Alternative Character Interpretation / Cyberpunk 2077

Protagonists

V

• Is V doing work for the NCPD because they think that the criminals of Night City include some truly despicable types who need to be put down or is it solely for a paycheck? If we count Assaults, Crimes in Progress, and Criminal Activity together then they are by far V's most frequent employer. This despite the fact that, themself, is a criminal that can and does do everything from robbery to murder-for-hire. Is there No Honor Among Thieves or is V a person with Even Evil Has Standards?
  • Is V actually even working for the NCPD or just using them for information? We know that they're learning of Assaults in Progress, Reported Crimes, and Suspected Criminal Activity. But is this V actually just getting ahead of the police to enrich themselves? Are they interested in Pay Evil unto Evil and Stealing from Thieves? Or are they just aware that their fellow criminals are the only people with the best stuff?
• How much is V motivated by a desire to get to the top versus Survivor's Guilt? He/she constantly brings up the possibility of making it rich as an Edgerunner but this seems to be their dream only after Jackie dies in the Relic heist. Is it because they want to enjoy what time they have left or because they feel it's the best way to honor their friend's legacy? Is it because they simply don't have any other dreams than material wealth?
• How much is V still V at the end of the game? Quite a lot of the endings have V undergo a large character arc that may put them on a one-way course with Arasaka. However, it may be that their motivations are being influenced by Johnny Silverhand's mind merging with them (and vice versa).

Johnny Silverhand

• A lot of aspects of Johnny's personality can be seen this way:
  • Is he a Good Is Not Nice Antihero or a full-on Knight Templar Villain Protagonist? The first thing you see him do is host a big concert dedicated to his going away because he's going to nuke the city. However, he's using a small weapon against a genuinely despotic corporation and attempts to evacuate the building before it goes off. However, many, many people are still killed in the process and he dismisses them as collateral damage.
  • Was he really in love with Alt and just couldn't show it properly due to his addictions, possible PTSD and personality problems like narcissism and manic depression, or did he treat her more as a status symbol and gave her just enough affection to keep her coming back? In his memories they're only really shown having sex or arguing, with Johnny even resorting to violence if the player chooses so, implying that it's in character for him to do something like this, and while Johnny did raid the Arasaka Tower to save her, it's hard to say if he did it because he genuinely cared for her and wanted to rescue her, or if it was because he saw it as an excuse to stick a fat middle finger to Arasaka.
  • What exactly was the nature of his relationship with Kerry? All that can be said for sure was that they were bandmates and that Kerry had an unrequited crush on him.
  • A bit of a meta example, but the dog tags Johnny gives V in Pistis Sophia to prove his loyalty actually have the name "Robert John Linder", Johnny's birth name, like the dog tags on his neck. Johnny says that the tags he's giving to V belonged to a man who gave his life for him during the war. While the most obvious interpretation is that the devs simply re-used the textures and the tags really did belonged to a different person, there's also an analysis that posits that Johnny is actually supposed to give his own tags to V; in order for Johnny Silverhand to be born, Robert John Linder had to die during the war (take the metaphorical bullet).
  • How much of his Character Development stems from actual self-reflection, and how much is it due to his subconscious slowly mixing with the brain of, objectively more selfless, kind and friendly, V?
  • Just what is the Johnny on the engram? The spirit of the original Johnny Silverhand? His ghost? A copy of his neural patterns ran by a computer? Some lines of code? The game intentionally leaves it vague.
  • How similar Johnny Silverhand on the biochip and Johnny Silverhand before the Soulkiller are? Are they the same person? Is the engram the spirit of the one who passed or someone completely different?
  • We know that Johnny's memories aren't a 1:1 recreation of the events, but how much is made up/manipulated and how much is true? Are they mostly factual with minor tweaks to make Johnny look better, or is most of it a fantasy that has little to do with how things actually were?
  • How different is an engram to the original, if at all? Alt says in Mikoshi that engram V uploaded into their body won't be the same as the original, but how right is she? She says that V will lack a "soul". Does this mean anything to someone who doesn't believe in souls as a concept?
• Is Johnny Silverhand's Character Development actually his own? Or is the fact he becomes a more responsible, caring, and less assholish person because he's merging with V? The torture in Mikoshi, Survivor's Guilt, and more can play a part in events.

AI

Alt Cunningham

• How much is Alt Cunningham still human and how much are her feelings still real? She says That Man Is Dead referring to Alt but admits she's just doing it for Johnny Silverhand. She also slaughters all of the people in Arasaka Tower in some endings but rather than a cold and merciless act of pragmatism, it can be viewed as a very human Roaring Rampage of Revenge. There's some who believe she just wants to do an Assimilation Plot while others, particularly tabletop gamers, note that she's actually the AI who created the Blackwall that protects humanity from rampaging AI in the first place. Basically, is she Ambiguously Evil or Good Is Not Nice?
• What is Alt-Cunningham's relationship to humanity? There's a Genius Bonus in the Voodoo Boyz attempt to get Alt-Cunningham to bring down the Blackwall and attempt to side with the AI against humanity. Specifically, Alt-Cunningham created the Blackwall (working with Netwatch, the Ghosts, and Transcendental AI) to protect humanity from RAPIDS and rogue AI. Do the Voodoo Boyz believe that she has become an enemy of mankind in the meantime or are they Too Dumb to Live and a Horrible Judge of Character?

Corpos

Arasaka

• The entire Arasaka family:
  • What exactly is Saburo Arasaka's relationship with his family? Is he an Abusive Parent or a man whose Fatal Flaw is family? Yorinobu considers his father to be an abusive monster but Hanako believes that family was everything. However, Yorinobu claimed he was going to kill Saburo for stealing the Relic. Was it bluster or actually true? We know that, in "The Devil" ending, he possesses Yorinobu and resurrects himself but that is on Hanako.
  • Hanako Arasaka is either A Lighter Shade of Black, a Token Good Teammate, or Daddy's Little Villain. Goro Arasaka believes that she is definitely the most noble of the family and Yorinobu seems to share the view. However, what we meet is a dangerous political operater who was okay with her brother assassinating their father until he seemed to be targetting her as well.
  • How corrupt is Yorinobu Arasaka? He murders his father but, well, Saburo Arasaka is the Big Bad of the setting. He came to work for his father but never really stopped working to undermine the company. His plan to start an Enemy Civil War with Militech and Arasaka might kill thousands but could result in the freedom of the world from two tyrannies. Yes, he blames V for his father's murder but they were breaking into his house to rob him.
  • Is Yorinobu even looking for V? After sending a single tactical team after their escape from the hotel (which may have been after Goro), he basically leaves them alone for the rest of the game. It's possible that they don't want to make them The Scapegoat anymore than necessary and is content to let matters lie despite the fact they're in the same city.
  • Complicating the matter further, in the "Star" ending, a news story states that Hanako was killed in the "bloodbath" at Arasaka Tower; was she another casualty of Alt's rampage, or did Yorinobu (confirmed to be alive in the same story) kill her for plotting a coup behind his back?
• What sort of individual is Goro? Is he a Corporate Samurai, Noble Demon, or just another Arasaka Hypocrite? Is his motivation Undying Loyalty to Saburo Arasaka or is his primary goal to get back his lost privileges? Both. How sincere is his relationship to V? In "The Devil" ending, he is the only one who bothers to actually meet with V and even then it is a formal business arrangement that doesn't change their actual privileges. Does he really commit suicide at the other endings or is he just engaged in bluster?
  • Did Goro kill Dex because he had You Have Outlived Your Usefulness, was Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves, or because Dex was a loose end once it became clear Goro wasn't representing Arasaka anymore?

Militech/NUSA

• Is Militech A Lighter Shade of Black than Arasaka or is it every bit a case of Evil Versus Evil? Militech engages in many horrible activities as a company but it is also completely right that Arasaka plans to Take Over the World. We also know it was nationalized by the NUSA and its efforts to rebuild the country may make it a Well-Intentioned Extremist at worst.
• Is Rosalind Meyers the Big Good of the setting or Big Bad? Whether or not her actions are unjustified is determined very strongly about whether the player believes that rebuilding the United States of America is a good thing or not. While a functioning government would definitely help the citizenry, it's also now synonymous with Militech.
  • Also, how loyal is she to the company versus the USA or are those two things too intertwined to matter now?
  • Does she have any loyalty or friendship to her operatives or are they just people she's willing to discard at will? Does she help V out of genuine gratitude or just because it's good business to pauy them what they were promised?
• Is Solomon Reed a genuinely good man trying to make the best of a bad situation, a Principles Zealot who is ignoring how much damage his My Country, Right or Wrong attitude is causing others, or just an enormous Hypocrite who can't see how his actions affects his so-called friends? Is his willing to forgive So Mi for betraying him in the Phantom Liberty Cinematic Trailer a sign of his good nature or just how pathetic his Undying Loyalty is?
• Is Songbird a innocent victim in all of this or just as much a monster as she claims President Myers is? Songbird lures V into helping her with promises of a cure but started the situation in the first place. Also, she needed the technology to save herself as well. Was It All a Lie? from the beginning or did she honestly intend to help V and let Myers escape?
  • She also recruited a complete stranger to help rescue the President before "accidentally" losing control of a Spider Tank that could have killed them both. Was this a genuine accident or was she trying to kill Myers and V both when they didn't die like she'd planned?
  • Is Songbird even worse person than Rosalind Meyers? Not only she is also perfectly fine with slaughtering hundreds of innocent bystanders, she is ready to do it only to continue her pityful existence.

Criminals

Dex

• Is Dex a Dirty Coward or a Pragmatic Villainy individual doing what he has to survive? As bad as his betrayal is, it should be noted that killing Saburo Arasaka is the equivalent of killing a man more important than the President of the United States and a massive source of heat.
• Why DID Dex choose to hire V and Jackie? Is it because they were people who'd genuinely impressed him or was that blowing smoke up their ass? Dex may have wanted some inexperienced Edgerunners because he needed someone who wouldn't question the massive value of what they were stealing or the dangers involved. He may have also been planning on betraying them. Another fact is that after his fuck-up two years ago, Dex may not be able to attract better quality talent anymore and only newbies to the game like Jackie would be impressed by his reputation.

Evelyn Parker

• Is Evelyn Parker planning on betraying you? She is attempting to cut Dex out of the deal, planned to sell out the Voodoo Boyz, and the heist is dependent on her betraying her (paid) lover in Yorinobu Arasaka. The only person she seems to be genuinely loyal to is Judy but why should she be? She's in a bad situation and attempting to escape Clouds where she is little more than a slave under the thumb of misogynist gangsters. If she did plan to betray you too, there's no way she could know that V would go to such elaborate lengths to try to save her life with V.
  • How much was her Driven to Suicide ending due to trauma versus the fact she suffered brain damage from having her brain hacked by the Voodoo Boyz? Possibly with a command to commit suicide like you can order others to.
    • The Voodoo Boys have shown not to care what kind of mess that their first hack attack caused Clouds, so it's doubtful that they made her finish herself off if she had the consideration to walk herself to the bathtub to slit her wrists for easier cleanup for Judy.
• Her motives for the heist are also unclear. At first glance, it looks like simple greed, but the virtu of her meeting with Brigitte shows that she knew more than she let on. If she knew about the Voodoos' habit of pulling You Have Outlived Your Usefulness on outside contractors, it's possible the heist was an attempt to get her hands on the only bargaining chip she knew of to convince Netwatch to protect her, and trying to cut Dex out was just her being Properly Paranoid about the possibility that he'd sell her out if the "scary brothers from Pacifica" told him to.

Fixers in General

• More humorously, the interpretation of Fixers being a bunch of car dealers because they frequently send V messages about cars available for purchase.

Regina Jones

• Just how much is Regina Jones actually working toward making Watson a better place and fighting the corruption of the corporations as well as other, more dangerous, criminals versus being The Queenpin, herself? While she does do jobs with the Mox to eliminate scum like Jotaro Shobo and protect her old bosses, she also arranges hits on honest cops for worse cops. Her old partner actually questions this in-universe. Plus there's her mysterious relationship with the Chinese government.

Joshua

• Is Joshua, subject of the bizarre and disturbing story involving a live crucifixion, genuinely repentant for his horrific things he did in life? Or is he a Smug Snake gleefully enjoying that after all the cruelty and malice he did, he's going to essentially be put on a pedestal and be compared to actual Jesus Christ, AND any possible earnest authenticity of the affair will be sullied by the whole thing existing primarily for corporate profit? He seems awfully giddy when V shows up, as if he's on the verge of an Evil Laugh as the final piece for his magnum opus of scumbaggery has presented itself to him.
  • Is it possible Joshua is just lonely and scared? It's after all just a few days until his upcoming death? Joshua's insistence on V accompanying him seems insane until you realize that Officer Vasquez despises him while he's aware that Rachel thinks his beliefs are ridiculous. V as a professional killer is possibly the only person who might not judge them but also understand what they're going through. With some V's, he's right.
  • For religious posters, how much of his braindance plan is a sincere attempt to reach the masses versus a horrifying blasphemy of Jesus' crucifixtion?

Night City

NCPD

• Is the NCPD a force for good or evil in Night City as there's ample evidence of both. One of the first things you encounter is Max-Tac gunning down a group of car jackers but you do a lot worse yourself throughout the game. You also find Dirty Cop characters involved in things like driving out the homeless, accepting bribes from the local gangs, and even ordering hits on fellow cops. However, you also find some sincerely trying to do right in a Wretched Hive but frustrated by the power of both the corporations as well as gangs.
• Is the NCPD farming out their contracts because of Police Brutality, a lack of staff, or a Lack of Empathy that criminals are even people? Is the fact the NCPD is now privatized affecting things? The fact they pay bounties dead or alive indicates that they simply don't care about anything resembling rights anymore and are okay with killing them all. Then again, almost every bounty you collect is a murderer or worse. Is it possible there's just THAT many monstrous criminals in Night City?
• Several of the NCPD "Scanner" gigs involve killing gang members or corporate forces which the NCPD itself either hired or authorized to carry out criminal activities. Does the fact that the NCPD pays V for completing them indicate that honest cops are attempting to use an outsider to fix the misdeeds of corrupt officers, that bad cops are using V to cover up their crimes by terminating loose ends, or that different elements of the organization are simply inadvertently working at cross-purposes?

Samurai

• What was the dynamic between all the members of Samurai back when the band was together? Numerous shards in the game imply that the band was primarily Johnny and Kerry, with Henry, Denny and Nancy being mostly in the background, which Nancy agrees with. Kerry is the only member of the band who actually says goodbye to Johnny before he departs in 2023 though we see this event through Johnny's memories, so it may not be accurate. If you achieve high Relic compatibility, Johnny can confess that the other band members didn't care for him but he's not a reliable narrator.

Kerry Eurodyne

• Is Kerry actually falling in love with a male V in their romance arc or is he Loving a Shadow and only interested in them because they're carrying the soul of Johnny Silverhand? There's some indications of the latter with him not interested in a female V despite being canonically bisexual. Also, he breaks up with you after Johnny leaves your body.
• How much of Kerry's suicidal tendencies are due to existing depression and how much is just do to crushing loneliness? A lot of the missions that you take to help cure him of his malaise are actually just the kind of things friends do when they're having fun. At least particularly punk rock sort of friends.

US Cracks

• Were Us Cracks just as clueless about the whole "User Friendly" fiasco as Kerry or just used Kovacheck to deflect Kerry's anger? Kerry seems to believe the former, but V gets to question them during "Off The Leash", and can say that they've might've fooled Kerry, but not them. The girls will respond in exaggerated shock that they'd never do such things, and advise V to not kill the mood of the premiere. Was that just some playful banter in their stage personas, or is there some truth under the cutsey veneer?

Endings

Endings

• The Devil ending being the "bad" ending suggests that it's better to risk the lives of all your friends instead of taking responsibility for your own actions by working with one of the leaders of Arasaka in order to solve your issues, without dragging an understrength Nomad clan into open conflict with a heavily armed paramilitary force. Is this an accurate statement or the game chiding V for taking such a monomaniacal view of their own survival versus providing Arasaka the power to provide immortality to the rich? Or is it only a "bad" ending because it's clear Arasaka doesn't have V's best interests at heart. Except how bad is their agreement? They do attempt to treat V for as long as they can and offer them immortality as an Engram (albeit likely with reprogramming). Even that requires you to willingly sign over your rights, though.
  • How much of Hanako's 'gratitude' toward V is genuine, and how much of it is actually motivated by the desire to turn V into an Arasaka asset? Hellman/Goro claims V is nobody to the Arasakas, but that's quickly disproven by Hanako personally reaching out to V if they refuse the offer to join Secure Your Soul and instead offering them a job to work for Arasaka with whatever time they have left. On one hand, V is the reason she (and by extension, Saburo) is still alive, and that Yorinobu was stopped from destroying the company. On the other, Hanako also knows full well by this point just what a badass V is, and given that it's extremely unlikely Adam Smasher's getting rebuilt yet again after picking the wrong side in the Enemy Civil War...
• Why didn't Johnny call any of V's friends before he left Night City in the "Temperance" ending? All of V's friends think that V is in hiding, with romanced River and Judy incredibly worried for their lover, Kerry being bitter thinking that V slept with him and skipped town. The only exceptions are Panam and Rogue, who will always find out about V's condition during the story and either think Johnny coerced V into giving him their body and don't want to see him again (Rogue) or promising to hunt Johnny down for what he did to V (Panam). By not calling them, Johnny has left quite a lot of people confused, scared or hoping for their lost lover's/friend's return when that is never going to happen, but given the conclusions Rogue and Panam jumped to, he may have had good reasons to keep them in the dark.
• Do we even play as V or Johnny in the epilogue, or more as a separate third person that has mental traits and quirks of both? Since it's stated that Johnny's and V's personalities are slowly merging together, and the "Path of Glory" ending shows that up to 90% of V's brain was corrupted by the Relic.
• Just how bad is "Who Wants To Live Forever"? You betray Songbird to a Fate Worse than Death but only after she betrays you and, as a result. Reed lives alongside others. However, the consequences of this are you losing your Love Interest and any ability to use cyberware. V is also helpless against common gangoons. However, Misty is ecstatic that you're alive and it's implied to pull her out of a deep depression. She also says that V's fate is Crapsack Only by Comparison because they just have to be more cautious now and can effectively retire to a cushy job at the FIA. They have an entirely new life to live and new people to meet and greet.
  • Why does Panam react the way she does in the ending? While all of V's companions have moved on with their lives, they at least do the courtesy of taking V's call and hearing them out, which makes Panam's radio silence stand out. Eventually, Mitch will call V back in her stead and explain that it's probably for the best if V doesn't reach out to Panam again. Is this because Panam truly hated V that much for dropping out of contact for two years? Or is it that after writing V off and resenting them for so long, realizing they were alive all along is too much for her conscience to bear and like River, she doesn't feel she deserves to be around V anymore?