Deckard Character Analysis

The movie, Blade Runner, was inspired by Philip K. Dick’s novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? In the novel, Richard Deckard, a young bounty hunter, retires androids using the Voigt-Kampff test to detect low levels of empathy. However, Blade Runner adds a new character named Gaff who helps portray Deckard as a pawn, a special agent specifically chosen to defeat the Nexus-6 androids threatening Earth. In the film, Gaff’s actions, words, and origami “gifts” subtly suggest Deckard is an android. This ambiguous distinction between what is human and what is android raises the question of man’s moral responsibility for what he creates.

In Blade Runner, Deckard is a programmed android with Gaff’s memories implanted in him. Although the two

While in Police Chief Bryant’s office, Gaff folds an origami chicken. Gaff knows Deckard is apprehensive about the job. And he’s right. Back at his apartment, after Leon is killed, Deckard pours a drink and comments to Rachel, “Shakes? Me too. I get them bad. Part of the business.” After Deckard tests Rachel at the Tyrell Corporation and determines she is an android, Gaff drives him to Leon's apartment. In the apartment, Gaff makes another origami stick figure of a man with an erection, reflecting Deckard’s attraction to Rachel. These foldings throughout the film help to show the connection between Gaff and Deckard, Gaff’s intimate understanding of Deckard’s mind. But the ultimate coup is the origami silver unicorn in the last shot: Gaff's final calling card. A unicorn is a mythical, fantasy creation—something not real. It is also one of Deckard’s implanted memories, as seen earlier in the movie. As Deckard picks up the unicorn, he hears Gaff's final line again in his head, and he nods. Deckard finally understands he is not real; he is an android. Gaff offers him a storybook ending for a job well done, although it will not last long. Being androids, both Rachel and Deckard will die

and Blade Runner explore what it means to be human. In the first, the protagonist is human; in the second, he is an android. In both, the androids are biological. Their major differences seem to regard intelligence, programming, and lifespan. And empathy? While the novel would seem to deny this, the film does not. It shows the gross negligence of man to take responsibility to care for that which he has created. Man has abdicated his duty and left his creation to die, “lost in the