Nemo (Ace Combat)

Nemo (name can be changed by the player) is a character in the Ace Combat franchise and the main protagonist of the 1999 video game Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere. They start off as a fighter pilot serving in the Universal Peace Enforcement Organization's Special Armed Response Force (SARF) during the Intercorporate War, but can later defect to an enemy faction: General Resource, Neucom or Ouroboros. They are eventually revealed to be an AI created by Simon Orestes Cohen and run through a simulation to determine their chances at killing Abyssal Dision.
== Biography ==
=== Past ===
Nemo was created at an unknown point by a Neucom scientist Simon Orestes Cohen, who sought revenge against Abyssal Dision, or rather his digital copy, for indirectly causing the death of his loved one, Yoko Martha Inoue. Cohen created a digital simulation of the continent of Usea, along with every person and organization present in it, and put Nemo into it.
=== Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere ===
At the start of every simulation, Nemo was a pilot for the peacekeeping organization UPEO. When Neucom started the Intercorporate War by attacking General Resource, they would be among the pilots sent to curb the aggressive forces. During the simulation, Nemo would be put into multiple situations where their loyalty to superiors would be questioned, and their subsequent choice would influence the outcome of the war:
==== General Resource route ====
If Nemo chose to defect to General Resource at Dision's suggestion right after the ceasefire between the corporations had been signed, they would serve side-by-side with the GRDF pilot Keith Bryan, take part in the assasination of UPEO's delegate Clarkson, continue fighting Neucom's forces and eventually take down Ouroboros and Dision, revealed to be its leader, as well as Rena Hirose in her "Night Raven" and several experimental aircraft that had escaped from the destroyed Megafloat, hacking and delivering one of them to their superiors.
==== First Ouroboros route ====
If, after defecting to General Resource, Nemo took up Dision's offer to join his revolution, they would assist him in destroying Neucom, but also start messing with Rena's head for unknown reasons, causing her memories, which Dision had tampered with, to return. They would later form an alliance with Keith to take down Rena. Having dealt with her, Nemo pursued Dision into the Electrosphere and killed him there, before leaving for the parts unknown.
==== UPEO route ====
If Nemo stayed loyal to UPEO and later obeyed Commander Park's order to shoot down delegate Clarkson's aircraft, since Clarkson was declared a spy, killing both him and Fiona, they are later manipulated into staging a false-flag attack on General Resource facilities, pinning the blame on Neucom and sending the corporations into the state of a full-scale war, during which UPEO forces are ordered to attack and weaken both companies. Once Dision reveals himself as the leader of Ouroboros and Rena joins him, Park tries to persuade the remaining UPEO forces to join the coup as well, but Nemo and Erich fight the terrorists instead. After Rena turns on Dision and is shot down, the two pilots defeat and kill both Dision and Park, ending the war.
==== Neucom route ====
If Nemo refused the order to shoot down Clarkson and attacked the UPEO reinforcements instead, they, Clarkson and Fiona were escorted by Neucom forces and joined them, protecting the organization from General Resource's provocations. If Nemo further refused to follow Cynthia and join Ouroboros with her, they would continue to fight the terrorists. Although Rena managed to destroy Neucom's stronghold Megafloat, Nemo and Fiona nevertheless defeated both her and Ouroboros, bringing the conflict to an abrupt end.
==== Second Ouroboros route ====
If Nemo joined Cynthia when she defected to Ouroboros, they would at first assist Dision and find and deliver Rena to him. Once Cynthia learned that Dision's true motivation had nothing to do with helping humanity, she and Nemo would betray Dision and kill both him and Rena.
==== True ending ====
After the simulation was finished, Cohen greeted Nemo and revealed that they were his creation, as that the results of the simulation showed that no matter the choice, Dision would die either way. Content with it, Cohen erased Nemo's memories, purged them from the simulation and presumably released them into the real world to make their own choice.
== Trivia ==
* "Nemo" is Latin for "nobody", referencing Nemo's lack of physical appearance or personality as an AI, and the player's influence on their choices.
* Although Nemo isn't the first AI character in the series, as Zone of Endless, having appeared in Ace Combat 2, predates them by two years (although it wasn't revealed to be an AI until Skies Unknown, and its true nature is most likely a retcon), they are the first (and so far only) playable character to be an AI.
* Nemo is the only SARF pilot, and one of the few Electrosphere characters as a whole, guaranteed to survive in all five routes.
== External links ==
* Nemo on the Villains Wiki.
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