What does this ending scenario mean? [closed]

Question

One of the ME3 endings involved

killing Shepard and thus gain control of Reapers. If Shepard is dead, how can s/he control the Reapers?

Asked by Donotalo

Answer

When describing the Control ending, we have the following conversation

Kid: You will die; you will control us but you will lose everything you have.

Sheperd: But the Reapers will obey me?

Kid: Yes.

(emphasis mine)

Saying that Shepard personally will control the Reapers implies that something of Shepard's consciousness will continue to exist to have that control. The part about losing everything also supports this because loss only means something to a consciousness that continues to exist.

The part saying that Shepard will die could mean a couple of things. It could mean that his body will die but his consciousness will somehow survive, perhaps either in the Citadel or distributed among the Reapers. Considering what the characters in the game have accomplished technologically (especially AI) and how much more advanced the glowing people were, this is not an unlikely possibility.

Another interpretation is that Shepard's body will be kept alive but he will have to stay at the controls forever. If this means that he can never again have contact with the outside world, then to everyone else it would be like he is dead, and he could never go back to life as he knows it.

The point is that the kid implies that Shepard's consciousness will continue to exist in some state while controlling the Reapers and it is likely within the Citadel's power to do this in a way that is consistent with Shepard "dying" in some sense.

Answered by murgatroid99

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