History Characters / MassEffectCommanderShepard

* ManlyGay: Like his [[ButchLesbian female counterpart]], a male Shepard romancing Kaidan or Steve after remaining single for the first two games really comes off this way between [[RatedMForManly his mannerisms]] and the shear amount of crap he's pulled throughout the series.

* AllLovingHero: Paragon Shepard can be supportive and helpful toward alien species that others within the Council races view as vermin at best or enemies at worst, including the krogan, the quarians, the geth, the batarians, and the rachni. Depending on the choices made, Shepard's faith in them can end up paying off big time.
* AllMenArePerverts: Or AllWomenAreLustful depending on gender choice. The first thing Shepard can ask The Illusive Man is whether being revived means they can still have sex. Knowing Shepard is very much a DeadpanSnarker he gives a straight answer.

* AlmightyJanitor:

* AlmightyJanitor: Shepard begins the first game as a Lieutenant Commander and remains at that rank throughout the entire saga, despite everyone else on the main [=ME1=] crew being promoted meteorically.[[note]]Kaidan gains three ranks, Ashley is commissioned as an officer AND gains three ranks, Tali becomes an admiral, Garrus is a military advisor whom generals answer to, Wrex is the de facto leader of the entire Krogan civilization, and Liara, while not holding a military rank, has become the most powerful information broker in the galaxy[[/note]] This is a rank normally held by an XO of a single ship, and Shepard is never promoted despite galaxy-shaping heroics and, in the third game, being singlehandedly responsible for organizing the entire galactic response to the Reaper invasion. Granted, Shepard is dual-hatted as an Alliance officer and a Council SPECTRE, and most of what they do is on the authority of the latter position, but it's still jarring when Kaidan follows their orders despite being two ranks higher and a SPECTRE in his own right.
* AnAdventurerIsYou: There are six different {{character class|System}}es, centered around combat, biotic, and tech abilities: Soldier (pure combat, Scrapper/Evasion Tank), Adept (pure biotic, Nuker/Mezzer), Engineer (pure tech, Petmaster/Nuker/Mezzer), Vanguard (combat/biotic, Ninja/Scrapper/Mezzer), Infiltrator (combat/tech, Ranger/Ninja [=DPSer=]), and Sentinel (biotic/tech, Debuffer/Tank).
* AndThisIsFor: How Shepard kills [[spoiler: [[TheDragon Kai Leng]]]] in the third game, with variations depending on the story. (If all of the mentioned characters died prior to ''Mass Effect 3'', on the other hand, they instead mock him for not having a gunship to hide behind this time.)
-->'''Shepard:''' That was for [[spoiler:Kirrahe]]/[[spoiler:Thane]]/[[spoiler:Miranda]]/[[spoiler:Thane and Miranda]]/[[spoiler:Miranda and Kirrahe]], you ''[[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch son of a bitch]].''

** Following the events of Arrival [[spoiler: and their trial and incarceration]] Shepard technically isn't a commander anymore as they remark to Vega, but they're still the biggest threat to the Reapers. [[spoiler:They are reinstated by Anderson prior to fleeing Earth.]]
** In ''3'', despite still holding the rank of Lieutenant Commander (thus technically lower ranked than some of their own crew), they salute to them and they are essentially seen as the leader of the multi-species alliance against the Reapers. Granted, Shepard is acting on Admiral Hackett's orders, so the argument could be made that Shepard is a heroic MouthOfSauron. However, all of this is sort of unofficial, as Shepard is a Spectre and therefore outside of Alliance authority.

* WhatMeasureIsANonBadass: [[invoked]] Renegade Shepard often blows off and demeans many people that aren't combat personnel. This can even extend to starship crew.

* OverTheShoulderCarry: Shepard does this twice to evacuate the Virmire survivor. Once on [[spoiler:Virmire after they've sustained injuries in combat against the geth]] and again [[spoiler:on Mars after being critically injured by a Cerberus mech.]] Bonus awesome points if it's female Shepard hoisting Kaidan.

* ButchLesbian: Female Shepard can certainly be one while in a relationship with Liara T'soni, Kelly Chambers, Samantha Traynor or Diana Allers. Given the ready availability of unisex outfits, three decidedly more "butch" [[BoyishShortHair short hairstyles]], [[ContraltoOfDanger female Shepard's naturally deep voice]], her masculine walking animations and unladylike habit of never crossing her legs (even in a cocktail dress), She can pull the trope off effortlessly. However, she always comes across as a bit of a butch [[TheLadette Ladette]], even in a straight relationship. [[CampStraight Butch hetero/bisexual maybe?]]

* ContraltoOfDanger: Female Shepard has a notably deep voice.

* BadassBaritone: Male Shepard has a notably deep voice.

* BunnyEarsLawyer: To both the Council and the Alliance after they run into the Prothean beacon on Eden Prime. No one other than Anderson or Shepard's crew really believes their theories about the Reapers coming back to harvest all organic life in the galaxy, but, much like [[Series/TheXFiles Fox Mulder]], they let them go on about the alien conspiracy because of how good they are at their job. Of course, since Shepard was right about everything, they're also a CassandraTruth, but the dynamic still existed between Shepard and their superiors prior to ''VideoGame/MassEffect3''.

** Shepard and their love interest start dipping into this in ''[[DownloadableContent Citadel]]''L

* AmbiguousSituation: In the best possible version of the Destroy ending in ''Mass Effect 3'', [[spoiler:a body in charred N7 armor that is almost certainly Shepard gasps for breath right before the credits roll. WordOfGod confirms that this is Shepard having somehow survived the Crucible explosion, and that the person about to put Shepard's name up on the memorial wall stops and smiles because they can sense that their friend/loved one is still alive out there. What happens after this, or if any of this will be expanded upon in the upcoming fifth ''Mass Effect'' game, may never be elaborated on.]]

* AnAdventurerIsYou: There are six different {{character class|System}}es, centered around combat, biotic, and tech abilities: Soldier (pure combat, Scrapper/Evasion Tank), Adept (pure biotic, Nuker/Mezzer), Engineer (pure tech, Petmaster/Nuker/Mezzer), Vanguard (combat/biotic, Ninja/Scrapper/Mezzer), Infiltrator (combat/tech, Ranger/Ninja [=DPSer=]), and Sentinel (biotic/tech, Debuffer/Tank).
* AndThisIsFor: How Shepard kills [[spoiler: [[TheDragon Kai Leng]]]] in the third game, with variations depending on the story. (If all of the mentioned characters died prior to ''Mass Effect 3'', on the other hand, they instead mock him for not having a gunship to hide behind this time.)
-->'''Shepard:''' That was for [[spoiler:Kirrahe]]/[[spoiler:Thane]]/[[spoiler:Miranda]]/[[spoiler:Thane and Miranda]]/[[spoiler:Miranda and Kirrahe]], you ''[[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch son of a bitch]].''

[[center: [- [[Characters/MassEffect Main Character Index]] | '''Commander Shepard''' | [[Characters/MassEffect1PartyMembers Party 1 Members]] | [[Characters/MassEffectKaidanAlenko Kaidan Alenko]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAshleyWilliams Ashley Williams]] | [[Characters/MassEffectGarrusVakarian Garrus Vakarian]] | [[Characters/MassEffectLiaraTSoni Liara T'Soni]] | [[Characters/MassEffectTaliZorah Tali'Zorah]] | [[Characters/MassEffectUrdnotWrex Urdnot Wrex]] | [[Characters/MassEffect1Antagonists Mass Effect 1 Antagonists]] | [[Characters/MassEffect1Npcs Mass Effect 1 NPCs]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2EarlyPartyMembers Early Party 2 Members]] | [[Characters/MassEffectMirandaLawson Miranda Lawson]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2LatePartyMembers Late Party 2 Members]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2SecretPartyMembers Mass Effect 2 Secret Party Members]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2MainAntagonists Mass Effect 2 Main Antagonists]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2SecondaryAntagonists Mass Effect 2 Secondary Antagonists]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2NormandyCrew Normandy Crew]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2CouncilSpaceNPCs Mass Effect 2 Council Space NPCs]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2NonCouncilSpaceNPCs Mass Effect 2 Non-Council Space NPCs]] | [[Characters/MassEffect3PartyMembers Party 3 Members]] | [[Characters/MassEffect3AntagonistsAndNpcs Mass Effect 3 Antagonists and NPCs]] | [[Characters/MassEffect3MultiplayerCharacters Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Characters]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaPathfinderRyder Pathfinder Ryder]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaPartyMembers Party Andromeda Members]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaCrewOfTheTempest Crew of the Tempest]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaTheAndromedaInitiative The Andromeda Initiative]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaTheKett The Kett]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaTheAngara The Angara]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaOtherCharacters Andromeda Other Characters]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaMultiplayerCharacters Multiplayer Characters]]]]-]

[[center: [- [[Characters/MassEffect Main Character Index]] | '''Commander Shepard''' | [[Characters/MassEffect1PartyMembers Party 1 Members]] | [[Characters/MassEffectKaidanAlenko Kaidan Alenko]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAshleyWilliams Ashley Williams]] | [[Characters/MassEffectGarrusVakarian Garrus Vakarian]] | [[Characters/MassEffectLiaraTSoni Liara T'Soni]] | [[Characters/MassEffectTaliZorah Tali'Zorah]] | [[Characters/MassEffectUrdnotWrex Urdnot Wrex]] | [[Characters/MassEffect1Antagonists Mass Effect 1 Antagonists]] | [[Characters/MassEffect1Npcs Mass Effect 1 NPCs]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2EarlyPartyMembers Early Party 2 Members]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2LatePartyMembers Late Party 2 Members]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2SecretPartyMembers Mass Effect 2 Secret Party Members]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2MainAntagonists Mass Effect 2 Main Antagonists]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2SecondaryAntagonists Mass Effect 2 Secondary Antagonists]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2NormandyCrew Normandy Crew]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2CouncilSpaceNPCs Mass Effect 2 Council Space NPCs]] | [[Characters/MassEffect2NonCouncilSpaceNPCs Mass Effect 2 Non-Council Space NPCs]] | [[Characters/MassEffect3PartyMembers Party 3 Members]] | [[Characters/MassEffect3AntagonistsAndNpcs Mass Effect 3 Antagonists and NPCs]] | [[Characters/MassEffect3MultiplayerCharacters Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Characters]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaPathfinderRyder Pathfinder Ryder]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaPartyMembers Party Andromeda Members]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaCrewOfTheTempest Crew of the Tempest]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaTheAndromedaInitiative The Andromeda Initiative]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaTheKett The Kett]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaTheAngara The Angara]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaOtherCharacters Andromeda Other Characters]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAndromedaMultiplayerCharacters Multiplayer Characters]]]]-]

** Also noticeable with Javik, who is the Prothean version of a Shepard who failed to stop the Reapers.

* BrokenBird: Can be played like this.

* ClassicalAntiHero: A possibility in the second game, as it's possible to fail multiple loyalty missions and lose any of your squadmates if the wrong decisions are made. Definite in the third, where losing allies is completely unavoidable in many cases, and FailureIsTheOnlyOption on some missions. [[HurtingHero The toll it takes on Shepard is very noticeable.]]

* ThePowerOfFriendship: The ''Citadel'' DLC specifically highlights the importance of Shepard's friends and allies in their adventures, with either Paragon or Renegade choices resulting in friendly, playful banter with them. When they fight [[spoiler:their clone, the clone frustratedly asks what it is Shepard has that they don't. Seeing Shepard's squadmates rush forward to help them while Brooks hangs back, not willing to risk her neck, makes it sink in just how alone they really are in comparison. If Shepard offers to help them up, they will be DrivenToSuicide and pitch themselves off the Normandy into a building.]]

** [[spoiler:In ''[=ME3=]'', choosing the "Control" ending as Renegade Shepard has them using the Reapers as a means to stamp out anything that doesn't fit their vision of galactic peace. Choosing the "Destroy" ending also counts if Shepard was supportive towards the Geth and EDI and considered them genuinely alive, as Shepard still sacrifices them in order to give the galaxy a clean slate free from Reaper influence.]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Many of Renegade Shepard's dialogue options and actions veer into this direction.
** Sometimes even [[GoodIsNotSoft Paragon actions]] can arguably be considered this.

** [[spoiler:In ''[=ME3=], choosing the "Control" ending as Renegade Shepard has them using the Reapers as a means to stamp out anything that doesn't fit their vision of galactic peace.]]

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority:

* BreastExpansion: A common joke among the fanbase was that Project Lazarus, for some reason, gave Female Shep a boob job, as the improved ''Mass Effect 2'' character model is noticeably bustier than the original in ''Mass Effect 1''. Though, given that [[BuxomIsBetter Miranda]] was the one in charge of the project, it could have been a design choice.

* SexyWalk: Female Commander Shepard in ''3'' gets quite a lot of bounce thrown into her non-combat walking and running animations. This is was likely a minor AuthorsSavingThrow from Creator/BioWare after fans complained in ''2'' that female Shepard had the exact same gorilla-like walking, running, and sitting animations as male Shepard.

--> '''Shepard''': Conrad, if you have some kind of weird shrine of me, I'm going to be very unhappy.
--> [Beat]
--> '''Verner''': It's just a poster with a few candles. It's very tasteful.
--> '''Shepard''': [[BrainBleach Gah!]]

* StrongAndSkilled: Already one of the most skilled soldiers in the galaxy in the first game, regardless of species, Cerberus resurrects them in the second game with numerous implants that give them highly increased strength and potentially more potent biotic abilities. This leaves Shepard with all the peerless skill they originally had along with the strength to nearly stand toe-to-toe with krogan and yahg, including the use of their limb-shattering weaponry.

* BreastExpansion: A common joke among the fanbase was that Project Lazarus, for some reason, gave Female Shep a boob job, as the improved ''Mass Effect 2'' character model is noticeably bustier than the original in ''Mass Effect 1''.