David Anderson

"I know Saren. I know his reputation, his politics. He believes humans are a blight on the galaxy. This attack was an act of war."

Captain David Anderson is a human war hero and the original captain of the SSV Normandy. He was born in 2137, in London, but has no discernible English accent. Anderson is one of the Alliance's most decorated special forces operatives, and the first to graduate from the N7 marine program at Arcturus Station, serving with honor in the First Contact War.

Anderson plays a major role in the prequel novel Mass Effect: Revelation. In Mass Effect he is voiced by Keith David.

Mass Effect: Revelation
In 2157, David Anderson was one of the N7 program's most promising soldiers. He was personally congratulated on his achievements by Jon Grissom at graduation, only to be informed that an alien force had been sighted near a mass relay. Grissom was impressed by the young Anderson's tactical mind and cautioned him to prepare for combat. Anderson later served with distinction in the First Contact War alongside Jill Dah.

In 2165, then-Lieutenant David Anderson was the Executive Officer (XO) of the SSV Hastings. When the Hastings responded to a distress signal at a remote research station on Sidon, Anderson led the ground team and discovered the Sidon facility had been harbouring a traitor. Returning to the Citadel to recuperate after the mission, Anderson received the final decree of his divorce from his wife Cynthia, a separation caused by the long absences of his military career. He then followed the human tradition after getting divorced: he went to Chora's Den, near his apartment on the Citadel, to drown his sorrows.

After summoning Anderson to her offices, Ambassador Anita Goyle revealed that Sidon had been illegally researching artificial intelligence, and asked him to investigate the matter discreetly, as exposure would embarrass the Alliance. Anderson, with the aid of a salarian information broker, managed to look into the files of the only member of the Sidon staff who was absent during the attack, Kahlee Sanders, and discovered she was Jon Grissom's daughter. He went to Elysium under the cover of shore leave, and confronted Grissom. The retired general claimed he had sent Kahlee to the safety and obscurity of the Terminus Systems but Anderson kept the house under surveillance. His gut instinct proved useful when a krogan named Skarr came looking for Kahlee, who was being hidden by her father. Anderson and Grissom would likely have been killed, but Saren Arterius, a turian Spectre, had been tracking the krogan and fought him off. Saren interrogated Kahlee about Sidon; though he seemed to accept her lie that it had been a station for biotic research, Anderson and Kahlee decided to leave Elysium and investigate the Dah'tan Manufacturing Company on Camala, where Dr. Shu Qian had obtained his components. One of Grissom's underworld contacts changed Kahlee's appearance and gave her a false ID to help sneak her off-world.

Arriving on Camala, Anderson discovered that Dah'tan Manufacturing had been destroyed and was in flames. He ran into Saren again, who had discovered the truth about Sidon and was furious that Anderson lied to him. Saren warned Anderson not to trust Kahlee, a statement that played out when Kahlee confessed she knew the true identity of the traitor at Sidon, Dr. Qian himself. She gave Anderson an OSD with proof, which he passed on to Anita Goyle. However, as Kahlee was being sneaked off Camala by the Alliance, Skarr managed to capture her. Goyle quickly appealed to the Council to let Anderson go with Saren on the rescue mission, to assess Anderson's Spectre candidacy, but Anderson and Saren already disliked each other, and the mission soon went sour. Saren broke from the plan and began destroying the element zero refinery where Kahlee was being held.

Anderson did not suspect that Saren had an ulterior motive during the rescue - claiming Dr. Qian's files on a mysterious artifact - as he was focused on rescuing Kahlee, with whom he had developed a budding romance. With her help, Anderson killed Skarr and the two of them escaped the refinery in time. Though Kahlee was saved, many innocent people died due to Saren's actions. However, Saren shifted the blame onto Anderson, claiming the lieutenant alerted the guards and forced his hand. True or not, this was enough to keep Anderson out of the Spectres.

After the mission, Anderson and Kahlee had to say their good-byes, as she was being transferred to a classified position, and Anderson was devoted to his military career. A confused story of what happened at the refinery eventually filtered back to the Citadel, as a rumour that Anderson had been the first human Spectre and blown his first mission so badly they kicked him out - a rumour Harkin never got tired of repeating.

Mass Effect
Anderson remained in the Alliance military, gaining an excellent reputation, and was eventually promoted to captain. Both Navigator Pressly and Doctor Chakwas speak highly of Anderson's bravery and leadership skills. Due to this, and because of the secret and sensitive nature of the Normandy's shakedown run, the Alliance gave him command of their prototype frigate and allowed him to hand-pick his crew. He chose Commander Shepard as his XO and effectively became Shepard's mentor.

The Normandy's first mission was the covert retrieval of a Prothean Beacon from Eden Prime. A turian Spectre, Nihlus Kryik, was assigned to supervise the mission and assess Shepard as a possible candidate for the Spectres. Nihlus intended to accompany Shepard on several other missions to assess the commander and give the Council a recommendation. However, the situation became more complicated when the colony came under attack by the geth and a massive warship, and Nihlus was killed.

After Shepard was knocked unconscious during the encounter with the beacon, Anderson learned from Ashley and Kaidan, the Eden Prime ground team, that the attack had been led by none other than Saren, who had murdered Nihlus in cold blood. Anderson believed that his old enemy was working with the geth to exterminate the entire human race, and was determined to stop him. But there was little he could do to stop Saren; their checkered past complicated the hearing with the Council. Ambassador Udina told Anderson to step aside and let Shepard handle the investigation, so the Council would not claim the Alliance's accusations of treason were based on old grudges. Anderson was able to offer Shepard an explanation of Saren's history, and to find some leads to help build the case against him. Finally, once Shepard had been made a Spectre, Anderson stepped down as the captain of the Normandy, handing the command to Shepard. He admitted this was not how he imagined his career ending, but he was content to pass the torch on to his protégé.

Anderson remained on the Citadel, able to give Shepard advice and guidance when necessary. He had a tendency to be more supportive than Ambassador Udina during any debriefs. If asked about Armistan Banes, Anderson was surprised to hear Shepard say the name, and pointed the commander to Admiral Kahoku in an attempt to find answers.

Throughout the mission, Anderson remained one of the few on the station who actually believed Shepard's vision from the Prothean Beacon was true, and understood the magnitude of the threat the Reapers posed. Anderson guessed that the Conduit was some kind of Prothean weapon, one Saren was planning to unleash against the galaxy. When Shepard finally gathered enough evidence of Saren's role in the impending Reaper invasion and returned, Anderson realised the Council and Udina might use Shepard's talk of the Reapers as an excuse to ground the Normandy, but could not get a message to Shepard in time.

Concocting a plan, Anderson invited the commander to a meeting at Flux and offered his help to unlock the Normandy's systems. Shepard warned him that he could be arrested for treason, but Anderson only cared about getting the Normandy to Ilos in time to stop Saren. He offered to either risk facing armed C-Sec patrols to unlock the ship's systems directly (getting shot in the process), or to break into Udina's office to countermand the lockdown order. Anderson's plan worked, and the Normandy got off the Citadel safely. Somehow Anderson managed to survive the initial assault on the Citadel when Saren put his plan into action. After Sovereign was destroyed, Anderson led the rescue teams into the Council Chambers, hunting for Shepard's squad.

Depending on the outcome of the story, Anderson is one of the two candidates Shepard can recommend as either the human Council representative, or the chairman of a human-controlled or human-exclusive Council if the Destiny Ascension is destroyed. If chosen, Anderson was honored to accept the role. He vowed to either help strengthen and unite the Citadel races against the Reapers, or use his military experience to the full, and drive the Reapers back into dark space.

Mass Effect: Ascension
In Mass Effect: Ascension, it is revealed that after their mission together, Anderson filed a classified document detailing Kahlee's relation to Jon Grissom. This file eventually fell into the hands of the extremist group Cerberus. One of their agents, Dr. Jiro Toshiwa--who was then in a relationship with Kahlee--read its contents and later discussed Kahlee's parentage with her, though Kahlee later realised she had never told Jiro about her father. This later lead to Jiro's exposure and capture.

Anderson is also mentioned by Kahlee later, when she, Hendel Mitra, Paul Grayson and his daughter Gillian are on the run from Cerberus. She suggested that he could protect them, but Hendel dismissed the idea, fearing that Cerberus would intercept any message to Anderson before it reached him.

Trivia

 * Keith David had also voiced the Arbiter in Halo 2 and 3 and provides the voice of Foley in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.