long overdue fyodor theory
There are a lot of theories and speculations about what Fyodor’s ability is, so I figured I might as well add my own about this absolute rat to the mix. The theory I pose is that his ability isn’t the power to kill upon immediate contact.
Let me explain, every person who Fyodor has killed in cannon has been involved with some sort of criminal activity, the police officer, Karma, and that one character in the cello scene who I can never remember the name of are all examples. And as such my theory is this, the ability ways the crimes committed and thus deals out a suitable punishment, this could also account for the development of a god-complex.
To further my reasoning allow me to put some things into perspective. Crime and Punishment (the novel) is summarized as the following (according to wikipedia because I haven’t finished it yet at the point in time)
“Crime and Punishment focuses on the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Raskolnikov, an impoverished ex-student in Saint Petersburg who formulates a plan to kill an unscrupulous pawnbroker for her money. Before the killing, Raskolnikov believes that with the money he could liberate himself from poverty and go on to perform great deeds. However, once it is done he finds himself racked with confusion, paranoia, and disgust for what he has done. His ethical justifications disintegrate completely as he struggles with guilt and horror and confronts the real-world moral consequences of his deed.”
Where I’m going with this is that I highly doubt that Fyodor’s ability is simply to kill upon contact, for starters that’s boring and Asagiri likes to be extra with abilities, as well as the fact that, at least to me, it makes sense that the ability would be something bigger than that.
Characters are often seen to have some form of their personality tied to their ability and by extension the novel they’re based on. Dazai’s ability being to cancel other’s abilities, is a possible reflection of how the main character acts in “No Longer Human”. The same could be said for Fitzgerald, Alcott, and other characters.
To say that Fyodor’s ability is an ability based on judgement would also bring up the question if he has control of it, I would say no. The ability is solely the ability of judgement, and as such isn’t bound to anything. The “I am crime” and “I am punishment” could possibly support this if we assume that the world view of an ability user impacts the ability, and from what we seem it does, (see Akutagawa, Kyoka, Chuya and Yosano). Every person that we have seen Fyodor kill is both human and somehow associated with ability users.
We are all aware that Fyodor sees abilities as a sin, and thus calling himself crime would imply that both being human and having an ability is inherently a crime; and when I say “being human” I mean that given that Fyodor sees himself as a god, and the religious themes of his character, it wouldn’t be a stretch to think that he sees the fact that humans have “lost their innocence” (so to speak) due to Eve’s action in the Garden of Eden that they indeed sinful and inherently bad.
However, If you go by Christianity, none of us are sinless. Even the Saints Catholic Church decided to put into the statues of Sainthood done some nasty shit and everyone knows. If Crime and Sin aren’t that different in connotation, it’s possible that Fyodor’s ability is even more horrifying than that.*
In conclusion, Crime and Punishment is a horrifying ability and we should all be terrified.
*This point was brought up by @yokelish on discord so i stole it
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