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(note: bold are player-based decisions that directly impact both Garrus' personality/history. Due to the sheer extensive nature of choice in Mass Effect, every player-based decision will not be listed, however I will try to touch on the main plot points. )

Mass Effect 3 is a work of speculative fiction, taking place in the mid-to-late 22nd Century. Wiki links have been provided for clarification, and in-universe terms.

Garrus Vakarian was born on the turian homeworld of Palaven sometime in the mid-22nd Century, around the time of an event known as the First Contact War (or the Relay 314 incident if you're a turian). His father was a Citadel Security (or C-Sec) officer of some renown, and his mother was likely employed with the turian military. He also had a younger sister named Solana. Though he was often off-planet due to his work on the Citadel, Garrus' father still had time to train him in basic weapon use, and also instilled in him a sense of perseverance and continuing even when the going got rough. Throughout his childhood, he would often see his father on the vids (a catch-all term for various visual mediums in the Mass Effect universe) making arrests, all the while hoping to become a Spectre, an elite branch of special operatives. However, his father greatly disapproved of this dream, and despite Garrus being selected to participate in a Spectre training program, he ultimately obeyed his father's wishes, staying on planet (coincidentally, his mother had also been in an accident, and he used that as one of his excuses not to go).

At the age of 15, (like all turians) Garrus was conscripted into Palaven's military and at some point had a fling with a fellow recon scout (Garrus had reach, but she had flexibility). Not much is known about his time there, but after his mandatory service, he followed in his father's footsteps and joined C-Sec, hoping to be able to help people. However, he found himself angered by the bureaucracy, butting heads with both his father and his direct superiors as he rose up in the ranks. One case, involving a particularly gruesome organ thief was left unsolved thanks to the suspect fleeing, and once again, Garrus blamed the red tape.

Sometime later, Garrus was tasked with investigating a Spectre named Saren, but due to the nature of the operatives, found that most of the information was classified, and his superior quickly shut down his investigation. While arguing with the man, he met someone who would change his life forever: a human Spectre candidate named Commander Shepard. Feeling that he could get more done with a Spectre than at C-Sec, Garrus took a leave of absence to travel with the Commander and pursue the rogue Spectre. During this time, they travelled around the galaxy, saving colonists, dealing with supposedly long-extinct lifeforms, and meeting up with an Asari doctor.

Sometime during all this running around across the galaxy, Garrus tells Shepard about the organ theft case, and they agree to pursue the culprit. When they find him, Garrus wants to kill him immediately, but Shepard argues for sparing him. Eventually, Garrus relents, but the salarian still pulls a gun on the squad, and is killed regardless of the player's choice. However, the event does have an impact on Garrus and he decides to return to C-Sec WHILE applying for Spectre training, with a new perspective on the place of rules and regulations.

While most of the game is spent believing that Saren is the main antagonist, all that changes when the crew arrives on Virmire to assist a Salarian STG unit in detonating a cloning facility. Through this, it is revealed that Saren is in the thrall of a hyper-advanced ancient machine race known as the Reapers, whose goal it is to wipe out all spacefaring civilizations every 50,000 years. With Saren's help, a vanguard for the Reapers known as Sovereign intends to use the Citadel to open a portal to Dark Space and let the entire fleet into the galaxy.

But, when they go and tell the Council this, their pleas fall on deaf ears. So instead, (with some help) Garrus and the rest of the crew take matters into their own hands, and when Sovereign attacks the Citadel, it is defeated.

Other important decisions Shepard made in Mass Effect 1 were:
     ↪Wrex surviving Virmire
     ↪Kaidan surviving Virmire (I'm sorry Ashley :()
     ↪Saving the Citadel Council
     ↪Saving the Rachni Queen
     ↪Bring Down the Sky Competed - Hostages saved, Balak at large
     ↪Anderson is selected for councillor

Still, despite Shepard's warnings, things end up going back to business as usual on the Citadel, with no one really wanting to believe that the galaxy is going to be at war. This frustrates Garrus, now back with C-Sec, continuing to find his work incredibly cumbersome and tied up with red tape. Frustrated with how easily things went back to the status quo after Sovereign's attack (and perhaps partially because of news of his friend Commander Shepard's death), Garrus quits C-Sec for good and leaves the Citadel, heading to a place where he believes that he can do some real good.

He finds his way to Omega, an asteroid station renowned for its lawlessness. Shortly after arriving, he helps a fellow turian named Lantar Sidonis out of a sticky situation, and with his help, Garrus decides to form a team to take down Omega's gangs. He adopts the moniker "Archangel", and sets to work building a squad of twelve very different individuals with one thing in common: all of them wanted to see the gangs of Omega pay, and none of them more than Garrus. Even as they gained more renown and some of them considered settling down, Garrus continued to push them harder.

Unfortunately, that might very well have been what led to his downfall. Sidonis was captured by one of the merc groups, and betrayed Garrus and his team. What resulted was the deaths of ten men, Sidonis fleeing Omega, and Garrus left alone to deal with every merc gang on the station coming after him.

Despite putting up a valiant fight for a few days, his resolve began to fade. Convinced that it was near the end, he called his father (now retired). Upon realizing the severity of the situation, his father tells him not to give up, and to come home when everything is sorted out. But right at that moment, as he looked through the scope of his sniper rifle and sad goodbye to his father, Garrus saw someone he was sure he'd never see again: Commander Shepard, who had been tasked with recruiting the vigilante 'Archangel' for a certain mission.

Reunited with his old friend, the two of them (with some help from Shepard's squad) attempt to fight their way out. But, it doesn't come without cost. Garrus is severely injured by a gunship, and is rushed back to the Normandy in critical condition.

But, even a gunship can't stop him for long.

Somewhat healed (though now sporting a massive scar on half his face), Shepard invites Garrus to participate in their latest mission, investigating a mysterious species known as the "Collectors" with the "help" of a human supremacist organization known as Cerberus. With little prodding, Garrus agrees to join the suicide mission, and so the process of recruitment and preparation begins. As they prepare for the mission, they manage to save half a colony, discover that the mysterious Collectors are a corrupted ancient race under the thrall of the Reapers, and even go inside a "derelict" one where they encounter a pretty cool robot buddy.

Mass Effect 2 also has something called "loyalty missions", where each character has to resolve some unfinished business in their past. In Garrus' case, it's tracking down Sidonis, the turian that betrayed his entire squad to their deaths. After finding out he's on the Citadel, Shepard agrees to help their friend hunt him down. Throughout the pursuit, Shepard is increasingly disturbed by their friend's behaviour, and when the time comes, they block Garrus' shot. After listening to both Sidonis and Shepard, Garrus lets the other turian go, deciding that he is suffering for what he done, but still unsure if it was the "right" choice.

Sometime after investigating the derelict Reaper, the entire support crew of the Normandy (save for the pilot, Joker) is kidnapped, and Shepard launches the suicide mission.

Other major choices in Mass Effect 2 include:
     ↪Everyone (including the crew) survived the suicide mission)
     ↪Destroyed the Collector Base
     ↪Destroyed Geth Heretics
     ↪Tali spared from exile
     ↪Arrival, Overlord, & Lair of the Shadow Broker completed

While Shepard was imprisoned on Earth (thanks to the events of Arrival, which Garrus was not present for), Garrus returned to Palaven to warn the Turian Hierarchy about the Reapers. The first person he talked to was his father, who had various connections throughout the government. Shockingly (to Garrus at least), his father believed his story, and was able to get Garrus a token task force to prepare for the so-called "Reaper threat".

Still, even with Garrus' best efforts, nothing could have prepared the turians for the Reaper force. Despite putting up a valiant fight, by the time Commander Shepard arrives to enlist the help of the turians, Palaven is nearly a lost cause. Still, Garrus agrees to go along with his old friend, helping them assemble species from across the galaxy to better combat the Reaper threat (and for help in building the Crucible, an ancient device believed capable of potentially defeating the Reapers). It is from this point that Garrus is taken from, shortly after settling back onto the Normandy.

Garrus Vakarian is a self-described "bad turian". While he mentions that most of his people are satisfied with (and expected to) follow orders regardless of their personal feelings about them, Garrus has never been content to stay silent. This is best evidenced the very first time that Shepard (the player character) meets him, where he argues with the C-Sec Executor over being taken off an investigation into the illegal dealings of a Spectre (and fellow turian) named Saren Arterius. His sometimes argumentative and hot-headed nature (particularly in regards to rules and regulations he disagrees with) is also emphasized in Mass Effect Homeworlds, where he gets into an argument with his father over how the handling of justice within C-Sec. While this lessens over the course of the games, Garrus' stubborn nature still remains under the surface (such as when he takes Shepard to the top of the Citadel for a friendly day out and/or date, telling them that he's gotten to the point where he just doesn't care about the regulations forbidding him from being there).

Garrus is also an individual with a very strong sense of justice, no matter the cost. It is this sense that first leads him to Shepard's crew, feeling that he can get more accomplished working with someone who is "above the law". And, despite Shepard convincing him that there are some values to certain regulations, it is this same sense of justice that leads him to Omega after their apparent death to take down criminals. Garrus also has a very black-and-white worldview when it comes to justice, and during his time on Omega, he was fond of dealing out karmic punishments to fit the crime (such as when he killed a drug dealer with the very drug he was selling). Still, this is not to say he isn't always without conflict. This comes to the forefront during his personal mission in Mass Effect 2, where he decides to get revenge on Sidonis, the man who betrayed his entire squad. When Shepard blocks his shot, he first tells them to move out of the way, but as he listens to both Shepard and Sidonis, he decides to spare him, later confessing to Shepard that he has no idea if he made the right decision. Regardless of his methods, Garrus is still a man who strives to do the "right" thing, no matter the cost.

When it comes to how he interacts with others, one of Garrus' preferred methods of communication (particularly in later games as his character receives more focus) is sarcasm. In the first game, he will casually remark to Shepard "why do people always assume we enjoy putting ourselves in harm's way" when given a dangerous task to accomplish. His sarcasm and teasing nature is also evidenced in the second game, when he teases Tali about the conversations that the used to have on the elevators (though it is cut short when Tali offhandedly mentions her shotgun). Even in more dire situations, as a coping mechanism, he will occasionally inject some dry humour as well. However, unlike some of the other characters, he never goes too far with this, and knows when it's appropriate to be serious.

It is also important to note that romance-wise, he is completely clueless and awkward. He never realizes a doctor's crush on him despite being teased about it by at least one crew member. When Shepard tries to get him a date, he first seems more interested in talking firearms (declaring that what he really needs is a silencer for his sniper rifle), and then uses some truly horrible pick-up lines on the woman ("do you come here often? I imagine anyone who does is probably an alcoholic"), the situation only salvaged by the interference of his friend. And, if a female Shepard chooses to pursue a relationship with him, he becomes increasingly awkward and begins rambling about the ways it could go wrong, showcasing a level of vulnerability, as he counts her among one of his only friends left in the galaxy.

Despite not having many close friends, Garrus is intensely loyal to the ones that he has. While many of the crew members from the first game have massive reservations about working with the human supremacist terrorist organization Cerberus, Garrus agrees to come along with Shepard, no questions asked. This continues throughout the game, where if present, he defends Shepard from a former crew member that claims they betrayed everything they stood for. Finally, in the third game, despite being one of the highest ranking members of the turian military, Garrus leaves active combat to again serve with Shepard aboard the Normandy. Each of these events demonstrate that Garrus is one of Shepard's closest, and most loyal friends.

Throughout the series, Garrus also grows into a formidable leader in his own right (though is still somewhat overshadowed by the protagonist, Commander Shepard). This is first evidenced on Omega, where he led a team of mercenaries against the station's crime, and continues on to the suicide mission, where he is one of the three "right" choices to lead various fire teams. In Mass Effect 3, he is a top advisor to the Primarch (ruler) of Palaven, and is saluted by turian generals. During one scene, he has a candid conversation with Shepard about the pressures of leadership and the "ruthless calculus of war".

Ultimately, Garrus calls himself a "bad turian". And while that may be true in some cases, throughout the series, he proves to be a pretty good man.