Mini Adler rant from someone who ALSO has a replika oc named Geier,,
Adler is the most compelling to me out of all of the other replikas. Unlike everyone else, he is aware of the cycle. Like Elster, he is trying to make it stop. He wants to save a woman he cares about just like Elster. But he will forever be doomed to fail because he is not the protagonist. I like to think that like Falke, he has some of Ariane's AND Elster's memories. His replika notes has said he is very susceptible to bioresonance, so he likely got more of Elster's personality (while Falke got more of Ariane's). Eespecially if Falke was the one amplifying Ariane's signal to the sierpinski. If he received the "remember promise, save me" stuff from Falke, he'd also have bits of Ariane too. He wants the cycle to end so badly. But he will get sicker and sicker, begging for things to just finally end.
AUUGHH I LOVE YOU ADLER
Sorry for a delay in response, been busy lately cause of thesis work so I hope you see it anon! AND YES I LOVE ADLER SO MUCH TOO I HAVE. SO MANY THOUGHTS ON HIM
Adler and Elster are VERY SIMILAR AS PEOPLE. Swap them around and they'd do EXACTLY the same things, and the game intentionally draws parallels between them, such as with the kiss scene and them both loosing the same eye. Hell both appeared to be even on amicable terms considering that he got to chat with LSTR-S2301 about astronomy before the cycles started. It's just exactly he is doomed to fail because he is not whose POV we follow, it's Elster's, and he is NOT evil for what he is doing like blatantly. I stand firmly that he is meant to be a deeply tragic figure who is sympathetic, but forced into an antagonistic role due to the hellish circumstances every party involved found themselves in at the hands of the, ultimately, the real villain of the story - the totalitarian regime.
That's a REALLY interesting detail to point out that Adler's biores sensitivity may have influenced his personality, I honestly never made that connection myself! I've explained the similarities to myself as just him happening to be a similar person (especially after undergoing Persona degradation, as is seen with him having dreams of his Gestalt's memories, him acting "rogue" and not waiting for orders and other Replikas such as Storches and Kolibris being suspicious of him), but this interpretation also works I think!
OH AND ALSO ABOUT ADLER'S SIGNIFICANCE TO THE STORY, I HAVE TO POINT OUT TO THE BIT OF LORE THAT EVERYONE KEEPS IGNORING: HIS GESTALT LITERALLY MET ARIANE. Everyone else with visions of Ariane is either Falke, Alina Seo (who also "becomes" Ariane), or going insane over the painting (presumably under Falke's influence). Besides Elster and Isa who obv also met Ariane, only Adler has a clear memory of her, which is of his Gestalt testing her, which is imo what makes him "special" enough to occupy the role of the story he does, why he has the paralles to Elster (and Isa too actually), and why he, even after getting corrupted, retains his sanity.
On top of the "Adler is Sun" theory that I'm a STAUNCH advocate for, he is just so SO delightfully complex and interesting and I love him so very muchhhhhh, I get saddened how often people just reduce him to a joke or to some one dimentional bad guy, he deserves better!
