Character Spotlight | Thane Krios

We are down to the final Character Spotlight, and I am privileged to introduce and thank our very own n7petiole for this tribute to Mr. Thane Krios. n7petiole has been gaming for years (she’s old, what can I say….lol!). From plugging quarters away in over-sized machines, to eventually becoming entranced (and possibly entangled), in the world of WoW – not to mention spending waaay to much time modding Skyrim.  Thanks to her sci-fi loving husband, she was introduced to the world of Mass Effect.  This eventually led to another BioWare title, Dragon Age: Origins.  And like the rest of us suckers….errr…..RPGer’s, she got hooked on these games.

It’s no secret around these parts that I’m a Thane fan. A big Thane fan.  That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy any of the other characters in the world of Mass Effect — I do very much.  Especially Garrus, Mordin, Grunt, Wrex, Legion, Tali, EDI, and Joker. Kasumi and I are buds. Matriarch Aethyta is a trip. Kaidan grew on me like a fungus…a bit like Alistair.  Jack is so obnoxious I can’t help but laugh. And, I would romance the shit out of Kal’Reegar, if I could (seriously, that man is…on fire ; I blame Jayne, ahem, Adam Baldwin).

All of these fantastic characters aside, though, above all, I’m a Thane fan.

But, I’m already jumping ahead too much, so let me provide a little bit of background first.

My Mass Effect experience (and my BioWare experience) began with Mass Effect 2. Short of my discovery of video games when I was a kid, it was possibly the most impactful gaming experience of my life.  I was floored by the depth of the characters, and the emotional connection I developed to the game via the the decisions I could make with my fully controlled and voiced player customized character.  The story was fantastic — so much so that I didn’t mind that I couldn’t go out and explore every nook and cranny of the world like I was able to in more open concept games such as WoW or Oblivion or Zelda.  And on top of that there were romances…who knew!?

By the time I was done playing Mass Effect 2  I couldn’t wait to continue the story in Mass Effect 3. After all, during the course of ME2 Shepard had been literally brought back from the dead  and every one of my beloved crew had survived the supposed “suicide” mission, so I was completely stoked to continue the story with them in the next game.  I wanted to kick the Reapers’ collective asses, find out what was happening with this “Dark Energy” thing Tali discovered on Haestrom, and dammit, I wanted my ‘happily ever after’ with Thane. At least, that was my hope.

Yeah, that didn’t turn out so well.

Anyway, so that was my mindset heading into Mass Effect 3.  I’m guessing this was a fairly typical mindset — regardless of romance — for someone who did not begin the Mass Effect series with the original game.  And, based upon the significantly greater number of copies ME2 had sold over ME1 at the at the time of the release of ME3, I’m guessing that I wasn’t alone in my experience.

So, with that said, back to Thane…

Why Thane? 

Well, at first I didn’t really care, strangely enough; it was purely process of elimination.  I found Jacob’s personality too dry, and really didn’t like how FemShep started to dialogue with him, after you got to a certain point.  She began to sound a bit…predatory, imo. Yikes.

Garrus? As much as I love him, well, he’s always reminded me too much of a giant grasshopper/locust, so I really just couldn’t…go there. Also, Garrus is typically sort of my Shepard’s ‘bro’ in my playthroughs, so with that in mind…ew.

Kelly? Um…no.

Samara?  Wasn’t really interested.

That left Thane. So, by the time I recruited him initially, I had already decided I wasn’t going to take the romance route with any of the other LIs.  I didn’t know that Thane was a romance option at that point, but I was (quite) pleasantly surprised.

Speaking of surprised…

My first reaction upon Thane’s entrance during his recruitment mission: “Holy shit! That was so badass!”

My reaction as he stands in front of the window, right before he speaks: “Hel-lo.“

My reaction once he speaks: “Oh. My. God.”

Yeah, I was done at that point. My goose was cooked. There would never be another LI for me.  I tried romancing Garrus in some other playthrough at one point (because I do love his personality so much) and I…just…couldn’t…do…it.

So, what is it about IGN’s Best Character of 2010 that myself and others find so enthralling?

The Character

Voice. The voice to any and every video game character is an incredibly important aspect in breathing real life into them. There is no doubt in my mind that without Keythe Farley’s amazing voice and voice-acting skills, Thane would have been the “lesser” for it. Thane’s voice is really, pretty damn hot as far as I’m concerned. Female players everywhere thank you, Keythe.

Appearance. Yeah, there’s no denying it.  BioWare did a fantastic job with the physical design of Thane’s character, as well.  They were extremely successful in making him appeal to women, just as successful as they were in making Miranda appeal to men. Thane’s broad chest, well-muscled shoulders/limbs/torso, black leather outfit, full lips, and big, dark eyes are all a recipe for female attraction.  Yep, video game characters can actually be…hot.  Weird, huh?  Shows how hard-wired we are biologically to find certain things attractive.

Personality.  Thane has always reminded me a bit of another favorite fictional character of mine — Angel.  And, it’s not just because of the black threads, either.  They are very similar in personality.  Both are mysterious, intelligent, strong-willed, and have stoic & brooding natures. Not to mention that despite being dangerous killers, they are somehow both incredibly…noble, moral, and good.  That is a pretty wicked combination for attracting women — as Angel fans can attest, lol. The nice “bad boy”. Thane is also ridiculously polite, spiritual, well-spoken, and a bit…cerebral.  Also, very attractive — at least in my book.

Age/Past. Thane has quite the juicy and tragic past, which of course lends a ton of substance and depth to his character.  For me, these things set the stage to develop a firm emotional connection.

First, as far as maturity goes, he is actually one of the oldest squadmates in any of the games. Only Mordin is older when taking into account the amount of lifespan lived. Thane is approximately 40, and with the average drell lifespan of 80 years, he is “middle-aged”, and at quite a different point in his life than, say, Jacob. His mature and introspective manner as a character is notable, and a nice change of pace from some of the the other younger squadmates/LIs.

Second, save Samara, he is the only squadmate who has been married, with a resulting child.  This also presents another very real and humanizing aspect to Thane, and affects his character arc substantially.  When we meet him, he is in a “battle-sleep”, prepared to die, an assassin tortured with guilt who has been mourning his dead wife and is estranged from his son.  So much tragedy and drama for FemShep to deal with; tons of “meat” for his story in game.

There was simply no way I couldn’t romance this man…er, drell.

What’s very interesting to me, is that some of these aspects of Thane’s past might actually “turn off” certain players. Players who are in their late teens/early twenties might not look upon his past favorably. Thane’s character for them is more along the lines of…their dad. Some younger players who might have lost a parent or whose parents are divorced, might be sensitive to the aspect of of romancing him with their Shepard — things hitting a bit too close to home. There were more than a few respondents from the survey who said that they didn’t romance Thane because of his dead wife, or his son (not to mention his illness).  Some of these players might have been more apt to romance Kolyat, instead.

The Missions

Recruitment. Outside of Thane’s character itself, his recruitment and loyalty missions were two of my favorite in vanilla ME2. First tracking him down, then the fight up the Dantius Towers which is itself is a ton of fun, not to mention some of the great story elements encountered as you work your way up.  When you are finally rewarded with seeing the Galaxy’s Best Assassin, Thane’s entrance into the game is as I said above…completely badass.  So fantastic — one of the best missions in the game, imo.

Loyalty. I’m also a big fan of Thane’s loyalty mission.  He and Samara’s have essentially zero combat, which is not only a nice change of pace, but great for immersion, and — at least in my opinion — really, really enjoyable. During the entire mission you get to watch details of Thane’s life unfold, and there is a real element of urgency when you are on the catwalk attempting to not get lost amongst the doors.  If you finish successfully, Thane is a very happy camper and starts calling Shepard, Siha. Pet names meaning “warrior angel” = win, in my book.  Also, if you fail, Thane is very, very grumpy. Don’t fail.

The Romance

To me, there are two especially great things about Thane’s romance-specific content in ME2.  One, is the evolution his character must go through before he’s ready to acknowledge his feelings for Shepard.  When they meet, he is in his “battle-sleep”, prepared — seeking, even — to die on his mission to assassinate Nassana Dantius.  He is nothing but a shell. A husk. As he and Shepard continue to speak on the Normandy and their relationship beings to grow, he begins to awaken and change as a character.  Once Shepard finishes his loyalty mission and helps to save his son, they (may) acknowledge their feelings for each other. Finally, before going through the Omega-4 relay, Thane comes to Shepard’s cabin afraid for his life.  He no longer wants to die.  He is fully awake and has rejoined the world.  He wishes to live for himself, for her, and for his son.

This is obviously a very deep emotional journey for this character, and that is the other thing I love about this romance. The emotional depth and maturity of it.  It is not at all casual, it’s not even humorous (the encounter with Mordin excluded, lol). It’s a very big deal  for Thane to not only rejoin the world emotionally, but to seek a relationship with Shepard, moving beyond the memories of his deceased wife. And, while from certain in-game dialogue it’s probably safe to assume that there is an underlying physical attraction between the characters, their relationship isn’t at all about sex, per se. That isn’t to say that I wouldn’t have appreciated something other than that “fade-to-black” scene I got there, BioWare, grrr. Not to mention once I realized what the romance scenes were like in Mass Effect.  We were robbed, Thane fans, robbed, I say!

Moving on…

__________

What it comes down to is Thane has the full “package” so to speak. Great voice. Strong, attractive appearance. A ton of substance. Fun missions. Rich romance. And a personality that sort of…pulls you in.  You want to learn more about him — find out what makes him tick. Add his tragic past into the mix and many female players go, “ooh la-la”!

As far as I was concerned, I had a lot of hope for Mass Effect 3.  The fact that Thane wouldn’t see the end of the game really never entered my mind. Not with the dialogue about a potential hanar cure and lung transplant treatments.  Those in-game details felt very specifically like foreshadowing to me — similar to something you’d see in a movie or read in a book and be thinking to yourself, “oh, I know where this is going…”  There’s no purpose to even mention them, unless there is some intention to utilize the same information later in the story.

Yet, as we know, this was not the case.

Which brings me to the following meme (not my work)….

courtesy of Kristina (click to follow original link)

__________

Thane in Mass Effect 3

I learned three very important lessons from Mass Effect 2:

1. (Paragon) Shepard was an incredible force to be reckoned with, a force of good and tolerance, who had a habit of beating unbeatable odds.

2. Shepard was capable of commanding incredible loyalty from her crew.

3. Evading death was practically commonplace, considering her resurrection and everyone coming out of the “suicide mission” alive and unscathed.

These things, and especially the second and third, did not translate well into Mass Effect 3. Before I go any further, full disclosure: I have played through ME3 only once, which at this point was almost a year ago now — so things are starting to get a bit hazy, lol.

My issues with Mass Effect 3 are many, and they are most certainly not limited to Thane’s non-existent romance. I had numerous what I refer to “WTF  Moments” (“W” in this case can indicate where, what, why, or who, lol) in my one and only playthrough of ME3.

Below are some highlights:

• WTF is my crew!? What do you mean they scattered when I was incarcerated!? They wouldn’t do that, they were loyal, goddammit!
• WTF do you mean I was incarcerated?! I just saved all your asses from the COLLECTORS! Bullshit! Thane and my crew would have broke me out!
• WTF is Thane!?
• WTF is this Sam person?  Where’s Kelly!? I didn’t save her sorry ass from being liquified by the Collectors just to have her go AWOL on me!
• WTF is this Vega guy? WTF is he acting like he’s my best friend!? And, holy hell, WTF am I auto-flirting with him when I’m in a romance with Thane!?
• WTF happened to the combat controls!? In cover, out of cover, in cover, repeat. /Rage
• WTF happened to my quest log & dialogue wheel options!?
• WTF did all the cut scenes go!?
• WTF am I being the galaxy’s errand-bitch again, when the Reapers are attacking Earth?! This seems a tad unrealistic…
• WTF do you mean Grunt can’t join my squad!? (now replace “Grunt” with every other ME2 squad member)
• WTF is this Kai Leng guy!? Omg he’s awful….really awful….and annoying….omg I hate this guy!  Must. Kill. Him. Noooooow.
• WTF did Legion/Mordin have to die!? Why couldn’t I stop it!? I’m paragon Shepard, dammit! /Cry
• WTF happened TO THANE!?
• WTF!? You killed off Kal’Reegar in an EMAIL!?  Asyhdflakjsdfhasaskdjahsdkfhj, BioWare!!
• WTF!? Kaidan, why are you flirting with me when my LI is in the hospital!?
• WTF is this Phantom Kid!? What the hell!? Shepard wouldn’t just BELIEVE him! This can’t be the end! What about the Dark Energy?! Where’s my F-YOU option?! Shepard always finds another way! She’d never just do what some apparition told her to! She must be hallucinating!  That’s it! She’s going to wake up in the hospital, hurt from the beam, and everything will be ok…
• WTF I’m…DEAD!? /Sob
• WTF am I seeing my 2 most hated squad members coming out of the Normandy ALIVE!?  They get to live, but me and my LI both DIE??  /Headslam

Ok, that list turned out a bit longer than I was intending, but, to summarize….

If you noticed, I purposefully kept most specific details regarding the treatment of Thane out of the list above, because I wanted to illustrate how unsatisfying and confusing the game was for me without even considering his romance. Many other players were in the same boat as I. Once Thane’s treatment was added into the mix ME3 became…tremendously unenjoyable.

Info tidbit: After ME3, I even went back to play the original Mass Effect, thinking maybe it would help the final installment make more sense, considering I had sort of jumped into the series mid-stream. Nope…it made it worse!  Fantastic game though.  Not as refined as ME2, but I love it almost as much.

__________

For the remainder of this spotlight I’m not going to talk about what is “wrong” with Thane in ME3.  Pretty much everything is wrong, and it’s been widely documented on many different discussion forums at this point. From improper LI-related characterization, to the inappropriate & “porny” public grope session, to the lack of of romance content and paramour achievement, to the alteration in his disease, to the fight scene with Kai Leng (and the premise of it in general), to the unemotional death scene (for a romanced Shep), to the lack of player choice regarding the death of a Love Interest.  There is all sorts of wrong, there.

What I do want to briefly cover are the following two items:

1. My response to how players who engage in the “Thane debate” typically treat each other.
2. My response to players who are against the option to keep Thane alive in any way shape or form.

Player treatment & the “Thane Debate”. It has been a rocky year on the BioWare Social Network.  The “atmosphere” has degraded substantially, beginning with the ME3 ending debacle, through the closure of the Character and Romance forums, and remains currently.

Mass Effect fans love the game. They love the story and the characters, so any debates are bound to become heated. It’s a testament to the quality of the world that BioWare has created, that fans have become so emotionally-invested in how it ends. However, many of these debates have gotten out of hand.  Players are downright rude, disrespectful, and cruel to each other, and there’s really no excuse for it. Some of it is due to players purposefully “trolling” others, enjoying nothing more than leaving a horde of irritated and hurt people in their wake. And other players are merely expressing  their legitimate differences in opinion — albeit in a strong, convicted manner.

In Thane’s case, while players who romanced him have many, many gripes regarding his treatment in ME3, the biggest issue is with his mandatory death. Namely, many players who romanced him (and many who did not) wanted to be able to keep him alive through the end of the game.  A “cure” for his Kepral’s Syndrome certainly would have been one way to do that, but other options could have been explored.  These players have been rallying BioWare in Thane’s favor since before Mass Effect 3 was released. Many feel very, very strongly that he should have lived, and they express themselves as such in their online discussions.

Other players are vehemently against this concept. Judging from the survey results, a majority of these players are male and/or have not romanced Thane. In their judgement, based upon their own experiences in the game, Thane’s treatment as it stands is appropriate and satisfying. Their opinions are perfectly valid.  Especially when one considers the graphic I made previously summarizing the “Many Faces of Thane”:

The problem comes in when these two groups butt heads, and the quality of the discussion can deteriorate rapidly. The “Thane-supporters” can quickly become overly-emotional and defensive, which can be understandable considering how their opinions have been repeatedly attacked.  The “Thane-deniers” often come off as dismissive, condescending, sexist, and oblivious to the differences between Thane’s romance and friend content. They refuse to account for the differences between their game and a “Thanemancer’s” game, and how what they find appropriate and satisfying in their game, actually comes off as non-sensical and horribly ungratifying for a player who romanced Thane.

As fans of these games, customers, and indeed the life-blood of this franchise (BW wouldn’t build it, of they couldn’t sell it), we must find ways to engage in more constructive dialogue with each other. Nothing productive results from bickering, and trying to reason with trolls is pointless. They are trolls.  By definition, there is no reasoning with them.

The “Thane-deniers”. Thane-supporters fight for an option to keep him alive through the end of Mass Effect 3.  Just an option. Personally, I have zero problems with other players enjoying his current ME3 treatment.  It’s their right, and their in-game decisions might very well have differed from my own.  That’s the novelty of being able to play the great RPGs BioWare has created.

What I do think is pretty awful is that those players who fight against a “cure” are really fighting against other players having a choice. These players have such a rigid interpretation of what they see as “believeable” in their game, that just the thought of another player having the option to have an “alternate reality” that they disagree with makes them profoundly uncomfortable. It wasn’t there in the first place, so they don’t want to see it added. So, they speak out against it.  With fervor.  They fight against other players having the ability to make choice, in a game that revolves around the concept of that very thing.

This is something that personally, I would never do. For example, in my opinion both the “synthesis” and “control” options for the endings in ME3 are practically blasphemous as far as previous Mass Effect lore is concerned.  Horrible.  But, I would never fight for them to be removed from the game, and had they not been implemented in the first place, I certainly wouldn’t fight for them to not be added.  In my world, the more choices the better when it comes to an RPG. What doesn’t make sense in the context of my own game, might very well make sense in the context of someone else’s.

With the above in mind, “Thane-deniers” seem to have a few very specific issues when it comes to wanting to keep his death in the game.  I’ve outlined them, and wanted to take the opportunity to responsd to them below:

1. “Thane died a hero/went out like a badass”. I’m glad these players think so, really. My goal is for everyone to have the best game experience they can.  But, besides the lunacy of taking on someone in a sword fight when you have a gun (hello, Raiders of the Lost Ark), having Thane present in the Kai Leng fight scene really makes no sense — especially in the case that Major Kirrahe is alive in the same playthrough. To me, this yells “plot contrivance”.

2. “Thane was ready to die.  His death made sense”. This is true…in the case of an unromanced Thane from ME2. A romanced Thane undergoes significant character development, and by the end of the game this is no longer the case. His “reversion” to this frame of mind in ME3 is what actually doesn’t make sense if he was romanced in ME2.

3. “His death scene was really well done.” For an unromanced Thane, I would agree, it would have been very touching. For a romanced Thane, it wasn’t even close to being touching enough.  Thane and FemShep felt merely like comrades.  They felt completely disconnected from each other in the context of being a couple.

4. “He was terminal. A cure would be too contrived. Too much space magic.” This is really the crux of the matter. Number one, Thane didn’t die from his illness, he died from being stabbed (and complications of his illness). Had he not been stabbed, he could pretty easily have lived through the end of the game.

Number two, I have confidence that BW could do this in a manner that isn’t contrived.  There are many, many options, one being a lung transplant from a living donor — Kolyat, for instance.  In addition, a “cure” isn’t necessary to merely extend his life through the end of the game, all that is needed is some treatment. This treatment could certainly be optional, so players who wanted him to die, could have their wish.

Number three, in the world of Mass Effect, I’m not sure what significance “being terminal” has and why that is such a hurdle.  Consider the following events: A- Shepard was literally brought back from the dead, B- everyone could survive the supposed “suicide mission”, C- a cure for the genophage was found (which according to ME2, was supposed to be unlikely/take much longer), and D- the synthesis ending.  Especially the first and last of these items.  Space Magic, much? It seems to me if players can tolerate any of these, Thane surviving the game shouldn’t be such a big deal.

__________

Thane and the rest of the ME2 squad is a large part of the reason I began the Romance DLC thread on BSN eight months ago. I wondered if I was the only one that was so disheartened by their absence from much of the game, being demoted from main players in ME2 to cameos in ME3.  I also wondered how important this romance content of the game was for other players.  Was I one of the few who enjoyed it or one of the many? So, I started a thread and put up a few polls to find out.  Ironically, at the same time, so did some folks at HTL.

And the rest, as they say, is history.