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The Crew of the Normandy
An elite force of soldiers, mercenaries, and other warriors from the Mass Effect universe. In General
- Badass Crew: They took on the Collector Base and killed a Reaper on foot.
- Band of Brothers: They've gone through thick and thin together.
- Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits: While they've improved considerably, they still have personal issues that haven't quite been addressed - including some that only really surfaced after Shepard addressed the other issues.
Wade Shepard
Commander Wade Shepard
Leader of the crew of the Normandy. This interpretation of the character is a Paragon of the Vanguard class with the Spacer/War Hero background, and has romanced Tali.- Beware the Nice Ones: He's an all-around nice guy and very likeable. But he's also one of the most dangerous people in his home universe; even the Reapers fear him.
- Fanboy: He is a very big fan of Star Trek, to the point where he absolutely gushes over the idea of teleportation being real in the Halo universe after they encounter 343 Guilty Spark.
- He also goes completely fanboy-esque when he meets Alec Ryder, his idol, during his trip to the future.
- Ideal Hero: Shepard has an all but unshakable moral center. While it has wavered at times, he still has a firm sense of right and wrong.
- Magic Knight: Biotics are basically the magic of the Mass Effect universe, and as a Vanguard, Shepard falls under this category.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: A very small amount, but the events of the later parts of the Reach arc wear him down enough to consider some more morally dubious actions. He grows out of it by the time he gets to Installation 04, though.
- Trekkie: This is a particular trait that a lot of readers have found endearing about him.
Tali'Zorah
Tali'Zorah vas Normandy
The quarian mechanic and head engineer of the Normandy, and Shepard's girlfriend.- Break the Cutie: She endures some seriously messed up shit in this series, mostly at the hands of the Flood. On Installation 04, she is nearly killed by the Flood after suffering a suit rupture, resulting in her being mentally tortured by Flood spores she inhales. Then, in Remnants, she is possessed by the essence of a Precursor, nearly driving her insane and turning her against her friends.
- Deuteragonist: After Shepard, Tali is the character who gets the most focus and character development.
Garrus Vakarian
Garrus "Archangel" Vakarian
A former turian law enforcement agent and vigilante, as well as Shepard's best friend and longtime fighting companion.- Best Friend: After Tali, Garrus is arguably Shepard's closest associate and confidante.
- Black-and-White Morality: This is perhaps the one conflicting personality trait that Garrus has with Shepard. While Shepard is a truly caring individual who believes is concepts of mercy and reconciliation, Garrus prefers to see the world in shades of black and white. Understandable, given the losses he has faced over the years.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: He has some thanks to getting a rocket blown up in his face on Omega. He is actually very proud of them.
- I Should Have Been Better: Garrus is haunted by a serious case of survivor's guilt brought on by causing the deaths of his squad on Omega during his tenure as Archangel, and later for unwittingly leaving Tali to die during the Covenant bombing of Reach. His friends are slowly helping him get past it.
Miranda Lawson
Miranda Lawson
A former operative of Cerberus who went rogue and joined Shepard full time after they previously worked together against the Collectors.- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: In canon, she and Jacob kept their relationship purely professional. Here, they have a gradually budding romantic relationship in the background.
- The Atoner: She has grown disillusioned with Cerberus since partaking in the Suicide Mission, and has remained with Shepard to make up for her time with them.
- Control Freak: This is one of her greatest character flaws, and it really comes into focus when she orders Tali detained for her erratic behavior, not knowing that she has actually been possessed by the spirit of a Precursor. Luckily, they make up afterward.
- Fantastic Racism: A trait of hers that hasn't quite gone away since leaving Cerberus. Miranda still has a tendency to define alien races based on their more negative aspects, for example, the quarians' creation of the geth.
- Spy Catsuit: She is almost always seen wearing a skintight suit that really shows off her figure, earning her many stares. Since arriving in the Halo universe, she has taken to wearing bulkier and sturdier armor.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Jack. The two hate each other a lot less than they did during the Suicide Mission.
Kasumi Goto
Kasumi Goto
A master thief and ninja.- Ascended Extra: While she got very little screen time and development in Mass Effect 2, she has a much more established relationship with the team; she and Tali are best friends, and she is close enough to Shepard that she is included in his innermost circle of friends alongside Tali, Garrus, and Joker.
- Affectionate Nickname: She has one for almost every member of the Normandy crew. In turn, Tali calls Kasumi "Kas".
- Anti-Hero: She may have a heart of gold and care very deeply for the rest of the crew, but she is still a thieving kleptomaniac and con-artist.
- Best Friend: She is Tali's closest friend on the Normandy.
- Deadpan Snarker: The best on the team after Joker.
- Devious Daggers: She makes frequent use of a combat knife, especially when she makes stealth kills using her cloaking.
- Genki Girl: She is very enthusiastic.
- Invisibility: She has a cloaking device that she uses frequently in and outside of combat.
- Lovable Rogue: She is handsdown the most upbeat and cheerful member of the crew, as well as a high-profile criminal wanted for hundreds of counts of theft.
Samara
Samara
An asari justicar, a member of an ancient sect of warriors dedicated to punishing the unjust.- Action Mom: She is one of the deadliest asari in the galaxy and the mother of two daughters.
- Blood Knight: She follows a Code of Honour that requires her to punish those who commit evil deeds. While this often puts her at odds with the rest of the crew, she is so good at what she does that they are willing to look past it.
- Odd Friendship: With Private Kowalski, a UNSC marine she meets on Reach.
- Old Soldier: She has been a justicar for five centuries, and fought in other conflicts long before.
- Really 700 Years Old: She is over one-thousand years old, making her one of the oldest characters in the series.
- The Stoic: She doesn't show a hint of emotion.
Legion
Legion
A geth platform with enhanced intelligence designed to cooperate with organics to benefit the survival of the geth.- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: While normally averted when it comes to Legion, his recent interfacing with Auntie DOT has caused him to undergo erratic personality changes that have begun to make the rest of the Normandy very nervous. Whether or not this problem will escalate has yet to be seen.
- Fire-Forged Friends: With Noble Six, surprisingly.
- Grow Beyond Their Programming: Legion and the geth in general are fascinated by how the artificial intelligences of the Halo universe operate and seek to emulate them so that they can become true individuals. However, when Legion attempts to experiment with this by interfacing itself with Auntie DOT, it begins to negatively affect his behavior.
- Odd Friendship: With Noble Six.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Thanks to a programming glitch they received when interacting with Auntie DOT, Legion will occasionally refer to themselves as "I" (singular) instead of the usual "we," which, according to Tali, is a major cause for concern.
- Legion shows genuine sorrow and devastation for the first time ever when Noble Six, whom they have forged a very close bond with, sacrifices himself to enable the Pillar of Autumn and the Normandy to escape.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Tragically played straight with Six's Heroic Sacrifice to stay behind to ensure the Pillar of Autumn gets away, where Legion first attempts to offer to take remote access of the mass driver gun from the Autumn, but Six makes them admit that they just don't have enough time before the battlecruiser gets in range and it has to be manual. Legion then offers to take the gun manually themselves, stating they would rather sacrifice their platform and any number of their core programs lost in the transfer of their data back to the Autumn or Normandy to prevent Six from throwing his life away, but he shuts that down too, refusing to let any part of his friend die for him.
Jack
Jack / Subject Zero
A powerful human biotic and former criminal that was experimented on as a child by Cerberus.- All Girls Want Bad Boys: She is forming a relationship with Thane, a master assassin.
- Ax-Crazy: While Shepard has been a positive influence, she hasn't quite yet grown out of her bloodlust.
- Broken Bird: She has issues, for lack of better word.
- Odd Friendship: Forges this with Thane, and as of Remnants, it has evolved into a romantic relationship.
- Person of Mass Destruction: She is the most powerful human biotic ever recorded, and she revels in it.
- Ship Tease: The friendship she forms with Thane in Guilty Sparks shows signs of this, and in Remnants, it blooms into a full relationship.
Grunt
Urdnot Grunt
A genetically engineered krogan super-soldier.- Big Guy: He's the largest and most physically powerful member of the crew.
- Genius Bruiser: While he was already pretty well-spoken before, his [1] experience in Remnants forces him to do a little homework, and now he's right up there with Tali and Mordin as the crew's brainiest members.
- Put the "Laughter" in "Slaughter": He laughs a lot in combat.
Mordin Solus
Professor Mordin Solus
A salarian scientist and former STG agent.- The Atoner: A major part of his backstory is that he helped make modifications to the genophage virus that was slowly driving the krogan extinct, something that fills him with overwhelming guilt. His whole motive for helping Shepard in his fight against the Reapers is to make up for this act.
- Combat Medic: He performs surgery and first aid on the field.
Thane Krios
Thane Krios
A terminally ill drell assassin.- Affectionate Nickname: After he and Jack enter a relationship, he starts calling her "siha", just like he does with the female Shepard if she romances him in Mass Effect 2.
- Dead Man Walking: He is terminally ill from Kepral's Syndrome, a respiratory illness that plagues a good percentage of his people. He shows no fear of his impending death, however.
- Odd Friendship: With Jack, now upgraded to romantic relationship status.
- Ship Tease: He and Jack have become romantically involved. A lot of readers predicted it before it became official.
Jacob Taylor
Jacob Taylor
A former Cerberus operative and Alliance Corsair.- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: In canon, Jacob and Miranda's relationship fit more into the Platonic Life-Partners category. Here, they are in an actual romantic relationship that, while not openly flaunted, is implied to have been going on for a while.
- Demoted to Extra: He is the Normandy squadmate with the least amount of focus or character development.
- The Generic Guy: Sure, he's got biotic powers, but compared to the other human squad members aboard the Normandy, he's more or less just a regular soldier.
- Magic Knight: Like Shepard, his skillset is that of the Vanguard, with biotic abilities and a proficiency for shotguns and close-quarters combat.
Joker
Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau
The pilot of the Normandy. While he is handicapped by Vrolik's Syndrome, he's an essential member of the team, serving as Mission Control and all-around piloting badass.- Ace Pilot: He claims at least to be the best pilot in the Systems Alliance.
- Deadpan Snarker: He is called "Joker" for a reason.
- Disabled Snarker: His bone disease makes him extremely cynical.
- Graceful in Their Element: He has brittle bones, but he can fly.
- Handicapped Badass: His bone condition prevents him from being mobile on his feet, but he is a superb pilot who has saved Shepard and the crew on multiple accounts and is not unfamiliar with handling a weapon if the situation calls for it.
- Morality Pet: Joker is this to the rest of the crew thanks to his Plucky Comic Relief.
- Robosexual: He has romantic feelings for EDI, the Normandy artificial intelligence, who reciprocates.
EDI
Enhanced Defense Intelligence (EDI)
The Normandys shipboard artificial intelligence. She co-pilots the ship with Joker, whom she shares a strong emotional bond with.- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Completely averted. She cares deeply for the organics aboard the Normandy, especially Joker. However, her protectiveness of them is so fierce, that it has overidden her capacity for logic. In Guilty Sparks, when Joker is abducted by the Covenant and Linda considers leaving him behind, EDI ignores all orders and nearly goes rogue until Miranda talks her down.
- Berserk Button: The idea of leaving Joker to die at the hands of the Covenant throws her into a fury; even a Spartan does little to shake her resolve.
- Beware the Nice Ones: She is generally friendly and easy to get along with... but certain people, like 343 Guilty Spark, have pushed her to the point where she displays actual, genuine rage. And its rather intimidating.
- Deadpan Snarker: She has been working on her capacity for humor since Mass Effect 2, and it is steadily improving thanks to her time with Joker.
- Robosexual: She and Joker share strong romantic feelings for each other.
The Crew of the Lucen
A ragtag bunch of misfit aliens that help Liara and Wrex battle the Covenant presence that has infiltrated the Mass Effect universe in Shepard's absence. In General
- Badass Crew: They have their issues, yes. But they gradually grow into a force to be reckone with.
- Canon Foreigner: Save Liara and Wrex, everyone on the Lucen is an original character created for the series.
- Cool Starship: The Lucen, which is a former Turian frigate used by the Shadow Net Organisation (for the purpose of inserting and extracting agents across the galaxy), which Liara and her team use for their adventures. Being a Turian vessel, it possesses the armour and weaponry needed for a stand-up fight, but is still fast and manoeuvrable for Liara's needs. When Liara utilised the vessel, she renamed it after the mythical servant of the goddess Athame, from Asari religion.
- Dysfunction Junction: This team is a heck of a lot more dysfunctional than Shepard's, and since Liara is not quite the leader that Shepard is, she has a much harder time getting them to cooperate.
- Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits: While Liara and Wrex have long since gotten their crap together, the rest of the team includes Nel, a a psychotic nymphomaniac turian female who thinks she’s an action hero and a chip on her shoulder for her dad; Saya, a krogan-hating salarian sniper and antisocial loner; Vik, a quarian outcast and paranoid conspiracy nut who thinks the world’s out to get him and has bad issues with batarians; and Kayap, an errant unggoy who is brutalized former slave and a coward… meaning he’s probably the sanest of the bunch outside of Liara and Wrex.
- We ARE Struggling Together: It takes a very long time for any of the crew to warm up to each other, and their particular nuances cause aggravation amongst each other, especially between Nel and Vik.
Liara T'Soni
Dr. Liara T'Soni
The leader of the Shadow Net Organisation, Liara is an asari scientist who once helped Shepard save the galaxy from the Reapers, and then overthrew the Shadow Broker and took his place. She now works to keep the Mass Effect galaxy safe in Shepard's absence, which is easier said than done.- Romantic Runner-Up: Liara has deep, unrequited feelings for Shepard and regrets not acting on them sooner. Her love for him is what drives her to act against the Reapers and the Covenant, even though she knows very well her actions won't make him love her back.
- Ship Tease: With Wrex, surprisingly.
Urdnot Wrex
Urdnot Wrex
Liara's second-in-command and another former squadmate of Shepard's who is working to reunite the krogan.- Fantastic Racism: He's very distrusting towards salarians because of the genophage, and thus displays hostility towards Saya for a while.
- Old Soldier: He's been around since the close of the Krogan Rebellions (which was over 1200 years before the events of the series). And, he's Urdnot Wrex.
- Ship Tease: With Liara, surprisingly.
Kayap
Kayap
An errant unggoy soldier that Liara rescues from the Covenant's abusive caste system.- Because You Were Nice to Me: This is the reason why he chooses to follow Liara, because she is the first person to have ever shown him kindness since he first joined the Covenant.
- Death Seeker: When he first met Liara, he fully intended to die in battle with her just so he could escape the horrid life under the Covenant. Luckily, she showed him a better option.
- Heel–Face Turn: He abandons the Covenant to join Liara's crew.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: His species is barely half a meter tall, yet he holds his own throughout much of the series.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Vorsa's treatment of him and the unggoy as whole are what prompts him to abandon the Covenant and join Liara's crew.
- Morality Pet: He's this for everyone on the Lucen.
Nelanax Catonis
Nelanax "Nel" Catonis
A female turian mercenary and adventure seeker who joins up with Liara just so she can become a hero.- Belligerent Sexual Tension: She invokes this with Vik after a particularly heated argument, but she only wants to screw with him. However, this may be developing for real.
- Never My Fault: Numerous times she shows signs of this, due mostly to her addiction to her "juice", which makes her act irrational and a liability on the field.
- Power High: Whenever she is on her "juice", which is an adrenaline boosting drug that she uses to perform her action hero stunts. Nel has a whole box of the stuff and it eventually comes back to bite her when she starts overdosing on it and the crashes start hitting her worse and worse until she nearly compromises the mission on the batarian summit at Rakavekyon Tower (though in fairness, Vik and Saya's own issues contribute as well). It turns out it's the reason she was discharged from the military. She was part of the testing for the War Spirit Blood to use it in the field, but eventually she started getting addicted to it and during one mission she took a "bad batch" that resulted in her killing multiple civilians and one of her squadmates in an Unstoppable Rage. She was court martialed and kicked out, but she stole the notes on the formula (her father was the chief designer) and started cooking her own batches.
- Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: She's a mercenary working for the Covenant/Batarian alliance when the Lucen crew first encounters her, and she is quick to try killing the gang when she runs into them. However, when she discovers her employers are using slaves in medical experiments, she almost immediately does a Heel–Face Turn.
Saya Empa
Saya Empa
A high-ranking black ops agent in the salarian Special Tasks Group who lost his voice in a past skirmish with the krogan.- Cool Sword: He wields a "Shiakala", which is a salarian blade that can both electrocute its opponents as well as spread explosive gel through its cuts to breach walls, though the latter feature first sees use after slitting a Krogan's throat.
- Fantastic Racism: He hates the krogan, believing them to be irredeemable savages that are better off being driven to extinction by the genophage. His reason is because a fight with a krogan cost him his voice as well as his chance at being inducted into the Spectres. We later find out that that his hatred predates that incident; in one of his earleist missions for the STG, he witnessed and was disgusted by how he saw firsthand how krogan children were made to fight and kill each other in Social Darwinist-like fighting pits by criminal krogans. His arc is about slowly coming to terms with that.
- Heroic Mime: He is unable to speak because a krogan crushed his larynx.
- Shout-Out: He's an Alien Ninja who does not speak, and his name is derived from three Hindu words: Snake, Eyes, and Zero.
- Silent Snarker: Since he's mute, all of his snark is done over text communications.
- Sword and Gun: He uses his Shiakala and a Hand Cannon. A favored technique of his is to impale a target and use his other hand to shoot their compatriots before they know what's going on.
- The Voiceless: As stated, he is mute.
Vik'Sajee
Vik'Sajee
A quarian exile and conspiracy theorist with a haunted past.- Break the Cutie: He suffered this in his backstory and it's what made him the paranoid conspiracy theorist he is today. After going broke on his pilgrimage, he signed an indentured servant contract and ended up under the service of a highly influential batarian who secretly owned other slaves and tasked with keeping his backdoor dealings clean. The batarian became paranoid that Vik would end up selling him out and when Vik tried to escape with his fellows they were caught and the others tortured to death while Vik pleaded with him to let them go. Vik managed to escape his bonds and flee on a ship, but he was threatened over the radio that he if he talked everything he loved would be destroyed, which is why he hasn't returned to the Migrant Fleet.
- Conspiracy Theorist: Vik lives and breathes this trope. He even spouts counterparts to modern conspiracy theories in his introductory scene, such as malicious fluoridation of water and space-Bigfoot on Noveria.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He's a paranoid, deranged conspiracy theorist. However, when Sangheili assassins attempt to murder him, he responds by deploying combat drones and his holdout shotgun, and then flees though a well-devised escape system. But then Averted as he curls up in a little ball once he reaches relative safety, because he's still a scared little quarian.
- He also hacked a CDEM satellite without being detected, which is like hacking a C.I.A. satellite in terms of skill.
- Let's also not forget the improvised explosive he makes in the middle of a firefight with the Covenant.
- Fantastic Racism: He hates the batarians because of his ordeal when he was their slave.
- Lovable Coward: He's incredibly out of his depth and he knows it, but he's still trying his best.
- Ship Tease: After gradually moving on from their distaste for each other, Vik and Nel seem to have this going on between them.
- Shout-Out: His name sounds a lot like Vic Sage.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: As well as their possible Ship Tease, Vik and Nel spend most of their time budding heads with each other.
The UNSC
The primary military force of the United Earth Government In General
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: While they undeniably have the best interests of mankind in mind (except for some parts of ONI), they are willing to cross several lines to achieve those goals - such as creating the SPARTAN-II and SPARTAN-III projects.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: The Joint Chiefs on Reach are surprisingly open minded when it comes to the Reapers.
ADM Gravelston
Admiral Gravelston
An Admiral of the UNSC, CO of the UNSC Nebraska, and the one to initiate First Contact with the Normandy.- Everyone Has Standards: While he is willing to lie about the Covenant Invasion of Reach, he's not happy about it, and is visibly annoyed with Ackerson's many Jerkass moments.
- First Contact: Achieves this with the Normandy. It's surprisingly calm.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Rams the Nebraska into a Covenant Carrier to allow the Normandy to link up with the Pillar of Autumn.
- Ramming Always Works: Ram's his ship into a Covenant Carrier to save the Normandy.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He's not entirely trusting of the Normandy due to their alien crew, but is willing to give Shepard the benefit of the doubt.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Ignores Ackerson's orders to continue on course so that he can save the Normandy. Could also be counted as 'Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What Works' as Ackerson's objections that Reach is not a priority, are partially due to wanting Gravelston's ship to be used in Operation: RED FLAG, even though, by this point, virtually every other asset needed to initiate said operation has been lost.
MCPO John- 117
Master Chief Petty Officer John-117
Overall leader of the Spartan-IIs, and the main protagonist of Halo- Child Soldiers: This is a given for all Spartans - they had to be recruited as children, otherwise their augmentations would not work.
- Out of Focus: While he does show up in When There Was a Tomorrow, he really isn't that involved with the plot, by virtue of being a Navy Asset, rather than an army one. He get's a brief appearance at Sword Base to talk with Halsey, but that's it...at least until the final few chapters, where he arrives to save Shepard from the Covenant. Averted after this, though, as he's a major character for the rest of the story.
- The Stoic: He's not nearly as emotive as Noble Team, or Jorge, for that matter. Granted, Jorge is explicitly noted to be far more social than most Spartan-IIs.
Halsey
Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey
Creator of the Spartan-IIs.- Foil: To Colonel Ackerson - both are members of ONI and created one of the Spartan Projects, but while Halsey bonded with her Spartans and views them as people, Ackerson views his Spartans as being disposable tools. Halsey's Spartans were designed to be elite commandoes while Ackerson's were meant as suicide troopers. Finally, while Ackerson views Shepard and his crew as nuisances to be dealt with (and is willing to potentially commit treason to do so), Halsey values them as people and tries to help them out when she can.
- I Did What I Had to Do: This is her excuse for the Spartan-II project, although she makes it rather clear that she is in no way proud of the way it was carried out. Shepard begrudgingly admits that her Spartans are one of the primary reasons humanity has even lasted so long against the Covenant.
- Jerkass Has a Point: She's admittedly willing to cross many moral lines (in particular, the creation of the Spartans required violating the United Nations Mortal Dictata several times over), but she's completely correct that the Spartans are the only reason their still alive at this point - the Spartans did a lot to even the odds.
- Motherly Scientist: Treats her Spartans as her children. Ironically, she's a poor parent to her actual daughter, Miranda Keyes.
Colonel Holland
Colonel Urban "Noble Actual" Holland
A colonel of the UNSC Army in charge of Noble Team.- Adaptation Expansion: His only canon appearance in Halo media is a voice only role in Halo: Reach. Here, he is one of the main characters of the series and accompanies the characters in their adventure on Halo and the hunt for the Astral Cutlass afterward.
- Ascended Extra: His role in canon was significantly smaller than it is here.
- Foil: To Major Silva. Silva is a selfish Glory Hound who hates aliens and Spartans and mutinies at the very idea of allying with the batarians and kig-yar, something which Holland supports so long as they survive Halo. Holland, meanwhile, respects and appreciates the Spartans and the aliens of the Normandy, seeing them as people and assets.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He proves himself to be this in Guilty Sparks, listening to the available facts and options regarding allying with the Covenant deserters to get off of Halo without letting the Flood escape calmly without allowing his personal opinions to get in the way and promising to convene with his staff to quickly make a decision. Once Kat reveals Silva's blatant disregard for the Flood's threat with his intention of taking live Flood samples back to Earth in the infested Truth and Reconciliation, he almost immediately confronts Silva over comms and makes it clear, Covenant deserters or not, the Flood are too great a threat to be allowed any chance to leave Halo, noting that the worst scenario with the deserters leaves them all betrayed and dead, but Earth safe, while the Flood will wipe everything out and doom humanity faster than the Covenant. When Silva calls his mutiny, Holland orders the heroes to get as many of their men as possible off the Truth and Reconciliation and prevent its lift-off no matter what, even if they have to fire on their fellow humans, and escape the ring safely.
Captain Keyes
Captain Jacob Keyes
A legendary naval officer in the UNSC and the captain of the Pillar of Autumn.- Doomed by Canon: He still suffers his horrific end at the hands of the Flood like in canon.
Kowalski
Private Kowalski
A private employed in a small contingent of UNSC marines that ends up pulled into the Normandy crew's adventure through the Halo universe.- Audience Surrogate: Alongside the rest of his unit, Kowalski is a normal soldier pulled into a world full of ageless alien warriors, super-soldiers, and genocidal parasites and robots, and reacts about as naturally as any average joe would in such situations.
- Badass Normal: He's a competent soldier, but also a normal, average everyday man.
- Odd Friendship: With Samara, who he has frequent interactions with and may even have something of a Ship Tease with.
Taylor
Staff Sergeant Alec Taylor
Pearson
Corporal Pearson
Agley
Corporal Howard Agley
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": He dislikes being called "Ags" by his squadmates.
- Hidden Depths: He is often ridiculed by his squadmates for being cowardly and prone to panic attacks. We find out from a conversation between him and Kowalski that his jittery behavior stems from a horrific encounter with a Covenant drone on Reach. That encounter triggered a long-repressed traumatic memory of when Agley was a child where his brother poured a bucket full of maggots on him while he was sleeping. Agley now has a reasonably understandable fear of bugs.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He is deathly afraid of bugs after a cruel prank played on him by his brother as a child. An encounter with a yanme'e on Reach causes his fear to resurface, affecting his performance.
Ellingham
Private Ellingham
Ramirez
Private Oscar Ramirez
Major Silva
Major Antonio Silva
A UNSC Field Grade officer and the leader of the Orbital Drop Shock Trooper (ODST) contingent on the Pillar of Autumn that travels to Installation 04.- Adaptational Villainy: Silva was never exactly a nice guy, but in canon he stayed true to the UNSC up until his death in spite of his idiotic decisions concerning the Flood. Here, he and several other ODSTs stage a mutiny against Colonel Holland when he accepts the alliance with the kig-yar and batarians. This effectively puts him against the main characters.
- Big Damn Heroes: He gets at least one moment of heroism in Guilty Sparks when he fires a rocket barrage that wipes out a large amount of the Covenant forces guarding the Pillar of Autumn.
- Deconstructed Character Archetype: To the Troubled Sympathetic Bigot — while Silva has a bunch of completely understandable reasons to dislike aliens and the SPARTAN-IIS, it's also made clear that many of his issues come down to Pride. Additionally, unlike most examples of this trope from Mass Effect, he never gets better from interacting with Shepherd and actually get's worse due to having to constantly interact with someone who is totally antithetical to his views. He ends up launching a mutiny precisely because of this.
- Fantastic Racism: Owing to the war with the Covenant, Silva loathes aliens and openly treats them, even the ones of the Normandy who are allies, with scorn. Coupled with his hatred of Spartans, this provokes him into staging a mutiny when Holland goes with Shepard's plan to ally with Varvok and Zek.
- A Father to His Men: Probably Silva's only admirable trait. He and McKay are very well liked by the ODSTs under their command, and he is absolutely consumed with guilt when his mutiny causes the deaths of dozens of ODSTs by the Flood.
- Foil: To both Shepard and Holland.
- Glory Hound: Staying faithful to his portrayal in Halo: The Flood, Silva is very much this. It escalates to the point of him trying to bring live Flood forms back to Earth for study, and when Colonel Holland goes with Chief and Shepard's plan that would ensure that no Flood would be able escape the ring, Silva declares that Holland is a traitor unfit to lead and mutinies.
- Redemption Equals Death: After he launches the Truth and Reconciliation from Halo, the Flood almost immediately overrun the ship, wiping out most of the ODSTs still loyal to him. He's badly wounded and although the infection form that attacked him failed to burrow into him, the flesh on his injury is visibly mutating. Realizing the magnitude of his screwup, Silva orders his men to abandon ship while he stays behind to slow the ship's ascension so the survivors can escape before they destroy it.
- Too Dumb to Live: He refuses to believe that the Flood are anything more than simple-minded animals that can be contained and cured. And he plans to show this by bringing live Flood to Earth, an act of arrogance that leaves even McKay utterly shocked.
Haverson
Lieutenant Elias Haverson
An ONI liaison officer stationed on the UNSC Pillar of Autumn.The Covenant
A coalition of alien races who believe the destruction of mankind is the will of their gods. In General
- Anti-Human Alliance: They believe the destruction of mankind to be the will of their gods.
- Fantastic Racism: This is rampant in the Covenant hierarchy. The lowest races in the caste system are treated like cannon fodder at best and slaves at worst. The Sangheili and the Jiralhanae, the empire's two primary military enforcers, hate each other immensely. A number of Covenant characters in the series make it clear that they think little of the Mass Effect races that they are allied with, including the Batarians. And then of course there is the genocidal war they are waging against humanity.
- Not Brainwashed: The Inquisitor pointedly did not use Indoctrination on the Covenant, implicitly not even the ones with Reaper body modifications. Simply claiming to be a Forerunner A.I. was more than sufficient to earn their loyalty.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: At least some of them don't like working with the Reapers at all.
Thel 'Vadamee
Shipmaster Thel 'Vadamee
The Sangheili shipmaster overseeing the Fleet of Particular Justice.- Adaptational Jerkass: He doesn't get knocked off his high horse until the end when Halo practically blows up in his face. Until then, he's much nastier to Varvok and Zek than he is to anyone else in canon.
- Beleaguered Boss: He tries very, very hard to keep things under control in Guilty Sparks. But with Zek and Varvok rebelling, Orna and Empathy repeatedly making unauthorized orders behind his back, and the Flood infestation escalating out of control, things quickly fall apart for him.
- Break the Haughty: His last scene in Guilty Sparks has him despairing over his loss, knowing quite well that he will be blamed severely for the destruction of Halo.
- Hypocrite: He shows disgust at Varvok and the Batarians' institutionalized slavery, despite the Covenant not treating the unggoy any better. When Varvok himself points out this hypocrisy, Thel effortlessly rationalizes it as leading the unggoy on a path to enlightenment and salvation to the Forerunner faith.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: He's a Sangheili. It's kind of a given.
- Only Sane Man: While he makes some bad decisions of his own, he is the only person in the Fleet of Particular Justice that is taking the whole situation involving the Flood seriously. But with Orna, Zek, Varvok, and the Prophet of Empathy repeatedly overriding his orders, things escalate badly for him.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: As he has not yet become the Arbiter, Thel is still a firm believer in the Covenant dogma to the point where he denies the obvious flaws in their hierarchy, including the enslavement of the Unggoy and the lack of logical reasoning behind the war against humanity. Varvok calls him out on this in Guilty Sparks.
Zek
Zek
Shipmaster of the Fallen Serpent.A Kig-Yar pirate initially under the employ of the Fleet of Particular Justice. He turns against the Covenant and joins up with Shepard's crew.- A Father to His Men: He cares deeply for his crew, and its the Covenant's mistreatment of them that prompts him to go rogue.
- Affably Evil: When we first meet him, he is rather boorish and working against the protagonists. He is shown to care for his crew, though, and he develops a close friendship with Varvok.
- Alien Arts Are Appreciated: During his time with the humans, Zek comes to love a large number of human media, including Pirates of the Caribbean, Jaws, Gremlins, and the Friday the 13th franchise. However, he strongly dislikes Shakespeare's works.
- Canon Foreigner: He and everyone aboard the Fallen Serpent are original characters created specifically for the story.
- Dragon with an Agenda: An (anti-)heroic example. Zek is sincere about helping the humans and batarians escape to UNSC space but is not above taking the time to turn a profit or three along the way, often roping them into his schemes without sharing his ulterior motives.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Not evil, really. But Zek is as racist as any Kig-Yar towards the Unggoy. He is, however, quite unsettled by the lengths that certain Kig-Yar, like Snarlbeak, take their prejudice towards the lesser race.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Well, not evil so much as cynically self-serving, but when he first hears the word "altruism" he assumes it's some sort of human STD, and scoffs at its actual definition, simply assuming Every Man Has His Price.
- Fantastic Racism: Towards the Unggoy, typical of all Kig-Yar. He seems to slowly be growing out of it, and even lets a number of Unggoy join his crew.
Retz
Retz
Zek's first mate and second-in-command of the Fallen Serpent.- Armoured Closet Asexual: Due to the Kig-Yar's cultural worldview on sexuality, Retz faces some derision for being asexual, especially from Zix and his former overseers from the Syndicate, and thus is not comfortable being forward on it.
- Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: He's much more sensible than his impulsive, alcoholic boss, and keeps Zek on task whenever he falls prey to Skewed Priorities or lets his impulses get the better of him.
- The Mole: He was originally sent by the Pirate Queens to spy on Zek, but genuinely befriended him, to the point where he told Zek point blank who and what he really was. Zek didn't mind and kept him around, and ultimately, Retz betrayed the Queens when they tried to assassinate Zek.
- Only Sane Man: He's seemingly the only Kig-Yar on the Fallen Serpent with considerable self-control and the ability to drink in moderation, which is probably why Zek made him his First Mate.
The Prophet of Empathy
The Prophet of Empathy
The Prophet in charge of The Fleet Of Particular Justice and Thel's immediate superior.- Did Not Think This Through: Empathy and Orna went behind Thel's back and rerouted a large portion of Zek's crew to the Flood-infested excavation sites, both to contain the parasite and to teach Zek a lesson. This ends up backfiring on them spectacularly, as it goads Zek into rebelling against the Fleet of Particular Justice, setting of a series of events that not only kills Empathy, but allows more humans to escape Halo as it is destroyed, and the entire fleet's honor is torn apart irrevocably.
- Ironic Name: Like all Prophets, he's named after the one virtue he pointedly lacks.
- Lack of Empathy: Befitting his title, he's incredibly callous in his disregard of the lives of his subordinates, especially if they're outsiders like Varvok's. When he, Thel, and Orna show Varvok just how in over his head he is by telling him about Balak selling them out, Empathy is the one who revels the most in breaking his spirit.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: If Empathy and Orna had not incited Zek and Varvok's rebellion, fewer humans would have escaped Halo by the end of the story.
- Non-Action Big Bad: As a frail San'Shyuum, he's strictly a spiritual leader in the Covenant and usually leaves military matters to Thel. When he tries to exert any authority over dire military matters, Thel reminds him of his place.
- Smug Snake: He takes far too much pleasure in disabusing Varvok of the notion that Balak would side with him over selling out their men to the Covenant.
Orna 'Fulsamee
Orna 'Fulsamee
Thel's second-in-command within the Fleet of Particular Justice.- Adaptational Villainy: His role in Halo: The Flood was limited to only one scene, where, despite holding typical Sangheili racism towards humans, expressed distaste for his propensity towards violence. Here, he is just as zealous and fanatical as any Sangheili.
- Ascended Extra: He only had a single scene to himself in Halo: The Flood, but here, he is much more involved in the events of the story and is a major member of the Big Bad Ensemble of Guilty Sparks.
- Berserk Button: He does not like having his faith mocked or questioned, as evident by his reaction to Samara sneering at his beliefs.
- Defiant to the End: The combined forces of the Kig-Yar deserters and the UNSC leave Orna cornered with death most assured, but he continues to spout threats towards them before being killed by Retz.
- Did Not Think This Through: Alongside the Prophet of Empathy, Orna was directly responsible for Zek and Varvok's rebellion after he sent a large portion of the former's crew to their deaths against the Flood. He had meant for this to be a lesson in humility for Zek, and was completely surprised that the outcome involved a rebellion.
- Fantastic Racism: Aside from displaying the common hatred of humans seen in the Sangheili, Orna displays open contempt and irritation towards the Kig-Yar and the Batarians, and is vocal about his displeasure towards the latter.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Basically everything takes a massive turn for the worst for the Fleet of Particular Justice but for the better for the humans because Orna and Empathy pushed Zek's buttons one too many times.
Varvok
Lieutenant Commander Varvok
A senior officer of the Batarian terrorist group, Swords of Khar'Shan, assigned to the Fleet of Particular Justice, and is partnered with Zek.- Broken Pedestal: He's utterly broken when he learns that Balak sent his men to their deaths in exchange for more Covenant weapons tech and manpower.
- Canon Foreigner: Somewhat. The author based him specifically on a batarian character who briefly appears in Mass Effect 3 as the leader of the batarian refugees on the Citadel if Balak was killed in Bringing Down the Sky. That character was never named, however.
- Co-Dragons: He starts out partnered with Zek, and they operate as equals.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Played with, he sneers at anti-slavery sentiments, but his plan to recruit Shepard into helping him save his men hinges on Shepard's ideals about interspecies cooperation being more than just talk, which he brings up when they meet in person.
- A Father to His Men: Finding out that the Covenant had sent some of his men to their deaths is enough to get him to desert the Covenant.
- Hazy-Feel Turn: He defects from the Covenant when he realizes their callous disregard for his men and Balak enabling it. He's still racist towards humans and an unrepentant supporter of slavery, but grudgingly works with Shepard to get his men out of harm's way.
- Odd Friendship: With Zek, due to their very different outlooks on the world, and Zek's comparatively less serious attitude.
- Straight Man and Wise Guy: When Retz isn't filling the Straight Man role for Zek, Varvok tends to be one.
Balak
Commander Ka'hairal Balak
A batarian extremist and old nemesis of Shepard's who is leading the Swords of Khar'Shan, a batarian paramilitary organization seeking to establish batarian dominance over the other Mass Effect races through an institutional alliance with the Covenant.- Fantastic Racism: It's his defining attribute. He despises humans with every fiber of his being. As stated by Retz, it has overridden any morals he may have had, so much that he cares little for the soldiers under his command or the way the Covenant thinks of their alliance.
- A Father to His Men: Completely averted. His desire to bring down humanity has left him indifferent to lives of the batarian soldiers under his control. Varvok, who saw Balak as a father figure, does not take this well at all when he finds out, resulting in his defection.
- Using You All Along: Balak does not seem to realize or care that his alliance with the Covenant is extremely one-sided. It is heavily implied that once the war is over, the Covenant will forcefully induct the batarians into the Covenant caste system whether they like it or not.
Vorsa 'Judamai
Vorsa 'Judamai
A sangheili warrior leading a contingent of Covenant military personal operating in the Mass Effect universe.- Big Bad: While Liara's arc in Guilty Sparks features more of a Big Bad Ensemble comprising various shady figureheads associated with the Covenant, Vorsa is the antagonist that she and the Lucen encounter the most, and after he is humiliated in battle by them, he becomes obsessed with killing them.
- Fantastic Racism: Aside from the Covenant's usual hatred of humans, Vorsa holds the unggoy in the utmost contempt, seeing them as weak, cowardly, and worthless.
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: He refers to the unggoy and humans with dehumanizing terms like "it".
- It's Personal: He wants to kill Liara and her crew after he failed to kill them in their first encounter.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: While this is typical of all sangheili, Vorsa is this to an utmost fault.
Kreave
Kreave
A krogan mercenary who has taken up a contract with the Covenant.- Blood Knight: His only reason for joining up with the Covenant is so he can experience an actual galactic war... and kill Shepard.
- Dying Truce: In the epilogue after their Duel to the Death ends, Noble Six looks down at Kreave, who is lamenting that he failed and now no one will remember him at all. Six tells him that as long as people remember what happened on Reach, they will remember them as well. Kreave accepts this, telling Six to kill many Sangheili when they arrive.
- Fanboy: As much as a krogan can be in regards to Shepard. Unfortunately, this manifests as wanting to best and kill him in single combat. Case in point: when he learned Shepard was on Reach, he dedicated every moment to finding the Commander, and even trained his own Krogan Vanguards to emulate Shepard's fighting style.
- Ham-to-Ham Combat: When Kreave, piloting a Vampire fights Shepard, who is on foot, all of their dialogue is a continuous stream of Badass Boasts, Hannibal Lectures, talking each other down and and telling each other where to stick it.
- The Heavy: He's by no means the highest ranking member of the Covenant, and is only a mercenary to them. Nonetheless he's one of the most active Covenant-aligned character in the story and the one with the most page time, and his goal is to make Shepard's mission on Reach as frustrating as possible.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Holds this mentality regarding Shepard. So much that he attacks Sword Base not for the chance to recover the artifact underneath it, but to get the chance to capture Shepard and face him one-on-one.
- Surrounded by Idiots: He feels about the Covenant. Mind you, he has his own hangups like his obsession with Shepard, but he points out that at least he is trying to fight the war against the humans like an actual war, instead of going off and doing whatever he feels like in an attempt to find some old pieces of technology (as the Covenant are want to do when Forerunner artifacts are involved).
- Villainous Breakdown: Noble Six reduces him to this after both taking away his chance of challenging Shepard and gruesomely mutilating him in physical combat.
The Reapers
An omnicidal race of machine/organic hybrids that purge the Mass Effect galaxy of sapient life every 50,000 years. In General
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: While they are technically organic hybrids, they are partly mechanical and seek to wipe out all organic life.
- Greater-Scope Villain: All of the problems in the series can be rooted to their manipulations.
The Inquisitor
The Inquisitor
A lone Reaper that is manipulating the Human-Covenant War in the Halo universe in order to benefit the cycle.- Big Bad: He is shaping up to be this for the entire series.
- Canon Foreigner: Is a completely original character who never appears canon. Or at least, never named. There are so many Reapers.
- The Chessmaster: He is behind every major alteration that has occurred in the Halo universe, including bartering the alliance between the Covenant and the Batarians and supplying the Covenant with Reaper technology.
- The Dragon: While he is the Normandy crew's primary adversary in their adventures through the Halo universe, the Inquisitor ultimately answers to Harbinger.
- God Guise: It pretends to be a Forerunner AI in order to earn the Covenant's loyalty, which saves it the trouble of indoctrinating them.
- The Man Behind the Man: Under the guise of a Forerunner entity, the Inquisitor is believed to be directly manipulating the Covenant hierarchs through the war.
The Flood
A malevolent parasitic creature native to the Halo universe. In General
- Early-Bird Cameo: A Precursor (the true form of the Flood) shows up in Remnants, where it tries to Mind Rape Tali. Canonically, with the exception of the Gravemind, no precursor has appeared in the 'present day' plot of Halo - all appearances they have as Precursors have been relegated to The Forerunner Saga.
- Evil Versus Evil: They have no loyalty except to themselves.
- Eviler than Thou: Their actions in Remmants cement that they are far worse than all of the other villains in the story, as the Mind Rape they inflict on Tali is incredibly personal and vicious - far more so than anything the Reapers and the Illusive Man have do so far. Anyone familiar with The Forerunner Saga knows they are infinitely more evil than all of the other factions combined.
- The Worf Effect: The first major encounter between the Flood and Husks ends with the former readily destroying the latter. And the Flood aren't even remotely fighting at full power here.
The Chronicler
The Chronicler
The preserved essence of a Precursor that the Normandy unwittingly frees from a Forerunner artifact in Remnants.- Arc Villain: It is the central antagonist of the first act of Remnants.
- Canon Foreigner: It never appears in Halo canon.
- Mind Rape: It tries to corrupt and drive Tali to insanity by assaulting her mind with visions, causing her to act aggressively and turn against the crew. Cortana is able to get through to her.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: The Forerunners sealed its consciousness away in one of their artifacts, but Tali accidentally releases it upon making contact with the device.
-
Word of God: It is never stated in the text, but the author confirmed that it had been planning on rerouting the characters to the Gravemind on Installation 05.
Cerberus
A human supremacist organization from the Mass Effect universe. In General
- The Bus Came Back: They do not make a proper appearance in the series until the end of Liara's story arc in Guilty Sparks, and play a much larger role in Remnants. Before their return in the former, they were only ever mentianed in When There Was A Tomorrow.
- Knight Templar: Desiring only to protect and advance humanity, Cerberus' motives and intentions are far less malicious than that of the Covenant, Reapers, or Flood. Ultimately, however, their means to achieve their goals are hardly tolerable.
- The Infiltration: In what is easily the biggest twist in the series so far, they are revealed in Remnants to have already established a presence in the Halo universe twenty years before Shepard and his crew arrived due to a time disrepency with the wormhole. Since then, their agents have infiltrated ONI and have more than likely influenced it heavily over the course of the Human-Covenant war.
- What Happened to the Mouse??: They are completely absent from When There Was a Tommorrow, limited to only a few mentions here and there. The same goes for much of Guilty Sparks, at least until the Illusive Man makes a surprise appearance at the end of Liara's arc.
New Teteocan
A settlement made of former human colonists of the planet Apekis V, which was glassed by the Covenant.
In General
- The Remnant: The only people to escape a colony glassed by the Covenant. They came to Apekis V to start their own colony independent of the UNSC and hopefully safe from The Covenant.
- The Resenter: The UNSC would have left them to die had it not been for the quick thinking of their militia. As a result they're not happy to see an alliance of UNSC and former Covenant aliens on their doorstep.
Maisey
One of the leaders of the New Teteocan colony.
- Doesn't Trust Those Guys: She's extremely skeptical of the Rag-tag fleet's intentions since most of them are made of UNSC military.
Caleb
One of the leaders of New Teteocan.
- Broken Pedestal: Finding out that he was an ONI spy working for Cerberus causes a considerable kerfuffle among the New Teteocan colonists.
- The Mole: It turns out he was part of a Cerberus Cell The Illusive Man sent through the Wormhole, but got sent twenty years back in time first. His role in ONI gave him the idea to send the Apekis survivors to found New Teteocan near the Forerunner Ruins.
- Retired Monster: He worked as a Cerberus mole in ONI, but decided to "retire" from the job after helping found the isolated New Teteocan colony.
Rowan
A technologically gifted girl who has been working hard to decipher the secrets of the Forerunner Ruins New Teteocan is built around.
- Ambiguous Disorder: Word of God explicitly puts her on The Autism Spectrum. He admits to having No Social Skills and having a hard time reading people. When caught in The Mind's Eyes area of influence, she spends most of her time reliving her interactions with Caleb searching for hints about his status as The Mole, ashamed of herself for not picking up on it sooner.
- Expy: Heavily inspired by Entrapta from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Both are technologically adept young women with No Social Skills and are something of an Outsider in their own communities And have a strong bond with a villainous figure.
- Like a Son to Me: Like a daughter to Caleb.
Other characters
Taq
Taq
A renegade Kig-Yar archeologist and former flame of Zek's, who helps the survivors of Halo search for the Astral Cutlass.- Adventurer Archaeologist: She's basically the Kig-Yar version of Indiana Jones.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: In the Action Prologue of Remnants, Taq is the central character. By this point, she is a completely Original Character that readers are unfamiliar with.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Zek. Or at least, he thinks there is. During his "Groundhog Day" Loop, she lays it down just how ridiculous that notion is.
- Hot-Blooded: She has a very short temper, and the two things that really set it off are Zek, and anything that puts her research or findings in jeopardy.
- Loveable Rogue: She makes friends with the Normandy very quickly, and is arguably the easiest Kig-Yar to get along with in the series.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Taq gets the honor of delivering two of these in Remnants: the first one is against a xenophobic ODST in Chapter 11 who is unhappy with her leading the team aboard the Dauntless, and the second is aimed at Zek in Chapter 19, where she brutally and honestly explains just why their relationship can't be rekindled.
343 Guilty Spark
343 Guilty Spark
The robotic monitor of Halo Installation 04.- Adaptational Villainy: His final scene in Guilty Sparks implies that he is not going to undergo the Heel–Face Revolving Door that he has in canon before finally staying a Face and is going to stay a villain here.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: He's over one-hundred thousand years past the general life expectancy of what's normal of a human AI, and has spent virtually all of that time completely alone. As a result, he's very unstable.
- Deconstructed Character Archetype: Much like Major Silva, Spark is noteworthy for becoming worse rather than better upon meeting Commander Shepard. Shepard makes a ton of very good arguments against Spark's devotion to his protocol, one such being that if the Halos were to be refired again, life would not proceed the way it has because the Forerunners and all of the constructs they used to reseed the galaxy the first time it happened no longer exist. But Spark, being the malfunctioning little idiot he is, does not listen.
- Hated by All: He earns the ire of almost every character he interacts with in the story, most notably EDI, Miranda, and Cortana.
- Ignored Epiphany: Shepard tries to convince Spark that activating the Halos again would only cause more problems, citing that with the Forerunners dead, there aren't any fail safes or contingincies in place this time to ensure that life would continue on afterward. Spark actually seems to consider this... only to brush it aside, because he simply cannot comprehend any directive that exists outside of his programming.
Snarlbeak
Zhoc / Snarlbeak
A notorious Kig-Yar pirate lord who seeks the Astral Cutlass, a Forerunner artifact of great power.- 0% Approval Rating: We find out from Zix that Snarlbeak is not exactly well-liked by the majority of the Syndicate, and that the queens in fact are actively working against him to keep him from obtaining the Astral Cutlass, as they have no desire to further subject themselves to the Covenant.
- Big Bad: Of Remnants.
- Afraid of Blood: He has this as a result of witnessing the death of his sister and the horrific injuries he received trying to avenge her.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To Thel 'Vadamee in Guilty Sparks. Both are leaders of their own military factions that are menacing the characters in their respective stories, Thel leading the Fleet of Particular Justice and Snarlbeak his pirate army. However, Thel was a character taken from canon who was a Proud Warrior Race Guy devoted to the Covenant dogma and never once acted in his own personal interests. He also never directly encountered any of the main characters except for Zek and Varvok. Snarlbeak, by contrast, is a Canon Foreigner and self-serving pirate warlord who shows open contempt for the Covenant but is willing to get on their good graces for his own benefit. He also has multiple in-person confrontations with multiple members of the cast.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite all his pettiness, greed, and cruelty, it is clear that Snarlbeak genuinely loved his sister.
- Fantastic Racism: His hatred for the Unggoy is shown to be far more extreme than what Zek would consider necessary, as he regularly has the ones in his employ brutally beaten and even murdered over the slightest screwups.
- Ignored Epiphany: After seeing what a Reasonable Authority Figure his sister was, and that she believed in more than just glory and power, he dismisses it as The Mind's Eye trying to gaslight him, and clings to his deeply flawed image of his sister as a truly bloodthirsty pirate with ambitions who was denied what she was owed.
- It's All About Me: Snarlbeak has been in a position of power for so long that he cannot fathom the idea of not getting what he wants. When he attempts to broker a deal with the colonists in Chapter 27 of Remnants so that he can get his hands on the Forerunner artifact they have acquired, he is shot down almost immediately, and promptly loses his shit.
- Non-Action Big Bad: He absolutely abhors violence due to his fear of blood brought on by events that led to the death of his sister.
- Suddenly Shouting: He has a very short temper, and thus is prone to this.
- Visionary Villain: His plan is to use the Forerunner artifacts that lead to the location of the Astral Cutlass to wrestle control from the Kig-Yar Pirate Queens and become the first Pirate King. Then, he hopes to drag the Kig-Yar into privateer status with the Covenant, intending to take advantage of the power vacuum he recognizes is quickly forming with the destruction of Installation 04 shaking the Prophets' faith in the Sangheili to put his race on top.
Zix
Zix
A female Kig-Yar representative of the Syndicate and an old acquaintance of Zek and Retz.- Hated by All: Hate is a strong word, though she is hardly liked by anyone. The UNSC, Normandy, and ONI characters dislike her for her association to the Syndicate and natural distrust toward Covenant-aligned races, and the Kig-Yar from the Fallen Serpent, Zek especially, despise her for the Syndicate's past aggression towards them. Zix herself is aware of this tension but can hardly bring herself to care.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Sure, she is technically helping the main cast, but she is a very greedy and overall unlikeable individual who gives Retz a ton of grief for being asexual.
The Singular
The Singular
The fusion of a lone Geth platform and a Covenant artificial intelligence, which is working against all the characters to fulfill its own agenda.- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: It displays a completely malicious personality and outright contempt towards organic life, and makes it clear that whatever its plans are, they do not bode well for anyone.
- Evil Counterpart: To Legion. Both are geth platforms that gained greater intelligence after integrating with AI from the Halo universe. Other than that, however, the two are polar opposites, likely due to the fact that Legion interfaced with a UNSC AI and the Singular with a Covenant.
- Spotting the Thread: This is how Liara unveils its existence. While investigating a mysterious signal concerning a Covenant ship carrying armaments for the Batarians, she encounters the Singular, which appears to be just a simple Geth platform held prisoner. When she frees it, everything looks fine and dandy and the Geth even thanks her... and then Liara realizes what it just said.Liara: Repeat what you just said.
Geth: (in monotone) We said we are free.
Liara: No, you said 'I am free', you referred to yourself as an individual. I have it on good authority Geth don't see themselves like that.
Geth: (drops the montone and takes up a harsh robotic accent) I really wished you hadn't noticed that. - Fusion: It is the result of a Geth platform, an automaton carrying a multitude of lesser programs with limited networked intelligence, merging with a Covenant AI, which, while true intelligences, are naturally sociopathic and unstable.
Ashley Williams
Ashley Williams
A soldier in the Human Systems Alliance back in the Mass Effect galaxy and a former squadmate of Shepard.- Fantastic Racism: Per Word of God, this is a major form of contempt between Shepard and Ashley. While he admires her combat skills, he is incredibly offput by her xenophobia, as it reminded him of many bullies he dealt with growing up.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Saying she is universally disliked is a bit much, but dialogue from Shepard and Liara show that Ashley never got along too well with the rest of the old Normandy crew. Due in most part to her xenophobia.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: According to the author, she and Shepard were not friends. But they respected each other's combat abilities enough to work together.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: A quick piece of dialogue reveals that she was the one Shepard rescued on Virmire. However, three doorstopper-length fics and she has yet to make an appearance. According to the author, she is around, doing reconnaissance work on the Covenant presence in the Terminus Systems for the Systems Alliance.
