The Mysterious Benefactor

I'm inclined to think it is the original Shadow Broker...the one that was in existence before the Yawg in ME2. Perfect character to introduce...good with money/investments/manipulation and very information oriented and absolutely seems to hate anyone getting close to knowing who they/she/he/it really is.

The Shadow Broker.

Not the Yagh we killed in ME2. But the Shadow Broker that captured the Yagh as a pet, and then covered his tracks when he left by making it seeem like the Yagh had killed him and taken over the show. Why fund the Iniatitve? Because he was running scared of the Reapers, and he came with the Nexus to Andromeda. Upon arrival he wanted to seize power, and had a thug of his kill Garson. What happenend after that is difficult to know, but he might have had his or her plans interrupted by the Scourge, or he might have tried using the uprising as an attempt to take over (and failed). We'll see in a DLC most likely.

The Illusive Man does not have a motive, the funds or means to actually be the Benefactor at the time of ME2s end. Lazarus had drained Cerberus too much, and he would never condone alien arks.

Cerberus and TIM is the most likely, if it's someone from the original trilogy. Whoever it is needs to (a) be rich, ( not mind not getting a return on investment, and (c) be motivated enough by the Reapers to expect failure and plan accordingly, while (d) not minding breaking many laws along the way. That removes most corporations, governments, and legitimate actors.

Groups we can (probably) write off are the Shadow Broker and the Council. The Broker was profit-driven, and while he certainly would have been aware there's no indication he tried to sneak aboard the Arcs. (Or could have.) Since the Broker was fundamentally selfish, philanthropy of this sort is unlikely.

The Council, on the other hand, is a mix of 'didn't take the threat seriously' and 'if they'd backed it, they probably wouldn't have gone along with the AI.' While it's always a question of how much the Council did care, it's apparent from ME3 that the Asari Councilor's preparations for 'continuity of civilization' began after Thessia's fall. So at least she's late on the party, and considering the Council's serious concerns about AI, they'd be a bit less likely to go along with the SAM plan without a clear and compelling need... which there wasn't.


TIM and Cerberus at least meet the profile requirements. Money? Check, though how much is always handwaved by plot. More importantly is that TIM has ties with businesses and alien actors, so that he could network them to support an idea in ways he might not be able to tap them for money for Cerberus direct. But what TIM really meets is the ideological willingness to spend huge funds without financial returns, the ideological mindset of survival no matter the cost, and most of all a recognition of the Reapers early enough to matter. Since the Andromeda initiative starts even before ME2, TIM can even avoid the Lazarus project handwave of spending money before money was short for a time.



Just about the only other individual from the original trilogy to meet the scope of things is the Dalatrass, the Salarian leader. While her view on the Reapers is in question, she'd definitely have the resources and subterfuge to support the Initiative both legally and illegally. There's not much supporting this besides capability, but not much against it either.

Its a question of which Broker.

Liara or Yaghy bear.

Is it only one person? - sure there might be one secret benefactor, but I doubt that (the A.I. is fucking expensive - reviving Shep was probably cheaper than building the Nexus (!), not to mention the Arks, the Scout-Ships etc...the A.I. doesn't use all that much stock-stuff except Shuttles and Weapons, everything else? Custom made!)!

I think a lot of people "invested" (as in donated!) money to that, from TIM (who doesn't want all the eggs in one basket!) to the Shadow Broker (maybe even the original - the one before the "pet" (the Yagh!) took over - like somebody suggested!), to groups like STG, some SPECTREs etc.

Hell, some wealthy people might have even come along (we don't know who's still in stasis etc. - I'd love a crew manifest containing the most interesting people who came along!)

greetings LAX

(1) It is enormous, but Benefactor covered most of it and nothing states otherwise.
(2) Not taking someone =\= eradication, taking other species just means less space for humans and doesn't give them any benefits.
(3) Obvious for players? "Because it could ruin the plot-twist" is a reason good enough for you?
(4) If you can't give any substantial reason because I can "dismiss" it, why even bother to reply?

Pre-Yahg Shadow Broker makes just most sense. He has been established, had knowledge, resources etc. Anyone else would be out-of-nowhere option, or one that really pushes the suspension of disbelief.

It's the Hyperion's pilot. You can talk with her but she's not involved with anything *X-File noise*

Nah but for real this has me the most curious of all the obviously tagged "DLC HERE!" loose threads. I actually felt uncomfortable on the Nexus after learning about the Benefactor's involvement, felt like being watched. I'd be down with anything but Cerberus, probably a vain hope. It'd be poor form, or at least anticlimactic, if it's revealed to be someone we've never seen on the station before. If it is Cerberus it's safe to assume the person is 1) human and 2) unlikely to be satisfied in a non-leadership position. Which would mean Ms My-face-is-tired? I kinda like her though.

IT'S THE BARKEEPER. IT'S ALWAYS THE BARKEEPER. No, wait. IT'S THE RUSSIAN GUY WORKING FOR ADDISON. NO WAIT. IT'S AVINA.

My own take is this.

Tl;dr

It has to be a group and there are only a few with the resources and access to intel.

New group of old faces.





Its easy to say that the benefactor is a person. But I think that is the least likely scenario, this comes down to knowledge.

Somebody knew.

Somebody knew Garson needed help and when she needed it most.

Somebody knew Alec needed help and when he needed it most.

Somebody knew how to get them both what they needed when they needed it most.

This all points to resources and intel.

The broker is the wild card not the suspect. Through the Broker anyone can find out anything, anyone can get anything. So anyone could have access to the information, provided they can pay for it.

So who has the resources and who could keep it a secret?

Theres only a few groups but I doubt it was Cerberus.

Best money is on a new group, people like Garrus's father Anderson and Hackett, realising what was coming theres no mention of the other Arks getting messages from home like the Human ark did.

Might even be human centric.

The Nexus as well seems unaware.

Did Garson know about the reapers?

(1)I was playing devils advocate,i am not so dogmatic in my opinions that they are set in stone.
(2)I did pay attention to it,she never lied directly anyone,possibly a lie by omission but not a direct lie.She was more concerned about not knowing the identity(i thought the BM went to Alec with the AI thing?)
which organization in Council space had a fully working AI.....was it maybe,oh i don't know CERBERUS.
(3)You are the claiming proof again you did not provide what was asked,all you have done is proved my point again,by pointing out the resources Cerberus has in shipbuilding(useful for sleeper ships and AI experience for the SAMS)
(4)I hope that is sarcasm, otherwise you need to get out more.

which one?

I agree with those that think the original (pre-Yahg) Shadow Broker makes the most sense. They were incredibly mysterious. Nobody ever really understood how they got the resources to do what they did. The Yahg may have just been a body guard or assistant to them and they gave him the ship when they left. There's never any evidence they died. To me, it makes more sense than Cerberus.