The Enkindler Theory -Spoilers-

From the "it was all a dream" indoctrinated theory to the Bioware couldn't write themselves out of a paper bag theory I decided to come up with my own theory on not how the game ends but how the entire trilogy really ties itself with several religious (mainly christian) undertones. This was purely out of entertainment purposes but their are several religious undertones throughout the series, I'll try to name a few.

We start at the beginning with Eden Prime. It is the very first location you visit, it sets the start of the entire trilogy. If it weren't for what happened in Eden Prime the trilogy would have never happened. Eden Prime is inspired by the Garden of Eden, a beautiful garden the Lord created for the first humans, Adam and Eve. The Garden of Eden is where the bible sets itself up as it was where the first sin was committed.

Speaking of Adam and Eve, 2 of the 3 endings (and even the Destroy ending if Edi was on your squad) has Joker and Edi coming out to what seems to be an untouched garden planet. The new "Eden Prime".

Next is Commander Shepard, Shepard being an obvious big name in the bible in both context (a humble Shepard of sheep that graces God for goodwill) to the actual name itself.

At the end of the game an old man will tell his son that The Shepard gives his life at the Crucible for humanity. Jesus gave his life away at the cross for our sins in a similar fashion.

Tim and Anderson at the end of ME3 represent God and Lucifer in an eternal struggle. Tim trying to convince Shepard is similar to how Lucifer tried to convince Jesus to join him.

Lucifer (Satan) also tries to convince Jesus to commit suicide. TIM tells Shepard to go on a suicide mission.

In Mass Effect 2, you have 12 squadmates (if you include Kasumi and Zaeed) which represents the 12 disciples of Jesus. To take it a step further, when Garrus had a sqaud of 12, one of his own betrayed him, similar to how Judas betrayed Jesus.

"We are Legion, for we are many" is a direct quotation from the bible and is where Legion gets his name. He even says so himself.

The "Canon" Shepard who was a paragon (as evidenced by the very strict and linear path you have to take in order to get the best ending WITHOUT playing multiplayer) is the ultimate peacemaker (Garrus even states this at one point). He can do the impossible and bring peace to anyone much like Jesus could.

The Lazarus project references the Lazarus of Bethany, whom Jesus Christ brings to life after dying. Shepard and Jesus come back from the dead.

Saren played the same role as Lucifer (and TIM) in ME1, trying to convert Shepard to see his side through persuasion.

The cycle of destruction and chaos the reapers perform in order to keep balance. On numerous occasions does God wipe out an entire people and even the entire planet at one point in order to preserve balance. It is even stated that he will do so again in Revelations, hence the cycle continues.

The God child at the end who shows up, seems to be nearly omnipotent and allows you the gift of freewill to make your own choice even if there is no choice at all you also have to rely on blind faith as to which ending is the best ending your first time around and that is the very foundation of all religion.



TL;DR- The ending doesn't make any sense and neither does the bible.

But yeah this game seems to be filled with a lot of religious undertones and references, nearly all of them Christian.

Not a theory but yeah I saw some of those as well and I wasn't trying to. Legion and 'The Shepard' stinger scene being the most readily available.

You notice how along the same lines as the Adam and Eve thing that God created Woman to be with man or something and EDI is created by man 'playing GOD'.

The TIM and Anderson was something I can easily see now that you mention it. but still you can appeal to his better nature in the end.

But christian and religious tones as a whole are fairly common ground in books and movies. Just look at Every Disney Movie (not dreamworks) and Evangelion and other such anime, and a large multitude of movies. Games are the next logical step for references like that.

quote Machienzo

It's a nice theory that you can look at at face value and say; "yeah that works". It's my personal opinion that it probably wasn't the exact intention of the writers to have such a close religious context, because of how volatile the subject is and how often it's encouraged to avoid deep or blatant references for fear of somehow offending a sector of the fanbase.

I agree, considering people grow up with a set-way of how your brain works. You grow up with many events shaping the way you think, it is very often coincidence things are similar. If a person thinks of an elf everyone will think of something slightly different but the general idea is the same. If you hear a sound and didn't recocnize it but someone says 'hey didn't that sound like...' then you might think it actually was what the person said even if it wasn't. People like to connect familiar subjects with new ones.

Nice idea, but to me it seems like you didn't come up with a theory on how the game trilogy works/ends, but rather just drew comparisons between it and the Bible.