Mass Effect Wrex makes his debut appearance in 2007's
Mass Effect. A bounty hunter, Wrex is hired by the Shadow Broker to assassinate Fist, a former agent who had defected to the rogue Council Spectre, Saren. Wrex is first seen trying to intimidate his way through Chora's Den, where Fist is based, but is unsuccessful. Later, Commander Shepard meets with Wrex, looking for Fist as well. Wrex agrees to join Shepard, since they share a common goal. When Fist is found, after he tells them that he sent
a quarian who had information on Saren to meet with agents of the Shadow Broker, who were going to kill her, Wrex fulfills his contract by killing Fist. After a brief reprimand from Shepard, they then invite Wrex to join their team, which he accepts, and spends his time in the cargo bay of the
Normandy. In conversations with Shepard, Wrex talks about how he used to be a "Battle Master", which holds him in high regard in the krogan military, but the constant wars between the clans of the krogan homeworld, Tuchanka, brought forth by the genophage, caused him to leave, with the final straw being that Wrex's own father tried to kill him. Wrex also reveals that he was hired by Saren before, but during the mission with him, Wrex felt uneasy about Saren and left. Wrex's uneasiness with Saren proved accurate, as everyone else that Saren had hired for the mission ended up dead. During the mission on Virmire,
salarian Major Kirrahe tells Shepard that Saren has created a cloning facility, meant to try to cure the krogan genophage, a bioweapon created by the salarians to alter krogan fertility rates to keep krogan populations in check. When Kirrahe talks of destroying the facility, Wrex vehemently protests. Shepard then confronts Wrex, trying to reason with him that the facility needed to be destroyed. This causes Wrex to draw his gun on Shepard. At this point, based on the player's choices, Shepard can either convince Wrex that the krogan clones will just be slaves for Saren's army—which Wrex will agree with, and stand down—or Wrex will refuse to fall in line, and either Shepard or Ashley Williams will be forced to kill him.
Mass Effect 2 The character returns in 2010's
Mass Effect 2, though he is not available as a squad member. If the player imports a
Mass Effect save where Wrex was recruited and is still alive, he will appear on the krogan homeworld of Tuchanka and greet Shepard warmly on arrival. He will reveal he united many krogan clans under Clan Urdnot, and is instigating reforms as leader to prevent the krogan's eventual destruction. Should the player perform
Grunt's loyalty mission, which involves letting Grunt join Clan Urdnot, Shepard will talk to Wrex and must then help Grunt on his "rite of passage". In
Mordin's loyalty mission, he will point Shepard to a scout to continue it. Alternatively, if the player imports a save where Wrex died or was not recruited, his more bloodthirsty traditionalist half-brother Wreav will appear in his stead.
Mass Effect 3 If a save where Wrex is alive and was recruited is imported again, Wrex will appear in
Mass Effect 3 as the leader of the krogan, and appears as part of a questline to cure the Genophage. In order to build forces for the fight against the Reapers, the turians request help from the krogan in repelling the Reapers from Palaven. Through his connections, Wrex learns that the salarians have fertile females held captive and that they are immune to the Genophage. He demands their immediate release if the krogan are to assist the turians. He journeys with Shephard to the salarian homeworld, Sur'Kesh, though only a single female, "Eve", has survived. Wrex remains on board the Normandy while the salarian scientist (Mordin or Padok Wiks) synthesize a cure from their tissues. Depending on whether Shepard chose to save or erase Maelon's genophage cure data from Mass Effect 2, Wrex may be open and friendly with Shepard, or cold and curt. If Shephard reveals the salarian sabotage, Wrex expresses gratitude and reaffirms his trust in Shephard. Before the battle, he proclaims Shepard as a champion to the krogan people, friend to Clan Urdnot, a brother/sister to him and that all krogan born after that day will know the name Shepard as meaning "hero". During the final stand on Earth, Wrex will be there addressing krogan troops. He remarks that Eve, whose real name is Urdnot Bakara, wants to name their first child after Mordin. In the
Citadel downloadable content, he becomes a party member for the DLC's duration, provided he is alive and Shepard chose to cure the genophage. Later, when Shepard meets him at the bar, Wrex expresses exhaustion over being endlessly hounded by hordes of krogan females. As they are now fertile and want their first offspring to be strong, Wrex is a popular candidate, all of which is only encouraged by Bakara. If Shepard succeeds in sabotaging the cure, Wrex will eventually discover the deception, withdraws all krogan support from the war effort entirely and confronts Shepard at the Citadel, which forces Shepard or C-Sec forces to kill Wrex. If a save is imported where Wrex was killed at the stand off in Virmine in Mass Effect, his role will be replaced by his broodbrother, Urdnot Wreav. Unlike Wrex, Wreav will not be smart enough to see through the deception, and if Maelon's data was erased, resulting in Eve's death, Mordin can be convinced to allow for the cure's sabotage.
Mass Effect: Foundation Wrex appears in the second
Foundation issue, which tells the story of Wrex's initial attempt to eliminate Fist on behalf of the Shadow Broker in the original
Mass Effect. ==Critical reception==