User blog:Aestri/Denki Kaminari is the Traitor? Theory

'''WARNING! THIS IS A LONG POST!'''

'''NOTICE: Some of these are yet to occur in the anime. If you have not yet finished the manga, TURN AROUND. This post contains spoilers!'''

'''Also: Merry Christmas! Written on December 25, 2019, with love.'''

Please note that I lack permission to upload images to this wiki, so I can only put links for you to download the images and view them yourselves. I’m terribly sorry about that!

Hey guys! This is my first time posting here, and I haven’t done many traitor theories- in fact, I haven’t done any theories at all! But I’ve seen a lot of people making theories stating that Denki Kaminari, is, in fact, the U.A. Traitor we’ve all been waiting to discover. I myself am a fan of Kaminari, but I strongly believe this theory is true.

But why? Below I’ve stated all my findings which are a result of days spent doing research. I’m not able to confirm whether this theory is true or not, but I will believe it is unless Kohei Horikoshi himself confirms otherwise.

Let’s start with the basics.

You all know who Kaminari is, don’t you? He’s a source of comic relief- he’s the class idiot! Everyone loves the goofball (if you don’t please note that I completely respect that) and why would an idiot be framed for working with the League of Villains? Here’s why.

First of all, let’s discuss Kaminari’s quirk.

Kaminari’s quirk is Electrification. It allows him to discharge electricity, but as he stated, he can only discharge it, but he cannot control it which is why he received a costume upgrade which allowed him to do so. But this isn’t all he can do. Kaminari’s quirk also enables him to be a walking GPS, meaning he can send communication signals out to others to tell them his current and exact location. Pretty handy, huh?

In fact, remember that time USJ was raided by the League of Villains? How would they know that Class 1-A was scheduled to be at the USJ? Clearly, only someone with really great communication abilities would be able to tell the League that. This leads us straight to Kaminari, who has the ability to do so, especially considering the fact that his first costume had a special transceiver that could be used to send out communication signals.

Kaminari claimed that his special transceiver was being jammed, and Todoroki suspected that a villain with an electric-based quirk was interrupting the signal, thus preventing Kaminari from using his special transceiver. It’s a very reasonable explanation, but something else is preventing me from believing that this is true. When Jiro, Yaoyorozu and Kaminari were surrounded by villains, the electric type villain who, according to Jiro was probably the one who was jamming Kaminari’s signal, showed up, Kaminari had already gone passed his limit, which was 1.3 Million Volts. Shigaraki stated that the villains could kill the students, but the villain who captured Kaminari did not harm him, even though Kaminari was already in his clutches. Shigaraki might have warned the villains not to kill Kaminari before raiding USJ because Kaminari would be an important part of the attack. This isn’t confirmed, but it could be true. Also, the villain threatened both Jiro and Yaoyorozu, but not Kaminari.

Here’s an image for reference: https://66.media.tumblr.com/2cb6e4df3bf6c143c43fa46901cc7d5d/tumblr_inline_oarrx3m4XY1ro26sq_1280.png

The excuse the villain gave was quite convenient, but it doesn’t seem like something a villain would say- maybe it sounds too nice? I don’t know. It’s what I think.

Plus, immediately after that, Jiro said this: https://66.media.tumblr.com/73a9b61bd2ef6f370b930e206c25eea0/tumblr_inline_oars47fye71ro26sq_640.png

She was asking the villain, but doesn’t it seem a little more Kaminari-like now that you think about it? Maybe Horikoshi’s trying to send us some kind of message? I’m not too sure.

That’s not all the evidence there is.

Do you remember what happened after the Stain Incident? Merchandise and trailers were made to honour the defeat and arrest of Stain. After watching one of the videos, Kaminari clearly stated that he thought ‘Stain was scary, but he was kind of cool, too.’ What kind of hero would think of something like that? Perhaps Kaminari had respect or admiration for Stain? Pretty suspicious if you ask me.

Here’s the manga panel showing exactly what Kaminari said. https://66-media-tumblr-com.cdn.ampproject.org/ii/w1200/s/66.media.tumblr.com/6011a9b276737a1a6e097125ee74d603/tumblr_inline_oaq7d72aYD1ro26sq_500.jpg

Another fact you need to take into consideration:

Kaminari is the class idiot, meaning he’s incredibly stupid. That’s a given. But in some cases, he’s shown to be extremely knowledgeable. Remember when Class 1-A had a special class where they had to pick their hero names? During this event, Kaminari made a comment that seemed quite out of character.

Jiro had suggested the name ‘Jamming-yay’ for Kaminari as a joke, but Kaminari had connected it to the author Hemingway, whom he said wrote the book, ‘A Farewell to Arms.’ He said the name was incredibly intellectual. Isn’t this something you’d expect an idiot not to know? Really suspicious.

Here’s the manga panel where he made that specific comment. https://66-media-tumblr-com.cdn.ampproject.org/ii/w560/s/66.media.tumblr.com/def2cd83ca4e86374e3077462e0ae514/tumblr_inline_oaq7bwVpmC1ro26sq_250.jpg

This didn’t happen only once. Here’s another time it happened.

When they were in the bus on the way to USJ, Class 1-A was teasing Bakugo. Kaminari’s vocabulary clearly increased when he was teasing Bakugo. He said, I quote;

‘It’s only been a brief while since our socialization has commenced and yet already have we been made apodictally cognizant of your personality, redolent as it is of a turd getting steamed in a sewer.”

(For reference, check the image) https://66.media.tumblr.com/580fd273d3ef1456588d6b549bc665e3/tumblr_inline_oarrpj5xq21ro26sq_400.png

What? How could an idiot know such words? Isn’t that a bit odd?

Another thing. Remember when Class 1-A had their final examinations? Who were the people who failed? If I remember correctly, they were Ashido, Sato, Kirishima, Sero and Kaminari.

Before we get into detail with that, during a staff meeting at U.A, Present Mic said that the traitor was probably using ‘wireless connection.’ As mentioned earlier, Kaminari is basically a walking GPS, so he has the ability to do that without any struggle, as long as he’s got his equipment with him.

Now, about the final examinations. Aizawa said that those who failed would not be able to go to the Forest Training Camp.

At first.

But after that, he said that those who failed would be able to go, but they would also get stuck in remedials. They also changed the venue, so how could the League know that? Probably because Kaminari is coming along, so he could be sending them signals on his location. After Aizawa told the class that those who failed would be able to tag along, they all seemed overjoyed. But look at Kaminari’s expression.

The image link is below. https://66-media-tumblr-com.cdn.ampproject.org/ii/w1200/s/66.media.tumblr.com/64f47a6c7a09ae703d130b2dc66aed7b/tumblr_inline_oaq784WlAj1ro26sq_500.jpg

His expression didn’t seem to have any kind of joy in it. It seemed to be mostly a mix of shock, confusion, and terror. Why? Probably because it messed with the League’s initial plan.

Another factor we need to consider is this: those who were stuck in remedials were separated from the rest of the class who were doing training outdoors. During the attack, those who were in remedials were indoors, which was a safe spot. Maybe the League made Kaminari fail the exams on purpose so he wouldn’t get caught in the battle and not get hurt? That’s something to think about.

Here’s something else. Many believe it could be some kind of clue or message from Horikoshi, telling us that Kaminari is the traitor.

Have a look at Episode 10’s sketch. http://i.imgur.com/WCNwkrL.jpg

It’s a great sketch, right? But look at this. https://66-media-tumblr-com.cdn.ampproject.org/ii/w1000/s/66.media.tumblr.com/0bdd6c98f9a236e6f8910715b4b8896c/tumblr_inline_oaq7aazFnT1ro26sq_400.jpg

What’s with that facial expression? Will our goofball Kaminari ever make a face like that? Someone edited the picture to make both sides of his face the same as the right side. https://66-media-tumblr-com.cdn.ampproject.org/ii/w680/s/66.media.tumblr.com/14416a9e0d0dd5b189731d4b4a0e069a/tumblr_inline_oaq7apu3sm1ro26sq_250.jpg

It looks more villainous, doesn’t it? But why? Why would Kaminari have a villainous expression on his face? It all adds up.

Not to mention, Kaminari’s original design was included in volume 9 of the manga. His initial design looked like this. https://66-media-tumblr-com.cdn.ampproject.org/ii/w1200/s/66.media.tumblr.com/f9f576f45ff054c53cb985d0e9e13934/tumblr_inline_oaq7b5UY471ro26sq_540.jpg

He looks like a villain. Horikoshi stated that he was supposedly some guy with an electricity quirk, so I’m not exactly sure about this one. It could be connected, though.

During the Training Camp Arc, a scene showed Class 1-A in bed. Here are two images showing the scene.

Boys: https://66.media.tumblr.com/7be082687aa488cdce242ce3ff0526f3/tumblr_inline_oarseihkcy1ro26sq_1280.png

Girls: https://66.media.tumblr.com/a5ea311a3468694ba9f40be64348ca3f/tumblr_inline_oarsubyEwl1ro26sq_1280.png

In the Boys’ scene, there’s an empty bed. The blanket looks as if it were purposely taken off the person’s body. That probably means someone got up in the middle of the night to do something. Possibly, to meet up with the villains?

In the Girls’ room, there’s also what appears to be an empty bed. But there’s a shadow and something pushing down on the futon. It’s most probably Hagakure, because she’s invisible, and Horikoshi made it clear that Hagakure was sleeping in that bed.

When Class 1-A first moved into the dormitories, they had a room contest. When they flashed Kaminari’s room, it looked like this: https://66.media.tumblr.com/8174f074c3e38f702ba66529cc751727/tumblr_inline_oaryu4qC0Q1ro26sq_1280.png

It really looks like he threw in whatever he could, thus making something easy to hide. Maybe he’s hiding something that he doesn’t want others to see? Really clever. Unlike some of the other rooms, you can’t really tell what Kaminari is into. Kirishima seems to like manly things, Tokoyami seems to like morbid things, Hagakure seems to like cute things, Midoriya seems to be a huge All Might Fan, etc., but Kaminari? No. His room doesn’t seem to have any kind of... theme.

We all know the sign of the Meta Liberation Army, don’t we? Well have a look at this. https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcSuykFX1Wsyb8l4kc1ELR5dMGNADon9AVgUDhEzpKc55z-BrckR

Kaminari’s doing it. He could easily be lifting his glasses up, but what’s up with that face? It looks kind of mischievous, doesn’t it?

If Horikoshi were to make a Class 1-A student the traitor, wouldn’t he make it someone who’s rather well-known? That means we can eliminate Mina, Sato, Ojiro, Hagakure, Sato, Shoji and Mineta. They’re all minor characters, so if they were to be the traitor, readers wouldn’t feel much sadness or shock. We can eliminate Jiro and Yaoyorozu as well, because they were affected by the villains during the Forest Training Camp Arc. It can’t be Izuku, because he’s the protagonist, and the story is clearly about how he becomes a hero. It can’t be Bakugo either because the League already tried to kidnap him. Todoroki is also an unlikely suspect because he tried to stop the League from kidnapping Bakugo. It can’t be Tokoyami either because he was captured with the League alongside Bakugo before being rescued by Shoji. We’re now down to six, which are Kirishima, Iida, Kaminari, Aoyama, Tsuyu and Uraraka. The one who seems more likely to be the traitor is Kaminari, as all the evidence stated above leaves us straight to that conclusion.

It all makes sense! If I find out more, I will add them to this blog post for you guys to see. If you believe otherwise, feel free to post your thoughts in the comments section below. Thank so much for spending your time reading this! My love for Kaminari will never die even though he is the traitor. He’s still a really great character and that would be an amazing plot twist!