Shadow Broker

The  Shadow Broker  is an individual at the head of an expansive organization which trades in information, always selling to the highest bidder. The Shadow Broker appears to be highly competent at its trade: all secrets that are bought and sold never allow one customer of the Broker to gain a significant advantage, forcing the customers to continue trading information to avoid becoming disadvantaged, allowing the Broker to remain in business.

Mass Effect
The Shadow Broker's identity is unknown to the general public in 2183; the Broker always operates through an agent. Barla Von refers to the Broker as "he" for convenience's sake, but tells Commander Shepard that he believes the Shadow Broker is a group of individuals: it does not seem possible for a single individual to monitor all of the available information and have such a wide sphere of influence

The Shadow Broker was part of the reason Tali came to the Citadel: the data file she has proving Saren Arterius had gone rogue put her in danger, but was too valuable to waste. She wanted to trade the information for a safe place to hide, so Dr. Chloe Michel put her in touch with the club owner Fist, who worked for the Broker. However, unknown to her, Fist had changed his allegiances to Saren. The Broker was furious at this treachery, hiring Wrex to assassinate Fist.

Mass Effect 2
In 2185, the Shadow Broker is being pursued by Liara T'Soni due to Feron's capture. Unbeknownst to Liara, the Broker has a double agent in her employ named Nyxeris to monitor her progress and, when possible, to kill her. It is also heavily implied by Liara that the Shadow Broker is an individual.

Thane Krios also mentions that some years ago, batarian mercenaries employed the Shadow Broker to learn Thane's identity, and later used this information to murder his wife, Irikah.

Identity
After tracking down and infiltrating the Shadow Broker's ship, Shepard and Liara break into the Broker's intel center and confront him in person. The Shadow Broker is revealed to be a member of a pre-spaceflight race called the yahg. Liara surmises that because the yahg were not discovered until 2125 CE and the Broker's ship is considerably older than that, this yahg usurped the original Shadow Broker years ago and has been running the organization ever since.

In the Dossiers terminal found in the ship's intel center, a personal file about the Shadow Broker can be read. The file's messages reveal that after the yahg's homeworld Parnack was discovered and then declared off-limits in 2125 CE, the original Shadow Broker had his operatives abduct a yahg for him to study. The captured yahg proved highly intelligent and adaptable. With the Shadow Broker's support, the yahg killed the operative that was monitoring him and assumed the operative's identity, attaining a high rank within the organization as "Operative Kechlu". Sometime later, the Shadow Broker became aware that "Operative Kechlu" was a threat and attempted to eliminate him, but was beaten to the chase by "Kechlu". The yahg seamlessly took on the role of Shadow Broker and maintained the organization for the next six decades.

Future Plans
At some point during his reign, the Shadow Broker became aware of the Reapers and the true nature of the Collectors. Liara T'Soni suggests his dealings with the Collectors were a selfish and ill-conceived attempt to ensure his own survival from the Reapers' coming genocide. Ultimately, the Shadow Broker was never given the chance to further his plans.

Fate
Liara, Shepard, and a third teammate attempt to battle the Shadow Broker in his own office. The Broker manages to incapacitate the third squadmate before the fight even begins. It takes Shepard and Liara extensive teamwork to catch the yahg off guard, turning his own kinetic technology against him as he dies in a fiery explosion. With the death of the yahg Broker, Liara T'Soni steps into the role of Shadow Broker herself.

As Shepard and Liara had killed the few operatives aware of the Broker's true identity, Liara could take over without anyone else in the organization suspecting a transition. Liara is well aware of the power at her disposal, telling Shepard she can use the information network to start a war in ten minutes if she wanted to, but vows to not abuse her position and to help Shepard find a way to combat the Reapers.

Mass Effect 3
Cerberus attempted to take over the Shadow Broker operations prior to the Reaper invasion of 2186, but Liara opted to crash the Broker's ship into one of their cruisers, only taking the operating necessities with her. She sets up her Broker equipment aboard Miranda Lawson's former quarters in the renovated Normandy SR-2, resuming eavesdropping operations and directing the flow of her resources for the war. Her network of agents is intact, but the war is taking a toll on their numbers. Some of the Broker's resources are scattered across the galaxy, awaiting discovery.

Liara took the Broker's old Info Drone with her, renaming it "Glyph". It is in charge of gleaning useful information from recovered intel in addition to coordinating Liara's massive data feeds.

Even during the war, very few people are aware of the Shadow Broker's identity: Liara has made no steps to expose herself. Long-time underlings like Barla Von are unaware of any change. Urdnot Wrex only makes snide allusions regarding it.

Known Associates

 * Agents
 * Barla Von
 * Nyxeris
 * Tazzik
 * Tela Vasir
 * Wilson


 * Former Agents
 * Feron
 * Fist
 * Hirelings
 * Blue Suns
 * Urdnot Wrex