(no subject)
player information.
name: Kamai
are you over 18?: By almost ten years
personal lj: /offers cookies?
email/msn/aim/plurk/etc: plurk
characters in abax: N/A
in character information.
series: Durarara!!
name: Izaya Orihara
sex: Male
age: 24
race: Human
height: 5’8.9
weight: 127.7 lbs
canon point: vol. 7 of the light novels, after he's been taken to hospital and treated for the stab wound but before he fully regains consciousness.
previous cr: N/A
history: Have a link~
personality: Izaya is 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 certainly a deplorable person with no redeeming qualities whatsoever, much of his personality conforming to the clinical profile of a sociopath. 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. 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 it just so happens that the situations which interest him the most are damaging and traumatic in nature. He possesses no empathy 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, and he is described as having grown up in an entirely ‘ordinary’ home environment, with perfectly ‘ordinary’ parents (who merely had unusual taste in children’s names), and Izaya himself states 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 cannot be seen to play a significant role in his development as a person. 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 behavior from the outside rather than being embroiled in the behavior himself. 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 been able to develop true friendships. 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. On saying this, he does have one person he considers a friend, 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 a Scottish or 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, hence capturing his attention. Despite his feelings of ‘friendship’ - a term that I would still use loosely when applied to Izaya - 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 desires and aims to live his life in a very particular way, no matter whom that might involve destroying in the process.
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).
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 the manipulative behaviour outlined in the abilities section and his 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 instinct and feeling, 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. They attempted to kill each other on their first day of attending Raijin Academy (the name of their high school, later re-named Raira Academy), 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 that Izaya had co-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 Awakusu-kai were first established, when an executive of the syndicate (named Kine) 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’. 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 quite 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. Within mythology, there is some debate over whether dullahans are the forms 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 he does not, in fact, believe in - clearly demonstrates just how much he fears the prospect of death.
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 color gang, which are described as being Illegal street gangs which wear one kind of color clothes, hats or scarves, in this case the colour being yellow) lead by Kida Masomi (a Raira Academy student and main character in the novels who is a victim of Izaya’s manipulations), Dollars (a ‘colorless’ 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 Ep.24/vol. 3 draws to a close, with Izaya having yet to achieve this particular goal).
Whilst Izaya is undoubtedly 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”).
abilities/powers: Whilst Izaya has no magical abilities to speak of given that he is a 'normal' human, he does possess a number of abilities that might be worth mentioning here. He is an expert in parkour (a method of movement focused on moving around obstacles with speed and efficiency. The main purpose of the discipline is to teach participants how to move through their environment by vaulting, rolling, running, climbing and jumping. He mainly utilizes this skill as a form of escape), he is highly skilled with a knife, and whilst he does not rely on violence in an effort to achieve what he wants, he is stronger than his appearance would have one believe and is capable of defending himself in a fight if necessary.
More importantly - given that it is something he will likely attempt to employ within the game - he is described as having genius level intelligence and is an expert at reading other people's moods and feelings, meaning he is perfectly positioned for strategic planning and the manipulation that he prefers to engage in. He is capable of gleaning a wealth of information on a person simply through observing their body language, their tone of voice and through asking salient questions. An example of the extent of his ability in this area is demonstrated through his career as an information broker. Informants are generally people such as prostitutes, bodyguards and bar hostesses who naturally encounter underworld activities as part of their daily lives, and are able to make some petty cash by selling the information they gather to the police or to yakuza connections. Izaya, on the other hand, has established a network of such 'part-time informant' connections scattered across the city, all of whom report the information back to him and therefore enable him to exert his influence 'over the atmosphere of the entire city'. The extent of his ability to control and manipulate others and to come upon information that others would not have access to is extensive, and has lead to him establishing the backing of both Awakusu-kai and (to an unknown extent) Asuki Group (two rival yakuza syndicates).
first person sample: Have another link~
third person sample: The darkly glimmering Tokyo skyline stretched out before him as far as the eye could see, the sketchy outline of buildings like concrete ghosts only just discernible in the hazy, light-studded blackness. Izaya felt his heart quicken in his chest as he imagined the teaming, sordid life that pulsed within the night-cloaked city; it left him with a heady feeling of power, to be able to stand there - a silent observer - concealed within the dark heart of the metropolis. It was one of the activities that he liked best; looking down on the world like this from his precarious perch on the roof-top, considering the plethora of human life - of human experience - as it moved beneath him like an ever-shifting wave, just waiting to be discovered.
He was standing dangerously close to the edge, one hand laid with a causal carelessness on the guardrail as he leaned out, affording himself a better view, and yet he felt no fear of falling; this was an activity he had engaged in many times before, and he would no doubt repeat it many times again. This was his playground, and he felt as at home here as though he were a fixture of the environment itself, as though this was where he truly belonged. A slow smile of what could only be described as unadulterated happiness - despite the hollow darkness that lay just beneath its surface - curved at the corners of his lips as he considered this, a short burst of almost childish laughter peeling away from him before dissipating into the night. He loved this city, loved the multitudinous hoards of people it contained, and observing it like this only filled him with a renewed eagerness to discover all there was to know about it, and about them, the humans he so utterly adored.
Finally he leaned in again with a satisfied sigh, hopping back over the guardrail with all the smooth and casual ease of a cat, hands sliding into the pockets of his fur-trimmed coat as he turned to move back in the direction of the external staircase that would lead down onto the street. “Ah, I wonder, I wonder. Just what kind of fun does the city have in store for me tonight?” he was quite alone, and yet he spoke aloud and unselfconsciously as though he had an audience, as though there was someone waiting in the blackness of the night who could answer his question.
case no: Not fussy, allocate him one for me, please~