...

Will Gojo Satoru Turn Evil? Weighing The Possibilities!

Is Gojo Satoru a ticking time bomb waiting for the right time to explode or are we just taking random shots in the dark? Read the blog to know which possibility looks more likely to happen.

Jujutsu Kaisen is a haven for theories: good or bad, correct or not; it doesn’t matter. There’s hardly any character that has escaped the reaches of these theories. And ironically enough, some theories about Gojo Satoru turning evil float around the internet.

While his name sends chills down the bodies of his enemies, some fans don’t quite share the same opinion about his alignment.

Tinfoil as it may be, there are some speculations rife that Gojo is actually a secret villain of the story. Some theories go as far as seeing Gojo as the potential evil mastermind behind the events.

There’s no doubt that Akutami has time and again shocked us with twists we never saw coming, so the next one just might be Gojo.

But is that really so? What I think about this theory is for later to discuss. Before that, let’s talk about one aspect this theory takes as its basis: will Gojo’s character ever spiral into an abyss? Or, as fans ask: Will Gojo Turn Evil?

Will Gojo turn evil?

Warning: major spoilers ahead!

The repercussions of this possibility, if it ever came true, would be plenty. Gojo is an unstoppable force (well, kind of embarrassing to say that about a man inside a box) that even the guys on “his side” are wary of.

Since his childhood, Gojo has experienced a different world than anyone else.

As the strongest sorcerer alive, he was needed and detested, hunted and protected, revered and shunned. He lived a paradoxical life just like his cursed technique itself except for his relationship with Geto. His power came with massive costs that nobody else could bear, making him an outcast.

He is the perfect target for misunderstandings.

Toji Gojo ch71

If we look at it objectively, Gojo’s life is the fine line between good and evil. The way his ideologies go, he is susceptible to swing to the other side quite easily.

Take his desire to cull the superiors of jujutsu, for example. It’s nothing short of bold and commendable that Gojo picked wanting to raise a generation of ‘good’ sorcerers instead of just killing the higher-ups. It sounds all rosy because it is what is good for the characters we have grown fond of.

Gojo’s position and portrayal as the ‘perfect’ entity are quite odd (Akutami going as far as juxtapositioning him with Buddha). A little stress on this perception, and we realize that we’ve accepted Gojo can’t possibly turn evil.

Gojo honoured one

But this is the moment we must stop and think if Gojo’s goody-good morality too comes with an expiration date. Sure, like Geto said, if Gojo wanted to kill a whole bunch of people, he could.

He can simply wake up a day with nothing to stop him and commit war crimes. It would be a standard villain trope, something which a good character won’t do. But Akutami has never deterred from subverting common tropes earlier.

And there is certainly a solid base for this line of thought.

Jujutsu Kaisen has time and again emphasized how morals are easily debatable and a slippery slope much.

If Geto’s downfall wasn’t a lesson enough, the slaughter of the Zen’ins at the hands of Maki should be. In fact, could this be a possible foreshadow to Gojo’s spiral?

Moreover, we can call Gojo a ticking time bomb whose timer counts down with every experience he goes through.

Gojo’s confounding experiences

Gojo has to be one of the few people in the story who have lost too much to measure. As mentioned before, Gojo’s childhood was harrowing but that just the beginning of a series of cruel misfortunes for him.

When it seemed that Gojo was somewhat at a stable pace of life (thanks to his best friend), the incident with Riko Amanai came knocking the door.

The Star Plasma vessel arc set a mountful of events into motion, but for Gojo it was an unimaginable setback. It was a glaring neon-colored reminder that Gojo was somehow not strong enough, in spite of living like that.

But once again, Gojo regained momentum only to come face to face with the loss of Geto Suguru. Not only did he have to painfully sever ties with the only person who understood him, but Gojo also had to kill him by his own hands. Even if he had become the strongest, he could not turn the wheel of fate into his favor, after all. He’d never be that strong.

Gojo ch78

We would be out of our minds to think these two successive tragedies did not hollow Gojo out. His being sealed in the middle of crisis because of his actions, or rather inaction, must also weigh heavy on him too.

Sadly enough, more of such burdens await his escape from the Prison Realm.

It is almost heartbreaking to think of how Gojo has no idea about how horrific the entirety of the Shibuya incident was. Masamichi Yaga’s death and Nanami’s sacrifice will welcome him – two more people from his past gone.

They might have garnered nothing but irritation from Gojo, but deep down they both supported him in their own ways.

And about his present?

Nobara is nowhere to be found and Maki has turned into a mass murderer, much like Geto Suguru himself. His direct pupil, Itadori, lost control over Sukuna who killed hundreds of people and injured Inumaki.

Then there is the whole Culling Games which was set into motion by Kenjaku (Geto). It put a question mark on the lives of a lot of young sorcerers (including Hakari) and the worst part, Sukuna took over Megumi.

Now, as things stand, if Gojo indeed does escape the prison realm, he might have to end up fighting his pupil, Megumi.

Phew. A lot to take, isn’t it? It always has been.

Gojo is a maestro when it comes to burying his feelings; it looks that way at least. We meet him as a mildly obnoxious, happy-go-lucky, and jovial person in the story’s beginning. However, though he pretends he has no care in the world, we have evidence that proves otherwise.

Instances foreshadowing Gojo being unhinged?

There are a few half-moments or probable slip-ups from Gojo that are not necessarily him acting unhinged, but we must point them out. These instances actually might point to a possible future state where he’s pushed off the ledge.

The first instance has to be Gojo’s fights. We’ve not seen Gojo in action as much as we’d like to, but when we have, it’s nothing short of a treat. But in these fights, we notice a strange feeling that Gojo exudes, almost like he’s having fun. It looks like he never sees fights as fights, rather a chance to test his powers like dusting his hands.

In his fight against Toji, he was exhilarated even though he had almost come back from dead. It was as if by fighting an opponent like Toji, Gojo had realized his true self (which he indeed had).

What’s weird is that his other fights like the one with Jogo also have hints of this crazed euphoria.

Gojo Tarot card edited

Lastly, the one instance some people can’t get enough of analyzing as a character trait – Gojo at Shibuya. In spite of going out of commission within a few chapters, Gojo left a massive impact.

Oddly, it reminds me of the Pillar Men from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure – even “perfect” beings need something to challenge them as entertainment. And it is their downfall? Uhm, well, moving on.

Keeping aside Gojo’s fights, the one instance that probably threw most of us off was his conversation with Megumi. Or more specifically, the note he ended that conversation on. This switch from a playful and light lesson to a sudden life lesson was a jerk. It was almost so out-of-character for Gojo to say something along these lines.

Gojo ch58

The way he said it and his expression make us wonder what led him there. And where is it all buried?

Perhaps Gojo has accepted the weight of being the strongest: only you remain standing, while others perish no matter how hard you try. Most importantly, we should be thinking if it was just a momentary slip of his persona, or a forewarning to something more dangerous?

Gojo 76

It also has some reflection of teenage Gojo, with his just awakened powers. He never ruminated over right and wrong; principles never held any meaning for him. At the end, what mattered was what he chose for himself and his powers.

If it was killing a few ungrateful pricks, so be it. He had no remorse about it.

An uncanny parallel & final thoughts

Well, then. Let’s ask ourselves this: what if Gojo does turn evil? It’s probably safe to say that it would be worse than the apocalypse the Culling Game as a whole poses. And he would perhaps be more vile villain that even Sukuna or Kenjaku. But what’s interesting is that Gojo’s spiral would be a parallel to his best friend’s downward trajectory.

It reminds me of this exchange between them for the last time:

Gojo Geto ch78

Was this a foreshadow?

Gojo could achieve any goal he fixated himself on because of who he was. Obviously from what we have seen of Gojo, it would be all too easy for him to end it all for everyone. And when it comes to Kenjaku’s plan of optimizing cursed energy? It just might be a playground for Gojo. It kind of makes sense why Gojo seems perfect for an antagonist.

Nonetheless, I don’t believe so. I think that Gojo does not fit the bill of an antagonist. He has sustained far too much damage from his experiences to have been scheming all this time, to begin with.

Some people speculate that he deliberately got rid of the two tools that could get him out of Prison Realm. And I agree that it is just an awful coincidence.

But from what we see in the story, it is evident that Gojo had no means of knowing about anything – let alone Kenjaku – to have planned out things when he was merely sixteen.

Like this article also stated earlier, it is far too easy for characters and even us to misunderstand Gojo. Some users go as far as saying that Gojo does not “care” about anyone. However, that is not true.

It’s just that his attitude and ability to hide his feelings are far more prominent.

Gojo and Yaga

Moreover, it is blantantly obvious that if Gojo did want to support Kenjaku, he did not need to fake anything, even when he was a teenager. He was already leagues above everyone and just like he supported Itadori, he could might as well have defied authority earlier. The basic flaw in this theory is this: why would the strongest man of the series need such an intricate plan?

If we were to speak about sanity, however, dare I say that Gojo might lose sight of it at some instance in the future. Maybe during his final showdown with Kenjaku, he might go feral with this powers. But after losing Geto to the evil side, I don’t see Gojo walking the same path, even if it means he will be alone at the end.

What do you think about this theory? Let us know in the comments!

Related posts

Leave a Comment