Shades serve as the primary enemies in Nier Replicant and the main source of all of the protagonist Nier’s grief. Mankind as Nier knows it cannot coexist with the Shades and a large portion of the story is dedicated to the protagonist building a deep seeded hatred for everything Shade. It’s not unusual to hear him openly and venously exclaim his desire to hunt down every last living Shade after Nier Replicant’s five year time skip.
Nier Replicant’s depiction of the Shades and Nier’s disdain for them is not to be idolized. At its core, Nier’s blind rage is commentary on how many video game protagonists mindlessly slaughter everything in their path and humanity’s inclination to see everything in matters of black and white or good and bad. The last stretch of Nier’s story comments on this directly, but several side quests do some leg work in fleshing out the theme.
Search for the Shade is a Village side quest that highlights the complexity of Shades in Nier Replicant. A Shade has snuck into your home village and has been spotted by several villagers. While the Shade hasn’t hurt anyone yet, Nier believes it’s only a matter of time before trouble starts brewing. Search for the Shade can be triggered by speaking to a guard at the southern gate.
Updated on June 28, 2021 by Renan Fontes: Search for the Shade is one of the most significant side quests in Nier Replicant, if only for how it connects itself to the greater lore and even other side quests like The Shade in the Study. While the reward for completing Search for the Shade is nothing special, the quest puts into perspective the blurred line between man and Shade – an important thematic beat that's fleshed out through the rest of Nier's story.
The Village River
As soon as Start for the Shade is triggered, a young girl will run over to interrupt Nier’s conversation with the guard. Overhearing your conversation, she’ll reveal that she saw a Shade right by the Village’s riverbank. Players simply need to walk over to the river and examine, but this is actually easier said than done.
To actually trigger Nier looking for the Shade, you need to walk towards the river from where the three pigs are grazing. When coming in at the right angle, you’ll lose control and Nier will mention to Weiss that it doesn’t look like a Shade was ever actually here. With no clues by the riverside, return to the girl for redirection.
The Library Courtyard
After speaking to the little girl a second time, she will redirect Nier towards the library courtyard, seemingly having misremembered where she actually saw the Shade in the first place. While this strikes Grimoire Weiss as suspicious, children do confuse things easily and a Shade is a frightening sight.
From the little girl, exit the market place towards the library and go examine the courtyard. As you’re walking into the Library Courtyard, Nier will immediately take control and look around the general vicinity. Like before, there is no Shade in sight, but instead of speaking to the girl, talk to the marked NPCs around town to advance the quest.
The Northern Hill
With it now abundantly clear that the little girl is deliberately misdirecting Nier and Grimoire Weiss, the two confront her by asking where she hasn’t seen the Shade. The girl reveals that she’s never seen the Shade overlooking the Northern Gate on top of the western hill.
Naturally, head over there to find a Shade just minding their business. Even though the Shade isn’t doing any damage to the villagers nearby, you still have to put it down. The Shade won't aggro you, so just run up and kill. Once the Shade is dead, return to the guard to report what happened.
Rewards And Connections To The Shade In The Study
Returning to the Guard nets you your 5,000 Gold reward, but also reveals that the little girl has vanished. While it's possible she was a villager who simply took a shine to the Shade, her erratic behavior and disappearance suggests that she was also a Shade who just happened to possess somebody. Search for the Shade actually shares a strong thematic connection to the Shade in the Study side quest where Nier, Emil, and Kaine hunt down a passive Shade hanging out in Emil's mansion.
Both these side quests are meant to convey to audiences that Shades are not inherently violent beings and mainly just want to exist in human spaces. More importantly, Nier Replicant's shade in the village shows how seamlessly Shades can integrate into human life without us noticing.