Does Shoto Todoroki have two Quirks in My Hero Academia? His origins and powers, explained

In My Hero Academia, people are usually only born with one quirk. Those who can use multiple quirks are extremely rare, usually reserved for major antagonists or other important plot-relevant characters. However, this isn't the case with all. For instance, Todoroki is an important character, but he actually doesn’t possess two quirks, despite it seeming that way.

Todoroki’s quirk is called ‘Half-Cold, Half-Hot.’ From the right side of his body, he can generate ice, and from the left, he can generate fire. This is only counted as a singular quirk, because while he has two different powers, they are intrinsically linked. However, it is easy to confuse it for two distinct quirks, as his quirk is the culmination of two different quirks - one from his father, and one from his mother.

Disclaimer: This article will include spoilers for My Hero Academia.

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How Todoroki in My Hero Academia got a combined quirk

Todoroki's quirk lets him use fire and ice powers on each side of his body. (Image via Studio Bones)

Shoto's mother, meanwhile, is Rei Todoroki. Her quirk is called frost, and it allows her to generate ice and have a high resistance to ice. She wasn’t a pro hero, but instead married Enji through something known as a ‘quirk marriage,’ a type of marriage made solely to encourage the emergence of a powerful fused quirk. All of Todoroki’s older siblings, however, didn’t get the perfect combination of quirks.

His two middle siblings both received variants of the Frost quirk, with no Hellfire to be seen. The eldest son, Toya, received a powerful version of the Hellfire quirk, but only the resistance to the cold and ice from the Frost quirk. This greatly limited his endurance in a battle, as he’d still get burned by his own powers. But Shoto was the perfect combination of quirks that Enji sought.

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Todoroki, and the perfect combination of Hellfire and Frost

Endeavor's the one who made Half-Cold, Half-Hot happen. (Image via Studio Bones)

So, despite what might seem as two quirks, Todoroki is not one of those few in My Hero Academia to have two quirks, his ‘Half-Cold, Half-Hot’ is just the apex combination his parents' quirks. But his father pushed him too hard in his youth, leading him to resent his fiery half, until he later went on to embrace this quirk as his own, and not that of his father’s.

Unsurprisingly, Shoto’s not the only one to resent his father and his abusive training. His brother Toya harbors deep spite for his father and the latter's attempts to make a perfect combination of the two quirks - specifically as the villain Dabi. It’s easy to tell why, considering how badly scarred his body is from the overuse of his blue flame quirk.

Both Shoto and Toya inherited a combination of the quirks that their father wanted, but his pushing to see them become stronger heroes through rigorous and harsh training drove them both to resent their quirks and Endeavor is general. It's a glance into the darker side of quirks in My Hero Academia.

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Therefore, ultimately, Todoroki doesn’t have two quirks in My Hero Academia. Instead, his quirk is the outcome of having the wielder of two powerful quirks having children. This gives him both fire comparable to his father’s Hellflame and ice abilities comparable to his mother’s ice powers, as his father always intended to see.