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One of the most respected and elegant species in the entire Mass Effect universe, the Asari
have been one of the most unique parts of the franchise since the very beginning. In
a previous Hidden History episode, we touched on how the Asari were initially inspired by
the “green alien girls” of the original Star Trek. Over the course of the series though,
the Asari took on a life of their own, developing their own unique culture that also pulls from
many different sources. As any Mass Effect fan knows, the Asari are
a mono-gender species, in that they’re all female. This wasn’t always going to be the
case though. According to Matt Rhodes, one of the lead art directors behind the series,
the team also flirted with the idea of creating male Asari as well, saying “There are no
Asari males, but I think one of us concepted one of them once, but that drawing has been
lost….thankfully, [because] it didn’t look too great.” So it looks like fans will
never get to see the concept art for the male Asari, but hey, at least we have this picture
of Parks & Recreation star Aziz Ansari as an Asari for you.
Rhodes also had a lot to say about the spiny organic heads of the Asari, which he says
were included for a very specific reason: “All of these alien races had to have something
threatening about them. None of them were just weak. They all had developed and fought,
especially in the galactic sense. They’d all been living and working and fighting each
other for so long.” But at the same time, the team didn’t want the Asari’s spiny
heads to ruin their sleek, sophisticated look. “We wanted something that at a glance looked
modern and stylish, something that a woman may wear and look a little bit futuristic,
but not too far off.” The word “Asari” also has some very interesting
religious roots. That’s because it is one of the many names of the ancient Egyptian
god, Osiris, the god of life, death, resurrection and the afterlife. The meaning behind this
connection is still debated among Mass Effect fans, but many believe that its intended to
reflect the story of Commander Shepard. When it comes to the Asari’s actual religion
though, the game’s developers seem to have drawn from a very different source: the cult
TV show Babylon 5. The beliefs of the Asari line up pretty well with those of the show’s
Minbari as both religions believe that the universe itself is conscious, and each individual
being is part of the greater conscious. In fact the Minbari are pretty similar to the
Asari in general, since both species are more culturally advanced than humans and other
aliens, and they both value using the tools of diplomacy and cultural influence more than
war. Some of the Asari character names throughout
the series also have some pretty creative references hidden in them. Like Nyxeris, Liara
T'Soni’s assistant who eventually reveals herself to be an agent of the Shadow Broker.
Her name is a combination of two sinister greek figures, Nyx, the primordial goddess
of the night and Eris, the goddess of strife, chaos and discord. Matriarch Aethyta, the
Asari bartender in the Eternity lounge on Illiu, gets a much kinder name which comes
from one of the many alternate names of the goddess of wisdom, Athena. Even the home planet
of the Asari, Thessia, gets its name from Greek history. The planet is a reference to
Thessaly, a region of Greece. Ancient Greek mythology is pretty obsessed with the place,
since The Plain of Thessaly, which lies between Mount Othrys and Mount Olympus, was supposed
to have been the site of the battle between the Titans and the Olympians. But its connection
to the Asari may come from the reputation of its women. Ancient Roman writers, like
the poet Ovid and the philosopher Seneca feared the women of Thessaly, claiming that many
of them were deadly witches who drew power from the moon. Claims of the supernatural
like this were probably not that uncommon at the time, but the idea of powerful women
who were to be feared and respected definitely was. Which may have been the reason Bioware
chose this as the name as the homeworld of the Asari.
Now it’s time for a great comment from Mr. Donnydude who tells us “Here is a fact.
The name for the race that created the reapers -Leviathan- comes from the old testament.
There, Leviathan was the name of an absolutely massive creature believed to be a primordial
beast of the sea. Fitting given the Leviathan in the game lives on an aquatic planet. The
name May also relate to the book "The Leviathan" by Thomas Hobbes. There, the name is used
to describe the strongest person around who has absolute power to maintain societal order.
Considering the Leviathan was first noticed for being a ‘reaper killer,’ I believe
this is also an apt comparison.” Thanks for that thoughtful comment!
Now for our shoddy comment! After our Reapers episode discussed how the sound of the monsters
was actually taken directly from the sound of opening a trash can, The Steel Metternik
commented to say “In addition to the source of Reapers' sounds, a trash can was where
they found Mass Effect 3.” Ouch! There’s actually a lot of big fans of Mass Effect
3 here at the Shoddycast but credit where credit is due, that hurt. By the way, hunting
for comments was pretty hard this week. If you want to chime in and let us know some
great Mass Effect hidden history we don’t know, there’s a good chance you’ll get
featured on a future episode of this show. We’d love to hear from you!
Lastly it’s time for our trivia. Last week we asked you to name Final Fantasy 7’s Cloud’s
hometown and the answer was D) Nibelheim. This week our question is, of course, all
about Mass Effect: What Asari is known for founding the deadly mercenary organization
Eclipse?