Shadow Broker

“I know your every secret, while you fumble in the dark.”

– The Shadow Broker, from Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker

Identity

Despite, or perhaps because, of his influence over the galaxy’s affairs, the Broker’s true identity remained a complete mystery. No one knew what the Broker looked like, whether the Broker was a man or a woman, or even what species the Broker belonged to. Some of his underlings even speculated that the Broker might not be a single person at all, but rather a group of the galaxy’s most powerful operating together under a common alias. The drell mercenary Feron was a prisoner of the Broker for nearly two years, and in those two years all he ever saw of the Broker was a vast shadow that suggested he was a large, intimidating individual. This led Liara T’Soni to speculate that the Broker might be a krogan, until his true identity was revealed: he was a yahg, a member of a savage species from the planet Parnack, a world quarantined by the Council after their first contact team was slaughtered by the yahg representatives who met them.

Redemption

Following Commander Shepard’s death in 2183, the mysterious insect/biped race known as the Collectors contact the Shadow Broker and promise him generous compensation in return for his assistance in recovering Shepard’s body and handing it over to them. When the Illusive Man hears of this, he sends Miranda Lawson to Omega to scope out the situation. On Omega, Miranda saves Liara T’Soni from an ambush by the Blue Suns mercenary group and tells her about the Collectors’ plans for Shepard.