Introduced as the last survivor of a group tasked with protecting Tali, Kal’Reegar is a classic soldier who just happens to be wearing a suit to protect him from germs. Veteran soldier Kal’Reegar from Mass Effect 2 brings a whole new level of intensity to the species by himself, and he’s far from the only militant quarian.

Not all quarians have to fight indirectly through technology. If an enemy soldier found themselves on the wrong end of a quarian’s gun they might notice the similar quick, jerky movements. Before Tali’s face was revealed, some fans speculated that the shape of a quarian’s face might look like the flaps around geth heads. The look of both shares some visual language with the entire Mass Effect universe, including stark vertical lines, blue and silver tones, and a mix of metallic and cloth surfaces. The quarians’ masks replicate the curving shape of the geth heads and necks. This is especially visible in their hands, which share a spindly, insect-like quality with that of the geth crawlers. The book The Art of the Mass Effect Universe reveals that quarians were influenced by geth design and vice versa. Just imagine what they could have done if they’d used that army to conquer the galaxy.Īdmiral Daro’Xen even writes a letter to Shepard in Mass Effect 2 in which she suggests that, if the quarians researched the geth enough and returned them to their original role, they could “reclaim not just their homeworld, but the largest synthetic army in the galaxy.” In a way, quarians and geth are two sides of the same coin – one race which seeks to colonize and destroy, and another which creates its own society far away from other races. The quarians created the geth for military work.

It took a long time, but quarians did what Reapers couldn’t do: co-exist with the creatures they stewarded.

In Mass Effect 3, it’s possible to broker a deal between the geth and the quarians where they rebuild their shared homeworld together. This hive mind of artificial intelligence were never supposed to be more than servants to the quarians, but as they began to think deeper, the two species couldn’t share a homeworld. Another proof of their not so hidden badassery? The quarians created the geth.

Mass effect 3 quarian face revealed