Garrus Vakarian

Garrus Vakarian is a turian investigator formerly with C-Sec. Like most turians, Garrus had military training at fifteen but later followed in his father's footsteps to become a C-Sec officer. He was responsible for the investigation into Saren Arterius after the Alliance claimed Saren had gone rogue. Though Garrus was told his investigation was over, he decided to defy the executor's order and pursue another lead on his own. Eventually, Garrus joined Shepard's team, to help the Commander defeat Sovereign and the geth.

Garrus Vakarian is voiced by Brandon Keener.

Dossier
Garrus was put in charge of investigating Saren after Ambassador Udina complained to the Council, claiming that Saren had gone rogue and attacked a human colony. However, Garrus found himself hampered at every turn; as a Spectre, most of Saren's activities were classified and it was nearly impossible to get any solid evidence. He appealed to Executor Pallin for more time, but Pallin, seeing only that Garrus hadn't found any evidence of Saren's guilt, ordered the investigation over and reported that there was nothing to support a charge of treason. However, Garrus had one lead and just needed more time to look into it. He decided to pursue it on his own.

When Shepard began looking for information on Saren, Garrus seemed like a useful contact. The commander found out Garrus had gone to the Med Clinic on the Wards. Shepard arrived to find Dr. Chloe Michel being threatened by a group of thugs, telling her not to speak to Garrus—not realizing Garrus was lying low nearby. Shepard's arrival distracted the thugs, allowing Garrus to take one of them out with a single perfect shot to the head. After the firefight, Garrus told Shepard he was leaving C-Sec: he knew Saren was guilty but regulations and his position had meant his hands were tied. Now, however, he was determined to take Saren down. Shepard agreed to let him come along and become part of the Normandy's crew.

Garrus is very courteous to Shepard, calm and reassuring to victims like Dr. Michel, and ruthless when fighting. He is also very impressed by the Normandy, saying she is proof of what races can accomplish when they work together; he is eager to see what she can do in a fight because the stealth system allows an entirely new angle on space combat. Though Ashley is suspicious of Garrus, despite the fact he's a C-Sec officer, Garrus tends to get along well with the rest of the crew, enjoying the chance to get off the Citadel and see how things are done outside C-Sec. He is surprised by Wrex, claiming that he thought all krogan were savage thugs, and prompting Wrex to retort: "What, using the genophage was more bearable when all krogan were savage thugs? You'd better head back to the ship, kid – any longer out here in the real world and you just might have to learn something."

Little is known of Garrus' past other than the fact he grew up on Palaven—he says Virmire reminds him of home, and if talked to on Therum's surface, he will say that he "thought Palaven was hot"—and that he had a very by-the-book father, a well-known C-Sec investigator whose mantra was "Do things right or don't do them at all." Shepard is surprised to hear that Garrus was targeted as a potential Spectre candidate, but Garrus claims he was only one of about a thousand potentials picked from the turian military. He could have received special training to prepare, but his father blocked his candidacy, despising Spectres for their legal freedoms. Garrus doesn't appear to have any regrets over losing his chance, but he is very interested to see how Spectres do their job and wants to learn from Shepard. He has no qualms about hunting Saren, a fellow turian—in fact, that is part of the reason he hates him so much. According to Garrus, Saren is not only a threat but a disgrace to his species.

Harkin describes Garrus as a hothead who "still thinks he can change the world," saying he is always arguing with the Executor. Pallin himself respects Garrus as an investigator, but claims that as a C-Sec officer he should have more consideration for the law: he may have seen Garrus as doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. Garrus' main objection to C-Sec is the abundance of restrictions and regulations. He believes it doesn't matter how you do it; just get it done. Garrus and Shepard can debate this while they are aboard the Normandy. He is particularly frustrated when regs mean a suspect goes free. He does mention to Shepard that he is concerned about their apprehension of Saren—if they arrest the ex-Spectre and bring him back to the Citadel, there's too much of a risk of him escaping, or being exonerated and protected by the Council to prevent a scandal. Garrus suggests it might be better in the long run if they just take Saren out rather than strictly going by the book. Shepard can offer an opinion on this.

Eventually Garrus thanks Shepard for bringing him aboard the Normandy and letting him be part of the team. He's learned a lot and he doesn't want to let those lessons go to waste. Depending on what Shepard has said to him and the commander's behavior throughout the mission, Garrus states that he is going to reapply for Spectre candidacy, with or without reapplying for C-Sec in the process.

Missions and Assignments
Garrus has a personal mission, Find Dr. Saleon, to track down a criminal who got away from him. When asked about his views on C-Sec and some of his old cases, Garrus mentions a particularly gruesome case involving a salarian doctor, Dr. Saleon, who escaped the Citadel with hostages because the authorities wouldn't fire on his vessel, despite Garrus telling them that the doctor would only use the hostages as test subjects. This caused him to start losing faith in C-Sec policy.

Shepard can offer to track Saleon down as an assignment—the experience gives Garrus some food for thought. If Shepard doesn't take Garrus as a party member for that assignment, later Garrus regrets missing the opportunity to take down Dr. Saleon.

Weapon Proficiencies

 * Assault Rifles
 * Sniper Rifles

Turian Rebel

 * Rank 1
 * Health: +5.00%
 * Weapon Damage: +6.00%
 * Power Damage: +6.00%


 * Rank 2
 * Health: +10.00%
 * Weapon Damage: +12.00%
 * Power Damage: +12.00%


 * Rank 3
 * Health: +15.00%
 * Weapon Damage: +18.00%
 * Power Damage: +18.00%


 * Rank 4 Unlocks choice between Turian Renegade or Turian Survivor
 * Turian Renegade: If it can be fired, Garrus knows how to use it. His weapon and power damage increases dramatically.
 * Health: +15.00%
 * Weapon Damage: +25.00%
 * Power Damage: +25.00%
 * Turian Survivor: Long hours alone against impossible odds have conditioned Garrus' health, and kept his powers sharp.
 * Health: +20.00%
 * Weapon Damage: +18.00%
 * Power Damage: +25.00%

Dossier
Shepard is advised to recruit a tactical genius and infiltrator known as Archangel, who is currently operating out of Omega. Apparently, over the past few months, Archangel has developed a reputation of being nothing short of a menace to Omega's crime empires; arriving with his team of twelve operatives, Archangel caused an impressive amount of trouble for three of the Terminus Systems' most powerful and successful mercenary groups (Blue Suns, Blood Pack and Eclipse). The impact on the mercenary groups' operations was so devastating that it drove all three into forming a temporary alliance with one another, intending to use all their available manpower and resources to eliminate Archangel. Seeing Blue Suns, Eclipse and Blood Pack work together was unprecedented; as Aria T'Loak explained, unless a war broke out, the three were almost never seen together.

After Shepard's team gets through to Archangel, he removes his helmet, revealing himself to be none other than Garrus Vakarian. After the events of Mass Effect, and Shepard's death, Garrus reveals that he followed Shepard's example and created his own squad to enforce their own version of justice to Omega, leading to his current predicament. After Garrus explains the situation to Shepard, Shepard's team assists Garrus in taking out the mercenaries, who have kept Garrus stuck on one side of a bridge. During the battle, Garrus is hit by a Blue Suns gunship and suffers multiple wounds to his face and upper torso. Following the battle, he is rushed back to the Normandy to receive medical treatment.

After being treated by Dr. Chakwas, Garrus greets Shepard in the comm room, revealing the damage he sustained in the gunship attack. A quarter of his face on the right side has been badly damaged, replaced by a bandage/artificial graft; Jacob Taylor mentions that some cybernetics were also needed to keep Garrus alive. There are various degrees of damage to Garrus' armor, and a chunk of the armor's collar has been blasted off.

It soon becomes clear that in the past two years, Garrus has become even more lost in his life. Regardless of what Shepard taught him in Mass Effect, Garrus remains unable to withstand the bureaucracy of the Citadel, possibly a result from how quickly the Council downplayed Sovereign as a geth initiative and the Reapers as nothing more than hearsay after Commander Shepard's death. To know the threat of the Reapers and being unable to do anything about it was bad enough, but after Garrus heard that Shepard had died, it was the final straw. He fled to Omega, determined to make a difference there, even gathering a team in much the same way Shepard did. With the loss of his team as the result of a traitor in their midst, Garrus became overwhelmed by anger and guilt, making him even more violent. Joker himself notes this change, saying "It's great that Garrus finally managed to work that stick out of his ass, but now he's trying to beat people to death with it." Garrus half-jokes that he doesn't think he's a very good turian, as he lacks the discipline expected of him. He feels that, in the face of the Reapers and the galactic extinction they bring, its is simply not worth blindly following bad orders.

Loyalty: Eye for an Eye
Throughout the course of the game, Shepard has an opportunity to ask Garrus about past events when catching up. Garrus eventually tells of a past deployment in the Terminus Systems in which his squad was sold out to the mercenaries by Sidonis, a former team-mate of his. Garrus eventually finds out that Sidonis is on the Citadel, and Harkin (under the alias "Fade"), was the one that facilitated Sidonis' disappearance. After interrogating Harkin, Shepard can choose to aid Garrus' assassination attempt on Sidonis or attempt to warn Sidonis, though either choice secures Garrus' loyalty and unlocks his Armor Piercing Ammo ability. During this mission Shepard has the choice to either let Garrus shoot Harkin in the kneecap or stop him for Paragon points. If stopped from shooting Harkin, Garrus will headbutt him instead. If Shepard stops Garrus from killing Sidonis, a news report later on by Emily Wong will inform Shepard that Sidonis has handed himself in for the murder of 10 people.

Romance
Garrus is a potential romance for a female Shepard. The option becomes available after completing Garrus' loyalty mission. As the romance begins, Garrus' demeanor is somewhat awkward; nevertheless, if Shepard asks Garrus whether his behavior suggests that he is uncomfortable with the idea, Garrus says he is just nervous, and that Shepard never has to worry about making him uncomfortable. In these more vulnerable moments, Garrus admits he feels very alone in the galaxy, considering Shepard the only friend he has left. During the final scene, Garrus confesses he wants "something to go right" (he mentions Sidonis and his work with C-Sec as times where he failed, implying his departure form C-Sec may not have been entirely his choice) after which Shepard—who slowly approaches him while he talks—touches his face, stroking the scar he gained during his recruitment mission. The scene ends with the two of them touching foreheads affectionately, followed by Garrus reaching up as though to touch Shepard's shoulder before the scene fades to black.

When Mordin notices Shepard's attraction to Garrus, Shepard can ask him for advice regarding the turian, to which Mordin will warn Shepard about chafing. He advises her not to consume turian tissue, as it is based on dextro-DNA and can cause an allergic reaction in Shepard's body. He then suggests that she return later for a painkiller and forwards information packets regarding turian physiology to Shepard's room.

Trivia

 * Along with Ashley, Garrus is one of the "poster" characters for Mass Effect and appears on most of the promotional art and demo footage.
 * During the Xbox 360 demo, a conversation with Garrus was used to demonstrate the dialogue system, where Shepard interrupted Garrus' complaint about endangering the mission to rescue civilians, and ordered the turian to fall in line.
 * There is currently a bug on the PC version of Mass Effect where even on Ultra-High detail, Garrus' face is remarkably low textured. This is known by the developers of the game, who have said that a patch is not currently in the works and most likely never will be, since due to the way the game is made, it would require a multi-gigabyte patch to fix.
 * Exactly what Garrus's trademark visor does is not explained, but he is never seen without it, even during his romance subplot. It might however be a turian type of Kuwashii Visor, like the one purchasable for Shepard on Omega. It would make sense due to that it is the only visor available in the game and that the effects from the visor (extra damage caused by headshots) would be favorable for a marksman such as Garrus.
 * Garrus wears his default Mass Effect armor in Mass Effect 2, with some modifications.
 * Garrus' armor in Mass Effect 2 has a symbol on the right arm that appears to be a C-Sec insignia.
 * In both Mass Effect and 2, Garrus can always be found on either Normandy working on a machine, in Mass Effect it was the Mako, and in Mass Effect 2 it was the Normandy's artillery.