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Yuuri is the character who should carry on Victor's legacy and be his successor because he is the one that does it out of love. What this does not mean is 'Yuuri deserves it bc he's Victor's fiance'. What it does mean is that he wants to do it out of a desire to honor what-
Victor has put out there, to honor his legacy as a skater and as a person. 'Look at the Victor that lives on inside me' is exactly what he says as he surpasses Victor's greatest heights.
There is nothing wrong with the POVs of the other skaters on Victor*, but the idea that-
There is nothing wrong with the POVs of the other skaters on Victor*, but the idea that-
-the person who VICTOR wants to see surpass him, who Victor wants to see win (at least) five world titles, and the one whose skating was able to bring Victor back to the ice, being the one who carries his torch post Victor's retirement?
Poetic cinema.
Poetic cinema.
(another small thing I like is that Victor was almost the same age Yuuri is at the end of the series when he won his first world title and started his winning streak. He was only about eight months younger.)
In juxtaposition, Yuuri is something that Victor chose for himself. Yuri is not. He cares about Yuri, but the decision that Yuri was gunning to be Victor's successor was made by other people. Yakov sees Victor in Yuri, but as we learn throughout the series, Yakov does not know-
Victor as well as he thinks he does. He continually misjudges his decisions. I also don't think Yuri WANTS to be seen as Victor's successor. He has a complicated relationship with that (no fault of either of them really).
On the contrary, I would propose the narrative angle that he is, if anyone specific, Yuuri's successor.
(recall that Yuri is baby so even if Yuuri doesn't retire until he's as old as thirty, Yuri will still be like twenty-one.)
(recall that Yuri is baby so even if Yuuri doesn't retire until he's as old as thirty, Yuri will still be like twenty-one.)
Occasionally I've seen Victor fans say that they love Victor too much to allow Yuuri to surpass him, or even to allow Yuuri to win gold over him. I don't understand this. I think the most loving and meaningful ending to Victor's career is him willingly passing on that torch-
-and passing it to Yuuri. Being able to win silver, but still be proud of himself, because now he's skating on his own terms (and because the winner is his student and fiancé!). He is STILL Yuuri's coach, and it's in that role, that he found love and happiness.
It strikes me as a shallow interpretation of Victor's character to be angry at the idea of him losing to Yuuri.
