User blog:No9ah10/Keigo Takami, The Angel Born Into Shadows

Preface:

It's been a long time coming, the mystery surrounding Hawks seems to finally be revealing itself. So I'm going to go ahead and write a theory blog on it and update it with every new detail I can get. Here we go!

'''As of now this Theory spoils up to Chapter 266 of the manga, which is far ahead of the anime. Proceed with caution.'''

Going to start off by prefacing that this theory will involve the Todoroki Family as it's closely tied, so I might go on some tangents related to them. This theory is meant to show that Hawks is actually not the kind hero we think he is, but rather someone who is willing to do anything for the sake of his goal.

Points and Evidence:

Most of you likely know this already, but in Chapter 266 Dabi calls out Hawks' real name as "Keigo Takami", he also says that he never believed Hawks to begin with. This is the first time that his real name has been dropped ''in the context of the story. ''It is also implied by Hawks' reaction that his real name is meant to be classified information, why is that? Why does Dabi know more than he lets on?

The reason this is interesting is because Takami also happens to be the name of the theif Takami that Endeavor caught over 7 years ago. This was mentioned by Ending in Chapter 250. I will bring this up again later. (Before someone yells at me Caleb Cook confirmed its the same Kanji for both names.)

In Ending 7 of the Anime "Shout Baby", we get a photo where we see what seems to be a child Hawks being trained to use his quirk by the Hero Public Safety Commission. This is interesting because although we previously knew that Hawks worked closely with the commission, we now know that it seems he was also groomed by them, which would explain his insane precision and control of his quirk, and why when he's taken on his "real" self he acts like a heartless agent. It is also interesting to note we see this photo alongside the other members of the Todoroki Family and a burned photo (Presumably Toya?).

This tells us that Hawks has been working for the Commission from a really young age. Now moving back to the fact that Hawks shares the same name as the thief Endeavor caught over 7 years ago, assuming the gap is between maybe 8-12 years ago (it's unclear how long it was until Ending lost it and got captured by Endeavor) Hawks would have been anywhere between 11-15 years old. So it's fully possible that the commission could have sent Hawks on a mission where he posed/acted as a thief before being caught. (It's interesting to note that in Vigilantes we just received confirmation that a minor can be classified as a Villain and prosecuted as an adult even after one incident, even if unlikely.)

Finally, Hawks has been shown to be the ONLY Hero that has killed people, and is willing to kill people. He has killed Best Jeanist and Twice, and most likely more people. (Important to note that even if he didn't actually kill Best Jeanist, Dabi mentions he still did kill someone.).

Current Confirmed Timeline:

> Undefined Amount of Time Ago: A young Keigo Takami is privately groomed by the commission as one of their agents.

> Undefined Amount of Time (Over 7 Years Ago): The Thief known as Takami (likely a young Hawks) is apprehended by Endeavor, then Ending notices and begins to aspire to be him.

> 7 Years Ago: Ending is apprehended by Endeavor.

> Sometime between Kamino Ward and Kurogiri's Capture: Hawks is ordered to infiltrate the League of Villains by the Commission.

Speculation:

Now's going to be the part where I get into pure speculation based on the info we have. Based on the literary device of Chekhov's Gun, Ending has to have some sort of narrative relevance of the story. So saying the Takami he mentioned is the same Hawks is far from a stretch.

Considering is seems that Toya's dissapearance was around Middle School, which would be age 12-14. It seems Toya's dissapearance matches up with the time that Takami was taken in by Endeavor. Is it possible that Hawks was sent by the commission to personally abduct Toya, or maybe even fake his death in order to for the commission to train him in Enji's place? Causing Enji to lose it and capture Takami in a blind rage? It would explain all the plot holes so far. It would explain why Toya is presumed dead by his family and why Natsuo believes that Enji was responsible and it would explain how Toya knows Takami.

Finally, would it be possible that Toya's view of Hero Society broke when he saw how the commission was and how he was abused by his father, and defected completely? Rendering him a failed subject of the commission and left to wander the streets for years, eventually being reborn as Dabi.

Narrative Evidence: Strong

Circumstancial Evidence: Moderate

Chekhov's Gun: ABSOLUTELY.

I would like to make this into a discussion and see what your opinions of this theory are, so feel free to comment here or come to the offiicial server (discord.gg/myheroacademia) to discuss it further!