The Geth Heretics - Rewrite or Destroy? (A Moral Analysis)

In this video, we’ll be analyzing the decision to rewrite or kill the Geth Heretics during Legion’s loyalty mission in Mass Effect 2. We’ll primarily be looking at this from a moral and roleplaying perspective, but I’ll also touch on consequences for Mass Effect 3.

MASS EFFECT 3 - PEACE BETWEEN THE GETH AND QUARIANS
   • Mass Effect 3 - How to Save the Geth ...  

BRING DOWN THE SKY - ALL CHOICES AND ENDINGS
   • BRING DOWN THE SKY - All Choices and ...  

BRINGING LEGION TO RECRUIT TALI ON HAESTROM (RARE SCENE)
   • RARE Mass Effect 2 Scene - Tali Tries...  

0:00 Introduction
1:38 Legion Tells Us About the Problem
2:39 Legion Presents the Rewrite Option
3:42 Making the Choice: Rewrite vs Destroy
4:29 Is It Moral to Rewrite the Heretics?
6:47 Is It Better to Destroy the Heretics?
7:54 Mass Effect 3 Consequences
8:32 Conclusion

There’s generally two ways that most of us play Mass Effect when it comes to making choices. The first way is to roleplay and choose the option that you feel best fits your character or that you just like the best in the moment. The second is to choose the option which creates a better outcome in subsequent games based on what we know will happen.

Many of you watching this video already know how the decision about the Geth Heretics impacts events in Mass Effect 3. And you’ll decide the Heretics’ fate based on that clairvoyant knowledge of the future, which Shepard, the character, doesn’t have access to in the moment. I know this is how I’ve typically treated this quest after my first playthrough.

So I wanted to do something a bit different for this video. Instead of just talking about how your choice in this quest impacts events in Mass Effect 3, I wanted to focus on the decision from a moral standpoint. Specifically what is the most moral thing to do in this quest - rewrite the Geth Heretics or simply destroy them?

We get this quest from Legion shortly after recovering him from the Derelict Reaper. He’ll tell us about the Geth Heretics, which are essentially a splinter group of Geth who decided to worship Sovereign. We spent a lot of time fighting them in the first game. The Heretics have developed a virus that they plan to deploy against other Geth to eventually convert them all to side with the Reapers as well. Legion wants us to go to their headquarters and destroy the virus.

But when we arrive at the station, Legion presents us with another option - rewrite the heretics to make them adopt the same opinions as the Geth consensus.

At first glance, rewriting the Heretics seems like the best choice in Legion's loyalty mission. The Heretics will reunite with the Geth Consensus and make them stronger. Moreover, they get to continue living.

But if they’ve been rewritten are they truly still alive in the same way? We’re essentially making an executive decision to change their thoughts and perspective without their input or consent. We’re changing who they are.

So what about the destroy option? At first glance, this seems like a worse option than rewriting the Heretics because we’re simply wiping them out. They’ll cease to exist in any form. However, they’ve already shown themselves to be our enemies and they have no qualms about attacking us.

By destroying the Heretics, we’re protecting our allies in the Geth consensus, as well as anyone else the Heretics may hurt in the future - such as the Quarians. If we were to just rewrite them - is it right to let a dangerous enemy live, considering they may cause even more death and destruction in the future?