talldarkbishoujo:

Okay, I was just gonna post screenshots but apparently this is now Suicide Mission mini-meta night, lol.

Jacob…I put him in charge of my Fire Squad every single time. Not because I hate Miri or even dislike her (Garrus wasn’t/isn’t an option ever because Garrus is Always By My Side, he is my Lancer forever and ever and I only leave him on the Normandy when the game makes me). But because it has more meaning to me to let Jacob do it.

Here’s a guy who, on a squad full of powerful biotics, badass alien vigilantes and mercs, etc., is thoroughly and utterly normal. He plays second banana to Miranda, the Genetically Perfect project director. His backstory isn’t especially angsty as compared to some of the others, and his role in the story is pretty much as the Only Sane Man, it’s even stated as such in-universe. To Imani, he’s as much a life raft as Garrus is, though Garrus does eclipse him in that role when he shows up if only because of the deep history he has with her. But Jacob is the only one out of the Cerberus lot that Imani really trusts. Even Miri, whom she came to trust eventually, was kept at relative arm’s length. Not Jacob. Jacob’s her brother from another mother, in my headcanon. Jacob “ushered her in” to this new world she woke up to and treated her like a human being, not as an experiment or a tool or a symbol. It really is a familial relationship they have, which is why I couldn’t romance him.

Speaking of family…in any other game, I would be side-eyeing the shit out of Ronald Taylor’s story (black man who’s a terrible/absent father, turns into a complete fucking monster if given the slightest amount of power) but in ME we’re given characters like David Anderson so it’s not like we’re lacking for decent black male representation in the ‘verse. And for Jacob it serves to make his own story arc that much more poignant to me, because it shows that he’s twice the man his father ever was. Quietly, and without fanfare, Jacob Gets Shit Done. Jacob to me represents quiet strength, and despite his past heroics, he’s never really had a chance to prove what he’s made of. And on some level, despite the fact that he swears he’s not letting it affect him, I can’t imagine that some small part of him didn’t internalize what happened with his father and the Hugo Gernsback. Even his statement about Miri (she needs a better man than him) makes me think he feels some amount of inadequacy about his capabilities.

Which is why putting him in charge of the Fire Squad made me feel so good. If there is one solitary thing that Paragon Shep is really good at, it’s seeing the worth in people who may not even see it in themselves sometimes. Imani trusts Garrus with her life, more than any other person alive; he was there for her on Vimire, Ilos, and the final showdown with Saren. But when it comes to her team, her people—she trusts their lives to Jacob, for a reason. And he sure the fuck didn’t let her or anyone else down. He was the leader he was born to be.

I love this person