Luv was a Nexus-9 model replicant who was initially gifted to the Los Angeles Police Department by Niander Wallace so she could serve as a Blade Runner and set the standard for Nexus-9 performance.
By 2049, she had become employed as Wallace's personal assistant. Luv admired Wallace and his vision for the future of replicants. She occasionally visited his quarters to learn more about his plans for reproducing replicants and reported all matters concerning buyers and possible threats that may arise and halt progression in reaching their goal.
Biography[]
Service as a Blade Runner[]
Luv was created by Niander Wallace as one of the first Nexus-9s and was given to the LAPD as a gift to be assigned as a Blade Runner.[2] He presented her to the department in 2038, assuring them that Luv would be completely obedient and would never sympathize with her targets.[3] Wallace considered Luv to be his "First Angel" and designed her to have enhanced physical strength and combat skills.[4]
Luv's Blade Runner career was highly successful, achieving a record number of retirements by 2039. Wallace was pleased with this performance, regarding Luv to be setting the standard for Nexus-9 performance. Despite her success, many of her peers did not take kindly to her being with the unit due to the fact she was a replicant, successfully requesting that she be moved to a separate office space.[2]
Wallace assigned Luv to track down and deliver to him Isobel Selwyn, a replicant designed to replace Alexander Selwyn's deceased wife. He felt that Isobel would be of great value for replicant research.[2]
After being reprimanded after Mills filed a complaint against her, Luv left for the former Selwyn home in Santa Barbara. She was greeted by a butler, Clarence, and immediately recognized him as a Nexus-8, to which the home's owner Penelope replied that she had special exemption to the Nexus-8 ban. Penelope asked how Luv recognized Clarence's nature, to which Luv explained her own, a surprise to Penelope.[5]
Luv explained her presence to Penelope, saying that she was to search for "sensitive information," which Penelope guessed to pertain to replicants and resisted Luv's intention to search the home. Clarence drew a gun on Luv and Penelope attacked her, revealing that she herself was an older model replicant who was once employed by Selwyn. Penelope then subdued Luv, leaving her face-down in the home's fountain.[5]
She was later picked up by Wallace personnel and was quickly put on a call with Wallace. He was not disappointed in her performance, but rather proud, believing that Penelope's attack was evidence that she had the information he sought. Luv returned to the precinct, with a superior ordering her to increase her efficiency, which she said she would.[6]
Luv tracked down Isobel's daughter Cleo to a hotel, where Cleo was checked in using her mother's maiden name, Calhoun. She entered the room, trying to convince Cleo to accompany her to Wallace. The former Blade Runner Aahna "Ash" Ashina, a fugitive, interrupted. Luv held the women at gunpoint until Ash pointed out that Luv would be deemed a failed experiment if she killed any humans, thus Luv put her gun away. Ash then offered her a disk containing Selwyn's research, in exchange for letting them go. Luv allowed them to stay in the hotel room while she authenticated the disk, but as she expected, the pair attempted to escape. Luv chased them in her spinner until losing them at the Sepulveda Sea Wall.[7]
Because the disk was empty and Ash and Cleo escaped, Luv returned to Wallace empty-handed. With the police and Wallace both disappointed in her, Wallace provided Luv with a replicant copy of Ash to assist her.[7] Wallace displayed that the copy, codenamed Rash, would be completely obedient to Luv, though also incapable of killing a human. He sent the pair away, demanding they bring him Isobel Selwyn and Selwyn's research.[3]
They went to Redondo Beach where they questioned a girl about Ash and Cleo. While Luv gave an initial physical threat to her, Rash instead bribed her and she pointed the Blade Runners to Taki, a ferryman. He lied to them, saying he heard they had gone to Mexico, but Rash convinced Luv to stop pursuing Ash and Cleo and instead find Isobel.[8]
Luv and Rash traveled to the Hollywood Hills to the home of Hollis, a scientist who formerly worked for Selwyn. He provided them with no useful information, but the questioning was interrupted by Hythe, who held them at gunpoint. She explained that she planned to kill Wallace and demanded information, but Rash soon attacked, a brief fight that ended in Rash fatally shooting Hythe. The Blade Runners stepped away for a moment, allowing Hollis some time before they would continue their questioning.[8]
They soon went to San Francisco, finding the resident of Isobel's relatives. Ash eventually arrived with the replicant Mack, who Rash shot before they confronted Ash.[9] Ash denied knowledge of Isobel's whereabouts and asked that they let her and Mack go. Luv believed her, though Isobel soon hijacked their spinner and attacked. As Ash and Isobel escaped, Luv held onto the spinner until losing her grip, falling into the waters below.[10]
Luv and Rash returned to Wallace, who assured them that their failure to capture Isobel was of little concern, believing that Isobel would now come to them.[10]
The LAPD grew increasingly dissatisfied with Luv's performance and placed her contract on review by the city. In response to an officer's taunt, Luv attacked the officer and was dismissed for the remainder of the day. She returned to Wallace, who ordered her to find Rash, whose location was unknown.[11]
Through CCTV footage and the assistance of a local boy who saw Rash get captured by Ash and Freysa's group, she set out to find their hideout outside of the city. Upon finding it, she burst in to find Rash restraining Isobel. Luv ordered her to place Isobel in her spinner, but Rash instead attacked her, knocking her out.[12]
As Luv was held captive, she staunchly affirmed her loyalty to Wallace, which Freysa guessed was because she was in love with him. Freysa pointed out that Wallace treated Luv like a product, but this did not sway Luv, who did not see any issue, as she was a "perfect" product. She was then taken to a meeting arranged for Ash through Wallace's contact Daisy. Upon being thrown before her creator, she apologized to him.[13]
After Ash – actually Rash posing as her – refused Wallace's offer to cure Ash's spinal affliction, Wallace promised he would return for Luv and escaped. Rash defeated Wallace's security guards and remarked to Luv, "Bullets enough."[14]
Working at Wallace Corporation[]
Wallace later appointed Luv to be his personal assistant. She handled personal meetings with political figures, visitors, potential buyers and dealers interested in products from the corporation.[4]
Meeting with K[]
In June 2049, Luv cancelled her meeting with a potential buyer due to a call from a worker at the front desk of the Wallace Corporation to assist a visitor in locating more data concerning a deceased replicant. Luv assisted the visitor, an LAPD replicant Blade Runner named "K," in finding data files regarding said replicant, determining that it was Rachael, one of Tyrell's first Nexus-7 replicants. K expressed surprise that Wallace had named one of his replicants, to which Luv showed a visible if unreadable reaction.[4]
She later assisted Wallace in examining one of his new line of replicants, in the process witnessing him murder it as he spoke about his inability to create replicants that reproduced. Wallace, who had figured out that the replicant Rachael had given birth to a child with the missing former Blade Runner Rick Deckard, ordered Luv to find the child.[4]
Search for the miracle[]
Luv's path to finding the replicant child grew increasingly destructive as she became obsessed with fulfilling Wallace's orders, murdering a morgue technician when he caught her stealing Rachael's remains and killing several scavengers with a drone when they threatened K. Unaware of K's personal journey into his own identity, she became increasingly agitated when K disappeared from Los Angeles. She stormed into Lt. Joshi's office and demanded to know his location, Joshi informed her she was too late and that K already destroyed the child. Luv became enraged and injured Joshi, before finally shedding a tear and killing her opposition.[4]
Luv tracked K and Deckard to Las Vegas, where she led a group of Wallace enforcers to the derelict casino where they were staying. After a short battle, she was able to subdue Deckard, leave K for dead, and destroy his Joi's emanator. Deckard was brought to Niander Wallace himself, who offered Deckard a clone of Rachael in exchange for information as to the whereabouts of his child and the replicant freedom movement. When Deckard refused, Luv killed Rachael's clone and escorted Deckard to be transported to one of Wallace's off-world outposts to be tortured for information.[4]
Death[]
Luv's transport was intercepted by K, who engaged her in a prolonged fight for Deckard. Although the two Nexus-9s were evenly matched, Luv managed to gain the upper hand and gravely injured K with a stab to the abdomen, mockingly kissing him and declaring herself superior. Before she could take Deckard, however, K managed to recover and was able to subdue her by holding her underwater until she drowned, ultimately leaving her dead body to sink as the transport was pulled into the water.[4]
Personality and traits[]
Luv was a rather cold, emotionless replicant, whose only duty was to serve Niander Wallace, a role that she was slavishly devoted to, always referring to him as "Mr. Wallace", and never straying from her duty to serve and/or please him. Despite being his personal servant, he had a high degree in trust in her; she ran the day-to-day operations as sort of an unofficial CEO.
Luv could put on a charming façade when needed, as shown when she conducted a pleasant meeting with a potential customer, and she was friendly and amicable upon first meeting K while he was searching for Rachael's records. However, behind that was a cold, ruthless and even cruel personality; coldly threatening Joshi with death unless she told her about K's whereabouts, even temporarily losing her cool and shouting when she refused to answer. She was also rather sadistic; smiling with glee upon killing Joshi and coldly destroying Joi in front of K after retorting a sarcastic remark. She was also cold and callous to the men under her employ, shown when she angrily yelled at the driver of her spinner while attempting to transport Deckard Off-world.
Luv was evidently insecure about her status as a replicant, despite the level of power and control she enjoyed that few other replicants did. When K remarked to Luv that "He [Wallace] named you," she showed the faintest, almost unnoticeable sign of discomfort towards it, and, while observing the audio recording of Rachael's Voight-Kampff test, she expressed a degree of enjoyment for a more personal conversation than strictly business one, only to revert to coldness when K aptly ended their conversation and thanked her for her time. Later on, when Wallace cold-bloodedly killed a replicant sent to him for evaluation, Luv showed another sign of discomfort, hinting at disgust of another replicant being simply discarded, and possibly hinting that, while devoted to Wallace, she possibly feared him as well. During the final fight with K, after subduing him, she smugly kissed him and retorted "I am the best one!", as if trying to prove her superiority over not just K, but all other replicants, further hinting at her deep-seated insecurities that she kept well-hidden.
Behind the scenes[]
According to actress Sylvia Hoeks, Luv was twelve years old in Blade Runner 2049.[15] In an early version of the script, she is killed by being stabbed in the head with the Joi emanator.[16] The character also appears in the comic series Blade Runner 2039.[17]
The barcode on Luv's spinner license plate reads "Philip K. Dick" when scanned.[16]
References[]
- ↑ Blade Runner 2039 trailer
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Blade Runner 2039 #1
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Blade Runner 2039 #5
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Blade Runner 2049
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Blade Runner 2039 #2
- ↑ Blade Runner 2039 #3
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Blade Runner 2039 #4
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Blade Runner 2039 #6
- ↑ Blade Runner 2039 #7
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Blade Runner 2039 #8
- ↑ Blade Runner 2039 #9
- ↑ Blade Runner 2039 #10
- ↑ Blade Runner 2039 #11
- ↑ Blade Runner 2039 #12
- ↑ "To Be Human: Casting Blade Runner 2049"
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Blade Runner 2049: Interlinked - The Art
- ↑ ‘Blade Runner 2039’ Covers Tease the Epic Conclusion of Ash’s Saga [Exclusive]