Add Us On Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents:
Jennifer Hale didn’t just voice the female version of Commander Shepard across three games in 2007-2013’s Mass Effect trilogy. (And yes, I’m including the Citadel DLC’s release year in there.) Her performance, not unlike Mark Meer’s, has become truly iconic across the gaming industry.
Fans hear «Mass Effect,» and it’s hard not to immediately conjure up both voice actors’ exemplary voice work. Which is far from the only reason we tend to take note when Hale speaks up; the veteran VA is intelligent, insightful, and always worth hearing out. But it is indeed through looking back at the trilogy that Hale’s latest insight stems from, and if there’s one thing that most thoroughly captured us from this conversation, it was her memory of a mightily powerful scene.
Ugh, Now I'm Crying Again
“The goodbye scenes with Garrus pretty much slaughtered me,» Hale told Polygon as part of a wider-ranging interview just after praising another goodbye scene — the one with Shepard’s mentor, Admiral Anderson. In fact, let’s talk a little about that first:
“I got to hear [Anderson actor Keith David], and I got to act back and forth with him in that way. And that magic, when you get to have the other actor — even virtually — with you in the moment, it was incredible.» -Jennifer Hale
The comment was made as a point of contrast; more frequently, by far, voice recordings throughout the trilogy were held separately across the cast (as is commonplace). Anderson’s tearful farewell was an exception, and it surely must have bolstered the moment for both Jennifer Hale and Keith David.
But back to Garrus. Personally, I’ve always enjoyed the turian’s more platonic relationship path the most, but his romance is pretty damned good. Whichever path you choose, I challenge you to keep completely dry eyes during that last scene he shares with his dear friend (and possible lover) Commander Shepard.
«I had to stop and kind of catch myself for a minute. So I just kept going, ‘Shepard doesn’t cry. Shepard doesn’t cry. Shepard doesn’t cry. Suck it up.’”
That above snippet immediately Hale’s «slaughtered» comment; suffice it to say, she was struck. Hale is a tremendously talented voice actor, whose work has shone through in productions as varied as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, to Metal Gear Solid 4, to Disney+’s ongoing X-Men ’97 revival series. I can’t speak to how frequently she encounters scenarios in which she has to force herself to stay completely in-character despite understandably poignant moments, but I can scarcely imagine not crying mid-performance during those last, incredibly memorable, words with Garrus Vakarian.
