Every Piece of NieR Automata Lore You Need to Know to Understand the Anime

Spoiler Warning: This Article Contains Spoilers for Drakengard and NieR (2009)

Premiering this month, NieR: Automata Ver1.1a threw newcomers into a brave new world as androids 2B and 9S fought their way through a post-apocalyptic earth populated by hordes of killer robots. Though the situation might seem overwhelming, what with 19 years of lore to catch up on, the lore isn’t as complicated as it appears. Here’s everything you need to know about the wondrous yet tragic world of NieR: Automata.

The world of NieR: Automata was first introduced in 2017’s cult hit of the same name by Japanese director Yoko Taro, a follow-up to his cult 2009 action-RPG NieR. The subject of numerous light novels, manga series, and even a mobile gatcha game, the story actually extends all the way back to 2003, with the videogame Drakengard. That game, a dark fantasy, featured a parallel earth on the brink of total collapse as a demonic extra-dimensional force known as The Watchers attempted to break in. Through numerous sequels and a complete tonal shift of the series from fantasy to science fiction, this basic concept still remains.

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A Completely Different Formula: Drakengard

The NieR series technically begins with, Drakengard, following an unlikely hero, the murderous psychopathic Prince Caim, through an increasing slog of a game so tedious it has led a sizable portion of the fandom to conclude Taro purposefully designed it to teach a punitive lesson on using videogames as an outlet for aggression. Though critics found the gameplay puzzling at times, Drakengard was highly lauded for its daring, yet controversial story, leading to two direct sequels and, following a hiatus as director, Taro’s creation of the NieR timeline, which follows Ending E of Drakengard.

Drakengard is set in a world like the real one, (the overworld even resembles Europe), with the sole exception being that it is brimming with magic. The Watchers, who dwell in another dimension, sought to enslave this version of Earth and used the mind control magic known as the “Red Eye Disease” to gradually build a nefarious dominion known as “The Empire.” Caim, scion of the lost kingdom of Caerleon, opposed them in a war simply known as “The War of Religion,” aided by a magical pact he made with the dragon Angelus. This system of pacts, which have the power to bind humans to other magical creatures, is hinted to be at the center of magic in Drakengard, a system which would have unfortunate consequences when transferred over to the world of NieR.

The game notoriously has five separate endings, all of which end in some degree of tragedy. Over the course of these endings, Caim’s true adversaries are revealed to be Watchers bent on unleashing destruction upon any world they enter. In the final ending, Ending E, Caim, Angelus, and a grotesque statuesque giant (who may be one of The Watchers herself) fly through a dimensional gateway and find themselves in 2003 Tokyo. After a nightmarishly difficult battle, Caim and Angelus reign triumphant 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 their near-extinction.

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A Clone of a Clone: NieR

NieR released in 2009, and featured a young boy (or older man depending on the version bought) named Nier on a search for a cure to his sister’s mysterious disease through a post-apocalyptic landscape under attack by ghostlike creatures known as “Shades.” Though apparently unconnected to the previous dragon-themed series save for the weapons one finds throughout the game being suspiciously similar to those one finds in Drakengard, it is revealed through small details that this is a world in which humanity has all but been wiped out due to the effects of what is called the “White Chlorination Syndrome.” This disease, caused by the giant’s bodily particles being inhaled through the air, magically reduced much of humanity to literal pillars of salt, necessitating the survivors to devise a solution.

This solution humanity came up with, the creation of a system of clones that could be used to ward off The Watchers’ magic, ended up breaking down due to the actions of Nier himself, resulting in the eventual demise of the original human race (though not their clones, called “Replicants”.) During his quest, Nier uncovered the truth of his existence as merely a shell body that had gained sentience, his consciousness intended to be eventually displaced by his original self’s soul, now known as “The Shadow Lord.” Part of this Replicant program involved the creation of a control village, administered by two red-haired androids named Devola and Popola, characters whose models also return in NieR: Automata.

Nier and most of his compatriots, including the fan-favorite foul-mouthed Kaine, are nowhere to be found in NieR: Automata Ver1.1a, taking place roughly 8,000 years after the original. However, one loose end from that game would be Nier’s comrade Emil, a human whose exposure to magic in humanity’s experiments has warped his body into monstrosity, but also given him quite potent magical powers and virtual immortality. Likewise, there is a stunning similarity to the white-haired, blindfolded YoRHa androids who feature in NieR: Automata to the appearances Nier, Kaine, Nier’s sister Yona and even Emil’s original human form, which had him blindfolded in order to contain his power, which only begs more questions.

A Desolate Battleground of the Far-Flung Future: YoRHa & NieR: Automata

YoRHa is the militant branch of the surviving human population on the moon which is staffed and manned by hyper-intelligent androids and operates out of a space station known as “The Bunker.” According to YoRHa files, following an alien invasion roughly 6,000 years previous to the events of the anime, the organization was established to destroy the machine lifeforms which the aliens used to control Earth. The YoRHa troops have since evolved into increasingly advanced beings capable of remote hacking their opponents as well as weapons-based fighting techniques, however they face an uphill battle in what is now their 14th war against the rapidly reproducing machines.

However, there are already issues with this supposed narrative. Despite this somewhat clean backstory, in the episode “city e[S]cape” there are numerous shots that take place within the cybernetic brain of one of these machine lifeforms. Rather than being in an alien language, the programming is in English. While this could possibly be waved off as a convention, there are also numerous instances in the same episode of Japanese text which is required to be translated by subtitle into English to be understood. By logical deduction, this would suggest the machine lifeforms might have a partly terrestrial origin, perhaps related to the machine enemies found in the original NieR.

Another subtle irregularity in the world of NieR would involve the behavior of the androids themselves, particularly the effervescent 9S but also those in the resistance led by Lily, who seem to randomly display more vulnerable-seeming human qualities, particularly when placed under stresses like isolation or battle. What this points to is a possibility that the magic of Angelus, which also permeated the environment of Earth upon her death, may have a role in balance to the giant’s magic, and maybe magically enchanting 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, mindlessly hostile machine lifeforms. If so, it is possible that becoming more human is actually not beneficial in terms of maintaining a resistance to the corruption. Either way, it’s likely going to be getting pretty hectic for the androids of YoRHa as they battle tooth and nail for the blasted wasteland of Earth in NieR: Automata Ver1.1a.

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