Today I watched Blade Runner again, the final cut version.
The ending is much more ham fisted than I remembered, correct me if I am wrong but in the first edition (or at least the first edition I remember) there is no dialog between Deckard and Gaff after Roy Batty dies, at least I don’t remember the dead giveaway line of “Too bad you don’t have long to live” (repeated again later just in case :smack: ). The way I remembered the revelation that Deckard was (or could be a replicant) was much more subtle, the origami unicorn left at Deckard’s apartment by Gaff that Deckard didn’t even notice before leaving.
Anyway, the two questions I have and this is something that may be addressed on the book (or if not lets see what the lore says) are, why would they make a Blade Runner replicant, specially a reluctant Blade Runner, he had to be coerced to take the case at the beginning.
The second is, why make him a weak replicant? Every other replicant kicked his ass, even Pris.
Actually, an addendum to the first question would be, if Tyrell knew he was a replicant (or didn’t he?), why did he reveal to him how they were making new ones with implanted memories so they wouldn’t know they were not human.
Because it’s a freaking mess, that’s why. Scott has - in my opinion - changed his mind and direction for Blade Runner over the decades and left so many breadcrumbs you could probably make an argument that it all happens in the Matrix or something.
There’s the theory that “you don’t have that long to live” means Deckard’s a replicant.
There’s the theory (which I like) in which “you don’t have that long to live” just reinforces the point that NONE of us have that long to live and that Batty’s life is the same as any non-replicant. To cross universes, as Death once said, “You got what everyone gets, Bernie. You got a life.”
So I don’t think there’s a right answer. View the many versions as a Rorschach test. What you get out of it depends on what you bring into it.
ETA: Oh, and the book is very little help. The two bear only the faintest resemblances to each other except in wide warp and weft.
In any case the origami unicorn is a clear indication that Deckard is a replicant, he had dreams about a unicorn and neither him or Gaff looked like the kind of talkative chums that would share their dreams.
A unicorn is a common dream for any replicant, it doesn’t have to unique to Deckerd (WHO IS ABSOLUTELY NOT A REPLICANT, by the way). Gaff knows this and is taunting Deckerd about going on the run with Rachel. Basically a “You can run, but people will come looking for you” taunt.
I was about to say that in the novel Deckard met another replicant-hunter who was himself a replicant, but apparently I did not in fact RC. If the Wikipedia plot summary is correct then Deckard merely suspects that this other guy is a replicant but it turns out he’s a particularly unempathetic human. In the book Deckard is also accused of being a replicant at one point, but it turns out this is all a trick.
So the general idea that there *might *be a replicant-hunter who is a replicant comes from the book, although there’s not actually any such character in the book.