Jaal Ama Darav
| Character | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Jaal Ama Darav |
| Occupation: | Angaran resistance soldier |
| Relationships: | Sara/Scott Ryder (potential love interest) Sahuna Ama Darav (true mother) Koana, Teviint (sisters) Lathoul, Baranjj, Finn (brother) Etta (cousin) Bavsil, Rollu (unspecified relatives) |
| Fandom: | Mass Effect: Andromeda |
| Other: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Jaal Ama Darav is a supporting character, party member, and potential love interest to Sara and Scott Ryder in Mass Effect: Andromeda. He is an angara who was born on the angaran homeworld of Havarl, and is a soldier in the angaran resistance against the kett.
Canon
Ryder first encounters Jaal on Aya, the capital world of the angara, which they discover while tracking coordinates secured from the Remnant vault on Eos. As a respected member of the angaran resistance and a second of resistance leader Evfra de Tershaav, he serves as the angaran envoy for Initiative operations in Resistance space.
Jaal was historically a student of the enlightened angaran cultural leader Moshae Sjefa.
Jaal ultimately asks Ryder for a favor - three of his siblings (Teviint, Lathoul, Baranjj) have joined the roekaar, an extremist angaran militant group that regards the Andromeda Initiative as just as dangerous as their kett invaders. They invade the Forge, a holy site on Havarl. With Ryder's help they not only convince Jaal's siblings to abandon the roekaar but they also confront the roekaar leader Akksul. The player determines Akksul's fate, but the ideal outcome involves Jaal asking Ryder to trust him in talking Akksul down; Akksul responds by shooting Jaal in the face, a decision which sharply divides the roekaar ranks. Jaal only sustains a glancing blow. As thanks for Ryder's trust in him he takes them to meet his family back on Havarl, including his true mother Sahuna Ama Darav. If they are romantically paired, Jaal and Ryder later consummate their relationship at a secluded oasis behind a waterfall on Aya.
Jaal observes the world analytically and expresses himself poetically. He is a romantic. As with many angara, he is unabashedly expressive and vents anger and passion when it takes him. He bears the trauma of having lost loved ones to the kett.
Fandom
Many fanfics of the Jaal/Ryder pairing occur concurrently to the main storyline. Attention is strongly paid to the events of Jaal's confrontation with Akksul; the meeting with Jaal's extended family; and the romantic scene under the Aya waterfall.
Tumblr fanart of Jaal often likens him to a kitten, complete with the trope of becoming fixated on string and lasers and often with associated begging eyes.
Jaal/Ryder is by far the most popular pairing on AO3.