Jeff "Joker" Moreau

From Mass Effect Wiki

Jeff "Joker" Moreau Systems Alliance
Jeff "Joker" Moreau
Species:	Human
Rank/Title:	Flight Lieutenant
Location:	SSV Normandy

"I'm not good, I'm not even great, I am the best damn helmsman in the Alliance fleet!"

Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau is the pilot of the SSV Normandy. Joker is an excellent pilot and confident to the point of arrogance, wasting no time in pointing out his prowess to others. He's quick to ensure everyone knows his many accomplishments and commendations were all earned, and not due to charity for his medical problems.

Joker is voiced by Seth Green.

[edit] Dossier

Joker's upbringing and career have been coloured by his health. Joker has a moderate to severe case of Vrolik syndrome, which causes extreme brittleness in the bones; he was born with severe fractures to his legs and even with modern medicine he finds walking nearly impossible, relying on crutches and leg braces.

Joker spent his early life on Arcturus Station because of his mother's job there as a civilian contractor, and grew up around ships. When he was old enough to enlist, he joined the Alliance Navy. He got his nickname from a teacher at flight school, due to the fact that he rarely smiled -- he was working too hard. At the end of training he was better than all the other students, even better than his instructors. "They all got their asses kicked by the sickly kid with the creaky little legs. One guess who was smiling at graduation." When the Normandy was commissioned, Joker was chosen as her pilot.

Because he has difficulty walking, Joker rarely leaves the Normandy's bridge. Despite the fact that he is continually making wise cracks, Joker takes his job very seriously and claims he's the best pilot in the entire Systems Alliance. An example of his exceptional skill was a risky maneuver where he was able to successfully drop the Mako with only twenty meters of open ground (even as other crewmen declared such a drop to be impossible with anything less than a hundred meters). He has complete faith in Commander Shepard's leadership and the two of them share a good camaraderie.

Shepard can talk to Joker after each primary mission, and get his take on what happened there. For example, when Joker gets the team off Therum just in time, he off-handedly says he'd prefer a gold medal to a silver one for pulling off such a good rescue - Shepard can tell him that if he gets a medal, Joker will have to sit on a stage listening to politicians make speeches for a few hours. Joker sees Shepard's point: "They'd probably make me shave, too. I've been working on this baby for seven weeks, no medal's worth that."

If Shepard loses patience and decides to disconnect in the middle of the Council debriefings, Joker is a co-conspirator, and is terribly apologetic about the Normandy's ongoing 'comm malfunctions'.

Spoiler warning: plot and / or ending details follow.

Joker's is essentially the 'voice' of the Normandy while Shepard is ashore, and often acts as Shepard's eyes and ears, particularly on Feros and Virmire. Though light-hearted, Joker is not completely insensitive; after Virmire he talks to Shepard about having to choose between Ashley Williams and Kaidan Alenko, and needs some time on his own to grieve. If Shepard decides not to bother telling the Council about Sovereign after Virmire, Joker rather prophetically snorts that Sovereign will have to be sitting on the Citadel's roof before the Council will listen to them. But Joker promises Shepard he's in it to the end. He wants to be there when Shepard makes Saren pay.

While Shepard's team heads to Ilos (thanks to Joker's expertise in dropping the Mako) and investigates the Conduit, Joker takes the Normandy to the Andura Sector and rallies the Fifth Fleet to defend the Citadel against Sovereign. When Shepard returns to the Citadel, the commander manages to get in touch with Joker, who's sitting beside a mass relay waiting for Shepard to unlock the relay network. Joker then co-ordinates strategy with Shepard, asking if they should defend the Destiny Ascension to save the Council, or go straight in for the kill. Either way, the Normandy leads the Alliance forces in the battle against Sovereign - Joker's skills mean that despite Sovereign's heavy firepower, the Normandy barely gets a scratch.

"We... are gonna need bigger guns." — spoilers for Mass Effect 2 follow.

[edit] Mass Effect 2

Joker has been confirmed to be making a return in Mass Effect 2.[1]

Joker is on board the Normandy as it is attacked by an unknown enemy. Shepard tries to convince Joker to abandon the ship, but Joker insists that he can save it, despite the rest of the crew evacuating and the ship sustaining heavy damage. Joker's subsequent fate is not yet known.

Joker can also be seen being carried by Shepard in one scene. His beard appears to have grown since Mass Effect.