One of the primary antagonists in the first Mass Effect game is Sovereign, a diabolical, robotic, space-faring creature with motives beyond human comprehension. His epic plot in Mass Effect 1, setting up the overarching story of the trilogy, drew thousands of players to the franchise.
Being an immortal (almost) creature that has destroyed organic life every 50,000 years for millions of years, there’s a lot to unpack about Sovereign. Of course, there’s even more that fans don’t understand, but may never get answers about. Here, we give you the best tidbits of knowledge we do have about Sovereign.
10 You Can See Where It Landed
There are lots of ways to tweak the experience of Mass Effect 1 one to make it more enjoyable for the second, third, or fourth playthrough. However, the details that the developers set up for the player are undoubtedly breathtaking all by themselves.
At the end of Mass Effect 1’s first mission on Eden Prime, it’s possible to turn and see where Sovereign landed on the planet. There’s an incredible crater left behind - if the player is listening, Ashley comments that it looks like a bomb hit.
9 Sovereign Was Redesigned To Look More Geth
Fans often associate Sovereign’s design — and all Reapers’ — with a human hand, reaching out of the sky to grab at a planet. However, the truth detailed in The Art of Mass Effect is that Sovereign’s original design actually had insect features added to it. This was to connect them visually to the Geth and other synthetic creatures, who already featured insect-like parts. Given the message that Mass Effect told by the time the trilogy ended, tying the Reapers to other synthetic life was probably a smart endeavor.
8 The Biblical Reference
While the player talks to Sovereign in Saren’s lab, it will announce that the reapers “are legion.” Though Mass Effect fans might be more likely to think of the character Legion, who appears in Mass Effect 2, the phrase is actually well-known from a biblical story about the Gerasene Demon.
Supposedly, that demon was the combination of several destructive entities, leading it to say “My name is Legion, for we are many.” The Reapers are known to have motives and a collective subconscious that humans cannot possibly comprehend, so a demon, or demons, is a fitting mental image to conjure in the player’s mind.
7 It’s The Only Reaper Set Up Like A Spaceship
In Mass Effect, Sovereign is said to be crewed with both Geth and Krogan on board, and we know it is set up inside like a spaceship. However, one Redditor has pointed out that Sovereign is the only Reaper in the series to be laid out this way. If true, it has some diabolical repercussions about how much Sovereign knew, and whether allowing organics to gain control of it was purposeful to speed up their indoctrination. Perhaps Sovereign was part of only a handful of Reapers, meant to indoctrinate the first few organics and make the remaining job easier.
6 It Was Named By Organics
Organic life in Mass Effect is varied, for better or for worse. With such a hit-or-miss ragtag bunch out among the stars, it’s a wonder that the Reapers let the organics name them, and go along with the names once they’ve been given. In fact, Reapers have no names. Even the name “Reapers” was given to them by the Prometheans.
It makes sense, when you think about it, because the concepts in names like “Harbinger” and “Sovereign” are inherently organic — not something a robot would come up with. It only identified itself once, as far as we know, to the Geth as “Nazara,” but this is understood to be because they were trying to get the Geth to help them.
5 It Was Voiced By Peter Jessop
Peter Jessop is a voice actor beloved by the gaming community for his work. Not only did he voice Sovereign, but he also voiced another character — Lorik Qui’in — for Mass Effect 1 and 2. In BioWare’s other project, Jade Empire, he voices 3 characters. Among his other big projects are Miraak, the antagonist of Skyrim’s Dragonborn DLC, and Paladin Danse from Fallout 4. If you’ve played these games, you’ll know that none of these characters sound particularly similar. Jessop’s work has undoubtedly made countless fictional worlds more exciting to live in.
4 The Name Nazara
If the player is paying attention to the Geth companion Legion during Mass Effect 2, they’ll catch the detail that, when Sovereign approached the Geth, it identified itself under the name “Nazara.” That name is actually an old Turkish word, meaning “the one who sees.” Not only is this a fascinating way for Sovereign to explain his purpose to the Geth, but it actually may hint at Mass Effect 1’s development. Nazara might have been part of their larger plan, at one point; other remnants of it seem to remain in Mass Effect lore. An extinct alien race called the Nazari were the folks who left behind the technology that allowed for Faster-Than-Light travel.
3 It’s Considered The Best Mass Effect Villain
Mass Effect is full of incredible villains with complicated and conflicting motives. However, for fans, Sovereign takes the cake as the best villain in Mass Effect’s history. He was undoubtedly diabolical, and the plot twist where he appears as the puppet master behind Saren was breathtaking.
The line “You exist because we allow it, and you will die because we demand it” haunts the nightmares of many science fiction gamers, but it’s far from his only goosebump-inducing quote. Having the conversation with him again is reason enough to replay the first Mass Effect.
2 How Saren Met Sovereign
Saren Arterius’ heartbreaking story is undoubtedly one of the reasons that the first Mass Effect — and Sovereign — are so beloved. In the book Mass Effect: Revelation, it’s revealed that he met Sovereign on a mission as a Spectre. Sovereign was first encountered in 2157 when it was found orbiting an uncharted planet. Saren, who was tracking illegal weapons, happened upon someone who was involved in the effort to study it. He began to get more wrapped up in the operation until he finally stole their research in order to use Sovereign’s power to exact his revenge upon humanity.
1 It Makes Mass Effect 3’s Ending Look Tacked-On
Mass Effect 3’s ending was disappointing in uncountable ways for long-time fans of the series — one was even caused by a simple typo. The worst, however, was when fans were given the option between 3 bright lights to conclude the epic trilogy. The conversations with Sovereign in Mass Effect make it clear that this wasn’t the ending that they envisioned. When speaking with Sovereign in the first Mass Effect, it claims that the reapers “have no beginning.” This is clearly retconned later when it’s said that they were built by the Leviathans. He also shows disdain for organic life in lines like “organic life is nothing but a genetic mutation,” while the Catalyst later claims that Reapers are trying to save organic life.
NEXT: Mass Effect: Who’s The Best Supporting Character, EDI Or Liara T’Soni?
