HYR 2.0 wrote...
It's not "semantics." Two days is closer to 1 hour than 1 week.
When the Codex entry is unspecific, saying simply "days or weeks", attempting to put a definitive timescale on the process is quibbling. We have no specific evidence exactly how long the process takes. It's also reasonable to assume that certain levels of exposure affect the subject more than others. The citizens on Eden Prime, for example. They were in distress due to the mere presence of Sovereign on their colony. Then we have the research team who were affected on board the Derelict Reaper. Then we have Saren, who communicated directly with and was implanted by Sovereign.... and Shepard, who was the focus of attention of and engaged in direct conversation with at least three seperate Reapers. Different levels of contact, different levels of exposure, resulting in different time periods for the Reaper's influence to take hold.
That's not even the important part. If Shepard were indoctrinated in Arrival, why did he destroy the relay to stop them?
Well personally I believe that while the events of Arrival were the (snort) catalyst for Shepard's potential indoctrination, Shepard was still firmly in control at that point. The attack by Object Rho and Shepard's 2-day blackout sowed the seeds as it were, ave the Reapers a foothold in Shepard's mind - leading to the odd behaviour and disturbing dreams we see in ME3.
Shepard even says "no more visions" back in the med-bay on the Normandy. Makes sense, no exposure.
...up until the point where the Reapers arrive in force, and we get the nightmares, the fatigue, the uncertainty.
I keep hearing this from people but have yet to get any solid citation on it.
There's very little "solid" citation on anything indoctrination related - again, take the issue of timescales above by way of example. We do however know that once the Reapers have got their claws into you, it's permanent. This is confirmed by Benezia, Shiala, Rana and more. Shiala being the ONLY person we encounter who has successfully managed to overcome indoctrination, and as she explains this is likely due to her encounter with the Thorian and the effect it had on her and the colonists of Zhu's Hope. She still does not believe she is trult "free", however. Once you start hearing the whispers, you can't stop hearing them. They just inevitably get louder.
Unless Rana was already indoctrinated by the time we see her on Virimire, in which case no exposure is required. That is what I took away from the e-mail about her in ME3, that she was (completely) indoctrinated in ME1.
Rana a deep cover agent? Absolutely. But bring her up was intended to illustrate my above point: the Reaper's influence does not fade away over time. It persists. It cannot be escaped. It can
only get stronger.
You likely remember what I had to say about the 'Beacon as "clear foreshadowing." If not then, again, I consider it more of a "vague warning" and not particularly conclusive about anything.
Yes. My mistake - I didn't make myself clear. At the time of ME1, the Prothean beacon message was indeed a vague warning. It's inarguable that is shows a mixture of organic and synthetic parts, interconnected and apparently in distress. What this meant at the time was unknown (I believed it was something to do with Husks), but we knew it was intended as a warning of some kind. In ME2 we start to see it for what it is - the fall of the Prothean (not Reaper, my bad) race, and their eventual fate - becoming the (thanks, Mordin) soulless agents of the Reapers, the Collectors. My "clear foreshadowing" comment was intended to be in the context of ME3, and the ending choice. I personally cannot envisage the Catalyst's (for it IS the Catalyst's own suggestion) proposal of Synthesis, without hearkening back to the warning we were given at the very beginning.
Was it forshadowing Synthesis in ME1? No, probably not. Does it foreshadow Synthesis in the context of ME3's endings, knowing what we have come to know about it?
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