Tali’Zorah nar Rayya – The Veiled Beauty

Although she is not a love interest in Mass Effect, Tali’Zorah na Rayya gets an honorable mention due to the deep chemistry she develops with Commander Shepard. She too is rescued by the Commander and turns out to be somewhat of a princess from the Quarian race. A mechanical gearhead of sorts, Tali, like most of her people, is a genius when it comes to keeping a ship running. Upon entering the Normandy she cannot hide her excitement at being aboard a ship of its reputation. Her race has always been somewhat out casted due to having created the Geth and she warms up to Shepard due to his willingness to befriend her as a person without any bias or prejudice. While Mass Effect does not allow you to develop a relationship with the Quarian, Mass Effect 2 does. Unlike Liara, Tali loves crowds having grown up aboard a crowded, nomadic 300 yr old starship. She also loves music and a noisy ship – for this the Citadel is heaven to her with its bustling crowds and busy night clubs.

Relationship and First Impressions

When I realized that I liked Tali, I couldn’t understand why. While she holds the sexiest profile of the three women and is as sweet as sweet can be, Tali’s looks are a huge mystery. The Quarians are always suited up, so no-one knows what is under there. The ongoing debate over Tali by her fans is whether it is soft and organic under her suit or if she is mostly machine like Darth Vader. The thought is that an undeniably banging figure like hers would be natural and not the design of some machine. Personally I always refer back to the conceptual artist’s vision in order to see the intent behind a character design and Tali’s creator drew a pretty face behind the mask. That’s enough for me I am sold.

So why the heavy nerd-love for Tali?

Well dialogue with the character reveals a lot about her nature and out of the three women, Tali represents an ideal that most of us want without knowing why. While Ashley is blatantly strong, Tali’s strength is more subtle. Here’s an example – if the Normandy is burning and Shepard is dying in his room, I can see Ashley scrambling to keep her afloat while telling Shepard to “hold on!” Tali would be the woman to hold Shepard’s hand and take the loss with him bravely. She is never down for long and offers good, candid, conversation everytime. Of all the shipmates, I found conversation with her to be the freest, flowing without agendas. Tali never whines, is a genius with technology and is the daughter of a high ranking Quarian Admiral. Yup she’s a techno geek’s dream come true 100%.

Hot or Not? What About The Looks?

What looks? Hell us the players never get to see the woman. Due to a slight issue with a lack of an immune system, poor Tali would have to shoot up with a ton of anti-biotics before she could slip beneath the sheets with an off-world lover.  She is very feminine however, and her slight size and shapely figure reminds me way too much of Lucy Liu in the action roles that she has done. Yup put a mask and Seven-of-nine type skin suit on Lucy and we’ve got Tali’Zora. I find it funny that I have joined a host of fanbois for this character without truly seeing her, but that’s props to writing and dialogue by Bioware. Tali is one heck of a gal.