Why Did The Second and Third Wielders Turn Their Backs on Deku?

Episode 131 of My Hero Academia allowed us to see Deku entering the inner world of One For All once more as he was now conversing with all of the previous wielders of this Quirk. While all of the previous users, including All Might’s inner consciousness, were there to talk to Deku about the nature of One For All, the Second and Third users turned their backs on Izuku Midoriya? and faced the wall. So, why did the Second and Third users turn their backs on Deku?

The second and third users turned their backs on Deku because they couldn’t accept him as the wielder of One For All. They didn’t like how he had optimistic desires that were geared towards saving Tomura Shigaraki instead of killing him. As such, they weren’t willing to lend him their Quirk initially.

One of the things that fans need to understand is that the history of One For All is one that is quite long due to how it has been around and has been passed down for more than a hundred years. That means that it has experienced different eras in the history of Japan and has been through some of the darkest times in Quirk history. That is why the second and third users have ideals different from Deku, as they lived during a dark time. Now, let’s look at why they turned their backs on Midoriya.

Who Are The Second And Third Users Of One For All?

In the Paranormal Liberation War arc, we saw how Izuku Midoriya could enter the inner world of his Quirk, One For All, as Tomura Shigaraki was attempting to take the Quirk from him. That was when Deku met the First and Seventh wielders, Yoichi Shigaraki and Nana Shimura, respectively, as they were trying to prevent Tomura from taking One For All.

After the war, Deku was left unconscious in the hospital as he entered the inner world of One For All once more. This time, Yoichi explained that it was now easier for him and the other users to talk to one another and communicate with Midoriya due to the rapid evolution that One For All went through over the course of the past few months. On top of that, Tomura’s act of trying to take the Quirk also made it easier for them to talk to Deku whenever they wanted to.

That was when we saw all of the previous users of One For All sitting on chairs while they were facing Midoriya. Even a silhouette of All Might’s consciousness was there in the inner world of One For All. However, it was clear that two other users were turning their backs on Deku and opted to face the wall. Those were the second and third wielders.

The second and third wielders of One For All were unnamed characters that lived during the time of Yoichi Shigaraki and the height of All For One’s reign of terror during one of the darkest times in Quirk history. They were members of a resistance group that opposed All For One’s reign of terror, which means that they were constantly fighting the villain and those working for him. And the second and third users weren’t afraid to take lives, especially when doing so meant achieving their goals of stopping All For One.

They were actually part of a group that was supposed to assassinate Yoichi due to his connection to All For One. However, the second user decided to save him instead, which was when the power was passed on to him. He eventually passed it on to the third user as well.

So, the fact that the second and third users lived during a dark time explains how extreme they are in terms of what they need to do to stop the evil deeds of someone like All For One, who wanted to take over the entire world with his power. 

Why Did The Second And Third Users Turn Their Backs On Deku?

As mentioned, when the second and third users were introduced during the events of episode 131, we saw that they had their backs turned against Izuku Midoriya instead of actually facing him to talk to him. So, why did the second and third users turn their backs on Deku?

We mentioned that the second and third users were resistance fighters that lived during a very dark time when All For One was at the height of his power as a villain that wanted to dominate the world. That means that the second and third users were not against doing what they needed to do to stop All For One, even if it meant killing other people.

In episode 131, we saw how kindhearted Deku was because he told Nana Shimura that he was unwilling to kill Tomura Shigaraki. Instead, he believed that the power of One For All was meant to save and inspire people instead of killing them, and that’s why he was yet to lose hope in his capacity to save Tomura from All For One’s evil influence. This allowed Nana, Yoichi, and even All Might’s consciousness to become touched by Midoriya’s kindheartedness as they realized that he was the right person to inherit the Quirk from All Might, who Yoichi deemed a worthy successor as well.

Deku’s kindhearted nature was one that was inspired by All Might’s status as the Symbol of Peace. Midoriya understood what All Might meant to the world and how he always made sure to help and save people instead of killing them. That is why Deku carries the same mindset and ideals as he doesn’t want to kill people due to the fact that All Might’s usage of One For All was always geared towards saving others and inspiring younger people to do their best as well.

Because of Deku’s kindheartedness and optimistic outlook, the second and third users found it difficult to accept him as the successor of One For All and the ability to access their Quirks. They lived during an era when they needed to be tough people who didn’t care about killing other people as long as they could stop All For One. And the fact that they knew that Deku was not willing to kill Tomura Shigaraki was one of the reasons why they couldn’t accept him as the wielder of the Quirk.

In that regard, the reason why the second and third users turned their backs on Izuku Midoriya boils down to the fact that they simply had different outlooks born from the different eras they came from. Deku had an optimistic way of seeing things, whereas the second and third users were people that were willing to justify the ends with their means, even if it meant killing people. As such, Deku and the other users of the One For All Quirk would need to find a way to make the second and third users accept Midoriya as the rightful and worthy successor.