New Year is a time where people reflect as well as look to what lies ahead. So, when Shift Up revealed that Goddess of Victory: Nikke’s latest event would feature the wandering swordslady Scarlet, it was kismet. She’s someone that’s been through the ringer in terms of the horrors of war and loss. Yet somehow, Scarlet perseveres those demons. In fact, her handling of tragedy as a character is so unique that it may just make her the most complex character in Nikke. Like a New Year’s sun, she continues to rise.
As one of the original Nikkes by game lore, Scarlet has existed for many sunsets, having been there when the Raptures first invaded Earth. Humans created Nikkes in order to combat these creatures and save themselves from doom. Who would know that the present-day happy-go-lucky Scarlet was once on the front lines of battles against these horrific monsters? Certainly not the Protagonist as they break bread and farm together. Her past is the same as the roots of her plants – it goes deep and all over.
Yes indeed, there was a time when Scarlet was a sapling herself battling with Goddess squad. When the backstory event was dropped, everyone was surprised to see a version of her in red and black with a robotic and aloof personality. A bigger revelation was finding out that she is not a Grimms model like her squadmates, but a mass-produced Nikke. Just how did she have this personality jump? Sometimes, a twist of fate changes everything.
New Year, New Sword takes us back to Scarlet’s time with her squad of fellow mass-produced Nikkes. Here’s the thing about Nikke’s lore and world building – mass-produced Nikkes do not live long. In the totalitarian-esque post-apocalyptic world, they are the lowest of the low, meant to be fodder on the frontlines. To understand Scarlet is to understand that she is a living paradox. She slashed through those threads which the central government set forth for her and intends to spend her life taking full advantage of it.
As clones, mass-produced Nikkes aren’t usually encouraged to have unique personalities, which explains why Scarlet was so detached at first. By becoming free of her planned fate, she was able to become her own person. Part of this is living for those squadmates who could not do that.
Mass-produced Nikkes lose their lives because of false pretenses. Scarlet figured this out when she ended up as the last survivor of her squad. See, the way it goes is that people sign up to become Nikkes and depending on your tests, you end up as a unique strong Nikke or a mass-produced one. In layman’s terms, it’s a scam. But in this case, the Central Government is the one scammed because Scarlet has never forgotten them. If that’s her bird flip to them, joining Goddess squad was a double flip.
Life would not be any less tragic for Scarlet when she came to Goddess squad. We won’t spoil how its leader Lilith recruited her because frankly, it’s hilarious and needs to be seen. Observing how she is in the modern story, it’s very clear how Scarlet admires who her leader was and what she did for her squadmates. Lilith had a short life but used that time to leave her legacy behind everywhere, inspiring heroic Nikkes in the modern story too.
That’s exactly what Scarlet respects – someone who chooses to live no matter what the circumstances are. These constant losses made her realize that no matter how much she grieved, life keeps on going and she has to do the same.
The world would indeed go on and so would she, eventually morphing into the Scarlet of modern day. With humans now in hiding and the war over, her goals changed after Nikke’s latest event. Old Scarlet wanted the strongest opponent in order to self-disprove her inner thoughts. The abusive tirades from her first Commander left scars of insecurity that she always tried to fill by picking fights, shown in Nikke’s latest event. By having the chance to finally do something besides battle, she let go of those flaws. In a doomed world, she somehow lives on, looking towards hope.
Beneath the spark of courage to live, it’s that simple hope that keeps Scarlet going. Having experienced it before, she knows that the world will inevitably change again and that there’s always a chance it can happen without Raptures. Either way, she plans to see a lot more New Year’s sunrises.
