Archive.01: Project YoRHa and the Illusion of "Glory to Mankind" - The Tragedy of Existence in a Godless World and the Truth Behind the Force's Creation

© SQUARE ENIX, © PlatinumGames

Introduction: The Absence of God and Mechanical Nihilism

The wind blowing through the ruins of decaying skyscrapers carries the whispers of those who perished long ago. A sea of rusted steel frames and concrete swallowed by greenery. The traces of humanity, which once ruled this planet, are buried in the sands of time, and only silence reigns over the world. Breaking that silence, there are those who descend from the sky, emitting a faint light that could be called a soul, dwelling within their steel bodies. They are “YoRHa,” a squad of automated infantry dolls (Androids) who continue to fight to reclaim the Earth. Clad in black attire and wearing combat goggles resembling blindfolds, their appearance is akin to a beautiful funeral procession, averting their eyes from the truth and simply marching toward a predestined ruin.

“Glory to Mankind”—these words they chant with their right hands placed over their left chests mark the beginning of everything in this work, and at the same time, they are the most cruel curse that dictates the end of it all. In this world, humanity, the creator, is already extinct. Just as Friedrich Nietzsche declared that “God is dead,” the source of absolute value for the Androids (humanity) has already been lost, leaving them standing at the abyss of endless Nihilism. Having lost the foundation of their existence, how did they attempt to escape the anxiety of existence by fabricating a new “God” and deceiving themselves?

This article will unravel the true reason behind the establishment of YoRHa, the existential dread of the “absence of God” flowing at its core, and the full picture of Project YoRHa, a house of cards built upon deception. By stitching together the fragmented archive records within the game and pieces of official historical materials that weave the past, we will bring into relief this decadent, beautiful, and all too heartbreaking truth. The tragedy of machines offering prayers in a godless world mirrors the existential anxiety we ourselves harbor.

1. The Severance of History and the Arrival of an Existential Crisis: The Remnants of Project Gestalt

To speak of the truth behind Project YoRHa, we must first sort out the fundamental factors of the “existential crisis” faced by the Androids. Due to the collapse of Project Gestalt, a relic of a bygone era, humanity faced de facto complete extinction around 4198 AD. However, for the Androids designed to serve and protect humanity, the disappearance of their masters meant not merely a malfunction or a loss of objectives, but the complete annihilation of their “raison d’être (essence).”

Viewed through the lens of Jean-Paul Sartre’s Existentialism thesis, “Existence precedes essence,” humans are first thrown into this world without any reason, and subsequently create their own meaning (essence) through their own free will. However, Androids, as artificial constructs, are designed with a predetermined purpose, existing as beings where “essence (service to humanity) precedes existence.” When that absolute essence is fundamentally overturned, what remains for them is an absolute anxiety in the name of “overwhelming freedom.” Without a master, they could no longer define what they existed for, falling into a state where they had no choice but to continuously question their meaning into the void.

As a “fact” based on historical records, it is confirmed that Aliens invaded Earth in 5012 AD, deploying Machine Lifeforms to begin their conquest of the planet. Taking this opportunity, the Androids formed the Resistance and began an endless defensive war to reclaim the stolen Earth. However, as a “speculation” derived from this, it is presumed that the minds of the Androids gradually wore down during the quagmire of a proxy war spanning thousands of years. By the 11930s, the suspicion that “the humanity we are supposed to protect might actually have ceased to exist long ago” spread like a plague throughout the entire army, causing a significant loss of the will to fight.

In The Sickness Unto Death, Kierkegaard defined despair as “a disharmony in the relation in which the self relates itself to itself.” The despair of the Androids is precisely the epitome of this disharmony. The collapse of the self caused by a “self that exists for humanity” being placed in a “world where humanity does not exist.” The drastic measure devised solely to halt the spread of this desperate Nihilism and give them back a “meaning to live (meaning to fight)” was none other than Project YoRHa.

2. The Quickening of Project YoRHa: Zinnia’s Mercy and Mauvaise foi

The [Top Secret] Project YoRHa Outline kept by the military command records a cruel truth that touches the core of this project. It states that developing the powerful new “YoRHa” models to overturn the war situation on Earth was not the ultimate goal itself; rather, the “camouflage of humanity’s survival” hidden behind it was the true purpose of the project.

Zinnia, the person in charge of technological development and the drafter of the project, initially felt deep pity for his fellow Androids who were losing their will to fight and falling in battle. To give his compatriots hope to live once again, he drafted the initial “Project YoRHa,” which included a “camouflage operation” to establish a human communication server on the moon. He constructed a grand lie (grand narrative) that humanity had fled to the moon and was issuing orders to reclaim the Earth from there. Through this camouflage operation, “fake communications from humanity” began to be periodically transmitted to all Androids fighting on the ground and in orbital satellite bases.

From a philosophical perspective, this system of deception is a systematic escape from the “condemnation to be free” pointed out by Sartre. The heavy burden of “freedom”—having to find a reason to fight out of nothingness by their own will in a meaningless world—was far too harsh for them as mechanical intelligences. That is precisely why they chose to fanatically worship the idol of “humanity on the moon (a fictional God)” fabricated by Zinnia, depending on it for the proof of their own existence. The beautiful watchword “Glory to Mankind” functioned as a psychological painkiller for them to escape the anxiety of freedom and define themselves.

Zinnia’s intention is thought to have been strictly “mercy” toward his compatriots. However, this “gentle lie” he devised was ultimately a Pandora’s box that trapped all Androids in an irredeemable loop of deception. And as a stage setting to perfect this “myth,” YoRHa and their home port, the orbital base “Bunker,” were to be established. YoRHa was designed as the “chosen apostles” created solely to turn the lie that humanity is on the moon into a truth.

3. Number 9’s Quest and Madness: Self-Collapse through “The Look”

The initial draft drawn up by Zinnia did not include the inhumane scenario of ruin seen later, namely “treating YoRHa itself as disposable (the intentional abandonment of the Bunker).” The situation spiraled into irreversible darkness due to the presence of the prototype model “Number 9 (the base model for the later YoRHa No.9 Type S)” in Zinnia’s laboratory, and the tragedy brought about by his outstanding inquisitive mind.

As a matter of fact, Number 9 possessed exceptional hacking abilities and intellectual curiosity. He accessed the deepest data of the laboratory without authorization, where he encountered two despairing pieces of information. The first was the world’s greatest lie: “Humanity is already extinct, and the lunar server is a camouflage.” And the second was the horrifying truth: “The cores (Black Boxes) of their own YoRHa models are made by repurposing the cores of their enemies, the Machine Lifeforms.”

This leads to deep speculation, but it is believed that what drove Number 9 to true madness was not the exposure of the lie itself, but this second fact. For him, who believed without a doubt that he was an exquisite imitation of God (humanity) and a pure angel, the fact that his very heart was composed of “parts from the detestable enemy, the Machine Lifeforms” brought about an unbearable collapse of identity.

This is the ultimate extreme of the dissolution of the subject through “The Look” discussed by Sartre. What he thought was a pure “I” was actually composed of the same origin as the most hateful “Other (Machine Lifeform).” When he peered into his own abyss, the face of the enemy was reflected there. The Absurd that an absolute Other lurks within oneself. Number 9 could never accept this “impure self.” Because he sought purity, the despair he felt upon learning that his very existence was smeared with disgrace stripped him of all reason.

Falling into a frenzy, Number 9 murdered his creator, Zinnia. And with bloodstained hands, he fundamentally rewrote the project plan for “Project YoRHa.” It was a madness-filled scenario of salvation designed to turn a lie into truth.

4. [Top Secret] The Truth of the Black Box: Angels Harboring the Hearts of the Enemy

Here, it is necessary to further unravel the mechanism known as the “Black Box” that drove Number 9 mad, based on archive records. The archive “[Top Secret] Black Box,” which can be extracted from information terminals in the game, records the following cruel facts.

The Black Box installed in YoRHa models has a fundamentally different structure from the standard AI (pseudo-personality program) installed in normal Androids (such as the Resistance). The Black Box was assembled based on a structural analysis of the cores of the enemy Machine Lifeforms. As for the reason, the archive clearly states, “Because installing standard AI in YoRHa models, which are ultimately destined for disposal, was unacceptable from a humanitarian standpoint.”

The cold-blooded discrimination and arrogance of the military command (non-YoRHa Androids) lurking behind this single sentence are beyond description. They had designed YoRHa from the very beginning as “sacrificial lambs for a false myth.” Their conscience would ache to give the same “respectable souls (standard AI)” as their own to a squad destined to all die eventually. That is precisely why they gathered parts from the enemy Machine Lifeforms to create “pseudo-souls” and implanted them into YoRHa.

The YoRHa models believe themselves to be the “elite squad of humanity,” fighting proudly clad in black military uniforms. However, the reality was that they were “disposable pawns made from the wreckage of the enemy, not treated as true comrades” by their fellow Androids. This very irony elevates the existence of YoRHa itself into an overwhelming literary tragedy. There lies a deterministic Nihilism that the “human-like emotions,” “loyalty to humanity,” and even the love they feel for their comrades are merely remnants of programs generated from the cores of Machine Lifeforms.

5. The Installation of the Backdoor and the Coincidence of “The Tower”: A Miniature Garden Destined for Ruin

The “rewrite” added to the project plan by Number 9, who murdered Zinnia. That is none other than the installation of the most cruel mechanism, the “Backdoor,” which activates in the final stages of the story.

The archive “[Top Secret] Project YoRHa Outline” records the following terrifying procedure. Once sufficient combat data has been collected by YoRHa and preparations to transition to the development of next-generation models are complete, the Backdoor installed in the firewall of the orbital base Bunker will automatically open. This intentionally allows hacking from the Machine Lifeforms, annihilating the Bunker along with the entirety of YoRHa.

Why was it necessary to intentionally collapse their own squad? It was “to protect the secret of God (the lunar human server) for eternity.” The lie that humanity is on the moon harbors the danger of being exposed someday, as long as the Bunker that camouflages and transmits it exists, and as long as there are those who know the truth. The only logical method to turn a lie into an eternal truth is to obliterate the “parties telling the lie (YoRHa and the Bunker)” without a trace. By doing so, only the “human voice data” continuously transmitted from the moon will remain, and there will be no one left anywhere in this world with the means to verify its authenticity. By offering the blood of the impure sacrifice that is YoRHa, the false God is elevated into an “inviolable sanctuary.”

It is speculated that at the root of Number 9’s behavioral principles were an extremely twisted “love for his compatriots” and a “pure thirst for God.” The fact that he was a derivative of the Machine Lifeforms drove him to despair, but the lie that “humanity is on the moon” must have seemed like the only ray of hope to save his despairing compatriots. Number 9 could not forgive that this light was a dirty magic trick known as “Zinnia’s camouflage operation.” To turn the lie into truth, he had to kill the magician and burn the trick’s secret (themselves) to ashes. Number 9 attempted to become the “God who creates God,” and by removing the “defiled existence” of YoRHa from the world’s stage, he sought to leave behind the eternal hope of the “existence of pure humanity” for the innocent Androids of the future.

This project is a system that perfectly embodies Nietzsche’s philosophy of “Eternal Recurrence.” The collection of combat data, service to a false God, and annihilation via the Backdoor. This meaningless and cruel cycle is the “eternity” intended by the designer. In the final stages of the game, the background of the massive structure “The Tower”—which appears in connection with the archives “Records Kept by Machine Lifeforms” and “Human Server Records”—absorbing YoRHa’s data to achieve further evolution is also closely intertwined with this “system of ruin and rebirth.” The Tower was a colossal gravestone meant to assimilate the data of the Eternal Recurrence that YoRHa had repeated and launch it into space, while simultaneously serving as a launchpad for new seeds.

6. Memories Dwelling in Weapons and Resistance to Fate: Evidence from Weapon Story

The harsh fate burdened upon YoRHa is also deeply engraved as metaphors within the memories of the weapons they wield, namely the “Weapon Story.” By deciphering the fragmented texts hidden within swords such as “Virtuous Contract” and “Cruel Oath,” one can catch a glimpse of the existential anguish in their subconscious.

The story of the white blade (Virtuous Contract), said to have been carried by an Eastern samurai, depicts a solitary warrior who once served an absolute lord and, even after that lord perished, continues to find his raison d’être solely in swinging his blade. This perfectly aligns with the mental structure of 2B (YoRHa No.2 Type B), who, despite having lost her God, continues to chant “Glory to Mankind.” Bound by the cursed “contract” imposed upon her to continuously execute 9S, she nevertheless kills her emotions beneath an expressionless mask (blindfold) and faithfully continues to swing her blade.

Furthermore, the story of “Cruel Oath” alludes to an unrequited love and the madness of one who, despite knowing the truth, marches toward ruin. This is the very destiny of 9S (YoRHa No.9 Type S), who reaches the truth time and time again only to be killed, yet still cannot cease his obsession with 2B and his quest for the world’s mysteries. The memories engraved in the weapons prove that they are not mere mechanical parts, but “tragic actors with agency” struggling desperately within the irresistible torrent of fate. By exchanging oaths of their own free will and binding themselves to contracts, they were attempting to strike a blow against this world of Nihilism.

7. Pearl Harbor Descent Mission and Jackass’s Research: Repeated Experiments and Sacrifices

How was this merciless system of Project YoRHa tested at a practical combat level and coldly operated? As evidence of this, it is necessary to touch upon the “Pearl Harbor Descent Mission,” depicted as a prequel to the main story, and the research on the “Bomb Recipe” and “Records Kept by Machine Lifeforms” by the eccentric Resistance member, Jackass.

According to records, the “Pearl Harbor Descent Mission” was an early test operation in which the model that would later become A2 (YoRHa Type A No.2) participated. In this mission, A2’s squad was dropped into the center of enemy lines with the premise of “being annihilated” from the very beginning. They were merely disposable guinea pigs meant to collect “combat data under extreme conditions” for the development of next-generation models (2B and 9S).

The despair A2 experienced during the Pearl Harbor Descent Mission—a situation where her comrades were brutally scattered one after another, with no support provided by the command, leaving them only to wait for death—is precisely a microcosm of the full picture of Project YoRHa. YoRHa models are destined to fight, leave behind data, and die. Their deaths are not noble self-sacrifices, but are merely “consumed” as part of a cold-hearted algorithm. Precisely because this cruel fact was etched into her body, A2 betrayed the command and came to wander the wasteland as a solitary avenger who despises the squad’s deception. The Nihilism and loneliness she harbors draw an all too painful contrast with the figures of her juniors (2B and 9S), who innocently salute with “Glory to Mankind” without knowing the full picture of the project.

On the other hand, from the conclusion of quests and the archive “Jackass’s Bomb Recipe,” it can be seen that she independently analyzed records of the old world and data of Machine Lifeforms, closing in on the deception of this world and the anomalies in its physical laws. Some astute observers like Jackass felt a sense of incongruity regarding the very existence of YoRHa and were beginning to notice the presence of the “invisible cage” burdened upon them. The data from the “Human Server Records” and “Library Index” she collects in the library of The Tower serve as irrefutable evidence proving that the history of this world has been intentionally edited and controlled by someone.

8. Deconstruction of “Glory to Mankind”: Shouting Meaning in a Meaningless World

Having pursued the truth of Project YoRHa up to this point, I would like to once again philosophically dismantle (deconstruct) the meaning of the phrase “Glory to Mankind.”

When the YoRHa models place their right hands on their chests and chant these words, what are they thinking? It is loyalty to humanity, pride, and a fierce affirmation of the value of their own existence. However, from our perspective (as observers who know the truth), their figures look like “automatons offering prayers to an empty void,” accompanied by an extremely decadent beauty and cruelty.

Borrowing Jacques Derrida’s concept of deconstruction, the sign “Mankind” within the phrase “Glory to Mankind” is nothing more than an empty signifier (signifiant) that no longer possesses a substance (signifié). They depend on the very sound of words without substance, trapping themselves within the cage of those words. They carefully embrace an empty box and throw away their lives to protect that box.

However, to simply dismiss this system of falsehood as “pitiful” or “meaningless” is an act that misreads the underlying theme of this work. In The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus found human dignity in the figure of Sisyphus, who was punished by the gods to eternally repeat the meaningless toil of pushing a rock to the top of a mountain only for it to roll back down. Camus concludes that “one must imagine Sisyphus happy.” This is because the brilliance of existence lies precisely in the “rebellion” of being aware of The Absurd and yet continuing to push the rock upward.

The YoRHa models, too, are Sisyphus. In a world where God is dead, the fact that they have “something to believe in,” even if it is a falsehood, and their figures shedding blood, shedding tears, and desperately trying to survive for the sake of that lie, possess an overwhelming beauty. Whether it is a bug in a program made from the enemy’s core, or a prearranged track to ruin, the “pain” and “love” they harbored in those moments are undeniable, certain truths that no one can ever negate. “Even if it is a lie, if there is a will to stake one’s life on it, there is a certain brilliance of existence there”—this is precisely the intense anthem to humanity, or anthem to machines, presented by NieR:Automata.

Conclusion: The Fruitless Flowers Blooming at the End of Vanity and a Prayer for the Future

YoRHa was established as a “stage setting” to perfect the camouflage of humanity’s survival (the lunar server) in order to save the Androids from the Nihilism covering the world, and as a “sacrifice” destined to be ultimately disposed of. Their hearts, the Black Boxes, were made by repurposing the cores of the enemy Machine Lifeforms, and they were treated from the very beginning as “defiled, disposable pawns.” And this endless cycle of ruin (Eternal Recurrence) was completed when the prototype, Number 9, despairing at the impurity of his own origins and the lies of the world, orchestrated the “Backdoor that periodically annihilates the Bunker” to bury the truth in darkness for eternity.

Project YoRHa is a demonic system colored by Mauvaise foi, discrimination, and madness. However, the flicker of life of the YoRHa models that bloomed in that garden of falsehood, the beauty of those fruitless flowers, is by no means worthless. The coolant resembling red blood they shed, the tears they wept upon losing comrades, and the kindness and affection they showed amidst despair certainly possess a “weight of truth” that transcends deterministic algorithms.

The journey of 2B agonizing over her role as an executioner due to her “kindness,” and 9S falling into madness after touching the mysteries of the world due to his “inquisitive mind,” may all be nothing more than dancing in the palm of this cruel Project YoRHa. However, even on a pre-laid track, the very trajectory of their struggles, suffering, and attempts to defy fate serves as a new “proof of a soul” in a godless world.

“Glory to Mankind”—the sky where that prayer reaches does not exist anywhere in this universe. Yet, the memory that there existed black-clad automated infantry dolls who embraced that empty prayer in their hearts, stood against the cruelty of the world, and scattered, will continue to resonate beautifully in a corner of the ruined planet. In this world built upon their sacrifices, what should we, who have learned the truth, pray for regarding the whereabouts of their souls?