#Fyodor and Nikolai will always refer to each other as 'friends' and talk about their 'friendship'

[kikizoshi]

I think I finally figured out how to describe how I like to think of Fyodor's thoughts about Nikolai.

My Fyodor sees Nikolai as a beetle on a chessboard. He doesn't see Nikolai as a piece he can direct, or even part of the game at all. If Nikolai happens to nudge a piece in another direction or even knock one off entirely, that still doesn't really have anything to do with the game--it's not like Fyodor can change or predict Nikolai's actions (well, actually, he might be able to, but he refuses to). So, the only thing he can really do is decide what he'll do in the wake of the beetle (since he also refuses to kill Nikolai).

The reason he doesn't just manipulate or kill Nikolai is that they're friends, and the foundation for their friendship has always been mutual understanding and honouring of free will. If Fyodor were to try to direct Nikolai, he'd be breaking his trust, and therefore forming cracks in the foundation of their friendship. If Fyodor were to kill Nikolai, he'd be killing his friend, which he absolutely will never do (unless either a, Nikolai asks, or b, Fyodor succeeds in his final goal).

A reasonable question would be, then, "Wouldn't Nikolai wanting/trying to kill Fyodor also form pretty massive cracks in their friendship?" And reasonably, it would, but Fyodor doesn't actually put any blame on Nikolai for that, surprisingly. In his mind, if Nikolai manages to kill him, that's Fyodor's own problem. Though, of course, that's all theoretical. I don't think, if Nikolai were actually to try to kill Fyodor, he would just be unaffected. I think he'd be pretty upset. But right now, he doesn't put much weight in it.

I'm still not quite sure how to put this... Fyodor isn't removing Nikolai's agency from the decision, but more like... he views Nikolai's struggle for freedom as something only Nikolai himself can resolve, and only Nikolai can decide what form his 'freedom' will take. Fyodor can listen and give his thoughts, but ultimately, he can only encourage and help Nikolai to fulfill his goal. And since he wants to help, he does what he can for Nikolai (like getting him that role in the DOA).

It's a bit unfortunate, then, when Nikolai decides that he needs to kill Fyodor, because that means Fyodor can't really help him at all (well, other than talk to him about it, but since he's not willing to try to manipulate Nikolai's thoughts, all he can really do is listen and give his reflections). But it's still kinda weird to me. Fyodor can acknowledge that Nikolai's fully capable of killing him, and if he really decided to, there's actually not much Fyodor could do about it while being unwilling to manipulate or kill him. He also thinks Nikolai's probably capable of killing him, capable of overcoming the 'innate moral brainwashing' not to.

But for some reason, Fyodor just... isn't concerned. He isn't upset with Nikolai. He isn't worried Nikolai's going to kill him. I guess it kinda reminds me of Dostoyevsky, and how he never seems very upset with his father, despite, well, how his father was (taken from his letters to his brother). I've found how Dostoyevsky talks about his father similar to how Marmeladov talks about Katerina Ivanovna (obviously, without any sort of romantic element). Though, there is a pretty massive difference there. While Dostoyevsky and Marmeladov refer to these people as having a 'childlike naivety' that keeps them from changing or growing, Fyodor sees Nikolai as a mature, perceptive and capable person who has the potential to change and/or resolve his philosophical problems.

Anyway, there's something about Fyodor that makes him unwilling to negatively judge those close to him, and so he ends up not having much negative feelings towards the thought of Nikolai killing him (only some small sadness). That's my theory, anyway. All I really know is that, for some reason, Fyodor isn't upset or concerned.

And when it comes down to it, if Nikolai kills him, Fyodor finds that to be more of a failing on his part than a fault with Nikolai. He respects that Nikolai will do whatever he thinks he has to to 'oppose God', but at the same time, Fyodor himself isn't willing to die for Nikolai. But if he does die to Nikolai, that would be due to his own lack of planning, and it's not Nikolai's fault that he failed. (That said, this is all theoretical in Fyodor's head. As I said, when it comes down to the act itself, were it to play out, I'm pretty sure Fyodor would be extremely upset that he failed his goal, and a bit scared to die in general. Not sure whether he'd be willing to kill Nikolai then, though.)

[serpenteve]

[This is a long ask, I am sorry]

I'm Russian Anon from a bit back, and NEVER TALK TO ME about these names in the Gregverse. I can understand wanting to have something that is perhaps Russian-influenced, but then you alter our names in a a way that is interesting, and you don't just ignore things like our patronymics, how we address each other depending on familiarity (For example, you would address your superiors/strangers/teachers as [Name] [Patronymic]. Alina should be addressing Baghra as Baghra Ilyichna), or our family names (For example, if Anna Karenina was born Nikolai, he would be Nikolai Karenin instead).

-Fedyor--Fyodor. Probably changed because people named Fyodor are sometimes given the nickname Fedya. That, or LB didn't realize that in Russian, Фёдор (Fyodor) is sometimes spelled without the two dots of ё (A letter that has the sound 'yo') by natives, so it looks like Федор, which it still is not.

-Malyen is not a Russian name. I have no idea where LB got it. No one names their child that if they have working knowledge of the Russian language. Perhaps a nickname for your child? The root of the name, depending, is found in our words for 'too few' or 'little'.

-The Darkling is named Aleksander, which is a name that means 'Defender of Mankind', so I have questions about what, precisely, his purpose in the story is. He should also be Aleksander [Patronymic] Morozov, and called Sasha, Sash'enka, or even Sash'en'uchka, depending on how close you are to him (Or if you're an enemy and wish to insult him). Perhaps Alyosha, too but that tends to be reserved for Alexey.

-It should be a huge deal that Alina and Mal lack patronymics as orphans. To address someone who is not a friend or family, in tsarist Russia, without their patronymic would've been a not-small insult. They would always be referred to as Alina Starkova or Malyen Oretsev by people trying not to be too rude. They couldn't even be introduced at court without revealing themselves to be orphans.

-The same for Zoya Nazyalenskaya. Either she has turned her father's name intro an unusual patronymic (Suhmevna? Suhmichna?), further marking her out.

-It would be easy to denote intimacy (Or scandal) if say, Nikolai was inviting Alina or Zoya to call him Nikita or Kolya.

-Or, if you want to show Alina and the Darkling being in love, Alina was being called Alya or Alinoch'ka by Aleksander.

-I'm sorry for another rant, but our naming system is useful for story drama, interesting, and not even that difficult!

Ahhhh I love Russian forms of address! It's such a handy way to immediately denote the relationship between two characters just by what they call each other 💕💕And thank you for the mental image of Baghra sarcastically calling Aleks something like "Sash'en'uchka" in public and him immediately faking his death and moving to Tsibeya ☠️

It would have been interesting if both Mal and Alina didn't know their surnames and went by the Duke's name (Alina Keramsova, Malyen Keramsov) and that immediately told everyone that they were orphans and how that would have affected their identities. Also, I read somewhere that "Malyen" is the "Ravkan" form of "Malcolm" which...........................ok whatever leigh

At some point, I just decided that the Gregverse doesn't have diminutives for the sake of simplicity, but then in the second book, Nikolai refers to Vasily as "Vasya" so then that means that diminutives DO exist and we have to contend with characters like Genya or Misha who everyone calls by the diminutive??? What is their actual name??? *cue x-files theme*