A dark prophecy has been hanging over All Might's head for most of the series, and that foretold moment has come to pass in an unexpected way.

Summary

• All Might's prophesied death has been subverted, but his dream of being the top hero and symbol of peace is still dead.
• All Might's true legacy proved to be not the outcome of his long battle with All for One, but the seeds of hope he planted.
• All Might's students have proven themselves competent and brave, showing that his dream of a peaceful world lives on through them.

Warning: Spoilers for My Hero Academia Chapter #405For hundreds of My Hero Academia chapters, there has been a prophecy of All Might's impending demise, and now it seems that prophecy has come true - but not as fans expected. While Bakugo's actions changed fate and saved All Might's life, it seems Sir Nighteye's vision of the future still has a ring of truth to it.

Chapter #405 of My Hero Academia opens with All Might speaking with a hallucination of Sir Nighteye, his former (and deceased) sidekick, who confirms that the moment he foresaw was indeed All for One holding All Might's withered body aloft. While fate has changed and All Might yet lives, Sir Nighteye points out that his vision still came true, after all.

Sir Nighteye's vision represented the death of All Might's dream, a dream of a world where he was the top hero and his very presence prevented crime due to his status as the Symbol of Peace. However, while All Might's version of this dream may be done for, he has sown the seeds of the next generation to ensure that this peaceful world might still exist.

All Might's Dream Lives On In His Students

This subversion of All Might's prophesied death seems to have left the former #1 hero at a loss. All Might darkly asks Sir Nighteye whether it's the mentor's role to die after passing on their knowledge, and his sidekick dismisses that as comic book tropes that don't apply to their lives - in a great meta moment for the series. Despite what All Might said when he began battling All for One, it seems some small part of him did expect to die there, battling it out with his nemesis in that armor. All Might never even considered what he would do if he survived this climactic battle, and he seems genuinely unsure of what his purpose is for the first time in decades.

While All Might certainly threw a lot of hints that he might die in the preceding chapters, chapter #405 has gone against the popular trope of the fallen mentor. It's a far more interesting position for All Might's character to be in than had he died, because for the first time his future is open. His injuries are severe, and he may not be physically able to do many of the things he's done in the past anymore, but All Might is nonetheless alive. It will all be up to All Might - or perhaps more accurately, Toshinori Yagi - to chose his path from here on out, without the specter of a gruesome death looming in his future.

All Might Is Dead, But Toshinori Yagi Is Alive

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Of course, the situation is far from resolved, so there are more immediate concerns that have to be dealt with, but the door is now open for All Might to become just a regular person again, without the pressures of hero work. After all, what subverted Sir Nighteye's prophecy was that the seeds of hope planted by All Might were harvested by the new generation. His students have proven themselves competent at this point, showing that they don't even necessarily need him in that mentor role. Assuming the heroes win, All Might has a fresh new lease on life. My Hero Academia resolved the plot thread of Sir Nighteye's prophecy brilliantly, making it come true on some level, with All Might's own dream dead, but what he cultivated in his students proves that this dream will never really die.

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