Dabi

## Voices

**Dabi** (荼 (だ) 毘 (び) , *Dabi*), real name **Toya Todoroki** (轟 (とどろき) 燈 (とう) 矢 (や) , *Todoroki Tōya*), is the older brother of Shoto, Natsuo and Fuyumi Todoroki and the oldest son of Enji and Rei Todoroki. he is a Villain affiliated with the League of Villains, and a former member of the organization's since disbanded Vanguard Action Squad.

He later became one of the nine lieutenants of the Paranormal Liberation Front, an organization formed from the remnants of the League and the Meta Liberation Army.

Dabi currently serves as a commander for the **"Vanguard Action Guerilla Warfare Regiment: Violet"** along with Geten.

He later starts a strong bond with Hatori Sohma which later ends up with them dating.

## Appearance

Dabi is a fairly tall, pale young man of a slim, somewhat lanky build, described to be in his early twenties. He has white hair with a few red streaks at its crown that spikes upward around his head, hanging low over his eyes, which are thin, turquoise in color, and heavily lidded. Before the reveal of his true identity, his hair was dyed black.

Dabi's full appearance.
His most striking features are undoubtedly the patches of gnarled, wrinkled, purple skin that cover much of his lower face and neck, all the way down past his collarbone, below his eyes, around his torso, and on his arms and legs due to him losing control of his fire Quirk at a young age and engulfing him in flames. These appear to be attached to the rest of his skin by multiple, crude surgical staples or hoop piercings.

He has several silver cartilage piercings in both ears, and a triple nostril piercing on the right side of his nose. He also seems to be lacking earlobes on both sides of his ears upon closer inspection. In his first appearance, he wears a dark blue jacket with a high, ripped collar, and matching pants, cut off above his ankles, a pair of dark dress shoes on his feet. He also has a plain pale gray, scoop-neck shirt, below which a gray belt with a circular pattern wraps around his waist, a leather satchel attached at the back.

As a child, Toya had a round face and unruly crimson hair that was spiked up in tufts around his head, falling down his forehead in uneven bangs, though due to inheriting his mother's genes (or suffering from Marie Antoinette Syndrome), his hair slowly turned white. He also wore a plain gakuran jacket as well. He would usually wear a neutral expression as shown in a few of the photos he was shown in. Due to his premature birth, he was also shorter than his two younger siblings, Fuyumi and Natsuo, though after his growth spurt did he become around the same height as them.

When he joins the Vanguard Action Squad, his look is updated, now consisting of a larger dark blue coat with two large metal cuffs at the end of each elbow-length sleeve, and a white stitch design on each of his shoulders, the hem ripped, extending down to his knees. His shirt and belt stay the same, but he replaces his pants with some larger ones of a darker color, and his shoes with black boots.

Around the time of the formation of the Paranormal Liberation Front, Dabi acquires a new outfit to complete his status as one of the nine lieutenants of the organization. Dabi wears a darkish blue long coat with the same white cuffs similar to his previous one. In addition, he dons a white V-necked shirt with white outlines. His stitches not only extend to his shoulder pads but also the kneecaps of his pants. The only things he retains are his silver belt, black boots, and his dark-colored pants. He also has three buttons on both sides of his coat.

After the events of the Paranormal Liberation War Arc, Dabi retains his white hair color and his burns have now extended to his hands and his cheekbones as a result of overusing his Quirk during his confrontation with Endeavor and Shoto.

## Personality

As a child, Toya was very energetic and boisterous, and he wanted to learn as much as he could from his father. Because his father Enji had emphasized that he would be the one to surpass All Might since childhood, Toya became obsessed with the goal to fulfill that dream, becoming just as stubborn as his father to become the next number one. This drive to surpass All Might was so great that despite Enji continuously trying to tell him to abandon this goal and focus on something else in life, he refused and continued training, burning himself in the process. Toya described his goal as a fire that his father lit within him that would not go out and that he could not bring himself to ignore, highlighting how his childhood dream went on to become an unhealthy obsession, although his mother Rei construed that he simply yearned for his father’s acknowledgement and proof that he wasn’t a failure.

Toya’s obsession would go on to make him further unstable, not caring about the damage his Quirk training did to his own body. He also shrugged off concerns from his sister and mother, taking Enji’s words to heart that his younger siblings lived in a different world than him. At one point, Toya even lashed out and attacked his mother and an infant Shoto with his Quirk when his father refused to look at him. Despite this, he wasn’t completely callous towards his family as he showed to have a fairly good relationship with Fuyumi and Natsuo while growing up, and also expressed regret for trying to attack his youngest brother while admitting that he was wrong.

After being abandoned by Enji, who became focused on Toya's youngest brother Shoto, Toya went through an existential crisis and would cry out of frustration every night. Nevertheless, he continued to train his Quirk despite the harm it brought him, hoping to surpass Shoto and gain his father’s approval. Toya even cried out of pure happiness when he saw his Quirk evolve and his flames become stronger. When his father didn’t meet with him to see this discovery however, Toya broke down emotionally and lost control of his flames, which ended up nearly burning him to death. After surviving and being horribly scarred and traumatized by the event, he went on to become a murderous criminal obsessed with ruining the reputation of his father and paying him back for all the suffering he went through.

After renaming himself Dabi, he became a stoic, aloof, confident, and focused individual who rarely shows emotion. While rather crude and violent, he's actually cautious, choosing to retreat when Mirko arrived to aid Endeavor and made sure not to divulge too much information to Hawks about High-End because of the infancy of their relationship. Overall, Dabi is a highly enigmatic individual who trusts no one, preferring to do things alone and in his own way. He also gives off the impression of knowing more about certain people than he lets on.

Despite his usual expressionless behavior, Dabi finds joy in establishing himself as a villain fighting what he believes to be false heroes, an ideology proposed by his apparent inspiration, Stain. Dabi is dedicated to Stain's mission and desires to destroy superhuman society, sharing his belief that one person with the necessary conviction can do so. He is shown to share Stain's sentiment that heroes are hypocritical and unworthy of their title, but unlike Stain, he does not seem to seek a society with better heroes, believing that true heroes don't exist. Despite his devotion to the Hero Killer's creed, Dabi does many things that Stain would not, such as attacking innocent bystanders and helping the League get revenge against Overhaul, while also being motivated by his own vengeance against Endeavor. In the end, it seems that Dabi is only using Stain's ideals as a cover for his own motives, as well as to justify his crimes against hero society.

Dabi takes pleasure in taunting heroic figures, students, and Pro Heroes alike, sadistically enjoying the pain he inflicts on others, including those he murders. Sometimes, Dabi engages in psychological warfare in order to unnerve whoever his opposition is while also allowing himself to cool down from his Quirk's effects. Very pragmatic in battle, he is rather savvy about how heroes operate and will exploit their natural tendency to rescue others. He is not afraid of causing collateral destruction, rarely holding back, even if it puts his allies at risk.

Dabi is intolerant of most people and can be very derisive, being quite rude and condescending to essentially everybody he interacts with. He insulted Tomura Shigaraki immediately after meeting him and constantly does the same to both his allies and enemies but doesn't always do it with the intention to be rude. While the League would go on to develop a strong sense of camaraderie, Dabi has remained distant from them for the most part. He has admitted that he doesn't care for Tomura or the rest of the League and that the value he puts on them comes mostly from their ability to bring his ambitions into reality. This selfish way of thinking establishes Dabi as an extreme sociopath.

However, Dabi appears to at least be capable of feeling remorse. While he had no problem killing the Pro Hero Snatch, the latter's words appear to have resonated with him, implying that Dabi has sympathy for those that have lost family due to villains, as well as the loved ones of those who he has killed. This does not extend to his own family though, as Dabi has frequently contemplated their deaths for the sake of revenge. He is also shown to have certain standards like when he was surprised and disgusted by how the heroes and government were more than willing to bring young students into the Paranormal Liberation War, although he could've just been looking down on them for having to rely on high schoolers.

Following the reveal of his identity and his broadcast revealing his childhood, Dabi unveils his far more sadistic and unhinged side, expressing a maddened and gleeful expression upon confronting his father and youngest brother. With his sadism and vengeance fully renewed, Dabi is shown to completely relish in any and all pain he can cause Endeavor, which is shown when he attacked Nejire Chan with his Quirk and gloated that another child's future had been burned by Endeavor's flames. His broadcast has also shown his true belief in heroes, which is that they use their good actions to hide and justify all their sins, and use the public's admiration of them to keep it that way. He ridicules his father for believing that he could atone for his past of abusing his family, as well as his attempts to change into a better person, and did the same when revealing Hawks’ father to be a serial criminal who was caught by the Flame Hero.

Dabi is also aware of his own madness and doesn't seem to be against the idea of suicide if it can kill his father or hurt him more, as shown when Dabi attempts to immolate both himself and Shoto in the Paranormal Liberation War. He also expresses how he can't feel anything anymore, not even towards his family, further cementing Dabi's apathy and showing just how far he has fallen.

## Trivia

* Dabi's official rankings in the Popularity Polls are as following:
	+ Ranked 28th place in the 2nd Popularity Poll.
	+ Ranked 34th place in the 3rd Popularity Poll.
	+ Ranked 28th place in the 4th Popularity Poll.
	+ Ranked 19th place in the 5th Popularity Poll.
	+ Ranked 22nd place in the 6th Popularity Poll.
	+ Ranked 16th place in the 7th Popularity Poll.
	+ Ranked 11th in the 5th US Popularity Poll.
* Dabi's real name, Toya, contains the kanji for "lamp" (燈, *tō*) and "arrow" (矢, *ya*), and his alias translates to "cremation" (荼毘, *dabi*).
* In the |Season 2 opening, "Sora ni Utaeba" by Amazarashi, Dabi was shown as a silhouette foreshadowing his appearance to come.
* Dabi favors his left-hand in battle.
* Dabi can get carsick easily, as he stated to Spinner when the latter was not driving properly.
* Dabi is unable to cry since his tear glands are burned. However, it's been shown that blood will still flow from them.
* Dabi hates fish.
* Dabi shares his birthday with Moe Kamiji.
* Dabi may be considered a dark reflection of Shoto, as it's been implied that Shoto may have become just like Dabi if he couldn’t forgive his father and let his burning hatred for Endeavor consume him as Dabi had done; Shoto himself noted this and it was the reason why he wanted to deal with Dabi himself.
* Dabi was born prematurely and was small throughout his childhood because of it until he went through a growth spurt.
* Dabi's flames were originally red like his father's, and they didn't turn blue until he hit puberty.
* There were many hints in the story that Dabi was Toya Todoroki all along.
	+ These include their similar appearance, as both Dabi and Toya have spiky hair and turquoise eyes.
	+ Throughout the series, Dabi was shown to have acted as if he knew Shoto and Endeavor beforehand, the way he spoke to them also indicated that they had history.
	+ Both Toya and Dabi's powers are identical, both having powerful fire-based Quirks that surpassed Endeavor's but a weak constitution and low tolerance for their own flames.
* Dabi shares some features with Frankenstein's Monster from the 1931 movie *Frankenstein*.
	+ Toya's skin attached with surgical staples and his body having been restored with regenerative tissues, leaving several scars around his body, is shared with the Monster's body being made out of several corpses.
	+ Victor Frankenstein's lifelong pursuit to create his creature filled him with purpose and drove a series of feverish attempts to fulfill his dream. Something shared with Dabi's father who planned to have children in order to give a perfect match of Quirks in order to fulfill his dream to surpass All Might.
	+ Ironically, Victor and Enji both yearned for their creations to fulfill their ambitions, only for said creations to turn on them after feeling rejected and become vengeful killers.
	+ Dabi's introduction gesture in Chapter 191 looks like a mirrored version of Frankenstein's Monster's gesture with both hands standing close to his chest.