Source
r/TheOA•
Psionicx

The Oligarchs, the Violin, and Nina's Russian Ancestry - New clues [SPOILERS]

Spoiler

It's been already noted that the "The Oligarchs" book by David Hoffman in the Amazon box in EP 8 is a real book. In the episode, it has one dog-earred page.

The page is only visible on two frames:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/j0ecpbyvr3m8zy8/oligarchs1.png?dl=0

and the opposite page:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fpmfey39iy74m64/oligarchs2.png?dl=0

I purchased the book, but the text and page numbers are not visible in the episode. However, I was able to find the page by flipping page by page around where I estimated it was and looking for the paragraph pattern of open space on the page. Here is the dog-earred page:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uk15042pjas7ctn/dog-eared%20page.jpg?dl=0

This section of the book centers around 1995-1996 during Yeltsin's reelection campaign. As far as I can tell, this is the first time in the book the "group of seven" Yeltsin era oligarchs is mentioned together by name. As expected none of them are Azarov, but it is worth noting that none of them are even LIKE Azarov. After doing some more research (mostly right around the dog-earred page shown here, and wiki) it turns out that the Yeltsin era oligarchs made their riches by taking advantage of the privatization of the Russian economy after the fall of the Soviet Union ("the fall" referenced by Prairie in ep 1). They made a collateralized loan to the Russian government backed by state-owned companies, and when the gov't defaulted on the loans (as expected and planned for) they got stock in the companies at a deep discount thus making them private. They were mostly bankers and media moguls. The only one of the appropriate age that could be remotely said to have been taking precious metals out of the ground would be Vladimir Potanin, since he ended up with a controlling share of Norlisk Nickel- if you can call Nickel precious. Anyway, Potanin has 3 children: Anastasia, 32; Ivan, 28; and Vasily, 17 (in June 2016), which don't match Prairie's criteria. If you were feeling really abstract however, you could take Ivan's age which is appropriate, and do some mirroring/mixing of his name and sex to get Nina (flip the V, change order of letters, flip sex). Also at the time he would also be included in the youngest "sons and daughters" of the scions since Vasily wasn't born yet. This mirroring and alternate reality theme is important, and I definitely have a lot more to say on this subject later, but this is a stretch even for me. For further context and in case there's some clue in these pages I missed, here is the page immediately after the dog-earred one, and the back side of the dog-earred one:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/d0pyuqh1li0zwhs/dog-eared%20page%20%2B1.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/x5hwnrlmowdxfu9/dog-eared%20page%20-1.jpg?dl=0

Also there is a violin case in the closet that French finds that people have been wondering about, asking could she have a second violin? If she is indeed from a Russian oligarch family then she certainly must have a second violin. And if she has only ever had one violin, then she almost certainly is NOT from an oligarch family. Here's why:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7zl0f8n8nslazqk/missingpostercropped.png?dl=0

It's not clear at all but by doing a fuzzy search of the letters I was able to figure out that in the poster it says that she may be carrying a Carlo Robelli violin. Carlo Robelli violins are relatively cheap ($200-$400 range) made in China starter violins. The Yeltsin era Russian oligarch families have ridiculous wealth, in the $10bn range. High end violins are in the thousands, even tens of thousands, which would be petty change to an oligarch, particularly one as interested in her daughter's music as Azarov. And since the Carlo Robelli is mentioned by name, I have to think its a clue- But as with almost every clue in this masterpiece series, it can be interpreted both ways... She's not from a wealthy oligarch family, or she has two violins; having outgrown her childhood one, her adopted parents bought her a new, reasonably priced violin in the States.

Like a nutcase I've spent over a week more than full time every day "working on the OA". I have one or two more days of work to do on something I'm following with it before I present my findings/theories. The post will be entitled "The Lucid Dream" please look for it! :)

Posted Feb 28, 2017, 5:32 PM UTC · edited

4613
Gules•

I thought I had seen on here where someone had examined the length of French's arm versus the violin in the closet and almost certainly determined it was a child's violin. Which only backs up your theory. Good job!

13
egdirdla•

Wow! I'm astounded at the depth of your research! Great job! I'll be looking out for your new post! :)

4
uoflnan•

Looking forward to your post!

3
Jasej•

Has anyone checked to see how many children are in the bus? I would take a look, but I can't get to my netflix account right now.

In regards to the violin, I believe it is highly doubtful that she would already have an adult size violin from her father, hence the violin she has with her in NYC must be one bought by Nancy and Abel

3
damiana9•

5 children on the bus (that we see) 3 girls including Nina, 2 boys

3
Jasej•

Sounds reasonable if we assume the oligarchs all had several children that up to 5 could be ready to start school at the same time :) Thanks for checking

2
kookaburralaughsFirst Movement•

You bought the book? That's dedication.

As an aside it mentions George Soros on that page. I'm not in America but isn't he in the news at the moment?

3
MyDaddyTaughtMeWell•

If you think you've heard about him in the news recently, it is likely because some people on the right are claiming that he has been paying paying people to attend events held by Republicans and hold noisy protests. So, in a lot of the anti-Trump subreddits you will see comments from people jokingly complaining that they haven't received their check from Soros yet. :)

2
kookaburralaughsFirst Movement•

Ahh, that might be it.

1
BerlinghoffRasmussen•

Not really. But he is a constant topic for right-wing conspiracy-theorists, so if you're in the darker corners of the net, you'll see his name mentioned as a bogeyman.

1
damiana9•

Great research! So excited for your new post

2
BerlinghoffRasmussen•

This is an interesting analysis of The Oligarchs. Definitely a good contribution to our discussions concerning its inclusion.

Here is the full text of the page, as posted a few months ago by u/Daefish. (I would always recommend a search of the subreddit before putting in this much effort, but confirming earlier finds is also useful.)

2
RootLocus•

Did it mention somewhere that the parents informed the FBI that Prairie had gone to New York? I don't recall that happening, but I would find it suspicious because it would have meant the Mother lied to the FBI telling them that Prairie told her (vs. wrote a note) that she was going to NYC, because the mother obviously did not reveal the note. But then wouldn't the Father question the Mother about that situation? meanwhile in the show, the father was outraged to find out that the mother knew more than she let on. So why does the missing flyer say New York, New York??

2