Talk:Commander Shepard

"has the same name as the Stargate Atlantis[1] character of the same name" is that even a proper sentence?

I put "probably" 29 because we don't know Commander Shepard's birthday or the month in which Mass Effect begins. He could technically be thirty.

Or she, don't forget. : ) I suppose FTL and mass relay travel makes Earth dates sort of obsolete, but - Damn, my curiosity got the better of me... let's see. During Mass Effect, it's Armistice Day (Ash mentions that it's unlucky for them to be fighting on Feros because of the anniversary, and Terra Firma is having their little flag waving protest to mark it). Taking a look at my copy of Revelation, the initial attack on Shanxi coincided with Grissom going to meet the graduating class from the Arcturus Academy. Given the Alliance's adherence to tradition, they probably have their recruits graduate according to the schedule of the older military academies back on Earth. West Point graduates in May, Sandhurst in September. As Bioware is over the Atlantic they'd likely take West Point's schedule. The First Contact War lasted two months, so Armistice Day would likely be some time in... July or September. --All speculation of course, but still, fun to try and work it out. : ) -- Tullis 13:10, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Shepard's 30th birthday wouldn't happen until 2184. Shepard could still be 28, though, especially if this "4.11.2154" business refers to November 4th. ShepardWhyThisJubilee 22:16, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

Commander Shepard is the first human given the opportunity to join the Spectres

actually,you later find out in the stroy that Cpt. Anderson also had an opportunity to join them...so it should be change to something like "the first human to actually join the spectres",not just the opportunity

Where'd the LTC rank come from? Granted, Lieutenant Commanders are generally just called Commander, but I never saw any evidence that Shepard was a Lt. Commander and not a full Commander. Didn't edit it in case there's something I missed-just wanted to point that out.

In the Codex entry about the Prothean Beacon after Eden Prime, the sentence states that it affected 'Lt. Commander Shepard'. And I think the first Journal entry that gives you some background says you are Lt. Commander Shepard, XO aboard the Normandy. --Tullis 08:23, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Image Issues

So there have been some issues with images on this page. Someone keeps putting a picture up and myself and one other editor keep removing it. I can't speak for anyone else, but it's my belief that since Commander Shepard's gender is not set in stone, we either need images of the default male AND female Shepard, or no pictures at all. SpartHawg948 19:38, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

Images of Shepard

As I mention in the Talk:Screenshots page, I feel that we should avoid having specific images of Shepard where possible. There is no canon for Shepard being male or female, and the commander's appearance and backstory are uniquely customised for each player - having a 'default' Shepard for players to jump right in doesn't change that. That's why I've removed the image from this page. --Tullis 19:41, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

I couldn't agree more! SpartHawg948 19:42, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

"Sorry about that, at first I thought it was not updated properly. Still I am not agreeing with your comment on ‘default’ Shepard. After all it is the standard Shepard for this game and Mass Effect 2."- Snfonseka

We don't know that this is the Shepard for Mass Effect 2. And this is not the 'standard' Shepard either, just a representative one. --Tullis 20:36, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

And for that matter this Shepard is only the "current" standard. The origional "standard Shepard" (the one pictured in the Wiki logo on the top left of the page) looked a good deal different from the current "standard". SpartHawg948 20:45, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

Speaking of, I'd really like to get that changed. Maybe something like the Mass Relay image or the Earth shot from the opening screen, or even that 'uncharted worlds' picture with the Mass Effect logo on. Volunteers? --Tullis 21:28, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

Yea. I agree with Tullis. That logo should be change to something new. - Snfonseka

I disagree about the "no pictures" policy. The default male Shepard is, after all, on the cover of the box! And in all the official screenshots that have Shepard in them. Thus, a picture of the default male and female Shepards is a good idea, IMO. I have a good picture of the default male—I'll see if I can get one of the female. As long as the caption for the image says that it is the default appearance of Shepard rather than the only appearance of him/her, that should be more than adequate. RobertM525 18:08, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

I would still prefer not to have a picture at all rather than have to have a long caption explaining this. --Tullis 18:25, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

The caption isn't long. I've just added it. I do not understand what would be objectionable about it. Especially since the article takes a considerable amount of time explaining the fact that Shepard's appearance can be changed. And, look, I don't use the default Shepard, either. I don't like what he looks like. But that's still the Shepard that's depicted by Bioware as what the player character looks like in the game. You can change it, but that's the semi-canon appearance of Shepard. Thus, it's worth having in the article. RobertM525 18:31, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

Shouldn't we change this?

I think since Mass Effect has it's own story we should make this article about the default main character: Commander John Shepard, he is on the cover of the game and is (as previously mentioned) the default leading character. Jon-117 03:07, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

The hero of Mass Effect is Commander Shepard. Whether Shepard is male or female, what Shepard looks like and how Shepard acts is up to the individual player. Default is not the same as canon. Locking Shepard or the story down to an absolute canon defeats the object of having so much player choice in-game in the first place. And, as everyone's Shepard is different, saying the main character is John Shepard will be inaccurate for the vast majority of players. If nothing else, a wiki should be as accurate as possible. That's why the guideline for this wiki is to write Shepard as gender-neutral. --Tullis 05:10, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

So what if a book comes out based on the game and John Shepard is the main character, what happens then? Jon-117 00:09, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

Drew Karpyshyn says: "I’ve done my best to manage expectations and make sure everyone understands that the adventures of Commander Shepard will NEVER be in one of my novels… YOU get to choose Shepard’s course in the game – that’s YOUR story. The novels are meant to expand and broaden the Mass Effect universe by telling a different story, so they will never simply recount events in the game." He's currently the only person who's writing ME novels. -- Karpyshyn blog, August 18 2008. --Tullis 00:35, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

Title of the article.

Is it really appropriate that the title of this article be "Commander Shepard"? Article titles typically use only a person's actual name, and don't include military ranks. I think that the title should be changed to just "Shepard". Thoughts? --Randy1012 09:48, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

'Shepard' redirects here already. Interesting question. I don't know - Shepard is referred to both by military rank and surname throughout the game. Being a commander seems to be quite a large part of Shepard's identity, I wouldn't say it was inappropriate to use that rank. Besides Shepard's in a unique position so far as first names are concerned. : )

True, people use the term "Commander" to occasionally identify Shepard, but it's not his name. The article for Anderson isn't titled "Captain David Anderson," for example. --Randy1012 14:08, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

I guess if Shepard ever gets promoted, this article should switch to just 'Shepard' for accuracy, but I don't have a problem with it being 'Commander Shepard'. I could be in the minority though. Hmm. What do others think? --Tullis 13:37, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

It's really not a huge deal (this is a video game wiki, after all), but my main reasoning for the question is just that: accuracy. Including a character's military rank isn't appropriate. It's the same with, for example, Admiral Hackett--his name is Steven, so his article title should simply be "Steven Hackett." --Randy1012 14:08, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Actually, then it becomes a problem with the search bar. Most players only know him as 'Admiral Hackett', so if we switch it to 'Steven Hackett' they won't find the article if they search for him as 'Admiral Hackett' unless we create a redirect, which seems unnecessary. Although, I suppose we do have Donnel Udina as an article, and he's only named on the ME 'movie poster'. : ) What do other users think? Do we want to create redirects and give people their full names, or are we happy to use rank in the case of characters whose first names are never or very rarely used? --Tullis 15:08, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

You beat me to it :)...

The article naming should be according to the in-game references. I did not know (or more acuratly, didn't bother to know) that Hackett first name is Steven. If I were to search for that article, I would search for "Admiral Hackett" and not "Steven Hackett". There is also "The Asari Consort" and "Commander Rentola", and various others.

Fair enough, though I think that "Admiral Hackett" should redirect to "Steven Hackett," as Tullis mentioned. "The Asari Consort" redirects to Sha'ira, as it should. "Commander Rentola" should also just redirect to "Rentola," as that is the character's name (well, not including all the other parts that make up salarian names). --Randy1012 00:25, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

Well, if we're gonna do this thing -- volunteers to create the Rannadril Ghan Swa Fulsoom Karaten Narr Eadi Bel Anoleis page? Anyone? : ) --Tullis 00:45, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

To do a standardization of the article names, we could do something like: "Shepard, Commander" or "Hackett, Steven (Admiral)", or any other naming convention along those lines. Then we could reference the current names to the new pages. --silverstrike 15:17, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

To Randy1012 re: the General Williams article: No, I don't like the way this looks. Why on earth do 'Williams (General)' when we know exactly whom 'General Williams' refers to? Also, it creates unnecessary complication for new editors who may not know this convention. Changing.

I genuinely don't understand why you consider it 'inappropriate' to refer to military personnel by their rank. Coming from a military family, the opposite is usually true. --Tullis 13:44, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

I come from a military family myself, but I was thinking more about how an entry in a real encyclopedia would be presented. If you turned to a page about, I don't know, Douglas MacArthur, it would be titled "Douglas MacArthur," not "General MacArthur" or "General Douglas MacArthur." Adding "General" in parentheses after "Williams" was only to differentiate him from any other Williams in the ME wiki (including Ashley and anyone else that might get added in the future). Not to mention that it screws up the categories--they're supposed to list articles in alphabetical order, but instead of going by the characters' names, their ranks are used instead. But, like I said on the General Williams discussion page, if that's the format you've all chosen to use here, who am I to argue? I'm just glad I was at least able to bring up some interesting discussion about the subject. :-) --Randy1012 18:06, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

I didn't moved the article - that was just an idea I had following Randy's complaints... I also think that the current naming is fine - you always refer to the character title and rank and not the full name (even in real life).

Military names and rank should be written as: "[rank] [last name] [first name]", or non military: "Dr. something someone", "Asari Consort". --silverstrike 14:11, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

I apologise, that comment was actually not directed to you. Clarified. But then are we looking at articles for 'Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams' when we know her as 'Ashley Williams'? It seems unnecessarily complicated. Liara would be fine, as she's often referred to as 'Dr. T'Soni'. Maybe there should be an exception for squadmates. --Tullis 14:15, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

I think that character names should be written as they are in-game. That is what visitors will look for - we could add at the top of the article the "correct" reference (Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams) to be accurate, but we should leave the article names as they are. --silverstrike 14:25, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

There are also ranks and titles for characters that are not mentioned, for example: does Liara T'Soni's title should be "Asari Scientist Liara T'soni"? or should Tali be referenced as "Quarian Mechanist Tali'Zorah nar Rayya"?, and so on... --silverstrike 14:30, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

They are never, ever referred to as such in-game, and it makes no difference to their character. 'Turian Agent' is a class, not a rank. So no. The first paragraph of each squadmate's article says what class they are anyway. : )

But yeah, I'll add the character's rank to the first line of their pages (for Kaidan and Ashley, anyway) as it is on Liara's page. The aliens don't have ranks, except in Liara's case, and it's already established on her page as mentioned. --Tullis 15:07, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

EDIT: (Whoops! Ash's is already done. I'll fix Kaidan's. : ) ) --Tullis 15:08, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

Mass Effect 2

As of now anything seen or speculated for the teaser trailer (which often have little connection to the plot of the game it is for) is just that... speculation. At this time it does not belong on this page as it is not a fact.

So for those posting that information... please do not. Zerodark9 22:05, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

I suppose I should leave the Mass Effect 2 heading off this page, then, as people keep deleting it along with the speculation. :) --Tullis 22:15, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

Sheps Birthday

Since I can't be bothered checking the ME codex, is there an in-game date for Sheps birthday? The only one I can recall seeing is the date in the ME2 teaser trailer which says the 4th of November (4.11.2154). Yes, I know Americans are going to scream 'but thats the 11th of April!' but since we're talking about a unified Earth military, it's pretty safe to assume they would have adopted the international date system which is day/month/year. --59.100.179.191 03:12, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

It confused me too (I hate that backwards dating). I've reverted it back -- it's also on the timeline as being April 11th -- but for simplicity's sake I'll put it on Shepard's page in numerical form so people can interpret it as they want. :) --Tullis 12:33, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Actually If they were using the international standard, dates would be in the format of YYYY-MM-DD. Molon 17:11, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Today is 01-JUL-09

no confusion there, how I always write my date:/

On the biotics talk page, there's a timeline (that apparently comes from the dev team's timeline doc) of when Kaidan and (biotic) Shepard had various biotic things happen to them (when Shepard was detected as a biotic, &c.) – but Kaidan's age at the time of each event seems like it should be one more:

2168 - Shepard, 14 years old, received secondary exposure to element zero. Permanent biotic inclination manifests.

2169 - Kaidan, 17 years old, accidentally kills trainer after being provoked. Diplomatic incident forces closure of BAaT training. Kaidan refuses further training.

This seems to support Kaidan's birthday being in, like, December or something (so that calendar year - his birth year = his age for only a few days each year), and Shepard's being earlier in the year (since s/he *is* the "expected" age in each of those calendar years, at least according to that document, and if Shepard was born in April this has a much higher probability of working out than if s/he was born in November), making Kaidan somewhat less than three whole years older than Shepard. Do we know when Kaidan's birthday is – or anyone else's besides Shepard's (such as it is), for that matter? For one thing, we'd know what date convention they were using if some character turned out to be born on, say, the 20th of a month… ShepardWhyThisJubilee 06:43, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

We have an exact date for Ashley's birthday, but that's about the only one we have. --Tullis 22:26, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

To revisit this again, has anybody figured out a definitive answer as to whether it's the 4th of November or the 11th of April - or if it is indeed deliberately ambiguous? If it's unknown, maybe a note could be added to that effect. --vom 09:46, November 13, 2009 (UTC)

We don't have a definite answer, we just have the definitive date that was given, so we're leaving it at that. --Tullis 15:18, November 13, 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, at least I know now! Anybody fancy adding a footnote to that effect? I'd volunteer, but my Wiki code is so rusty that I'd probably do something nasty to the page if I attempted it myself... --vom 21:21, November 13, 2009 (UTC)

I'm not... sure what we can add as a footnote. That's the date we were given. We left it in the format that was in the teaser to try and avoid dispute. Adding footnotes saying is could be April or November seems a little redundant. : ) --Tullis 21:28, November 13, 2009 (UTC)

About Shepard being dead

http://blogs.ign.com/BW_MassEffect/2009/04/30/119240/

A Bioware dev said he "better not be dead" saracasticly. I take it as he meant he isn't dead.

Fedarated AK74-u 15:57, 3 May 2009 (UTC)

Cloned

Is it possoble that if shepard were to die in M E 2 they could clone shepard at the begining of M E 3.

Resemblance

Just want to make one point clear. In the past few days I have seen multiple instances of people inserting their opinions that a character resembles someone else (and actor, a character in another game, etc) as trivia. This is not trivia, it is personal opinion. For example, other than the fact that they both have short hair, I see no resemblance between Commander Shepherd and John Forge of Halo Wars, as their facial structures are substantially different. Please remember that these are factual articles. Personal opinions do not belong. Put them on your personal pages. SpartHawg948 11:00, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

Mass Effect 2 Class

If you were a soldier in Mass Effect, will you have to make a different Shepard in ME2 or will you be able to change your class?--TheEverAlertAndSilentStep 22:52, November 13, 2009 (UTC)

Pretty sure you'll be able to change your class if you so choose. SpartHawg948 02:03, November 14, 2009 (UTC)

Developers have said you will have to option to change your class, since things are being changed up quite a bit and you may not want to stick with the same class. JakePT 02:52, November 14, 2009 (UTC)