The Benefactor is..

Cory was in Legacy.

If you took the side of the Warden who was Blighted or the other one, whichever you helped, Cory took them over when you think he's gone. I always spared the blighted Warden. I never trusted the woman. You also find out from Bianca, that whichever one Cory body-jumped into is the one who caused the red lyrium mess to happen.

You sure have a good memory. The person that gives you the coffee or whatever says "It" will be ready soon, not he or she.

So how do you think they will string it together with the DLC if we are on the right track?

Will it be as straight forward as The Quarian's freaking out at finding Geth in Andromeda and Ryder has to go sort it out or will they sort it out and arrive at the Nexus and give us a valuable insight into The Jaardaan/Kett?

Will SAM then confess or go all Project Overlord on us and say it's all a dream and you haven't woken from stasis, you have actually been plugged into the Jardaan's life matrix and condemned to servitude forever -  MWAHAHAHAHAAHA. Sorry couldn't help myself!!!!! 

What are the sources they are quoting? Is it on the General or Spoilers forum or just the net?

Did you sign this petition?

www.change.org/p/bioware-dlc-for-mass-effect-andromeda?

Ok I have to ask, gladiolusofaugust are you an AI????? 

Man you must have 8 arms you post so much and thanks for that the Hints DLC topic was interesting 

I am in awe and thanks for the interesting chat re the Benefactor 

You would have to believe that the council would have been in on this or at least aware and supportive despite their political posturing in ME1 & 2.

No way the Andromeda Initiative could have been a secret, just way too big. 

Actually just thinking about the council, if the Asari had that Prothean beacon for 100's of years they must have known about the Reapers way before Shepard or was it only Shepard that could communicate with the VI in the temple on Thessia? I thought it was implied that the VI had helped the Asari advance faster than the other species.

Thanks for digging that up, yeah I don't know why it hadn't occurred to me before. But yeah it does seem highly likely the council must have known and perhaps even assisted with the Initiative.

Is this what you're referring to? 


Whatever the "something" is that the Benefactor refers to, it's in 2179, well before the Prothean beacon was discovered. I checked the timeline in the Wikia and literally nothing happened that year. The Skyllian Blitz was 2176, Akuze was 2177, and Torfan was 2178. Nothing is mentioned again until 2182 when it says that Kahoku started investigating Cerberus.

There is that Evolution comic, where TIM got those eyes because of a Reaper device. Some of his final words are:

" It has proven to me, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that there is something out there to protect humanity against. A dark time is coming, humanity will be tested. And while we may not know who is doing the testing or why we must meet the challenge, as we have met all others. We will succeed. Because to do anything else would be Inhuman. We will watch the dark places -- and bring Illumination. There is no magic -- only technology. Tools that we can master. Tools we must master. Not jut to survive -- but for the betterment of mankind. We can -- and will -- take our rightful place in the stars. This is my Manifesto. I hope you will join my cause. End Recording"

TIM did knew something, but not what, was coming, released his manifesto, got people to help him. Some people called it bullshit, others didn't. Since the Benefactor is that rich, he should have ties with Cerberus, since that amount of fortune wouldn't pass unnoticed, so it has something do with it.

I don't believe it's anyone in the original Trilogy, but a new character, with ties to the original trilogy. Wouldn't make sense for TIM or The council being the benefactor, since they would want to leave with the AI. I can sure say, the Benefactor, or at least its interests, are in Andromeda.

From an earlier thread on this - my theory is that SAM is The Benefactor.

Notice that SAM was already partially complete by the time we hear from "The Benefactor". The fact that TB hides behind rotating set of different voices & faces is what first got me wondering.
Being an AI, it could rapidly accumulate the wealth it needed (which we've seen an AI do already in ME).
It would explain its interest in improving itself, and would understand the threat the Reapers posed.
And as it was still early in its development, its "humanity" was still an evolving state.
I think there was a hint there in the discussion you have with SAM about AIs committing crimes and how they should be judged.
We've seen SAM disguise your voice to fool the Kett (remember TB's rotating set of voices and faces).
I think SAM orchestrated Jian's death as she began to question TB, which in turn could jeopardize the entire Initiative project if the truth was learned.

SAM could employ others to work on its behalf (and did so to murder Jian) and is the answer to the question why TB never revealed themselves after arriving in Andromeda.

SAM being TB would be right in line with BioWare-style twists (on the level of Solas) and would lead into a some... interesting conversations. SAM could argue that that the survival of the MW species is more important than one person's life, and so on, and so forth...