Analysis Of Shouto-Touya/Dabi Relationship;

Analysis of Shouto-Touya/Dabi Relationship;

Thanks for the ask, @trinityrus. And dont worry. Your english is fine ^^. I actually talk about this a little in here and here but well, lets start.

I think Shouto and Touya’s relationship is very entertaining and amazing because despite the fact that they are siblings but they are strangers but even so, they are same because of Endeavour’s abuse but even that abuse is different so that makes them different.

Shouto and Touya always wanted to switch because they thought other one had it better.

Shouto always had Endeavour’s attention, he was used as tool to make his father’s dreams come true so he wished he could be just like his siblings but that wouldnt make his life better because his siblings are traumatized in a different way. That ‘neglect’, the idea that ‘they are failure’ to their father. Especially we know how it broke Touya.  Shouto cant relate to Touya’s desire to please his father because he never liked his father.

And Touya thinks if he wasnt failure, if he was strong enough, if he was just like Shouto, he thinks his life would be better but it wouldnt because that ‘training’, carrying the dreams of their parents is abuse, even Touya didnt see it that way. They both are miserable in a different way. Whether you are golden child or black ship, doesnt matter, because you are still abuse victim. Basically, just from the start, they unable to understand each other’s sitution.

Shouto as ‘golden child’, he hated his left side. Because his father abused his mother, Shouto didnt want to be like him, thats why he ‘repressed’ it.

Touya as ‘abandonded child’, he hold on every similarities between him and his father because he desperately need his attention. And he was never taught to how to put out the fire, which is why, instead of repression, we see opposite of it. Expression. Him ‘lashing out’. His feelings are out of control and he doesnt know how to stop it.

This is the same dynamic we see between main villain trio and main hero trio. Izuku repress his anger and self destructs while Tomura express his anger and his anger is literally out of control, both hurting himself and others. Uraraka repress her needs and her romantic feelings while Toga express everything. Same for Shouto and Dabi too. Shouto respress his anger and anything relates to his past while Dabi express and hold onto every part of his past.

Earlyroki was also repressing but even when he repress, his anger would come out of control. He would fail miserably and lash out to people around him. His fight with Midoriya calmed him down because he finally see his own wroth outside of his father and he started to heal. But the problem is his flaw didnt go away.

Shouto continued to repressing everything. He endured to work with his father and continued to training under him. We can see how his ‘anger’ didnt go away because he almost killed Tetsutetsu in match. He endures, endures, until he cant anymore. Then his feelings get out of control. Its good thing that Shouto wants to be his own hero but the way system it is, it forces him to work with his abuser and since hero kids are raised to be like soldiers, he is unable to heal properly. He wants to move on and be his own person but its like he is stuck.

Their biggest common point with dabi is that anger that made them more like their father, this is what Shouto see in Dabi. ‘He is me’. Its actually very mature of Shouto to see that he could turn out just like his big brother but at the same time, he is projecting a lot. Thats one of the issues between Shouto and Touya.

Shouto relates to Dabi’s anger but since he is trying to move on so bad, he is repressing his anger. One of the biggest flaws of both Shouto and Dabi’s is they distance theirselves from their feelings a lot.

This is why we see Shouto asking this; If you survived back then, why didnt you come home?

As if Earlyroki wouldnt run away, if he had a chance.

‘Dad was a madman, our family was messed up’. By saying this, Shouto lessens his own trauma. As if Endeavour didnt hurt innocent people. He is busy with ‘playing hero’ because thats how he was taught. End of the day, he is still hero and heroes are not allowed to have feelings in society.

Todoroki family doesnt really know the Earlyroki or you could say ‘it was okay Shouto to be violent, since he is hero and he only hurts villains’ but Shouto know his own feelings, his dark side and thats why he still can see Dabi as brother. He is the only one who seems to see Dabi as person more than other members of family.

Because of Endeavour, Shouto wants to become kind of hero who wants to save his family, he wants to be invidual so Dabi is perfect match for him. Dabi is big challenge for him to be the kind of person he wants to be because he symbolize the past Shouto tries to repress. He knows he has to face it but he really doesnt know how to. This is why we see him treating him as brother in one moment and tries to talk with him but the fight goes on, he starts treating him as villain. ‘You wont hurt innocent people anymore’.

Shouto cant reach out to Touya because he didnt adress his own trauma properly. If Shouto cant see himself as victim, he cant see Touya either. If society doesnt see the flaws of society that lets people like Endeavour get away, then he cant save his brother.

This is even more obvious with Dabi. He literally see him as puppet and copy of Endeavour. Just like Shouto, they both know what happenned to them is abuse, that they both are victims but he internalized his abuse too much, Dabi justify the abuse Endeavour did to him in his mind. That he is failure and Shouto is masterpiece so if Dabi cant see himself as victim, not as failure, then how can see Shouto as another victim, instead of masterpiece? They both dehumanizing theirselves, thats exactly why they unable to see each others as inviduals because they cant even allow theirselves to be invidual.

Once again, we can see this with Shouto when he looked at is brother’s power and he said ‘we both carry the same blood’, even though he was supposed to be not bound by blood. We can still see him struggling with his own issues.

So basically, if they want to heal, they have to adress their own pain. They have to accept that they are victims. Shouto has to stop repressing his anger and shouldnt force himself to get along with system and Dabi has to realize that even he was powerfull like Shouto, his problems wouldnt be solved. That training would still be abuse. So i cant imagine those two healing without acknowledging each others’s pain because that way, they will also have to acknowledge their pain first.

Both Shouto and Dabi still looking for a reason for their existence. Why were they born at that home? They both desperarely looking worth in theirselves. Shouto find it in class 1 A and Dabi find it in league. Shouto wants to know his brother better and be together with his family and Dabi in deep also wants to turn back to his family (except Endeavour because he doesnt deserve it).

Of course, Dabi is gonna push Shouto first and he is still pushing him because he is pushing himself. He acts like Touya is someone else, that his identity died but its not true. We see it with his fight with Shouto. First, he acts like a villain and make a speech about society but the fight goes on, he loose his anger and starts to act like brother, opposite of Shouto who repress it, Dabi express it.

Since those two desire for the same and they can understand each others more than anyone, i think they will eventually get along really well. And i mentioned in my other post, their characters really fits each others. Touya always express himself with actions more than words while Shouto always pay attention to someone’s actions more than their words. They will get along really well.

Bonus;

Source

When they were kids, they were strangers but Shouto always wanted to know about his big brother Touya more and most likely, Touya didnt want to feel jeolosy towards innocent Shouto but he couldnt help it. But if Endeavour wasnt horrible human being, then they would most likely support each others and become great heroes together. Even as villain-hero, they inspire each others so as heroes, they would even be better and thats the future they deserve.