Should Any Characters Have a Previous Connection to Shepard?

That is the most convoluted grasping at straws I have ever heard.
That's the fascinating thing about theories though, you can make anything fit them. It's fun if not taken too seriously. So thanks for sharing!
I participated a bit in the discussion right after it spread, but never got to the part about low EMS. That's... certainly one way of explaining it. *g*

Can't really say it makes much sense to me. Why the reapers would want an agent at this point where the extinction has already begun. They had Saren for the blitz attack and TIM to make things difficult for Shepard. And the reapers were winning. No need to have another disruptive force. All they really ever needed was ONE person to grant the reapers access. That person was Saren. And it would have worked if it wasn't for Shepard and her crew.

So, are you saying that for this theory to work, Shepard must awake indoctrinated??
And with low EMS Shepard just dies and... what? The reapers are still alive? Because it's all in Shepard's head, right? So the crucible never fires. HOW would the IT then be a good thing? How would Shepard beat the reapers then in the destroy ending after waking up? I'm confused... I thought the whole point of the IT was that the reapers want to manipulate Shepard into NOT waking up? Into choosing one of the other choices and die thinking everyone got saved. By resisting the temptation of wanting to save everyone by all means (green and blue), choosing the sacrifice instead, Shepard breaks the spell.
Which is why the low EMS situation still breaks IT imo.

It's true that the ending you have to work for the most is not synthesis but the breathing scene. If you take the ending literally then it doesn't all add up perfectly either. If synthesis is so cool, then why is high EMS destroy the most rewarding? Indeed.
My guess is that yes, the ending are to be taken literally. That each choice is valid and a good outcome. But that Destroy is the one Bioware sees as the right one. The only one where you don't completely force something on everyone. The games were all about freedom and individuality after all. And there is freedom in choosing death over making everyone the same. Legion agreed. EDI gave Shep her blessing too. Sacrificing them is the right thing to do. They want it that way.
And it's also the scenario where Shepard's survival is the least unlikely. (It's literally impossible for Shepard the human being to survive Control.)
They probably put less thought into it than we did. They wanted to add a reward for those who did "everything right". So they slapped the breathing scene on Destroy...

Low EMS only makes 100% sense to me if everything is real and the Catalyst does not lie. It's a stupid computer program that allows its own destruction because the system is now broken and awaiting instructions what to do next. It tells you exactly what will happen. And from its point of view Destroy is a bad choice because it doesn't solve the problem. But since its really just a toaster, it will accept whatever Shepard chooses.
Bioware punishes the player here for playing a ruthless asshole not just because the funky green happy pill option is not available but because Earth gets destroyed. THIS is the reason why low EMS is so bad. You messed up. ANY other ending would be better than this. Even synthesis and control if taken literally. But you have NO choice here.
I guess you could reason that Shepard is told everyone on Earth will die so that s/he fires at the Starbrat out of frustration, thus letting the reapers continue. But then you learn the next cycle beat the reapers. So the reapers lose either way. And the refuse ending wasn't even an option in the original version, so...

The more you think about IT, the less it makes sense. Which is why I didn't and just ignored the low EMS mess.
It is cool when you can make yourself believe Shepard wakes up and the real victory happens after that. No space magic crucible. OR when you say pushing the button was real and Shepard was just being manipulated into not pushing the red one. So the space magic is real, the crucible fires, but the outcome of green and blue would not have been victory but defeat. Like taking a poison pill.
Either is cool. Now hush on the low EMS scenario. That never happened... What I don't see isn't there.

In any case, my Shepard is alive! And that alone is a cool thing. And despite everything, the trilogy will remain my favorite game forever. I'm still as madly in love as I was after ME1. And nothing can take that from me. Even if Andromeda turns out to be a terrible game, I'll still have the trilogy.

*goes to pray in front of the Shepard shrine*

You see, I wouldn't have minded it if representing the two factions and the correlated two possible attitudes toward the reaper problem would have been the real intention of M3. I mean, I'd because it'd probably end up breaking the MW anyway, and that's what bothers me the most of it all xD But still, if at least the choice woudl have been given earlier in the game, so that you'd have picked between working with TIM or with the Alliance (instead of forcing you to confront indoctrinated TIM all the time), and you get to do something to actually achive one goal or another instead of just choosing to press one button or another, I might have hated it a litlles less

I mean, at least throughout all ME2 you could choose to support Cerberus goals, unlike wht happens with the organic-synthetics dilemma, that comes out of nowhere (yes, I know there's people that thinks it is a core theme of the ME series, I just disagree)