A Theory on Izaya’s Attachment to Humanity
As the title says, this is a theory delving into Izaya’s attachment to humanity. It will explore Izaya’s origins, his background, and his two relationships - with Shinra and Shizuo. While I meant this to be a theory just about Izaya, there is implication of Shizaya near the end because those words just called for it. But mostly it is a theory on Orihara Izaya, and how he came to be the way he is.
Izaya said to Mikado he wants to see and observe humans other than himself.
“I don’t know about that. I honestly can’t even read my next move. In the end, what I want to see is humans other than myself. How they react in the situation that cannot be expected, to observe that is the biggest motive of my life. In order to achieve that, I will both cause trouble and help as much as I can.”
The narration said in Volume 5 it could be interpreted as a grand form of narcissism - but he never includes himself in the humans he loves.
He was a human himself, yet he loved the beings called “humans’”.
One could interpret it as a grandiose case of narcissism, but he never included himself in the “humans” he loved.
To put it in more exact words, he was deeply in love with “others”.
That could imply Izaya doesn’t love himself.
And from what he said to Mikado, it could be that he’s so true to his own desires he can’t even predict his next action.
It’s like how Shinra said Celty has nothing on the other side of the balance.
Celty may be more kindhearted than even the average human being.
When an average human being helps another for nothing in return, they may hesitate after calculating the costs of the task and the risks it poses to their social status or personal safety.
But Celty has hardly anything like that to put on the “other end of the balance”.
She has lost even her own head. The only things left to lose are probably her pride and her life free from guilt. To safeguard her pride and her guilt-free life, she would choose to help people. So these things would actually end up adding to the ‘help people’ end of the balance.
That’s what’s so awesome about her.
At least I can’t say that I have a human heart like hers.
- Kishitani Shinra, Durarara Volume 6
Considering this, it seems Izaya doesn’t have anything on the other end of the balance either.
That ‘attachment’ of his…When there is one thing he has an eye on, it’s honestly ominous how focused he’ll become on it to where even your own life is irrelevant.
If there is any ‘fear’ towards him it would be that one point.
So, watch out. First, his own life is secondary to him. Anytime I thought “with this he’ll lay off,” he’ll take another step forward and come at me again.
- Heiwajima Shizuo, Interlude: The Man Called Izaya Orihara ⑤, Orihara Izaya and the Sunset
So, does that mean Izaya does indeed have attachment to Shizuo as a human, possibly beyond his ‘attachment’ to other humans? Enough to risk his life that even Shizuo notices?
…Well, that’s not the point.
What if Izaya, like Celty, doesn’t have anything on the other side of the balance?
If humans calculate the costs of the task and risks posed to their social status or personal safety, then Izaya has nothing to safeguard.
He let his own social status go down the drain and outcast himself from society. The social status of money is something he has plenty of. And he doesn’t really care about his personal safety if he can fulfill his own desires.
Simply put, Izaya doesn’t follow utility theory. Gains and costs are nothing to him. It’s like gambling. There was an experiment, the Iowa Gambling Task or something like that, that found that participants with damage to an area of the brain involved in decision making, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, chose the obviously riskier option in spite of losses and showed no galvanic skin response. In simple terms that means they weren’t able to anticipate risks like normal people.
But then Izaya went for a brain scan and there’s nothing wrong with his brain. And it’s not as if he’s incapable of rational decision making.
If Celty lost her head, what did Izaya lose?
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