I am a sucker for Nikto. It's fair I do him now. I also had fun doing the research and writing about him. Hope you enjoy!
Realistic Nikto: The Man Behind The Mask
Let's talk about the elephant in the room: Nikto is fucked up and there is no changing that.
First of all, let's go back and make you a little depressed. Russian military is borderline abusive. Many soldiers are trained under harsh circumstances, where they try to break them down physically and psychologically. To make it worse, they are treated as replacable, all while being manipulated to stay patriotic and protect the country.
It makes it easier to feel a sense of duty when your own language calls your country Rodina, - the Motherland.
Now, why do I bring this up? Because Nikto became a field FSB operator, which statistically shows is something ex-military do. Usually, there are multiple paths to becoming an FSB agent, either academia, the military, or nepotism.
Academia recruits work mostly on intelligence/desk, meanwhile Nikto is a field operative, so this tracks.
I think Nikto joined the FSB due to the prestige and security you can get. The FSB are highly respected, and since he is an INTJ, he would think long term about his future and stability.
The FSB are basically the Russian FBI/CIA. They are notorious for their deep sense of patriotism and working for the government. His ex-military wiring (where they drilled protect the Motherland into his psyche) also helped with reinforcing this path.
He is more analytical and pragmatic than people give him credit for, so he easily could have analyzed this path to simply be efficient, rather than true patriotism.
But it still doesn't mean that he won't feel betrayed when he gets tortured by Zakhaev. His loyalty was transactional and logical, so when his loyalty is broken, the only logical response is to withdraw it entirely.
Sadly, what happened to him wasn’t something he could out-think or strategize away; the damage went deeper than logic. Intelligent as he is, the human psyche is more fragile than all of us like to admit.
And yet, his ability to continue working is a strong indicator that Nikto is not just broken. He's insanely sane.
PMCs (military companies that do the government work that mustn't be put on paper) are the next natural route for him. They offer him financial stability, continuous work, and a way to unleashe his trauma.
PMC's don't deploy like normal military structures. They can easily keep Nikto at war for 9-11 months a year. And the thing is, Nikto chooses this. His INTJ wiring turns coping into self-sabotage and self-sabotage into workaholism.
His Introverted Intuition (Ni) makes him obsessed with long-term revenge. And his Extroverted Thinking (Te) keeps him in check so he doesn't just spiral.
Nikto is not just a veteran with PTSD and a tragic past. He is someone who chose this path, because he accepted his tragedy and turned it into a mission. And that is the most tragic part of all; he is still himself, but stuck inside an echo chamber of bloodlust.
I hope you enjoyed this read. Let me know what you think about it in the comments and who else you'd like me to analyze.
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