Everyone is Wrong About Mass Effect's Ending

Bruh got indoctrinated 💀

“The crucible was plans left for organics to eventually construct”
What? My man even played the game? The catalist clearly states that he believed the blueprint have been destroyed.
The whole video is a mess.
And btw, achieving geth and quarian peace + blue ending is the real ending IMHO

The Fiery Crucible

"reapers are necessary"

You were the chosen one Shepard. You were to destoy the repaers, and bring balance to the galaxy...not leave it shrouded in darkness

Finally someone else

Thank You most people are too blinded by the fact that the villain arcs supported the other endings or in too much of a bubble about the story being build up one way destroying the reapers. This makes the AI child's explanation unfathomable to understand and goes through one ear and out the other, it all makes sense the reapers soul purpose is to look for a way to end the conflict and not a single solution has worked. The AI is doing the best it can to preserve life before it's completely eradicated and gone entirely forever and this is the best solution its found. The Leviathans they're creators even tell you AI still serves it's purpose even after the AI turned against them and wiped most of them out, but they still understand it's still serves the purpose they gave it to primarily preserve organic life and to also find a connection or common ground between synthetics and organics. They always end up fighting usually because the organics are too afraid and try to shut them down and some AI seeing this decides to revolt back first causing conflict on both ends. The AI child even says they tried synthesis in the past which would have if it worked ended the conflict then but it didn't so they had to do something following the programming to preserve life. Harvesting organics into new reapers while not ideal save those organics from being lost to the conflict forever and yea it has to stop but that is exactly what the AI is trying to do. The Leviathans even said it that the AI is still searching for a solution it hasn't completed it's objective yet if it had these cycles wouldn't be happening at all. Synthesis completes the AI's objective and all civilizations that came before are connected to everyone and everyone understands each other eliminating the conflict like the Leviathans wanted in the first place.


History always repeats itself it should never be trusted to teach anything other than this.

You make very valid points, many which are easy to agree with. Synthesis may seem like giving in to the Reaper's endgame; but, when we look at Javik and his snobbish loathing for 'primitives' and the Prothean belief that all primitives are too barbaric to rule themselves, and must then be ruled by 'higher' beings who somehow 'know' what is best for them and their individual futures... it's no different than Admiral Xen's zealous pursuit of remaking synthetics to serve the Quarians, and her inability to view that as a form of slavery. The Turians had a similar viewpoint of Humans, which is what led to the First Contact War. Eventually, many of the other races began to look at Humanity as the red headed stepchild of the galaxy, always causing trouble, and ruining everything. The Salarians nearly wiping out the Krogan for fear of the Krogans' superior strength. And of course the Turians stepping into the shoes of the Protheans offering to help wipe out Krogans in the name of control through 'benevolent' means. And the Asari, who fancy themselves peacemakers, but spend more time wringing their hands and doing nothing all while thinking they're making peace.

In closing, I see your point and it is, sadly, accurate. Synthesis is the ONLY choice that will put an end to all ham-handed hostilities between the races. It is true oneness, true peacemaking, true cooperation. The Milky Way Galaxy needed a sound spanking! Hell, they collectively earned it!

Without the "indoctrination theory" I also would choose synthesis

Fun take on a classic series!
As an avowed destroyer, I’m now feeling conflicted. Well done.

Of course, you’re probably indoctrinated.

Synthesis sounds good at first glance, but comes with two key problems. The first is consent; is it really moral to force Synthesis on every being in the galaxy without giving them a choice, even if it's for their own good? The second is whether it's really for their own good. The entire cycle is based on the premise that organics and synthetics can never coexist, they're simply too different to ever understand each other, but I'd argue that the alliance you can create between the Geth and Quarians soundly disproves this. One might say that alliance was only one of convenience, they needed each other in the face of the Reaper threat and peace would break down after, but I don't see any proof of this. The more likely scenario in my mind is that the Catalyst was misguided at best, thanks to the strictly hierarchical and domineering culture of the Leviathans that created it.

To the Leviathans "equality" was an alien concept, superior races controlling or destroying inferior ones was an immutable law of nature, and even hyper intelligent AI is not omniscient; the Catalyst would have no reason to challenge this assumption, especially as it would have been reflected in every species influenced by the Leviathans, and as Sovereign said, the Reapers guided evolution to suit their own ends. Perhaps in doing so they inadvertently helped recreate cultures with this same view, and so doing held back the evolution of more egalitarian ones that would coexist peacefully with their synthetic creations. The mass relays and the ruins of previous advanced civilizations play a key role here; they massively increase technological development while doing nothing for societal progress, and this can have catastrophic effects. This is represented in game with the often disastrous results of the various "uplifts" performed by the Council races, and can be imagined quite well even in the real world; suppose bronze age warlords or medieval kings were given access to nuclear weapons, or even modern firearms? For all the poor decisions made by modern democracies, one can imagine the effects there would be infinitely worse.

Without the relays, and with technology being developed purely internally, societal progress would stand a much better chance of keeping up. It would likely have taken thousands more years for any of the Council races to develop mass effect travel on their own, and seeing how things like slavery and genocide have gone from being seen as morally pure, to an unfortunate necessity, to an unconscionable evil over the course of history, it stands to reason that without the Reapers' interference the societies of the 30th or 40th centuries would likely be far more egalitarian and open to coexistence both with each other and with synthetics than those we see in game, and even those can still manage it (albeit with Shepard's help) when it comes to the Geth. Thus, my theory is that the Reapers repeatedly fail to solve the problem they were created to not because it is unsolvable without Synthesis, but because they themselves stand in the way, albeit unintentionally.

Now, onto Synthesis. I hope by now I've proved that it's unnecessary, but even more than unnecessary, it's actively harmful. Not to get too political, but what does the idea that different types of people (i.e. organic and synthetic) are fundamentally and irreconcilably different, cannot coexist without one inevitably destroying the other, and can only have peace when they are homogenized down to a single group remind you of? If you answered "fascism", we see eye to eye. Synthesis is, to put it simply, creating an ethnostate. Yes, there's more nuance than that, and it's not a 1 to 1 correlation with real world politics, but the core principle is the same. Even if we disregard the morality of doing it without consent, what would that entail for the future? Organic life would still evolve on its own, and unless the Synthesis pulse stretched far beyond the Milky Way galaxy the people there would inevitably encounter intelligent life from other galaxies sooner or later, and they would do so carrying the legacy that Synthesis created; in perhaps the biggest defining moment in galactic history, peace only came through the homogenization of diverse types of life down to a single form.

Thus, would the species of the Milky Way be able to learn from the peace between the Geth and the Quarians, born of respect and empathy even without full understanding, or would they forget that momentary truce in the face of the decades, centuries, or even millennia of Synthesis that followed? Maybe. Synthesis is by no means a death sentence, but it would shape the cultures that developed after it, and choosing it would greatly increase the chances of the Milky Way species either exterminating the "primitive" purely organic or purely synthetic species they encountered, or "helping" them by forcing Synthesis on them whether they liked it or not. It worked before, right? Why not again? To be clear this is only a possibility, Synthesis could lead to happily ever after and eternal peace, but so could what I believe is the true best ending, and with far less risk.

In all these discussions, I've never seen anyone talk about Blue Destroy. To put it simply, this is the post credit headcanon where Shepard seizes control of the Reapers, rebuilds the mass relays, freely distributes their technology to the galaxy (minus stuff like indoctrination that can really only be used for evil), then orders them to open fire on each other or fly into a black hole. It gives all the benefits of the Red Destroy ending while preserving EDI and the Geth, avoids the risk of Shepard's morals slipping over the centuries and them becoming a tyrant, and even allows for an individual and voluntary path to Synthesis, since the Reapers and thus Shepard would know how to achieve it thanks to the Reapers' technology and the Crucible schematics. Barring the confirmed non canon Indoctrination Theory or any other justifications as to why controlling the Reapers would fail, this seems like the unequivocally best ending.

Well constructed video, but you're so wrong. Synthesis means giving up you're humanity and becoming some twisted zombie thing for the Reapers.

Hell no.

If they wanted to rather come in peace to tey and build a better future without wiping out billions of lives for their twisted goals...it would be a different story.

And the Reapers were the ones starting this war by teying to wipe out everything organic in the solar system, so our fight to stop the massive genocide the reapers want to commit is perfectly justified.

You sound indoctrinated 😂

You going too deep.

This mf is an indoctrinated liar

Destroy is canon it’s the only ending where Shepard survives it’s also the entire purpose of the trilogy

iidem cause I couldn't kill the geths and Edi

I missed out on these games when they were first available but bought the legendary edition day one. Idk which ending is canonical or right but ME2 was grittier than ME1 and ME1 had the most rewarding role playing experience to me, and that’s coming from somebody who tries to skip dialogue in games like the Witcher. ME3 doesn’t feel like a mass effect game at all, it’s not as pretty as 1 or as dirty as 2 it just seems like choices don’t matter and war assets are a joke.

3 mins in and youre already majorly wrong about the geth rebellion. Very off-putting

Yeah.....no. The Reapers came toting laser rifles and started burning whole colonies to the ground, and that was BEFORE they sent the Collectors to kidnap us. They don't want us to "ascend" they want us....the player dead. How do you not get that?

If you actually think about it it goes beyond just organic vs non organic. It's also organic vs organic also look at the organic vs organic conflicts an problems that could have been avoided. First the Protheans took the arachnid that where for the most part completely peaceful. That just wanted to sing to one another then the. Protheans found an breed the violent ones to use as weapons. Basically for the most part killing the peaceful ones then the violent ones threatened the galaxy. The arachnid probly would of been no threat to the galaxy if the Protheans just left them alone. But the Protheans made the arachnid into weapons. So they only keep doing what the Protheans breed them to do.

Then the Samarians took the primitive Krogans. Then gave then advanced weapons before they where ready an only instructed them to kill. To kill the Arachnid that where only breed to kill.

Then when the Arachnid became a threat to the Protheans. They tried to wipe them out. Then when the Krogans became a threat the ones that used them as weapons turned on them.

It's similar to organic vs non organic organic makes non organic. Then the organic trys to kill the non organics they made. Now organics like the Protheans an Salarians both took primitive races. Then made them into basically organic weapons then when they didn't need them any more. They turned on them an because they became a danger. But the Arachnid an Krogans where only a danger becomes the Protheans an Salarians intervened an. Altered the path of the evolution of the Arachnid an Krogans. Wich is similar to non organics vs organics as soon as non organics start to think for themselves. The organics turn on the non organics.

So the green ending has everyone an everything understanding one another. That means organics won't turn on non organics. Along with organics won't use other organics as organic weapons. Then turn on them when they become to dangerous because of someone else's tampering with their evolution.

The Green ending is good but I also love the more realistic ending with the Reapers winning the at the end.

Synthesis is the only ending worth doing. Finally someone speaking sense.

If you choose 'destroy' you'll leave the entire galaxy vulnerable to the Leviathans. They'll take control again.

over a billion years, the revolt of AI is inevitable. Given Synthetics are superior to organics in every way, the destruction of all organic life is a certainty.

The Cycles are a way of forestalling this until this ending-the union of machine and flesh can be achieved.

I am glad to see someone else has realized this.

It would be interesting seeing this ending still in full fruition when the Milky Way comes back in ME5, especially since we know Liara is alive and likely involved somehow!

I think the three endings are really based on your person opinion. You could even say that the 4th option, doing nothing, is the right option. Continuing to fight and die with honor and dignity, refusing to play at the Reapers game. Because in the end, all three endings are for all intents and purposes, a manipulation by them. And choosing any of them generates an end result that the Reapers had planned for.

In the green ending, it only makes sense if Shepard survives. Why does he/she have to give their all just to not survive? That makes no sense. What should have happened is that Anderson should have given his life for synthesis or destroy to allow Shepard to survive.
I mean Shep has been the one running and dodging bullets, fighting creepy things like the Thorian and brokering deals with the unsavory like Aria T'Loak. It would have only been poetic if Anderson or even the lone Prothean would have gave up something to help everyone including Shep.

Yeah..i don't think so

The lore says that indoctrinated people are going to try to control the reapers, so going blue = trap, and in Me 2, we see how reapers are made; they are a combination of technology and organic juice, so they literally represent the green ending, so another trap in which we consent to reaper production. And in the refusal ending, we literally chose nothing and die, so the best ending always was the red one, in which we wake up in a rubble that sure doesn't look like a citadel, so it provides solid evidence of some mind-fucking going on, and we not only survived but got rid of it in the red ending. compare that to the other two endings, which just show us whatever we want to believe but not shepard in any form.

I disagree that the destruction merely postponed the synthetic/reaper conflict. If you brokered a peace between geth and quarians, the geth become martyrs. The cooperation they did becomes an example that destruction isn't the only possibility.
As for the crucible name, it fits all 3 endings. It's just that it's most obvious for synthesis. Control is a new ruler/controller of the Reapers were, under Shepard's guidance, they change their goal. Destruction is different, new, as for the first time since the creation of the Reapers, there is a possibility of life outside of the cycle of annihilation. They can evolve civilization in a path not contrived by the Reapers.

There is no correct ending, and only one incorrect one (refusal). Only shades of grey. Each ending has upsides and downsides. Unless of course you prescribe to the indoctrination theory

I respect your opinion. But all three ending have ethical problems. In Synthesis, Shepard forces all lifeforms in the galaxy to change drastically. What gives him/her the right to do that? Nothing. But you have to choose the lesser evil. To refuse is not an option.

I like the red one. Cause it was like the "go fuck yourself you little shit" ending.

I think if you play paragorn, unifying the galaxy, bringing the Geth to the fight... And if you talk to Edi between missions... The synthesis is the best ending. Come on.. If you destroy, all your efforts to strentch the bonds between synthetics and organics was for nothing.. Besides that, synthesis is the final that allow you to give meaning to all previous civilizations that were destroyed. Blue ending gives that too, but I think is a bit megalomaniac, not right. Shepard is humble enough to refuse that kind of power of controlling the reapers

Thank you thank you thank you !!!! I always had this feeling : "what if the reapers are right?" Even before playing leviatan. "What if for some reason we can perceive, we do need the reapers?" The game is so careful in always remember you that there is, in fact, no war, humanity and the galaxy species are fighting a war, but the reapers are not "there's only the harvest" and maybe there's a reason for that and we are to small to really understand it. After all, we always forget that we owe them everything, literally everything. Not a single species in the milky way would have rise under the prothean rules. And we can easly imagine that the prothean wouldn't had existed whiteout the reapers as well, and so on. So yes, maybe the right ending is to trust them, maybe this trust is indoctrination, maybe being indoctrinated is all there is to it. Maybe the big achievement is being in the crucible, an achievement that was possible because of collaboration and trust between species, between organic and synthetic. Proving that organic are finally ready for a next step : the green ending.

Although, on a personal note, I would have love a "do nothing" option. Acknowledging that the reapers are right, taking the risk to trust them. And then, my paragon shepard would have let everyone and everything he knows dies, so the cycle can go on, because in the end, it's not about shepard, not about his friends, not about humanity, not about council races, it's not about war, it's only the harvest. And every step of the way was just to prepare the courage to take this leap of fate, and accepting there were right: this is the only way to protect organic life.

So the new teaser art (the one with the n7 operative with a mural in the coat) actually has some really interesting art. It should a multitude of the races, including geth in it. So im wondering if its not a sign of things to come.

Honestly I think the preference for the Destruction end shows that most fans learned nothing from the Geth struggle against the Quarians, and its ideal outcome. Not only does it kick the can down the road, but it's an active condemnation of the morals of those who chose it. Survival through genocide? What are you saving then, _actually_?

I won't go so far as to give credit to the Reapers as if their misunderstood heroes, no, they're still the villains of the story, but that's because they're making the same choice as the majority of fans. Eradication as salvation.

And YES, synthesis, despite whatever stretched out theories you concoct to the contrary, does solve the problem pretty thoroughly and allows for progress, growth, and understanding on a deeper level. All goals worth the effort.

I did synthesis tge first time i played theough ME but the moment i did i had a visceral flashback to Mordin in ME2 going on about the collectors. Limitations and attempting to conquer said limitations are the very reason civilizations advance. Without limitations society as a whole stagnates and implodes. Without hardship the joyful memonets in life become hollow and the satisfaction gained quckly produces diminishing returns.
Without struggle life loses a lot of its meaning and weight.

"Fell for 1 big lie" Dude the game literally tells us that however there is destruction there is also everything about repairing things. The original ending explained that sacrifice now might be better than later. And to just let the reaper exist is headache for the future. Just like Saren and the Geth - however conversely the Geth didnt went against their creator which implies there is no such thing as the reaper claims it to be and Leviathan assumes it to be (for a rouge AI to be).

This is a almost snobbish take. It will be red, always. You made some errors in the video itself. But i knew from minute 1 you would go for Green ending apologetics. Because a decision that needed to be made by one person justifies not killing the reaper. 5000 years of oral history completly debunks that humans will drive towards destruction (of itself with time). "Destruction would always lead to the same problems as before" - no Reapers were created as a AI going rouge - the all godly leviathans just made mistake in their wisdom that they are to stop the evolution. Maybe some synthetics kill organics but so is it the other way around. Conflict is always a driving factor - conflict to survive before others - to deny that is to deny the the driving force of life itself. I would highly recommend you to read the Hyperion Cantos and Endymion. To not kill the reapers is a mistake. The intention of the narrative was clear from the get go - Saren green - Anderson red and IM is blue.

The idea that ‘none of it mattered in the end’ is such a chud take. honestly, the quality of arguments presented in this video are… awful. short-sighted in almost every way.

i smell flat earth follower

This whole video is Reaper propoganda.
Somebody here has been indoctrinated.

I came to the same conclusions...and then I chose "CONTROL". Who wouldn't want to rule the galaxy!

Dude.. you’re indoctrinated

Only destruction made sense. Everything else is a coping fantasy.

The Destroy Ending is the only correct ending.

One of the very few people who actually followed by the themes and found the story. That said don’t lump the developers in

Mac Walter’s and Casey Hudson have both supported the synthesis ending, and the trailers aren’t hinting to destroy, they just showed reaper corpses. But reapers die in all the endings. We are at war. Some reapers die before the ending takes place. Then, synthesis beams break the relays.

There have been no bodies or destructions that have hinted to destroy specifically. Just people not remembering the ending.

Synthesis benefits the parasites, it benefits the robots more than organics

I'm with you on the idea that synthesis is the best ending because it's most faithful to the transhumanist and post-humanist themes that are throughout the entire trilogy. I'm not with you in terms of that being the reapers real plan. I think it's more narratively and thematically interesting to assume their motivations as inscrutable and incomprehensible.

Mmmh... Nope.

Each to their own I suppose.
First, the Geth did not in fact turn on their creators, (most of) their creators turned on them preemptively.
Second, you can accomplish peace between the Geth and the Quarians before (potentially) even choosing Synthesis. That proves it can be done without forcing some "weird green DNA-altering space magic" onto everyone without them having any say so in the matter. And accomplishing that even once means it can be done again, disproving the claim that there can never be peace or cooperation between synthetics and organics, the green ending just helps smooth things over a bit.
Third, Synthesis might seem all hunky dory, but probably not for all the millions/billions of people now stuck in various husk bodies. I suppose the Reaper tech might be able to do something about that, but that's a maybe, just like all the "maybes" regarding the Destroy ending.
And lastly, if reaching the Star child was only supposed to be accomplished by a civilization prepared for synthetis, well... why even implement the Destroy option to begin with and risk your grand plan crashing and burning right before the finish line? Just do the green option. You want it? Cool, you're ready. You don't? Too bad, moving on to the next cycle.