Legion (Mass Effect)

Did You Know?

• In 2015, ThreeZero released a 13-inch tall action figure of Legion covered in PVC to mimic its body of wiring.
• In 2021, the official BioWare online store offered a limited edition Legion canvas print by artist Ben Huen; all 500 pieces sold out.

Character overview

In the Mass Effect universe, the geth are a collective of artificial intelligence beings that lack individuality and operate by consensus. They were created by the quarians, a technologically adept humanoid species, as servants centuries before the series' events. A single geth program is a simple software unit housed in a mobile platform; when multiple geth network, they form a swarm-like system capable of advanced reasoning. After the geth became integrated into quarian society, their network developed self-awareness, leading the quarians to attempt their destruction.

The resulting war ended with the geth controlling the quarian homeworld Rannoch and the quarians' exile. Legion's unit contains 1,183 geth programs, making it eleven times more powerful than standard platforms. Designed for diplomatic interaction with organics, Legion develops a unique fascination with Commander Shepard, whom it calls "Shepard-Commander".

Concept and design

The design team initially sought to distinguish Legion from other geth, considering sketches with varied head shapes or multiple photo-receptors, but ultimately chose a restrained approach. Legion's final design incorporates a torn piece of Shepard's armor from the first Mass Effect. Audio lead Rob Blake described morphing actor D. C. Douglas's dialogue into Legion's voice as "arduous", aiming to retain the granular, "clicky" geth sound effects without losing the actor's intonation.

The geth were originally intended to be sidelined after the first game, and Legion was not planned as a squad member for Mass Effect 2, but positive fan response expanded their role, reducing focus on other plotlines like the rachni. Patrick Weekes and Sylvia Feketekuty wrote Legion for Mass Effect 3. Weekes noted the team wanted the geth intelligence to form by consensus and increase exponentially with numbers, distinct from typical organic or AI tropes.

Feketekuty stated Legion could connect to other geth clusters at will, but its gestalt intelligence is an "anonymous collective" capable of operating offline. Unlike EDI, Legion lacks a sense of humor.

Appearances

Legion first appeared in the inaugural teaser trailer for Mass Effect 2, released in February 2009, and was fully revealed in the "Mass Effect 2 Enemies" trailer in November 2009. In Mass Effect 2, Legion is an unidentified geth unit that assists Shepard's squad against husks on a derelict Reaper, but is disabled while opening a path. Shepard can take the disabled geth back to the Normandy, where it may be sold to Cerberus or kept in the AI Core.

If reactivated, Legion accepts EDI's analogy to the biblical story of the Gerasene demoniac. Legion agrees to join the suicide mission, but Shepard must gain its loyalty by either destroying heretic geth or reprogramming their virus. Afterward, Legion reveals the heretic faction allied with Sovereign for a Reaper body, while the "true geth" declined and plan to build a megastructure like a Dyson sphere. If asked about repairing itself with Shepard's N7 armor, Legion becomes evasive.

Cultural impact

Legion has been referenced in various media after the original trilogy. In a December 2014 IGN reader poll, it was one of the most voted characters for top RPG party choices. GamesRadar selected Legion's question "Does this unit have a soul?" as one of the best video game quotes. Amazon's Echo device referenced this quote in 2017, and BioWare responded with a pop culture reference.

In early 2018, media noted visual similarities between the redesigned Robot in Lost in Space and Mass Effect. In February 2019, Comicbook.com reported trending requests for a Mass Effect Legion skin for Apex Legends' Pathfinder. Critics have placed Legion on multiple "top" character lists. GamesRadar called it one of the best new characters of 2010, praising its mechanical delivery.

IGN's Casey Lynch highlighted its first encounter as one of gaming's best, accentuated by its musical theme. Steven Hopper of IGN called its recruitment "an awesome twist". GamesRadar's Jordan Baughman cited Legion as an example of BioWare's "Kickass Robot" archetype. PC Gamer's Chris Livingstone found Legion interesting despite clichéd tropes, noting its use of Shepard's armor as a sign of sentimentality, and was saddened by its demise in Mass Effect 3.