Mass Effect: 8 Weirdest Enemies (And What They Represent)
4. Reaper
It would be remiss to mention Lovecraft without a nod to the Reapers, since their lurking presence in the universe is directly lifted from Lovecraft's own special brand of cosmic horror.
In the series, there are cycles of creation, the impossible expanse of time; imperceivable to the tiny organisms inhabiting it, and of course, there are giant, hulking entities deemed gods in their own right, out in the vast expanses that no-one has yet reached.
This is all crystallised in one Cerberus Researcher stating "even a dead god can dream", in relation to the derelict Reaper ship that forms the bulk of the IFF mission - a direct play on one of Lovecraft's most famous lines:
"In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming."
On the other hand, the Reapers embody our own fear of technological advancement in its plainest terms, showing the threat and fall of organic life under the rule of sentient machines.
How warped and pained most of the Reaper's own creations look further reinforces this, with the species forcibly combined with technology in abstract and abject ways. Their indoctrination is a worrying reflection on our own integration with technology as the years go on.