"You can't get back everything you lose, but sometimes you get lucky."

A 106-year-old asari companion who has a passion for studying and working with Prothean technology, Dr. Liara T'Soni is an expert in the field of Prothean archaeology, specifically evidence concerning the Protheans' demise. She is, in fact, found in a Prothean ruin, trapped in a kinetic bubble prison. Liara is a possible romance interest for both male and female Shepards. The asari have only one gender, and can reproduce with any gender or species. Liara's class is unique to her as an asari Scientist, skilled mainly in biotics, but unable to build skills in weapons and tech abilities. Unlike the human equivalent Adept, however, Liara can learn "Electronic" skills.

Liara is the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, a well-respected and powerful asari biotic. It is unknown precisely who Liara's other parent is, except that she was another asari. There is a certain social stigma attached to this, as the asari believe that for them to improve themselves, they should mate with other species to gain new genetic properties. If two asari mate as Liara's parents did, then it is believed that nothing is gained from the relationship. The term "Pureblood" is used as a cruel insult for children born of two asari. When asked about her second parent, Liara is only able to speculate that her parents were possibly embarrassed by the union, but she does not know for certain. Her face and body is modeled on actress Jillian Murray, and she is voiced by Ali Hillis.

In Mass Effect 2, Liara has a radically changed personality. Acting much more like her mother Benezia, Liara has become an information broker on Illium in direct rivalry to the Shadow Broker. Having improved as a biotic, she uses death threats and other intimidation tactics to extort information. If the player imported a Shepard from the original Mass Effect that romanced Liara, she greets Shepard with a kiss. Liara assigns Shepard an optional quest to assist her in hunting down an agent of the Shadow Broker spying on her, known as the Observer. Liara's anger at the Broker stems from when he recovered Shepard's body and was prepared to sell it to the Collectors during the events of Mass Effect: Redemption. After certain dialogue choices, it is possible to break through her shell and reveal the real Liara, revealing that her darker personality is nothing more than a facade. Liara took Shepard's body from the Broker and gave it to Cerberus so they could bring Shepard back to life. Liara knew that Cerberus would use Shepard for their own uses, but still gave them Shepard's body as she cares for Shepard and could not let the Commander go. She feared that Shepard would hate her for this, and apologizes. She declines Shepard's offer to join the team to continue her quest for revenge against the Shadow Broker, although expresses regret that she cannot join Shepard's squad.

Mass Effect 3[www.masseffect.com]
Mass Effect 2 DLC[social.bioware.com]