User blog comment:The Milkman/The Writing of the Ending/@comment-24174486-20120726200543

This is a very long response, but it needs to be said.

"A Plot Like Swiss Cheese"

"There is only one bridge leading to the control panel. How then, did Anderson, the third and last person to enter get there first, despite the fact he followed Shepard from behind? How did the Illusive Man, who was the first to the Citadel out of the three, get there last?"

Mass effect transportation technology is stated to be inaccurate—two ships can go through the same mass relay and end up thousands of miles apart.

"Why is Joker running from the fight? Why would my best friend cut and run like a coward at the last minute?"

Joker is trying to escape the blast from the Crucible's activation. As the ending shows, the Normandy doesn't escape in time and is damaged.

"How did Joker manage to extract my entire squad, but not me?"

The Normandy may have landed before Shepard regained consciousness, the squadmates may have been incapacitated and picked up after you went to the Citadel.

"The Normandy is seen trying to escape an explosion, but we don't see the rest of the fleet. Since this explosion causes the Normandy to crash, wouldn't it have the same effect on the rest of the fleet?"

The remainder of the fleet may have managed to escape in time; some may have been damage by the Crucible, but we don't see if that does or doesn't happen.

"Since the Mass Relays are destroyed in every ending, it's probably safe to assume that everyone is now stranded in the Sol System, a solar system with eight planets. Out of that eight, the only planet that has an actual atmosphere capable of supporting life was just decimated by aliens. The fact that some people have to ask BioWare whether or not everyone starves to death in the end speaks for itself."

This is why I've invented the Inanimate Space Rock Brigade: people who believe that spaceships are incapable of movement without mass relays and that they would not have any supplies stored on them. While travel would certainly take longer without the mass relays, it would not be impossible and there would be supplies that may last them until they find somewhere where they can get more.

"What happened to the Citadel? How was it moved? Did they even put up a fight? Weren't there defences? The last time a Reaper tried gaining control of the Citadel, an intense battle ensued."

It was captured by overwhelming forces. Some of the War Assets are the Citadel defenders; their contribution can be seen as how much damage they do before they are ultimately defeated.

"The Catalyst states that no matter what I do, I will die. He clearly explains that because I am partly synthetic, I will die if the destroy option is taken. Despite this, it is possible to survive if your war assets are high enough. Don't ask me how these things are related, but does this mean that this god child was lying, or is it ignorant?"

It means that the Catalyst is fallible. That does not make the ending bad in any way.

"As a matter of fact, how does Shepard even know that shooting said doohickey will destroy the Reapers? The Catalyst never mentioned it, and shooting machines tend to break them, not turn them on."

Shepard sees a vision of Anderson shooting the part that activates Destroy. The Catalyst may have induced the vision in Shepard's mind to demonstrate.

"Are synthetics partly organic now?"

In Synthesis, yes. That's how the Catalyst describes Synthesis...

"How does the beam of light sent out from the Citadel destroy everything in the Milky Way?"

It doesn't if you have enough War Assets; in other words, if you had enough people working on the Crucible to ensure its proper activation and enough people defending it to ensure that it wouldn't suffer too much damage.

"How does Shepard's armour and weapons get disintegrated, but not the pistol?"

The pistol Shepard picks up is not their own pistol but a Carnifex they find nearby. It may have been dropped after Shepard was hit by Harbinger.

"In order to send down the beam to the Citadel, there must be a hole in the station. Upon closer inspection, one can see that even with the arms closed, the station still has a very large hole. Instead of bum-rushing a Reaper from the ground, would it not be easier to simply fly in whilst the beam is turned off?"

That's assuming that it would be that simple to fly a ship that close to the Crucible during a massive battle like the one that happens.

"In the Arrival DLC, it is established that destroying a Mass Relay creates a supernova explosion capable of destroying a solar system. Is this explosion different?"

Arrival establishes that smashing an asteroid into a mass relay would cause a massive explosion. I think it's safe to say that the activation of the Crucible is not the same thing as smashing an asteroid into every mass relay.

"Why didn't we use the Conduit on Ilos to get onto the Citadel? Did everyone suddenly forget the MacGuffin from the first game? Because I don't remember even hearing about it after the first Mass Effect."

It's mentioned in ME2 that the Conduit deactivated after the battle at the Citadel, along with Vigil.

"A Very Literal Deus Ex Machina"

False on both meanings of the term. The Catalyst is certainly not a god; while it is an ancient being, that alone does not constitute referring to it as a god. Likewise, the Catalyst simply instructs you on how to use the device you've been building up for the entirety of the game. Only Synthesis is introduced in the ending; Destroy is the seemingly-obvious choice and the possibility of controlling the Reapers is alluded to several times in the game. The Catalyst doesn't solve the conflict; it assists Shepard in doing so.

"Conflict of Interest"

The fear of synthetics wiping out organics is the reason the Catalyst was created. The Catalyst explains each of your choices in the frame of its "problem" because it is programmed to focus on its problem. While Shepard's focus is on stopping the Reapers, the Catalyst's focus is on stopping synthetics and organics from warring. It is acting on its sole purpose for existing, hoping that Shepard will make the choice that it feels is the best solution.

"The Human Element"

Before Shepard dies, you're presented with images of countless characters throughout the series, characters who died and characters who lived. Before the final ten minutes, on Earth, you're given the chance to talk with many of your old friends. Simply because that doesn't happen at the very end of the story doesn't mean that it never does. You're reminded in the final mission who you're fighting for.