Garrus Vakarian

Garrus, voiced by Brandon Keener, is a male Turian who becomes a member of Shepard's party in the sci-fi RPG Mass Effect. Garrus was running the investigation into the motives of the Council Spectre named Saren, Captain Anderson and Ambassador Udina accused Saren of masterminding the attack on Eden Prime. Garrus agrees to join Shepard as a way to continue his investigation after C-Sec shuts it down due to the allotted time given for investigation expiring and lack of conclusive evidence.

Prior to joining Commander Shepard's crew, Garrus worked for the Citadel Security Force, commonly abreviated as "C-Sec". His father, who was also a C-Sec agent, was his primary influence in joining though it is possible Garrus has some degree of weapons and military training prior to his career at C-Sec, due to Turian traditions of National Service.

While working with C-Sec, he developed a strong hatred for rules and regulations which interfere with the bringing of justice to the criminal. It was one of the reasons Garrus departed the Citadel, resigned from C-Sec and fought alongside Shepard who in contrast, had no boundaries as a council Spectre.

Garrus recounts to the values and ideologies held by his father who was a "by the book" C-Sec officer. "Like many Turians, we tended to be rigid and inclined to believing order and rules provided the necessary stability for society.". Garrus bridled against this attitude, taking alternate methods and detours, putting them into practice, some of which were the methods of the criminals themselves, used in order to catch them out at their own game.

Much of this hatred stems out of a case on the Citadel in which Garrus was able to stop a dangerous criminal but was held back by the "red tape". Losing his chance to bring justice and an end to suffering of the people who the criminal had abducted, Garrus heavily lost faith in the system. The case Garrus explains went as follows: A doctor is selling organs on the black market. The doctor known as Dr. Saleon, would clone organs inside of the bodies of his own patients. Consequently due to the firm rules of C-Sec and the rigid methods in place to save as many civilians as possible, Dr. Saleon escaped when Garrus' superiors had the opportunity to shoot destroy Saleon's ship. Garrus' conscience is burdened by this because he takes more responsibility as an officer than most would for their actions, their success and their failures. Taking responsibility for his actions and that of C-Sec investigations he is involved in, to a personal level, he stated that the patients taken by Dr Saleon were already dead, that killing them would do them the favor of an end to their pain. This frustration with the extent of how much criminals can flout the rules in contrast to how much the authorities have to follow them when pursuing the offenders leads him to encourage Shepard to take every action necessary. Regardless of the cost to justice, to Garrus firmly believes that to track down Saren will mean that bending and breaking the rules is a necessity. Garrus believes Saren's deviant and violent nature demand no less. He will be joining Shepard again in the sequel, Mass Effect 2.

Mass Effect Loyalty Mission: Dr Saleon's Clinic

To activate this mission in Mass Effect 1, the player must ask Garrus about his C-Sec history, eventually it would lead to an explanation of a mission which has troubled him deep inside ever since he let the fugitive escape. Garrus has always had problems with the bureaucracy and "red tape" as he described it, holding him back. Dr. Saleon was a scientist who would grow organs inside his patients to remove and sell to the black market. By heading to the Kepler Verge and the Herschel system and boarding the MSV Fedele ship, Shepard and Garrus are attacked by some test subjects. After fighting through the ship and finding the room of which Dr. Saleon is held up in, a cutscene will activate where Garrus can be encouraged to kill the doctor or bring him alive to face trial. If the Doctor is told he will face trial, he will resist arrest and be shot down or if the player encourages Garrus, he will take a single shot to put an end to the misery and pain he has caused.

Abilities & Specializations

Garrus is an ex-security member of C-Sec and it is noted that it is not unusual for a Turian, in their cultural tradition to attend some form of military service, starting with training for at least 1 year on their 15th Birthday. His class of specialization in Mass Effect 1 is known as a Turian Agent and in Mass Effect 2 he is known as a Turian Rebel. The Turian Rebel class is not so much different from the first one but will encompass the condensed abilities and have various ones removed from the game completely. Mass Effect 2 will follow the same tree of abilities in terms of ability unlocks, e.g. the Sniper Rifle being unlocked by level 6 Assault Rifle Skill in Mass Effect 1, with the exception in Mass Effect 2 of the loyalty requirement for a single, unique ability.

As a Turian Agent in Mass Effect ; Garrus is proficient in the use of:

• Assault Rifles
• Sniper Rifles
• Tactical Armour
• Assault Training
• Decryption
• Damping
• First Aid
• Electronics

** It is possible at some point in the plot, that you attend the mission involving the V.I gone rogue on the Earth's moon in the Sol System, Local Cluster. You will face various challenges in an attempt to disable the rogue V.I and once completed, you will be prompted to choose a specialization for Shepard only. Your Squad Members will not upgrade classes. But this is possible in Mass Effect 2 for every ability with all characters you are able to take into your team.

In Mass Effect 2 Garrus returns as a Turian Rebel, Garrus now uses the following abilities:

• Concussive Shot
• Overload
• Turian Rebel
• Armor Piercing Ammo **Unlocked when Garrus is loyal**

** Ranking up to the last segment or rank 4, in Turian Rebel will allow you the following choices of a single permanent class upgrade for Garrus:

• Turian Renegade: If it can be fired, Garrus knows how to use it. His weapon and power damage increases dramatically.
  
  • Health: 15%
  • Weapon Damage: 25%
  • Power Damage: 25%

• Turian Survivor: Long hours alone against impossible odds have conditioned Garrus' health, and kept his powers sharp.
  
  • Health: 20%
  • Weapon Damage: 18%
  • Power Damage: 25%

Mass Effect 2

Garrus returns in Mass Effect 2 as a member of the new Normandy. He is recruited on Omega, where is is acting as a vigilante who is dubbed "Archangel" by the local people of Omega for his overwatch of civilians against Omega's thugs and threats.

In the two year absence of his commander and friend, Shepard, he had formed a mercenary group on Omega, not forgetting Shepard and not forgetting what he was taught by the legendary Commander Shepard's triumph over Saren. He got things done, and explains in the game, getting things done gets people interested, and eventually formed a ten-man squad dedicated to interfering with criminal activity. He was given the nickname 'Archangel' by the locals, and became public enemy #1 amongst the mercenary groups.

Shortly before the start of the game, a member of Garrus' team betrays the others, drawing him out while the rest of the team is ambushed. None of the ambushed are still alive by the time the game starts.

Shepard eventually seeks out Archangel for his suicide mission, unaware that the tactical genius is in fact his old crewmember Garrus. Upon learning the truth, Shepard decides to take up arms with Garrus against the merc groups. As the waves of mercenaries began to weaken, Garrus sustains a near-fatal injury to the head by gunship-launched rockets by the Blue Suns leader of their Omega division.

After an emergency pick-up from Joker, Garrus is taken with the shore party back to the Normandy and operated on immediately for serious fragmentation, concussive and burn injuries to the right side of his face. Garrus would make a speedy recovery, retaining 100% functionality through the use of cybernetic implants which become progressively less visible throughout the game, due to the nature of implant healing explained in a message to Shepard's Inbox detailing how positive thoughts and outlook will aid the healing of scars and evidence of implants in one's appearance. Garrus' scarred face is not seen fully healed at any point in Mass Effect 2 after the point in the plot where his facial injury is sustained. However, it may be noted that during his encounter with a recurring character from Mass Effect 1, his implants are visible as his right eye lights up from the bionic implant, much like Shepard's scars are visible when he does not think positively. Following the missions later or any time you speak to Garrus, his eye will have healed and look relatively normal again.

Mass Effect 2 Loyalty Mission: An Eye for an Eye

His loyalty as a member of Shepard's previous team in pursuit of Saren Arterius remains as a member of the crew, a friend and normally somebody who would already die fighting at Shepard's side for Shepard's cause. However, Mass Effect 2 does not have Garrus as a loyal member by default. It may be that the years have not been kind to him in Shepard's absence, and may have changed him. He would later explain back on the Normandy after escaping Omega with Shepard, narrowly avoiding death by Gunship fire that he had recently been involved on a mission that went terribly wrong - 10 elite operatives joined Garrus' cause on Omega but were betrayed by one member of the team, a Turian named Sidonis. Garrus would explain further on the matter, that he had tracked Sidonis' escape route from Omega, finding that Sidonis had emptied his own bank accounts and rid Omega of any significant traces of his presence on the asteroid.

At a later point in the game Garrus would inform the Normandy SR2 Yeoman, Kelly Chambers, that he wishes to speak with Shepard. Garrus would go on to explain how he has found a lead on the Citadel in the Serpent Nebula, for the location of Sidonis. The mission would involve finding the person known as Fade, somebody of skills for aiding the disappearance of those wishing to evade persecution from another.

After meeting a Volus pretending to be Fade, Garrus would find that Fade is actually Harkin from the first game and that he is presently in the factory district. Giving chase at the Factory District to Harkin who runs further into the mass of storage crates to the storage control room, Harkin leaves reasonably heavy defense in hope that it will kill Shepard and Garrus. When Harkin notices the fact that Shepard is on one side of the room, he has failed to kill Shepard at least. But before he is able to leave the room Garrus would swiftly deny him his only exit out of the room, tactically incapacitating Harkin for a few seconds before interrogating him, and forcing him to call on a meeting between Sidonis and Shepard.

The player shortly after this point in the scene will have the Paragon option to stop Garrus from shooting Harkin in the back of the leg in order to slow him down and leave a blood trail to ease the difficulty for C-Sec in locating Harkin.

The scene continues with Garrus explaining to Shepard that he is bringing justice to Sidonis as nobody else will care or know what he has done to Garrus and his deceased team mates. Setting up a firing position on a raised traffic platform overlooking the square which Sidonis was to meet Shepard at, Shepard takes the transit vehicle in which they arrived in and continues to the bottom, entering the square and waiting for Sidonis. Shepard is viewed in 1st Person from Garrus' view down his sniper rifle scope, options for dialogue will come up on screen as Shepard in real-time, will have to make the decision to warn Sidonis or move to the side for Garrus to take the shot. Warning Sidonis will lead to a Paragon Interruption option again and lead the player to find Sidonis' viewpoint on what happened that day was very different to the image we get from Garrus' account on the matter.

If the player activates the Paragon interruption, Sidonis will be spared as Garrus relays the message through Shepard to tell him to leave. Sidonis worryingly says back that he'll find a way to make it up to Garrus. Not activating the option and moving to the side will result in a swift end to Sidonis' life. After a small overview of the situation between Shepard and Garrus, they leave, Garrus saying how he needs some distance from the area. The player may hear on the news terminals around the Citadel that Sidonis has handed himself into C-Sec for the murder of 10 people if he is allowed to live.

Romance

Garrus is a potential romantic option for a female Shepard. During conversations, Garrus tells Shepard of how sparring was a way to blow off steam in the Turian army during long space flights. He then tells a story of how he and a female turian soldier sparred and then "blew off steam" in a different way. Shepard can make advances after that story is told and Garrus will accept, provided Shepard doesn't have any other romances brewing with other crew members. Garrus states that he will have to "do some research." to figure out the physics of turian/human intercourse.

Before the end of the main story, as the crew approaches the Omega 4 Relay, the scene for the Garrus Vakarian Romance will be triggered. It is not as heavily implied as the scenes with Jacob and Thane that they went past first base.

Mass Effect 3

Garrus is a squad member in ME3 if he survived ME2.

He is first met on Menae, Palaven's largest moon, where he helps Commander Shepard find General Victus, the newly appointed Primarch.

At points during the game, Garrus can be found conversing with other crew members. He exchanges jokes with Joker, compares feats with James and, provided neither he nor Tali are romanced, can be found embracing Tali, clearly in a romantic relationship.