Victor is interesting and I love him
Unreliable narrator is so damn fascinating (I have an obsession w/ perception vs reality), and Yuuri is probably the best example I’ve ever seen in my life. As such, all of our main characters (that being Yuuri, Victor, and Yuri) end up being a bit different than the original assumption, but the biggest change in our perception is probably Victor. And that’s one reason why I love him so much; the way his personality and intentions slowly reveal themselves over the course of the story is fantastically executed.
The banquet reveal is genius, and I’ve probably said that before but I’m saying it again goddammit. I will never stop marveling at the fact that we had literally no context for Victor’s actions for the majority of the show and that one little detail blew away everything we thought we knew about Victor, and suddenly it was so obvious why Victor behaved the way he did.
Why this was his reaction to the video:
I actually got this foreboding feeling in my stomach the first time I saw the episode. I had watched the show for a max of 20 minutes and I was already like “DONT YOU HURT YUURI YOU BASTARD HES BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH” and now I know that the face is more like “you little shit, you keep me hanging for actual months and then you do this??? Playing with my heart??? Not making it to Worlds with that kind of skill??” And then more quietly “I’m still going to Japan tho"
Why he made this face before he got up:
I didn’t pay mind to it at first but after ep10 I was like,, hold up and I realized that poor Vitya looks absolutely terrified. He’s so fucking nervous. Victor’s psyching himself up and I don’t think the crooning of Yuuri’s name in a sec was fully intentional on his part?? Like he’s practically vibrating with excitement and it wouldn’t shock me if, while trying to hold in excited squealing and shouting etc etc, he used that energy to sing this boy’s name.
Why he saw the video and thought ‘coach’:
My actual first thought was "you fuckin presumptuous asshole. Greeting people naked. Assuming you’re good enough to train someone outta the blue. Why u see someone doing you’re routine and ur like 'OBVIOUSLY this person wants to be blessed with my guiding presence’ just like wtf dude” and boy was I Wrong™
The flirtatiousness, of course, and why he was such a prick??
Now I can’t stop laughing at this face HES SO FUCKIN PISSED. This is the “u aint shit” smile. he’s like “BITCH YOU BROUGHT ME HERE. FIRST THING YOU DO IS SCREAM IN MY FACE AND THEN RUN OFF. EXPECT TO BE COACHED AND NOT EVEN IN TOP FORM. WHO ARE YOU besides the love of my life"
Eros, of course, makes sense, and why after Yuuri was like "katsudon=eros” Victor then drank till dawn the next day
Oh, and my favorite, why he actually cried when Yuuri rejected sleeping with him:
I thought he was being over dramatic and that it was a joke!!! But no!!! Victor Nikiforov is actually crying alone on his first night in Japan, sleeping on a futon after the boy he’d been dreaming about and given up his whole life and career as he knew it for to be with rejected him unapologetically!!!! I wanna be dead
That’s the fun part tho; there was no way we could be interpreted Victor’s actions as anything different! How drastically differently we’ve come to view Victor really gets me. We needed that final piece of the puzzle to see how romantic, lovesick, sweet, affectionate, caring, and really truly afraid of Yuuri’s rejection Victor actually is. Not to mention his tendency towards depression. Victor is teasing, silly, affectionate, heart on his sleeve, yet so restrained in what he shows others from years upon years of dealing with the public and press. He relishes in new and surprising experiences but likes to have an overall plan. I don’t think he would randomly change jumps and sequences so naturally while performing as Yuuri does, just to see someone else’s reaction, or at least not as often. And again, we know now that his coming to Japan wasn’t fully spur-of-the-moment–he’s been thinking about it for so long by that point. Victor just needed one last push to go track down Yuuri.
Victor isn’t affectionate with everyone, but only with certain people. Seriously, he only touches 3 people throughout the whole show: Yuuri, Yuri, and Yakov (you can probably guess who he’s the most physical with out of those 3). Poor baby must be so damn touch starved! No wonder he’s all over Yuuri; he’s craving romantic affection. Well, depending on your interpretation of Victor’s past he’s rather starved for genuine affection. My own theory is that he’s had many an odd sexual encounter in the past, but Yuuri is his first serious romantic relationship. He’s clingy and action-oriented and kinda doesn’t know how to act. That’s okay tho, Yuuri doesn’t know how this works either.
Victor started out as being so cold and lonely; the only place he felt he could find any semblance of living or love was on the ice, but he felt he had to work alone to be able to survive. Yuuri and Victor are a lot alike in that way; they both loathe to accept help and turn inward to try and deal with issues. This obviously doesn’t always work, and sometimes you need a little help. They both had to learn through each other that that isn’t shameful or wrong–they can rely on others if need be for assistance.
This is a super nice edition to the show, considering that a major theme of anxiety is shame around one’s own abilities and weaknesses. To see a model of growth like that is really fantastic.
So, overall, who we thought Victor was:
Highly sexually experienced (and likely romantically experienced)
(oh!! what I think is super interesting about these shots is that you can’t see Victor’s eyes. When you can’t see a character’s eyes, it implies hidden feelings or motive)
(someone wrote a fantastic little meta about Victor during the ring exchange, read it here!)
Starved for love, affection, and life
And so, so infatuated with, lovesick for, and soon enough deeply in love with Yuuri Katsuki
(This post really had no purpose…its just me talking about how much I love Victor Nikiforov)
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