redemption)

I agree about a Dabi redemption! As for Rei, I hope so. I do think they should reconcile at some point. I would love to see her play a large role in it but her willingness to forgive Endeavor might be a current obstacle and we don’t know what her relationship was like with Touya before… but I would think her willingness to forgive Endeavor means that she will also and perhaps way more eagerly forgive Touya and still love him despite his villainous deeds, which like. He needs.

I’ve been thinking what if endeavor proposed to rei normally? from what I seen in endevoirs flashback, rei didn’t look oppressed she looked fine I’m not saying shotos story is wrong but his story could be full of holes I believe endeavor didn’t use his power to force rei to merry him because endeavor is not the type who would use his power to get what he wants in fact he actually follows the rules and works really hard. my theory is that rei went with him on her own will.

I don’t think Shouto thinks Endeavor used his power to marry her forcefully. He used his power to impress her family who agreed to make Rei marry him. Even if he was polite to her before the wedding, and he probably was, it was not a love match. Arranged marriage is perfectly legitimate and there’s nothing inherently wrong with it if both parties want it, and Rei very possibly consented to an arranged marriage, but he then abused her, so whether or not she went with him of her own will is irrelevant to the later abuse.

when rei and fuyumi strangely forgave endeavor but I think they know something we don’t I don’t trust or forgive endeavor but we might know in there point of view why they do but its too quick judge them because of their forgiveness we need to find out.

Sooo there doesn’t necessarily have to be a reason for forgiveness. If an abuse victim wants to forgive, if an abuse victim still wants to reconcile with their abuser, that is okay. That’s a valid way of responding to abuse. It’s equally valid to be like Natsuo and never want to see your abuser again, or like Shouto and want to take a “prove yourself to me” approach.

I don’t personally think there is any secret behind why Fuyumi and Rei want to forgive him. Rei’s forgiveness also is not reconciliation at this point–she does not want to see him because she and her therapist believe it would be dangerous to see him. Fuyumi wants to reconcile and has forgiven. I think it’s just how they’ve responded and are coping with their abuse.

All the Todoroki victims are coping in different ways. Touya, presuming he’s Dabi, is coping in the least healthy way in that he’s lashing out in a way that hurts others and himself. The other four are all possibly healthy for them–there is no one right best way to respond to abuse. All that to say there might be a reason behind their forgiveness, but I don’t think there needs to be beyond that’s just how they are coping.

Anyone who judges them for forgiving him, though, needs to grow some empathy. Abuse steals power and worth and choices from a human being; letting a victim decide how to cope with it (in a non-destructive way) is empowering. Being told you need to forgive and being told you should never forgive are just as destructive.

I wish people wouldn’t criticize fuyumi is this chapter shes really trying her hardest I really wish hori would give us more background with touya,fuyumi and natsuo so people would criticize fuyumi in this chapter.

I haven’t seen that. 😦

I do think Fuyumi’s heart is in the right place, and she’s coping with her trauma in a very relatable way: attempting to fix it. We already knew this, of course, because we knew Fuyumi stayed living at home to protect Shouto. Fuyumi is presumably in a very difficult position and has been since her mother was institutionalized, since oldest Touya is MIA off cremating things probably and Endeavor wasn’t interested in parenting, so presumably Fuyumi took over that nurturing role for both Natsuo and Shouto. That’s so hard. That’s such an unfair position for a twelve year old to have been put in (and she would have been about twelve then). Fuyumi is a victim too, even if she chooses to forgive, and of course she wants her family back together. That’s so relatable, and honestly, it’s just as realistic as Shouto and Natsuo’s reactions.

However, I will add that Fuyumi’s attempts to help are ultimately not helping, and irl such tactics can be truly hurtful, so I understand people being grumpy about it but I also feel for her and can’t judge her. Like, I’ve had relatives do what she does, and while I get it, it’s still hurtful for Natsuo to have his feelings invalidated. Which is why I’m glad he called Endeavor out on how he felt. Shouto is right when he says it’s good Natsuo got to express his feelings.

Both Fuyumi and Natsuo’s feelings and reactions are equally valid.

Trying to force others to feel the way you do, though, while understandable, isn’t going to work, though I don’t believe Natsuo resents Fuyumi for it and neither do I. They all need to work through their trauma and feelings for Endeavor on their own.

Fuyumi wishing her family would just get along is okay.

Rei forgiving him, but not wanting to see him is okay.

Natsuo being angry and wanting nothing to do with Endeavor is okay.

Shouto telling Endeavor to prove he wants to change is okay.

~~Dabi trying to murder Endeavor is not okay.~~

I will say this chapter did frame Natsuo well, better than the last disagreement with Fuyumi, so I’m happy about that. Each victim of Endeavor’s has a different response, and I’m actually glad that Horikoshi is touching on the different ways abuse victims process and heal. I hope the framing present this chapter keeps up.

Rei’s face in the newest chapter was heartbreaking. It’s a mix of despair, horror, and regret. Bet it happened after she burned Shouto. I can’t wait to see her happy ending.

If Rei doesn’t get a happy ending with all of her children safe and in her arms–including Touya whom I think is Dabi–I’m going to riot. Lol. But yeah, I agree.

Tiny Mystery Todoroki

Who is Tiny Mystery Todoroki? His face we suspiciously have never seen in the two panels he’s been in. Is he a fifth sibling (if Dabi is a Todoroki)? Or just a random other sibling, or Dabi himself? I don’t know if he is a random sibling or Dabi, but I think there’s very little to suggest there is a 5th sibling for a few reasons, though you can never rule it out. I also lean towards thinking he’s Dabi.

The character book officially identifies four Todoroki children, in a particular order:

I guess it comes down to how much you trust the guidebook. It could after all just be interpreted from their sizes, though frankly I think this portrays Fuyumi & Tiny Mystery Bro as about the same size so I would hope there was, like, not just speculation. If that’s the case, then we have an explicit ordering of siblings. Of course, it doesn’t preclude another sibling, but it also doesn’t suggest it. Endeavor could have of course gone out and married someone else before Rei, or cheated on her, but there’s nothing in the story to explicitly suggest such as of right now and evidence in the guidebook suggests otherwise.

What was revealed in chapter 187 supports what the guidebooks suggests.

Basically, the ages we have for Natsuo, Shouto (15-16?), and Fuyumi all suggest an age gap of 3-4 years. Which, probably not so coincidentally, is the age kids are noted to manifest their quirks for the first time.

This seems to suggest that Endeavor was waiting until the child was old enough to manifest a quirk before having another one. Like, suddenly they’re not good enough. Dad of the year right there (this is sarcasm).

There simply isn’t room for another sibling and then Shouto, and nothing seems to suggest that Shouto had a younger sibling. Again this pattern of age gaps might not actually be intended to be a pattern or Shouto could have a younger brother, but there’s nothing textually supporting that, and I think it makes sense in a twisted way for Endeavor stopped producing children like products once he got the quirks he wanted.

The brother we don’t know about, regardless of whom he is, is therefore probably ~25 or Fuyumi’s (older) twin. Despite being short and tiny. (Or maybe Natsuo is just freakishly tall.)

The only possible evidence I’ve seen of a fifth sibling is the naming convention. Fuyumi’s name contains the kanji for “winter” and Natsuo’s for “summer.” That’s led to theories that there might actually be five Todoroki siblings with four of them having a season theme and then Shouto (whose name does not contain a kanji for a season). However, again, I personally don’t think there’s any direct evidence for this when the seasons referenced for Natsuo and Fuyumi expressly connote summer-heat-fire and winter-cold-ice which are related to the Todoroki family quirks (regardless of which quirks they specifically have). It’d be different if one of their names was related to spring or autumn, but it isn’t, so for now I can’t quite buy this.

tl;dr: there’s nothing explicit in the text suggesting a fifth sibling. Of course, there’s nothing outright ruling it out either, but Endeavor only thinking of four kids again strongly suggests four to me.

Now for what we know and don’t know about Tiny Mystery Bro:

1) Unless there’s been a retcon (you never know but I’m gonna go with unlikely given how the manga isn’t even adapting the anime’s hair color retcon) he’s probably the oldest, at either 22 or ~25.

2) He’s also the shortest. ~~I bet Endeavor would not have liked that.~~

3) Natsuo referenced another sibling being abused.

4) We’ve never seen his face, in contrast to the other siblings, which is something an author usually does when they want you to have questions. (aka, foreshadowing. Like the fact that Dabi’s name has also been kept secret and implied it’s important, whether or not these two mysteries coincide.)

5) No one character has mentioned Tiny Mystery Todoroki’s name, & if he were no one who mattered (like, I don’t think Fuyumi or Natsuo are gonna be characters with arcs of their own as much as I would love more of them) there’s not really a narrative point to keeping it hidden from us and BNHA is about as subtle as a flamethrower (pun intended) in its narrative, though it does tend to be coherent. He could be dead, of course, but again, I don’t think anything within the story expressly suggests this (everything seems to suggest Rei throwing water on Todoroki’s face thanks to Endeavor being an abusive husband/dad was The Incident in their family, not the death of a child, though again, anything is possible).

6) Might be minor but Natsuo’s “I’m always in touch with you” which MS translates as “I still call home from time to time!” might carry a certain implication–that someone, presumably Tiny Mystery Bro since the same chapter tells us Shouto writes letters regularly and Fuyumi visits, is not in touch with them. I don’t know Japanese so that’s entirely possible I’m wrong here but given the explicit mentions of how the other siblings keep in touch in 187, I’m suspicious.

Occam’s Razor suggests that Tiny Mystery Bro is the eldest, was abused (or took the neglect harder than Fuyumi & Natsuo, which is also possible since neglect is also abuse and can be just as painful, & it’s Endeavor’s fault even if the pain Tiny Mystery Brother suffered was through a lack of actions rather than direct action), and is supposed to be something we, the audience, wonder about, and possibly the family wonders about him too.

If Dabi is a Todoroki (I think he is) he is probably that strange third child we see. Either way, I think Tiny Mystery Brother is probably very important to the story.

What kind of flower did he give to rei

I am not well versed in botany, so alas, I do not know. If anyone does know (I’m sure someone’s posted about it) do comment!

I didn’t notice until I saw a recent post pointing it out, but the blood from Endeavor’s facial wound is shaped like the flower he gave Rei.

Welp.

Yep. It’s also like, right there haha. I legit pulled up the panels from 187 to compare to 188 and then was like duh, Kate, the flower legitimately… right… above the wound. BNHA does not do subtle.

Karma’s a bitch. But *tinfoil hat appears* it’s also interesting to me that the wound resembles an object he gave to Rei, the wound Rei gave Shouto (because of Endeavor, let’s be real: it’s his fault), and, well-and I saw someone mention it here but it was the day the chapter came out and for the love of god I can’t recall whom nor find the post, I’m sorry person (if anyone knows pls do link so I can credit them!)–if Dabi is indeed the other sibling Natsuo mentioned in 187 as he implied 3 direct abuse victims, he’s got a cut directly down his chin like Dabi has.

Not to mention Endeavor implied the dangers of overheating this chapter, and well, the locations of Dabi’s scars are the same locations Endeavor’s fire comes from, so.

keiid:

– Hey mom…

So is Endeavor going to die? A lot of people think he’s irredeemable because of Shouto’s childhood, but that’s just plain wrong. Plus him being promoted to #1 Hero just to die so soon would be.. absolutely bad writing and entirely pointless without any positive development to follow suit.

Oooh, a hard question. Okay. So let’s address the question of whether or not Endeavor is irredeemable, and then I’ll get into my predictions for this arc, because I do have them because Todoroki is my favorite character so I spend a lot of time analyzing where I think his story will go.

Is Endeavor irredeemable? No.

Is he forgivable within the story, and outside? That’s up to each individual character and reader to decide.

The uncomfortable thing about Endeavor is that he is unquestionably abusive towards Rei, his wife (so glad we have her name now) and towards Shouto. What even does it mean to be the number one hero if the number one hero, who is supposed to save people, is hurting the people he ought to love the most?

Natsuo himself says this. He does not want to forgive his father, and he should not have to. Fortunately for Endeavor, redemption is based on personal responsibility and is not equivalent to being forgiven, nor is redemption or forgiveness equivalent to reconciliation.

If Endeavor truly has not forgotten his family–if he truly seeks to make up for all the wrong he has done–he has to acknowledge that, and not demand forgiveness nor reconciliation. That’s up to Fuyumi, Natsuo, Rei, Shouto, and their other brother whose name we still don’t know to decide on their own, and some readers will probably never like him. I probably am among them, but I want to see his redemption for the story’s sake.

So how does he acknowledge that? Natsuo and Fuyumi are not major characters so I’d say they’re not going to be terribly relevant to it–at least, his redemption will not revolve around them. Rei, perhaps, but she herself says that her doctors advise her not to see him and that tells me Horikoshi does know the implications and sensitivity of the subject he’s dealing with.

So then we have Shouto. And since he’s like one of the main characters of BNHA he definitely has to be involved. But he and Endeavor already have a cordial working relationship. Which isn’t to say Endeavor has been forgiven or redeemed in his eyes because I don’t think he has been, but.

Here’s where I delve into theory territory. We still have one brother, whom we know has a flame quirk (according to the anime anyways when he appeared in Shouto’s memories), not mentioned nor named. I won’t get into the details of the Dabi Todoroki theory aside from saying that I do believe it, and I think this chapter strongly hints at it by leaving that one brother up in the air (the anime has also been strongly hinting at it).

Whether or not Endeavor did anything to hurt Dabi (if he is his son) specifically really doesn’t matter; what he did to Rei and Shouto might have been enough to drive Dabi away and into villainy. If so, then that’s one person (who left the family behind presumably as a result of Endeavor’s abusive behavior) that Endeavor can face head-on to acknowledge his wrongs in the narrative sense. I do think this is going to happen and quite probably this arc as it does seem to be hinting that this will be about Endeavor trying to redeem himself to his family specifically.

Do I think Endeavor will die? Honestly? I think it’s quite likely he will sacrifice himself for either Dabi or Shouto (but Dabi would be there if that’s the case, like sacrificing himself for both of his sons) but I do not know whether he will die because of that. I think he could live, but should he die, he would pass the torch onto Shouto, whom he always wanted to surpass him, who would surpass him in a way far more important than hero rankings: saving Dabi from himself. If Dabi is Endeavor’s son, he has to be saved imo, and BNHA doesn’t really do tragedy so yeah.