Previous

Can I talk Replicant a little? Because I'm gonna talk Replicant a little. You can scroll past this if you like.

Theoretically, I could pick out any plot update and draw up some bizarre Brother v. Father Nier diagram about what's going on and how it relates to yadda yadda and in turn blah blah blah, but this is kind of important. This scene with Popola and Devola means a whole world more for poor Brother Nier than it does for his Father counterpart.

Let's start with the relationship between the Twins and Brother Nier and just what separates the relationship of Brother and Father regarding the Twins.

How long have the Twins been a major part of Brother Nier's life? For almost the entirety of it! Popola and Devola have known Brother for most of his cognizant life. As opposed to Father Nier though, his relationship is a whole world deeper than just acquaintance/drinking buddy/job hunter though. I've mentioned this before in passing, but now is the time that it really does matter: Popola and Devola are essentially Brother Nier and Yonah's parents at this point. They've spent years without their biological parents and the Twins have spent a great deal of time helping them in life, doing what they can, and even helping raise Yonah while Nier is busy putting food on the table. At this point, Brother Nier is now basically forced to turn his violent rage upon the only two people in this world he could call his parents.

Brother has relied on these two for over a decade, they could be considered the foundation for his very existence. As competent as Brother is, he still needs help in every day life. He may know how to kill things, but that doesn't always cut it! He'd have never been able to survive the early orphan years without Popola finding him work and Devola taking care of Yonah while he was away. These two adults he trusts more than anyone else in the world. When everyone else seemed unable to help, they were there. Father Nier may have needed the work, but he's a fully capable grown man who (probably) has some sort of talents. He could always be a guard! What guard would trust Young Brother Nier?

One of the recurring themes of NieR Replicant is the emotional distance between parents/adults and children, how all the children of the world of NieR seem to be so separated from their parents in terms of how they feel towards them and what happens to them. Junk Heap brothers were abandoned, Village kids are being told to steal, Seafront kids are locked away, Facade confines childhood spirit with its rules, Emil doesn't even know Sebastien, Kaine is hated by the people of the Aerie, all the children in this game are basically divided against the adults and this extends to Nier and Yonah too. I think though I've already talked about how Nier's relationship to the villagers is though. Popola and Devola are different, they're not like the other adults. They listen, they discuss, they help, they do everything they can to give Nier and Yonah a leg up in life. The Twins don't treat Nier like a child, they treat him like a capable person and that makes them incredibly important to him emotionally. He trusts them. Now he's suddenly come to face a horrifying fact: he can't even trust the two most important adults in his entire life!

There's another thing though: the Twins are also the last thread of his old life.

I've mentioned this before, but when the Shadowlord and Jack of Hearts (i swear to god if i didn't get that right...) took Yonah they didn't just take Yonah, they took Brother Nier's entire world. Those cheery views, his happy-go-lucky yet budding mature attitude, the opinions that drove him to believe in people, the comforting seclusion of his village and the reliability of the people within it. These were things he lost when the Shadowlord came, but the one constant that remained were the Twins. When Nier's village became threatening and dark and his house became empty and lonely, the Twins were always there. They presumably have been helping Brother (and Father) with tips and leads for the 5 year gap, so even when everything else changed for the worse, Popola and Devola remained the same. The Twins betraying Brother Nier isn't just a heel turn, it's them effectively taking the last part of his old life away. It's the final piece of his childhood!

So now what does Brother Nier have left in his life? Not much. Why not go all-in and fight to the end?