In the Mass Effect games, it may be Commander Shepard who saves the day, but it's Joker the pilot who flies the Commander into the heart of the action. Without him, the galaxy would be lost.

Jeff "Joker" Moreau is an Alliance Navy pilot and one of the first characters to appear in the games. From the very start, his practical, anti-establishment way of thinking makes itself clear, and he has a rogueish worldview that once made him sympathetic to Cerberus. He is also at the forefront of human-robot relations, developing feelings for EDI (an AI) that go far beyond what duty calls for.

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The Rising Star

Jeff didn't have a particularly tragic childhood, nor was he born into greatness. Instead, he grew up on Arcturus Station, the massive space station that was once the pinnacle of human engineering. His mother was a civil engineer there, and thus Joker watched ships flying during his childhood. It was only natural that he enlisted with the Alliance Navy, and not even his health condition could stop him. He was born with a moderate to severe case of Vrolik's Syndrome, meaning he has brittle and practically hollow legs. Becoming an athlete or a soldier was out of the question, but he could certainly sit down and fly a ship. Driven and focused, Jeff rejected his classmates and threw himself into his training, rapidly establishing himself as the academy's top student. He actually surpassed the instructors in technical skill, and easily graduated at the top of his class.

Joker went on to become the Alliance's top pilot, at least in his own mind (and it may very well be fact), but he didn't become a part of history until he became the Normandy's pilot. It was he who flew Shepard and Nihlus onto Eden Prime to investigate the attack there, and once Shepard became the Normandy's new captain, Joker became Shepard's staunch ally and friend, putting his loyalty to Shepard above all else. In a way, he becomes a mouthpiece for the entire crew's loyalty to the Commander. With great skill and stealth, he flew Shepard's team in and out of many perils on the hunt for Saren, from Therum's exploding volcanoes to fighting the Geth on Ilos. Most of all, it was Joker who delivered the final blow that destroyed Sovereign.

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Forging His Own Path

Joker was ready to die with the Normandy when the Collector ship ambushed it, but Shepard saved his life at great cost. The Alliance downplayed Shepard's death and the true nature of Sovereign, and Joker and the rest of the crew felt abandoned, even betrayed. He willingly joined the shady but proactive Cerberus, and was assigned to fly the Normandy-SR2 in time for Commander Shepard to return to life.

Joker is now loyal exclusively to Commander Shepard. His ties with the Alliance are severed, and he will work with the Illusive Man, but not for him. During this time, Joker met EDI, an advanced AI that was meant to help him run this more advanced ship. Joker objected at first, but after he and EDI survived many perils together, including a Collector boarding party, Joker came to trust and rely on EDI, and began to think of EDI as a "she" rather than an "it." This fact was not lost on the Commander.

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Once the Alliance welcomed Shepard back on the eve of the Reaper invasion, Joker was assigned to fly the Normandy once again with Alliance oversight. By this time, his relationship with EDI was a friendship at the very least and had the potential to become more. They shared spaceflight and humor as common interests, and each of them approached Shepard with relationship advice. Both of them were nervous and unsure if this really counts as love. It's the classic sci-fi philosophical question "can machines feel?" and Commander Shepard may either say no or stick up for true love.

If so desired, Shepard can bring EDI and Joker together and prove love knows no creed, color or even species, and Joker and EDI forge ahead with trepidation but also excitement. It's a brave new world in interpersonal relationships, and Joker isn't afraid to share his heart with a machine that may be much more than the sum of its parts.

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