7 Saddest Deaths In BioWare Games

Highlights

• BioWare’s exceptional writing and captivating stories make character deaths in their games incredibly impactful and emotional.
• The deaths of major characters in BioWare games often hit hard due to the personal relationships players develop with them.
• The memorable deaths in BioWare games are a testament to the studio’s ability to create immersive worlds and compelling characters.

BioWare excels at creating interesting and believable characters, with many of its games being packed full of memorable individuals who have stood the test of time as some of gaming’s most cherished heroes and villains. What this does mean though, is that when a death sadly occurs in a BioWare game, it usually hits extremely hard since the character will often have a very personal relationship with the protagonist, and considering that the developers aren’t shy about killing off major characters in their games, it’s led to some truly heartbreaking moments that players can never forget.

Losing a character in a video game is always a sad occasion, but BioWare really knows how to pull at the heartstrings like no one else can thanks to their exceptional writing and captivating stories. Get the tissues ready, as it’s time to look back on the most impactful deaths that have ever occurred through BioWare’s large catalog of amazing games.

WARNING! Spoilers ahead for BioWare games!

7 Mordin Solus

As The Final Act Of Redemption, Mordin Risks His Own Life To Cure The Genophage For All The Krogan

Keeping Mordin alive throughout all of Mass Effect 3 is incredibly difficult, and will require the player to have made very specific choices throughout their playthrough of the trilogy. After loading up the cure for the Genophage, players do have the option to shoot Mordin if they are going for a Renegade run, but the much sadder version is letting Mordin sacrifice himself to disperse the cure while the building around him is being blown to pieces.

Just before he goes up the elevator to reach the control panel, Mordin remarks that he wishes he could have run some extra tests on the seashells, which is in reference to an earlier conversation where he says that he’d like to retire on a beach once all of this is finally over. To make the scene even more emotional, if Shepard lets Mordin sing for him during a personal conversation in Mass Effect 2, he will calmly sing the song “Scientist Salarian” before ultimately meeting his fate.

6 Bethany

After Being Infected With The Blight, Bethany Pleads Hawke To Kill Her To Stop The Corruption From Taking Her Over

While the player can choose to be kind or antagonistic to their sister Bethany throughout Dragon Age 2, she’s still going to have their back and starts off simply wanting to earn her keep after realizing just how much her family has sacrificed for her since she was young. During the expedition across the Deep Roads, Bethany becomes infected with the Blight, a dark corruption that is capable of taking over a human within seconds, turning them into a shell of their former self.

After saying that she feels slightly faint, Hawke assures them that they can rest soon, but it becomes clear that something’s seriously wrong with Bethany when she collapses to the floor. Realizing that the Blight is taking hold of her, she pleads with Hawke to kill her before it happens, resulting in a shocking and incredibly sad scene that is made all the more impactful considering just how far she and her sibling have come since their humble beginnings.

5 Thane

Thane Recites A Prayer Of Redemption For Shepard During His Final Moments

Shortly after recruiting Thane in Mass Effect 2, the dangerous assassin tells Shephard that he is suffering from a disease known as Kepral’s Syndrome that will eventually take his own life. Because the Drell aren’t accustomed to the humidity found on the Hanar homeworld, it meant that when the species was evacuated to their planet, their organs slowly started to decay, and although Hanar scientists are supposedly working on a cure, there unfortunately wasn’t one found in time to treat Thane.

After Cerberus’ attack on the Citadel, Thane is rushed to the hospital where he spends his final moments saying a few words to his son Kolyatt and Shepard. While he recites a prayer of redemption intended for Shepard, Thane struggles to get through the verses, prompting Shephard and Kolyatt to help him along. Thane giving his final prayer to Shepard just goes to show just how incredibly kind and generous of a character he was underneath the cold exterior.

4 Leandra

The Gruesome Murder Of Hawke’s Mother Is Incredibly Unexpected And Emotional

Leandra is Hawke’s mother in Dragon Age 2, and while she has plenty of very irrational and overblown moments, she also shows a lot of care and consideration for her children, and it’s more than clear that she loves them dearly. Stricken by grief after the loss of her child to a ravenous ogre, Leandra initially blames Hawke for this, but over time, she starts to mature and realizes that it isn’t fair to point at others for such a tragedy.

However, while the bond seems to be growing closer, disaster strikes when Leandra is abducted and murdered by a mysterious serial killer, who leaves her corpse behind for the player to eventually stumble upon. It’s an incredibly gruesome and frightening sight that hits like a train because of how much time the game spent developing the bond between Leandra and her children. The grizzly nature of the killing also goes a long way in making this death incredibly memorable, for all the wrong reasons.

3 Tali

Tali’s Heartbreaking Death Scene Will Make Players Think Twice About Supporting The Geth In Later Playthroughs

Tali is a core member of Shepard’s crew who’s always had his back since day one, but she’s also caught up in the Geth and Quarian conflict, which reaches a boiling point during Mass Effect 3. Near the end of the game, the Migrant Fleet will make one final attempt to reclaim their homeworld from their own AI creations, and at the end of the mission, players will need to make one fatal decision that will change the fate of the entire galaxy; support the Quarians, or upgrade the Geth.

If players choose to side with the Geth out of sympathy for their plight, Tali will look on in horror as the Migrant Fleet’s ships burn down to smithereens in the skies above her. By this point in the story, Tali has lost her father, her closest ally, and all of her own people, and all of this grief leads her to remove her mask and jump from a cliff to take her own life. Everyone knew that this was going to be a big decision, but this death scene really showcased just how emotionally tough some of Mass Effect’s choices can really be.

2 Leliana

Leliana Makes The Ultimate Sacrifice To Let The Inquisitor Escape Back To The Original Timeline

Leliana is a highly skilled and incredibly valuable member of the player’s party for much of Dragon Age Inquisition who assumes the role of a spymaster, adept at stealing information for her allies and carrying out assassinations when the situation calls for it. She’s loyal to a fault, and nowhere is this proven more than when the player and Dorian meet back up with her, after having accidentally jumped a year into the future. It turns out that during that time, Leliana had been mercilessly tortured to the edge of her life.

The Blight experiments and interrogation sessions had all taken a huge toll on Leliana physically, but when Hawke saves her, she still chooses to fight by their side, going as far as to sacrifice herself in order to help them escape back to the original timeline. While she manages to hold her own for a little while, one of the knights eventually gets hold of Leliana as Dorian and the player, watch in horror before she eventually meets her untimely end. It’s an incredibly powerful send-off for such a fan-favorite character, but at least she got to go out on her own terms, and with a bow in her hand.

1 Anderson

Anderson Tells Shepard How Proud He Is Of His New Protégé During His Final Moments

Though many people doubted Shepard’s claims about the Reapers returning to exterminate the galaxy, the one person who stuck by his side from the start of the first game, all the way until the very end, was Anderson. The decorated soldier even put his own reputation on the line to save Shepard numerous times, such as when he de-activated the Normandy’s lockdown, allowing him and his crew to apprehend Saren, so it’s well established that he shares a close bond with the player throughout the series.

At the very end of Mass Effect 3, during the final assault on Earth, Shepard finds himself in the Citadel Control alongside Anderson and the Illusive Man. In an attempt to showcase his new powers that came alongside his indoctrination, the Illusive Man controls Shepard’s movements, forcing them to shoot Anderson in the stomach. While the Illusive Man doesn’t manage to deal the final blow due to being killed, Anderson’s injury is already too deep, and it leads to a calm and peaceful scene where he and Shepard have a final talk about their time together, with Anderson saying how proud he is of his new protégé.