Thoughts Viktor Nikiforov
That is- a reflection of why he is doing what he is doing.
Putting aside any bias that comes from ships or preferred characters, I believe that the whole fandom can agree on two things:
Viktor has a fascination with Yuuri.
Viktor broke his promise to Yurio.
Now, based on the wiki and the episodes, some of things we know about Viktor also include:
He only thinks about himself (Coach Yakov)
He is all about surprising people
He does thorough data gathering (trying to learn all about Yuuri to help him out)
He’s straightforward and serious about work
Viktor is motivated by selfish goals in helping Yuuri and rejecting Yurio, and he is rather fake, personality wise.
The biggest tip off here is the fact that his own (former) coach calls him selfish. Viktor is not only beautiful, but highly gifted (being at the top of his game when he was 16), and very charismatic. This is a man who has probably never been told the word ‘no’ in his life.
Yurio says that Viktor’s forgetful, but I find it highly unlikely that Viktor is, especially in regards to something ‘work’ related. Rather, he likely choses to be ignorant of certain things because he was simply allowed to. All he probably has to do is smile and go ‘oops?’ and the whole world would forgive him.
But, as Yurio also mentions, being able to surprise people is key when in a performance business, and Viktor was slipping from his throne. How could he surprise people now?
Well, what better way than to become the coach of an ice skater who was internet popular despite placing poorly in the last few competitions? Not only would no one expect it, but people would find it downright endearing of Viktor to have taken under his wing someone who was such a big fan of his work.
Why would you say that though?! He’s so sweet and flirty with Yuuri!!!
Okay, first- that’s another thing that he’s known for: being flirtatious. And Yuuri is such a big fan that Viktor probably downright enjoys his innocent and unquestioning personality towards him.
Second, Viktor only acts like that in front of Yuuri; in front of an audience. And I say this because- BAM- MY (in my opinon) DAMNING EVIDENCE!!! (This is right after Yuuri pleads for Viktor to watch him carefully.)
From the moment I saw this, it bugged me. Viktor looks, in no way, happy. He looks bored, like he doesn’t care, and is simply saying what he knows will make Yuuri happy and motivated.
We’ve seen Yuuri’s range of facial expressions. We’ve seen Yurio’s too. Happy, sad, flustered, put off, tired, etc.
But 99% of the time we see Viktor, he’s all smiles and careless peacefulness. This, right here, is one of the few times we see him without some kind of ghost of a smile- and here, no one is looking.
It takes little effort to make him look even somewhat pleased by Yuuri’s willful words, but in these frames, where you can see detail, there’s no sense of happiness. I mean, look at this pic below. It’s such a far away shot but you KNOW, Viktor is smiling.
On why he pushed away Yurio
Continuing on with the notion that Viktor is a selfish guy, there is a possibility that he pushed Yurio away because Yurio threatens his legacy.
Viktor was, to quote Wiki, ‘at the top of the world’ by age 16. Because his birthday is in December, this is also the year he debuted in the senior division.
Yurio though, is entering the senior division at age 15, a year younger than when Viktor did, and he- arguably- has just as much talent as Viktor. With Viktor’s mentoring, Yurio could easily surpass everything that Viktor did at his age. Yurio is promising talent, and Viktor knew it from the moment he saw little Yurio skating.
When he was little, Yurio tried a move that Viktor was known for. But Viktor didn’t go out of his way to say “Let me mentor, or give you some tips.”
But now, with Yuuri (who also mimicked Viktor’s moves), Viktor jumped at the opportunity to go mentor him.
Why? Probably because of the publicity it will bring. Back when he saw Yurio, he was probably still wowing the crowd on his own, and didn’t need the extra ‘wow’ that Yurio would bring. Now though…
In choosing who to mentor, Yuuri would definitely be a better choice to make Viktor look good, because Yuuri had a number of visible flaws that he could fix up. And who would take the credit when Yuuri will visibly blossom?
‘Wow, Yuuri’s changed and become so much more confident now, ever since Viktor came around as his coach.’
Yurio, though, as we all saw from the match, can already wow the crowd with what he’s doing. But he himself knows he can definitely do more. He wants Viktor’s guidance to become that best version of himself.
As a talented genius, Viktor must have seen that Yurio could have done better too, but instead of berating to help him grow, Viktor tells him it was his best work. It was almost like telling Yurio to settle for the talent he was pulling out now.
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