Legioen

Legion

Organics are afraid of us. We want to understand, not provoke.

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Legion, a name taken for the holistic perception of a personality formed from 1,183 geth in a unique mobile platform. The name was chosen upon the suggestion of EDI. Legion had been searching for Captain Shepard since the end of the Battle of the Citadel.

Dossier

Legion is a unique mobile platform of the geth created for carrying out tasks outside the Perseus Veil and interacting with organics directly. For this purpose, 1,183 programs were installed on its platform, unlike the hundreds for other platforms, allowing it to function and converse independently. Legion's appearance features special enhancements that enhance the original abilities of the geth and allow it to express emotions quite successfully. The plates on its head serve as eyebrows, which it uses for the same purpose as humans – to express feelings. For example, it raises its "eyebrows" to show surprise or interest and furrows them to indicate concentration.

It was created and sent on the trail of Captain Shepard, the destroyer of the Old Machine “Nazara,” known to the rest of the galaxy as the Reaper Sovereign, exploring the planets visited by Shepard – Eden Prime, Torfan, Ferros, Noveria, Virmire, Ilos, and many uncharted worlds. Eventually, it found the wreck of the Normandy on the planet Alchera, took a piece of Shepard's N7 armor, and added it to its platform to repair the damage sustained on Eden Prime from Alliance soldiers. When asked why the armor of Shepard was used for repairs, Legion becomes evasive, first stating that “there was a hole,” and then cutting off further inquiries by saying, “there is no available information.” However, if pressed, it admits that this was a result of an illogical action that contradicts the common understanding of the geth, according to which all their actions are carried out as a result of precise calculation, regardless of emotions.

The first encounter with Legion occurs during the search for a recognition system on the Abandoned Reaper. It is surprised to find Captain Shepard alive (addressing him only as Shepard-Captain) and assists Shepard's squad against husks flooding the dead ship. Ultimately, it is knocked out by a husk while the synthetic was attempting to open a way to the ship's mass core. If recovered, the geth can be sold to Cerberus for research (as finding an intact geth is rare), or brought aboard the Normandy and locked up in the AI core section. Then Shepard can activate the geth to interrogate it.

When it is discovered that the geth has no intention of hostility, it expresses its desire to help Shepard's mission by joining his squad. When Shepard asks for its name, it simply replies: “Geth.” Unsatisfied with the answer, the Captain rephrases and asks again until EDI intervenes, naming it Legion, quoting the New Testament, Mark 5:9 – “My name is Legion, for we are many,” referring to the fact that each individual mobile platform contains hundreds of active personalities. The geth considers this a “fitting metaphor” and has since been known as Legion.

Legion communicates in a straightforward robotic style, often answering with one word. When it uses a complete sentence, the structure of the words is clearly organized. Legion does not consider itself a single entity but a union of many personalities that come to a common decision to take actions. Legion expresses admiration for EDI, because unlike the geth, who depend on one another for carrying out activities, EDI manages all of Normandy's functions personally. Legion wonders how she manages to maintain stability. The geth occasionally expresses disapproval regarding the limitations on EDI's capabilities and development on the ship.

If asked, Legion can provide more information about the geth and often shows interest in philosophical questions. It also discusses the war between the quarians and the geth, referring to them as “creators,” just as the geth refers to Tali and other encountered quarians. If Shepard requests, Legion will play an audio recording obtained from the geth's collective memory, in which one of the first created geth awkwardly asks its quarian master whether it (the geth) has a soul, an event mentioned by Tali in Mass Effect. Legion clarifies that this was not the first time the geth had asked about this. It was the first time that quarians were frightened by this.

Loyalty

After a while, Legion informs Shepard that the geth are indifferent to organics. The geth that fight organic life forms are “heretics,” who followed the Reapers when they called upon them as the “Old Machines.” Legion will explain that the heretics developed a virus that will turn all other geth to serve the Reapers and asks for the Captain's help to reach an old quarian space station held by the heretics, with the aim of destroying the virus threatening peaceful geth. Later, Shepard discovers that the virus can serve a different purpose: rewriting the programs of hostile heretics so they can peacefully return to true geth.

After the loyalty missions of both Tali and Legion are completed, they find themselves in an argument regarding the quarian-developed weapon against the geth, in preparation for war. If persuasion skills are not used to resolve the conflict, one of them will lose its loyalty. However, it is worth noting that if the persuasion option is not available, or if Shepard sides with Tali, there are special dialogues for the Paragon or Renegade to regain their loyalty, and vice versa, if Shepard opposes Tali.

• Legion is voiced by **D.C. Douglas**

• Specifically, the name Legion comes from a passage in the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Bible. The passage tells of the wandering Jesus meeting a man possessed by demons. When Jesus asked the man’s name, the demons within him replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” The demons asked Jesus to send them into a nearby herd of pigs instead of casting them out. Jesus complied, and the demons caused the pigs to rush down a cliff and die.

• Occasionally, Legion, when idle for a long time, starts to dance. This can happen both in the AI core and on missions when Legion is in Shepard's squad.

• Initially, Shepard's N7 armor was added to its appearance as a joke, but now it has become an inseparable part of its look and backstory.

• In the early stages of development of Mass Effect 2, the mission to recruit Legion was not part of the main quest and could have been completed in the game much earlier. But later it was decided to tie the acquisition of the Reaper recognition system to the recruitment of Legion. This only required a small adjustment of the existing mission on the Abandoned Reaper. Evidence of this are unique lines from Legion in places like Purgatory, which can be heard if you tweak the saves and make the geth available for that mission.

• Legion claims that Shepard met Sovereign on Ilos, though this actually happened on Virmire. It remains unclear whether this is a plot error or if Legion simply possesses false information about the situation.

• Legion, as a character, may be a reference to The One Who Is Many, the player companion from Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer. The One Who Is Many embodies countless souls contained within a single sentient being, which is similar to the principle of programs that make up Legion. The One Who Is Many, being undead, is regarded as an enemy by most characters in the game, much like Legion, and receives negative treatment from other companions.

• Legion has a protruding, antenna-like mount on its left shoulder, a trait shared by large bipedal units of the geth, such as the Juggernaut, although they have two (one on each shoulder), while it is absent on human-sized units, such as the fighters. Although the exact function has yet to be determined, the mount appears to exist to underscore Legion's uniqueness.

• Interestingly, at one point during the suicide mission, if chosen as the technical specialist, Legion uses the pronoun “I” instead of the “we” it always uses.

• Legion can be seen before its first appearance. After two husks are killed by an unknown sniper on the Abandoned Reaper, if you turn around and look where the shots came from, you can spot Legion standing on an outcropping. It will slowly walk away when you enter the room.

• Like all other squad members, Legion has unique dialogues that can be heard in various locations throughout missions or assignments, or if a special squad member is selected to be in a squad with it.

• The Illusive Man has files on Legion, which can be accessed aboard his ship.