Trying to give some sense to the ending (Not IT). Mind Interface.

Argentoid wrote...

EDIT: This theory is not related by any means to the Idoctrination Theory. This is different. There is no indoctrination herpty derpty here. The ending still happens in my theory. I'm just pointing out the communication method used with the Catalyst. Again, not IT related.

OH NOES! ANOTHER THEORY?!!! NO MOAR PLEASE!

Ok, ladies and gentlemen, this is my first post. Bear with me, because I've been thinking the whole thing through and this is the only logical explanation to the whole weird encounter with the Catalyst that I can come up with.

What I'll cite and I'll try to explain:
Why the Big Bad looks like a child and why he uses Shep's voice.
Why there's three chambers.
Very small analysis of every choice. And what happens to Shepard afterwards.
The Leviathan's connection to the Catalyst.

Here it goes (please don't hit me):

When Shepard gets to the very end of the game, Hackett tries to contact him, but Shep passes out. Then, as we all know, we see some kind of "space elevator" that takes him to where the Catalyst is. This looks very "magical" and "unreal"... So, at this very moment, I think Shepard is gaining access to the Catalyst's programming/mind, in a very similar way that happened with the Leviathan encounter (not Indoctrination related, by the way). Why nobody is trying to contact him anymore? Hackett was just trying to, but then ZOMG, nothing.

Now, read this: Remember the confrontation with the Leviathan? Well, that giant thing, as I said, gained access to Shepard's mind too. The Leviathans used familiar images to speak with him ("Your memories give voice to our words")... just like the Catalyst does at the very end:

He looks like the kid we see on Earth (OH REALLY?).
He uses Shepard's male and female voice to communicate.
It was also created in the image of the Leviathans because... well... the Leviathans created him, and it's assumed that the StarChild gathered an army of pawns.
The Catalyst, therefore, is using the same comunication methods as his creators (the Leviathans) did.

So, at this final scene, Shepard's consciouness is actually being merged with the Catalyst's AI programming. The Catalyst's uses familiar images that allow Shepard to comprehend what he is seeing. The Catalyst himself, Earth, the Crucible, the colors of and the presence of the Control/Destroy chamber... everything is a representation of what is at stake, (plus Shepard seems to be in space at that very moment, so I've always wondered how he was able to breathe air, because: THERE'S NO AIR IN SPACE... or maybe because there's still an atmosphere around).

Getting back to the whole "programming" thing, we DO actually see something like this at the Geth mission where we gain access to the Geth's core programming. But this time, we can't understand what we are seeing, except from some surreal white walls and strange orange boxes floating around.

Now, the choices:

The Crucible forces the Catalyst to meet up with Shepard. As soon as the Crucible attachs to the Citadel, Shepard gets contacted by Hackett. The former says" I... I'm not sure how to... " and then WHAM, Space Elevator does the job. The Crucible did what no other device could: Communicate with the Catalyst ("The fact that you're standing here, the first organic ever proves it"). In the end, the Crucible ends up altering the variablies, now, up to three. Those are: Destroy, Control and Synthesis.

Destroy: Shepard destroys the Catalyst's core programming, leaving the Reapers useless. Also, this is the only ending where Shepard wakes up. That's because he wakes AFTER the whole mind-melding encounter with the Catalyst. (He can still die in this ending if your EMS is low, but maybe that's because of the Crucible's state and what it targets).

Control: The Catalyst AI is replaced by Shepard's consciouness. Shepard dies, or (due to this "mind exchange"), he's probably left in a comatose state (just like Ann Bryson in the Leviathan DLC, after spending too much time communicating with the Leviathans).

Synthesis: The Catalyst gains access to Shepard's DNA and synthetic components, and allows them to be merged with the Crucible's energy, then spreading to the whole galaxy. Shepard also dies, likely desintegrated to the subatomic level in the "real" world... or maybe he's left in a comatose state too. (This was the hardest one to figure out, its just way too much Space Magic to understand.)

Refuse: The Crucible shuts down, as soon as the Catalyst leaves the scene. This shows the importance of the Crucible, as it probably forces to establish a connection between Shep and the StarChild. When Shep refuses, the Crucible "reacts" to this type of act. Then the scene fades to black.

PS: Shepard was on his knees when he confronted the Leviathan. Later, when he confronts the Catalyst, Shepard wakes up with his knees and hands on the ground in a VERY similar way. That also struck me as odd.

Shepard on his knees during Leviathan confrontation
Shepard on his knees during the Catalyst confrontation

TL;DR

So, all in all, THE ENDINGS HAPPEN. Only difference is that the whole Catalyst confrontation takes place inside the Catalyst's programming, mind interfacing with Shepard, as probably the StarChild has the same abilities to communicate as the Leviathans did. What we see, as said before, are familiar images, ala "Rannoch: Geth Fighter Squadrons" (the Geth conciousness) mission and the Leviathan confrontation, this last one being VERY similar to the ending scene with StarChild itself. Therefore, the Catalyst uses Shepard memories too in order to give voice to his words.

(I'm might be wrong. Still, this was done with my best attempt. Damn crappy english.)

EDIT: Wrote some more stuff, in an attempt to make it more clear.

EDIT 2: In my opinion, it doesn't make any sense for the three chambers (R, G and to be on the Citadel. If we take them at face value, they've been there for billions of years, and still nobody figured out that the Catalyst resides there... and that there's a strange Reaper-off button as clear as the sun. It doesn't make any sense.

So, to me, the Catalyst makes symbols to guide Shepard into making the final choice.

EDIT 3: Added REFUSE.

EDIT 4: Found this.

This is the old version of the Catalyst "consensus". It had trees. Just like those from Shepard's nightmares. Why it was removed? We may never know. Maybe because Mac and Casey wanted to keep things "high level".

[*]LOL you mean BW's shi...

shodiswe wrote...

One interpretation to why the catalysts projection would look like the kid is likely due to Shepards nightmares about that "kid"... Shepard is predisposed to interpret inkspots and pretty much anything s/he sees as the kid that's become a traumatic memory... Just like that PTSD Asari on the citadel that see's the girl she killed in every human she sees, worse ofcourse if they look like the girl.

Shepard, for some reason feels responsible for failing to get that kid to follow him/her to safety. It's the marks of Shepards PTSD. It's a reoccuring theme in ME3, with soldiers being on the edge of mental collapse.

It's more likely than to think the Catalyst scanned all of Shepards memories and took the form.
Nothing is impossible though. But the simplest explanation is likely the right one.

The Catalyst:
-is described as the Citadel, yet it says it is more of a being that has the "Citadel is my home". Semantics, but potentially important
-takes the form of a child in Shepard's memory
-has a voice of the child in Shepard's memory, but with backvoices of both male and female Shepard (???)
-optionally takes the voice of a much more Reaper-like being ("SO BE IT.")

In Mass Effect, if the simplest explanation was the right one, then these would have been correct:
-Shepard is deluded from Eden Prime and is making up the Reaper myth
-The giant ship the Geth arrived with is a Geth ship

We're not the Council and I'd hope we look even slightly deeper.

If it scans Shepard's memories, isn't that the slighest bit concerning? I mean, this isn't Contact - the being we're interacting with is the controller (so it claims) of the robots exterminating billions of lives before our eyes.

#151
SwobyJ

Posté 23 octobre 2013 - 09:26

#152
Guest_Darth Revan91_*

Posté 23 octobre 2013 - 09:28

#153
SwobyJ

Posté 23 octobre 2013 - 09:31

#154
Argentoid

Posté 23 octobre 2013 - 10:03

Trying to give some sense to the ending (Not IT). Mind Interface.

#151 SwobyJ Posté 23 octobre 2013 - 09:26

#152 Guest_Darth Revan91_* Posté 23 octobre 2013 - 09:28

#153 SwobyJ Posté 23 octobre 2013 - 09:31

#154 Argentoid Posté 23 octobre 2013 - 10:03

Connexion

#151
SwobyJ

Posté 23 octobre 2013 - 09:26

#152
Guest_Darth Revan91_*

Posté 23 octobre 2013 - 09:28

#153
SwobyJ

Posté 23 octobre 2013 - 09:31

#154
Argentoid

Posté 23 octobre 2013 - 10:03