Most people have that one thing they are super nerdy about. Mine is Mass Effect. I have an idea about the original trilogy that I'd like to get opinions on, but first I'll share my predictions about Andromeda. Based on the trailer I think that ship is an ark of sorts. One that is being sent to the Andromeda galaxy to escape the Reaper threat. If this is true it will likely be a large ship with a large crew and representatives of all the major races. Possibly an amount that is enough to support an intent to colonize a planet somewhere in the Andromeda galaxy. I don't expect much as far as references to the original trilogy. I'm thinking we will either get something like The Keep from Dragon Age to import our trilogy decisions, or that there will be some sort of in game questionnaire for your character. I'm hoping for the latter because The Keep was unnecessarily involved for the lack of how much all those small choices didn't matter in Inquisition and it didn't always work right or import. Now for the original trilogy. This will only really make sense if you played the Leviathan DLC. If you haven't you can go to YouTube and just search Leviathan conversation. It's less than ten minutes and you'll see a conversation that takes place between Shepard and the species that built the Catalyst, the intelligence you encounter at the end of the series. The short version of that conversation is that the Leviathan are an aquatic species that developed an ability to enthrall and control other species. They used that ability to spread out through the galaxy. What they saw was organic species reach a point in advancement in which they created intelligent machines that eventually destroyed them. The Leviathan's answer to solving what they saw as an inevitability.... was to create a machine intelligence to solve that problem for them. Naturally, this didn't work and is them falling victim to the very thing they sought to stop. Their reasons are a bit sinister though. "Tribute does not flow from a dead race" is what they say. They liked being in control, being the "apex race" as they call it. That intelligence(Catalyst) monitored life in the galaxy and eventually came to the same conclusion. That being that part of organic life's advancement involves creating machines that surpass them. Its solution was the cycle. Which is essentially just a reset button on the advancement of organic life in the galaxy. This solution was only temporary as it reveals that its ultimate goal is to reach synthesis. The best guess we can make on how long the cycle has been going is about a billion years. The Batarians found what was called The Leviathan of Dis which was an organic dreadnaught found in the Dis system. In Mass Effect 3 it is revealed that this was a Reaper and when it was date tested it was "nearly a billion years old" as it was said. Now for the wild card in all this. The Crucible. We are told that the origins of its designs are unknown and that some random species from a cycle past came up with it and that it has been passed down cycle to cycle for who knows how long. This seems not likely though as the blueprints for the device ask for the Catalyst [i]by name[/i] and have it docking and working in conjunction with the Citadel. The problem with that is that seemingly no one knew that the Citadel was actually a giant mass relay until this cycle as this is the first cycle to delay the Reaper invasion thanks to the Protheans that disabled it in the previous cycle. The Reapers normally jump right in at the Citadel without warning. The thing worth noting is in the designs. The only two sources that could have known about the Catalyst and that the Citadel was actually a giant mass relay are the Catalyst itself, or its creators the Leviathan. I don't think the Crucible originates with the Catalyst because I can't find a reason for it to do this. To create a device that could destroy it. So that leaves the Leviathan. When that is taken into consideration, all ending options are potentially handing the galaxy back over to the Leviathan. With destroy the galaxy is left disconnected and with no synthetics left to resist Leviathan enthrallment. They have no real opposition. Control is potentially the best option to fight that notion, but only if this new Shepard reaper intelligence can't be controlled by the Leviathan. With synthesis, the Leviathan may now be able to control both organic and synthetic life. I never bought into the indoctrination theory because it would mean that everything the Catalyst told us was a lie and that we don't actually know the Reapers origins and motives. It also doesn't fit with the Leviathan DLC at all really. Evil machines for no real reason doesn't make much sense. Most major science fiction stories revolving around that eventually explain it and it's usually a very similar reason. To me, my Leviathan theory is the next step up from the indoctrination theory. I find it much more plausible to suspect something sinister going on behind the scenes from them than I do from the Catalyst. I'm both not expecting but also sort of hoping that Andromeda shows us that we haven't heard the last of the Leviathan. It really depends on if they were advanced enough to span multiple galaxies. Cue tl;dr posts. For those interested that do actually read all that I appreciate it and look forward to hearing what you think.