Louise

"How could I end up with such a... hideous... body...
And yet... this world... This world is so full of beauty..."

— Louise, before fading away

Louise is a character exclusive to NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139..., appearing in a new main story quest based on the short story The Little Mermaid from Grimoire NieR.

Fought during the second half of the game, she is revealed to be connected to the Red-Bag Man's disappearance and death, wherein which the ferry will be made temporarily unavailable until after her defeat along the beached shipwreck at Seafront.

Overview[]

Flashbacks from the game's second playthrough depict the Shade already with her tattered sailor dress when the postman first finds her inside the ship. She later dons a white ribbon given to her by the postman, and takes the Red-Bag Man's red bag for herself later on. Uniquely, both the shape of her dress and ribbon are preserved as she assumes her true form, with the bag, however, nowhere to be seen.

Unable to speak properly, she communicates with the postman primarily through gestures and grunts, and reacts with cheer when he later names her "Louise." While already having devoured the ship's crew prior to his appearance, it is through him that her obsession with being human grows, readily taking on other activities such as letter writing and singing, with middling degrees of success.

Despite enjoying his company, she is forced to refuse the postman's request to come live with him, as exposing herself to sunlight would have given her away, evidenced when she avoids the shard of glass he holds up for her. Louise then resorts to eating more people to try and become human, taking the Red-Bag Man and several others as victim.

Unbeknownst to her, that day would never come, being one of the few noted Gestalts without a Replicant—knowledge that Devola and Popola are shown to be privy to, in addition to her immense strength.^[2]

Story[]

Ship Flashback 122 — Louise's reaction to being given a name.

First encountered as a little girl stranded in a wrecked slave ship on Seafront's coast, she is later revealed to be an extremely powerful Gestalt with incredible regenerative abilities that allow her to be exposed to sunlight without dying, and that she was the cause of the shipwreck that brought her to Seafront.^[3]

While in her human disguise, she kindles a friendship with Seafront's postman. However, this friendship causes her to begin kidnapping and devouring Seafront's residents, believing that it will make her human and allow her to be with the postman forever. The disappearances reach a turning point when Nier is directed to the coastal town in search of the Red-Bag Man, at Popola's request.

Having exhausted every lead from both Seafront and the Village, he finds Kainé and Emil waiting near the beach, with the former having sensed a powerful presence all the way from the Southern Plains, its source emanating from the shipwreck. Nier inadvertently finds the Red-Bag Man's remains in the ship's hull—alongside the rest of the missing villagers—after the floor beneath him collapses in his investigation.

Rejoining the rest of the group, they finally meet Louise in her room, who is forced to transform as Kainé tries to warn the postman of her true nature. Her attention is diverted towards the postman, who also ends up falling from the ensuing damage caused by her transformation.

In her gargantuan Shade form, she appears as a massive octopus-like creature with a gaping mouth which hides her humanoid core. Her body is covered in spikes and tentacles, which she uses as weapons, as well as several "arms" with human faces in place of hands. In this form, she possesses a wide array of extremely powerful magic, including shooting magical orbs and producing a scream loud enough to cause physical damage to Nier and his friends.

During the game's first and second playthroughs, her boss fight is scripted such that the party fails to stop Louise from unleashing her final attack in time, followed by Nier struggling to hurl a single Dark Lance at her core while Louise is distracted by the postman. An additional cutscene plays upon leaving Seafront after having viewed ending A, which shows Kainé tearing apart a letter she retrieved from the wreck and scattering its remains.

Subsequent runs alter her boss fight's mechanics and the party's reactions: they succeed in knocking her down, which allows them to climb her body and take down her weakened core face to face. The new cutscene changes as well, where Kainé is instead shown to have delivered the letter to the postman. Etched on the paper is a barely legible "thank you"—Louise's one successful attempt out of many at penning a letter for him.^[4]

The second set of conversations between Devola and Popola, available on the third playthrough, depict them mulling over using Louise as a countermeasure against the Shadowlord while brushing aside her obsession with becoming human, owing to her lacking a Replicant to ever merge with.^[5]

Notes[]

"Ashurfarra," the only new Word added in ver.1.22..., is obtained after defeating Louise the first time. Grants a 20% MP Recovery Rate when used with Defend and/or Evade, and Drain HP when used with weapons.
The Little Mermaid and Gratitude achievements are tied to Louise. The latter will be obtained naturally during the player's third run, while the former requires defeating her in under five minutes.
Keeping in line with story changes introduced after viewing Ending A in NieR, the player will be able to understand what she's saying while aboard the ship and during her boss fight. Her scream attack in particular is noted by Tyrann as her trying to sing. Louise's voice can be fully heard and understood by the player after Ending B.

Trivia[]

Louise is named after Louise Collin, a girl courted by "The Little Mermaid" author Hans Christian Andersen.^[6]
The Angelic text during her song attack translates into "I want to be a human."

Gallery[]

References[]

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Grimoire NieR: Revised Edition p.30
↑ Devola: She doesn't have a receptacle, so she can't become human no matter how badly she wants to.
↑ Grimoire Weiss: By my pages, this ship was used by slavers! How simply atrocious.
↑ Grimoire Weiss: They all seem to have the same words written upon them, but the penmanship is so poor I cannot make heads nor tails of it.
↑ Popola: If that's a problem, we need to nip it in the bud. If the Shadowlord resists the plan, we'll need her power to defeat him.
↑ Grimoire NieR: Revised Edition, p. 154