Ryder: hero or legend?

Part of that has to do with people understanding what is at stake, being incredibly desperate and having it quite likely they were all going to die in space if Ryder hadn't come along. I think that is why they wrote the AI to be such a disaster. By comparison, you have a galaxy that is thriving and some noob to the intergallactic community come along - a *human* - people still aren't sure of them.  Shepard is the first to become a spectre. People still aren't sure about them. That environment was so different. Saving the Citadel isn't even really that huge of a deal as you play the later games. It's almost forgotten and I think that is because the galaxy had been thriving for so long and it had seen so many horrors as well. It had seen Rachni wars, Krogan rebellion, genophage,  etc. It's not a bunch of people looking to explore or start fresh 600 years from now in unknown space where they can't even establish an outpost in 14 months.

I'm sure whoever the first big hero was in the milky way didn't accomplish much for what they did and it probably wasn't anything truly epic. It's a bit like having records broken. The first one is the first one. But after decades, those sprint times have improved quite a bit. Ice skaters are doing triple spins in the air now. Doing one spin is old hat. There's that 'anyone can do that' kind of mindset. Maybe not exactly, but it's been there, done that. So by the time shepard came along, if shepard was going to get recognition it was  going to have  to be something epic. And by  comparison, nobody has accomplished anything in Andromea/helius.  It's a frelling mess.  Such a mess that they are wildly grateful to have a planet they can live on and to have you put the lights on in the nexus. But to be fair, by the end, Ryder has done  great things. It's really a matter of  gratitude. Milky way wasn't giving it out. The system was established. It was actually also a kind  of social class structure too now that I think about it. Humans were new to all of it. Here, none of  that really fits anymore.


PB is kind of a reminder of where you came from vs where you are now. She has that need to excel and be the first, etc. And in helius it is so different. She can't seem to wrap her mind around that either. At the end, she is starting to get it - to slow down and appreciate rather than charge off because she is still geared to milky way mentality. For me, she is a reminder that everything here is new and fresh and being the first at anything is a 'thing'.  They bring  that up a  few  times  in the writing  too. 

Hero or Legend...hmmmm...how about neither?

Ryder: Former Motor Pool guard who accidentally swallowed an experimental AI. No matter how much sh*t he stepped in, he managed to survive while scores died around him in his stead. Even his own companions didn't take him seriously.

Hmm. That's a bit long. Let's shorten that.

Ryder: Schmuck.

Ryder is a hero and a legend in the making. He still has 2 more full games to go to grow to get even.

Here's a thought experiment: for those saying that SAM is the real hero and Ryder did nothing...imagine SAM in the hands of any other character. Say Cora, or Liam, or Addisson, or Reyes. The game would have had a very different outcome if Ryder didn't get SAM.

The Archon is a renowned trash talker though...

That doesn't get named unless Ryder acquires  a  very specific viability.

From start Sheperd was bound to a destiny, he was already a hero at beginning of the game. ME trilogy end is already wrote since first parts of ME1, and it's a classic drama of a hero becoming a legend by achieving many impossible goals, and defeating multiple invincible enemies.

That had to end with death of the legend so the legend lives forever, common few more years alive and Elvis would have achieved kill his legend himself.

Ryder at start is just the "child of", nothing special, the real hero is the last version of the AI, not Ryder. At end of MEA everything Ryder achieved that was half impossible was because of the AI with one exception at end of the game.

Ryder has an opened story, when Shepard was bound to become a legend of a trilogy already written at beginning. Since start of trilogy he had a destiny already written.

There's no comparison, no link, the strength of Ryder design is to allow anything for the future. The strength of Shepperd  was to be a unique hero trilogy case in video games, but he/she had to die at end.

When replaying MEA I played in parallel all 3 ME games, ME1, ME2, ME3, in parallel, not in series. Not only that's a unique experience no other series ever offered but it makes so obvious all the drama was written from start, more or less, and all ME3 writing is playing with the point the hero will die at end, making the replay quite stronger than first play, again it's unique. No way Ryder is that unique but his design let open much more doors.

Well in some ways Ryder saved the MW species from extinction because MEA doesn't indicate whether or not Shepard stopped the reapers in ME 3 got stubborn and picked refuse. But even in that case Shepard still gets credited with an assist since the Initiative would never have gotten out of the Milky Way in time if Shepard hadn't stopped Sovereign. So Shepard really saved MW civilization and gets the assist for giving Ryder a chance to save the new MW civilization being established in Andromeda. Oh wait this is about Ryder. I would say hero.

At the end of ME:A Ryder is hero well on their way to becoming a legend.

Wrong. Without Vigil, a Prothean VI Shepard never would have gotten the Citadel override code that allowed her/him to get Citadel arms to open and that allowed the Alliance to stop Soverign, who is the real villain of ME1. All Saren was a glorified henchman.