#bsd gogol theory

[kikizoshi]

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.

[maalidoesart]

nikolai a few seconds after the dramatic scene from the last chapter

[definetelynotavampire]

I'd really like if Fyodor kept some personality aspects of the people he posesses just like with bram. I want him to have completely lost his sense of self and i want him to question every emotion he has, if it's really his own and i want Nikolai to relate bc he also sees himself bound by human emotions :D

[sorcerersandskillusers]

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

[sssarrrra]

𝗙𝘆𝗼𝗱𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗡𝗶𝗸𝗼𝗹𝗮𝗶: 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗱𝘆𝘀𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗿𝗮𝘄𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿

Fyodor can't function without God the same way Nikolai can't function without freedom.

Their personalities are so off-balanced and incompatible with reality, they need something outside of it to feel whole.

Eventually, their immense need to rely on Freedom/God distorts the very source of their comfort.

Freedom gets bloody, and God becomes hungry for the sacrifice.

But it isn't that freedom or God have fundamentally changed. What changed were their brains of those perceiving them and their motivations.

Gogol and Dostoevsky needed an ideal that would inspire them to live, no matter how disappointed they are with their own existence.

Both Clown and Demon also looked for a justification, a place onto which they could project their hidden pain, without directly interacting with it.

Fyodor and Nikolai were pretty angry at what happened to them in the past. Whatever it was, it hurt. And still does.

But neither Dostoevsky, not Gogol can't acknowledge that. If they would ever do so, these two would have to admit: they still care about people and the way people treat them.

So each of the duo says that they're hurting others, not for the personal gain or out of a desperate attempt to feel better. No, they're doing for the ideal: be it “Freedom” or the “God”.

It allows both Fyodor and Nikolai to keep lashing out, while keeping their self-images intact.

They keep saying to themselves: “I hurt others because of how inhuman I am”. While in reality the opposite is accurate.

They both became criminals because of their humanity, albeit flawed one.

Of course, Gogol's idea of freedom is almost broken or at least showing cracks. But Dostoevsky's obsession with God's is as strong as ever.

It'll only grow stronger, the closer Fyodor gets to the end of his goal.

Dostoevsky rushes towards it with all of his might because despite all his prayers and hopes, living with his version of God is still unbearable.

It kinda hurts.

And he wants it to stop.

[anythinganother]

We already know that Fyodor has sick amount of Jesus parallels but did anyone notice rest of the DOA can be Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Fukuchi - war obviously

Sigma - famine

Bram - pestilence

Nikolai - death

I see this post is more popular that my other one so if someone wanted to read full version of this theory, here it is:

[chuuya-kisser]

OKAY GUYS LISTEN TO ME HEAR ME OUT

sooo fyodor, fukuchi, bram, nikolai and sigma are the decay of angels right? and so far till the latest chapter,

fyodor took over bram

fyodor is about to/ has already killed fukuchi

fyodor has temporarily put sigma out of commission bc of info overload

nikolai has been mysteriously missing

BASICALLY FYODOR GOT RID OF THE WHOLE DOA ATLEAST FOR THE MOMENT

WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO NIKOLAI?????? After all, fyodor did say that his next action would be getting rid of nikolai....

i have no idea what he's trying to do with this or what im even getting at with this.

But fukuchi mentioned that fyodor helped in the formation of his whole grand plan to rid the world of war was. which means that fyodor is almost certainly aware of the page's conditions for activation. now im not sure abt this bc i dont remember exactly but i believe the agency was supposed to be declared innocent or smth after the page activated, painting fukuchi as the 'bad guy', right??? (Please correct me if im wrong here)

what if fyodor never lets the conditions for the page's activation be met.

what if he was only ever using even fukuchi as a pawn in his grand scheme to do god knows what. he probably was. after all no way would fyodor actually work under someone without his own vested interests. what if he kills fukuchi just like that. what if fukuchi dies in fucking vain. i sure hope not please.

fukuchi's intention was to end war. fyodors WAS NOT.

fukuchi really did believe that fyodor was stuck halfway across the world in mersault. there's no way he'd have anticipated being killed not by fukuzawa or teruko, but by fyodor. bc he'd have to know about fyodor's ability to know that he had a chance to escape mersault directly to yokohama. and there's absolutely no way fyodor would have trusted someone like him with information about his ability.

fyodor had the advantage of knowing fully about fukuchi's plan, possibly in order to foil it

again, i have no freaking idea where im going with this. i just wanted to get this out. please asagiri. please.

verlaine its your time to shine again!

[m1ss-n0mer]

Currently thinking about the DoA.

Nobody in that organisation had the same goals. Fukuchi wanted to end a war, Fyodor wanted to further whatever the fuck he's doing, Nikolai hoped that the organisation would bring him closer to freedom. Sigma wanted a home. Bram never wanted to be there in the first place, as far as we know.

They were all just people who were alone who ended up together, but unlike the ADA, they're only there to use each other. They don't become close, a lot of them can relate to each other, but it doesn't help.

All organisations in bsd have a colour scheme, and the Decay's is white and purple.

Fyodor wore a white hat for the majority of his time with the DoA, while the other members all had white hair, maybe because he always intended to betray the organisation and was just disguising himself. He also played victim with Ace in season 3 only to outsmart him by the end of the episode.

Fukuchi wore the red-ish hunting dogs uniform, but used Amenogozen, which is sometimes shown to be purple and sometimes white, since he knew how terrible all the Decay were and was just using them like a weapon for what he believed was a good cause.

Nikolai wears mostly white, but a bit of black. He joined for selfish reasons, but in the beginning it was with what he considered good intentions; he wanted freedom, and didn't come to the conclusion that he needed to kill the guy who introduced him to the DoA in order to do that until later.

Bram never wanted to join. What we see of his outfit at that point is all black, but it's not until the sword is pulled out and he's free from the DoA that he has a full body and therefore full black attire.

Sigma almost entirely consists of white and purple, because, until Atsushi tries to save him, he has no loyalties besides the DoA; no intention of leaving.

But Nikolai defects and saves both himself and Sigma when Fyodor most likely intended for them to die, in order to kill him in Meursault. Sigma is ready to join the ADA if and when he gets the chance. Bram escapes with the help of Aya.

And then Fyodor abandons all pretense of being at all loyal to the DoA by killing Bram and Fukuchi, and then his new outfit (Bram's) is entirely black, and he's not wearing a white hat to cover up that he's not like the rest of them.

But none of them are entirely loyal, so what makes him different? I can't say for sure.

What I DO know, is that the DoA have ceased needing each other, so I think all the ones that are still alive are going to get a colour scheme change pretty soon. (Bram is too dead for that, but Fukuchi is Amenogozen now and Fyodor, as mentioned above, is wearing all black.)

So, for Nikolai, his past outfit was black and white, but primarily white. Also what it means for his character that a clothing change may or may not mean he gets rid of his jester persona is, uh, content for another post once I think about it more because I feel like that'll be Big.

And Sigma? Probably, he'll be wearing something more ADA adjacent (beige and possibly soft sunset tones, I believe) at some point soon.

Anyways yeah in conclusion the DoA was never a proper organisation, none of them cared for each other nor were they working towards the same goals, their needs just happened to align at some point. Also this is reflected in their character designs.

[thelesbododo]

I only saw bits and pieces of the latest chapter and now I have questions

Did Sigma wake up? If not how did Dazai know about how Fyodor was killed by a vampire?

Why did Chuuya say "speak english" when they are Japanese? (It could just be a joke or it could somehow be a plot point)

Are any of the Ada even going to make it to the mafia transfer?

How the hell is Dazai going to get to the others in time to kill Fyodor before he can kill the others?

Who will get the page in Fukuchi's pocket?

How will Nikolai react to Fyodor being alive? Will he be happy? Upset? He would definitely be shocked (bonus points if he still has the arm)

Is Fyodor's ability something that he can turn off or is it preventing him from dying? Is that one of the reas9ns he wants to kill all ability users? But if that's the case why not have Dazai kill him?

Could Fyodor use the page to kill all ability users or would he need the book?

Edit: I now know the answer to the first one

Edit again: I just read the full thing and what the actual fuck.

[raintellix]

"Attain perfect freedom,

that is, freedom from self"

- Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

[sleepymaven]

The Bsd "Fyodor is Atsushi's Father" Theory:

My Not-so-Deep, Not-so-Serious Explanation on Why This Could Totally be Canon

Signed: A Sleep-Deprived Idiot

(Spoilers for the Entirety of Bungou Stray Dogs)

So... with Chapter 118 in bsd releasing, I have noticed a lot of Fyodor as Atsushi's father related things popping up and... I'm not mad about.

If anything, I'm happy the theory is getting more attention. People even seem to be taking it as canon fact, even if just jokingly.

Really, I believed the theory was plausible since it first was brought up in the fandom, but I never actually thought it would be canon because that just seemed too crazy. But those were the thoughts of a sweet summer child since the manga has gotten to the point where that might be the least crazy thing possible.

So, here I am at my keyboard yet again, ready to ramble about how, if this does somehow turn out to be canon, this might be actually rather predictable even to those who don't dive deep into the nitty-gritty lore.

Now, I won't ramble on and on endlessly about the book and Atsushi's ambiguous past and how he may be the book or a page from the book and yaddy-yadda. Instead, I'll focus on some key aspects of Atsushi's character design. First off...

His hair.

As I said, this is not all that serious or deep, so take my words with a grain of salt before you start bashing me or something for being ridiculous. You signed up for ridiculous when you started reading past the title.

Anyway, back to Atsushi's hair.

As we almost all know, Atsushi used to have a black streak in his hair that was later removed for unknown reasons, but he also has white hair.

Now, I could jokingly proclaim, "Hehe, biologically impossible Fyodor x Nikolai lovechild," and be done with it, but I am no clown, unlike Nikolai. No, I have a better, probably completely wrong, idea.

Most of us know that Fyodor has a thing for white-haired men.

Exhibit A: Every fucking member of the Decay of Angels

I rest my case.

Also, I feel the need to mention that 3 out of 6 of them have red-ish eyes while the other two have purple-ish/blue eyes. Just pointing out that little tidbit I noticed while finding pics for them.

So, it would make sense for Fyodor to pick and choose which attributes to give to his quote-on-quote "son" when he made him from the book, picking out certain traits he found appealing and pleasing to the eye.

(Also, yes, this could mean that Fyodor could have chose specific attributes that were similar to Nikolai. Boom, lovechild route.)

This could explain certain similarities between the characters who seemingly have no biological connection between one another. Their only connection then only being through Fyodor by just knowing him.

Got all that? Alright, next up...

His eyes.

Now, Atsushi's eyes are rather unique, even for the world of Bungou Stray Dogs. What also sticks out about them is the fact that they are pointed out and focused in from time to time.

Example:

(Fucking gorgeous eyes he has, btw)

To break down the colors of his eyes... While in normal lighting in the anime, they appear to be normally purple and yellow with just a hint of green in it, but under the full moon (as seen here) we can see that his eyes are a light green-yellow at the bottom and purple on the top that fades into blue.

(There are also a few times where his eyes also change while using his ability. Like when they turn almost fully yellow.)

I want to point out the colors of his eyes and the fact that they change due to certain circumstances (i.e: using his ability, being under the full moon), which is clearly not normal in their world seeing as how other ability users don't seem to do that at all.

(Edit here: I actually would like to mention that, in the manga, Nikolai's eyes also change color. The green one sometimes will change to match his normal eye whenever he uncovers it. I saw a theory talking about how it might change depending on whether or not he is lying at the time, which is pretty neat. More Atsushi and Nikolai parallels.)

Now, this might seem like a bit of a stretch just like the rest of this post, but the colors used for his eyes are similar to the eye colors of people Fyodor knows, though they are different shades.

Purple like Fukuchi. Green and blue from Nikolai.

Fyodor's eyes are also a shade of purple, kind of, so... Yeah, that works too, but Fukuchi's shade of eyes are closer to Atsushi's.

Yeah, that's all I can think of now and this is already way too long (if I start talking about Atsushi's mysterious past, I'm going to make this a mile long. Maybe later tho), so I'm ending it here for now.

Alright, bye ya'll.

[necoffee]

Gogol likes Sigma's reaction because he likes to annoying people ❌

Gogol likes Sigma's reaction because it's confirms that his behavior is out of the box, does not fit into the norm and creates the illusion that he is free, that he is destroying the moral framework of society by deliberately choosing insanity ✅✅✅

(okay , maybe it was obvious,but I've only recently come to this)

[flyolai-brainrot]

i know dazai seems to be the one most likely to kill fyodor but

what if someone else does and then before he can assume their body, they kill themselves?

specifically for angst purposes what if: nikolai?

[definetelynotavampire]

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?

[sorcerersandskillusers]

An alternative way of killing Fyodor

Me and some friends were talking about ways to kill Fyodor, other than Dazai doing it or it being from natural causes, another way I can think of is someone sacrificing themselves to take him out. This would be very interesting narratively, and I think there is one perfect candidate to do it.

Nikolai Gogol

Gogol has already said he was willing to die to prove his own free will, and that the only reason he didn't was that he thought killing Fyodor, the only person who ever understood him, was a better way to prove that point.

The other factor here is from a writing perspective Gogol, like Bram, is just too powerful to be left on his own. His ability is completely ridiculous, and combined with his personality, there is no way he wouldn't interfere with the story a lot if left to his own devices. But it would be hard to justify getting rid of him since there is no chance of him getting redeemed, and he's broken enough that having someone kill him is going to be hard.

This would be a good way of writing him out of the story, Asagiri does not kill good guys, that's pretty much a fact at this point, so Gogol would be a good way of having an evil character taking themselves out.

Note: I don't think this would necessarily kill Fyodor, I'm sure he would have some super secret way of escaping whatever situation ends up happening, but I think it would be a very interesting way to cap off Gogols character.

(also at this point i've completely given up trying to predict bsd, asagiri always throws any theories I have out of the window, so this is mostly just a fun speculation)

[sssarrrra]

𝐆𝐨𝐠𝐨𝐥 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧

Nikolai had put so much effort into creating his monstrous façade. All the jesting, laughing, toying with the pain of others. He tried so hard to look like a “monstrous person with nothing inside”. But in the end he didn't want to be remembered as such.

Gogol still wanted to let the world know that he wasn't a monster. During his makeshift penance to Atsushi he tried to humanize himself by telling about the guilt and remorse he felt. Nikolai even confessed to the Agency that he admired the justice they fought for. He said: the light they emitted drawn him in.

Nikolai couldn't allow himself to be viewed as just another criminal. He wanted to be remembered. He wanted to make people care.

For that, Gogol gauged out his soul and presented it to the audience.

He wanted to be seen, even at the very last moment.