#main character is distraught. he’s shy and kind of bad at being with people so he has no one else to fall back on really | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

expertmakodriver · 4 years

Text

30 Day Mass Effect Challenge: Day 5

5. Favorite character?

Surprising (hopefully) not a soul: Garry Vakary himself

(Disclaimer: I’m going to be talking about him in the context of the first two games while disregarding the third. Also, while Femshep technically is my favorite character, I already made a post about her, so I’m making this section about Garrus.)

Strap in, folks, because this is going to be a long post.

When I first encountered Garrus, I immediately felt a connection to him since he seemed like one of the few people on the Citadel who actually gave a shit about stopping Saren. Despite being a C-Sec officer bound by red tape, he proved that he was a man of action by leaving all of the bureaucracy behind and getting some real work done with Shepard and the Normandy crew. Since turians and humans had a few remnants of tension between them as a result of the Relay 314 Incident/First Contact War, which was still somewhat recent, it was nice to see another turian, besides Nihlus, act civilly towards a human.

Garrus was so eager to step up and take action against Saren; of course I let him aboard the Normandy. His struggle and Shepard’s struggle with politics are very similar; they both don’t like being told what to do by clueless politicians/higher-ups who try to prevent them from solving problems. This comes into play when Garrus and Shepard begin conversing more and more on the Normandy. I’ve always felt that Garrus’s interactions were a bit more profound than those of any other crew member; they don’t just talk to each other, but exchange opinions and feedback and really try to understand each other. They eventually develop a sort of mentor-protégé relationship to the point where Shepard really has a deep effect on Garrus in terms of his way of viewing the world. I had Shepard lead Garrus down the Renegade path while enforcing a few Paragon ideas (such as being cautious of the thin moral line that any Spectre walks as someone with nearly unlimited power in Citadel space), and I still do to this day.

I’ve always found it funny that Garrus is always super respectful to Shepard despite being a bit of a jerk to pretty much everyone else. Seeing him thank the commander at the end of the game for letting him in on the action and teaching him some valuable lessons was heartwarming, too. It made me kind of sad to think that he would go back to C-Sec after the war with Saren and Soverign was over, especially since he seemed to be so miserable there, but it was nice to know that he would follow Shepard’s lead and train to be a Spectre later on.

Fast forward to Mass Effect 2, and I was so upset when The Illusive Man said that Garrus had disappeared a few months after the Normandy was destroyed. I kept wondering what had happened to him and if he would ever appear in the game again, but when I took a closer look at Archangel’s dossier and noticed the line “omni-tool expert and noted sniper” on it, I became very suspicious despite not wanting to get my hopes up.

Throughout Archangel’s recruitment mission, I kept worrying. Hearing the mercs talk about how Archangel had been cornered and put through hell for the past few days didn’t sit well with me. I think that was the one point at which I hoped that Archangel wasn’t Garrus, because I didn’t want to imagine Garrus going through all of that on his own. When I saw that Archangel had blue armor, I knew for sure it was him. Taking off his helmet and revealing his identity to Shepard made me so happy that I wasn’t at all bothered by how little I was surprised. I wasn’t entirely relieved, though, because Garrus was still in immediate danger. Seeing him so tired and damaged was rough; he was fairly different from the enthusiastic C-Sec officer that I had brought with me on every mission in the previous game. Even though he was exhausted and didn’t exactly have sufficient energy to physically display his emotion, you could tell just how happy he was to see Shepard alive and kicking. “Yeah I shot at you, Shepard. I wanted to get you moving so you could come get my ass out of here.”

When Shepard was forced to leave his side to close the shutters in the base’s lower level, I was in full panic mode. I didn’t trust Jacob or Miranda enough to leave them alone with him. Then when Garrus was nearly killed by the rocket that blew half of his face off, I literally had to pause the game and calm myself down because of how pissed I was. Of course I was distraught at the sight of his motionless body bleeding out on the ground, but I was also upset with the possibility that the game would give me a surprise reunion with my favorite character just to kill him off so quickly. I was, for the second time, overjoyed when I saw that he was alive a few moments later, but hearing him gasping for breath and choking on his own blood with Shepard, who is almost always composed and level-headed, freaking out while trying to help him was heart-wrenching.

Then, right after I see Shepard looking very nervous and upset as Jacob explains the extent of Garrus’s injuries to her back on the Normandy, the smug bastard himself walks out of surgery and just casually waltzes up to Shepard like, “It’s only a flesh wound, I’ve had worse” and I literally thanked BioWare out loud for not killing Garrus. Shepard’s look of absolute relief and joy when she saw that he was okay was very touching, as was the fact that Garrus expresses that he’s more worried about Shepard than himself even though he nearly died a few hours ago. Garrus was so eager to fight alongside Shepard again that he put himself right to work at the Main Battery, and that really demonstrated how much trust he had in Shepard and her motives though I wish there was an option to have Shepard tell Garrus to focus on relaxing and getting some rest. Poor guy just went through hell and already wants to bury himself in calibrations.

While Shepard and Garrus were catching up later on, Shepard was so gentle with Garrus while she asked him about his team and what he had been doing while she was gone, and I could see how broken he was by the death of his team and the betrayal of his former teammate. I felt bad for him. When he asked Shepard to help him find Sidonis a few hours of gameplay later, I knew it was because he wanted the moral support - he wanted Shepard to be there with him while he sought closure with Sidonis (regardless of how he gets it).

Seeing Shepard and Garrus so synchronized while they tracked down Harkin and obtained information about Sidonis was great. They seem more like partners than mentor and student, and that was exactly what the writers were going for.

When it came to allowing or preventing Sidonis’s death, I let Garrus shoot him, and I continue to do so during every playthrough. There are three main reasons for this, the first being that I felt that Shepard shouldn’t be involved in the situation as both a separate party and a non-turian. Turians have their own culture and deal with responsibility and leadership a bit differently than humans do; they pride themselves on taking ownership over their choices and putting the safety and interests of the whole before the individual. Sidonis broke both of these cardinal rules. Garrus, as both a turian and the leader of the group who Sidonis had betrayed, felt obligated to serve justice to Sidonis, another turian, and that is inherently something that Shepard cannot fully understand as a human. It wouldn’t feel right to let Shepard deny Garrus the right to deal with Sidonis in the way that he saw fit.

The second reason is that Sidonis was more than just a coward; he had the opportunity to warn Garrus of the trap set by the mercs for his squad, but he didn’t. Garrus says that he learned through some old contacts that Sidonis “booked transport off of Omega just before the attack” and disappeared. He didn’t even try to make things right with Garrus by confronting him afterwards and apologizing. This is why I’m not bothered by Garrus wanting to kill Sidonis. If I felt that Garrus was being too destructive or going too far, I would have had Shepard steer him back in the right direction. He kept himself in check well enough (like when he didn’t kill Harkin).

And finally, the third reason: If Shepard came back to the Normandy one day and found that everyone - Garrus, Joker, Mordin, Tali, etc - had been slowly and painfully killed by an enemy group because, say, Jacob had been captured and sold Shepard out (and didn’t even try to warn Shepard or stop the attack), you know damn well that most, if not all, players would bring the fury of hell onto him.

Now for the juicy part: Garrus’s romance. When I was innocently exploring Garrus’s dialogue options after his loyalty mission and stumbled across the “We could ease stress together” line, I lost my freaking mind. The game is going to let Shepard sleep with Garrus? Is this for real? I didn’t immediately realize that “easing tension” would turn into “making love and wordlessly declaring mutual feelings for each other”, so I was a little disappointed at first, but I was willing to take what I could get. Garrus was so flustered by Shepard’s proposition, to the point where he seems like he wasn’t expecting her to be interested in him at all, and seeing badass vigilante, merc leader, and hero of Omega turn into a shy softy around her was cute.

Through further dialogue, Garrus began to hint that he had feelings for Shepard, and ugh it was so endearing. He made subtle remarks about wanting more than just “blowing off steam” with her without making his feelings obvious, probably because he didn’t want to chase her away with his heart, and when I combined this with the fact that despite these feelings, which he has had for who knows how long now (maybe even the first game?), he isn’t the one to make the first move, I realized that Garrus was probably too afraid of approaching Shepard with any sort of interest that he had in her because he didn’t want to be rejected and/or feared ruining their relationship. That was the final straw for me: I was super attached to his character at this point. The little dork wanted to watch porn to learn how to properly satisfy a human woman and thought that playing shitty club music was a good idea. The nerd. The doofus. I love him.

I’m just going to admit it: the first time I saw his romance scene with Shepard right before the Omega 4 Relay, I went from laughing as he awkwardly played techno music and tried to woo Shep with his bad flirting skills to tearing up as he confessed to her that he wanted their time together to be special and that he wanted to do things right. Notice how this is different from something he said previously about how if their romantic rendezvous goes south due to species incompatibility, fighting the Collectors would be “a welcome distraction” and wouldn’t be a big deal. Oh, no. It would be a big deal. Garrus wants to give Shepard the best final moment of peace he can before they take on the Collector base, and when Shepard shut him up and they touched foreheads (which I suppose is like the turian equivalent of a kiss given that turians don’t have lips to kiss with) I just lost my mind. I cried and I’m not ashamed to say it. It takes a lot to make me cry, since I’m not easily moved, but seeing Garrus and Shepard so happy in such a tender moment was too much for me. My two favorite characters enjoying peace and joy that they deserve. Beautiful.

The suicide mission - I have all my upgrades, all loyalty missions complete, and I’m still freaking out about who is going to die and who is going to survive. I made the right choices in terms of who I assigned to what, but even with Garrus at Shepard’s side the whole time, I was again in full panic mode. I had like three separate heart attacks thinking that Garrus was about to be killed. I was literally shouting in horror as this happened:

Everything worked out in the end, though. The whole crew survived, the base was destroyed, and Shepard got to snuggle with Garrus in her cabin afterwards. I was very, very happy.

So yeah, Garrus having such a profound character and being not just a likable badass but also Shepard’s most loyal companion is why I love him so much. Evidently, this is also why he’s one of the most, if not the most, popular characters from Mass Effect. Archangel owns all of our asses.

#mass effect #30dayMEchallenge #day5 #tl;dr garrus is best boy #me1 #me2 #femshep #shakarian

24 notes · View notes

too-many-kpop-hubands · 4 years

Text

30 Day Fandom Challenge

Welcome to day 6 Ladies and Gentlemen. As always I am gonna tag the amazingly talented @domsberto and then head back over into the world of the spooky and supernatural for this next one.

Day 6- True Blood

1) Favorite Character: Lafayette Reynolds

Reason: Lafayette was freaking hilarious and a badass boss bitch. He had the funniest lines in the show and was savage at times. He was a very flamboyant character and I adore those types of characters. He trusted only a few people but was loyal as hell to the select few he let in his circle. When he actually had lover he was faithful and devoted to them, even in death in the case of Jesus. He had his demons but he handled them with grace and a sense of humor, not to mention lots of alcohol and weed. He was a medium which was pretty cool but it also lead to some disastrous situations (like stealing babies and killing the love of his life). I adore his relationship with his cousin, Tara, that borders more on that of siblings than cousins. He has no tolerance for ignorance or bullying, as seen when he put a table full of rednecks in their place for their gay slurs, and he backs up what he says. He is fully capable of handling himself in a fight and is just an all around amazing person.

Rest in Peace Nelsan Ellis! You are missed still to this day! ❤❤❤

2) Most Relatable Character: Hoyt Fortenberry

Reason: Hoyt reminds me alot of Matt from Vampire Diaries, honestly. He is sweet and kind-hearted and according to Sookie, who can read minds, his thoughts are consistently kind and open compared to everyone else around her. He is also remarkably progressive toward vampires and other social outcasts. This is in stark contrast to his mother, Maxine, who was extremely prejudiced and judgmental of most people, humans and vampires alike. His lack of experience with, and high respect for, women makes him extremely shy around them. Unlike his best friend Jason Stackhouse, he has no desire for frivolous hook-ups, and remains a virgin until he meets and falls in love with the vampire Jessica Hamby. Whem we first meet Hoyt in the first season, he is bossed around by his mother, but begins to assert his independence as the show progressed. Throughout the series, his character development shifts from happy-go-lucky to a much more serious and emotional young man. I can relate to Hoyt because I tend to he shy around men and women I am attracted to because despite having been married for the past 13 years, I didn't really have much experience before I met my husband and I was really self conscious. I also get what it's like to have an overbearing mother and having to eventually put my foot down with her. Hoyt is also one of the most genuine and "normal" of all the characters in the show. This is why he is the most relatable.

3) Most Underrated Character: Godric

Reason: Godric was only alive for one season and the fans grew to love him so much that after his suicide on the show, they wrote him into the show in later seasons as hallucinations and dreams that Eric, Sookie and sometimes Nora had. He is one of my favorite characters, quite possibly tied with Lafayette honestly. During his time on the show, Godric (who happens to be the maker of Eric Northman) was the Sheriff of the Dallas vampires and one of the oldest living vampires to date. He was a badass, as seen when he saves Sookie when she was almost raped and when he comes in to put an end to the fighting between vampires and the Fellowship of the sun. He was ruthless and a very capable leader, putting people in their place when need be (as seen when he banished Lorena from Dallas for causing trouble). He once lived by a moral code of "There is no right or wrong, only survival or death.", seeing humans as disposable and caring very little for human life. Humans were a means to an end until he grew older and began to relate more to humans. He came to realize that the human race's fear and hatred of vampires was well founded, and that he had contributed to it. He evolved over time and his wisdom and compassion grew. He is perhaps the best-natured vampire seen on the show.

He cared deeply for his progenies, Eric and Nora, and he was one of the few people who could turn Eric into an emotional mess (as seen when Godric decided to end his life). Godric was compassionate and kind but if you crossed him, he could snap your neck without even blinking or thinking twice. He was such an underrated character but I adored him so much.

4 & 5) Most Overrated Character & Least Favorite Character: Sookie Stackhouse

Reason: So Sookie is the main character and honestly she annoys the hell out of me. She acts like your stereotypical trailer trash, you know the type. The kind of girl that gives us Southern girls a bad name? Yes that type. She had every guy in the show that wasn't gay or family chomping at the bit to try to get in her pants. She constantly found herself knee deep in trouble at every turn, "Must be a Thursday." to quote her. She toys with the boys who fall in love with her unintentionally and honestly she isn't the most attractive on the show to warrant so many male suitors. For a fairy with special powers, she has no idea what she is doing half the time and like Elena in Vampire Diaries, she often makes things worse and ends up having to be saved by someone who knows what they are doing. She is overrated and my least favorite character in the series, despite being the main character. While she has a few good qualities and some decent scenes sometimes, I really can't stand her.

Pam made a comment once that stands out “I am so over Sookie and her precious fairy vagina and her unbelievably stupid name! F*ck Sookie!”

6) Favorite Canon Pairing: Hoyt Fortenberry & Jessica Hamby [Close 2nd Honorable Mention- Lafayette Reynolds & Jesus Velasquez]

Reason: Jessica and Hoyt were perfect for each other plain and simple. They both lost their virginity to each other (granted since Jessica was a virgin when she turned she never truly loses her virginity because her hymen keeps growing back) and had a sweet and loving relationship. When they ended things and she slept with his best friend, Jason, Hoyt was so distraught that he asked Jessica to glamor him into forgetting they had ever met and fallen in love before leaving town. They found their way back to each other in the final season and fell in love all over again as if they had never fallen apart to begin with and eventually got married before Jessica's maker, Bill, died. They had a beautiful and pure love that surpassed even memory wipes and I love them so much together.

7) Favorite Non-Canon Pairing: Eric Northman & Pamela "Pam" Swynford de Beaufont

Reason: While Pam tended to lean more toward women most of the time it was implied time and time again that she and Eric had a romantic or sexual history together prior to him turning her into a vampire. The chemistry between Eric and Pam is amazing and goes well beyond that of the typical sire/progeny bond. They loved each other on a deep level, one could possibly consider the love that Eric and Pam had for each other agape which is the highest form of love that surpasses traditional romantic and sexual feelings toward a person. They had an unbreakable bond and even when Eric released her as his progeny, Pam still stayed at Eric's side no matter what the cost. I wish that they could have been a romantic couple in the canon universe but sadly that never happened. Their love for one another still lives on in the hearts of us fans to this day.

8) Least Favorite Pairing: Sookie Stackhouse & Bill Compton

Reason: Besides the fact that I really can't stand Sookie, I loathed Sookie and Bill as a couple on the show. They were back and forth so much with their relationship that it made my head spin half the time and when they actually stayed together, the relationship itself was pretty boring compared to some of the other relationships on the show. Sookie could never make up her mind on exactly who it was she wanted to be with and that left her juggling Bill, Eric, Sam and Alcide before ending up with a faceless and nameless man by the end of the show. They had their good moments, don't get me wrong, that made me actually like them but then one of them would do or say something stupid and I would go back to loathing the ship as a whole. Though I will admit it was both heartbreaking and poetic when Sookie ended Bill's suffering in the end. I still feel like there are better couples on the show.

I will admit though that outside of the show I think Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer have a beautiful marriage and beautiful children so my opinion doesn't reflect on the actors personally but rather their characters on the show.

9) Favorote Part/Moment: The Aids Burger Incident AKA Lafayette Vs The Ignorant Rednecks

Reason: This scene is my favorite scene because first of all Lafayette was a savage and proved that he will not tolerate ignorance from anyone. He put the rednecks in their place when one of them sent back their food because they refused to eat it because "The burger might have Aids.", directly referencing Lafayette who was cooking that night who is openly gay. In that scene he took the burger back out to the customers and confronted them for their gay slur in one of the most epic manners possibly before shoving the "Aids Burger" in the man's face. He proved that he could handle himself in a fight when he kicked his friends' asses before delivering a final quip of "Tip Your Waitress" before walking away like the boss ass bitch he was, fist bumping and impressed Jason Stackhouse on his way back to the kitchen to finish his job. Lafayette was amazing in this scene and I have to give the late Nelsan Ellis credit for such an epic performance. I post a video of this once a year during Pride Month to show one of the most epic scenes of an openly gay man standing up for himself and fellow gay men against ignorant bigots. It was amazing. I will post the video directly following this post.

10) Least Favorite Part/Moment: The Entire F***ed up Billith Situation [Honorable Mentions: Godric's suicide- it was sad as hell but hauntingly beautiful, The Witches induce Amnesia on Eric, Marnie Possesses Lafayette and makes him kill the love of his life Jesus, Tommy Dies to Save Sam]

Reason: My least favorite part was when Bill merged with the mother of all vampires, Lilith, to become this super powerful and equally psychotic vampire deemed "Billith". The entire situation was just stupid and you could tell that during that season the writers ran out of ideas for what to add into the show. It was far-fetched and pretty OP and that's why I consider this one of the worst parts of True Blood.

Back at you soon with today's post since I'm behind by a day.

#fandom challenge

1 note · View note