Her,[2] also known as She,[2] the Girl of Light,[2] p!P!H?cs!,[3] one of the Twins,[1] or simply the Girl,[4] is an antagonist in NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139... and NieR Reincarnation. She is one of humanity's quantum server Administrators and the female counterpart of Him.
Story[]
After having watched the Earth's same past, present, and future history on repeat, the male Administrator, "Him," began to feel loneliness and despair. In response, He created Her as his female counterpart.[5] Despite having to continuously observe painful memories of humanity's downfall, the twins were able to support each other.[6] While She began to become mournful at humanity's unchanging future, He had faith in its revival.[7]
Eventually, Kainé discovered the quantum server and destroyed it in order to restore the existence of Nier.[6] While He vanished after being defeated, She was only scattered and became a lone observer as He once was.[6] After an eternity alone, She encountered a damaged Red Girl after the end of the 14th Machine War.[8][9] Despite wanting to offer the Red Girl salvation, she was beyond repair, and so was ultimately assimilated by Her.[10]
Having absorbed the Red Girl's data, She became angered from the girl's hatred and stained red in color.[10][9] She blamed the feelings of loss on having not always been alone, and subsequently decided to freeze both the Earth and the flow of time.[11][9] She also used the Red Girl's power to transform the Earth into a network of stone structures resembling the Aliens' homeworld,[12] which eventually had a similar transformative affect on The Cage.[13]
Wanting to destroy humanity's memories as a means of "salvation,"[14] She sent viruses into The Cage in the form of the black birds and malformed creatures born from humanity's memories.[15][16] She also summoned the entities known as Papa and Dark Mama to start guiding Hina and Yuzuki in the convergence of The Cage's sun and moon,[9][17] an event that would open a more direct path for attack.[18]
By the time Mama arrived on Earth with the Cage residents, She had relegated herself in stasis within a structure known as The Birdhouse.[19] Mama hacked into Her and entered an area representing Her heart.[20] The space was guarded by imitations of Her and contained spiraling objects thought to be viruses created within Her heart.[21]
She ultimately attacked the group, resulting in damage to Mama, Fio, and Levania. The remaining Cage residents fought Her and sent Fio and Levania their power to defeat Her.[22] The pair's power was eventually drained, and She sealed Fio in stasis.[23] However, through Levania, external characters from The Cage entered the conflict, resulting in the defeat of Her.[24]
In the wake of Her defeat, the Administrator decides to escape to a divergent timeline branch, but Fio intervenes.[25] The Birdcage and surrounding stone towers crumble, with stagnant machine lifeforms and YoRHa androids awakening amidst the rubble. Now with a physical form, Fio and a reluctant Her also awaken under a blue sky.
[U]ndecided Option[]
A short time after awakening, She and Fio wander a desert with long-abandoned buildings and cars. In the distance, the two see what appears to be an enormous, box-like object quickly approaching. Fio and She begin fleeing, though it is clear the object is faster. Attempting to gain more secure footing in the unstable sands, the two run across the body of a worm-like machine lifeform they mistake for a metal pipe. The machine awakens and threatens to attack them, but the box smashes into the machine and saves them.
From the box, actually a vehicle, emerges a much smaller machine who apologizes for startling the girls. He tells them that he meant no harm, and is a collector of relics from the extinct human race. Fio expresses hope that the machine may possess something that could help lead them to Him. She knows that He is gone forever, but She is grateful for Fio's kindness and innocence and cannot bring Herself to tell her. Moreover, She wrestles with inner remorse for separating Fio from her own friend, Levania, and does not want to burden her with Her own sadness, and so agrees to go along with Fio to the machine's home.
She and Fio are given a ride to a derelict ship in the middle of the desert. The machine reveals that he has collected countless human artifacts, including exhibits from a science museum. Fio does not recognize many of the objects and asks Her what they are, who knows due to her origin as part of the quantum computer meant to monitor humanity's history. Fio wonders if she technically came from outer space, and She feels immense guilt again for separating Fio and Levania, but Her mood is lifted by Fio's positivity and excitement learning about the artifacts.
The machine shows the girls his favorite exhibit. She recognizes it as a planetarium and explains its function. Fio and Her then notice another machine of the same model in the room, no longer active. The machine explains that this was once his closest friend, and the two often wandered the desert together before finding the planetarium, though it had already broken long ago. Several years prior, the other machine's core failed, leaving Her and Fio's host uncertain of how much time he had left himself, and melancholy that he may not live long enough to fulfill his and his friend's dream of seeing the planetarium projecting the night sky around the dome.
Moved by the machine's story, Fio suggests repairing the planetarium, and She agrees to help. She believes Fio's wish to help the machine fulfill his and his friend's past dream is a way of vicariously reconnecting with her own lost friend, and so She views this as an attempt to atone for Her wrongdoings and separation of Fio and Levania.
Using Her knowledge from Her time as an Administrator, She devises a plan for the three of them to gather materials to repair the planetarium's projector. Fio injures herself falling from a high place to secure a lens for the projector, though she is unharmed. All the same, She realizes how much Fio has been physically exhausting herself, and guilt eats at Her again. She apologizes for making Fio push herself so much, but Fio reassures Her that she is fine, and She sees Fio's honesty shine through.
The machine offers the lenses of his deceased friend and one of his own eyes to complete the projector. At first, She is taken aback and objects along with Fio, but the machine reassures them that this is what he and his friend would have wanted. The projector is completed, and all three observe the mostly functional planetarium in awe. As the narration programmed into the planetarium speaks of the Apollo program, Fio wonders what humans intended to do after reaching space. In response, She considers for a moment the best answer and says that people may have wanted to share their memories of Earth with someone from across the stars.
At last, once the planetarium showing had ended, She encourages Fio to join Her in searching for a way to reunite with Levania. She realizes that Fio did not come with Her in despair but full of hope, and that She also needed to stop dwelling in guilt and look ahead to the future. Fio agrees as she begins to cry, admitting she worried she would never see Levania again, and She realizes that the two of them have been carrying and repressing the very same pain of fear of loneliness. The two embrace in understanding.
Before leaving, the machine thanks the two for helping him realize the dream he shared with his friend, and that by seeing Her and Fio repair the planetarium, his hope for the future had been restored. He gives Her some of his ancient relics as mementos to commemorate their meeting before the two depart.
Back in the desert, She and Fio are determined to make their way to the moon somehow, as the Apollo astronauts once had millennia ago. She retrieves the items given to Her by the machine: a pair of two small star-shaped rings, which were friendship rings from when humans still existed. She offers one to Fio and declares that She wants to be her friend, and Fio enthusiastically accepts. The two continue their trek.
Trivia[]
- After absorbing the Red Girl and becoming red in color, She adopts a color scheme similar to that of Manah, the main antagonist from Drakengard and high priestess of the Cult of the Watchers.
- She shares the same English and Japanese voice actresses as 2B.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Grimoire NieR: Revised Edition p.31
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 NieR Reincarnation
Fio: Are you...the girl from earlier?
Girl of Light: Yeah. I'm Her, and She's me.
Mama: Are you the administrator of the quantum server humanity built on Earth?
Her: I sure am. She's been watching—you, and humanity's memories. - ↑ NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139...
???: My name is p!P!H?cs! - ↑ NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139...
Girl: Will you show us your potential? - ↑ NieR Reincarnation, The People and the World, Act III: Transmigration (Goodbye) Story 3 Library Entry
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 NieR Reincarnation, The People and the World, Act III: Transmigration (Goodbye) Story 4 Library Entry
- ↑ NieR Reincarnation, The People and the World, Act III: Transmigration (Goodbye) Story 1 Library Entry
- ↑ NieR Reincarnation
Narrator: However... He makes a miscalculation. Though She scatters, She alone remains here in this world. She would spend an eternity alone in this nothingness. - ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 NieR Reincarnation, The People and the World, Act III: Transmigration (Goodbye) Story 5 Library Entry
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 NieR Reincarnation
Narrator: The Red Girl, too, is another seized by loneliness. And so, She attempts to offer her salvation. But She cannot—the girl's data is damaged beyond the point of repair. And so, She burdens herself with the girl's data and emotions and stains herself red. ...The color of hatred. - ↑ NieR Reincarnation
Narrator: As She becomes red, the world freezes white. Had She always been alone, She would never have grieved for the girl in red or the woman with white hair. And so, She freezes it all. The world...and even time itself. - ↑ NieR Reincarnation
Narrator: Finally, She uses the girl's power to change the city. She transforms it something[sic] resembling the home planet of the machine lifeforms' creators. - ↑ NieR Reincarnation
Marie: So...why does Earth look like The Cage?
Mama: You've got it backwards. The Cage has taken on the form of Earth, you see. The Cage was originally meant to reflect Earth's environment. It seems their similarity was an effect of that characteristic. - ↑ NieR Reincarnation
Narrator: Indeed, all those trapped within The Cage faced hardship from antipathy and loss. And that is why She attempts to sever those bonds. It is Her own way of granting salvation. - ↑ NieR Reincarnation
Narrator: And so, She sends forth the black birds, uses the brother and sister's conflict to create a path... And brings about the fall of The Cage. - ↑ NieR Reincarnation
P.A.: During development, we referenced the country where the thief and the princess lived.
Sarafa: Our country never had monsters like these...
P.A.: These monsters—or rather, viruses—are created here, and will be deployed to your worlds as they're ready.
Sarafa: What? Why!?
P.A.: To destroy your worlds. - ↑ NieR Reincarnation
Deleted User (Her): Hello there. Are we ready to put our plan into action?
Dark Mama: Uh, well, there's actually been a bit of trouble...
Papa: Nothing to worry about, though! - ↑ NieR Reincarnation
Papa: We're in the process of checking everyone's pairings with the key. If all goes well... A massive path should open. - ↑ NieR Reincarnation
Her: And She... I'm alone in this city. Not that you'd be able to get close to Her. She sleeps in The Birdhouse. - ↑ NieR Reincarnation
Fio: Huh? We didn't come back to the same place?
Mama: This feeling tells me...we are inside Her. We're in a place that resembles Her heart. - ↑ NieR Reincarnation
Levania: Did we subdue Her?
Mama: No—that was not Her. It seemed to be a defense mechanism of this place. One of the walls of Her heart.
[...]
Levania: What are those black things rising into the air?
Mama: I...think they're viruses attacking The Cage. They must've been born within Her heart. - ↑ NieR Reincarnation
Yudil: I'll stop her! Grant Fio your power!
[...]
Hina: Fio, Levania...we send our feelings to you! - ↑ NieR Reincarnation
Her: Now I understand...the power of your emotions. But it's not nearly enough to stop Her.
[...]
Fio: Mister Monster and all my friends taught me that I shouldn't give up just because I'm lonely. So I want the chance to teach that to you too.
Her: Then show Her what it means to never give up. - ↑ NieR Reincarnation
Narrator: Through Levania, all your sentiments about The Cage have reached us as prayers. Due to this link being established, you can now call characters from your Cage to Earth.
[...]
Narrator: This is the final battle. Please... Make use of the characters you've trained to stop Her. - ↑ NieR Reincarnation
Her: If I escape to another branch, maybe I'll have another chance...
[...]
Fio: I want to stay here with this girl. I think she's sad all by herself... I know she'll be less lonely if she has someone with her.
