Such A Tasty Quiz! And Still How Do Fruit Ppl Eat Fruits... A The Answer Is A Mystery

Such a tasty quiz! And still how do fruit ppl eat fruits... A the answer is a mystery 😨

FRUIT QUIZ FRUIT QUIZ FRUIT QUIZ

@persimminos fruit quiz!!!!

Tagging @faggylittleleatherboy @prongsfish @ninety-two-bees @sommerregenjuniluft and whoever wants to

This smile. This haircut. This time skip and implication that Sigma will live. Thank you. I needed this. I'll pray to every entity for this to happen.

sigma for your soul

Thank you for peeling off one of Nikolai's masks! Your view of what's behind it is wounderful.

I mean Nikolai is "silly" but he is so incredibly intelligent. And I enjoyed seeing framework behind his intentions.

So basically Nikolai tries to remove one of the core aspects of his personality, because he has grown sick of it? I love it!Gogol always craves "newness" and "new highs", so being stuck with "one self" means always getting repetitive outcomes that makes him feel stagnant / numb inside.

And Nikolai's go-to solution is to get rid of "him" bit by bit. Like he tries to review core aspects of his personality (what his "self" is made of) and then destroy them.

It's also based on his self-image, the way Gogol sees himself as. If he views himself as controlling and manipulative person, he will put himself in the position of someone who's "manipulated".

It's almost as if Nikolai punishes himself for his inability to change.

I wounder what's made him feel that he needs to discard his whole "self"? That his "self" is so entirely unfixable he needs to erase it? Maybe, it's something to do with his connections with others or the quality of bonds he used to create?

Nikolai obviously values "friendship" and his ability to experience closeness with another person. Something probably went very wrong in this area of his life, and it made Gogol think that his "self" and every aspect of it is worth nothing.

Maybe, because no one tried to reach out to him, he thought that it would be better of not existing? And than Fyodor came along.

So many questions! I want answers to them all 😤

Comprehending Nikolai Gogol; The True King

Regarding Nikolai' Gogol within Bungo Stray Sogs…

Incoming character analyzation which was inspired by my comments of a quiz on Quotev. Here's something: I may have developed a unique perspective on Nikolai's character.

Nikolai is perceived as a clown through and through. However, one of the biggest points in his personality is his longing for freedom.

For this, we need to define his version of "freedom", because from what I've observed, it's rather unusual.

Nikolai is unique in terms of his dynamic with Fyodor Dostoevsky. Why does he choose to be with Fyodor? What is his purpose in serving Fyodor?

To me, it simply doesn't make sense. Fyodor appears to be restricting Nikolai, as a result of Fyodor's very own ideologies binding him to his restrictive himanity. Nikolai standing by Fyodor, it's hardly freedom.

And, let's not forget that his clown persona is a mask. Similar to Dazai, Nikolai wears a mask to conceal his true self. Thus, we raise the question: What purpose does Nikolai's mask serve?

I believe that the mask conceals something. Like how Dazai has multiple personas to protect his vulnerability, Nikolai wears a mask to protect something.

So here, I've got word, from well, myself.

It hides his intelligence.

Nikolai is an intelligent man, capable of serving Fyodor, known as one of the two Kings of the Chessboard that is Bungo Stray Dogs.

With that being said, understand this: A royal attendant must be able to satisfy the King's needs.

Fyodor requires those who are capable enough to fulfill his tasks, meaning the intelligent. Nikolai is, naturally, capable. From this, we can conclude that he is more than what he lets on, and Fyodor knows this.

Then, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to say that Fyodor keeps Nikolai by his side, in order to control him even better, no?

This hints at Nikolai's true definition of "freedom", and we're almost concluding.

With Nikolai's intelligence, he is clearly aware of Fyodor's blatant attempts to control him. Yet, he continuously abides by the words of Fyodor. Why is this the case?

From my own experience, let me tell you this: When you've been controller for a long, long time, you grow to despise your role.

You wonder when your rule over your chessboard ends, you wish to break free.

Doesn't that sound like Nikolai?

He purposefully plays himself into the hands of Fyodor, letting Fyodor pull his strings as if he was a marionette.

Through this, he doesn't have to work as a manipulator anymore.

He sits back and allows strings to tug him into position, leaving his every move up to Fyodor's control.

And if he is controlled, he no longer needs to control.

Essentially, he breaks away from his control over the chessboard, detaching himself from his mind that only knows to manipulate.

Fyodor is his controller, he escapes through Fyodor. Yet, he's so much more than Fyodor is, logically and emotionally intelligent like a court jester.

In exchange for freedom, Nikolai serves the King.

Am I so wrong, to see that in Nikolai?

Nikolai sees freedom in being controlled by Fyodor.

Wow, thank you for your wonderful response!

I secretly hoped that you would go in depth about Gogol's path and the way it paralleled Nikolai's. And you did! I really appreciate you digging out all of these details about Gogol's inner turmoil. It kinda adds a lot to Nikolai as a character. Especially, the desire to fix internal pain with external solution that's so radical it leaves nothing behind.

Thank you for supplying me with such a delicious treat of information I can ponder over while waiting in limbo for the next time Nikolai appears!

Will he be able to break free from the rolle of a "plot-moving-device"? Let's roll the dice 🎲

Hello, Kizo! you've also mentioned some of the interesting aspects of Gogol's personality I haven't thought about before. Like his pessimism. He is so constantly and desperately wants to seem excited, amused, thrilled, that he's managed to fool me. But it makes sense. "The only salvation from emotions is mine or smn else's death". He is quite pessimistic, just like Dost. And he's a perfectionist. He wants an absolute perfect freedom and nothing in between. Why is he like this, maybe trauma?

Thanks for the interesting asks!

It's neat to me that Nikolai manages to fool you. What I love especially there is that, like you said, while putting on that act he's so energetic, vivacious, and drawn very enthusiastic and animated. But when he breaks character, there's a stillness to him. His shrill tone softens into a meditative tenor; his grand gesticulations withdraw into intimate gestures; his stretched mouth and squinted eyes relax into the visage of a quiet, thoughtful, introspective young man. Harukawa expresses all of this beautifully with their drawings, and I just love it so much. The glimpses we see of the Nikolai under his mask are what made me fall in love with him in the first place--it's what makes his character for me.

One thing I really love expressed in characters like Nikolai is the 'sad clown paradox', which I think fits him pretty well. It's the playful jester character who's internally cynical. Nikolai creates a persona of a spontaneous, silly, horrifically brutal psychopath, but the scant few glimpses we get of him, we see a thoughtful and caring person, so much more and so much opposite just under the surface. I absolutely adore that duality.

I'm not gonna talk about potential backstories for Nikolai; I feel like speculation there is kinda pointless for me, since it could be literally anything. But, I can talk about Gogol's influence on him a bit.

Regarding this:

"The only salvation from emotions is mine or smn else's death". He is quite pessimistic, just like Dost. And he's a perfectionist. He wants an absolute perfect freedom and nothing in between. Why is he like this, maybe trauma?

I see a lot of Gogol's influence here. I'm not sure how much you know about Gogol as a person, so sorry if this is reiterative, but it's important context (and please take my cliffs notes version with a teaspoon of salt; I'm by no means a Gogol scholar). Gogol, at the end of his life--though probably during too--was very concerned with the purity of his soul. Why isn't something I can really comment on, but it seems to have culminated in him going to a radical priest, who advised him to undertake an extreme fast (meant for monks, I believe). Gogol then burned his manuscript for the second part of 'Dead Souls', and starved himself to death over the course of about twelve days (whether or not he meant to die isn't agreed-upon as far as I can tell, but that he died as a result of this fast is). All to reach a purity of soul he felt he didn't have, and couldn't get without drastic actions.

I genuinely have no idea if this story inspired Nikolai's, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did. There are a lot of parallels, and if you replace Gogol's 'religious purity' with Nikolai's 'freedom', you get a similar tragedy. Both seem based on the belief "my mortal/inherent failures/limitations are holding me back from what I need". And rather than go inwards and seek clarity through introspection, both externalise their problems and try to "fix" themselves via grand--and painful--proofs of their "faith/conviction".

There's also the parallel with Gogol's priest and Fyodor, though I'm not sure how much it tracks. Fyodor does seem to have some influence on Nikolai, but it sounds like Nikolai was already on his path when they met... that's all backstory stuff though, so who knows.

Then there's still the missing piece of 'why', with Nikolai. Why does he feel he needs to free himself from his emotions? Gogol's motive makes sense several ways: fear of Hell, self-hatred, a deep, spiraling depression. It's understandable, it's human, it's relatable. But Nikolai's freedom?

That Asagiri chose 'freedom from emotions' to be Nikolai's pursuit isn't something I've ever managed to understand. I just don't get it. I can't connect it to anything. You hear about people wanting to be numb, sure, but Nikolai's wants seem more about being capable of doing anything, or proving that he can... And he said (paraphrasing) "in spite of happiness I choose free will," so at the very least Nikolai thinks he's capable of happiness, and it's just not as important to him as his "freedom."

Yeah, idk. There's definitely something interesting there, though, that Nikolai's Ability gives him the freedom to do pretty much whatever (as Atsushi said in Sunday Tragedy), but he's so wrapped up in his own mind that he either can't see the freedom he has, or physical freedom is ultimately meaningless to him--which would make him seeking freedom through external actions an interesting failure to understand himself.

Then again, I don't know how honest Nikolai's being with himself, honestly. His whole "freedom" thing is an ever-moving goalpost. First it was torture people to death and kill himself. Then it was kill his best friend. Then it got so convoluted I won't even try to summarise it. And now he just seems lost. Giving Asagiri the benefit of the doubt and assuming this is intentional characterisation (and not just giving him plot-convenient reasons to take certain actions), Nikolai seems at best very confused (and trying to appear like he very much isn't). And, well, I'm confused too.

So yeah, all that's very interesting. Not sure how much of it was intended. Hard to tell with a character that gets like one scene every two years. And hard to tell where he'll go, considering how rarely BSD characters stay true to who they were past their debut.

Regarding the pessimism thing: ironically, I'd say Fyodor's pessimism is more optimistic in nature than Nikolai's. Because Fyodor believes in a world that can change. Fyodor believes he can make the world a better place, and is doing everything he can to achieve that. Nikolai, however, in his best case scenario, proves that it's technically true that complete freedom exists. But his world is still comprised of people in cages. It's cynical and oppressive, and his grandest hopes don't come close to changing anything for the better. I think that fits mostly very well with some differences I've observed between Dostoyevsky and Gogol.

Dying to stay alive. Why does Fyodor Dostoevsky enjoy being killed on purpose? Bsd analysis

Why Dostoevsky looks so young despite living for centuries? I think it's because he often gets killed. He literally has no time to age.

His skin care routine is being murdered every year or so. Maybe, even more often.

Fyodor CAN age, he isn't immune to it. He isn't immortal. He's ability isn't about eternal youth. He can get gray hair and wrinkles. But he doesn't. Dostoevsky looks almost identical to how he's been when he's met Bram centuries ago (minus a scar and an outfit). So why is it?

Let's assume that the physical "age" Fyodor naturally gains can be transferred to the new body he enters. And the only things that get "erased" are traces of harm left by someone else (bruises, cuts, scars, etc.)

Let's pretend that we know Fyodor's "biological" age. And it's 20. (That's just an assumption for this example!)

It would go like this: Fyodor's biologically 20. He lives until his 22, than gets killed. His "new" body will have the age of 22. Then he lives until he's 26 and dies unnaturally. He's biological age in the new body is gonna be 26.

And so on and so on. It means both his appearance and physic will gradually change. But we see NONE OF THAT. Present Fyodor is almost a twin copy of Fyodor from the past.

It means that Dostoevsky has never lived longer than a couple of years max without dying and respawning into a new body. He probably dies quit often and can't even get old enough because he simply doesn't have time.

Maybe, he has some mark on his calendar: "Need to die every year to keep my body young and relative healthy". And it's a strategy and nothing else. But I feel like there is more to that.

Dostoevsky probably enjoys the thrill of death (or near death) experience for various reasons.

People sometimes describe Dazai as a "suicide-addict", but THIS is a new level of it. These two share a hobby of trying to die often. But Dostoevsky not just tries. He dies. Fyodor's way of getting a rid of his stress is being brutally murdered by someone else. I wounder, if Dazai knew it how it would make him feel? To find out that Fyodor is drawn to death in the same way that he is? We'll find out eventually.

Dostoevsky meticulously got himself killed probably more than 300+ times or so. And, yes, sometimes it was work related incidents due to his plans. But he didn't HAVE to die so often, did he?

It honestly seems, that for Fyodor "dying" is just an extracurricular activity he does to pass the time. Some ppl go their friend's house to play video games. And Fyodor goes to someone's place -> dies there.

Maybe, Dostoy tries to connect with people by "dying" by their hands? When he transfers his mind into a new body, it makes him feel less lonely, somehow?

For example, Fyodor didn't have to break into Bram's castle and chat him up about demons. He didn't have to put his life on a line just to see how Bram would react to his musings about world-politics. He knew he would die, obviously. But he went anyway. Just to "catch a glimpse" of Bram (in his own words). And then, of course to get murdered. Did he hope that Bram would be the one to deliver a final blow? Did Fyodor secretly want to "posses" Bram's body from that long, long time ago?

You know how ppl joked about Fyodor's hobby being captured on purpose? Add "dying" to this list, asap.

He's reasons for overusing his ability to "reincarnate" are probably complicated.

A part of it is a need to escape/ease his guilt. Dostoy wants to feel like a martyr that has a right to commit sin. Maybe, it's his own self-punishment, a form of self-harm. He believes these short or long moments of agony "erase" the harm he does to others or, at least, balance it out.

On the other hand, Fyodor is still a human who wants to belong. But he spent decades in paranoia and isolation that affected him immensely. So now the only "true" connection Dostoevsky can create with someone is when he inserts his consciousness into their body. The flow of new feelings/goals keeps him distracted from himself and his bleak view of the reality. So he does it over and over.

Or is it just a boredom thing? Like living is such a drug he can't help but try to die?

Dostoy is too afraid/guilty to go to heaven right away so he passes time by adding bits of different personalities to himself. He has this semi-free subscription to people's agendas, he only has to die to access them. It keeps him entertained. Like a Netflix but he has to die to watch a "movie" from someone's POV, with their goals/emotions intact still.

Dostoy wants to pick up a new passion/hobby? No problem. He just needs to find someone who likes that particular interest, and than get murdered by that person. Then Fyodor can gain their insights into the topic (possibly).

I wish I could see the way Dostoevsky envisions humanity. It seems like he's both enmeshed with it to the point of losing himself and at the same time he's discarded by humanity and isolated from it.

It's such a mixed-up experience. No wounder Fyodor's mind is so… Bizarre.

Just think about it. What if the one who kills Fyodor is an insect.

WHAT. IF. FYODOR. GETS. TAKING OUT… BY AN INFECTED MOSQUITO 🦟? (they transfer many diseases)

MOSQUITO FYODOR.

He goes Zzz for the crimes you did. You can't hide from him. No one's safe anymore. A true menace to the world.