brother nier in relation to the events of the aerie and junkheap
(as of writing, i have not completed the entirety of nier: replicant. where i am at now is around the beginning-middle end of the storyline before the first ending.)
brother nier is an interesting protagonist so far, and shows signs of the classic tragic hero. in a well-meaning attempt to accomplish a good-natured goal (to cure his sister’s illness), he ends up walking a much bloodier and darker path than he intended. nier’s ‘timeskip’ very much emphasizes this, showing us nier in his purer days as a youth as opposed to his currently revenge-addled and unstable self.
the thing is with nier is that, while he’s certainly a kind-hearted person who helps those in need, everyone is all but secondary to the ‘few people he loves most’. this, of course, is obviously yonah, but this also extends to kaine, weiss and emil. he fixates on these people, and in certain points in the story, faces little hesitation in regards to sacrificing other people for them. it’s an incredibly interesting contradiction in his demeanor… but the consequences of sort of thing requires intense writing to be able to portray ‘properly’ and ‘gut-wrenchingly’.
of course, leave it up to no other than yoko taro to be able to portray nier’s contradiction wonderfully. there are two instances in the story that highlight this.
here, nier’s ‘fixation’ on saving ‘the few people he loves’ becomes very, very apparent. in this point of the story, he, in his quest to defeat shades, basically obliterates an entire village of people.
the aerie, in the story, was not very welcoming or ‘loveable’ of an area as opposed to the others. it’s loss, while not heavy on the heart, still makes an impact. it was the village with the most tightly-knit ‘character’, i feel. facade, seafront and nier’s village all have varieties of people, but aerie was the one with the incredibly rude shut-ins. and this was consistent between all the villagers. as frustrating as they were, it’s not like they deserved to die… is probably the thought that comes to mind.
now, as for nier himself:
Emil: I killed innocent people. I killed them all.
Nier: But you saved us.
the scene at the end of the aerie’s fall tells it all. emil, heartbroken, and maybe the audience perspective, is mourning the loss of villager lives. he’s in agony and, even if you can’t see a human expression, you can tell with his wavering voice he deeply regrets what he did. this is shown in contrast to nier, who’s expression changes little. he’s only focused on comforting the distressed emil, and seemingly doesn’t feel much in regards to the lost lives.
in fact, he says something incredibly cold, and telling, of what he thinks of what took place, and where he’s heading from now on.
Nier: Really. Don’t look back.
nier kills, and kills, and kills, and doesn’t look back. he thinks, he doesn’t need to, he has to keep looking forward, he needs to keep his eyes on yonah and her whereabouts. if not, she might slip away, therefore, he can’t afford to look back.
but what if he did look back? what will he see? a trail of blood and corpses, all of his own making? would he feel anything, anything at all upon seeing such a thing?
the first thing we are shown in this section of the story is jakob’s demise, and gideon’s change. the boy lost both his mother and brother to the junk heap, and we’re shown him teetering on madness in regards to his fixation with revenge. he wants the robot responsible for his brother’s death dead at all costs, working on forging weapons for years in an attempt to make a sword that can bring it down.
Gideon: I need to ask you for a favor.
Nier: Oh yeah?
Gideon: I want you to avenge my brother!
Grimoire Weiss: That’s a rather ponderous mission.
Gideon: It’s my mission! It’s the whole reason I’ve been creating these weapons for the past four years.
Gideon: I don’t care about money! I only care about making a weapon strong enough to kill those bastards!
sounds familiar? well, i’d think that’s the intention. gideon’s state and his vengeance is an obvious allusion to nier’s own quest for yonah. while she’s (probably) not dead, he is going on his own personal cruel rampage for it. having done the forest of myth quest before this one, the allusions just feel even more obvious.
Weiss: It spoke! This Shade has intelligence! And emotion!
Nier: Who cares?
Nier brushes Weiss’ comment aside has his sword sliced through the Shade’s right arm.
both nier and gideon expressed they don’t care, not as long as they can accomplish their goal. they’re both full of rage over the loss of their own sibling, and seem to teeter on madness in their own quests… but.
Gideon: You stupid machine! You killed my family! You took everything from me!
Nier: Hey, come on. That’s enough.
Gideon: Aaah ha ha! I did it! Now that this goddamn thing is dead, I can forage wherever I want!
Gideon: Just wait, you goddamn freak! Now I can make all KINDS of powerful weapons!
Gideon: Just leave it to me! Leave it all to me! HA HA HA HA HA! AAAH HA HA HA HAAAAAH!
Nier: Look, we get it, okay? Really…
this scene does invoke a sense of ‘wow, this reminds me of what nier is like when he’s killing shades’, but what’s surprising… is how nier reacts. he’s disturbed. in jakob, he starts to see himself, and feels an inch of hesitation in his actions and what he’s become. for a moment, he’s tempted to not look forward, but to look back.
Grimoire Weiss: Hatred and Madness will never heal a wounded heart.
Nier: Maybe it’s just all that he’s capable of right now.
Grimoire Weiss: Revenge is a fool’s errand.
Nier: …Yeah. I know.
when he says, ‘maybe it’s just all that he’s capable of now’, you can tell nier feels a sense of empathy for the poor boy. he understands. nier, who had spent five years hunting shades for his lost sister, can see himself in the boy who spent four years forging swords to avenge his brother. and, another thing he sees, is a distorted image of himself. a broken revenge-hungry madman, someone he hesitates to become, but is well on the path to becoming to. recognizing this terrifies him.
the aerie and jakob— what do these two tell of nier’s mental landscape?
he, despite seemingly being a kind helpful person, has a tendency to over-prioritize those much closer to him. this was on a smaller level when he was younger, but it only developed and became worse throughout the timeskip. it’s gotten bad enough that he can close his eyes and look away from an entire village he killed, but he isn’t so far off yet. a smidge of his former self still remains, and that self is afraid upon seeing what gideon had become. gideon represents what nier may become once his former self fully disappears. and, to nier, to become a broken revenge-hungry madman, is something even he feels troubled thinking about… but for yonah, he’s willing to do anything, right? so will he take a moment to look back, or keep looking forward?
we’ll find out soon enough.
