Liara T'Soni

Origin

Dr. Liara T'Soni is an Asari, a non-human race living within the Mass Effect universe. Asari are a race made up entirely of females, but they have the ability to mate (meld) with males and females of any race. Asari are extremely long lived and although she is 106 at the beginning of Mass Effect, she is considered only a child by the standard of her race.

She is the daughter of Matriarch Benenzia, another Asari, that served as one of the main antagonists of the Mass Effect video game. She is a scientist that specializes in Prothean technology. By the time Mass Effect: Redemption occurs she is on her way to becoming an information broker. Liara is considered to be highly attractive, even among the typically graceful Asari. It becomes a running gag in Mass Effect: Redemption, as she is often mistaken for an Asari Consort or others try to barter for her presumed 'services'. This often results in Liara throwing them around the room with her biotics.

Creation

Dr. Liara T'Soni was first introduced in BioWare's 2007 video game, Mass Effect, written by a team led by Drew Karpyshyn.

Her face and body were both modeled after actress Jillian Murray. Ali Hillis provides her voice.

Character Evolution

Dr. Liara T'Soni was introduced in the first Mass Effect video game as a playable sidekick. She is the protagonist during the Mass Effect: Redemption series which is set between Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2 video games. She took the role of a non-player character who gave Commander Shepard a few assignments.

Major Story Arcs

Mass Effect: Redemption

When the SSV Normandy is destroyed by the Collectors, Liara survived aboard an escape pod. Although the ship's captain and her friend, Commander Shepard did not. Afterward, Liara barters passage with pirates to Omega to investigate the location of Commander Shepard's body.

On Omega, she quickly meets up with a devious Drell named Feron. The two are soon attacked by Blue Suns Mercenaries but are saved from the shadows by a lone sniper and encounter Cerberus agent Miranda Lawson. Miranda takes Liara to meet the Illusive Man who explains that he, too is looking for Shepard's body but he is not the only one. The Collectors, a group of secretive and shadowy slavers are looking for a unique specimen.

The Illusive Man explains too that they're locked in a race against time, with not only Cerberus and Liara searching for Shepard's body but also the Collectors and the Shadow Broker, a powerful and influential trader of information.

Liara agrees to follow the Illusive Man's information, for Shepard's sake. Feron and Liara travel to the nightclub Afterlife to meet with Aria, the self-appointed Queen of Omega. Gaining information they descend to the lower levels of the enormous space station to investigate the Blue Suns mercenaries, who are revealed to have the corpse of Commander Shepard.

The duo's sneaking mission soon turns to a frontal assault when they discover the presence of Tazzik, the Shadow Broker's right hand man. The two fight off mercenaries and enforcers but are only able to glimpse the casket that Shepard is being kept in before Tazzik and his ship carrying the body leave station and eludes their grasp.

Feron and Liara follow Taz to one of the Shadow Broker's bases on Alingon in the Faryar System. After infiltrating his base, they learn of a Collector ship docked and ready to exchange Tazzik's cargo.

They confront the Shadow Broker directly, only to learn it is an electronic puppet. While the deal is going down, Feron attempts to act as the Shadow Broker's agent and interrupt the deal. He is thwarted by the Reaper Harbinger, who takes control of the Collector and informs the mercenaries and Tazzik of Feron's true loyalty. Liara, meanwhile steals the ship with Shepard's body but has to leave Feron to die. The body is taken to a secret Cerberus facility designed to resurrect Commander Shepard, beginning the Lazarus Project that begins the events of Mass Effect 2.

Mass Effect: Homeworlds (2012)

Mass Effect: Homeworlds #4 focused on Liara in between the events of Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3. It was plotted by Mac Walters and Sylvia Feketekuty, with Jeremy Barlow writing the dialogue, and Omar Francia lending his pencils.

Now the Shadow Broker, Liara uses her resources to find a way to stop the Reapers. Going to great lengths to study all the Prothean archives she can, Liara meets with a former colleague, Doctor Passante. Upon Passante's suggestion, Liara heads to the Hanar homeworld of Kahje to investigate the intact Prothean ruins.

Liara convinces a Hanar official to send a Drell named Quoyle to escort Liara to the submerged Prothean site, now a Hanar shrine. Once at the shrine, Liara and Quoyle are attacked by a Cerberus Phantom who has killed the faculty within. After a brief struggle, Liara sucsessfully defends herself and Quoyle (although he suffers non-life threatening injuries) from the Cerberus Phantom by using her Biotics to kill him.

After dealing with the Phantom, Liara forges on ahead to discover encryption keys deeper within the Prothean ruins. Satisfied with her new lead, Liara intends to exit the ruins, but is instead interrupted by the holographic figure of the Illusive Man. Proclaiming his innocence over the incident with the Phantom, Illusive Man proposes an alliance between Liara and Cerberus. Upon pushing for elaboration though, Liara learns Illusive Man has no information to give her. As an information broker, Liara has no choice but to walk out on Illusive Man's offer, much to his frustration.

Once in the shuttle bay of the shrine, Liara contacts Admiral Hackett and asks for access to a top-secret research facility on Mars, where she believes she will be able to make the most of her new lead.

Her initial appearance in Mass Effect 3 directly follows.

Powers

Biotic

Since Liara is an Asari she is a natural Biotic which means she can control mass effect fields and this allows Liara to use telekenesis and create energy fields.

Other Media

Mass Effect (video game)

Liara was first introduced when she was at an archeology site on a planet called Therum, in the Knossos system of the Artemis Tau cluster. She was found by Commander Shepard, trapped in a Prothean stasis field and attempted to evade the Geth that were sent to kill her.

After her rescue, she becomes a member of Commander Shepard's team and joins him aboard the SSV Normandy, contributing her powerful biotic abilities in countless missions. Liara aided Commander Shepard in his battle and defeat of her mother; Matriarch Benezia. Her mother had fallen under the control of a Reaper known as Sovereign. She also aided the team in defeating the rogue SPECTRE agent Saren and the eventual destruction of Sovereign.

Liara is known for her great compassion, showing sympathy to the Commander, who experiences painful visions and nightmares when he interacts with Prothean beacons over the course of their mission. If she is present during the mission on Noveria she will implore Commander Shepard to forgive the Rachni Queen there and release her from her bonds. Her compassion even extends to their enemy, and greatest agent of the Reapers at the time - Saren. As he too, is slowly indoctrinated like her mother, he begins to lose his mind and sense of self.

Mass Effect 2 (video game)

Two years later, Liara has become an information broker in her own right on the planet Illium, the only Asari controlled planet in the Terminus Systems. Having made an enemy of the Shadow Broker in the events of Mass Effect: Redemption she seeks to use her considerable connections and resources to bring him down and avenge Feron.

Her personality has shifted strongly since her first appearance, becoming darker and far more ruthless. Even after meeting the returned Commander Shepard, Liara refuses to join with him on his new mission to stop the Collectors, preferring to dedicate her time and energy to attacking the Shadow Broker. She even has the Commander perform spying or espionage related tasks for her during his stay on the planet. That being said, she does help Shepard in locating several prospective members of his team, and even confesses that she gave Shepard's body to Cerberus despite knowing they'd possess ulterior motives because she couldn't let the Commander go.

Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker

A downloadable content mission set either during or after the events of Mass Effect 2, Lair of the Shadow Broker sees Liara return as a playable character in your party. The mission begins with an assassination attempt on Liara, and the confirmation of the identity of The Shadow Broker, which Liara eventually assumes. Feron is also saved, and will stay with Liara as an assistant.

Mass Effect 3 (Video Game)

If Shepard assisted Liara in taking out the Shadow Broker, she mentions that during the time which Shepard was under Alliance custody, Cerberus managed to track down the Shadow Broker's ship location, and sent a cruiser against it. Liara and Feron managed to load as much vital equipment onboard a shuttle as possible, then crashed the Shadow Broker's ship into the Cerberus cruiser to make their escape.

Liara didn't have much love lost over the event, for the most crucial part of the Shadow Broker's operation is the spy network across the galaxy. If Shepard didn't assist Liara, then she will still be the Shadow Broker. Liara will raid the Shadow Broker's ship with dozens of mercenaries, but will lose Feron during the process.

Liara's location onboard the Normandy is the XO office on the crew deck; the room serves as fully functional Shadow Broker's office, with communication terminals and monitors lined up on the wall, as well as the custom VI drone, now properly reprogrammed and named "Glyph".

She insists on being present during Javik's recruitment mission and is originally overjoyed to have a real living Prothean onboard the Normandy. However, following several conversations with him, she's slowly growing increasingly disappointed, having previously imagined Protheans as the "keepers of wisdom and enlightenment" of their era, only to find them to be "cold and ruthless warlords".

After talking to Liara, Shepard can find Matriarch Aethyta at Apollo's Cafe having moved out from Illium. If Shepard presses Aethyta, the Commander learns that the matriarch is Liara's "father" and she is spying Liara on behalf of the asari government because of what Benezia did. Shepard can bring this information to Liara but she is already aware of it, though she does not want to speak to Aethyta.

If the Commander presses Liara to approach Aethyta, she agrees to talk with Aethyta. Afterwards, Shepard can stand nearby and eavesdrop on their conversation, which starts off awkward but then goes into reminiscing about Benezia. After further conversations, it appears that Liara has warmed up to Aethyta as she begins to call Aethyta "dad" and tells her that Aethyta is "the best father a girl could wish for" after Aethyta gifts Liara with an asari commando squad.

Liara eventually comes forth with a special project to present to Shepard. She had created a time capsule containing information on various things in their cycle, including the Reapers and plans for the Crucible, similar to Vigil on Ilos. She had seeded multiple capsules on many planets in case they lose to the Reapers and the next cycle can carry on their work. However, she wanted to ask how she can portray Shepard for future generations. Shepard can tell her to decide for herself, be honest or show how inspiring the Commander was.

After the fall of Thessia, she can be found in Javik's cabin caught in a fierce argument. Shepard can choose to defuse the situation, which results in them reaching of a tentative peace between the two. Both sides will however, slowly grow to respect and appreciate each other over time and, if Javik does not touch his memory shard, are thinking of writing a book together titled "Journeys with the Prothean".

Through her Shadow Broker resources, Liara greatly aids the war effort, including the acquisition of information, contacts, forces, and resources crucial to the war against the Reapers.

If Liara is in the squad at the final push towards the Conduit, she will be killed by Harbinger if the Effective Military Strength is too low. This marks the only time in the entire series where Liara can die.

Romance

If Shepard started a relationship with Liara, before the attack on Cerberus Headquarters, Liara heads to Shepard's quarters, where they converse about getting ready for the final battle. She also notes how easy it would be if they just went somewhere far away and just lived out their lives in peace.

Shepard will then tell Liara that there is no place they'd rather be, to which Liara agrees. They will then share an intimate night together before the assault on Cronos Station. The dialogue in this scene will slightly differ depending on whether Liara was romanced in ME1 and stayed faithful to in ME2, or just recently romanced in ME3.

Just before the final battle in London, Liara will comment to how disappointed their 'little blue children' would be that she does not have a speech ready, to which Shepard will tell her that they will make up a good story for them. Afterwards, Liara will offer Shepard a gift: a practice asari reserve for their closest friends and their bondmates, to join her consciousness with Shepard's and share her memories. Note that this scene will also play if Liara was not romanced, though with different dialogue.

Mass Effect: Paragon Lost (movie)

Liara makes a brief appearance in the 2012 animated film, Mass Effect: Paragon Lost. Taking place 2 years after the intro of Mass Effect 2, Liara plays the role of mentor to an Asari anthropologist named Treeya, who joins up with James Vega, the main protagonist of Paragon Lost. She is voiced by Jamie Marchi.