The Twins

So, who are they?

In NieR, the sisters are one of many identical android pairs built by the World Purification Commission to serve as overseers of Project Gestalt. Devola and Popola attempt to ensure that, over the course of thousands of years, the Replicants will be tended to until the world is made free of disease, safe for the integration of excised human souls with artificial Replicant vessels.

In NieR:Automata, the Devola and Popola models have long since been abandoned and forced to navigate life beyond their original programmed goal. They work alongside one another to provide medical services to often resentful Resistance androids. Together they run an item shop in the Resistance Camp where the antiquated weapons Type-3 Blade and Type-3 Sword may be purchased, as well as powerful plug-in chips.

Strangely for android models, Devola and Popola are able to eat and drink. They can also become intoxicated from consuming alcohol.

Devola and Popola's story is one about devotion, extraordinary responsibility, and the burden of guilt. They are, most of all, faithful — to each other, to their duties, and to humanity.

What Do They Mean to Me?

For me, the sisters' story is captivatingly tragic, equal parts heart-warming and heart-rending. They remain hopeful even while facing insurmountable odds and harsh circumstances. The pair in NieR:Automata wrestle with hard-wired repentance for atrocities they had no part in, but nevertheless forced to condemn themselves for; they spend thousands of years desperate for forgiveness they would not receive until the very end.

I find myself wishing they had gotten the chance at a life less fraught with misery, but I realise their significance wouldn't exist without it. Devola and Popola are there to serve as a fable about how important it is to not bear a burden alone.

There's a part of me that knows it's improper to pick a favourite. I adore them both, and they're a package deal, after all. I can't lie, though, I've got the softest spot for Popola... she's resourceful, compassionate, and her elegant style is so charming. I've been struck with the most embarrassing crush on her ever since I beat Route A of NieR. Frankly, this whole shrine was a creative outlet so I could redirect the urge to bring up Popola to my mutuals again.

I'm not somebody who collects a lot, if any, of merchandise. My disinclination has been largely down to the fact that characters I love don't get any merchandise to begin with. These two are doing pretty well in that regard! I've been trying to not get too swept up in suddenly seeing so many physical items of what I love, but my relationship with them (especially Popola) may be on an exciting course towards something resembling Oshikatsu. The problem I've discovered with trying to collect Popola merchandise specifically is that I feel genuinely guilty if I know she won't be packaged and displayed alongside her sister. So far, I've always ended up budgeting to make sure I can have both of them.

Project Gestalt

The 6/12 Incident

"The sky falls with the dragon. The world ends this day."

— World of the Recycled Vessel (NieR)

3 p.m. on June 12th, 2003: a white giant (the "Giant") falls from the sky over Shinjuku, Tokyo. It is pursued through the otherworldly rift above by a red dragon (the "Dragon"), the two locked in bitter combat. An hour later, the Dragon defeats the Giant, leaving it to crumble away like chalk. The Dragon is shot down by fighter aircraft launched by the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force.

The Dragon's carcass is collected and transported to a secret government research facility. Reports of the incident are quickly silenced. Regardless, rumours and photographs from eyewitnesses circulate widely online. An international summit is held to discuss 6/12, and the United States concludes that it was an act of terrorism.

In December, the first case of White Chlorination Syndrome is reported in Shinjuku.

White Chlorination Syndrome

"I ask: Why did humans disappear from the world?"

"I answer: Because of a black disease."

— Dove's Riddle (NieR)

White Chlorination Syndrome (WCS) is an incurable bacterial disease that emerged shortly after the fall of the Giant and the Dragon in Shinjuku. The illness is transmitted via inhalation of maso particles released from the Giant's disintegration. In infected humans, the primary symptom is the subcutaneous tissue transmuting into sodium chloride, leading to an almost-certain death within weeks. Auditory hallucinations of pealing bells similar to the Giant's song are also reported.

People whose lives are spared from WCS instead lose their minds. They go berserk, gaining enhanced physical strength and uncontrollable destructive behaviours in order to cause further outbreaks of WCS. Those who are afflicted in this manner came to be known as Legion. A select few retain their human intelligence and end up as a variant of Legion known as Red Eyes, capable of mustering and commanding large armies.

In September 2004, Shinjuku is blockaded due to concerns over the surging numbers of new WCS cases within the ward. As an attempt to contain the infection, a large wall — later dubbed the Wall of Jericho — is constructed, sealing it off from the outside world. Within the district, it appears to snow without end, the "snow" being made up of sloughed flakes of salt whipped about by the wind. When the Wall was destroyed from the inside in 2008, out poured free a horde of figures who eerily resembled statues carved from salt blocks.

Military bombardment of Shinjuku by the joint forces of Japan and the United States began in March 2009. On August 6th, they launched a nuclear strike. The atomic bombing of Shinjuku sparks a wave of similar strikes across Japan.

However, the bombings would not eliminate the infectious maso particles and instead dispersed them farther across the oceans. Reports of WCS cases outside of Japan began in 2010 and quickly spread across the globe.

The Pact

"Soldiers of salt calling forth white death. They are Legion, those who plunged the world into darkness."

— World of the Recycled Vessel (NieR)

Unbeknownst to researchers, the true cause of the radically different outcomes of WCS infection was down to the existence of a pact offered to the infected by a god-like entity from another world. Those who accepted became Legion, a monstrous servant of this god; those who refused instead turned to salt and perished.

Gestalts and Replicants

"I ask: How can humans extend their lives?"

"I answer: By separating body from soul."

— Dove's Riddle (NieR)

The discovery of magic through the study of maso made it possible to devise a way to separate the human soul from its physical body. In March 2014, Project Gestalt was spearheaded by the World Purification Commission as a last-resort gamble on conserving the dwindling human population. Human souls, named Gestalts, cannot be infected with WCS. Provided the original body could be preserved for a long enough period of time, it was believed that the human race would be able to enter a temporary stasis and eventually return to a disease-free world.

Replicants began development in 2025. These are artificial vessels created from the genetic data taken during the Gestalt process. The soulless shells are designed to be "clones" of the Gestalt's original body and, when the time is right, can be used to return a soul to its original, human form.

Relapsing of Gestalts

Human souls who have undergone the Gestalt process eventually suffer psychological breaks, twisting into monstrous creatures the Replicants would classify as foes named "Shades". To prevent Gestalts from relapsing, they are provided stablising maso energy from the Original Gestalt, Nier (otherwise referred to as the Shadowlord / Demon King). It is believed that Gestalt Nier's disillusionment with the program hastened the descent of other Gestalts into relapses during the 3300s.

The relapse of a Replicant's corresponding Gestalt is what is thought to cause the corrupting illness known as the Black Scrawl.

Sentience of Replicants

Originally, Replicants were designed to function with an implanted "pseudo-personality" which lacked the intricacy for them to act truly independently. As soon as the year 2764, after the Replicants had experienced a cycle of death and restoration for several generations, it was noted that they began to display hints of human-like thinking. This first manifested as a childlike stubbornness, but developed more and more as the centuries passed. By 3000, most Replicants possessed free will and had formed their own civilisations. The culture, science, and technologies of Replicant societies at this time are comparable to humanity in the late Middle Ages.

Devola and Popola's Role

"I ask: What is the destination of souls?"

"I answer: They are placed in their corresponding shells."

— Dove's Riddle (NieR)

In 2032, androids capable of eventually eradicating disease from the planet were deployed across the world. They would assume stewardship of the Replicant System in the absence of true humans. The assembly of these androids used the Twin System, which meant that by design they were intended to always be in a coordinated pair: two sisters given the names "Devola" and "Popola". The responsibilities placed upon them could be shared and the emotional toll lessened, as there would always be a familiar face present to reassure or course-correct if something were to go awry.

Devola and Popola would direct the Replicants in returning diseased maso to the world from which it originated and eliminating any Legion that still roamed. They were able to re-build Replicant bodies from extracted Gestalt data if the current one had died. This meant that no matter how many centuries passed, there would always be a Replicant prepared for its dormant Gestalt.

Beyond this more authoritative role, they were expected to nurture the Replicants — to be a constant, warm presence in their lives without raising suspicions about their artificial agelessness. Popola became a "political leader" of sorts, fitting her responsible and placid nature into a position as mayor, where she communicated with other settlements and wrote reports on the progress of the project. Devola became an "artistic leader," using her upbeat and expressive nature to keep the village's spirits high. Devola and Popola were the unofficial foster parents of everybody in the village. In the case of orphans like Nier and Yonah, they were their only parental figures.

The ultimate aim was that the Devola and Popola units around the world would act almost as psychopomp figures, performing a ceremony to finally unite all healthy Gestalt souls with their compatible Replicant vessel. This, in theory, would return humanity to Earth, where they could continue to thrive beyond the threat of WCS. To facilitate this goal, magical books named Grimoire Noir and Grimoire Weiss entered development.

Grimoire Noir Program

WIP

Nier and Yonah

WIP

Losing Traction

"Even against the opposition of Devola, Popola, and the Shadowlord, the boy's indomitable will would change the world. But it was too late. It was all too late..."

— NieR:Automata World Guide

WIP

The Extinction of Humanity

From the moment the Original Gestalt was struck down by his own Replicant, Project Gestalt had once and for all buckled under the strain of over 1300 years worth of aberrances and near misses. Consequently, the remaining Gestalts relapsed and faded away; remaining Replicants, unable to reproduce, either died of old age, the Black Scrawl, or were killed by the now-insurmountable population of Shades.

Efforts were made to conserve Gestalt data and search for a new Original Gestalt. Despite everything, the last Gestalt would die in 4198, rendering the human race extinct.

Devola and Popola's Fate

In the wake of the final days of humankind, it was concluded that the collapse of Project Gestalt lay in the incapability of Devola and Popola. Their disposal was considered, but rather their manufacture was permanently suspended. All remaining units were spared to act as a living reminder of the tragedy brought on by members of their model line.

Hereafter, Devola and Popola received a memory wipe of all data regarding the events of Project Gestalt. They were reprogrammed so they would generate constant feelings of remorse and shame.

The Devola and Popola units who were involved in the events portending Project Gestalt's failure were dead. It was those who looked just like them who would live on — some for over eight thousand years longer. Regardless, other androids viewed the pair as the very same who were responsible for the ultimate fate of mankind. It was they who would be perpetually punished as whipping girls; the physical embodiment of all the contempt, sorrow, and hopelessness felt by hundreds of androids programmed to protect a race who no longer walked the earth.

We gathered what remaining Replicant data we could find and launched it to the surface of the moon. Though success was as unlikely as finding a lost sand grain in the desert, we still had to attempt it. We still had to try.

— Devola & Popola's Memories (NieR:Automata)

Androids, still committed to conserving human life, establish the Human Heritage Reclamation Management Organisation in 3631. The purpose of this group was to investigate, preserve, manage, and restore human heritage sites. In the 5100s, the Human Heritage Reclamation Management Organisation had since evolved into the Army of Humanity. Devola and Popola assist the Army in launching a server to reside on the lunar surface. This server contains archives and information about humanity in the hope it can persist in the event that androids too are wiped out.

The Song of the Ancients

WIP

The Weight of the World

"We'd talk to the Replicants as if we didn't have a care in the world. But at night, we'd just hold each other and share the horror of it all."

— Devola & Popola's Memories (NieR:Automata)

"Tell me God, are you punishing me? Is this the price I'm paying for my past mistakes?"

— Weight of the World by J'Nique Nicole and Keiichi Okabe (NieR:Automata)

"As long as we have bodies to support one another...

As long as I have someone with whom to share my fate...

Then I will press on, no matter what happens to me.

Because I won't ever stop protecting her.

I won't stop.

No one stops."

— Devola & Popola's Memories (NieR:Automata)

WIP + quote storage for later