Mass Effect Legendary Edition changed a character’s race, fixing a decade-old bug

Elanos Haliat, a human-hating pirate and previous leader of the Terminus Systems, appears in Mass Effect 1 on the world of Agebinium. Shepard encounters him when investigating a mysterious nuclear probe which needs to be defused.

Haliat has a history – he organised the attack on the human colony named Elysium prior to the events of the trilogy. This attack, named the Skyllian Blitz, is frequently referenced in the series.

But Haliat appears in the original Mass Effect 1 as a human, which doesn’t really make sense. Why would a human attack a human colony? Why would other Terminus races rally behind him as their leader? And how did he rise to power so quickly, considering humanity was still young on the galactic scene?

Fans have long assumed Haliat’s depiction as human was a slip-up by BioWare – especially as his name references two turian weapons manufacturers (Elanus Risk Control and Haliat Armory).

Haliat’s dialogue even includes a line mentioning those of “Shepard’s species”, further suggesting he is not human himself.

I played through this mission last night and Haliat is indeed now a turian. BioWare has also updated the sound of his audio file, so Haliat also sounds turian now too.