NieR Automata: Story & All Endings Explained
Part Four: A2 and 9S
Pod 042, which was originally assigned to 2B, starts to assist A2, as that was 2B’s dying wish. A2 is initially reluctant to talk to the Pod, but with its help, she locates a large machine in the Desert Zone. We quickly find out that ever since A2’s desertion from YoRHa, she’s just been wandering around Earth, hunting machine lifeforms and destroying them. After defeating the large machine in the desert, she passes out.
When she wakes up, A2 finds out that her fuel filter needs to be replaced, and she’s forced to consort with Pascal in order to get one. Due to her hate for the machines, she’s initially distrustful of Pascal, but she soon starts to change her mind, thinking that maybe the machines in Pascal’s colony aren’t so bad after all. The good times don’t last, however, and Pascal’s village is soon attacked by hostile machines. Pascal and his colony takes refuge in the Abandoned Factory, but A2 finds out that even more machines are converging on their location. She and Pascal then defend the children machines as they fight off their enemies.
After finally defeating the machines, A2 and Pascal return to the factory to check on the children, only to see that the children have all committed suicide by destroying their own cores. Pascal had taught them various philosophies and emotions, including fear, in the hopes that it would help them exercise caution and not rush into battle heedlessly. However, the emotion of fear was what ultimately caused the children machines to kill themselves as they were afraid of being hunted by the hostile machines. Unable to cope with the loss, Pascal begs A2 to wipe his memories. A2 consents, and Pascal is reset.
9S also wakes up with Pod 153 (his own assigned Pod), and states his intentions to destroy all the machines and A2. He finds himself in the Resistance Camp, where he’s nursed back to health with the help of Devola and Popola, twin red-haired androids who are often forced to take on the most difficult and demanding tasks in the resistance force. After recovering, 9S goes to investigate the large white tower in the ruins. However, it turns out that he needs to infiltrate three tower sub-units in order to gain access to the main tower. As he makes his way to each of these towers, he uncovers even more shocking truths about Project YoRHa.
The first truth is that the black box installed in each YoRHa android is actually made from the same materials and source as the core of a machine lifeform. The machine core is where a lifeform’s consciousness is stored, and the black box functions in the same way for these androids. With this information, we find out that the YoRHa androids and machine lifeforms aren’t that different from each other after all. This is also probably why the logic virus from the machines was able to infect the androids so easily.
The second truth is that the war between the androids and machines has been going on for centuries because there is a system in place to make sure that the androids never get to destroy them completely. Near the end of every war cycle, a backdoor to the existing Bunker at the time will be open, allowing for some sort of virus or infection to seep in and wipe out all the YoRHa androids. This would prevent the androids from ever winning the war, and the next generation of YoRHa androids can be created to restart the cycle all over again. This information wasn’t made known to the commander either.
Throughout all of this, Pod 153 notes that 9S is undergoing a steady decline in his psychological state, and is slowly losing himself to the grief over 2B’s death and his rage against A2 for killing her. After destroying the final tower sub-unit, he makes his way to the white tower. At this point, A2 also begins heading over.
9S is the first to make it into the tower – something that was only possible with the help of Devola and Popola, who end up sacrificing themselves to fight off endless waves of machines as 9S hacks his way inside. Inside the tower, a mysterious voice taunts him as he makes his way upward. 9S is eventually forced to fight against 2B clone units, all of whom have been infected by the logic virus. 9S starts to lose his mind a little here as he cuts them down. He loses his arm in the fight, though he does manage to kill all of them. He then rips off the arm of one of the 2B units and attaches it to his own body. This causes the logic virus infection to start spreading to him as well.
A2 also makes her way to the tower in search of 9S. As she explores, she discovers yet another truth about the YoRHa project. Before anything else can happen, she is attacked by a black-haired girl in a red dress. This girl appears to be a computer program of some sort, and we’ll refer to her as N2 from here on out. We find out that N2 is actually the mastermind behind this whole cycle of war. N2 states that they are a concept that cannot be killed, and while they had actually intended to completely wipe out the androids, they changed their minds after seeing the curious behaviors of both the machines and androids. They noted that both lifeforms started trying so hard to be human, to live like them, and N2 had gotten curious as to how this development would pan out. We also find out that N2 was responsible for destroying A2’s entire squad back when she was still with YoRHa. It is revealed that A2 and her comrades were actually the first generation of YoRHa androids, and they were sent into the field as guinea pigs, and that the commander had no regard for their safety. A2 saw this as a betrayal on command’s part, and so she deserted.
In a fight between N2 and A2, A2 deliberately refrains from attacking the enemy in hopes of causing a data and consciousness fracture by going against what N2 expects her to do. N2’s own consciousness and logic process begins to evolve and splits into two sides. One side of the consciousness argues that the androids should be left alive, as this will continue the cycle and potentially provide more hardship for them. If they can overcome more hardship and obstacles, N2 will become an even more powerful being through that conflict. The other side argues that the androids have become way too dangerous, citing the initiative and self-awareness illustrated by A2, 2B, and 9S, and insists that they should be destroyed. The two opposing sides eventually start to fight against each other to see which would come out on top. A2 is then able to destroy N2’s consciousness, or at least this particular projection of N2’s consciousness, in the middle of the conflict.
I know. My head hurts too.
Anyway, after destroying the machine lifeforms that guard the tower, A2 and 9S finally come face to face with each other. It’s here that A2 reveals to 9S that 2B’s own name was just a cover-up for her real designation: 2E. 2E was a special type of YoRHa unit created specifically to destroy fellow YoRHa androids in case they ever got too close to finding out the truth about humanity. 2E didn’t know the truth, of course, but she was paired up with 9S, who was a high-end scanner-type model, so that she could kill him if he ever discovered the truth. After killing him, his memories could then be wiped, and his consciousness would be transferred to a new body, effectively resetting him. It’s implied that 2E has actually killed him multiple times before, which explains her words after the fight with Eve earlier on.
Regardless, 9S still insists on fighting A2. At this point, we see that his eyes are now red, due to the virus from 2B’s (or 2E) arm spreading to his system. This is also where the game splits into multiple endings.
