The Shy One

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He was most certainly groomed to an extent, but viewing All for One as the source of wrong in his life is I believe mistaken, as it misses a key to Shigaraki’s character, motivation as well as his past. Shigaraki was a victim of the hero society first and foremost, and he is not its only casualty. Take this line of Twice’s, from chapter 115:

For whatever reason, miserable little Shimura Tenko was never saved from his circumstances by a hero. Instead, he was saved by a villain. Regardless of that villain’s reasoning and agenda, that villain became his hero. He grew up in a world turned on its head, where the man who saved him was called evil, and the people who didn’t - and the people who hurt his hero - were revered as good.

We see it demonstrated multiple times that Shigaraki is quite tired of everyone acting like ideology is somehow more important than deeds. For example, he calls out All Might and the heroes’ use of violence, which is allowed, versus the villains’. He also doesn’t understand why Stain’s murdering is somehow seen as at least morally grey, while his is called evil. After all, weren’t they both “just destroying what [they] didn’t like?” (He similarly punishes Overhaul for being hypocritical in being against quirks, yet keeping his own). He can’t stand those double standards.

If we want to understand Shigaraki’s worldview, and indeed his whole character, we can’t just view it as him spouting villain propaganda taught to him by All for One. No, Shigaraki is responding to the world as it has been shown to him, as he lives it. His destructiveness is enabled by his master, but even so All for One also restrains it (giving him fewer noumu than requested) for the sake of educating him. (Is education always manipulative, or only when done by villains?)

We know that All for One wants Shigaraki to think on his own, a task he seems to have struggled with, likely because Shigaraki’s issues did not start with him. And you know I love to speculate on fucked up aspects of their relationship, I’ve got no illusions that it was benevolent or selfless, but I’d probably call it misguided over malicious. We saw how All for One treated his beloved brother, who resisted him: the visually similar Shigaraki is likely to have received more affection, as he embraced All for One instead. But I’m getting off track.

The fact that Shigaraki was never saved by a hero is very important too because it highlights that the society is not always just, as Twice also explains. We’ve seen cracks in it, cracks that Shigaraki is currently exploiting, and foreshadowing of growing dissent. He thinks that society is rotten, and he saw All Might up there, upholding the system that failed him - and harming his hero with his “justified” violence. These are the important things to remember when we think on his motives and drive. What All for One symbolises to him (his hero) instead of what their relationship is like (unclear). 

What kind of villain would Shigaraki be, if he was nothing but a gaslit puppet, with no thoughts on his own - who’s only a villain, who’s only justified in his villainy, because he literally had no other choice?

Instead he is one of the most dynamic characters in the series, who’s shown incredible growth in his thoughts and applications. But as he states in chapter 69, he’s always had his creed, his own motives, stemming from the system, stemming from All Might, stemming from his hero… His journey is about understanding how to utilise it, how to think for his own, how to be a succesful villain on his own - All for One deliberately removed himself from his life so that he could grow without being reliant upon him, because he wanted him to evolve beyond him.

First off, I’ve got some opinions on how to deal with Tomura being abused.

Abuse warps the way you look to things and react to situations, but it doesn’t take away your autonomy and frankly implying otherwise is kinda,,,, not good. It’s not brainwashing, but it still is something with A LOT of influence. People who’ve dealt with abuse are more than only what their abusers made them. But what’s been done still leaves scars, both mental and emotional, and Tomura would still only be just now starting to have the chance to heal from them, much less recognize he’d been hurt in the first place.

And of course Tomura was also shaped by how society discarded him, neglected him, left him for dead. It’s just that most of us don’t talk about how that shaped his personality and values as much simply because it’s so obvious that we don’t feel the need to.

Simply put, if someone’s a hardcre Shiggy Stan, they’re probably fully well aware that hero society can be massively messed up in several ways, and that it’s the driving force behind Shigaraki’s actions. For most of us who care enough to be vocal about his character, we’re not letting society off scott-free. We’re simply acknowledging that there is harm being done on both sides.

As for whether it’s abusive, I’m not going to go into how AfO could be abusive. We can talk in hypotheticals to get the point across. What I want to clarify here is where you said “I’ve got no illusions that it was benevolent or selfless, but I’d probably call it misguided over malicious,” since it doesn’t fit with how things like abuse can work. Even if AfO was somehow doing everything out of genuine love, it could still be abuse. As you said, this is a issue of separating action versus ideology; the fact is, AfO’s actions should be evaluated for they are. Just because he’s hypothetically misguided doesn’t mean he automatically isn’t abusive. Abuse simply doesn’t work like that.

Secondly, I think you might have a slight misinterpretation of how most Tomura fans think about him. If you’re assumption about how we feel was correct, I’d completely agree with your point aside from what I’ve already mentioned.

Please try and understand the difference between ‘I’ve noticed that in canon, context and theme imply that certain things likely have happened to this character and if so, they would strongly influence major parts of his character and personality’ and ‘because this thing could have happened, this is COMPLETELY HOW HE IS AND THERE ARE NO PARTS OF HIS CHARACTER OUTSIDE OF THESE TRAITS AND THAT’S JUST ALL THEY ARE.’

At least in the context of Tomura, most people are saying the former, so please don’t just act as if everyone is doing the latter. As for other characters *cough* Dabi and Hawks *cough* this is a much more common - but still not universal- issue. Tomura’s not ‘just a brainwashed victim.’ He’s someone who’s dealt with mistreatment on all counts, and is growing though and past them. He was taken from a horrible situation, and put in a better one without realizing that the newer situation could still be negatively influencing his health and wellbeing, and he became so much more than the sum of those hardships. He’s so beautifully complex, and the combination of all these experiences, including ones dealt to him by AfO, is what makes him so compelling!

I can’t speak on behalf of anyone else, but personally, when I talk about or reblog posts pointing out Tomura’s abuse, it is not in any way claiming that it controls and dictates all of his ideals! I’ve spoken to soooo many Tomura fans about topics like this andso far they all understand this point just as well as I do.

So. I agree with your statement. You’re right, Shigaraki is not simply a gaslit puppet. You’re right, Shigaraki is complex. Just remember the situation itself is just as much so, and actually much more nuanced than you’re claiming. You’re right in that we shouldn’t oversimplify Shigaraki’s character. We shouldn’t make premature assumptions. I’m simply reminding you to do the same.

THIS TOOK ME FOR F UCKING EVER BUT IT WAS S O WORTH IT LOOK AT ALL OF ME FAVORITE IDIOTS, KUROGIRI IS ABSOLUTELY D O N E

h u g e thanks to @deweyart for creating this draw the squad meme thank u i owe u my life

somewhere out there in king’s cross today, harry potter will tell albus severus potter that it’s okay to be a slytherin if that’s what the hat sorts him as

later today, albus will bump into a kid in an empty compartment that he’ll end up sharing his hogwarts life with, and his life after that

teddy lupin and victorie weasley will kiss on the station platform and be interrupted by james potter. hugo granger-weasley and lily luna potter will chat about what will happen when they get to go to hogwarts. rose granger-weasley is starting her first year too, ready to beat albus in every subject

it’s been nineteen years (and a bit) since the battle of hogwarts

His name is MALIK COSEY. 

The next Pokémon Sun & Moon news will come on September 14th at 22:00 JST which is 14:00 BST, 15:00 CEST, 09:00 EDT, 06:00 PDT, 23:00 AEST

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