Remni wrote:
I'm not sure, it's a very valid theory and the number of coincidences that give even more credit to the theory.
No, no, they do not. Coincidences are easy to come by. When you're actively looking for quotes, event, sound effects that support your theory, you WILL find some. You can justify any theory by pouring through all the facts and things that happened, and find 10 that fits with it. "Hey guys, did you see that guy in the background of scene 624? Combined with the off-hand joke in conversation 2133, and the art asset in battle 120, it PROVES Shepard is
jesus in purgatory". That's the thing about coincidences: They're everywhere. If you walk down a certain street a thousand times, it shouldn't be surprising you one day meet someone you know on it. If the reaper "cry" is played a thousand times during the game, it shouldn't be surprising that one happens to be played during what
could be interpreted as Shepard rejecting indoctrination.
None of the coincidences actually directly support the theory. They just kinda fit with it, but I haven't seen one that couldn't be explained with another, more obvious explanation. You know, like what we saw happened, was what actually happened. Occam's Razor is exactly right.
The reason I object to it so much, is because, as mentioned, it's exactly the same rhetoric used in conspiracy videos. Bombard people with enough pseudo-truths and "convenient coincidences" and a significant amount will believe you. It's just ultimately faulty logic. The human mind is
trained to notice coincidences. We don't think about it the 999 times we go down that street, but the 1000. time, we think it's an amazing coincidence to meet that guy
here. That doesn't mean that coincidence has any significance.
Again, I don't mind the indoctrination theory itself. It's a valid, and interesting interpretation. The secret snippet after the
Destroy ending (
seeing in someone on earth, in a N7 armor breathing ) is specifically made to encourage wild speculation, like the indoctrination theory, but don't pretend that it isn't wild speculation, that we can derive any sort of facts from convenient coincidences.
NeoWarrior7 wrote:
If you don't like that video, there's quite a few others.
And a couple dozen threads.
The indoctrination theory has really taken root in the community, at least until an actual change is proposed by Bioware/EA.
I've seen a couple. While they're not all as cringe inducing as that one, I haven't seen any that argue with anything better than "COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT!"