I came across the realisation that Nikolai's motivation to kill Fyodor, as we understand it now, isn't compelling. I think that's my biggest issue with him. There are all these fanfics about it, and yet the one I've read where Fyodor's death is compelling, Nikolai hasn't ever even thought of killing him and doesn't want him to die (and yes, I'm including my fics with Fyodor's death in the "not compelling" category).

So, I tried to reframe it, taking some of my current experiences and what I know about Gogol, and I think I may have figured something out: Nikolai's core motivation right now could be to escape from reality.

This could be foreshadowed earlier on with things like a distaste for factually accurate (read: dull) stories, a love for acting and exaggerated impressions, and an aversion to talking issues out in his personal relationships.

But now it's worse, and has grown to an extent where he can't stand anything--he just wants to escape everything, but he can't. (This change would be brought about by some sort of terrible or tragic event--something that makes all his flawed coping mechanisms collapse entirely in a way they never have before. In my story, it's Fyodor disappearing and Nikolai finally giving up hope that he still lived. Anything awful enough would probably work, but I think a lot of care needs to be put into exactly what is the thing that pushes Nikolai over the edge--it says a lot about what he values.)

I visualise his wanting to escape reality with Stanzcyk (the Polish painting). Nikolai is the jester, but desperately wishes he could be carefree like the celebrating nobles in the background. But he can't. No matter what, no matter how he tries, he can't escape reality, and so he does the next best thing: he does the unthinkable. He becomes what any normal person can't even fathom, does what any sane man couldn't, and desperately tries to lose himself in it. (In my story, this is a worse version of what's already occurred: a few years ago, Nikolai became an actor in hopes of losing his misery to the stage, but when that failed and he became suicidal, Fyodor helped him pull through. Now, Nikolai tries to lose himself in a much more involved and self-destructive way (notably still through acting), and Fyodor, though much more negatively now, is still the force that's keeping him alive.)

At first, he may have even deluded himself into thinking he'd somewhat succeeded in losing himself, but then Fyodor makes his "in opposition to God" comment, and Nikolai is at once violently dragged back into himself. It's a wonderful feeling to be understood, yet terrible, because as long as such an anchor exists, he can never escape (bonus points if in a backstory fic, Fyodor being Nikolai's anchor to reality was a positive in their relationship, creating a contrast here).

And so now, every time he thinks about wanting to share a thought or idea with Fyodor, the only person with whom he can genuinely converse, he first gets a nice feeling at the thought, then falls into despair at the thought of losing that connection (Fyodor is constantly putting himself in mortal danger, and as much as Nikolai believes in him, it also makes sense to me that he'd be worried out of his mind at times), anger that his emotions still control him, and this reinforces his feelings of needing to escape. It's a constant merry-go-round of love and misery, and he just wants to be on stable ground, essentially.

And I think if I do that, it starts to be compelling. It's not quite there, let alone polished, but it's a lot farther than I've gotten before. And 'Arcane' story analyses are really helping me with contrast, callbacks and foreshadowing.

Bungo stray dogs fans will really watch a character get cut in half, drowned, shot in the head, blown up and have characters prepare for another character's funeral and be like i wonder how they survived because they couldn't have possibly died.

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR BUNGOU STRAY DOGS CHAPTER 114!

GUYS IF FYODOR CAN POSSES A PERSON WHO TOUCHES HIS BLOOD AFTER HE DIES, WHOS CURRENT HOLDING HIS BLOODSOAKED SEVERED HAND

Fyodor promised to come after Gogol for trying to kill him and having the character who imbodies manipulation overwrite the free will of the character who above all else wants to break free of all control would be such a cruel and interesting twist, its so in in character for Fyodor to make Gogol care about him so strongly then destroy the greatest wish of Gogols heart

"My God, my God, why hast you forsaken me."

Fyodor said that as he allegedly died.

Those are also Jesus' last words according to the book of Matthew (chapter 27 verse 46) and the book of Mark (chapter 15, verse 34).

Which is interesting because in the book of John (chapter 19, verse 30) it is recounted as him saying "It is finished".

And in Luke (chapter 23, verse 46) it is written he said "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit."

So, we have a few reasons why Fyodor may have said the first one rather than the last two. (or why the writers chose this particular verse)

From a writing point of view, Fyodor is a 'religious' character, and what he said is simply a nod to that. It also is easily recognized as a line pulled from the bible. ("My God, my God, why hast you forsaken me," is written in both Matthew 27 and in Psalm 22, Jesus was quoting David). Fyodor could be quoting one or both of them.

The writers are trying to foreshadow a return. @originalaccountname made a post mentioning the timeline, how the plan is to use the page in three days. Jesus died and resurrected on the third day. Coincidence? Possibly not.

Dying was not Fyodor's plan. If so "It is finished" would have probably been Fyodor's choice of words if he had a plan to die and come back. That part of the plan being finished and all.

Any of these seem like plausible reasons, so it is hard for me personally to settle on one. I'm also still kind of trying to wrap my head around this last episode. It's weird to not have already read the manga, and the episode itself feels off.

so. fyodor sees himself as a servant of god, as if he is a jesus like-figure. and nikolai was teamed up with fyodor but eventually chose to betray and try to kill him, much like judas.

and jesus knew he was going to be betrayed by judas, as fyodor accepted and challenged nikolai’s betrayal.

judas also felt great remorse and sadness as well as guilt for his betrayal after jesus’s death; similar to nikolai’s conflicted sadness towards fyodor dying.

this implies that fyodor and nikolai is a strange, fucked up version of jesus and judas. in this essay i will-

Remember that one scene where Poe said he wouldn't know what to do with himself if he actually managed to kill Ranpo?

I feel like that's exactly the type of situation we are now seeing with Nikolai's reaction to Fyodor's (possible) death.

If Poe had succeeded in defeating Ranpo he would be just as lost as Nikolai is right now and if Fyodor had survived (and continued to survive in the future) Nikolai would have the same type of playful rivalry with him as Poe and Ranpo currently have.

Last chapter's anime and manga differences side by side because I have nothing else to analyze

→ This line is missing in the manga

→ Gogol's stereo gag is missing in the anime

→ This line is missing in the anime (bonus points for foreshadowing)

→ Dostoyevsky elaboration on why he's not taking the antidote immediately is missing in the anime, with him simply saying “I'll take it in the helicopter” instead

→ This line is different between the anime and the manga. I'm not sure if it's just a translation difference, but in case it isn't, I found it interesting. The anime line puts more emphasis on Dazai's lack of value, while the manga wording is more neutral and polite, with Dostoyevsky framing it as if it was his own fault for having overestimated Dazai (I know it's a subtle difference, but I still found it noteworthy).

→ This line is missing in the manga

→ The introduction to Dostoyevsky's stabbing is completely different between the anime and the manga. In the anime, Dostoyevsky lets the briefcase fall and Gogol comments on it, while in the manga Gogol makes remarks on the liquid escaping the helicopter's door.

i think this is the most genuine emotion we've seen from nikolai ever. and the fact he seems unsure about how he's feeling, how it's seemingly contradicting, imo works really well with his character

he's all about saying things that contradict each other and imo, there is always some truth to both sides of what he says

so. here. i think some part of him was happy to be free of his only bond... but then it got overtaken with the part of him that realizes this bond wasn't. like. as constricting as he first thought

it seems that at the end of it all he somehow even WANTED to get that bond running deeper. imo, it was to feed both sides of him - the side that wants to be free can't actually prove his free will if they weren't that close in the first place, they barely interacted before, it's almost like killing any other person. on the other hand, he also genuinely likes fyodor and wants to be closer bc well. he is "perfectly sane". he is, underneath it all, still a person deep down, as much as he might hate that.

when fyodor threatens to take him out in the future he doesn't seem scared, but he also doesn't seem particularly excited i think? (or maybe that's just how he expresses his genuine, non-performative excitement, who knows.) at the same time, he also doesn't seem to want to kill him now, to follow him, like he's keeping it for that new game he was just promised

but then fyodor dies. and he won't get a chance to play it. and in a way, that takes from his freedom too, isn't it? his freedom to choose how his bond with fyodor will be. in a way, fyodor dying took away from his free will.

i truly believe nikolai is. maybe not selfish but certainly self-centered or self-serving enough to be sad over, and forgive me for this analogy, his toy getting broken. I'm certain he's also genuinely sad about his only friend dying, and so gruesomely too, but i wouldn't be surprised if at his core this is what makes him this sad. and i think that also leads to his conflicting emotions about fyodor's death

i also think that thing dazai pointed out about fyodor's lack of trust plays a part in nikolai's grief here. to him, fyodor is the only one who understood him, the only one who made him feel seen, and as far as we know the only person who was important to him. but he probably knew the feeling wasn't mutual. still, this was the nail in the coffin, confirming fyodor never saw him as a friend as well, not even as an ally.

i don't have an actual conclusion here, just speculation on nikolai's internal turmoil and how he might feel now. i really hope (and expect) we will see him again, and i wonder if this event will change anything about him.

i speculated in the past that his eye cover is a symbol of his bond with fyodor. and today, he took it off after fyodor died. i wonder, if the next time we see nikolai, he will still wear it or not (or possibly wear a new one). i guess we'll see!

About Chapter 114

okay imo Fyodors imortality is bc of his ability to possess other peoples bodies but i have seen people saying that it'll be sigma and idk about that. I think the most logical conclusion would be Nikolai. For one, he's technically the reason Fyodor 'died' just like the guard in the flashback but it would also fit so well within his character arc. There is a parallel of the overcoat in 'the overcoat' and his freedom being ironically taken right after he gets it. Also Nikolai already planned to kill himself and if he actually was posessed his death would also mean his freedom from fyodor. Nikolai was also near his dead body for the whole time, maybe thats also relevant. I mean where is Nikolai?

ok but when ada was framed it was the most gut wrenching moment for me in the manga the fact that its now animated is making me to want to bang my head against the walll aaaah, the funny thing is they cant save themslesves unless they find the page from the book im gonna AHHHHH

Some Things We Know Canonically About Nikolai

He can sew (since he sewed that skin shirt).

His Japanese is proficient enough for him to be able to pass as a Japanese secretary for six months, meaning that his grammar, tones, reading, writing, typing, and mannerisms are all native-level.

He can not only connect space with his Ability, but fuse one object into another if his Ability's output space is connected to a solid object (Atsushi's leg into concrete as the example).

He knew Fyodor before Fyodor was as proficient in Japanese as he is now (since Fyodor is still learning Japanese in the omake).

He knew Fyodor at least semi-well before the plot of Sunday Tragedy (both his recollection to Sigma and various omakes confirm this).

He isn't very familiar with the concept of a band (says, "It's like an orchestra, right?" when Sigma mentions a band in an omake).

He feels guilt and remorse when he kills people (according to himself).

He knew about Atsushi's Ability before they met (called Atsushi "Tiger Boy" when they first met, said that the rumours about his were true, and might have stabbed him knowing about Atsushi's regenerative ability).

He knew about Dazai's Ability too (and tested whether he could bring Dazai through a portal anyway).

He doesn't seem interested in killing people who aren't "targets", or at least, that's his reason he gives to Atsushi for why he kept him alive. I don't think he kills indiscriminately.

Nikolai envies people who are in the cage but can't see it, possibly meaning that he wishes he didn't see it at all, and that he's only trying to escape because he can't help but know it's there (meaning he doesn't think he chooses to see the world this way).

Nikolai is drawn to, or at least thinks very highly of, people who help others and do the right thing, even at the expense of themselves (based on what he says to the ADA right before he's sawed in half).

He can perform some sort of auto-blood-transfusion-thing, or "loop the blood back into [someone's] body" (he did it with Sigma).

Dazai can fall through one of Nikolai's space connection portal things, meaning that the connected spaces in each of the rooms themselves somehow aren't being touched by his Ability (or at least, the visible connected spaces outside of his cape are only connected to his Ability via the portal walls, so the space connection process must happen within his Ability's space, and not in the "real world"). This also has to imply that either Nikolai can move an object through two connected spaces without having the object touch his cape, or that his cape isn't actually connected to his Ability (though second option seems very unlikely, the portal Dazai falls through is connected to the ceiling of the room that Nikolai is in, which he can't touch, so he really may be able to connect space without it strictly being through his cape, as opposed to what was implied in every instance before).

His right eye seems to turn pitch black when he's overtly lying/putting on an act, and looks more 'clear' when he's being more truthful.

Some Things That Could be Interpreted

He may have helped Fyodor with Japanese at some point (based on how you interpret his Japanese pun omake moments).

He may be only partially/mostly used to modern society, depending on how you interpret his historically-inspired attire and not knowing what a band is.

He doesn't derive any pleasure at all from killing or hurting people (not outright stated but implied, from what I can tell from his expressions, the "enjoyment" in such activities seems entirely feigned).

He might not be interested in maiming people who aren't targets, since he probably knew about Atsushi's regenerative ability beforehand, though that might not be the case. It depends on whether or not shooting Tonan was part of a plan, I think.

He might not be interested in playing certain characters outside of their roles. For example, for Atsushi, who isn't a target but is part of the ADA, he drops the clown persona for a moment. He does it again for Tonan right before he releases him. Though there isn't much to go on, it could be interpreted here that he doesn't play acts for people said acts aren't originally meant for.

He might see people who are "in the cage" similar to actors on a sort of improv stage. If you think of his secretary act as being who he needed to be to have Tonan cooperate (and thanking Tonan twice for pretty much acting exactly as planned), then it could be similar to him thinking that Akaky Akakievich's superiors interacted with him exactly as they should, or if not as they should morally, then add they should societally, which ultimately trumps morality. All of this, Nikolai would think of as detached from himself, yet as he's still in the cage physically, and not yet even out (can only see the bars where others can't), he could watch and muse at all these goings on, and when it comes to him having to interact with those almost scripted personalities, he might script a personality for himself, working within the play that people unintentionally mould themselves into, being the exact sort of person that they need to interact with in order for them to make his desired result happen. (In action, this would be him being the meek, simpleminded, pitiful secretary, who seems only to exist in order to be briefly bullied and ordered by his superior, the Minister of Justice. And Tonan would have every right to treat the Secretary this way, would even be expected to, and it's such a normal scene that neither Tonan nor anyone else would think anything of it, they'd simply gaze over their interactions as though they were part of the wallpaper, and it would give Nikolai plenty of leeway to do whatever he needed to do in the government. It's also present in how he talks about being the sort of person the people he's killed needing to see, for them to think of him as a psychopath in order to find peace, so he played a psychopath for them {Tonan actually fits this description of needing it, too, and if you read it back, I think that exact interaction Nikolai described to Atsushi was happening when Nikolai untied Tonan}.

And yet he breaks the act, which doesn't fit his script at all, and you can see the moment it all slips from an orchestrated play into reality, if only for a moment.

Though I suppose there's also some irony here, that when Nikolai's breaking his personal script, he's saying lines scripted for him in the Book.)

Considering the way he thanks Tonan for his help, although somewhat mocking, I think enough in his expression when he's talking about the birdcage at Tonan to imply that he doesn't take how Tonan treated his Secretary persona personally (in his "I envy you" speech).

The particular way he always positions/moves his hands could be indicative of something, but of what seems completely open to interpretation.

Considering what he knew about Atsushi and Dazai's Abilities, he may know all of the ADA's Abilities.

I'm not sure if I'm onto something here but this page/explanation plus everything that follows has always been suspicious to me

First and foremost: blood poisoning isn't most peaceful way to die, far from that. If poison is so lethal Dazai and Fyodor are supposed to die in 30 mins symptoms would have started showing right away - and yet throught whole Meursalut escape arc we see none. Not a single 'I'm feeling weak'. It's stated that Fyodor spent 5 mins just waiting for Chuuya to arrive so I'm really doubtful whole sequence of him and Chuuya nearly drowning, then killing time halting ability user, trying to drown Sigma and Dazai, Fyodor's and Sigma's confrontation and Fyodor's escape could have happened under 25 mins. Of course, it could be that whatever Nikolai gave them takes more than half an hour to kill a human but that still doesn't explain 1) why no symptoms 2) why neither Dazai nor Fyodor seem to be in the hurry to leave

Therefore my assumption is that whatever Nikolai gave them wasn't lethal in the first place.

But why lie then? Why organize the whole game to begin with?

Well, it's certainly challenging to determine motives of character as unpredictable as Nikolai. His absurdist life philosophy of seeking freedom by trying to escape himself and what makes him human certainly doesn't help the case. One of guesses can be pure entertainment, just for sake of it. For an entertainer it fits the bill. But I think there's more to it.

Except he doesn't really. By now we know whatever Fyodor's ability is that it isn't combat one - if Nikolai wanted to kill him he wouldn't necessarily need to know what it is. Not to mention Sigma can extract info from corpses, meaning they can kill Fyodor and then find out about his ability. While I'm certain Nikolai doesn't really want Fyodor dead, I can't claim with absolutely certain at that point in manga he's aware of that himself (of course he is after Fyodor 'dies' later on).

Much rather than that I think Nikolai is trying to kill what Fyodor evoke in him - feeling of being understood and wanting to understand other in return. That'll explain the game, trying to break Fyodor out of the prison without being too straightforward about it because he himself cannot decide what he really wants and stick by one decision, putting trust on test, wanting to know about Fyodor's ability and generally about Fyodor and so on.

While it's definitely arguable if Dazai would receive an antidote if he just killed Fyodor without actually escaping, it's also worth noting he was leisure with time (aka had time of his life soft bulling Sigma). Of course, chapter where Dazai talks with Nikolai post all the mess is yet to come out so it's impossible to tell in advance, but I have a hunch Dazai knew right from the start there's no danger of blood poisoning. Or at very least took gamble on that. Nikolai said something among "my apologies I have to poison you too but he (fyodor) wouldn't take the syringe otherwise" so it's clear right off the bat Dazai doesn't really hold his interest in that whole game. He's there for Fyodor and brought Sigma with him to extract information out of him.

As for Fyodor, did he knew blood poisoning wasn't a thing? Before chapter 111 I would have said yes given he too didn't seem to he in the hurry to escape, had no symptoms and didn't take the antidote right off the bat when Nikolai gave it to him. But then we have this:

Does Fyodor mean poison or game itself? My guess is poison because if latter that'd imply Fyodor expected Nikolai to help him break out of Mesaurlet which would imply broken trust. And we all know Fyodor and placing trust in others is like oil and water

To me Nikolai looks straightout dejected here. He's a performer that revels in these types of high stakes game, he should be grinning like a madman - but he's not. So in my opinion he was searching something from Fyodor here that he didn't quite get. It could be just in this scene/exchange or in whole game. But if my hunch that Nikolai was trying to get Fyodor out of Meursalut just needed Fyodor to place iota trust in him is correct, then Fyodor stamping over that hope and failing to see Nikolai's intention wasn't to kill him despite his theatrical proclaims it is would be reason for dejection. Whatever bids for connection he was looking in Fyodor likely won't be returned because of Fyodor's mistrust in people and abiding by cold rationale rather than intuition/emotions.

Therefore my conclusion is that whole Gogol game was a test:

- for Fyodor to put trust in others when he has no rational basis to (his major character flaw) - and that's precisely why he lost in the end. I could go miles here how Dazai put trust in Chuuya (and even Sigma) and how those bonds are very reason he managed to win but that's for some other time gives there's a lot to be talked about soukoku, I'd like to focus on doa trio here.

- for Sigma to realize the difference between being used and being of use, aka realize difference between transaction and a bond. I'd say he did well by placing trust in Dazai but it's yet to be seen if his decision to take Fyodor's hand was the 'right' one. His character arc ain't over, it heavily depends on what info he extracted from Fyodor so it's too early to tell how it'll go. Also this depends on Dazai's actions anime hasn't shown, like will he stick to his promise to save Sigma or not. Given promise he made to Oda 4 years before, I think it's definitely in character for Dazai to come back for him, fetch comatose Sigma and bring him to Yokohama.

- for Nikolai himself to realize what he wants to do with feeling of emotional/intellectual connection he deemed as 'imprisoning'. He's at conundrum himself what he wants to do with Fyodor: help him or kill him - accept the instinct or fight against it for no other reason than to oppose very self - lose sight of himself in the end just like Fyodor said. If we go by anime ending (I doubt manga one will be much diffrent), he came to realization how Fyodor changed his life and how he actually never wanted him dead but it was too late by then. Now haunted by realization only one who ever understood him and only person he ever felt connected to is dead, Nikolai will come to realize true hell of being imprisoned by own mind without means of escaping.

All three of them had some sort of downfall induced by their 'cardinal sins'; their own 'decays' as downfalls source from inner character flaws, so to speak.

This last chapter really shows just how one-sided Fyolai was, Fyodor only saw Gogol as a tool for his own gain, and Gogol knew that.

Look at Gogol's expression, the resigned sorrow as he accepts that he never reached Fyodors heart the way Fyodor reached his.

Look at their different reactions to seeing eachother, Gogol is extatic to see Fyodor and puts on a huge display for him, both his love for him as his "true friend" and his desire to kill him. But Fyodor seems completely uninterested in either, honestly he looks like he just wishes Gogol would leave him alone.

He says nothing to Gogol explaining his motivation and keeps that bored expression as if Gogols philosophical struggle could not be less interesting to him. Heck even Dazai shows more interest then Fyodor does.

In fact, the only thing that makes Fyodor show any interest in what Gogol is doing is when it gives him a chance to kill Dazai, he only sees value in Gogol when he has some strategic benefit for him.

Fyodor is entirely focused on Dazai throughout the whole discussion, he pretty much ignores Gogol entirely, only focusing on how he can use this opportunity to eliminate his biggest threat.

Gogol's care for Fyodor is obvious, he says multiple times that Fyodor is the only one who ever understood him, but he never once implies that he thinks Fyodor cares about him, only that he understood him. He knows Fyodor doesn't share his feelings, and since Gogol surrounds himself with what causes him the most pain I'm sure that this only made him more attached to Fyodor.

Anyway this post was mostly just meant to outline how Fyodor and Gogol feel about eachother in cannon, I think with this latest chapter we can definitively say Fyodor never cared for Gogol as a person, making Gogols tragedy even deeper

Look at that. Fyodor having servants rather than allies. Who would have thought?

Once again, Fyodor's assurity that he has no true need for allies has been his downfall.

This man has such a superiority complex that he thinks that others, such as Dazai, relying on allies rather than commanding servants, are weak.

If he had true allies, even simply ones he paid off, he might have escaped with his life intact. But alas, he has not.

Chapter 110 Official Art Analysis