History#
Shoto's father, Enji Todoroki, better known as the Flame Hero: Endeavor, was always overshadowed by All Might and viewed as the No. 2 Pro Hero, regardless of his impressive crime-solving record. Enji developed a strong obsession with surpassing All Might, to the point where he arranged a Quirk Marriage with the Himura family's daughter Rei for her ice Quirk, in order to conceive a child strong enough to be capable of surpassing All Might.[1]
Although Enji aimed to create a child who would inherit the powers of both his fire and Rei's ice, this would fail with all of Shoto's older siblings; his oldest brother Toya, who inherited an even more powerful fire Quirk, but his mother's resistance to ice which made his body sensitive to his own flames, and his older brother and sister, Natsuo and Fuyumi, who only inherited their mother's ice Quirk.
When Shoto was born with signs of a dual fire and ice Quirk, Enji was relieved to finally have a child with the Quirk he desired and hoped that this would cause Toya to give up on training his Quirk to become the No. 1 Hero. However, Toya continued to train and was obsessively determined to be acknowledged by his father. Driven by jealousy and resentment towards Shoto for replacing him, Toya snapped and rushed towards an infant Shoto, attempting to attack him with his Quirk but was quickly stopped by Enji.[2] After this incident, Shoto was separated from his older siblings.[3]
None of Shoto's siblings were able to live up to this standard, and Shoto became known as his father's "masterpiece". When he was five years old, Enji began training his son to become a hero. However, unlike Toya's training, Enji's methods were too harsh, pushing Shoto to his limits until he got sick. Rei would try and defend him, but Enji would ignore her protests and hit his wife for interfering, right in front of Shoto.
Enji also prevented Shoto from interacting with his siblings, who were free from training and allowed to play with each other. Shoto envied the fun they had and wished to join them, but his father forbade it, telling Shoto that they lived in a different world than the one he was training him for. He soon began to despise his training and resented Enji for abusing him and his mother. During those times, Rei was always there to support him. Despite the abuse she and her son suffered, she still nevertheless encouraged Shoto to become a hero.
One night, they were watching a TV special featuring All Might. He encouraged children to make their powers their own, even if they inherited their parents' abilities. Agreeing with All Might's advice, Rei told Shoto that he was not a prisoner of his bloodline, and could use his powers to become whoever he desired, regardless of Endeavor being his father.[4]
Even though Shoto was chosen as Enji's successor, Toya kept on improving his Quirk in secret in order to make his father acknowledge him and be happy that he was born. When Enji discovered that Toya was still training and burning himself, he lashed out and hit Rei for not stopping him. Crying and screaming, Shoto tried to defend his mother, yelling at Enji not to bully her, but his father told Shoto to stay out of it. Enji's behavior and treatment towards his family continued to worsen, and in the process, resulted in Rei beginning to fear her husband.[3]
Rei eventually broke down under Enji's abuse and grew unsettled by her children due to their resemblance to him, even finding Shoto's left side unbearable to look at. One day, Shoto overheard her talking with her mother over the phone, having realized that she no longer had the mental stability to raise her son. Startled by his sudden appearance and triggered by his red hair, she snapped and poured a kettle over his head, giving him a severe burn over the left side of his face. Rei quickly came back to her senses and realized what she had done, frantically apologizing to Shoto while using her ice Quirk to try and soothe the burn.[5]
Sometime after this incident, Shoto asked Enji where his mother was, to which he coldly replied that he sent her to the hospital for hurting him. Shoto blamed Enji, saying that everything that happened was his fault. Afterwards, Shoto began to forget about his mother's supportive words, putting him under the idea of rejecting his father no matter what.[4] Shortly after this incident, Toya seemingly died, which resulted in Enji going all in with his harsh training, feeling as though he couldn't turn back after having "killed" Toya.[3]
Shoto's dark upbringing left him to focus on nothing but rejecting his father. Driven by his resentment, he became cold and distant towards other people. Shoto participated in the U.A. Recommendation Entrance Exam, where he encountered Inasa Yoarashi. Inasa tried to ask Shoto about his father, but was totally blown off. Both of them raced in the practical exam, with Inasa just barely taking first place in front of Shoto. Inasa tried to befriend Shoto yet again, but Shoto only insulted him and told him to get out of his way.[6]