#kills him

(artist’s commentary under the cut)

Shigaraki Tomura (死柄木 弔)

Real Name: Shimura Tenko (志村 転弧) Alias: Symbol of Fear Affiliation: Villain Age: 20 Height: 5'9" (175 cm) Build: Gaunt, wiry, deceptively resilient Hair: Pale blue-grey, unkempt and long Eyes: Red irises, often wide with mania or blank with detachment Blood Type: B Birthday: April 4 School: N/A Rank: Class S Villain

❖ QUIRK: Decay

Type: Mutation

Tomura’s quirk allows him to disintegrate any solid object he touches with all five fingers. Initially limited in scale and control, it evolved over time into an area-effect decay, capable of eroding entire buildings or battlefields in seconds. 

Abilities include:

Instantaneous disintegration upon full-hand contact

Spreading effect that jumps from touched objects to surrounding matter

Later: partial activation via fewer fingers, area decay from one point of contact

Weaponized mobility: collapsing terrain, isolating targets

Limitations:

Requires full five-finger contact to activate

Cannot affect liquids or non-solid states

Triggered unintentionally under emotional duress

Early stages caused psychological recoil—vomiting, tremors

Post-awakening Enhancements:

Triggerable with fewer fingers

No longer limited to direct touch

Scale increased from person-sized to city-block level

❖ TITLE:

Symbol of Fear — Notorious as the successor to All For One, Tomura came to represent the failure of hero society and the potential of unchecked Quirk evolution. Public epithets included “The Rot,” “The Hand-Clad Villain,” and “He Who Follows After Stain.” Known to the media as erratic and terrifying. Known to his followers as absolute. Where All Might embodied hope, Tomura embodied what happens when hope is systematically denied.

❖ BACKGROUND

Born as Shimura Tenko, he was the grandson of Nana Shimura—All Might’s mentor—but raised in a household that despised heroes. His father, embittered by Nana’s abandonment, ruled with psychological and physical cruelty. Tenko’s earliest dream was to be a hero. That dream ended the day his Quirk manifested.

Unable to control Decay, he unintentionally killed his entire family. Cast into the streets, covered in blood and dust, Tenko wandered, broken and ignored. Society turned its back. Only All For One reached out.

Tenko became Tomura. The hands he wore were embalmed remains of his victims—his family. A reminder. A punishment. A comfort. He was shaped in his master’s image but not in his mold. Where All For One sought control, Tomura craved destruction. Over time, he led the League from chaos to ideology, surpassing his own trauma to become a revolutionary leader in his own right.

❖ PERSONALITY

At Surface: Ragged. Restless. Unstable. Tomura often appeared as a man-child in early arcs—scratching his neck compulsively, throwing tantrums, speaking in video game metaphors. But beneath the immaturity lay a deep nihilism born from abandonment and betrayal. He did not care for life. He resented existence. His early leadership was marked by erratic violence and dependence on Kurogiri for emotional regulation. Still, he commanded loyalty through raw conviction, if not charisma.

Public Traits:

Impatient, prone to explosive frustration

Loathes symbols of stability (heroes, institutions, fathers)

Uses force over subtlety—disdains diplomacy

Speaks in absolutes when emotional; silent when lethal

Hostile to moralizing; allergic to pity

Will kill without hesitation when crossed

Private Traits:

Touch-starved and haunted by familial memory

Sleeps poorly, if at all

Self-harming through compulsive scratching (neck)

Deeply afraid of being used—mistrusts any kindness

Refers to All For One as “Master,” but increasingly questions his intentions

Shows rare loyalty: protective of League members (especially Spinner, Twice, and Himiko), vengeful when they’re harmed

Responds to recognition—not praise, but being understood

Ideological Core: Tomura does not destroy blindly. His hatred is targeted: at the society that abandoned him, the heroes who pretend, the civilians who look away. He has no interest in ruling. He wants collapse. His evolution from anarchic vandal to ideological villain parallels his psychological unraveling and reclamation. He begins directionless and angry. He ends clear-eyed and convicted.

Emotional Range:

Joy: brief, manic, often sadistic

Sadness: rare, buried, shown only in visions or vestige space

Affection: distorted, but real—expressed through acts of protection or validation of others’ autonomy

Fear: almost never outward, but manifests as violent escalation

Identity Crisis: frequent, especially post-Re-Destro arc

Humanity: flickers through his grief, especially around Spinner and his dead sister’s memory

Core Contradiction: Tomura is a killer who wears the hands of those he loved. He is a destroyer who still weeps in the vestige world. He is the villain who wanted to be a hero—until the world taught him otherwise.

Core Psychological Framework: Tomura is not a chaos engine—he is a ruined child who built himself into a weapon because no one else offered him shape. His psychology is rooted in annihilation, not for its own sake, but because creation abandoned him. Decay is not just his quirk—it is his lens. Everything that lives reminds him of what he lost.