3 Answers2026-07-09 20:48:32
That Endeavor Todoroki household is a mess, honestly. I mean, he spent years treating his wife like a breeding project for the perfect heir and then ignoring his other kids because they weren't 'it'.
You can see the fallout all over Enji's later scenes. The forced retirement, the way he's trying to atone but doesn't even know how to talk to Shoto without it being a transaction. His growth isn't a clean hero's journey; it's this awkward, painful stumbling towards being a decent human being after a lifetime of being a monster. The weight of that legacy—creating a family of victims—is what finally breaks his obsession with being number one and forces him to look inward.
It's the most compelling part of his arc for me. Redemption that feels earned because the cost was his entire family.
4 Answers2026-07-04 07:06:18
Alright, so I stumbled into a Todoroki/Endeavor tag completely by accident, thinking it was about Shouto and his dad's ‘reconciliation’ fics. Yeah, that was a shock. Initially, it felt wildly transgressive, and maybe it still is for most people. But after reading a few, I see why some writers go there. It’s never just romance.
These stories dig into the absolute mess of their relationship—the abuse, the obsession, the twisted mirroring. Endeavor seeing his masterpiece as an object of desire adds another layer of horrific ownership. It’s less about a healthy dynamic and more about exploring the darkest possible outcome of that familial corruption. The power imbalance is the whole point.
Honestly, I don’t seek them out, but the ones that focus on psychological unraveling rather than fluff can be morbidly fascinating. They make you sit with how badly a family can break.
4 Answers2026-07-04 10:58:35
Look, I've got to be blunt—this pairing makes me actively uncomfortable, and not in a fun, angsty way. It's not a ship in the traditional romantic sense; it's a narrative device, a grappling hook thrown into the most toxic part of Shoto's backstory. Every fanwork I've read that seriously tackles it isn't about romance at all. It's about the brutal, ugly work of accountability.
You get these long, brutal fics where Endeavor is forced to sit with what he did, to see the damage not as a failed experiment but as a person he broke. Todoroki isn't there to forgive him; he's there as a living consequence. The dynamic explores if a relationship shattered that thoroughly can ever contain anything other than painful, cautious coexistence. Does forgiveness even matter, or is it just about not passing the damage on? It's less about healing and more about scar tissue.
I've seen it done powerfully, but man, it's a heavy read. It usually leaves me feeling drained, not hopeful.
3 Answers2026-07-09 00:59:16
Endeavor's arc is fascinating precisely because it's not a straightforward redemption, it's a violent, messy deconstruction of ambition. The man didn't wake up one day filled with remorse; the weight of All Might's retirement and the realization that he'd created a masterpiece of a son he'd abused into silence broke him. We see him trying, yes—that painfully awkward family dinner is burned into my brain—but there's a grotesque honesty to his struggle. He doesn't get to be forgiven, not by his kids, maybe not ever. He just gets to do the work, quietly, hoping to make the smallest amends while shouldering the top hero title he never wanted this way.
His evolution feels most real in the small moments, not the big fights. The way he watches Shoto now, with this cautious, almost fearful respect, compared to the searing contempt he once had. He's learning a language of care he never spoke, and he's terrible at it. That's what gets me. It's not a shiny new hero's journey; it's a broken man's lifelong atonement project, and whether society or his family ever accepts it is an open question. The story wisely leaves that thread painfully unresolved.
3 Answers2026-07-09 01:21:18
Endeavor's position is a fascinating mess that exposes the entire system's cracks. He's the official number one, sure, but the title is hollow from day one. Everyone, including him, knows he got it by default after All Might retired. It’s not earned through public trust or inspiring hope; it’s a statistical achievement based on resolved cases, a metric that completely ignores the symbolic heart of heroism. His role is the brutal, efficient top of a flawed hierarchy, a constant reminder that raw power doesn't equal legitimacy.
What I find more compelling is how he functions as a dark mirror for the next generation. For Shoto, he's the abusive legacy to overcome. For Bakugo, he’s a distorted version of that 'win at all costs' drive. Even Deku has to look at Endeavor and realize that saving people and being the 'greatest hero' aren't always the same thing. He’s the uncomfortable cornerstone of the post-All Might era, forcing everyone to question what the hierarchy is even for.