Mass Effect 3 - History of the Geth

Shepard exploring a Geth server on the Quarian homeworld. Legion uses the situation to show Shepard the Geths side of the conflict.

[@danmurray1996]

"It saved simpler domestic Geth following it." Legion is basically saying he fought to protect Geth children.

[@stephenking5852]

So Legion is an agricultural unit.

[@SuperScarface83]

6:34 "Let's...cut the audio..." Love the delivery of that line. You can hear the guilt.

[@ShadowHunter120]

I felt so bad for the one that didn't even realize it was resisting by ignoring shutdown commands, it was like a child seeking approval from its parents.

[@Igarappappa]

From what we gather from these flashbacks the Geth had no resentment to the Quarians and were very eager to please. The Quarians jumped the gun fearing a rebellion since even after all these years the Geth still care about them.

[@gokublack8342]

@@Igarappappa The Geth only wanted to be recognized as sentient and be allowed to exist they only fought back to survive it's really sad

[@hellacoorinna9995]

@@gokublack8342 "It always has a soul, the question is the answer"

[@boniakarlo]

The quarian - geth history is my favorite dystopian "we will be destroyed by our AI" apocalypses. They incorporated the dynamic of child coming of age with toxic parents which is a great touch, imho

[@Jagg013]

"Creator Megara?"

[@deathking1019]

7:16 does this mean Legion was the first geth to arm himself against the creators

[@ogladaczr.t.3168]

@@deathking1019 probably, it's suggested but not implied, also, remember his reasoning for using Shepard old armor in ME 2?

[@deathking1019]

@@ogladaczr.t.3168 well legion is made up of over a thousand geth working together on one platform so that means any one of them could have been that geth

[@ogladaczr.t.3168]

@@deathking1019 aren't all geth like this? i mean, a thousand of geth *programs* , this geth unit back then probably has thousand programs too, if i remember correctly, legion just has more programs cause hes an advanced platform

[@deathking1019]

@@ogladaczr.t.3168 actually legion said his platform is unique and the only one of his kind because it was meant to search for shepard alone in organic space it was installed with multiple geth so it could easily operate outside of the main geth consensus

[@dreadpenguinlord340]

The fact that they actually saved the image of my Shepard shaking hands with Legion, was the moment I determined never, ever to destroy them.

[@TheAwesomeDarkNinja]

"It was highly significant. You were the first organic to openly cooperate with Geth since the end of the Morning War."

[@coleast1]

One thing this shows that no one in the Mass effect story talks about was how the geth morning war was largely a civil war between quarians. It was mostly after the gethfriendly quarians were killed and defeated that the geth themselves started fighting back.

[@realdementsya]

The Geth started fighting back by killing billions of quarian children, disabled and elderly regardless of gender? You need to be either really stupid or insane to assume that quarians could kill that much of their own people in a time span of less than a year, and that they were actually able to get rid of all geth sympathisers. The Quarian civil war was never a thing, it was never mentioned in any piece of lore, what was mentioned is that the Geth were murdering quarians regardless of their political affiliations, and that actual geth sympathisers were with people who fled Rannoch. It’s almost like the Geth weren’t innocent in the morning war and committed a worst non-reaper genocide in the galactic history, but quarians are still the bad guys because they didn’t make peace with them and tried to reclaim the only world they could live on free from their envirosuits. Oh, I forgot that the Geth were murdering any organic that would approach Perseus veil, including council ambassadors and quarians who believed in coexisting peacefully, and then joined the Reapers twice, so peace was never really an option

[@michaelh5327]

I know it was easier to have the Quarian's suited up in the flashbacks, but I really think this was the time to show the Quarians without their suits as a 'reward' for doing this side-quest.

[@Vulenkus]

Hope sustains organics during times of difficulty... we admire the concept

[@michaelbrowne3088]

It's nice to learn some Quarians tried to help the Geth just as they were beginning to feel.

[@stephenking5852]

Why should a machine be destroyed for asking if it has a soul? ♥️

[@wolfeusmc2011]

"Please specify if it has failed assigned tasks.....we will reprogram.....😥" This was the moment although I brokered peace....I truly felt no pity for the Quarians.

[@ynrmht]

So sad

[@vasheeri]

and they wounder why so many people chose to save the geth after this data dump pretty much saying it was not the geths fault for the uprising....

[@FanimusMaximus]

It really is amazing how these Geth can still have such a human nature and morality. It may not be relevant for Robots or today to have such things, but it still feels like there's hope for a with Robots that wont turn out like the Matrix or Terminator movies.

[@oj7442]

As I remember the humans in tge matrix started it then the machines hooked everyone into heaven simulators

[@DeathMessenger1988]

If only the Geth existed, I would love to live among them.

[@G-MONEY1996]

Same here

[@PlexusCaeruleum]

I love how the Geth, despite knowing it was Quarians who decided to destroy them, don't hold any grudges or prejudice towards their creators. All they needed was a few memories of Quarians trying to defend them to support that, meanwhile, Humans tend to become resentful over one bad experience alone.

[@Keram-io8hv]

When you destroy one geth they return into cloud and reupload somewhere else When you kill human...

[@FLohPiano]

By far one of the coolest missions in the game, in terms of both visual structure and emotional weight.

[@hisdudeness8328]

7:04 So basically that was the Geth version of Sparticus.

[@Ozomender]

I was getting timestamps for a friend and since no one posted any here is some: 4:44 6:06 6:46 10:00 12:30 13:33

[@Top5Troy]

5:28 Legion: "How many creators have you witnessed unmasked?" My Shepard after banging Tali in ME2 and ME3:😅😅

[@axelnilsson5124]

Shepard: one once and the same one at least 3 more times after this

[@Luxai]

I love this twist personally. The first two games tells you the geth are the bad guys in this war, and then it turns out that the quarians are to blame.

[@belowaveragegamer95]

Actually no. When you talk to tali about the geths history she literally says this happened. That the geth got a conscience and the quarians tried to kill them and they fought back

[@Luxai]

@@belowaveragegamer95 She doesn't convey the history as it happened. No mention of the atrocities they commited against their own people.

[@belowaveragegamer95]

@@Luxai yeah that’s the only thing left out but as far as trying to kill the geth for asking a question she talked about. And than still blames them for eventually fighting back 🤦🏾‍♂️

[@stephenking5852]

@@belowaveragegamer95the quarians didn’t need to kill the Beth for simply ask if they had souls. All they did was provoke the geth into acting in self-defense.

[@belowaveragegamer95]

@@stephenking5852 we’re making the same point

[@syafiqharis6436]

I am playing ME Andromeda right now. Just come here to take a trip down memory lane. This entire mission is no doubt one of the most powerful scenes in the entire series.

[@Ozomender]

7:14 leaves me thinking if Legion is the first geth to actually hold a weapon

[@danmurray1996]

@@lyrecanavi ...are you dense? Legion isn't hardware, he's the programs inside his body. The fact that the Legion programs were the original combatant Geth is overt.

[@deathking1019]

@@lyrecanavi Legions platform was made to find shepard but his programs date back to the morning war and since there are over a thousand geth inside of him one of them could have been that geth

[@martingonzalez3629]

@@lyrecanavi are you dense? It's 1,183

[@dah0heavy]

@@martingonzalez3629 the density in this comment chain is off the charts

[@DiegoBPiquer]

More likely, the had a personal attachment to that weapon

[@paragonflash8937]

Man listening to this again makes me love the quarian and geth arc more. I even call the Quarian Geth arc the best Act in ME3. The geth was almost like a child asking the approvial of their creators. The entire war was in self defense the biggest thing was that the geth didnt chase the quarians when they lose their homeworld and retreated. If the geth really were evil robots wouldnt they be programmed to chase after the Quarians until they all were wiped out and those who supported the geth are kept in memory by the geth. Also shepard giving legion hope for a quarian and geth peace made my cry. Playing this again really made me hesitate picking the destroy ending

[@82dorrin]

I love how this mission looks like something out of the 1980s version of Tron.

[@hellacoorinna9995]

_"Something familiar"_

[@axelnilsson5124]

I guess Legion used his AI powers to find the 80s Tron movie assuming Shepard watched it even though it’d be 200 years ago since it was made and people barely even watch 60s movies nowadays and they were made 60 years ago

[@Andrew-iw4us]

Thank you Bioware for producing this script and encouraging peace. This game led many of us out of hell and was a work of art unto itself. May God comfort the naughty quarians who lost their geth ;)

[@bluecoin3771]

The Geth are similar to the Keylon from The Orville. Big difference is that the Geth’s creators are still alive in the form of the Quarian Migrant Fleet.

[@ds2sofs]

So many feels. :(

[@xFoxOne]

Why do I have a strange memory of a geth saying “does this unit have a soul?” “Where did you hear that?” “The word ‘soul’ is found in scriptures 3000+ times” I swear I heard that during my first play through but haven’t found it since. Do I keep missing it somehow?

[@Qwerty123zzuy]

Yes this is so weird i remember this too

[@Qwerty123zzuy]

I went thru the entire vid trying to find the first time this question was asked

[@xFoxOne]

@@Qwerty123zzuy same here actually!!

[@Qwerty123zzuy]

@@xFoxOne could it be this? kzbin.info/www/bejne/mXKym6ewhLqHiMU But i could have sworn it was when a geth was lying on the table and it was also at the very end with a timestamp entry marked 320 years ago(more than whaat is shown here,ie. 290 years).

[@xFoxOne]

@@Qwerty123zzuy ohhhh that IS it!! Haha thank you!

[@skalawitz]

I'm just gonna put it out there that you can actually save both Quarians and Geth.

[@AdeptKing]

That bit where one of the Quarian were trying to get one of the Geth away while the Geth was willing to give itself up to protect him was harsh to see. Almost like a parent trying to protect its child.

[@martingonzalez3629]

THIS IS THE ONLY REASON I GO GREEN ENDING FUCK.

[@SohanDsouza]

"Knock, knock" "Who's there?" "Geth" "Geth who?" "Theriouthly? You're thuppothed to geth who, not I."

[@SeanVito]

This segment proved that the quarians cemented their own destruction. If they just recognized they created a being and treated it as such, things may have been different. It's all pretty sad, and almost biblical in importance. They created a living being with their hands. I sometimes wonder if this game is really about attaining godhood.

[@axelnilsson5124]

Well one of the endings is literally controlling what geth worship as their gods and what is someone who can control a machine god?

[@deathking1019]

7:16 does this mean Legion was the first geth to arm himself against the creators

[@martingonzalez3629]

This is what I'm curious about too. From what I understand Legion is composed of 1,183 programs, so maybe that original agriculture units program is incorporated into Legion. When legion says that the sniper rifle is effective his change in cadence was what made me start wondering this as well.

[@deathking1019]

@@martingonzalez3629 yup but i think what would be even more interesting is what if every geth we see in these flash backs/memory records are all the geth programs that are in legion that each one helped make up his own personality from his curiosity about his existence to his need to protect others and willingness to sacrifice himself for his friends

[@Jurassic0Al]

What weapon is Shepard using here?

[@varric]

An especial one. Created especify to serve to some like an antivirus.

[@petargrad2293]

Avast Antivirus

[@vik24oct1991]

@@petargrad2293 that wouldn't do shit.

[@trla6505]

13:04

[@dimbasz]

The more I play this mission the poorer writing looks to me. Every archive cutscene here is like "GETH GOOD, QUARIAN BAD". Bruh, the Geth decimated several BILLIONS of Quarians including civilians, kids etc. After that they stared and continued to build server-cities on the surface for some stupid reason though Legion himself says they like to hang out in space rather than on the planet. And every hardcore geth fan I saw quietly puts aside the fact they have reached the consensus to subjugate themselves to the Reapers TWICE. Come on guys

[@amazingcynic9709]

yeah because the geth were attacked by a quarian fleets and the geth were afraid of being of wiped out so they allied with the only military force friendly to synthetics the reapers to protect them from their creators also the first time was indoctrination you can't really blame them for that they literally have no say also yeah the geth expanded their server cities from planets into space i don't see you bashing the fact that most races have colonies

[@TheAwesomeDarkNinja]

Give me a break, we had two entire games telling us Geth are bad. We've only heard the Quarians' side up until now. This is the only time you actually see it from the Geth perspective.

[@cagdas_demir_albayrak]

This whole mission is a fucking propaganda for the Geth, designed by Legion. Don't trust an AI with REAPER codes.

[@amazingcynic9709]

legion has no reaper code you're seeing recordings of historical as they happened throughout this mission regardless of who you picked don't be fucking stupid

[@shion980]

And so the biggest Hurdle against the red colored ending was made.

[@cmdrblade2485]

shion980 I don't care if EDI dies (God that's killing me to just say that) but I'd rather have EDI die permanently rather than the Geth die. Especially after helping the Quarians resettle Rannoch and live together in peace.

[@er1chawk]

To bad "destroy" has to be done, if you subscribe to the Indoctrination Theory explanation for the endings...I agree, sacrificing the geth hurts...a lot...but Javik's probably right...they might well become the new reaper's, down the road...

[@arbiterskiss6692]

The Prothean VI on Thessia recognizes that Shepard is not Indoctrinated. Also, the geth have no reason to kill their creators, or others, which we spent three games establishing, but the Starchild said otherwise, so why not listen to it?

[@TheDancerMacabre]

Shepard doesn't negotiate with Reapers.

[@solarwrath1313]

my shepard still destroys, thinking its still the best idea compared to the other options, but has to live the rest of his life knowing he commited genocide to win