I just rewatched the episode of My Hero Academia where Hawks kills Jin and I posted about it. Someone asked me in the comments about my opinion on Hawks, because at the moment I posted I had mostly on Jin's side. But their comment got me thinking deeper about my opinion on Hawks as a character, a plot device, and what he brings to the world of My Hero Academia as a whole.
Honestly, it's going to take a lot to parse my feelings about Hawks. As of right now I think my heart hurts for his failed potential. Hawks' story is as much a tragedy as Jin's is I think. The hero commission failed Hawks in a major way, and Hawks failed Jin because of it. I don't know if we officially know what Hawks was made to do as a servant of the Hero Commission, but I believe it's alluded to that he virtually took Lady Nagant's place. In short, Hawks has been murdering people since he was very young. Through no fault of his own, Hawks was sculpted into this person who by default believes death is not only a way of saving people, but maybe even the only way to save a person.
Now this is no shade to Hawks. He doesn't know anything different. He no doubt has a good heart, that comes across during his fight with both Jin and Dabi. His desperation to bring Jin in willingly was noble, and somewhere in his heart he clearly felt cared for Jin in a way.
This whole discussion surrounding "saving" someone who seems like he doesn't want to be saved, ties in perfectly with Midoriya's struggle with Shigaraki. Midoriya is the only person who has hope left for Shigaraki at the end of it all. Even Shigaraki's own grandmother has resigned to killing him. I have to wonder what Horikoshi is trying to say about the heroes given all these dynamics between villains with tragic stories, and heroes who seem to take place at the center of their raging whirlwinds.
Throughout all of My Hero Academia, heroes are looked up to as untouchable figures. The general public knows they exist and even look up to them, yet when they see them in person, they act as if these people are more than just human. Almost gods if you will. Which leads me to a theme I've become increasingly aware of in My Hero Academia.
The concept of hubris is something that has been touched on in nearly every plot and subplot. If you are unaware, hubris in its most plain description means "excessive pride or self-confidence". However, if you were to look deeper, the word has ties to many Greek tragedies and stories. Still this trope is bigger than simple overconfidence. In each Greek and Shakespearean tragedy hubris leads to swift and vicious retribution.
This concept is prevalent in many places and characters in My Hero Academia, but none so prevelantly as Bakugou, Enji Todoroki, Hawks, and Nana Shimura.
In most every single one of these cases the hubris starts with the belief that each of these heroes think they know what's best simply because they are the best, or because they are in positions of power.
Bakugou's hubris brings about All Might's loss of OFA as retribution. Enji's hubris brings about Dabi and his destruction as retribution. Nana Shimura's hubris brings about Shigaraki and the rise of AFO as retribution. Hawks' hubris brings about Toga's anguish and through that the Final War's "Sad Man's Parade" as retribution.
This is to say, heroes who lead with love and humility rarely face these issues in My Hero Academia. Midoriya being the most clear representation of this in his drive to save each and every person no matter how "evil" they seem. Not only does this drive showcase his humility, but--just as those who had to reap what they had sown because of their hubris--so does Midoriya reap the benefits of his kindness and humility.
Gentle Criminal has to be the most perfect example of this. Although to many--and to myself admittedly--Gentle's storyline felt uninteresting, Gentle Criminal is vital to the overall message of My Hero Academia. Gentle holding the literal weight of the world on his shoulders during Midoriya's final battle with AFO, simply due to the fact that he felt inspired by a boy who had treated him with more kindness than he'd ever received before. More than this, during the Final War, Midoriya's kindness and love seems to spread like a plague, touching people across the world seemingly changing the literal future that Sir Nighteye had seen.
Now that I have gone off on a tangent, I will get to the point. All of this backstory and everything I have noticed is the basis for my struggle with Hawks as a person.
At the end of the day, Hawks couldn't find a way to save Jin other than killing him. I do not think this makes Hawks a bad person nor do I think what Hawks did was evil. Arguably, what Hawks did was necessary. What gets me is that Hawks decided at the end of the day to solve the problem the quickest and the easiest way possible.
Once again this concept is not new to the world of My Hero Academia. Gran Torino does say to MIdoriya before his vigilante arc that "Sometimes you have to kill a person in order to save them.". Nana Shimura too, reflects this sentiment, until Midoriya informs her that he refuses to resort to death unless absolutely necessary.
This is what makes me think Hawks is the product of the hubris of the hero world just as much as Jin, Dabi, and Shigaraki are. The hero commission, who led with the idea that death is a solution to their problems, are the people that sculpted Hawks to become a person who resorts to death first.
Adversely, Midoriya is someone who feels and loves with every atom of his being. Midoriya as a person and as a hero has never once tried death first. This is a characteristic not everyone shares, but that is not to say that Hawks did not, at a certain point in time share this one thing with Midoriya. Hawks' history may actually even argue the opposite. When Hawks was a kid, before the commission got their hands on him, he was very similar to Midoriya. The commission only took notice of Hawks and his power because, much like Midoriya, Hawks reacted to a life or death situation before he could even think. The result was the salvation of an entire road full of people.
It's not surprising or too much of a stretch to believe that whatever Hawks underwent as a servant of the hero commission killed that self sacrificing and loving part of himself. Much as the commission did to Nagant.
This all makes me wonder, if Hawks had not been there that day to save the people on that road, whose to say that he would be a hero? Looking at the kind of people that the League of Villains attracts, does Hawks not fit the bill? If Hawks had never been given the opportunity to grow into a hero he would've ended up much like Jin Bubaigawara, Dabi, and Shigaraki.
That is what hurts my heart the most. The hero commission turning underpriviledged children into weapons of war against other underpriviledged children who never understood that they could've had better. The hero commission failed with Nagant. They continue to fail with these poor children who are raised up to become people so filled with hate, fear, and despair like Dabi or Toga or Shigaraki. Like an ouroboros, the hero world contiues to eat its own tail, and continues the cycle of death, destruction, and misfortune.
Had Hawks ever been shown another alternative; had he ever met Midoriya and spoke to him perhaps Midoriya's love could've spread, in that infectious way that it seems to do, and Hawks could've found a way to truly save Jin.
Instead here we have a tragedy told in two parts. Two children who had been failed by the world at large, then failed again by those in power who had the time, tools, and money to change the course of their lives if they had taken the time to actually care.
It's devestating to me that if Hawks' had been allowed to flourish as a child instead of becoming a weapon for the hero commission that he might have learned how to connect with people. If he had allowed Jin into his heart, maybe they could've connected the way Ochaco had with Toga and the way Midoriya had with Tenko.
There is so much more I want to say about the whole of My Hero Academia, but this brainworm has already consumed so much of my brain power that I'm now struggling to connect ideas about the other concepts and parallels I have noticed.
Maybe in the future I will expand upon other things if anyone would like to hear about it. I would like to dive in deeper on the parallels between Ochaco and Toga and Hawks' and Jin. As well as the realization I had that Gentle Criminal's story mirrors that of Atlas.
Anyway tell me what you think!! And shout out @animedreamworlds for putting this brainworm in my head! <33
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