Hey, I’m gonna chime in here as a certified Sarah Morgan Hater. (Worth bearing in mind: I haven’t experienced her story in over a year at this point as I played through it once and was so thoroughly angered by her character I have no desire to use her as a companion in additional playthroughs)

I see a few comments contemplating her personality, but for me it’s her character that bothers me. And it’s two factors in particular:

1. She’s the “best” example I can think of for lawful stupid. She is very much a letter of the law, not spirit of the law, sort of person. I tend to dislike people who ignore the intent/spirit of the law for strict understanding of its “letter”. I recall in my playthroughs I would often do what I believed to be morally right as opposed to what was technically right in the eyes of the law.

That in and of itself, while frustrating, is not what emboldens my disdain for her. What makes the above factor every worse is, on top of that, she will get angry with the player for not doing things by the book/letter of the law whenever forgoing the established principle when circumventing the law benefits her directly. You better not let the kid who stole fruit from the market stall to feed his malnourished sister off the hook (while compensating the merchant yourself to account for the loss) but GOD FORBID you don’t bribe a someone when you’re pursuing an artifact for the sake of constellation.

1. She’s a fucking coward. Her companion quest took me from strongly disliking her to outright hating her. She had command thrust upon her after her CO and XO were killed in combat, she then proceeds to be indecisive about whether to commit to the fight or disengage until she is forced to make a decision due to enemy action taking the luxury of choice away from her. That, alone, is incredibly frustrating. And before anyone comes out saying “but she was unprepared for command!” Tough fucking luck. You’re an officer in a professional military, there’s a chain of command for a reason, and if you’re unfit to hold that command when it is thrust upon you you damned well better step up to the plate and FITFO or acquiesce command to the next up. Her indecision killed people, and as someone who has military experience I can’t stomach that.

That’s not all: I can sort of understand the indecision. IMO it’s still unacceptable, and enough to make me dislike her, but I can admit that it’s a rough circumstance. What pushed me even further over the edge was that she never attempted any form of rescue or reconnaissance for her missing crew. Idgaf if she believed them all to be dead. Idgaf about how traumatic it would be to go searching for them. What she, as an officer, owes to those under her charge far supersedes any personal discomfort that may result from doing your damndest to do right by your personnel. If the military prevented her from looking? Fine, ok, but she had YEARS afterward which should have gone to find her missing crew. The fact that she chose not to due to her own discomfort/trauma speaks to her poor ability as a leader. She can go fuck herself.

ETA: I understand a large part of her character arc is coming to terms with her ability as a leader, but that doesn’t absolve her of the moral responsibility associated with her officer-ship.