Alright, I’m just going to get this out of the way. It’s Thanksgiving, and I have cooking to do.

Out of the three options – destroy, control, or synthesis – the only one that I refused to choose was “control.” None of my Shepards, renegade or not, would willingly elect to become a Reaper, unless given no other choice, so that leaves us with “destroy” and “synthesis.”

I used to think that synthesis is what my Shepard would have chosen, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to think she might have chosen destroy without a second thought. Well, not without a second thought: she had a respect for the geth and a genuine friendship with EDI, but she kept referring to the cycle being different from previous ones: organics were getting better, learning, growing. I mean, maybe it’s because I believe that, no matter how bad things are in the world, people can be good and can evolve beyond our base instincts – there will always be outliers and general shits (hi, Nazis!), but I feel like humanity has improved, even just during my lifetime.

And there is no guarantee that the promises the Star Child spouted would actually happen with synthesis. I’m sorry, I don’t trust the little fucker. Shepard isn’t gullible, and synthesis just seems like a ploy to take over the organics under the guise that it’s their choice. It just feels wrong.

Plus, there’s that little sliver of hope that the last little breath that comes from what appears to be Shepard’s body is actually proof of her survival. Even with EDI and the geth no longer existing, she can adopt a krogan baby with Garrus, dance shittily at a club with Jack, watch awful romance movies with Tali, compete athletically with James … she could have a life.

And maybe that is it: I want a happy future for the character I played for years, and after the past year of bullshit, I feel like I deserve that happy ending.

Art Credit: eTeknix