The Significance of Nikolai Gogol's Playing Card Eyepatch

Alright so to start off we all know that Nikolai has quite the clown/jester aesthetic! But my theory is that his eyepatch is WAY more than another tribute to his aesthetic. I think it's a parallel to Dazai's eye bandages in the Dark Era.

My biggest evidence?? This panel

This is one of the few moments where we see Nikolai without the eyepatch as he admits to seeing The Light (the concept of morality as a whole in BSD) while also saying that he still chooses to be blind to it. That he has the ability to be good and to feel remorse for his actions but instead CHOSES not to since he prefers the thrill of being murderous.

... the except same way that he chooses to blind himself partially with the playing card over his left eye.

Cirlcing back to Yokohama, we ALSO know very well that Dazai used to cover his left eye back in the Dark Era days before this infamous scene where Oda expands his vision past the darkness of the Port Mafia.

Looks a bit familiar right?? To see these normally very animated characters look serious and contemplative as we see both of their eyes for the first time.

Only ... Dazai choses to remain in the light while Nikolai almost immediately replaces his card. Which is both quite a stark difference but also incredibly interesting when you consider how they have ended up in the manga.

(If we had more information about Nikolai's backstory this post would also delve into the idea of Fyodor being Nikolai's version of Odasaku but unfortunately we don't know that yet!)

To wrap up this little theory here's one last panel of Nikolai just to show the eyepatch firmly in place and interestingly enough NOT bloody even despite the rest of him being covered in gore. Just to fully cement this theory and reinforce my previous idea!

If you guys found this theory interesting or if it was stone cold obvious and I'm just yelling about something that's already very clear please feel free to tell me your thoughts on it !!