History Characters / MassEffectTaliZorah

** On Virmire, on seeing Sovereign's hologram above the Prothean beacon, she murmurs "something bad is about to happen". [[{{Understatement}} She ain't wrong.]]

** If you romance her, Tali finds many ways during the series to tell you how much she loves you. Shepard basically never returns the favor (although this could be an intentional attempt by the writers to [[CannotSpitItOut characterize Shepard]]).

** The casual way in ''2'' that Shepard states the reason for showing up to rescue Tali from an army of geth if the Neutral conversation option is chosen. Be honest, who ''wouldn't'' fall a little in love with him at that point?

A quarian machinist who specializes in technology or resources valuable to the Migrant Fleet. She is double-crossed during a meeting but is rescued by the timely arrival of Shepard, who sought information Tali obtained on Saren. Tali joins the Commander out of gratitude and to help bring down Saren. She becomes one of Shepard's closest friends, [[UndyingLoyalty being one of only two people to be a party member in all three games]] (DLC pushes this up to four). In ''Mass Effect 2'', she becomes a romance option for a male Shepard.

* CurtainsMatchTheWindow: A rather more literal example than most, both her visor and hood being purple in color.
** [[spoiler: Subverted when a picture of her without a suit is shown in the third game. Although her hair '''could''' be a deep shade of purple, matching her choice in clothing. It's... [[LensFlare kinda hard to tell]]]].

* DiscOneNuke: In the first game, she was a ridiculously durable death machine with maxed out Electronics and "Quarian Machinist", which raised her shields to very high levels, and in the former's case let her sap the shields off any enemy in one go. It was very easy to max out both those skills very early in the game.

* TheEngineer: In the first game, Chief Engineer Adams is impressed with her skill. In the second, she gets automatically promoted to chief engineer herself as soon as she's recruited.
-->'''Tali:''' Please, Shepard. [[PlanetOfHats I’m a quarian]]. Give me a chunk of scrap metal, a circuit board, and some element zero, and I’ll have it making precision jumps.
** In the third game, with the return of Chief Engineer Adams, she unofficially becomes Second Engineer and acts as his Relief. Adams comments that its good to have her back as she clearly knows the new ''Normandy's'' engines better than he does. Even Joker says that the ''Normandy'' doesn't seem to be running right without her handling the engines.

* GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe: [[spoiler:You finally get to see Tali sans suit in VideoGame/MassEffect3 if you romance her ''and'' help the quarians reclaim their homeworld. Although her skin color isn't definitively green]].

* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: She's overjoyed when Shepard starts making advances towards her but later tries to back out, [[HeroicSelfDeprecation believing herself to be undeserving of Shepard's affection]] and fearing that he'll be hurt by their relationship.

'''Tali:''' Thanks! Though if they get past me, they'll be all over you.\\

** A more mild example with Kasumi after the night alone with Tali:

* BoldlyComing: It seems that Tali is a xenophile at heart; she either can romance Male Shep, shack up with Garrus if neither of them are romanced, fantasizes about a threesome with Fem Shep and Garrus as evidenced above, and states that Fleet and Flotilla, a romance vid about a [[StarCrossedLovers turian man and quarian woman]] "FTL-jumped [her] into puberty" after roping a romanced Shepard into watching the vid and singing.

* OutOfFocus: Ironically, while her relevance to the plot grows bigger in the second and third games, her role in both of them comes much later than in the first where she was recruited after only two missions. In ''2'' she appears early on but is forced to take off due to the fact that she's in the middle of undertaking a mission for her people and she doesn't return until halfway through the game leading her to be absent for a good portion. Likewise ''3'' has Shepard busy with helping the turians and krogan and later dealing with the Cerberus coup, leading her to not return until halfway through the story once again.
** That said, despite all of that, she and Garrus are the only two squadmates that can fight alongside Shepard across all three games.

-->'''Garrus:''' Shepard. We were making friendly wagers.\\

'''Garrus:''' I'll be sure to let a few Reaper forces get close enough for you to use it.

* {{Ambadassador}}: [[spoiler: Seems to be her ''de facto'' position on the Admiralty Board. Having her be an admiral is required to get the peaceful ending to the Rannoch quest line, and on one occasion she is seen negotiating with a turian to arrange the Migrant Fleet's evacuation of turian refugees]].

* HonorBeforeReason: Family honor, in this case. During her Loyalty Mission, she is willing to let herself be exiled purely to preserve her father's reputation, given that the evidence that would clear her of guilt would also [[spoiler:indict her father of heinous war crimes]].

* FantasticRacism: Sometimes slips into this, the geth having become a major BerserkButton for the quarians, but it also applies to any AI in general.

* NobleBigot: Reconstructed. As selfless and heroic as Tali is, she ''hates'' synthetic lifeforms -- and she's one of the more ''open-minded'' quarians. This is based on the unfortunate fact that her people were driven off their home planet and nearly annihilated by their own created AI race, and the geth later [[spoiler:kill her father as well]]. As the games go on, however, she is forced to confront the uncomfortable reality that while the quarians have good reasons to hate the geth, a lot of their suffering is of their own making, and meeting with [[spoiler:Legion]] especially forces her to reexamine her JustAMachine attitude towards the geth, especially during her Loyalty Mission, where she gets a glimpse at how far her father was willing to go in the name of getting her back to the homeworld. Eventually, thanks to CharacterDevelopment, she becomes in favour of peace with the geth. [[spoiler: The player's choices can make her be more friendly to Legion, sparking a friendly NotSoDifferent situation in the third game to resolve the whole quarian/geth conflict. Doing so factors in to the potential for reconciliation between the geth and quarians]].

** After the mission at Sanctuary, when she gets drunk over Miranda, regardless if she survived or not, Tali will say "Keelah, she was such a bitch!", the only time she uses such a harsh curse term.

** The casual way in ''2'' that a Male Paragon Shepard states the reason for showing up to rescue Tali from an army of geth. Be honest, who ''wouldn't'' fall a little in love with him at that point?

* TheFaceless: Justified. Her species has a weak immune system that means she must wear a special suit at all times. [[spoiler:In third game, if romanced by a male Shepard, she leaves a picture of her in his cabin]].[[note]]Bioware got slammed for this by the fanbase, because within only a few days of the games release, it was discovered to be a stock photo from Getty Images that Bioware's art team spent about 2 minutes photoshopping the model's skin color and chopping two fingers off her visible hand.[[/note]]

A quarian machinist who specializes in technology or resources valuable to the Migrant Fleet. She is double-crossed during a meeting but is rescued by the timely arrival of Shepard, who sought information Tali obtained on Saren. Tali joins the Commander out of gratitude and to help bring down Saren. She becomes one of Shepard's closest friends, [[UndyingLoyalty being one of only two people to be a party member in all three games]] (DLC pushes this up to three). In ''Mass Effect 2'', she becomes a romance option for a male Shepard.

* BoldlyComing: It seems that Tali is a xenophile at heart; she either can romance MaleShep, shack up with Garrus if neither of them are romanced, fantasizes about a threesome with FemShep and Garrus as evidenced above, and states that Fleet and Flotilla, a romance vid about a [[StarCrossedLovers turian man and quarian woman]] "FTL-jumped [her] into puberty" after roping a romanced Shepard into watching the vid and singing.

* BreakTheCutie: She suffers an emotional breakdown while investigating her trial. You can potentially give her comfort by hugging her. [[spoiler: Or you can make it worse by handing over the incriminating evidence during her trial. Doing this will turn her father into a monster in the eyes of the quarian people and cost you her loyalty, most likely causing her death]].

-->'''Garrus:''' Shepard. We were making friendly wagers.
-->'''Tali:''' Optimistic wagers, in your case.
-->'''Garrus:''' A turian commando competing with a quarian mechanic, and I'm the optimistic one?
-->'''Tali:''' Remember [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Ilos?]]
-->'''Garrus:''' ...Yes. It was filled with geth, which tilted the odds in your favor.
-->'''Tali:''' Excuses, excuses.
-->'''Garrus:''' I doubt you'll be hacking any synthetics this time.
-->'''Tali:''' I seem to recall killing my fair share in the Collector base.
-->'''Garrus:''' I doubt we'll be in enormous rooms open to long-range fire this time, and...
-->'''Tali:''' I still have the shotgun.
-->'''Garrus:''' I'll be sure to let a few Reaper forces get close enough for you to use it.

** The Citadel DLC shows how horrible Tali is when she's drunk. Depending on your relationships with her and Garrus, she'll be fantasizing about Shepard or Garrus getting hot and heavy with her. If, as FemShep, you romanced Garrus, she'll be fantasizing about [[ThreesomeSubtext all three of you together]].

-->'''Tali:''' I'm having a drink with my boyfriend. My ''human'' boyfriend. Ha, my father would've ''hated'' you.
-->'''Shepard:''' Here's to him then.

* DeathlyUnmasking: [[spoiler: In ''3'' If Shepard can't make peace between the Quarians and the Geth and chooses to side with the latter faction, Tali is left watching in horror as her entire species is wiped out by the ensuing Geth counterattack. Crossing the DespairEventHorizon, she removes her mask so she can take in her home planet's atmosphere for the first and last time - and then jumps over the edge of a cliff to her death.]]

* FantasticRacism: Sometimes slips into this, the geth having become a major BerserkButton for the quarians.

** She and Liara have character traits that play off one another. In the original game, Liara was cast as thedorky [[TheCutie Cutie]] who loved Shepard and practically worshipped the ground they walked on. But, after she took a DarkerAndEdgier path in the second game, all of those traits fell to Tali. Further, they are both extremely smart and capable women, but extreme opposites in gameplay. Liara is a powerful SquishyWizard with exceptional biotic abilities. Tali is a GadgeteerGenius specced entirely toward Tech. Even their firearms contrast: Liara wields a pistol used at a safe distance, while Tali is outfitted with a ShortRangeShotgun, meaning that having both in the squad at once means the team is prepared for every conceivable obstacle.

* FourStarBadass: If she's exonerated in her trial in Mass Effect 2, the other admirals elect to have her fill her deceased father's vacant position.

-->'''Shepard:''' Are you okay? I know working with the geth would be difficult.
-->'''Tali:''' I'm not staying. I'm coming with you.
-->'''Shepard:''' I wasn't going to ask...
-->'''Tali:''' Why not?
-->'''Shepard:''' Because I respect you, dammit! You think I don't want you to come with me?
-->'''Tali:''' ''Then ask me''.
-->'''Shepard:''' Tali-
-->'''Tali:''' I don't know how much time we have left. I don't know if we can beat the Reapers. But whatever happens, I want to be with you.
-->'''Shepard:''' ''[relieved]'' ...I bet you say that to every guy that gets you a homeworld.
-->'''Tali:''' Only the cute ones.

-->'''Tali:''' I'm not staying. I'm coming with you.
-->'''Shepard:''' I thought your people needed you?
-->'''Tali:''' So?
-->'''Shepard:''' [[DeadpanSnarker So, that's usually kind of a big deal for you.]]
-->'''Tali:''' I gave up my father for my people. I gave up my freedom for an admiral position I didn’t want. I'm not giving up you.

* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler: If Shepard uploads the Reaper code and fails to stop Admiral Gerrel's attack, the Geth fleet will slaughter the Migrant Fleet and destroy the Quarian race. Tali is only able to weep in grief as the fleet's remains burn up in Rannoch's atmosphere. She ultimately is unable to bear it and kills herself by jumping off a cliff.]]

-->'''Tali:''' I'm an admiral. People look to me for guidance. Public disagreement could divide the fleet.
-->'''Shepard:''' And what about us? Would us being together "divide the fleet"?
-->'''Tali:''' No! Well, possibly. I-I don't know. But right now, I've got civilian ships taking fire. Can we keep this quiet? At least in front of the admirals?
-->'''Shepard:''' Sure thing... Ms. vas Normandy.

** [[FridgeBrilliance Alternatively]], it could be due to the cybernetic implants that the Quarians have- seeing as how a FemShep with Cerberus cybernetics can easily overpower James in their sparring match.

* OhCrap: Tali has a DummiedOut moment in her recruitment mission in 2, where if Legion is in the party when Shepard meets her on Haestrom, her greeting will be interrupted when she gasps upon seeing Legion and she will try to kill them with her pistol unless Shepard uses the Paragon interrupt. As she's spent much of her time on the planet fighting for her life against hordes of geth, her reaction is understandable.
-->'''Tali''': Shepard, I can't believe you're- *horrified gasp* GETH! GET DOWN!

--->'''Legion''': Our upgrades. With the Old Machine dead, we could upload them to all Geth without sacrificing their independence.
--->'''Tali''': You want to upload the Reaper code?! That would make the Geth as smart as when the Reaper was controlling them!
--->'''Legion''': Yes, but with free will. Each Geth unit would be a true intelligence. We would be alive, and we could help you.
--->'''Tali''': Our fleet is already attacking! Uploading the code would destroy us! Shepard, you can't choose the Geth over my people!

** She gets her turn twice in ''3'' as she saves Shepard from falling to his/her death on a collapsing the elevator, and [[spoiler: kills Legion/Geth VI if you side with the quarians in their conflict with the geth]]. And she can do both as his girlfriend.

** In the first game, Tali is arguably the most important character you meet. She is the one, who discovers the evidence against Saren and delivers it to safety at great personal risk and sacrifice. She is also one of the few people who understand the nature and severity of the threat, which causes her to interrupt her pilgrimage and join you. During the game, she proves to be an invaluable team member on a level with certified badasses like Garrus and Wrex. So when the opportunity comes for you to repay the favor by simply letting her copy some data files, the game gives you the option to flat out deny it.

* YoungAndInCharge: If you manage to prevent her from being exiled, she will become an admiral, which given her age at 25, probably makes her the youngest admiral in Quarian history.

* DrivenToSuicide: In ''3'', if you can't get the geth and the quarians to work together, choosing the geth side means she has to watch the entire fleet (and with the Pilgrimage recalled, that includes every quarian that wasn't exiled who could make it) get blown out of the sky. She walks off a cliff to her death.

* BoldlyComing: It seems that Tali is a xenophile at heart; she either can romance Male!Shep, shack up with Garrus if neither of them are romanced, fantasizes about a threesome with Fem!Shep and Romance!Garrus as evidenced above, and states that Fleet and Flotilla, a romance vid about a [[StarCrossedLovers turian man and quarian woman]] "FTL-jumped [her] into puberty" after roping a romanced Male!Shepard into watching the vid and singing.

** The Citadel DLC shows how horrible Tali is when she's drunk. Depending on your relationships with her and Garrus, she'll be fantasizing about Shepard or Garrus getting hot and heavy with her. If, as Fem!Shep, you romanced Garrus, she'll be fantasizing about [[ThreesomeSubtext all three of you together]].

* InterspeciesRomance: Her favourite movie (or "vid" as its called in-universe) is ''Fleet and Flotilla'', a film about an interspecies romance between a turian and quarian. Dialogue from ''Citadel'' implies that Tali is into aliens. Also, she can end up with either Male!Shepard or [[spoiler:Garrus]] depending on whom the player decides Shepard to romance. Both potential men she ends up with can be considered aliens.

* JustFriends: [[ReVision Retroactively with male!Shep from the first game.]]

** [[FridgeBrilliance Alternatively]], it could be due to the cybernetic implants that the Quarians have- seeing as how a Fem!Shep with Cerberus cybernetics can easily overpower James in their sparring match.

* {{Adorkable}}:
** Particularly when you start to romance her.
--->'''Shepard:''' I appreciate the thought, Tali, and I feel the same way, but you don't have to prove anything to me.\\
'''Tali:''' I know. Well, not that I know, but I... I didn't mean it like that. It's a.... um, wow! It's really hot in here!
** If romanced in ''Mass Effect 2'', she becomes more confident in her relationship with Shepard in ''Mass Effect 3''.
** Though this trait comes back in her romance in the ''Citadel'' DLC, where she acts like a giddy schoolgirl when recalling her childhood memories of watching "Fleet and Flotilla". She even sings Shepard one of the songs from the musical version. Which just so happens to be the [[RealSongThemeTune romance theme of the game]] ("I Was Lost Without You").

** She and Liara have character traits that play off one another. In the original game, Liara was cast as the {{Adorkable}} [[TheCutie Cutie]] who loved Shepard and practically worshipped the ground they walked on. But, after she took a DarkerAndEdgier path in the second game, all of those traits fell to Tali. Further, they are both extremely smart and capable women, but extreme opposites in gameplay. Liara is a powerful SquishyWizard with exceptional biotic abilities. Tali is a GadgeteerGenius specced entirely toward Tech. Even their firearms contrast: Liara wields a pistol used at a safe distance, while Tali is outfitted with a ShortRangeShotgun, meaning that having both in the squad at once means the team is prepared for every conceivable obstacle.

A quarian machinist who specializes in technology or resources valuable to the Migrant Fleet. She is double-crossed during a meeting but is rescued by the timely arrival of Shepard, who sought information Tali obtained on Saren. Tali joins the Commander out of gratitude and to help bring down Saren. She becomes one of Shepard's closest friends, [[UndyingLoyalty being one of only two people to be a party member in all three games]] (DLC pushes this count up to three). In ''Mass Effect 2'', she becomes a romance option for a male Shepard.

[[center: [- [[Characters/MassEffect Main Character Index]] | [[Characters/MassEffectCommanderShepard Commander Shepard]] | [[Characters/MassEffect1PartyMembers Party 1 Members]] | [[Characters/MassEffectKaidanAlenko Kaidan Alenko]] | [[Characters/MassEffectAshleyWilliams Ashley Williams]] | [[Characters/MassEffectGarrusVakarian Garrus Vakarian]] | [[Characters/MassEffectLiaraTSoni Liara T'Soni]] | '''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]] | [[MassEffect2AntagonistsAndNpcs/MainAntagonists Mass Effect 2 Main Antagonists]] | [[MassEffect2AntagonistsAndNpcs/SecondaryAntagonists Mass Effect 2 Secondary Antagonists]] | [[MassEffect2AntagonistsAndNpcs/NormandyCrew Normandy Crew]] | [[MassEffect2AntagonistsAndNpcs/CouncilSpace Mass Effect 2 Council Space NPCs]] | [[MassEffect2AntagonistsAndNpcs/NonCouncilSpace 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]]]]-]

* AttackDrone: She can deploy two at a time in VideoGame/MassEffect3. One guards her personally, while the other floats around the the area, distracting enemies and bombarding them with rockets. While she can't summon more than two at a time, she can almost instantly replace them when they're destroyed. She could only deploy one in VideoGame/MassEffect2, which was so much weaker that a better name for it would be "Distraction Drone". At least ''that'' one had a name.

* OnlySaneWoman: Behind Jacob [[spoiler:and Legion]], Tali is one of the more sensible crewmembers on the ''Normandy'' in VideoGame/MassEffect2, [[NobleBigot though she still has her issues.]] [[CharacterDevelopment At least until Mass Effect 3]].

* LifeImitatesArt: Like her favorite movie, ''Fleet and Flotilla'', she falls for someone in the Turian military (Garrus) if she's not romanced by Shepard.