Everything Wrong With Mass Effect 3 Redux by GCN

But we see the crucible turning off. The catalyst says there is little time. How is that arbitrary?

And can the catalyst really orders the reapers to fuck off? That's arbitrary too.

Soveringn said that "We are each a nation - independent, free of all weakness".
They catalyst said the he embodies the "collective intelligence of the reapers.

So, yeah, as I've said, no, it's not a master-slave or puppet-puppeteer relationship, do this do that, yes sir! Collective intelligence has a precise meaning and it is something different than full direct control.
Shepard, after the blu wave of magic, may have gained total control over the reapers.
the kind of control you imagine, like the player over rome total war troops.
but the catalyst... mmm no. In game info strongly suggest that it is not able to exercise direct, immediate, total control over the reapers. It is not what the soverign tells us, nor what the catalyst itself tells us.

I would say that the most correct interpretation is that the catalyst, guides, influences, directs the reapers, but does not control every aspect of them.

Moreover, it was not him who created them. The reapers were created by the Leviathans. The catalyst says "I give them a function". Not "I control them like pawns" Btw, not being his direct creations, it is perfectly logical that he cannot control them in an invasive way.

Maybe that's why he likes control. Finally, the raiders will be completely subjugated to an higher intelligence.






ahahaha

but seriously, I don't think I'm undermining the catalyst.

He may be able to control the citadel and manage it, simply not during Me1-priority earth. Prothean scientists have "disconnected" the keepers from the influence of the reapers.
Moreover, Leviathans have built th catalyst as a sort of advanced chess program, to simulate scenarios and find a "countermove" to a recurring problem.
So the fact that it is not enabled to fully operate a huge space station and may need "operational terminations" (the keepers)... why not.
It also makes sense that it is not directly interconnected with the main operating systems (to minimize the risk of being detected).

As for the reapers, they are of course under his influence, but not controlled in a total way. He is a super chess simulation program, a "data analyzer", not a tactical military AI designed to manage a fleet of tens of thousands of warships, one by one, every second.
Also, remberer Saren golden rule? The more the control over a subject increases, the more the intelligence and effectiveness of the subject decreases. And the catalyst needs the reapers to be effective, if he want them to prevail.

Finally, when he realize that the reapers, as currently organized and used, have become useless, and there are other possible "countermovements" to the chaos problem... well, as programmed to do, he exposes them to you and urges you to execute them.






ahaha yes, I made some hypothesis about the motivations of the catalyst, romanticizing them a bit

but wanting to keep it simple, and based only on the in game-info, the explanation is still clear and consistent, and the ending makes sense. Even low ems destroy.

the fact that the organics were able to build and activate the crucible changes everything. "you are more resourceful than we thought".

The answer to the tribolate question "why in the name of the Maker does the catalyst allow Shepard to fire the crucible and destroy the reapers?" is: because the crucible itself is 100000 times more effective than the entire fleet of the reapers. It is a technology that can vaporize every single rebel synthetic, even the most advanced, in 4 seconds. End the metacon war in 1,3 seconds.
It is a good solution to the Chaos problem. Simply, it is a bloody solution, because it implies a constant reset of synthetic life through the red magic wave. So synthesis is better. Control is better (because it crucible + enslaved army of reapers). But destroy is ok.

The catalyst has been around for millions of millions of years, and the best it has managed to do, is the harvesting method. The reapers. Now the organics have proved themeselves capable of creating a weapon that can obliterate the entire reaper fleet in two minutes.
this cycle has proven itself worthy/ready, somehow special, and since crucible is a weapon that can instant-kill every single synthetic organism in the galaxy, the organics of this “exceptional” cycle have proven that they can effectively deal with the synthetics threat (or, at least, way better and/or longer than the reapers or other less special cycles).