Moshae Sjefa

I always choose her at the end, and yeah, good ol' Viv's voice actress plays her role amazingly in this! She's my fav Angara!

Really???

You people do know that deep down she is really manipulative and slightly a bit evil, right?

She will get upset if you save the Angara at the Kett base. You might think it's a hard choice for the greater good, or that it's because she's shell shocked. But she gives her reason later that she was angry that Ryder went against her words.

Later if you spare the traitor Angara from Sloane Kelly, you find Vehn Terev doing community service. He explains that the Moshae made him do it so she could appear benevolent while he would be forced to labor while being jilted publicly.

Finally if you choose someone other than the Moshae at the end, she will become incensed, despite the fact that it would be perfectly reasonable to choose a representative of an uprooted people from themselves.

She is not overtly evil, I grant you that. But I think there's a reason Vivienne's voice actress was chosen for this role.

Her bio reads as a Remnant researcher, eschewing the Angaran family, choosing a life of solitude, focused on restoring Angaran glory. Tell me this doesn't sound like someone who will turn zealot at some time in the future.

She is all about saving face, her public image, Angaran interest and political ambition. 

She will betray Jaal's blind loyalty to her. She is dangerous. 

IRL, I wouldn't trust Vehn Terev if he even offered to hold open a door. But this is a story and a game and an intentionally crafted narrative. IRL, if rumors about the Moshae circulated, I wouldn't be limited to one account held by someone who actively sought to bring her down. Of course he has an ulterior motive to spread his lies to anyone who comes in contact with him.

Why would the writers intentionally place a character to cast doubt on the character of the Moshae?

But what is the character of Vehn Terev? Did he seek his own glory? Why did he betray the Moshae in the first place?

Vehn Terev is actually painted as a sympathetic character. One who supposed that by sacrificing the Moshae, the Kett would leave his people alone. Ryder also comments on this before she embarks on saving the Moshae that "couldn't it be someone else?" line of dialogue. 

Granted Vehn Terev is misguided, and in real historic context I have no sympathy for any such tactics of appeasement. But his motives are also in line with the suspicions cast upon the Moshae's character. 

Let's tread back to the first issue, the Kett base. 
The Moshae demands that the Kett base be destroyed. I can accept that she is shell shocked from the horror of what she had to face while being held captive.
But her vindictive quip of "And now you ask my opinion? You didn't seem to value my opinion back at the Kett base,"[paraphrasing] does not happen while she is being rescued, but while she is lying in Lexi's medical bay. 
After being rescued from the Kett base, after seeing so many of her compatriots sacrificed, why is she still miffed that Ryder ignored her request? 
Is she still shell shocked? Shell shocked to a point where she is angry that her word over the lives of her people were ignored?

The problem with considering these narrative facts as real life facts is that we have no way of evaluating them otherwise. 
We have to question the motives of the writers. 

And if I were aiming to portray the Moshae as a benevolent motherly figure, I wouldn't speckle her bio with concepts of
"loner" "single minded" "restore the glory of the lost"

The vibe I got from the Moshae is that despite her protests to the contrary, she enjoys her power and influence. She's used to being listened to. And she is canny enough--and set in her ways--where she will try to hold onto that prestige and authority.

That said, those traits are not mutually exclusive with genuine compassion, curiosity, and good faith. A Ryder who earns her trust really does have an ally in their corner. I like characters like the Moshae, Morrigan, Vivienne, and Anora because they're more interesting than the simple ally-or-enemy dynamic of most NPCs.

I could see the Moshae having a darker side like Akksul from all the time spent with the Archon and Kett.

Nuance? Bioware hangs its hat on writing interesting, compelling characters. Portraying the Moshae as the Dalai Lama of space (not that he is completely perfect either but w/e) wouldn't have made her interesting, having a character with substantial bias of his own offering a different perspective adds a new facet to both of their characters, you can see the line of Vehn's reasoning and he becomes somewhat more sympathetic (that doesn't make his insight 100% accurate though), you can see that the Moshae is not just a shining beacon of beneficence.

That's subtle, tagging a character as a future villain and foreshadowing it with the character who has his own, very important reasons for wanting to believe the worst of the Moshae to maintain his own self-concept is not.



Lying in the med-bay recovering from her ordeal that's like, what, less than 24 hours old? Yeah, I'd say shell-shocked remains a distinct possibility. If anything I was surprised she didn't hold the grudge for longer.

I also don't place the emphasis of her objection on "HOW DARE YOU DEFY ME!?!" as you seem to, she gives her reason: if the kett aren't pushed back the exaltation station will be reused to turn her people into monsters. Two other elements here for me are 1) it isn't surprising that a tortured/imprisoned person who has seen horrors and has now escaped wants to destroy the place of their captivity, especially if they can rationalize that this desire is also for "the greater good." 2) the Moshae is extremely revered, and when you talk to her afterwards it seems like she's become used to this/doesn't have an issue manipulating status to get people to do what she wants, based off her interactions with others I get the impression that it's rare that the Moshae's suggestions aren't followed to the letter. So an alien ignoring a command? Coupled with emotional distress and a rationalization that means you've convinced yourself this is the objectively best course of action? It explains the reaction, for me.

The Moshae strikes me as a very big picture kind of thinker, she could pick a fight right after finally coming out of a decades long one and now with a group that's literally squat on a planet killer or she can insinuate herself in a leadership/respected position and try and get the best possible outcome for her people.

Y'all are making me glad I chose good ol' Augie, who's actually bit of a family friend. (Come on, Liam romance?)

Moshae is starting to sound... eh, can I keep a ballistic plate between me and this woman?

It started when I chose Bradley. Suddenly like "Oh, you didn't put me in a position of power? My, my... This won't end well."
Plus it's Indira Varma, she's like the poster VA for not exactly nice people in BW games.

Surprising that so many here see the Moshae so negative, I personally liked her. Could be because I mostly chose rational/professional answers when speaking with her. Seems to match her personality, at least her responses are more friendly in that case.

Or maybe I just like Angara and their design in general, they definitely make good models for portraits. Speaking of which, made a little something: