Anyone notice that the races the benefactor used? Because I only remember krogen, turian, asari, human, and salarian. In ME3 you can get a picture of Tali so you know what a quarian looks like. I don't believe they ever showed what a volus looks like. But either way, why weren't their appearances used? And it sounded like to me that the benefactor used Jean garsons voice (I can't remember how to spell her name). Why use her voice when your already masking you face. So He/She/It is not the council, can't be the illusive man because why would he help the others build arks, it wasn't any of the races in Mass effect 3 government because no one believes Shepard. All that leaves is a unmentioned (or I didn't notice) organization, the brain race that was in Mass effect one, and the geth. Any thoughts? Or holes to poke?

@VladVonCastein wrote: I was also hoping for some Asari Matriarch or Salarian STG head to be the benefactor... I'm betting it's the Geth, myself. They'd be very interested in A.I. research (and not biased against it, of course). They have the resources to fund building five Arks and the Nexus itself. They have/had access to Reaper technology (like the OSDY drive that just happens to work very similarly to the Reapers FTL drive.) They are shown to not be genocidal to a fanatical degree (and even tried to save the very few Quarian pro-Geth supporters on Roanok(SP?) while still being casually ruthless enough to kill someone figuring them out. The fact that the Benefactor had a "legion" of faces and the name Andromeda Initiative could be subtle hints. They could have been active the whole trip over, preparing to move in the background with their own stealth ships upon arrival.

Could the Benefactor be a group of people rather than one? Like a council of some kind.

@VladVonCastein wrote: @CasperTheLich wrote: @Nykara360 assuming that the message is from the same benefactor, the note itself says so. LoL I was thinking about that too, wondering if it is perhaps someone who did the sender of the note a favour and it's a generic benefactor rather than The Benefactor... But I think not... Though I dont think too highly of the current batch of MEA writers, I dont think they are this lame lol. Actually, given that the note (found in a Kett Exultation base) references Eos, it is probably referring to the Kett boss there. When you find some of his recordings it turns out that he's basically trying to set up a coup and take over from Archon. This being the case, ensuring the loyalty of some of his supporters by getting them promoted into one of the major Kett production facilities where they can influence the loyalty of the new troops just makes sense. In addition the benefactor reference makes sense based on his recruitment material As for Initiative Benefactor speculations, they don't have to be there in person just yet if they have 1 or more loyal agents laying the groundwork. In fact, they might consider it a good idea to wait to arrive until a foothold was established. Or until the whole thing was coming apart at the seams and they could show up as heroes and save the day... Holy *! Just had a thought. I know that at least for a while there was speculation that Cora was TIM's daughter, and possibly the most powerful human biotic (which would explain so much about Jack and the whole Subject Zero project). She is the officially designated successor to the Human Pathfinder, attached to the only cryo-transport that made it to Andromeda with only minor cosmetic damage essentially (including the Nexus), and Alec Ryder (like Jian Garson) was probably not going to survive entry to Andromeda anyway, possibly why his hugely underqualified kids made pathfinder team. TIM knows that the Reapers are coming and loves both his daughter and redundant backup plans, thus he moves to get her and a good chunk of humanity out of the way in case his war with the Reapers fails. The mission is planned so that humanity will come out of first contact with Andromeda as top dog, all the other races having become weakened and desperate, and Cora nominally running the show, having saved the day for everyone. This becomes more reasonable if it is assumed that the scourge was a known factor pre-launch, so it could be used to cripple the other vessels and cause strategic damage and casualties. If you know that a certain part of the Nexus is going to get taken out it makes it easier to hide the fact that you removed most of the elite ships, personnel, and gear that all conveniently happened to be stored there, leaving just enough for the human pathfinder's use. And, if all else fails, the Benefactor now has a secret, well-stocked base of operations and several elite stealth vessels to fall back on.

@ViViD_Prime wrote: it will turn out the jack harper we killed was just a fake and the real one is in cryo 😉 and the whole thing is a cerberus plot to rule the andromeda galaxy i think that thought just made me throw-up a little.

I should also point out that the museum on aya has a knife on display that was crafted just after the angara were hit by the scourge, it states that said knife is 400 hundred years old.From a few sources, we know or can at least conclude that the jardaan were forced to flee from the cluster after the scourge was deployed. They wouldn't stick around to continue building after that. The structures on hab7 were only 3-400 years old. That's just one timeline issue.

Benefactor (contains spoilers) | EA Forums

108 Replies

fudgietroll
9 years ago
We really need to take all the Benefactor threads and string them all together. If someone could do that it would be awesome.
VladVonCastein
9 years ago
I had 4 replies on 4 different threads... My opinion((you can have yours and you dont have to criticise mine):

1) has to be someone currently in Andromeda. so it will not be not TIM, not the citadel council, not the shadow broker, not anyone in the Milky Way during ME2/ME3.

2) Not SAM he was clearly still being manufactured,

3) He's done well in EOS. (as per the note in the kett base where the moshae is held.)

I am hoping it's someone new. His MO is like Reyes, but scales are very different. I spoke with a lady called Kim Connor, the EOS supply officer I am still trying to go back every now and then to speak with her, this latest conversation she mentioned that she was once from a wealthy family in the milky way... Her last sentence is "Precious things makes you a target. And drastic steps are sometimes needed to protect them. No more for now." I dont think she is the Benefactor, seem too low key and too far down the food chain, but perhaps related to the benefactor? An agent? Will go back again to see if there's a conclusion to her conversation.
VladVonCastein
9 years ago
Ok just finished the entire conversation with kim connor. She escaped the milky way cause her asari partner wanted to take her fortunes and she found out a tax loophole to protect her children by coming to andromeda she's technically not dead for 600 years so her kids will still get to enjoy her wealth(that is if they still have it after the reapers finished off a whole bunch of colonies and planets... So dont think she's the benefactor.
Tuinbonen
9 years ago
I would totally 180 my opinion about the game if a TIM clone exists who is voiced by Martin Sheen again.
Kondaru
9 years ago
I guess they used images only of those Milky Way species that are present in the "basic" Mass Effect Andromeda. Otherwise players new to the franchise would not recognize all of the images. Also, perhaps they had not yet spent enough time on preparing resources like textures and meshes for other alien species - though I *guess* they should have already started working on quarians...
Anonymous
9 years ago
could also hint at the benefactor being a quarian, or volus, no? oh, i got.. it's barla von! (did i spell that right?). or am i kidding? even i don't know.
jpcerutti1
9 years ago
@CasperTheLich wrote:

could also hint at the benefactor being a quarian, or volus, no? oh, i got.. it's barla von! (did i spell that right?). or am i kidding? even i don't know.

I bet it is more they weren't going to go back and resplice a scene already in the can.

New theory: It is Jack, getting even with the entire galaxy.

Boy, are we in for a rough ride.
fudgietroll
9 years ago
I still like Aria as benefactor, coming in power on the last ark out of the Milky Way, under cover of the allied assault on Cerberus HQ/Earth. She winds up bringing as much power to the table in ME3 as most of the major races (even if she skims the cream off the top), has total control of a large region of space, and a strong and deep intel network.

Bonus if she uses Omega as an ark
VladVonCastein
9 years ago
I was also hoping for some Asari Matriarch or Salarian STG head to be the benefactor...
arthurh3535
9 years ago
@VladVonCastein wrote:

I was also hoping for some Asari Matriarch or Salarian STG head to be the benefactor...

I'm betting it's the Geth, myself. They'd be very interested in A.I. research (and not biased against it, of course). They have the resources to fund building five Arks and the Nexus itself. They have/had access to Reaper technology (like the OSDY drive that just happens to work very similarly to the Reapers FTL drive.) They are shown to not be genocidal to a fanatical degree (and even tried to save the very few Quarian pro-Geth supporters on Roanok(SP?) while still being casually ruthless enough to kill someone figuring them out.

The fact that the Benefactor had a "legion" of faces and the name Andromeda Initiative could be subtle hints. They could have been active the whole trip over, preparing to move in the background with their own stealth ships upon arrival.