The Benefactor is..

Good catch on there being a group... it's a start.

You should watch all of the memories again and pay attention to who Actually contacts Alec and tells them about the Initiative; It's not Jien... It also happens to be Alec that says Andromeda... and he says it in poorly voiced satire that comes across as genuine wonder. The Benefactor just ignores his comment and talks about needing a new perspective for where they are going... there is more going on here than meets the eye.

Alec was romanced into joining 'The Initiative' because he would be able to finish SAM. The Initiative wanted SAM because it would aid them in 'a new perspective' - that doesn't sound like rock hopping for a new home in a new galaxy, it sounds more like understanding something with the help of an AI that is far to complex for organic minds alone.

If memory 4 is the 'first time' Alec learns of the 'Initiative' and Alec is the one that spouts 'Andromeda Galaxy' why are the initials Ai on the coffee cup he gets from his receptionist before the meeting even starts? And if that doesn't bake your noodle - why does Alec's cup and Scott 's uniform already have initials Ai on them back on earth during family gathering - way before Alec knows about The Initiative, Jien or mentions Andromeda to the mystery caller.

The memories seem in order:

The clues:

Memory 1: Alex take SAM idea to the human ambassador on the citadel - eventually based on the narrative he is kicked out of the Alliance.

Memory 2: Some progress with SAMs development and talking to Ellen about it's use - she confirms he's 'kicked out' of the Alliance

Memory 3: Alec is out of the Alliance already during family reunion - which is on earth. Sara is visibly younger and the 'kids' both still seem to be in the Alliance and Alec wants some vicarious adventure through their experiences. Sarah is on a dig and Scott has Relay guard duty.

Memory 4: This is the first time Alec learns of the Initiative. He is contacted by the 'Benefactor'. He is the one that mentions 'Andromeda' and it was sarcastically feigned wonder
This is ignored by the 'benefactor' and she goes on to say ' I have a proposal for you and Ellen doesn't have much time'... not 'Andromeda? Why yes! How on earth did you guess?'

Suddenly we are going to Andromeda...

Memory 6: Last memory encrypted from the final planning stages of Hyperion's departure: This should be 2185... the memory puts the date closer to late 2183, just after Shepard's debrief with the council post Eden Prime when Garrus was still working at C-Sec - and just before he possibly joins Shepard. Info on Saren and the Reapers would have been classified - besides, according to Garrus in 2186, he only just told Castis what was going on after Shepard was put in 'protective custody' ~6 months earlier for saving the galaxy or blowing up a relay (lolz)

Jien Garsen was not in or mentioned in any of the memories. (yes I know she's in the logs - not the same thing)

Notes: For some reason memories cannot be replayed in game... why? Was this to prevent scrutiny? (thanks youtubers).

Sara seems like an archeologist that works in a civilian capacity for the Alliance - not a soldier. Her character plays like that as well, with only brief mention of being a peacekeeping for a brief period. She has no Ai logo on her shirt.

Scott hides the logo for most of the scene with crossed arms, then when uncrossed it's draped in shadow most of the time and it's in an odd place on his shirt. I think Ai is either some Arcturus sports logo or could be the acronym for Alex's own company. That would explain the cups and shirt logo.

On your last point, that is possible - he does say; 'I got your message... I'm here', but that could mean - I'm taking your call. It seems odd that they would go through the trouble of the cloak and dagger yet expose a physical location that could be targeted by the Alliance. Either way it changes only one thing. Ai is a logo to a sports team or Arcturus or something else, but existed long before the Initiative is ever mentioned ('Andromeda Initiative' is never mentioned in the memories)

Why is that relevant, I don't understand?

I had a quick scan of your doc and when I have more time will read it all and I think from what I read your ideas are well developed but for me it all seems too much for my mind that Bioware could conceive of such a convoluted plot and story. I don't mean this as a criticism of you or Bioware but rather of  my own limitations to interpret and envision the information coming together in this game and the MET. 

Thanks for your response I will think more on it after I read all your doc.

Thanks for the response, I am short of time right at this moment but will reply tomorrow.

Just one quick question to spell it out for me but who do you think the benefactor is?

Oh Choose Wisely..



There's one thing I'm on board with, very generally: MEA is to give a new perspective. Not just basic things like here's a new protagonist, setting, but whole conceptual, in a way that might come to relate to the trilogy.

I'm very surprised that this thread is this long and there are only 2 posts (one borderline dismissive and the other overwhelmingly supportive) about the illusive man.

Does everyone think that he's just too obvious to be the benefactor, therefore he can't be the benefactor? What gives?

I think it is a case of he was in and died in ME3 which is after the AI left the Milky Way. Also the fact that it was a multi-species mission seems to contradict all he stood for. Others have also suggested he may have used up a lot of his resources in ME3 and couldn't have funded the AI anyway.

I think someone with his resources could look at the AI as a contingency plan if the reapers were to win, and want to stay in the Milky Way because that's where the main fight was.  I'd disagree that it being a multi-species mission would go against what he stands for.  There was never anything, in my opinion, that suggested he wanted other races exterminated, just subservient, or maybe not even subservient, but with humans in power.  I wouldn't put it past him at all to be like "well if shit hits the fan over here, it'd be a real shame if all the races were completely gone, except those big, stupid jellyfish, so I might as well get some of everything."  I don't think this opinion is 100% though, it's just the impression I got from the games.

I don't think this is true?  Jien Garson was killed by someone associated with the benefactor, but not the benefactor himself.  Considering we never got much reasoning as to why Garson was killed, it could be something philosophical like "She's very into living harmoniously with all the other races, so make sure she dies early so our men can stage a coup."  Or maybe she and the benefactor just had a falling out right before the initiative left and then left instructions for a loyalist to kill her.  Either way, I am pretty sure MEA didn't state definitively one way or the other if the benefactor was in cryo or stayed in the Milky Way.  The wiki also agrees in the last sentence.

The Benefactor datapad that I'm referring to is this:

I suppose it could be a Kett title, but I don't think BioWare would trick us like that- Especially the homeworld bit. Also, note that it doesn't say what language its translated from. Most of the datapads that are written by the Angara and Kett say that they've been translated from whatever language they "speak". I know that Cora Harper and TIM share the same last name, but according to Cora she never knew her parents (right?). Plus, it isn't a title that is used amongst the other Kett--at least via gameplay. 

That datapad is so infuriating!!!!!!  I lean towards it being Kett talking to each other but that is purely a guess of course.

In regards to Cora I thin she says she grew up on a small freighter and that when her biotics emerged she was shipped to the Alliance for proper training. She also says in general conversation in The Nomad that she went back looking for her parents but never found any sign of them.

Do you remember where that datapad was?