Garrus Vakarian

It is a science fiction story, of the starships and space aliens kind. Most of the action takes place in a military context, as an apocalyptic threat against the galaxy emerges. It’s one of my favouritest games ever.

Writeups.org offers extensive Mass Effect coverage. The core articles are setting for Mass Effect 1 and the setting for Mass Effect 2, plus the profiles for the heroine – Staff Commander Mandala Shepard.

Unless you are highly familiar with Mass Effect, we recommend reading these articles first.

This profile is the second in a series. Read the Garrus Vakarian in Mass Effect 1 profile first.

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Background

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Powers and Abilities

The second game brings a few more hints as to Garrus’ military training. He’s confirmed to be a superior sniper with excellent endurance, an adept leader and tactician, and a skilled naval gunnery engineer. It would seem that if something can be shot, Garrus can shoot it like a boss – from slingshots to Thanix prototype naval artillery.

The general impression that he was some sort of sniper/commando/saboteur holds. Nothing is known about how Turians balance the long military service typical of their culture with their studies, but perhaps Garrus was trained as an elite sniper/saboteur who studied for a military engineering degree, then became a cop.

Versatile and resilient

Vakarian mentions having taken part in a high-risk boarding action against slavers back when he was with the military. Though that doesn’t provide much context as to his military role, this reinforces the impression that he has top qualifications in a remarkable number of distinct military specialities. It would make no sense to deploy a sniper on a CQB  op with no external perimeter.

The notion that he was some sort of military engineer comes from his work in installing and optimising experimental, high-powered naval artillery on the Normandy. This is advanced work with a lot of maths, electronics, physics computations and computer science optimisations. You can’t just wing the modelisation of fluid self-forging projectiles shot at high fractions of C in space.

Garrus demonstrates superior physical robustness and recuperative ability. His Regeneration score in our game stats is based on the fact that Jacob Taylor (who presumably is genetically enhanced to be a fast healer) was surprised by how quickly Garrus recovered from critical surgery.

Presumably the Turian military also genetically enhances its troopers – or perhaps Turians just heal quickly. Garrus’ description of Turian soldiers often having full-contact fighting matches for relaxation also hints toward strong recuperative powers.

Strength level

Garrus is a highly-ranked hand-to-hand combat specialist, though he doesn’t think that he’s as good as Shepard. Unlike in the first game, he clearly demonstrates superior physical strength.

Since fellow Turian Warden Kuril is also seen hip-shooting a light machinegun with one hand, it seems likely that this is the normal level of strength for a well-trained, athletic Turian soldier. Garrus can throw a Human adult around with just one hand.

Justice is in the barrel of a loaded gun, part 1

Garrus originally arms himself with a powerful Mantis bolt-action precision rifle, but as he works with Shepard switches to an Incisor rifle to fit her tactical doctrine. His backup weapon is a Vindicator battle rifle, and his backup’s backup is a large calibre handgun.

Though he can shoot anything Garrus is primarily a bullet placement sort of shooter. Shepard relies on that to make him one of her three Incisor operators – see our Mass Effect 2 weapons locker article for more about the various guns and ammunitions mentioned here.

After seeing Zaeed Massani’s underslung shotgun and HESH slugs in action, Garrus develops his own type of concussive secondary weapon with the help of Shepard’s specialists – Professor Solus, Jacob Taylor and Miranda Lawson. This well-integrated, bolt-action coaxial gun design is mounted on his Incisors and Vindicators.

Like Jacob, Garrus retains extensive contacts among his former comrades. He thus can obtain cutting-edge, top secret military tech. In Garrus’ case this is presumably facilitated since he can point out that this is for STR work – and he knows the C-Sec officers managing the STR arsenal.

Justice is in the barrel of a loaded gun, part 2

Garrus owns several ammunition blocks made of a special tungsten carbide alloy. This is quite possibly a prototype from the Turian military, or perhaps something from C-Sec’s “special stock” intended for STR operatives.

This gives him thousands of shots with excellent armour-defeating capabilities. But it requires numerous adjustments to his guns to take the different ballistics into account and avoid damaging the barrel or the mass driver. Plus, of course, a special shaving mechanism to extract ammunition from the block.

(The in-game tooltip describe this as APDS ammunition, but the DS part is not compatible with how ammo is supposed to work in Mass Effect-powered firearms).

As a saboteur and ECM operator, Garrus packs overloading attack programs in his omni-tool. He can thus damage shields and complex electronics with a focused Mass Effect disruption attack. This gives him a deadly one-two punch as he disrupts shields then shoot through armour with his special rounds.

History

Garrus had originally joined the Normandy to bust heads and see justice come out of the barrel of a gun. But working with Shepard led him to rethink his values. She repeatedly pointed out the counter-productive long-term results of his aggressive strategies. Garrus cooled down, and agreed that the rule of law was by far the less harmful of the two approaches.

As the Normandy rushed toward the final battle at Ilos, Vakarian told Shepard that if he survived he would rejoin C-Sec and resume his duties as a detective.

Sound of da police

Garrus did survive. He left the Normandy to help C-Sec deal with the consequences of the Battle of the Citadel. Many cops had lost their lives during the battle. More died right after it, as they tried to control the damage and repel those geth troops who had boarded the Citadel. The months after that were chaotic as C-Sec scrambled to replenish its ranks and restore order.

Detective Vakarian felt that C-Sec was at that point about as efficient as aspirin to cure cancer. Though he realised that the situation would eventually be brought back under control he also knew that it would be the point when the red tape would return. Deep inside, he knew that despite his good resolutions he wouldn’t be able to stomach that return to business as usual.

Vakarian’s morale was also hurt when he realised that the Council’s communication strategy was to suppress information about the Reapers. They told the public that the threat was over now that the main geth forces had been destroyed.

Vigilante, part 1

After several months of emergency law and heavy recruiting, C-Sec was back at capacity – mostly by hiring Human cops. Garrus felt that he had done his job during the time of greatest need, and preferred to leave before he could see C-Sec ossify again.

For a short time he was active as a vigilante on Citadel, concentrating on criminals he previously had to let go as a cop. He soon exceeded his former superiors’ ability to turn a blind eye, and left.

Garrus left for Omega . This is the main traffic hub in the Terminus Systems, and in some ways the equivalent of the Citadel outside of Council Space. There never had been a law or a government on Omega, and the population lived at the mercy of criminals, with racketeering mobs (often from one of the larger mercenary firms) being the closest equivalent to cops.

Things were more or less functional, though generally squalid. But most folks had no recourse whenever they ran into trouble with armed criminals. Within minutes of docking, Garrus had already punched out a Vorcha  thug racketeering an elderly Human couple. The woman blessed him and called him an angel.

Vigilante, part 2

At the most famous of Omega’s clubs, the Afterlife, Garrus met with a fellow Turian – one Sidonis, who was in trouble with local thugs. Sidonis volunteered to work with Garrus to clean Omega up.

However, he also pointed out that it was way too big for two men. Based on his experience with Shepard, Garrus answered that by being exemplary and keeping an eye out they would probably attract more volunteers.

This Shepard-like, reputation- and deeds-based approach worked. Garrus took in 10 more operatives. These volunteers had all lost loved ones to galactic organised crime, and wanted to hit back. Their names were Erash, Monteague, Mierin, Grundan Krul, Melanis, Ripper, Sensat, Vortash, Butler and Weaver, though little is known about them.

Garrus described them as “mercs who wanted to atone, security consultants tired of playing by the rules, ex-military operatives, former C-Sec agents, the usual”. One of the men was a Salarian explosives expert whom Garrus suspected had been an STG man, and his tech expert was an atypical if laconic Batarian .

Vigilante, part 3

Whilst the mobs on Omega were large and ruthless, Garrus and his crew became a serious thorn in their side. They assassinated leaders, destroyed shipments, sabotaged assets, intimidated hirelings, etc. Garrus’ basic tactic was to make the opposition angry enough to get stupid, then lead them into a prepared kill zone with crossfires and snipers.

The anonymous vigilantes — who took great care not to have any civilian caught in their actions — became very popular among Omega’s vast underclass. Garrus took the name “Archangel” to remain anonymous and create a mystique – and since that was the name he had been given after his very first intervention on Omega.

Garrus also preferred a pseudonym, as fame would have been embarassing given his typical Turian ethics of selfless public service.

As they confiscated more money to fund their efforts and replenish their supplies, tension appeared among the team. Several squad members saw the potential to retire in wealth. Not interested in such plans, Garrus responded by driving his operators harder and escalating the war effort.

Sniper, part 1

By 2185, Omega’s mobs finally struck a telling blow against Garrus. They found Sidonis and forced him to set an ambush for the rest of the crew. Garrus was the only survivor.

The mercenary firms running the largest turfs on Omega — the Blue Suns , Eclipse , and the Blood Pack  — were involved. They had become so tired of Archangel forcing them to always look over their shoulder that they had launched a rare joint effort to take him down.

It was combined intelligence that had allowed them to find Sidonis. A full tripartite force was also present at the Archangel’s hidden fortress in case things went wrong. Garrus did kill the mercs inside the fortress, but he was now surrounded.

Sniper, part 2

As a deadly sniper, Garrus turned the bridge leading to his base into a killing ground. He also foiled a gunship assault by precisely shooting weak points on the aircraft, nearly crashing it. The mercs  had to settle for a siege.

The idea was to wear Archangel out. The mercs started hiring cannon fodder to throw at Garrus, forcing him into constant vigilance and monitoring his decreasing accuracy as fatigue set in. Dozens of freelancers (usually mere street thugs with a 50 credits pistol) died to Garrus’ M-92 Mantis as the mercs prepared the actual assault on his fortress.

The Blue Suns, Eclipse and the Blood Pack each contributed an elite combat team in order to preserve the delicate political balance of the effort. Though they expected serious casualties, the assault plan was thorough and Archangel stood no chance.

Friend

Archangel’s activities also attracted attention from outside of Omega. The Illusive Man had been assembling intelligence about potential recruits to help the soon-to-be-resurrected Shepard, and Archangel had made the shortlist.

Shepard was interested in the vigilante’s obvious skills, though she did not suspect that it was her friend Garrus. She applied to join the mercs’ cannon fodder along with two of her tactical operators. Since the mercs were just throwing one last wave of cheap idiots at Archangel nobody was paying attention to the recruits. Shepard and her wingmen sailed through.

By the time the merc firms ordered their “freelancers” to run up the bridge, the real storming forces were deployed for a multi-pronged assault.

By this point Vakarian was faltering. He knew that it soon would be the end. He called his father — who had retired in recent years — to talk with him one last time. Garrus told his father that his experiences with Shepard and as Archangel had given him a better understanding of his philosophy, and that he now regretted their past clashes.

Enter the dragon

Right as he was preparing to die Garrus saw a familiar pair of grey eyes in his scope – Shepard. The Commander and her crew gunned down their fellow assaulters and approached Archangel to make their recruitment pitch.

At this point the vigilante dramatically took off his helmet to reveal that he was Garrus, savouring the surprise – and the relief of having his buddy riding in in the nick of time.

Shepard and Garrus had to keep their reunion short, to deal with the impending assault. The mercs saw their battle plan blown to bits. Some of their assets had been discreetly sabotaged by Shepard, and the assaulters ran into an elite, entrenched special forces fire team rather than a single exhausted sniper.

Shepard and her crew countered their efforts. They forced them to stagger their assaults rather than go in all at once. While the merc assaulters went in hot and heavy, they could be met on favourable terms as they lacked information and coordination.

By the end of the day thousands of rounds had been fired, the assault had failed and three major mercenary bosses were dead.

However, during the last push Garrus was gunned down by chaingun fire. As Shepard rushed to him to stabilise his multiple wounds, she grew pessimistic about her friend’s survival chances. The wounds were bad.

Description

Garrus still wears his blue and black C-Sec armoured uniform. This might be a Turian thing, since Turians seem to really like uniforms. He wore the full helmet as a vigilante – presumably to mask his face.

Even after he’s shot and his uniform bears large impacts and burns, he keeps wearing it. Presumably it is a memento of his time as a vigilante and to honour his fallen team.

Garrus still wears his favourite monocular visor, of course. It is usually set to play loud, best-selling dance music with a heavy BPM while fighting.

This doesn’t seem to hinder Garrus in any way. One assumes that military helmet have selective noise filters to dampen the report of nearby gunfire, so perhaps Garrus tweaks the system so his loud music won’t cover useful audial information. Or perhaps Turians have a multiple channels sense of hearing (a vibrations sense ?).

Other details

Garrus is still voiced in a warm, manly, sexy baritone by actor Brandon Keener . There is a slight flange effect  simulating his alien voicebox and giving him a sort of low, purring reverb.

After he’s badly hit on Omega, the left side of Garrus’ face has a sort of brace/bandage reinforcing and protecting it. It covers much of the damage except for one large, nasty scar. It is presumably worn to keep the area sterile, diffuse medi-gel and make sure that his skull and bone plates are setting right without diminishing his mobility.

His right lateral mandible was nearly lost. It may in fact have been grafted back after the main surgery.

Since a lot of visible damage is left unbandaged, it seems possible that the red parts are not his exposed flesh but his skin, and that the missing beige bits are thin bone plates. Turians are known to have bone plating all over, so it seems reasonable to imagine that they essentially have two layers of “skin”, with the outer one being made of bone.

The jagged breaking lines on the right side of Garrus’ wounded mouth would make sense as shattered bone plating.

Video

Personality

After he moves to Omega Garrus becomes a Mack Bolan -like figure. A military-trained, tactically-minded, intelligent, well-armed killer vigilante waging an all-out war against organised crime. A comparison with the Punisher would be less fruitful. Albeit he craves justice, Garrus never had anything like Frank Castle’s maniacal intensity.

Though this was a brutal, tense existence Garrus was apparently content, proud of his team and a successful leader and strategist. He was helping people as he preferred, through direct action – no red tape, no bullshit, no shades of grey.

After Omega, part 1

After the Archangel crew is killed off, Garrus is haunted by guilt. Hfeels that he’s a failure as a leader.

Intellectually, this is absurd. Garrus and his crew did an amazing job, and there was no other possible end to this war – as everybody knew from the start. Nevertheless, Garrus is too much of a good guy. He can’t get over the death of his men and what this means for their families. Perhaps he also makes the mistake of comparing his achievements with Shepard’s – an impossible standard.

As he joins the Normandy, Garrus does the typical Turian thing. He buries himself in hard, precise work to improve the odds of survival of the crew as he waits for his grief to pass. During this time he prefers to work alone and is somewhat brooding.

After Omega, part 2

This also seems to be a Turian thing – preferring to present a low-maintenance, reliable, whine-free behaviour and isolating oneself when that becomes difficult. Garrus sees a lot of value in being tough and stoic, and insists on treating his physical wounds as if they were but minor annoyances.

Garrus is a pessimist. He sees this as a quality though – since he’s always expecting the worst, he’s extra-prepared. However, since Garrus is always twice as prepared as anybody else, there’s a point where it becomes too much.

When this is the case he starts to wish the team could just charge in as he’s becoming lost in preparing 17 kinds of backup systems and emergency plans.

“Well, some women find facial scars attractive… mind you, most of these women are Krogans…”

Over the following weeks Garrus slowly gets over his feelings of failure – over not having become a Spectre, over having been the sort of cop his father hated, over the loss of his team on Omega. Being reunited with Shepard and the crew gives him the camaraderie he needs and reminds him of how much he did accomplish at Shepard’s side.

Friendship is very important for Garrus. The presence of old and new comrades-in-arms counting on him is what gets him out of his funk. Shepard also keeps signalling him that she’s there for him when he’ll be done grieving his men.

Garrus is a good leader and a good buddy, but can get uneasy in more subtle social contexts. As a Turian he works all the time and doesn’t socialise that much. He’s also used to social structures with clear hierarchies and rules.

It’s essentially the same situation as leaving a well-run and regimented military for the civilian world.&emspA lot of things seem murky, ambivalent, aimless and left unsaid. Vakarian much prefers simpler, more action-oriented or technically-oriented situations. He can be awkward outside of those despite being such a badass.

Death Wish

Garrus has the typical 1980s-urban-wasteland-vigilante-movie view of the judicial system on the Citadel. He grumbles about “revolving doors prison” and a crippled and hampered police and judicial system. Much of it is likely down to Garrus’ temper and passion for uncompromising justice. Yet there seems to be an actual problem with how well the law functions of the Citadel.

Presumably, having a law enforcement system that applies to the bewildering variety of aliens on the Citadel is a nightmare. And based on Saren’s precedent, and Garrus working in the ambassadorial area, it is likely that he kept running into various sorts of diplomatic immunities during his investigations.

Omega was the perfect solution for Garrus. After many discussions with Shepard, he realised that his preferred solutions of vigilante violence and direct action were usually counter-productive. They favoured visceral “justice” over actually solving the problems plaguing people.

But on Omega, there was simply no law. Even Garrus’s short-sighted but satisfying solutions normally turned out to be a clear improvement compared to the law of the jungle.

Hail to the queen

This is presumably why Garrus concentrated on the merc firms victimising the helpless. He left the mob of the self-styled “queen of Omega” alone, as Aria T’Loak’s shady power-plays were what most resembled public order on Omega.

One can also assume that Garrus didn’t feel qualified to deal with T’Loak’s ambiguous amorality. He likely preferred to deal with opponents he could safely call bad guys.

“The Collectors killed you once, and all that did was piss you off.”

During his last stand the exhausted Garrus had resigned himself to death. He’s just taking as many mercs with him as he could before the end. Given this mindset, seeing Shepard roll in at the last minute to get him out of here was almost droll. This amused, world-weary relief set the tone for Garrus’ and Shepard’s new relationship.

The Human is now more of a close friend and comrade-in-arms than a mentor. Though she briefly resumes her mentorship role later on, the tone is that of a best friend rather than a moral authority or commanding officer.

The fighting and danger during the Saren Plot have formed a robust, immediate bond between Garrus and Shepard. It is hinted that a similar bond is quickly recreated with Joker and later Tali. Shepard and her crew are not just friends — which would be critical by itself — but friends that Garrus can genuinely respect due to their courage, competence and reliability.

Garrus no longer has the fidgety, conflicted, raw vibe he had in Mass Effect. He made his choices, left C-Sec, became a vigilante hero. He has generally moved past his contradictions based on what his father and Shepard gave him. Like with the rest of the crew, Shepard had a major effect on him and helped him grow as a person.

I started a joke

When the guilt is not eating at him, Garrus is relaxed and funny. He pokes a bit of fun at his comrades and makes amusing, off-the-left-field remarks and small self-deprecating jokes – usually in a deadpan manner.

Between his deadpan delivery and the difficulty in reading a Turian’s face in most circumstances, it can be difficult for non-Turians to tell when Garrus’ joking. Garrus excels at keeping his lateral mandibles unmoving – the Turian equivalent of a poker face.

Shepard and Joker almost always get it, but Tali can occasionally be perplexed – especially since Garrus occasionally does a bit of friendly flirting with her and she misses the signals.

Shepard and Garrus have something of a comedy duo act going on where Garrus talks as if he were a dashing, handsome swashbuckler and Shepard plays the evil pirate queen. In this low-key swashbuckler act, Garrus enjoys himself and oozes with suave, relaxed confidence. Essentially he puts all his problems aside to amuse Shepard.

There’s a level of shared tenderness between the two as they make sure that the other is OK and in a good mood. Garrus is probably Shepard’s closest friend after her bondmate Liara T’Soni. And Shepard is Garrus’ closest friend, if only because he left everything and everyone else behind several times already in his quest to do the right thing.

“What would you do, Shepard ? What would you do if someone betrayed you ?”

Though he doesn’t talk about it as he knows Shepard’s stance, Garrus is consumed with his revenge against Sidonis. Sidonis must die for Garrus to gain closure, and for his men to be avenged.

This persists after Garrus has done most of the travail in grieving his team, as survivor’s guilt kicks in.

Vakarian was mostly done brooding, but learning that Sidonis has been located kicks open a floodgate of anger and gripping emotional pain. Garrus feels even worse than during his grief. This is combined with his old inability to let the guilty go free – the very concept makes Garrus’ blood boil.

Vakarian will let nothing stand in the way of his revenge. As he gets closer to Sidonis his rage keeps swelling and he behaves in an increasingly violent manner. Garrus can’t stand the tension and knows that he’s slipping and losing it, betraying everything that he, Shepard and his father want him to be as he’s about to become a murderer.

Yet he cannot stop.

Something must be done

Garrus is choking on his primal need to avenge his men and let them rest in peace. But as Shepard accompanies him on his murder run against Sidonis he nevertheless realises what she’s doing.

Garrus doesn’t believe that Shepard’s subtle, calm appeal to his decency will work, though. His rage is such that he believes himself changed, possessed by his mission and willing to sacrifice his soul in the name of righteous vengeance.

As he rejects her arguments, the notion that she’s right is worming its way into him. His anger starts resembling a coded cry for help to his best friend. He wants Shepard to stop him yet cannot imagine letting Sidonis live.

Quotes

Shepard (smiling): “I couldn’t do this without you, Garrus.”
Garrus (smirking): “Sure you could. But not as stylishly, of course.”

“It’s so easy to see the galaxy in black and white. Grey ? I don’t know what to do with grey.”

(About C-Sec) “When it comes down to it, I don’t think I’m a very good Turian. When a good Turian gets a bad order, he follows it. I just don’t see the point in staying quiet and polite when the orders I’m given suck.”

Shepard: “How did you manage to piss off every major merc organisation in the Terminus Systems ?”
Garrus: “It wasn’t easy. I really had to work at it.”

Garrus (seriously wounded and partially disfigured): “How bad is it Shepard ? They wouldn’t give me a mirror.”
Shepard (huge grin): “Hell Garrus, you always were ugly. Slap some face paint on there, and no one will even notice.”
Garrus (starts laughing then grimaces in pain): “Ow. Don’t make me laugh, damnit. My face is barely holding together as it is.”

Shepard: “That’s why I’m glad you’re here, Garrus. If I’m walking into hell, I want somebody I trust at my side.”
Garrus: “You realise this plan has me walking into hell too ?” (beat) “Heh. Just like old times.”

Garrus (assessing the ops area): ’That’s unfortunate. Hospitals aren’t fun to fight through.”
Shepard (amused): “What is fun to fight through ?”
Garrus (in a perfect deadpan): “Gardens. Electronic shops. Antique stores, but only if they’re classy.”

“You saw Omega. Full of thugs kicking the helpless. I formed my team to kick back. People needed someone to believe in. Someone to stand up to the thugs.”

(About his squad, gloomily) “I gave them hope !” (beat) “And now they’re dead. Shows what I know.”

“I don’t care what his reasons were ! He screwed us ! He deserves to *die* ! I’m sorry. Words will not solve this, Shepard.”

(Garrus chats with Shepard as the Normandy is heading toward the showdown with the Collectors) “You know me, take that last chance to find some calm before the storm… I always like to savor the last shot before popping the heat sink.” (some seconds of brooding silence. Garrus looks at Shepard to see why she’s not speaking, sees that she’s trying hard not to laugh, then realises the sexual innuendo of his firearms allegory) “Wait. That metaphor just went somewhere horrible.”

(Confirming a kill in the middle of a raging firefight) “Scoped and dropped.”

By Sébastien Andrivet.

Source of Character: Mass Effect video game trilogy – specifically ME2 – and the comic book Mass Effect: Homeworlds #3.

Helper(s): Ethan Roe. Model sheets extracted by Troodon80. Enhanced textures by Jean-Luc Fortier.

Writeup completed on the 11^th of June, 2012.