Victor nikiforov and empathy:
Following my fifth (?) rewatch I found yet another reason to be completely in love with Yuri on Ice, and that is Victor being a wonderfully accurate and non-demonized example of someone with low empathy. Seriously as someone who’s autistic and can’t relate to the influx of “actually we’re all super in tune to other’s feelings and have the MOST empathy!”, watch these scenes because this is what it’s like.
This line at first seems to be Yakov thinking that Victor is arrogant, but Yakov knows him extremely well. He knows that Victor has a hard time viscerally placing himself in another’s shoes, and that’s a major obstacle as a coach.
Victor has trouble understanding what to do in situations that are highly emotional for Yuuri. Instead of being able to directly consider things through Yuuri’s perspective, we see him rely pretty often on environment cues, behavioral cause and affect, or straightforward commands.
He gets his habit of scolding yuri after a routine from Yakov because that’s what he’s familiar with. It’s not something Yuuri responds to particularly well, but it’s only when Victor pays attention to how others react when Yuuri finishes skating that he changes tactic. Victor sees how the crowd is going wild at the (Japan nationals) and it’s only then it occurs to him that Yuuri’s confidence may be jeopardized if he chooses that moment to criticize his performance. This is something he likely would’ve realized much sooner if he could share Yuuri’s stress easier instead of merely observing that it’s happening.
Then later on in episode 7, we get to the scene that actually inspired this post.
At first Victor approached the situation almost like an experiment, trying out cause and effect to disastrous results. When you have a much lower threshold for being able to experience another’s feelings second hand, it’s difficult not to think of other’s negative emotions simply as problems that need to be solved. Problem: Yuuri won’t perform well because he’s too anxious, he will only be MORE upset if he loses, and Victor has already tried to reduce his anxiety to no avail. Idea for solution: raise the stakes and see if increased pressure can replace his nerves with resolve, causing a good performance. Afterward, Yuuri will be proud of himself and happy again. Execute plan, observe results, adjust accordingly. When comfort doesn’t come naturally, this tends to be kind of the default. From experience it comes from a genuine place of caring even when it backfires (and it actually doesn’t at times), basically trying to actually fix the thing upsetting your loved one instead of play acting feelings you don’t get.
… however Yuuri was COMPLETELY within his rights yelling at Victor because regardless of intent he picked the worst thing on planet earth to say in that exact moment. I mean I’ve had my fair share of “oh crap someone is upset and it’s my responsibility” fails but my fuck-
He’s shown to be pretty shit at comforting Yuri/ detached emotionally from the situation, but he is neither coldly unbothered nor strategically hiding it. It may appear callous to bluntly say “I don’t know how to help you” to a loved one who’s crying, but as someone who’s been there, that’s an insanely vulnerable thing to admit. “I don’t feel your pain, I don’t get it. But I love you, and just because I’m not feeling it myself doesn’t mean I don’t care that you’re hurting.”
When Yuri finally just straight up tells Victor what to do, he is relieved and simply does it. Things are different between them after this episode because Yuuri finds the power to communicate his needs clearly and effectively. Victor doesn’t speak “subtlety” well. Yakov and Yurio both speak their mind to him directly regardless of if it’s polite, Which is quite telling because they’re the two characters he has the longest history with. It shows us the kind of communication style Victor is accustomed to and needs to navigate interpersonal relationships.
I’m not making a statement that Victor is autistic or even disordered per say. I feel his unusual circumstances provide enough explanation, but I really do see that he consistently struggles with empathy in the same way I do. He’s probably the only character I’ve been able to see that aspect of myself in with scenes that aren’t played for jokes.
Thank you for this enlightening post! Being autistic myself, I have some thoughts on this as well as I see many hallmarks of autism in Viktor due to which I regard this a valid interpretation (not canon, but more on this at the end of this post). I am careful when voicing this kind of analysis as some fans get easily upset when their favourite character is interpreted in such a way. So apologies in advance in case I step on someone's toes with my findings.
Please view my post as additional data input on the subject.
First (and this is mostly directed at the NTs reading this), when talking about empathy, please note that there are several types of empathy. In the following, I’ll talk about emotional empathy and cognitive empathy. Emotional empathy works well for autistics unless we struggle with alexithymia, whereas cognitive empathy (i.e. putting oneself in someone else’s shoes) tends to be super hard. When talking about empathy regarding Viktor, he shows good emotional empathy and is good at picking up other people’s moods, i.e. when he first spots Yuuri at the banquet, when he worries about Yuuri and sensing when he’s upset, but when trying to help, he messes up because he very obviously cannot put himself in Yuuri’s shoes. However, throughout the show, he slowly becomes better at understanding Yuuri.
However, it’s also obvious that he is blissfully unaware of these issues. For if he knew about them, he would be more considerate from the start and might even communicate his differences to avoid misunderstandings. And this is where I believe that Yakov is mistaken. His harsh reaction when seen in this context, is the reaction of someone who got used to Viktor’s idiosyncrasies over the years but interprets them in a hurtful way because he doesn’t know why Viktor is the way he is. And because Viktor doesn’t know either, this is a constant source of misunderstandings and, hence, conflict. Been there, done that. It doesn’t matter how close you are. This phenomenon is called double-empathy problem and it’s a root cause of misunderstandings in autistic/allistic interactions and matches my experience pre-discovery. (I personally prefer this explanation for Yakov’s reaction, but I think both can coexist within the scope of the show).
Some more reasons why Viktor being autistic is a valid interpretation:
To me, the most prominent hallmark is actually his figure skating talent/genius and the perfectionism he exhibits in this department. (Note that this only applies to a subset of autistics, but the intensity with which we pursue our passions can lead to ingenious results.) Viktor is a once-in-a-lifetime figure skating legend. To bring his vision to the ice, he commissions music and costumes according to his parameters and choreographs his own high-difficulty programmes, which are masterpieces full of transition elements and attention to detail. It is super rare for figure skaters to do all this completely on their own, not even Yuzuru Hanyu does all this himself and I consider him a one-in-a-million talent. In addition, Viktor’s skating is super precise. All these things demand dedication. It’s hinted in the show that the major part of Viktor’s life consisted of skating and it’s not a stretch that due to this high level of dedication, eventually, he burned out and lost his inspiration over it.
Viktor is blunt to the point of being outright rude. His bluntness is also reflected in his flirting. No wonder, Yuuri runs for the hills.
Suffering from loneliness due to a lack of meaningful connection is common in autistics as we often form bonds through shared passions, which often isn’t possible with allistics to the extent we crave this. Viktor is canonically lonely (and I doubt training is the only reason for this as many top skaters practise a lot but still maintain friendships) and forms a bond with Yuuri over their shared passion. Loneliness and burnout can also cause depression (especially in autistics) and there are hints that Viktor is depressed at the beginning of the show.
Masking: Viktor masks throughout the first four episodes of the show and then starts taking off the mask because of Yuuri (the beach scene). He takes on carefully crafted personas when being around people, and doesn’t know how to be himself.
Making sudden life-changing decisions due to the onset of a new passion: Autistics struggle with change and there are a few hints that Viktor can’t handle it very well, too, but this trait can be overthrown by a new passion absorbing our entire existence. I see this reflected in Viktor’s decision to move to Japan and become Yuuri’s coach, which the video of Yuuri skating his free programme incites. At this point, Viktor’s long-time passion for skating has withered away, but he hasn’t yet a new passion to focus on. This kind of limbo can cause mental health problems for autistics and they can end all of a sudden when we fall in love with a new passion. Been there, done that. It’s canon that the video struck Viktor like a bolt of lightning. His passion for skating isn’t dead, but changes to the desire of being Yuuri’s coach (romantic feelings certainly play a role here as well) which ultimately leads to the reignition of his passion, or rather, a reinvention as he becomes Yuuri’s coach AND rival.
Given all this, Viktor being autistic is a valid interpretation. I’m not gonna say he IS autistic as this would mean it’s canon but it’s neither mentioned in the show nor stated by the creators. Please note that many autistic-coded characters accidentally come across as autistic because they’re either based on common autistic stereotypes with manifest as e.g. a socially awkward nerd or because their creators are undiagnosed autistics.
However, I regard this interpretation as way likelier and better backed up by the source material than interpretations of Viktor being evil/selfish/having ulterior motives towards Yuuri which I still see circulating in the fandom.
PS: Yuuri, too, exhibits several autistic traits, and some of them overlap with Viktor’s while others manifest differently. It’s a spectrum after all. And if I were to interpret both characters this way, it’s hard to unsee why they fit together so well.
