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scannerlyPlayer: Jena
Contact: dyingmoon@plurk
Age: 24
Current Characters: n/a
Character: 9S
Age: chronologically about 3 (looks and acts older due to being an android)
Canon: NieR: Automata
Canon Point: Post-B ending
Background: 9S's wiki page and 2B's page for a little more background.
Personality:
What's most notable about 9S is how closely he resembles that which he is not — a human. Despite being an android, he's capable of many things that would be considered human-like — such as crying, having a pulse, enjoying baths, and feeling a wide, wide range of emotions. These are all things that would seem illogical for an android to have by most fictional standards — especially one that's built for the sole purpose of fighting and dying — but yet here he is with multiple human-like qualities.
First, it's important to make note of his relationship, or rather lack thereof, with humans. He's spent his entire life fighting for their sake, yet he's never met or even spoken with one. In actuality, there aren't even any alive at all. He's aware of many random things about human society, which he's learned through various reading and observations of the remaining structures left on Earth by the humans, but even those things he only has limited knowledge on. He knows that humans used to live in groups in things called apartment complexes. He knows how humans reproduce. He even knows about shopping malls and the idea of shopping for a T-shirt. But the specifics of things like that tend to be a mystery for him because he hasn't experienced most of what he knows about humanity. As such, this can often lead to him openly thinking humans were weird because of some of the things they did.
But that isn't to say that the things he does know about humanity are merely data to him, like they would be with many androids. He has feelings towards the things he knows, which further pushes his similarities to a human. He thinks baths feel good, so he enjoys taking them. He's also embarrassed at the thought of explaining to a child-like machine how humans reproduce. To many androids across fiction, that'd be a simple thing to explain in the most detached of ways — but 9S becomes flustered and refuses to even answer it. Despite being a data-intensive unit, he doesn't see a lot of his data as mere data at all.
He states in the end of the game that despite all that, he still longs for the touch of a human. That's not just because of his curious personality, or because he's been fighting for them — it's because he's programmed to feel that way. Despite never speaking to a human and knowing very surface level things about them, he longs to be with them because that's how androids are programmed. This feeling really gets to him at the end of the game due to the heightened state of his emotions, but it's something he has to live with gnawing at the back of his mind in general. He learns at the end of route B that humans are no longer even alive, despite having been told they were throughout his life (and all androids believing they are). So the information is a bit devastating to him.
9S is someone who does a lot of "unnecessary" things for someone like himself. He's an android — built for fighting and nothing more — yet he goes out of his way to participate in things that don't benefit that. His partner throughout the game, 2B, is the opposite, and so often he's scolded for his odd actions, the most common of which being "emotions are prohibited".
In line with his unnecessary actions is his talkativeness. He likes to create small talk and this is often a problem his operator has with him, as small talk is seen as a waste. 2B also notes how talkative he is, and when he's faced with a conversation with a machine that he doesn't want to have, he tries to find help in 2B, but she only brushes him off by telling him he's the talkative one so he can work it out. For an android, he's just highly talkative about the most inconsequential of things, and a lot of the time it can end up with him showing his feelings towards things. 9S is a highly emotional android, so much so that he's driven by his emotions for a large portion of the game.
In the beginning, it's mostly just small shows of emotion — he'll often complain about things he doesn't like, and he'll show embarrassment when asked to explain how humans reproduce. But as the game moves forward and into its third act, his emotions are the sole thing propelling him forward. Throughout route C, he's shown to have the capability for very intense emotions, particularly hatred. The death of 2B at the beginning of the route cements a very deep hatred within him, not just towards the machines he's been struggling against for so long (as they've caused much of this situation in the first place and he's been programmed and groomed to hate them), but towards 2B's killer, A2. His entire story through route C is his rampage of hatred towards those two things. Thankfully, the canon point at which I'm taking him from is before that happens, but he's capable of strong emotions like that if provoked in the correct way.
On the subject of 2B, she is undoubtedly the most important person in 9S's life. He spends the entirety of the story awkwardly trying to get close to her, and receiving mostly coldness in return, though she shows great concern towards his wellbeing and more than proves how much she cares for him throughout the story. In the beginning, he states that as a Scanner model, he never really gets any partners to work with, as his job is just intel and scouting out areas. He's clearly excited to have someone to work with, and he states as much. Throughout the game, he continues to be happy to work with 2B, developing a close relationship to the point of having a complete and utter mental breakdown when he sees her die in route C.
It's as he says in D ending — he was always alone, up until he met her. He finally felt like he had a family, and his need to be with her became strong. But their relationship is a little more complicated than that. A2 points out at the end of C route that he must've known about 2B's true designation — that her name is actually 2E, and her job is entirely different from how it seems. A type B model is meant for combat, fighting against machines in their never-ending war. A type E model, however, has the job of disposing of YoRHa units who've either deserted, gone traitor, or learned too much about the truth behind YoRHa. 9S, being not only a Scanner unit but also a high-end one, is prone to figuring things out exceptionally easily, and his high levels of curiosity only add to that. Thus, it's been 2B's job to repeatedly kill him and wipe his memories so that he can't become too privy of certain truths. While he may not have been 100% sure of it throughout the game, he almost certainly had a very strong suspicion. There's a sidequest that involves a type E android, and after the quest, 9S asks 2B whether she knew those existed, to which she responds that some things are better left unknown. The slightly awkward conversation, coupled with some of the supplemental material for the game stating that 9S would repeatedly figure out 2B is really 2E on his own before she'd kill him (in various events taking place before the game), makes it pretty easy to assume he'd have figured it out long before it was obvious.
Regardless, she means a great deal to him, to the point of him having a bit of an emotional dependence on her. And he's shown to have had different reactions to her status as a type E in different "lives" — from him attempting to kill her after his realization, to him learning about it and how much it actually hurts her to kill him, causing him to commit suicide to save her from the pain of killing him again. It's likely that he's aware of the pain it causes her in the game's story, due to the way she acts around him and her intense care towards his wellbeing. She's obvious enough about it that he barely has to use his observational skills to realize it. But the knowledge of her being 2E would easily cause the distrust that Adam insists he has in his heart, and his knowledge of how much it clearly hurts her would explain why he tries so hard to be close to her rather than to push her away or even kill her himself, as his knowledge of her pain has propelled him to try to lessen it in past "versions" of himself.
On the subject of his intelligence and abilities, being a Scanner model means that he's naturally interested in seeking out knowledge. He's curious and likes to go out of his way to find out more about things or modify things in ways that he knows would make them better, sometimes to the frustration of those around him, because it can cause him to do things that get him scolded, such as when he makes modifications to a flight unit without authorization to do so. And in endings A/B, his consciousness ends up in a network of machine lifeforms around them, but rather than feeling any distress over the situation, he's more interested in recording the results, because it's not every day your consciousness is within so many things at once.
His curiosity can also cause him to quietly do things he shouldn't — when he asks the Commander why A2 deserted YoRHa, she tells him it's classified. Unhappy with this answer, he immediately contacts Pascal to see if he has any information he could give them. This attitude is precisely why 9S is so good at figuring things out, and why 2B is required to repeatedly wipe his memory — he's too curious and too observant and he'll go out of his way to find the information he seeks, even if it means doing it without the permission of the Commander.
On the flip side, he's not built for fighting, thus he can become distracted during battle. There's a moment where he's distracted by what the enemies are saying and starts to ponder it, and he's scolded for not paying attention in the battle — to which he responds, "Well what do you expect? I'm a Scanner! Combat was never meant to be my forte!"
Despite how observant he is, there are still things he refuses to recognize even with plenty of proof. Machines prove repeatedly that they're fully capable of emotions and complex thought processes, and while 9S does waver on his opinion of this a couple times, more often he rejects the idea that machines are anything more than empty creatures to fight against. He can be sort of set in his ways and once he has an idea, it can be difficult to move him from it. His vehement denial of what Adam is claiming is true about him is also an example of this. Adam tells him that he sees a vile hatred within him, that he doesn't trust anything, that he's lost hope, among other things. All of these things are mildly true about 9S, but 9S aggressively denies Adam's every word, because it can be difficult for him to accept certain things either about himself or about others. He spends a lot of time aggressively insisting he's different from machines, as well, despite later learning the core of an android is the same of that of a machine.
Those words of Adam's, while influenced by his fixation on hatred, do ring true about 9S. A lot of his life revolves around lies he's been told, and those lies slowly unravel throughout the game. His entire life is a lie due to the constant resetting of his memories, though he always tends to realize 2B's true motives each time before he's killed. And in addition to that, the things YoRHa have told him have been lies, and he's only just learned the truth about humanity's existence at the end of route B, which clearly puts him in a tough spot, both in regards to moving forward (he's clearly more apathetic when on his mission in the beginning of route C) and in regards to how he should tell 2B.
While he can sometimes keep his deeper thoughts and observations to himself, he's also quite honest a lot of the time in regards to his immediate feelings towards situations. He won't hold back if there's something to complain about, whether it be the Commander being a "slave driver" or something being "a pain" to do. He's always the first to complain, usually to the annoyance of 2B. Along those lines of honesty, he'll even call a girl beautiful if he really means it in a genuine sense — he calls his operator beautiful, and when she hangs up on him, annoyed at his apparent sucking up to her, he sadly states that he was just telling the truth. However, there's a sidequest where 2B notes that he sure is helping out that female android without compensation, and implies it may be because he thinks she's pretty. But 9S is immediately flustered by that accusation. On the other side of the emotional spectrum, he'll state when he's happy, as well. When he first meets 2B, he makes it very clear that he's happy to be working with her, saying that it's kind of fun to have a partner.
He's a lot like a teenage boy in a lot of ways — his personality tends to be talkative, genuine, and laid back, and he's often complaining about things. His laid back attitude tends to get him in trouble, as well, such as when he'll attempt small talk with his operator. He's easily flustered by certain subjects (sex, pretty girls) that other boys might be, and his general demeanor can often be compared to that of a teen. He'll even often consider things junk if they're not personally important to him, such as when his operator is asking him to find family-related things for her on Earth, and he just keeps referring to them as junk. However, he does use a lot more "technical" sounding vocabulary, and he can understand and pick up on subjects that normal teen boys likely wouldn't, due to being an android built for that function.
Finally, his ability to hack is not only a foundation of his gameplay, but something he utilizes to its fullest in order to achieve what's necessary. He's incredibly skilled in it and he'll use it often to defeat enemies or hack into systems to find information or manipulate things in a way that's necessary. He has vast knowledge of technology and how to use it, more so than a normal android because his entire existence is hacking and analyzing things.
In the end, he has a complicated life full of lies, and though he's managed to get through most of it with his laid back attitude and complaining, his emotions are capable of running on high if provoked in the right ways. He's an android first and foremost, but his human-like qualities consistently shine through, and his relationship with 2B impacts him more than anything else.
Abilities:
His most prominent ability is his hacking. He's able to hack into a variety of technologies so that he can find information or manipulate how it's working (or even cause it to explode). This creates a sort of hacking space mini game where things like someone's memory storage or firewall barriers have physical representations that he can interact with.
Being an android, he possesses super-human strength to an extent, being able to fight for a long period of time without getting tired, withstand large amounts of damage, and pull objects which weigh a lot. Because he's a Scanner unit and is made to gather intel, fighting isn't his forte, however he's experienced a lot of it over the story and is relatively good at it. He has a sword he'll be bringing in, Cruel Oath, which he's able to have float a couple inches off his back.
In line with his being an android, he actually has plug-in chips which can give him buffs or other abilities. They even provide him with the HUD visible in the game, a list of which can be found here. Basically, everything a player playing the game sees, he's seeing as well. And if his OS chip is removed, he'll die. To avoid making him weirdly OP, I'll just leave it at his system chips being installed.
In addition, Pod 153 has a range of possible abilities, however I'll be limiting its abilities to just the normal missiles it fires (just small shots at enemies) and the Laser program that allows it to fire more powerful lasers.
Alignment: Elios. Two of 9S's strongest feelings throughout the game are his adoration for 2B and his hatred of machines (and eventually A2). They drive his actions.
Other: If it's okay, I'll be having him bring in his pod, Pod 153 (it's the black one and it floats beside him). It's a bit of a sidekick to him that helps him with a variety of things such as contact, scans of the area, and just in general providing support to him. It's also capable of a few attacks, which I've detailed in his abilities section.
It doesn't have much in way of a personality, and mostly just gives him updates on information and answers questions he has. It doesn't talk much unless he speaks to it or it has something important to make him aware of.
General Sample: Some threads over here!
Emotion Sample:
[ 9S has unfortunately ended up with one of those bad eggs, and it's certainly not helping anything, but it's maybe a little bit uncreative. It's already caused a nearby sink to break and shoot water at him earlier, and now this time it's upped the annoyance a little — with a fire hydrant.
The last thing he needs is to be obnoxiously blasted in the face with water while he's walking about, and yet that's what's happening. ]
Gah!
[ He's caught off guard by it and ends up tumbling backwards from the pressure, landing in a puddle with water raining down on his head. ]
Seriously?! Again?!
[ He stands up from where he's sitting, totally soaked and groaning both from the unnecessary pain and the deep annoyance he's feeling. ]
Proposal: Unit 9S should avoid areas where water can be produced.
[ ... Wow. Pod. Are you listening to yourself? ]
Yeah, thanks. I'll get right on that.
[ That's sarcasm, of course. Because it's just so easy to avoid water here (it's not!!).
He doesn't realize it until he sees a tomato roll its way into the puddle (probably dropped from the grocery bag of a shocked onlooker), but at some point during this, he began to let off some electricity from his body due to his emotions, and the tomato ends up instantly fried once it touches the electrified water.
Well, um. Oops. ]
Questions: n/a!
