Spoiler Warning: This article contains Spoilers for Drakengard and NieR (2009)
Premiering this month, NieR: Automata Version 1.1a dropped newcomers into a brave new world as androids 2B and 9S fought their way through a post-apocalyptic land inhabited by hordes of killer robots. Although the situation may seem overwhelming, with 19 years of tradition to catch up, tradition is not as complicated as it seems. Here’s everything you need to know about his wonderful yet tragic world NieR: Automata.
His world NieR: Automata first introduced in the 2017 cult hit of the same name by Japanese director Yoko Taro, a sequel to the 2009 cult action-RPG. NieR. The subject of several light novels, manga series, and even a mobile gatcha game, the story actually stretches back to 2003, with the video game Drakengard. This game, a dark fantasy, featured a parallel earth on the brink of total collapse as a demonic extradimensional force known as The Watchers attempted to invade. this basic idea still remains.
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A completely different formula: Drakengard
The NieR The series technically begins with, Drakengard, following an unlikely hero, the murderous psychopath Prince Keim, through an increasing slog of a game so tedious that it led a large portion of fans to conclude that Taro purposely designed it to teach a punishing lesson about using video games as outlet for aggression. Although critics found the game confusing at times, Drakengard was highly praised for its daring but controversial story, which led to two direct sequels and, after a break as a director, the creation of Taro NieR schedule, which follows End E of Drakengard.
Drakengard it takes place in a world like the real one, (the overworld even looks like Europe), with the sole exception that it’s full of magic. The Watchers, inhabiting another dimension, sought to enslave this version of Earth and used mind control magic known as “Red Eye Disease” to gradually build a vile dominion known as “The Empire”. Caim, scion of the lost kingdom of Caerleon, opposed them in a war known simply as ‘The War of Religion’, aided by a magical pact he made with the dragon Angelus. This system of consonants, which has the power to bind humans to other magical creatures, is implied to be at the center of magic in Drakengarda system that would have unpleasant consequences when transferred to his world NieR.
The game famously has five distinct endings, all of which result in some degree of tragedy. During these endings, Keim’s true adversaries are revealed to be Watchers bent on wreaking havoc on any world they enter. In the ultimate finale, Ending E, Caim, Angelus, and a grotesque statuesque giant (who may be one of The Watchers) pass through a dimensional portal and find themselves in Tokyo in 2003. After a nightmarishly difficult battle, the Keim and Angel reign in triumph as the giant dissolves into nothingness… until they are shot out of the sky by military fighter jets. Unfortunately for humanity, this act would lead to near extinction.
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A clone of a clone: NieR
NieR was released in 2009 and featured a young boy (or older man depending on which version he bought) named Nier on a quest for a cure for his sister’s mysterious illness through a post-apocalyptic landscape under attack by ghost-like creatures known as “Shades”. Although apparently unrelated to the previous dragon-themed series, other than the weapons found throughout the game being suspiciously similar to Drakengard, it is revealed through small details that this is a world where humanity has almost disappeared due to the effects of what is called “White Chlorination Syndrome”. This disease, caused by inhaling the giant’s particles through the air, magically reduced much of humanity to literal pillars of salt, forcing the survivors to find a solution.
This solution that humanity came up with, creating a system of clones that could be used to repel the Watchers’ magic, ended up collapsing due to Nier’s own actions, resulting in the eventual demise of the original human race (though not their clones, called “Replicants”.) During his quest, Nier revealed the truth of his existence as merely a sentient shell body, his consciousness destined to eventually be displaced by the soul of his original self , now known as “The Shadow Lord.” Part of this Replicant program involved the creation of a control village, run by two redheaded androids named Devola and Popola, characters whose models also return NieR: Automata.
Nier and most of his compatriots, including fan favorite foul Kaine, are nowhere to be found in NieR: Automata Version 1.1a, set about 8,000 years after the original. However, a loose end from that game would be Nier’s companion Emil, a man whose exposure to magic in humanity’s experiments has warped his body into a monstrous one, but also given him very powerful magical powers and virtual immortality. Similarly, there is a striking resemblance to the white-haired, blindfolded YoRHa androids seen in NieR: Automata in the appearances of Nier, Kaine, Nier’s sister Yona, and even Emil’s original human form, blindfolded to contain his power, which raises more questions.
A Desolate Battlefield of the Far-Flung Future: YoRHa & NieR: Automata
YoRHa is the fighter branch of the surviving human population on the Moon, staffed and manned by super-intelligent androids and operating from a space station known as ‘The Bunker’. According to the YoRHa archives, after an alien invasion about 6,000 years before the events of the anime, the organization was founded to destroy the machine life forms used by the aliens to control Earth. The YoRHa troops have since evolved into increasingly advanced beings capable of remotely hacking their opponents as well as weapon-based combat techniques, however they face an uphill battle in what is now their 14th war against the rapidly replicating machines .
However, there are already issues with this purported narrative. Despite this somewhat clean background, in the episode “city e[S]cape” there are many shots that take place in the cybernetic brain of one of these machine life forms. Rather than being in a foreign language, the programming is in English. While this could probably be expressed as a convention, there are also many instances of the same episode of Japanese text that needs to be translated with English subtitles to be understood Logically, this suggests that the machine lifeforms may be partly of terrestrial origin, perhaps related to the machine enemies found in the original NieR.
Another subtle irregularity in his world NieR it would include the behavior of the androids themselves, particularly the effervescent 9S but also those of the resistance led by Lily, who seem to randomly display more vulnerable human qualities, particularly when under pressure such as isolation or combat. What this suggests is a possibility that Angel’s magic, which also permeated Earth’s environment after her death, may play a role in balancing the giant’s magic, and perhaps magically conjuring the androids to gradually take on more human qualities.
Unfortunately for YoRHa, it appears that NieR: Automata’s Red-eye disease is now capable of infecting machines, given the prevalence of red-eyed, unconsciously hostile machine lifeforms. If so, it is possible that becoming more humane is not really beneficial in terms of maintaining resistance to corruption. Either way, it’s likely to get pretty hectic for YoRHa’s androids as they fight tooth and nail for Earth’s stormy wasteland in NieR: Automata Version 1.1a.
