My Hero Academia/Characters/One For All and its Torchbearers

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Characters from My Hero Academia include:

One For All (The Quirk)

Originally thought to be a useless quirk help by the first user of One For All, it was revealed to be far more than that. As the only quirk that can pass itself on to others and only by the holder's wishes, it cannot be forcibly removed or stolen making it immune to the power of All For One. It was combined with a power stockpiling quirk that would allow it to accumulate power over time as it's passed on making each successive user even stronger then the previous one. One For All has become the only Weapon that can reliably used to counter All For One and many of its users have come into conflict with that villainous leader of the underworld.

  • All Your Powers Combined: It's later revealed that not only does One For All get stronger with each generation, it also absorbs/imprints the quirks of previous users. This eventually manifests for the ninth user, Deku, giving him the ability to able to wield all of the quirks of the previous users.
  • Difficult but Awesome: One For All has gotten so powerful that it is very dangerous for any new user to activate without intense physical training even before they receive it. It then takes more training for their bodies to acclimate to the powers so as not to destroy themselves. However, once they master it, One For All is one of the most ridiculously powerful and broken quirks in the entire world.
  • Good Counterpart: One For All is almost a perfectly inverted reflection of All For One:
    • One For All can only be given to others and All For One can only take while being impossible to be given to others without a painful medical procedure.
    • One For All imprints the quirks of those it's passed on to but only gives those quirks to its current torchbearer and changes/grows over time where as All For One takes quirks directly from others and can give those same quirks away but itself doesn't change or evolve and the other quirks don't add to its power but are resources to be used.
    • The spirits of the quirk users in both of them take on different rolls and attitudes. The spirits in All For One are condemning and haunt the user in their dreams. They also cannot be directly conversed with and don't affect user's mind or personality save for the original user of the base quirk All For One who will try to dominate the user. These spirits disappear when the quirk they were attached to is given away. The Spirits in One For All stay in the quirk as the quirks imprinted become a permanent part of One For All. Additionally, the spirits are friendly and help the current user while being able to directly converse with them. While they can affect the user's actions, they only do so when they need to but don't otherwise try to control the user.
    • All For One ability to take quirks is analogous to gluttony in that while any number of quirks can be stolen and used, the user's body has limits that All For One Does nothing to mitigate. While there are no issues starting out and it's easy to use in the beginning but over time if enough quirks are stolen then the user might suffer a Superpower Meltdown and destroy themselves. One For All has gotten so strong that successors need extensive training to use it and carefully draw out its power but once mastered, there is no risk of overload to the user (provided that they were quirk-less to begin with).

The Torchbearers

The Torchbearers in General

Tropes common among all of the torchbearers of One For All.

  • The Chosen One: A Zig-Zagging Trope that is Played Straight in one instance and Averted Trope in another.
    • It's an Averted Trope for all but the two most recent users when it comes to One For All being passed on. Everybody but Toshinori Nagi and Izuku Midoriya got One For All just as the current user was dying and never really had the chance to be trained by their predecessor. They were simply the closest comrades of the current users who happened to be there at the time.
    • It's Played Straight for the current torchbearer and particularly for Izuku Midoriya. Part of the reason why All For One cannot steal One For All is due to the interference of the spirits of the previous users living inside the quirk. They can choose whether or not to help the current user and often choose to provide aid subtly to each current possessor. This is even more pronounced with Izuku Midoriya as he is the only user to be able to go into a special mental world that allows him to communicate with the previous users spirits in One For All. The first himself states his admiration and respect for Deku's courage and Heroic Resolve and has even stated to his brother that Midoriya gaining the power wasn't a mistake.

He rages for the sake of others. For them, he does his best until he can do no more. This young man is possessed by a drive to save others that eclipses all common understanding. Our power is his, and we shall follow him.

  • Fling a Light Into the Future: None of them except for All Might were strong enough to defeat All For One and so had to entrust their power to a successor while each time hoping their successor would be the one to defeat All For One.
  • The Immune: One For All is a quirk that can be passed on and only to a person of the user's choosing. This makes it immune to the affects of quirks that can steal/remove other quirks. While All For One believes this could be overcome through sheer will and power, the first attempt made by the ungraded and more powerful Tomura ended in failure though it's unclear if this is because Tomura hadn't fully acclimated to his new body and power, if his will wasn't strong enough, or if One For All is just impossible to steal. All For One seems to be banking on making Tomura's body and will being strong enough while weakening Midoriya by playing on Deku's sympathies and desire to save people to hold him back from fully fighting against Tomura. The spirits in One For All can also help in resisting All For One's power and both the first and Nana Shimura helped Deku fight off All For One in the vestige world.
  • Master Apprentice Chain: It's a Zig-Zagging Trope as only Toshinori Nagi and Izuku Midoriya seemed to be trained extensively by their predecessors due to the fact that most of the time users of One For All were dying due to wounds inflicted by All For One and passed One For All on shortly before death.
  • The Unchosen One: While they each were literally chosen by their predecessor, many of the early ones were chosen out of necessity rather than preference and usually passed on One For All to their nearest comrade while dying at the hands of All For One. Only Toshinori Nagi and Izuku Midoriya were selected and groomed to be successors.

Yoichi Shigaraki (The First)

The first User of One For All. He was constantly infirm and sickly during the outbreak of quirk manifestation. The younger brother of the villainous All For One who contrasting his sibling bore a great sense of justice and did everything he could to oppose All For One. While initially thought to be quirk-less, he instead had a quirk that could only be passed on to the possessors choosing. While by itself it was useless, it absorbed a power stockpiling quirk All For One forced onto his younger brother allowing the quirk to accumulate power through each successive generation. In modern times, only a few know of the first user of One For All and the legacy he created to ensure All For One's eventual defeat and to protect the people from his evil brother.

  • Cain and Abel: With his brother the older Shikagari AKA All For One. He is the heroic Abel to his brother's villainous Cain.
  • The Chooser of the One: Posthumously, Yoichi and the other spirits can choose to help the current user of One For All and lend their strength as they wish. Part of One For All's anti-theft property is that the spirits within can resist and help the current user fight of any attempts to steal One For All. The more strongly they desire to stay with the current user, the greater their ability to resist All For One.

No, choosing him wasn't a mistake. That boy's desire to help others eclipses all common logic. For them he does all he can until he can do no more. Our power is his and we choose to stay with him!

  • Failure Hero: Zigzagged. He tried to stand up to his brother, but failed. Still, given the way his quirk evolved and became stronger with each recipient until passed down to All Might, it would seem he did get the last laugh on All-For-One.
  • For Great Justice: His view opposing his bother's is the belief in justice and that the strong should protect the weak.
  • Generation Xerox: Midoriya and Yoichi share many traits with one another. Both believe that heroes will always win in the end, have a strong sense of justice, desire to use their abilities to help others and have a strong will and Heroic Resolve.
  • Magikarp Power: What his quirk actually turned out to be. Instead of it just being a quirk with the ability to be passed on, its real power was to pick up the quirks of the people it's passed on to. With each new person, it acquires a new power and gets stronger. This is what also allowed it to absorb the power stockpiling quirk giving it a continuously growing fuel tank of power to draw on. Eventually, the energy is so great, it allows the other quirks to manifest and also grow in power to match the stockpiled energy.
  • Not So Different: While their views are diametrically opposed, he does share many traits with his brother All For One. They are both ridiculously stubborn and determined, both fight for their ideals while placing them above all else, and both have the abilities to gain additional quirks although in very different ways.
  • The Paragon: The first user of One For All and the one that started the chain of torchbearers, passing on his quirk to others so that it could grow stronger and one day stop his evil brother. All of the subsequent users of One For All follow in his footsteps.
  • Shut UP, Hannibal: Basically tells All For One to go screw himself in the vestige world when All For One invades with Tomura seeking to steal One For All. After All For One insults and belittles Izuku, Yoichi tells All For One that he could never understand what motivates Midoriya and how this makes him worthy of One For All. Then he tells All For One they will never go with him and promptly kicks him out of the shared space.
  • So Proud of You: Has expressed admiration and deep respect for Deku and his Heroic Resolve along with his Heroic Spirit. When Midoriya meets in him in the vestige world he tells him that he is extremely pleased that Midoriya was chosen as a successor.

I'm incredibly glad that you, of all people, inherited One For All.

Hikage Shinomori (The Fourth)

Quirk: One For All (formerly), Danger Sense

  • Cast From Life Force: Was the first to discover the withering properties of One For All for anyone who inherits the power but also has a quirk.
  • Spider Sense: His quirk was Danger Sense which would allow him to sense immediate danger to himself and the source of said danger.

Daigoro Banjo (The Fifth)

Quirk: One For All (formerly), Black Whip

  • Combat Tentacles: His quirk, Black Whip, creates tendrils of shadow that he can extend and use to grab people and objects along with being able to to create tethers and lines he could use to increase his maneuverability and navigate quickly across difficult terrain.

En (The Sixth)

Nana Shimura, (The seventh)

Quirk: One For All (formerly), Float

Toshinori Yagi (The Eighth)

For more information on Toshinori Yagi, please click here.

Izuku Midoriya (The Ninth)

The ninth and current vessel for One For All.

For information on Izuku Midoriya, please click here.

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