INTRODUCTION
Before I start this guide, I would suggest that if you want to completed any of the drakengard or nier games stop reading now to avoid potential spoilers on multiple games. With that being said, it is time to dig deep into the lore of drakengard and nier as the shift in time period and storyline can be really convoluted. Kudos to the amazing world created by the one and only Yoko Taro.
You have been warned.
To fully understand the world of Midgard and NieR's depiction of post apocalyptic Tokyo is no easy feat. The world's history spans the entirety of four different games (so far since drakengard 2 is not designed by Yoko Taro and is considered to be noncanonical), and each game has multiple endings that lead into different timelines or outcomes. For the purpose of this guide, we'll be examining the timeline that brings us to the events of NieR: Automata. This means that I'll only be covering the events in the relevant branches for each game, but also consider that the endings that I left out will contain important and significant lore points which will help you to further understanding the world.
As such, I'll be going through significant events such as the Flower's appearance in Drakengard 3, the creation of the cult of the Watchers, the defeat of the Queen-beast and appearance of the legion, the start of Project Gestalt and the events occurred in the original Nier (Yes, I did go back and finished it on ps3). However, I did notice that the events get a little messy and muddy after NieR's ending, but I'll do my best to explain the possible connections and links between the original and Automata.
PART ONE: THE FLOWER AND THE INTONERS
The main antagonist of the Drakengard series isn't some psychotic, world destroying villain; instead, it is a delicate white flower that looks harmless to anyone who passes by. No one is really sure where flower actually came from or what it actually does, except that it is said to be the product of some form of black magic. Either way, the important thing to note here is the fact that the flower is evil, and it wants to destroy the world. It also serves as a significant symbol in which the story of Drakengard and NieR starts with said flower.
Later we found that the flower gained power by latching on to a young sex worker who was on the brink of death. By implanting itself in the girl's right eye, the girl was cured back to health and as a result she gained the power of song. After her rebirth, the girl discarded her old name (Rose) and started calling herself Zero. Zero is the protagonist of Drakengard 3. After learning of the flower's origin and intentions to possibly bring destruction to the world, she tried to remove it from her right eye in an attempt to kill it. Of course, all her attempts ended up in failure and Zero was forced to commit suicicide. At this moment, the flower retaliated using its power to give birth to five sisters who were named orderly as One, Two, Three, Four and Five (Not very original, but hey, they are clones after all).
As a consequence, Zero now goes on a journey to hunt down her five sisters and search for a way to permanently destroy the flower itself. On her journey, she enlisted the help of the dragon Michael, who swore to kill Zero after she completes her quest to kill her sisters.
Zero's sisters were all blessed with the power of Song as well and they were known in Midgard as the Intoners. As the five sisters killed the evil rulers of the land, they were worshipped by the citizens of Midgard. In contrast, Zero was branded as a criminal for her desire to assassinate them. During Zero's first assassination attempt on the five Intoners, they fight back, killing Michael and leaving Zero severely wounded in the process. Luckily, Michael didn't really die as in the world of Drakengard, dragons have the power to reincarnate. Michael was reborn as Mikhail keeping memories intact. Mikhail and Zero went into hiding to recover.
A year later, Zero resumes her quest and she managed to take down her sisters one by one. Leading to different endings, this is where things start to get a little confusing.
You see, in Ending A, Zero kills One, but immediately after, she's killed by Brother. Brother is a clone of One but instead of female, Brother was cloned as a male. One created Brother as a fail-safe in case anything bad happens to her. After Zero and Mikhail's deaths, Brother goes on to establish control over the city and forms the Cult of the Watchers. Ending A is largely considered to be the canon ending to Drakengard 3, as logically it seems to lead into the events of the first Drakengard game nicely. However, other endings in Drakengard3 could also potentially tie into the original Drakengard's story as well and these will be discussed later.
There is also an interesting and seemingly important character appearing in Drakengard 3 after unlocking the first couple of endings. The charater in question is Accord. She's a mysterious girl who is later revealed to be an android simialr to that of an YoRHa unit. There is no indication of her motives but it is clear that Accord is tasked with monitoring othe timelines of the Drakengard universe and recording events as they unfold. Furthermore, it is revealed in Ending D that there are loads of androids exactly like Accord. I have no idea how relevant this is but considering that NieR:Automata has a lot of androids, Accord could be somehow related to them.
PART TWO: THE SEAL SYSTEM AND THE QUEEN-BEAST
The world of Midgard is full of conflict, the war between the two factions Empire and the Union seems to last for eternity. The Empire on one hand are governed by the Cult of the Watchers previously mentioned to be established by Brother towards the end of Drakengard 3. But what exactly does this Cult do? and what are the Watchers?
Basically, the Watchers are otherworldly beings that can be summoned into the ordinary human world if you have the right power. The Intoners including Zero and her five sisters are such beings that had the ability to summon them with the power of Song. In drakengard 3, the flower sisters could link their powers with their disciples to call forth an angel from the heavens to aid them in battle. While they were referred to as "angels" in the game, the Cult of Watchers was established to worship these beings, and they gradually became known as "Watchers" instead.
During the original Drakengard's time period, Brother is long gone and the Cult of the Watchers now has a high priestess named Manah (more on her later). The war between the Union and the Empire is a terrifying one, as the Empire seeks to destroy the four seals in Midgard in order to allow the Seeds of Destruction to appear in the world once again. The Seeds of Destruction according to legends are said to be the tools left by the old gods, used to bring an end of humanity. The Cult of the Watchers seek to destroy the Seals so that they can summon the Watchers into the human world.
In the original Drakengard, Caim is the main protagonist. After both parents are killed by the Empire, he is severely injured and heart broken. He finds a red dragon near death at the proximity of his castle. By forming a pact, Caim and the dragon known as Angelus become linked to one another and are healed by to health from current near-death states. Caim has a sister by the name of Furiae, she is one of the four Seals preventing the Seeds of Destruction from appearing. Realizing this truth, Furiae is abducted by the Empire.
Caim sets out a journey to rescue his sister and defeat the Empire, Caim aligns himself with a young boy named Seere and a priest, a woman who eats babies and a pedophile (Weirdest party members ever).
When the party finally finds Manah, they realized that Manah's mind was being manipulated by the Watchers the entire time as they were the ones given order for the Empire to destroy the Seals. At early age, Manah suffered from a lack of love and attention from her mother, thus leaving her with a vulnerable state of mind. It was further revealed that Seere from Caim's party was actually twins with Manah and Seere was the favored child out of the two.
After the death of Furiae and breaking the fourth and final seal, the Seeds of Destruction are revealed, summoning the Queen beast and other grotesque monsters into existence. The Queen-beast is the final boss of the game and with the release of Drakengard 3, there's been a lot of speculation about who she really is.
It is clear that the Queen beast is a monster summoned by the Watchers, which in turn means that she must have some sort of connection to the flower in Drakengard 3. In Drakengard 3 Ending C, Zero is taken over completely by the Flower and she spirals out of control. The theory that the Queen beast is actually the consumed version of Zero definitely sounds plausible. Alternatively, the Queen beast could also be responsible for the reappearance of the flower after it had been sealed away in Drakengard 3 Ending D. In this ending, Mikhail successfully defeats Zero and her sisters in another rhythm game boss fight, after that Accord tells the player that the flower was sealed into another world or perhaps another timeline (Time paradox much?).
Consideringg the similarities between the Queen beast and the consumed Zero boss fights (Both are rhythm games), it is possible that the flower from Drakengard 3 Ending D timeline got transferred into an alternate timeline where the events of original Drakengard takes place.
Either way, original Drakengard's Ending E is the most interesting route here story wise. In this ending, the Queen beast is summoned, Caim and the dragon Angelus enter a whole new dimension to fight her. The final battle takes place in Tokyo year 2003 where they engage in a rhythm game boss fight. Upon defeating the Queen beast in Tokyo, a pair of fighter jets (Japan airforce) enter the scene and shot down both Caim and Angelus marking the end of Drakengard and brings us to the events of NieR (2010) .
Fun fact: in the original Drakengard, it is heavily implied that Caim and his sister Furiae were having an affair (Wincest) but I won't go in too much detail on that since you can just go on e-hentai or something xD
PART THREE: PROJECT GESTALT
So. The military shoots down our heroes Angelus and Caim. At the same time, the defeated Queen-beast also dissolved into strange particles known as Maso, or demonic element. This demonic element started to affect the humans of our world, and caused a disease called the White Chlorination Syndrome. Those infected with the disease are forced to make a pact with the god of another dimension. They would have to choose between becoming a mindless servant for that god, or becoming a statue of salt. The White Chlorination Syndrome brought about the Legion, which is basically a group of humans-turned-monsters from the pact they made. The Legion was led by a commanding monster named Red Eye. It is a common theory that Red Eye is actually Caim, but this is just a popular theory, and there’s no official confirmation.
As for Angelus, her body was recovered by the military. Magic research also began in Tokyo. This is a fantasy series, after all.
Anyway, things in the human world were pretty messed up, so the government had to do something. Project Gestalt was launched. This was a science project that would attempt to separate the human souls from their bodies and store them somewhere safe until the threat of the demonic element had passed. As the physical bodies were mostly affected by the disease, new bodies were constructed for these souls. However, the souls could only be put back into the new bodies after the threat of the demonic element was dealt with.
The human souls were referred to as Gestalts, while the new bodies were called Replicants. To combat the Legion and Red Eye, the human souls were taken out of their bodies, leaving Replicants and androids to fight the monsters. Eventually, Red Eye and the Legion were defeated, thus ending the threat of the White Chlorination Syndrome. At long last, the Flower is vanquished.
A little before the Legion’s defeat, however, a man (whom we’ll refer to as Nier) and his daughter Yonah sought help at a charity organization center in Shinjuku. Yonah was suffering from the disease, and Nier came to this center hoping to get some food and medicine for her. There were a few other survivors with them as well. However, the charity organization turned out to be a government science experiment to find the “original Gestalt.” To that end, the organization handed out books called Grimoire Noir to the survivors, which would allow them to wield magical powers. Upon interacting with their copies of Grimoire Noir, many of the survivors turned into relapsed Gestalts that had no control over their own minds.
Nier and Yonah escaped and took refuge in an abandoned supermarket. These relapsed Gestalts (later known as Shades) cornered them, and Nier had no choice but to use Grimoire Noir to fight them off. Unlike the other survivors, Nier was able to retain his sanity and free will even while using Grimoire Noir, making him an original Gestalt in the eyes of the scientists. After fending off the Shades, we find out that Yonah had interacted with Grimoire Noir as well, causing her to start to relapse. The Project Gestalt scientists then put Gestalt Yonah into hibernation and kept her there until the threat of the disease had passed, and she could be put back into her Replicant body. Gestalt Nier, on the other hand, went on to help the organization with stabilizing other Gestalts and keeping them from relapsing.
However, the Replicants started to become self-aware, and that’s where problems started. The Gestalt relapse is a phenomenon that can happen due to defects in the Gestalt transformation process, which is what happened with Yonah and the other survivors. A relapse can also occur when a Replicant becomes more self-aware, leading to a loss of control for the Gestalt, causing them to become Shades and start attacking Replicants themselves. In turn, this also causes the Replicant to suffer from something called the Black Scrawl, which is basically a technical malfunction sparked by a Gestalt’s relapse.
The events of NieR kick off properly when Gestalt Nier realizes that Yonah’s relapse cannot be stopped, and so he kidnaps Replicant Yonah in an attempt to put his daughter back into her new body. This causes Replicant Nier to seek him out and take back his own daughter. Along the way, Replicant Nier enlists the help of a magical book called Grimoire Weiss, as well as a young boy named Emil, and a hermaphrodite named Kaine.
Once they track down Gestalt Nier, who is known by the Replicants as the Shadowlord, Replicant Nier learns about Project Gestalt. It is also revealed that the overseers of Replicant Nier’s village, Devola and Popola, are actually androids who were tasked with taking care of the Replicants until they could be merged with the Gestalts. After defeating Devola and Popola in a heated battle with really awesome music, the party proceeds to confront the Shadowlord.
After fighting the Shadowlord, Gestalt Yonah (who is currently inhabiting Replicant Yonah’s body) tells her father that it’s not fair for her to take someone else’s body like that. Gestalt Yonah leaves the Replicant’s body and she becomes a Shade who fades away into the sun. She probably dies at this point.
In Endings A and B, Replicant Nier kills the Shadowlord, effectively dooming humanity as he was the one who was helping to stabilize the Gestalts. Replicant Nier and his daughter live their days out in peace, but Replicant Yonah continues to suffer from the Black Scrawl. At the moment, it’s not clear whether this is considered the canon ending or not.
NieR’s Endings D and E play out a little differently. Over the course of the story, we find out that Kaine actually has a Shade living inside her. At the end of the game, she starts to relapse as well, and the only way to save her is by killing her. If we kill her, we get Ending C. However, the Shade inside Kaine tells Replicant Nier that he can help Kaine become a normal human again if he’s willing to give up his entire existence for her. This leads to Ending D and, subsequently, Ending E.
By giving up his existence, no one in the world remembers Nier anymore, and even Yonah forgets all about him. It is implied that Kaine and Yonah return to the village after that, where Kaine takes care of the young girl. Ending E is actually a hidden ending that was only revealed in Grimoire Nier, a Japan-exclusive book that offers more insight into the game’s lore.
In Ending E, Kaine is unable to shake the feeling that she’s forgotten someone, and she’s soon drawn to the Forest of Myth. It’s suggested that the entire Replicant system gets reset, and its execution begins in the Forest. Here, Kaine is reunited with a slightly younger Nier, whose memories are restored with the ones he had from his first visit to the Forest. The story ends there, but we can deduce that new Replicants are created in order to help salvage Project Gestalt.
CONCLUSION - NIER: AUTOMATA AND MISCELLANEOUS DETAILS
NieR:Automata takes place Millenniums (year 11945) after the events of the original NieR. At tghis point, we know that the humans have left the Earth and are now living on the moon. This indicates that Project Gestalt was somehow a success and trhe Gestalts were able to successfully merge with the Replicants. Does this mean that they’re normal human beings now? Are they robots? Or are they some sort of higher entity?
Either way, the humans are living on the moon because Aliens has invaded Earth and uses machines to overtake everything. In order to reclaim the planet, human created androids to fight back against the machines and retake what was theirs. These particular type of androids are known as YoRHa units (A more advanced combat, scanner or operative model). In NieR:Automata, you take control of YoRHa unit 2B, 9S and A2. These androids are designed to "supposedly" incapable of having emotions, though during the playable demo, that was proven false as 2B and 9S clearly share a sense of camaraderie.
There are many interesting details that we can pick up from previously released footage of Automata, and there is a reasson why I've decided to recap the stories of Drakengard games instead of jumping straight into the original NieR. For example, NieR:Automata introduces Adam and Eve. They are both men and they are wearing dragon like clothing. Their gloves are covered in scales and Eve's design is more obvious with his dragon scale pants. Ever since the drakengard games we have never seen dragons appearing in NieR so the callback to the dragon motif is definitely interesting.
That's not all there is to Adam and Eve. Eve has a tattoo on his left arm and when it extends, it reveals a symbol on his chest .That symbol looks awfully similar to that of the Cult of the Watchers, which is pretty suspicious. In addition, both Adam and Eve have red eyes and you know who else has red eyes? Manah, Lady One, and Brother - and what do they have in common? all three are connected to the Cult of the Watchers.
Remember the evil flower in the original Drakengard? the imagery is presented in both NieR and Automata. In NieR, the white flower is known as the Lunar Tear that Yonah believes to be able to cure her of the Black Scrawl. As she was just a kid, it is obvious that she is wrong. However, the Lunar Tear is an important symbol for both Yonah and Kaine. while this theory can be dismissed as a simple reference to the flower in Drakengard 3, that doesn't seem to be very likely as Drakengard 3 was released after NieR, so the flower symbolism was already present long before then.
I bring this up because NieR: Automata’s TGS trailer gives us an introduction to most of the game’s main characters, and one of them is a robot called Pascal. In Pascal’s character artwork, he’s seen holding a small white flower. Is this the Lunar Tear, or something more sinister? Maybe Yoko Taro just really likes white flowers? Either way, it’s an interesting bit of imagery that seems to be recurrent in these games.
Thanks for taking your time to read my lore summary guide. There are still many mysteries unsolved and so much we don't know about the Drakengard and the NieR universe as a whole.
I highly encourage you to play through NieR:Automata and explore the multiple endings that the game has to offer in order to fully appreciate the amazing world that Yoko Taro has created.
Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=897596872
More NieR:Automata guilds
- All Guilds
- All Endings Guide
- NieR: Automata
- Chip Fusing Chart & Guide - What's Worth Keeping
- HD Texture Pack
- Tweaks & Special K (FAR)
- NieR:Automata Guide 720
- YoRHa Manual: Weapons/Pod Programs Locations
- NieR:Automata Guide 717
- NieR:Automata -
- 100% Guide to NieR:Automata