Who Is Toya Todoroki in My Hero Academia? Explained

My Hero Academia has been one of the most popular anime and manga in the industry and has introduced many incredible characters and their subplots over the years. One of these subplots includes the difficult relationship between the Todoroki family members and their cursed past. The Todoroki family suffered a loss way before the series started that has surfaced during the recent episodes of the anime. So, who exactly is Shoto Todoroki’s dead brother, Toya Todoroki?

Toya Todoroki is the oldest son of Enji Todoroki, who is actually Endeavor, and Rei Todoroki. Unfortunately, when undergoing training, Toya lit himself on fire and was declared dead. However, Toya actually survived and went on to become a villain under the name of Dabi.

So the firepower of the League of the Villains turned out to be the son of the number one hero. But how exactly did it come to this point? Let’s check out who exactly Toya Todoroki is and how he became the fearless villain.

Who Is Toya Todoroki?

Toya was born with a big face and untamed scarlet hair that also was spiked up in tufts all over his head and hung unevenly down from his forehead. Over time, however, because of genes passed down from his mother, Toya’s hair gradually became white. He additionally had a simple gakuran jacket. In several of the pictures he was in, he can be seen with a neutral look that he would typically wear. He was smaller than his two siblings, Fuyumi and Natsuo, due to his early delivery, but Toya didn’t reach about the same height as them until after his growth spurt.

Toya wanted to learn everything he possibly could from his dad because he was a highly active and loud boy. Toya became fixated on the desire to realize the ideal of surpassing All Might since his father, Enji, had stressed that he was the one who would do so from boyhood. Toya developed the same obstinacy as his father in his quest to overtake All Might as the next number one. He had such a strong desire to outdo All Might that even though Enji kept urging him to change his mind and put his attention on a different aspect of life, he refused and persisted in training, burning himself many times during it.

Toya highlighted how his boyhood dream evolved into an unhealthy obsession by comparing his objective to a flame that his father set inside of him that would not burn and that he never could bring himself to ignore. However, his mother, Rei, assumed that he was only yearning for his father’s approval and evidence that he was never a failure.

As a result of Toya’s preoccupation, he became even more unstable. He shrugged off worries from his mother and sister and became oblivious to the harm his Quirk practice was doing to his body. He also took to heart Enji’s statement that his younger brothers lived in a different reality from him. When his father wouldn’t look at him at some point, Toya even lost control and used his Quirk to attack his mother and a young Shoto. While growing up, he had a somewhat great bond with Fuyumi and Natsuo and even expressed guilt for trying to assault his youngest brother while acknowledging that he was wrong. Despite this, he wasn’t wholly indifferent to his family.

Toya experienced an identity crisis and would sob in anger every night when Enji abandoned him in favor of Toya’s younger brother Shoto. Nevertheless, despite the devastation he would cause, he continued to work on his Quirk in an effort to outperform Shoto and win his father’s approval. Toya even broke into tears of joy when he witnessed his flames grow more powerful, and his quirk develop. Toya lost emotional control and lost all control of his fire, which ultimately led to his being dangerously close to being burned to death when his father refused to meet with him to witness this revelation. Even though he did not die, Toya was declared dead after this.

Is Toya Todoroki Actually Dabi in My Hero Academia?

Toya returned home and wanted to visit his father after surviving the accident and emerging from a three-year coma. He also wanted to make peace with his relatives for attacking Shoto and treating them poorly. Toya broke down entirely when he realized that little had changed and that Enji was still fixated on raising Shoto to succeed him. He was then reminded that all he had ever been to his dad was a failed and abandoned attempt to further his own selfish desires. Due to this, Toya entirely lost his previous self and transformed into Dabi, a homicidal and pyromaniacal villain who was driven to destroy his father’s name in order to make up for all the agony he endured.

He changed his name to Dabi and developed into a stern, detached, assured, and focused person who rarely displays emotion. Even though he’s somewhat rough and violent, he’s genuinely cautious. For example, he chose to flee when Mirko showed up to help Endeavor, and because their connection is still young, he took care not to reveal too much about High-End to Hawks. Dabi is, in general, a very mysterious person who doesn’t trust anyone and prefers to go it alone and his own way. He appears to know more about some individuals than he lets on and gives off the illusion of doing so.

Dabi’s Dance

As Gigantomachia finally makes it to Tomura’s location during the Paranormal Liberation War arc and defends him from Nejire and Shoto’s combined attacks, Dabi emerges from the giant villain’s back to signal his entrance to the heroes on the ground, happy to discover that both Endeavor and Shoto are present. When Endeavor violently yells out Dabi’s name, the bad guy responds by instructing Endeavor to yell out Toya instead. As Dabi takes off his hair dye to show his white hair and announces his origin as Endeavor’s son: Toya, Endeavor, and Shoto are paralyzed in shock.

Dabi goes on to reveal that he has been monitoring Endeavor for the entire time and has started streaming his past to everyone in order to discredit his father. He also tells Endeavor about the awful suffering he went through as a youngster and expresses his doubts about his own existence. After Endeavor became the number one hero, Dabi changed his mind and planned to send several enemies, such as Hood, Starservant, and Ending, Endeavor’s way instead of carrying out his initial plan to murder Shoto when he became a hero.

Endeavor is then asked if he feels awesome about being the number one superhero and whether he can now proudly gaze at his kids. He taunts his father and tells him to dance together in this hell, yelling that Endeavor is wrong to think he can just keep on going forward and claiming that the past never dies.

Endeavor rejects this information and claims that Dabi is talking a vile falsehood. The villain responds that this is the vile truth and instructs them to take a little of his blood for a DNA test in order to be certain. At the same time, Dabi continues to disparage his father as a man who has no empathy at all by disclosing the results of his blood tests on his transmission to prove that he is the son of Endeavor. The broadcast then reveals that Hawks killed Best Jeanist, the third-best hero, while simultaneously releasing footage of Hawks murdering Twice to give the impression that the number two hero mercilessly killed a man who was attempting to save his companions and brand him as a murderer.

Dabi goes into greater detail on Hawks’ past, including how his father was a murderer and serial robber who was ironically apprehended by Endeavor. The antagonist mocks heroes, portraying them as self-centered individuals who exploit others. Dabi appreciates Endeavor for holding up so far and jumps down to prepare to use his Prominence Burn to kill his dad and the others. However, before he can do so, he is restrained by wires. He glances up and is shocked to see Best Jeanist, whom he had assumed was dead, descending from the skies.

This is the sad story behind Dabi’s origin and the Todoroki family’s past. Just as Endeavor was getting to terms with his kids, the mistakes he made in the past showed up again and traumatized him to the fullest. Let’s hope it all is dealt with and the Todoroki family finally has a chance to live in peace.