Blade Runner Ending Explained: Is Deckard a Replicant?

There’s one question about Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner that audiences have debated for decades: Is Harrison Ford’s character, Rick Deckard, a Replicant? In time for the sequel, Blade Runner 2049, we explain the ending of the original.

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00:03
Audiences have debated for decades over the ultimate question about Blade Runner: Is Rick
00:08
Deckard a replicant?
00:09
When we first meet Harrison Ford’s Deckard, the bounty hunter or “blade runner” at
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the center of Ridley Scott’s 1982 film, he’s tasked with killing android slaves,
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called “replicants” [“I need the old blade runner.
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I need your magic”.]
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Deckard is reluctant, but he completes his assignment, though not before falling in love
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with a beautiful replicant called Rachael.
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Rachael is so human-like that it takes Deckard an unusually high number of questions on his
00:36
test to discern her android nature.
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[“I’m impressed[…]It took more than a hundred for Rachael, didn’t it?”]And,
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significantly, she asks him…[“You know that Voight-Kampff Test of yours?
00:47
You ever take that test yourself?”] Deckard doesn’t respond, but the answer to the question
00:53
has significant implications for the film’s overall message and our understanding of Deckard
01:00
as a character.
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Blade Runner 2049 may add more to the picture, but we can find some pretty clear evidence
01:05
to answer this question.
01:07
“The subtext of Blade Runner is that we’re not really sure what Deckard is.
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There’s evidence that he may well be a replicant himself – he’s just a much older model.
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And then the most recent model is Rachael.”
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“So the question that is asked that’s at the heart of Blade Runner is, what is it that
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defines humanity?
01:25
And one of the things that is obviously defining humanity is mortality.
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Because the replicants have returned to earth simply to ask their creator to give them a
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longer lifespan.
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And Deckard is a guy whose job is to exterminate them..
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The question then becomes, what is it that defines life itself?
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Is it the fear of death?
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Is it knowing that we’re going to die?
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And how do we respond to that?
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So let’s take a look at the evidence.
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Most of the debate over whether or not Deckard is a replicant stems from just a few scenes
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in the film, and in particular, one near the end in which he finds an origami unicorn outside
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his door.
02:00
Throughout Blade Runner, Officer Gaff uses origami animals to taunt Deckard, with different
02:05
figures representing Deckard’s cowardice and attraction to Rachael, but the meaning
02:09
of this unicorn varies based on which of the seven film cuts released over the years that
02:14
you might be watching.
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These include the 1982 Theatrical Cut (with its voiceover and happy ending), 1992’s
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Director’s Cut — which Scott has confusingly disowned — and 2007’s Final Cut, over which
02:26
Scott had complete artistic control.
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First, let’s examine the case for Deckard not being a replicant.
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In the first three cuts of the film, the unicorn origami seems random, or a possible reference
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to the Philip K. Dick source novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
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The title of Dick’s novel addresses the tragedy of environmental destruction.
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The story is set in a world almost without nature — animals are nearly extinct and
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robotic animals have proliferated in their place.
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Like the replicants, artificial animals aren’t immediately identifiable, but are considered
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inferior. [“Is this a real snake?” “Of course it’s not real. You think I’d be working in a place like this if I could afford a real snake?”]
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In the book and the film, the characters’ desire to possess symbols of the natural world suggests that, despite
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technological progress, something sacred has been lost which has an inherent and irreplaceable
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value.
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So — if Deckard isn’t a replicant — the symbol of the unicorn could simply signify
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Deckard’s longing for another lost world that, like the existence of unicorns themselves,
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is impossible, and may never have been real or attainable.
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This desire manifests in the romantic getaway ending of the U.S. theatrical release.
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Like the ending of the dystopian classic Brazil, which also faced studio pressure for a happy
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ending, this free-feeling sequence (which features footage from the shining) has an
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upbeat escapism that we can’t help but distrust and read as fantasy or, at best, temporary.
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Interestingly, this sequence features leftover footage from The Shining. Which Stanley Kubrick gave to Scott.
03:58
[” I didn’t know how long we had together…who does?”]
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“The end of Blade Runner in the original cut, they actually go into those leftover
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shots from The Shining that look like the garden of Eden.
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And it’s suggesting that they’re retaking what the human beings can’t get to.
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Because the human beings are flawed, we have sin.
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We were able to make these machines, though, that are actually without sin”
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Despite the nuances and layers here, based on the origami unicorn scene alone, viewers
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of one of the film’s early cuts would have little reason to believe that Deckard is a
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replicant.
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Now let’s turn to the evidence in favor of Deckard as a replicant.
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In the Director’s Cut and the Final Cut, a wild unicorn also appears earlier in the
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film, in Deckard’s daydream sequence.
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Because this dream scene comes before Gaff leaves the origami unicorn for Deckard, the
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gesture of the origami unicorn now suggests that Gaff knows the contents of Deckard’s
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mind.
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Since only replicants have implanted memories, Gaff’s apparent knowledge of Deckard’s
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unicorn dream could be a hint that the dream is implanted and Deckard is a replicant.
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This also reminds us of an earlier scene involving animal imagery: Rachael’s story of a mother
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spider eaten by her offspring is an implanted memory . [“The egg hatched…” “And?”]
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[“And a hundred baby spiders came out”]
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[“And they ate her.”]
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[“… implants. Those aren’t your memories, they’re somebody else’s.
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They’re Tyrell’s niece’s.”]
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It’s significant that both involve animals because this world places superior worth on
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“real” animals, so replicants dreaming about real animals is a symbol of their desire
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to be human, to be valued and quote-unquote “real.”
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The title of Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
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underscores this symbolism, by implicitly asking, What if androids dream of real sheep?
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Is a replicant’s dream animal less real than the one a human dreams of?
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How can we be sure that replicants’ feelings or inner life are any less real or significant
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than ours?
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Deckard also doesn’t just dream about any animal — he dreams about a unicorn, a mythical
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creature that’s not even known to exist in our world.
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So the unicorn symbol suggests this one-of-a-kind animal that’s so special it’s impossible,
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as if Deckard, too, hopes to be the one replicant who’s actually human.
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(It’s worth noting, as well, that the unicorn — with its magical surreal status — was
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used in medieval art to represent Christ.)[“A unicorn is a magical creature.
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It doesn’t really exist.
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It’s a fanciful creature that appears in folktales or in fairy tales, which are stories
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about values and ideals and mythologies.
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What is a replicant, but a unicorn?
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It’s a fantastical creature in a story that’s really about other things.]
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The unicorn symbolism works as a message both between characters and between the filmmaker
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and the audience, which is probably why Scott was so insistent on including it in later
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cuts.
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But there are also a few other clues that indicate Deckard is a replicant.
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First, there’s Deckard’s relative lack of backstory — replicants have no true past,
07:02
and at least the newer models live only four years.
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Roy Batty, the replicant leader on a mission to destroy his creators, kills only humans
07:09
in the film, but stops just before he’s seemingly about to kill Deckard.
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We don’t get an explanation for why — unless Batty’s moral code prevents him from killing
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other replicants.
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[“he talks about how his life is essentially meaningless, all the things he’s accumulated
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have added up to nothing.
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And he allows Deckard — who he could kill — to live because he sees in him that same
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desire to live.”]
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There’s the fact that Deckard doesn’t answer Rachel’s question about whether he’s
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taken the test himself.
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[“You know that Voight-Kampff Test of yours?
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You ever take that test yourself?”]
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Since Rachael had no idea she was a replicant, there’s no reason Deckard wouldn’t also
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be oblivious to the truth [“I’m not in the business.”]
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[I am the business.”]
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[“This whole movie’s about: what is real, what isn’t?
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And it takes a machine to determine who’s real and who isn’t.
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Like, this machine might not always function properly.
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How can a machine determine what’s human, built by humans that are flawed?
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So everything is questionable.”]
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We know that it’s also possible to mistake a human for a replicant [“Have you ever
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retired a human by mistake?”]
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[“No.”] “But in your position that is a risk”], and that advanced models of androids are exposed
08:16
only through excessive questioning, and occasionally glowing eyes.
08:20
Scott sparks the question of Deckard’s humanity in the apartment scene as both Rachael’s
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and Deckard’s eyes glow while they discuss the unlikelihood of her escape to the North
08:30
Situating Rachael in the foreground and Deckard behind her,
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Scott creates a parallel between the two characters.
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The lesser glow of Deckard’s eyes is easy to miss — and this can be interpreted as
08:40
a reflection of Rachael’s more complete knowledge of her identity compared to Deckard’s
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ignorance.
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Meanwhile, the choice to use illuminated eyes as a marker of androids is a clever reversal
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— we think of inner light coming through someone’s eyes as a sign of inner passion
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and spirit, so it’s interesting that it’s the replicants who actually show passion in
08:59
this film.
09:00
(Sight is also a key focus of symbolism throughout the film as it explores themes of humanity,
09:05
parenthood and consciousness.)
09:07
[“The replicants are much more emotional than any of the others.
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They cry when they lose their friends, they’re awed by things…and you see the human beings
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have lost all sense of awe in this future.
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They’re all just like zombies walking the streets.”]
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If we view Deckard as a replicant, Deckard becomes a victim as much as the aggressor
09:21
he appears to be.
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Deckard’s relationship with Rachael also seems more cynical, perhaps suggesting that
09:26
their attraction to each other comes from a mutual subconscious understanding of the
09:29
doomed outsider identity they share.
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(The uncomfortably violent lead-up to their sex scene might also be partly explained by
09:35
this layer of their relationship.)
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If Deckard is a replicant, there’s dramatic irony to many scenes, like the moment when
09:42
Deckard realizes that Rachael is an unknowing replicant.
09:45
[“She doesn’t know?”] [She’s beginning to suspect I think?”] [“Suspect? How can it not know what it is?”] [“Commerce.”]
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It explains why Gaff takes pleasure in taunting Deckard [“she’s a replicant, isn’t she?”]
09:56
One of Gaff’s earlier remarks [“you’ve done a man’s job, sir.”] could register
10:00
as a hint that Deckard is a not a real man.
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Deckard being a replicant also explains why Gaff’s final words echo
10:06
in Deckard’s head, and we hear them twice [“too bad she won’t live – but then again,
10:20
who does?”]
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The repetition could be Deckard connecting the dots between his reverie, the origami,
10:25
and Gaff’s original comment about Rachael.
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Deckard’s stunned look and nod as he studies the origami unicorn indicate an emotional
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epiphany.
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Gaff’s decision to spare Rachael and let her escape with Deckard suggests once again
10:35
that they are two of a kind.
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While this can be seen as a happy ending, it’s more likely that Gaff sees no need
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to kill Deckard and Rachael because, given the short life spans, Gaff might expect that
10:45
they will die soon anyway.
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Choosing to end with the unicorn scene, Scott underlines its significance.
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In the versions of the film that include both the daydream and the origami, the evidence
10:55
that Deckard is most likely a replicant adds up. And we’re not the only ones that think so.
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Director Scott has repeatedly stated that the origami unicorn does in fact prove that
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Deckard is a replicant in which he says [“he is definitely a replicant.”]
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But Harrison Ford has said that Deckard was not a replicant in his mind [“there was
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a bit of contest between Ridley and I over whether or not Deckard, the character I played,
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was a replicant or not[…]I resisted the idea of being a replicant.”]
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Deckard is explicitly not a replicant in the novel — and the character has actually taken
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the test to prove he’s human — but author Dick has stated that, still, the character
11:45
becomes “progressively dehumanized,” begging the question of how replicants truly differ
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from humans.The book leaves us with the idea that electric animals’ lives might have
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some value, too.
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The multiple cuts of the film make it easy to keep debating, but evidence from the Final
12:01
Cut and Scott’s vision lead us to conclude that the character is a replicant.
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Meanwhile, if Deckard is a replicant, that means the film overwhelmingly encourages us
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to identify with the oppressed androids over the people in the story.
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So this leaves us mulling over the harder question, of what makes us human after all.[“Yes
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it’s about the replicants, but it’s really about this larger question of technology and
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humanity and how do we know what is real and authentic.
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If we can construct a machine that is virtually identical to a person, then what is a person?”]
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[“And these replicants, are a way for us to talk about some aspects of humanity and our common experience, and also this question of finding meaning in life.”]
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[“All those… moments, will be lost…in time… Like tears in rain… Time to die.”]