The Illusive Man

== Background ==
Jack Harper was a normal civilian with a job and family before the First Contact War broke out. 
As the occupation of Shanxi raged, he became a mercenary under the command of General Williams (Ashley Williams' grandfather). During one of the battles, he and his team of Ben Hislop and Eva Coré encountered an artifact, likely of Reaper origin. This would lead them into conflict with Desolas Arterius, brother of Saren Arterius.
Shortly after the memorial service for his friends Eva and Ben, Jack sent a manifesto that was circulated through the extranet. In it he encouraged humanity to take it's rightful place and assert its power over the aliens. The System's Alliance attempted to downplay and dismiss the message unsuccessfully, but ended up coining the epithet that he would take as his name: The Illusive Man.
== Mass Effect ==
=== Post Mass Effect ===
In the aftermath of the Battle of the Citadel, the Illusive Man doubted the official story blaming the geth armada. He viewed Commander Shepard as their best hope against the Reaper threat, and when the Normandy SR-1 was destroyed, he channeled enormous resources into reviving and preparing to equip her for the mission of saving humanity.
=== Mass Effect 2 ===
With the Lazarus Project being a success, the Illusive Man gave Shepard a crew, a ship, and a set of specialist dossiers with which to build a squad find out why human colonies were being wholesale kidnapped, and to stop it.
=== Mass Effect 3 ===
The Illusive Man's exposure to the Reaper artifact 30 years prior made him especially prone to indoctrination. Though he planned to use the information in the Mars Archives to take control of the Reapers, the Reapers were in fact controlling him. As a result, Cerberus sabotaged many of the other species efforts to combat the Reapers- especially the Crucible project.
== Every One That Asketh ==
Death was not the end for the Illusive Man. In October of 2187 he began to appear in Shepard's dreams, often obliquely referencing current stressors or events and offering his opinion. For quite a long time Shepard mistook these dreams for simply her own subconscious.
On September 7th, 2188- almost two years after his death, he appeared to a dying Shepard. After briefly vebally sparing with him, Shepard came to the startling realization that she knew his actual name. He replied that it was "One of the many perils of being subsumed into a consciousness greater than one’s own", and went on to explain that he felt that humanity was in a better position than any other in the galaxy to explore the potential between blending synthetic and organic life- to evolve into something more. And now that goal is realized.
Finally Shepard asked him what was going on- presumably with everything. What answer he gave wasn't immediately revealed.
Shepard died (again) the next day and once again the Illusive Man appeared to speak with her. While he confirmed that she was indeed dead, he told her that she could rest, or not stay dead- and she had a choice to make.
Category:Side Characters
Category:Humans