Mass Effect introduces several antagonists that Shepard and their crew encounter throughout the trilogy, including Kai Leng. The full Reaper invasion doesn't begin until the third game, so the first two focus on other antagonists for the majority of their run time. In the first game, Saren ends up being the main enemy. The second game features Harbinger as the antagonist. So how does Kai Leng fit into the equation?

In Mass Effect 3, the Reaper Invasion is in full swing and the galaxy is doing its best to band together and survive what feels like an impossible situation. A large part ME3 focuses on building The Crucible, which is viewed as the only way to beat the Reapers. Shepard does their best to gather War Assets to fight the Reapers while they use The Crucible. There's already a lot going on, making Kai Leng an afterthought.

Kai Leng’s Placement Ruined His Potential

He Looked Silly In Mass Effect 3

Kai Leng is essentially Cerberus' top assassin, and his primary target in Mass Effect 3 is Commander Shepard. Cerberus wants to use the Reapers rather than destroy them. The problem is that Kai Leng comes across as a nuisance more than a legitimate threat. With the Reapers being the game's biggest threat, it's difficult to take a random assassin as seriously as the game wants you to. It's unfortunate, as the idea behind Kai Leng as a character had a lot of potential.

By the time Kai Leng is introduced, Cerberus has become an afterthought. Shepard encounters Cerberus quite a few times in ME3 or arrives in a location where Cerberus tried to accomplish something, but the forces sent there were wiped out and Shepard only finds the aftermath. After working for Cerberus in ME2, there was some mystery about the organization's goals, especially since The Illusive Man doesn't exude trust in the interactions Shepard has with him. Eventually, the organization feels like a let-down in ME3 after building up a lot of mystique.

Cerberus would've been more effective in hindering Shepard if the company used the Shepard clone that appears in the Mass Effect 3 Citadel DLC. Cerberus felt that it needed to clone Shepard just in case they needed extra organs during Project Lazarus. In the DLC, the Shepard clone was able to cause a lot of chaos in a short amount of time, and Shepard was at a disadvantage for some of it, after having to convince others of their very identity. Utilizing the clone would've been a better plan than having Kai Leng try to assassinate the Councilors or Shepard.

Why Cerberus Wanted To Kill Shepard

It Wasn't Personal

Shepard wasn't necessarily the original target that Cerberus wanted to kill, but it becomes obvious that the protagonist is the biggest hindrance to Cerberus' goals. In Mass Effect 3, Cerberus' actual goal is to find a way to take control of the Reapers and make humans the dominant species with their power rather than destroy the Reapers, which is the goal the rest of the galaxy is working towards. It's difficult to know if this is entirely accurate, or if it's just what the Illusive Man believes, as it's clear that he was indoctrinated at some point.

Since Shepard's mission directly opposes Cerberus' goals in ME3, the obvious response is to try removing Shepard from the picture, which is a task that falls to Kai Leng. He would have the best chance to succeed, being Cerberus' top assassin. However, it seems like an impossible mission to give Kai Leng, as even the Reapers struggle to take Shepard down. This lofty goal adds to the disappointment that his character became, considering there was potential for him to be an interesting addition as a villain.

Naturally, Shepard wasn't the only target that Cerberus had on their list. Instead, it seems like Cerberus was more interested in creating chaos and distractions to buy themselves time to control the Reapers. This is shown by their attempt to start a war between the Turians and Krogan by planting a bomb on Tuchanka or trying to execute a coup by attacking the Councilors.

Kai Leng Should've Worked For Saren

He Would've Been More Intimidating

Saren is Mass Effect's first final boss of the trilogy, and pursuing him is the primary mission throughout the first game. It turns out at the end that he's been indoctrinated by the Reapers, and he's trying to allow them to invade the Milky Way Galaxy by using the Citadel as a point of entry. Since the Reapers are largely an unknown entity and Cerberus doesn't have as much of a presence in the first game, it would've been better to use Kai Leng as an underling of Saren's instead, introducing him earlier.

With Shepard as the first human Spectre and having hindered his plans early on, it wouldn't be far-fetched for Saren to want to eliminate Shepard before they became a bigger issue. Having Kai Leng as an assassin after Shepard in the first game would make both Kai Leng and Saren appear more threatening. Neither would be overshadowed by the overwhelming presence of the Reapers, as they hadn't been fully introduced yet. Instead, Kai Leng was used at a narrative point in the trilogy where his potential as a threat was diminished.

While Mass Effect as a trilogy has a lot of enjoyable moments and fun characters, that's not the case for every chapter. One complaint that pops up occasionally is Kai Leng, and how he's generally annoying as a character more than anything else. What frustrates players the most is the wasted potential of an interesting and fearsome threat that was squandered by adding him in the middle of Mass Effect 3's Reaper Invasion.