Mass Effect's Destroy Ending Makes The Most Sense (2024)

On November 7, known as N7 day to Mass Effect fans, BioWare released an infographic with the statistics of player choices in Mass Effect. What is revealed about players was mostly unsurprising, with most saving the council, importing their Shepards, and giving their Shepard a unique name besides the default Jane and John. The juicest information, though, was the reveal of the most popular ending fans chose in Mass Effect 3.

Mass Effect 3 can end in four ways; with Shepard either controlling the Reapers, synthesizing synthetics with organic, destroying the Reapers, or refusing all of the choices. In order from least to most popular, eight percent of players chose Refusal, 17 percent picked Control, 30 percent picked Synthesis, and 45 percent chose Destroy. For many players though, this statistic was not surprising. Of course, nearly half of all players picked the Destroy ending, because that is the ending that makes the most narrative sense for Shepard's journey.

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What The Other Mass Effect 3 Endings Lack

One of the big reasons "Destroy" is such a popular ending is because the other endings are ideas that were only explored by villains that ultimately failed. For example, the idea to control the Reapers was entirely the Illusive Man's goal from the start. Since he is a villain fighting Commander Shepard throughout all of Mass Effect 3, his idea is constantly framed as foolish and selfish. The Reapers are ancient killing machines, and the idea that a human could have the power to control them is shown to be a lesson in hubris.

Even when the decision is left to Shepard, the preview of using the catalyst for control shows an image of the Illusive Man, absolutely tying the method to him. The only difference in logic is that Shepard is somehow stronger than the Illusive Man, and thus can control the Reapers. However, that is a leap in logic many players did not find sense in, as believing Shepard can control the Reapers puts them on a pedestal much like how the Illusive Man felt about hismelf.

Of course, the "Synthesis" ending lacked a preview of a character other than Shepard using the catalyst. This made some players wonder if this ending was considered canon, which explains why more choose Synthesis over control. However, Synthesis is a lot like the "Control" ending, in that a villain was the first to come up with this idea. However, instead of the Illusive Man, this ending is tied to Saren from the first game. Saren believed that the only way to settle the score with the Reapers was to join them, rather than fight them. He even made half of his body synthetic, much like how characters end up in the Synthesis ending route.

Then there is the "Refusal" ending, which is the least popular choice of all because it dooms everyone in the galaxy to the might of the Reapers. Most consider Refusal to be a bad ending, and do not choose it for that reason. Those that pick the Refusal ending mostly do so out of curiosity, and usually have a different ending played out that they consider the real end to Shepard's story. The Refusal route is a heartbreaker ending, and lacks any solid conclusion to the defeat of the Reapers.

Why Destroy Makes The Most Sense for Mass Effect

With the villains setting up the Control and Synthesis ideas, the idea to destroy was always Shepard's. It is the argument they stick to throughout the entire game until they end up with the catalyst. With it being Shepard's goal throughout the series, it is also supported by all the companions, even including the synthetic ones like Legion and EDI. In the preview on the catalyst for the Destroy ending, Anderson is shown being the one who set off the destruction, and he is a character proven to be a hero and father figure to Shepard as well.

It is not until the very end where the game brings up the question, "What if Saren and the Illusive Man had a good point, though?" and this question was not really explored throughout Shepard's journey. Instead, Shepard's journey was about uniting a diverse cast of characters under the banner that the Reapers must be destroyed. What irked many players about the non-Destroy endings is that they seemed like a betrayal of what the galaxy expected of Shepard. They followed Shepard, believing they could destroy the Reapers, and Shepard controlling or sythenizing with them is something that was never mentioned in a war meeting or even in personal conversations with other characters before.

With such a strong argument for the Destroy ending, it is a wonder why about half of the players picked other endings. BioWare did try to make the choices seem equal, despite the goal to be Destroy all along. The game did this by forcing players to sacrifice all synthetic life while destroying the Reapers. This meant killing off EDI, the geth, those who rely on synthetic parts, and setting societies back many years, in terms of technology.

The Catalyst itself was quite enthusiastic about this caveat, and any other negative condition that goes with the Destroy choice, even going as far as to tell Shepard the Destroy ending solves nothing because people will make synthetic life again and synthetics will continue the cycle of war. This is part of why half of the players picked endings outside of Destroy.

However, the many caveats the Catalyst mentions does lead into how much the Catalyst is a reliable source of information. After all, it is the AI that controls the Reapers in the first place and is basically the final boss diguised as a child based on Shephard's trauma. This is not to say the Catalyst lied, but its logic is cruel and calculated with no faith in life and growth.

It comes across as an authority towards the end of the game, explaining Shepard's choices to them and leans into why the Destroy ending is not a good choice in comparison to others. However, all other moments in the series have shown that Destroy was the only choice, and the sudden appearence of Control and Synthesis endings almost feel like tacked on distractions.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition is now available on PC, Playstation 4, and Xbox One.

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