The Narrative in My Hero Academia is an Active Force for Heroic Ideals and punishes those that stray from the Path of a True Hero. Izuku is an Embodiment of True Heroic Desire and Ideals. Izuku has and can save those that stray from those Ideals. Izuku will someday be tested on those ideals.
(Oh geez this got so much longer than I thought it would be. Hhhhh I’ve been working on this for days…)
What do I mean by “the Narrative is an Active Force?”
The Narrative is just what I am calling the overarching path of the story’s morals. The core ideology that is present in each of the characters aiming to become heroes. And the question that must be asked while walking that road, “What is a True Hero?”
Based on my understanding of the series as I’ve read it, a True Hero: Saves Others Both Body and Heart, Gives Hope in Uncertainty, Pushes Beyond Limits
It is an Active Force because it affects characters in physical and symbolic ways. It lives and works through the characters in the story (Sort of like karma but I prefer comparing it to the Force from Star Wars. Appropriate given Horikoshi’s love of using Star Wars references). That Force is a living idea, the Heroic Ideal. The students and pro-heroes of My Hero Academia strive to follow those ideals – at least in part or facets of them – by their own choice, in their own ways, in their drive to be great heroes.
So, what happens when someone starts down the path of the True Hero, only to stray or turn their backs on core aspects of it? They are punished by that living force.
Examples of the Narrative punishing those that stray from the True Hero Path:
All Might
The Symbol of Peace, Pillar of Society, an Embodiment of a True Hero.
We are shown that even as a kid, he had a vision of a better world – one that had a Pillar. Someone that could save with a smile and put the public at ease. He became that hero, changed society, and for decades was the Number 1 Hero because at that time he embodied what it meant to be a True Hero.
That is until his first fight with All for One. My understanding is it was during that first fight that All Might lost his temper – much like he started to do at Kamino. In his rage at AfO, he started fighting with the intent to get revenge. This is the moment he “fell from grace.” He fell off the path of the True Hero.
He intended to kill and believed he did. In that moment, he turned from the ideals of a true hero. (A True Hero doesn’t aim to kill his enemy. Exception might be made if there is someone innocent in direct danger because of the enemy, but even then that is iffy. A True Hero certainly does not seek revenge.)
As punishment for turning from the path of a True Hero, Toshinori is slowly stripped of his ability to be a hero. His injury slowly weakens him and steals time away from him. And before meeting Izuku, he is also stripped of his hope and optimism that fueled his dream to begin with.
And that hopelessness leads him to at first say Izuku could not be a hero without a quirk. Something he must have been battling internally because he was losing the use of his quirk. And Izuku’s question is probably reminded him of what he had to face every day in the mirror as he grows weaker. What is he without the use of his quirk? Certainly no hero, he thinks.
(So much more under the cut. I’m so sorry mobile folks.)
[disco points] i’m upset about shouto todoroki at all hours of the day and i pray that horikoshi doesn’t shackle him with a sudden 180 in how he views his father, or god forbid make him express any kind of remorse for hating the guy up until he nearly died on live television
[breakdances] the last thing this kid needs is more conflict and turbulence regarding his abuser, as it would really only serve to make it that much harder for him to distance himself from what happened to him and his family at the hands of a man who is still the furthest thing from a true hero despite looking like one to uninformed spectators, and therefore hinder his healing process
[does the cabbage patch] forgiveness is not the best or only way for a survivor to find closure; it worked out with his mother because she was a victim as well, and they share something in that experience. there is no way in hell that same method could work with the person who tortured them this way in the first place, and neither of them should ever be expected to consider him with compassion or sacrifice their own well-being to accommodate his presence in their lives
[vogues] forgiving an active, consistent and unchanging abuser would be far different than forgiving someone who did something terrible once due to extreme, singular circumstances and—while still unexcused—was not part of a pattern or a longstanding, insidious plan. i have my own separate and specific feelings about rei, but she cannot and should not be compared to endeavor; not in terms of who they are, what they did, why they did it, their impact on shouto, or how he proceeds to interact with them in his future
[moonwalks] shouto is absolutely entitled to any contradictory feelings this situation with endeavor may stir in him; he’s literally watching this happen while surrounded by a bunch of his friends—the pressure is immense! it definitely isn’t helping to ease the adrenaline that comes with this kind of situation whether he wants it or not. it makes sense that his reaction falls out of alignment with how we’ve seen him regard endeavor in the past, when his head was clear and there was no obligation (be it indirectly from others or involuntarily from himself) to address even the idea of his father with any kind of passion or concern
[funky chicken] but while it isrealistic to feel a number of different things for your abusive parent, and to lose grip on your own logical view of them when something shocking happens, i really just don’t think that’s how horikoshi is looking at it and i have my doubts about how the aftermath will be rendered either way. healing isn’t linear or clean or instantaneous, but there is a limited space in which he has to craft this storyline and realistically (given his track record and the fact that the story at large is about so many different things at once) it is probably not being approached through that particular lens of deep psychological realism
[drops into a full split] so if horikoshi fucks it up he owes me his kneecaps, $60,000 in cold hard cash, and the rights to his story so i can fix this among the many other things i can’t trust him to handle correctly
And Sometimes a Potato 