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| “ | A quiz that just gives away the answers is boring, isn't it? | „ |
| ~ Nikolai Gogol to Mushitarō Oguri. |
| “ | Ha-ha-haaa-ha! I love that question! The four I killed asked me the same! They all went, "Why are you doing this?" over and over, their blood, nerves, muscles spilling out everywhere! So I actually have two responses. Here's the first - 'cos it's fuuuun! It's fun, it fills me with joy, and it gives me such a thrill! I'm just like any other cold-blooded killer! I have no grand motive! I'm an enigma with no inner persona! Well... that's the first reason I give my victims. Sounds like it would make sense, no? Being killed by an inhuman monster is unfair, but they at least die convinced. However, since you aren't on my list of targets I will give you the real answer. I am a perfectly sane person. I know murdering is evil, and I feel as guilty as anyone would. I'm sure you want to ask why I still kill despite that. Well, let's see... do you like birds? 'Cos I do. The full freedom of flight, not being bound by gravity... it's what I've always wanted. That's why I joined the Decay of the Angels. | „ |
| ~ Nikolai's infamous monologue towards Atsushi Nakajima about his motivation while torturing him. |
Nikolai Gogol is a major antagonist in the Bungo Stray Dogs Part 1.
A former member of the Decay of the Angel, a terrorist group who plotted to rid the world of war, Nikolai specializes in not just being the organization's showmen (as evident with his appearance and personality) but also being their murder expert and plays a vital role in their plans. In order to pin the group's crimes on the Armed Detective Agency, Nikolai presented a "new urgent request" to Doppo Kunikida and the other members of the ADA to stop him from killing the hostages with chainsaw ropes. Thus, it led to have the ADA to be framed as terrorists to prevent them from stopping the Angel's ultimate plan. His character is based upon the classical Russian author of the same name.
He is voiced by Takehito Koyasu in Japanese (who also voiced Joker in The Lego Batman Movie and Zeke Yeager in Attack on Titan) and by Jeff Schine in English.
His Evil Ranking[]
Debatable Validations[]
- Even though he says he feels guilty about killing people, it's left to interpretation if he was telling the genuine truth about it given how he asks Atsushi what part of his motivation he was lying about.
What Makes Him Heinous?[]
- He killed the police officer that was taking Mushitarō into custody. He then abducts him and beats him to a pulp to force his evidence erasing ability to deactivate, resulting in the crimes of various members of the Port Mafia, the crimes of Kyōka and Dazai, and even Yosano's past during the Great War to be revealed to the government.
- He kills multiple government officials in different brutal ways as warnings to the Detective Agency.
- Disguising himself as Tonan's secretary, he gives him documents about Fukuzawa's past during his time as an assassin. He then summons a gun and shoots him in the knee
- He holds Tonan and other government officials hostage in chainsaw ropes to lure the Detective Agency into a trap.
- He traps Atsushi leg in his cape and sadistically stabs it repeatedly while telling him that he finds enjoyment out of killing people. Afterwards, he traps his leg in the concrete.
- He frames the murder of the victims in the chainsaw ropes on the Agency, causing them to go on the run and being seen as terrorist by the whole world.
- Despite genuinely being fond of Fyodor, he plans to kill him to free himself of the emotions he feels towards him, showing how he values his desire for freedom over the life of the person he claims to care about.
- He breaks into Meursault to start a prison break game between Fyodor and Dazai giving them both some lethal injections that would kill them in 30 minutes unless they make it out and get the antidote.
- Although Nikolai has a lot of comedic moments that show how immature and hammy he is, such as his habit of quizzing people with sometimes rhetorical questions, being embarrassed when he realized he didn't have a fourth peace on information for the Agency, and his overall appearance being that of an actual clown, the characters themselves are either disturbed of or annoyed by his behavior and the Detective Agency take his serial murders as serious as any other investigation they've come across. In simple terms, Nikolai is laughably evil when it comes to his personality, but his actions are looked at as twisted and deranged.
- Despite the heinous standard for the series being high, Nikolai stands out as one of the most dangerous villains in the series with how he's more sadistic than even Fyodor is, killing people in ways far more gruesomely than any other character has, and being the one kicking off the Detective Agency going on the run after being seen as criminals by the world and getting targeted by law enforcement organizations like the Hunting Dogs.
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
- He's the textbook example of the word "inconsistent", so much so to the point where he can't qualify as NPE. Despite his horrible and downright brutal actions, Nikolai is a person who goes to war with himself a lot when it comes to what he wants, rather he wants to be understood by someone or to be free from the emotions that he feels, which makes sympathetic and even more sympathetic when he questions if he really wanted to kill Fyodor or not.
- He has a "pet the dog" moment with Sigma as he takes a genuine liking to him and finds him enjoyable to be around despite the latter seeing him as crazy. When Sigma was plummeting to his death from the Sky Casino, Nikolai saved him and tells him that unless he kills Fyodor, he'll never live a life free from being manipulated by people and given the fact that Nikolai values freedom over anything else, that reasoning he gives him for why he wants him to help in his plan to kill the Fyodor is genuine and shows that he sympathizes with Sigma's predicament, even going as to having a saddened facial expression in the manga when he found out that Sigma supposedly was "never going to wake up again" according to the Fyodor.
- In addition to this, just before the prison break game starts, he takes the time to apologize to Dazai in advance about getting him involved in his plan to kill Fyodor. This combined with the above moment shows that he can be affably evil.
- He deeply admires Fyodor despite them both not exchanging many conversations. Although their friendship is completely one-sided with Fyodor not caring about him and just telling him what he wants to here to manipulate him, Nikolai saw him as his one and only friend and the only person who understood him. when Nikolai was "successful" in his plan to kill Fyodor, he was left in a sorrowful state wondering if that's what he really wanted, saying that meeting him changed his life and was holding his severed arm while quietly mourning his supposed death.
External Links[]
- Nikolai Gogol on the Bungo Stray Dogs Wiki
- Nikolai Gogol on the Villains Wiki
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 Inconsistently Heinous
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Port Mafia The Guild Decay of the Angel | ||