Just saw a post about why Dabi's character is so frustrating, and I could agree more as a person who actually loves him.
Dabiâs character arc is one of the clearest examples of narrative sandingâdown in the series. Early on, heâs framed as cold, calculating, and angry â but not mindlessly violent. He shows that Stain's ideology resonates with him and wants to rid the world of false heroes. His targets are heroes, institutions, and the system that failed him. But as the story gets closer to revealing him as Touya Todoroki, his behavior shifts into something flatter and more âsociopathic,â almost like the story needed to preâemptively villainize him so the audience wouldnât sympathize too hard with the abused child who was burned, discarded, and left for dead. Instead of letting Touyaâs rage be justified, the narrative broadens it into âhe just wants to watch the world burn,â which conveniently avoids asking why heâs angry in the first place. And in that stupid episode "The Hellish Todoroki Family", he is shown as emotionally unbalanced (trauma dumping on Natsuo in what is obviously narratively portrayed to be a bad thing) sexist (his comments to Fuyumi and Rei) and sociopathic (trying to attack baby Shouto). Laying the ground for fans to say "Look he was destined for evil at the start).
This shift isnât accidental â itâs a cushion for Endeavorâs redemption arc. If Touyaâs hatred were focused squarely on Endeavor, the story would have to confront the full weight of Endeavorâs abuse, neglect, and obsession. It would have to admit that Touya wanting revenge on his abuser is understandable, even sympathetic. And that would make Endeavorâs redemption a lot harder to swallow. So instead, the story redirects Touyaâs rage toward Shoto, the âgood son,â which reframes Touya as irrational and petty rather than someone with a legitimate grievance. Itâs narrative damage control disguised as character development.
The irony is that this actually weakens Endeavorâs arc. A redemption story only works when the harm is acknowledged honestly. But MHA keeps trying to soften Endeavorâs wrongdoing, or shift the emotional burden onto other characters. The reveal of Touya being alive should have been a moment of reckoning â a âyour actions had consequences you canât outrunâ moment. Instead, the story tries to make Touyaâs suffering into a plot twist rather than a moral indictment. Itâs like the narrative is terrified of letting Endeavor be fully responsible for what he did.
Endeavor successfully outruns the consequences at the expense of Dabi.
MHA legit bends over backwards and ruins not only the characters but the entire story for the sake of the morally bankrupt characters because Hori probably knew that no one would empathize with someone like Endeavor when confronted with his sane and valid victim. Because that's lowkey the main goal, make him petty and insane to invalidate him - and even then, it didn't properly work.
Touya still comes off sympathetic, the other victims and him just suffer more, and the abuser still doesn't actually atone despite that being his arc. Like, why bother if you're not going to follow through? It's one of those things where if you can't write it decently, don't include it - especially heavy ass topics like abuse, grooming, abandonment, and so forth.
I genuinely hated how Touya was ruined for the sake of his abuser, especially because I know most of the characters in-universe would've logically turned on Endeavor based on how Hori originally wrote them, including Shoto confronted with essentially what he could've become had he not been "created properly."
It's all just so unnecessary and hurts even Hori's beloved abuser. Like you said, it's not a proper atonement arc, it's just there for the sake of drama.
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