I appreciate your opinions, however, I want to address this issue because I feel very strongly about this matter. This is not an attack on you. I just want to explain this as well as I can and I want to try to do this in a manner that is civil and informative. I wanted to make a fully fleshed out post about this but I suppose this will have to be good enough.
The attitude that V displays throughout the game areĀ very much in line with someone being abused. Obviously, Rika and Ray show a lot of these as well, but I specifically am focusing on symptoms V has displayed.
-Withdrawal from friends or usual activities
-Depression, anxiety or unusual fears
-Loss of self-confidence or self-esteem
-Social withdrawal or a loss of interest or enthusiasm
- Avoidance of certain situations
-Desperately seeks affection
Now let me show you a list of things an abuser would do and highlight things Rika has been shown to do to V.
Humiliating or embarrassing you.
Ignoring or excluding you.
Provocative behavior with opposite sex. (What she says to Jumin about being with him if V wasnāt in the picture.)
Use of sarcasm and unpleasant tone of voice.
Mean jokes or constantly making fun of you.
Saying āI love you butā¦ā
Saying things like āIf you donāt _____, I will_____.ā
Guilt trips. (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Making everything your fault. (!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Isolating you from friends and family.
Constant calling or texting when you are not with him/her.
Threatening to commit suicide if you leave.
That is at least half the list. And there are plenty more signs than that.
And speaking as someone who was in an abusive relationship four for years, this is what I have to say about it.
The way V acts, with his passiveness, with his meekness, with his submissiveness to her is absolutely spot on for how an abused party would act.
When I was with my ex, I jumped when she said jump. I crawled when she said crawl. And I became exactly what she needed me to be.
We had a symbiotic relationship where to the outside world we were this cute happy couple.
But the truth of it was so different. I showered her with all of my love and affection and attention. If I wanted to play a game or hang out with friends with it was with her or not at all. I listened to the music she liked only. I wasnāt allowed to read books because I wasnāt paying attention to her. But she could do what she pleased and move freely becauseĀ āI love her right? I want her to be happy!ā So I obeyed her. And I lost myself. I didnāt know who I was or what I liked anymore. I was really only allowed to do things I wanted under her strict approval. Or it would be a fight. And the fight was always my fault. I was the bad one. And I would have to cry and beg and make it up to her and be good and be home alone while she when and cheated on me. I wore what she told me to wear, I did my makeup and cut my hair to what she wanted, I ate what she told me to eat and exercised when she told me to. I chose my fucking college degree to what she decided to do. And I became so dependent on her that I could literally not function without her. I kept all of her dirty little secrets. I obeyed her. As she told everyone how shitty I was treating her for not listening to her, just because I wanted a bit of freedom, and she drove everyone away because they thought I was a horrible person, while she went on dates and fucked other people and brought me apology flowers, I stayed silent. I told no one the truth. I literally begged for forgiveness and submitted to her because that is what she wanted.
And no matter what I was the one in the wrong. She manipulated me. She said I didnāt love her enough, or that I never loved her, or that I loved her wrong. She made me think I didnāt deserve to be happy. She made me believe I was fucked up. She made me believe that I was worthless. I sometimes still believe it. I still obsess over it. I literally canāt let it go. I have been going to therapy for it for four years. I almost killed myself because I literally didnāt know how to function on my own when I finally left her. And the only reason I left her because I definitely would have killed myself and I was afraid of her having to deal with it. It always came back around to me thinking about her. Itās been almost five years and I am still fucking haunted by it literally daily. Itās only been 6 months for V in his route.
And I see the same behavior in V. Every word he says. Every action he makes. All of it. I see it clear as day.
So no. V is not the root of the problem. Rikaās fucked up past was the problem. I guarantee that she was like this before she ever met him. She may have felt suffocated by his affection because she had known none. But that is not Vās fault. It stemmed from really fucked up circumstances she had to face prior. I feel for Rika, I do. But V is not to blame. And I will argue for him until I die.
Sources: (will find more if anyone asks)
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/child-abuse/basics/symptoms/con-20033789
https://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2014/10/13/21-warning-signs-of-an-emotionally-abusive-relationship/
