Miranda Lawson

Character overview

In Mass Effect 2, Miranda Lawson is a high-ranking Cerberus operative who was genetically designed for superior intelligence and physical traits. She is sterile due to genetic manipulation and a benign neoplasm. She leads the Lazarus Cell that revives Commander Shepard and serves as Executive Officer aboard the Normandy, reporting directly to the Illusive Man. Miranda was created by her father Henry Lawson using his own DNA with a doubled X chromosome, intended to start a dynasty. She fled to Cerberus after he tried to control her life, and secretly hid her genetically identical sister Oriana. If the player prevents Oriana's abduction, Miranda becomes loyal to Shepard; in one ending, she refuses the Illusive Man's order to stop Shepard and resigns.

Creation and development

Early concept art balanced Miranda's sex appeal with a uniform fitting a Cerberus officer. Originally blonde, her hair was changed to black to complement a femme fatale look. Casey Hudson noted her tight uniform reflected her being designed as perfect and beautiful. Yvonne Strahovski used her natural Australian accent. Camera angles emphasized her curves and sexuality, which marketing director David Silverman defended as integral to her character. David Kates composed her theme to show strength, vulnerability, and sadness. Mac Walters and Patrick Weekes wrote her for Mass Effect 2; Jay Watamaniuk wrote her for Mass Effect 3.

Reception

Miranda received mostly positive reception and is popular for fan art and cosplay. Her loyalty mission was completed more than Grunt's on PC, but the opposite on Xbox 360. Yvonne Strahovski was nominated for Best Performance by a Human Female at the Spike Video Game Awards. A PC Gamer reader poll ranked Miranda the second most popular love interest after Liara T'Soni, and the magazine ranked her eighth best companion in the series.

Commentators noted her genetic enhancements link to her complex relationship with her father. Attention was given to her looks: Complex listed her buttocks among the best in gaming and included her in lists of hottest characters. UGO.com called her the ninth-hottest fictional woman of 2012. MSN listed her among the hottest women in video game history.

However, 1UP.com's Ryan Winterhalter and Screenrant's Michael Graff criticized the camera's focus on her buttocks as sexist.