This conversation between Painter and Seb plus NAVI’s description of her file it’s very interesting to me because, even if it’s far-fetched for some, you could say that the relationship between NAVI and Mr. Shade is a foil of Painter and Sebastian’s what with the updates on WTW.
The first two are in positions of power compared to the other two whose lives have been negatively changed by the organization and their autonomy stripped mercilessly. And in a video game where even the player-expendable is the bad guy, the biggest villains you can meet or know about aren’t Sebastian and Painter even when they get in your way (mostly Painter) but Urbanshade itself, in this case NAVI and Mr. Shade.
After all, the organization is using you (the main character) to recover a powerful crystal. You’re just a sacrifice they can replace again and again. You’re in the same boat as Sebastian and Painter but they don’t trust you because you ‘work’ for Urbanshade, and you can’t let Painter kill you because if not the ‘opportunity’ given to you by Urbanshade will have been for nothing.
Putting that aside, the most important thing in the NAVI-Mr.Shade and Painter-Sebastian's relationship is that they were born from loss.
According to the NAVI’s file, Mrs. Shade couldn’t be found in the Ocean of Souls, and if I’m not wrong, the reason for her search was to make Lady Death revive her using a death token (if I’m wrong, you can correct me in the comments). However, due to the failure in that mission, she was declared dead.
This led to NAVI being tasked to be a projection of Shade’s wife using recordings of her. Did it work? Was Mr. Shade really satisfied? I can just speculate that he felt closer to his deceased wife’s memory the same way he did with his stillborn daughter Lucy, but even if Mr. Shade is incredibly old, I don’t think he is that delusional to believe his family is back.
Nonetheless, for NAVI this is just a task. She can’t relate, imo, to the pain of Mr. Shade because she never knew her. Well, it’s not clear in the file. NAVI was said to be constructed in 1979 and Mrs. Shade died in 2005 and couldn’t be found in the Ocean of Souls. Maybe Mrs. Shade just heard a bit about NAVI, but visiting Hadal Blacksite? I doubt that. And it’s more complicated to piece together when the file also says that there were recordings of Mrs. Shade and those were used on NAVI so she could be a reflection of her.
Like, were those recordings from home videos? From their honeymoon? Their wedding? Again, just speculating.
The point is, Mr. Shade wanted to feel closer to his wife while he couldn’t bring her back. What better way to do than using the AI that was built decades ago? But this is just a one-sided relationship and not very healthy. The file even says: “Due to frequent communications between both parties, it has been noted that NAVI had been learning and picking up the mannerisms of Mr. Shade himself, resulting in the AI acting "colder" towards employees.”
It makes sense now why Painter called her “stickler for rules” although it might not be just because she is emulating Mr. Shade’s sense of order and authority, but also because she is following her programming. The curious thing now is this next line Painter says: “I don’t even think she likes the guy she’s working for anyways.”
This line here is interesting because it implies that NAVI might not like the kind of role she has been given and the guy responsible for this new responsibility. Imagine pretending to be someone you don’t even know with the little information given to you, and it’s not any higher-up who gave that order but the very leader of the organization that hired you, which means not doing your very best or your 100%, but meeting up unimaginable expectations and more or else who knows what the leader might do to you.
I think it’s lucky that NAVI is an AI pretty advanced for such a task but it doesn’t take away the stress of the what-ifs.
Now, while NAVI has personality of her own -shown in the disdain and annoyance toward Painter when she calls him a parasite- my theory is that she doesn’t feel safe around Mr. Shade to reveal her sentience. This is too far-fetched, I know, after all, NAVI developing a personality doesn’t mean that she might also develop sentience like Painter did. But if she did develop sentience, showcasing it in front of Mr. Shade or anyone in Urbanshade might not be the best idea because it could raise suspicions that she might become rogue and they could either reprogram her or get rid of her.
So, NAVI in the end is just an AI playing two roles: the multipurpose guide of Blacksite and a reflection of Mr. Shade’s wife. Compared it to Painter who had a genuine relationship with his creator.
Painter’s file doesn’t explain if his creator was trying to just create a painting AI program ending up with Painter being born, or maybe he was trying to create an art-making AI companion and he got Painter in the end which was much more advanced than he imagined, but the point is still the same: they became family.
The same happened between Painter and Sebastian even if the circumstances were less than desirable. They have gone through similar abuse at the hands of Urbanshade and want to get out, they rely on each other, and help each other open up about certain stuff.
The idea of being replaced/left behind is one that must’ve crossed NAVI and Painter’s mind as they can’t defend themselves except by controlling the turrets or any other system in the facility. Besides, in Painter’s case, trusting Sebastian is a huge gamble because if he goes back on his promise, it’ll mean death for the AI.
As a last thing. The first 5 pictures come from this video: https://youtu.be/XJbRhlVxfuE?si=uZm2zYQyGDNw6Z1D
