#aug. 2022

So, Pre-Fyodor Sigma could transfer his memories into Fyodor the Body, so that his consciousness lives in Fyodor the Body while he, Sigma, lives his life as the wandering slave.

However, since Sigma's Ability only transfers memories, and not intelligence, looking at it from a BSD plot perspective, I'm not sure it makes sense.

Because, Fyodor had his whole rant about Sigma being "an average man", and how "a desperate, average man is the scariest thing of all".

So, from purely what we know in the BSD manga so far, I don't think it's likely for Sigma to have ever been Fyodor, since they're essentially polar opposites when it comes to how their minds work. It goes beyond a difference in personality.

However, from a 'Crime and Punishment' themes perspective, that would still make some sense, and maybe even fit.

Raskolnikov wanted, essentially, to be what Fyodor is. He wanted so desperately to be an Extraordinary Man that he convinced himself for a time that he was, and acted so (well, I'm grossly oversimplifying but... it's a fact that it happened). But, of course, he wasn't, and that brought him down.

So, it'd be interesting if Pre-Fyodor Sigma also had this issue, and decided to try to make himself an Extraordinary Man by implanting his memories into a Book Body with the mental capacity to realise his true potential, or something.

Another main issue, though, is that I don't know if Sigma has any 'Crime and Punishment', 'The Gambler', or even any Dostoyevskian themes at all.

Regarding the little I remember of 'The Gambler': Sigma fits 'The Gambler' in some ways, and not so much in others, I think. He's similar to the main character, in that he's constantly pulled this way and that to do things for people he doesn't know well. His being linked to a casino is also similar, although the main character wasn't the manager or even related to the casino in a significant way, only a patron (I think).

Internally, Sigma wants family, a home, someplace he feels he belongs. I don't remember those being themes in 'The Gambler', but... well, I wouldn't be surprised if I missed almost every theme of that book.

His Ability somewhat fits with Dostoyevsky, maybe, since it has to do with memories and how they can change perception (somewhat), but... I don't know. In the works of Dostoyevsky that I've read (and remember), trying to find or create a home in the way Sigma is hasn't been much of a theme. Moreso managing discord and turmoil within preexisting homes and relationships... Even in 'The Idiot', I don't think that was about Myshkin finding a home.

And regarding Nikolai... I think that's just way too complicated for me. I'd have to know a lot more about Pre-Fyodor Sigma's goals, how/if he knew Nikolai beforehand, how much Nikolai knows, how much Fyodor's changed since being Pre-Fyodor Sigma, if Pre-Fyodor Sigma could even understand Nikolai with the average-level intelligence... just to come up with a take that's probably wrong lol.

(I'm not including the idea that Sigma's been faking his level of intelligence, because I think there'd need to be significant foreshadowing for something so central to his character—not having the same intelligence or eccentricity as the other "demons" around him, yet coping and finding a home in spite of these odds—to be an outright lie.)

So... I don't know. There seem to be cases for and against it, and without properly reading 'The Gambler' again (which I really, really don't want to do), I don't think I can say much concretely.