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| “ | THIS IS AN OUTRAGE! The Council would step in if the geth attacked a turian colony! | „ |
| ~ Udina ranting at the Council. |
Donnel Udina is a major antagonist in the Mass Effect video game trilogy. He is one of Shepard's main archenemies & rivals throughout the three games.
He is the System's Alliance ambassador to the Citadel Council who is determined to ensure the advancement of human interests in the galaxy. However, his desire to appease the Council frequently puts him at odds with Commander Shepard, who's actions he frequently admonishes. Although seeming very focused and human-centric his ruthless determination to put humanity on top is what usually gets the best of him as he shows to be very xenophobic & judgmental towards other species in the galaxy.
He was voiced by Bill Ratner.
Personality[]
Udina is a very cunning, ambitious, power hungry, manipulative, wrathful, intelligent, greedy, xenophobic, malicious, paranoid, dangerous, sadistic, spiteful, intolerant, narcissistic, impatient and a diplomatic man. He is generally pretty ignorant towards Shepard's concerns about the Reapers and dismisses them along with The Council and also grounds The Normandy out of "safety reasons" to prevent Shepard for going after Saren & Sovereign. Udina is extremely hypocritical if you chat with him in-between missions in ME1 saying to Shepard the same things that the The Council says, criticizing his/her methods and giving him/her grief for completing the main objectives whether it was a villainous (renegade) approach or a heroic (paragon) one.
Although showing antagonistic features he does show care at times and uses his time to do something good. For example when the crew first wants to incriminate Saren of being involved with the Geth attack on Eden Prime Udina is willing to convince the Council of going after him and does succeed in so with proper evidence from Tali even telling the Council to send their fleet after him (to which he is denied). In ME3 he does make a request about having a memorial for those who have lost their loved ones to which the Council agrees to and puts in an anonymous approval. He's also shown to be sophisticated, polite, honorable and tactical most of the time but whether or not that is to use that to his own advantage is highly likely.
Udina despite his many flaws does show humanity and goodness in him but more than often his corrupting nature gets the better of him as he eventually submits to cowardice, desperation and prejudice putting the whole Citadel station at risk for his own selfish goals. Udina is also very blameful and petty of others as he constantly likes to diminish Shepard's hard efforts and the work he/she puts into in uniting an entire galaxy.
Biography[]
Mass Effect[]
Udina is the latest Systems Alliance ambassador to the Citadel Council, succeeding Anita Goyle. Like his predecessor, he is determined to gain humanity a place on the Council, sooner rather than later.
Following the attack on Eden Prime by the Geth, Udina is outraged by the Council's lack of response, He blames Commander Shepard for the mission's failure and the Prothean beacon's destruction, declaring that it may have cost humanity a candidacy to the Specters, the Council's elite agents, which he sees as an ideal step towards joining the Council itself.
Following the hearing of Saren Arterius regarding his involvement in the Eden Prime attack, Udina blames the presence of David Anderson for the Council's not guilty verdict, given his and Saren's previous history. He directs Shepard to C-Sec officer Harkin, who he believes may have clues that could lead to exposing Saren. When the commander finds evidence proving Saren's treachery, Udina presents it to the Council and Saren is immediately revoked of his Spectre status. Despite refusing Udina's demand to send to Citadel fleet into the Attican Traverse to hunt down Saren, fearing that such an action could instigate a war with the Terminus Systems, the Council is able to compromise by appointing Shepard as the first human Spectre and tasking them with traveling to the Traverse and apprehending Saren.
As Shepard and their crew travel across the Traverse in their hunt for the rogue Spectre, Udina begins admonishing them for their actions, including the destruction of a major Prothean ruin on Therum, deciding the fate of the Rachni Queen on Noveria, and the fate of the colonists on Feros. Despite this, he admits that what really matters is that Shepard "gets results".
After the mission of Virmire, Udina sides with the Council in preparing for Saren's imminent attack on the Citadel, wanting humanity at the forefront in order to prove their worth to the rest of the Council. When Shepard protests that the Reapers are preparing to invade the galaxy, Udina has the Normandy locked down, agreeing with the Council that the Reapers are a myth that Saren is using to manipulate Shepard.
However, Anderson offers to go against Udina's back and release the Normandy from lockdown, allowing Shepard to chase Saren to Ilos and stop him from finding the Conduit. If the player chooses so, Anderson can knock Udina unconscious and release the lockdown order from the Ambassador's terminal.
Following Sovereign's attack on the Citadel, depending on whether the Council survived or not, Udina will either accept the offer of humanity having a seat on the Council, or form a new council led by humanity; depending on whether Shepard is a Paragon or Renegade, Udina will either have this new Council include the other races with a human chairman at its head, or make it exclusively human. Regardless of the outcome, Shepard can then decide to have either vouch for Udina or Anderson as the human councilor.
Mass Effect 2[]
| “ | Do the words political shit-storm mean anything to you? | „ |
| ~ Udina, upon learning that Anderson organized a meeting with the Council behind his back |
Udina makes a brief appearance during Shepard's meeting with Anderson. Depending on which of them became Councilor, the other will become their political advisor, much to both men's mutual displeasure. If the Council survived the Battle of the Citadel, they will offer to reinstate Shepard's Spectre status regardless of who the human councilor is. If the original council dies, the new one refuses to meet the Commander, and only Anderson will offer Shepard their Spectre status if made councilor. Regardless, Udina proves to be just as unpleasant as he was two years prior, and is annoyed at Anderson for orchestrating a meeting with the council without his knowledge. Despite this, he will forward messages of gratitude from individuals Shepard had assisted in the first game.
Mass Effect 3[]
| “ | They're a bunch of self-concerned jackasses, Shepard! We may have a spot on the Council, but humanity will always be considered second rate! | „ |
| ~ Udina ranting about the Council's inaction |
Udina appears once more in the third game of the original trilogy. If he was made councilor, in the first game, he retains his post; if Anderson was chosen instead, then Udina succeeds him following the former's resignation.
In contrast to Udina's attitude towards Shepard in previous games, the councilor is considerably more helpful towards the commander in their efforts against the Reapers, with the rest of the Council being more interested in solidifying their own defenses over uniting against the threat. With the destruction of Arcturus Station and the death of the Alliance Parliament and Prime Minister, Udina is left the most powerful political leader in the Systems Alliance; using all of his available political channels, he forwards money, resources, and manpower to Admiral Hackett to assist in construction of the Crucible. Additionally, he appoints the Virmire survivor (Ashley Williams or Kaiden Alenko) as the second human Spectre.
As time goes on, however, Udina becomes increasingly desperate as the rest of the Council continues to refuse to send aid to Earth as the Reapers besiege the planet. Eventually, he makes a deal with Cerberus in order to stage a coup on the Citadel, place the other councilors under arrest and grant him emergency powers that would give him control over all Citadel forces, which he would direct towards retaking his homeworld. The salarian councilor realizes that something is amiss after learning that Udina is using his authority to forward vast sums of money for an at that point unknown purposes; the Illusive Man, upon discovering that the coup is compromised, dispatches his top assassins alongside Kai Leng, to assassinate the Council, with a large force of Cerberus troops to hold the station. By the time Shepard arrives on the Citadel to meet with the salarian councilor, the coup is underway, and after finding the salarian councilor and learning of Udina's treachery, the commander rushes to find the the other councilors before Leng can assassinate them. Upon being cornered, Udina denies all accusations; if Leng successfully killed the salarian councilor, he uses edited video footage in an attempt to frame Shepard for the assassination. In the resulting conflict, Udina pulls a gun on the asari councilor, resulting in him being shot and killed by Shepard or the Virmire survivor.
Trivia[]
- It is left ambiguous whether Udina was indoctrinated by the Reapers or acted out of desperation when carrying out his coup attempt. While there is no obvious opportunity for the Reapers to indoctrinate him, his coup and subsequent intention to direct the Citadel Fleet in retaking Earth would have played right into their hands, as the attempt would have undoubtably been a military blunder that the galaxy could ill afford.
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