Morinth

Morinth is an asari Ardat-Yakshi, suffering from a rare asari genetic disorder which causes her to kill her mates while joining minds with them. In turn she becomes smarter, more powerful, and deadlier after each coupling. She has spent centuries as a fugitive from asari justice, surviving by her wits and cunning. Her powerful biotic abilities, and talent for dominating the minds of others, have kept her alive despite the odds.

Morinth is voiced by Natalia Cigliuti and her face is based on American model Rana McAnear.

Weapon proficiencies

 * Submachine Guns
 * Assault Rifles

Dossier
Morinth was born sometime in the 1700s, and was one of Samara's three daughters. At the age of forty, Morinth, like her other two sisters, was discovered to be an Ardat-Yakshi, and was offered the choice of either a life spent in comfortable seclusion, or execution. Addicted to the process of melding, Morinth chose to run, prompting Samara in turn to become a justicar and hunt her down.

For 400 years, Samara chased Morinth across asari space, as Morinth became more and more addicted to the high she got from killing her mates. On one planet, Morinth corrupted an entire village and convinced them to worship her. The villagers offered their daughters to her as sacrifices. When Samara arrived, Morinth ordered her worshipers to attack Samara in waves to cover her escape. By the time Samara was finished, Morinth had fled and only the youngest children of the village were left.

Morinth eventually left asari space and traveled to Illium, but her mother continued to hunt her down. Morinth contacted the Eclipse mercenary band, and persuaded them to help her escape off-world aboard the AML Demeter. She eventually arrived on Omega, believing she had earned a reprieve. While she was there, Morinth met a young sculptor, Nef, whom Morinth found irresistible due to her artistic talents. She seduced and murdered Nef, not realizing that Samara had picked up her trail with the help of Commander Shepard.

As part of her loyalty mission, Samara asked Shepard to help her find and kill her daughter. She and Shepard investigated Nef's death on Omega and put together a daring plan: Shepard would act as bait for Morinth, pretend to be seduced by her and go back to Morinth's apartment. Samara would track them there, and finish Morinth off.

Morinth saw Shepard in the VIP section of the Afterlife Club, her usual hunting grounds. Shepard's actions attracted and excited her, and Morinth invited the Commander to join her at her table. They talked for a while before Morinth decided to invite Shepard back to her apartment; once there she tried to seduce Shepard, only to see her mother enter the room. Morinth and Samara battled; Morinth saw her chance and asked Shepard to help her kill Samara, claiming she was just as powerful as her mother and could serve Shepard's cause.

Shepard then has a choice to kill either Samara or Morinth if the charm or intimidate option was used. Killing Samara is considered to be the Renegade outcome, though Paragon Shepards are also able to choose this outcome as it is dependent only on having a high score in either morality, not in a particular one. If Samara is killed, Morinth then replaces her mother on Shepard's team. Their strong family resemblance means no one aboard the Normandy realizes Samara has been replaced by Morinth; only Shepard knows the truth.

Loyalty
Morinth does not have any specific mission to gain her loyalty. Rather, Shepard earns Morinth's loyalty when Shepard chooses to assist her in the duel between her and Samara during Samara's loyalty mission.

Romance
If Shepard talks to Morinth on the ship, she claims her partners experienced pleasure far beyond that of a normal melding, and express her desire to mate with the Commander, as Shepard is unlike any other person she has had before. She even suggests that Shepard is too strong willed to die if the Commander joins with her and proposes that after they complete their mission that they should celebrate by doing so. If they both survive the suicide mission, Shepard can choose to mate with her as promised; however Morinth's claims prove to be incorrect and Shepard painfully dies during joining, leading to a 'critical mission failure' game over message.

Bugs

 * Morinth's description in the Squad Selection screen mistakenly lists her as being trained with Heavy Pistols instead of Assault Rifles.
 * Leveling her "Ardat Yakshi" ability to rank 4 causes both the heading and description of levels 1-3 of the ability to change back to Samara's "Asari Justicar" ability. The description, but not the heading, of the overall ability also reverts to that of the Justicar. The only thing not affected by this is the description of the level 4 ability itself. This occurs regardless of which evolution is selected.
 * Towards the end of the suicide mission, if Morinth is left to hold the line while Shepard goes to fight the Human Reaper Larva, subtitles will incorrectly identify Morinth as Samara if she is the one to answer when Shepard radios back to check the status of the second team.
 * A similar bug occurs during the Lair of the Shadow Broker mission pack. When prompted to select a teammate to accompany Shepard and Liara immediately prior to the sky cab chase sequence, Morinth is labelled as Samara.

Mass Effect 3
If Morinth was spared and Samara killed, then when Shepard returns to the Normandy after visiting the Council for the first time after leaving Earth, Morinth will send Shepard the following e-mail:

Liara's Shadow Broker terminal may also give access to a series of e-mails Morinth sent to her sisters Rila and Falere. According to the terminal, they were deleted unread.

Morinth can appear during the assault on Earth as a Banshee, an Ardat-Yakshi that has been re-purposed by the Reapers. In combat Morinth behaves like any other Banshee, without any special properties, and must be defeated as normal.

Trivia

 * If Morinth has replaced Samara, Kelly Chambers, and Kasumi Goto notice a change in her behavior, suggesting that her impersonation of her mother isn't perfect. In fact, Kasumi will mention her by name after completion of the suicide mission, urging Shepard not to be enticed by her, as the Commander will die.
 * While part of the squad, Morinth normally mimics Samara's voice outside of her quarters on the Normandy. However, in Fortack's lab on Tuchanka, there is a "Talk to Morinth" node where she will break character and make a comment in her true voice. She has unique dialogue with Mordin and Grunt if either are present. Strangely, neither are surprised by her change in voice.
 * Sometimes on the Normandy SR-2 Morinth will wear her original black costume instead of Samara's costume.
 * Morinth appears to have gone by the name 'Mirala' when she initially fled, being referred to as such by her mother and sisters. She also signs a letter to her sisters with this name. Whether this is her real name or simply another alias is unknown.
 * The game draws numerous parallels between Ardat-Yakshi and vampires. Both are connected with or described as "demons", both drain their victims of life, and both are known for seducing their victims. In conversations with Samara, you learn that Morinth once set herself up as a goddess and was worshipped by an entire village; many vampire stories refer to entire villages being held in thrall. Most telling of all, the name of the vessel that transported Morinth off of Illium is the "Demeter," the name of the ship that carried Dracula to England. Also the name "Mirala" is similar to "Mircalla" a female vampire in the Gothic novella "Carmilla" by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu.


 * Unlike all other squad members, the Shadow Broker does not have a dossier on Morinth. The reason for this may be explained by a piece of unique dialogue.
 * As with all squad members, Morinth has unique dialogue that can be heard at various locations, during missions or assignments, or if a specific squad member is in the selected team.

Morinth