Pascal is an important NPC inNieR: Automata, as well as a temporarily playable character in Route C. Despite being a machine, Pascal is a pacifist who actively avoids fighting and seeks a path to peace with other machine lifeforms.
Pascal is highly intelligent, with an interest in topics such as human philosophy, the history of humanity, and machine lifeforms. He and his village have a truce with the Resistance Camp, as shown when Pascal trades items with Anemone, another important NPC inNieR: Automata. Despite seemingly like a small character at first, Pascal comes to have a big impact.
Pascal’s Impact in NieR: Automata’s Story
Pascal leads a society of machines and educates them to live peacefully, seeking harmony with androids after disconnecting from the machine network. He has made peace with Anemone and the Resistance Camp, and the two factions trade machine and android parts alongside other resources. In Chapter 07-01, it is revealed that Pascal may use a wind turbine similar to a Small Flier machine in place of legs to help stay airborne.
Pascal requests that2Baccompany him to the factory to discuss peace treaty negotiations after he communicates with another Machine colony located in the Abandoned Factory. However, within minutes of their arrival, the situation becomes critical as it is revealed that many of the factory residents have gone mad. Pascal avoids fighting while 2B takes out rampaging machines, and the two eventually escape the factory with the help of 9S.
During a visit to the Resistance Camp, Pascal meetsA2, who threatens him with death due to her hatred of Machines. However, he is eventually spared and allowed to return home. Later, Pascal is visited by A2, who is in need of a new filter. Once this task is completed, A2 is asked to run an errand and collect a philosophy book from Anemone, but while she is gone, some of the village’s residents become hostile and start eating their fellow machines. Pascal requests A2’s assistance, and when the android arrives he flees the village, bringing children with him to the Abandoned Factory.
Pascal watches over the children at the factoryand tries to console them as they cower, terrified for their lives and desperate to see their families. A2 meets him there, but they soon learn that a massive force of Machines is approaching the factory and threatening its occupants.
While A2 is fighting the machines, Pascal decides to abandon his pacifism and hijack a Goliath-class Engels unit. At this point, the player assumes control of Pascal and uses the Engels to destroy waves of approaching Machines before facing another Engel. Pascal rejoinsA2after his victory, but finds the children are all dead. It becomes clear they all committed suicide, as they’re strewn about with metal rods piercing their cores.
Pascal realizes, horrified, that he has made a grave error. He taught the children the concept of fear while educating them. He believed that if they learned to fear, it would keep them out of trouble and help them stay safe in the village. However, the children were so terrified ofthe hostile Machines littering the wastelandthat they took any means necessary to escape.
Unable to live with what he has done, Pascal requests that A2 erase all of his memories - or, failing that, kill him. If the player deletes Pascal’s memories, he will return to his now-abandoned village as a shell of the man he once was. In this state, he offers to sell various Machine parts, including the cores of the child Machines, oblivious to the fact that he is selling the scrap that was once his fellow villagers.Pascal can also be sparedif the player walks away, leaving him to choose his own fate. He does not reappear in the game, with his character profile in the Archives stating that he simply left.
NieR: Automatais now available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
