Mass Effect: Legendary Edition released recently and fans have been enthusiastically familiarizing themselves with the world of Mass Effect. The remaster takes all three of the original games plus most of the DLC and puts it all in one location for players to enjoy. For some players, this is their first encounter with Mass Effect, while other fans are returning to the franchise with full force. Part of the appeal of the Mass Effect games is the storytelling found within them and how different actions lead to different outcomes and consequences down the line.
One of the decisions players make in the first Mass Effect game has lasting effects on the other two games in the series. It’s already been established that killing the Rachni Queen is quite the litmus test, but her impact spans far beyond Mass Effect 1. When choosing how to deal with the Rachni Queen on Noveria in Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, it’s important to know how she will (or won’t) return in the following games and the impact she has on them. Actions in Mass Effect tend to have a ripple effect, so players ought to know what kind of waves they’re creating when they choose to save or kill the Rachni Queen.
Meeting the Rachni Queen in Mass Effect 1
After a particularly sad conversation and final battle with Matriarch Benezia, Mass Effect players meet the Rachni Queen. They learn she’d initially been incubated and hatched by a company called Binary Helix with the intent of cloning the rachni and making an army. However, once they learned it was a queen that hatched, they used her to continue laying eggs and took her children away from her.
What Binary Helix didn’t realize was that, without the Rachni Queen to shape their minds, the hatched rachni would essentially become feral and untameable. Shepard has to fight through a few rachni to get to Benezia and the Queen, and after talking with the latter must decide her fate. Players can choose to let the Rachni Queen go free or kill her.
If players choose to spare the Rachni Queen, she’ll flee to the wilderness of Noveria and promise Shepard that her children will remember the kindness shown to her by the Commander. If players decide to kill her, the Rachni Queen will plead with Shepard. Players can ignore this plea, in which case the Queen will try to save herself but it will be futile, as Shepard activates the acid bath easily and kills her.
Either way, the turian Council member will be concerned with Shepard’s decision. He’ll express concern with the future generations of rachni, as Council space has already fought against them once before, and critique Shepard for letting her go. On the other hand, if Shepard decides to kill the Queen, he’ll ask if humanity takes joy in participating in genocide, as Shepard killing the Queen makes the rachni extinct again.
The Rachni Queen in Mass Effect 2
While she doesn’t have a particularly large role in Mass Effect 2, the Rachni Queen can still make an appearance. Obviously, she won’t make an appearance if she’s killed, and instead, players will hear a news report about data found at the Peak 15 facility on Noveria that showed no evidence of rachni cloning. If she lives, she’ll speak to Shepard on Illium through an asari (similarly to how they speak in Mass Effect 1) and relay her gratitude as well as promise to help Shepard against the incoming “darkness;” the Reapers.
The Rachni Queen in Mass Effect 3
Mass Effect 3 is where the decision to spare or kill the Rachni Queen can have a huge impact. If she lives, she’s unfortunately captured by the Reapers. However, she’s not very susceptible to their indoctrination, so instead, they physically restrain her and indoctrinate her children to create Ravagers. Shepard can choose once again to free her, but this choice doesn’t come without sacrifice. If players decide to free the Queen again, they’ll effectively wipe out Aralakh Company, a Krogan war team that can be led by Grunt, provided he survives the Suicide Mission of Mass Effect 2. There’s a chance Grunt survives saving the Rachni Queen, but players will need to have earned his loyalty back in Mass Effect 2 for this to happen.
Players also have the choice to leave the Queen to her fate. If Shepard decides to leave her, she doesn’t put up a fight, resigning herself to “embrace the silence.” Though players don’t see what happens next, it’s assumed that the Rachni Queen dies. Her death could be caused by her injuries or as a result of the attack from her children.
If players chose to sacrifice the Rachni Queen on Noveria in Mass Effect 1, there will still be a Rachni Queen waiting for players, but she’ll be an artificial one crafted by the Reapers. If players choose to help her escape, she’ll eventually prove to be untrustworthy and take back the rachni she gave to the war efforts. If players decide to leave the Queen, she’ll react differently than the real Rachni Queen; she’ll scream at Shepard and command her children to kill the Commander and their crew.
What’s the Correct Choice for Mass Effect’s Rachni Queen?
It’s clear that a vastly different chain of events can occur depending on if players decide to save or kill the Rachni Queen in Mass Effect 1. She can become a powerful war asset and ally if she lives, but saving her a second time can have disastrous consequences. If she dies, players will have to face the artificial Queen come Mass Effect 3, but that Queen turns out to be a bad ally and asset no matter if Shepard chooses to save her or leave her.
In the grand scheme of things, it’s probably most beneficial to save the Rachni Queen in Mass Effect 1. However, an important follow-up come Mass Effect 2 would be to make sure that Grunt’s loyalty is secured and that he survives the Suicide Mission. If he doesn’t, the Rachni Queen may live but it’ll be at the cost of a fan-favorite companion.
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.