(Shepard and their team approach a glowing hologram in Saren's base on Virimire)
Squadmate: I get the feeling something bad is about to happen.
You are not Saren.
Squadmate: What is that? Some kind of VI interface?
Rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh. You touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding.
Squadmate: I don't think this is a VI...
There is a realm of existence so far beyond your own you cannot even imagine it. I am beyond your comprehension. I am Sovereign!
(The Ship?) Shepard: Sovereign isn't just some Reaper ship
Saren found, it's an actual Reaper!
(You're...alive?)
(Impossible!)
Reaper? A label created by the Protheans to give voice to their destruction. In the end, what they choose to call us is irrelevant. We simply are.
Squadmate: The Protheans vanished 50,000 years ago. You couldn't have been there. It's impossible!
Organic life is nothing but a genetic mutation, an accident. Your lives are measured in years and decades. You wither and die.
We are eternal. The pinnacle of evolution and existence. Before us, you are nothing. Your extinction is inevitable. We are the end of everything.
(I don't stand alone!) Shepard: There is an entire galaxy
of races united and ready to face you.
(I'll stop you!)
Shepard: Whatever your plan is, it's going to fail. I'll make
sure of that.
(You don't scare me!)
Confidence born of ignorance. The cycle cannot be broken.
Squadmate: Cycle? What cycle?
The pattern has repeated itself more times than you can fathom. Organic civilizations rise, evolve, advance. And at the apex of their glory, they are extinguished.
The Protheans were not the first. They did not create the Citadel. They did not forge the mass relays. They merely found them, the legacy of my kind.
(I don't understand.) Shepard: Why would you construct the
mass relays, then leave them for someone else to find?
(You
built them?)
(You're lying!)
Your civilization is based on the technology of the mass relays, our technology. By using it, your society develops along the paths we desire.
We impose order on the chaos of organic evolution. You exist because we allow it. And you will end because we demand it.
Squadmate: They're harvesting us! Letting us advance to the level they need, then wiping us out!
(Why are you doing this?) Shepard: What do you want from us? Slaves? Resources?
My kind transcends your very understanding. We are each a nation. Independent, free of all weakness. You cannot even grasp the nature of our existence.
(Who created you?) Shepard: Where did you come from? Who built you?
We have no beginning. We have no end. We are infinite. Millions of years after your civilization has been eradicated and forgotten, we will endure.
(Are there more of you?) Shepard: Where are the rest of the Reapers? Are you the last of your kind?
We are legion. The time of our return is coming. Our numbers will darken the sky of every world. You cannot escape your doom.
(I will stop you!) Shepard: You're not even alive. Not really. You're just a machine. And machines can be broken!
Your words are as empty as your future. I am the vanguard of your destruction. This exchange is over.
(Shepard and the team are racing to the Normandy
as the Collector Base slowly self-destructs)
(Harbinger opens up a
comm line to Shepard to monologue)
Human, you've changed nothing.
Your species has the attention of those infinitely your greater.
That which you know as Reapers are your salvation through destruction.
You will surrender your potential against the growing void. We return, and you will rise.
We are the Harbinger of your perfection.
We will bring your species into harmony with our own.
Your species will be raised to a new existence.
We are the beginning. You will be the end.
Prepare for our domination!
Prepare for our coming!
(As the Collector Base starts it's final explosion, the Collector General in the command center is frantically trying to stop it. Harbinger contacts it and offers one last word to the Collector General)
You have failed. We will find another way.
Releasing Control.
(The Collector General's glowing eyes dim to 'normal', heavily implying that it had no real free will until moments before its death)
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
I have a copy of all ME2 text strings (4.2~ MB TXT file), and in it, there are several different lines by Harbinger. I don't know if these were from an early version or cut, or whatever; but here they are:
346703 56807
We are the harbinger of their
perfection.
346704 56808
Prepare these humans for ascension.
– – – – – – – –
346740 56821
Prepare these humans for ascension.
346741 56822
We are the harbinger of their
perfection.
– – – – – – – –
346716 56814
You cannot stop us.
346717 56815
We are the beginning. You are the
end.
346718 56816
I am the Harbinger of your
ascendance.
346719 56817
I am the Harbinger of your
perfection.
– – – – – – – –
346745 56826
These forms will be made perfect.
346746 56827
We are Harbinger.
346747 56828
Release control of your form to us.
346748 56829
We are the Harbinger of your
perfection, Shepard.
346749 56830
We are the Harbinger of your
destiny.
346750 56831
We are the Harbinger of your
future.
346751 56832
These forms are destined for
perfection.
(A glowing hologram of Harbinger appears before Shepard on the surface of the asteroid headed towards the Mass Relay)
Shepard. You have become an annoyance.
You fight against inevitability. Dust struggling against cosmic winds.
This seems a victory to you. A star system sacrificed.
But even now, your greatest civilizations are doomed to fall. Your leaders will beg to serve us.
|
Shepard (WE WILL NOT GO QUIETLY.): Maybe you're right. Maybe we can't win this. But we'll fight you regardless, just like we did Sovereign. Just like I'm doing now. However "insignificant" we might be, we will fight, we will sacrifice...and we will find a way. That's what humans do. |
Shepard (THE PROJECT IS A WARNING SHOT.): (Have to find this) |
Shepard (NO COST IS TOO GREAT.): Yes, people will die. Maybe we'll lose half the galaxy. Maybe more. But I will do whatever it takes to rid the galaxy of the Reaper threat. However "insignificant" we might be, we will fight, we will sacrifice...and we will find a way. That's what humans do. |
Know this as you die in vain: Your time will come. Your species will fall.
Prepare yourselves for the Arrival.
(The Reaper Destroyer has been smashed to the ground by multiple orbital strikes from the fleet(s) overhead)
Shepard...
Shepard: You know who I am?
Harbinger speaks of you. You resist, but you will fail.
The cycle must continue.
(Help us understand) ← CHOSEN
(We'll destroy you
eventually.)
(You're arrogant for a machine.)
Shepard: What are you talking about? We stopped Sovereign and the Geth. We stopped Harbinger and the Collectors. We've earned a straight answer!
It is not a thing you can comprehend.
Shepard: We might surprise you.
You represent chaos, we represent order.
Every organic civilization must be harvested in order to bring order to the chaos. It is inevitable.
Without our intervention, organics are doomed. We are your salvation.
Shepard: You're killing everyone in the galaxy in order to save us?
The cycle must continue. There is no alternative.
Shepard: Organics and synthetics don't have to destroy each other!
The Battle for Rannoch disproves your assertion.
Finish your war - we will be waiting.
(Reaper Destroyer shuts down and dies)
(The Reaper Destroyer has been smashed to the ground by multiple orbital strikes from the fleet(s) overhead)
Shepard...
Shepard: You know who I am?
Harbinger speaks of you. You resist, but you will fail.
The cycle must continue.
(Help us understand)
(We'll destroy you eventually.) ←
CHOSEN
(You're arrogant for a machine.)
Shepard: I killed Sovereign, and now you.
We are many.
Shepard: We are more, and we will work together to defeat you. All of you.
You can not comprehend the magnitude of our presence.
Shepard: We might surprise you.
You represent chaos. We represent order.
Every organic civilization must be harvested in order to bring order to the chaos. It is inevitable.
Without our intervention, organics are doomed. We are your salvation.
Shepard: I have a better idea: we destroy you and live our lives in peace.
A philosophy reminiscent of the Quarians. Observe the results. We are your only hope for the preservation of humanity.
(PARAGON INTERRUPT CHOSEN)
Shepard: You – Whatever species you came from, before the Reapers decided to preserve them?
Shepard: They're dead. They died thousands of years ago.
Shepard: And now they can rest in peace.
(Reaper Destroyer shuts down and dies)
(The Reaper Destroyer has been smashed to the ground by multiple orbital strikes from the fleet(s) overhead)
Shepard...
Shepard: You know who I am?
Harbinger speaks of you. You resist, but you will fail.
The cycle must continue.
(Help us understand)
(We'll destroy you
eventually.)
(You're arrogant for a machine.) ← CHOSEN
Shepard: And what if we don't let you continue?
You have no choice.
Shepard: I disagree, and so do the billions that are rising up to resist you.
You can not comprehend the magnitude of our presence.
Shepard: We might surprise you.
You represent chaos. We represent order.
Every organic civilization must be harvested in order to bring order to the chaos. It is inevitable.
Without our intervention, organics are doomed. We are your salvation.
Shepard: You're just machines. This time the organics are taking control.
A philosophy reminiscent of the Quarians. Observe the results of their efforts to maintain control.
(RENEGADE INTERRUPT CHOSEN)
(Shepard pulls out and aims the laser designator at Reaper Destroyer optical “eye”)
Shepard: They're doing fine. You're the ones who should worry. Tell your friends we're coming for them.
(A new round of orbital fire comes from the heavens and smashes into the Reaper Destroyer, gutting it.)
(Shepard stows the laser designator)
Shepard: Never mind. I'll tell them myself.