2B — NieR:Automata

Biography

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NieR:Automata

2Bヨルハ二号B型

YoRHa combat android and principal playable protagonist

2B is a leading playable character in NieR:Automata, the action role-playing game developed by PlatinumGames and published by Square Enix. Her public designation is YoRHa No. 2 Type B: a battle android deployed to Earth against hostile machine lifeforms.

Controlled and relentlessly professional, she works with the inquisitive scanner android 9S, supported by Pod 042. Their assignments place her discipline in tension with questions about emotion, duty, and what the machines are becoming.

Biography

A Soldier of YoRHa

2B serves in YoRHa, an android military force sent to reclaim Earth from machine lifeforms on humanity’s behalf. She operates amid abandoned cities and industrial ruins in a war that has continued for centuries. Trained for close-range combat, she treats the mission and the safety of her unit as immediate priorities.

The Factory Mission and 9S

During an assault on an abandoned factory, 2B meets 9S, a scanner-type YoRHa android whose skills focus on reconnaissance, information gathering, and hacking. He talks easily and is eager to cooperate; she is more likely to remind him of their orders. In the field, her swordsmanship and Pod 042’s ranged support complement his technical expertise. Her assigned communications operator, 6O, relays mission information from the Bunker.

The Memory That 9S Lost

The factory operation ends when 2B and 9S detonate their black boxes to destroy a formidable machine threat. 9S uploads 2B’s recent data before the explosion, but cannot preserve his own latest memories. When they meet again at the Bunker, she thanks him for saving her data; he no longer remembers doing it. Their return to duty therefore feels less like a fresh start to 2B than it does to him.

Machines That Do Not Follow Orders

Their assignments bring them into contact with machine lifeforms that seem to want more than combat. Pascal, a pacifist machine, is part of a community searching for a way to live without fighting. Such encounters force 2B to distinguish immediate threats from machines that behave differently, even as she remains wary of danger.

Professional Distance, Personal Concern

YoRHa regulations discourage emotional expression, and 2B makes a habit of enforcing that distance. When 9S suggests she call him “Nines,” she initially prefers his formal designation. A later slip into the nickname reveals a warmth she does not readily acknowledge. Her concern for him is increasingly difficult to reconcile with the impersonal way she tries to conduct their missions.

Personality and Motivations

2B is terse, watchful, and difficult to divert from an objective. She answers questions practically and can sound impatient when 9S pauses to make conversation. YoRHa’s insistence on discipline suits her outward manner, but her reserve is also a way of keeping personal feelings out of her assignments.

She is not without sympathy. The game repeatedly contrasts her outward composure with moments of concern and emotional vulnerability, especially around 9S. An accurate reading of 2B preserves that tension instead of treating her as either an unfeeling machine or an openly sentimental companion.

Appearance

2B has a short, pale-white bob haircut and wears a black, high-collared YoRHa outfit with embroidered details, fitted sleeves, gloves, and high-heeled, thigh-high boots. Her black tactical visor covers her eyes during most of her missions; it is military equipment rather than proof that she cannot see. Her predominantly black-and-white silhouette is consistent across Square Enix’s official game artwork.

Quick facts

Full designation: YoRHa No. 2 Type B
Character type: Android
Organization: YoRHa
Public model classification: B-Type combat unit
Primary support unit: Pod 042
Frequent field partner: 9S, a scanner-type YoRHa android
First game: NieR:Automata (2017)

Abilities

Close-Quarters Sword Combat

2B specializes in direct engagement using edged weapons, combining fast strikes with evasive movement.

Limitations: Close-range engagements expose her to enemy attacks, so evasion and positioning still matter.

Pod-Assisted Ranged Attacks

She can coordinate with a tactical Pod to apply ranged pressure while continuing to fight at close range.

Limitations: Pod support is an aid to positioning and attack, not a substitute for avoiding incoming threats.

Coordinated Field Operations

2B carries out YoRHa assignments alongside 9S, pairing her frontline capabilities with his scanning and infiltration work.

Limitations: 2B is the front-line fighter; advanced scanning and hacking are 9S’s specialties.

Relationships

9S

Scanner-unit partner

Her inquisitive YoRHa scanner partner, whose reconnaissance and hacking complement her close-range combat. She often responds to his curiosity with reminders to focus, but her concern for him is evident.

Pod 042

Tactical support unit

The tactical Pod assigned to 2B, providing ranged fire, combat analysis, and communications support during field missions.

YoRHa Commander

Commanding officer

The Bunker-based leader responsible for YoRHa operations and for the orders sent to 2B and other units.

A2

YoRHa-designated fugitive

A YoRHa prototype whom Command has designated a dangerous fugitive. 2B and 9S encounter her on Earth and are ordered to pursue her.

Operator 6O

Assigned communications operator

2B’s cheerful Bunker-based operator, responsible for field communications and relaying mission information. Her outgoing manner contrasts with 2B’s reserved speech.

Pascal

Pacifist machine contact

A machine lifeform who seeks coexistence rather than conflict. Encounters involving Pascal challenge the assumption that every machine should be treated as an identical threat.

Interesting facts

2B’s character design was created by Akihiko Yoshida of CyDesignation.

Yoshida created 2B’s original visual design, while PlatinumGames separately developed the three-dimensional character used in play.

In YoRHa designations, the number identifies a personality-data type, while the letter identifies the unit’s intended function.

The system separates a unit’s disposition from its assigned combat specialty; the public B in 2B identifies a battle model.

The first main story route is played through 2B’s perspective, while the next revisits many of its events from 9S’s point of view.

That shift lets the player reconsider encounters and conversations without assuming that the two characters understood them in the same way.

PlatinumGames modeler Hito Matsudaira used 2B’s early 3D model as a benchmark for body proportions, materials, and shaders in NieR:Automata.

Her design helped establish practical standards for other character models, beyond simply reproducing Akihiko Yoshida’s illustration.

Frequently asked questions

Who is 2B in NieR:Automata?

2B is YoRHa No. 2 Type B, a combat android and one of the game’s central playable protagonists. She is sent to Earth to fight machine lifeforms.

Is 2B human?

No. She is an android: an artificial soldier built to carry out YoRHa operations.

Why does 2B wear a blindfold?

The black covering over her eyes is standard YoRHa military visor equipment, not an indication that she is blind.

What does the B in 2B stand for?

B denotes her publicly presented battle-type classification within YoRHa.

Who is 9S to 2B?

9S is her scanner-type field partner. He specializes in gathering information and hacking, while 2B focuses on direct combat.

Does 2B use magic?

Her combat is presented through android weaponry, physical fighting, and Pod support rather than a traditional fantasy spellcasting system.

Is 2B always emotionless?

No. She tries to comply with YoRHa’s rules against emotional expression, but her interactions reveal concern and vulnerability beneath her reserved manner.

Who designed 2B?

Akihiko Yoshida of CyDesignation designed 2B for NieR:Automata.

Major story spoilers below.

A Pattern of Loss

Near the end of the opening campaign, 9S is compromised by a logic virus during the confrontation with Eve and asks 2B to destroy his infected body. She carries out the request with visible anguish. His memories later survive through the machine network, allowing a reunion, but 2B’s distress is greater than this one loss can explain.

YoRHa’s Collapse and 2B’s Final Request

A later YoRHa offensive is devastated by a logic-virus outbreak. The Bunker falls, eliminating the backup system that previously allowed lost units to be restored. 2B becomes infected and struggles through the city ruins as her body deteriorates. She meets A2, entrusts her with a sword bearing her final wishes and asks her to protect 9S and the future. A2 ends 2B’s suffering. 9S sees the act from a distance, does not understand 2B’s request, and vows revenge against A2.

The Hidden Designation: 2E

During the final confrontation, A2 reveals that 2B’s concealed assignment was as YoRHa No. 2 Type E: an Executioner unit posing as a battle model. 2B had been tasked with monitoring 9S and killing him when his investigations threatened YoRHa’s secrets, after which he could be restored without the discoveries he had made. Her repeated losses of 9S explain the guardedness she could not discuss openly. 9S’s precise moment of recognizing the truth is less clear in the game than A2’s revelation itself.

The Truth Behind the War

The investigations that follow YoRHa’s destruction expose a central lie: humanity had already become extinct, and the supposed Council of Humanity on the Moon was a fiction designed to sustain the androids’ war effort. Project YoRHa was itself expendable; the Bunker had a deliberate vulnerability that enabled its destruction and helped keep the truth buried. 2B’s covert executions of 9S were another part of that machinery of secrecy. She did not survive to confront the final revelations alongside him.

Endings C, D, and E: A Future Not Yet Fixed

The final clash between A2 and 9S branches into Ending C or Ending D according to the player’s choice; the contradictory immediate outcomes do not both occur in a single linear sequence. After the player has seen both, Ending E follows Pods 042 and 153 as they defy instructions to erase YoRHa’s surviving personal data. The Pods reconstruct 2B, 9S, and A2, offering them another chance to live. What they will choose to do with it is left open rather than guaranteed by the ending.

Additional story facts

An optional case involving a Type E android in the game foreshadows the existence of Executioner units before A2 states 2B’s hidden classification.

It lets an attentive player reinterpret 2B’s reactions on a later playthrough, but the optional side quest is not itself a mandatory event in every player’s run.

The exact point at which 9S recognizes 2B’s underlying role is not definitively established by the main-game dialogue.

Preserving this uncertainty avoids portraying the characters as having identical knowledge at every stage of their repeated assignments.

After 2B’s death, A2 cuts her hair in tribute to the android whose wishes she has accepted.

The gesture marks A2’s acknowledgment of 2B rather than a random change in appearance; Yoko Taro explained the intent in an official strategy-guide Q&A.

Spoiler questions

Is 2B actually 2E?

Yes. The game reveals that 2B’s concealed designation is No. 2 Type E, an Executioner unit assigned to eliminate 9S when he uncovered forbidden information.

Why did 2B repeatedly kill 9S?

YoRHa used her to stop 9S from exposing confidential truths. Because memory backups could be restored to new bodies, repeated executions and resets formed part of the organization’s control of his investigations.

How does 2B die in NieR:Automata?

During the logic-virus outbreak that destroys YoRHa, 2B becomes infected after the Bunker is lost. Unable to recover, she asks A2 to carry on her wishes. A2 ends her suffering, but 9S witnesses the scene and mistakes it for an unprovoked killing.

Does 2B return in Ending E?

Yes. In Ending E, Pods 042 and 153 refuse to erase the surviving YoRHa data and reconstruct 2B, 9S, and A2. The ending offers them a new chance to live without establishing what their future choices will be.

Are endings C and D both events that happen in sequence?

No. They arise from alternative choices at the late confrontation between A2 and 9S. Seeing both opens the way to Ending E, but their contradictory immediate outcomes should not be merged.

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