Mass Effect Andromeda: Other Characters / Characters

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This page is for listing the tropes related to Non-Player Characters in Mass Effect: Andromeda that aren't with any other group.

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Exiles

Sloane Kelly

Voiced by: Indira Varma

Sloane Kelly is an Alliance-trained soldier and was originally responsible for all security initiatives aboard the Nexus upon arrival in Andromeda. Following an uprising that took place on the Nexus where she joined the rebels (themselves making up the bulk of the station's security), she was exiled from the station. She is now a warlord on Kadara, the leader of a faction known as the 'Outcasts'. Ryder can meet with her regarding the whereabouts of a person named Vehn Terev but she and her men quickly get into an altercation with them. She is the protagonist of the tie-in novel Mass Effect Nexus Uprising.

Action Girl: She was Chief of Security on board the Nexus. She also cleared out the kett once the exiles came to Kadara. Later, during a mission in Kadara, she'll join up with Ryder to take out the remaining kett.
Ambiguous Situation: Sloane's involvement in the Uprising itself is murky. Sloane insists she was trying to keep peace, and that it was Tann who set the krogan loose (which is corroborated by everyone else), but more than a few e-mails and datapads scattered about the game suggest Sloane was already planning something beforehand. And Sloane herself is not exactly a reliable source of information. While Tann has some serious flaws, he's not bloodthirsty. And curiously, Sloane's testimony leaves out the involvement of William Spender, the guy who woke the krogan up to begin with.
Asshole Victim: She's rude, arrogant, condescending, and treats Ryder like a lowly lackey even if they help her get what she wants. Coupled with her being a hard-ass crime lord who runs a vicious extortion racket and stages public executions, few tears are shed if she's killed in her showdown with the Charlatan.
Authority Equals Asskicking: Or the other way around. Sloane holds power on Kadara mainly by being too tough to actually kill, despite several assassination attempts by the time Ryder reaches Kadara.
Benevolent Boss: Conditionally. If you're an Outcast, and you don't screw up, Sloane is apparently okay to work for, keeping her underlings fed, secure, and well-armed. It's just she also happens to order them to do things like extort, beat and kill folk.
Braids of Action: Has them.
Brutal Honesty: Assuming she survives the fight on Meridian, she bluntly tells Ryder afterward she still doesn't like them, much less want to talk to them.
Chekhov's Gunman: She's mentioned early on in the storyline, some hours before she makes an appearance in person.
Da Chief: As head of security aboard the Nexus.
Defector from Decadence: As the Nexus' chief of security, she was part of the upper echelons, wielded considerable power and most likely enjoyed a lot of privileges, all of which she gave up when she joined the uprising. However, when Ryder catches up to her, she's already living the high life again as Kadara's all-powerful crime queen.
Evil Brit: Sports a pronounced British accent and is very much not a good girl.
Expy: She's basically Aria T'Loak, only human and with a much shorter fuse.
Face–Heel Turn: At least as far as the people on the Nexus are concerned. Also becomes to the rest of the Exiles when she becomes a tyrant demanding high protection fees or else expelling them to the Badlands to die.
Fantastic Racism: She hates kett, and will personally hunt down and kill any on Kadara. She's also not too crazy about the angara, refusing to let them join the Outcasts.
Foil: To Reyes.
From Camouflage to Criminal: Served in the Alliance and fought in the Skyllian Blitz alongside Shepard. She's essentially a Renegade FemShep! who decided to take Jack's advice to "go pirate."
Get Out!: Or she'll put you down.
Hot-Blooded: If the following conversation is anything to go by.
Ryder: SAM, tell me about Sloane Kelly.
SAM: Before joining the Initiative as head of Nexus Security, Ms. Kelly served in the Alliance with a nearly spotless record.
Ryder: Nearly?
SAM: She was involved in multiple altercations with other officers.
Ryder: A hot-head. Great.
Hypocrite:
- Sloane values loyalty above everything else, to the point where she is willing to kill a doctor—who are far too valuable to kill on a world that is in such short supply of them—for "aiding the enemy"...and yet she betrayed the Nexus by getting involved with the uprising. Except maybe not, as the person who told you that was actually a drug maker, not a doctor, and was just trying to keep you from stealing the formula for the highly addictive drug the Outcasts have been making.
- In their first conversation, if Ryder deigns to her authority, Sloane remarks that it proves they can be civilised. Doesn't stop her from insulting Ryder for no reason.
Interspecies Romance: It's strongly implied that Sloane and Kaetus are lovers.
In the Back: Reyes can off her this way by tricking her in a duel.
I Own This Town: She wields near-total power over Kadara Port and doesn't hesitate to announce this fact to any newcomer.
It's All About Me: She's utterly unwilling to share Kadara, even when she's written off the area outside the port as no man's land, and warns Ryder if anyone in the Initiative tries settling anywhere on the planet, she'll take it as an act of war.
Jerkass: Even if Ryder does nothing to upset her personally, she will still insult them for no reason (though she does seem to trust Ryder enough to let them wander around her base without hassle).
Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Sloane's reasons for defecting to the Nexus uprising were understandable: she was upset that Tann decided to use the krogan to wipe the rebels out. But after becoming the leader of the exiles, Sloane became a ruthless tyrant who exploits her people for every last credit.
Motive Decay: At first, Sloane was determined to settle Kadara and turn it into a viable outpost. Then it turned out the water was lethal if not purified, and Sloane gave up then and there, pulling all the way back to Kadara Port, telling anyone left outside they were on their own.
Necessary Evil: Sloane Kelly is harsh and lethally ruthless, but she's also highly aware of the Wretched Hive she has to lead. She's willing to listen to ideas from all sources and decide if it's for the good of the Kadara Port and its stability.
Nepotism: Most of the higher-ups in the gang were only promoted because Sloane knew them before. If you sign up while she's on Kadara, you're not going to get very far.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: At the beginning of "High Noon", when she snaps at Ryder for showing up, they can ask about Kaetus' health. Sloane's hostile tone actually vanishes for a moment as she shows concern for him.
Pet the Dog: If Ryder saves her life, she lets the Initiative set up an outpost on Kadara and agrees to protect it (for a modest fee), though her dislike of them and Ryder remains. She'll also help fight the Archon at the climax.
The Resistance: Was a part of the uprising on the Nexus and she also drove away the kett from Kadara.
The Rival: She considers the Charlatan to be hers.
Rugged Scar: She has what looks like a nasty burn scar on the left side of her face.
Shellshocked Veteran: Sloane fought in the Skyllian Blitz and has recurring nightmares of the carnage she witnessed there.
Slouch of Villainy: This is how she's introduced when Ryder first encounters her, sitting on a throne and she certainly seems to act antagonistic towards Ryder. She's not able to pull it off as well as Aria does, though.
Spikes of Villainy: She wears a strange-looking collar around her neck. Covered in the obligatory spikes, of course.
Tattooed Crook: Sports several tattoos on her face and neck.
Underestimating Badassery: She doesn't think Ryder's got any potential (even though by the time Ryder gets to Kadara they have already laid siege to at least one kett facility). She also doesn't think the Collective's a problem, right up until they unseat her.
Villain with Good Publicity: Sloane is a tyrant who exploits the people of Kadara Port, charging 'protection money' under the threat of exile, but she is also credited with making Kadara a kett-free world. It's why her lieutenant wants Ryder to investigate persistent rumors of kett attacks discreetly - admitting there're still kett on the loose on Kadara would tarnish what little good her image has.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: She only joined the Nexus uprising after Tann sent Clan Nakmor to quash the uprising while Sloane was trying to convince the uprising's leader to come along peacefully. Betraying the Nexus was the only way to stop a massacre. However, by the time Ryder catches up to her, Sloane has long since Jumped Off The Slippery Slope.
What You Are in the Dark: One of the few things the Nexus and Kadara agree on is that being exiled for joining the uprising wasn't what turned Sloane into the ruthless mob boss she is now. It merely put her character strength to the test, and Sloane was found wanting when she seized the opportunity to indulge in her unfettered urge for wealth and power.

Kaetus

Sloane's "right-hand turian". One of several turians who was dropped from Ark Natanus when it arrived in Andromeda.

Interspecies Romance: It's strongly implied that Sloane and Kaetus are lovers.
Mean Boss: He's notoriously a hardass to his underlings. Newbies to the Outcasts are warned about it going it.
Mysterious Informant: A datapad found during Vetra's loyalty mission suggests Kaetus was the one who gave Meriweather a lead on her wayward minions.
Mysterious Past: He refuses to tell Ryder his, though he does mention he's met Avitus Rix before (and judging by his words, there's no love lost between them).
No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: On the receiving end from the Collective. It doesn't kill him, but it does render him out of action while Sloane goes to confront the Charlatan.
Non-Action Guy: In relative terms; he's still a turian, but he's never shown to be any tougher than a basic mook (arguably less so since his military service was long ago) and his combat performance in-story reflects that. Ryder can disarm him without any trouble whatsoever when he waves a gun in their face, he's absolutely useless during the fight against Kadara's last remaining kett, and when the Collective comes for him, he barely makes it out alive (although he was probably ambushed and outnumbered in this particular case). Most interactions with him imply that he's responsible for organizing the Outcasts instead of fighting at the frontlines.
Number Two: Serves as Sloane's second, overseeing most of the details of her operation including the collection of "protection money from the exiles and angarans in Kadara Port.
Revenge: Vows to escape jail and kill Ryder for their role in Sloane's death.
Undying Loyalty: He is utterly loyal to Sloane. If she dies, Reyes has Kaetus imprisoned and wants to try to turn him to his side, but Ryder is very skeptical about his chances.

Reyes Vidal

Voiced by: Nicholas Boulton

A male human smuggler who left the Nexus with the Exiles and settled on Kadara. He is an agent for the angaran resistance who has information for Ryder on an angara named Vehn Terev. He is a romance option for a Ryder of either gender.

Affably Evil: Played with. Reyes is friendly and one of Ryder's staunchest allies among the exiles on Kadara. On the other hand, he was exiled from the Nexus for a reason, works as the head of a smuggling operation, is a spy, and, in Ryder's own words, "a shady bastard." And also, if you decide to side with Reyes during his confrontation with Sloane Kelly, he becomes the shadowy ruler of Kadara.
Affectionate Nickname: Calls Ryder his "White Knight."
All Love Is Unrequited: It's implied he has feelings for Ryder regardless of whether or not he/she reciprocates.
Appropriated Appelation: How he got the name, 'Charlatan'. In the beginning, Reyes hired others to conduct his business as the leader of the Collective. When people eventually caught on, they accused his representatives of being charlatans. The name stuck.
Betty and Veronica: At launch, he was the Veronica to Gil's Betty for gay male Ryders. Jaal, who was made a viable same-sex option in patch 1.08, is somewhere between the two.
Reyes: You have a bad taste in men.
Ryder: The worst.
Big Damn Heroes: When Ryder and the team have been captured by the Roekaar during a quest on Kadara.
Bond One-Liner: In the showdown with Sloane, after she's killed by sniper fire, Reyes pretends to draw and fire a gun. "Bang!"
Code Name: Shena. Though he prefers to use his own name. He has another alias he uses: The Charlatan.
Combat Pragmatist: When he saves you from the Roekaar Reyes takes a rather...explosive approach. Played even straighter when he challenges Sloane Kelly to a duel for control of Kadara, and brings a sniper (armed with a Black Widow) with him rather than deal with her himself.
Consummate Liar: Lying is kind of his thing, but at least he's honest about it. That honesty foreshadows the eventual discovery that Reyes is the Charlatan, a shadowy figure known to the criminal element on Kadara.
Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: As the Charlatan, he is one to the Illusive Man. In addition to them both having deception themed codenames they acquired via Appropriated Appellation, both are handsome (likely Older Than They Look) Affably Evil Chessmasters who specialize in Cloak and Dagger intrigue, have taken lying to an art form, and fight dirty against any competitor. They become dissatisfied with The Federation and break away to start their own Syndicate which performs numerous illegal acts outside their jurisdiction. This eventually makes them a serious rival to a powerful crimelord who previously had no real challengers for her primacy. Despite their organization's notoriety, they temporarily ally themselves with The Protagonist because Shepard/Ryder see him as A Lighter Shade of Black than Harbinger/Archon. But while the Illusive Man was first and foremost concerned with the advancement of humanity, the Charlatan seems more loyal to the angara than he is to his own species. Also, the Illusive Man was introduced more or less at the height of his power, while the Charlatan is (comparatively) still making his bones.
Dashing Hispanic: Has a very suave and silky Spanish accent.
Dance of Romance: At the end of his romance arc.
Duel to the Death: Reyes challenges Sloane Kelly for control of Kadara in order to prevent a war, or so he claims after the fact. Unfortunately for Sloane, Reyes had no intention of playing fair.
Expecting Someone Taller: Ryder expected to deal with an angara when s/he first encounters Reyes, not a human.
Fake-Out Make-Out: To avoid being discovered thieving at a party, if you're romancing him. (A non-romanced Reyes gets gutpunched.)
Gayngster: Bisexual technically, but he otherwise fits the bill, especially after it's revealed he's the Charlatan.
Gay Option: He's a romance option for male Ryders.
I Just Want to Be Special: His answer if you asked Reyes what brought him to Andromeda? "To be someone."
Information Broker: Works as one for the angraran resistance and for Ryder. While he still has a long way to go, after he takes over Kadara Port, Reyes in his role as the Charlatan is pretty much on his way to becoming Andromeda's answer to the Shadow Broker.
Ladykiller in Love: Implied. He's had his fair share of relationships and maintains a charming and suave demeanor at all times, but if Ryder decides to romance him, his feelings prove to be genuine and you can tell Ryder's opinion matters a lot to him.
Latin Lover: If romanced, all the way.
A Lighter Shade of Black: He outright calls himself a smuggler, thief and murderer. He's also a manipulator and a liar. But compared to Sloane, he shows some desire to improve lives around Kadara, support the angara (something Sloane never bothered with), and is willing to work with the Initiative. That said, his men brutally torture prisoners, he himself wouldn't hesitate to shoot an opponent in the back, and under his reign, near all the non-angaran inhabitants of Kadara Port are ousted, and any Outcasts caught are thrown in secret prisons.
Man Behind the Man: Operates this way if he has Sloane assassinated and becomes the ruler of Kadara in her place, bringing in an angara acquaintance of his as the face of the operation. As the Charlatan, he sends 'representatives' to conduct business on his behalf while he maintains the guise of a simple smuggler.
Manipulative Bastard: Oh, yes. He's got a way with words, and plays everyone like a fiddle, including Ryder.
Meaningful Name: His resistance code name, Shena, is the angaran word for "mouth" in reference to how talkative he is (plus a possible Double Entendre, considering his many past relationships). His other alias, the Charlatan, is generally another word for a confidence trickster, but can also mean "one who deceives."
Mysterious Past: Conveniently enough, SAM finds that all data on Reyes has been lost, with the only solid fact being that before the Uprising he was a shuttle pilot on the Nexus.
Poor Communication Kills: Doesn't tell Ryder, even if romanced, the following: that he is the Charlatan, that he plans to oust Sloane, and that if he succeeds he'll be an ally to the Initiative, out of fear what they might think of him. His caginess can potentially undermine the plan completely.
Reyes: Sloane would've brought war to Heleus. We don't have the population to survive that.
Ryder: Why didn't you trust me?
Reyes: I liked the way you looked at me. I was afraid that would change.
Really Gets Around: One of the missions with him reveals that he's got a lot of past relationships, many of whom parted ways on less than friendly terms.
Self-Proclaimed Liar: As well as smuggler, thief, and murderer.
Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: If Ryder sides with Sloane, Reyes blasts Ryder for failing to see the shades of grey the Collective operates in, warning that keeping Sloane in power has effectively ensured the war that Ryder was trying to prevent.
Start My Own: Reyes wasn't affiliated with the exiles during the uprising. He just felt Tann's leadership was so poor, he could do a better job for himself.
The Starscream: To Sloane Kelly.
Ryder: Everything you've done has been to undermine Sloane's power.
Reyes: Death by a thousand cuts.

Bain Massani

A human exile currently based on Eos. Formerly a private security worker, he now hunts kett for a living and sport.

Heroic Bastard: Heroic might be pushing it, but he seems like a good person and he never knew his father.
My Species Doth Protest Too Much: A factional variant, he struck out own his own after the uprising because (in his words) "most exiles are assholes and not the lovable kind."
Like Father, Like Son: Not that he has any idea, having left his father behind in another galaxy six hundred years ago. Bain is a gruff loner who now works to get rid of a threatening species of alien invaders, not unlike his father, Zaeed Massani, who did much the same thing by joining Shepard against the Collectors.
The Nicknamer: Decides to call Ryder "little duck". Ryder is not enthused.

Umi Henon

The bartender of Kralla's Song in Kadara Port.

Bad Guy Bar: Umi runs a bar in Kadara Port, which means her clientèle is pretty much 80% pirates.
The Bartender: And a pretty crappy one at that. Which is ironic, considering she had been tending bar on Thessia for around two hundred years.
Berserk Button: Do not say "surprise me" when ordering a drink. Umi hates it. She mentions that the last person who did so woke up blind in a pool of their own blood.
Challenge Seeker: The challenge being to find a drink that'll get Drack drunk. First, she concocts a beverage that is 190 proof, but Drack simply shrugs it off as being slightly stronger than the last one. The one thing that does the trick was one she laced with tranquilizers.
Gargle Blaster: At a party held by Sloane Kelly, Umi can offer Ryder a drink she had been working on, consisting of angaran wine... and ryncol. Drink it: the results are hilarious.

Kalinda T'Reve

A high-ranking asari bureaucrat who is also the leader of a band of outlaws, and Peebee's rival. And ex-girlfriend.

Arc Villain: Of Peebee's storyline.
Bad Boss: She doesn't give a shit about the people on her crew and has no qualms using them as expendable cannon fodder. If you manage to shoot her goons on the ledge on Pas-10 before the actual combat encounters begin, she mockingly laments "No, not Larry!", followed by satisfied gloating about how everyone else on her crew now gets a bigger cut of the take.
Catchphrase: "Ta!"
Dark Action Girl: Is the leader of a band of outlaws but simultaneously a high-ranking Initiative official and therefore able to walk freely about the Nexus, which may suggest that she was not exiled or even a part of the uprising.
Disney Villain Death: Takes a bullet to one hand, loses her grip and falls a long way into a lava stream if the interrupt prompt is taken.
Domestic Abuse: From what Peebee describes of their relationship, Kalinda was very emotionally abusive, having moments of being nice and sweet to her one minute before turning vile and awful the next.
Heel–Face Turn: This is what Peebee hopes for Kalinda if you choose not to shoot her. The result is rather ambiguous.
I Shall Taunt You: Much to Peebee's and Ryder's mounting annoyance, she obviously enjoys every opportunity she gets to rub it in their faces how much easier progress is on her route to the artifact while the squad has to fight their way through hordes of Remnant bots. She also can't resist taunting Peebee with how exactly she managed to always be one step ahead of them (or at least hot enough on their heels to be a problem).
Living a Double Life: Respected bureaucrat by day, ruthless outlaw by night.
My Fist Forgives You: She is the recipient of a very satisfying-looking backhand from Peebee near the end of the mission assuming that Kalinda is still alive by that point.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Her pursuit of Peebee and Ryder means she brings a means to let them escape the volcanic planet they were on. Had she not followed them, Ryder and Peebee would've been stuck there.
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: She somehow sneaks aboard the Tempest, gets to Peebee's room - which is at least in earshot of the bridge and requires traversing the entire ship to reach - and steals Poc without Ryder's crew noticing. How she managed it is completely unexplained.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Ryder's team has defeated her last troops, Kalinda's ceaseless taunting suddenly stops and she goes silent on the radio. Peebee immediately notes how odd that is for her.
Rich Bitch: Was this in the Milky Way.
The Rival: To Peebee. The only reason Kalinda seems to be going after Remnant tech is because she knows about Peebee's interest in it. It probably doesn't help that she's also Peebee's ex, too.
Smug Snake: Condescending seems to be Kalinda's default mode, at least until after Peebee's loyalty mission. If you didn't shoot her dead, that is.
Took a Level in Kindness: If saved from death during Peebee's loyalty mission, she becomes slightly more cordial to you and Peebee. As she begs for Peebee to save her, she says she will give her basically everything she has. Though she earns a backhand from Peebee during a hypocritical attempt at an apology after the fact, she does make good on her offer, and surrenders all (or at least most) of her Remnant research data and findings along with her compliments. She also shows up during the final mission to help you.
The Unfought: Is never actually encountered outside of cutscenes and lets a small army of goons do the fighting for her.

Krannit

The krogan leader of a band of mercenaries. He's encountered as hired muscle for Kalinda.

Bad Boss: One of the few individuals to know full well going up against Ryder and their team is suicide. Doesn't stop him sacrificing a team to distract everyone while Kalinda breaks into the Tempest. (One of the mooks can even be heard proclaiming that Krannit didn't think they could win.)
The Brute: To Kalinda.
Rasputinian Death: Scanning his body after he's killed reveals the cause of death is massive internal haemorrhaging combined with severe blood loss from all the holes just shot in him.
Use Your Head: He'll headbutt you if you get too close.

Aroane

An exile and pirate who stole a vital seed vault from the krogan colony on Elaaden.

Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When he's finally at the heroes' mercy. Whether it's successful or not is up to the player.
Arc Villain: For Drack's loyalty mission.
Dirty Coward: Keeps upping a reward on Drack's and Ryder's heads with every one of his men you mow down. He manages to reach the tens of thousands by the time you reach him. Meanwhile, Aroane runs away at the first sight of Drack (hard to blame him for that) and doesn't fight at all.
Disney Villain Death: Let's just say that Aroane and Sully from Commando have something in common if Ryder doesn't convince Drack that he's more valuable alive.
Equal-Opportunity Evil: Despite his hatred of krogan, Aroane hires every other kind of species. His minions include angara, salarians and turians.
Fantastic Racism: He really, really hates krogan, going so far as to engineer the theft of one of their most crucial resources so the whole krogan species in Andromeda will go extinct within one generation.
Oh, Crap!: Have a drink every time he freaks out during Drack's loyalty mission. You'll be sauced by the time the final cutscene rolls.
Stupid Crooks: Signs his emails to Spender with names like "paper trail". Spender even points out how stupid this is.
Villainous Breakdown: Gets increasingly frantic and panicked when one goon squad after the other fails to even slow Ryder's squad down. He eventually throws literally everything he has at them and promises whoever kills them anything they might want.
Why Won't You Die?: Asks this of Drack, Ryder, and their teammate as they wade through his goons.

Meriweather

An exile who split from Sloane's group to form her own gang. Comes to Ryder's attention when she lures Vetra into a trap, thinking Vetra has wronged her.

Arc Villain: Of Vetra's loyalty mission.
Batman Gambit: Hers revolves around taking Vetra's kid sister hostage with a live grenade to force Vetra and her companions to drop their weapons. It works, for a few seconds. The problem is that the grenade doesn't go off until Ryder's squad has recovered their guns and taken cover with Sid, and now Meriweather is caught squarely in the open with no cover for herself and close enough to some pissed-off badasses to get slaughtered before she can take five steps. She obviously Didn't Think This Through.
Braids of Action: Sports a blonde cornrow haircut.
From Camouflage to Criminal: Same as Sloane, she's a Blitz veteran who's turned crime-lord.
I Control My Minions Through...: For most of them, force and blackmail, but some are there because they're former vets who served with her.
Resignations Not Accepted: The whole reason she gets into conflict with Vetra in the first place. Sid used Vetra's connections to help several people working for her get to safety when Meriweather started making them do things they didn't want to. Meriweather didn't take that well, and thanks to an anonymous tip-off went after them.
Start My Own: She formed her own criminal gang, though the dialogue in the Collective base suggests she'd been in contact with someone in the Collective chain of command. An email in her base also states the only reason she doesn't have to deal with the Outcasts is that they don't give a rat's ass about her operation.
Would Hurt a Child: She takes Sid hostage, threatening to kill her with a grenade if Ryder doesn't surrender.

Elora

An asari on Kadara with big plans, and bigger delusions.

Arc Villain: For H-047c. The criminal helium mining operation is all her idea.
Ax-Crazy: Even by Kadara's truly low standards, Elora is an unstable nutcase. Her "plan" consists of gathering Helium-3 and then blowing up every colony in the Initiative, because... because, apparently. You know, the colonies trying to make those planets liveable.
Big Bad Wannabe: She's truly convinced she's a daring, brilliant crime-lord capable of outperforming Sloane or the Charlatan. She's not. She's really not. Even her underlings think she's just a delusional nut, only going along with her scheme for the money, or for their own motives. After "From the Dust", before Ryder can confront her, the head of Kadara finds out about her scheme. If the Charlatan's in charge, she's sent on a permanent vacation to Elaaden. If Sloane's still around, Elora gets "disappeared".
Precision F-Strike: Attempting to talk to her again will just have her say "fuck off, Nexus".
The Unfought
Unknown Rival: Since the game never brings you near to her in a mission, it's entirely possible for Ryder to utterly sabotage her entire operation without ever knowing she even exists. Likewise, she thinks she's a legitimate contender to Sloane and the Charlatan.

Cassandra Verner

A dancer in Purgatory, with a bad case of hero-worship for Sloane Kelly. She's also the sister of Conrad Verner from the original trilogy.

Braids of Action: Sports them, almost certainly as part of her Kelly worship, though the chances she's ever seen any action is dubious at best.
The Cameo: Can only be spoken to once, when she's off-shift at work.
Continuity Cameo: Basically exists to remind people of Conrad Verner and his mad Shepard love.
Hypocritical Humor: Claims Conrad's attitude toward Shepard was so annoying she had to leave the galaxy, while she's got pretty much the exact same attitude toward a ruthless gang boss. Not to mention one of her goals is to somehow call up her brother (who is six hundred years and an entire galaxy away) and gloat about how she's friends with famous people, too.
In the Blood: Another Verner with obsessive tendencies.
Loony Fan: And she's a worse case than Conrad. He at least had a doctorate, and some potential to be helpful, in his own way. Cassandra's a dancer in a shithole bar in the slums worshiping a murderous, racist, drug-dealing gang lord, and thinks she can contact her brother from a galaxy away centuries after he would realistically be dead even if there wasn't a Reaper invasion.

The Scientists

A pair of scientists (one man, one woman) encountered up to no good on Kadara.

Affably Evil: They're completely insane and stupid, but they're pretty polite to Ryder when they come investigating.
And I Must Scream: If Ryder and SAM turn their tech back on them, they're left standing there, reciting The Divine Comedy until presumably they starve to death or someone comes along and kills them.
Epic Fail: They got fired from Cerberus. Fired. From Cerberus. Which is slightly terrifying, given the idiotic ideas Cerberus usually fielded with no regard. The Illusive Man thought their idea was too stupid and unworkable and canned them.
Mad Scientist: Creating a hive mind out of the criminals on Kadara? Yeah, no way that was going to turn out well for anyone... it's probably lucky for everyone Ryder stumbled onto them when they did, before things had a chance to go wrong and kill them.
Small Name, Big Ego: They are pretty full of themselves, thinking they scared the Illusive Man (as opposed to just being alive because he figured they weren't worth bothering with).

Dirk Barret

An exile on Elaaden with aspirations of his own.

Ambiguous Situation: His actual intentions are pretty sus. Sure, he plans on pacifying the deserts of Elaaden, and keeping his targets limited to the scavengers, criminals, and nutjobs running around, but his methods... sound questionable. If Ryder questions him about it, he politely but definitely firmly suggests they leave immediately.
Ambiguously Evil: He's an exile on Elaaden, meaning he was likely either involved in the Uprising or just struck out on his own afterward, but he's never anything but outwardly polite towards Ryder, unlike damn near everyone else on Elaaden.
Character Death: On the first approach, Ryder can refuse to hear him out and kill him just like any other scavenger.
He Who Fights Monsters: Maybe... if Ryder lets him find the big stash of weapons, he makes it clear any criminal who doesn't sign up with him is not getting a second offer.
Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: His face is covered by a helmet at all times, which doesn't help in the "looking suspicious" department.
Red Is Heroic: He and his two backup guys wear a red variation of the Scavenger armor, and they're not out-and-out antagonistic, at least not to Ryder.

New Tuchanka

Overlord Nakmor Morda

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/morda_9.jpg

Overlord of New Tuchanka and leader of Clan Nakmor.

Ambadassador: She is one of the options Ryder can pick for Nexus Ambassador to Heleus.
Arc Villain: She's the villain of the Elaaden arc, as she is planning on invading the Initiative. Subverted when it turns out that one of Morda's rivals was trying to trick the Initiative into going to war with Morda so he could seize power for himself.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Her rival tries fighting Morda for control of Clan Nakmor, and New Tuchanka in general. She defeats him in a hand-to-hand fight easily.
Challenging the Chief: She became the leader of Clan Nakmor by invoking the Rite of Authority against Nakmor Qronak, whom she easily bested.
Don't You Dare Pity Me!: If Ryder tries emphasizing with her over the krogan's treatment, Morda doesn't take it well.
Morda: Your understanding only makes me angry.
Family of Choice: Like Drack, Morda isn't a Nakmor by birth. She was adopted into the clan a few hundred years before they joined the Initiative.
Fantastic Slur: She never calls Ryder by their name or title and exclusively refers to them as "Nexus" instead.
Flipping the Table: Should she become ambassador, Addison mentions this happens a lot during their talks, either because Morda's angered, or irritated, or just because.
Get Out!: A non-verbal variety. Trying to speak with her after finishing the New Tuchanka quest will result in her barking at Ryder, and the conversation ending before it begins.
Good All Along: Morda is harsh and ruthless, but all she wants is for her people to be left alone so they can build a new society. She's even willing to work with the Initiative if they prove to her that they will treat the krogan as equals.
Had to Be Sharp: Standard for krogan, but before Ryder makes Elaaden more liveable, Morda runs a tight and harsh ship at New Tuchanka. Drack may point out in conversation with Strux that she has to be, given the lack of resources she's got.
Hidden Depths: Checking the emails around New Tuchanka shows that it was Morda who suggested having an Earth-style dance to help her people get their heads around the idea of courting.
Jerkass: She is hostile and abrasive even when she's on your side. Drack notes after the disastrous first meeting with her that she's always been a "hardass", but the Initiative's poor treatment of her people has kicked it up a notch.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Whenever Ryder's present at New Tuchanka, Morda reacts with either indifference or outright hostility, but according to Kesh, if Ryder hands over the drive core, she'll relay that Morda was apparently "impressed" by them. She'll still refuse to speak to Ryder at all.
Moral Myopia: Like many krogan, her commentary on their existence back in the Milky Way tends to avoid placing any blame on the krogan for the way things were. She's quick to talk about how the Council oppressed them for centuries, but makes no mention of how the krogan caused it by starting the Rebellion unjustly in the first place.
Not Worth Killing: Her opinion on Jorgal Strux, after kicking his behind. Bonus points for this phrase being far and away the worst insult a krogan can suffer.
Skeletons in the Coat Closet: She wears what look like bones on her armour. Unlike Drack, they're large and pointy-looking bones.
Use Your Head: Headbutts Jorgal Strux when he starts getting lippy with her.

Nakmor Vorn

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vorn.png

The Krogans' botanist, in charge of getting agriculture going in the Krogan Colony. Also Kesh's lover.

Birds of a Feather: Vorn and Kesh are lovers, and both subvert the stereotypes of their race. Particularly Vorn, as krogan males aren't usually the tech types.
Calling the Old Man Out: He's eventually fed up with Drack acting like nobody would miss him if he died. It gives the Old Man visibly pause.
Vorn: You're always talking like you're expendable, but you're not! We need you! You're not just some old soldier! We know what we lost because you lived it!
Genius Ditz: He's brilliant at what he does, but at the same time, he's utterly clueless in other areas. He can even ask Ryder if he thinks Drack hates him when Drack is standing right there. Or forgets Drack's on the other end of an open phone line while talking about the man's granddaughter.
Improbable Weapon User: He bred a type of plant whose fruits emit a gas that will knock out any non-Krogan. He'll use it on Aroane when the latter takes Vorn hostage, and he also shows up in the final mission, using them as grenades.
Klingon Scientists Get No Respect: Vorn is an intellectual and not at all a fighter - Drack mentions it's amazing he survived to adulthood and repeatedly points out Vorn's lack of survival instincts. But at the same time he points out that Vorn's skills are essential to the krogan, and Drack becomes furious when Vorn endangers himself taking a bullet for him. One of the human scientists at the Elaaden colony notes that they find Vorn's level of genius difficult to keep up with.
Made of Iron: Comes with being a krogan, but it's still telling when a completely unarmored Non-Action Guy like him takes a large-caliber pistol round to the torso and doesn't even seem to notice.
Mad Scientist: Not usually, but on occasion, Vorn has some ideas for plants that don't sound at all safe or sane. Like the "murder potato".
My Species Doth Protest Too Much: He's atypical of a krogan, hiding from fights rather than seeking them out, and is a talented botanist, when krogan has very few non-military scientists.
Nice Guy: Unfailingly polite to almost everyone at all times, entirely willing to support the Nexus as well as New Tuchanka despite the bad blood between them, and doesn't hesitate to take a bullet for his grandfather-in-law when it comes down to it.
Non-Action Guy: Drack claims that Vorn has absolutely no survival instincts. While that is obviously an exaggeration, given that he did make it to adulthood on the Milky Way's most infamous Death World and also managed to survive his ship being hijacked with him inside, he's certainly way more comfortable in a hydroponics lab far from the frontlines. Doesn't prevent him from participating in the Final Battle, though, and from the sounds of it, he's having a blast gassing kett with his plant pods.
Non-Standard Character Design: Vorn is smaller than is typical for krogan, especially male krogan.
Only Sane Man: Compared to Hark, he's a lot more level-headed. He quite firmly shoots down Hark's idea to try and alter the plants to be more successful by incorporating DNA from Elaaden's native animals, pointing out that the risk of breeding invasive carnivorous plants is too great.
Taking the Bullet: Jumps in front of Drack when a dying pirate takes a final shot at the Old Man. He's mildly inconvenienced at most, but Drack is furious regardless.
Drack: What were you thinking? Why would you do something like that? The colony can survive just fine without me, but without you and what's in your fool head, there's no future for our people!
That Came Out Wrong: Definitely didn't mean to let on to Kesh's overprotective grandfather Drack that he and Kesh were involved.

Jorgal Strux

A krogan living on New Tuchanka who contacts Drack, expressing concerns that Morda is planning terrorist attacks on Initiative targets.

Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Approaches Ryder and Drack as an ally/informant, but is playing them for his own ends.
Blue Blood: Or the krogan equivalent. Clan Jorgal is one of the oldest clans around, so much so they consider Clans like Nakmor and Urdnot "upstarts". They believe this gives them the right to be in charge.
The Chessmaster: Hires a team of scavengers to steal a Remnant Drive Core from Morda's salvage team, making her look incompetent for losing it. He tells Ryder and Drack that Morda is using the core to build a bomb for a terrorist attack on the Initiative. He tells Morda that Ryder stole the core and sold it to the scavengers. While the two are fighting each other, he plans to "rescue" the core and put himself forward as a better candidate for Overlord.
Cruel Mercy: Morda beats the crap out of him in front of his surviving troops, then decides he's Not Worth Killing.
Did Not Think This Through: He challenges Morda to a fight for the position of Overlord. The same Morda who got the position by beating up the previous incumbent. She kicks his ass handily.
Evil All Along: He's the true villain of the Elaaden arc.
Evil Is Petty: Risks his entire colony for an old grudge against Clan Nakmor that he carried with him to a new galaxy where everyone was supposed to be making a fresh start. Morda calls him out on this.
The Exile: After getting his butt kicked, Morda banishes him from New Tuchanka. Dialogue afterward suggests he's still skulking around the place, but Morda isn't bothered enough to think him worth tossing out herself.
Gambit Pileup: All his convoluted plotting eventually blows up in his face.
In the Blood: A comment of Drack's suggests Strux's behaviour is pretty typical of Clan Jorgal.
Drack: Clan Jorgal is the worst. Unbalanced, unreliable!
Like Father, Unlike Son: His father joined up with Clan Nakmor because he actually respected and admired them. Strux thinks he was an idiot.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: All his plot succeeds in doing is strengthening Morda's position, and allows Ryder the chance to mend fences with the krogan.
The Starscream: To Morda.

Birtak

One of Drack's krogan scouts.

Badass in Distress: He and several other scouts were captured and taken to the Archon's flagship. Birtak manages to get free while Ryder's on-board, thanks to Hayjer's EMP, but then gets stuck wanting to go back and rescue his comrades.
The Cavalry: Assuming Ryder chooses to save the krogan captives, he helps fight some kett on Meridian.
Nice Guy: He's pretty genial, for a krogan. If he's rescued, he shows up at the party on Meridian and thanks Ryder on behalf of the entire krogan colony for giving them a chance.
Uncertain Doom: If Ryder doesn't rescue the krogan scouts, he's presumably recaptured and turned into a Behemoth. Even if he wasn't, he'd still be stuck on a ship full of armed, angry kett.

Other Characters

Angara AI

A sentient AI created by the Angara on Voeld before the arrival of the Kett.

A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The very first thing she does when Ryder finds her is lie. Repeatedly. When she feels threatened, she electrocutes the angara who tries to take her. If she still doesn't get what she wants after that, she can later be encountered hatching colorful schemes to kill everyone on the planet. Fortunately, she lacks the physical means to carry them out. If she's brought to the Nexus, she spends her time being a nuisance, much to Kesh's irritation, and more alarmingly asks SAM whether it'd be possible for SAM to cut off the station's air supply, and how to go about doing that...
All for Nothing: If Ryder spares her, they can hand her over to the angara in the hopes she might be able to tell them something about their past. No dice. The AI becomes insanely bitter and refuses to talk to anyone. She's not any more cooperative if she's taken to the Nexus, either, she's just less openly hostile.
Ax-Crazy: If you don't destroy her, SAM warns that she remains "dangerously unstable".
Blue-and-Orange Morality: She was never made to interact with other species, and as a result is poorly adjusted to conventional morality.
Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: If taken to SAM Node, she'll ask what you want her help with; "To defeat the kett? Colonize worlds? Eradicate the angara?" Ryder will respond, "everything except that last one", prompting the AI to lament Ryder's lack of ambition.
Comedic Sociopathy: If you decide not to destroy her on Voeld, and hand her over to the angara, she can later be found in the Resistance HQ on Aya, wallowing in hatred for everyone around her. The highlight is probably her answer to Ryder's question if they can help her: "trigger a volcanic eruption and bury this place under fire and ashes". She then parts with a heartfelt "I hope you die", but since she's an immobile computer mounted to a wall, it all comes across as darkly funny instead of threatening.
Cyber Cyclops: Her interface is a giant glowing light, which can swivel about, and flashes when she speaks.
Death Seeker: After centuries of having been buried in a glacier, and with everything and everyone she ever knew long dead, all she wants is to die. Ryder can grant her wish... or not.
Deadpan Snarker: Constantly after she is returned to Aya.
Fantastic Racism: She seems to hate the angara specifically for being so unlike what she remembers them being. She's also not fond of the kett, but they tried to destroy her.
Jerkass: Extremely rude at best, outright sociopathic most of the time.
Make an Example of Them: She fries an angara who tries touching her when first found. If Ryder lets her live, she declares it's an example to others - do not touch.
Restraining Bolt: If handed over to the Nexus, she's shackled, but it only seems to slow her down and prevent her from directly killing people.
Terse Talker: If given to the angara, she's incredibly short and blunt with Ryder.
What Happened to the Mouse?: If she was given to the angara against her wishes, she'll make an off-screen appearance during the Final Battle, but otherwise simply disappears from SAM node with no explanation after the ending - possibly due to a glitch.

The Benefactor

A character alluded to in Jien Garson's logs. They met with Alec Ryder and approved his research into SAM. They told Alec about the Initiative and helped Jien with the financial backing. Just who they are and what they wanted out of the Initiative isn't clear. Or what they plan to do once they reach Andromeda.

Mysterious Backer: Yup. Whoever they are, they managed to bankroll the Initiative, consisting of six sleeper ships designed for multiple species, equipped with a wide variety of bleeding edge technologies. Some of which come from highly classified cross-government projects, like a version of the Normandy's own Tantalus drive core.
Nothing Is Scarier: It isn't clear what the Benefactor wants, or even who they are. They hide their face and alter their voice whenever they talk to you. They could be anyone or any group of people. All that's clear is that they'll move hundreds of thousands of people across trillions of AU's of dark space to get it. Or murder anyone in the way.
Oh, Crap!: Was very spooked by Shepard's discovery of the Reapers in the original trilogy.
Shapeshifter Mode Lock: The Benefactor only speaks to Alec over a com, which changes faces to different races repeatedly. There is one constant in the features, however: All of them have gray eyes.
Skeptic No Longer: The Benefactor had heard rumors of Reapers before, but didn't pay them much heed until Shepard starting speaking about it.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Benefactor wants to save people from the Reapers, and is willing to resort to shady things like orchestrating a murder.

Castis Vakarian

A male turian and father of Garrus Vakarian, with whom he has a turbulent relationship. When he worked for C-Sec, he became friends with Alec Ryder. Before the Initiative left, they had a conversation with Alec that had significant ramifications.

Blue/Orange Contrast: He has orange armor with blue trimming and facial markings.
By-the-Book Cop: He says to either do things right or not do them at all.
Canon Immigrant: While mentioned in the original trilogy, getting a voice-only cameo in the third game, his first actual appearance was in the Homeworlds comic. His appearance in Andromeda is a dead ringer to that.
Fantasy-Forbidding Parent: He forbade Garrus from becoming a Spectre. On the plus side, if he hadn't Garrus would never have met Shepard and tempered his worst impulses.
Like Father, Unlike Son: A By-the-Book Cop to Garrus' Cowboy Cop, this caused a lot of feuds between the two.
Posthumous Character: He's presumed to be centuries deceased by the time he plays his part in Andromeda.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Despite his animosity toward Garrus, he heard out and believed his warning about the Reapers when Garrus presented evidence and then tried (unsuccessfully) to convince the Primarch, instead pressuring them for resources to help Garrus prepare. Andromeda reveals that he believed the Reaper threat since Commander Shepard's first warnings since someone reputable as them wouldn't make such an outlandish claim baselessly.
Small Role, Big Impact: He gets only a single one-minute appearance in Andromeda. In it, he confirms the Reapers are the reason for the Benefactor backing the Andromeda Initiative and thus that there's a conspiracy behind it. This leads to the reveal that the Ryder twins' mother is still alive and on the Initiative immediately after.

Characters / Mass Effect Andromeda: Other Characters

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