

Perhaps one of the greatest criticisms about Mass Effect 3 was its apparent contradiction of the previous themes the lore had established by relying on one of the most overused science fiction conventions: the Crucible, an uberpowerful weapon capable of destroying the Reapers. While others chalked the use of this trope up to poor writing, others criticized it for another reason: the belief that a victory without the Crucible was possible. There are those among us, of course, who believe this is naturally impossible, such as Chris Shepard: "Conventional victory against the reapers? Lol, dude, you're going up against hand cannons with a peashooter, the reapers were designed to be unstoppable, and that's just what they were. I was fully expecting a 'loophole' ending, and ME delivered a great one."

The Reject ending, what I consider to be a true "science fiction" ending, didn't support this either, yet countless Mass Effect fans continue to debate the merits of either side of this position. After a lot of deliberation, I've come up with a conclusion myself: in spite of the near invincibility the Reapers were bestowed plot-wise, a conventional victory is possible, and here's why.

This blog is nothing more than a hypothetical thought experiment that looks at the strengths and weaknesses of a possible victory against the Reapers. I'd welcome anyone to critique it and argue against it; that's what good debates are made of. Note also that a "conventional" victory simply refers to one in which the Crucible is not used. It doesn't imply that a battle against the Reapers would be easy or simplistic; it simply takes into account the myriad resources the galaxy had available.







Notice I said "improbable," but not impossible.

There are several notable weaknesses the Reapers have when one takes the events depicted throughout the series into consideration, which I will delve into before offering my own strategy to defeat the Reapers conventionally. Firstly, it's evident based upon their approach that the Reapers' primary means of action has always focused on the same objectives, instead of having any innovation: surprise, infiltration and sabotage (usually through indoctrination), and destruction of resources, followed by a sweep of powerful units in overwhelming numbers. With technology as advanced as theirs as their primary advantage, in addition to indoctrination, one could say it's pretty obvious why the Reapers have never changed their methodology; countless cycles have shown that the battle against the Reapers naturally isn't going to be one dictated purely by numbers, but by the subtle value those numbers have. However, the statement is two-folded if we consider the lesson the Reapers learned through the loss of Saren.

We've only seen the Reapers change their strategy because of the setbacks put into motion to the strategy they'd honed so immaculately, suggesting that they probably don't have much experience conducting war without this measure. In contrast, the galaxy currently has a wealth of different resources and military strategies to draw from. Space-age technology also ensures we have the production power necessary to successfully compensate for any units lost, provided the resources are available, and even the ability to manufacture stronger ones; the much-needed dreadnoughts, for instance. Imagine what we're able to accomplish in the future, especially with the technological expertise we've developed through our contact with the other Council races! Quite a few treaties would probably need to be signed or amended, but for the sake of the Galaxy it's safe to say - as Shepard has proven - that some grudges and disagreements can be set aside temporarily. 

On the other hand, the Reapers have little need of our natural resources, and instead are quick to demolish them to impede any resistance. Nonetheless, the Reapers rely on sentient organisms to reproduce and create new forces, as well as conduct the majority of their warfare, a limited but essentially infinitely reusable resource given the ability to indoctrinate their enemies, if not the primary need: they most likely wouldn't be capable of matching our production rate otherwise, let alone surviving without organics and synthetics as a proxy. Yet, all this reveals is that the Reapers, while still daunting, aren't as invincible as they initially seem.