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The Mass Effect Series is based on players taking control of Commander Shepard, and, like most RPGs, the player is given choices and customization options.

In Mass Effect (the first game), players get to pick the commander's first name, gender, pre-service history (Spacer, Colonist, Earthborn), and psych profile (Ruthless, Sole Survivor, War Hero).

Clearly, Shepard can be many things, but I'm wondering what the canonical Shepard is. For instance, we know that in the Canon of Mass Effect 2, if you don't import a save file, the Council was not saved.

Does Commander Shepard likewise have a "Canonical" origin, or are these two options always under direct control of the player - i.e., without a default?

Raven Dreamer
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In each game, there's an option to use a premade default Shepard. This Shepard is a Soldier, Earthborn Sole Survivor. If male, his name is 'John', if female 'Jane'.

Since this didn't change between games, I think we can assume it's as close to canon as anything (and certainly is in the same vein of the didn't-import-a-save options).

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Raven Dreamer
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Shinrai
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  • I believe ME3 may also have a prebuilt female Shepard available (I'd expect her to be the same except probably named 'Jane' or something like that). – Shinrai Feb 24 '12 at 23:30
  • It's been a while since I played the first ME, but was there not a default female in it as well? Otherwise, I'd say your answer as as close to "canon" as we're going to get without a definitive quote from BioWare. – Niro Feb 24 '12 at 23:38
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    @Tristan Yes, there's been a default female in both ME 1 and 2. The difference is that all promotional art has exclusively used the male shepherd. – Raven Dreamer Feb 24 '12 at 23:51
  • @Tristan - I don't remember there being one, but apparently Raven disagrees. What I remember is that your options were essentially "Just shut up and let me play the game" (which gives you John Shepard) or "Let me start from scratch". – Shinrai Feb 24 '12 at 23:52
  • I just checked the wiki and apparently I did misremember that one detail. Editing my answer. – Shinrai Feb 24 '12 at 23:53
  • @RavenDreamer - Actually, nevermind, the wiki seems to be wrong. See my edit. – Shinrai Feb 25 '12 at 15:59
  • @Shinrai Well, ME1 is weird, because you have three options: John Shepherd (Male, Earthborn, Sole Survivor, Soldier), and then you have QuickStart Male (same as John Shepherd) and Quickstart Female (same as QuickStart Male except for gender). I added the relevant pic to your answer, since I can't embed it directly into comments. – Raven Dreamer Feb 25 '12 at 16:17
  • @RavenDreamer - That is absolutely NOT what it looks like on my Steam PC copy. I don't get any of those options. Weird! (Or do you have to jump into Profile Reconstruction to get those? Because IMO that doesn't really count.) – Shinrai Feb 25 '12 at 18:34
  • Oh, I guess you do, since it says 'Profile Reconstruction' right at the top. >.< I stick by my opinion that the 'just let me start the game, already' option is the most canonical, then. – Shinrai Feb 25 '12 at 18:36