spoilers EC Endings - Which do you think is canon?

For those who have gone through and seen the Extended Cut DLC endings (all 4 of them), which do you consider to be the 'canon' ending; leaving the most opportunity for a future Mass Effect game/trilogy set beyond this series timeline (not prequels)?

I kind of feel like High EMS Control is now the ending that hopes to keep everyone happy. Sure, Shepard dies/transcends, but you still have Mass Relays, Organics and Sythetics alive (and in peace depending on progress), and the ME universe can pretty much continue as normal without there being any extreme diverges from the original universe.

Synthesis is what I consider one of those diverges, because it makes for a complex backstory if you have a new future ME game and have to set it up for newer ME players. Conversely, Destroy removes all Synthetic intelligence, and that I feel also removes another prominent element of the ME series, partially because we've been subject to a lot of VIs and AIs over the course of the 3 games.

Discuss?

quote Daisy

If you picked Destroy or refuse you basically just restart the cycle, which is a bit of a mind blower when you actually consider that.

I understand that Refusal restarts the Cycle, but how does Destroy?

quote Spectre

quote Daisy

If you picked Destroy or refuse you basically just restart the cycle, which is a bit of a mind blower when you actually consider that.

I understand that Refusal restarts the Cycle, but how does Destroy?

Well, if you are to accept what the Catalyst says - that the cycle is inevitable - you have to think that the survivors will again build AI - since that is exactly what every cycle has done forever - and instead of the reapers coming and cleansing, perhaps you will end up with another super intelligent being like the catalyst that will start a purge. I still think the Catalyst IS an AI and I remain unconvinced that in the Destroy option that it is actually destroyed. Instead he says he needs to find another solution. Somehow I doubt that letting itself be blown to smithereens to allow chaos to regather is in it's plan. You don;t survive millions of years and not have some back up plans.....

It just seems highly hypocritical that an AI is culling organics in the name of chaos control, does it? Like, ok you are harvesting (killing) entire species because they will what - eventually make an AI that can outsmart YOU, Catalyst? It's so circular..... An AI kills organics so that an AI won;t kill organics. It's the video game equivalent of that Yo Dawg meme.

There is no canon, this is THE END...

...or should be but Bioware seems unable to do anything right so they probably gonna try ride out some more coin from this fail train. Feels like destroy pretty much their only option

I personally like the Control ending the best. I thought it seemed the most ethical of the endings as you end the cycle without destroying more, you control the reapers and all the knowledge of the species that came before (you could do this in Synthesis but at the cost of changing all life with the consent of no one), and I just thought it was amazing that it made Shepard a sort of "light reflection" of the Illusive Man.

Also, as far as where the series could go from any of the endings, there's bound to be other enemies out there in the universe I'm sure.

EDIT: Oh, and Shepard pretty much becomes Dr. Manhattan.

I would say Destroy is the canon ending because that was the goal from the very beginning of the series. It is interesting that it is depicted as the "Red" renegade option though. Then again the options are presented to you by the "Star Child" and it is manipulating you to the very end of the game. Consider the fact that you see an Alliance soldier shooting while the Star Child is explaining that option. However, I find it a bit ridiculous that Shepard walks towards the controls while shooting at them since Shepard would like die in the explosion and that contradicts Shepard's statement in the Control scenario where Shepard states he/she did not come this far to loose everything.

Control is actually the renegade option even though it is represented in blue (paragon). This is what the Illusive Man's ultimate goal was and it allows the Reapers to continue it's existence. While this choice does mean that Shepard will become the "New Catalyst" replacing the Star Child, at least in a way it means the Star Child's efforts were not in vain since the Reapers still exists. This allows the Star Child's legacy to continue. To extrapolate this out a little further, this also means Shepard's essence will become the galaxy's new ruler. Since Shepard's essence controls the Reapers it can dictate to other races what is "acceptable" and what is not. Do something that it does not like and it can send the Reaper after you. It would likely be a benevolent type of tyranny but it is tyranny nonetheless. In the extreme case galactic peace could be achieved through fear of destruction by the Reapers.

Synthesis is a compromise of Paragon and Renegade, but it is closer to Renegade than it is to being Paragon. In this manipulated choice, presumably the Star Child will still exist as the Catalyst, but it will no longer have control of the Reapers since they will have freewill. So from the Star Child's point of view it's a win/win situation. It survives and the Reapers (it's creation) also survives. Synthesis also means everything survives and there is "galactic peace" because everyone now is more or less the same (living bio-synthetic beings). However, this will be forced upon everyone by Shepard whether they want it or not. This action basically contracts one of the underlying themes in Mass Effect which is the freedom to make your own choices. It also circumvents the original goal of the Alliance and eventually all other races to destroy the Reapers. Since Shepard will die as a result of having his/her body transformed into energy and dispersed throughout the galaxy, it also contracts Shepard's statement of not coming this far just to give up everything. It is also bemusing why the Star Child states that Synthesis is now an option. Why? Just because Shepard is the first organic being to make it as far as discovering what the Catalyst actually is? If so, then that could mean while Shepard may be ready for Synthesis, everyone else is not. In a way, this parallels the fallen Prohtean Empire where every race was considered Prothean and they all though the same way which resulted in their eventual destruction.

The 4th option to do nothing is neither paragon or renegade and is the true neutral option as opposed to Synthesis. Basically at this point it will be an all out war and naturally the Reapers will win because their technology is so far advance compared to all other races that it is not even funny. Whatever the outcome will be at least all the races known they have done their best to achieve their goal of destroying the reapers. I've seen some posts where people say that the Reapers should be defeated as long as the Galactic Readiness Rating is high enough. Given the vast technological difference I would you would need a rating of at least 1,000,000 to actually to able to go toe to toe with the Reapers. I believe the upper limit in Mass Effect is around 7,500 so all you need is just a few more points.

While Destroy is the actual paragon ending for the game, it is also not an ideal ending. The Geth will be destroyed as well as EDI. Assuming Shepard is able to peacefully end the Geth/Quarian War, this scenario means that in the end those efforts were wasted. EDI's destruction is small in comparison to the Geth, but most players would probably have developed a closer bond with EDI than the Geth; the exception being Legion is who is scripted to die anyway. To quote Stalin, "One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic". This also ties back the "Calculus of War" conversation between Garrus and Shepard.