Mass Effect 5: Solving the Mystery of the Benefactor 

0:50 GARSON FOUNDED THE INITIATIVE IN 2176 IDK WHY I KEEP SAYING 1976 MY BAD!!!!!!!!!!

Kala really is our universes Shadow Broker.

Benefactor: "Ah, Ryder. I have been expecting you." *Chair spins around* Cassandra: "Conrad?" 😱

The question to put to Mike Gamble is a simple one. "Have we at any point in any game, comic, or book, met the Benefactor?"

Ok, I solved the mystery. The mysterious benefactor is that A.I. from ME 1 which stealing credits from the gambling machines in the Flux.

I still believe the Benefactor is the Shadow Broker. Liara tells Shepard that he knew about the Reapers even before they did and that he was scrambling for a way to survive what was coming. He knew about the Prothean beacon on Thessia. He knew about Javik's mission. There's entirely too many people from different worlds like Kar'shan (the Batarians discovered that derelict Reaper and denied all knowledge it even existed) that knew about Reaper artifacts and Prothean technology way even before the Citadel was discovered. The Shadow Broker had hundreds of years worth of top-secret data at his disposal. If it only took one human coming in contact with a prothean beacon to know the Reapers were coming, surely someone else before Shepard would know. Possibly even hundreds of years before the Asari discovered the Citadel. People like Aria (Aleena?) and Urdot Wrex have been around for centuries, and they don't openly share their knowledge of the past. And that's just two people. It has to be the Shadow Broker.

I want more about the Kett and Jardaan. The Kett Empire is apparently massive. Covering a not insignificant portion of Andromeda. And the Jardaan could very well still be out there. Terraforming worlds and seeding them with life. Not to mention their great enemy.

I was revisiting Alec Ryder's memories. And he drew attention to one phrase that Benefactor said in a conversation with Alec. "Where WE're going." It sounds like Benefactor was going to fly with everyone to Andromeda. That is, everyone who remained in the Milky Way can be deleted from the list of candidates for Benefactors

I'm glad you and Mr Hulthen are keeping the buzz for the next Mass Effect 👏🙏 p.s I genuinely don't see the new Mass Effect releasing before 2026 😫😫😫

Mass Effect Andromeda 2023 After over 4135 hours of playing this game, I finally realized why I enjoy it more than all the other Mass Effect games. It’s because of the multitude of diverse quests, projects, and personal interactions that one is presented with. None of these must be completed in any specific sequence to achieve an outcome. And many can be skipped altogether, which will not adversely affect the game overall. As a result, I find the game very relaxing and non-stressful to play. I will say, however, that my game is very heavily modified with 30+ Nexus mods, which overcomes many of those complaints from those playing an unmodified version of the game. As a longtime ME player and fan with over 4135 hours of MEA single-player play. And still with only 99% completion of the game. I am left with many storyline questions. Questions that BioWare should be willing to follow up on at some point. Such as 1: Why didn’t every Pathfinder get a scout ship? (Update, I found the answer to this in one of the books). I.e., Mass Effect Andromeda: Nexus Uprising Book 1 Mass Effect: Initiation Book 2 Mass Effect Andromeda: Annihilation Book 3 2: Who is this Benefactor, and where are they now? (I have no definitive proof, but I know who this is and why they are not showing up in Andromeda.) Remember Project Overlord from ME2LE, if you will. 3: Who killed or ordered Jian Garson killed and why? (Update, I THINK I know who did this from the book). 4: Why didn’t the Kogan people get their own Pathfinder? 5: Why is the Tempest not at least armed with defensive weapons? 6: Does the Quarin Ark Keelah se’lai ever overcome the pathogen onboard and regain control of their ark? UPDATE, I now know the answer to this one after finishing the book. But I will let the most dedicated fans find that answer as I did. (Spoiler alert), Cora Harper could never have become the Pathfinder when Alec Ryder died because to do so required that his replacement be one of his children for reasons that will be revealed when all the memory blocks are removed. That is why Sarah or Scott were the only options for this transfer. That is NOT the case with the other pathfinders. And finally, who ultimately becomes the leading member of the Initiative ruling body, replacing the current incompetent group? As well as other less essential story tracks left hanging with no way to pursue them. I love this and all the other ME games, but this one has always held my attention. And I am currently on my umpteenth playthrough. I am dedicated to reaching 100% completion of the game. PS for the channel owner and others that find several things about this game that they do not like. Try modding the game with Nexus Mods. I am running 30 mods with mine, and none is cheating. IMHO, modding is both fun and allows one to make the game more personal.

Great video, Kala. Dang, you put in a lot of hard work. I'm with you on your closing arguments. I don't think BioWare had a concrete idea who the benefactor was and they left everything about the benefactor so ambiguous they can do anything they want with it now.

50 min video about solving a mystery from an 8 year old video game I love the modern internet so much

Cerberus was originally a alliance black op which went rogue a few months before the admiral kahoku side quest.

The benefactor is the geth. Legion was not a singularity and was actually quite young. In the few weeks/months with Shepard, Legion actually grew more 'human' like. At the end, Legion even referred to itself as "I" instead of 'We'. Imagine another Legion type geth or a few even that coalesced into a very human like entity. Legion imprinted on Shepard. All emerging and growing sentient life imprints on something or someone. This new Legion type geth imprinting on Garson at some point, with or without Garson's knowledge. Shepard didn't know about Legion's imprinting at first. Then this new entity then helps Garson, with or without Garson knowing. I could go more and more into it, but I have to go to work.

By far the most in depth and best video I’ve watched on the Benefactor. Truly well done!

The geth being involved with or being the benefactor, could in a neat way explain why the geth are in the next games posters/concept art. Regardless, awesome video.

I finally watched this all the way through, and I must say, you have clearly worked very hard at analysing these theories and your findings, while clearly not definitive they are well thought out and easily conceivable. Thank you so much for all your hard work and detailed presentation.

One AI could be Vigil assuming he hid from the council after ME. Apparently his only programming was to stopping the reapers, he may believe that populating the other galaxy with it's direction could over a long time defeat the reapers.

Before the release of Andromeda, the developers themselves in one of the interviews said that Cerberus is not related to the Andromeda Initiative

Legion-lead Geth off-shoot is my favorite theory. Awesome video!

Is Conrad Verner

This is my first time watching one of your videos (I think, I'm old I forget things lol). This was well thought out and presently professionally. No wild speculation so insertions, just methodically thought out data. Well done.

Found your channel thanks to youtube's weird algo. I never knew I was missing ME lore/news in my life but now its satisfied. Really like the videos

i just wanted to encourage you to keep going! you're doing really well and i've watched and shared your vids for the last couple of months. we need more content on this fandom for when the (hopefully) inevitable comeback of mass effect happens.

You did a ton of work, Kala. I'm sure it is A LOT for anyone that hasn't lived through these ME years and heard info, lore, tweets, and theories over time. It must be like pulling constant all nighters for college exam finals week on repeat. Fantastic job on finding and presenting everything! Like you mention, I think it was written on purpose to be open-ended for future writers to nail down and flesh out (if they ever wished to pick up the plotline again). I don't think they had anyone set in stone yet for the Benefactor. That said, I *do* think it likely that it is one of the many others aboard the Ark. Or even multiple someones... The Benefactor could always be a coterie; a small group of people that worked together to get this massive endeavor off the ground. Also, one of my favorite things is hearing Kala say 'suspicious.' It comes with the full weight of squinting scrutiny, doubt, and accusation of guilt each time she says it.

It's been 6 years already and it was great to dive back into the story of Andromeda that way. 🤓 Thanks for the video! I would imagine it was a lot of work.

Really enjoying your long-form content! I know it's a whole lot of work but I'm excited to see more :D

Great analysis! Great video in general. Probably your best one yet! Keep it up please! Really enjoying your channel so far.

We met the benefactor in ME1, it was the AI stealing money on the Presidium, it let Shepard think that he/she killed it, but escaped.

Amazing Detecitve work here makes for an excellent video. Thanks for putting all of this together

Finally able to watch this whole video and I really loved all the work you put into it. While my own theory is kind of busted now you brought up some possibilities that I never even considered. Also love seeing somebody talk about Andromeda and it’s unanswered questions. I personally loved the game and want MEA2 vs ME5.

Love the video, and really appreciate all the research that went into it! I had only ever considered a couple people to be the benefactor, never imagined sooo many other options were possible. When I originally played Andromeda, I just assumed it would probably be the Illusive Man or some rival/associate of his. Even though it wouldn't make sense for him to want to save other species, not to mention the timeline not working. I didn't put much thought into it back then as I assumed we'd get DLC and/or sequels. Anyways, I really hope they don't retcon the lore to make Liara the Benefactor (even though that seems like the direction they're teasing). I really like your idea of it being an AI though, so much potential for storylines. Assuming we do find out more in ME5, my guess is as (it seems like) it'll take place hundreds of years post-ME3 then the Benefactor will likely either be an Asari or an AI 🤔

One of the posters for ME5 is a crater in the shape of a Geth. I think they will play a big role in the next game. They most likely knew of the Reapers for years, since that array was looking into dark space (where the reapers lay dormant) I have a feeling you get enough geth together as a hive mind and they could very well imitate a human, and not speak like Legion. Legion speaks of the Heretics, but there could also be other "factions" of the Geth who have other objectives. I guess we'll see.

Wow, we went super deep on this one, just the way we like it! And as always, thanks for showing Andromeda some love. It still had meaningful additions to the greater story.

What I found a bit odd was an observation you can make in the Pathfinder Centre on the Nexus. You can find three holographic ship models in here. One of them is of the Normandy SR-2. If you examine it closer though you learn that it's not a simple 3D-model: It's the complete blueprints to build the ship.

Amazing video!Thank you.I have wondered if the Benefactor could be Mirandas father,Henry Lawson.He is/was extremely rich and would have no scrouples having Garson killed. He could simply have thought of the Initiative as an escape plan in case they lost the war against the Reapers. He could have a ship ready to take him to Andromeda.The benefit of arriving a few years after the rest of the Initiative,would be that hopefully the new colonies would be up and running. This is not a well thought out theory,just an idea.(hope you guys understood what i wrote here.English is not my native language)

Andromeda was really over hated tbh. Sure it had a rocky launch but after they fixed it it was a great game with a solid story. It wasn't the best by any means but it did not deserve the amount of hate it got. It makes me really sad knowing there were DLCs planned for this game that were scrapped bc of everyone just continuously hating on it. But I am hoping that the new ME answers at least some of the burning questions we have for Andromeda as well I can't wait for it its to far away 😭

Wow that was awesome and thorough. I love videos like this because I can’t remember all the lore and names across all the games even though I’ve played the trilogy several times including the Legendary version. Also got all trophies (except the hang ten in Andromeda-glitched and vehicle doesn’t get enough speed). For that reason I love to hear possibilities I never would have thought about. Your hard work shows and you do have an amazing voice for story telling. Soothing and draws you in. Keep up the great work. This was my first video of yours. I switched to the telescope video then back to finish this one and it too was awesome.

Fantastic. Appreciate the work you put into this analysis

This is a very cool video...really enjoyed the timelines and the text drops sprinkled in. It does seem to me like they wanted to at least strongly intimate that Liara was either the benefactor or involved, if only peripherally or even indirectly, in some way.

I love the longer format content and just wanted to say great job. I hope to see more of this type of in depth analysis from you in the future. I had a hard time getting through Nexus Uprising. I felt like every millimeter of story development was padded with pages and pages of internal conversation. While it's good to understand a character's motivations, it felt like filler at times.

Great VT 👍 thanks for putting in the hard work 😊

Appreciate and enjoy your Mass Effect videos keep it up 😊

This shits like a documentary kala. Love it

Fantastic analysis! Very interesting :)

*Throws ideas out the window* Thank you once again for your thorough research! I guess we will have to see who the AI benefactor is in the next ME installment :).

Lol that 1976 had me rewind a few times to make sure I heard you correctly lol but all good a great video either way

One of the best mass effect RU-vid channels

I feel Goyle is the most compelling of the selection, in light of the fact she has presence in both the original novels and Andromeda's storyline. [Meta, I know, but from the narrative built around her, she was a fairly influential and savvy politician throughout her career, which itself was ended without much information. Apparently she generated enough clout to get a prospective specter within a decade of humanity's formal induction into council space.] Goyle's motivations for anonymity could simply be as a result of public knowledge of her person, and general backlash from the former council (As there is no council in Andromeda) races. Second to this, but bothers me a bit, where'd the stasis pods come from? Who made them and how? Like, I don't remember anyone using them besides the Protheans in any of the games, and even that was like "Whoa, those are some advanced ice boxes, wonder how they work." Side note: I'd love to read a novel about how Goyle came to power, Udina was a goober who lacked her initiative and foresight.

Thank you for the cohesive brake down

I’ve been really looking forward to this video. Won’t be able to watch it yet but my own theory is that The Benefactor is Cerberus. Not The Illusive Man though. Cerberus = 3 headed dog. TIM is Head 1, Benefactor is ahead 2. Head 3 is still a mystery.

I am halfway through and you've made valid enough discrediting that I will put my money on Hackett and the Alliance military. Will finish tomorrow to hear your deduction. Oh also. I am subscribing now. 😎

Such a long video and you miss the most obvious suspect: .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Conrad Verner! In this essay, I will

The A. I. is very in your face indeed. I can't imagine this was not done on purpose. Also for playing andromeda, my logitech keyboard automatically lights up with the letters A I in the lighting somehow xD i did not enable this actively but it is kinda cool

I think the three most likely scenarios for the Benefactor are: 1. The Geth. 2. Another AI / organic-AI hybrid 3. A person or group like Jaavik. The victims of a previous cycle who survived through integration with AI and want to help the new cycle and possibly return themselves

I am sure as you said that it has been very hard to find and put together so much info and thanks for the hard work. As for andromeda i did enjoy the game to some % and i agree that it has/had a lot of potential story wise if done right. As for the next game i hope story wise they will find the right balance but none the less priority nr 1 for me is still wanting to see shepard back alive and the next game heaving the carry over decisions system that will include the cannon ending or if they dare take on such a big challenge as making it work with all of the 3 endingsi would go for that too but the ammount of info and scenarios + consequences its so big that i don't think bioware can make. To include all endings of the Trilogy and all endings of the Andromeda project its too big of a challenge even if andromeda does not heave too many changes in endings.

Super interesting video and great research

The best video about the subject I have seen! Amazing work! That said, I have a very hard time believing that any induvidual or a single organization could have that that amout of capital...ever.I mean I had to google how many 0s was in a quintillion. It's 18 btw, so even if The Alliance, Cerberus and Garson pooled their money together it would not be nearly enough. It's definitely not Cerberus, Alliance, Council, old or new Shadow Broker. And when I played this questline recently it didn't seem that this Benefactor cared at all about the cost. The bigest concern was to leave the Milky Way before the Reapers attack at any cost. When Alec spoke to them it seemed that Benefactor new something was coming, but Shepard confirmed the exact nature of the threat during the events in ME1. I could think of just a few reasons for the murder: - To take control of the AI away from Garson. - To keep their identity hidden at all cost. - To make sure no one from the AI ever learns about the potential destruction of the Milky Way people by the Reapers. - All of the above.

I love YOU and your VIDEOS..... Keep it up QUEEEN

Its Alec Ryder's SAM unit. I swear to god it has to be (in my opinion). The fact that the SAM unit can kill the other Ryder twin you play as is huge (technically both Ryders died on Habitat 7) The AI wanted to live. Its sentient and is a super computer. It could easily acquire large sums of money, figure out that the Shepard theory about the Reapers is tangible and hire someone to kill the major heads of the program to eventually and gradually implement their own plans. The biggest thing is that Ryder dad removed the safeguards from his SAM unit to gain an edge as a Pathfinder vs the other SAM units. This story reminds me a lot of the movie called "Upgrade" (which is really good if you havent watched it). It is free to go and do as it pleases. Even Alec said that SAM was much more advanced than he ever thought possible. Many warnings throughout the game about trusting A.I. I just now played through this game TWICE in the course of a month. Anyone saying that Mass Effect Andromeda had bad writing is full of shit. Most of the ppl talking about it negatively either barely played it (i had a 95% and 99% cmp rate in those playthroughs) or started the game with a negative mentality because of all the bad press around it. The game isnt perfect and could be better (the Archons end was kinda of weak) but most of the complaints i hear about it are petty and baseless. This was the Mass Effect game we wanted and needed that died way too soon. Was really interested to see life after they found Meridian. The planets that were affected by the terraformers, how it changed them over time and the growth of the outposts as time went on. The Quarian Ark and the futures of the species on board (also who was the enemy they were facing especially if it was the Geth) What happens in their fight vs the Kett after they defeat the Archon? Who is the Jardaan and what is the purpose/potential of the Remnant? Also who killed Garson and the main leaders? How was the Scourge created? I swear to god that AI unit in Ryder's head is their impending doom of the Andromeda initiative rather than the savior that it is perceived to be. Wanted to see what the choices you make in the game and how it impacted the future. Poor writing my ass. This game was very underrated, especially the goddamn combat and what you could do with it. I really enjoyed it and hope to see a sequel of it one of these days..... EDIT: I wrote this before hearing your theory on who is the benefactor? The fact that "Andromeda Initiative" is A.I is the cherry on top. YES his dialogue is very suspicious and the mf has an attitude problem if you ask stupid questions. SAM definitely can emulate the voice of a female human with ease by recording human conversations and creating a voice that is acceptable and comforting. There is NO ONE else that fits the profile of a mysterious benefactor that doesnt want to be seen besides the SAM unit. It sucks that all we can do is speculate. Had fun with this game. The first game to reveal what female Turians, Salarians, and Krogans looked like is huge.

Maybe EDI? But then again I'm not sure about that too for so many reasons we all know. Guess we will see if they mention it in the new game. Also very nice video! I was so confused while playing Andromeda but this channel helped! Thank you!! 😊

This was an amazing break down and it does make me wonder if they'll actually acknowledge it in the new Mass Effect. Your videos are top notch, keep 'em coming Kala 👍

I’m glad someone did this. I kinda gave up on it when I started it

I still think that The Illusive Man was the one bank rolling The Initiative behind the scenes. Cora being his daughter just makes me believe that he's still got some more cards up his sleeve. Even though he died in Mass Effect 3.

Allow me to propose another theory. Matriarch Benezia. She would have known about the Reapers before Shepard having been Saren's lieutenant. Having potentially lived for over 1000 years, I believe that is more than enough time to accure a vast amount of "unlimted" wealth. As for why she would help but then have Garson killed, she was fighting indoctrination. She could have had a lapse and sent another indoctrinated person with them. She would have also wanted her identity hidden to prevent Saren from discovering of her involvement with the Initiative while also showing that she herself was resisting Sovereign's indoctrination. Her death in sometime of 2183 also fits with the estimated 2181 of when Garson was approached for assistance. Ryder as well. Her motivation could have been to genuinely been to save as many people/races as she could, knowing that if she couldn't steer Saren completely into a less destructive path, that the Andromeda Initiative would have been her best hope to save people. "Why not tell Shepard?" Her indoctrination was considerably stronger by this point in time in 2183 and the little control she had left, she would have chosen to tell Shepard only the most important information before her death. The location of the relay Shepard was looking for. Being only two years before Andromeda's launch, I feel even with her death, she could have set things in motion.

Yeah the whole background story about the AI, Benefactor, the twins mom, that was the most interesting part of Andromeda's story, though I did like the concept of the world builders. Stargate Universe was also going into that world-builders direction, that's a fun direction to go in.

TLDR: has to be TIM, only person who makes sense and fits the bill. Power, finance, motivation, belief in Shepard, prior knowledge of Reapers work with AI, expansionist, clandestine, similar portfolio of projects. Has to be TIM no one else in the Mass Effect universe (that we as players know off) has that kind of money or power. Additionally this type of project fits his profile when you look at the other projects he’s overseen (Lazarus, Overlord, the Colector ship, Human Reaper, the safety world where they put millions into cryo and experimented on etc…). I’ve seen people say it could be Liara but she wasn’t the shadow broker when the Initiative started or when it took off. Plus even the original Shadow broker didn’t have the resources it would take to fund this kind project. I know it’s not the most exciting theory, and people are grasping at straws for it to be someone else but unless they pop out some rando or create a whole new back story for a character (which is weak sauce) TIM is the only person who makes sense. Liara referring to the benefactor having knowledge of the Reapers and believed they would be back, his work with AI (which plays a major role in andromeda) and it isn’t far fetched that this would be part of a contingency plan if Shepherd fails. As the only person who believed Shepard was TIM. I don’t buy the whole Cerberus was racist spiel that’s why they wouldn’t fund Andromeda Argument, if he believed that the other races would be necessary for Human advancement or survival then he would have no two ways about it, ends justifying the means is their M.O, secondly, the whole “limited funds” is a weak point because in ME2 EDI says that Cerberus has lots of companies which act as fronts, secondly we can clearly see the scale of Cerberus might in third game which basically rivals not just the alliance but the council as well. Thirdly the whole voice doesn’t sound like TIM is ridiculous, disguising his voice and cadences etc… would be bread and butter for someone as illusive as TIM, considering that Shepard is one of the “lucky” few who ever get to directly interact with him. Most likely everyone else would of only heard what Alec would of heard. The indoctrination theory also doesn’t hold look at Kahlee Sanders for example she doesn’t flip on Shepard and is adamantly against the reapers up until the last 24 hours before arrival. And she was in close contact with the Reaper device for over 6 months. It’s possible TIM started the project way before he was too far gone. Finally, the benefactor being in Andromeda can also easily be worked around as there was a Shepard clone so it’s possible their could of been a TIM clone or he could of uploaded part of him self into an AI. Good video. But all the arguments against TIM aren’t strong, and as it stands he’s still the only individual who we know of that could spearhead and fund this kind of project.

WOW MY FAVORITE MASS EFFECT RU-vidR UPLOADED AGAIN

It has to be the Geth. There are a few important things that have to be true with regards to the benefactors identity. 1. Must know the threat of the Reapers before ME:1. 2. Have access to a LOT of money/resources. 3. Be removed enough from the day to day politics of Council space to be able to remain anonymous. 4. Have a vested interest in the expedition to Andromeda. We know the Geth already supplied intel in terms of the Helios cluster. It is also suspicious that it was the Helios cluster where technology that requires organic/ai harmony to access is present. Perhaps the person speaking isnt Geth, and an intermediary, but the benefactor in terms of who is actually providing the resources, is Geth.

I'm sure the Yahg mentions he is not the first Shadow Broker, I'm sure he mentions killing the broker before him and taking their place (or Liara mentions something about this). It is plausible the Benefactor is still the Shadow Broker, but in title not the current person filling the role. That being said, I think it was someone we haven't met yet in the games.

ALSO: In a mission to rescue Angarans from Kett ascension, you can find a message on a terminal from “The Benefactor” to the Kett regarding ascension. 😮🤯

One note on The Geth which could possible lend to it. We have seen ME5 art of a bar similar to Purgatory featuring goth Geth and the aliens from Andromeda. We also know that the Destroy ending is the most common choice for ME3. It could (and this is very loose) possibly point to the destroy ending being made cannon, which would have destroyed the Geth in the Milky Way, but allowing those that went to Andromeda to return and rebuild.

There's a datapad in the Kett facility on Voeld that references a "Benefactor" that is also interacting with the Kett. Could just be a coincidence, but given how meticulous the lore of the Mass Effect games, it seems like maybe the Benefactor wanted the Kett to win for some reason and was bringing more genetically different species to the Kett for the purpose of making them stronger.

Love your vids

love this video, just wish there were labeled chapters

i only recently got around to playing andromeda, because i was convinced it would be terrible based off of what id heard of it. steam had it on sale for 6 bucks so i scooped it up, gave it a shot. Absolutely loved it. Fully acknowledge that its been patched as much as possible by the time I played it, and even then it still had a few bugs and weird animations, but I really hope bioware returns to Andromeda some day. Good to see people are still talking about it! Hard to live in the shadow of the OG trilogy haha.

The Virtual Aliens crossed my mind too, but I think it's someone we don't know yet.

Think it would be interesting if the the benefactor was just a collective of crazy rich people under the same Alias.

Kala? Benefactor?? Nearly an hour long??? Fuck yeah!

I don't think it was an AI or Geth. Could have been the Asari they had the prothean VI, they used to get ahead in technology/advancements after Thessias falls the Counselor states she had to see to the continuity of life? Not sure how that fits in the time line of rushing the Initiative to launch, or making it her job to get them launched. The Asari always played a long game, planning in the long term, they also tended to see themselves as the keepers/guide of the Milky Way species.

I had a cool theory where I thought the Benefactor was a Leviathan. Why is that you may ask? 1) Well, the Leviathans knew about the Reapers before Shepard did. Just like the Benefactor told Alec about the "salvation" (aka the Reapers). 2) We know that early on, the Initiative ran out of money but was then suddenly boosted thanks to this mysterious benefactor. The Leviathans are/were the apex race of the galaxy. They could have easily and secretly provided the Initiative with the technology, knowledge, and resources they were lacking. 3) In Mass Effect 3, we find out that the Leviathan-controlled people act like robots. When the Leviathans reached Jian, they did not control her so that she could advertise the Initiative without acting like a robot. Since they are very secretive and Jian was aware of their presence, an assassin was told to kill Jian to preserve the Leviathans anonymity. 4) The Initiative was a one race project which then expanded to include the other major races. We know that the leviathans control the thrall races so having a bunch of them in Andromeda beforehand would be a benefit for them as they likely didn't want some unknown super race in Andromeda to wipe them out early. 5) It would be sad if this so called apex race continued to hide on a random water world. They wanted to escape and return in force and the Initiative is the best way to do that without making it obvious. Which we found out in Andromeda that the Initiative was in fact, an escape plan. 6) Alec received resources from the benefactor to finish SAM, an advanced AI connecting both organic and synthetic. Wait a minute, who created the most advanced AI in the galaxy? That's right, the Leviathans did. Why did they help Alec to create a synthetic ai? Cause that's something the Catalyst wasn't and it rampaged across the galaxy for millions of years. Of course there are holes in the theory but this is the best that I could come up with.

What I'm thinking about identity of Benefacor is based only on the game lore since except the animation that introduce James Vega I didn't read books or comics related to ME universe. In my opinion the Benefactor could be actually a representative of the group effort of various important powers in Milky Way that hold power and fortunes raging from 'corporate Mavens of Illium', through Shadow Broker (and his successors), up to Council itself. Sheer size of Nexus, Arks and whole logistics that would be required to launch that mission suggest similar amount of resources required to construct Crucible in the original Trilogy and here I got interesting hypothesis - what if actual Shadow Broker (or his connections) were used to pull that out? As I remember the recruitment to Andromeda initiative wasn't so open (fe. one of Nomad dialogues between Vetra and Drack or how Addison was recruited does suggests that) and it looks more like selecting candidates with required skills or traits from whole population of available species, and keeping this process off the media during all 3 original ME games. This suggest that maybe hypothetical group of powerful aliens/peoples might suspect that something bad is brewing in the long run. Who knows if Council didn't suspect that fe. Saren could be compromised by some outer influence, after all he became indoctrinated somehow and who knows if the original mission of Saren before indoctrination was to seek some traces of what happened to the Protheans (I don't believe that Salarians and Asari wouldn't want to know why Citadel was just left floating in space with all that shiny tech waiting to be claimed). Thing is that what we know from original 3 games, is what we have discoverd or what the Council said to us, and after all Shepard was maybe a symbol but still only an operative that works (as Avitus Rix said once) 'on need to know basis'. So it's possible that Reapers were a known but not fully assessed threat, big enough to made some unofficial preparations for 'plan B' in case of failure of 'plan A' ;) In this scenario who knows who were smuggled or bought on aboard of Arks or Nexus? Maybe even the Shadow Broker himself, the one before the famous Yagh from ME:2 'Liar of the Shadow Broker', did trick his way out of being killed by the one we met in above mentioned DLC? That Yagh could even faked his taking of a lead of an organization (could reach a deal with original Sahdow Broker to fake his death) because if everything fail he could try to hide in population of his species that is considered too primitive for harvest. In this scenario Liara could support that effort after she became new Shadow Broker and just keep it running further.

I just want to point out Vigil tells us in ME:1 that Sovereign may have been working for centuries in the run up to ME:1. And the information the Rachni queen gives us is that there’s a good chance Sovereign was the one that influenced the Rachni wars in the first place, showing Discord among their queens and turning them more Hostile. The Reapers also knew of the Rachni’s existence from the previous cycle where the Protheans used them as shock troops. I really don’t think the Geth are the first to make contact with the Reapers.

Commenting to boost enganement because this video was awesome

It's not Liara, it's not Cerberus, it's not Geth, it's not Reaper... It's Yahg, the old Shadow Broker)

I subscribed because you seem like a nice person. And the video was good.

Good Job!

The Illusive Man has always kind of been screaming at me ever since I delved into this in Andromeda, but I find just as many reasons to disqualify him as I do to support him, something this video does as well. I will say though, you absolutely can't put a ton of stock into his "anti-alien stance" because we know very well from ME2 that he's willing to work with both aliens AND AI in order to accomplish his goals. He understands that humanity is still a relative baby in regards to how the galaxy works compared to the other, more advanced and more synergized with biotics, races. It wouldn't be super hard to theorize that surviving in a new galaxy where you don't really know for sure ANYTHING could be well worth having a ton of backup and then dealing with it later. In addition, we know from the Citadel DLC that Cerberus can make very impressive clones. It's certainly possible that TIM has a clone hidden in cryo sleep on the ark somewhere, just like the Ryders mom. Not saying that's a fact, but it's definitely possible. The money thing doesn't really work for me either, if the Lazarus project was using all of cerberus's cash flow I feel like we'd have seen a lot more signs of that throughout 2 and 3, I get the feeling that it's just that the lazarus's budget was running out rather than Cerberus itself's because we see Cerberus dumping seemingly limitless credits into everything in Me2 and 3 The AI theory is intriguing. You talking about how the Benefactor is voiced by a female but voice scrambled is somewhat reminiscent of SAM sounding male but voiced by a female voice actor, which has always been a choice I've been intrigued by, because it seems somewhat noteworthy. If they wanted SAM to sound like that, why not just hire a man? Somewhat related to voice acting here is that they got Jien Garson to be voiced by a trans actress Jamie Clayton, most known at the time for her role in Sense8. Maybe it's just because I'm a big fan of Sense8 but this casting has always felt like it may be somewhat relevant SOMEHOW to Garson's backstory, I'm not sure how or if it has anything to do with anything, but it feels like an intentional choice, knowing Bioware. As an aside, I specifically only watched Sense8 to begin with off the recommendation of Patrick Weekes, so it's possible they're just fans and cast someone for the show as a treat. But then again it's not like they don't ever have small roles for known actors to cameo as, like with Kal'reegar who I always thought would be a bigger character than he turned out to be, so I'm probably just looking too into things here. God. I just fear that we'll never get resolution to any of these mysteries. I'm realllllly hoping ME5 finds a way to resolve them. Or just give us another novel to tie them up, even if it canonizes which Ryder is pathfinder I'm willing to make that sacrifice for answers This video was wonderful. And has me wanting to play Andromeda again for like the 7th time lol

In the main Mass Effect series (ME 2, and 3 to be precise), Cerberus makes it quite clear that they are organized into independent groups within the main Cerberus organization and that they have many front businesses. It could be possible that the money issues were just about the group that was working on the Lazarus Project. If that is the case, the pre-established Mass Effect lore would seemingly point to Cerberus being the benefactor, using Mirada as the figurehead. It could be possible that the reason why a Cerberus-backed project would allow non-human participation would be to attract actual participants, as the in-game Mass Effect lore shows that not many are fond of Cerberus. Also, if the funding shortage of Cerberus was organization-wide, what better way to hide the Andromeda Initiative funds, than by hiding them within another secret project (the Lazarus Project). The only other option for the benefactor that I can see based on Mass Effect lore would be the Geth.

The benefactor is Eldfell-Ashland Energy (EAE). The biggest energy company in the mass effect universe. The company have the capital to fund the Andromeda Initiative. The other possible candidates are The Illusive Man, Shadow Brokers (before the Yahg) or the Council. They have the money but doubtful

Seeing the cerberus come back would be awesome.

I suspect the councillor too something about the way they were talking to Ryder

I'm betting Addison died, and the Addison we see is actually Garson

the council is an interesting theory, with a heavy backing from the Asari. Illium is dominated by the Asari and talking with Liara's mother some matriarch were not agreeing with how their civilization would move forward. Since the Asari were a favorite of the protheans and that massive beacon in Thessia they are way ahead of any species for doing long-term cotingency plans and some matriarchs might have banded together to get this started. The only one I can think of that can make this possible and would want anonimity would be a Reaper, mayube a far-fetched but everytime I hear Sovereign say that each of them are a nation in ME1 and Legion with a piece of a Reaper code in him that made him a true individual makes me conclude that maybe some reapers got tired of doing the harvest over and over again and splintered from Harbinger and indoctrinated some to start the Initiative, to run their own experiment on how to achieve synthesis since that is one of the choices that the Catalyst seems to like.

Really good vid

I want the Benefactor to be the Asari Consort for some reason. I think she with her position would be more than able to collect the info and get the credits to fund the Initiative.

Maybe it's kinda dumb, but I still wanted to share. I haven't seen anyone else talk about this so here goes. In figuring this whole thing out I think the most important piece of the puzzle is the foresight of the Reapers. And with that a certain Asari Consort popped into my head and got the wheels spinning. We know she was extremally wealthy and popular, even if she herself didn't hold all the funds, she could easily have convinced a great many wealthy people to invest without disclosing the details, only saying it's for the preservation of life or something. And then there is the whole trinket thing. WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH THAT. It's never explained in any proper way and it LITERALLY gives you an access into memories of witnessing a Reaper. Besides Sha'ira herself posses at least some versions of foresight in regards to Shepard and other stuff too. The motivations would align as well, Sha'ira was altruistic in what she was doing, using her gifts to make people feel better, it's not impossible to think that she would act to preserve the lives of all species. The biggest problem with the whole theory is the secrecy but we all know how much everyone in the galaxy cares about threats of life ending Dark Space squids, so she could've decided that it's more effective to work in secret not to hurt her reputation, or to be thought as a mad witch. But then why wouldn't she warn Shepard directly? I dunno, maybe destiny or something, maybe it's a canon event xD Anyway, PLEASE let me know what you think, cause I kinda love this theory. Great video btw, take care ^^

I’m pretty sure it was meant to be an original character we have not meet yet. It has to be someone in the project.

I figure it's an old, possibly unknown AI. Leftover from a previous reaper invasion. Like Vigil but intent on avoiding the problem rather than outlasting it.

In regards to your final theory of an AI funneling money to fund the Initiative program if you remember and if you would like to make a video adding on to this one there was that one kind of hidden side quest to do that you could only obtain by scanning one of the computers in C-SEC in Mass Effect 1 where you had to track down a data trail which led you to the financial district of the Presidium Commons. The mission ends in the little hallway just past the Hanar Merchant and it turns out to be a "V.I." that was "programed" to funnel money to it's "master". That would make a lot of sense to that theory since while you did "stop" the "V.I." what's to say that it didn't just give you the illusion like what EDI attempted to do with the Alliance officials during the Normandy's "impound" at the very start of Mass Effect 3.