The Aerie is a major location in NieR and NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139.... It is where Kainé is first encountered, and where the party later on inadvertently obtain the Sacrifice key fragment—one of five required for entry into the Shadowlord's Castle—by obliterating the entire settlement.
Overview[]
The Aerie overlooks a wide canyon near the Northern Plains. The houses are connected by a series of large platforms, bridges, and ladders. It is frequently shown to be barren, lacking any sight of its citizens, mainly due to their chosen isolation and fear of Shades, outsiders, and generally the unknown as a whole. However, according to Kainé's backstory, it can be assumed that at a time, the village was active to an extent and isolation was moderate considering that some of its inhabitants were outside of their homes.
Interestingly, the houses are repurposed shipping containers, with visible warning labels on their sides.
History[]
The party after The Aerie's destruction.
The Aerie was Kainé's hometown. Because she was intersex, she was ostracized by the superstitious townspeople and their children, who saw her very existence as a bad omen. After her parents passed away, her grandmother took her in, and they moved to an area just outside of The Aerie. During the events of the game (particularly during the first half), the highly-strung townspeople are shown to blame Kainé for almost every misfortune that befalls them, such as when Hook was fought within the village itself, as they claimed she led it there on purpose.
Nier is instructed by Popola to travel to The Aerie to speak with the village chief, who simply turns him and Grimoire Weiss away almost immediately after they arrive. They stumble upon Kainé's house and get into a fight with her as soon as they meet, but were interrupted by Hook in the process. As it fled, Kainé tells Nier that she is hunting the Shade, and for him to not get in her way.
Nier nevertheless returns after having upgraded his weapon at the Junk Heap, while also finding time to catch a Shaman Fish in Seafront to help Yonah deal with her pain. He receives a letter addressed to Popola from the postman, informing them about Shades appearing in The Aerie again. They witness Kainé fighting off the Shades near her shack, and they both work together to defeat Hook.
The Shade induces hallucinations of Kainé's grandmother as a last resort, but she snaps out of it, and they finally take it down by impaling its body onto one of the settlement's wooden posts. Seeing no reason to keep living after having avenged her grandmother, Nier and Weiss convince Kainé to help them on their quest. She informs them about the King of Facade suffering from the Black Scrawl, and they pursue their next lead for further information. Following the death of Hook, the people of The Aerie begin to have mixed views on Kainé, with some continuing to be antagonistic towards her, while others began to feel sympathy and regret for how they treated her.
Five years later, Nier is told that the village has suddenly opened a large shopping center, much to everyone's surprise. When Nier mentions his desire to destroy all Shades to a local he was speaking to, nearly all of the citizens were turned into Shades and coalesced into a single giant entity. A berserk Emil accidentally destroyed the town in the ensuing battle, but they retrieve the Sacrifice fragment and leave the ruins behind.
Side quests[]
In Fragile Delivery, one of the guards from Nier's village reveals that he is friends with the village chief, and asks Nier to deliver a fragile parcel to him. Upon delivery, the chief accepts it and tells Nier to leave.
Later, during The Belated Letter, a man from Seafront reveals that his girlfriend lives in The Aerie and asks Nier to give her a letter along with a freesia. He finds no one home and prepares to leave, but a giant Shade attacks him and drops a freesia when he kills it. After realizing that she might have been killed by said Shade, Nier tries to inform the client, but he refuses to give up on her being alive and rewards him for helping him out.
Its continuation, Freesia, features the material shopkeeper from Facade revealing that she used to live in The Aerie, and was a neighbor of the botanist's girlfriend that was attacked years prior. She also notes that the victim became a Shade herself, but none of the adults believed her at the time.
Characters of The Aerie[]
Points of Interest[]
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Kainé is fought as a boss the first time she is encountered, and joins the party after killing Hook further inside. |
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The Aerie features a mailbox just before entering the main area. It remains usable after the town is destroyed. |
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Hook is fought first outside Kainé's shack, and later on is chased all over The Aerie, with the party finally defeating the giant Shade for good. |
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Available during the game's second half are a number of merchants that have set up shop in the town's second circular platform. They can be interacted with as normal, until the guard near the center is spoken to. |
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Sells a limited assortment of recovery items:
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Sells several weapons that can be found in other towns. Most notable for stocking Faith if the player hasn't acquired it from the Forest of Myth during the games' first half. Priced at 18,000 G. |
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Sells a limited assortment of gardening materials:
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Similar to Hook, Wendy must be fought at several spots. Emil lets loose once Wendy's health bar is depleted, and destroys the whole town in the process. |
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Kainé's Sword, exclusive to ver.1.22..., can be found here after viewing Ending E and listening to "A Parting Greeting" in the title screen's Options menu. |
Item Placement[]
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| Harvest Points | |||||||||||||||||||
| Place | Item | Rate | |||||||||||||||||
| A | Clay | 20% | |||||||||||||||||
| Silver Ore | 16% | ||||||||||||||||||
| Copper Ore | 16% | ||||||||||||||||||
| Iron Ore | 13% | ||||||||||||||||||
| Gold Ore | 10% | ||||||||||||||||||
| Broken Pottery | 9% | ||||||||||||||||||
| Moldavite | 9% | ||||||||||||||||||
| Meteorite | 9% | ||||||||||||||||||
| B | Clay | 20% | |||||||||||||||||
| Silver Ore | 16% | ||||||||||||||||||
| Copper Ore | 16% | ||||||||||||||||||
| Iron Ore | 13% | ||||||||||||||||||
| Gold Ore | 10% | ||||||||||||||||||
| Broken Pottery | 8% | ||||||||||||||||||
| Eagle Egg | 7% | ||||||||||||||||||
| Moldavite | 5% | ||||||||||||||||||
| Meteorite | 5% | ||||||||||||||||||
| Boxes | |||||||||||||||||||
| Place | Item | Rate | |||||||||||||||||
| C | Pumpkin Seed | 100% | |||||||||||||||||
| D | Antidotal Weed | 100% | |||||||||||||||||
| E | Tomato Seed | 100% | |||||||||||||||||
| F | Speed Fertilizer | 100% | |||||||||||||||||
| G | Wheat Seedling | 100% | |||||||||||||||||
| H | Watermelon Seed | 100% | |||||||||||||||||
| I | Bell Pepper Seed | 100% | |||||||||||||||||
| J | Melon Seed | 100% | |||||||||||||||||
| K | Medicinal Herb Recovery Potion |
20% 1% | |||||||||||||||||
| L | Medicinal Herb | 100% | |||||||||||||||||
Notes[]
- Kainé's shack reappears in NieR:Automata underneath the Shopping Center. Emil preserved it as a memory of his friend.
