Thane Krios is a fictional character in BioWare's Mass Effect franchise, who first appeared in Mass Effect 2 as a party member (or "squadmate"). The character is a drell, a race of extraterrestrial reptilian humanoids who form a sociopolitical alliance with the hanar, a sentient species of jellyfish-like entities. Thane Krios is voiced by Keythe Farley in the video game series.
A notorious professional assassin, Thane may be recruited by Shepard in the planet Illium for a "suicide mission" to stop the abduction of human colonists by a mysterious species known as the Collectors. He candidly reveals to Shepard during their first meeting that he is dying of Kepral's Syndrome, a genetic respiratory disease that will ultimately lead to lung failure, but willingly joins the suicide mission. The character also appears in Mass Effect 3, the final game in the trilogy, where his condition has worsened. Thane makes further appearances in two issues of the Mass Effect: Foundation limited comic series, which take place prior to the events of the trilogy.
The character is critically acclaimed and well received by critics and fans, with attention drawn to his complex characterization and as a positive depiction of a character with disabilities and openly religious video game character. Thane has featured prominently in promotional art, demo footage, trailers and advertisements for Mass Effect 2.
Character overview
Thane was raised on the ocean planet of Kahje, the homeworld of the hanar, a species known for their strict adherence to polite speech and proper etiquette. A few centuries before the events of the original Mass Effect trilogy, the hanar evacuated a portion of the drell species from their dying homeworld Rakhana and transported them to Kahje. In gratitude to the hanar for saving them from extinction, the remnants of the drell people pledged their loyalty and service to the hanar as a client race, the two races establishing a symbiotic cultural relationship known as the Compact. The drell are integrated into every level of hanar society and usually assist with many tasks the hanar may find physically difficult to perform even with mechanical aid, such as combat or assassinations. The drell consider their service to the hanar an honor, regardless of the nature of the task. Thane possesses eidetic memory, a genetic trait typical of the drell species. An external stimulus may trigger an involuntary memory recall, which are so vivid and detailed that some drell may mistake it for reality. Thane occasionally loses himself reliving the perfect recall of some of his memories and can describe them in flawless detail.
Thane was first trained by his hanar masters as an assassin since he was six, making his first assassination by the time he reached twelve. To achieve his goals, Thane utilizes a mixture of stealth, firearms, hand-to-hand combat techniques, and biotic powers. He met his wife during an assassination mission when she stepped in front of Thane's target in order to stop him. He decided to settle down with her and left the service of his hanar masters through a voluntary severance of their Compact relationship. Thane's wife was later murdered by mercenaries who were pursuing her husband. This event caused him to abandon their young son Kolyat, a decision that still haunts him. Instead of adopting the hanar worship of the Protheans like some of his brethren, Thane is a devotee of the old polytheistic religion of his species, and spends much of his time in prayer and meditation, even within his work. Thane prays before each mission and asks for forgiveness from his gods after each kill. On the other hand, Thane is unwavering in his determination to separate his moral conscience from the killing he has committed, and that they aren't anything he bears guilt for; according to drell religious teachings, the body and soul are separate, thus the person who hires him bears the guilt as his body is merely their tool. The player can discuss with him in great detail about his beliefs, and may even be invited by Thane to pray with him. Cassidee Moser, writing for Gamesradar, called Thane's prayer to the drell deity Amonkira a summation of his humble and loyal personality.
Thane is a possible romantic interest for a female player character, Commander Shepard in Mass Effect 2. While the relationship itself does not carry forward into Mass Effect 3 due to the conclusion of his story arc, the player has the choice to spend private time with him at the Citadel hospital as his health deteriorates.
Concept and design Thane's writer for Mass Effect 2 was Chris L'Etoile, who left the team prior to the completion of the game's development. One of Thane's dialogue wheel choices as part of his romance subplot event tree has attained notoriety for its awkward dialogue paraphrase, as the game's dialogue choices lacked explicit icons to identify their intent for the player's benefit. Trick Weekes, who was responsible for the character's dialogue paraphrase, attributed it to a combination of a tight development schedule, bug reports, and the constraints of 2000s game development, as team members did not have the benefit of support from downloadable game patches at the time. Weekes' view of Thane's Kepral’s Syndrome is that it is similar to the real-life disease cystic fibrosis. Chris Hepler took over as Thane's writer for Mass Effect 3.
According to art director Derek Watts, Thane was the hardest character to design for Mass Effect 2. BioWare started with a written description of Thane, and wanted to emphasise him as a "career assassin" while keeping him attractive as a possible romantic interest for female players. They asked the women in the office what they "liked" in their aliens. Concept artists began by drawing on lizards and birds-of-paradise for inspiration. It was considered giving Thane's face a "mannequin-like, 'perfect human' appearance", and a red mark was considered as a possible key feature for the character. Feedback was received from the women in the office who found the character "creepy", and as the character was a romantic interest the mannequin-face was decided to be too "off-putting". The team went "back to the drawing board", with Thane later becoming a mix of "aquatic" and "reptilian" characteristics. Thane ultimately went through eight or nine "phases" before his design was finalised. The character was originally intended to have three metal earrings on the sides of his head, but the developers forgot to include this in his model.
Once his face had been set, BioWare began work on Thane's body, which Watts recalls as a less "exhausting" experience than designing Thane's head. Debates were had over whether Thane should wear tight assassin-appropriate clothing or a loose jacket that evoked the feeling of a professional. Early on, the developers tried to remove his jacket over animation concerns. However, these attempts were considered to ruin his whole design. His "balaclava-style" helmets tried to reflect his criminal background by imitating ski masks. Artists experimented with jewellery. The Thane in-game solely has a necklace.
Joe Skrebels from IGN was of the opinion that Thane's final appearance bears a resemblance to Abe Sapien from the Hellboy series.
Appearances Thane is first encountered on the regional asari hub world Illium, where he had been based for the past two years planning the assassinate an asari named Nassana Dantius. He joins Shepard on a pro bono basis following his successful assassination of Dantius, stating that he has nothing left to lose, and he hopes to right many wrongs he has found in the galaxy before his death. Thane's story revolves around his son, Kolyat, and his desire to rescue him from a life of crime. Shepard and team must travel to the Citadel to stop Kolyat from following in his father's footsteps and taking up the career of assassination. Kolyat's contracted target is a racist turian politician who extorts human rackets while promising to reduce crime in the Citadel Wards. After the mission is completed, Thane will talk to his son and attempts to make things right with him; Thane will then become a loyal member of Shepard's team.
If the player pursues a relationship with Thane, he will tell Shepard that he has not talked of his past to anyone until he met her, and that she is "very kind." As the relationship progresses, Thane will open up his feelings for Shepard and call her "siha", one of the angels in Drell religion. Before the suicide mission, Thane will go up to Shepard's cabin and tell her that before he was diagnosed with his disease, he had no fear of death. But now that he has met Shepard, he is afraid of death and does not want to die. Thane begins to shed tears, but Shepard comforts him, and the two spend the night together.
Thane returns in Mass Effect 3 provided he survived the events of Mass Effect 2. Thane appears in the hospital on the Citadel, and tells Shepard he is now in the terminal stages of his illness and cannot join Shepard in the fight against the Reapers. Later on in the game Cerberus attacks the Citadel and Thane, if he was interacted with beforehand, assists Shepard in thwarting an assassination attempt on the salarian Councilor and is stabbed by assassin Kai Leng whom escapes. If neither Thane nor Kirrahe (who may serve as Thane's placeholder in the story arc) are alive, Kai Leng will be successful in his assassinating the salarian Councilor.
After the remaining Cerberus forces have been routed, Shepard visits Thane in the hospital where doctors tell Shepard that due to his blood loss and his illness is in the final stages, there is nothing else they can do but to comfort him during his final moments. If Thane has reconciled with Kolyat in Mass Effect 2, he will be present by his father's deathbed, and Thane asks him and Shepard to recite a prayer. As Kolyat and Shepard recite the prayer, Thane passes away. Kolyat will reveal that Thane's prayer was not meant for himself, but for Shepard. Thane's name will be added to the Normandy SR-2's memorial wall on the Crew Deck area after his death in either Mass Effect 2 or 3, alongside other crew members who have fallen.
In the Mass Effect 3: Citadel DLC, Shepard may hold a memorial service for Thane at their apartment. Following the service, Shepard could also view some video recordings made by Thane addressed to Shepard. If romanced, Shepard will talk to Thane in their mind one last time.
Critical reception Thane's critical reception has been very positive. The character won the award for IGN's best Xbox 360 character of 2010; IGN called him "easily the most fully realized character in the supporting cast" of Mass Effect 2. Writing for GameZone, Dakota Grabowski listed Thane as the fifth best BioWare companion. Grabowski praised the character's design as well as how much was how parts of him were "open for interpretation". IGN's Steven Hopper listed him as the sixth best Mass Effect companion, saying he had "one of the most engaging story arcs" in Mass Effect 2 and crediting his complexity. GRY Online included Thane in their list of the best assassins in video games in a 2015 article. PC Gamer staff ranked him the fifth best Mass Effect companion in a 2016 article. Tom Marks remarked the internal conflict present in Thane makes him compelling as a sidekick, calling him the "personification of Shepard’s own Paragon and Renegade choices, and is the literal representation of their team marching slowly toward almost certain death". He also praised Thane's "gravelly voice", while another staff member rated the character for his perceived sex appeal. Ben Griffins said Thane is one of his favourite BioWare companions, and that everything about the character is "fascinating" to him. However, Tim Clark dislikes Thane and called him "just a big green cloud of glum".