A hero's job: artoria and all might

An analysis of similarities between characters in Fate/Stay Night and My Hero Academia

As the nation's top hero, the symbol of peace, All Might is something of a leader in My Hero Academia, an inspiration for all heroes in Japan. He blazes a trail forwards to a bright future, leading everyone into the world they want to see. Artoria Pendragon is much more obviously a leader, as the king of Britain. She commands the knights of the round table, and as we see her past in Fate/Stay Night, she stood confidently at the head of her country, and her army, carving a bloody trench through their enemies to secure a peaceful future for her subjects. From these descriptions alone, it's easy to see parallels between these two characters. However, the most fascinating thing about their similarity is the way that they both push aside their personal feelings in order to save the people they care about. While it's more obvious in Artoria's case, with this theme being her main character arc, All Might is also guilty of this suppresion of his personal life, in favor of his hero work.

Artoria's (chronologically) first character defining moment is when she pulls Caliburn from the stone, and establishes herself as the rightful heir to the throne of Britain. Knowing full well that she could never be truly happy as the king, she accepted the divine birthright, and stepped up to fill the position. Even with Merlin's dire warnings, she did what had to be done: "She tried to be an ideal king. Being an ideal king was the condition of their support. ――There was no room for the human, Artoria(Fate/Stay Night, page 623)." By suppressing her emotions, and becoming what she believed to be the "ideal king," Artoria saved her country from the brink of ruin. She brought peace throughout the land, and fought against enemies within and without. But the one person she could not save, could not protect, was herself.

All Might, on the other hand, appears at first glance to have a much cushier run of it. Perpetually smiling, it's easy to look at the symbol of peace and have confidence in him. He's the embodiment of justice, and the eternal protector of Japan. Except that he's not eternal. The people of the whole nation had to face this fact, harshly accepting that their hero was only human, and therefore flawed and imperfect, just like them.

The reason that All Might had built up this reputation for himself as unbeatable and almost inhuman, was because that's what he believed the country needed. At an uncertain time when society was at a tipping point between good and evil, All Might burst onto the scene, ready to take the hopes and dreams of every person in Japan into his shoulders. As his master, Nana Shimura said, "No matter how scary it gets, you must always wear a smile...For in this world, the ones who smile are the strongest of all(My Hero Academia, chapter 92)." The prerequisite for this, however, was to be someone that anyone and everyone could believe in. Since humans are inherently flawed, and emotions are inherently flawed, All Might knew that he needed to save people with a smile, showing them that no matter what situation he found himself in, it wasn't one that was so serious that he couldn't still come out of it alright.

Despite his massive popularity, not much is known about All Might. His quirk, his real name, his past, even his age, are all closely guarded secrets. In order to maintain his image, All Might couldn't be seen as the same as everyone else. He had to maintain a degree of 'otherness,' as a sort of untouchable figure who never lost a fight in his life. He had to save everyone, but at the cost of himself, physically and emotionally.

Both Artoria and All Might saved their countries. But as human beings, they couldn't last forever. They protected and sheltered their people for as long as they could, but even the strongest hero cannot save everyone forever. They both found themselves at the end of their story, with All Might's retirement after the battle in Kamino, and Artoria's death at the strife of Camlann, with the country they had worked so hard to protect falling to peices. All Might, functionally quirkless, watched helplessly as hero society crumbled around him, the public crying out for help. Artoria knelt, her holy sword stuck into the ground, at the top of a bloodied hill among her fallen knights. Both heroes tried their best to save the people around them, but they didn't have the time to teach them how to say goodbye before their time in the light was ripped away from them by circumstances they had no way of seeing from the top.