Kainé is a companion and tritagonist of NieR RepliCant and NIER, who ends up accompanying Nier after he helps her kill Hook. She is possessed by a Shade who dubs himself Tyrann, and as a result of her upbringing and Tyrann's occupation of her body, she has a disposition towards being cold and cruel - albeit the fact that more often than not she is shy and collected.
Story
|
Heads up! Important plot details for NieR, NieR:Automata, NieR Reincarnation, or other related media may follow. Read at your own risk! |
Kaine's Dreams/The Witch's Sabbath
Originally born in the Aerie, Kainé is a coarse individual who suffers from being only half human. Her left arm and left leg, which she keeps under bandage-like coverings, are those of a Shade. This hybrid form has left her to live as an outcast, unwelcome in villages and befriended by few. As a response to the harassment she received in her childhood for being an hermaphrodite, she took a liking to clothes that emphasize feminine characteristics. She has grown accustomed to being alone, and her veneer of shyness is easily shattered by sudden outbursts and irrational displays of violent anger. Though she is secretly glad to have Nier's company, she has already learned to survive on her own due to her grandmother who she loved dearly, her skill with twin swords, and her ability to wield magic.
The only person that showed her kindness and protected her was her equally foul-mouthed grandmother Kali, with whom Kainé lived her childhood and inherited her attitude from. She held both love and respect for her grandmother who accepted her and treated her as a woman. One day when returning home she encountered the shade Hook, who was attacking Kali's house and had her pinned down, sadistically enjoying Kainé's despair. Kali died in the incident and Kainé was left mutilated. It was then that the Shade Tyrann fused with her, allowing her to live and causing Kainé's deep hatred of Shades.
When half of her body was taken over by the Tyrann, she became a Shade-possessed and gained humanly impossible battle power and the ability to hear the voices of the Shades, but despite this had convinced herself that they are all evil and deserve to die (Tyrann even mockingly asks her if she's going to sympathize with the Shade Gretel after hearing its vow to protect its fellow Shades). By becoming possessed, Kaine suffered even more persecution and lived only to exact her revenge even if it meant using the powers of a Shade.
NieR RepliCant / NIER
- "Weiss, you dumbass! Start making sense, you rotten book, or you're going to be sorry! Maybe I'll rip your pages out, one-by-one! Or maybe I'll put you in the goddamn furnace! How can someone with a big, smart brain get hypnotized like a little bitch? Huh? Oh, Shadowlord! I love you, Shadowlord! Come over here and give Weiss a big sloppy kiss, Shadowlord! Now pull your head out of your goddamn ass and START FUCKING HELPING US!"
- —Kainé to Grimoire Weiss when he is possessed by the Shadowlord.
Ending A
- "I got my own shit to take care of."
- —Kainé to Nier after he defeats the Shadowlord.
Replicant Nier is about to kill Gestalt Nier, hesitating for a second before dealing a final blow. Afterwards, Nier goes to Yonah's side. Worried when Yonah is not responding to his calls. Soon Grimore Weiss, after losing his body, uses the last of his strength to speak. He tells Nier that she will awaken when someone says the name of the one she loves the most. The player is then given a choice to write their characters name. If entered correctly, Yonah slowly opens her eyes and observes her brother after the five years. Kaine goes to leave but is stopped by Nier, asking if she wanted to stay with them. She declines, saying she has "her own shit to take care of." The scene shifts over to Nier and Yonah back at the village, sitting on the hill near their house. Yonah runs up to a sitting Nier and gives her father a Lunar Tear as the both lay down on the hill. The scene shifts again, showing a adult Yonah and The Shadowlord about to take each others hand, then the adult Yonah takes hold and hugs The Shadowlords arm; hinting that Gestalt Nier and Yonah have reunited.
Ending B
Ending B starts the same as Ending A. After Replicant Nier defeats Gestalt Nier. The scene then changes to Gestalt Nier scrunched up, weeping to himself - alone in a white void - as he regrets all the hardships he put Yonah through. A flashback occurs, with Yonah and himself alone in the grocery store. He tells her that he isn't hungry, while Yonah tries to force him to eat something. The scene reverts back and images of enemies, that Replicant Nier, killed gaze at him while he cries to himself. Gestalt Yonah, in her young form comes to greet him and thanks him for always being there with her, and shares the cookie with her father. Emil, who survived the blast, crash lands in the desert. Now just a head, he goes out to search for Nier and Kainé, bouncing and rolling into the distance.
Ending C
- "Please... Before it comes to that... I want you to kill me."
- —Kainé to Nier before becoming a Shade.
Ending C is a continuation of endings A and B. After Nier defeats and kills the Shadowlord, as Kainé goes to leave she begins to relapse. She then goes into her shade form, forcing Nier to fight her. After Kainé is incapacitated, Tyrann explains to Nier how he can save her. Either by killing her, or forgoing his entire existence for her. If the player chooses the first option, Nier stabs Kainé as he kisses her, finally ending her pain. Tyrann telss Nier Kainé's last words: "Thank you." A lunar tear falls next to a distraught Nier. He picks it up as he gazes through a window. He then goes home and lives with Yonah, with both living out their remaining days before they die from the Black Scrawl.
Ending D
If the player chooses to sacrifice his entire existence for Kainé, the player's data is erased and everyone forgets he ever existed. Nier disappears, while Yonah thanks Kainé for saving her. A lunar tear falls on the ground, which Kainé picks up. When she holds it, she has a flashback of Nier and mentions that it feels like she found something special.
Ending E
In "Ending E", told in Grimoire Nier, after the Shadowlord disappeared, a program to reset the entire Replicant system begins its execution in the Forest of Myth, and Kainé goes to destroy it. The forgotten Nier is reunited with Kainé, as a young boy/man, reconstructed with the “memories” that the tree had of his first visit to the Forest of Myth.Killed Victims
- Many unnamed shades
Gallery
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Trivia
- Kainé is the only character out of the group who doesn't directly kill any main antagonists or bosses, as Nier kills every boss except Popola and Grimoire Noir, Emil helps Nier kill Wendy, and Weiss kills Grimoire Noir.
- Kainé is implied to have romantic feelings for Nier. She is also very close to Emil, treating him in a sisterly fashion. In contrast she and Weiss rarely get along and often argue.
- Kainé is good at tongue twisters. A few times through and she starts adding curse words to them though.
- According to director Yoko, in Grimoire Nier, Kainé's gestalt was not originally a hermaphrodite. She was a normal female with a fiancé, but her replicant was born as a hermaphrodite due to an error in the long-running replicant system.
- The kanji of her name was meant to be “壊音”(broken sound). It didn't have a specific origin, and was probably a development staff’s made-up language. For Kaine, who can hear “the voice of the Shades’ souls”, maybe their dying breath sounds “broken”. Maybe she can even hear the “sound of herself breaking".
- Instead of Ending C and D being a decision for “Nier and Kainé”, it was more a choice for “the player and Kainé”. Director Yokoo explained, "If you like Kainé after playing through the game twice, then sacrifice yourself and save her, if you don’t then you don’t have to save her."
- Though originally rumored to be a character exclusive to the Japan-only Nier Replicant, the third trailer for NIER showcased an audio-only monologue of Kainé berating Nier's book companion, Grimoire Weiss.
- Kainé makes an appearance in the arcade-based fantasy collectible card game Lord of Vermilion Re:2.