author: Meehow
Brave new world. The Ark Theory: Does Mass Effect: Andromeda feature a galactic exodus?
Table of Contents
Skeptics may ask: how is that possible that the Ark was conveniently discovered during “our” cycle? Well, firstly: as I mentioned before, we don’t know if the Ark has actually been used before and, if so, what happened to the ones that have used it. Secondly: the relays have no thermal (or other) emission, making them very hard to detect. Even if the Ark had different emission signatures, you could just cram it in an unexplored or hard-to-reach region of the Milky Way and/or deactivate it (like it has been done with multiple relays in the Mass Effect trilogy) to keep it relatively well hidden.
According to the leaks, which are becoming more believable after recent developments, in Mass Effect: Andromeda we will control a pioneer looking for a new home for humanity, somewhere in the Helius cluster (with roughly 100 planetary systems available) – a fitting task when you think about the game’s exploration focus. The official sources have revealed that the game’s protagonist will be human, but it definitely won’t be the N7 operator shown on this year’s E3 teaser. The hero’s/heroine’s concept art can be found on BioWare’s official blog. The armor we see shares the black-orange color scheme of the ARKCON logo instead of the famous N7 black-red. An unimportant detail or, perhaps, is it something more significant?
An interesting and unanswered, for the time being, question remains which species have travelled through the Ark. Judging from the leaks and the official teaser we can expect the Krogan and possibly the Asari to make an appearance alongside humans. But what happened to the other Council races and other species fighting side by side against the Reapers? How many of them will seek refuge in the Andromeda galaxy? Finally, should none of the Mass Effect 3 endings become canon, we will most likely have to say goodbye to Quarians and the Geth.
Among the voices in the discussion we find speculations that the enemies we see fighting with the main character in the Mass Effect: Andromeda trailer may be ancient Protheans. Some similarities in architecture and physique allegedly prove this claim. I think it’s a bit too farfetched, to be honest. I believe them to be one of the completely new races which are bound to be introduced by the game. Or, perhaps, they have come from the Milky Way in similar circumstances and are the remnants of one of the numerous races the Reapers harvested before that we never had a chance to learn about.
The Ark Theory, just as The Indoctrination Theory a while ago, certainly has its strong points and sounds very plausible overall; especially since the official info seems to match it quite well. However, I wouldn’t get ahead of myself if I were you. Let’s not forget that all of this is just wild (albeit creative) speculations. Unfortunately, until the actual setting of Mass Effect: Andromeda is officially revealed – and it won’t happen soon – all we can do is speculate. And hope.
