What Did Endeavor Do to His Wife in My Hero Academia?

The Todoroki family has sparked curiosity among My Hero Academia fans, especially after Shouto Todoroki’s past reveal in the manga panel. From the beginning of this panel and how Endeavor’s behavior affects those around him, the many secrets now come to light are much darker than we expected. Endeavor’s abusive behavior greatly affected his life and his children, but how did his behavior affect his wife? What did Endeavor do to her?

Endeavor constantly abused his wife Rei, causing major psychological trauma that pushed her to the edge and caused her to attack Shoto as a child, giving him the burn scar he has today. Because Shoto’s likeness to his parents is split perfectly down the middle of his face, Rei suffered a psychological break when she looked at Shoto’s left side, or the side that resembled Endeavor. Later on, after Endeavor found out about this, he sent Rei to a psychiatric ward, deemed her as too mentally unstable, and didn’t want her interfering with Shoto’s training.

But with the ongoing development of the manga, with time, Endeavor seems to become self-aware of his behavior and abusive tendencies and even attempts to somewhat fix his relationship with his children, which does not go unnoticed by them. But how did his abuse affect Shoto and his siblings, and how do they feel about him trying to be part of their life again? Why was Endeavor so ruthless towards his children and striving for unachievable perfection?

Endeavor’s personality and character analysis

Endeavor, also known by his real name Enji Todoroki, is an extremely powerful hero in Japan. He’s often described as rude, hot-blooded, and competitive, carrying the title of one of the top 10 heroes of Japan, landing at number two, and later becoming the number one hero after All Might fell from his rank.

Being the number two hero for the majority of his career as a hero left him feeling bitter and defeated, something Endeavour didn’t take lightly, thus creating a one-sided rivalry between him and All Might. In a desperate need to top All Might and be number one, he projected his anger by intensively training and abusing his children.

He believed that if he could not beat All Might, then his children would. By focusing on their training and abilities as heroes, he disregarded their feelings and left no room for them to experience a normal childhood.

Out of all of his children, he considers Shoto as his successor. From the beginning, his only purpose for building a family with Rei was because of her ice quirk. He wanted a child who possessed both of their quirks and would have the potential to be a powerful hero.

This negatively impacted Shoto as a child and his siblings, who Endeavour neglected once he deemed them failed students. However, Endeavour always prided himself on the hard work he put into attaining the title of the number one hero. He became even angrier after because the title was given to him due to All Might’s retirement, not his merit.

Even though his arrogance and aggressivity are unhidden to the public, it’s praised as confidence and skill due to his reputation as a hero and records of achievements, unaware of his crimes as a father. 

He does not like more cheerful personalities and does not tolerate disrespect from other pro heroes, becoming even more violent and intimidating. A good example of this is in episode six, during the hero press conference, where Hawks- previously the number three hero- interrupts Endeavour’s speech with his banter.

Endeavour is shown to be furious at Hawk’s stunt and has him grabbed by the collar while Hawks tries to explain himself out of the number one hero’s fury. Either he ignores those he does not like or gives them a stern warning not to overstep his boundaries.

Endeavor’s change

From the beginning of the manga, Endeavour’s character seemed too far gone to change for the better, as a lot of damage had already been done. However, as the manga continues, Endeavour becomes aware of how his behavior permanently affects his family.

He allowed his selfish desires to be the strongest get to him and mentally ruin his family, who are as distant as they can be. Realizing this, he feels trapped, knowing that even if he tries to fix his relationship with his children and wife, they will never see him as a loving father. Despite his self-awareness, his attempts to be a better person and communicate with his children only lead to awkward conversations or shady comments.

Another example of this is in chapter 192. While Endeavour was in the hospital, the recovery girl’s healing helped him recover and heal his eye, leaving a large scar. After he leaves on the 3rd day with Hawks, also known as Keigo, he makes it home, where his children, Fuyumi, Natsuo, and Shoto, are eating.

While Fuyumi- is the only one of the siblings that has forgiven her father-greets him cheerfully, the others stay quiet. That is until Shoto taunts Enji about his scar while eating cold Soba noodles, saying: “That’s a nasty scar you’ve got there.”

Although his sons are cold toward him, and the most conversation he gets out of them are shady and taunting comments, his daughter and wife are different.  Despite what they went through, Fuyumi tries to convince  Shoto to forgive their father and keep balance in the family by bringing them together. While Fuyumi, Natsuo, and Shoto visit their mother in the psych ward, they talk about Endeavour. Their mother, Rei, then points at a blue flower near the window, claiming it was from Endeavour. 

She then claims he had visited the ward before but never personally saw her. She says this gesture is special to her because she had told him this was her favorite flower only once when they had first met. This might be a way to grab his family’s attention, but it cannot fix all the years of abuse. It will take a lot for Endeavour to be forgiven for the years of mental and physical torment his family has endured.

Endeavor’s struggle to be like All Might

He was being promoted as the new number one hero, and finally beating his long-time rival, All Might, did not prove to be as great as he thought it would be. Once he has reached the top, he realizes all that he did to get there and sees the effect his actions had and still have on others, whether close ones or his fans.

Even though to this day, his actions to try and undo the gap between his family members and him, as well as work on himself, is clear, they remain as attempts either narrow results, and Horikoshi still keeps the future of this situation a mystery.