Alec Ryder: the first human Pathfinder in Mass Effect: Andromeda

Alec Ryder was the first human Pathfinder of the Andromeda Initiative, the man charged with finding humanity a home in the Heleus Cluster. A former N7 soldier with a disgraced career in artificial intelligence research behind him, he built SAM, the AI that worked through every Pathfinder's implant. He died on Habitat 7 within hours of the ark Hyperion reaching Andromeda in 2819, and the title passed to one of his twins. (Mass Effect: Andromeda; Andromeda Initiative briefings)

Early life and Alliance career: from Charon to Shanxi#

Alec Ryder was born on Earth in 2129 and said his love of new frontiers came from growing up in the Sierra Nevada. He joined the Systems Alliance and was part of Jon Grissom's task force, which in 2149 became the first humans to travel through the Charon mass relay. (Andromeda Initiative briefings)

That experience made him a candidate for what became N7 training, the Alliance's elite programme. He kept serving and fought on Shanxi in the First Contact War against the turians in 2157. (Andromeda Initiative briefings; Mass Effect: Andromeda)

SAM and the discharge: why Alec Ryder chased artificial intelligence#

In the late 2160s Alec was posted to the Citadel as a military attaché, and there he became interested in artificial intelligence as a way to push humanity forward. AI was illegal under Citadel Council law, and his experiments ended with a dishonourable discharge from the Alliance. (Andromeda Initiative briefings; Mass Effect: Andromeda)

He kept going anyway. He believed the quarians' mistake with the geth had been creating an AI that stood apart from its makers, and he wanted one that lived alongside an organic host. (Mass Effect: Andromeda)

The work was personal. His wife, Ellen Ryder, a researcher who designed biotic implants, was dying of a degenerative disease, and Alec built SAM hoping it could find a cure. He spent all his savings and became a pariah. The Initiative's anonymous benefactor paid to finish SAM and brought Alec into the Initiative. (Mass Effect: Andromeda)

The theft of Alec's AI kernel before launch, and a bombing aboard the Hyperion, are part of the story of Cora Harper's recruitment. Jien Garson told Cora she was not behind the theft, and hinted that someone more powerful wanted Alec's AI work kept within reach of the Milky Way. (Mass Effect: Andromeda: Initiation)

Pathfinder of the Hyperion#

As human Pathfinder, Alec worked closely with Initiative founder Jien Garson. A Pathfinder was a soldier, scientist and guide in one, with a small team, tasked with scouting the golden worlds and deciding where people would settle. Alec's SAM was linked to him through a neural implant and ran combat profiles that let him fight as a soldier, engineer or biotic. (Andromeda Initiative briefings; Mass Effect: Andromeda)

Alec also knew things Garson's recruits didn't. The benefactor had told him about the Reapers, and after the attack on the Citadel in 2183 he agreed to bring the launch forward. He signed up his twins, Scott and Sara, to get them out of the Milky Way before the war came, and smuggled Ellen aboard in a stasis pod under another name, hoping cryostasis would halt her disease until a cure could be found. (Mass Effect: Andromeda)

Death on Habitat 7#

The Hyperion reached Andromeda in 2819 and hit the Scourge on approach. The shock left one of the twins in a coma during revival. Alec argued with Captain Nozomi Dunn on the bridge, then followed Initiative protocol and took the Pathfinder team down to Habitat 7, the ark's first golden world, with Cora Harper, Liam Kosta and the other twin. (Mass Effect: Andromeda)

Lightning scattered the team's shuttles across the surface. Alec regrouped with his child near a Remnant tower held by the kett, fought through, and used SAM to read enough of the Remnant language to work its controls. Activating it threw both Ryders from the platform and cracked the younger Ryder's helmet. With no shuttle able to reach them in time, Alec took off his own helmet, gave it to his child, and transferred the Pathfinder role and his bond with SAM before he died in the toxic air. (Mass Effect: Andromeda)

Legacy: the Ryder twins and the hidden memories#

Which twin becomes Pathfinder is the player's choice: Scott Ryder or Sara Ryder. The other wakes from the coma later in the story. The new Pathfinder woke aboard the Hyperion and learned that SAM was now tied into their mind more deeply than Alec's link had ever been. (Mass Effect: Andromeda)

Alec had locked away parts of his memory inside SAM, to open as his child found triggers across Heleus. They showed his work on SAM, Ellen's illness, his doubts about the benefactor, which he shared with Garson, and the codeword "Fulcrum" the two used to discuss it. The last memory revealed Ellen alive in stasis, and that Alec had made his child Pathfinder so the family could see her cure through together. (Mass Effect: Andromeda)

For where Alec's death sits in the wider history, see the Mass Effect timeline. (Mass Effect: Andromeda)