This page is for listing the tropes related to the main antagonists who '''first appeared''' in the second ''[[VideoGame/MassEffect2 Mass Effect]]'' game.

For the pages listing tropes related to Party Members, [=NPCs=] and Antagonists who first appeared in other games in the trilogy, see the [[Characters/MassEffect Mass Effect Character Index]].

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Harbinger]]
[[WMG:Harbinger]]
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Harbinger_769.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Click [[hottip:here:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Harbinger_890.png]] to see his true form.]]
->''"'''ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL.'''"''

-->'''Voiced by''': KeithSzarabajka
The name for Collector drones possessed by the General to fight Shepard directly. [[spoiler: Actually the name of the Reaper in charge of the Collectors, later revealed to be the first Reaper ever built (from the Catalyst's creators, the Leviathans) and the one in charge of the Reapers as a whole.]]

[[hardline]]
* [[spoiler:AndIMustScream: The Catalyst implies that Harbinger was the first species to be turned into a Reaper as a solution to the endless conflict its race had with synthetics. It was not happy with this solution. Now, the only remnants of the Catalyst's creators, who it mercilessly slaughtered, are stuck serving the very being that killed them for all eternity.]]
** [[spoiler:This is later confirmed in the Leviathan DLC.]]
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: [[spoiler: Being a Reaper and all]]. He's also apparently [[spoiler:the oldest and most powerful Reaper. Considering even one 'inferior' capital Reaper can wipe out an entire organic fleet and depopulate a planet in under an hour, Harbinger's power must be incredibly impressive. Too bad we never see him tearing through other ships.]]
* BadassBoast: '''"I WILL SHOW YOU TRUE POWER."''' '''"THIS IS WHAT YOU FACE."''' And many, many more.
** You can listen to it [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re9C1-CdKUE here]], at the 58 second mark.
--->'''Harbinger:''' Human, you've changed nothing. Your species has the attention of those infinitely your greater. That which you know as Reapers are your salvation through destruction.\\
'''Harbinger:''' {{You have failed|Me}}... we will find another way! Releasing control.
* BeamSpam[=/=]FrickinLaserBeams[=/=]MoreDakka: While Reaper Destroyers only get one giant laser, and Sovereign-class Reapers get one mouth laser and one on each leg, Harbinger has ''numerous'' lasers in his mouth area alone and probably more in his legs too (though only the former sees use). He's not called the most powerful Reaper for nothing, [[spoiler:[[CurbStompBattle as Hammer Company finds out]].]]
* BigBad: Prime antagonist for the main storyline of the second game, controlling the actions of his surrogates in much the same way as Sovereign did. [[spoiler:In ''Mass Effect 3'', it is revealed that he leads the Reapers, being the most powerful and oldest of them all. ]]
** BigBadEnsemble: While he's the top dog, the [[ArcVillain Shadow Broker]] (in ''2'') and the [[TheHeavy Illusive Man]] (in ''3'') are still separate threats in their own right.
* BossInMookClothing: Taken very literally. He doesn't appear in person, but [[DemonicPossession takes over]] regular {{Mooks}}, turning that particular Mook into a hyper-powered biotic killing machine. What's more, it doesn't take a lot out of him, so even if you beat his host, he just possesses one of it's buddies.
* CatchPhrase: '''"ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL"''' and all variations thereupon.
* [[PeoplePuppets Collector Puppets]]
* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: Think you're safely in cover? Think again. He can knock you out of it at will.
* CurbStompBattle: [[spoiler: Towards the end of ''3'', Harbinger personally, physically comes down to Earth to annihilate the Alliance ground forces. The battle is over in a minute, with most of Hammer Company dead and Shepard left severely injured.]]
* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: Nearly won several times both in and before the game. Shepard and Co. only survive one particularly devastating assault through sheer luck.
** To be clear on how DangerouslyGenreSavvy Harbinger is, he [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim attacked and destroyed the Normandy with as much overwhelming force as he could muster, short of showing up personally, at the first opportunity]]. He was perfectly content to let his minions do his work for him while not risking himself at all. And he wanted [[NeverFoundTheBody undeniable proof]] that Shepard was dead, and would have gotten the body had the Illusive Man not intervened. Throughout ''MassEffect2'', he lays several traps for Shepard, first deliberately attacking Horizon, then using a 'disabled' Collector ship as bait, and finally [[spoiler:with the Reaper IFF virus]] (and that last one got ''damn'' close). Even after [[spoiler: the Collectors are dead]], he has one last ace up his sleeve in the form of the Alpha Relay.
** Learning from [[spoiler:Sovereign's]] mistake, he doesn't even so much as ''enter'' the same galaxy as Shepard while '''[[DemonicPossession ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL]]''' of Collectors to fight him/her with.
** He keeps it up in ''MassEffect3''; the first move the Reapers make is to steam straight towards Earth in the hopes of killing Shepard. [[spoiler:And then he slips up at the very end, when he forgets to check if Shepard is dead after [[{{BeamSpam}} Beam Spamming]] Hammer Company to death.]]
*** [[spoiler:To be totally fair to Harbinger, it's implied that Shepard was out for a while after that attack, if Admiral Anderson and the ''Illusive Man'' suddenly being at the Crucibile's controls are any indication. It probably looked like Shepard was dead to him.]]
* DemonicPossession: '''"ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL."''' Apparently much better at it than [[spoiler:Sovereign]]; while he keeled over and got utterly wrecked after feedback from one interrupted DemonicPossession, Harbinger can spam them in succession.
* DemonicSpider: During fights against Collectors, he performs the aforementioned DemonicPossession on one of them at a time. Unless you avert TransformationIsAFreeAction on him, the possessed Collector is fully healed and becomes a ''lot'' more powerful.
* DemotedToExtra: He's still the apparent leader of the Reapers and thus the BigBad of the game, but his only appearance in ''3'' is [[spoiler:showing up at the very end to attempt to stop Alliance soldiers from beaming up to the Citadel.]]
** To further emphasize this, remember how much he loved to speak and just wouldn't shut up in the second game? [[spoiler: He gets nary a peep in ''3''. Odd, considering you will hear Keith Szarabajka's voice in other parts of the game]].
* [[spoiler:DragonInChief: Since it's revealed that the Citadel is home to the AI that controls all of the Reapers, that would imply that Harbinger is its second-in-command. However, the Catalyst itself doesn't seem to do much, while Harbinger is the driving force of much of the invasion. It isn't even clear if he knows about the Catalyst at all.]]
* TheDreaded: To ''Shepard''. You can hear his/her hesitation and concern upon hearing that Harbinger is physically coming to the battlefield and basically tells Hammer Company to burn rubber to the Conduit.
* [[spoiler:EldritchAbomination]]: [[spoiler: He's a Reaper, and, like Sovereign, just loves reminding you of how far beyond your comprehension he is.]]
* DontMakeMeDestroyYou: '''"IF I MUST TEAR YOU APART, SHEPARD, I WILL."'''
* [[spoiler:EasilyForgiven]]: [[spoiler:In the Synthesis ending, the synthesized people of the galaxy sure don't seem to mind Harbinger and the rest of Reapers helping them rebuild, despite the fact that the Reapers were trying to wipe out all life in the galaxy not too long ago. Possibly justified in that Harbinger was freed of the Catalyst's influence. Ditto for Control, although in that case, Harbinger is now a minion of Shepard, the new Catalyst.]]
** Then again, [[{{BullyingTheDragon}} what are the alternatives?]]
* EvilGloating: Less so than Sovereign, but still.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Almost on par with Sovereign.
* FantasticRacism: Sort of. He's very interested in humanity in general and Shepard in particular, but makes dismissive comments about any non-human party members and their species.
** It's a lot worse when you find out the reasons [[spoiler:why their species weren't picked to be made into reaper babies.]] The drell and krogan were dismissed out of hand due to lack of numbers, while the quarians were actually considered due to their aptitude for cybernetics.
*** [[spoiler:This conflicts with what the Catalyst tells you in 3, since all races are harvested. Presumably, humanity was being considered to become a Sovereign-class Reaper, while the races Harbinger dismisses would've been made into Destroyers instead.]]
*** [[spoiler: Not necessarily. Sovereign-class Reapers are implied to be made of specifically chosen races, while all other races are simply reserved as potential tools such as husks and indoctrinated slaves. Likewise, the Protheans are implied to have been turned into Collectors instead of Reapers, which implies that Reaper-production is not ''always'' the case. Harvesting might simply involve archiving a races biological patterns and technological development, before wiping them out after they've been declared "irrelevant".]]
* FightingAShadow: His favorite tactic.
** '''"YOU ONLY DAMAGE THE VESSEL, YOU CANNOT HURT ME."'''
* {{Fireballs}}: He's capable of shooting them. They're kind of like the Warp power that Shepard and co can use, except it's colored differently and also lights things on fire.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom
* HeroKiller: After humanity proved itself a threat, he sent the Collectors to target them specifically. First on the list: that upstart who got Sovereign blown up...
** In actual gameplay, whenever he comes on the screen and you're on a higher difficulty, wave goodbye to your squadmates. Their AI tend to make them hide behind cover while periodically popping out and shooting, which doesn't work so well when Harbinger has the ability to knock them out at will while at the same time setting them on fire. Also, half the squad's powers don't even hurt him because he has armor instead of health.
** At the climax of ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', Harbinger ''personally'' comes down and [[spoiler: blasts Shepard, who is ''on foot''.]] Amazingly enough, [[spoiler: ''Shepard lives and keeps on going''.]] However, if your military score is too low, [[spoiler: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRNR3RbcVXI&feature=relmfu both of the squadmates]] with you are killed.]]
** Also, in the SuicideMission, if you pick the wrong tech expert, squad leader, or both, then Harbinger kills your tech expert with a fireball.
* HopelessBossFight: [[spoiler:When he appears in London, all you can do is dodge his attacks. There is no way to defeat him and he'll get you eventually.]]
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:In the Control Ending Shepard becomes the guiding intelligence of Harbinger and the rest of the Reapers - in other words s/he ASSUMES DIRECT CONTROL of him.]]
* ImplacableMan: '''"I WILL FIND YOU AGAIN."'''
* IAmLegion: Alternates between using "I" and "we"; not only does he have an entire species worth of potential vessels, but [[spoiler: Harbinger himself is an entire organic species uploaded into a Reaper shell.]]
* IShallTauntYou: He is a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaRdcVYTjRw very verbal]] guy.
* IncomingHam: '''"ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL."'''
* [[spoiler:KarmaHoudini]]: [[spoiler:In the Synthesis ending, where he pulls a HeelFaceTurn and helps the galaxy rebuild along with the rest of the Reapers. Also in the Refusal ending, where he and the Reapers succeed in their harvest.]]
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: The ''only'' way to kill him, along with the rest of the Reapers, is to choose the Destroy ending in MassEffect3.]]
* LargeAndInCharge: The largest and oldest of the Reapers, and unquestionably their leader.
* LawOfChromaticSuperiority: Has six legs as opposed to every other Reaper's five.
* ManBehindTheMan: The first time you fight the Collectors, you'll be shown the Collector General possessing lower ranking minions. [[spoiler: At the end of the game, when the Collector General dies, you see the actual Reaper, Harbinger.]]
* MeaningfulName: [[spoiler: It's the spokes-monster of the Reaper fleet, and claims that the ''real'' war is coming all too soon.]]
** [[spoiler: According to Leviathan, Harbinger was the first Reaper, which makes its name doubly meaningful - it's the first of many Reapers. The harbinger of many, as it were.]]
* MindOverMatter
* MonsterProgenitor: [[spoiler: According to Leviathan, Harbinger was the first Reaper, and created all other Reapers in its own image.]]
* NonStandardCharacterDesign: [[spoiler:He's the oldest of the Reapers, formed from the Leviathans, and his design reflects this: the "tentacles" are fewer, his "eyes" glow yellow and his "tail" section is doubled by a crest.]]
* PowersViaPossession: He can apparently force this upon those he controls. Includes heavy shield/armor upgrades and biotic-singularity-throwing as a package deal.
* RealityEnsues: [[spoiler: Hammer Company attempts an all-or-nothing dash towards the Conduit as he's blasting them to pieces; not surprisingly, [[CurbStompBattle they're all but completely annihilated.]]]]
* RecurringBoss: Every time a Collector level rolls around, you'll encounter him again. And again. And again. [[DemonicSpider And again...]]
* ResistanceIsFutile: '''"YOU CANNOT RESIST."''' '''"WHY DO YOU RESIST US, SHEPARD?"''' '''"EVOLUTION CANNOT BE STOPPED."''' And so on.
* TheReveal: [[spoiler:He's a Reaper and the ManBehindTheMan]].
* [[spoiler:SapientShip]]
* ScriptedBattle: [[spoiler: His single appearance in ''Mass Effect 3'' is less of a battle and more you frantically trying to dodge his lasers while you run to the Conduit. No matter what happens, [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption he ends up hitting you]]]].
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: It's Har'''binger'''. Not Har'''bringer'''. There is no R in the middle.
* [[spoiler:TimeAbyss]]: [[spoiler:He's the oldest of the Reapers. This makes him, at a minimum, well over a billion years old.]]
* TragicVillain: [[spoiler: See AndIMustScream.]]
* TransformationIsAFreeAction: Averted. His TransformationSequence is several seconds long and he doesn't do anything else in the meantime. Since the sequence causes him to briefly rise into the air and out of cover, this is always the best time to attack him.
* TransformationSequence
* TheUnfought: Not counting the innumerable fights with possessed Collectors, you never directly confront Harbinger. [[spoiler:Subverted in Mass Effect 3. [[CurbStompBattle Harbinger confronts the Alliance ground team directly and destroys them in less than a minute.]]]]
* UnholyNuke: His version of Warp is a sci-fi equivalent.
* VillainOverride: '''I WILL DIRECT THIS PERSONALLY.'''
* WeHaveReserves: '''"KILL ONE AND ONE HUNDRED WILL REPLACE IT."'''
** '''"LEAVE THE DEAD WHERE THEY FALL"'''
** (after having its current vessel destroyed) '''"THIS FORM IS IRRELEVANT."'''
* WorthyOpponent: Gives a backhanded compliment that he considers Shepard to be one in ''Arrival''.
--> '''Harbinger''': Shepard. You have become an ''annoyance''.
* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Averted, has his Collector goons simply destroy the ''Normandy'' and kill Shepard in the first ten minutes of the game. [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy No drama, no gloating, just surprise and overwhelming firepower]]. [[BatmanGambit Of course, there's not really much of a way that Harbinger could have foreseen his/her resurrection by Cerberus coming...]]
** To be completely fair [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy Harbinger has clearly read]] the EvilOverlordList as he attempted to verify Shepard's demise when he attempted to buy Shepard's body from the Shadow Broker. It didn't pan out, but he wanted proof and [[NeverFoundTheBody didn't just assume Shepard was dead]].
** [[spoiler: In the third game, he wastes no time firing at Shepard with his main gun.]]
* YouHaveFailedMe: [[spoiler:'''"YOU HAVE FAILED. WE WILL FIND ANOTHER WAY."''']]
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[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Collector General]]
[[WMG:The Collector General]]
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/collector_gen_320.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:HUMAN, YOU'VE CHANGED NOTHING.]]

-> ''"'''YOU PRETEND TO BE EVERYWHERE AT ONCE. I ALREADY AM.'''"''

-->'''Voiced by''': KeithSzarabajka

A special Collector that leads and coordinates the Collectors as a whole. Offering lucrative technological rewards in exchange for live test subjects, amongst the beings he's successfully retrieved were two dozen left-handed salarians, sixteen sets of batarian twins, a krogan born of parents from feuding clans, and two dozen quarians that never left the Migrant Fleet, but nobody knows what happens to the individuals concerned after the exchange is completed.

In addition, the General appears interested in human biotics, as well as Shepard in particular and the human race in general. Just as Saren used Husks to support his army of geth, the General also uses Husks to support his Collectors in a battle, but with three new types: Abominations (suicide runners), Scions (long-range bazooka men) and Praetorians (crab-like bosses).

The General appears to be the leader of the Collectors, using his drones as intermediaries to make contacts in the seedy criminal underbelly of the Terminus system. His most notable accomplishments include sending Golo to capture Paul and Gillian Grayson in ''Ascension'', ordering the Collector Cruiser to destroy the Normandy and murder Commander Shepard in the prologue of Mass Effect 2, consorting with the Shadow Broker to acquire Shepard's body in ''Redemption'', and ordering his drones to personally kidnap entire colonies of humans throughout the rest of the second game.

Apart from a brief holographic image appearing in Joker's cockpit and a possible encounter with him on ''Arrival'', you never confront the General face-to-face, but you hear his taunts ''constantly'', and he possesses various Collectors to fight you off. [[spoiler: Turns out to be just another puppet and TheDragon of Harbinger]].

[[hardline]]
* AndIMustScream: What happens to the beings that he's received, including the abducted human colonists.
** This also happens to be [[spoiler:the very reason why he even exists]].
* [[spoiler:BaitAndSwitchBoss]]
* BigBad: [[spoiler:Seems to be this at first, but he turns out to be TheDragon.]]
* [[spoiler:TheDragon: To Harbinger, being used as a mouthpiece.]]
* EyeLightsOut: Just before he dies [[spoiler:because Harbinger has abandoned him]].
* [[spoiler:MouthOfSauron: An unusual case, in that we never meet the mouth in person either.]]
* NightmareFace: There's something unsettling about its face.
* RedHerring: [[spoiler:He's not the real villain, just a vessel Harbinger uses, and he was under Harbinger's control for 99% of his life.]]
* TheReveal: [[spoiler:He's TheDragon]].
* ShoutOut: He looks an awful lot like [[Series/BabylonFive a member of another race of]] AbusivePrecursors.
* [[spoiler:TheUnfought]]
* TragicVillain: [[spoiler: Since he was just being controlled by Harbinger the entire time.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Reaper *Major Spoilers*]]
!The [[spoiler:Human]] Reaper

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/human-reaper_3122.jpg]]

A new Reaper that was being constructed by the Collectors. It was the reason for the Collectors abducting human colonies in the Terminus systems and taking the colonists to the Collector base. [[spoiler:The colonists were broken down into genetic material and pumped through tubes that lead to the Reaper itself.]] The Reaper was destroyed by Commander Shepard while it was largely incomplete.
[[hardline]]

* AttackItsWeakPoint
* BackgroundBoss
* BreathWeapon
* TheCameo: Appears towards the end of the Cerberus Base in ''Mass Effect 3'', though it's inactive and heavily damaged. Depending on whether you left the Collector Base intact or not, you'll salvage either its heart or its brain as a War Asset.
* EldritchAbomination: Being a Reaper.
* FetusTerrible: In Reaper terms, it hasn't even come close to being born yet. It was even at one point [[WhatCouldHaveBeen supposed to be a giant Husk-ified human fetus]].
* FinalBoss: Of the second game.
* GoForTheEye
* HumongousMecha
* LoadBearingBoss: The area it resides in starts falling apart after you defeat the Reaper.
* NightmareFace
* PoweredByAForsakenChild: [[spoiler:Is filled with millions of humans who were turned into GrayGoo.]]
* SkeleBot9000
* TheReveal: [[spoiler:The Reapers have been kidnapping entire human colonies to create the biological component of this new Reaper.]]
* WalkingSpoiler
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[[/folder]]