Another N7 Day has come for Mass Effect fans, and while the game franchise’s latter two entries – Mass Effect 3 and Mass Effect: Andromeda – have continued to divide fans since their respective releases, the first game remains a classic for many. While this is due in no small part to Mass Effect’s expansive world, detailed lore, and collection of unique and diverse characters, there’s a significant element that really gives the game its everlasting appeal: Sovereign, the game’s villain.
The original Mass Effect trilogy was a huge success for publisher Electronic Arts, selling over 14 million copies worldwide. Focused on Commander Shepard’s fight against ancient mechanical beings known as the Reapers, each game in the trilogy expanded the scope and threat level of the series, culminating in a galactic battle with the Reapers in Mass Effect 3. While that game’s lack of meaningful choices in its ending (a staple that the Mass Effect trilogy had built its credibility on up to that point), an ending that divided Mass Effect fans as to the quality of the entry as a whole, the first two Mass Effect games didn't suffer equivalent backlash.
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This is especially true of the original Mass Effect, which contained probably the purest, old school RPG elements of the series (Electronic Arts took over the franchise after the first game and simplified the mechanics for a broader gaming audience). It also had arguably the best writing of the trilogy from Drew Karpyshyn (who didn't work on Mass Effect 3), who managed to not only create a compelling setting and protagonist in Shepard, but also arguably the best video game villain of all-time in Sovereign.
- This Page: Who Is Mass Effect's Sovereign
- Page 2: Why Sovereign Is The Best & Where Does Mass Effect Go Next?
Who Is Mass Effect’s Sovereign?
Mass Effect’s primary antagonist is arguably Saren Arterius, a Specter much like protagonist Shepard (which are elite agents handpicked by the Citadel Council to preserve stability throughout the galaxy) but the being pulling the strings is Sovereign. At the beginning of the game, it’s simply believed that Sovereign is an ancient ship by which Saren uses to traverse the galaxy and implement his evil agenda. However, things are not even remotely that simple.
Toward the end of the game, Sovereign reveals itself to Shepard to be a Reaper, an ancient and highly advanced being of both synthetic and organic material that seemingly functions as a starship vessel. Their exact origins are a complete mystery, but their purpose is clear: every 50,000 years or so, the Reapers return from dark space (where they hibernate) to wipe out all organic life and harvest their technology. They leave certain aspects of their technology behind, like the Citadel and mass relays (which are used for interstellar travel) to assure that any developing species will create technology that is compatible with their own come harvesting time.
Sovereign, however, remains behind after each of these cycles to study developing species and use the Citadel as a signal to call the other Reapers when the time is right for harvesting. The myth of the Reapers is known to humans and other Citadel species – like the Asari and Turians – thanks to relics left behind by another ancient species called the Protheans, who warn of the Reapers' return. Of course, nobody takes any of this seriously in the Mass Effect games, and with seemingly good reason. It would be like anyone in 2018 taking the idea of Ragnarok as a legitimate means of the world ending seriously.
Still, after his run-in with Sovereign – who, during the events of the first Mass Effect, uses Saren to try and enact the signal needed to call the other Reapers back to known space – Shepard certainly buys it and spends a lot of time trying to get the rest of the galaxy to believe that they’re coming. And the Reapers do return in full force in Mass Effect 3, but while they are certainly a worthy threat in the latter two Mass Effect games (especially Harbinger and the human antagonist the Illusive Man) they never even come close to matching Sovereign’s shocking introduction on the planet Virmire. In fact, it’s a brilliant moment in the game because it changes everything you as the player have come to expect from Mass Effect up to that point.
Page 2 of 2: Why Sovereign Is The Best & How Mass Effect Can Top Him
Why Sovereign Is The Best Video Game Villain
Not only does Mass Effect flip all of its science-fiction-meets-action-thriller elements on their head, but it also nearly completely throws them out of the airlock to suffocate in the cold, harsh space that Shepard spends a majority of his or her time traversing. Instead, with Sovereign’s classic introduction sequence, Mass Effect becomes something akin to a classic giant monster film. Though instead of a mindless beast that roars and stomps through a singular city, Sovereign is a highly intelligent and massive living dreadnought looking to wreak destruction on organic life, with many more just like it simply waiting in dark space to be called back to wipe an unsuspecting galaxy clean.
On top of this, Sovereign doesn’t take Shepard seriously as an opponent at all, only setting aside the time to explain itself out of the sick joy it has in bragging and making Shepard (and more importantly the player) aware of just how hopeless their situation really is. This makes for a thrillingly terrifying third act of storytelling and writer Karpyshyn mines this for all its worth. Even in its action-packed finale on board the Citadel, it feels less like some kind of Hollywood epic action set piece and more like a desperate and suspense-laden attempt to just survive. That moment when Sovereign crashes through the Citadel, hell-bent on achieving its mission is perhaps one of the best video game moments of all-time.
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It also helps that Sovereign is a genuinely terrifying antagonist. While Shepard is just a human – albeit a highly capable human with great reflexes and combat prowess that would make most shiver in their space boots – Sovereign is an ancient monster that has wiped out organic life countless times over. This helped make the Reapers a legitimate threat throughout the first two Mass Effect games before the third game turned them into what are arguably cartoonish villains with little in the way of genuinely captivating moments of terror and development.
While Sovereign is defeated in the first Mass Effect after melding its consciousness to Saren’s and being defeated by Shepard and the combined forces of the Citadel, its presence is felt throughout the rest of the trilogy. No other moment in the Mass Effect trilogy ( or arguably video game history) comes close to matching Sovereign’s introduction scene or the revelation of its plans for Shepard and the rest of the organic species throughout the galaxy. This easily makes Sovereign one of, if not the best, video game villains of all time. It’s just too bad the rest of the Mass Effect games couldn’t top it, but there’s still hope for the franchise yet.
How BioWare Can Top Sovereign In Mass Effect 5 (If There Is One)
Last year saw the release of Mass Effect: Andromeda and, instead of electing to answer lingering questions left at the end of Mass Effect 3, BioWare and Electronic Arts decided to take the series to a different galaxy (the Andromeda Galaxy, to be specific) and give players a new story and new characters. This again divided fans, but it also received a polarizing response from critics due to its facial animation problems and for what perceived to be underwhelming voice acting and story.
Still, there are some genuinely good things from that game – like the spectacular combat system – that the franchise could build upon, should BioWare and Electronic Arts ever decide to make a Mass Effect 5. Most importantly, however, that game would need to find a way to top, or at least match, the impact of Sovereign from the first Mass Effect. Perhaps that means bringing the series back to the Milky Way and again focusing on a Shepard-like character and fixing the Reapers. More than likely, though, this would require BioWare finding a new kind of villain, something completely unlike the Reapers, but not as boring and trope-heavy as the Archon from Mass Effect: Andromeda.
Of course, the easiest method is to bring back Karpyshyn and put him in charge of the universe again. While Mass Effect 2 perhaps wasn’t as good story-wise as the first, it was still a near-brilliant entry in the series and still sold the Reapers as a massive threat that Mass Effect 3 failed to build on. Karpyshyn could probably right the Mass Effect ship easily. Of course, this isn’t likely to happen as Karpyshyn left BioWare for the second time after working on the upcoming Anthem for some time.
Either way, it’s probably best that the Mass Effect series goes into cryo-sleep for a while until BioWare can figure out a story that’s going to excite fans again. Part of that equation will be trying to find a villain that’s as compelling and terrifying as Sovereign, but that will be no easy task considering the character’s spot near the top as one of the best villains in video game history.
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