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theartisticintrovert · 1 year

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here's how innocent nikoto truthers can still win

[stumbles in two years late looking like the pepe silva meme] Hello Milgram Fandom. I Am Exceedingly Normal. let me tell you about my Innocent Nikoto theory bc i am going Insane.

first off, so i dont have to type "innocent mikoto" and "violent mikoto" thirty thousand times, im gonna call Main Mikoto (the one who has no clue whats going on) "Mikoto", and Other Mikoto (the short-tempered one that attacked es) "Nikoto". it's the same concept as calling him "Mikotwo", i just think im funny. also i'm running with the assumption that Mikoto has DID, since that's basically been confirmed at this point.

OKAY here we go!

So, I actually first came up with this theory when I listened to Mikoto's trial 1 audio drama, before I actually heard either the MV or the trial 1 verdict. Please keep that in mind, but we're gonna come back to it later.

Basically, the idea is that it was Mikoto, not Nikoto, who committed the murder. It's been established that everyone who's in Milgram has been chosen because they committed a "murder" (for a given definition of murder). Therefore, Mikoto is here because he killed someone, just like everyone else in Milgram.

At this point (Mikoto Trial 1 VD "John Doe"), there's been a few things established on how the whole "Prisoner" system works:

Prisoners of Milgram cannot attack the warden.

If a prisoner attempts to attack the warden, their attack hits an invisible wall and stops midair (shown by Futa in "Braze You!", and again later by Kotoko in "John Doe"). If the prisoner attempts to restrain the warden, their arms will stop halfway and they'll no longer want to (shown by Kazui in "Gouging in the Night").

The warden can attack the prisoner with no repercussions. (This one is less important, but I figured I'd mention it anyway).

Basically, if you're considered a prisoner by whatever standard Milgram uses, congratulations you can't attack, restrain, or otherwise hinder Es. With that in mind, how did Nikoto manage to beat the shit out of Es before getting stopped by Kotoko?

Easy. He's not considered a prisoner of Milgram. If he's not considered a prisoner of Milgram, he's not a murderer. Ergo, it's Mikoto who's the murderer.

"But Tyler!" I hear you shouting. "Nikoto is like super violent! He beat the crap out of Es nearly entirely unprovoked! He definitely could've killed someone!"

Yeah but like. First off, someone is perfectly capable of being violent without being murderous. Case in point, me, hello. Not to mention, DID is usually formed as a protection response against severe childhood trauma. Now, I'm no psychologist, so take everything I say with a large grain of salt, but "murder" isn't usually the best way to protect someone.

Anyway, the other part of this that made this theory start forming was the thought that Mikoto is absolutely putting on a front, you know? Yeah he's like nice, polite, kinda ditzy, but also people are 1) perfectly capable of putting on a front, and 2) he pretty much admitted it himself. To quote Mikoto in the beginning of "John Doe":

"I've been holding on to that thought this whole time, and that was also the reason I tried to get along with the others y'know -- because that'll look better on a TV show, right?!"

He's already basically admitted to putting on a front to make himself look good/appear more palatable to others. (Relatable, masking king, etc.) This in mind, the real question is...what is he hiding? A temper, perhaps?

I actually was discussing this theory with my friend, and they suggested that Mikoto could have developed Nikoto in response to the murder, to continue with his belief that he's a regular guy who did nothing wrong. Basically, the timeline would then go:

Mikoto kills someone -> Panics -> Develops Nikoto and shoves the memories of the murder onto him -> Forgets about the murder -> Goes to Milgram

Luna (my friend) also mentioned that in his interview questions, Mikoto mentions that he "used to be a night owl, but recently started going to bed early". In the MV, the parts that take place during Nikoto's sections of the song all appear to take place at night, implying that Nikoto is actually new. Which raises the question: how the hell did Mikoto make it to 23 without realizing he has DID?

The answer? He didn't, obviously. However, it's perfectly plausible that any other alters he might've had have since gone dormant (due to therapy, distance, etc), and he assumed he was fine now. Then, when the murder happened, his brain hit the panic button and split again, resulting in Nikoto.

This gets even more plausible if Mikoto is the kind of person where, when he gets super pissed, his brain sort of...."whites out" and he loses memory of what he did until he calms down a bit, comes back to his senses, and realizes "Oh Fuck".

This could be what led to the split, especially if he rationalized it as "It wasn't me, it couldn't have been me! If it was me, I'd remember! It had to be someone else!"

Cue the creation of Someone Else. If Nikoto were to be formed in this way, it stands to reason that his purpose (and his trigger) is to protect Mikoto from the idea that he (Mikoto) could've killed someone....which would explain why he came out when Es mentioned the possibility that Mikoto could've forgotten he murdered someone.

Another thing that I didn't actually come up with myself but rather read in the comments of the video is that in the song, the verses (the parts at night) are in a 4/4 time signature, while the chorus (in the broken living room) is in a 3/4 time signature. Keeping this in mind, it's fairly apparent that the 4/4 parts are supposed to be from the POV of Nikoto, while the 3/4 parts are the POV of Mikoto. I don't know enough about music to say much on why this is the case, but it does at least make it fairly easy to tell who's supposed to be "speaking" (ie the lyrics). The comment also mentioned that after the second verse, the song switches to 3/4 and stays there, indicating the rest of the song is about Mikoto, not Nikoto. This, paired with the ending line of "Please tell me it's a mistake, that it's a lie, that I'm right. I'll forgive you if you tell me now" (followed by him punching the viewer in the face), just strengthens my belief of Mikoto knowing Damn Well what he did, if only subconsciously.

So basically the idea is that Nikoto is, despite being violent and short-tempered, completely innocent of the murder. It was Mikoto who actually committed the murder, shoving the memories and blame onto Nikoto after the fact.

Now that that's out of the way, let's move on to the adjustments I had to make after listening to the Trial 1 verdict summary.

Jackalope mentioned that Mikoto is, somehow, immune to Milgram's control. Therefore, the Trial 1 punishment of "rejection" and increased physical restraints don't apply to him, and he's a rogue element. The reason he gave was that since Milgram couldn't account for the soul of Nikoto (+ any other alters Mikoto might have rolling around up there), they can't actually impose the control onto Mikoto.

Now, I don't actually trust Jackalope any further than he could throw me, so I kept chewing on this. Because honestly, the whole "violent alter is actually a murderer" thing is 1) a way overused trope, and 2) are we really doing this in 2022? It's such a cliche that it completely negates the point of this being a mystery, so it feels.....cheap, somehow. After thinking about it for a while, I came up with an alteration.

To recap my thoughts on Mikoto vs Nikoto (since this turned into an essay):

Mikoto: Prisoner of Milgram. The "real" murderer. "Innocent" mask, tries to appear as a nice and nonthreatening person. Susceptible to Milgram's control and all the trials/tribulations that come with being voted guilty.

Nikoto: Here bc he shares a body with Mikoto. Violent, short temper, easily annoyed. A lot ruder/more informal than Mikoto (uses 'zo' endings rather than 'yo', etc). Didn't kill anybody. Possibly formed in response to Mikoto killing somebody. Immune to Milgram's control, immune to the "prisoners cannot attack wardens" rule (both by virtue of him not being a prisoner).

So here's the change: Milgram did manage to impose the Trial 1 punishment on Mikoto.....but not for very long. See, at the end of "John Doe", Mikoto was fronting again (after waking up from being knocked tf out by Kotoko). Sometime between "John Doe" and the Trial 2 commencement notice, the punishments were imposed and Kotoko went around kicking the shit out of the guilty prisoners.

In Mikoto's case, the control held only until Nikoto started fronting again, at which point it slipped. The restraints weakened, allowing Nikoto to break the straps (or at least the ones on his hands) and get rid of the restraints. We know Nikoto started fronting again at some point because when Kotoko attacked, Jackalope said that she and Nikoto ended in a draw. Mikoto, especially now that he refuses to believe he's capable of hurting anybody, has the attack power of a Squishmallow. Nikoto, on the other hand......yeah. Especially since his whole purpose is to protect Mikoto.

As for the mental aspects of the punishment (ie the hallucinations, nightmares, and anxiety caused by the rejection of their thoughts and reasoning), I think it only works if the prisoner knows that someone died due to their actions. I'm basing this on Futa's second voice drama "Baptism in Fire", and his description of what he's felt after being voted guilty.

Basically, he said that it feels like there's countless eyes on him, digging into all his mistakes and sins and bringing up everything he's ever done and lambasting him over it. With that in mind, I think the way it works is that it takes not only what Es decided (and thus their thoughts/the fan discussion) in general, but amps it up to eleven and amplifies the opinions of everyone who voted the person guilty. BUT since Mikoto literally isn't even aware someone died because of him (beyond just. Y'know. What Es told him), it doesn't work because he's able to brush it off as just lies.

I also read (I think on the wiki?) that Mikoto is suffering from headaches, which could be a result of Milgram attempting to impose the rejection punishment on him when he's in control, but since being confronted with the idea of him being a murderer is what triggers Nikoto, it's not actually working.

Anyway I'm an Innocent Nikoto truther, partly for the reasons outlined above and partly because if I were the one in charge of where their characters are going, that's what I'd do lmao. Thanks for reading my massive essay, please feel free to ask me about my brainworms.

#ty talks #milgram project #mikoto kayano #kayano mikoto #mikoto milgram #milgram theory #theory #long post #<- just in case the readmore breaks #milgram spoilers #innocent nikoto theory

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