This is a story of twisted love

[knifedances]

Izaya appears to be the main antagonist of the series and has been described within the novels as a ‘twisted human being’ and even the ‘worst human being imaginable’. He is a deplorable person with no redeeming qualities whatsoever, some aspects of his personality seeming to conform to the clinical profile of a sociopath (though this is not to suggest he necessarily IS one). On the surface, he possesses a certain level of charm and glibness – something he no doubt makes use of in order to draw in the female ‘followers’ he tends to gather to him within the novels, though these are girls who are stated to have traumatized pasts and as such leave a wider opening for manipulation – beneath which lies a covertly malignant and domineering personality in as much as he sees people as tools to be used for his own self-serving ends, or as interesting subjects for his detached observation. He loves nothing more than to observe people in hostile, traumatic or impossible situations, primarily due to his intense desire to understand and experience everything there is to know about the human mind and about human emotions.

The motivating factor behind his actions is his self-professed love for humans, though this is a love that is unilateral in nature and cannot be applied to individual humans, but rather to humanity as a whole (their traits, what makes them human, rather than who they are as individual people). Despite appearances to the contrary, the love that he describes is genuine, but his method for demonstrating this love – the torture and misuse of those around him – is both twisted and atypical. His interest in humans is all-encompassing to him, and as such he feels the need to know everything about them, to know exactly how they function under a plethora of situations, and the situations which interest him the most are damaging, dangerous or traumatic in nature. He possesses no sympathy for others when observing them in these dire situations – or under any circumstances at all - only an intense yet detached sense of interest.

There are no deep-seated issues or personal trauma lying at the heart of Izaya’s twisted personality as far as has been revealed in the novels to date, and he is described as having grown up in an entirely ‘ordinary’ home environment, with perfectly ‘ordinary’ parents, Izaya himself stating that the way he was brought up bore no bearing on the way he turned out. Whilst his parents were frequently absent – working for an overseas trading company – the lack of their presence in Izaya’s early life isn’t stated to play a significant role in his development as a person, though whether his somewhat detached upbringing did in fact have some mild effect on the way his personality formed is debatable. His intense interest in ‘human observation’ seemingly began at an early age; in Vol. 9 of the light novels he is described as feeling – and more importantly, enjoying feeling – detached from the rest of the world around him, preferring to observe people’s behaviour from the outside rather than being embroiled in activities himself, even whilst at primary school. He is described as being a top student – winning various awards – throughout his years at school, and as being neither loved nor disliked by his peers, having chosen to keep them ‘neither too close, nor to distant‘ presumably in order to better observe them.

Given his desire to remain detached from the people around him and his inability to feel conventional love for any one individual, Izaya has never really been able to develop close interpersonal relationships with the people around him. As such, he is described by Tsukumoya Shinishi (a mysterious character from the novels who continuously frequents a certain chatroom and to whom Izaya goes for information on events occurring throughout Tokyo) as being lonely, but satisfied. More explicitly, this can be taken to mean that whilst Izaya does experience loneliness thanks to his detached and isolated position, it is also a position he prefers to inhabit and one that he has no intention of changing (and it’s worth noting that this is a second-hand opinion, not Izaya’s assessment of himself). On saying this, he does have one person he considers a friend ‘in the conventional sense’, and that person is Kishitani Shinra (the son of an underground doctor who attended the same middle school as Izaya, and who later became an underground doctor himself). Their ‘friendship’ is founded mainly on the fact that Shinra himself has a twisted personality, given that he has no interest in humans at all – aside from being subjects of biological study – all his attention and love instead being focussed on Celty Sturleson (a Dullahan, or headless rider – who within mythology was said to be an Irish fairy that knocked on the doors of the dying and warned them of their impending death. She carried her severed head at her side and rode a carriage pulled by a Coiste-bodhar, a headless horse – though it takes the form of a motorbike the majority of the time within the novels so it can blend in with the modern day society it now inhabits - to the homes of the dying, one of the other central characters in the series, along with Shinra). Because of Shinra’s detachment from humanity – which Izaya views as being more perfect than his own – Shinra is able to invoke feelings of jealousy, envy and irritation in Izaya in a way that he is rarely able to feel in reference to individual humans, hence capturing his attention. Despite his feelings of ‘friendship’ – a term that I would still use loosely when applied to Izaya, and while he is noted to consider Shinra a ‘friend in the conventional sense’ in vol. 9, he also considers him a kind of rival due to his detachment from humanity – he is still able to manipulate and betray Shinra as he would with any other human being, given that Izaya is very true to his own desires and goals no matter whom that might involve destroying in the process. At the end of vol. 9 he does seem to display some bitterness regarding his own ability to casually hurt even those he considers important to him (demonstrated by his manic, bitter laughter and the way he punches the lamppost after considering how he’s attempting to betray Shinra) but ultimately he has no intention of ever changing. His own desires absolutely always come first.

There is one event from Izaya’s youth which is described – and which he acknowledges as having – a significant impact on his personality, and this was an event which occurred during middle school between himself, Shinra, and another student named Nakura. Izaya and Shinra founded a biology club together during middle school – Shinra doing so in order to demonstrate to Celty that he had outside social interests which she had expressed a wish for him to have, Izaya because Shinra had asked him and he was intrigued by the other’s personality – and Izaya began to take advantage of the use of this ‘club’ to begin a gambling ring amongst the other students, from which he was making money. Shinra discovered this and attempted to persuade Izaya to stop – not because he cared, but because he believed it was what Celty would have wanted him to do – and whilst they were arguing on the matter, Nakura (who was a part of the gambling ring) walked in, asked Izaya to return his money, and when Izaya refused Nakura moved as though to stab him with a knife. Shinra intercepted him and ended up being stabbed himself. Nakura fled, leaving Izaya and Shinra to deal with the aftermath alone. This was the point at which Izaya realised that Shinra was more detached from the world of humans than he could ever be – given that he had acted to protect Izaya purely because he believed it was what Celty would have wanted him to do – and which marked an increase in Izaya’s deviant behaviour. Izaya took the blame for the stabbing, stating that in return he would make Nakura pay for it for the rest of his life (he goes on to use Nakura’s name as an alias during a lot of his unpleasant – and often illegal - activities, and continues to manipulate the real Nakura into doing what he wants to the present day). Whether he does this out of some kind of vague loyalty towards Shinra is never really explored.

Izaya’s transition from a model student to a ‘problem child’ was further exacerbated when he progressed on to high school; whilst he outwardly continued to be a high achiever and was never overtly implicated in anything, his interest in human observation had intensified, leading to his manipulative behaviour and eventual embroilment in Tokyo’s underworld. It was also during this time that he first encountered Heiwajima Shizuo (Shizuo – who possesses inhuman strength and an unstoppable rage, particularly in regards to Izaya – is another of the central characters of the novels). Shizuo is the one human who is exempt from Izaya’s love, and in fact Izaya barely considers him to be human at all. They can be considered to be polar opposites (Shizuo functions primarily on pure emotion, whilst Izaya functions primarily on logic and strategic thought), and it is partly this that set them up as enemies from the moment they met. Shizuo was instinctively able to determine that Izaya was someone untrustworthy and deplorable, making him the one person who Izaya is unable to manipulate or – because of the lack of logic behind his actions – even predict, therefore instigating their mutual hatred. Their first interaction with each other on their first day of attending Raijin Academy (the name of their high school, later re-named Raira Academy) was highly volatile, marking the beginning of frequent fights between the two of them. Izaya began to stir up constant trouble for Shizuo because of his hatred – helped by his previously mentioned ‘followers’ – eventually setting him up for a crime Shizuo had not in fact committed, though Shizuo was cleared of any guilt relatively swiftly. It is also during one of Shizuo and Izaya’s many fights that Izaya’s connections with the Yakuza syndicate Awakusu-kai were first established, when an executive of the syndicate broke up the fight and became interested in Izaya due to his already established connections as an informant.

Another aspect of Izaya’s personality which is worthy of note and which lies at the heart of his instigation of certain major events within the novels is his fear of death, or perhaps more accurately, his fear of ceasing to exist. This fear is explicitly referred to by Izaya in the beginning of the novels when he informs Celty – whom he often makes use of as a courier – that he is afraid of dying and would like to ‘live a little longer’ despite the kind of person he is and the kind of death generally reserved for such a person. He is a self-professed atheist and believes that when a person dies they simply cease to exist altogether – there is no heaven or hell for the soul to return to, not even a sense of nothingness when one dies, simply a very final end to everything they were when they were alive. Whilst this fear partly stems from the fact that Izaya’s love of humans is so intense that he wants to be able to go on watching them – and potentially manipulating them – even after he dies, which he would obviously be unable to do if he were to simply cease to exist, it also demonstrates that Izaya is indeed human despite the fact that he would like to view himself as existing outside of – and above – the realm of normal human experience. He still holds human desires and fears, experiences many of the same emotions that other humans feel, and while to a certain extent this is something he would like to deny, on a deeper level he is also very much aware of it.

The pervasiveness and depth of this fear is illustrated by Izaya’s obsession with Celty’s disembodied head, which falls into his possession after Yagiri Namie (the head of Yagiri Pharmaceuticals, a company that deals with underground medical experimentation and who were originally in possession of the head which was a subject of their research, a company Izaya was providing information for) becomes his secretary. Izaya has a theory that dullahans are in fact the form that Nordic Valkyries take after falling to earth, and given that Valkyries are said to reward great warriors by taking them to Valhalla, Izaya becomes interested in waking Celty’s head through ‘battle’ as a form of ‘insurance’, providing him with a way to go on existing after he dies. The fact that he is willing to go to such lengths in order to prevent himself from ceasing to exist – by putting stock in an afterlife that he claims not to believe in – clearly demonstrates just how much he fears the prospect of death. Evading ceasing to exist becomes an obsession to rival his interest in humans, something he realises when he’s attacked in hospital at the end of vol. 7, though this attack causes him to realise just how deeply he’d been obsessed with Celty’s head and subsequently reminds him that humans are his true focus.

Considering that Izaya is – by his own admittance – not a warrior himself, he hopes to wake Celty’s head and be chosen by her as a candidate for Valhalla through the instigation of a war, rather than actively participating himself. It is because of this that he orchestrates the gang war between the Yellow Scarves/Turbans ( A colour gang, which are described as being Illegal street gangs which wear one kind of colour clothes, hats or scarves, in this case the colour being yellow) lead by Kida Masaomi (a Raira Academy student and main character in the novels who is a victim of Izaya’s manipulations), Dollars (a ‘colourless’ gang with no set structure or goal, that was initially set up for entertainment purposes by a group of teenagers online - one of whom is Ryuugamine Mikado, another of the main protagonists and a friend of Kida – which Izaya later became interested in and began to proliferate) and – more peripherally - Saika and her ‘children’ (Sonohara Anri, who is possessed by the demon blade known as Saika, whose desire it is to love humans, wanting to infect them by cutting them with its blade and therefore filling their consciousness with its ‘loving whisper’. Anri is another of the main protagonists, a Raira student, and close friends with the other two). Though a sizeable skirmish does take place between the three opposing factions, the fight is ultimately swiftly resolved by the Dollars and without waking Celty's head (it is shortly after these events that vol. 3 draws to a close, with Izaya having yet to achieve this particular goal).

Whilst Izaya currently appears to be the main antagonist within the novels and represents a significant negative force over the lives of the other characters, his position is one of an 'objective observer' and occasional instigator, rather than an active participant the majority of the time. He is described as being not particularly callous or violent; rather he is just a person who is overly engrossed in his interests, though his particular interests are often significantly deviant in nature.(Quote from the novels:"I'm asking you, Orihara Izaya: Can you actually kill people? With your own hands, can you kill them? Even with your switch-blade you just stab randomly without aiming at anywhere fatal. You fool around, that's what you do. So when all's said and done...you got no tricks up your sleeves except for manipulating others. What a lowlife and coward you are. It makes me laugh. Haha.") He relies on subtle manipulation and his ability to accurately interpret a person's state of mind through cues such as body language and the tone of their voice when speaking with him, combined with his extensive information network in order to get what he wants. (Quote from Izaya, within the novels: “If a person stands on the perilously thin line between one side of things and another......to get him to step into one of the sides, I push......slightly, on his back. That way he'll be able to make his first step, and not waver further”).

There are certain aspects of Izaya’s personality that make him come across as a cheerful, frivolous and – to a certain extent – flamboyant person, from his speech and mannerisms right down to his very movements (for example, he’s depicted as balancing on guard rails, hopping up to sit on the bar whilst swinging his feet at the end of vol. 9 etc etc) . His facial expressions tend mostly to range from an array of different kinds of smiles – from cheerful and ‘refreshing’ to those that have been described within the novels as ‘hideous...barely even human’.

However, his seemingly light-hearted and sometimes playful behaviour can be seen to take on a darker tone when placed in context; for example, it is often employed during situations that would, to any other person, be considered serious, traumatic and sometimes even life-threatening. This is demonstrated in the choice of ‘suicide pact’ advertisements he writes and posts on message boards in order to carry out his ‘hobby’ of meeting up with suicidal people shown in vol. 1 of the light novels; they’re described as being up-beat and sounding far too positive for the serious subject matter they pertain to. The same can be said of his interactions with the two girls he is shown meeting with for precisely this reason; on revealing his true intentions for arranging the meeting, his tone swings from forceful and serious to playful and teasing, acting as though he is playing a game rather than engaging in behaviour that is potentially confusing and even frightening to the girls in question (Izaya: Let me test you! Question one. Why am I sitting nearest to the door? Question two. What are these wheeled suitcases under the table going to be used for? First hint. The suitcases are empty!)

The same can be noted even when he is in a situation that is potentially dangerous to his own person, for example, in vol. 9 when he finally reveals that it was indeed him beneath the linen bag, he goes on to mockingly answer all the questions he’d initially remained silent for, his response when his would-be torturer is finally shaken out of her shocked silence both playful and teasing (Izaya: Ah, so you're finally talking? Goodness, your way of torture was such great fun. I was prepared to have all my nails pulled out, but I didn't expect you to be so serious about not hurting me physically... There are few chances for me to closely observe a torture artist as cute and full of herself as you, you know. I'd gladly give up a nail or a finger for such a rare opportunity - so I allowed myself to be kidnapped. That is all.)

The reasons behind this seeming playfulness and twisted humour can be considered as multifaceted as the rest of his personality. Partially, it can be viewed as a method of ambiguity, a tactic he employs in order to further confuse or deceive people; when faced with his apparent light-heartedness and often almost child-like behaviour people can be left uncertain as to how to deal with him, what to make of what he’s saying and how seriously to take him (for example, his unpleasant comment to Mikado regarding his name sounding like an air conditioning brand is said with a bright smile, leaving the boy laughing nervously as he’s uncertain what to make of it). It can also be seen as creating incongruence between the events taking place and his behaviour, which can have a variety of effects on the people around him; fear, anger, further confusion etc. For Izaya, learning everything to know about humans is of the utmost importance, and the utilisation of such a tactic aids in this as it helps bring out emotions and reactions that may otherwise have remained unobservable.

Perhaps importantly, a large part of why Izaya behaves in such a way is because – despite the fact that he is a deplorable person with no redeeming characteristics whatsoever – he does have a genuinely playful and ‘light-hearted’ side, though as with his love for humans, it’s portrayed in a twisted and atypical way. Whilst human observation is doubtlessly a serious matter as far as he is concerned – as can be demonstrated in his views on suicide and the lengths he will go to in an attempt to understand what causes humans to want to commit such an act, as well as what causes them to want to meet up with others in order to go through with it in the first place – it is simultaneously both a game and a hobby to him. He genuinely has fun and takes enjoyment from the twisted games he likes to play with people (Izaya, prologue of vol. 5: Games are meant to be enjoyed. Am I right?), and believes humans to be his playthings (he states to Anri at the end of vol. 3 after declaring war on Saika: ‘Because all humans are – mine’).

He also engages in some behaviour that has earned him the title of ‘troll’ within fandom, namely his activities within online chatrooms where he utilises different online personas for a variety of reasons, the most notable being ‘Nakura’ (mentioned earlier in the personality section) and ‘Kanra’, a female alias mostly utilised within the online chatroom he founded. His ‘Kanra’ persona utilises a particularly frivolous, playful voice, often messing around seemingly light-heartedly with the other members of the chatroom (Kanra to Bakyura: That's right! He just wants some physical contact! But he's too tsundere to say it, that's all ☆) though more notably he uses this persona to spread rumours pertaining to events and organisations occurring throughout Ikebukuro to the other members of the chatroom.

Again, his reasons for doing so are varied and often slightly more complicated than a matter of pure and simple trolling in the loosest sense of the word. Whilst he does engage in it in order to provoke others into an emotional response that he will find amusing (as with a lot of his offline actions too, and as such, can be defined as trolling) it also has more subtle uses, such as for his primary motivation of manipulating people into taking certain actions that will further his own goals (warning Mikado about specific things such as his behaviour as Dollars’ founder in order to get him to take certain actions as seen in vol. 6), or for developing trust between himself and another person (utilising a female persona for example, can be seen as an attempt to garner more trust and openness than when talking to a presumed male, and he also utilises certain online personas when manipulating specific individuals to trust him, such as Awasuku Akane in vol. 5 of the novels).