![]() He’s shocked to learn that Nier is not only unphased by the change, but embraces him. Emil cowers after his transformation, fearing he finally looks like he feels inside: grotesque, alien, and inherently unlovable. ![]() He’s able to absorb some of his feral sister’s abilities to revert his petrifying eyes, but it comes with a cost-his body transforms into a skeletal form with a smiling skull. In his search, he learns that he and his sister were once used and exploited as weapons by a research group. Emil has desperately been seeking a method by which to save Kainé, who he was forced to petrify to seal away a vicious Shade. Midway through Replicant, the story skips ahead by five years. To them, it’s a means of survival for Kainé and Emil, it’s proof they’re freaks, people who could never live a traditional life and rely on themselves to get by. Living in constant fear of terroristic attacks, the denizens of Nier’s village and those of neighboring settlements treat their own with suspicion and ostracize those who transgress popular ideas of how people should look and behave. Nier creator Yoko Taro is known for incorporating themes of post-trauma nationalism in his games, and Nier Replicant is a prime example of this. Despite their persecution, both are entirely selfless-they dedicate themselves to helping Nier in his quest to find Yonah, and assist in saving Nier’s village from Shade invasions. Kainé and Emil both have bodies that are deemed as dangerous. This echoes my own queer experience we aren’t necessarily drawn to people who are particularly similar to us, but instead our chosen families are disparate. Denied of a community in an already decaying world, Kainé and Emil share a unique connection and a similar struggle despite their wholly different personalities. This recontextualizes Kainé’s plea for Emil to accept himself as not just being about their individual bodies, but about their apparent queerness as well. We also eventually learn that Emil is gay-he wistfully wishes he and Nier could marry. After being violently bullied by the children in her village, she lived on the outskirts of society with her nurturing (but foulmouthed) grandmother. Later, we learn Kainé is an intersex woman. It’s an extraordinary ability, but one that forces him to live a lonely life separate from other people. Emil, meanwhile, has a Medusa-esque ability to petrify anyone he looks at. For this reason, Kainé is seen as a grim omen, a lightning rod who attracts disaster wherever she goes. Shades claim anyone they come into contact with, and slowly threaten the few civilizations left standing in the world. Kainé is possessed by a Shade, a shadowy creature that thrives somewhat parasitically inside her body. She brushes against the bandages he uses to cover them, then presses his hand to her arm, showing him the fulminating spark of her curse. Contains spoilers for the first half of the gameĮarly in Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139…, the forthcoming update of 2010’s Nier, Kainé urges a young boy named Emil not to be ashamed of his eyes.
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