Urdnot Wrex

A famed krogan mercenary and bounty hunter, Urdnot Wrex is also one of the last Krogan Battlemasters: rare individuals who combine powerful biotic abilities with the devastating firepower of advanced weaponry. A long-lived krogan who has had many adventures, Wrex has heard of Commander Shepard on his travels, and respects the Commander as a fellow warrior.

Despite his chosen path of violence and killing for credits, Wrex is deeply concerned with the fate of his people after the genophage, and is one of the few planning for a new krogan future.

Urdnot Wrex is voiced by Steven Barr.

Dossier
Born into Clan Urdnot, Wrex quickly gained fame for his prowess in battle. He became a leader of one of the smaller Urdnot tribes while still a youth – the youngest krogan to be granted the honor in a thousand years. After the Krogan Rebellions ended, most remaining krogan tribes wanted to continue fighting despite the genophage and its devastating effect on their ability to reproduce. The most influential voice calling for a return to arms was one of the few warlords to survive the war, Wrex's father Jarrod.

Wrex had different ideas. He believed that the krogan didn't have the numbers to go to war, and even if they did, the genophage ensured they couldn't replenish their numbers quickly enough. Instead of battle, he led his tribe to focus on breeding, for at least one generation, and called for other tribes to follow. Gradually other krogan tribes began to come around to Wrex's ideas. This angered the Warlord Jarrod, who decided to arrange a Crush (a meeting on neutral ground) with all of the tribes. Wrex, sensing it was a trap, reluctantly agreed. He explains this to Shepard by saying "when your father invites you to a Crush, well, there are some laws even we hold sacred."

Wrex and his best warriors met with Jarrod's group in the krogan ancestral burial grounds called the Hollows, a holy place among the krogan where violence is forbidden. When it became clear to Jarrod that Wrex wouldn't agree with him, he signaled his men. They leapt from their hiding places and ambushed Wrex's warriors, cutting them down. Wrex managed to escape the ambush, but not before sinking his knife deep into Jarrod's chest. With his father's betrayal Wrex's eyes were opened to the truth about the krogan: most would rather die in battle than try to rebuild their society. Realizing the proud warrior culture that once valued courage, strength, and honor – values embodied by the Krogan Monument – had now been reduced to glorifying pointless violence, Wrex turned his back on the rest of the krogan and left.

Over the past three centuries, he has served no master but himself; working as a bodyguard, mercenary, soldier of fortune, and bounty hunter. Wrex has had some interesting adventures &mdash; including an encounter with a fellow merc named Aleena – and he was even hired briefly by Saren Arterius to raid a volus cargo ship, though Wrex didn't realise who the turian was until he met Shepard. Tales of his exploits have even made it as far as the quarian Flotilla. Even after many travels, there is little in the galaxy that can still surprise him. Despite his brutish appearance, Wrex rarely loses his temper. The mere threat of his anger is usually enough to get what he wants. When his fury is unleashed, however, it is a truly terrifying sight. He doesn't speak often, but when he does his words are direct and often shockingly blunt &mdash; that tends to get people to listen.

Mass Effect
There are a few possibilities to recruit Wrex into the squad. If Commander Shepard looks for Harkin in Chora's Den, the squad sees Wrex giving a final warning to Fist's bouncer before pushing past them to leave. Otherwise Shepard meets him in the C-Sec offices on the Citadel, baiting one of the officers. Wrex initially joins Shepard because he has been hired to kill Fist by the Shadow Broker. After Fist is taken care of, Wrex remains with Shepard either out of gratitude, or because he wants to be in the thick of the action as Shepard seeks out Saren Arterius. As Wrex puts it, "a storm's coming, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." If Shepard takes out Fist before joining with Wrex, he can be found in C-Sec next to the Dock 422 elevator and will offer to join the party regardless &mdash; after he pays Shepard for handling Fist, one professional to another.

Wrex appears to have an interest in biotics and respects the talents of the other biotics in the squad; he describes Liara as an asset in combat and thinks the Alliance was foolish to stop using the L2 implant after seeing what Kaidan can do. Given the culture of the krogan &mdash; where females stay at home to focus on breeding &mdash; he tells Ashley that fighting alongside women is a new and intriguing experience, claiming it gives the battles "a different flavor".

However, like many krogan after the Rebellions, Wrex has nothing but disdain for turians and thinks Garrus is naive. He also hates the salarians, dismissing them as scientists who "love to play with bugs", and confronting Captain Kirrahe on Virmire when the captain describes uplifting the krogan as a "mistake". Should Wrex be on Noveria at the Rachni Queen's release, he warns Shepard that his people will clean up the mess, "just like we did for the salarians."

Personal assignment
After chatting to Wrex on the Normandy after several mission worlds, Shepard eventually learns that Wrex is looking for his family armor, taken by the turians after the Rebellions and now owned by a profiteer called Tonn Actus. Shepard can help him get it back, earning Wrex's gruff respect and gratitude.

On Virmire, Shepard and team discover that Saren may have found a cure for the genophage and is now breeding a krogan army at his base of operations. The STG, tasked with investigating Saren's activities on the planet, plans to destroy the breeding facility. However, this infuriates Wrex, who believes the cure could save his species. Shepard attempts to reason with Wrex but he is adamant not to let the base be destroyed. Depending on Shepard's conversation with Wrex, it will determine whether he lives or dies in the confrontation.

Mass Effect 2
Wrex appears in Mass Effect 2 if he wasn't killed on Virmire. Otherwise, the Commander will be met with an icy reception from his broodbrother, Urdnot Wreav, on Tuchanka, though he thanks Shepard for destroying Saren's base and allowing him to assume control of the clans.

If Wrex survives, Wrex greets Shepard warmly and happily chats about their past endeavors. Shepard finds he has instituted a number of modernizing reforms, uniting a large portion of krogan under Clan Urdnot to combat the genophage and strengthen the krogan, using the victory on Virmire as a rallying point. By providing a neutral ground where discussions and exchanges can take place, Wrex has made sure that, in return for their loyalty, he will protect those clans' fertile females, making it unwise for anyone to attack him. He faces opposition from Gatatog Uvenk for disregarding many traditions.

When Grunt completes his rite of passage, Wrex welcomes him into Clan Urdnot. If Shepard managed to kill the Thresher Maw during the rite, which hasn't been done since Wrex himself, Wrex will be impressed by the achievement. During Mordin's loyalty mission, Maelon states that Wrex refused his offer to research a cure for the genophage, due to the need for krogan subjects for study. This indicates that he knew Maelon was interested in curing the genophage, though it is unclear whether or not Wrex was aware that Maelon began working with Clan Weyrloc.

When asked to rejoin the team, Wrex reluctantly declines, stating that he needs to stay to keep the krogan clans united and in line.

Mass Effect 3
Wrex returns in Mass Effect 3, provided he survived the events of Mass Effect.

During the Reaper invasion, Wrex was called to the Normandy SR-2 for negotiations with Primarch Victus and the salarian dalatrass to discuss an alliance. Wrex couldn't enter into an alliance due to Reaper scouts assaulting Tuchanka and demanded that the genophage be cured, to which the dalatrass objected. Wrex then revealed that an inside source (later revealed to be Mordin Solus, if he survived the Suicide Mission) revealed the existence of fertile krogan females, who had survived Maelon's experiments and were being kept captive on Sur'Kesh. Despite the dalatrass' objections, Shepard agreed that the genophage must be cured.

If Shepard preserved Maelon's genophage cure data back in Mass Effect 2, Wrex will be relatively trusting and friendly before the Sur'Kesh mission; however, if Shepard destroyed Maelon's genophage cure data back in Mass Effect 2, Wrex reveals he found that out and will be hostile and suspicious before the Sur'Kesh, implying outright that he no longer thinks Shepard is trustworthy and that he's going along with this only so his people can be cured.

Joining with Shepard, Wrex remained suspicious of the salarians. When STG refused to allow their shuttle to land, Wrex impulsively leaped out of the shuttle, causing a brigade of STG operatives to surround him. Wrex stood down when Shepard promised to handle the exchange. Unfortunately, Cerberus began assaulting the STG base, and worse, Wrex learned that there was only one surviving female. He demanded that Shepard get the female to safety to ensure their alliance.

Once the female, nicknamed Eve by Mordin, is safe aboard the Normandy, the salarian used both her and Wrex's DNA to properly form a cure for the genophage, before figuring out how to disperse it over Tuchanka through the Shroud. Shepard can make a paragon choice to inform Wrex and the others of the dalatrass' confession that the salarians sabotaged the Shroud to prevent the cure. If the genophage is cured, albeit with Mordin's sacrifice, Wrex would praise both Shepard and Mordin to be heroes to the krogan and agrees to help the turians push the Reapers off Palaven. He later joins the fight to take back Earth, and is seen near the final battle in London rallying his troops where Shepard can have a final word with him. Here Wrex reveals that Eve (if she survived) is pregnant, saying that "being clan-leader has its benefits" and that she wants to name the first child Mordin.

If the genophage wasn't cured because Shepard allowed the salarian sabotage of the cure to go unfixed, and if Wrex is the Urdnot leader, Wrex will eventually discover that the cure is a fake. This does not occur right away, but if the player returns to the Citadel after Priority: Rannoch is complete and then attempts to return to the Normandy, Wrex will suddenly emerge from the elevator, clearly enraged. He reveals that he has obtained a copy of the "sabotage the cure" conversation between Shepard and the salarian Dalatrass; he explains that Mordin wasn't his only source in STG. Shepard has two neutral options and an "Intimidate" option; however, even if Shepard selects the "Intimidate" option, it fails to work and Wrex will attack Shepard. If Shepard doesn't shoot Wrex the first time Shepard has the chance, Shepard signals Commander Bailey and a fellow turian C-Sec Officer to riddle Wrex with bullets. If Shepard shoots Wrex the second time Shepard has the chance, the shot will blast Wrex out the window and Wrex will be killed; otherwise, Commander Bailey will be the one to blast Wrex out the window. This will cost Shepard the "Krogan Mercenaries" War Asset, which can only be retained if Wrex is alive and Shepard used a real cure, and of course it costs Shepard the use of the "Urdnot Wrex" and "Clan Urdnot" War Assets.

Trivia

 * Conversing with Wrex on Tuchanka implies that he was not on board the SSV Normandy when the Collectors destroyed it, as he asks Shepard about how the ship is doing.
 * Wrex has become a fan favorite because of his dry wit and "direct approach." During elevator conversations, he sometimes asks the other squad members who'd win in a fight between them and Shepard. The "Wrex." – "Shepard." exchange on initiating and leaving conversation (oft repeated) has also become something of a running joke.
 * Wrex also won the "Best Sidekick of the Year" award from Official Xbox Magazine.


 * As with all squad members, Wrex 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.