Is It Just Me Or Was Endeavor's Arc Never About Him Deserving Redemption??? Nor Was He Ever Actually

is it just me or was endeavor's arc never about him deserving redemption??? nor was he ever actually redeemed? like, atonement vs redemption are two very different things, and watering him down to "he is a horrible person henceforth he does not deserve to be written a redemption arc." in my opinion, that's just a tragic waste of his character.

endeavour's existence as a hero actually brings a very important and nuanced layer to the world of MHA and also brings up the question; is a person's good deeds enough to measure their worth?

think about it: todoroki enji is an abusive father and husband. he bought his wife, participated in a genetics scheme, neglected two of his children, pushed his eldest to his limit psychologically, and physically abused his youngest.

but think of endeavour: the number two hero. his efficiency rates are the highest in the country. he keeps property damage to the absolute minimum and runs an agency with an expansive network of sidekicks. and what is this man's job? he SAVES LIVES. it is his literal JOB to SAVE PEOPLE, and he is THE BEST in his field. it would be one thing if he were incompetent, but endeavour is literally incredible at his job.

the dichotomy proposes a philosophical question: would you remove this man from his job when he is so instrumental to the protection of the population?

i understand how severe his abuse was. i understand how severe abuse IS. it ruins the very foundations of who you are. todoroki enji effectively has ruined his family. but he has something that many abusers do not have: guilt.

his guilt does not absolve him of his crimes. he is aware of this. but he is attempting to take accountability. and while he is entirely too late, would you rather have the man not try at all? and for the people who want him locked up: what is endeavour serving a prison sentence going to do for the population? sow growing fear and distrust in a society where people are losing faith in their heroes?

there's one more layer that people forget, or in some cases, refuses to acknowledge: he loves his family. he only comes to love them far too late. and thats another thing people forget: abusers can truly love the people they abuse. and enji loves his kids, you can see it in the way he embraces natsuo after he thought he almost died, how he embraced touya even if he thought he would die with him, how proud he is of shouto as a hero, and how thankful he is for fuyumi. he still remembers rei's favorite flowers and always has them sent for her. the problem is that it's all too late. too little, too late. but it's THERE and i find the writing incredible.

i just think that endeavour is such a brilliantly written character. not redeeming endeavour would've made him a cartoonishly evil character, and undermined the themes mha depicts. what makes a hero? what level of morality does someone need to have? if a man is a murderer, but ends up saving another in a heroic act, is he now a hero? redemption is never something people deserve. it is something they earn, and whether endeavour was truly redeemed was a personal decision, that only the people he abused could ever make.

the beautiful part of it all, was that every todoroki had a different response to it. because every single one of their responses were valid.

natsuo walked away and went no-contact. enji would never see his future daughter-in-law, or grandchild, or anyone from natsuo's family ever again. and that's something enji will forever have to live with.

rei stays by her husbands side. she chooses to forgive. if only because she feels guilty too.

fuyumi genuinely wants to reconnect her family, not just for enji's sake, but for her own. because she wants to cling to the only family she has.

shouto wants to establish his own identity away from his father, and become a hero in spite of what enji has done to him. because it's who he is.

and touya wants to burn it all down.

these are all very, very real responses to abuse and destructive family dynamics. and it was all beautifully written. keeping up with the todorokis is honestly some of the best family writing i've seen in shounen. its rare to have a full family written into the picture with such realistic and complex problems, that show their lives as a family not just from childhood, as almost all animes do, but how their dynamics shift and change as everyone in the family grows and moves on with their lives. families aren't just shed for narrative purposes like it's mostly written in manga and shounen. they stick with you almost your whole life. and endeavour is an important part of the tapestry created- "not redeeming" him is the same as throwing him out of the picture.

because endeavour is a realistic depiction of an abusive man. and i know from personal experience- abusers are not cartoonish monsters. they're real people with emotions like everybody else. and the harm they inflict on others always backfires on them- they'll feel it for the rest of their lives. and so does endeavour. he destroyed his own family, and he's not getting it back. he knows this. so he's not going to try and get all of them to love him again, he knows that would he pointless.

hence the atonement. he's going to be there from now on, however he can, because he knows that nothing he can ever do will fix his mistakes. he will never be at that dining table with his family.

anyway lol end of ramble i just think he's an amazing character and stories should explore more themes based around him and the todoroki family

More Posts from Revilloutionaire and Others

2 months ago

true fanfic author culture is being incredibly invested in writing your own literature but your brain turning off the moment you have to do an essay for school


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2 months ago

SUNRISE ON THE REAPING SPOILERS

“I first saw the girl at the Hob when she was just a baby. Burdock was so proud of her, he toted her around everywhere. After he died in that mine explosion, she started coming alone, trading the odd squirrel or rabbit. Tough and smart, her hair in two braids then, reminding me for all the world of Louella McCoy, my sweetheart of old. And after she volunteered for the Games, that nickname couldn’t help but slip out. I didn’t want to let them in, her and Peeta, but the walls of a person’s heart are not impregnable, not if they have ever known love. That’s what Lenore Dove says, anyway.”

When we first meet Haymitch, we can instantly tell that he has made a habit of distancing himself from tributes. That he has nobody left he loves, so he pushes away anybody else that tries to come into his life. But now we know how full of love Haymitch was. How deeply he loved Lenore Dove, how deeply he loved his mother and Sid, his friends, even Hattie. Everything Haymitch did was out of love. He was reaped because he tried to protect the girl he loved. As he was reaped, he did his best to protect his sweetheart, 13-year-old Louella McCoy he grew up with. He tried to distance himself from the other tributes, but eventually he couldn’t help but love them too.

He couldn’t help but call Ampert “Buddy.” He couldn’t help but call all of the district 6 tributes his doves, and mourn all of their deaths, no matter how little he actually knew them. How Louella was replaced, and how he wanted to hate her replacement, but gave her the name Lou Lou and protected her like their own. Haymitch was the one who initiated the hug of all four tributes from 12. He was distrustful of Wyatt, and grew to mourn him like a brother. He carried Lou Lou like his life depended on holding onto her. How he hated Maysilee Donner, and thought of her as the most stuck-up girl in 12. He called her Sis. He grew to love her like the sister he never had. She died as his sister.

All of the love that Haymitch didn’t need to give, and yet he loved so endlessly and so whole-heartedly. And with every person he loved, he lost them, and lost a part of himself. No wonder he didn’t want to let Katniss and Peeta into his heart. He had already tried so hard to push away Burdock, who relentlessly tried to care for him in his despair.

Then, in comes Katniss Everdeen. She carried with her a piece of every person Haymitch tried to push away. She was Asterid, Burdock, the Seam children he grew up with, all in one person. He didn’t want to let her in. He couldn’t have.

And yet, Haymitch couldn’t help but call her sweetheart.

Because Katniss was a woven tapestry of every person he had ever loved. She was his best friend’s daughter. She carried Lenore Dove’s songs. Louella’s skin and hair. Wyatt’s protectiveness. Maysilee’s fight, Maysilee’s resistance, Maysilee’s pride, Maysilee’s pin. And in the arena, she painted the best poster Haymitch and Maysilee could’ve ever hoped for- Rue, surrounded by flowers, her passing in dignity and not as another number in the games. And refusing the Capitol their winner by eating the berries with Peeta.

It’s no surprise that Katniss and Peeta broke down Haymitch’s walls. Haymitch had the flint striker, the spark. And Katniss was the fire that caught 25 years later.


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3 months ago

can we acknowledge how insane izuku was? like he was literally insane. surely we realize that as a fandom, right? he’s insane-

oh. we don’t? oh okay let me just compile a list…

-GRABBED onto All Might’s leg in an attempt to have a single conversation with the man

-WITHOUT THOUGHT ran into a literal villain, and attempted to save HIS BULLY while having NO QUIRK or COMBAT experience

-Cleaned ALL OF DAGOBAH BEACH (a literal landfill) on his own without question

-Broke his bones the first time he used his quirk. Knows the pain of breaking bones. HAS NO PROBLEM WITH BREAKING THEM OVER AND OVER AGAIN

-breaks his bones just to fight Katsuki.

-jumps IN FRONT OF ALL MIGHT (a 15 year old boy trying to save the symbol of peace) to take a hit for him from shigaraki in the USJ

-Executes his plan with the mines during the sports festival, LAUNCHING HIMSELF USING EXPLOSIVES WITHOUT GUARANTEE OF SUCCESS (he literally could’ve died if he landed wrong)

-broke his ARMS JUST TO PROVE A POINT against shoto (nobody asked him to do that??? he just did??? never had to do that???)

-Uses the name associated with a very specific insult towards him specifically into his HERO NAME (Brave move. like who the heck does that)

Let’s not even begin to discuss how Izuku is in a constant HANDS OR NOTHING mindset. The amount of times he could’ve called in for a professional or a teacher for backup, but instead electing to dive headfirst into combat regardless if he thinks he’s gonna make it out alive or not. He has no problems running into the portal during the league of villains training camp raid if it means he can save Katsuki. He used OFA at 100% regardless of the intense pain he felt just because Eri was rewinding him. When he meets gentle, he doesn’t even try to call a teacher or text a friend. NOPE! He’ll fight the fucker himself. Nobody told him to go vigilante. He chose to go vigilante because he felt it was necessary to do handle shit on his own. Forget recuperating and figuring out strategy with the class. He’s gonna go fuck all and find Shigaraki himself.

Also, LET’S NOT EVEN BEGIN with when things involve Katsuki, Izuku is a MASSIVE CRASHOUT. His biggest character moments are him having to fight against his crashout tendencies. He isn’t even a self-destructive crashout. He’s a destroy absolutely everything around him crashout. HE IS A PROBLEM

Extenuating circumstances aside, his mindset is ABSOLUTELY not a common one for the average 15-year-old. Let alone the type of sunshine nervous cinnamonroll the fandom makes him out to be. He’s a nervous wreck, yes. He’s also very kind. But he is also literally insane.

It’s why I love him so much tbh


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2 months ago

#hearmeout#bkdk#stsg#allofalienstage#sacrificeneedsnopermissionitcomesandgoesanywaysdespitetheoutcomeatleastthelovewasthere#alienstageisjustsacrificeandsacrificeoverandoveragain

it’s always “why did you sacrifice yourself and leave me behind” and never How was the sacrifice Was sacrificing yourself fun it looked fun

2 months ago

president snow traumadumping on a teenager about his nightmare situationship pt.2

haymitch seeing a bunny: "how could I possibly kill a creature that brings to mind my girl?" 🥺

snow seeing mockingjays:


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1 month ago

as prosthetics continue to advance and become more and more technologically capable do you think that we as a species will ever reach a point where people will pay to get amputated so they can get a bionic arm/leg/eye? i don’t know. i feel like we are insane enough to do that


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3 months ago

omegaverse may be for the freaks, but have you considered that its also a political commentary on divided power structures, patriarchy, gender roles, societal expectations, rape culture, and intersectionality in gender dynamics?

all while being for the freaks!


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2 months ago

Katsuki headcanon that he Fries His Hand on the pan to check the temp while frying something.

Well, not literally. Firstly, I imagine that he has a heightened heat tolerance to handle his explosions. Secondly, nitroglycerin ignites at around 200 degrees celsius (400F), which happens to be around medium heat on the average stove. So whenever Katsuki needs to fry something he just places his hand on the pan to feel the temperature. If it’s hot enough, there’ll be little crackles of his quirk going off from his hand. So when he cooked in the dorms and someone other than izuku saw him do it for the first time, they totally freaked out because it looked and sounded like Katsuki was literally frying his hand.


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3 months ago

can we get more arguing in stsg fics? i want them to yell at each other. like at the top of their lungs. i want to see them yell everything theyve ever kept hidden from each other right in each other’s faces. i need them to be so mad and devastated. please. thank you <3


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revillutionaire

cheska☆she/her♡18 in an eternal state of fandom

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