Narrative as an Active Force and Izuku as an Embodiment of True Heroic Ideals
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:
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.)
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