So Mass Effect 3 is due out later this year and the biggest questions for fans is who will return to be at Shepard’s side? There has been some info leaked and for myself I was happy to hear that the poetry reading, complicated, space marine, Ashley Williams (or Kaiden for you ladies) will be back to help save earth with Shepard. It made me wonder whether Miranda and Ashley could co-exist on the same ship. The fighting between Jack and Miranda on Mass Effect 2 made sense beyond the fact that Miri represents the company that ruined Jack’s life. The two women are hard in their own right and people like that don’t do well within the same space without bumping heads. Ash is another one, so I imagine Jack, Miri, and Ash at a table discussing strategy and the visual I have is of Miri and Jack locking up with the intent of killing one another, while Ash lines up a barrel on both of them… Remember Ash was the one who shot Wrex in cold blood for pulling a gun on Shepard. Honey doesn’t mess around.
So if it comes to an either/or situation, who would be better for Shepard? Miranda, the ex Cerberus loyalist who only changed heart after receiving a well deserved “debriefing” in the engine room, or Ashley the former Specist (same as racist but for Aliens), military brat who has waited around sexless for 3 years for a man who she presumed dead? If we’re talking strictly sex, then Ash is a no-brainer, can you imagine the passion after that build-up? Ya, but let’s keep it classy and analyze their resumes:
Miranda’s Pros and Cons:
She is genetically perfect and was designed to be that way, she has cute bunny teeth, and her biotics can rival an Asari’s. While I wouldn’t call her lusty, Miranda is a soldier so sex isn’t as intimate for her as a regular girl sees it – in The Shadow Broker files you find out that she has used a dating service in the past to satisfy her needs through one-night -stands. Shepard’s sexual encounter with her is on the floor of the engine room… she wears lingerie. Yes, definitely not the kind of girl you bring home to momma. Still with Miranda you get the type of loyalty that comes with the “psycho girlfriend” types. Her only family is her estranged sister, the company that she supported since forever has disowned her and the only person who gets her is Shepard. I don’t see her going anywhere but like most beautiful women, her self-esteem teeters on low despite the high self-image and false bravado she uses to hide her insecurities.
Ashley Williams by Manuccio of deviantART
Ashley’s Pros and Cons:
One thing that separates the Ash lovers from her haters is the willingness to understand the character. Ash is like a mean pitbull that only you know as the sweet pet that fetches your slippers for you. On the surface she seems like this cold, military tool whose only motive is orders and preservation of the human race. Under the surface you get a remarkable soldier whose black-listed family heritage has disallowed her the proper promotions and has made her a guarded and lonely person. The real Ashley is playful, a bull-headed tomboy and a daddy’s girl. She follows orders but not quietly, she cries to herself and she reads and writes poetry like her dad used to do for her as a child. She’s also an eldest child who helped raise her sisters. While not a prude, unlike Miranda, sex is the real thing for Ashley, Shepard’s first time with her was on the floor of his bedroom on the original Normandy but the location was due to the tension being so nuclear that they ended up there to release it. Ashley’s naked ass is what landed Bioware in hot water with certain news networks (yawn).
In the end were it up to me I want Ashley back by Shepard’s side. Miranda ressurected Shepard and the two built a strong repor in the course of the Mass Effect sequel but Shepard sacrificed an important squadmate to save Ashley in the original and when another member went rogue and threatened him it was Ashley who put a bullet in between his eyes. Ashley’s passion made her bitch Shepard out for being with Cerberus in the sequel but how would you react if you found your lost love of 3 years in the employ of the very people that you used to fight against together? The other thing is… Ashley waited… she isn’t married, she isn’t in some torrid romance with another military man, she was going to die old and alone with the only man she ever loved (Shepard) as a treasured memory. How can you not reward that?
Bioware did Ash a disservice by keeping her old model in the sequel instead of showing her during off-hours. That tight bun (the hair I mean), no makeup and military armor hides her beauty, so people with no imagination assume that she’s a dog. As you can see by the above images, a relaxed Ashley is not too shabby so your argument for Miranda’s looks is moot.
So what do you guys think? Look this isn’t a Tali’Zorah article so lets leave her, Liara and Jack out of this. Do you agree with my argument for Ashley, or do you still hate her for saying mean things about aliens?
