Garrus Vakarian is a fictional character in BioWare's Mass Effect franchise who acts as a party member (or "squadmate") in each of the three games in the original trilogy.

By Mass Effect 2, Garrus forms a vigilante group on the crime-ridden Omega, with his team later being wiped out due to betrayal.

Garrus is a turian, an alien race with avian features, from a society which values discipline and possesses a strong sense of personal and collective honor.

[4] David Kates, a composer who worked on the Mass Effect franchise, described Garrus as having a conscience and a desire "to do good", ultimately seeking both healing and justice.

The consensus was that Garrus would have a blue and black theme and a visor, which were later decided as important visual cues to be retained by the character for Mass Effect 2.

Early iterations of Garrus' head model included a medical bandage which covers up his facial injury.

[3] Developers still wanted Garrus to look familiar, but gave him heavier armor "to withstand the battles" of Mass Effect 3 and increased the detail of his armour and eyepiece.

[4] Garrus was initially not given a romance in the first game as the developers were unsure whether the alien characters would be "as compelling in terms of human emotion".

Kates aimed to convey the conflict Garrus felt between his desire for healing and justice in the music, while also bringing a "human element" and emotional depth to the character, giving the impression he was motivated by more than just the battle.

If the player goes to the Med Clinic, they will encounter Dr. Chloe Michel being threatened by thugs, whom Garrus will shoot after Shepard distracts them.

If the player does recruit him, Garrus can be found in the Normandy's storage bay and talked with after each main mission for new information about himself.

Eventually, Garrus will inform Shepard of Dr. Saleon, a salarian geneticist using his employees to grow spare organs.

Out of all the squadmates in the Mass Effect series, he has been particularly highlighted as a fan favorite who is consistently placed at the top of several reader's polls and critic rankings.

[22] Game Informer's Kimberley Wallace considered him to be one of the best BioWare characters, commenting that "Garrus has enough charisma to top all the rest of the Mass Effect cast.

"[23] Phil Savage from PC Gamer named Garrus as his personal favorite Bioware companion, commenting that Mass Effect 3 was a game with many endings, and Garrus' ending "takes place before the final battle, shooting cans with Shepard at the top of the Citadel's Presidium.

The journey from that first meeting between a frustrated C-Sec officer and a novice Spectre during the Saren investigation to that last charge against the Reapers as a pair of war heroes is one of the best friendship stories in gaming.

[32][33] Writing for IGN, Emma Boynes listed the relationship between a female Shepard and him as one of the best in video gaming; and noted that while he seemed an odd choice at first, he "grows on you".

[36] In a 2016 article written for The Guardian, Kate Gray and Holly Nielsen reflected on the Garrus romance scene in Mass Effect 2, and concluded that "the appeal of this scene is in the way he brings wine and puts on music in an attempt to make things nice; it’s in his obvious nervousness and the way he eventually lets his guard down.

These include two action figures (one of which is designed as a "collectible"),[38][39][40] a screenprint poster, a t-shirt, a character key, and a bust.

[40][42][43][44] Keener agreed to record a voice mail message as part of a Mass Effect-themed silent auction for Child's Play.