 The game 's characters were designed by Kimihiko Fujisaka , who had previously worked on the main Drakengard series . Two character designs for the protagonist were created for Nier . The developers believed that the Japanese audience would respond more strongly to a younger protagonist , while non @-@ Japanese audiences would prefer an adult Nier character . Other than changing Nier 's appearance and modifying a few lines of dialogue to fit with Nier being a father rather than a brother to Yonah , the developers made no changes between the two versions ; while it was initially believed that the older Nier was the character 's original design , an interview with Yoko clarified that the young Nier was the original vision . Many characters underwent changes during development , and some needed to be cut : there were originally thirteen Grimoires , with all but three being cut : those that remained were Weiss , Noir and Rubrum . Emil 's character was derived from a female character named Halua , while Kainé was originally a far more feminine type who hid her violent nature . Yonah 's original Japanese name was derived from the Biblical name Jonah : this could not be take verbatim into its localized form due to the name being associated with a man , so the name was changed to " Yonah " . Kainé 's character was made intersexual , since the team felt it fitted in with many other aspects of her gritty backstory . Kainé 's status as an intersexual caused some commotion in western territories , which is something the team did not actively intend . Yoko attributed the original suggestion to female staff members working on the game . 
