ME2 : Morinth - i don't get it

[Reishadowen]

I actually thought it was some moral dilemma that Bioware didn't have time to implement better.

The clues are there, but you have to look for them. When talking to Samara on the ship, she says that her three daughters were all "ar-dat-yak-shi", and had to stay in one place for the rest of their lives so they wouldn't hurt anyone, but Morinth refused. During the battle between the mother and daughter, Morinth infers that just because she was born different, and didn't want to be kept closed and hidden the rest of her life, she "has to die".

I think it's supposed to infer that you can look at the situation two ways: Samara's view, in which "ar-dat-yak-shi" are a disease and too dangerous to let go of, or Morinth's view, in which she has the right to freedom, and it wasn't her fault that she was born as an "ar-dat-yak-shi", and her mother has gone too far in trying to either quarantine or kill her own daughter.

Of course, maybe Bioware implemented it exactly as they intended it to, and it just took me so long to realize all facets of this because I didn't really talk to Samara except a couple of times because I didn't feel like hanging around and talking to all my crew members that much who weren't on the 2nd floor because loading the map in your OWN SHIP was time-consuming and very very frustrating EVERY TIME YOU GO UP AND DOWN THE ELEVATORS. -_- (Seriously, you can make bullets and ships go faster than the speed of light but you can't make your elevators move faster than a sloth with a turtle shoved up it's @$$?!)

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

"i wanna be as bad as possible" ?

Basically this.

Some people will ignore all logic and sense simply for the gameplay aspect of it. Choosing Morinth gives you a whole load of Renegade points, and people want those renegade points.

Some people also do it out of curiosity, because they want to see if Morinth is any different as a companion, but mostly the renegade thing.

 

[aashell13]

Honestly, it never occurred to me to side with morinth. On reflection I still can't say I'd do it, if only out of a desire to keep the number of biotic nutcases on the Normandy down to a minimum.

 

[DementedSheep]

Best I can come up with is that Samara may kill more people being that she just outright kills criminals and that if Shepard had been doing things that Samara is suppose to kill him for by her code she may try and kill him after her oath to you ends.
But honestly I think it?s just a half assed choice and bioware failing to write anti heroes again. Every once in a while they seem to forget that renegade isn?t meant to be outright evil (and even if you were, sex vampire that tried to kill you vs bond to follow your orders by an oath?). I only spared monirth in my throw away, screw myself over as much as possible save.

 

[JesterRaiin]

Morinth is younger so she'll live longer than Samara.

Why should it matters ?
- Sheppard is already on suicidal mission
- As a human he'll be outlived by both Samara and Morinth
- Both Samara's and Morinth's lifestyles are serious threats to theirs lifespans

Also, if I recall, if she has sex she'll kill whoever. Brilliant, that's an extra weapon in her arsenal that Samara doesn't have.

How could that help in war against cybernetic invaders ? "Come at me you big sexy hunks of metal" ?

Samara is also an honour-bound zealot whereas Morinth is flexible in her morals. This is a great advantage if your goal is saving the galaxy - a goal which you should be aiming to achieve via any means possible, not something where you want to be convincing one of your team every time you do a questionable act for the greater good.

Know this saying about cure being more dangerous than sickness ?

Just a few reasons I thought up quickly. Plenty of logical arguments.

I beg to differ, but still, thanks.

A renegade Shepard, by siding with Morinth, would just be watching his/her back and gaining a replacement biotic in the process.

Pretty much. Samara has a vow to stick with Shepard 'til the end of the game the mission, but if you're a Renegade Shepard, after that she's going to come after you. If you kill her off now, you retain a powerful biotic ally in Morinth who has no reason to hunt you down after your mission is done.

Ok, but recruiting someone doesn't automatically makes him/her a loyal companion. I perceive Morinth as threat.
Think : Exchange honorable Paladin for creature that lives for the thrill of hunting people, kills without remorse her prey, has no morality. Who would like to have said creature onboard of Normandy ? I remind you that Sheppard crosses galaxy, and that takes some time. Obviously there are long hours (days even) of boredom between missions... What to expect of Morinth ? That she'll just sit there and read some books ?

Also : "no reason" ? Sheppard knows who and what she is. How about that as a reason ?

I guess if you are rolling an evil character it makes sense to kill Samara and take Morinth instead.

"i wanna be as bad as possible" ?

Basically this.

Some people will ignore all logic and sense simply for the gameplay aspect of it. Choosing Morinth gives you a whole load of Renegade points, and people want those renegade points.
Some people also do it out of curiosity, because they want to see if Morinth is any different as a companion, but mostly the renegade thing.

Like it was said plenty of times before : evil doesn't equal stupid, reckless or inane. There's big difference between useful "weapon" and more or less cosmic vampire, parasite of insatiable hunger... Morinth isn't somoenoe who simply agrees to serve someone whom she no doubtly perceives as potential prey. It's in her nature to kill. I don't know how that would make her dependable companion, ready to risk her life for Da Mizzion.

 

[mrF00bar]

Renegade. That is all.

OT: I thought it was a bit odd to be given that decision without much contact with Morinth.I think it would have been better if the loyalty mission was a mission or two longer so you can make a decision based on something more than a quick back story from Samara that doesn't really add much depth to her character either in my opinion.

 

[RedDeadFred]

I always take Samara. Reave is so much better than Dominate. I'm pretty sure Shep could handle Samara because you have to remember:
You can fight like a Krogan, run like a leopard,
Bu you'll never be better than Commander Shepard.

 

[Lyri]

Nihlus won against her.

Ok I missed something, when did Nihlus meet Samara?

 

[Thespian]

Depends. Morinth has some incredible power. Gameplay-wise, she's no stronger than Samara, really, but in the narrative she is able to kill people by seducing them. So she'd be a ridiculously powerful ally. Also, Ardat-Yakshi seem to be more proficient with Biotics. Maybe. So theoretically, Morinth could be damn powerful.

It's a real folly that they don't include this in the gameplay. Morinth has dominate which is basically AI Hacking for organics, but overall she's about equal to Samara as a squadmate. If Morinth was drastically more powerful, or gave some out-of-combat assists, then it would be a good moral question of "Morality or Power?". Stay loyal to your friend or take the potent killer to help you save the Galaxy?

Also, another good reason to pick Morinth is that... Otherwise, Samara will kill her. Is that really paragon? Letting Morinth be killed? She was born an Ardat-Yakshi. Sure, it was her who made the choice to kill all those people, but is execution the right way to go?
A pity it all boils down to Paragon/Renegade and thus the choice isn't really fleshed out. It's good the option is there though. If I wasn't given the choice I'd think it was a mistake.

 

[Gmans uncle]

One reason, and one reason only.
because it will inevitably change the events of Mass Effect 3, and you want to know how things are different. That's the only reason I chose Morinth in my third play-through.

 

[DementedSheep]

Nihlus won against her.

Ok I missed something, when did Nihlus meet Samara?

If I remember correctly in one of the stories Samara tells you she saw Nihlus kill someone unarmed so her code compelled her to fight him. Eventually Nihlus created a situation where she was forced to chose between saving an innocent and going after him knowing that her code compels her to save the innocent and escaped.

 

[sumanoskae]

I(As well as a lot of people) find Morinth incredibly absorbing. She's oddly one of the most likable, and by extension one of the most interesting, characters in the game. And this is all after you've know her for 5 minutes.

 

[cahtush]

It's because Bioware has this tendency to make a moral alignment moment in where the choice is between Lawful Good and Chaotic Stupid.

I'm not saying they're a bad dev but this kinda stuff is a weakness in their otherwise great games.

I wouldnt call it lawful or chaotic, id call it "Knight in shining armor so white it puts the KKK to shame" and "Douchey McDouche doucheking of the Universe"

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Well, Samara has a strict moral code, and is obligated to kill any person who violates it. She says that, even if she's sworn to Shepard's service, she'll have to kill him after the mission is over if he violates the code, as in "does any major Renegade options". A renegade Shepard, by siding with Morinth, would just be watching his/her back and gaining a replacement biotic in the process.

This.

Also, if your character actually agrees with all that "we're alike" stuff that you told Morinth, then I could see the appeal.

 

[Battleaxx90]

A lot of people here are forgetting the most obvious reason:

Remember that girl's apartment you had to investigate to find clues on Morinth? Given the evidence from her mother and her diary, the more time the girl spent with Morinth, the more out-of-character she became; she went from being a nice young artist to a drug-abusing, hopeless shell of a woman who needed Morinth's support in order to live. Then she did what she did best. That's Morinth's modus operandi, and that's what she does to Shepard when they go back to her apartment.

Ergo, if you choose Morinth over Samara, no matter what your reasons were, Shepard's reasons for doing so was beause Morinth indoctrinated him.

There's no redeeming quality about Morinth in my opinion, she's just a heartless killer who takes sick pleasure in doing so. If you take pity on her, SHE'S COMING FOR YOU.

 

[Screamarie]

Well something of note is that Morinth states that being an ardat yakshi was the new evolution for the asari race or something to that effect. If the player took that to be true, then who is the player to stop the natural evolution of a species not his own? Yes it's would be terrible evolution (if it were actually true), but you can't necessarily blame someone for their biology. I think most people would assume that Morinth is just full of her own ego, but some people would be concerned over what she said.

Also, some people could have felt sympathy for Morinth. She didn't want to be an ardat yakshi, she didn't choose it, and it's understandable that she would end up rebellious and run away knowing that just because she was born a certain way she only had two options in life, solitary or execution. How they could weight that against the fact that she was a merciless killer, I don't know, but still even I felt sorry for Morinth.

 

[Dimitriov]

A genetic trait that causes you to kill your mate is clearly an evolutionary dead-end. You can't have any population growth that way.

I certainly didn't feel sorry for her, she was a spoiled, narcissistic *****.

 

[teebeeohh]

I found both utterly boring and never used Samara so I didn't really think about the decision, just picked along renegade/paragon lines.
But yeah samara is not an ideal choice if you are renegade.

 

[Guardian of Nekops]

It was a no-brainer for me, too, but I'm pretty damn Lawful Good. Most stuff was a no-brainer for me.

That said, Samara's moral code was even difficult for me to accept, since I tend towards the merciful side of Lawful Good. Her definition of "innocent deserving of life" can be a bit... narrow, and that's scary. I can see her gunning down people who really deserve a second chance.

Still, Morinth is worse in every possible way, if you're worried about that sort of thing.

 

[Spitfire]

Morinth is an interesting character, and has way more personality than Samara. Sure, she's dangerous, but that's why she's fun. I don't play Mass Effect to make the safe choices; I play it so that I can be a badass renegade who has lesbian romances with Morinth and Liara.

Does that answer your question?