Why A2 is the real protagonist of the story

Key recommendations

• A2 embodies themes of kindness and self-sacrifice, rising above pain and revenge.
• A2's journey illustrates the struggle in life's cycle of death, finding purpose in protecting others.
• A2's development contrasts with 9S's, focusing on redemption and trust, ultimately sacrificing himself for the greater good.

NieR Automata ver1.1a tells the story of three androids in battle against an army of machine lifeforms. YoRHa 2B, 9S and A2 are the three main characters of the story. And they each go through different character evolutions throughout the events of the series. 2B walks an arc of embracing kindness, emotion, and self-sacrifice. 9S becomes more and more resentful and hateful as the story progresses. But A2 is the last of the three to be introduced. However, her development embodies the themes of NieR Automata best.

A2 goes on a journey to find purpose after a life of revenge. She finds herself caring for and protecting her former enemies while giving her own life to save the world. Living in an endless cycle of life and death, she embodies the idea that life is about the struggle within this cycle.

Number 2, The Optimistic Survivor

Born to die

When she was named Number 2 and a member of the YoRHa forces, she was part of the experimental M Squadron. This team of YoRHa androids was sent to Earth to destroy a massive machine server that was guarded by thousands of machine lifeforms. During this mission, her team encountered a group of resistance members, and after a heated argument, they became allies. In this resistance team was Lily, a young android who would later become incredibly important to the rest of the story.

Falling prey to a logic virus, most of the Number 2 team and the resistance team die in action. Leaving only Lily and Number 2 as the only survivors. While this traumatic experience inspired Lily to become the resistance leader she needed, #2 succumbed to a life of revenge against machine lifeforms and left YoRHa. This experience is one of many examples of how suffering and struggle shape the lives of the characters in NieR Automata.

Number 2, now called A2, would spend the next four years brutally killing every life form he encountered. Including the baby king of the forest. And when he did, he met 2B and 9S for the first time, telling them that it was an order that betrayed them.

A2, The Dark Hero

I die to protect others

At the time of Adam's death, the YoRHa forces are almost completely extinguished due to massive infection with the logic virus. During this time, 2B was also infected and in her last moments she found A2 and asked her to kill her before turning against 9S and with her dying wish she begged A2 to take care of her android teammate. 9S witnessed this and went into a downward spiral of hatred and revenge. A 2 later meets Pascal and the other pacifist machines and begins his journey to find purpose and redemption.

A2's character arc is in complete opposition to 9S. She becomes progressively kinder and more protective of everyone around her, while 9S becomes so focused on his revenge that he loses his mental and physical health. The story of NieR Automata is about the meaning of life, finding purpose and embracing and growing from the struggle to live. The lives of the three androids are an endless cycle of violence and pain, and A2's is the greatest example of this. She was created to be thrown away, to be thrown away. She spent four years continuously killing and destroying to fill the void of pain and loss she had. YoRHa androids are forbidden to harbor emotions, and yet the three androids and their lives are defined by the emotions they feel.

A2 learns to trust the machines and people around her and replaces her quest for revenge with a new path of protection. He found purpose in his incredible fighting skills by using them to save lives instead of ending them. She is someone who took her suffering and loss and instead of turning it into darkness like 9S did, channeled it into saving what little was left of her allies. In the face of 9S's unbridled hatred, she instead opted to save him from himself. And right after he sacrificed his life to bring down the Machine Tower.

I never realized how beautiful this world is.

Her connection to Lily and The Resistance shows her importance to the story. Unlike 2B and 9S, she has a personal attachment to the soldiers fighting on Earth. This makes her act of saving Lily from the pain of the virus logical and more painful for both her and the audience. A2 acts as a dark mirror for 2B, living in the shadow of the machine war, rising to the saving light of the ark that will ultimately revive humanity.

Everything that lives is designed to end. The androids, the machines, and the resistance are all caught in an endless cycle of life and death. However, life is all about the struggle within this cycle. This is what A2 stands for. He is a person who has fought like almost no one else in the story, and in the end, he gives it all up for a chance at redemption. Besides being built to be thrown away by years of attack, she also deserves life.