User blog comment:The Milkman/The Writing of the Ending/@comment-30764484-20120605044952/@comment-30764484-20120605081557

It's not a chance, if you've payed attention to the narrative and the themes from the beginning, you'd expect the Reapers to try to indoctrinate Shepard, and you'd also know that the only true choice is destroy. The "It was all a dream" doesn't apply here as it's already established that Reapers like to try to increase their influence while the mind is vulnerable, like while sleeping or unconscious.

Also, "it was all a dream" implies it was like fan fic, nothing happened in reality, when in IT it WAS happening, it was a battle within Shepard's mind. It's more like The Matrix, where things that happen affect the real world. On that note, it's almost exaclty like the Geth Consensus mission, where you're in a something where the surroundings are created from your memories. IT isn't the same as you dreaming in real life, it's more like you playing a video game in real life.

If you truely believe that you can control the Reapers or that you can combine all life into some magical happiness, then you're agreeing with the Reapers. That's exactly what indoctrination is, it's not mind control, it's you choosing to agree with the Reapers.