In issue 12 of Mass Effect: Foundation, we are once again following Thane Krios. There will be spoilers for Mass Effect 2 and this issue, since everything Thane talks about in the game, he mentions in this comic. However, before that, there is one page of Rasa putting together Thane’s dossier. Over that the Illusive Man and Miranda are discussing Rasa and the problem she is becoming. The Illusive Man says that they’ve put a lot of effort into Rasa, but if she’s now a liability, it’s time to “cut their losses”. That doesn’t sound good for Rasa.
Note: This recap may contain spoilers!
The issue then shifts focus to Thane, in a very interesting way. It’s a mix of flashback and “voice over”. After you recruit Thane in ME2, you can ask him about his life and family. He tells you that his wife stepped in front of his assassin’s bullet and it changed him. Then later she was killed because of his job and he left his son to find her murderer. All of that is in here, but with more added. Thane was so overcome with emotions because Irikah stepped in his way that he followed her and eventually saved her. He then asked Irikah to save him.
Eventually, the two fell deeply in love and Thane left the Hanar that trained him. He didn’t want to be an assassin anymore. However, despite being deeply in love with his wife and son, Thane does not adjust to “normal” life as well as he had hoped. He goes back to what he was trained to do, but this has disastrous consequences for his family. With his wife dead, Thane leaves his son and goes after the men who killed her. After that, he once again begins a life of killing before meeting up with Shepard.
This issue, like the rest in the series, neatly ties everything together. The title of Foundation is very apt, since these comics build upon the world which we already know and love. I love that it expands upon things mentioned in passing to long conversations Shepard has with their companions. It’ll be interesting to see what the Illusive Man does about Rasa since she isn’t seen in ME2. I don’t know if the Illusive Man would want to kill someone he put a lot of effort into, but he didn’t seem to mind trying to kill Shepard.
