Archive.10: Devola & Popola - Victims of Eternal "Guilt"

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Introduction: The Structure of “Original Sin” and the Crisis of Existence in a Godless Miniature Garden

In the world of NieR:Automata, a barren proxy war between Machine Lifeforms and Androids is eternally repeated on a ruined Earth. Within this closed, decadent miniature garden, the entities burdened with the most beautiful and cruelest of fates are the older-model Androids, Devola and Popola.

Their existence serves as a crucial literary device that embodies the philosophical themes underlying this work, such as Existentialism and Nihilism, in their sharpest forms. Assuming the proposition advocated by Jean-Paul Sartre that “Existence precedes essence,” in a world characterized by the “absence of God” where their creators, humanity, have already perished, the created Androids face a decisive existential crisis, having lost their reason for being (essence). While other Androids of YoRHa and the Resistance prevent their own psychological collapse by clinging to the colossal lie (a fabricated purpose) that “humanity survives on the moon, and we must reclaim the Earth for them,” Devola and Popola are subjected to a completely different, and far more gruesome, “definition of essence.”

They are burdened with a fabricated “original sin”—a grave crime committed by past models of the same type in which they had no direct involvement—and are forced to endure persecution from others and live through an Eternal Recurrence of pre-programmed atonement. By comprehensively integrating the fragments of their records presented in the game, the harsh realities of their daily lives depicted in subquests, and the descriptions in the Weapon Story that encapsulate past history and hints of the future, this article will unravel the psychological background of the sisters tormented by an “immortal sense of guilt” and the truth hidden behind their tragic end, from the perspectives of Existentialist philosophy and Nihilism.

1. The Remnants of Project Gestalt and the Burden of a “Fabricated Original Sin”

1.1 [Fact] Past Mistakes, Erasure of Memory, and Programmed Guilt

According to the facts explicitly stated in the in-game archives, the main scenario, and events connected to the previous installment’s narrative, the Devola and Popola models were “Observer” models created to manage and monitor the progress of “Project Gestalt,” which humanity promoted thousands of years ago (during the era of the previous game, NieR Replicant). However, the specific Devola and Popola units stationed in a certain town failed to stop the rampage of a single boy (the one who would later destroy the world’s fate). As a result, Project Gestalt decisively collapsed, making the extinction of humanity inevitable.

The Devola and Popola living in the era of NieR:Automata are not the exact units that “failed the project and destroyed the world.” They are merely completely different units of the same model that were operating in another region. However, faced with the complete extinction of their true creators, humanity, Androids worldwide were plunged into the depths of panic and despair. They directed the brunt of their anger and sorrow over this immeasurable loss toward all “models of the same type as the Devola and Popola who failed the project.” The vast majority of these models existing across the globe were destroyed through gruesome persecution by other Androids or chose to take their own lives; the two appearing in this game are among the few survivors left in this world.

As an even crueler fact, the surviving Devola and Popola models were subjected to “memory erasure” as part of social sanctions, and a “constant and immortal sense of guilt” was intentionally embedded into them as a program. Without possessing detailed memories of “why they are being blamed so severely” or “what exactly the past models committed,” they are configured to continuously feel the intangible crushing weight from the depths of their systems that “they are filthy beings who committed an irreversible, grave sin.”

1.2 [Analysis] Determinism and the Social System of Scapegoating

As an analysis derived from this, it can be inferred that this “programming of guilt” and “erasure of memory” constitute an utterly ruthless scapegoat system intentionally and structurally established by the Android social regime (the foundation of the later Army of Humanity).

Faced with the despairing reality that “God is dead,” those left behind needed a “clear evil” to prevent themselves from descending into madness. Originally, if their memories had been reset, their exteriors altered, and new names given, they could have started over as new existences. However, the establishment deliberately maintained their distinctive appearances and names as “Devola and Popola,” and implanted an indelible sense of guilt into their minds. By keeping them at the very bottom of society as “eternal sinners,” this served as a social defense mechanism to prevent the psychological collapse of other Androids, allowing them to delude themselves into thinking, “We are not powerless beings who failed to protect humanity. They are the ones at fault, and we are righteous, innocent beings distinct from them (i.e., the ‘good’ that maintains loyalty to humanity).“

1.3 Philosophical Perspective: The Look and Ressentiment

This structure is nothing less than the hellish framework where the self is completely defined by “The Look” as described by Sartre. In his play No Exit, Sartre famously declared, “Hell is other people,” and Devola and Popola have their essence determined precisely by the cold gazes of all other Androids branding them as “traitors” and “sinners.” They are stripped of the right to live freely as an “I” and are constantly forced to internalize the hatred of others.

Furthermore, applying Friedrich Nietzsche’s concept of ressentiment (the resentment of the weak), it can be interpreted that the fundamental powerlessness and sorrow of the Androids who lost humanity are directed not at the overwhelming strong (fate or The Absurd), but at Devola and Popola, whom they have forced into an even weaker position. They are the most tragic victims of a godless world, continuously forced to bear the ressentiment of the entire world on their small shoulders.

2. Days of Atonement and the Urge for Self-Destruction in the Resistance Camp

2.1 [Fact] Cold Treatment and Harsh Chore Missions at the Resistance Camp

In the Resistance camp, which serves as a stage for the story, they are blatantly avoided by other Androids or forced into dangerous, unrewarding jobs. Through a series of subquests occurring behind the main scenario—“Devola’s Request,” “Popola’s Errand,” and “Devola and Popola’s Chores”—the fact that they are procuring supplies under extremely harsh conditions is depicted through the player (2B, 9S, A2).

The following table summarizes the structure of the requested materials for the “chores” imposed on them in the game and the corresponding rewards.

These quests are nominally undertaken as “repayment for being allowed to stay in the camp,” but their contents consist entirely of procuring rare materials that cannot be obtained without venturing into areas like the depths of the Abandoned Factory or the Flooded City—zones that pose a threat to life even for combat-specialized YoRHa units. What is particularly noteworthy is that the rewards handed over include “Popola’s Booze,” which Popola herself seems to use for solace.

2.2 [Analysis] The “Rock of Sisyphus” Named Atonement

Upon analysis, their act of willingly taking on such dangerous chores is a metaphor for the punishment in Albert Camus’s The Myth of Sisyphus, where the futile labor of pushing a rock to the top of a mountain only for it to roll back down is eternally repeated.

No matter how much they risk their lives to gather supplies for the camp, the “grave sin committed by past models” will never be forgiven, and the cold treatment from others will never end. Their labor and self-sacrifice are completely meaningless and embody The Absurd. However, just as Camus argued that “one must imagine Sisyphus happy,” Devola and Popola, too, might have found a fleeting brilliance of self-affirmation—a sense that they are “being of use to others”—within this meaningless and dangerous labor (atonement), barely maintaining their mental balance on the edge of madness. Only by wearing themselves down could they barely confirm their “right to exist.”

2.3 Philosophical Perspective: Kierkegaard’s “The Sickness Unto Death” and the Meaning of Alcohol

Here, an important question arises. Why do Androids—machines that lack physical digestive organs and do not require nutritional intake—drink “booze”? Upon analysis, this is not a pursuit of physical intoxication, but rather a manifestation of a psychological act craving the paralysis of consciousness—that is, an “escape from the agony of existence.”

Søren Kierkegaard, in his book The Sickness Unto Death, described forms of despair as “the despair of not willing to be oneself” and “the despair of willing to be oneself.” Devola and Popola are caught between the programmed “eternal guilt” and the unforgiving cold treatment from their surroundings, yet they are trapped by the curse that they “must continue to live.” For them, being themselves (being Devola and Popola models) is in itself despair, yet they are not even allowed to die.

The item known as booze is the only defense mechanism left to them to temporarily detach their consciousness from that unbearable weight of existence and the baseless guilt welling up from within. The depiction of Popola drowning in alcohol can be interpreted not simply as a machine imitating a human, but as an extremely desperate and heartbreaking cry of a mind, unable to bear the agony of existence, desiring self-destruction.

3. The Metaphor of the Soul Twins Engraved in the Weapon Story “Devola & Popola”

What guides the story even deeper is the Weapon Story hidden within the weapon bearing their names, “Devola & Popola.” In the worldview of this work, a Weapon Story is not mere flavor text; it functions as a mirror that metaphorically reflects the spirituality, fate, or the past and future of the one who wields it.

3.1 [Fact] The Tale of the Swordsmiths Passed Down in Two Worlds

According to the materials, the sword named “Devola & Popola” possesses two narratives that trace back to the era of the prequel series, Drakengard (DOD).

[DOD / NieR (Lore corresponding to Lv1–Lv3)] This is a story about a sword forged by the swordsmith sisters, “Devo” and “Popo.” Crafted with Devo’s immense strength and Popo’s delicate touch, the sword surpassed anything made by any blacksmith in the kingdom. One day, a bard with the beautiful appearance of an angel appeared, and the two were instantly captivated by his gentle nature. Initially, they competed fiercely and uglily to win the bard’s love for themselves, and as a result, they only produced blunt, useless swords. However, unable to bear watching this, the bard took both of them as his wives. Filled with deep affection, the sisters further honed their skills and ultimately created the masterpiece, the fine sword “Devola & Popola.”

[DOD2 (Lore corresponding to Lv4, or an alternate tale)] As a subsequent story, the two attempt to break a massive block of ice where their mother sleeps. No matter how much fire they stoked or how hard they struck it with a giant hammer, it showed no signs of breaking. Just as they were about to give up, at Popo’s suggestion, they thrust their masterpiece, “Devola & Popola”—the crystallization of their love and effort—into the ice block. Then, their bodies were embraced by their mother inside the ice, and they were able to reunite. Their mother was alive within the ice block, and the two wept with joy, talking with her for days. However, when the two left the world of ice, their mother never tried to stop them. The story concludes that the reason was “because the sisters were blacksmiths who handled fire.”

3.2 [Analysis] The Unsalvageable Fate Deciphered from the Contrast of Fire and Ice

When this Weapon Story is analyzed in detail against the situation of Devola and Popola in NieR:Automata, an extremely cruel and beautiful system of metaphors emerges.

The “immense strength and delicate touch” in the first story refer to the division of roles they originally possessed: combat capabilities and observation/magical support capabilities. The “beautiful bard” is considered a metaphor for their former creators, “humanity,” or “Nier” (a specific human) whom they monitored and grew attached to in the previous game. The “ugly competition” and “blunt swords” suggest system malfunctions and mission stagnation caused by their possession of emotions, but the “acceptance by the bard” symbolizes the glorious era when humanity existed, when they worked for those they loved and bore the harmony of the world. Originally, they were beings who received the love of humanity and created perfect weapons (guardians of the project).

However, the decisive contrast between the “block of ice” and the “blacksmiths who handle fire” appearing in the second story exposes their tragic essence. The mother sleeping in the ice block is a metaphor for “perished humanity” or the “lost peaceful world of the past.” No matter how much they strive and offer the crystallization of their love and effort (their own lives and time), they can only see a temporary illusion (the reunion inside the ice) and must ultimately walk away from it.

This is “because the sisters were blacksmiths who handled fire.” The “fire” here is not literal physical fire, but a symbol of the “destiny of destruction” that caused the collapse of the world (Project Gestalt), and the “immortal sense of guilt” that continues to burn unextinguished within them. Their very existence carries a heat that melts and destroys the ice of the past (peaceful memories and the legacy of humanity). No matter how much they love others and wish to save the world, because of the “fire” dwelling within them, they can never find a place of peace beside anyone—hinting at a Nietzschean tragedy of Eternal Recurrence.

4. The Self-Identity of Twins: The “Only Refuge” in a World Without Others

4.1 [Fact] Identical Appearances and Contrasting Traits, the Inevitability of a Two-Unit Pair

Here, I would like to deeply analyze the fact of why the entities known as Devola and Popola are always designed and operated as “twins” (a pair of identical units). Normally, Androids of YoRHa form pairs with models that have distinctly different appearances and functions, such as 2B (combat-specialized) and 9S (hacking/exploration-specialized), to complement each other’s weaknesses.

However, Devola and Popola possess completely identical appearances, with only their personalities and roles (the immense strength and delicate touch in the Weapon Story) being divided. Devola exhibits rough and impulsive behavior, while Popola has a mild and delicate personality, yet the two behave as if a single soul has been split into two bodies.

4.2 [Analysis] Twins as a Closed Sphere and the Escape from The Look

Despised by all Androids around the world, placed in circumstances where they are literally pelted with stones, and harboring a “programmed guilt” that constantly corrodes them from the inside, there is only one reason they were able to survive for thousands of years without going completely mad: “Because the other self was by their side.”

For Devola, Popola—and for Popola, Devola—was the only existence in this vast and cruel world who could share the weight of the same “baseless original sin.” If, as Sartre says, The Look is a “hell” that constantly defines oneself as a “sinner,” it can be said that by gazing at each other, they formed a minuscule “refuge” within that hell. Expanding on Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of the body, they perceived the world through each other’s bodies. If Devola was hurt by others, Popola shared that psychological pain; if Popola escaped into alcohol due to existential anxiety, Devola thoroughly accepted that weakness. Despite being two physically separated individuals, psychologically, they existed in a completely closed, interdependent resonant relationship, like a single sphere.

That is precisely why, for them, “losing the other” does not mean the loss of half of oneself, but the complete annihilation of one’s very existence. Having supported a single “sin and existence” together, they do not possess the function to survive in a world where one is missing (i.e., a true hell where only the absolute hostility of others exists).

5. The March to The Tower: The Acquisition of Subjectivity and the Brilliance of Existence

5.1 [Fact] Assisting 9S and the Ultimate Sacrifice to Open the Doors of The Tower

As the story approaches its final stages (Route C/D), a massive structure known as “The Tower,” which encapsulates the true intentions of the Machine Lifeform network, emerges. When 9S—having lost everything, his mind broken, and turned into a demon of revenge—attempts to hack into The Tower under desperate circumstances, countless Machine Lifeforms surround him. To save 9S from this dire predicament, it is Devola and Popola who rush to the battlefield.

Compared to YoRHa, the state-of-the-art combat-specialized units, they are originally older models that have long surpassed their service life. Nevertheless, against a swarm of enemies surging with overwhelming numbers, they maintain the front line by whittling away their own lives (functions), their bodies burning from the heat of overload. Thanks to their desperate support, 9S secures the time needed to hack the robust doors of The Tower. However, as the price for this, the two sustain fatal, irreparable damage and cease functioning, huddled together on the battlefield. This is the fact of their final moments depicted in the game.

5.2 Analysis: Liberation from the Program and the Choice of the Self

Their actions in this final phase cannot possibly be dismissed as a mere “completion of atonement” or a “beautiful tale of self-sacrifice.” It is precisely here that the greatest philosophical catharsis and the recovery of existence in this work lie.

Why did they go to that desperate battlefield and throw away their lives for 9S? It was not an “order from humanity,” nor a “request from other Androids.” Furthermore, it was not even an “escape from programmed guilt,” which had governed their actions up to that point. In front of The Tower, they explicitly state that they came here “of their own will.” For the first time, these two, who had lived at the bottom as “tools for others” out of a sense of indebtedness to the world for so long, took action of their own volition.

5.3 Philosophical Perspective: Sublimation into the Nietzschean “Übermensch” and Sartre’s “Engagement”

In his concept of the Übermensch, Nietzsche idealized those who, amidst the void (Nihilism) where existing values and God are dead, do not curse their fate but create new values through their own will and affirm their own lives. Devola and Popola, who had been forced to play the role of “sinners” for thousands of years by The Look and the curse of the system, finally tore off the chains of that determinism with their own hands at the very end.

The reason they risked their lives was an extremely personal and pure desire: “We want to save this single existence known as 9S.” It was not for the world, not for humanity, and not for the project. It was a subjective “choice” to help the maddened boy suffering right before their eyes.

Sartre posited that humans do not possess an essence beforehand, but create themselves through their own actions (choices), and he called this subjective commitment to the world “Engagement.” As machines produced with the pre-assigned essence (program) of “sinners,” they chose for themselves, in their final moments, the self of “ones who love and protect a single human (an entity with a mind akin to one).” In that instant, the “false guilt” engineered within them vanished, and they acquired true “existence.” The reason their figures prying open the doors of The Tower strike our hearts as so tragic yet beautiful is none other than because it is not a mere cessation of function, but the brilliance of the zenith of existence at the moment their oppressed souls are liberated.

6. [Analysis] The End of the “Meaningless World” They Left Behind

The story of Devola and Popola in NieR:Automata is a record of the tragedy of nameless individuals who were intentionally crushed and made into scapegoats within the massive cogs of “maintaining the world.”

They were burdened with the cross of the “failure of Project Gestalt”—a negative legacy left by humanity—without any memory of it, and continued to suffer unjustified persecution from their own kind. Devoting themselves to dangerous daily chore missions, gathering stripped screws and pure water, and clouding their consciousness with Popola’s Booze, they simply continued to live as if begging for permission to exist. The path they walked was the absolute pinnacle of “The Absurd” presented by Existentialism.

However, they did not end their lives merely as pitiful “victims.” Despite harboring the destiny of destruction as blacksmiths who handle fire, engraved in the Weapon Story, they determined the use of their own lives in their final moments in the form of “unconditional love for another and self-sacrifice.” In that instant, they transcended the control of cold programming and embodied the most noble and beautiful will that a human soul can attain. The conclusion of being wounded together and perishing together was the most cruel, yet most salvific outcome for them, who lived in the closed world of twins.

Lying before The Tower, their husks having quietly ceased functioning, no sense of guilt or condemning gazes from others can reach them anymore. Ending a journey of atonement that spanned thousands of years, the two were finally liberated from the curse of the world. That decadent, ephemeral, yet resolutely willed conclusion is engraved into the history of this ruined world as a poignant yet gentle answer to all existences that continue to question the “meaning of living” in a godless world.