Companion Loyalty

Ensuring the loyalty of your squadmates is paramount in Mass Effect 2, especially if you aim to bring everyone through the Suicide Mission alive. A loyal squadmate gains a powerful new ability and significantly increases their chances of survival during the final assault on the Collector Base. This guide outlines the specific steps for each companion's loyalty mission, along with crucial considerations.

General Loyalty Mission Principles

Availability: Loyalty missions typically become available after completing a companion's recruitment mission and having a brief conversation with them on the Normandy. They will usually approach you or appear with a new dialogue option indicating their personal struggle.
Prerequisites: Some loyalty missions have soft prerequisites, such as needing to advance the main story or recruit other squadmates before they trigger.
Paragon/Renegade Interrupts: Many loyalty missions feature critical Paragon or Renegade interrupts. Successfully executing these can often lead to a more favorable outcome, or at least a more efficient resolution.
Squadmate Conflicts: Be aware that certain loyalty missions, particularly those involving Miranda/Jack and Tali/Legion, can lead to conflicts that require high Paragon or Renegade scores to resolve peacefully and maintain both squadmates' loyalty.

Individual Loyalty Missions Walkthrough

Jacob Taylor: The Gift of Forgiveness

Jacob's loyalty mission, "Jacob: The Gift of Forgiveness," becomes available after a few conversations with him on the Normandy. He'll express concern about his father, who was stranded on a uncharted planet years ago.

Trigger: Speak with Jacob on the Normandy after completing his recruitment.
Location: The planet 2175 Aeia in the Asgard system of the Dakota Nebula.
Objective: Investigate the crash site of the Hugo Gernsback and confront Jacob's father.
Key Choices: You'll need to decide the fate of Jacob's father. A Paragon choice involves turning him over to the Alliance, while a Renegade choice might involve leaving him to his own devices or a more direct resolution. Either path can secure Jacob's loyalty, but the Paragon option is generally considered more just.

Miranda Lawson: The Prodigal

Miranda's loyalty mission, "Miranda: The Prodigal," involves her estranged sister, Oriana, and her powerful father.

Trigger: Speak with Miranda on the Normandy after completing her recruitment.
Location: The planet Illium. You'll need to travel to the Citadel first to gather information, then proceed to Illium.
Objective: Protect Oriana from Miranda's father and his agents.
Key Choices: During the mission, you'll encounter Miranda's father. Your dialogue choices here can influence Miranda's perception of you. The most critical decision comes at the end regarding Oriana's future. Supporting Miranda's desire to keep Oriana safe and free from their father's influence is key to her loyalty.

Mordin Solus: Old Blood

Mordin's loyalty mission, "Mordin: Old Blood," sees him tracking down a former student who has become involved in a dangerous project.

Trigger: Speak with Mordin on the Normandy after completing his recruitment.
Location: The planet Omega.
Objective: Find Mordin's former student, Maelon, and deal with his unethical research.
Key Choices: At the mission's climax, you'll discover Maelon's controversial work. You'll have a critical choice regarding Maelon's data and his fate.
- Paragon: Convince Mordin to spare Maelon and destroy his research data, believing it's too dangerous.
- Renegade: Allow Mordin to keep Maelon's research data, arguing it could be useful, and potentially allow Mordin to kill Maelon.
Both options can secure Mordin's loyalty, but the Paragon path is often seen as more morally aligned with Mordin's character arc.

Grunt: Rite of Passage

Grunt's loyalty mission, "Grunt: Rite of Passage," is a traditional Krogan initiation rite on his homeworld.

Trigger: Speak with Grunt on the Normandy after he recovers from his tank-born rage. This usually happens after a few main story missions.
Location: The planet Tuchanka.
Objective: Participate in the Krogan Rite of Passage, fighting various creatures in the Urdnot clan's proving grounds.
Strategy: This mission is combat-heavy. Ensure you have appropriate weapons and squadmates for dealing with multiple waves of enemies, including a Thresher Maw. There are no major dialogue choices that affect loyalty, only successful completion of the rite.

Jack: Subject Zero

Jack's loyalty mission, "Jack: Subject Zero," takes her back to the facility where she was experimented on as a child.

Trigger: Speak with Jack on the Normandy after completing her recruitment.
Location: The planet Pragia, specifically the Teltin Facility.
Objective: Help Jack confront her past and exact revenge on those who wronged her.
Key Choices: The mission involves confronting Warden Kuril. Your choices here can influence Jack's emotional state. The most important part is allowing Jack to find closure in her own way, even if it's violent.

Samara: The Ardat-Yakshi

Samara's loyalty mission, "Samara: The Ardat-Yakshi," involves hunting down her rogue daughter, Morinth.

Trigger: Speak with Samara on the Normandy after completing her recruitment.
Location: The planet Omega, specifically the Afterlife Club and a nearby apartment.
Objective: Help Samara track and confront Morinth.
Key Choices: This mission is unique as it presents a choice between two loyalties. You will eventually have to choose between Samara and Morinth.
- Loyalty to Samara: Help Samara defeat Morinth. This is the default and expected outcome for Samara's loyalty.
- Loyalty to Morinth: If you successfully charm Morinth and choose to side with her, you will gain Morinth as a squadmate and lose Samara. This is a highly Renegade path and not recommended for a "everyone survives" playthrough, as Morinth is not as effective in the Suicide Mission.
To ensure Samara's loyalty, you must side with her.

Thane Krios: Sins of the Father

Thane's loyalty mission, "Thane: Sins of the Father," focuses on his son, Kolyat, who is seeking revenge.

Trigger: Speak with Thane on the Normandy after completing his recruitment.
Location: The Citadel.
Objective: Prevent Kolyat from assassinating a politician.
Key Choices: You'll need to follow Kolyat's target and intervene at the right moment. The key to Thane's loyalty is successfully preventing Kolyat from committing murder without causing his death. A well-timed Paragon or Renegade interrupt can be crucial here.

Garrus Vakarian: Eye for an Eye

Garrus's loyalty mission, "Garrus: Eye for an Eye," involves him tracking down a former squadmate who betrayed him.

Trigger: Speak with Garrus on the Normandy after completing his recruitment.
Location: The Citadel.
Objective: Help Garrus confront Harkin (now Fade) and get revenge.
Key Choices: At the climax, Garrus will have Harkin cornered. You'll have a critical choice:
- Paragon: Convince Garrus to stand down and let Harkin be arrested by C-Sec.
- Renegade: Encourage Garrus to take his revenge and kill Harkin.
Both options will secure Garrus's loyalty, as long as you support his decision.

Tali'Zorah vas Neema: Treason

Tali's loyalty mission, "Tali: Treason," sees her accused of treason by the Admiralty Board.

Trigger: Speak with Tali on the Normandy after completing her recruitment.
Location: The Migrant Fleet, specifically the Rayya and Neema ships.
Objective: Defend Tali against charges of treason and clear her father's name.
Key Choices: This mission has several critical junctures:
- Evidence: You'll find evidence on her father's ship. You can either present it (exposing his experiments) or withhold it.
- Trial Verdict: To secure Tali's loyalty without losing Paragon/Renegade points, you need to either have a very high Paragon or Renegade score to charm/intimidate the Admirals, or choose to rally the crowd.
- Geth Data: If you present the Geth data, it will expose her father's actions but clear Tali. If you withhold it, you'll need to use a charm/intimidate option or rally the crowd.
The most straightforward way to ensure loyalty and a positive outcome is to have high Paragon/Renegade and use the special dialogue options.

Legion: A House Divided

Legion's loyalty mission, "Legion: A House Divided," involves helping him investigate a Geth Heretic base.

Trigger: This mission only becomes available after recruiting Legion, which happens very late in the game, typically after the Reaper IFF mission.
Location: A Geth Heretic station in the Perseus Veil.
Objective: Help Legion decide the fate of the Geth Heretics.
Key Choices: At the mission's end, you'll have a critical choice regarding the Heretics:
- Rewrite: Rewrite the Heretics' programming, making them loyal to the Geth Consensus.
- Destroy: Destroy the Heretics.
Both options will secure Legion's loyalty. The "Rewrite" option is generally considered more Paragon, while "Destroy" is more Renegade.

Resolving Loyalty Conflicts

Two specific loyalty mission pairings can lead to conflicts that jeopardize loyalty if not handled correctly:

Miranda vs. Jack

After completing both Miranda's "The Prodigal" and Jack's "Subject Zero" loyalty missions, a heated argument will erupt between them on the Normandy.

Resolution: To maintain loyalty with both, you need a very high Paragon or Renegade score.
- Paragon: Choose the "This is a team" or "We are a team" dialogue option (top-right).
- Renegade: Choose the "Back off, Jack" or "Enough!" dialogue option (bottom-right).
If your score is insufficient, you will be forced to side with one, losing the loyalty of the other. You can regain lost loyalty by speaking to the disloyal squadmate later and using a charm/intimidate option, but this requires an even higher score.

Tali vs. Legion

If you complete Legion's "A House Divided" and Tali's "Treason" loyalty missions, a conflict will arise regarding the Geth data found on Tali's father's ship.

Resolution: Similar to Miranda/Jack, a very high Paragon or Renegade score is required to maintain both loyalties.
- Paragon: Choose the "You are both right" or "Think of your people" dialogue option (top-right).
- Renegade: Choose the "Legion is right" or "Tali, stand down" dialogue option (bottom-right).
Again, failing to have a high enough score will force you to choose, losing the loyalty of the other. Regaining loyalty is possible later with a higher charm/intimidate check.

By carefully navigating these missions and dialogue choices, you can ensure your entire squad is loyal and ready for the ultimate challenge of the Suicide Mission.