#I haven’t meta’d about Shig in a while

[haleigh-sloth]

hi! sorry for the stupid question but like do you think shiggy actually wants to exist in some weird post apocalyptic world as his goal or are we supposed to understand that all he is doing comes 100% from a place of fear/anger/bitterness and he would maybe end up regretting winning in the end? like idk if maybe the author just sees him as a tall child that never had a chance of growing up and having someone save him is really all he needs to become a good person??? btw sorry for the english

Don't apologize for your english! This is not a stupid question and I’m really happy actually because I feel like I never get Shigaraki questions anymore 😭😭.

do you think shiggy actually wants to exist in some weird post apocalyptic world as his goal or are we supposed to understand that all he is doing comes 100% from a place of fear/anger/bitterness and he would maybe end up regretting winning in the end

The answer to this is.....yes and no. Lol. Okay but seriously, yes we are supposed to understand that all of this is a reaction to his trauma and circumstances, and we are supposed to understand that YES it is absolutely not going to bring him any joy whatsoever, it will not heal him in any way whatsoever. He even said so himself:

(I'll touch on the post-apocalyptic part further down).

That's exactly why the notion of being saved by a hero is such an integral part of his plot line.

Not just him though, all of the LOV trio. Being saved by a hero is a big part of their individual arcs.

The LOV are portrayed as protagonists in their own right a lot of the times throughout the story, so there are two reasons as to why they can't and won't win in the end:

They can't just destroy everything and kill everybody. I mean, plain and simple.

Despite them being their own protagonists, if they WERE to destroy everything and succeed, they would still lose. Because it's been shown time and time again that the destruction they're seeking is a reaction, it's revenge, and not a solution. And we're supposed to understand at this point in time that the LOV all have unmet needs, and they cannot heal until those needs are met, and because of that they cannot destroy everything. They would still lose in the end. They would still be miserable and unhappy, bitter and angry, and isolated from the society that rejected them---the society that they still want to be a part of, yes, even now. Being their own protagonists in their own way, they're supposed to "win" at the end also. Just not the way they imagined.

like idk if maybe the author just sees him as a tall child that never had a chance of growing up and having someone save him is really all he needs to become a good person???

I think this is simplifying it a bit, but yes the author portrays him as a kid/really unstable & immature young adult who hasn't stepped into his age yet, yes, even after he seemingly matures during MVA. It's a mask to cover how much he's actually being smothered by AFO's psychological hold on him.

I don't think it's a matter of him becoming a good person after being saved. It's more like, that good person was always in there (see how the LOV, despite him making 0 demands of any of them, despite them all having different ideas for how to live, stick with him anyway). The author showed us what he was like as a little kid in his backstory, kind and caring---and then the author continues reminding us over and over and over again that the little kid Tenko DID exist at one point. It's like saying "Hey, I know this 21 year old is committing some serious atrocities right now, but remember there is more beneath the surface." (Child symbolism explained here).

So the notion that he'll "suddenly become a good person once he's saved" is kind of grazing over the fact that, had he been saved, Tomura Shigaraki wouldn't exist. Because as I said above, a hero saving Tenko is one of the most important aspects of his arc.

A hero not saving him was the beginning:

so a hero saving him has to be his ending:

I wanna touch on this question again:

do you think shiggy actually wants to exist in some weird post apocalyptic world as his goal or--

The thing about Shigaraki is that he doesn't really contemplate the future. I'm gonna bring in the LOV trio for this to explain.

You have Touya, who is stuck in his past:

Toga, who is focused on a future:

And then you have Shigaraki, who is strangled by his past, but has convinced himself that he's free from his past:

Except he's not:

So therefore he's living in the present.

So as for what kind of world he WANTS to live in, I don't think he's thought that far. I don't think he even cares really. There's not really any ideal world he's ever described or evisioned, just a horizon full of destruction. I don't think he wants anything in particular, he just knows that he doesn't want what currently exists.

Basically Shigaraki is functioning on a "we'll cross that bridge when we get there" mentality lol.

But the only thing we for sure know is that, even if it's so deep down, bottom of the unexplored ocean deep down, Shigaraki wants a hero to come for him. He's been waiting for one this whole time. He convinced himself he was done waiting, done hoping. During the war, that was him giving up on heroes entirely, being ready to reject everyone and everything. Butttt we know that he didn't, at least not completely--