Well, I just got done picking up Tali on Haestrom and leveling up again and now, finally, Kelly tells me that Samara would like to see me about something. Not being able to recall the details of the conversation exactly, I'll post my reactions to it here.
(Side note: in my first playthrough, I did Kasumi's loyalty mission and got the Locust SMG before doing Haestrom and picking up the Tempest SMG. So I never used the Tempest before and using it now—wow, its accuracy is just shit compared to the Shuriken and Locust.)
The Illusive Man also wants me on the comm to tell me about that Collector ship but fuck him. He can wait.
Into the Starboard Cargo area I go, and see Samara sitting cross-legged meditating, as usual. As usual she keeps me waiting several seconds before responding "Shepard" and coming out of her trance—oh no, wait, this time she got right up and said she was glad I came! That's how you know shit got real.
She must ask for my help, which is not easy for her, she says.
So, in asking Samara about who this Morinth person is, she says that she's been focused on killing her for 400 years and it's the reason she became a justicar. The thing I don't get is, why did she need to become a justicar to do that? You want to keep your daughter from being a threat to people that's all well and good, but how does joining the justicars help? Is it that she needed to be free of the restrictions that non-justicars are subjected to, or something else? Puzzling.
Okay, sorry to harp on my problems with Samara so much, but Samara just described her quarry as "a very dangerous woman who kills without mercy." Uh, Sammy? You just described yourself there, too. And HAH! No sooner did I get done typing that then I opened up the game window again and saw that one of the choices on my dialogue wheel was "Sounds like you." I shall click on that.
Okay, now this is interesting. I asked if she could abstain, and Samara told me that the each encounter gave Morinth strength. That every time she had sex, the compulsion to do it again became more powerful. "The effect is narcotic" are Samara's exact words. "She will never stop. She can't."
Usually with an addict, you get them treatment. If somebody's dangerous like Morinth, you can lock her up while treating her. Killing somebody for being born with a condition that compels her to do something, and whose ability to resist that compulsion has been eroded over 400 years...kind of extreme, isn't it? She did not ask to be born the way she was. And she can't control herself because of the way she was born.
I've seen people argue that other Ardat-Yakshi don't kill people like Morinth, and thus Morinth has no excuse. But here's why I don't buy that argument: it assumes that all Ardat-Yakshi are the same. If we're talking about an addiction here as Samara says, then all drug addicts in the real world are not the same. Some drug addicts have the ability to get clean and stay clean and stop being addicts. Others do not have the willpower necessary to do that; they may or may not try to stop, but they always eventually relapse.
Now, the big difference here is that a drug addict's actions mostly affect her own life. Morinth's actions affect—and end—the lives of others. So is she dangerous? Yes. Does she need to be stopped? Yes. But is she responsible for her actions? Based on what I've seen so far, the jury is still out. (I do remember what Samara tells you after killing Morinth, about how Morinth set herself up as a god in some primitive village and had people bring sacrifices for her to mate with. And yes, that's horrific. But it doesn't make her sane.)
Hmm, here's something else interesting. (And hopefully my picking apart every piece of dialogue won't make for boring reading, because it looks like I'll be doing that a lot.) Samara says that Morinth, when she mates, confuses her victims, twists their feelings. That they'll do anything for her favour.
In my first playthrough, I saved the game before making the choice between Samara and Morinth. I went back to the Normandy with both, conversed with both, and then thought "Okay, I'll go back again, kill Morinth, and I'll kill Samara when I play through this as a Renegade." (I really wish I had a third option. Why do I need to kill either of them? Why can't I incapacitate Morinth and then talk Samara out of it? I mean for fuck's sake, if I got the option of sparing fucking RONALD TAYLOR's life and having him stand trial, why can I not do the same with Morinth? It's just...executing somebody in that apartment or helping somebody else do it does not strike me as a Paragon thing to do at all. Even if one of them was planning on killing me.)
Anyway, my point is that in my conversation with Morinth, I vaguely recall her telling me that I might be able to survive mating with her due to my willpower or somesuch, but that I'd be the first person to ever do it if so.
And that got me wondering if maybe some of Morinth's victims knew what they were getting into and just thought—like Shepard can, if you Press X to Die—"Screw it, if I want to throw my life away that's my business, and sex with her will be worth it."
But this suggests that it's impossible for anybody to consent, not unless they have Shepard-level willpower at least. And certainly not if Morinth doesn't tell them what might happen. Morinth doesn't tell Shepard the first time they're together and, as far as we know, never told Nef.
Back to my talk with Samara...
Oh wait just a second! Samara said something that was complete bullshit just now.
She said that she's a danger to nobody but her daughters.
Bull. Shit. Lady. Was that Eclipse merc you killed because she wouldn't talk one of your daughters? No. Were those cops you were ready to kill your daughters?
Was Nihlus your daughter? Were those slavers you killed your daughters?
I don't know why she would say something like that. It's totally contradicted by lots of other things she says and does.
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