20 Of The Coolest Female Robots In Science Fiction

Rachael (Sean Young) in Blade Runner (Image via Warner Bros.)

2. Rachael (Blade Runner)

You didn’t think I would mention Blade Runner without getting to Rachael, did you?

Rachael is yet another Replicant, though she does not know it herself. She’s the creation of Dr. Eldon Tyrell, an elderly genius who is responsible for the creation of the Replicants. The Replicants live for only four years. Tyrell wonders if the instability of the escaped Replicants is due in part to their inability to handle newfound emotions. When you have met a four-year-old that was on an even keel, after all?

Tyrell believes that implanting memories into the Replicants will help solve this problem. Rachael is outfitted with the memories of Tyrell’s niece in order to hopefully address this issue. It seems to be working, though Tyrell admits that Rachael seems to suspect she is something more than a biological being.

To tell the truth, Rachael doesn’t do a whole lot in Blade Runner. She falls in love with the protagonist, Rick Deckard, of course. Then again, Harrison Ford plays Deckard, so we can hardly blame her. She also manages to kill Leon Kowalski, another Replication who’s intent on killing Deckard.

Otherwise, she spends most of the film in a state of vague peril. Gaff, Deckard’s erstwhile police partner, is apparently also hunting down Replicants, including the unaware Rachael. He spares her, however, and Deckard runs off with her to a vague fate.

Rachael’s value as a character lies largely in her uniqueness as an unaware Replicant. How strange it must be, to suddenly realize that you have been a synthetic lifeform all along. What kind of reaction would you have upon discovering that your memories belong to someone else? I almost wish there was a sequel of sorts focusing on her dawning awareness.