The Second’s Quirk: Shit’s about to get absolutely batshit crazy
With the chapter 349 spoilers out and that one subtle detail that’s likely to be a reveal in disguise, I must now make my case for not only my interpretation of what we just learned but what it means for the rest of the story.
Obviously the night is young. I’ve only had these spoilers for an hour and a half, but if anything happened to them I would kill everyone in this fandom and then myself.
Without further ado, welcome to my Ultimate TED Talk.
Everything Makes Sense Now and Other Horrifying Revelations
Table of Contents
I. What is the Second’s quirk?
II. AFO’s obsession with OFA
III. Heroes Rising makes sense now. Yeah, you heard me.
IV. Bugs
V. The Butterfly Effect
VI. This isn’t even my theory’s final form
I. What is the Second’s quirk?
Let me literally spell it out for you.
In this panel, we have Izuku’s thoughts as he tries to use the Second’s quirk (the fact that he’s trying to use it is revealed in the next set of panels). His two thoughts in the bottom right both are pronounced hayaku in Japanese, but note that they both have different kanji: 早く and 速く
Contextually, we assume Izuku is trying to will himself to go “faster,” because that’s what hayaku means. However, hayaku can also mean “earlier.” This word is a homophone, and the kanji switching from one to the other despite both meaning either “faster” or “earlier” given the context implies that the meaning is different each time Izuku says the word.
In other words, “earlier” is implied to be a potential reading of Izuku’s meaning here.
This clue of “earlier” tied with the Second’s quirk means that the quirk likely involves time travel of some kind.
Now what do I mean by this? Am I confirming the Bak-u-go theory? Well, not necessarily. I shall neither confirm nor deny the theory at this time, because there are suddenly a whole load of new possibilities in that.
Based on Izuku’s behavior, I’m thinking the Second’s quirk may be the ability to jump back to a single point in time for a do-over. All things considered, I have no idea how Katsuki would get such a quirk himself and jump back in time. I can think of...a different scenario though (for later).
Eri rewinds humans, but the Second...he may rewind a human’s place in time. He rewinds the world around the user.
II. AFO’s obsession with OFA
Oh, but it gets juicier my friends.
Second: “Or did you try to use my meta ability?”
Izuku: “......yes.”
Second: “Those options, I’m sure I told you to save them for the end. Along with OFA’s strengthening, our meta abilities also were strengthened. As a result, that transformed into an extremely special* power.”
*(Note: This word tokui I believe is the word used for “singularity point” in the canon.)
The Second implies that his quirk has reached its singularity point in power since it’s the oldest quirk stored inside OFA. If he really has a time jump quirk, that means Izuku could activate it and jump back to a point in time he doesn’t intend to. It could be imprecise in timing, and that could spell disaster. It could jump back days, months, years, centuries...who knows? It’s unstable and unpredictable--and that makes it dangerous.
And it makes complete sense why AFO would be obsessed with OFA since the moment it was created.
OFA was created when the Second received it. AFO has wanted the Second’s quirk all this time.
It explains why the Second was the leader in the rebellion against AFO--because with a quirk like that, he’d be able to survive countless fights against him. It explains why AFO wanted OFA before he faced Star(s) & Stripe(s)--because he’d get to fight her as many times as it takes to defeat her. It explains why he never worries when any of his plans don’t go according to plan--because so long as he gets OFA in the end, he can undo any bad outcomes.
With OFA, AFO can undo his own disfiguration. He can possibly even find a way to live forever.
III. Heroes Rising makes sense now. Yeah, you heard me.
There are hints in the story that the Second’s quirk rewinds time. Namely: how are Izuku’s arms not yet destroyed?
Because the more powerful OFA gets, the more likely he’s unintentionally tapped into the Second’s quirk by mistake.
Every miracle can be explained by this, but the most important one is the ending to Heroes Rising.
Consider: What if Katsuki activated the Second’s quirk in order to give OFA back to Izuku? Perhaps the memories of the alternate events travel with the quirk, meaning Katsuki would forget what happened. Only Izuku would remember it.
It’s not the same as a pure do-over. We don’t know what point in time he rewound to. We don’t even know how the quirk’s parameters work exactly. Maybe he can go back in time and change one thing when he does. But the point is...some sort of rewinding quirk that leads to alternate events only one person remembers makes COMPLETE SENSE out of this “cop-out” ending.
It also explains the end of the Overhaul arc, where Izuku using 100% OFA changes the immutable future Sir Nighteye saw. Izuku has the quirk specifically capable of changing Nighteye’s vision: the Second’s.
IV. Bugs
But wait, there’s more!
The recurring motif of bugs. More specifically: the butterfly imagery.
And the kids with the bug-catching tools.
Have you ever heard of...?
V. The Butterfly Effect
Oh, so that’s what the butterfly imagery was all about!
The Butterfly Effect is a concept from chaos theory that basically states a small action can ripple into big waves felt somewhere far down the line. It appears often in time travel stories.
Actually, I won’t be surprised if the Second’s quirk is literally named this.
What I’m saying is, the combination of OFA with a time travel quirk like this would literally BE the Butterfly Effect. The concept of OFA itself is a form of it, a giant power that grows and changes and becomes something monstrous somewhere far down the line because of a single, seemingly-minor action.
The Second says his quirk changed into something very unique and special as a result of OFA. It just works too well, doesn’t it?
Because it explains why we haven’t known what this quirk is until the very end. I mean, what if Izuku jumps back and...redoes the final arc? Or...his first year of high school? What if he redoes the entire story? What if he jumps back to before he was born? Back to the Second’s era? All sorts of possibilities are suddenly open with this...
VI. This isn’t even my theory’s final form
Where do we go from here? Because I said I can’t write off the Bak-u-go theory now, but this has things get a little more nuanced. We could be talking about alternate realities now. Suddenly other theories have some new avenues to fruition. But that’s looking backwards.
How about we look forwards?
I know why you’re all here.
What if Izuku uses the quirk and changes one small thing that leads to big, unintended consequences?
What if that change is the difference in the outcome of something like a coin toss?
What if we get to see a moment in the story where things went right...and suddenly they all start to go so, so wrong?
Don’t you see? Any theory becomes possible with this.
Wait wait I think I got it this time: Yes it’s another Second’s quirk theory (but this one’s correct)
Third time’s the charm.
So there I was scrolling Tumblr in bed this morning, and I came across a classic panel from chapter 322, which I proceeded to stare at in my sleep-addled haze, and it gave me an idea which I threw out there on Discord, and we talked about it, and then, slowly...I figured it out. I wasn’t even trying to figure it out. I was gushing over how much I love chapter 322 and then I accidentally the answer. Pretty much like this:
I know what the Second’s quirk is.
Theory (not in the colloquial “guess” sense but, like, in the scientific model sense): The Second’s quirk is...under the cut, because holy shit you should really consider if you want this spoiled for you, fair warning, I’m fucking right
Table of Contents
I. Accelerated Learning: Izuku’s Runaway Arc
II. Holding hands gives you cooties
III. How did Yoichi Shigaraki discover he had a quirk?
IV. I Am Here
V. Plus Ultra Possession Theory
VI. tl;dr
I. Accelerated Learning: Izuku’s Runaway Arc
I don’t want to start with what I think the quirk is. I think it’s more important to explain a few key story elements first, which will lead us naturally into the quirk’s nature.
In chapter 349, we got our most recent hint at what the Second’s quirk is.
“Faster!”
(Before you ask: no, I’m not gonna mention time travel.)
Izuku writes off Blackwhip and Faux 100% because he has nothing to swing from and the Gs from the speed would destroy his equipment. He starts to brainstorm ways to get to UA faster, but Second warns Izuku not to panic and make bad decisions.
It turns out, Izuku’s solution is to try using the Second’s mystery quirk. Somehow, this quirk is supposed to get him where he needs to go quickly.
This isn’t the only time speed has been mentioned in relation to the Second’s quirk. The last page of chapter 310 includes this panel:
Perhaps the semantics of the English translation are up for debate, because you could translate the Japanese version of this as “things will speed up” or “things will accelerate” among other options. But regardless, acceleration seems to be the theme.
So that’s it then! It’s Super Speed! Everyone go home!
...
Oh come on, that’s way too simple! And practically redundant given OFA and Fa Jin.
And so, I was reading Izuku’s solo arc as I mentioned earlier, and I found there is another instance of “speed” made in reference to the Second.
“Those who can match his pace and keep running alongside him.”
But wait, there’s more! In chapter 322:
“Everyone has always been way ahead of me...”
“I said you all couldn’t keep up with me.”
Do you find it interesting how quickly Katsuki rushes forward to catch Izuku? His leg is stylistically drawn to be practically invisible here.
Izuku’s solo arc is about his hurry to master OFA, but we see him demonstrate all the OFA quirks this arc except the Second’s. The implication is that it’s the only quirk he doesn’t have access to, that there’s something he needs to accomplish in order to unlock it.
We’re also told class 1-A all know what the OFA quirks are.
I believe the Second’s quirk is unlocked in the above page.
We have the Second’s narration of what Izuku needs to bolster himself superimposed over Iida rushing to Izuku’s side--superimposed over Iida holding Izuku’s hand.
Izuku then appears distressed and asks Iida to let go, but Iida refuses...while crying.
That last panel at bottom left? That’s the Second’s quirk.
I’m not saying it was activated though. I’m saying its activation conditions were met.
II. Holding hands gives you cooties
Katsuki knows what the Second’s quirk is, which is why he caught Izuku rather than took his hand. Izuku was shouting for Iida to let go of his hand because that’s how the activation conditions are met.
That’s why Izuku was on this solo journey searching for victims and villains to save. He was looking for people to clasp hands with, which would ultimately lead him to AFO and Shigaraki (you’ll understand how soon).
Now, is it as simple as holding hands? Just physical contact is enough, or the classic all-five-fingers-must-touch quirk factor type? I’m not sure. There could be one or two more conditions required. The first possibility? A connection of the heart.
AFO must know what the activation conditions are, so he’s built in fail-safes to guard against them. Three things happen in this scene that could all be the triggering event for AFO’s booby-trap, and all three could be necessary activation conditions. First: Izuku holds Nagant’s hand. Second: Izuku reaches out emotionally to Nagant, and she responds in-kind; Izuku reaches her heroic heart.
Third: Nagant says Izuku’s name.
The other potential activation factor is that both people who hold hands say each other’s names. Maybe only one person needs to say the other’s name. Maybe they both need to for it to work. I don’t know. What I do know is: Izuku had not yet spoken Nagant’s name before she exploded.
If this is indeed an activation requirement, it explains why AFO has gone to such lengths to hide his real name, why he gave Tomura a new name, and why he’s muddled his own identity such that even New Order wouldn’t work on him.
Remember how class 1-A were supposed to spend this day training to help Izuku master OFA? Katsuki’s moment of revelation in the above page is him noticing that Izuku intends to activate the Second’s quirk with Aoyama: Izuku reaches out his hand and says Aoyama’s name. And they’re both crying. It could be that crying is an artistic representation that their hearts have connected, or it could be that “connecting hearts” just requires them both to feel the same emotion at the same time; Iida and Izuku were both crying when they held hands in chapter 321.
And this means Aoyama probably was rigged by AFO.
Tsukauchi forbade Aoyama from taking Izuku’s hand and gagged him--so Aoyama would be unable to say Izuku’s name in response. They are preventing too many activation conditions from being met because they don’t know how many or which ones it takes to trigger AFO’s traps.
In chapter 321, Iida didn’t speak Izuku’s name, but he did say his own name (Ingenium) and referred to Izuku as a lost child. That may be enough to fulfill the requirement, or it may mean that all Izuku has to do is say Iida’s name now. Katsuki did say Izuku’s name, but does it count if it’s not “Deku?” Does it have to do with what that person’s name is to the speaker deep down? Did that requirement get met, and that’s why Katsuki didn’t take Izuku’s hand? Or did that not meet the requirement, but Katsuki catching Izuku met the hand-holding requirement? Perhaps that requirement is really just a physical touch requirement.
The super-fine details are muddled, obviously, but these elements are all clearly at play here, and that’s all we need for this theory’s purposes.
III. How did Yoichi Shigaraki discover he had a quirk?
Excluding how Izuku ate a strand of All Might’s hair, all artistic representations we’ve seen of the passing of OFA have been through hand-holding. I’m not saying each user activated the Second’s quirk at these times...unless that’s actually what they did.
What I am saying is that Yoichi didn’t know he had a quirk at first, and we all wanna know how he discovered his quirk seemingly by accident. Barring someone using a scanning quirk on him that tells them what his quirk is, there’s only one, plausible, non-convoluted explanation.
Someone else had a quirk that let them use Yoichi’s.
“What? Copy? You’re saying the Second’s quirk is Copy???”
No, it’s much worse than that.
Again, to preface, the finer details of exactly how this quirk works are still unclear, but I’m going to tentatively name this quirk based on the elements it must have.
The Second’s quirk at its most fundamental is...
Switch.
Swap. Trade. Exchange. Substitute. Whatever it’s called, it’s the power to (likely temporarily) switch one similar thing for another.
I say “likely temporarily” because if the Second used this quirk to trade quirks, he could only do it once if there’s no time limit to it. Their original state would have to revert and give him his real quirk back eventually in order for him to be able to use it more than once.
And as Monoma’s existence demonstrates, such a quirk would likely give the Second some intuitive knowledge of how to activate whatever quirk he ends up with. That’s how they learned what Yoichi’s true quirk was.
Maybe this switch quirk only works on other quirks. Maybe it works on something else. I can only say it must work on similar things, like an equal exchange of value, and actually I think it really is just that. It can swap any two things, so long as they are like-things.
This means there is potential that:
People could swap places
People could swap quirks
People could swap body parts???
Did you notice Second’s gauntlets hide his hands, maybe even prevent him from holding hands at all if he even has hands? I genuinely cannot confirm from the panels that he has hands anymore now that he wears two gauntlets. He only wore one when he reached out to Yoichi. Did he lose (give away?) his hand since then?
But gosh, AFO wouldn’t be able to steal a quirk that keeps hopping from person-to-person whenever Second used it, now would he? Or would he even be able to lay a finger on Second if Second could just swap his location with another person’s?
And I have to return to the DOES HE HAVE HANDS??? question because look at this series. Look at the state of Izuku’s arms. Look at how Chisaki now lacks hands (probably to keep Izuku from using the Overhaul quirk and become super OP for the final arc). Look at the noumu. Did the Second’s quirk inspire AFO to get into splicing? Is that why Shigaraki is growing so many hands--to use them as extras for the swap when he finally takes OFA and uses Second’s quirk?
And I want you to know that, in the above page, the Second speaks about making his allies into stepping stones.
This is just a guess, but I’m willing to bet that if one of the swapped items--let’s say a person--is destroyed (killed), the swap cannot revert.
If Second swapped himself for another person and then AFO killed the person who was swapped in, Second would be safe. He wouldn’t switch back to his old spot when the quirk reached its time limit--hence the panel of bloody spatters and implied human toll above.
The Second was in the position of choosing who would live and who would die.
What a nightmare AFO must have had trying to track this sucker down.
Reigning World Champions of Hot Potato.
IV. I Am Here
With the ninth generation of One For All, Switch has become something weirder.
One For All has been stocking up quirks, which means Izuku has multiple quirks to switch.
To tie it all together, I believe in chapter 349 Izuku is considering one of two things: swapping Blackwhip for Iida’s Turbo (which would leave Iida with Blackwhip and no communication to prepare him for the change), or swapping himself for another person to get closer to UA (but that’s a hard choice to make since Izuku’s currently over the ocean).
I think it’s about time I revive my old pet theory about the future of One For All.
“I am here.” All Might says it. But All For One says it, too. Except, in Japanese, they’re each saying something a little different:
All Might says “watashi ga kita,” meaning “I have arrived.” All For One says “boku ga iru,” meaning “I am here/I exist.” Izuku also says “boku ga iru.”
But...that last one can also technically mean something a little stranger: “[you] have me.”
We’ve seen how One For All’s stored quirks have been highlighted as inspired by and used in similar ways as others’ quirks, particularly those of his classmates. Izuku’s quirk analysis and synthesis skills over the series were always leading up to this point: the strategic exchanges of his classmates’ quirks.
But that’s dangerous, because he has no idea what’s happening where each of his classmates are. He doesn’t know if he’ll be able to wield any of their quirks with any degree of mastery. He doesn’t know if the quirks will mix together and make something even weirder.
He also has no idea if he’ll screw up using the quirk (see: the Second’s facial scar and the nebulous state of his hands).
Most importantly, he doesn’t know if he’ll swap for what he intends.
V. Plus Ultra Possession Theory
I said that one of Switch’s activation conditions could be a connection of the heart. I said that could mean the subjects must be in a similar emotional state.
I’m never gonna not bring up how AFO is interested in Izuku’s rage.
AFO explicitly plans to use Shigaraki’s hatred to steal OFA somehow. I’ve made so many, too many possession predictions to count at this point. Suffice to say, I’m convinced Shigaraki’s hatred’s gonna eat someone, and that someone may as well be Izuku, who has been warned time and again to control his damn emotions or else.
There’s a tiny special little section here in this meta about the relationship between quirks and personalities (which may be “hearts” for the purposes of this quirk theory, who knows). The point is, the canon has done its job to establish that quirks and personalities are related.
So, if Izuku starts swapping a bunch of unfamiliar quirks into himself, what will happen to his personality? His heart? His emotions?
Why have so many of the story’s themes centered around the notions of imitating those one admires or loves?
If Izuku loses control of his heart while overusing Switch, he’s gonna go fucking berserk. He could come to feel or know things others know. He could be torn apart by their feelings.
If Izuku loses himself to hatred, he could end up in an accidental swap with Shigaraki. Or, maybe it won’t be accidental. Maybe it’s a self-sacrificing gambit to save Tenko.
Maybe at some point Izuku Switches the quirks from OFA into AFO or Shigaraki, and that lets the vestiges fight AFO just as Star(s) & Stripe(s) did.
All Might’s vestige out here to haunt AFO’s ass forever.
Maybe Izuku is the one who ends up possessed through all of this, and we get a scenario similar to the ending of my Katsuki possession theory, only this way Katsuki is the one who has to connect with a lost Izuku.
I mean, who has a short fuse and explosive nature bombastic enough to overpower Shigaraki’s hatred?
Go get ‘em, Tiger.
VI. tl;dr
I believe the Second’s quirk is Switch.
The finer details of how it works or activates are murky, but at the very least it will allow Izuku to (probably temporarily) swap quirks with whoever meets the activation conditions. At best, it will allow Izuku to swap similar things for each other, which could even allow him to trade places with another person (hence he would become “faster”).
The activation conditions include some or all of the following: holding hands or physical contact, names spoken aloud, and an emotional connection/meeting of the minds/connection between two hearts.
The quirk can do batshit crazy things now that OFA is in its ninth generation, like swapping so many quirks around and utilizing Izuku’s amazing quirk analysis and synthesis skills foreshadowed since chapter 1. Some of these batshit crazy things could result in utter disaster, like, idk, facial scars and potentially missing hands.
Possession theory still strong, friends! Predictions galore!
Enjoy the hot potato game of the century: One For All.
Theory vs Theory: A Second Guess at Second’s Quirk
Y’all take me way too seriously sometimes.
Okay, I said I’d let y’all sit with my last theory post for a while--which was entirely meant to spark conversation, mind you. The deal is this: I had some incomplete pieces of spoilers that night and had only just sat on my translations for like an hour before I wrote my suggestion that time travel and/or alternate events/butterfly effects could play into the function of the Second’s mystery quirk. It was 3:30am and I was excited to throw an interesting idea out there, because gosh darn it that page in chapter 349 has to be hinting at something, and I’m determined to figure out what it is before the big reveal.
I want you to understand that half the time I’m throwing these theories out there, it’s because I’ve connected dots and want to see what other people will make of them. I’m not crafting a foolproof system of meta that the series must logically follow, nor am I saying I necessarily want my theories to be right (because all I’m usually saying is there’s SUPPORT for such a theory, not that I like it). So yes, these observations will contradict themselves at times, because the point is “LOOK AT THIS THING, IT COULD WORK OUT LIKE THIS MAYBE? OR MAYBE NOT? MAYBE THIS WAY?” This is guess work, friends.
I am the Todoroki Conspiracy Theorist meme given life.
Anyways, I told you that to tell you this: I have other theories.
This post isn’t even gonna go into my first guess at Second’s quirk from ages ago (the theory was a light-based quirk, btw). I’ve had further discussions with others, and I still cannot say with any certainty that I know what the mystery quirk actually is (even when I use hyperbolic titles like that for some of my posts). But this post is about those discussions, because there’s another big elephant in the room hinting at some things, and we should probably talk about it.
THEORY: Maybe the Second’s quirk has something to do with teleportation
Table of Contents
I don’t need a ToC for this, we’re speedrunning it
1. Chapter 349 implies Izuku tries to use the Second’s quirk while thinking about how he could get to UA faster if only he could use faux 100%.
2. Chapter 349 isn’t the first time there have been allusions to speed/acceleration regarding the Second’s quirk. A particularly notable instance is the final page of chapter 310.
3. The series has made many allusions to the rarity and interest of warping quirks:
In the MHA canon, warping quirks are considered extremely rare
Class 1-A wondered if Mirio’s quirk was OP warping
AFO was interested in warping enough to steal a mediocre warping quirk and create a noumu specifically to combine multiple quirk factors just to create a superb warping quirk (and if you’re wondering how this ties to the Second’s quirk, see my point in the time travel theory about AFO’s obsession with OFA likely being linked to wanting the Second’s quirk)
4. A warping quirk, depending on its attributes, could require the equipment Second used on his arms (although I’m not convinced that has to be quirk-enhancing equipment like so many people seem to believe; see “red herring”).
5. I’m not saying time travel is necessarily part of Second’s quirk, but some unique version of teleportation could involve time travel, which definitely makes these two theories potentially compatible as opposed to contradictory.
The above panel is from just after Mirio vs Class 1-A, btw.
Anyways, there’s more food-for-thought for everyone. I’m tired now.
okay, i can't agree with all the evidence for your switch theory and think that if it is true the activation conditions are different. BUT i can't deny that there's something about it. it's the perfect in between to the duality of ofa and afo, it conserves the balance of power rather than elevating one person above others. also, i guess i could see a scene where deku swaps ofa/afo (or an aspect of them), allowing shigaraki to come face to face with nana or something similar (but i'm just spitballing).
It's the "something about it" that's driving me nuts, because I know it's correct. I freaking know it is. I just don't know how or why or what... BUT IT'S RIGHT. There are just too many ways in which it can BE right and so I can't pin it down exactly but HOT DAMN IT'S SO FREAKING CORRECT.
JUST TELL ME HOW, HORIKOSHI. WHAT IS THE MECHANISM? WHAT IS THE CONVOLUTED RULE-SCHEME? WHERE ARE YOU TAKING THIS? IS THERE A CHAIN BUILT BETWEEN OFA AND ANYONE WHO EVER HELD IZUKU'S HAND, AND ANYONE WHO EVER HELD THEIR HANDS? IS KATSUKI THE ULTIMATE SWITZERLAND FOR REFUSING TO HOLD HANDS THIS LONG AND BARELY CALLING ANYONE BY NAME? WHAT THE HELL IS IT, HORIKOSHI????
