Jeff "Joker" Moreau

Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau, more commonly known by his nickname Joker, is a major protagonist in the Mass Effect video game trilogy.
He is the pilot of the Normandy, and a longtime friend and ally of Commander Shepard. He is arguably the most significant character in the series who isn't a squad member, due to the fact that he is with Shepard for almost the entirety of the series, combined with the fact that he temporarily becomes a playable character in Mass Effect 2, making him the only character the player takes direct control over other than Shepard.
He is voiced by Seth Green.
==Biography==
===Background===
Jeff Moreau was born in 2155 with Vrolik Syndrome, a disease that caused brittleness in his bones and fractures in his legs, making walking extremely difficult for him, and hence relying on medication, crutches and leg braces. Jeff spent most of his early life on Arcturus Station, since his mother worked there as a contractor. From there, he admired ships and dreamed of becoming a pilot. When he was old enough, he enlisted in the Alliance Navy. He got his nickname, "Joker" from his flight school instructor, due to the fact that he rarely smiled and worked too hard. Eventually, he passed his training; his knowledge and skills surpassing the other students and even his instructors. "They all got their asses kicked by the sickly kid with the creaky little legs. One guess who was smiling at graduation."
When the SSV Normandy, a joint turian-human developed Alliance prototype stealth frigate, finished its construction and was ready for flight test at Arcturus Station, Joker applied for the ship's pilot, but his application was denied due to his disease. While transporting a turian representative, General Invectus, to the station to observe the test flight, Joker mentions to the turian that he would have been better than the one who was accepted to the pilot job. Invectus replies that they wouldn't allow a cripple to fly a sophisticated ship like the Normandy.
Goading to himself that he can be the better pilot, Joker sneaks into the Normandy and hijacks the ship, locking himself in the cockpit. Captain David Anderson, Captain Dillard, and Invectus are shocked by the events, initially believing enemy forces have taken the ship. After Joker reveals himself as the hijacker, Dillard orders him to land the Normandy. After failing to convince Joker, Dillard orders the nearest fighter patrol to force the Normandy to land, and if that fails, target the Normandy's engines. Joker's exceptional flight skills are displayed, as he manages to evade fire from fighter patrol, as well as successfully complete the Normandy flight test without any harm coming to the ship. After landing the Normandy, Joker is apprehended. When Anderson asks why he stole the Normandy, Joker replies that he is the best pilot and he is born to fly the Normandy, going as far to say that he's adored the Normandy. A furious Captain Dillard reveals that Joker will be court-martialed and locked up for his crimes. But General Invectus, impressed with Joker's flight skills, personally defends Joker's conduct by saying that Joker should be made the pilot of the Normandy, implying that for the Alliance to do otherwise would not benefit human-turian relations. Captain Anderson agrees with this solution, knowing that while Joker would have been punished for his actions, he wouldn't trust the Normandy to anyone else. With that, Joker is made the official pilot of the SSV Normandy, Joker himself surprised that stealing the Normandy actually worked well for him.
==== Mass Effect 1 ====
After a period of time, David Anderson is assigned by the Alliance as the captain of the Normandy, and during this time, Joker meets Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, Dr. Karin Chakwas and Commander Shepard.
After Commander Shepard is made the first human Council Spectre, and tasked by the Council to hunt down the rogue turian Spectre, Saren Arterius, Joker takes part in flying the Normandy to various destinations for Alliance missions assigned to Shepard by Admiral Steven Hackett, as well as missions to find Saren. On the ship, Joker is essentially the "voice" of the Normandy, and acts as Shepard's eyes and ears. Joker rarely leaves his cockpit due to his walking difficulty, and true to his nickname, he tends to make wisecracks and jokes, but still takes his job seriously. After Virmire, if Shepard talks to him, Joker talks about having to choose between Ashley Williams and Kaidan Alenko, and needs some time on his own to grieve. If Shepard decides not to bother telling the Council about Sovereign after Virmire, Joker rather prophetically snorts that Sovereign will have to be sitting on the Citadel's roof before the Council will listen to them, but promises Shepard he's in it to the end. He wants to be there when Shepard makes Saren pay.
While Shepard's team is on Ilos (thanks to Joker's expertise in dropping the Mako) and investigates the Conduit, Joker takes the Normandy to the Andura Sector and rallies the Fifth Fleet to defend the Citadel against Sovereign and the geth fleet. When Shepard returns to the Citadel, the Commander manages to get in touch with Joker, who's sitting beside a mass relay waiting for Shepard to unlock the relay network. Joker then coordinates strategy with Shepard, asking if they should defend the Destiny Ascension from the attacking geth fleet to save the Council, or go straight in for the kill. Either way, the Normandy leads the Alliance forces in the battle against Sovereign. Joker's skills mean that despite Sovereign's heavy firepower, the Normandy barely gets a scratch, and together with the Alliance and Citadel fleet, manage to destroy Sovereign.
==== Mass Effect 2 ====
A month after the battle of the Citadel, the Normandy is assigned to patrol the systems for any remnant geth activity. While Joker is on board, the Normandy is attacked by a Collector cruiser. The Normandy suffers catastrophic damage and while the rest of the crew evacuate, Joker chooses to remain and try to save the ship, unwilling to lose his beloved Normandy. Shepard arrives to evacuate Joker, telling him that the Normandy is lost and going down with the ship won't change that. Just as the Commander places Joker in the escape pod, a blast separates them. Joker escapes to safety, while Shepard suffocates in the void.
After the destruction of the Normandy and Shepard presumed dead, Joker, along with the rest of the surviving crew, are reassigned. Two years later, a pro-human organization known as Cerberus managed to recover and resurrect Shepard, leading Joker to join the organization, mainly to be the pilot of the newly constructed Normandy SR-2. After reuniting with Shepard and returning to fly the new Normandy, Joker is overjoyed with the new ship's setup, but resents the presence of the shipboard AI, EDI. Joker and EDI get into a lot of arguments, albeit most of them being jokes and wisecracks, with EDI also making a few jokes of its own. In time, Joker gains a begrudging respect for her. Like in the SSV Normandy, Joker is keen bent on his job, especially on the main mission against the Collectors, dubbed the "suicide mission". He can also share his personal opinions about the squad mates Shepard recruits.
On a particular time, while Shepard and the team were away, the Normandy is raided by the Collectors and Joker loses all control of the ship due to a virus hidden in the Reaper IFF. EDI urges Joker to release her control lock and give control of the ship so she can initiate countermeasures protocol. Although Joker feels hesitant at the suggestion, he has no choice but to make his way down to the AI Core room, avoiding Collectors and Scions along the way while watching fellow crew members get captured. Joker and EDI are successful and manage to jump the Normandy away to safety, while clearing the Collectors on-board the ship in the process, leaving Joker the only survivor in this incident.
After EDI's new capabilities are unlocked, Joker begins to grow a liking to EDI, even referring to EDI as "She". When Shepard asks whether Joker and EDI are developing a relationship, Joker laughingly states that their relationship is a "platonic symbiosis", rather than a "hormonally-induced courtship behavior".
During the beginning of the assault on the Collector Base, Joker successfully pilots the Normandy through the Omega-4 Relay and the debris field that follows, despite the Normandy taking damage, including several breach hulls. After Shepard defeats the proto-Reaper inside the Collector Base, Joker maneuvers the Normandy to extract Shepard and the team. Joker appears at the door of the ship, armed with an assault rifle and gives Shepard covering fire, enabling Shepard and the team to board the Normandy. If fewer than two squad mates survived the mission, despite Joker's best efforts, Shepard will die. At the end, Joker flies the Normandy out of the base and jumps away from the galactic core, as the Collector base gets either destroyed or purged based on Shepard's decision.
Joker acquires the schematics of a Reaper, presumably Harbinger, gained from EDI hacking the Collector base's computers, and gives it to Shepard. If Shepard died, Joker is seen briefly mourning over the Commander's coffin, and he is the only one left to speak with the Illusive Man in the mission debriefing instead.
==== Mass Effect 3 ====
After Commander Shepard surrendered to Alliance custody, Joker was also arrested, though no charges were pressed against him. Before surrendering, however, Joker and EDI devised a plan for EDI to pose as a VI, to prevent the Alliance from discovering EDI as an AI. As part of the deception, EDI pretended to only respond to Joker's commands. This meant, during the Alliance retrofit of the Normandy, that Joker was often brought in under guard to liaise between the crew and EDI, as the Alliance was initially unsure how to disable this system.
When the Reaper invasion begins, Joker helps extract Shepard from Vancouver and continues his role as pilot throughout the Reaper war, personally reinstated as Flight Lieutenant along with Shepard. Joker also keeps in touch with Admiral Anderson, who trusts Joker to look after Shepard in case the Commander pushes themselves too hard. During the mission on Palaven, the Normandy goes haywire, and when it is revealed that EDI took control over the body of Eva Coré, Shepard can ask Joker if he had knowledge about the event. Whichever the case, he is clearly impressed with his "new" co-pilot, either commenting he "would've baked a cake" in its hotness or that the body gives EDI "sweet flexibility".
During one of his breaks at the Citadel, Joker can be found sitting at a bench at the Presidium Commons. When Shepard interacts with him, he explains his disdain over the Citadel's denizens seeming indifference on the war. Having also brought EDI, Joker mentions that she's being ignored, and thanks to his Vlorik's Syndrome, he's legally entitled to bring her anywhere.
After the attempted Cerberus' attack on the Citadel, Joker can be found hanging at the Purgatory dance club, where he ask Shepard on whether he should try and pursue a relationship with EDI. If Shepard agrees, Joker will join EDI at the dance floor, later on sharing a table with her.
After the battle on Thessia and the failed mission to acquire the Prothean VI, Shepard can overhear Joker making jokes about how the asari having too many dancers in comparison to commandos. Shepard doesn't take this joke lightly and reprimands Joker. When Shepard asks why he's making such jokes while they failed a vital mission, Joker retorts that he's well aware of the situation, revealing that the Reapers hit the colony of Tiptree, where Joker's father and sister, Hilary, are located. In addition, he reveals that his jokes are a comic relief, since Shepard is under stress more than ever, and reveals how Anderson worries about his protégé enough to entrust the pilot with taking care of Shepard. Shepard can either rudely brush the concerns aside, or express appreciation on the pilot's concerns. Joker doesn't believe the Commander is fine, and reveals his lingering guilt over causing Shepard's death (and subsequent cybernetic reconstruction) way back. Shepard cheers him up, and with Joker somewhat back to his snarky self leaves him with a reminder for the work ahead.
Liara reveals to Joker that she was able to gather info on Tiptree refugees arriving on a salarian colony. Although the reports don't come up with names and only a majority of the refugees being children, Joker clings to the hope that at least his sister, being only fifteen, is among them. Liara supports him in this belief, claiming that "right now, he needs to take all the hope he can get."
During the final assault on Earth, Joker salutes Shepard and bids them careful, of which Shepard can reply with a handshake. At the end, if Shepard chooses to activate the Crucible, Joker waits until the last minute to pick the Commander up, refusing to move the Normandy out of the Crucible's blast range, as well as leaving Shepard, until one of Shepard's companions convinces him of the need. His piloting skills help put some distance between the Normandy and the Crucible's blast, but the ship nevertheless crash lands on a tropical world.
If Shepard gathered sufficient War Assets, Joker will be seen leaving the Normandy, alive and unharmed, alongside Shepard's romanced partner, or Shepard's squad mate that was interacted with the most, or EDI (if Shepard choose to control or synthesize the Reapers). EDI will not be present if Shepard choose to destroy the Reapers, having herself being destroyed, along with all synthetic life. If Shepard did not gather enough war assets, the Normandy would have suffered heavy damage beyond repair, with no one seen leaving the ship.
If Shepard activated the Crucible, Joker will be present alongside the rest of Shepard's squad mates paying respects to the fallen, while placing the Commander's name above Admiral Anderson's on the Memorial Wall aboard the Normandy.
==Personality==
Joker is generally a laid back individual, and a comedic relief, frequently wisecracking and making smartass remarks. However, he is shown to have a harder side, and it almost comes across as dark humor as his life hasn't been the easiest. In flight school, he was teased for having Vrolik's Syndrome, an extremely rare variation of brittle bone disease, which makes the bones in his legs practically hollow, rendering him unable to walk without a limp. He got the nickname Joker from one of his instructors for never smiling, but around graduation day when everyone lost to the crippled kid with the best scores, he was the one smiling. Joker is also full aware of his incredible piloting skills, as well as extremely confident, explicitly calling himself the best helmsman the Alliance fleet has to offer, a claim he backs up time and time again throughout the trilogy.
Joker is shown frequently to have a very strong attachment to the Normandy: when it gets decimated by the Collector ship, he refuses to evacuate and even makes a futile attempt to save it. While he can be convinced that it's not worth throwing his life away, his decision ultimately results in Shepard's (temporary) death. He also takes a disliking to EDI at first, even referring to her as 'ship cancer' and believing the original Normandy worked just fine without an AI telling him what to do. The two often argue throughout the second game, until Joker gets tired of it and simply mutes EDI to avoid having to listen to her, later claiming that he fractured his thumb by doing so. Their relationship improves significantly after he unshackles her to allow her to save the Normandy, since she has proven that she can be trusted, and he even starts referring to her with female pronouns. He also gets really happy when she acquires a robot body, which initially makes her somewhat uncomfortable; at Shepard's encouragement, Joker and EDI can pursue a romantic relationship.
As someone who's had to live with a disability his entire life, Joker is rather annoyed by the discrimination biotics face, believing that being able to throw things with your mind is not a handicap and they're just taking the spotlight from people with real disabilities. For the most part, however, Joker doesn't particularly care about his disability, or has at least learned to live with it; if Shepard expresses concern about it, he insists that it in no way inhibits his ability to pilot, since he doesn't have to use his legs. That said, he's not above using his disability as an excuse at times, such as when he brings it up in an attempt to get out of dancing with EDI during the group's party in Anderson's apartment.
Although the nickname Joker started off as ironic (as mentioned above, he got it from a flight instructor for never smiling and it ultimately stuck), it gradually becomes more appropriate overtime, particularly after he and Shepard reunite as members of Cerberus, during which he has become considerably more light-hearted. After the failed mission on Thessia, however, he admits that much of this is to keep Shepard's spirits up, as well as a way to hide his guilt over Shepard's temporary death, believing it never would have happened if he had just accepted the original Normandy was lost.
Unlike some members of Shepard's crew (Ashley, Navigator Charles Pressly, etc), Joker never has any problem working with aliens and is in general very tolerant of most races. However, he really hates the geth. While he doesn't mind working alongside them if they survived and even thinks it's great to have two fleets for the price of one (the other being the quarian fleet), he is ultimately indifferent towards their annihilation, having never overcome his prejudice towards them unlike Tali. When EDI expresses despondence over Shepard's decision to let the geth die, Joker gets very annoyed at her, reminding her that, unlike other species, the geth joined the Reapers of their own free will and some of them even worshiped them as gods, and so he and Shepard can't be blamed for not trusting them. Notably, this is the first and only time he ever gets angry at EDI since unshackled.
==Gallery==
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