Archive.06: 9S (YoRHa No.9 Type S) - Madness at the End of the Quest.

© SQUARE ENIX

Introduction: The Seeker Fallen into the Wasteland of Nihilism and the Price of “Knowledge”

Is the sound echoing through the wind that passes through the steel frames of the City Ruins an empty prayer to a humanity already lost, or the agonizing cries of Machine Lifeforms thirsting for the meaning of their own existence? In the decadent and beautiful tragic ensemble that is NieR:Automata, the path walked by YoRHa No.9 Type S (commonly known as 9S) depicts the endless thirst for knowledge and the ensuing process of self-destruction in the most cruel manner. This article comprehensively unravels the psychological and philosophical background of how this Scanner model—endowed with the function to “seek the truth” within the colossal fiction of Project YoRHa—descended into madness, examining it from the perspectives of Existentialism and Nihilism.

9S is not an entity that fits merely into the mold of a tragic protagonist. He embodies the “God is dead” prophesied by Friedrich Nietzsche, personally proves Jean-Paul Sartre’s proposition that “hell is other people” (The Look), and is an extreme sample of existence completely consumed by what Søren Kierkegaard calls “The Sickness Unto Death” (despair). This report weaves together fragmented archives, Weapon Stories, recitation dramas, and the curses he hurled at the world, to meticulously reconstruct the abyss of despair he witnessed at the very end.

1. Designed “Knowledge” and the Curse Left by the Original No.9

1.1 The Sinful Contradiction and Original Sin of the Scanner Model

Within YoRHa, the “Type S (Scanner model)” is designed primarily for information gathering and electronic warfare through hacking. Because they conduct solo field investigations and advance reconnaissance, they are endowed with higher curiosity than other models and advanced computational abilities to analyze situations from multiple angles—in other words, “rich intelligence and emotions extremely close to those of humans.” However, this very foundational design to “seek the truth” was the greatest factor that dragged the individual known as 9S into a spiral of despair.

Hidden at the core of Project YoRHa is an absolute taboo that must never be touched. These are the facts that “humanity has already gone extinct” and the structural truth that “the Black Box of YoRHa units repurposes the cores of their enemies, the Machine Lifeforms.” As a Scanner, he harbors a cruel paradox: the more he explores the world with his exceptional intelligence, the more inevitably he approaches these truths that threaten the very foundation of his existence.

Equipping YoRHa models with an ego (AI) was originally considered an impermissible act from a humanitarian standpoint. However, precisely because they are beings destined to be discarded, and because they are “fakes” repurposing the cores of the enemy Machine Lifeforms, the installation of AI was permitted for them. The fact that YoRHa units do not possess proper nouns and are referred to by designations is also a ruthless measure to avoid treating them as closely to humans as possible.

Furthermore, the luxurious, predominantly black clothing they wear is not merely a matter of aesthetics or the creators’ preferences, but a metaphor for mourning clothes signifying “those who are going to die.” And the fact that the Bunker to which they return is a colorless, monochrome space is nothing other than an expression of a “dead world” where funeral portraits are displayed. From the moment he was born, 9S was dressed in mourning clothes and destined to live in a space station that would become his own gravestone.

1.2 The Tragedy of the “Original No.9” Engraved in Weapon Stories and Recitation Dramas

When discussing 9S’s madness, one cannot avoid the true origins of Project YoRHa and the curse left behind by the “Original No.9.” The Weapon Story of the in-game weapons “Cruel Oath” and “Cruel Blood Oath,” as well as official related media (the novel YoRHa Boys and the recitation dramas at concerts), detail the gruesome past incident that sealed the fate of the 9S in the main story.

The Original No.9 once used his superior hacking abilities to uncover the original draft of Project YoRHa and the true nature of the Black Box. The fact that they were repurposing the cores of the enemy Machine Lifeforms brought about a decisive self-denial and despair for the highly intelligent No.9, making him realize that “we are hideous monsters unworthy of being loved by true humans (gods).” Consumed by paranoia and anger over being betrayed by his revered creators, he set fire to his own base, laid hands on the Android he adored as a teacher, and ultimately met his end by being killed by “No.2,” the prototype of 2B.

The most important fact to note here is that the Original No.9 himself designed and integrated into the project’s system the final stage of Project YoRHa: the system of “the disposal of all YoRHa units, including Commander White, through the automatic opening of a Backdoor installed in the Bunker.” To perfect the facade of humanity’s survival, and above all, “to erase the very existence of YoRHa—themselves as monsters—from the world,” he solidified his own death and the annihilation of the squad as an inescapable system.

The collapse of the Bunker and his own ruin that the 9S of the main story faces in Route C was an execution device prepared by none other than “his own prototype.” The sight of the main story’s 9S adopting a maddened demeanor after 2B is gone perfectly overlaps with the figure of the Original No.9, who went mad from the despair of betrayal. The No.9 model is an entity trapped in a “circle of karma”—knowing the truth, cursing the world, and having an end put to it by the existence known as No.2.

2. The Absence of God and the Acceptance of Nihilism

2.1 The Truth of “Human Extinction” and Nietzschean Nihilism

In the middle of the story, 9S learns the fact that the Council of Humanity on the moon is a fabrication, and that humanity had already gone extinct during the era of the previous game, NieR Replicant (at the time of the collapse of Project Gestalt). For Androids, humanity is the “Creator = God” that defines their reason for existence and determines the meaning of life and death. The discovery of this truth was a perfect reenactment of Friedrich Nietzsche’s declaration that “God is dead.”

Nietzsche referred to the state in which the foundation of absolute value (God) is lost as “Nihilism.” For YoRHa units, who completely depended on the external for their purpose in life (service to humanity and the slogan “Glory to Mankind”), the absence of God thrusts upon them the fundamental questions of “Why do I exist?” and “Why must I repeat meaningless battles and deaths?” Due to his exceptional intelligence, 9S is forced to stand on the precipice of this passive Nihilism, realizing that “the world had no meaning to begin with.”

2.2 The Deprivation of Meaning and the Creation of a New God in 2B

The reason 9S, having realized the meaninglessness of the world, did not immediately suffer a mental breakdown and held madness at bay was none other than the presence of “2B (YoRHa No.2 Type B)” by his side. In Jean-Paul Sartre’s Existentialism, it is posited that “Existence precedes essence.” Those who have lost their original purpose (essence) must create a new meaning (essence) through their own subjective actions and choices. For 9S, in an inorganic world after the disappearance of the god known as humanity, the sole absolute value and the existence that replaced the new “God” was 2B.

However, this excessive codependency was an extremely precarious house of cards. The moment “being with 2B” became the only reason to affirm the world and anchor his own existence, the loss of 2B became synonymous with the “loss of all value in the world.” Why did 9S, having lost 2B in Route C, hate the entire world to such an extent and surrender himself to the impulse of destruction? It can be said that it was not simply because he lost his reason, but rather a transition to an extremely pure and violent “active Nihilism” as the logical consequence of losing the “entire meaning of the universe” for him. A world without value has no choice but to be utterly destroyed without a trace.

3. The Look of the Other and the Love-Hate Relationship with the Executioner 2B

3.1 Memory Cage and Memory Thorn: Repeated Death and Masochistic Love

Another fundamental factor that distorts 9S’s mental structure to the limit is the true relationship hidden between him and 2B. 2B’s true model name is “2E (YoRHa No.2 Type E: Executioner model),” and she was an assassin intentionally assigned to constantly monitor the high-performance 9S, who is destined to get too close to the truth, and to initialize his memory (execute him) every time he reached the truth of the world.

As clearly depicted in the official short stories Memory Cage and Memory Thorn, even before the main game begins, 9S had been brutally murdered by 2B’s hands time and time again. And 9S, possessing advanced Scanner functions, must have realized her true identity and his destiny of dying for the umpteenth time over and over again from the faint remnants left at the bottom of his unconscious and minute circumstantial evidence.

The ultimate contradiction of “deeply falling in love with the grim reaper who comes to kill you.” It is presumed that while 9S harbored unconditional love and obsession for 2B, who murdered him, at the same time, deep within his heart, he bore a masochistic despair of “Why do you kill me?” and “Why am I the only one who has to go through this?” along with a suppressed, faint hatred (resentment). Inside The Tower near the end of the game, when forced to fight a swarm of infected and multiplied 2B Chassis, there is a scene where 9S lets out a madness-filled laugh, trembling with joy as he skewers and destroys them. That was not merely the influence of the virus, but the moment when the “fundamental fear of continuously being killed by the one he loves, and the twisted desire for revenge against it,” which had been suppressed within him for many years, manifested itself.

3.2 2E as the “Other” in Sartrean Existentialism

Sartre wrote in his play No Exit that “hell is other people.” For a self trying to be a subjective existence, “The Look” from others objectifies (thingifies) the self and becomes a threat that strips away freedom. For 9S, 2B was the object he loved the most, while simultaneously being the ultimate “Other” who constantly objectified him as a “target to be monitored and executed.”

Before 2B’s gaze, 9S was constantly forced to play the role of the “innocent and cheerful 9S who knows nothing” (or perhaps he willingly played it so as not to cause her pain). If he knows the truth, he will be killed. But if he does not seek the truth, it is a denial of his function (existence). Within this deterministic system, completely stripped of his existential freedom, he was trapped in a hell known as an eternal spiral.

4. Loss and Madness, or the Kierkegaardian “The Sickness Unto Death”

4.1 Cognitive Distortion in Route C and the “Demonization” of Machine Lifeforms

With the opening of Route C, the Backdoor set up by the prototype No.9 opens, and the Bunker falls. Then, right before 9S’s eyes, 2B, infected with the Logic Virus, is put out of her misery by the hands of A2 (YoRHa Type A No.2). The moment he lost 2B, who was his entire universe, 9S steps into the clear territory of “madness.” However, his madness was not a loss of intelligence (dementia), but a “rampage of intelligence and intentional distortion of reality” due to an excessive defense mechanism.

What is noteworthy here is the extreme change in attitude he shows toward Machine Lifeforms. In the first half of the game (Routes A/B), while bewildered by Machine Lifeforms like Pascal, Simone (Beauvoir), Adam, and Eve showing familial love and a desire for beauty, 9S had learned through his Scanner-specific intellectual abilities that something akin to “human emotions” was sprouting within them. Pascal’s village, which, despite being on the opposing side, showed no clear hostility, was a place of acceptance for 9S that made him feel the “enemy” was, in a sense, human-like.

However, upon entering Route C, he intentionally abandons that understanding he was supposed to have acquired earlier and begins to completely deny the sentience of the machines. Along the way through the Resource Recovery Units and elsewhere, he begins to repeatedly mutter self-suggestive rhetoric like a fanatic, claiming that “the actions of Machine Lifeforms have no meaning” and that “they are just repeating random words.”

This is an extremely human psychological process in which 9S intentionally tries to “demonize (dehumanize)” the enemy and strip them of their humanity. If he were to admit that the enemies who took his beloved 2B and unreasonably destroyed his world were “human-like beings who love their families, feel pain, and possess souls,” an intense sense of guilt and ethical contradiction would arise in indiscriminately slaughtering them. Only by redefining the opponent as “meaningless junk without a heart” could he justify the murderous intent and anger endlessly welling up from within himself. Much like the act of spewing venom on the internet by viewing humans merely as text on a screen, dehumanizing others is nothing but a defense mechanism to lower the hurdle of hurting them.

4.2 The Justification of Hatred and Despair Toward the Self Seen in the Contrast with A2

This mental spiral of 9S forms a brilliant symmetry with the trajectory of A2, who is positioned in contrast to him in Route C.

A2 had her squad treated as disposable in the past “Pearl Harbor Descent Mission,” and for four long years, she continued to fight in solitude, harboring a blind hatred toward Machine Lifeforms. Believing that “machines have no emotions; they are just murder robots given fancy names,” she ruthlessly cut down even machine children playing with flowers. Ironically, she inherits 2B’s memories (sword) and walks a process of acquiring humanity—touching the hearts of Machine Lifeforms through her interactions with Pascal, understanding them, and empathizing with them.

On the other hand, despite having once reached a critical level of understanding of Machine Lifeforms, 9S seals away that understanding himself due to despair, regressing to the point of “blind hatred” where A2 once stood. While A2 overcomes her past grudges and tries to protect others (the children of Pascal’s village), 9S, despite feeling sorrow upon witnessing the tragic state of Pascal’s village (where everyone is gone and Pascal has lost his memories), ultimately severs his ties with the world and chooses the path of continuing to add fuel only to the flames of his own hatred.

Kierkegaard defined the ultimate form of despair as “the despair of not willing to be oneself” in his book The Sickness Unto Death. 9S fiercely denied his self as a Scanner that sees through the truth (his own intelligence and empathetic ability), and tried to become a machine solely for revenge. The essence of 9S’s madness lies in this very process of reducing himself to the most emotionless “slaughtering machine” while denying Machine Lifeforms as “meaningless junk.”

5. Separation of Fact and Speculation (Existential Anatomy of Project YoRHa and 9S)

To objectively and academically grasp the truth hidden in the depths of the story, we will now clearly separate and systematize the “facts” explicitly stated in the main game and related media, and the “speculations” derived from philosophical and psychological backgrounds and circumstantial evidence.

As this table clearly shows, the environment surrounding 9S was a demonic system perfectly designed from the beginning to plunge him into despair. He was programmed to believe in the falsehood of the “Glory to Mankind,” while simultaneously being endowed with the intelligence to expose that falsehood, and was thrown into an inescapable “The Absurd” where, if he learned the truth, he would be killed by the one he loved the most.

6. The Tower and The Ark, and the Divergence of the End

Amidst the psychological attack launched by the Red Girl (N2), 9S has his memories and identity thoroughly dismantled. At the summit of the massive structure, “The Tower,” which he finally reached, and in his final battle with A2, he no longer sought the salvation of the world, the future of humanity, or the pride of YoRHa. What drove him was merely the pure nihilistic impulse of wanting to “destroy everything,” and a blood-spitting desire for revenge against this cruel world itself that took 2B and toyed with them like playthings.

At the conclusions of Route C and Route D, 9S’s fate diverges. In Ending C, A2 sacrifices her own life to remove the Logic Virus from 9S, saving him. However, as indicated by the depiction of 2B and 9S’s bags left in the forest after the credits, it is often interpreted that the possibility of their survival is low. Even if he did survive, it is highly doubtful whether he, having reached the limits of his Mauvaise foi, could have lived out a peaceful life in a world where 2B and A2 were gone.

On the other hand, in Ending D, he chooses to board the Machine Lifeforms’ Ark (The Ark) along with Adam, Eve, and the others, and journey to the ends of the universe. This choice signifies a “liberation” in the truest sense from the cursed framework of YoRHa. The conclusion of assimilating his mind with the Machine Lifeforms—the enemies he was supposed to have hated and demonized—and drifting together through the infinite universe can be evaluated as the moment when, at the very end, he let go of his “hatred” and accepted his new existence in a world without a god (humanity).

Furthermore, according to recitation dramas and other materials depicting the future after Ending E, for those who achieved a reboot, there is no place to return to like the Bunker, nor are there any resources left to repair their Chassis. It is a harsh worldline where it is completely unknown how long the two can stay together, such as 2B falling into a dangerous situation due to the inability to perform detailed maintenance. However, the curse of the system dictating that “9S must be executed” is no longer there. 9S is called by his nickname, “Nines,” and there is nothing to condemn them for closing the distance between their hearts. That fleeting remainder of his life was the sole salvation he finally grasped at the end of his blood-soaked quest.

Conclusion: Madness as the Price of Freedom, and the Proof of Humanity

The story of YoRHa No.9 Type S is a grand existential myth depicting the terror of knowing and the loss of innocence. He was made to dance upon the system of ruin orchestrated by his prototype, the Original No.9, offered prayers to the absent god known as humanity, and was monitored by the executioner known as 2E, yet he still tried to love the world. However, when the system stripped everything from him, he willingly cast aside his exceptional intelligence, dehumanized the Machine Lifeforms, and transformed into a maddened slaughterer.

A lonely Scanner who touched madness at the end of his quest, was bound by love, and fell into Nihilism. The blood and tears shed by 9S, and his curses upon the world, were the most human and poignant “rebellion for freedom” against his given fate (program). The words he left behind, “We are cursed by this world,” will continue to echo in the wind of the City Ruins as a universal elegy for all conscious beings living in the wasteland of Existentialism, where the meaning of one’s existence is constantly questioned. The madness he fell into was, ironically, the greatest proof of all that he was not merely a machine, but a being with a soul.