Saren Arterius

"Your species needs to learn its place, Shepard."

Saren Arterius is the longest serving turian member of the Spectres - the elite military operatives answering directly to the Citadel Council. For 24 years he has been an agent of the Council's will, a zealous defender of galactic stability in the unsettled border region of the Skyllian Verge.

Official records of Spectres are sealed, but it is known that Saren followed turian tradition and entered the military at the age of 15. In 2155 he was promoted to active service after only a year of training, though it is unclear whether his unit was involved in any of the battles against human forces during the First Contact War of 2157.

In 2159 he became the youngest turian ever accepted into the Spectres. Intelligent, cunning and capable, Saren quickly developed a reputation for ruthless efficiency. Although there were a number of unsettling rumors about the brutality of his methods, there was no denying his results.

In recent years Saren has become an outspoken opponent of human expansion. Like many other non-humans, he believes the Systems Alliance has become overly aggressive in its efforts to establish the people of Earth as a dominant species in Citadel space. Historically, races take centuries to accomplish what humanity has done in less than one, and there are several species that have a "lower" standing on the Citadel than humanity, even though they are the most recent addition. Saren's opinions on humanity are based on his predisposition to the species, but not completely unjustified.

The root of his racism is speculated to be based from the First Contact War when the turians attacked Shanxi. It is rumored that Saren lost a brother in humanity's retaliation before the Council stepped in and has been disliked humanity ever since. After their abortive mission together, Saren has retained a particular dislike of David Anderson.

Saren has little regard for life. He doesn't see saving lives as a priority unless the Council deems it necessary, or there is information to be gathered. He remains the Council's top agent despite his record - Saren may be ruthless and calculating, but he gets results.

Saren is voiced by Fred Tatasciore

Mass Effect: Revelation
In 2165, Saren was investigating illegal arms dealing on Juxhi. A mercenary group called the Grim Skulls, mostly turians, were selling weapons to humans... something Saren took very personally. After killing almost all the mercs responsible, Saren interrogated the last one who tried to bargain for his life with information. The weapons were originally intended for the Blue Suns, but they pulled out at the last minute to pursue a bigger job. Saren became interested in what they were up to and tracked down a member of the Blue Suns, a batarian named Groto Ib-ba, finally cornering him at the Sanctuary, a high-class brothel. Saren patiently tortured Ib-ba for information and learned all about the Blue Suns' actions on Sidon. After Ib-ba told him about Kahlee Sanders, and the krogan bounty hunter whom Edan Had'dah had sent after her, Saren broke Ib-ba's neck and went to follow Skarr in turn to find Kahlee, wanting proof the Alliance had been doing something illegal at Sidon. Saren found Skarr on Elysium and intervened when the krogan attacked Jon Grissom's home. He saved Kahlee, along with David Anderson and Jon Grissom, then interrogated Kahlee about Sidon. Saren accepted her lie that it had been a training ground for human biotics but remained suspicious. Knowing Skarr was the key to finding out the truth, Saren used his contacts to look for the krogan's next move. After Skarr destroyed the Dah'tan Manufacturing Company on Had'dah's orders, there was only one survivor, a batarian woman called Jella who had been Had'dah's contact. Jella had been badly burned in the attack, but managed to give Saren Had'dah's name in hospital before Saren let her die.

Wanting to flush out Had'dah, Saren decided to quietly leak news of Kahlee Sanders' extraction from Camala, knowing Had'dah would take the bait. After Kahlee was captured, Saren found himself assigned to work with David Anderson on the Council's orders, supposedly to evaluate Anderson as a possible Spectre candidate. But the two men disliked each other from the beginning: Saren had a universal dislike of humans, and Anderson resented Saren's brutal methods. In truth Saren didn't care about rescuing Kahlee; he only wanted to find Had'dah, along with Dr. Shu Qian, because he was becoming more interested in the 'artifact' the two had discovered. When Saren and Anderson headed to the element zero refinery where Kahlee was being held, Saren let Anderson go on ahead, then broke with the plan and began destroying the refinery. Saren found Had'dah and Dr. Qian in hiding; he killed the doctor on Had'dah's suggestion, then, despite Had'dah's bargaining, shot the batarian too and took their research.

Later, Saren gave a very negative report on Anderson to the Council, claiming he had alerted the refinery's guards and wrecked their whole operation. Then Saren dedicated himself to using Dr. Qian's research to find this 'artifact' and use it, believing he had found a weapon to control the geth and humble humanity once and for all.

Mass Effect
After the events of Mass Effect: Revelation, Saren's activities are something of a mystery. The only report from that time comes from Wrex, who was hired along with several other mercenaries for what seemed like an easy job, attacking freighters, including a volus cargo freighter. While Wrex was looking for valuables, he saw Saren walking through the ship, ignoring the mercs who spoke to him. Wrex did not know why Saren chose to attack the freighter; there was nothing particularly valuable on board, at least not that he saw; but the krogan had a bad feeling about the job and left without even waiting to be paid. His instincts were right; every other merc who had been involved turned up dead within a week. It is still unknown why Saren attacked the freighter, or if he even found what he was looking for.

During this time, Saren discovered (or was discovered by) the Reaper designated Sovereign, and he learned the fate of the many civilizations of eons past. Instead of using Sovereign as a weapon, Saren made it his goal to save the races of the galaxy by aiding the Reapers, proving the worth of organics to the Reapers so that they might be spared. However, this was not Sovereign's intent. The more time Saren spent in service to Sovereign, the more indoctrinated he became. His free will was quickly being sapped and supplanted by the desires of the Reaper, and the values of his people that Saren still believed in; that an individual's personal needs are always subordinate to the greater good of the group; were twisted so gradually that Saren remained certain he was still doing right. Slowly Saren became Sovereign's most powerful, and visible agent. Able to begin the plans Sovereign had been laying for centuries while the Reaper kept its true nature hidden, Saren acted as Sovereigns agent on the forefront, never revealing the true enemy. The geth were sought out from behind the Perseus Veil to come and serve Sovereign, and they looked upon the massive ship as their new machine-god and its chosen 'prophet', Saren.

Saren committed horrible crimes against citizens of the galaxy, killing those he had sworn to protect, using people for his private experimentations and even murdering his old friend and fellow Spectre, Nihlus Kryik. When a Prothean Beacon was unearthed on the human colony of Eden Prime, Saren led the geth there to use the beacon and find clues that would lead him to the Conduit, but his attempt to destroy the colony failed when the Alliance ship SSV Normandy arrived. Commander Shepard began the mission to bring the beacon on board, when the Normandy had recieved a distress call from Eden Prime. The Commander then went to find the beacon and the cause of the distress call, only to learn that it was the Spectre Saren, and the geth.

After the initial reports to the Council of Saren's rogue activities, the Council failed to believe that one of their most highly decorated Spectres had betrayed them. Because of this Shepard was forced to find more information regarding the activities of Saren. Shepard's investigation led him to a young quarian on her pilgrimage named Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, who carried a data module taken from destroyed geth. With this new found evidence the Council revoked Saren's Spectre status, hardly slowing the rogue agent down.

Accompanied by Matriarch Benezia, Saren continued hunting for the Conduit, while building his army of krogans and geth. He intended to supplant the geth with rachni, brought back to life from a queen egg found on a derelict ship, and  his influence (and investments) with Binary Helix. He also found a cure for the genophage to breed, control and manipulate the krogan. Saren also 'sacrificed' a powerful ally on Feros, Shiala, to the Thorian to gain the knowledge of the Cipher.

However, Saren began to develop concerns about the power of Sovereign's indoctrination, fearing that it might be affecting his behavior. He established his base of operations on the remote tropical world of Virmire, which housed his krogan breeding facility, and a major lab complex to study the effect of the indoctrination, recruiting scientists like Rana Thanoptis and running experiments on the salarians they captured from a recon and espionage team. Saren discovered that the more indoctrinated a person became, the less useful they become as they lose there will and ability to act without direct directions. As long as Sovereign saw Saren as a useful resource, Saren believed his mind would still be his own. Saren convinced himself Sovereign needed him to find the Conduit and that the Reaper would offer him the chance to live in return.

After being hunted across several worlds, Saren and Shepard finally met face-to-face on Virmire. During the battle, Saren tried to recruit Shepard to his cause of siding with the Reapers to get them to allow them all to coexist. The Commander told him that he was indoctrinated, and that Sovereign was manipulating him so subtly he did not recognize what was happening to him. Saren denied these accusations and fled; narrowly escaping the nuclear blast that destroyed the complex and killed one of Shepard's team. But the damage was done and Saren could not forget Shepard's words. Sovereign saw his conviction beginning to falter and implanted Saren, making him cybernetic and completely devoted to the Reapers cause.

The next confrontation between Shepard and Saren would be on the lost Prothean world of Ilos where the Conduit was hidden. While Shepard was delayed by the Council, who thought a blockade would stop Saren from attacking the Citadel, Saren got an early start on Shepard and made it to Ilos' surface first. The activated Conduit brought Saren to the Citadel where his geth and Sovereign mounted a surprise assault. Saren transfered control of the Citadel to Sovereign to activate the latent mass relay, paving the way for the rest of the Reapers to enter through dark space, when Shepard and his team came rushing in.

If Shepard's Charm/Intimidate skills are high enough the commander can convince Saren that he has become a pawn in Sovereign's plan. Saren commits suicide to prevent himself from doing any further damage to the galaxy, but not before whispering to Shepard (regardless of whether Charm or Intimidate is used) "Goodbye, Shepard. Thank you." If Shepard's Charm/Intimidate skills aren't high enough Shepard is forced to battle him atop the Council platform. Saren falls through the glass floor of the Council Chambers and is bloodily impaled by a large shard.

Shepard has his team check to ensure Saren is actually dead; by shooting him in the head. However, Sovereign was not ready to relinquish its hold on the misguided turian. Through the implants Saren had received from Sovereign, the ship reanimated his lifeless body, burning away all of Saren's organic flesh revealing a skeletal synthetic body. Controlling the synthetic body of Saren through the implants, Sovereign had the turian fight one last battle. Shepard and his team managed to destroy this nightmarish construct, ending Saren forever, as his synthetic remains disintegrated on the spot. Through unknown reasons, Saren's death caused a fatal blow to be dealt to his warship. Through his death, Sovereign's shields came down, allowing the combined Citadel and Alliance fleets to deal the finishing blow.

Trivia

 * Saren appears to have undergone some cybernetic modification even before being implanted by Sovereign. The left side of his body, especially his left arm, look as if they have been enhanced in the same way as a Husk. This is more obvious in concept art but can also be seen in-game.
 * It should be noted that Saren is shorter than the average turian, about 5'10". This can be seen when Saren grabs Benezia by the throat in the cutscene after Eden Prime, as he is only about a head taller than her, and he is a little shorter than Nihlus, who towers over Anderson. When seen in cutscenes, Shepard (male) and Saren are about the same height, with Shepard even being an inch or two taller.
 * Saren's burning away of his organic flesh leaving the skeletal assemblage controlled by Sovereign could be a possible reference to Darth Malak from one of Bioware's other games "Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic" - like Malak, Saren's corpse loses its jaw and becomes cybernetically enhanced.
 * Saren may be a member of a turian sub-species as evidenced by his facial "horns". There are five on top (as opposed to three) and two large "ear-horns". The latter could also be part of Saren's cybernetic mods (they have ridges and faint blue lights that appear artificial).