Canadian Delicacy - The Kaidan Alenko Thread

Fair enough. But I do wonder something about Ashley though. If you dump her in ME3, does she still get involved with James in the Citadel DLC party? I know a non romanced Ashley will flirt and can have something going on with James in that DLC.

I usually save Kaidan and when Ash usually is alive she is my romance and I remain faithful to her throughout. So, if you dump Ashley and she does get together with James during the party, then there is one example for you. 

Well there you go. Ashley can move on from broshep after she gets dumped. Thanks for the information.

With the other things I've mentioned, I think the romances are about even outside of Jacob.

I would very much like to partake of the pie. Nice to see more Kaidan art dmc1001

oh yeah, even romanced, I pick that line instead of "I love you always" line. Rather than calm, Kaidan was extremely distressed and Shepard look like she was in pain. It mirrored the beginning of ME2 so much.

The person who animate him was really talented and enough to capture emotions.

Same.  I have to go for the line that's the most romantic.  There's never enough of those moments-so I grab then when I can.  

obbie1984

Either dialogue choices was in character for both Shepard but I tend to pick the ones that fit the Shepard I'm playing which usually a mix of paragon and renegade.  

If romanced from the beginning, Kaidan have his subtle approach of wondering whether the love of his life still love him or not. "I just want to know, is the person I followed to hell and back--the person that I loved--are you still in there... somewhere?"  

You can either try to convince him that you are... or the renegade's : "You, Cerberus... it's all in the past now, Kaidan. We have a war to fight, and that is all that matters."

Look at both of them. Kaidan was shocked and absolutely devastated while the Commander Shepard refused to look at him in the eyes... and soon afterwards, he turned around and it was Shepard who stare at him longingly. That was not a coincidence, their reactions were meant to show the complicated nature of their relationship. Right afterwards, how fantastically her renegade shell fell apart when he got seriously hurt... and she started to have nightmares again which now involved a child. The boy doesn't just represent millions of people lost daily, it also the representation of her own deepest want; her own child with Kaidan. It was the future of their relationship in which she had to watch it burn over and over. The happiness that she wanted was threatened by the Reapers and deep inside, she was scared and that fear was what she had to deal with, even against Kaidan. He did point a gun at her and he had to choose to between his personal integrity as a soldier or to trust his love.

But she doesn't need to declare her love for him. She was someone who bury parts of herself so deep because she had to become this Commander Shepard that everyone expected her to be but she made mistakes that show her true feelings which was present in the trilogy, also which others tried to use against her, which made her even more closed and distant in fear of hurting the people she care about : "Kaidan almost died on Mars. People around me have a tendency to get hurt. Or worse.". Which is why he was very careful with her, Shepard isn't a regular girl who cave in simply because you solve her existential problem that she became indebted to you enough to sleep with you. She doesn't need ass-kissing big romantic gesturing words from him, she only needed his truth : "I just like having you in my life. Maybe you should just know that I'm not seeing anyone and... and that I still care." to "Not angry, just not everyday you have an armed standoff with someone you love." to "I love you, Shepard. I always have. I want to understand what this is between us... and make it real." He was giving her the options; she can choose him or not and he won't push her to accept him but he made sure she understand that she was beloved by him. Its a different approach than the rest of Bioware LIs aka ; I want this boy/girl so badly, I have to make them love me because I deserve them. In this relationship, it was always Shepard who put barriers around her and it was Kaidan who wanted her to let him in again, to let go of that fear because she was not alone anymore.  

Her romance acceptance line was always "I can't bury what I feel for you anymore. And I don't want to." because they're always in love with each other. They're already at that late stage in a relationship where both knew each other intimately. They're not dating, they're two halves of the same whole, partners who merely reconcile with the idea of being together for real instead of avoiding it. They're just like regular people with relationship issues but under extraordinary circumstances. Their relationship constantly being tested over and over, and it was up to both of them to make it work.

Which eventually lead to the end.. when she rejected his final goodbye, she promised him this: "When this is over, I'm going to be waiting for you. You'd better show up." and if not, Kaidan announced he wasn't afraid to die for her.... which is why even in Renegade dialogue, she used his own rank to order him to safety.... reminding him that he is a Major now and because even in that renegade moment, she didn't want him to die for her. She risked everything save him again because that's the kind of person she is... 

and people still say all of these are boring and vanilla... 

Yeah, I was pretty bristled the other day... "boring and vanilla" are some exact word by word that I received by certain folks who seemed to be very triggered with the idea that there are people who love Kaidan.

I really don't mind people romancing other characters but it tend to suck the joy out when you're constantly being insulted for an in-game option... and the worst part is, it made other Kaidanmancers afraid of saying they like him without being trolled.  :wtf:

anyway, that's why this character thread exist...

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In the final cabin scene.. there's a lot of thing happening... Shepard being on top of Kaidan and caressing his face and proudly said "Your support makes me strong." and Kaidan's "I want to be your strength; your soft place to land. Shepard, I love you." and then Shepard lean to kiss him deeply.

Kaidan's writers like writing him with cryptic contexts so is easy even for me to expand their interactions further. These "strength" they're talking about was their own combined feelings for each other which made both of them the person they are at that moment; both Spectres trying to find a way to save Earth and everyone. 

As I said, my Shepard tend to show the depth of her love rather than in words. It was in the reckless actions involving Kaidan; from Eden Prime, Virmire, to the Collector's attack on SSV Normany to Horizon etc. All of which which happened either way in the main story but with romance added, there's a persistent layer of motivation; the love they had for each other.

It explained why Shepard was perpetually stubborn about the intergalactic threat that Reapers poses, because it directly poses a personal threat to both her and Kaidan. Which is why I like Mindoir/Akuze Shepard... because she already had series of bad luck and she knew fate wouldn't be kind to her simply because there's always a catch and she fought hard and achieve the impossible because she have nothing to lose except to fight for her own chance of happiness.

In Kaidan's case, just like Ashley, he was riddled with survivor's guilt. He lost his friend Jenkins, he lost his new friend Ashley and then he lost Shepard and suffered through Horizon where he was one of the people who got lucky and then he lost his home and his father... his mother trapped on earth while the reaper busy reaping everyone in populated cities. Things like this could break a person easily, but he also know that the one person who suffered similarly to him was Shepard (especially Mindoir-born Shep). It does sound like Kaidan to be strong enough to keep together for himself and for Shepard as well.

In the last nightmare sequence, the kid running toward the other Shepard and rubbing hands on his back.... the gesture just scream motherly to me... which is why I also headcanoned that Shepard was secretly pregnant with Kaidan's son before her death in ME2... which does explain how Illusive Man figure out the true nature of Kaidan's relationship to her. To me, it explained some of Shepard's reactions, there's this undertone that Shepard was hiding something that was deeply traumatizing. What would Kaidan react if he found out that he should be grieving for her and his unborn baby in ME2...  he only found out Shepard was actually brain dead in Cronus station, which shows Shepard didn't tell him everything.

If you restore Anderson dialogues, he will say something that Shepard would make a good mother and reassure her that their child would be proud that their mom was Commander Shepard. Maybe it was cut out because it felt off especially with the range of non-straight and alien romances, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was aware that both of his protégés are together.

Anyway, it was some of the things that interpreted in my trilogy run. Which made it a space opera as it should be.

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also




link

Browsing the old archived Kaidan thread







Search engine didn't cooperate but manage to recover some stuff including mod links. I'm still wordy then lol.








still looking for this HD mod

I don't play Pure Renegade Shepard. My Shepard isn't a sadist, she's a calculating and pragmatic person who could make hard choices and who are willing to do terrible things even if it was necessary. Her mission was to prevent others to suffer the way she had suffered. She won't blindly hate a race of people simply that some of them did something wrong to her. She's not a butcher, she's a survivor.

The thing about Ruthless's background... the attack also killed a lot of innocent Batarians and slaves and its practically a massacre on Torfan. Something I doubt a someone who was traumatized as a little girl would want to repeat.

=

Its not that women like funny guys because they're just funny... they like it when it make themselves laugh and feel good. But not everyone respond to jokes the same way...

I personally like Kaidan's humor because his jokes are just sarcastic, random and often lame. His intention was to diffuse boring situation which is most of ME1 and none was specifically to deflect any issues or specifically target anyone. Its not his singular character trait..
and I like that he didn't force himself to be funny for the sake of it.

and I never see Garrus as hilarious. He'd often use dark humor to divert attention from serious issues or personal matters especially when he's uncomfortable with something... some of which is considered as politically incorrect, like the ones he made about Krogan genocide and Wrex's assassination... because when its technically a "joke", it give him free passes especially if you're offended by him... maybe, stuff like this is part of American humor thing, I don't know... and because I see his jokes as deflection, I started to doubt whenever he's ever being truthful and I start to worry when the jokes became highly amplified when romanced...  

Its all up to personal preference anyway. I also love romancing Alistair, Fenris, Anders, Cullen, Reyes and now I can't wait to romance Arcann; a former dark Emperor who turned to the lightside. I've already bracing a lot of similar backlash against him as I did with Kaidan. These are all just options anyway. 

From the old Kaidan thread at social.bioware.com.

Yesterday I was testing a mod in new vegas with a fresh char and made the quest "Run Goodsprings, run". I know it's just a video game, but I'm feeling awful so far for killing Sunny, Trudy, Mitchel and the rest of the gang. For ME then, it would be even worse. I've played each game about 20 times, but there are things I'll NEVER do. For example, kill Mordin with a shot in the back. I prefer to repeat the experience than to experience a new one that makes me feel bad.