Kainé is a companion and deuteragonist of NieR and its remake, NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139.... A young woman whose left side is possessed by a Shade, she accompanies Nier after he helps her kill Hook in The Aerie.
As a result of her upbringing and the Shade's occupation of her body, she has a disposition towards being crude and violent, but occasionally shows off a kinder side, especially towards Emil.
Personality
Kainé has an aggressive, cold, and crude personality, with her most notable characteristic being her very foul-mouthed demeanor towards nearly everyone aside from Emil. Her childhood and years of being an outcast caused her to become bitter yet lonely, adding to her irrational anger and loathing of Shades and those who she perceives to be enemies. However, this tough exterior serves to hide her true emotions and self-hatred about her past, along with secrets that she is unwilling to tell anyone. Kainé is an independent and determined person, occasionally revealing a kinder, thoughtful, and encouraging side when traveling as Nier's companion throughout their journey.
Appearance
Kainé appears as a young woman with pale skin and silvery-white hair, styled into a looping braid in the back. In the original NieR, her eyes are a deep violet color, but in Replicant ver.1.22, they are a grayish-yellow. Due to being intersex, she possesses both male and female genitalia.
Kainé's most notable feature is that she wears revealing lingerie, consisting of a blue nightdress and white panties, along with black heels, long blue sleeves with black gloves, and a blue leg wrap with floral patterns on her left leg held in place with leather straps. This is due to the Shade that has possessed the left side of her body, as direct sunlight on her skin weakens its possession. In addition to this, her left arm and leg are wrapped in white bandages. Underneath the bandages, her skin is dark-gray, indicating the Shade’s presence in her body.
Due to her petrification at the end of Act I, following the five-year timeskip in Act II, Kainé's appearance does not change. After being freed from her petrification, Nier gives Kainé a Lunar Tear he had grown, and she wears it in her hair from then onwards.
When Kainé is completely possessed by the Shade inside of her and enters her berserk state, her body turns black and is covered in yellowish markings identical to those seen on Shades, with glowing yellow eyes.
Story
Background
Originally raised in a village called The Aerie, Kainé is a coarse individual who suffers from the left half of her body, which she keeps wrapped in bandages, being possessed by a Shade named Tyrann. This hybrid form has caused her to live as an outcast, unwelcome in villages and befriended by few. As a response to the harassment she received in her childhood for being intersex, she also took a liking to clothes that emphasize feminine characteristics.
She has grown accustomed to being alone, and her veneer of shyness is easily shattered by sudden outbursts and irrational displays of violent anger. Though she is secretly glad to have Nier's company, she is accustomed to surviving on her own due to her strong demeanor, skill with twin swords, and her ability to wield magic.
The only person that previously showed her kindness and protection was her equally foul-mouthed grandmother, Kali, with whom Kainé lived her childhood with and inherited her attitude from. She held both love and respect for her grandmother, who accepted her the way she was and treated her as a woman. One day when returning home, she encountered the Shade Hook who was attacking the pair's shared home. The shade had Kali pinned down, sadistically enjoying Kainé's despair as it murdered her and left Kainé mutilated. It was then that the Shade Tyrann fused with Kainé, allowing her to live and causing her deep hatred of Shades.
When half of her body was taken over by Tyrann, Kainé became possessed and gained exceptional physical and magical power. She also gained the ability to understand the voices of Shades, but convinced herself that they were all evil and deserved to die, although Tyrann often mocked her by asking if she sympathized with them. According to Grimoire NieR, sunlight on her exposed skin helps to suppress the Shade's possession. Kainé realized this, and it became another reason why she started wearing lingerie.
After becoming possessed, Kainé suffered even more persecution from others, deciding to live only to exact her revenge on the Shade who killed Kali, even if it meant using the powers of Tyrann.
Act I
- "Weiss, you dumbass! Start making sense, you rotten book, or you're gonna be sorry! Maybe I'll rip your pages out, one-by-one? Or maybe I'll put you in the goddamn furnace! How can someone with a big, smart brain get hypnotized like a little bitch, huh? Oh, Shadowlord! I love you, Shadowlord! Come over here and give Weiss a big sloppy kiss, Shadowlord! Now pull your head out of your goddamn ass and START FUCKING HELPING US!"
- — Kainé to Grimoire Weiss during their encounter with Grimoire Noir
Kainé makes her first appearance after Nier and Grimoire Weiss investigate a wreath of Lunar Tears in her shack outside of The Aerie. The two are forced to fight her until Hook appears, leading them to direct their efforts towards the large Shade instead. They succeed in driving it off, but Kainé is knocked unconscious. She is carried back to her shack, and promptly introduces herself after she wakes before telling them to leave.
After Nier acquires the upgrade for his weapon, he and Weiss head back to The Aerie, on their way seeing Kainé fending off a group of Shades. The three team up to confront Hook, and while they fight, the latter manages to hypnotize her for a time by parading as her grandmother. She shakes off the illusion before taking out the large Shade with Nier's help, and accepts succumbing to her wounds before the two convince her to join them. Learning about Yonah's illness, she directs the group to Facade, as the city had been researching the illness to cure their king, who had also been afflicted.
On their travels, Kainé prefers staying at the outskirts of villages due to her appearance. At the entrance to Facade, she encounters Fyra, a young girl whom she had saved years prior. This act is what grants Kainé—and by extension, her friends—access to the city, as she had then been considered a benefactor according to the city's rules. Shown to be knowledgeable about Facade's legal system, she invokes Rule 1,024 as a way to enter the Barren Temple, the area otherwise being off-limits to anybody but nobility.
While inside she is abducted by one of the magical blocks in a puzzle room, having violated the room's requirement of not using magic. She manages to find her way out later on, and helps with taking out Shahriyar at the end of the temple. They retrieve Facade's Prince, who had gone inside in search of the Royal Mask, and are then asked to come back to Facade as friends.
Returning from the desert, Kainé continues with the rest of the party as Nier investigates a letter written to Yonah from a manor in the Southern Plains. She nods off in the manor's dining room before disappearing to explore on her own, only later appearing in the manor's study while Emil and the others are attacked by Grimoire Rubrum. Kainé leaves Emil with some parting words before the group leaves, empathizing with his struggle because of his eyes of petrification.
The two meet up again shortly after at the library, as the Village is besieged by Shades led by Jack. The party succeeds in locking the large Shade in the library's basement, but Nier is stabbed as Kainé blocks the door. He fends off Grimoire Noir, but fails to prevent the Shadowlord from leaving with an unconscious Yonah. Still at the door, Kainé has Emil petrify her to keep Jack from escaping. She remains there for five years until Nier and Emil's return.
Act II
Upon Halua's defeat, Nier and Emil head back to the library to free Kainé from her petrification. Almost immediately, Jack bursts out from the basement, but Nier finally defeats the Shade for good. Kainé awakens, and is given a Lunar Tear as a welcome-back gift. Before the party can celebrate further, they are informed by Popola that Emil and Kainé have to stay outside the village due to their appearances. Nier argues against the twins' decision, but ultimately relents. As the party explore the Lost Shrine, he apologizes to the two, and tells them that he'll try to convince the twins to let them in.
During this time, Tyrann's voice can be heard taunting Kainé, and is almost successful in taking over her body after she is knocked unconscious from Gretel's poleaxe impaling her chest. The party defeat him, bringing her back to her senses. She then continues to accompany the group as Nier acquires the key fragments for entering the Shadowlord's Castle, even witnessing The Aerie's destruction at the hands of Emil.
Once at the castle she begins speaking to the Shades more directly, although without revealing to the party what they say, in particular Goose. The group discover Devola and Popola's betrayal—as well as the truth behind humans and Project Gestalt—then manage to defeat them. The magical blast Popola generates in her defeat threatens to eliminate the group, but Emil sacrifices himself so that the rest can continue. Believing that he died, Kainé takes her anger out on a grieving Nier, but soon decides they have to keep going.
The remaining party reach the Shadowlord, and after defeating Grimoire Noir, discover that he is the original "Nier" as seen in the game's prologue. He was the primary test subject for Project Gestalt, driven by a desire to save his sister, Yonah. Having taken her, he gave the Gestalt Yonah her Replicant body, but she realizes that she cannot keep it, as she hears the Replicant Yonah calling for Nier.
She vacates the body, and Nier and a grieving Shadowlord do battle. During the fight, Weiss loses all his strength and disappears, leaving Nier to fight the Shadowlord alone. After defeating him, Nier and Yonah are reunited. However, with the failure of Project Gestalt, the Replicants are doomed to extinction.
Endings
Ending A: Call Her Back
Replicant Nier kills Gestalt Nier, hesitating for a moment before dealing a final blow. Nier calls back an unconscious Yonah with the help of the disembodied voice of Weiss, and the two finally reunite.
Kainé turns to leave, but is stopped by Nier, who asks if she wants to stay with them. She declines, stating she has "her own shit to take care of," and tells the pair to have a good life before departing.
Ending B: Lingering Memories
Ending B contains no additional scenes of Kainé.
Ending C: Thank You
A continuation of Endings A and B, after Nier defeats and kills the Shadowlord, as Kainé goes to leave she begins to relapse. She then goes into her Shade form, forcing Nier to fight her. After Kainé is incapacitated, Tyrann explains to Nier how he can save her—either by killing her, or forgoing his entire existence for her.
If the player chooses to kill her, Nier stabs Kainé as he kisses her, finally ending her pain. Tyrann tells Nier Kainé's last words, "Thank you." A Lunar Tear falls next to a distraught Nier. He picks it up as he gazes through a window, stating that they'll "always be together."
Ending D: Something Very Special
If the player chooses to sacrifice Nier's entire existence for Kainé, everything is erased and everyone forgets he ever existed. Nier disappears, while Yonah thanks Kainé for saving her. A Lunar Tear falls on the ground, which Kainé picks up. When she holds it, she has a flashback of Nier and mentions that it feels like she found something special.
Ending E: e8a898e686b6e382b5e383bce38390e383bc
Note: This ending is exclusive to Grimoire NieR and NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139....
Three years after the events of Ending D, Kainé wakes up after having nightmares about Nier, only remembering that she feels that she forgot something important. Frustrated at being unable to remember, Kainé leaves her hut to take her anger out on Shades, which have grown rampant since the death of the Shadowlord. After this, she heads to the village where Yonah lives to check on her, saving a guard being attacked by Shades on the way there. Once the Shades are dispatched, the man informs Kainé that he was heading to the Forest of Myth to check on them, as they lost contact recently.
Kainé makes her way to the Forest of Myth, and finds that the entire village has been slaughtered and robots that resemble those from the Junk Heap are pouring out of the central tree. After destroying the swarm of robots, Kainé enters the tree and makes her way deeper inside, eventually learning that the tree is actually a quantum server housing the memories of humanity.
After facing off against a pair of twins called the "Administrators," and destroying the server's core, Kainé appears atop a massive bio-organic flower that resembles a Lunar Tear, holding a boy. She finally reunites with Emil and a reincarnated Nier, who appears as he did when he first came to the Forest of Myth at 16.
The Lost World
In the original version of Ending E told in Grimoire NieR, after the Shadowlord is defeated, a program to reset the entire Replicant system begins its execution in the Forest of Myth, and Kainé goes to destroy it. The forgotten Nier is reunited with Kainé, reconstructed with the "memories" that the tree had of his first visit to the Forest of Myth.NieR:Automata Ver1.1a
In Episode 5 of NieR:Automata Ver1.1a, Kainé appears briefly alongside Nier, Yonah, Grimoire Weiss, Devola, and Popola when 9S hacks into Emil's memories.
Development
In a Get News interview with Yoko Taro, he stated that female members of the development team demanded a "male heroine." Yoko, taking their request to the extreme, led to the initial idea of Kainé's intersex condition.[2][3] During the second part of the interview, it was stated that the graphic stabbing scenes and blood led to the game's Mature rating, not Kainé.[4] Later, he shared that he thought her biology would be a huge reveal for players to discover and was surprised when it was included in the earliest advertisements for the game.[5]
In another interview, Yoko said the first request character designer D.K was given for Kainé's design was "something to cover her half-Shade body that is weak to sunlight," and feminine. D.K interpreted this to mean "covering one arm, one leg" and drew several women in lingerie. While surprised by the results, Yoko liked the striking image it created and pushed through other developers' hesitations to make it a target for finalization.
Yoko said the censored beeping noise for Kainé's Japanese profanity was an homage to the game's own dubbing history, and a contrast to other media with serious narratives. However, it was considered "too comical" by localizers and abandoned in English. While not knowledgeable about Japanese voice actors, Yoko was unsatisfied with the "cutesy" voices that were considered for Kainé's role at first. He personally pushed for Atsuko Tanaka because he wanted "a sharp and bold voice."[6]
Grimoire NieR
Grimoire NieR and subsequent interviews with Yoko revealed that Kainé's Gestalt was not originally intersex. She was a woman with a fiancé, but her Replicant was born as intersex due to an error in the long-running Replicant system.
Kainé's name is derived from the kanji 壊 (kai) meaning "destruction" and 音 (ne) meaning "sound." Put together, it can be interpreted as "broken sounds." The developers didn't have a particular reason for choosing it, although it may follow the concept that she can hear the Shade's voices and that, to her, their dying words are "broken sounds." Or that she is hearing herself breaking down.[2]
According to D.K's design notes, Kainé is meant to look like she has bags under her eyes like "she hasn't slept well in six days." Yoko was very pleased with this detail for her. Since the developers wanted to emphasize her bare legs, Kainé was given high heels. Her shark-teeth twin blades were made to balance her asymmetrical design.[7]
Instead of Endings C and D being a decision for "Kainé and Nier," it was more so a choice for "Kainé and the Player." Yoko explained, "If you like Kainé after playing through the game twice, then sacrifice yourself and save her, if you don't then you don't have to save her."
Meanwhile, novelist Jun Eishima expressed her opinion that Ending C would have been Father Nier's choice, while Ending D would be Brother Nier's choice, stating, "A father is responsible to his own daughter, so he couldn't just give up his existence. He feels that it's his duty to protect Yonah and raise her, so he'd kill Kainé and live on. On the other hand, a brother and sister both coexist with and depend on each other, so maybe he'd choose to disappear and be relieved from his burden."
Other Appearances
SINoALICE
The NieR RepliCant × SINoALICE collaboration had Kainé available as a potential character through the collaboration gacha. Her swords could be unlocked through a payment of 150 or 300 crystals. Her job story had her cursing the world, her existence, and her life of killing. She nearly gives into suicidal despair before remembering that she has people she still trusts. Their existence was enough to renew her resolve to keep fighting.
During the collaboration event, she was given a passing mention when Emil remembers the truth. Unlike Nier, who turned into a Shade, Kainé was mentioned to have only "passed away." The ending afterword implied that her swords' emergence in the SINoALICE Library contributed to the recreation of Emil's memories. Clicking on the "Follow" option for the Emil Copies NPC after the final battle in Normal difficulty had him mention the white flowers she liked.
When player characters attacked with Kainé's Swords in battle, they were given an animation that was unique to that weapon. Its weapon story was a retelling of Kainé's looks and troubled emotional state in third person. Though filled with anger, sorrow, and hate with each kill, she couldn't bring herself to part with the bloodshed. With no one to understand her, she felt broken by loneliness. The last part described Ending C, stating her heart was at peace while dying in her loved one's arms.
- Weapon Story
- She was slender, with smooth, white skin.
- The hint of a dark shadow in her expression highlighted her beautiful features.
- But something about the sword in her hand didn't seem to fit the picture.
- Anger, sorrow, hatred.
- When emotions overwhelmed her, she would swing the sword, so there was never a lack of blood to quench its thirst.
- The problem was that she couldn't put the sword down.
- A heart and body in constant conflict.
- No one in the world could understand her.
- And loneliness was eating her alive.
- The long war came to an end, and darkness devoured her.
- But her heart remained at peace.
- Because she faced fate in the arms of the one she loved.
NieR Reincarnation
The NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139... crossover event in NieR Reincarnation had Kainé available with two costumes and signature weapons. One was available through a limited event medal exchange, while the other was available through premium gacha summons.
The Event Story (Record) was focused on Kainé, which was a short story about a young girl in The Aerie hiding a birthmark on her leg with bandages. She has a chance encounter with Kainé, who tells her that she shouldn't strive to be like her, despite the girl's admiration for her.
Gallery
Trivia
- Kainé is the only character in the group who doesn't directly kill any main antagonists or bosses. Emil kills Popola and helps kill Wendy, Weiss kills Grimoire Noir, and Nier kills every other boss.
- In the original NieR, Kainé's areolas could be faintly seen through the slits in her nightdress. However, in Replicant ver.1.22, they were removed.
- In one of Yonah's diary entries, Kainé is described by Devola as being "put together in all the right places."
- Kainé will sometimes roast marshmallows by the campfire with Emil when sleeping outside. Kainé doesn't let him say anything about this however, claiming she has to uphold her image.
- Kainé is good at tongue twisters. A few times through and she starts adding curse words to them, though.
- Though originally rumored to be a character exclusive to the Japan-only NieR Replicant, the third trailer for NieR showcased an audio-only monologue of Kainé berating Grimoire Weiss.
- Kainé is mentioned in NieR:Automata, along with Nier, Yonah, and Emil (the latter appearing in game).
- Yosuke Saito conducted a Niconico livestream to promote Automata which included a character popularity poll for Replicant. Users voted Kainé to first place.[8]
- A 4Gamer interview detailed that Kainé's inclusion in the SINoALICE scenario was considered, but prevented due to budgetary reasons—PokeLabo could only afford enough for two voice actors.[9]
- Notable differences exist between the original Japanese version of Kainé's Dreams and the Western localization.
- The short story The Narrow Gate reveals that Kainé learns that Shades contain human souls but decides not to tell Nier or Emil. In The Lost World it's said that Kainé has not told this to anyone.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Grimoire NieR: Revised Edition p.14
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Grimoire NieR: Revised Edition p.32
- ↑ GetNews (May 19, 2010). カイネの誕生は「男性のヒロインを入れて☆」と言う要望から 『ニーア レプリカント・ゲシュタルト』の横尾ディレクターにインタビュー!(前編), getnews.jp. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
- ↑ GetNews (May 21, 2010). 妹ヨナの日記は女性社員が書いた! 「グラマーになりたい!」 『ニーア レプリカント・ゲシュタルト』の横尾ディレクターにインタビュー!(後編), getnews.jp. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
- ↑ 4Gamer (July 10, 2010). 「ジャンルという概念を打ち破りたかった」――裏話もたっぷり聞けた「ニーア レプリカント/ゲシュタルト」ロングインタビュー, 4Gamer.net. Retrieved June 16, 2024.
- ↑ GAME Watch (May 31, 2010). スクエニ、「ニーア レプリカント/ゲシュタルト」開発チームインタビュー, game.watch.impress.co.jp. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
- ↑ Grimoire NieR: Revised Edition p.173
- ↑ 電ファミニコゲーマー (February 23, 2017). 『ニーア オートマタ』齊藤Pがファンアンケート実施!「ぶっちゃけヨコオタロウ好き?」結果は……, denfaminicogamer.jp. Retrieved June 16, 2024.
- ↑ 4Gamer (February 22, 2019). エンディングは炎上必至? ヨコオタロウ氏らを集めた,NieR:Automataの発売2周年を祝した「SINoALICE」×「NieR Replicant」コラボ記念座談会, 4Gamer.net. Retrieved June 27, 2024.