I was watching a political scientist and a sociologist today, and they brought up a very interesting topic.
There is an observation that many of the world's leaders do not have children. That is, a large number of people who make decisions about the future of their people do not have children, do not have a direct personal interest in this future. They live here and now, for themselves. And this means that one has no intrinsic need for the future of the world. But only in their power over it. People who have no sense of the future at all. There are many examples in history and modern times of government: when a ruler has children and when he does not. The difference is palpable.
Imagine a woman with her infant in her arms. After all, he or she is the whole world to her. He or she is everything to her. She's willing to let anything happen to her, just to keep this baby, to keep this baby well, to keep this baby healthy, happy, growing up in comfort and safety.
And quite unexpectedly: let's apply this observation to our favorite BNHA story.
In most of the characters before us who occupy leadership and central positions, we can note who worries about the future in general, and who worries only about himself.
The former head of the Hero Commission - he was interested in his leadership position. He recruited young Nagant and raised her to be an assassin who had to follow orders without question. She was faced with having to eliminate those who were not yet guilty of the crime. The former head was not interested in the future of the child he recruited, he viewed him and others as tools.
Or take Nezu. Amazing character, smart, cunning. He runs an entire school, has connections to big people. But he prioritizes them - the children who are under his protection. Even this Sports Festival, which are broadcast all over the country, is for the future of his children - in addition to possible fame in the future, in addition to being judged by others, it is also preparation for real life - when children have to face competitors in the exam to get a Temporary License.
Or take villains. ReDestro. Is he - the leader of Detnerat - interested in the future of his people who trusted him? Who went after him? The secretary who dared his doubts to be voiced certainly wasn't interested in him. Or Miss Curious. She was nothing more than a bibliographer to him. Or Geten - he had raised the boy as a weapon, a shield, but he was not particularly interested in him as a person. A tool.
But take another villain. Shigaraki Tomura and his League of Villains. At first glance - he's not interested in caring about the future, he's barely out of the teenage phase himself. But he does care about his comrades and their future. So far, it's not visible brightly and more like a veil of “I want this and that”, but he listens to his comrades and their desires, their plans for the future. The same Spinner or Mr. Compress are the ones Tomura really listens to, the ones who make him think about the future not only as an object of revenge against the heroic society, but about the place in which they will have to live. Nurtured hatred clouds Tomura's eyes, forcing him to be a weapon in the hands of Doctor and Afo, but still his sanity about the future is there, and it is evident in the arch of Detnerat.
And let's take Endeavor in comparison. What he was like before All Might retired, and after he really became the Number One Hero.
At first he comes across to us as overly ambitious, causing antipathy and even self-loathing. But then, after he faces, shall we say, open criticism of himself and evaluation as a worthy individual, we begin to discover him, his own conflict and his family's history. And when All Might retires, Endeavor becomes nominally the number one hero. However! After he begins to realize what Hero is for in the first place, what Hero fights villains for, he really gets it - what it means. Not just a job, not just to show that he's the strongest. No. He's a Hero precisely to protect the future, to let children grow up and develop in safety. And it is after talking to Hawks, and during the battle with Hood, that he becomes that Number One. From an overly ambitious asshole who only cares about his power and position, he forms and grows into someone who has to care about others, about the future of people who are under his protection already in fact, not just by definition.
But the most interesting thing is Afo. In recent chapters we were introduced to part of his plan for world domination - to be the world arbiter, to control the processes of life in the world at large. Ambitious, isn't it? But as he himself later commented, it's not exactly an exact plan. He has a long term life plan, which will most likely begin to take effect from the moment he defeats the heroes and after he gets the OFA. But we also know that the OFA is not his ultimate goal, nor is it his ultimate goal. But what can be in his plan that is not about World Domination?
He knows what it is to “have” and what it is to “lose what he had”. So his plan is full of different back-up moves and solutions to ensure that he already has exactly the result that will satisfy him. And this means that there is still something to lose, that he is interested in the future of the world ... for someone. For someone in particular. For his family.