Kaidan Alenko
Kaidan Alenko is a fictional character in BioWare's Mass Effect franchise, who acts as a party member in the first and third games in the series. The character is initially introduced in the original Mass Effect as a human Systems Alliance Officer and primary squad member in Commander Shepard's team. Kaidan's fate on the planet Virmire is part of a pivotal decision which the player has to make in order to advance the narrative.
If Kaidan survives the events of Mass Effect, by the events of Mass Effect 2 he is encountered on the human colony of Horizon after Shepard receives a tip that Horizon will be the next human colony to be abducted by the enigmatic race known as the Collectors. In Mass Effect 3, Kaidan initially appears at the Alliance base in Vancouver before taking off on a mission to Mars with Shepard and the crew of the Normandy SR-2. Kaidan is voiced by Raphael Sbarge.
Initially presented as a heterosexual love interest for a female Shepard in the first game, the character is reintroduced in Mass Effect 3 as a bisexual love interest, a decision by BioWare which attracted praise from most critics. Kaidan has received an overall mixed to positive reception throughout his appearances in the Mass Effect trilogy.
Character overview
Raised in Canada, Kaidan is a Systems Alliance officer born with the ability to manipulate dark energy, employ telekinesis and create mass effect fields called biotics, after his mother is affected by "Element Zero" during an incident in Singapore while he was in utero. In gameplay terms, Kaidan is a "Sentinel", who combines biotic and technological abilities to manipulate the environment, enhance defensive capabilities, disable and track enemies. Kaidan suffers from infrequent, but debilitating, migraines as a side effect of the controversial L2 implants he was fitted with during his time at Biotic Acclimatization and Temperance Training, nicknamed "brain camp" by Kaidan.Kaidan is cited as an example of the consequences that come with branching narratives in video games. In the first game the player has to decide whether Kaidan or Ashley Williams would survive during a late-game mission on the planet Virmire. The squad member who survives will afterwards serve as a constant reminder of the player's choices throughout the Mass Effect trilogy. Kaidan shares the same overall story arc as Ashley in the sequels and while both characters effectively function as opposite-gender placeholders for one another throughout the trilogy, they start off differently in the first game and have distinct personalities and skills.
Kaidan is a romance option for a female Shepard in the first game, and their relationship could persist over the entire trilogy depending on the player's choices. He can also be romanced by a male Shepard in Mass Effect 3, where he would reveal his unrequited feelings for the Commander.
Creation and development
Kaidan Alenko's face is modeled after Luciano Costa. BioWare opted to reuse Kaidan's visage from the first game and updated his face model for Mass Effect 3. BioWare decided to overhaul Kaidan's look to make him more memorable: in contrast to his generic outfit in previous games, Kaidan's default armor for 3 has a blue-and-white theme. The armor design went through multiple iterations as the team was figuring out the Systems Alliance colors for human male characters before settling on the final color scheme. The character is given a more muscular redesign in order to "show that he's seen a lot of action and is ready to fight in the biggest war the galaxy has ever seen".In a 2013 interview, Kaidan's voice actor Raphael Sbarge claimed that Kaidan was originally planned to be a romance option for both genders in the original Mass Effect, and that he did work on the extra content that never made it to the final version of the game. He was personally enthusiastic about BioWare's decision to make Kaidan available as a same-sex romance option in Mass Effect 3. In March 2017, Jessica Lachenal from The Mary Sue reported that fans have uncovered cut content from the game files of the original trilogy, which reveal entirely voice-acted lines from both Ashley and Kaidan for a same-sex romances relationship with Shepard which never made the final cut of the first game, as well as coded lines where Kaidan would address a male Shepard as if he was female. In 2021, project director Mac Walters clarified in an interview about Mass Effect Legendary Edition that Kaidan was never intended to be a same-sex romance option in the first Mass Effect, and that the presence of the aforementioned coded lines in the first game's files are a combination of technical oversight and human error. Walters further confirmed that the developers had no intention to develop Kaidan as a same sex romance option for the remastered version of the first game, as the Legendary Edition compilation is only intended to introduce generalized improvements and otherwise stays as close to the source material as possible.
Sbarge used his natural speaking voice for the character, albeit with a slightly formal manner. Sbarge credited Ginny McSwain, a voice director on the first two games, for helping him find the right tone for Kaidan to balance his military background along with a solid and straightforward personality, which according to Sbarge has become the character's hallmark. Sbarge said he could relate to Kaidan in that the character is guided by his conscience and tries to do the right thing.
Appearances
In video games
''Mass Effect''
Alenko first appears on the SSV Normandy as a Staff Lieutenant and head of the starship's marine detail. He accompanies Shepard on his first mission to Eden Prime where they learn that Saren is leading the attack with the geth. Upon encountering Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, she joins the mission and following the mission on Eden Prime, he gives his recommendation to Captain Anderson that she should be assigned to the Normandy.After several missions, the squad is ordered to the planet Virmire, where Shepard can assign Kaidan or Ashley to work with the salarians or assemble the bomb that will be used to destroy Saren's facility. Shepard will later be given a choice between saving either Ashley or Kaidan, as Shepard's forces have only adequate resources to save one of them during the evacuation. If Kaidan is chosen, he will express survivor's guilt over the fact that Ashley was left behind and killed, having prepared to sacrifice his own life for the rest of the team.
''Mass Effect 2''
If Kaidan survives the events on Virmire, he will appear on the Normandy before it is destroyed by the Collector ship. Shepard will order him to an escape pod before the Normandy's demise. He will not appear again until Shepard's mission to the human colony, Horizon, having been stationed there after an anonymous tip that the colony would be attacked. He will express disappointment and anger that Shepard did not reach out to him during the two years since he/she was presumed dead and the fact that he/she is now working with Cerberus. Shepard will invite him to join the crew of the new Normandy, but Kaidan refuses, stating he does not trust Cerberus and never will. Following this encounter, he will send Shepard a message at the private terminal apologizing for his harsh words during the exchange only if she is still having a romantic relationship with Kaidan.''Mass Effect 3''
Kaidan will appear in Vancouver at the Alliance base before the Reaper attack. Following the invasion, Kaidan will accompany Lieutenant James Vega and Commander Shepard on a mission to Mars to find Asari information broker and Prothean scientific expert, Liara T'Soni. During the mission, Kaidan is critically injured by a high-tech Cerberus mech and is hospitalized on the Citadel. While recuperating in the hospital, Ambassador Udina makes Kaidan an offer to become a Spectre, which Shepard can encourage him to accept.Shepard can choose to visit Kaidan following each main story mission and during this time the basis for a romance can be either established or re-established. Following a message from the Salarian Councilor to Commander Shepard regarding Councilor Udina's betrayal, Kaidan is assigned to protect the Council, something that pits him against Shepard when he comes to confront Udina. If Kaidan is unable to be convinced that Udina is guilty, either Shepard or one of his squadmates will shoot him. If Kaidan can be convinced, either he or Shepard will shoot Udina. In the aftermath, Shepard can either offer him a spot on the crew to resume a relationship if Shepard is female or start a gay relationship with a male Shepard, or send him to the Alliance to become a war asset.
If Kaidan accompanies Shepard on the final mission to the Conduit in London and the player has not accrued enough war asset points, Kaidan will die. If Kaidan survives and is in a relationship with Shepard, he will place a plaque on the memorial wall on the Normandy. If enough war points are accrued, Shepard will survive and Kaidan will not place the plaque, but instead will smile in reminiscence.
In other media
A fully voice acted version of the apology email Kaidan sent to Shepard following their meeting on Horizon in Mass Effect 2 was released by Raphael Sbarge as a sound file on November 24, 2011. Intended to be a Thanksgiving Day present for Mass Effect fandom, Sbarge said he did not anticipate that the sound file would go viral and that he would receive an overwhelming amount of praise from fans all over the world.Kaidan is the protagonist of the fourth issue of the comic series Mass Effect: Foundation, which retells his time training at BAaT, an experimental group and a forerunner to the System Alliance's biotic training programs in the present day. The conditions at BAaT are depicted as poor, and he and his classmates have been treated badly by a turian instructor named Vyrnnus who is openly racist towards his human students. He falls in love with a girl named Rahna, but the potential for a relationship dissolves after he accidentally kills Vyrnnus in retaliation for breaking Rahna's arm during a training exercise gone wrong. After BAaT is shut down following the fatal accident, Kaidan enlisted with the Alliance Navy, and he is eventually transferred onboard the SSV Normandy.