We refuse to take sides in this anymore. And we refuse to let you turn us against one another. We know who we are now. We can find our own way between order and chaos!
Delenn: You can kill us...one by one, and those who follow us and those who follow them...on and on, every race, every planet, until there's no one left to kill. You will have failed as guardians. And you will be alone.
Sheridan: It's over because WE'VE decided it's over! Now get the hell out of our galaxy! Both of you! (Epic line, isn't it? Exactly what OUR Commander should have said, don't you think? Oh, and of course it worked. The Vorlorns and Shadows, with a little help from another ancient being present on the ship and allied with Sheridan, realize that Sheridan is right and that their "solution" won't work anymore/has lost its credibility. They leave the galaxy forever.)
So...what do you think? Beside blowing all Reapers skyhigh in an epic final stand....wouldn't this have been so much better and satisfying than seeing Shepard stumbling around and saying not much more than "maybe" and "I don't know"?
For the "hard of reading" or the ones that would like to see Sheridan's actual performance of these lines...here is the entire dialogue on Youtube
1. Part
2. Part
Edit: a little correction, as it is of course "Sheridan's actual performance", not Shepards...Guess it was my imagination carrying me away...
Modifié par Vox Draco, 04 mai 2012 - 08:08 .
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