Mass Effect Andromeda The Kett / Characters

This page is for listing the tropes related to the kett individuals in Mass Effect: Andromeda.

For tropes relating to the kett race as a whole, see the Andromeda Race Tropes page.

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The Archon

"No more mercy. Kill them all!"

The commander of the kett invasion of the Heleus Cluster who has an obsession with the Remnant, which he believes is the key to victory and a source of great power.

Aliens Are Bastards: In contrast to the Milky Way races, the Archon is bent on a full scale Alien Invasion and gaining high levels of power at the expense of many other races.
Assimilation Plot: The whole point of his presence in Heleus: to "exalt" every compatible creature in the cluster, kill the rest, then move on. That's what his superiors told him to do at least. Unfortunately for everyone involved, including himself, he found a new weapon and got other ideas...
Badass Cape: The Archon is shown wearing one in his first scene.
Big Bad: Due to being the leader of the kett.
Boss Banter: He spends a lot of the final battle going on about what he's going to do to the Ryders, their work, their loved ones, and so forth.
Archon: This is just the start, Pathfinder. Everything you love will burn!
Chewing the Scenery: His default mode of communication, and no, he doesn't have another one, in case you were wondering.
Cold-Blooded Torture: He's fond of it, using it on the Moshae and the salarians to try and make them talk about Meridian.
Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: He is more vile and less powerful than the main antagonists of the previous games and sees the main character as less of a worthy foe.
Cruel Mercy: After capturing the Pathfinder and the squad in a stasis field on one of his bases, the Archon decides to abandon that base and leave them there to starve to death.
Cruel and Unusual Death: When you look at his autopsy report it reveals that severing him from Meridian reacted with his implants and severely burnt and lacerated his insides.
Deal with the Devil: The devil offering the deal, with Vehn Terev as the chump. The Archon approached him and said all he wanted was the Moshae. Vehn handed her over to him, not knowing what the Archon wanted. He got found out, and the Archon nearly exalted the greatest hope of the angara, with Vehn getting nothing in return.
Dragon with an Agenda: His interest in Remnant technology isn't approved by the Kett Empire and isn't part of his actual mission in the Cluster. He claims he wants to use it to leverage the races of Heleus to submit to Exaltation or he'll render all of their planets completely un-inhabitable, but it's implied he may want to use it to empower his own advancement as well.
Eviler than Thou: As the game progresses, it becomes apparent that even his superiors and soldiers are getting concerned with how deranged he is. It's to the point where the Primus offers you a kill code to disable the Archon's flagship and help knock him off.
Evil Is Petty: The true depths of his evil are revealed during the final battle, in which his actions become increasingly petty. While at first, his actions are pragmatic (disabling Ryder's SAM and using the Hyperion to have about 20,000 hostages), after Ryder overcomes his defenses one after another, he starts losing it. He delights in causing Ryder's sibling as much pain as possible, trash-talks everyone in the Heleus Cluster incessantly, and then completely abandons his original goal of threatening to destroy entire planets if the Heleus Cluster didn't submit to the Kett... proclaiming them all unworthy and announcing that he'll skip straight to the Earth-Shattering Kaboom. By the end of it all, he's just trying to hurt as many people as he can, as badly as he can.
Evil Learns of Outside Context: In his war to conquer the angara, the Archon has spent years trying to access and master the technology of the Remnant, but has failed to figure out a way. After Alec Ryder and his team arrive in the Andromeda Galaxy, they manage to instantly do it in seconds. This makes the Archon obsessed with finding his successor Ryder to learn what makes the human species able to do what the kett have failed to. When he finds out that it's because the Ryders have their brains connected to an A.I., he captures Ryder's twin and uses them to take control of the Remnant and thus finally have the means to destroy entire planets.
Evil Old Folks: While kett physical development outside Exaltation and the kett lifespan are unknown, the Archon has been leading the kett in the Heleus cluster since the kett made first contact with the angara over eighty Earth years ago.
Evil Sounds Deep: The Archon's voice is quite deep and he is the villain of the main storyline.
Evilutionary Biologist: The crew of the Tempest are quite unsettled when they see the experiments being performed on his flagship.
Ryder: I've seen your experiments. It's what we call "inhuman".
Archon: And what I call progress.
Fantastic Racism: He doesn't even consider species other than his own as sentient. Instead he views them as nothing more than a source of genetic material ripe for the harvest and continuously refers to everyone non-kett as "it" or "specimen".
Archon: Like all lesser creatures, it mistakes a battle for the war. It doesn't know its weakness or its potential.
Fantastic Rank System: Archon isn't his name, it's his title. An audio log of the Primus reveals there are other Archons in the kett empire.
Flunky Boss: Instead of fighting the Archon directly, you fight the several dozen Remnant (including an Architect) that he has taken control of. Once you kill enough Remnant, your twin manages to expose a control interface that can weaken the Archon's control over Meridian.
Galactic Conqueror: As his title translates to "campaign leader", and his tactics are clearly those of a seasoned commander (such as feigning friendliness in his initial encounter with the angara), he's implied to have already conquered many other races in the name of the kett empire. His ultimate goal is to gain additional power from the Precusors' technology in the Heleus Cluster in hopes of increasing his own position, possibly at the expense of the empire he serves.
Hair-Trigger Temper: It doesn't take a lot to get him angry. Not a good mix with prisoners you're trying to extract data from. Audio recordings on his ship show he killed at least one salarian while doing this.
Hate Sink: Given that he's a short-tempered loudmouth combining the worst traits of an authoritarian fascistic dictator, cult leader and religious extremist while leading part of a race Scary Dogmatic Aliens (and later he betrays even them), it's not hard to imagine that the Archon was meant to garner as much of the viewers' hatred as possible.
The Heavy: The Archon drives the plot in Andromeda and serves as the biggest threat in the game, but he is revealed to be a pawn of a greater power, and there are other kett more high-ranking than him, for whom he is enforcing their will.
Hypocrite: He finds Ryder's use of SAM to be a sign of weakness, but then he uses the spare Ryder twin to force SAM to interface with Remnant technology in the exact same way, just less efficient. Presumably he thinks that controlling a biological lifeform that is controlling an AI is somehow better than just controlling an AI.
Informed Attribute: Despite The Archon being, according to himself and his subordinates, "the genetic inheritor of a thousand species.", he is never shown with any superhuman physical or mental abilities (or even abilities that other kett don't have), and given the manner of his death it can't even be verified whether he's any tougher than the average kett in the game.
Insult Backfire: Shortly before he dies, he tells Ryder that he "rescinds" the "offer" of being Exalted to mankind, apparently still not getting that no-one ever asked for it in the first place.
Join or Die: The Archon's broadcast to the Tempest closed with this message. He was being entirely honest about the offer. He also claims to his second in command that this is his ultimate goal with taking control of the Remnant terraforming network; issue an ultimatum to the Angaran and Initiative to submit to Exaltation or he'll use the network to kill their whole worlds, one by one, leaving nothing livable.
LEGO Genetics: Kett logs imply that the kett collect useful traits from conquered species, such as the bioelectric manipulation ability of the angara. The Archon calls himself "the genetic inheritance of a thousand species." According to the Primus, he's supposed to share these improvements with the rest of the kett, but he's keeping them for himself.
Manipulative Bastard: The Archon offered gifts to the Angara at some point before the Angara-Kett conflict occurred. Furthermore, he acts a lot like a cult leader.
Meaningful Name: In ancient Gnosticism the Archons were evil, semi-divine beings who were the secret rulers of the world. Additionally, Archon is the Greek word for "ruler," and referred to autocratic rulers in general.
Monster Progenitor: Played with. The kett reproduction process involves the DNA of the Archon, meaning it's possible almost all kett in Heleus are the product of this archon.
Motive Decay: Like all kett, his goal on the surface is to conquer the entire Heleus Cluster and exalt every other species. But by the time you confront him in Meridian, he's given up all pretense of that goal and just wants to commit galactic genocide. Deconstructed, in that many of his forces retain their original goal, and turn on him out of disgust.
The Napoleon: When seen standing in a group of other kett soldiers, the Archon is actually the shortest one present, though he's still a bit taller than the human characters. This is the early hint that he's not an exalted angara, like most of his forces.
Near-Villain Victory: The Archon captures whichever Ryder is not the Pathfinder in an attempt to take control of the Remnant's Meridian Engine and use it to make every world in the cluster uninhabitable. He very nearly succeeds; by the time Ryder kills him, he's connected to the entire vault network. That being said, messages between Initiative personnel point out that the Vaults were clearly never intended as weapons, and question exactly what he could have done with it — especially since he barely had the thing working at all. The Remnant he sent against you, for example, were just running on corrupted cleaning protocols rather than being controlled directly. While the network could have been put to horrific use (he planned to make the inhabited worlds barren until the populations gave in to the kett, and it's also implied he planned to change the terraforming thresholds to something inimical to life) he didn't get the chance.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: He told the Moshae about Meridian, which clued Ryder and the Initiative about it. Even if it was part of his plan, it still gives them a vital piece of information.
Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: For the kett, he's just one of hundreds of mid-level military commanders subservient to the Senate (his title is said to translate to "campaign leader"). In the Milky Way, he'd be a moderately powerful pirate lord with a lot of large but poorly armed and unshielded ships. But for the angarans and the Initiative colonists, he's the Big Bad due to the fact that even his relatively small resources are daunting. The final space battle cutscene shows that he has at least 16 cruisers, each with deployable fighter squadrons, plus his own flagship, and likely several tens of thousands of men.
Non-Action Big Bad: Downplayed. While The Archon is show taking part in the interrogation of the Moshae and the Salarian prisoners as well as interfacing with the Remnant Vaults, he is never shown fighting or actually overpowering anyone, and his boss fight is fighting a giant robot under his control and when you kill it, this caused a problem with his cybernetics that burnt him from the inside out. The closest two examples of him fighting are him taking a DNA sample from an incapacitated Ryder and hacking SAM through Ryder's twin to interface with the Remnant Vaults, were done with technological aid against an incapacitated person.
Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: While only other kett would call it "Well-Intentioned", his claims of serving the ketts goals are overwhelmingly implied as just a front to seize power for himself, causing the Primus to plot against him once she suspects such.
The Paranoiac: Shows a few traces of paranoia in dealing with the salarian captives, believing they might be after Meridian as well, refusing to believe they're not.
Phlebotinum Overload: In their final encounter, the player character Ryder uses the Remnant technology, causing a powerful energy feedback that kills the Archon.
Rule of Symbolism: In addition to having a crest like an angel's halo, there is one point connected to wires that fan out behind him and lift him into the air. In conjunction with the halo-like structure on his head, it makes him look like an angel. This is combined in a rather blatant manner with his title of Archon, with Archons being villainous angel-like beings from the real-life religion Gnosticism.
Shout-Out: His death has common traits to that of Sovereign in Mass Effect 1. He takes control of a powerful robot which you fight and after you defeat it, there is a debilitating effect on him that leads to his death while he's surrounded by his enemies.
Smug Snake: He's incredibly full of himself, yet does little to back it up aside from pulling a bunch of dirty tricks on his opponents.
Archon: I will transcend what you pretend to be.
Spell My Name with a "The": Introduces himself as "Archon" while Ryder calls him "the Archon".
The Unfought: After so much time spent building him up as the Final Boss, all you get to do is mess with some control panels to sever his link to Meridian. Once you've done so three times, he gets electrocuted by the systems and drops dead without even a final word.
Villainous Breakdown: The final battle on Meridian has the Archon lose all of his smugness and composure, turning into a ranting megalomaniac.
Villain Decay: In the events before the game, according to the backstory, The Archon was able to mastermind an Alien Invasion, turn the Angara against each other, direct invasion routes through the Scourge and was well-intentioned (in his own eyes) and true to the kett Empire's goals. Quite different from his depiction in the game as a selfish, smug megalomaniac.
Villain Respect:
- Species-wide variant; when going over the collected reports on the newly encountered Milky Way species and musing on what traits will be useful to integrate into the Kett empire through exaltation, he clinically comments on their strongest traits with a touch of admiration (with some of his favorite races being asari, krogan and humans).
- Later subverted. After finding out Ryder's special qualities are due to an AI and that their Determinator personality is not genetic, he loses all interest in humanity. Then, during his Villainous Breakdown after being constantly thwarted, he declares every non-kett to be unworthy and swears to just exterminate them all.
Worthy Opponent: Defied; at first he thinks Ryder is this until he realizes that their ability to manipulate Remnant technology is the product of their connection with SAM; he apparently considers the use of an AI to be cheating and loses a lot of respect for Ryder because of this "trick", expressing open disappointment that Ryder was only "almost worthy". Of course, he's Underestimating Badassery.
Archon: This attempt to rival me is no longer amusing, Pathfinder.

The Primus

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

"The Purge has only just begun."

The Archon's second in command. She has concerns that the Archon's obsession with the Remnant is impeding the kett annexation of the Heleus Cluster.

Affably Evil: She complements Ryder's determination on finding her message then says said determination will strengthen the kett. She also refers to exaltating the Initiative as joining the kett family.
Primus: You are a single minded creature, Pathfinder. I see it now. Your determination will grant the kett dominion over this galaxy.
Ryder: Not on my watch, asshole!
Primus: This posturing benefits no one. Our confrontation is inevitable, not imminent.
Aliens of London: Speaks with a British accent.
Anti-Mutiny: After growing increasingly concerned about the Archon's interest in the Remnant, the Primus decides that he has gone rogue and is simply trying to gain power for himself in order to stage a coup of the larger kett empire. She begins secretly recruiting other kett to support her plan to remove him from power.
Primus: The Archon believes Meridian will bring him power: He will become the master of the Remnant. Its sole master. Once Heleus submits, where does the traitor turn his gaze? Think. Understand. Our home is in peril.
Deal with the Devil: Offers one to Pathfinder Ryder in a move explicitly described as a "deal with the devil". She offers a kill code to disable the Archon's flagship because she believes he is prioritizing his personal ambition over the kett empire and wants him dead so she can take over.
Dragon Ascendant: She is last seen looking over Meridian as part of The Stinger.
Enemy Mine: She eventually offers to help Ryder out in the final battle against the Archon. Ryder has the opportunity to refuse, since the Primus still intends to exalt the Initiative and the angara.
Hypocrite: Treats the kett as being one big, happy, biologically-brainwashed family. She's got no problem executing members of said family as a warning to anyone who doesn't follow the party line.
I Gave My Word: Even though Jaal insists she's untrustworthy (and not without cause), should Ryder take the deal, the Primus actually upholds her end of the bargain.
Meaningful Name: The word Primus has several meanings, including a person's name meaning "the first". Also, in Christianity, Primus is the title of the presiding bishop of the Scottish Episcopal Church.
Moral Guardians: The codex states she's the kett equivalent, usually going after any kett who violates their social norms and dealing with them.
No True Scotsman: She tries to attract followers with the argument that the Archon is hoarding Heleus' genetic bounty for himself instead of sharing them with those under his command, something no true kett would do.
Primus: Exaltation lifted our ancestors out of sorrow and tribulation. This noble gift now allows us to raise others and share in the genetic bounty of this galaxy. But the Archon would selfishly hoard what Heleus has to offer. The Archon does not serve kett interests, only his own. He wastes our time on the Remnant, but keeps all knowledge for himself. These are the acts of a traitor, not a true kett.
The Purge: After the Archon dies, the Primus gets to work getting rid of all his supporters, with Ryder potentially finding some of her handiwork if they never investigated her messages. Jaal may note she probably won't take very long cleaning house, either.
The Starscream: She's become vocally unnerved by the Archon's obsession by the time the game starts, and near the middle is actively organizing an Anti-Mutiny and provoking an Enemy Civil War.
The Unfought: You never get to fight her. Depending on your choices, it's entirely possible to not run into her at all.
Worthy Opponent: Unlike the Archon, the Primus grudgingly respects Ryder for their willpower and fighting ability.

The Cardinal

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

"This is a gift! Who are you to deny it?"

A high ranking leader in the kett religion who serves under the Archon.

Affably Evil: The Cardinal is civil towards Ryder despite their animosity and even offers to free all the Angara if Ryder and the crew of the Tempest don't destroy the kett buildings.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: If you help her, she thinks that this is because Ryder approves of the exaltation process and that he or she wishes to become one of them as soon as they figure out how to reliably exalt humans.
Character Death: You have the option to kill her, or spare her. If you opt to spare her but still destroy the exaltation facility, Jaal will kill her in Ryder's stead.
Cult: Ryder likens her ceremony to a cult. Given the kett method of reproduction it could be considered a Breeding Cult.
Dark Action Girl: She is a powerful warrior who fights toe-to-toe with Ryder and their team.
Deflector Shields: A powerful forcefield protects her from harm and can only be removed by destroying the drone that orbits her.
Flash Step: She has a short range teleporter she uses to dart around. She likes to pair it with her instant-kill melee range attack. She also uses it to cross the room when pleading with Ryder.
Flunky Boss: Has a veritable ton of goons backing her up during her Boss Battle.
Killed Mid-Sentence: Can be done to her by using an interrupt prompt.
Meaningful Name: In Christianity, Cardinal is a title appointed by the Pope to a member of the Catholic clergy, denoting them as a member of the College of Cardinals and ranking them above every other ecclesiastic title but the Pope. In addition, the word cardinal is also an adjective denoting that something is of prime importance.
Palette Swap: Is essentially an Ascendant in purple.
Power Floats: She can levitate and doesn't touch the ground once during her boss fight.
Wake-Up Call Boss: Up to now, Ryder has had to face few mandatory bosses, and even fewer with a No-Sell or a guaranteed One-Hit Kill move. Then the Cardinal comes along with both of those things, surrounded by a platoon of Destined and Anointed. Players that have been steamrolling everything without caution or tactics will quickly need to learn them, or die.

Archon's Sword

"The Archon wants that one. Destroy the rest."

A high ranking kett soldier serving under the Archon.

The Brute: The Archon uses her as his top enforcer.
Character Death: You kill her in a boss fight with no option of mercy.
The Dreaded: She's apparently feared among the kett for serving as the Archon's fist. Those who run afoul of the Archon's Sword are never heard from again.
Final Boss: Since the real final battle plays out as a Mooks, but no Bosses situation, she's the last true boss Ryder has to overcome.
"Get Back Here!" Boss: Every time Ryder does significant damage on her, she vanishes and summons a wave of mooks. Ryder lampshades how annoying it is.
Ryder: You think you're sooo sneaky, don't you?!
Invisibility Cloak: Being little more than a more resilient Destined, she uses the same tactics and gimmicks as them, which basically means "sneaking up on the target while invisible, then blasting them with a shotgun".
The Law Of Chromatic Superiority: She's distinguished from other Destined by her bright red armor, instead of the usual dark green.
Mook Lieutenant: She's essentially just a buffed Kett Destined in red armor.
The Quiet One: She's seen issuing commands from a distance, but is rarely heard saying a word otherwise.
Shotguns Are Just Better: The weapon of all Destined.
Undying Loyalty: She is utterly loyal to the Archon.

The Valiant

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

"None escape the Decimation's reach!"

A high ranking kett Ascendant and leader of the Decimation Hunters. He's encountered while hunting down the Leusinia to retrieve stolen Kett data.

Arc Villain: For Cora's loyalty mission.
Character Death: There's no option to spare him after his boss fight.
Deflector Shields: Like the Cardinal and all other Ascendant, a powerful forcefield protects the Valiant from harm and can only be removed by destroying the drone that orbits him.
Evil Sounds Deep: He has the more metallic tinged British accent similar to the females instead of the guttural growly tones the Archon or the Invictor.
Flash Step: One of his abilities during the fight.
Power Floats: He hovers above the ground rather than walk.
Taking You with Me: Shortly before he is killed, the Valiant orders his ship to open fire on the Leusinia. While he's still aboard.
Thrown Out the Airlock: Well... out the huge gaping hole in the Ark, but the trope still applies.
Trash Talk: Spends a lot of his fight ranting at everyone at how it'd be easier if they gave up. Cora... dissents.
Valiant: Bend the knee or break!
Cora: SHUT THE HELL UP!
Undying Loyalty: To the Archon. If Cora's loyalty mission is done after killing him, the Valiant declares how he's still loyal to the guy.

The Invictor

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/invictor_enemybox_1.png

"Your presence is not a threat. I will test you and then discard."

The commander of the kett on Eos. He is responsible for the destruction of the second outpost the Initiative established on the world.

Arc Villain: Of the war against the kett on Eos.
Asshole Victim: He really has his death coming. If any recording of him are found and listened to after he's killed, Ryder will declare how glad they are they killed him. If those same recordings are found before his death, everyone will instead announce how they look forward to killing him.
Bad Boss: When one of his underlings asked him on what authority he was acting against the Archon's orders, the Invictor decapitated him. Afterwards, the other underlings decided it was best not to ask again.

Fantastic Racism: While all kett engage in this all day long, he's so far the only one to outright call Ryder and their friends "animals".
Fantastic Rank System: Much like the Archon, the Invictor is a title of some kind in the kett ranks. During the final battle, Ryder meets another Invictor, dubbed the Elder Invictor.
Flunky Boss: Like all Ascendants, he doesn't take to the field without a platoon of mooks backing him up.
It's All About Me: He's second only to the Archon himself in terms of self-importance. Everytime Ryder finds one of his audio logs, it begins with "I am Invictor" before he starts doling out orders or threatening his underlings. He's also constantly reminding his goons that everything they do has one purpose, and one purpose alone: to "raise him".
Kick the Dog: Threatens to kill his prisoners if Ryder doesn't back off, only to add that he doesn't have any prisoners left because he's already killed them.
Large Ham: Like all the other leading kett, the Invictor is prone to making bombastic declarations over the comm.
Past Experience Nightmare: A terminal found in the kett base on Eos suggests the Invictor has been having dreams of his life before he was exalted and sends a message to the Archon begging something to make them stop.
They Would Cut You Up: Tortured and dissected several captured Initiative members to test their species' capabilities.
This Cannot Be!: If (when) Ryder starts mowing through his troops, he's outraged.
Invictor: Insult! Our perfection cannot be defeated!
Villainous Breakdown: Becomes increasingly angered as his forces fail to stop the advance of Ryder and their team through his headquarters, shouting at his men for being unable to best three people.

Behemoth

A type of kett first encountered aboard the Archon's flagship during Ryder's mission to retrieve information about Meridian.

Ambiguous Gender: As a result of the exaltation process, not even the characters are sure whether it's male or female.
The Berserker: It spends a great deal of its fight charging at you and your squadmates. This is due to the exaltation process cranking up the krogan blood rage into permanent overdrive. Scanning it has SAM determine the kett probably can't actually control it.
The Brute: Began its life as a krogan. It only got meaner and more brutish after the Archon exalted it.
Damage-Sponge Boss: Ridiculously heavily armored for something its size and thus takes huge amounts of firepower to bring down. It's one of only a few enemies in the game that can actually survive a hit from a Cobra missile (an anti-tank weapon that will one-shot just about anything else), and takes literally hundreds of bullets to bring down even with high-level assault rifles. On the other hand, it can barely hurt you — its only weapon fires a slow plasma ball that deals pitiful damage over a long period.
Flawed Prototype: In addition to the problems mentioned up above, SAM determines it and the potential others Ryder might encounter also suffers from medical complications due to the imperfect nature of the process used on it.
Flunky Boss: Its boss battle starts out against it alone, but once it suffers enough damage, squads of kett soldiers join the fight.
Healing Factor: When reduced to the bottom of its health, it'll suddenly heal a quarter.
It Can Think: Despite being in a perpetual state of utter rage, after getting out of its chamber it manages to track Ryder down. And also somehow managed to acquire a gun.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Firing the EMP that disables the Archon's ship is what releases the Behemoth from its exaltation chamber.
Psycho Prototype: It's the first somewhat successful exaltation of the krogan species but its blood rage was accidentally made permanent, making it hostile to anything that moves, including other kett.
Spikes of Villainy: One may be forgiven for thinking the Behemoth resembles Doomsday.
Unique Enemy: Conditionally. If Ryder saves the remaining krogan scouts, they only have to fight one Behemoth in the whole game. If they don't, they'll have to fight more later.
Use Your Head: If Ryder gets too close, it'll headbutt them.

Characters / Mass Effect Andromeda The Kett

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