Quote Of The Day From Mass Effect 3's Mordin Solus: 'Had To Be Me
Few geneticists can claim to be anywhere near as brave as Mordin Solus. Mass Effect's most illustrious Salarian scientist has been through the wringer during his time in the Special Tasks Group.A consequentialist through…
Few geneticists can claim to be anywhere near as brave as Mordin Solus. Mass Effect's most illustrious Salarian scientist has been through the wringer during his time in the Special Tasks Group.
A consequentialist through and through, Mordin is known for his cold-blooded, solutions-oriented approach that occasionally clashes with more emotionally charged reasoning displayed by his peers.
On top of physical scars, Mordin bears a heavy weight on his conscience over his involvement in the genophage modification project, and that sets the stage for one of the most impactful and heartbreaking scenes in all of gaming.
Quote of the Day by Mordin Solus
The relationship between Commander Shepard and Mordin Solus comes to a head at the Shroud tower. Mordin and Eve covertly finish developing the cure for the genophage, but unbeknownst to him, Shepard has taken part in sabotaging the facility as part of a deal with the Salarians.
Whether you come clean or not is inconsequential to Mordin Solus, as he eventually comes to realize your involvement on his own. How Mordin dies is up to you: if you try to stop him, the scientist falls just short of the control panel; if you let him reverse the sabotage, Mordin Solus thanks you for understanding and utters one of the most impactful quotes ever.
"Had to be me," he says, as "someone else might have gotten it wrong."
Deeper Meaning of Mordin Solus' Quote in Mass Effect 3
As a scientist tortured by his own conscience, Mordin Solus spent the rest of his life trying to make amends for his work on the genophage project. In spite of the mortal dangers, Mordin put his final days into completing and validating the cure for the genophage, then working out how to distribute it.
In his final scene within this story branch, Mordin saying it had to be him has a double meaning. The first, of course, is literal. Something as complex and fragile as the widespread distribution of a cure needs to be handled by a trained geneticist such as himself, rather than a gunslinging commander like Shepard or anyone else.
The second meaning is more personal: as someone who's spent most of his life buried in guilt over his work and the lives destroyed by it, it is only natural that Mordin Solus wants to be the one to fix things. After feeling responsible for so much suffering, this is his chance at absolution.
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