For several seasons in a row, My Hero Academia fans waited anxiously to find out who betrayed UA to the League of Villains, and why. All the way back in My Hero Academia Season 1, Tomura Shigaraki used insider info to sneak his forces into UA's USJ complex for his raid, and it didn't take long for Present Mic to realize part of the truth. A few hints were dropped about who the UA traitor was, but it wasn't until early in Season 7 when the bizarre truth came to light.

Of all people, it was Yuga Aoyama of Class 1-A who had cut a secret deal with the League of Villains to make that USJ attack possible, and it wasn't just that. Yuga also helped the League sneak into the forest training compound while Classes 1-A and 1- B trained with the Wild, Wild Pussycats, so Can't Stop Twinkling has a lot to answer for. My Hero Academia fans want to know exactly why Yuga Aoyama did what he did, and what it reveals about him as a person and what it says about Pro-Hero society in general.

Why Did Yuga Aoyama Betray UA?

Unlike many traitors and double agents in anime, Yuga Aoyama personally never wanted to betray anyone — in this case, his classmates and teachers at the UA school. No matter how much Yuga criticized himself as a true villain after his capture, he did not actually have the heart of a villain, and betraying UA for the League of Villains was never even his idea. Instead, Yuga was forced into that position and faced serious pressure to do what was asked of him. It traces back to his birth, with the fact that Yuga was one of several characters born Quirkless.

Yuga's parents, just like Inko Midoriya, were distraught to have a Quirkless child, but unlike Deku's mother, Yuga's parents decided to take drastic measures to rectify the apparent problem. They couldn't accept their son being Quirkless, so they turned to All For One, who was well-known for redistributing Quirks for his clients, something he had been doing for many decades, perhaps over a century. Mr. and Mrs. Aoyama forms a pact with All For One, agreeing to be his minion in exchange for Yuga receiving the Navel Laser Quirk.

That may be why Yuga's body is so overwhelmed by that Quirk's use, since his body wasn't developed alongside that Quirk. Years later, when Yuga was in his teens and old enough to attend a hero school like UA, the villainous All For One started using him, too. Yuga Aoyama was not a villain at heart, nor did he personally agree to that pact, but All For One had simple yet serious leverage on him. If Yuga refused to do as All For One asked, then the symbol of evil would kill his parents, creating intense personal stakes that Yuga could not ignore.

Yuga loved his parents and would never let them come to harm, so he reluctantly agreed to be All For One's pawn, hence his insider help with the USJ and forest training camp raids. That's an example of how heroes are easier to manipulate than villains, since heroes have positive personal attachments to friends, family, and lovers, who are easy to hold hostage, while villains tend to care only about themselves. That's a sign in Yuga's favor that he's not a true villain, but he still behaves like one, selling out his entire school for the symbol of evil and the deadly Tomura Shigaraki.

How Will Yuga Aoyama Make Amends For What He Did?

There is no taking back what Yuga Aoyama did. Because of him, All Might wore himself out fighting that specialized Nomu, thus accelerating his decline, and Katsuki Bakugo ended up captured because of Yuga's betrayal, which led to All Might exhausting his remaining strength to defeat All For One yet again. There are permanent consequences for Yuga's betrayal, including emotional scars he put on his trusting classmates, but as an inspirational shonen anime, My Hero Academia won't let the story end there.

Yuga is not meant to be shamed and hated for his betrayal, especially since it was never his decision. The real question now is what Yuga will do to make amends, which makes his arc remarkably similar to Endeavor's, since the new #1 hero strives to seek atonement for his abuses of his family. Neither Yuga nor Endeavor can take back what they did to hurt those people, but if they take action to balance it out with good deeds, perhaps they can be forgiven, or at least prove that they still have a good side to them.

That may be easier for Yuga, since, unlike Endeavor, he was forced into a bad situation and never acted out of malice or self-interest. Yuga allowed All For One to use him in order to attack Class 1-A and All Might, so now Yuga will flip the script and let UA's teachers and students use him in order to attack the Paranormal Liberation Front. Yuga is in a strange place between UA and All For One, being the once-secret bridge between them, and now that UA's teachers know about that link, they can use it. Yuga, who is deserpate to make up for what he did, is ready to do his part as well.

Recent episodes in My Hero Academia's 7th season are already showing how far Yuga Aoyama will go to make up for his earlier betrayal. At great risk, Yuga contacted All For One and pretended to still be on the symbol of evil's side, seemingly selling out Deku's location as an obedient minion. Yuga and his allies even took steps to hide that deception from All For One's sensory Quirks, since All For One could normally sense when people lied to him either in person or over the phone.

There's no doubt that All For One would gladly kill any or all of the Aoyamas for this double-double-crossing, but that's a risk Yuga can and must take to make amends for his betrayal. So far, at least, Yuga's new plan is working because the assembled Pro-Heroes and students are fighting the League on their own terms, and there's no immediate danger to the Aoyamas.

What Does Yuga Aoyama's Betrayal Say About Him and Hero Society?

Many character arcs in My Hero Academia reveal something more about the future world in which Deku and his classmates live. This anime is more than just a love letter to classic shonen action manga and American comics like X-Men and Spider-Man -- the proliferation of Quirks says a lot about society and humanity's co-existence with these supernatural gifts. While it may seem like a wonderful thing to have pro heroes rule and protect this future society, there is also a dark side, one that the pro heroes cannot eliminate on their own.

For one thing, Quirks created a new system of inequality and discrimination, since being born Quirkless is considered shameful, and the same goes for being born with the "wrong" Quirks. Hetermorphs, for example, are often made into social outcasts, while people with strange Quirks like Himiko Toga's blood-based Quirk are considered monsters. In short, the rise of Pro-Heroes simply gave societal inequality a new flavor rather than eliminate it, and that means plenty of people turn to villainy out of desperation because they were born "wrong," including Yuga Aoyama.

Being born Quirkless is "wrong," and his parents knew it, so they turned to All For One to fix it. They willingly turn their entire family into pawns of evil, proving how strong the stigma of Quirklessness is and how deeply Quirks have entrenched themselves into society and the human psyche. Quirks became a genetic lottery with winners and losers, and if the losers have nothing left to lose, then of course they will commit crimes, join the Paranormal Liberation Front, or even betray their classmates.

Yuga's betrayal and his plan to atone for it also say much about him as a person. Yuga's villainy is only in his actions, because he acted out of love for his parents, not out of self-interest, and he deeply regretted what he did, breaking into tears when captured. He cried not out of shame or fear, but guilt for what he did. It wasn't about his image or survival, but rather, his helpless desire to do good. A true villain would betray UA for their own gain and wouldn't care who got hurt along the way, but such wasn't the case with Yuga Aoyama.

His tears, and his bold risk in atoning for his crimes, show that Deku is right to see a hero in him and give him a second chance. His circumstances don't make it easy to see, but Yuga is one of Class 1-A's noblest, kindest, and most selfless students of all, and in another lifetime, Can't Stop Twinkling could have become an incredible hero for all to admire as a symbol of peace and friendship.