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“But I want you to know something: my lovers spent their last moments experiencing a pleasure you can't imagine.”

Morinth is an Ardat-Yakshi, an asari suffering from a rare genetic disorder which causes her to kill her mates while joining minds with them. In turn she becomes smarter, more powerful, and deadlier after each coupling. She has spent centuries as a fugitive from asari justice, surviving by her wits and cunning. Her powerful biotic abilities, and talent for dominating the minds of others, have kept her alive despite the odds.

Background[]

Morinth was born sometime in the 1700s, and was one of Samara's three daughters. At the age of forty, Morinth, like her other two sisters, was discovered to be an Ardat-Yakshi, and was offered the choice of either a life spent in comfortable seclusion, or execution. Addicted to the process of melding, Morinth chose to run, prompting Samara in turn to become a justicar and hunt her down.

For 400 years, Samara chased Morinth across asari space, as Morinth became more and more addicted to the rush she got from killing her mates. On one planet, Morinth corrupted an entire village and convinced them to worship her. The villagers offered their daughters to her as sacrifices. When Samara arrived, Morinth ordered her worshipers to attack Samara in waves to cover her escape. By the time Samara had killed the worshippers, Morinth had fled and only the youngest children of the village were left alive.

Morinth appears to have gone by the name 'Mirala' when she initially fled, being referred to as such by her mother and sisters.

Mass Effect 2[]

For her gameplay attributes in Mass Effect 2, see Squad Members Guide (Mass Effect 2)#Samara/Morinth.
Morinth frequently haunts loud, pulsing clubs in search of standout individuals

Morinth eventually left asari space and traveled to Illium, but her mother continued to pursue her. Morinth contacts the Eclipse mercenary band, and persuades them to help her escape off-world aboard the AML Demeter. She eventually arrives on Omega, believing she had earned a reprieve. While she's there, Morinth meets a young sculptor, Nef, whom Morinth found irresistible due to her artistic talents. She seduces and murders Nef, not realizing that Samara had picked up her trail with the help of Commander Shepard.

Samara enlists Shepard's assistance to corner and kill her wayward daughter. Morinth is known to be a cagey soul; direct confrontation is useless as she's likely to have a hundred escape routes planned beforehand. Subtlety must be employed, so Samara and Shepard investigate Nef's death on Omega and put together a daring plan: Shepard would act as bait for Morinth, pretend to be seduced by her and go back to Morinth's apartment. Samara would track them there, and finish Morinth off.

Morinth sees Shepard in the VIP section of the Afterlife Club, her usual hunting grounds. Shepard's actions attract and excite her, and Morinth invites the Commander to join her at her table. Seemingly finding someone who shares her interests, she decides she wants this person to her own and invites Shepard back to her apartment.

Morinth tries to seduce Shepard when the Commander gets their bearings, only to find Samara enter the room. Mother and daughter battle biotically; both seem evenly matched in power. Morinth sees her chance and asks Shepard to help her kill Samara, claiming she's just as powerful as her mother and could serve Shepard's cause.

Morinth defends herself against her mother

Shepard then has a choice to kill either Samara or Morinth if the Commander resisted Morinth's ensnaring seductions. If Samara is killed, Morinth then replaces her mother on Shepard's team. Their strong family resemblance (helped along with Morinth's skill in mimicking her mother) means only a few people aboard the Normandy SR-2 may notice something amiss.

If Morinth has replaced Samara, Kelly Chambers and Kasumi Goto (if she's around) notice a change in her behavior, suggesting that her impersonation of her mother isn't perfect. Kasumi will mention her by name after completion of the suicide mission, urging Shepard not to be enticed by her, as the Commander will die.

Aboard the Normandy, Morinth proves to be technologically adept enough to disable EDI's surveillance of Samara's former quarters in the Port Observation Lounge. She freely lapses into her own voice in the privacy of her claimed quarters.

Morinth resents Samara's upbringing. Her mother tried to instill conventional asari values, but Morinth claims she did her duty with precision and care but not love. She rejects Samara's lessons of self-denial, because when everyone eventually dies one might as well take the pleasures offered and given.

Loyalty[]

Ending the Collector threat isn't a suicide mission. Take a seat next to Morinth for the real deal.

Shepard automatically earns Morinth's loyalty should they assist her instead of Samara in the duel between her and her mother during Samara's loyalty mission.

Romance[]

If Shepard talks to Morinth on the ship, she claims her partners experienced pleasure far beyond that of a normal melding, and expresses her desire to mate with the Commander, as Shepard is unlike any other person she has had before. She even suggests that Shepard is too strong-willed to die if the Commander joins with her and proposes that after they complete their mission that they should celebrate by doing so. If they both survive the suicide mission, Shepard can choose to mate with her as promised; however, Morinth's claims prove to be incorrect and Shepard painfully dies during joining.


Mass Effect 3[]

If Morinth survived the suicide mission, then when Shepard returns to the Normandy after visiting the Council for the first time after leaving Earth, Morinth will send the following e-mail:

A belated goodbye


From: Morinth

Hello, Shepard:

Glad to hear you're alive after that attack on Earth--not that I'm surprised. I'd apologize for slipping off the Normandy without saying goodbye, but we both know the Alliance wouldn't take too kindly to my presence there. I probably needed to stretch my legs in a new city, anyway. Since you're back with the Alliance, it's probably best not to tell you which one.

I'm still grateful you took a chance on me. Take care of yourself. I'd hate to hear you were killed before we get the chance to meet up again.

Morinth

Liara's Shadow Broker terminal may also give access to a series of e-mails Morinth sent to her sisters Rila and Falere, the last of which was signed under her Mirala identity. According to the terminal, they were deleted unread.

If Shepard visits the Ardat-Yakshi Monastery on Lesuss, in one of the computer terminals in the complex it is revealed that Morinth's emails to her sisters were caught in the extranet filters and the incumbent Superintendent Jethra deleted those before Rila and Falere had a chance of reading them. This fact confirms Morinth's attempts to communicate with the last of her family.

Big Morinth near Big Ben, enslaved to the Reapers after a lifetime of enslaving others

Morinth can appear during the assault on Earth as a Banshee, an Ardat-Yakshi that has been repurposed by the Reapers, after Shepard destroys the Hades Cannon shooting down most of the incoming Hammer forces. In combat Morinth behaves like any other Banshee, without any special properties.

Trivia[]

  • Morinth's face, identical to Samara's, is based on American model Rana McAnear, who often cosplays as either character.
  • Morinth has a couple of developer oversights associated with her character.
    • Morinth's description in the Squad Selection screen mistakenly lists her as being trained with Heavy Pistols instead of Assault Rifles.
    • Leveling her "Ardat Yakshi" ability to rank 4 causes both the heading and description of levels 1-3 of the ability to change back to Samara's "Asari Justicar" ability. The description, but not the heading, of the overall ability also reverts to that of the Justicar. The only thing not affected by this is the description of the level 4 ability itself. This occurs regardless of which evolution is selected.
    • Towards the end of the suicide mission, if Morinth is left to hold the line while Shepard goes to fight the Human Reaper Larva, subtitles will incorrectly identify Morinth as Samara if she is the one to answer when Shepard radios back to check the status of the second team.
    • A similar oversight occurs during the Lair of the Shadow Broker mission pack. When prompted to select a teammate to accompany Shepard and Liara immediately prior to the sky cab chase sequence, Morinth is labelled as Samara.
  • While part of the squad, Morinth normally mimics Samara's voice outside of her quarters on the Normandy. She has only one unique dialogue instance where she speaks in her true voice, and the only squadmates who respond to her aren't surprised by the change in "Samara's" voice.
  • Sometimes on the Normandy SR-2 Morinth will wear her original black costume instead of Samara's costume.
  • The game draws numerous parallels between Ardat-Yakshi and vampires. Both are connected with or described as "demons", both drain their victims of life, and both are known for seducing their victims. Many vampire stories refer to entire villages being held in thrall, similar to the story of Morinth setting herself up as a goddess and worshipped by an entire village. The name of the vessel that transported Morinth off of Illium is the "Demeter," the name of the ship that carried Dracula to England.
  • In addition to voicing Morinth, Natalia Cigliuti also voices Sigrun in BioWare's Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening.

See also[]

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