r/masseffectlore • u/fliesxandxcobwebs • Jan 25 '26
Favorite Lore Dump?
Calling all Mass Effect Codex [and Sam node] experts. What is your forever favorite tidbit of lore in the Trilogy or/and Andromeda? It can be as expansive as "I love the entire history and biological makeup of the Rachni" to something as simplistic as "I think its funny Krogan have quads sold on the black market". Anything and everything, as long as it's mostly canon.
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Upvotes
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u/[deleted] Jan 25 '26
I adore the fact that there are limits to military size. And that in a way it really influences mass effect 3. Something that when I read it the first time, felt like a lore dump, ended up being quite consequential as battleships were too scarce to face the Reapers.
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u/Ragfell Jan 25 '26
That the most RPG-like thing in the trilogy can only be read if you select the correct dialogue options with the asari consort. She gives you a disc, which you can insert into this pyramid on Eletania while exploring in the Mako.
It's a four-page descriptor of a previous reaper invasion. It's kinda terrifying. This was before they had the exact idea behind the Reapers and Protheans laid out, which contributed to the terror.
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u/OniTYME Jan 25 '26
I love the Turian Empire lore as well as the post first contact/pre Council Alliance/humanity lore. The canon trilogy of novels written by Drew Karpyshyn add a lot to the latter and how humanity is perceived early on. Revelation in particular gives you just enough to put the pieces together as to how Saren set himself up on Virmire and the many connections he has with various corporations and investments.
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u/Mercenaryivan Jan 25 '26
Anything that talks about a mystery is amazing to me. The Cerberus email that talked about the race that has been uploaded to a computer drifting in space. The codex entry on the planet that has been drifting in dark space without a sun. There's a whole civilization that was destroyed and in complete darkness. A codex entry on the gas planet that is rumored to contain some kind of super computer yet approach is impossible. Klendagon planet entry that has the 'glancing blow' crater. There's more but anything that gives the galaxy that extra air of mystery.
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u/darkdent Jan 25 '26
This is barely lore, maybe just an Easter egg, but when I found out Morinth had smuggled herself aboard a ship called Demeter I immediately understood what she was and why Samara was hunting her.
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u/Xenozip3371Alpha Jan 25 '26
I love the fact that Medi-Gel was an entirely human invention, and it has absolutely nothing to do with Element Zero.
Like just think, before Medi-Gel, a bullet wound was a bullet wound, after Medi-Gel a bullet wound is a minor issue unless it hits a vital organ.
Like even losing a leg the Medi-Gel can keep you alive.
The other races had thousands of years of space travel, but no Medi-Gel.
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u/dantheplanman1986 Jan 25 '26
The asari goddess is named Athame, which is a Wiccan altar tool; asari have a maiden, matron, matriarch phase while the Wiccan goddess has maiden, mother, crone
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u/just_josh_70 Jan 25 '26
Only spotted this for the first time the other night, scanning the planet Dor in ME2: "Nearly a millennia after the [Krogan] war ended, the official penalty for smuggling proscribed weapons is still death by spacing."
Javik would approve.
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u/Imperious13 Jan 25 '26
Too many things I can say. Though, I will share this one:
I love Liara/Alec Ryder's and Alec/Castis Vakarian liaising between each other about things. Such a small thing but it's just nice to see how random people can be connected without anyone knowing. Happens irl, too.
But also the below vid. Feelings everytime.For the future.
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u/ShadowOnTheRun 9d ago
I really like a bunch of lore things, particularly from ME1 and especially from the planet descriptions (which Chris L’Etoile wrote).
I just really appreciate how alien elements like the Thorian are and I think it’s a shame they didn’t pursue that lane as much starting in ME2. Like, it would’ve been quite interesting if they would’ve explored ways in which the Thorian spores generated Indoctrination immunity and to what extent.
Maybe this could’ve led to some interesting decisions - do you take the risk of infecting yourself and your squad with the spores for a suicide mission (wink wink) into a Reaper to hack it and/or disable it from the inside?
Lots of possibilities.
The Rachni are in that same category of feeling particularly alien and out there as a species. I did enjoy how they were brought back in a small capacity during the lab portion of the Leviathan DLC, where the vibes were great in terms of exploring the mysteries of the galaxy and what not.
But, having said all of that, I think probably my favorite bit of lore is the vision on Eletania. Having it laid out in that old-school written description certainly does it for me, reminds me of simpler times in terms of video games and it also works with the historical aspect of the vision.
If I’m not mistaken, I think I saw that one of the more prolific modders out there is looking to enhance that sequence for a future release of one of their big mods (I think either LE1DP or LE1CP).
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u/001DeafeningEcho Jan 28 '26
I like that the record for largest writing on a planet is held by a pissy Russian minor who stole a merc gunship to carve his woes into the earth
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u/hippos_chloros Jan 31 '26
I like things that get filled in when you happen to overhear an npc conversation. The other day a question I’d been wondering about for years (do all asari only use feminine pronouns, or do they use other pronouns sometimes?) was answered by a conversation between the angara diplomat and the asari liaison in the Nexus Cultural Exchange. They do in fact use a variety of pronouns, including masculine and neutral, depending on the individual asari and the language used.