Two things we've learnt Edit

Firstly, Udina is now most definitely the human Councillor after the events of Mass Effect 2 (2186). There are clearly canon issues here - I'd wager he's being established to play a major role in the plotline of ME3 (along with Anderson's mysterious activities post-Mass Effect: Retribution). The other is that Executor Pallin did indeed survive the Reaper attack on the Citadel, but dies (obviously) in between ME2 and ME3. Who will replace him as Executor? Chellick? Bailey? Will it matter? Who knows. Bronzey 07:36, October 26, 2010 (UTC)

Well, one thing we learned... after all, we did already know Udina is the human Councilor in 2186 thanks to Retribution. And actually, now that I think about it, we also learned in Retribution that Pallin survived the Reaper attack on the Citadel. So... as for what we learned, well... we did learn Bailey has a kid. As for who will succeed Pallin, given that Udina gave Bailey a promotion to Commander because being "short one Executor" means there are "positions to fill", I'm guessing it won't be Bailey. After all, if Bailey were going to become the new Executor, I can't really see why Udina would make the show of promoting him to Commander to fill a position. Chellick might very well be the new Executor, though. SpartHawg948 07:39, October 26, 2010 (UTC)

I really hope there's some kind of canonical explanation (it will no doubt need to be some kind of retcon) as to why Udina is Councilor. Or at least I hope he is Councilor in ME3 regardless. I'll be very disappointed if it turns out all these events are only happening this way for people who chose Udina as Councilor and that BioWare has abandoned any pretense of there being no 'canon'.

EDIT: Oh, and I'm guessing Pallin was the character Walters was referring to when talking about the cut news story saying he was dead, he was just mistaken about the assassinated part.JakePT 07:44, October 26, 2010 (UTC)

Drew Karpyshyn was rather vague when asked about this, so I'd tend to think Udina's role as canon Councillor post-ME2 wasn't exactly planned when the option to make Anderson the Councillor was given to players. Presumably there are some important reasons why Udina needs to be the Councillor (for ME3), but we don't know what they are yet. I agree that it could've been handled (retconned) better, but we're sorta stuck with this situation (and little explanation) until Bioware decides otherwise. Agree with the Pallin as the character Walters was referring to. The 'assassination' line threw me a bit, because he was never assassinated... Bronzey 08:02, October 26, 2010 (UTC)

Nah, not difficult at all, I think. There's nothing to my knowledge saying the Councillors must serve for life. 2186, right? Maybe Anderson (if you'd picked him) stepped down after his term. He'd served a few years at least. Also, Udina's almost certainly evil, now. I'm laying stake to the claim that he's a Cerberus puppet. He's clearly bribing Bailey (though he may not see it as such yet) with a position of power, and as for Chellick... well, if he does get Executor position, it would still suit Cerberus. He is, indeed, the "safe" choice. Bailey, I think, would run C-Sec like a straight arrow, albeit with less political acumen than Pallin.Baron Von Awesome 11:59, October 27, 2010 (UTC)

Why does everything interesting seem to happen when I go to sleep. Anyway I have what may seem to be a stupid question but I can only see pages 1-4 right now. When i went to that site Jake used, I get stuck in page 1, so am I missing something? Seriously I want to finish reading this. I'll reserve any other comments until after I read the whole thing. Lancer1289 13:23, October 26, 2010 (UTC)

The whole comic's been unlocked on the main site now. JakePT 03:47, October 27, 2010 (UTC)

Oh well thanks Jake. Anyway now that I've read it all, very interesting. Lancer1289 03:53, October 27, 2010 (UTC)

I hope ME3 at least tries to reconcile the Councilor's identity. More and more I feel like I need to do another run of ME2 to change my Councilor choice, but I'm burned out. At this point, all I want is for ME3 to say "Anderson stepped down right after ME2, and Udina stepped in. Ta-da" when I import my file. It wouldn't feel right if Anderson can still be Councilor in ME3, not with what Retribution and this comic present. -- Commdor (Talk) 17:39, October 26, 2010 (UTC)

I don't think there's any 'decision clash' here. Canonically, it seems the main events of ME2 (the revival of Commander Shepard, the destruction/capture of the Collector base) take place in 2185, or early 2186. Even if Anderson was nominated by Shepard to become the new Councilor, it seems that he's stepped down from his position in order to take part in the events described in Retribution. If he wasn't nominated for the position, then Udina was Councilor all along. The only question now, in the wake of the events of Inquisition, is who exactly is behind the events leading up to Pallin's death. My guess is that either Udina is firmly in the Cerberus camp, or the Illusive Man somehow managed to finagle things that made Pallin the fall guy for unspecified crimes (likely the events of Retribution). - Zaxares 09:53, October 27, 2010 (UTC)

The thing is, it's clear in Retribution that Anderson was just assisting Udina. There's no doubt that Udina was already Councilor and that the position Anderson stepped down from was not Councilor, but merely Udina's advisor/assistant. Some people have interpreted this as being Anderson stepping down as Councilor, I don't know why, or how, but that's just not what happened. If there was some stepping down/Udina stepping up (for players who chose Anderson), then it happened before Retribution and hasn't been mentioned.

The following possibilities are the only ones that match up with Inquisition and Retribution:

1. BioWare has given up on having comics and books clashing with possible player choices, and the versions of events we see happening in the books and comics only occurred that way in the default story, or for players that chose Udina.
2. Anderson stepped down from being Councilor shortly after the events of Mass Effect 2 but before Retribution. This event can obviously not be mentioned in the books or comics because that would clash with the story for players who chose Udina originally.

The only way we'll get an answer is if a writer comes forward with an explanation (Drew Karpyshyn's responses line up with the first possibility, but are inconclusive) or when Mass Effect 3 comes out. If the human Councilor in Mass Effect 3 is whoever the player chose, then the first possibility is the correct one. If the Councilor is Udina regardless of the players choices, there will no doubt be dialogue explaining what happened, and the second possibility will be confirmed.

In the latter case, it could even make an interesting moment, where the player shows up only to find Udina Councilor, a bit of a twist. However, I, and I'm sure many others, would see this for what it is. A clumsy way for the writers to avoid having to account for the players choices, something BioWare is doing a lot lately (they seem to want to have their cake and eat it too, DA2 moving to an entirely different part of the world is a similar thing).

Anderson's dialogue in ME2 certainly gives the writers an easy way to use the second explanation, even if it wasn't their initial intent. A lack of explanation in the books could easily be justified by using the excuse I gave (avoiding the books clashing with player decisions). The only problem is Anderson's attitude as Councilor matches his attitude as the assistant, and it doesn't make much sense for him to quit one job only to take up another just as bad.

Overall this has been handled incredibly poorly. As far as I'm aware no one still working on the franchise has stepped forward to explain what the canon situation is with regards to books and comics is now. I'm sure people would be upset, but they'd be a lot less confused if they just admitted that there is now an established canon that the books adhere to. Assuming that is the case, which it may not be, in which case they should say that.JakePT 10:18, October 27, 2010 (UTC)

I agree it's been handled somewhat poorly. If there is some dire and pressing reason why Udina has to be made Councillor, it would be a simple matter to say so (no need for specifics) and that would be that. I can even accept that canon needs to be blown to pieces in the interests of a compelling story for ME3/the books - it's not ideal, obviously - but the silence on this issue has been less than satisfying. Attempting to invent an arcane sequence of events that would explain the changed situation would be nice, although I don't really see this happening - more likely is that future books/games will treat Udina as Councillor with no reference to the possibility of the player appointing Anderson, and we'll get on with the show. Bronzey 12:22, October 27, 2010 (UTC)

It will be interesting to see what happens with this. Personally I think that it will be handled better when ME3 comes out, but we really don't have a reason why yet. Remember that the books and comics are much, much less flexable than the games, where there are many decisions that can be effected. In the books and comics, it is set in stone. Personally I think Anderson, seeing what happened with Shepard in Mass Effect 2, stepped down, probably when the Normady went through the Omega-4 Relay, or returned, or just shortly after that and before Retribution. As to the silence, I don't think that it is annoying, just BioWare probably trying to figure it all out, or they have and want that to be a mystery until ME3's release next year sometime, fingers crossed.

As to Udina being in Cerberus' camp, I really don't think that is the case. To me anyway, that is really stretching it. I don't think Udina would risk the job that he worked for by associating with a terrorist organization that is a known enemy of the Citadel. They may share similar goals, but to be working together, I really don't think so. Lancer1289 12:46, October 27, 2010 (UTC)

Spoiler Tag Edit

Not that it's a major deal, cause it's only a mini comic, but I think that a spoiler tag should be put at the top of the storyline. I, personally, don't want the story ruined for me. --97.117.25.155 15:46, October 26, 2010 (UTC)