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Liara T'soni is a fictional character in BioWare's Mass Effect franchise, who acts as a party member (or "squadmate") in the first and third game, and in the downloadable DLC, Lair of the Shadow Broker. Liara is an asari, one of the various alien species in Mass Effect, and is voiced by Ali Hillis.

Character
Dr. Liara T'Soni is an Asari scientist. In the first Mass Effect, she is 106 years old, barely an adult by asari standards. She has a passion for studying and working with Prothean technology. 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. T'Soni is a possible romance interest for both male and female Shepards. The asari are monogender-pansexual (a "female gender-only" species), capable of mating with any sentient life form, and can reproduce with any known 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, T'Soni can learn "Electronic" skills.

T'Soni is the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, a well-respected and powerful asari biotic. It is unknown precisely who T'Soni's other parent is, except that she was another asari. In the Mass Effect 2 downloadable content Lair of the Shadow Broker, on the Shadow Broker's ship a video of an asari looking at a picture of Liara can be viewed. This asari is the Matriarch that is the bartender on Illium, and in Mass Effect 3, both the Matriarch, Aethyta, and Liara can be goaded into conversing with each other in the Presidium. 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, T'Soni is only able to speculate that her parents were possibly embarrassed by the union, but she does not know for certain.

In Mass Effect: Redemption, Two turian brothers and a batarian, heading towards Omega, are discussing their asari passenger, and comment it's been a month since the destruction of the Normandy and the disappearance of Commander Shepard. When their passenger, revealed to be Liara, asks if they're close to the station, they refuse to let her leave and suggestively demand additional "docking fees". Disgusted, she refuses and uses her biotics to incapacitate them. Liara then docks the ship herself, telling the landing staff that her visit is both business and personal, and that she has "someone to meet".

Later, in the Afterlife Club on Omega, Liara is speaking with an elcor patron about Shepard's whereabouts, only to be told they have not seen "...anyone like that here—nor have I been looking". The two are commenting on a news broadcast that reports the Citadel is still under reconstruction when they are interrupted by a mysterious hooded figure, who is revealed to be a drell. Liara recognises him as her contact, and asks for information on Shepard. The drell agrees to inform her, but only once they are outside. The drell, known as Feron, informs Liara that Shepard is dead. Liara is devastated and asks Feron to see the body when they are attacked by Blue Sun mercenaries. The Blue Sun mercenaries are attacked by Cerberus operatives and Liara and Feron manage to escape only to be captured by Cerberus, where they meet Miranda Lawson. Liara meets with the Illusive Man to discuss Cerberus's motives; Shepard represents humanity and Cerberus wants the body back in human hands. The Collectors have hired the Shadow Broker who in turn, hired the Blue Sun mercenaries to retrieve Shepard's body as well. The Illusive Man tasks Liara to find out precisely why the Collectors want Shepard's body. Liara agrees, but for Shepard, not Cerberus.

In Mass Effect 2, T'Soni initially depicts a radically changed personality due to her experience as a black market information dealer. Acting much more like her mother Benezia, T'Soni has become an information broker on Illium in direct rivalry to the Shadow Broker. Having improved as a biotic, she uses 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, the player is finally able to break through her shell and reveal the real Liara, revealing that her darker personality is nothing more than a facade. T'Soni took pains in getting 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. In spite of wanting to join Shepard, she declines Shepard's offer to join the team to continue her quest for revenge against the Shadow Broker. She expresses regret that she cannot join Shepard's squad.

However, she makes a new appearance in the Mass Effect 2 DLC Lair of the Shadow Broker and joins Shepard's crew temporarily as Shepard decides to help her hunt down the Shadow Broker. Shepard gradually breaks her hardened shell after lecturing her about mindlessly running into battles, but at the same time she states that she won't stop "to enjoy the scenery" until she's done. As the Shadow Broker is killed, Liara takes the opportunity to fill in his now vacant role. She says she will use her newly bestowed status to help assist Shepard's ongoing mission to fight the Reapers. It is also possible to resume the player character's romance with Liara at the end of "Lair of the Shadow Broker".

As the new Shadow Broker, Liara desperately searches for a way to stop the Reapers. Journeying to Thessia to examine the Prothean archives there, she is disappointed to learn how little they contain. A former colleague recommends investigating Kahje since its Prothean ruins are much more vast. Once there, Liara persuades a hanar official to allow her to visit a submerged Prothean site that had become a hanar shrine. A drell named Quoyle takes her to the shrine, but on arrival the shrine launches torpedoes at Quoyle's craft; a Cerberus Phantom had killed the shrine's staff and activated the defenses. When the craft is hit, Liara uses her biotics to keep it from flooding while Quoyle guides it to the dock.

At the shrine, Liara encounters and kills the Phantom, using her biotics to slam a piece of debris through the Phantom's skull. Quoyle is wounded, but not mortally and tells Liara to go on to the archives. There, Liara discovers a promising lead in the form of encryption keys for other Prothean archives, but is interrupted by the Illusive Man. He insists that the Phantom is not his doing, blaming the attack on a rogue faction within Cerberus and proposes that they form an alliance against the Reapers. Liara agrees that to pool her resources with Cerberus's against the Reapers might be a mutually beneficial move, but she insists that he upload his information first. When the Illusive Man remains silent, Liara opines that either he wants to keep the information he has to himself, or that he doesn't have any information in the first place.

As Liara goes to leave, the Illusive Man insinuates that she doesn't have what it takes to be the Shadow Broker, claiming that his black market contacts think the Broker has become soft, weak and vulnerable to usurpation, insisting she needs his help; Liara retorts that he is the one trying to make a deal, advises him to send an army the next time he tries to kill her and leaves. As she helps Quoyle to the shrine's shuttle bay, she informs Admiral Hackett of her possible lead and asks for access to a top-secret facility on Mars.

Liara T'Soni returns as a permanent squad member in Mass Effect 3 and there are consequences for players that were unfaithful to her as a romantic interest in Mass Effect/Mass Effect 2. After the events of Arrival, Liara realized what little time the galaxy had left before the Reapers arrived. Admiral Hackett, knowing this as well, commissioned for Liara's aid. However, this brought her into conflict with the Illusive Man. Eventually, through a process of elimination, mixed with desperation, she discovered plans for a Prothean superweapon on Mars. Unfortunately, by then, the Reaper invasion reached Earth. Regardless of whether or not Lair of the Shadow Broker was completed, she will become the Shadow Broker, but if it wasn't, she took on the Shadow Broker with dozens of hired mercenaries, but with Feron's death.

If Shepard assisted her in taking out the Shadow Broker, she mentions that during the time that Shepard was in Alliance custody, Cerberus managed to track down the Shadow Broker's ship at Hagalaz, and sent a cruiser against it. As the aging ship was not suited for space travel, Liara and Feron loaded as much equipment as they could onto a shuttle as possible, then remotely sent the ship crashing into the cruiser, resulting in the destruction of both ships. Liara didn't have much love lost over the event, as the most crucial part of the Broker's operation is the galaxy-wide spy network, and the ship's destruction kept the Illusive Man from getting his hands on anything valuable.

Upon meeting a surviving Prothean, Javik, she is initially overjoyed to have one serving aboard the Normandy, but slowly becomes more disappointed, having previously imagined the Protheans as the "keepers of wisdom and enlightenment" of their era, only to find them to be "cold and ruthless warlords". Eventually, this relationship reaches a breaking point after the fall of Thessia, where Liara is in Javik's quarters, frustrated with him for "not having the answers". Shepard can either defuse the situation, or allow Liara to walk away. If the former happens, the two will begin to respect and appreciate each other.

Promotion and reception
Liara has received overall positive reception. IGN's Steven Hopper placed Liara at #4 in his countdown of the Top 10 Mass Effect teammates, noting that Liara "fits many roles in the Mass Effect universe, but ultimately stands as one of the best characters overall." According to statistics by BioWare, she is also the most picked squadmate in Mass Effect 3, being chosen for 24.1% of missions.

Particular attention was given to her appearance in the Mass Effect 2 DLC, Lair of the Shadow Broker. IGN's Kristin Steimer notes Liara's transformation, arguing that "over the course of the story, it's clear that Liara has evolved from the shy girl Shepard met on Therum into a hardened woman struggling with her feelings of loss and guilt." PC Gamer writer Tim Clark picked Liara as his favorite BioWare character claiming that "her enthusiasm and curiosity invariably added nuance and emotion to the plot lines that was otherwise lost with the more workaday companions. Her arc, leading up the excellent Lair Of The Shadow Broker DLC, is also some of the most interesting stuff in the series."

GamesRadar's Jordan Baughman noted that "while she is most definitely an expert in whatever her occupation involves...she turns into an absolute mess when placed in social settings and needs a big strong man (or woman) to lean on."