Mass Effect 3 was the culmination of almost half a decade of storytelling. Ending controversy aside, Bioware did give a satisfying send-off for a lot of the beloved characters that players grew to love over the RPG trilogy. Some though can bite the dust and one of those characters is the scientist Salarian: Mordin Solus.

For most, Mordin sacrifices himself to cure the genophage, the disease that has been affecting the war-hungry Krogan for centuries. But it is, in fact, possible to prevent Mordin from dying and have him as a war asset against the Reapers. There are a number of things that must be done across all three games to meet the criteria in saving Mordin’s life. Here is what must be done in order to save everyone’s favorite Salarian.

Kill Wrex In Mass Effect 1

Sadly, in order to save Mordin’s life, players will have to sacrifice another beloved companion. That companion being Urdnot Wrex. Halfway through the Virmire mission, it is discovered that Saren’s base is being used as a facility to create Krogan which also has a cure for the genophage.

The genophage has done massive damage to Krogan society, so it is understandable that Wrex is adamant about destroying the base and begins to question his loyalties. Shepard will be forced to deal with Wrex one way or another. Normally, he can be talked out of it, but in order to save Mordin, Wrex has to die.

Killing him ensures that he does not become the leader of clan Urdnot in Mass Effect 2 and the position will instead go to his brother, Wreav. Wreav wants revenge for what the galaxy did to his people which plays a key part in Mordin’s decision in the third game.

Mass Effect 2: Complete His Loyalty Mission

The bulk of what must be done to save Mordin will have to be done in the second game. This makes sense since he first appears in this game.

When talking to Mordin about halfway through the game, Mordin will tell Shepard about how a former student of his, Maelon, has supposedly been kidnapped on the Krogan homeworld of Tuchanka. This will start his loyalty mission.

An Unsettling Reveal

Mordin will reveal before and during the loyalty mission how he worked on a genophage modification project. The project entailed him working to fix the original strand of the genophage, which the Krogan started adapting to, to get the disease to how it was before. The mission shows that the Krogan clan responsible for the kidnapping, Weryloc, has been trying to cure it with some vicious experiments happening as a result.

It is eventually revealed that Maelon wasn’t kidnapped but had come voluntarily to try and cure the genophage. Players will have the option of either killing or sparing Maelon but either outcome will not affect the probabilities of being able to save Mordin in the next game. All that leaves now is the data from the experiments.

Mass Effect 2: Destroy The Data

The data must be destroyed in order to save Mordin in the next game. The data is important since it contains data that could be used to save Eve’s life in the next game. Not having this will ensure she dies which is an important factor in convincing Mordin not to sacrifice himself.

Ensure He Survives The Suicide Mission

Of course, completing his loyalty mission is not enough, you also have to ensure he survives the suicide mission. Before even launching the mission, three upgrades to the ship need to be acquired. Otherwise, Shepard will lose three companions before even reaching the Collector base and Mordin could be one of those companions.

The upgrades required are:

  • Heavy Ship Armor (talk to Jacob about Normandy upgrades or complete his loyalty mission) Mult-Core Shielding (talk to Tali about Normandy upgrades or complete her loyalty mission) Thanix Cannon (talk to Garrus about Normandy upgrades or complete his loyalty mission)

Once landing on the base, there is only one assignment that Mordin is best suited for, that assignment being escorting the crew of the Normandy SR-2. Since he is loyal, he will be fully focused on his given assignment and will be successful. Do not choose him for any of the other assignments since he is not well-suited for them.

If he is brought along for Shepard’s squad that moves through a bunch of Collector seeker-swarms with a biotic escort, pick either Samara or Jack. Picking anyone besides those two will cause the shield to go down early and potentially result in him getting carried away to his death by the swarms.

What To Do In Mass Effect 3

Should Mordin survive the suicide mission, he will show up as Wreav’s inside source on Sur’Kesh. After saving Eve from Cerberus, he will be on the Normandy where he tries to work on a cure. Enough time will pass until he reveals the shroud on Tuchanka that can be used to dispense the cure.

Right before the mission, Shepard will be contacted by the Salarian Dalatrass about sabotaging the cure in exchange for Salarian help in the war against the Reapers. During this encounter, she will reveal how the last people to use the shroud sabotaged it to prevent a potential cure to be released.

On the way to the Shroud, do not reveal this to anyone. Doing so will cause Mordin to find a workaround and ruin the chance to save him.

The Big Moment

After defeating the Reaper guarding the Shroud, Shepard will meet Mordin at the ground floor of it to talk to him as the facility begins to fall apart. It is here that Mordin reveals Eve died, which is a result of destroying Maelon’s data. With her dead, no one can stand up to Wreav’s ambitions of conquest.

Mordin will insist on going up. Players will need to have enough reputation points – about half the bar – and select the renegade option to convince him to not cure the genophage just yet. He will be convinced and reluctantly walk away.

What Happens Afterwards

The Krogan are now tricked into believing the genophage was cured and Wreav is none the wiser. Mordin will go into hiding in order to keep up the facade, meaning he can’t be a companion again but he will be a war asset, as previously stated. He can also be talked to before the final push on Earth at the end of the game.

In the ending slideshow, he is seen working in a lab seemingly working on another cure for the genophage. With his mind, it is likely a cure truly will be found.