Kai Leng was added too late to be effective in Mass Effect

Mass Effect features several antagonists that Shepard and his crew encounter throughout the trilogy, including Kai Leng. The full Reaper invasion doesn't begin until the third game, so the first two focus on other antagonists for most of the runtime. In the first game, Saren ends up being the main enemy. The second game features Harbinger as the antagonist. So how does Kai Leng fit into the equation?

In Mass Effect 3the Reaper Invasion is in full swing and the galaxy is doing its best to come together and survive what seems like an impossible situation. A large part ME3 focuses on building the Crucible, which is seen as the only way to defeat the Reapers. Shepard does his best to gather war resources to fight the Reapers as they use the Crucible. There's already too much going on, making Kai Leng an afterthought.

Kai Leng's placement ruined his potential

He looked silly in Mass Effect 3

Kai Leng is essentially Cerberus's main assassin and his main target in Mass Effect 3 It's Commander Shepard. Cerberus wants to use the Reapers instead of destroying them. The problem is that Kai Leng seems more like a nuisance than a legitimate threat. With the Reapers being the game's biggest threat, it's hard to take a random killer as seriously as the game wants. It's unfortunate, as the idea behind Kai Leng as a character had a lot of potential.

By the time Kai Leng is introduced, Cerberus has become an afterthought. Shepard encounters Cerberus a few times in ME3 or arrives at a location where Cerberus tried to accomplish something, but the forces sent there were wiped out and Shepard only encounters the consequences. After working for Cerberus in ME2There was some mystery about the organization's goals, especially since The Illusive Man doesn't exude confidence in the interactions Shepard has with him. Eventually, the organization looks like a disappointment ME3 after building a lot of mystique.

Cerberus would have been more effective in stopping Shepard if the company used Shepard's clone that appears in Mass Effect 3 Citadel DLC. Cerberus felt they needed to clone Shepard in case they needed extra organs during the Lazarus Project. In the DLC, Shepard's clone was able to cause a lot of chaos in a short amount of time, and Shepard was at a disadvantage in some of this after having to convince others of his own identity. Using the clone would have been a better plan than having Kai Leng try to assassinate the Councilors or Shepard.

Why Cerberus wanted to kill Shepard

It wasn't personal

Shepard wasn't necessarily the original target Cerberus wanted to kill, but it becomes obvious that the protagonist is the biggest obstacle to Cerberus' goals. In Mass Effect 3Cerberus' true goal is to find a way to take control of the Reapers and make humans the dominant species with their power instead of destroying the Reapers, which is the goal the rest of the galaxy is working towards. It's difficult to know if this is entirely correct or if it's just what the Illusive Man believes, as it's clear he was indoctrinated at some point.

As Shepard's mission directly opposes Cerberus' goals in ME3the obvious answer is to try to remove Shepard from the picture, a task that falls to Kai Leng. He would have the best chance of success, being Cerberus's top assassin. However, it seems like an impossible mission to give Kai Leng since Even the Reapers fight to take down Shepard. This lofty goal adds to how much of a disappointment his character has become, considering there was potential for him to be an interesting addition as a villain.

Naturally, Shepard wasn't the only target Cerberus had on the list. Instead, it seems Cerberus was more interested in creating chaos and distractions to buy time to control the Reapers. This is demonstrated by his attempt to start a war between the Turians and Krogan by planting a bomb on Tuchanka or attempting to execute a coup by attacking the Councilors.

Kai Leng should have worked for Saren

He would have been more intimidating

Saren is Mass Effect first final boss of the trilogy, and chasing him is the main quest throughout the first game. It turns out that in the end he was indoctrinated by the Reapersand he is trying to allow them to invade the Milky Way using the Citadel as an entry point. Since the Reapers are largely an unknown entity and Cerberus doesn't have as much of a presence in the first game, it would have been better to use Kai Leng as Saren's subordinate, introducing him earlier.

With Shepard being the first human Specter and having messed up his plans from the start, it wouldn't be far-fetched for Saren to want to eliminate Shepard before they became a bigger problem. Having Kai Leng as an assassin after Shepard in the first game would be make Kai Leng and Saren seem more threatening. Neither would be overshadowed by the Reapers' overwhelming presence, as they had not yet been fully introduced. Instead, Kai Leng was used at a narrative point in the trilogy where his potential as a threat was diminished.

While Mass Effect as a trilogy has many fun moments and fun characters, this is not the case for all chapters. One complaint that comes up occasionally is Kai Leng, and how he's generally annoying as a character more than anything else. What frustrates players most is the wasted potential of an interesting and fearsome threat that was wasted by adding him mid-game. Mass Effect 3Reaper Invasion.