I've been re-looking at the last encounter with TIM and these words gave me pause. Why was it so important to TIM to get Shepard to believe he was right? On the face of it there was no need since at that point he appears to be in control of Shepard and Anderson, so why not simply kill them? However, we know that he was in fact being controlled by the Reapers and given the oily shadows and strange buzzing noise, it is clear they are involved in what is happening to Shepard. So is it in fact important to them that Shepard "believes".
At this point Shepard is only talking about destroying. TIM is advocating controlling the Reapers but only in order that humanity can be "uplifted". He considers that in his altered state which is part organic, part synthetic that he is the pinnacle of evolution. This goes beyond what Saran believed since he only saw synthesis as a means to survival in the face of Reaper superiority. TIM believes he is taking humanity to the point where they are superior to the Reapers. Listening to his speeches again (which are in response to a renegade Shepard and therefore I think differ to those to a paragon), what he is suggesting ultimately is not simply controlling the Reapers but synthesis whilst in control of them.
In the original pre-EC ending the Catalyst says very little to Shepard by way of explanation and we are asked to make a choice based on very little information. It maintains it only accepted the need for an "alternative" to its previous solution because Shepard, an organic has made it that far and the completed and docked Crucible have opened up other possibilities. However, it also admits that it was aware of the plans for the Crucible and they existed in previous cycles. So were they in fact a test set up by the Catalyst to judge when a particular cycle was ready for synthesis?
To pass the test, Shepard had to first find the plans, then get the Crucible made and then finally get to the point where it could be docked. In the process they had to in fact resist indoctrination because this would naturally make them believe the Reapers were right and allow the Cycle to continue. TIM had got as far as he had but failed because he would not open the arms to accept the Crucible. He thought he could control the Reapers without it, which he couldn't, because he was too far under their control. Shepard with their mind still their own had passed all the tests. This is why Harbinger didn't kill them when it had the chance. The idea was to strip them of companions and everything else bar their mind. Which is why Anderson had to die because he wasn't needed and might well get in the way of convincing Shepard to "believe."
I have always believed that Shepard was the true Catalyst and that the AI only took the title because it was aware that this is what Shepard was looking for. However, it needed the organic Shepard to make the decision that would operate the Crucible and if he/she opted for synthesis, the DNA profile for the nanobots to work to.
What do you think? Can you come up with another explanation for why TIM needed Shepard to "believe."
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