#c: garrus vakarian

[gethprime]

Mass Effect 1 | Garrus Vakarian

[soulcluster-moved]

@dutyworn / wren shepard

Grounded. All of their work tracking down Saren, exposing his lies, cleaning up his messes and uncovering his true plans, all of it wasted. Gone in an instant to the council's hubris. Garrus is frustrated enough to hit something (he has three somethings in mind), and if he's feeling this he knows Shepard has to be feeling it too.

It's that thought that makes him seek her out and it doesn't take long to find her crouched near the lockers.

"I wanted to get away from the bureaucratic red tape, but in the end they're still calling the shots." Garrus shook his head. "The council didn't believe you about Saren and now that they're paying the price, they still don't want to believe you. They're never going to learn."

[thatwildwolfart]

grunt does some mental math

[claudiawolf]

MASS EFFECT 2: LEGENDARY EDITION (2021) dev. BioWare ↳ Garrus: Eye for an Eye

[emmavakarian-theirin]

ARCHANGEL

[greenskellyblob]

Space is vast and lonely. Take a pocket husband with you wherever you go!

[noodlini]

They’re gay btw. If you even care

[edains]

Mass Effect LE1: Cyrus & Garrus' first conversation on the Normandy

Casual Hubs for LE1

Andromeda Officer Casual for Male Shepard (LE1)

Morning's Hairstyles for MaleShep LE1

[dukeoftheblackstar]

Prime Series: Castis Vakarian

[ Art by Rouge ]

I'd insert something clever here, but I just needed an excuse to flaunt new art design and artist to feed my Castis x OC/Duchii delulu. And perhaps to inspire me to actually fkn write more of it.

Context:

As much as I love this old man, I'm very into his prime days at C-SEC or a little past his prime with just a few years under his belt before retirement. Yes, that grey area of deliciousness, thank you very much.

I'm equally aware that the armor doesn't seem very close to canon. We're doing our best. T__T.

[ghcstpyre]

character tag dump.

[gethprime]

Mass Effect 2 | Garrus Vakarian

[soulcluster-moved]

@akuzeisms / kartina shepard “Are the alarms supposed to be going off during a covert mission?”

"Maybe someone was nice enough to trigger an alarm for us to draw their attention? But we both know neither of us are that lucky." Indeed, the sound of armored footfalls already echoed down the corridors.

[the-random-hamlet]

Not Mine. Thought to Share.

"I want to grow old with you"

Shepard & Garrus now a little older, and slow dancing in their home <3

Thank you so much @chaaistheanswer for painting this!

[tarysande]

The best part about coming back to the source material after a looooong time is you sorta get a fresh look at canon in comparison to whatever the dominant strains of fanon have become. Or, in fact, whatever your own dominant strains of headcanon have become.

I mean, yes, Garrus “I’m not a good turian” Vakarian gets infinitely cooler (and more competent!) by pretty much every metric as the storyline progresses. He does. But fresh out of ME1 and into ME2 through his recruitment, I find myself genuinely amused by how thin the veneer of badass is over a pretty dominant core of straight-up nerd sprinkled with idealism mixed with self-doubt.

When you have Garrus in the squad all the time (and thus get all his ambient dialogue and remarks), you really pick up on the number of times he calls out bad behavior, unethical actions, cruelty, and rule-breaking, especially in ME1.

He’s not actually a hothead who can’t abide rules of any kind. In fact, most of the time he’s pretty pro-law-and-order, and he gets amusingly hall-monitorish when people are breaking rules he considers important and worth following.

Fundamentally, Garrus chafes when his sense of what is just is at odds with what the authorities do about that injustice (or what they stop him from doing). And I would hazard a guess that the reason his actions seem so intense or harsh or "of course we should have shot down that ship in the middle of the Citadel" is indicative not of his impatience but of the degree to which he thinks the authorities have failed to uphold that justice. We know he can be patient. He's a sniper. His whole modus operandi on Omega is precision kills without civilian casualty. But when that long fuse finally burns down, he goes from zero to shooting down ships in the middle of the Citadel in what looks (from the outside) like a heartbeat.

And yes, injured pride hastens the burning of that fuse; he doesn’t like losing. Or admitting defeat. Or failing.

Having just replayed his recruitment mission, a few things really stood out to me this time.

The merc bands really hate him--and they also reluctantly admire him (he's described as smart, resourceful, dangerous, idealistic, brave, slippery; they all agree they only way they managed to get this far is by isolating him and employing dirty tactics). I mean, there's literally a station-wide announcement that Omega can return to "business as usual" once Archangel is out of the picture because he was disrupting things so completely.

The way Garrus blames himself for the deaths of his squad is so freaking turian. Failure reflects on the leader who places his people in danger they can't handle, not the individual who fails. Heavy is the head that wears the crown. Yes, Sidonis betrayed him, but the person Garrus blames the most? Is himself. For trusting Sidonis in the first place. For raising Sidonis to a position where he had the means and opportunity to harm others--and the weakness of character to turn coat, to save his own hide, instead of dying to protect the others.

Garrus mentions more than once that he was trying to emulate Shepard. And his tone always implies that he knows he failed because Shepard would never have let a Sidonis into the fold. Again, he's blaming himself. Like a good turian. Yes, he wanted to avoid the red tape and bureaucracy of C-Sec, but his code--Archangel's code--certainly aligns with Paragon Shepard's morality (with a Garrus Vakarian twist).

And since it wouldn't be meta without adding a Tara's Headcanon Twist ... I've always wondered why "Archangel" when it's such a ... human concept. But this time, when I noticed how he spoke about Shepard's influence, and how quickly he brushes aside the name when she asks him about it, I wondered if it wasn't actually his way of honoring the mythology of the dead woman whose example he was trying to follow. Not that Shepard is a God he's worshiping, but ... there is something about the way he talks about her. Garrus doesn't make himself over in the image of a God, though; he's the soldier, the right hand, the avenging angel responsible for carrying out divine punishments suited and proportional to the crimes committed, the rules broken, the selfishness or cruelty of the perpetrator.

[thatwildwolfwrites]

—in which turians gossip.

Have you heard about Castis Vakarian's youngest?

His son? Yeah. Apparently he got detention again. It's the fifth time this week. I don't know why that child keeps talking back. It's like he has no respect for authority.

Well, they'll beat that out of him at bootcamp. He'll fall in line eventually.

Why can't he just be normal? All the other kids his age understand this already. Maybe something's wrong with him...

I wonder. He's not growing up into a good turian... Poor Castis.

Have you heard about Castis Vakarian's son?

--

Yes. What a waste. I heard he ranked at the very top in all sharpshooting and hand to hand combat tests... and all of that for nothing.

What's wrong with him? 

He will never make a good turian.

Spirits, poor Castis. First the accident, and now that son of his...

--

What about his son? I thought he was normal now. Didn't he find a job, outside the military?

He did. Citadel Security, like his father. Easier outlet for that... passion of his. You know. All that talk of justice and right and wrong... Castis hoped working at C-Sec would help him get it out of his system. Start being normal. Maybe he would finally burn through that... energy.

Did it work?

He's constantly fighting with his superiors. Disobeying orders. Questioning their judgement. I hear he's just as much trouble out there as he ever was down here.

I don't envy Castis right now. Hearing about your son constantly failing at the job you excelled at... It's got to do something to you.

Have you heard about Castis Vakarian's son? I heard he actually quit C-Sec now. Couldn't even conform to that. Now he's left the Citadel on a whim, with some human, on an impulse...

--

Poor Castis.

Poor Castis.

I heard Castis Vakarian's son was part of that mess at the Citadel, with the geth.

--

Apparently he's aiming to be a Spectre now. I don't know how his father is going to take that.

I wouldn't want to be in his plates right now.

Have you heard about Castis Vakarian's son? He dropped out of the Spectre training program.

--

Have you heard? He's gone mad.

I heard he finally snapped. Had some sort of identity crisis, left spirits know where without saying anything.

I suppose it was always a matter of time. There's always been something wrong with that boy. Still, his poor family...

Have you heard about Castis Vakarian's son? 

--

Have you heard about Castis Vakarian? Yeah, he has kis kids staying over.

I heard. Just when you think it couldn't get any worse. Working with a terrorist organisation. Human supremacists, too... I can't imagine what his father's going through right now.

--

I heard it's a difficult family situation, yes. The mother's dying, and he... At least he still has his daughter, not like that good for nothing son of his.

Have you seen him? What a disgrace. Half his body covered in scars like that. Wearing his failures right on his face... His family must be so ashamed.

Heard he's saying he's fallen in love with an alien. A human of all species. 

Disgusting.

That's just adding insult to injury. His poor family.

Poor Castis.

Have you heard about Castis Vakarian's son?

--

Isn't he the one in charge of that refugee camp on the Citadel? Who even decided to put him in a leadership role?

I don't know. I heard he's friends with the new Primarch. I heard he failed upwards. I heard he's in an important position now, in charge of helping with that war summit.

This damn war. They'll promote anyone as long as they're still alive.

--

--

--

Have you seen? Commander Shepard's written a private account about the Reaper War. Have you read this? 

--

Incredible.

Heartwarming.

Inspiring.

Unbelievable.

Beautiful.

She wrote about Garrus Vakarian.

They were close. He was her lieutenant. Her closest aide. Her best friend.

He held her up when she stumbled. He asked her to take care of herself. He checked in with her. He cared. When everyone else saw the Commander, he was the only one who saw a person. He was the only one who asked how she was doing. He was the only one who supported her.

She wrote about everything he did for her.

He's the only reason she had the strength to win that war.

He saved the world.

--

--

Have you heard about Castis Vakarian?

--

You mean Garrus Vakarian's father? Yeah. I heard. He must be so proud.

[lassieposting]

Clears throat

AHEM

Actual Detective* Garrus Vakarian noticing immediately when Shep's accessories - the paint she puts on her fingernails, the signature stripe on her armour, the dust she puts on her eyelids - start to skew towards what she calls "Vakarian blue". The shade his armour is, the shade his colony markings are. And being lowkey emotional about it because he's always kind of been the disappointment - the rebellious son, the mouthy recruit, the cop who quit, the failed vigilante - and he's never really been in a situation where someone whose opinion he cared about was proud of him and wanted to be associated with him, wanted to make it clear they're a matching set

* i see a lot of "garrus was basically a beat cop before shepard" but if you think about it. He's actually not

When he introduces himself in ME1, he says he was in charge of the investigation into Saren. He also mentions on the Normandy that c-sec didn't suck at first, but every time he got promoted it came with more red tape = he's a detective.

Corruption in a high-profile Spectre is not gonna be assigned to a rookie = he's a damn good detective

His personal quest and his comments when you talk to him around the citadel give insight into the kind of cases he worked at c-sec, which include black market trafficking and homicides.

He also speaks to Detective Chellick in a way that's familiar enough to imply they were work colleagues, and what's Chellick investigating? Black market gunrunning.

Anyway, my point: garrus wasn't a beat cop, he worked the turian equivalent of major crimes/vice/robbery homicide. And for someone who's only in his mid-twenties? That's like. impressive as fuck, his progression through the ranks must've been meteoric

He does talk about his time as a beat cop though - "My first posting at c-sec was here on the presidium. Mostly for show, not much crime up here."