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Strength for Cerberus is strength for every human! Cerberus is humanity!
~ The Illusive Man justifying Cerberus and their goals

Cerberus is a human supremacist paramilitary organization in the Mass Effect series headed by the Illusive Man. While declaring themselves as being dedicated to the defense and advancement of human interests on the galactic stage, their true goal is establishing human supremacy over the other races in the Milky Way. Cerberus is designated a terrorist organization by the Citadel Council and Systems Alliance due to its multiple violent and xenophobic acts, though not everyone in the organization is malevolent in this way.

The organization served as minor antagonists in Mass Effect, the anti-heroic secondary antagonists in Mass Effect 2 and major antagonists in Mass Effect 3. Overall, the entire group serves as the secondary antagonists of the series.

History[]

According to Rear Admiral Kahoku, with information he purchased from the Shadow Broker, Cerberus started out as a Systems Alliance black ops group, having complete access to Alliance activities. However, the group went rogue and broke away from the Alliance, conducting unethical experiments in an attempt to create super soldiers. In reality, the origins of the organization can be traced to the First Contact War. It was founded by mercenary Jack Harper, who was hired by the Systems Alliance to fight against the turians. During this time, he and his partners, Ben Hislop and Eva Coré, discovered a conspiracy led by turian general Desolas Arterius to transform the turians into super soldiers using an ancient alien artifact. While they managed to thwart the general's plan with the help of his brother Saren, Hislop and Coré lost their lives in the process. This made Harper realize that, while possessing knowledge and wealth, the galaxy was a dangerous place and humanity was about to enter dark times. As such, he released a manifesto calling for an army, a "Cerberus", to protect humanity from any threat beyond the Charon Relay, declaring that an alien attempt at human genocide was an inevitability. The manifesto was derided as "survivalist rhetoric written by an illusive man", and quickly fell off the media radar.

However, in 2165, terrorists raided the SSV Geneva and stole antimatter; the sole figure arrested during the incident named his sponsor "Cerberus". From there, the organization continued to expand, gaining funding via a series of front companies and private backers, while also experiencing an increase in recruitment and conducting savage experiments on human and alien subjects, among other acts of terrorism.

In Mass Effect, Commander Shepard can disrupt Cerberus operations and may discover that the organization may be indirectly (and in some cases directly) involved in some side missions. Apart from this, the organization serves no purpose in the main story.

In Mass Effect 2, Cerberus uses its resources to fund the Lazarus Project to bring Commander Shepard back to life after he/she was killed by the Collectors. The project was headed by Miranda Lawson, one of Cerberus' top operatives. Once Shepard was revived, the Illusive Man explains that the reason Cerberus brought him/her back to life was that human colonies have been disappearing. The Citadel Council refuses to investigate, but Cerberus is the only organization willing to take action. During the game, Shepard can discover more unethical experiments done by Cerberus, such as their research on Pragia (though they claim this was a cell that had "gone rogue") and Project Overlord. However, it is here that Shepard is also introduced to members of Cerberus (such as Miranda, Jacob Taylor, Kelly Chambers and others), who are well-intention and pro-human and have joined to advance human interests and help humanity succeed on a galactic stage (rather than being anti-alien, sadistic murderers, power-hungry extremists or raging xenophobes that most other members of Cerberus are).

In Mass Effect 3, Cerberus searches for a way to take control of the Reapers in order to establish and secure human dominance in the galaxy. The organization goes on a dramatic turn by going down a darker path, even worse than being a paramilitary terrorist-labeled organization. A moderate number of Cerberus employees see this early, including Miranda, Jacob, Kelly and some Cerberus scientists, are able to leave the organization as their methods grew more extreme. Cerberus goes as far to use Reaper technology to indoctrinate war refugees and create soldiers loyal to the Illusive Man, quickly creating a sizable army by the time of the game's beginning. With this, almost every soldier and personnel in Cerberus is indoctrinated. Unlike Reaper troops, these Cerberus operatives retain their higher cognitive functions instead of being reduced to feral behavior, becoming completely loyal the organization and its cause; while the indoctrination process leaves them susceptible to the Reapers' influence, the Illusive Man was confidant that he would be able to retain control.

Shepard first encounters Cerberus on Mars, looking for data on a Prothean super weapon. Shepard is able to stop them and acquire the data on the weapon, which the Alliance begins constructing in order to destroy the Reapers. Throughout the game, Cerberus attempts to undermine Alliance operations and Shepard's mission to unite the galaxy against the Reapers. Eventually, an attack is launched on Cerberus headquarters by the Alliance Navy, effectively destroying the organization. Later, the Illusive Man dies onboard the Citadel, putting a definite end to Cerberus.

Trivia[]

  • As a security measure, the Illusive Man does not allow the different Cerberus cells to share information with one another or know much of anything about them beyond that they exist. This explains why many members of Cerberus are ignorant to the atrocities the organization as a whole have committed.
  • As a power-hungry terrorist organization with large resources and advanced equipment that is extremely widespread and also named after a monster from Greek Mythology, they are similar to the group HYDRA from Marvel Comics.
    • Likewise, their predominantly white and black color scheme, being in a space setting, pronounced hatred of non-humans, power-lust, ruthlessness, and having many sympathetic members who are delusional about the organization's malevolence and ignorant to their atrocities, are all strikingly similar to the Galactic Empire from Star Wars. And like the Empire, they have many defectors.
  • The name "Cerberus" comes from Greek mythology, where Cerberus is the three-headed dog that guards the gates of Hades. In-universe, the organization's name comes from Jack Harper's manifesto detailing the need for humanity to have a "Cerberus" to guard it from the aliens beyond the Charon Relay (Charon is the ferryman in Greek mythology in charge of ferrying souls to Hades).
    • The name of one Cerberus front corporation, Haribon Military Industries, may be derived from a local name for the national bird of the Philippines.
  • The PC version of Mass Effect adds equipment produced by the Cerberus Skunkworks, although they are only obtainable through the console.
  • The Mass Effect 3: Rebellion Pack adds Cerberus defectors Project Phoenix Adept and Project Phoenix Vanguard from Project Phoenix as playable characters in multiplayer.
  • The Mass Effect 3: Retaliation DLC pack adds the Dragoon to the Cerberus forces in multiplayer.
  • The Shadow Broker has a dossier on Cerberus that can be accessed aboard the Shadow Broker's ship.

External Links[]

Navigation[]

           Masseffect logo Villains

Reapers and Servants
Sovereign | Harbinger | Human-Reaper Larvae | Saren Arterius | Matriarch Benezia | Collector General | Husks | Collectors

Cerberus
Illusive Man | Renegade Commander Shepard | Kai Leng | Oleg Petrovsky | Henry Lawson | Maya Brooks | Gavin Archer

Corrupt Party Members
Jack | Morinth

Villainous Organizations and Species
CAT6 | Geth | The Citadel Council | The Blood Pack | The Blue Suns | The Eclipse | The Archon

Mercenaries and other Criminals
Aria T'Loak | Captain Enyala | Clone | Doctor Saleon | Garm | Golo'Mekk vas Usela | Harkin | Jaroth | Jedore | Ka'hairal Balak | Nassana Dantius | Shadow Broker | Tarak | Tela Vasir | Vido Santiago | Warden Kuril

Other Villains
The Catalyst | Admiral Daro'Xen | Admiral Han'Gerrel vas Neema | Clan Chief Weyrloc Guld | Dalatrass Linron | Gatatog Uvenk | Maelon Heplorn | Ronald Taylor | Thorian | Urdnot Wreav

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