SO. i mean, these arguments are old but people did not like Bro Nier. My thoughts about Replicant resurfaced when a user made a post on twitter discussing the Shadowlord [3:32 PM] Another user responded, saying that they like the Shadowlord since he's more "morally correct" than the other characters. [3:35 PM] First, Nier isn't really about who's more morally correct than others. I suppose... stories like Tyrann or Argo would fit that for sure, as they are straight-up twisted. But the main cast are almost always skirting the line. They are grey characters, they are morally ambiguous. But I'd be remiss to not acknowledge that, because these characters are ambiguous, it wouldn't be as if people can't have different interpretations of the characters and their stories. So... [3:36 PM] BUT... the hatred for Bro Nier is weird to me, imo anyways. He did kill the shades, who were the original humans in the end. BUT:
- He (and everybody else fot that matter) didn't know who the shades really were.
- There was miscommunication between the shades and the replicants.
- Shades were still a danger and even eating replicants.
- Kaine could've have said something about the situation. She knew the truth but didn't mention it.
- By the time the truth was revealed by Devola and Popola, everything was already fubar at that point. Nier was probably too focused on Yonah and everything that fell apart afterwards to process everything.
- Even if considering the fact that Nier could've have known the truth about the shades, it might have changed very little to the situation. Yonah was still dying from the Black Scrawl and the Shadowlord still wanted his body back. The replicants had formed their own lives and personalities. [3:42 PM]
- Shades were also corruptd human spirits from the failed Gestalt experimentation. Probably couldn't do much about them either and I doubt the rest of the replicants would be any more thrilled than Nier to give their bodies, their livelihoods, away. [3:44 PM] As for Nier morsls or Shadowlord morals, well they are ultimately the same. I guess the Shadowlord wasn'y weilding the blade so to speak, but like Replicant Nier, he just wanted to be reunited with Yonah. But she shade inside Replicant Yonah was killing her too. [3:45 PM] They were two sides of the same coin, symbolising Nier's own ambitions to protect his sister that ultimately end up killing himself in the end. And the entire world, by extensionx (edited) [3:46 PM] So it's not "who's more right" but more like, "We make the choices that we think of best for ourselves." And those choices are not always going to be black and white.
I guess you can add: The road to hell is paved with good intentions, as well. [3:48 PM] Nier always had good heart, but he's also incredibly sacrificial to a fault. [3:49 PM] He's willing to hurt himself for the happiness of others. One the other end, Yonah is the only family he has left, making him overly protective of her, even willing to go against the entire world if anything happens to her. [3:51 PM] Man i love Nier. He is your perfectly flawed protagonist. He comes in with a heart of gold, only to be weighed down by the world and his own desires. [3:51 PM] What a fucked up man. [3:53 PM] But I don't think his desires are entirely wrong either... it's hard to say. He doesn't kill senselessly, even if he did hate the shades. He killed because he thought it was best for him and everyone around him. He was given only one fact about the shades and ran with it. Provided everything that developed in the story, I don't think you can blame him. Or Kaine too.
As for og Nier, sure I guess... I guess he started off far less corrupted than Replicant Nier. But he agreed to be part of the Gestalt project, which thr scientists were also abusing him the entire way through, to save Yonah. He put trust into the small possibility that humans would return again in 1000 years and have a cure for Yonah's sickness by then. (edited) [3:57 PM] Even without weilding a blade, his desires and gullible attidude had existed during the apocalypse. [3:58 PM] The stepping stones for what would eventually lead into the Replicant timeline.
This is why I keep going back to Replicant lol [4:03 PM] NOW WHAT ABOUT EMIL. [4:04 PM] Well, I will write about Emil too but he's also a kid and therefore, is automatically absolved of any responsibility. [4:04 PM] 8'D
