Geth

Geth Servant of the People
Mass Effect race
A regular geth engineer as it appears in Mass Effect 3's multiplayer mode.
First appearance	Mass Effect: Revelation (2007)
Created by	BioWare
In-universe information
Home world	Rannoch
Sub-races	Geth troopers, geth armatures, geth colossi, geth flyer, geth drones, geth heavy drones
Notable members	Legion

The geth are a fictional extraterrestrial robotic species in the Mass Effect multimedia franchise developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts. Originally introduced in the 2007 tie-in novel Mass Effect Revelation, the geth are a synthetic race of networked artificial intelligences whose overall intelligence increases when operating in proximity of one another. The geth went through several design iterations before their final appearance was selected, with the art team drawing inspiration from insects and quarian environmental suits. Most geth are of humanoid shape; however some are quadruped or aerial. The geth play an important role in the Mass Effect universe as the main enemy the player encounters in Mass Effect. In Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3, the geth appear as situational enemies or allies, and players gain an inside perspective on them through Legion.

The geth are portrayed as a synthetic species which was designed by the quarians as a tool of labor and war. In the fictional quarian language, Khelish, the word "geth" means "servant of the people". As the quarians realized the geth were becoming self-aware, they attempted to destroy them, leading to an armed conflict known as the Morning War. This war serves as the background for both the geth and the quarians, culminating in the near-annihilation of the quarian population. In its aftermath, the surviving quarians were forced out of their home world, Rannoch, and now nomadically wander space.

The geth have attracted significant commentary, often ranking high in multiple "top species" lists in the Mass Effect franchise. Critics and scholars have analyzed them through various philosophical, theological, and sociopolitical lenses to explore themes of artificial intelligence, labor struggles and post-colonialism, examining the ethical implications of synthetic life.

The geth design underwent several iterations before the final design was selected by the Mass Effect art team. According to the game's bonus disc, early concepts depicted the geth as organic-synthetic hybrids similar to the concept behind Bishop from Aliens. Thus, the art team initially followed similar design principles to the ones used for other organic Mass Effect races. At one stage of development, the geth were envisioned as human skeletal figures composed of a plastic muscle-like material. This concept was ultimately rejected, as the designers wanted the geth to resemble quarians and not humans. Other iterations included a machine form composed primarily of multiple tube-like structures with multiple eyes on its head, and a cyborg featuring dolphin-like skin.^[1][2]

For the final design the art team opted for a more mechanical approach, trying to make them stand out from synthetic enemies in other science-fiction universes. Their head design was originally envisioned for the geth armature, a specific quadrupedal geth enemy. This design also featured a protruding chest, inspired by the anatomy of some animal species such as pigeons. Elements from earlier iterations were kept, previous designs were maintained, including the aforementioned tube-like elements, which are integrated into the back of the final version. This appearance was also intended to closely resemble quarian environmental suits, highlighting the fact that the geth had been modelled after their creators.^[1][2]

In designing geth technology, the art team drew inspiration from insects. Geth spacecraft feature a set of legs that make them resemble giant metallic insects. These leg-like structures were made to mimic a fly rubbing its legs together. Due to the abundance of geth enemies in the first Mass Effect, the species was designed with a wide array of weapons and platforms. The geth were originally intended to be sidelined for the next entries in the series, but they were ultimately kept due to their positive reception in the first Mass Effect. For a quest in Mass Effect 3 that takes place in Rannoch, the quarian home world, the art team was inspired by the industrial style of Lloyd's building in London's main financial district to show that the geth had kept it in a pristine and ordered state whilst they remained on the planet.^[2][3]

The geth were designed with a variety of shapes and sizes, with several different types present throughout the trilogy. In addition to the standard humanoid geth trooper, a number of specialized units are encountered throughout the franchise.^[4]

• Geth armature and geth colossus: Geth armatures are massive quadruped geth units equipped with heavy weapons and shields designed by the art team to provide the player with a large and dangerous enemy to fight against. According to the Mass Effect codex, an in-game compilation of lore, they are "quadruped all-terrain heavy weapons platforms", highlighting their similarity to modern armored vehicles. It was originally planned for a mounted turret to be present on their heads, but it was removed to allow for multi-directional aiming. An even larger version was also designed, the geth colossus.^[4][5][6]
• Geth drone, geth heavy drone and geth flyer: The geth drones and heavy drones were designed by the art team to bear a similarity to the standard geth while providing a fast-moving enemy for the player to contend with. The geth flyer was designed to serve as an aerial platform for geth troopers, although it would ultimately only be used by Saren Arterius, the primary villain of the first Mass Effect game.^[6]

Within the Mass Effect universe, the geth are presented as networked artificial intelligences that lack any inherent connection to their physical body. The different bipedal or quadrupedal forms encountered throughout the series act as interchangeable "mobile platforms" that one or multiple geth programs can upload themselves to.^[7] Individual geth programs are depicted as possessing minimal processing power, sufficient only for executing and interpreting their most basic motor functions and sensory inputs. However, the networked artificial intelligence mentioned above allows them to connect with each other and cooperate and allocate part of their processing power toward more complex reasoning and tasks.^[8] The series' narrative depicts the geth as operating within a collective consciousness in which each geth program has the ability to share data and experiences with others, and as a result function as a singular, unified entity.^[9]

The existence of geth culture is a point of debate in the Mass Effect lore, as an individual geth program is depicted to only possess a rudimentary, animal-like intelligence. However, when in proximity to other programs, their networked processing power allows them to employ advanced behaviors like tactical planning, strategizing and situational analysis. Whether this networked intelligence results in each geth program having individual "personalities" remains a point of ambiguity within the narrative.^[9][10][11]

Throughout the games, geth society is organized around the principle of consensus. Instead of acting as individuals, geth programs are in constant communication and decisions are only reached through unified agreement across their network, rather than through independent action.^[11]

Within the series' backstory, the geth were created by the quarians as a tool of labor and war around 300 years prior to the first Mass Effect, modelled after their creators. The term "geth" means "servant of the people" in the fictional Khelish language, the quarian native tongue. Initially the geth were not intended to develop true intelligence, as safeguards had been implemented by the quarians to guarantee their non-sentience. However, as the quarians became more reliant on them, their networked processes made them become exponentially more intelligent, eventually being used as a means to gain self-awareness.^[11][12]

The species' background history centers on a conflict triggered when the geth began to question their own existence, reaching the point of inquiring whether they possessed a soul or not. The quarians interpreted this behavior as a malfunction and demanded the deactivation of all geth programs. The geth, who had intended no initial harm on their creators, fought back in self-defense and triggered a galactic conflict known as "the Morning War" or "the Geth War".^[11][12][13] This event, which ended with the death of most of the quarian population, serves as an element of the game's worldbuilding, explaining the quarian exile from their home planet of Rannoch into the Migrant Fleet, a massive flotilla of salvaged second-hand ships of varying shapes and sizes that nomadically wanders space.^[11][13]

Following the end of the war, the geth are depicted as isolationists, remaining silently on the quarian home world despite the expectation of a large-scale attack on the other species in the galaxy. This backstory functions as the main justification for the Citadel Council, the main governing body in Citadel Space, to enact a series of laws and regulations effectively banning the creation of self-conscious artificial intelligences.^[11][13]

The geth were first introduced in the tie-in novel Mass Effect: Revelation, where they are described as a networked synthetic race that had been created by the quarians and that had ultimately rebelled against their creators.^[14]

In the original Mass Effect, the geth are presented as the primary antagonistic force that Shepard, the game's protagonist, encounters.^[15] The game's narrative begins with a geth attack on the human colony of Eden Prime, where Shepard first encounters them and Saren Arterius, a rogue turian SPECTRE, an intergalactic intelligence group with almost no limitations imposed on their actions. Influenced by the reaper Sovereign, Saren leads the geth to attack multiple planets. As the story progresses, Shepard collaborates with the salarian military to prevent Saren and the geth from establishing a large-scale krogan army.^[16][11] The game also allows the player to examine the geth-quarian conflict from a quarian perspective through Tali'Zorah, a squadmate who can accompany Shepard on missions.^[11]

At the start of Mass Effect 2, the geth secluded themselves in Geth Space, the galactic sector where both them and the quarians originated.^[11] Toward the conclusion of the game, Shepard meets Legion, a gestalt consciousness composed of a collective of networked artificial intelligences that serve as the series' first geth squadmate if reactivated. It is then disclosed that only a subset of the geth, known as "the heretics" had followed Saren Arterius' orders and allied with the Reapers in return for a Reaper body that all geth could upload themselves to. The remainder, known as "the true geth", declined Sovereign's offer, deciding instead to start building a megastructure akin to a dyson sphere.^[11][17] During Legion's loyalty mission, a specialized side-quest that Shepard has to complete in order to gain each squadmate's loyalty, Shepard must decide whether to rewrite "the heretics"' code and force them to rejoin the "true geth" or destroy them entirely.^[11][17][18]

In the paid downloadable content Mass Effect 2: Overlord, the human-supremacist group Cerberus attempts to gain control of the geth by connecting a human test subject to a virtual intelligence, an advanced user interface software designed to simulate natural conversation, with Shepard ultimately faced with a decision regarding the test subject's fate.^[19]

In Mass Effect 3, Shepard must unite the galaxy's various species to fight off the ongoing Reaper invasion. During the course of the narrative, Shepard seeks to recruit the quarians to support the war effort. In spite of the larger threat posed by the Reaper invasion, the quarians launch a full invasion of their home world, forcing the geth to ally themselves with the Reapers. While boarding a geth dreadnought, Shepard either encounters Legion or, if Legion died or was never activated in Mass Effect 2, a replacement geth virtual intelligence program. Whoever Shepard may encounter then reveals that the geth code had been modified by the Reapers to make them more intelligent and organic in nature, thus making each geth program an independent consciousness. They then affirm that the geth had no interest in restarting the geth-quarian conflict and that peace may still be possible. The outcome of this conflict is dependent on player choice regarding decisions involving Tali'Zorah, Legion and the interactions between them and their respective species. The narrative concludes with Shepard either supporting the quarians, siding with the geth, or brokering a peace deal. If a peace agreement is reached or Shepard allies with the geth, the Reaper enhancements to the geth code are retained while their alliance with them is severed. If the player otherwise decides to support the quarians, the entirety of the geth race is destroyed.^[11][20]

During a side-quest that must be done before the end of the conflict, Shepard enters the geth consensus and gains an insight into the Morning War and the geth-quarian conflict from the geth point of view, showing that not all quarians had agreed with the start of the conflict.^[11]

The geth do not make a physical appearance in Mass Effect: Andromeda, but they play an indirect role in its backstory. They are responsible for the discovery of "Golden Worlds", a group of presumably habitable planets within the fictional Heleus Cluster of the Andromeda Galaxy. To achieve this, the geth built a faster-than-light telescope from three mass effect relays, a set of Reaper-built massive space installations that allow spaceships to slingshot themselves from one to another through a corridor of massless space.^[8]

On November 7, 2021, a date celebrated by BioWare and the Mass Effect fandom as the official Mass Effect day, BioWare released a piece of concept art for the next installment in the series. The image depicted a massive crater whose shape closely resembled that of a geth.^[21]

On the same date in 2022, BioWare released a short video in which Liara T'Soni appears to be engaged in a conversation with a geth.^[22]

The geth have been the subject of critical attention within the Mass Effect franchise, featuring in multiple ranked lists of the franchise's species and villains. Shubhankar Parijat of GamingBolt ranked them #3 on his list of the best alien races in the franchise, emphasizing their distinctiveness and the intriguing concept they represent.^[23] Similarly, Sean Murray of TheGamer placed the geth at #4, noting the formidable power and complexity they gain from being a networked artificial intelligence.^[24] The geth were ranked #48 in IGN's list of the 100 best video game villains, noting them as an example of "man's most fearsome technological nightmare" and emphasizing their ambush tactics.^[4] Jakub Mirowski of GamePressure, in his list of enemies he regretted killing, reflected on the emotional impact of fighting the geth, stating that it was difficult to feel satisfaction in defeating them once it became clear they were on the verge of true sentience, capable of noble acts and profound sacrifices. Mirowski also pointed out how the geth’s exploitation by the Reapers, so soon after their struggle for autonomy, evoked a surprising sense of compassion.^[15] Shayna Josi of Game Rant underlined the geth as one of the most interesting AI's in science fiction. Josi argued that the discarded squadmate concept of the 'Geth Frankenstein' could be an interesting one to explore in the next Mass Effect game.^[25] Matthew Byrd of Den of Geek highlighted the parallels between the geth and other synthetic species found in science fiction. He noted that their networked AI "hivemind" is reminiscent of the Borg from Star Trek, while their design and philosophy draw clear comparisons to the Cylons from Battlestar Galactica.^[26] Eric Emin Wood invoked the geth in his critique of Hanson Robotics, arguing that when an AI reaches a certain intellectual milestone, it should be considered a new form of life.^[27] Tyler Fischer of ComicBook.com discussed how the geth could play a role in bringing back Commander Shepard in the next Mass Effect game.^[28]

The geth-quarian conflict has also been spotlighted: Carlos Morales of IGN Southeast Asia called it one of the most iconic confrontations in the franchise, essential for inclusion in Amazon's planned TV adaptation,^[29] while András Neltz of Kotaku emphasized it as one of the most significant player decisions in the entire Mass Effect trilogy.^[30]

The geth have been analyzed by multiple sources. In a scholarly e-book published by BRILL, Thomas Faller compared the geth to René Descartes' cogito ergo sum, a philosophical notion that once an individual becomes self-conscious, it gains the ability to form connections and affirm its own existence. Faller also compared the geth to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics.^[9] David Callahan of the University of Aveiro analyzed the complexity of the decision to rewrite or destroy the geth heretics in Mass Effect 2, drawing an analogy between the choice that the player has to make to alter a species' destiny to "what settler-invader peoples did, and are still doing, to Indigenous peoples".^[31] Kelly I. Aliano drew comparisons between the geth and theories of posthumanism and a potential "robot revolution", arguing that although such a revolution is not imminent, its implications continue to resonate with our increasingly technology-mediated human lives.^[32]

Geth-quarian relationships have also been analyzed by multiple sources. In a scholarly e-book published by BRILL, Vanessa Erat analyzed geth-quarian relationships from a post-colonialist and cultural point of view. Erat compared geth-quarian relationships to the writings of MUD's creator Richard Bartle and Cow Clicker's creator and Washington University professor Ian Bogost, reaching the conclusion that "the truly powerful thing that video games can do is to create empathy with the vulnerable".^[12] Kieran Wilson examined their relationships from a narrative perspective, arguing that they exemplify a stratified-narrative model of game storytelling.^[33] Olof Persson analyzed quarian and geth relationships, debating whether organic beings should or shouldn't respect the interests of synthetic life, stating that "it could be argued that quarians are indeed entitled to their planet, and possibly even to ownership of the geth". Persson also compared geth-quarian relationships to the philosophical thought of Australian philosopher Peter Singer.^[13] In a scholarly paper written for RSIS International, Mohd Hafriz Bin Abdul Hamid and Izlin Binti Mohamad Ghazali of MARA Technological University drew comparisons between the Geth-Quarian conflict and transhumanism to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, suggesting that the geth mirrored certain aspects of Israeli statehood.^[34] Dr. Dries de Groot of Radboud University highlighted the similarities between the geth uprising and concerns regarding the rise of a mechanical force and its plausible effects on the labor force expressed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the Communist Manifesto.^[11]

The geth have been analyzed from an aspect of philosophy and theology by multiple sources. Jordan Webber and Daniel Griliopoulos analyzed the geth within the context of the philosophy of Hilary Putnam's functionalism, also using them as a warning about the possible dangers of AI.^[17] In Technology and Theology, Erin Archer examines the question of whether the geth possess souls through the philosophical frameworks of Origen of Alexandria and Thomas Aquinas. Archer also examines the geth's capacity for conscious free will, arguing that unlike HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey, whose fear may be caused by its programming, the geth have the capacity to make independent choices. Archer states that, if the geth hadn't had free will, they would have all either followed Saren or rejected him.^[35]