The Mysterious Benefactor

There is one major thing missing: how s/he could know it's gonna happen soon? As far as I remember, Liara didn't know about the fact that Protheans disappeared 50,000 years after previous civilization - she didn't know about the cycle. Maybe indoctrinated Geth did know, but I'm not sure. Saren and Prothean Beacon are the only logical answer that comes to my mind right now. I'm ready to believe the Benefactor is Asari that was able to get informations from Prothean beacon from Thessia, but her knowledge was limited and unclear. Ofc, my only proof of Benefactor being Asari is Benefactor's female voice, but it could be fake.

ME trilogy is full of bad examples of Asari and we talk about the plan of saving almost every Milky Way's civilization. Will for survival makes people do bad things, so try to imagine what things poeple would do if they knew the entire galaxy is going to be erased from existance.

I really doubt the Citadel Council is the Benefactor, especially because Asari Councilor says her people have to make preparations for continuity of civilization, right after Thessia's fall.

My money goes for Asari (Thessia's Beacon), a Spectre probably (contact with Saren).

The thing is, it looks like this person came to Andromeda.

If Shadow Broker could stay in shadows until he pissed Liara off then benefactor could be unnoticed as well. At least until Ryder gets pissed off. 

Well... BioWare could always do the same thing that precious CD Projekt RED did with The Witcher 3 and release a full-fledged expansion instead of expansive DLCs with pitiful content.

Late to the party on this, but I’ll throw in my tuppence worth anyway.

Based on what we know from the games, TMB couldn’t possibly be Cerberus/TIM. While very wealthy & rich in Mass Effect terms, they had nowhere near enough to make up the shortfall the initiative had, let alone the extra money required on top of that to accelerate the launch plans.

It’s quantified for us by Shepard, Miranda & EDI in Mass Effect 2. Shepard makes the statement TIM could have got a whole army for the cash he spent bringing them back, Miranda states how huge an investment the whole project was. EDI tells us it was billions of credits worth that put a strain on Cerberus & its investors.

While I concede lore & previous statements can sometimes have no bearing on future game writing, such as Cerberus becoming akin to the Empire in ME3. Right now we can only go on what the games tell us, and from that it is clear Cerberus couldn’t have picked up the tab. Could have been a group wealthy folk or who knows what, a lot was left open to future possibilities, and nowhere near enough to narrow down as things stand.

Don’t forget who’s at the helm of this ship: Mac “Lots of speculation for everyone” Walters.

Yep.

A worthwhile rule to keep in mind with any fictional property, really.

Apparently someone found a mention to Max Ryder in Garson's stuff. Wonder who that is.

Theory: The Mysterious Benefactor is an AI


After reviewing the postings on this thread, I have come to propose the suggestion that the MB is an AI.

- "I knew something was coming"
This distinctly sounds like something an AI would say. After reviewing countless data, the AI could project that something was coming up, without having a specific idea that it would be Reapers.

- The development of SAM
Alec Ryder was not a scientist. His wife was a scientist with Implant specialization, not directly AI. I hardly doubt that a full fledged AI like SAM could be developed all by an ex-military and scientist couple. Perhaps It was, without knowledge of Dad Ryder, but possibly with knowledge of Mom Ryder, that an already established AI was egging along SAM development for Pathfinders, as well as setting up the Andromeda initiative.

- Many faced screen in communication with Dad Ryder.
In Alec's memory, the face changes a lot on the screen, which many have assume was just "hiding identity". Could it possibly be that the reason behind switching faces is not because the MB wants to hide his/her face but because he/she doesn't have one?

- AI is in Andromeda
by now, considering Garson's death etc, we can safely assume the AI is already in Andromeda, thus not TIM.

- SAM's memory blocks
Throughout the game SAM seeds out little pockets of memory. Perhaps whole blocks of SAM is locked behind. Perhaps SAM is masking the AI.

- Mom Ryder's presence
Mom Ryder is not awakened, saved for the sequels (BIG RED FLAG)
Perhaps Mom Ryder has her own SAM, or portions of walled off SAM connects to Mom Ryder.


Suggestion:

- The MB is an AI
option 1) Benevolent BF : SAM-AI linked to Mom Ryder
2) Nefarious BF : Original Pre-SAM AI independent of SAM, but served as SAM template

The biggest monkey-wrench into this theory is that TIM and Cerberus were all "Humanity Is #1, Aliens Can Go F$%& Themselves!" (Seriously, I could have sworn I saw a recruitment poster with that slogan... ;D), so I highly doubt they would pour the ridiculous amount of resources that the Initiative requires into it, knowing that it also helps further alien species as well.

That, and their resources are not unlimited. The beginning of Mass Effect: Andromeda takes place around the same time that TIM and Cerberus are resurrecting Shepard with the Lazarus project in Mass Effect 2. Cerberus agents make it a point that nearly all of their resources were spent in bringing Shepard back, so I doubt they had enough to fund both of these major projects.

Remember, TIM had complete faith in Shepard, which is why he went all-in on them, sparing no expense to bring them back, as they are.

We all know they kinda are. They can build Nexus, Arks, two Citadels and giant platinum statue of Shepard if plot demands it. Game never even tried to somehow limit their funds, on the opposite even.

It can also be someone connected to Ryder's, like this mysterious Max Ryder some people found out about in Garson's stuff. 

Ellen has SAM, but it's the same one - Sara/Scott asked SAM why was he unable to cure her. But I think Alec putting Ellen in stasis, not letting her die, can have a second meaning - not only love, but also a need (she could know something, she might be the last person who ever heard about benefactor at all). 

The only one who could've known something was coming was probably an Asari - through the beacon on Thessia. They've studied it for centuries. Who knows how much they were able to decode. Benezia was most likely a part of that group, but couldn't have been a benefactor because she believed she'd be able to stop Saren, she had no backup plan. Besides, benefactor was contacting Garson and Alec after Benezia's death.