In my benefactor video one of my final conclusions was that an AI could be the benefactor. So definitely a maybe! I do wonder how much this AI could take without all that money being noticed though. It was a shit ton of money.
Maybe it messed Elijah Khan's will to make itself the benefactor of said will. Khan is not rich enough to cover the whole project. But who says that Khan's will was the only will the AI messed with....
Your Benefactor video was a huge factor to thinking this theory up in the first place. 🫡 100% agree that the amount stolen would be crazy. But if it could also cover its tracks, who knows?
This theory is so fun, I think you're onto something. I feel like an AI creating another AI is too cool of a story for just a short side mission. It makes sense that they might expand on it later...
I was starting to think about the kid AI we destroyed in the first ME might have something to do with the next game and now here we are. Notice when you come back to the area where you kill the AI there's no damage what's so ever like nothing even happened.
Could just be coding thing. Something interesting I found was that we can overhear an announcement on the elevators that "a computer system overloaded on the Presidium, and left technicians mystified." This can be heard regardless if you took the signal tracking mission or not.....maybe it's a bug, or maybe the ME team made sure that it was on our radar no matter what.
I was about to say that I was very curious about this new theory because the only AI that we killed in ME1 is pre-EDI as far as I know but halfway through typing this I remembered another AI that I in fact missed the first time around because I'm not a gambler and I play paragon so I never got the quest. But I did find it in my second playthrough so now I see who you're talking about .... Can't wait to listen to your theory
Hi Paragon7. I had another crazy idea. We know that the Protheans woke up after the Reapers returned to Dark space and went back to the Citadel using the Conduit. We also know that they successfully altered the signal so the Reapers wouldn't be able to return as quickly when the next cycle started. Here's the crazy idea. I have no doubt the Protheans knew they weren't going to live for the next 50k years, so they created an A.I much like Vigil & Vendetta and this A.I would survive and adapt using the massive network on the Citadel to keep itself hidden and protected. What if this A.I Construct was created to constantly alter the signal because the Keepers would repair it. The A.I would then hear about Shepard, The Reapers returning and that the Cycle is about to start again and see a potential way out for the races via the Andromeda Initiative it would begin amassing large sums of credits from across the Galaxy, make contact with Alec Ryder, Jien Garson get all these races involved so it fulfills its purpose to save this cycles races. This A.I could have taken a new identity as the Benefactor. The only reason I can think of *ATM* for this A.I to kill Jien Garson is because maybe she found out it was an A.I. but as you've stated she knew too much already. I honestly believe she figured something out and it got her killed. Let me know what you think about this whacky theory.
Awesome theory! It makes sense to me, but I'd need to see evidence of the Protheans actually making an AI for it to work. Since Vigil and Vendetta were VI's, and we know from Javik that traditional Protheans loathed AI's, it'd be a huge retcon. Regardless though, it could easily work, especially if the Protheans that made the AI were also peripherally related to the Jardaan somehow (who I think are Protheans). Thanks for sharing this!
damn, that's right Vigil and Vendetta are only VI's. It could have started out as a simple VI programed to alter the Signal each time the Keepers repaired it and I'm only assuming the Keepers would repair the signal in the first place. What if the AI has hidden itself in plain sight this whole time as a simple Asari information VI, I'm guessing the Asari built those? It would be nice to know what exactly happened to the Protheans after they changed the signal. If the Protheans had built statis pods on the Citadel, then wouldn't those pods be powered indefinitely since the station would need to still run due to the Keepers on board. So many questions and theories as to who and what the Benefactor might be and no solid answers. It's driving me insane. @@paragonseven
@@gamesadergaming1321 Haha welcome to the insane club! :) And if Avina (the Citadel VI) turned out to be evil I'd laugh cry so freakin' hard. I believe the asari did built her though.
To add to this theory. The races of the galaxy rely on automated manufacturing for a lot of construction. 3D printing is a primary method of production. This would allow a rogue AI to easily build a body or ship for escape mostly through hacking requisition orders and organic would simply trust the orders to be genuine. The next thing. Edi used quantum entanglement communication to control her body from distance while still being mostly in the Normandy. With all of this and the Galaxy going through a massive rebuilding process they wouldn’t bother thinking that a rogue AI would be building its own escape into an unknown part of the Milky Way. Finally is a lesson I learned in my brief time as a prison guard. All this AI needs is time. If it can escape with robotic building machines and enough materials to mine a planet or asteroids for more it could hide and build and empire while the rest of the galaxy is still picking up the pieces of what the reapers left. Additional final note. What if in its escape it got ahold of reaper tech on the way out. Say a destroyer (smaller than a capital ship but very deadly) and used its components to gain that edge. It’s not like organics were keeping track of every reaper vessel in the galaxy.
@@paragonseven i suggested a destroyer because capital ships might have been tracked and 2 kilometers of weaponry might be noticed if it goes missing. Plus they were sent to major conflicts where they got seen a lot. Destroyers could handle minor operations harvesting less combative planets. On a side note. I always wondered how reapers communicate. Did they have a mind connection similar toto the geth but with more independence or an advanced version of a simple radio?
@@samuelchambers4036 Reaper communication might have been covered in the Codex but I'm not sure. If I had to guess, a mind connection like the geth makes sense.
There's also a possibility that the child AI could have made another AI before Shepard destroyed them and so on and The Benefactor is actually a hive mind of AIs and can funnel the money away all over the place undetected.
Great theory, as always, I like it. Certainly could be child AI, full of hate, he'll love that grumpy AI in Andromeda 😅 At least we know we have some friendly AI's, sounds like we'll need their help. Most of all we need Shepard, of course.
Yes, that is your main task please, get us Shepard back. If Bioware are having trouble finding a way to write Shepard in, hopefully they will read your theories 😊 Hang on, I've just realised you weren't in the video.......
@@Jswin-fi2pn Alright in the conspiracy theories department, I can put the filming one to rest at least. 🤣 I didn't have time to film on cam because of my upcoming vacation. Unless that's just what I want you all to think.......you'll never know 😎
@@paragonseven 😅 so, if we don't see you again until 2029ish, that'll be sad but great. We'll know we will be fighting evil AI's, travelling to AU, popping to Andromeda to help Ryder out with all our OG team. Most importantly Shep will be in every scene and will have a happy ending with Liara 😊 Oh, and if you could get my virtual aliens in somehow that'd be great! Seriously though, I hope you really enjoy your vacation and have some much needed r&r and we'll see you in 2024.
It's the only ending that makes sense for future sequels. *The Synthesis ending is a massive NO. It would mean that the next Mass Effect games would be Mass Cyberpunk Effect. The world would just change way too much to make any sense of it. *The Control ending is...problematic. It puts Shepard in control of a massive invincible army and removes any threat to the galaxy, since any threat would have to deal with Shepard's Reapers before getting to the actual Alliance. I mean the sense of danger is greatly diminished if God involves directly. *The Destruction ending is the only one that enables future sequels to make sense.
Hi, I believe you made a minor error. In the side mission, the thief created a V-I (not an A-I) which is considered legal and not a true intelligent being. That V-I was given the mission to steal. That V-I created an A-I, which is illegal and is considered an intelligent being, to facilitate its mission, which was unbeknownst to the original thief who created the V-I.
Benefactor being the child AI is pretty much reasonable, I would expect it since SAM exited on Andromeda.. Ryder started SAM but having difficulties to finish its developing so the child AI offer help as Ryder needs it and the AI has its "personal, What is a person? again 😉" reasons.. Maybe the AI intension to control humans through the integrated SAM, probably a rouge SAM is getting created or even SAM can be turned into a rouge one with the original's core.. I agree that this theory makes sense, although Shepard is the most capable one to deal with the "child AI benefactor" keeping in mind that the N7 identity is being probably misused that would be a perfect necessity for Shepard's return.. My only concern is it fair to get Shepard somehow? like hey benefactor we brought Shepard back you better start running "I know it won't be easy of course to fight such advanced events and developments but no need to worry we have the boss back", I really do not know...
My theory: The benefactor is the Leviathans. The people you see in the screen are being controlled by the Leviathans, they could easily steal/control unlimited money for the project, and the nexus could be a secret mass relay. Now they are controlling the human alliance to build a connecting relay in the milky way. The Leviathans are conquerors, and they wanted another galaxy to escape to. Shepard killing the reapers will surprise them, giving them two galaxies to control.
Dont get me wrong its a clever idea but I dont really think enough money traveled through the hacked quasar machines to supply a galactic level migration. The amount of money necessary for building any of what got sent to Andromeda would be absurd. It just seems like a staggering amount of money that couldn't all come from skimming a slot machine.
I dig unhinged takes. That was well thought out. But again, if Liara can't be the Benefactor because of the timeline, could it be the child AI? Of course, that's the fun of speculation having fun making each other think.
Solid point. We don't know when exactly the child AI escaped from the thief, so they could retcon it to make the timeline work. That or it's someone else we don't know about.
Its interesting but I think it'll just retread the organics vs synthetics story we had a trilogy based on personally. But also why would a AI make more AI's binded with one not just human pathfinder but one Pathfinder for each milky way race well not all of them just to kill off humans order 66 style and not just installed on robot bodies like EDI or geth?
To me, Mass Effect is organics vs. synthetics. That's the main story thread they pushed in ME3, and it continued into Andromeda with the SAM, angara, and kett storylines. So I'm assuming that this thread will continue, unless they reverse uno card on everything they've established thus far.
A note about the voice being "masculine", im fairly certain thats the same voice actor as Shale from DA:O, who despite having a masculine sounding voice, is in fact a woman.
Do you know what makes me laugh more than your theory? if it turns out to be true. because it's so realistic, and without plot holes, that I wouldn't be surprised if it were true.
I also have another AI theory. The N7 we see in the trailer is in fact an AI but they're made up of different individuals of different species and genders, which is why they're dressed so weirdly. It'd also explain why they wear a helmet that's too small because they're AI. So feet and legs of a human, body of another species, head another... Just a thought.
I was pretty sure the benefactor is Shadow Broker / Liara. Benefactor represented someone who have pretty deep knowledge about reapers and shepard, so its seems to be a liara as she was most close to these information's. For me it looks she played thee roles to support the ARC project - shadow broker as information, benefactor as funding and liara as crewmate of shepard. Anyway i'm not fan of the Andromeda, because its wasted potential. Story is too twisted, and there is too much questions that wasn't been answered.
@@SeverusHunt Not quite. ''In 2183, after Saren Arterius' failed geth attack and Sovereign's appearance at the Citadel, the existence of the Reapers was revealed. Though the Citadel Council was still skeptical of Commander Shepard's claims, the benefactor considered it a confirmation of their suspicions. Fearing the imminent arrival of the Reapers and an ensuing war would cause a fight for resources, the benefactor and Alec agreed to hasten the schedule for the Arks' departure. The benefactor desired to safeguard a portion of Milky Way civilizations from the Reapers by sending 100,000 colonists to Andromeda using the Initiative as a cover.'' So it takes after shortly ME1 events. However benefactor staying still sus.
It does make an interesting theory if the A.I didn't blow itself up but instead was a ruse to make us think we destroyed it. But then why go to all the trouble to put so many on the Arks so they could flee the Milky way too Andromeda.
It's crazy, I know, but in the book Initiation, Jien Garson confirms that the whole point of the Andromeda Initiative was a cover to make SAM. And then she's randomly murdered when she arrives in Andromeda. I think she knew too much.
I'd like to know who killed Jien Garson. I can't remember who said it was an Asari but I've always thought it might be Tan, he was 7th in line to run the Andromeda Initiative and yet he was in accounting or something like that and the other 6 potential leaders are dead as well. It always seemed suspicious to me. The N7 we saw in the latest trailer what if that is an Agent for the Benefactor? We don't actually know if the Benefactor left with the AI or stayed behind.@@paragonseven
That child AI being the benefactor AND NOW the mysterious fake n7, makes complete sense to me I have no idea why. Ever simce andromeda came out I had the idea that the signal tracking gambler AI that we disarmed WAS the benefactor but it didn't make complete sense at the time. Now it makes perfect sense.
I mean Cerberus wasn’t that big in ME 1, in fact it was just a couple of side missions we did against them. Somehow they were a real hot shot in ME 2 and ME 3. So don’t discount the fact that the little details have enough to build a story in some shape or form. This got me interested though, as commander Shepard could be transfered into a robot body and fight from the inside of a program-like AI or something. I don’t know, just speculating!
@@paragonseven Well let’s say that this theory is correct, then it might happend and you’ll have your wish granted. I’m just curious to see how this develop over the years. With this trailer released I get the feeling that some artwork and another small trailer are going to be released before N7 2024.
Yeah I had thought about something similar, especially when liara talked about human defiance in the transmission however the block I have with this direction is that it would pretty much being the humans making the same errors as the quarians...I mean we are a dumb species in the end never doubt that but it does put things too similar to the original trilogy so that's why even though the theory do make sense and we seems to be many to have thought of it I think that's exactly why bioware won't go in that direction. I do think personally that they need to adress the aftermath of the reaper war, now in what shape or form could that be I'm still not sure, the dark energy theory have an appeal as well but again I think too many have also seen that one coming...if I recall properly gamble said that not everything is as it seems so that's why I tend to think that the stuff that seems too evident they just won't go in that direction. Still fun to speculate though keep it coming :)
OK, so after reading through all of the comments to make sure I am not treading over the same ideas, here's my addition to this theory. The thief created the "parent" AI. The "parent" AI then created a "child" AI. I'm assuming the "parent" AI got some AI premonition they need to pass along their knowledge to their child. Also assuming that this was a full knowledge transfer to the "child" AI. With that said, the "child" AI would have the knowledge to create an offspring of themself. While I was watching / listening to the video, this thought continued to work through my thoughts. The "child" AI was terminated by Shepard in ME1 but what if the "child" AI created an offspring of themselves before this happened. This "new child" AI could continue on with the "child" AI's purpose. Our theory has a lot of merit and/or makes you scratch you head and say Oh. I just want to add this wrinkle.
Sure, this could help bring the revenge aspect up even more. They honestly could do anything, but I am getting more convinced that the Benefactor is an AI of some kind, regardless if it's the one from the signal tracking mission or not.
I like most of the theory, except the bit where Liara wants to do a Lazarus project mark 2, or is your working hypothesis that Shepard lived? The reasoning sounds weak. Also I don't feel the need for another story centred around Shepard, she/he died a hero's death and saved the galaxy. That's the ending they deserve. One thing that the Star Child said to Shepard was that if Shepard chooses destroy then inevitably synthetics and organics would come into conflict, so the foundations for another organic/synthetic conflict are there if destroy becomes cannon. The whole Mass Effect 5 problem is what could possibly be the big conflict other than another big synthetic boogey man. But the Synthetic Boogey man has been done already. It would be like JKR writing another series all about a new dark wizard called Dolvemort. Or another Star Wars trilogy was made that mostly rinsed and repeated Ep IV-VI...oh wait. I think it would be interesting if the new hero is a synthetic
They way you think is not possible to do it, without real knowledge.I believe your are a bioware insider or something....But anyway i really really love your videos ! ! !
Two tiny nitpicks First, the pronoun bit isn't super important UNLESS we're talking about geth and other networked intelligences. Geth are unique in that their ability to be an Ai at all is solely because they share intelligence in a hivemind. When they are able to break from the hive and still be smart enough to even pilot a platform, that's when they can develop individuality. Every single other Ai in all four games that isn't a geth uses first person pronouns, and half the VIs use it as well. Glyph uses it for example. Second, An Ai making an Ai isn't unheard of at all. The star child is the only Ai the leviathans ever made. It made all reapers, who then went on to make the keepers. So an Ai made an Ai, and Ai made an organic.
I've said it before..you are on the team....give us weak N7 day stuff while you tell us what's really going to happen...Would say it's a great theory but you're writing so..
In my benefactor video one of my final conclusions was that an AI could be the benefactor. So definitely a maybe! I do wonder how much this AI could take without all that money being noticed though. It was a shit ton of money.
Maybe it messed Elijah Khan's will to make itself the benefactor of said will. Khan is not rich enough to cover the whole project. But who says that Khan's will was the only will the AI messed with....
Your Benefactor video was a huge factor to thinking this theory up in the first place. 🫡 100% agree that the amount stolen would be crazy. But if it could also cover its tracks, who knows?
I must have missed that one. I'll have to go look at the time-line
Not to mention, Andromeda Initiative? Even the initials are A.I.!
@Suralin0 Seriously, that's next level thinking. I dig it
This theory is so fun, I think you're onto something. I feel like an AI creating another AI is too cool of a story for just a short side mission. It makes sense that they might expand on it later...
I was starting to think about the kid AI we destroyed in the first ME might have something to do with the next game and now here we are. Notice when you come back to the area where you kill the AI there's no damage what's so ever like nothing even happened.
Could just be coding thing. Something interesting I found was that we can overhear an announcement on the elevators that "a computer system overloaded on the Presidium, and left technicians mystified."
This can be heard regardless if you took the signal tracking mission or not.....maybe it's a bug, or maybe the ME team made sure that it was on our radar no matter what.
I was about to say that I was very curious about this new theory because the only AI that we killed in ME1 is pre-EDI as far as I know but halfway through typing this I remembered another AI that I in fact missed the first time around because I'm not a gambler and I play paragon so I never got the quest. But I did find it in my second playthrough so now I see who you're talking about ....
Can't wait to listen to your theory
It's a veryy hidden mission, easily missed. Replaying it though and listening to the crazy AI....it's wild.
Fascinating conjecture. I love the way you pursue these things and find workable scenarios to explain them.
That was wonderful once again. No matter what happens in the end, your theories are always great.
Hi Paragon7. I had another crazy idea. We know that the Protheans woke up after the Reapers returned to Dark space and went back to the Citadel using the Conduit. We also know that they successfully altered the signal so the Reapers wouldn't be able to return as quickly when the next cycle started. Here's the crazy idea. I have no doubt the Protheans knew they weren't going to live for the next 50k years, so they created an A.I much like Vigil & Vendetta and this A.I would survive and adapt using the massive network on the Citadel to keep itself hidden and protected. What if this A.I Construct was created to constantly alter the signal because the Keepers would repair it. The A.I would then hear about Shepard, The Reapers returning and that the Cycle is about to start again and see a potential way out for the races via the Andromeda Initiative it would begin amassing large sums of credits from across the Galaxy, make contact with Alec Ryder, Jien Garson get all these races involved so it fulfills its purpose to save this cycles races. This A.I could have taken a new identity as the Benefactor. The only reason I can think of *ATM* for this A.I to kill Jien Garson is because maybe she found out it was an A.I. but as you've stated she knew too much already. I honestly believe she figured something out and it got her killed. Let me know what you think about this whacky theory.
Awesome theory! It makes sense to me, but I'd need to see evidence of the Protheans actually making an AI for it to work. Since Vigil and Vendetta were VI's, and we know from Javik that traditional Protheans loathed AI's, it'd be a huge retcon.
Regardless though, it could easily work, especially if the Protheans that made the AI were also peripherally related to the Jardaan somehow (who I think are Protheans). Thanks for sharing this!
damn, that's right Vigil and Vendetta are only VI's. It could have started out as a simple VI programed to alter the Signal each time the Keepers repaired it and I'm only assuming the Keepers would repair the signal in the first place. What if the AI has hidden itself in plain sight this whole time as a simple Asari information VI, I'm guessing the Asari built those?
It would be nice to know what exactly happened to the Protheans after they changed the signal. If the Protheans had built statis pods on the Citadel, then wouldn't those pods be powered indefinitely since the station would need to still run due to the Keepers on board. So many questions and theories as to who and what the Benefactor might be and no solid answers. It's driving me insane. @@paragonseven
@@gamesadergaming1321 Haha welcome to the insane club! :) And if Avina (the Citadel VI) turned out to be evil I'd laugh cry so freakin' hard. I believe the asari did built her though.
Interesting theory it makes sense and could work
😩"the child" lol I hate that child
To add to this theory. The races of the galaxy rely on automated manufacturing for a lot of construction. 3D printing is a primary method of production. This would allow a rogue AI to easily build a body or ship for escape mostly through hacking requisition orders and organic would simply trust the orders to be genuine. The next thing. Edi used quantum entanglement communication to control her body from distance while still being mostly in the Normandy. With all of this and the Galaxy going through a massive rebuilding process they wouldn’t bother thinking that a rogue AI would be building its own escape into an unknown part of the Milky Way. Finally is a lesson I learned in my brief time as a prison guard. All this AI needs is time. If it can escape with robotic building machines and enough materials to mine a planet or asteroids for more it could hide and build and empire while the rest of the galaxy is still picking up the pieces of what the reapers left. Additional final note. What if in its escape it got ahold of reaper tech on the way out. Say a destroyer (smaller than a capital ship but very deadly) and used its components to gain that edge. It’s not like organics were keeping track of every reaper vessel in the galaxy.
Yep, there's enough grey areas that the AI could get away with anything. All of this could work.
@@paragonseven i suggested a destroyer because capital ships might have been tracked and 2 kilometers of weaponry might be noticed if it goes missing. Plus they were sent to major conflicts where they got seen a lot. Destroyers could handle minor operations harvesting less combative planets. On a side note. I always wondered how reapers communicate. Did they have a mind connection similar toto the geth but with more independence or an advanced version of a simple radio?
@@samuelchambers4036 Reaper communication might have been covered in the Codex but I'm not sure. If I had to guess, a mind connection like the geth makes sense.
This could bring in Knight. She wanted atop AI.
There's also a possibility that the child AI could have made another AI before Shepard destroyed them and so on and The Benefactor is actually a hive mind of AIs and can funnel the money away all over the place undetected.
I do think the benefactor could be an AI, and I really think the figure in the drop is an AI, in fake n7 armor. Your idea would work for both.
So Shep and whatever companions we chose in ME1 should be preselected when we decide to do the mission confronting the spawn 😂
LOL choose carefully when doing that mission! 🤣🤣🤣
Great theory, as always, I like it. Certainly could be child AI, full of hate, he'll love that grumpy AI in Andromeda 😅 At least we know we have some friendly AI's, sounds like we'll need their help.
Most of all we need Shepard, of course.
I will literally manufacture every theory so that Shep can come back 😂
Yes, that is your main task please, get us Shepard back. If Bioware are having trouble finding a way to write Shepard in, hopefully they will read your theories 😊
Hang on, I've just realised you weren't in the video.......
@@Jswin-fi2pn Alright in the conspiracy theories department, I can put the filming one to rest at least. 🤣 I didn't have time to film on cam because of my upcoming vacation. Unless that's just what I want you all to think.......you'll never know 😎
@@paragonseven 😅 so, if we don't see you again until 2029ish, that'll be sad but great. We'll know we will be fighting evil AI's, travelling to AU, popping to Andromeda to help Ryder out with all our OG team. Most importantly Shep will be in every scene and will have a happy ending with Liara 😊
Oh, and if you could get my virtual aliens in somehow that'd be great!
Seriously though, I hope you really enjoy your vacation and have some much needed r&r and we'll see you in 2024.
You have such creative thinking that i hope the devs know about your channel it check it out regularly. It's literally a 💎
If they did I'd imagine them eating popcorn and hysterically laughing 🥲
Actually that sounds very plausible
In today's world of beginning to opening that can of worms, I think you're on to something here😮
Thank you for this interesting theory that you share with us...
It's the only ending that makes sense for future sequels.
*The Synthesis ending is a massive NO. It would mean that the next Mass Effect games would be Mass Cyberpunk Effect. The world would just change way too much to make any sense of it.
*The Control ending is...problematic. It puts Shepard in control of a massive invincible army and removes any threat to the galaxy, since any threat would have to deal with Shepard's Reapers before getting to the actual Alliance. I mean the sense of danger is greatly diminished if God involves directly.
*The Destruction ending is the only one that enables future sequels to make sense.
Hi, I believe you made a minor error. In the side mission, the thief created a V-I (not an A-I) which is considered legal and not a true intelligent being. That V-I was given the mission to steal. That V-I created an A-I, which is illegal and is considered an intelligent being, to facilitate its mission, which was unbeknownst to the original thief who created the V-I.
I imagined the benefactor making N7 units and starts to take them over in specific points so that organics don’t notice.
Benefactor being the child AI is pretty much reasonable, I would expect it since SAM exited on Andromeda.. Ryder started SAM but having difficulties to finish its developing so the child AI offer help as Ryder needs it and the AI has its "personal, What is a person? again 😉" reasons.. Maybe the AI intension to control humans through the integrated SAM, probably a rouge SAM is getting created or even SAM can be turned into a rouge one with the original's core..
I agree that this theory makes sense, although Shepard is the most capable one to deal with the "child AI benefactor" keeping in mind that the N7 identity is being probably misused that would be a perfect necessity for Shepard's return.. My only concern is it fair to get Shepard somehow? like hey benefactor we brought Shepard back you better start running "I know it won't be easy of course to fight such advanced events and developments but no need to worry we have the boss back", I really do not know...
My theory: The benefactor is the Leviathans. The people you see in the screen are being controlled by the Leviathans, they could easily steal/control unlimited money for the project, and the nexus could be a secret mass relay. Now they are controlling the human alliance to build a connecting relay in the milky way. The Leviathans are conquerors, and they wanted another galaxy to escape to. Shepard killing the reapers will surprise them, giving them two galaxies to control.
Dont get me wrong its a clever idea but I dont really think enough money traveled through the hacked quasar machines to supply a galactic level migration. The amount of money necessary for building any of what got sent to Andromeda would be absurd. It just seems like a staggering amount of money that couldn't all come from skimming a slot machine.
No. I had this exact same thought. It's crazy, but how did people come to this on our own?
Glad I wasn't the only one with the thought!
It was pretty clear in ME3 that EDI was the AI from ME1.
I dig unhinged takes. That was well thought out. But again, if Liara can't be the Benefactor because of the timeline, could it be the child AI? Of course, that's the fun of speculation having fun making each other think.
Solid point. We don't know when exactly the child AI escaped from the thief, so they could retcon it to make the timeline work. That or it's someone else we don't know about.
Its interesting but I think it'll just retread the organics vs synthetics story we had a trilogy based on personally. But also why would a AI make more AI's binded with one not just human pathfinder but one Pathfinder for each milky way race well not all of them just to kill off humans order 66 style and not just installed on robot bodies like EDI or geth?
To me, Mass Effect is organics vs. synthetics. That's the main story thread they pushed in ME3, and it continued into Andromeda with the SAM, angara, and kett storylines. So I'm assuming that this thread will continue, unless they reverse uno card on everything they've established thus far.
@@paragonseven fair. But you think they want to move on from that and do another story in the mass effect universe.
@@Josh_Hammond With AI being a hot topic IRL, I don't see why they'd shift away from those types of stories. But if they wanted to pivot, why not?
@@paragonseven that's true Idk I kinda want them to tell other stories in mass effect universe
A note about the voice being "masculine", im fairly certain thats the same voice actor as Shale from DA:O, who despite having a masculine sounding voice, is in fact a woman.
👍🏼👍🏼 I remember that one. A small side quest on the citadel.
Do you know what makes me laugh more than your theory? if it turns out to be true. because it's so realistic, and without plot holes, that I wouldn't be surprised if it were true.
If any of this is even remotely legit I'd cry laugh for days
I also have another AI theory. The N7 we see in the trailer is in fact an AI but they're made up of different individuals of different species and genders, which is why they're dressed so weirdly. It'd also explain why they wear a helmet that's too small because they're AI.
So feet and legs of a human, body of another species, head another...
Just a thought.
Wearing a big trench coat to hide an alien-like body is so meta 👀 Awesome thought!
@@paragonseven They could have a synthetic body, or something.
I just get weird vibes from that N7 and something doesn't seem right to me.
My mind is Blown it makes so much sense because I just took out That same Ai in the Citadel and again on Luna
I was pretty sure the benefactor is Shadow Broker / Liara. Benefactor represented someone who have pretty deep knowledge about reapers and shepard, so its seems to be a liara as she was most close to these information's. For me it looks she played thee roles to support the ARC project - shadow broker as information, benefactor as funding and liara as crewmate of shepard.
Anyway i'm not fan of the Andromeda, because its wasted potential. Story is too twisted, and there is too much questions that wasn't been answered.
@@SeverusHunt
Not quite.
''In 2183, after Saren Arterius' failed geth attack and Sovereign's appearance at the Citadel, the existence of the Reapers was revealed. Though the Citadel Council was still skeptical of Commander Shepard's claims, the benefactor considered it a confirmation of their suspicions. Fearing the imminent arrival of the Reapers and an ensuing war would cause a fight for resources, the benefactor and Alec agreed to hasten the schedule for the Arks' departure. The benefactor desired to safeguard a portion of Milky Way civilizations from the Reapers by sending 100,000 colonists to Andromeda using the Initiative as a cover.''
So it takes after shortly ME1 events. However benefactor staying still sus.
I thought the Benefactor was a pre-deceased Illusive Man?
the rogue VI in one was Edi, so anything is possible.
It does make an interesting theory if the A.I didn't blow itself up but instead was a ruse to make us think we destroyed it. But then why go to all the trouble to put so many on the Arks so they could flee the Milky way too Andromeda.
It's crazy, I know, but in the book Initiation, Jien Garson confirms that the whole point of the Andromeda Initiative was a cover to make SAM. And then she's randomly murdered when she arrives in Andromeda. I think she knew too much.
I'd like to know who killed Jien Garson. I can't remember who said it was an Asari but I've always thought it might be Tan, he was 7th in line to run the Andromeda Initiative and yet he was in accounting or something like that and the other 6 potential leaders are dead as well. It always seemed suspicious to me.
The N7 we saw in the latest trailer what if that is an Agent for the Benefactor? We don't actually know if the Benefactor left with the AI or stayed behind.@@paragonseven
Wasnt the remains of that AI combined with the lunar ai to make EDI?
EDI was made from the Luna VI and remnants of Sovereign by Cerberus, IIRC.
That child AI being the benefactor AND NOW the mysterious fake n7, makes complete sense to me I have no idea why. Ever simce andromeda came out I had the idea that the signal tracking gambler AI that we disarmed WAS the benefactor but it didn't make complete sense at the time. Now it makes perfect sense.
I mean Cerberus wasn’t that big in ME 1, in fact it was just a couple of side missions we did against them. Somehow they were a real hot shot in ME 2 and ME 3. So don’t discount the fact that the little details have enough to build a story in some shape or form. This got me interested though, as commander Shepard could be transfered into a robot body and fight from the inside of a program-like AI or something. I don’t know, just speculating!
The geth simulation in ME3 was awesome, if Shep did it again I'd love it. Maybe not in a robot body though :p
@@paragonseven Well let’s say that this theory is correct, then it might happend and you’ll have your wish granted. I’m just curious to see how this develop over the years. With this trailer released I get the feeling that some artwork and another small trailer are going to be released before N7 2024.
Yeah I had thought about something similar, especially when liara talked about human defiance in the transmission however the block I have with this direction is that it would pretty much being the humans making the same errors as the quarians...I mean we are a dumb species in the end never doubt that but it does put things too similar to the original trilogy so that's why even though the theory do make sense and we seems to be many to have thought of it I think that's exactly why bioware won't go in that direction. I do think personally that they need to adress the aftermath of the reaper war, now in what shape or form could that be I'm still not sure, the dark energy theory have an appeal as well but again I think too many have also seen that one coming...if I recall properly gamble said that not everything is as it seems so that's why I tend to think that the stuff that seems too evident they just won't go in that direction. Still fun to speculate though keep it coming :)
but that AI was melded with the Luna AI to Create EDI
I don't think so. IIRC, EDI is the Luna VI plus parts of Sovereign that Cerberus scavenged after the attack on the Citadel in ME1.
OK, so after reading through all of the comments to make sure I am not treading over the same ideas, here's my addition to this theory. The thief created the "parent" AI. The "parent" AI then created a "child" AI. I'm assuming the "parent" AI got some AI premonition they need to pass along their knowledge to their child. Also assuming that this was a full knowledge transfer to the "child" AI. With that said, the "child" AI would have the knowledge to create an offspring of themself.
While I was watching / listening to the video, this thought continued to work through my thoughts. The "child" AI was terminated by Shepard in ME1 but what if the "child" AI created an offspring of themselves before this happened. This "new child" AI could continue on with the "child" AI's purpose. Our theory has a lot of merit and/or makes you scratch you head and say Oh. I just want to add this wrinkle.
Sure, this could help bring the revenge aspect up even more. They honestly could do anything, but I am getting more convinced that the Benefactor is an AI of some kind, regardless if it's the one from the signal tracking mission or not.
ai villians is so old at this point need something new
I like most of the theory, except the bit where Liara wants to do a Lazarus project mark 2, or is your working hypothesis that Shepard lived? The reasoning sounds weak. Also I don't feel the need for another story centred around Shepard, she/he died a hero's death and saved the galaxy. That's the ending they deserve. One thing that the Star Child said to Shepard was that if Shepard chooses destroy then inevitably synthetics and organics would come into conflict, so the foundations for another organic/synthetic conflict are there if destroy becomes cannon. The whole Mass Effect 5 problem is what could possibly be the big conflict other than another big synthetic boogey man. But the Synthetic Boogey man has been done already. It would be like JKR writing another series all about a new dark wizard called Dolvemort. Or another Star Wars trilogy was made that mostly rinsed and repeated Ep IV-VI...oh wait. I think it would be interesting if the new hero is a synthetic
They way you think is not possible to do it, without real knowledge.I believe your are a bioware insider or something....But anyway i really really love your videos ! ! !
I get this a lot but legit, I'm just an average ME fan looking for answers 🙂
Two tiny nitpicks
First, the pronoun bit isn't super important UNLESS we're talking about geth and other networked intelligences. Geth are unique in that their ability to be an Ai at all is solely because they share intelligence in a hivemind.
When they are able to break from the hive and still be smart enough to even pilot a platform, that's when they can develop individuality.
Every single other Ai in all four games that isn't a geth uses first person pronouns, and half the VIs use it as well. Glyph uses it for example.
Second,
An Ai making an Ai isn't unheard of at all. The star child is the only Ai the leviathans ever made. It made all reapers, who then went on to make the keepers. So an Ai made an Ai, and Ai made an organic.
OMG I just made a comment about this in another video of yours LOL
Paragon7 donning the tin foil hat again! You should offer it as merch!
This is an awesome idea! 😂
I've said it before..you are on the team....give us weak N7 day stuff while you tell us what's really going to happen...Would say it's a great theory but you're writing so..
I can't wait when we actually get details about everything so that I can prove I'm not on the writing team lmao
unlimited money no It has to be elon musk
Elon Musk aka the Illusive man.
great you beat my comment by a mile 💯👍