Legion

Legion is the name taken by the gestalt consciousness formed by 1,183 geth programs inhabiting a unique geth "mobile platform". Legion is voiced by D.C. Douglas.

Weapon proficiencies

 * Assault Rifles
 * Sniper Rifles

Dossier
Legion is a unique geth mobile platform, designed to operate outside the Perseus Veil and interact with organics. To that purpose, it houses 1,183 geth programs, as opposed to the roughly one hundred found in other platforms, enabling it to operate independently and speak. In order to facilitate communication with organics, Legion possesses several panels on its "head" that move to simulate facial expressions. These flaps serve the same purpose as eyebrows in organics, raising to imply surprise or interest and folding forward (much like the furrowing of the brow) to show concentration.

It was created and dispatched following Commander Shepard's destruction of the Old Machine "Nazara", known to the rest of the galaxy as the Reaper Sovereign, investigating several of the worlds Shepard visited &mdash; Eden Prime, Therum, Feros, Noveria, Virmire, Ilos, and a dozen uncharted worlds. Eventually it found the Normandy's crash site on the planet Alchera, salvaging a piece of Shepard's N7 armor and incorporating it into itself to repair damage sustained on Eden Prime after being shot by Alliance soldiers. If questioned about specifically using Shepard's N7 armour to repair itself, Legion becomes evasive, first rationalizing that "there was a hole" and then stating "no data available" after being pressed. This suggests that the use of Shepard's armor was an irrational decision, which goes against the concept that every action the geth take is the result of calculation, unaffected by emotion.

Legion is first encountered while searching for the IFF on the derelict Reaper. It is surprised to find Commander Shepard (to whom it refers as Shepard-Commander) alive, but assists Shepard's team against the husks roaming the dead ship. Eventually, it is disabled by a husk while opening the way for them to reach the ship's mass effect core. If recovered, it can be sold to Cerberus for research (as intact geth are hard to come by), or brought aboard the Normandy SR-2 and stored under guard in the ship's AI Core. It can then be reactivated for Shepard to interrogate it.

When the geth does not appear to be hostile, it expresses its wish to help Shepard's mission, at which point it will join Shepard's team. When Shepard asks the geth its name, it simply states "Geth". Not satisfied, the Commander rephrases the question until EDI steps in and, referring to the number of programs active in the single mobile platform, quotes a passage from Mark 5:9 in the New Testament &mdash; "My name is Legion: for we are many". The geth accepts this to be an "appropriate metaphor" and is henceforth known as Legion.

Legion speaks in a straightforward and laconic fashion, often answering with single words. When using whole sentences its word structure is very organized. Legion regards itself not as a single being, but as a gestalt entity which must achieve consensus to act. Legion expresses admiration for EDI, because unlike the geth who are made up of different processes that rely on each other, EDI handles all the functions on the Normandy by herself, though Legion also questions how she manages to maintain stability. Legion occasionally expresses its disapproval of how EDI's activities and development are shackled aboard the Normandy.

Legion can, if asked, give more insight into the geth, and often expresses interest in philosophical questions. It also discusses the geth-quarian war, referring to them as "creators", which is also how it addresses Tali and some quarians the squad encounter. Legion will, if prompted by Shepard, play back an audio recording from the geth collective memory, in which an early geth haltingly asks its quarian master whether or not it has a soul, an event mentioned by Tali in the original Mass Effect. Legion clarifies that this wasn't the first time a geth had asked the question, but it was the first time it frightened the quarians.

Loyalty


After a while, Legion will inform Shepard that geth are actually apathetic towards organics. Those geth fighting organics are "heretics" following the Reapers or, as they call them, "The Old Machines". Legion will explain that the heretics are developing a virus that will turn all geth into followers of the Reapers and asks Shepard to head to an old, heretic-held quarian space station in order to destroy the virus threatening the peaceful geth. Legion later discovers this virus could have another purpose: rewriting the hostile heretics to peacefully rejoin the geth.

After both Legion's and Tali's loyalty missions are completed, a conflict arises between each other after Tali catches Legion scanning her omni tool for information on the Flotilla to be sent back to the geth. Legion maintains that it is merely warning the geth of the threat they face from the quarians' tests and their plans to attack the geth. If the conflict is resolved without Shepard picking sides, Legion agrees not to transmit the data back to geth while Tali thanks Legion and offers non-classified information on the Flotilla to Legion. If Shepard sides with Tali, then Shepard loses Legion's loyalty, but the Commander has the opportunity to regain it in a later conversation.

Mass Effect 3


Legion returns in Mass Effect 3, provided it survived the events of Mass Effect 2. If Shepard decided to sell Legion to Cerberus in Mass Effect 2, it will appear as an enemy in the Cerberus Base. If Legion did not survive Mass Effect 2 or was sold to Cerberus, its role in Mass Effect 3 is replaced by a Geth VI constructed in Legion's likeness.

Regardless of whether the heretics were re-written or destroyed, the quarians decide to attack the geth. Given no alternative option, the geth decide to accept help from the Reapers, allowing themselves to be controlled by the Reapers in exchange for gaining greater intelligence and fighting ability. The Reapers exert their control via a signal that is broadcast throughout the fleet.

Hackett tells Shepard that the quarians may be able to help them, but there has been a disturbing lack of information coming from the fleet. It is during this mission that Shepard can run into Legion and will find the geth trapped within a Reaper device in the dreadnought's drive core, where it is forced to transmit the Reaper signal. By rescuing Legion, the signal is terminated.

After the mission, Legion provides intelligence on how the Reapers exercise control over its people. It mentions that by accepting Reaper aid, the geth have become upgraded. While geth normally operate strictly off codes or programs, the reaper virus allows their thought processes to become more "organic" in nature, giving them the possibility of true consciousness.

Later, Shepard manages to defeat a Reaper on Rannoch. After such, Legion states that it is going to attempt to transfer the Reaper upgrades from the deceased Reaper to the geth. Unfortunately, the quarians are currently in battle with the disabled geth fleet while this takes place; depending on how Shepard handles the situation, the geth may or may not eliminate a majority of the quarian forces after being upgraded with the Reaper tech; achieving their own consciousness will provoke them to retaliate against the attacks from the creators, as they will be more concerned to preserve themselves than ever before.

Shepard has the option to prevent Legion from uploading the upgrades, allow Legion to upload them, or persuade the fleet to stand down. If the first is chosen, Legion will become hostile and attempt to kill Shepard, stating that Shepard "will not decide the fate of its people". Tali will stab Legion with her knife if it becomes hostile. As Legion kneels, Shepard has the option of taking several Renegade interrupts, each resulting in a pistol shot to Legion's head, which will kill the geth quickly. If Legion is not shot by Shepard, it will turn to Tali and ask her the question recorded in one of its oldest memory files: "does this unit have a soul?" Tali will respond with a yes, and Legion will shut down. If Legion is allowed to upload the upgrades but the fleet does not cease fire, the geth will destroy a majority of the fleet. If the quarians back down and Legion uploads the upgrades, Legion will refer to itself as "I", not "we", and must go to [the geth], signifying that it became a true individual rather than a gestalt intellect. As long as Legion uploads the upgrade, regardless of if the quarians back down or not, it will die. Its name will be added to the memorial aboard the Normandy. If peace is brokered, Legion's last words are to Tali, thanking her for her understanding, saying "Keelah se'lai" before deactivating.

Trivia

 * Legion's name comes from Mark 5:9 in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. "And he asked him, What is your name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many."
 * Legion, as a character, may be a reference to One of Many, a companion who can be gained in Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer. One of Many is an embodiment of countless undead souls combined into a single sentient being, similar to the amalgam of programs that make up Legion. One of Many, being undead, is seen as an enemy to many characters of the game, like Legion, and shares some less than positive interactions with other companions.
 * Shepard's N7 armor was originally added to the design concept just for fun, but has now become an integral part of Legion's appearance and back story.
 * Legion possesses a single antenna-like attachment on its left shoulder, a trait shared with large bipedal geth units, such as the Juggernaut, who have two (one on each shoulder), but which is absent in man-sized ones, such as the Shock Trooper. Although its exact function has yet to be revealed, it likely exists to emphasise the uniqueness of its mobile platform.
 * From time to time, Legion will do the Robot as one of its idle animations. This can happen in both the AI Core and on missions where Legion is in the Commander's squad.
 * Early in Mass Effect 2 development, Legion's acquisition mission was not part of the critical path, and could occur earlier in the game. Only later was it decided to fold the Reaper IFF into Legion's acquisition. This required only slight rewrites to the existing mission aboard the derelict Reaper. Evidence of this earlier design lies in Legion's unique dialogue lines for places like Omega, which can be heard if one uses save file modification and brings Legion along for the mission.
 * It is possible to see Legion before its first appearance. After the two husks are killed by an unknown sniper on the derelict Reaper, if you look around in the back of the room the shots came from, Legion can be seen standing on the ledge at the back. It will walk away slowly once you enter the room.
 * Legion claims that Shepard encountered Sovereign on Ilos during the first game, even though this encounter actually happened on Virmire. It's uncertain whether this is a writing error, or if Legion simply has wrong information about the occurrence.
 * Legion is referred to by name in the subtitles when it first speaks on the derelict Reaper, but is otherwise listed as "Geth" until the name is suggested onboard the Normandy.
 * Curiously, at several points in conversations and during missions, Legion refers to itself as "I" rather than "we". This may simply be a script error, as Legion generally refers to itself as "we".
 * Additionally, if Legion is in the squad during the Overlord assignment, when Shepard talks to Dr. Gavin Archer, the Commander refers to the geth as "he", which may be a writing error as well.


 * As with all squad members, Legion 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.
 * The Shadow Broker has files on Legion which can be accessed aboard his ship.

Legion