The origami unicorn is Gaff's final prodding Deckard suggesting that Deckard has found a unicorn. In mythology a unicorn a unicorn is an elusive, dangerous creature of great beauty that only certain people can approach. This ties into the origami and its intricacy imitation.
Gaff was a police officer with the LAPD who escorted Blade Runner Rick Deckard during his assignment to retire a group of renegade replicants. He had an affinity for creating origami figures.
What was the significance of the unicorn in Blade Runner?
The unicorn itself is, of course, a mythical creature steeped in mystery and its uniqueness embodies the kind of individuality that Deckard believes will satisfy his anxiety. It, therefore, serves as a metaphor for Deckard's quest for existential authenticity and a vehicle on which he can pin his hopes and aspirations.
What is the significance of Gaff leaving a unicorn figure for Deckard in Blade Runner? Gaff is showing Deckard that he knows about the unicorn dream that Deckard has had; he is showing Deckard that he is privy to Deckard's thoughts and memories.
The unicorn is the last of a series of origami figures that Gaff uses to taunt Deckard. In Bryant's office when Deckard insists he's retired, Gaff folds a chicken: You're afraid to do it. Later he makes a man with an erection: You're attracted to her.
The only logical conclusion is that the dream is an implanted memory. For Gaff to implant memories in Deckard's mind, Ford's character would need to be a replicant. Director Ridley Scott later confirmed that the origami unicorn was intended to hint that Deckard is a replicant, and that Gaff wants him to know that.
Because of this memory, K became convinced that he was Rachael and Deckard's child, but was eventually informed by Freysa that he was not and that the child was female. With this revelation, K soon determined that Stelline was the child. K took Deckard to Stelline's lab as she interacted with a snowfall hologram.
Blade Runner raises the question of whether a constructed being should count as a person. In the movie, replicants lack legal rights and are not regarded as human. Similar questions are raised in later unrelated works such as Her and Westworld.
As eyes are often deemed as windows to the soul, this symbolism extends into the themes of perception, appearance as opposed to reality, and the concept of memory in Blade Runner.
Gaff could have caught Deckard and Rachael, but his sympathy for their cause influenced him to allow them to escape, and that's exactly the type of person Cal was looking for.
In the 2016 movie Blade Runner 2049, Ryan Gosling plays the replicant K (short for his serial number KD 6-3.7) in a dystopian future in Los Angeles. Replicants are bioengineered humanoids who serve humans, despite having superior strength and intelligence.
In the comic, Blade's mother was bitten by a vampire while she was in labor with Blade, rendering him immune to being turned into a vampire; following the release of the 1998 film Blade, the character was retroactively made into a dhampir and redesigned to match his movie counterpart.
In a 2023 interview, Ford stated that he "always knew" that Deckard was a replicant, but wanted to "push back against it", adding that a replicant (or at least, Deckard) would want to believe that they are human. Ridley Scott stated in several interviews that he considers Deckard to be a replicant.
With its white horse-like body and single spiralling horn, the unicorn is a symbol of purity, innocence and power in Celtic mythology. Legend also tells that their horns can purify poisoned water, such is the strength of their healing power.
On top of that, Roy saving Deckard proves that Roy believes that all life has value, not just his. Roy realizes that Deckard is in the exact same position he was in, with Deckard wanting to be saved, thus extending his life. Although Tyrell couldn't extend Roy's life, Roy knows that he can extend Deckard's life.
Still, when it comes time for Roy to die, he flips out and drives a nail through his hand. After this, he achieves the fullest expression of his humanity by letting a dove go and showing mercy towards Deckard. Symbolically, the nail may represent all the suffering and the difficulty he's gone through in his life.
By its conclusion, the film suggests that one's ability and willingness to perceive systemic social inequality is the true measure of humanity. Blade Runner trains us into awareness of flawed social hierarchies by repeatedly emphasizing eyes and connecting them with perception beyond the physical.
However, he later learns that, even if the memory is real, it was not his own but Dr Ana Stelline's. Through her work, Dr Stelline shared her memory with K, and this allowed him to understand what it was like to walk in her shoes, but most importantly, to believe himself a free, loved replicant.
This is when she slices his eyes with her katana, permanently blinding him. While Elle manages to escape with her life and leave Los Angeles for parts unknown, her actions may have actually motivated Wallace Jr. to become the ruthless CEO he is in Blade Runner 2049.
Doctor Ana Stelline (Carla Juri) designs memories for the Nexus-9 Replicants but is forced to live in a bubble because of her condition. She's in no condition to lead any sort of revolution or lead her “people.” In fact, she's a key point in the machinery that allows them to be produced and enslaved.
The second film further develops Rachael's origin, and gives significantly more details about her radical design. It revealed that she was an experimental model of replicant with a high percentage of human organs, including human reproductive organs, and that Rachael conceived a child with Deckard.
From a symbolic standpoint, the unicorn most probably describes Deckard's subconscious mind, in which he yearns for unbridled freedom like the majestic creature, which, however, is akin to a myth in the blatantly capitalistic and autocratic world of Blade Runner.
