User blog comment:Ygrain/ME sequel: what shall we do with the extinct races?/@comment-1786741-20121123181305/@comment-1080767-20121125054627

Actually, I think it quite possible that Shepard survived. Yes, he/she was heavily wounded, launched into the air by an explosion, and covered in rubble (presumably from parts of the dozens of shipwrecks and space debris visibly orbiting/approaching the Citadel), and if you told me someone went through that, I'd agree that that person is certainly KIA. But we know that after all that, the Commander is alive and conscious. He/she wasn't bleeding, nor did it seem that he/she was engulfed by the explosion. Moreover, the characters that sense that Shepard is still alive is quite symbolic, and that is a very solid hint that there is hope.