Grimoire Nier is a book or a document that contains extensive background informations on the world of Nier and many other short stories. Our friend from justin.tv
Seiryu has linked us to
this document that has been translated by some japanese fans.
These are the passages I found very interesting to read, explaining some key features of the story
The story is mainly about the apcalyptical world Nier lives in and the reason that made it that way, humans living under the threat of this disease and ferious monsters, what is causing those shades? and all these shadow monsters? what is the Grimoire weiss and Grimoire noire books? did magic become that dreadful weapon that could eliminate human race? are weapons reason why those said deprived of consciousness beings were created?You'll find some of your answers in these passages! Good Reading everyone!
Background Information on Nier
In 2003 Cavia released Drakengard, an action RPG for Playstation 2. This game received decent reviews and it became something of a cult classic due to its incredibly dark storyline and foreboding atmosphere. In Drakengard you play the role of Caim, a young prince whose kingdom was destroyed by an evil Empire.
The game has 5 endings. The first ending, ending A is thought to be the canonical ending and led to a sequel, Drakengard 2. Ending E leads the world of Nier. In ending E, Caim, Angelus, and the giant queen are teleported to modern day Tokyo. The player then has to complete a notoriously difficult minigame to defeat the giant queen. After defeating the queen, they are shot down and killed by Japanese fighter jets.
Now the story of Nier takes over. The appearance of the dragon causes people to be infected by an unknown disease which spreads and leads to the end of civilization. The game takes place about a thousand years after these events, in a post-apocalyptic world.
The Abyss of [Project Nier] Vol. 1
NIER
A world where the mysterious epidemic “White Chlorination Syndrome” started to spread when the red dragon fell. Humans who are infected with this disease either die from chlorination, or become ferocious and attack other humans. The Japanese government feared the further spread of the strange disease, and brought a complete lockdown upon its source, Tokyo – Shinjuku. As a result of this, Shinjuku has been transformed into a district of death, in which Nier wanders with his only relative, Yonah.
When he ran out of food to give to Yonah and was left with no choice, purely by coincidence, he caught wind of the country’s “Salvation Support Plan” that provides food and medical care (a ruse to gather people. It was actually a human experimentation site designed to find the “original Gestalt”, who can keep his own consciousness even after going through the “Gestalt process”. Of course, Nier and Yonah didn’t know that). Along with Yonah, Nier headed towards the facility that provided support as a last resort. However, neither food nor medicine was given out at the facility, but mysterious books (clones of “Grimoire Noir” that forces humans who come in contact with it to become Gestalts), so he became suspicious of the support plan. When the surrounding crowd touched the books, becoming Gestalts and gradually transforming into “relapsed Gestalts”, Nier was sure that they were deceived, and ran away from the facility with Yonah. But they were discovered by a crowd of relapsed Gestalts while trying to hide in an abandoned super market, and the situation turns grim. In order to protect Yonah from the attacking relapsed Gestalts, he was forced into making a great choice…
Gestalt Nier, who deeply loves Yonah, his only relative. Long time ago, he chose to go through the Gestalt process to protect Yonah, and became the first one to succeed at “keeping his own consciousness as a Gestalt” amongst countless experiments. That fact came to the attention of the “World Purification Organization”, the instigator of “Gestalt Project”, and they recognized him as a “stabilized case”, calling him the original Gestalt. They claimed that by “freezing Yonah’s body for 1000 years, they could stop her from relapsing”, and requested his provision of the “demonic element” (with the demonic element, people other than Nier could turn into Gestalts while keeping their consciousness and preventing themselves from relapsing) in exchange for putting Yonah into cold sleep. However, he realized that even after the promised 1000 years, there was no way of saving Yonah, and that the replicants somehow gained their own consciousness in between. This in turn induced his wrath, and he tried to forcibly return “Gestalt Yonah”’s soul to “Replicant Yonah”’s body and halt her relapsing.
“Grimoire Weiss” and “Grimoire Noir”
Are a set of programs meant to finish the project
-They appeared in the SS “And then there were none”, but what exactly were “Grimoire Weiss” and “Grimoire Noir”, which gained immense magic through Gestalts being sealed in them?
Yokoo: If Grimoire Noir is activated, all Gestalts can be returned to their Replicants(changing from a world of Replicants to a world of humans). It’s a program that utilizes magic. The keys that are vital to its activation is Girmoire Weiss and “the sealed verses”. The sealed verses are offensive magic in expectation of legion battles. Grimoire Weiss is necessary for Grimoire Noir’s activation, and the sealed verses in turn are vital for Grimoire Weiss’s. In other words, it’s a double lock intended to prevent any accidental activation of the system, so that they’ll only be activated by the manager when the time has truly come.
-When the time has come?
Yokoo: When the legions have been exterminated, and when the WCS has ceased. However, the Shadowlord Gestalt Nier realized that he was being lied to.
Yokoo: He’s irritated at the lack of change, and tried to use force to gain Yonah and Nier’s replicants, as well as Grimoire Weiss. The very roots of the system are impacted, and though the time hasn’t come yet, Devola and Popola tried to return the Replicant’s bodies to their original owners before everything is too late…however, Grimoire Weiss lost his memories, and took Replicant Nier’s side. Moreover, the replicants gained sentience. The twins tried to make amends to the plans and control the Shadowlord as best as they could, but since Replicant Nier’s own will was involved as well, nothing really went according to plan. That is the basic plot of “NieR”.
Yokoo: Many things are going on in the world, but Nier simply fought against Shades to protect Yonah – that’s what I wanted to portray, and it’s pretty similar to our world. You don’t know why exactly everything boiled down to this in history’s long span, but somehow people were at war for all sorts of reasons since you were born – something like that.
-So, let’s say Replicant Nier didn’t defeat the Shadowlord but gave up his body instead, and Grimoire Weiss fused with Grimoire Noir, will the world become peaceful with humans again?
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