Thane Krios

"The measure of an individual can be difficult to discern by actions alone."

Thane Krios is a drell assassin, rumored to be the most skilled in the galaxy. Unlike most assassins, who prefer to snipe their targets from a distance, Thane likes to get up close and kill his target personally, utilizing a mixture of stealth, firearms and biotic abilities. Despite this approach, he is cool and calculated in his work. Though adept at his profession, Thane experiences strong feelings of guilt about his job and prays for himself after each kill. Firmly believing this act of penance should never be forsaken, Thane will even go as far as to ignore those in his immediate vicinity until he is finished doing so. Thane is also one of Mass Effect 2's romantic interests for a female Shepard and will call you "siha" should you accept this.

Thane Krios is voiced by Keythe Farley.

Drell Assassin
Drell Assassin is Thane's class power.

Personal History
Thane was born in 2146. At the age of six, his parents gave him to the hanar to be trained as an assassin, as part of the Compact between the two species. He made his first kill at twelve. He met his wife Irikah during an assassination, where she noticed the targeting laser and stepped in the way of Thane's fire. He fell in love with her and was intrigued that a civilian would put her life on the line to save a complete stranger. However, after the birth of their son Kolyat Krios, a mercenary group killed Irikah due to Thane's assassinations of key figures in their group. In response, Thane finished the job, killing all involved in his wife's murder. Thane notes that while he has always strived to kill his targets as qucikly and cleanly as possible, he took extra time with them.

Recruitment
Commander Shepard first confronts Thane on Illium, where he is on a mission to assassinate Nassana Dantius. As Shepard is talking with Nassana in order to discern the assassin's whereabouts, Thane drops from the ceiling and takes out Nassana's bodyguards before killing her with a pistol shot at point-blank range. He tells Shepard that he hoped this mission would be his last, expecting that he would have been killed by her guards. He reveals he is slowly dying of a disease which is later revealed to be Kepral's Syndrome. He follows Shepard in his suicide mission against the Collectors, perhaps hoping to die in the process, which he feels will redeem him from his past evils.

Spirituality
Thane is unusual among drell in that he follows the old polytheistic religion of his species rather than adopting those of the hanar or asari, and spends much of his time in prayer and meditation, even within his work; To find a target, he prays to Amonkira: the lord of hunters, when defending another, he prays to Arashu: goddess of motherhood and protection, after taking a life, he prays to Kalihira, goddess of oceans and the afterlife.

If Shepard asks how Thane can reconcil his deep spirituality with a violent profession, he explains that the body and soul are seen as seperate entities by his faith. Thane sees his body as merely a tool or vessel through which people can choose to commit an act of murder, similar to a gun.

While this philosophy spirtually absolves him of his crimes, that convenience is undermined by the eidetic memory native to his species; The ability to perfectly recall every single act of murder he commited over the years has weighed down on his conscience, so Thane cannot help but feel regret over his actions. This guilt, combined with an impending death, compells Thane to joins Shepard's campaign against the Collectors as a gesture of pennance.

Loyalty
Thane's loyalty quest concerns his son Kolyat. Thane has learned that in spite of his efforts to prevent his son from following in his footsteps, Kolyat is preparing to take part in the assassination of a turian politician, Joram Talid, on the Citadel. Once aboard the Citadel, Thane and Shepard discover the target of the assassination (a turian running for election) and stop it. After Joram Talid is rescued, Thane reconnects with his son and tries to earn his forgiveness. Completing the quest unlocks Thane's Shredder Ammo ability. If you lose the turian in the mission however he will stay un-loyal and the chance for a relationship would be over.

Thane's Appearance
The design for Thane was one of the most challenging, as he needed to be not only a sleek-looking assassin, but also an attractive potential love interest. His outfit is a gray, dark overcoat, worn tightly to his body, most likely to make it easy for Thane to move around and to avoid having to program a flowing material.

Trivia

 * Thane may be named for the historical Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon term used to describe either a high-ranking nobleman or a class of retainer, possibly declaring how efficient an assassin he is. His name may also be derived from Thanatos, the Greek god of death as well as the namesake of the "death drive" in post-Freudian thought.
 * Krios (Κριός) is the Greek word for the constellation Aries, as well as the name of one of the Titan gods in Greek mythology. It also means "cold" in modern Greek.
 * According to Thane, there are at least 14 flaws in the security at the C-Sec office on the Citadel, eight of which were already there when he was in the Citadel 10 years earlier.
 * If you pursue Thane as a romance option he will affectionately refer to Shepard as "siha" during private conversations. He eventually reveals it as the name of "one of the warrior-angels of the goddess Arashu. Fierce in wrath. A tenacious protector."