Bringing Commander Shepard Back To Mass Effect Would Be A Mistake

Does anyone else get those post-N7-day blues? It’s a bit like having something you love thrust violently back into your mind after finally healing, only to have it ripped away again after remembering its existence. This is the reality for many Mass Effect fans, who only receive a morsel of information about the series every year, just enough to reignite their interest but not enough to keep them satiated.

It’s been especially bleak in recent years, as BioWare is wholly focused on developing Dragon Age Dreadwolf, not to mention dealing with the studio’s ongoing internal issues. N7 Day 2023 was more substantial than usual, giving us a teaser trailer and potentially a name for the next game, Epsilon. However, among all the excitement and speculation, an insidious idea began doing the rounds on social media.

Time To Put The Past Away

It’s the classic suggestion that everyone’s favourite dancing spectre, Commander Shepard, should return to the series in its upcoming instalment. Strangely, a lot of this discourse was actually sparked by the teaser trailer, which depicts a non-Sheperd-looking humanoid in N7 armour.

The theories range from Shepard’s consciousness uploaded to a virtual intelligence with a synthetic body to Shepard somehow surviving the events of the trilogy. We know from 2020’s trailer that a visibly aged Liara T’Soni will appear in the next game and that Asari live over 1,000 years, so Shepard would have to have somehow survived centuries to appear in Mass Effect Epsilon.

I understand why people have gravitated to Shepard. Liara unearths a piece of N7 armour, and N7 is prominent again in the new teaser. It’s a symbol that is easily identifiable with Shepard. However, based on the shape of the person in the new teaser and this retweet from Liara’s voice actress, Ali Hillis, the individual from the trailer could be Liara, or it could just be a generic N7 operative. Why the fan-favourite Asari is choosing to identify with Shepard and N7 remains to be seen.

However, just in case there’s a world where BioWare is considering re-involving the Commander in the universe, and for the hopefuls, I’m going to lay out my case against this decision. Firstly, Shepard’s story had a beginning, a middle, and a conclusion. Shepard saved the Galaxy from the Reapers; this was his primary objective and the driving force of the entire trilogy. It would cheapen Shepard’s entire journey if he was called into action once more. It’s also wholly unnecessary.

It’s A Great, Big Universe

Following this, if Shepard were once again involved in saving the Galaxy, it would make this expansive, sprawling universe feel very small. This is a gripe I’ve had with Star Wars in recent years; a Skywalker or a Solo is at the centre of every galactic conflict despite there supposedly being one hundred quadrillion sentient beings running around. Shepard showing up to save the world again hundreds of years later is a complete cop-out.

Mass Effect doesn’t need to fall into this trap, and thankfully, there are several other characters (like Liara) that can act as anchors to the past trilogy while ushering in new stories and characters. This is likely exactly what BioWare is doing. It’s also something that Mass Effect: Andromeda failed to do.

While Andromeda adopted the approach of introducing an entirely new cast, this may have been too brave a decision. While the game certainly had other issues, Ryder’s story wasn’t as compelling as Shepard’s, and their friends weren’t nearly as interesting as the menagerie that Shep accumulated over the years. In my opinion, this is one of the reasons that Andromeda failed to attract the same plaudits as its predecessors—the narrative strength just wasn’t there.

Mass Effect 5 is on the right track. BioWare is choosing to build around Liara, a character that believably connects the old Mass Effect with the new. She may not be the player character, but she’s certainly going to have an important role going forward. Shepard is gone, and there’s no need to continue speculating on his fate. The Commander will live forever in my memory, but I don’t want to see an appearance in the next game.