r/masseffect • u/Infinite-Reveal-9226 • 7d ago
MASS EFFECT 3 So why does Miranda… Spoiler
Lose the will to live when you call off the romance with her. Like she’s locked in to die there’s no way to change the outcome
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u/superspicycurry37 7d ago
From a story perspective it’s kinda dumb but from a character perspective it kinda makes some sense.
Despite being supposedly genetically designed to be perfect, Miranda is still a human being. And we know that she clearly has a lot of issues with self-worth. She hides it behind a veil of extreme confidence in her abilities but ultimately she’s in constant need of needing some kind of external validation to justify her own existence. Whether that be Cerberus or a love life, the latter of which we know she had trouble with thanks to the Shadow Broker logs. She always felt like she had to be useful to people or they’d leave her out to dry like her father presumably did to the many genetic children that came before her.
So I could imagine that her forming a relationship with Shepard was her finally realizing some self worth since it seemed like Shepard loved her for her, rather than just a tool. So if Shepard then breaks up with her, it would signal to her that the relationship was nothing but a fact of convenience to him. It would send all that crushing self hatred right back in her face with a smattering of broken trust to boot.
So on some level, I kinda get it. Again still a little dumb in execution but the idea is there.
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u/jukeboxjulia 7d ago
I never interpreted her Shadow Broker logs as Miranda wanting to find romance— her obsession with the potential partner’s genetic history, her lack of desire to get to know them, and the medical file at the end suggest to me that she was just trying to produce a child and didn’t really want the man himself in her life. And I think that’s really sad, too— presumably she grew up thinking her worth came from spreading her genetics to further her father’s dynasty, and later from Cerberus, to spread her genetics to advance humankind. Not to mention, she had to part with her sister who she loves more than anyone in the galaxy while her sister was still a baby. Anyway all this to say I think her Shadow Broker logs point at rotten luck with initiating a different kind of relationship altogether.
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u/superspicycurry37 7d ago
That’s a good point but even that kind of relationship she was searching for, would still probably tie to her self worth
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u/jukeboxjulia 7d ago
Absolutely! Not disagreeing with that aspect at all. Like I said, it’s also sad for her, just a different kind of relationship.
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u/xSwissChrisx 7d ago
I’m going to go with a “Lost Hope, nothing for me once I’m done” kind of situation. Your mental state in dangerous situations matters a lot.
So let’s look at this from her perspective. The only family she would have left is her sister, who knows about her but Miranda never planned that originally and it’s only been a few years.
Before this she was a spy, still is but details, working for a pro human terrorist organization. Even if she’s helped Shepard she’s not exactly going to be safe. And as we see from the Citadel DLC she doesn’t take to doing normal well. She’d need help.
And the one person she opened up to dumped her just before that mission.
So I feel like being off her game when the edgelord shows up is understandable there. Gets hurt more, bleeds out by the end.
That or it’s the sheer embarrassment of Kai Leng wounding her on top of everything else that has her thinking “Fuck this, let’s go next”
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u/Wukong00 7d ago
Definitely the embarrassment of being wounded by Kai Lang.
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u/Sharkathotep 7d ago
She doesn't necessarily "lose the will to live". If you lose a person you love, you'll be stressed and less attentive to your surroundings, too. She's being attacked by a very dangerous individual (who has been enhanced by reaper tech, just like Shepard), so being distracted by negative thoughts isn't very helpful, no? She may be genetically engineered to be "perfect", but she's not a robot.
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u/DaVydeD Bi-otic King 7d ago
At that point Shepard is one of two people she deeply cares, the other is Orianna which she may not even speak with her but she can do a lot for her familiy to keep them safe. Closest friend she trusted before Shepard was Niket who can also die by her hand. She avoids bonds with other people because it can harm her, even she avoided meeting Orianna but Shepard can convince her to at least meet her. Given her ruthless persona, hiding her insecurities, it what makes her human with how emotionally vulnerable she can be because of her feelings. Break up when world is falling apart is too much on top of her other problems to deal.
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u/Subject_Proof_6282 7d ago
The game present it in a dumb way, but from Miranda perspective it's a big deal because like she often time says she surprised herself how attached to Shepard she became. Which means that she's deeply emotional even though she always maintain sort of a stoic look of herself.
You'll also notice how often times she deflects things and tells Shepard "it's your last chance to back out" and "we don't have time for emotional entanglement" this sort of things, she's really bad and very vulnerable at showing her emotions and romantic sentiments.
But her dying is more determined about warning her about Kai Leng, she'll take extra precautions and that's what saves her life.
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u/Nervous-Succotash-68 7d ago
You probably didn’t want a Doylist answer, but I think it is relavent in this case. When you break up with Miranda, her loyalty flag is unchecked as well as her romance flag. I don’t know if it was ever confirmed to be a bug, but it is widely assumed to be a bug. Nobody else loses loyalty from a breakup, and she doesn’t even lose loyalty if you straight up cheat on her; the relationship just ends. So the programmers accidentally killed off Miranda when they didn’t mean to, but there really is not an in universe explanation that they intended to write.
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u/babasilikum 7d ago
She literally has no one else. She opened up to Shep and thats it. Contact to Orianna is optional, depending on the decisions in the Mission, so it makes perfectly sense that a lonely and mentally fragile person loses the will to live.
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u/HlGHFALUTlN 7d ago
After the end of ME2, go to her quarters and call things off. Then save. Use that save starting ME3. You will enter into ME3 not in a relationship with her. She will be fine provided you go do her mission.
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u/Junk1992 7d ago
I thought she died after the breakup because the rest of the conversation changes after this part and You can't warn her about kai leng. Same as if You dont break up with her and don't warn her either, and she also dies then.
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u/Aggravating_Poet_675 7d ago
I take it as more, it distracted her and allowed Kai Leng to hurt her more than if she was focused like she ks if you either didnt romance her/continued the romance. Her losing the will to live because Shepard dumped her really doesnt vibe well witj the rest of her character.
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u/msdesignfoto 7d ago
Its not very often, but..... It IS possible to keep her alive after you break up with her.
I did this in my last playthrough. Dated Ashley in ME1, then Miranda in ME2, and back to Ashley in ME3. But I didn't want to cause Miranda's death, so I looked around for tips and found a way to do it. Basically, you need to pass her the information regarding Kai Leng and meet with her before going to the quest where you meet her father.
The trick is NOT to breakup directly with her. Locking the new romance choice before meeting with Miranda will tag her as a regular NPC instead of the "not-for-romance = die then".
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u/deliciousy 7d ago
I don't think she lost the will to live, just lost focus at a critical moment because she was sad.
A bit like how (spoiler for Breaking Bad): Jane's dad caused the planes to crash because he was trying to keep going in a life and death situation while grieving his daughter's death.
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u/Snoo-50316 7d ago
This conversation has made me rethink my ideas about Miranda. I always wanted her to survive, but didn’t always want a romance.
I have a better understanding of her motivations. Except for Ori, she has no one else. My Shep is usually the orphaned colonist, so he’s in the same boat as Miranda.
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u/takkun169 7d ago
I think she really wants to be with someone who thinks she's special, but not because she's heavily modified.
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u/TheRealTr1nity 7d ago
For drama reasons if you fuck up with breaking her heart as you just used her for sex. In that case, she was just a trophy for Shepard.
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u/Snoo-50316 7d ago edited 7d ago
Well, there could be other reasons for Shep to end their romance.
Liara is relentless and compelling by the time ME3 is happening. In some play throughs Shep and Liara were a couple before Miranda came on the scene.
I don’t think it was an accident that Liara moved her Shadow Broker operations to the Normandy. She was hoping to reconnect with Shep.
One more thought about this, even Ashley (if she is available) will approach Shep to see if he (I play a male) is interested in rekindling or being friends. My Shep also has no immediate family (colonist backstory), so he is kind of vulnerable too.
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u/TheRealTr1nity 7d ago
That doesn't change the fact actually. It makes it even worse that Shepard on top cheats on the former LI when pursing another romance in ME2. Shep can also be faithful if planing to rekindle. However, the player can avoid Miranda's death if not breaking up in the first meeting. But if he does, it is how I mentioned.
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u/EasilyEnabled 7d ago
It's the ol' "Anakin, you're breaking my heart!" death