User blog comment:SunyiNyufi/My idea of Mass Effect 3 ending with Indoctrination Theory and what would come after/@comment-1900300-20120326021859/@comment-3527219-20120326072339

First of all, I used the indoctrination theory for this write-up, because that's the easiest way to change the current ending without totally re-writing the starchild part, which I didn't really want, because this was more about game mechanics and branching endings. My very personal opinion on the theory is that it's just fans grasping at straws, and I'm pretty sure Bioware never ever intended it.

I think you misunderstand the theory a bit. It doesn't propose that Shepard was always indoctrinated all this time, it's just an idea that she might not be immune to it either. I mean Shepard has been on reapers, near reapers, or reaper artifacts (even gets knocked out by Object Rho in Arrival), so it might be possible for her strained mind to become open to reaper suggestions. That's different than fast indoctrination though, and that's an important point. The Reapers want Shepard alive (as stated in Arrival), and mostly thinking for herself. Also Shepard being able to reject the indoctrination is not something easily done, and is probably possible, because due to the events of ME1 and ME2 Shepard's mind is very unique in many aspects, and as I said even in if she gets sort of indoctrinated in ME3, she is in the very early stages, where it might be possible to reject it. The other indoctrinated people we see, Saren, Benezia and TIM have been under reaper control for decades when we meet them, so it could be that by that time, it's too late.

Also I don't think that part with TIM, which is supposed to take place in Shepard's mind, is about her insecurities (because as I agree Shep would shake that off), it's more like a... hmm... a headache maybe? I don't really have a great comparison... Anyway, it's created by an outside source, and not Shepard, so she can't just shake it off. And throughout the supposed illusion Shepard is actually pretty sure of herself and really “in-character” (for a lack of a better word), but she changes from that to someone blindly accepting somebody else's ideas. And that's what most people view as a crucial point for the indoctrination.

But, enough of this theory, I have a question: if we scrap the part where my idea's would come after the theory, and just simply put them right after Harbinger's beam attack, without anything involving TIM and starchild actually happening, what do you think about it? Cos that's rather the point of my blog post, not the theory itself really :)