Dabi Does Feel and Does Care About the League
Lately, Iāve been reading posts from people who argue that Dabi never felt anything for the League. While it might seem that way at first glance, I donāt think it should be viewed so superficially, because heās a deeply wounded and very well-written character.
Iāll start by explaining that I know very well all the moments from which people deduce that Dabi ādidnāt feel anythingā toward them. Letās begin with a comment I read, where someone said that Dabi didnāt want to help with Gigantomachia. I donāt quite understand that, because when they first meet Gigantomachia, DabiĀ doesĀ participate. Itās just that the one talking to Hawks prefers to make sure they can trust him. In fact, Dabi tells Hawks, āYou still canāt see the leader.ā In other words, it was a first test. Later, Dabi goes on to help them against the Liberation Front. He didnāt have a personal reason to do it, but he did it anywayāand for Twice, that mission was important; his friend was there. Dabi went.
Later on, during a fight when Compress asks for his help, Dabi at first refuses, but immediately after says, āI mean, ask them.ā And when Twice mentions that Compress took too long, Dabi defends him. Compared to what he supposedly does āwrongā toward the League, things like that hardly ever get discussed.
Now, about the phrase āI never cared about the Leagueāāit shouldnāt surprise anyone that he says that, since he completely represses what he feels. The fact that he says it himself emphasizes that even more: heās trying to convince himself that he doesnāt care. In reality, his plansĀ wereĀ affected by Twiceās death, so even from a purely utilitarian point of view, it must have hurt (if one doesnāt want to call it affection). Still, he smilesāthe same smile he uses when heās sad. He tells Toga that they were born to laugh, that you either laugh or cry, and that way no one will know your weakness. Itās the same expression he shows Hawks, and Hawks even wonders: āIs that the face of someone who just lost a friend?ā
In the same way, when we see him crying on the couch, we could ask ourselves: āIs that the face of someone whoās suffering?ā And clearly, yes. If Dabi werenāt crying at that moment, most people would say, āSee? He doesnāt care about anything anymore; he doesnāt feel.ā But when he fights Shoto and says, āYour brother doesnāt feel anything anymore,ā it makes no sense, because we know perfectly well that he does feel and that he cries alone. Taking Dabiās words literally would be contradictory, since heās constantly trying to convince himself that he doesnāt feel.
Hereās a key point:Ā emotional repression is not the same as not feeling.Ā In fact, several psychological studies show that people who repress or suppress their emotionsĀ doĀ feel themāthey just inhibit or ignore them. For example, a study published in theĀ Journal of Personality and Social PsychologyĀ (Gross & Levenson, 1997) explains that emotional suppression doesnāt reduce the internal experience of negative emotions, only their outward expression. More recent research shows that emotional repression is linked to greater physiological reactivity to stressāmeaning the body still reacts to emotional pain even if the person tries to ignore it. Even sources likeĀ Verywell MindĀ note that repressing emotions can increase anxiety and cause physical symptoms, confirming that repression doesnāt mean not feelingāit means feeling and not being able to express it.
I donāt want to make this post too long, but Dabi is very impulsive and often represses his emotions. We shouldnāt forget that the difference between someone who represses and someone who truly doesnāt feel is that the first oneĀ doesĀ feel but hides it or lies to themselves, while the second one literally feels nothing. The fact that TÅya is able to empathize with Toga and tell her that theyāre alike is also proof of that. Maybe he didnāt have the time or the emotional environment to fully develop, but to argue that āhe doesnāt feel anything for the Leagueā is to see him in a very shallow way.
In my opinion, knowing that Dabi only represses his emotions, itās much more likely that heĀ didĀ care. And it even seems like the League knew thisāthatās why they remember him as part of the family. Yes, he had his own goals, but he never stopped standing by their side. Did he want to earn their trust and use them? Thatās one way to see it. But from my point of view, itās much more likely that TÅya, being someone rejected by his family and used to repressing his emotions, only had those small ways of showing affection. I donāt think he was simply using people as if he didnāt cry every night and were some kind of psychopath.
