One For All's transference has a major plothole that My Hero Academia never addressed

To this day, Kohei Horikoshi's My Hero Academia continues to be the subject of many fan discussions and debates on social media. Although the series came to a decisive end several months ago, the series' impact on the animanga industry is as prominent as ever.

Arguably one of My Hero Academia's most intriguing Quirks is the one that received the most attention - One For All. It's a unique Quirk, given that it is essentially the amalgamation of multiple people's powers over the years.

After being passed down through multiple generations, the Quirk has been rewritten and redefined multiple times. However, only one thing has remained constant about One For All - it can only be wielded by a person once in their lifetime. While this rule may make sense from a narrative standpoint, there was no official explanation for it, leading many to the question - why exactly is this a rule?

Disclaimer: This article reflects the opinions of the author. Reader's discretion is advised.

Exploring the major plothole regarding One For All's transference in My Hero Academia

Deku in My Hero Academia season 7 (image via Studio Bones)

To start things off, let us first explore the major unspoken rule about the One For All Quirk - its transferability. We all know that One For All can be passed down from one person to another, typically when someone ingests the DNA of the current holder of the Quirk. Once the transfer is complete, the new user gains access to the accumulated power of the previous wielders.

That said, One For All is mostly considered a one-time-use Quirk - once someone passes it on, they can never have it back. From a narrative standpoint, this rule certainly makes sense. After all, if the Quirk could bounce back and forth between users, it would end up being the most broken Quirk in existence.

However, ask yourselves this - why exactly is this a rule in the first place? What exactly prevented Deku from just giving One For All back to All Might after his embers ran out? Furthermore, if a person can only wield One For All once in their lifetime, how did Bakugo temporarily use it and return it to Deku afterward?

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In All Might's case, after passing on One For All to Deku, he officially burned through the last embers after his monumental showdown against All For One. Theoretically, there should be nothing preventing Deku from giving the Quirk back to All Might, so he could keep fighting a little longer.

There's no in-universe reason why All Might couldn't have taken the Quirk back and regained some power. That being said, the simplest and most probable explanation would likely be - he simply didn't want or even need to.

All Might was actively trying to build Deku up as his successor since his body was damaged beyond repair. He was on borrowed time, and prolonged usage of One For All would have resulted in the Quirk dying alongside him.

There's also the fact that the One For All Quirk puts an immense strain on the user's body. As such, giving the Quirk back to an already weakened All Might would essentially equate to sending him to an early grave. Another likely reason behind One For All's transference rule could be that the vestiges of the Quirk wanted it to be passed down.

Deku and Bakugo in My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising (image via Studio Bones)

In most cases, the previous holders of the Quirk died shortly before passing it on, so they obviously couldn't have taken the Quirk back, even if they wanted to. Furthermore, they wanted a successor to carry on their legacy and defeat All For One in their stead, so it wouldn't make sense for them to allow the Quirk to go back and forth between the same users.

But here's where things get complicated - in the My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising movie, Deku transfers One For All to Bakugo in a moment of desperation. After transferring the Quirk by touching fingers and exchanging blood, the duo defeated the Villain they were fighting. Many thought this would be a one-way exchange and Deku would lose One For All forever, but the Quirk somehow returned to him. However, this shouldn't even be possible in the first place, especially if you take One For All's transference rule into account.

Since no official explanation was provided, fans came up with their theories as to why this happened. Some theorized that the transfer was incomplete in the first place since Bakugo passed out shortly after using it. There's another theory that claims that One For All returned to Deku because the Quirk deemed him to be its rightful successor.

All of these aforementioned theories and explanations do make sense in a way. However, since no official explanation was provided by the mangaka, the rule regarding One For All's transference remains one of My Hero Academia's biggest plotholes. Leaving it up to interpretation may not have been the best way to deal with it, but at the very least, it does keep the fandom alive via discussions and debates on social media.

Final Thoughts

Since there's no official explanation, we can chalk up the unspoken rule of One For All's transference to plot convenience, among other reasons and theories.

There's no denying that One For All is a fascinating Quirk. At the same time, however, it's also one of the most inconsistently written aspects of My Hero Academia.