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Star Theory: Elden Ring outer gods and the 'nature of the universe'

(I'm feeling particularly neurotic so you're suffering with me)

SO, in case you aren't aware, which is entirely possible i barely knew of it before, but stars have life cycles! Which is weird, right? And the fact that it's never brought up in Elden Ring despite the fact there's this sense that Markia and everyone is supposed to be old as hell? And there's an entire academy dedicated to learning of the stars?

Well, dear reader, do I have the explanation for you! This will be long winded, so bear with me! And if there's someone who's already done this, you should probably listen to them instead!

first and foremost, stars are made up of conflicting forces, gravity pushing in, heat pushing out. But, to keep things more poetic, and in line with the whole fantasy aspect of elden ring, let's call it the Devouring aspect and the Creation aspect. Gravity creates pressure, trying to devour itself, but creates it's own feed to feast upon. Easy to follow?

As such, everything exists in perpetuity, creating itself and living in cycles? Or more importantly, every action has its equal opposite reaction. Life begets death, so on so forth. So everything lives in duality, having one part of itself necessary to oppose to creat more of it.

now, that's just how a star works, but there's more than one type of star, and thus life cycles.

this is a more rudimentary visual, but it gets the point across, alright?

Quick to start, let's cover backstory (or at least what I assume the backstory is) of the One Great, Greater Will, and what not for a quick understanding. But keep the visual in mind!

First, we can safely (?) assume that the One Great from Hyetta's dialog is likely in reference to the big bang in some capacity, so that's the beginning of the universe covered. One Greats dead, created everything, blah blah blah.

Next! As said in something about the glinstone sorcerer Azur(?) he witnessed the Greater Will's death, where it likely then became a Black Hole (the mass death of stars around it?) [Comet Azur and the Primeval Current is likely in reference to the nature of the expanding universe, akin to how water spreads out from a droplet of water, just on a mass scale i guess, given it almosg looks like rushing water to me]

Wverything after that and during when the Greater Will was up and running? no idea, not really important for my argument anyways.

So where does that leave Metyr and Elden Beast? Well, Metyr has the Neutron star attack, and given that she's the prodigal daughter of a dead god, it seems like she witnessed at least some of the death maybe? Or is at least aware of the 'end' of gods in something capacity, maybe. Elden Beast however seem more like stabilized core of a star given its veins of gold, and given that the Greater Will was a God of Order, it makes sense that at least one of them seems somewhat stable. (Sorry Metyr)

On to the outer gods and the necessity of duality!

As you can see, there are multiple forms of stars! Red and Yellow as main focal, with maybe othefs?

So! Let's start with the obvious,

The Blood Star- red? Check. Small or large? Eh. Formless Mother? What?

As I said about duality, and stars, one begets the other. The Devouring agent and the Creation agent.

Specifically, let's take a quick detour through religious inspiration. And I'm gonna make this quick.

*There is this belief that a whole being is made up two people, one masculine one feminine. Greeks had it in the creation mythos of man, and there's probably a Buddah or two that have the same shtick, unfortunately I'm not overly familiar with that game, but you get my point.

And in some eastern beliefs, i believe Taoism, there is a dichotomy between the masculine and feminine. One physical and other spiritual, repectively*

Point is, if stars can represent outer gods, and a whole being is made up of two. Than it's likey that Devouring agent and Creation agent have their respective gods conjoined into one star but still separate identities! (So Marika and Radagon?)

-The easiest outer gods to apply this logic to are the ones I mentioned up top, The Blood Star and Formless Mother. Both deal in blood, one masculine and demanding sacrifice of blood in the physical, with the whole history of blind prisoners. while the Formless Mother 'asks' for blood with 'promises' of something in return, a bargain like upping Mohgs wings to a latger size, and has a more creation aspect given the Mother moniker. As well as 'gifting' her blood to people, such as Mohg, and a piece of her flesh in the DLC blood fiends cult cave place that they apparently ate. Perharps, some kind of desire to be devoured in the sense of missing a whole part of the self where life is born from death? Through the pressure of the star then creating heat?

-Next would be: The Rot! I think that with the whole Lake of Rot being a more red-red color, it was defeated by the blind swordsman(? right?) when it was in its masculine phase, and then switched over into the more feminine side, trying to spread it's influence through any means necessary as a dying star! Thus taking on a more pinker color through Romina's bud, being 'born anew' by it in some capacity and also seemingly taking nest in feminine figures, Romina and Melania! (Also through Milicent being 'born' of Melania through odd means?)

-The Twin Birds would likely be a blue star in some capacity, likely quite large given that they represent death and all that. However, that's as far as I can get really. And death has its whole thing going on with Godwyn as well and I just don't wanna touch it.

-The Fell God and The God Devoring Serphant (Not the Abyssal Serphant) are kind of intertwined due to proximity, and the giants forge having serphants on it. As well as Rykard and Eiglay being in a volcano, as opposed to the giants forge being on a mountain top surrounded by snow. Life, Death. Fire, Ice. Duality, ya know?

-The Abyssal Serphant likely exists in duality to the One Great rather than something more simple, which is why it snake imagery slips into everything despite everything being born of the One Great. Abyssal Serphant devours, the One Great, creates. Not specifically a star, but it's good to get it out of the way now real quick. But will show up later! And it's similar to Dark Souls!

-The Frenzied Flame, the big doozey. You know how I said everything exists in duality? Well, what better way for duality to exist then for duality to be dual in itself? If you want 2, you can't just have the single number, you need two! So why not 2 and 3? Confused yet? Duality needs duality to be duality. As such, Order is Chaos. That easy.

-The Greater Will and The Frenzied Flame, are two sides of the same coin. Creating order, the other wanting to burn it all down. A microcosm of the One Great and The Abyssal Serphant pretty much. The first wanting to continually exist in perpetuity creating, the other a harbinger of the end itself. Heat death of the universe pretty much, i guess.

-The moons?

I don't wanna talk about the moons. In our guiding stars very own lordly words, Count Ymir, they are simply the closest celestial bodies. (I'm lying)

Okay so what's up with tem? Are they gods? No? Then what are they? If they are gods, then why isn't there a god of the Lands Between? It's a terrestrial body isn't it? If the moon is like greek myth, the titan Selene, where is Gaia?

Well, that's where Marika (and Radagon) come in. So, as we learned in the DLC, a god requires a lord, and when we finish the main game, unless we choose Ranni's ending, we become Marika's consort. So, perhaps it's something similar to such? The necessity of duality?

-My leading theory, with everything else already explained, is that maybe the Greater Will was an outer god, killed Placidsaxes god? In some way? And then needed some kind of 'vessel' to keep the lands intact and in order. Thus, Marika. The chosen Empyrian. (The Gloam Eyed Queen is likely another Abyssal Serphant coming up through the cracks of creation, in opposition to the One Great/Greater Will 'lineage'? It's another microcosm)

-But then Radagon? How? well, if a god requires two forces acting against each other, makes sense that he's the masculine force to Marikas feminine and spiritual, whole shaman thing, side. Thus creating a whole god, but yet only one i regarded as a god, with Radagon yet to become her; in that famous line Melina tells us.

-But then Ranni? And Miquella? Well, Miquella got his consort, and divested himself of his femininity; when it likely made him a true god in the first place or at least the empyrian in the lead to godship, but we kill him so who knows.

And Ranni is backed by the moon. And I don't wanna talk about the stupid moons and her four arms. She divested herself of her flesh anyways, so who knows!

-The shadow bound beasts aren't even really fleshed out, Miquella doesn't seem to have one, so I'm not sure where they stand in all this. Maybe they really are just failsafes and Miquella didn't need one because he wasn't going in a drastic direction according to the Greater Will (technically Metyr but whatevs)

yeah and I think that's it. thanks for reading!

so im trying to decipher this chart on wikipedia that has common vampire weaknesses in it and

a ‘green/yes’ is a weakness, a ‘red/no’ is something that isnt a weakness, and a ‘?’ is something that has never been addressed but fucking riddle me this

in what lore are vampires weak to getting soggy in milk

happy Thursday the 20th

"Never, EVER raise your hand to a fledgling" What a bunch of WOKE nonsense! You know, when I was a fledgling, my maker beat my ass AT LEAST three times a week because I would mouth off and get into some bullshit. Built character. Kept me out of trouble. Taught me to respect my elders AND the Great Laws.

Fledglings these days don't respect either of those things. They're insolent. Reckless. No sense of decorum. Just take that Molloy kid. Running around out in the mortal world spilling our secrets and stirring up shit. You know he doesn't even have a maker because he goes around asking every vampire who can hear him, "Have you seen my maker? Have YOU seen my maker?" I'd feel bad for him if he'd just learned to keep his mouth shut.

If he HAD a respectable maker who wasn't a lousy deadbeat, the little shit'd get his ass beat so hard he'd be in coffin for a MONTH, Satan bless. And ALL of this bullshit could've been avoided. But now I'm gonna get CANCELED for saying it!

Why the hell is JJK 270 called Dream's End?

JJK 270 being titled Dream’s End is so fudging ominous. That’s some Umineko type beat. I’m not sure if I should even judge this chapter as presented because of this. In fact, I'm holding off on posting the other analysis I had for today since I no longer am certain of what JJK 268–270 are.

There's two lines of thought I have:

1) Gege suffering from burnout and bad working conditions plus rushing has caused the writing to decline.

2) Gege still has a hidden ace saved for the final chapter and the weird writing is deliberate.

I'm going to humor Option 2, but only because the title of this chapter is called Dream's End.

(The most 'hear me out' discussion under the cut. Using TCB scans and leaks. Click images for captions/citations.)

Preface

"Without love it cannot be seen."

This is a phrase and philosophy I have borrowed from Umineko since I've started these JJK yapfests. It essentially boils down to 'discard your negative biases and try to examine things in good faith.'

JJK 268 & 269 have fudging tested that for me. I've been giving Gege and the characters a pretty hard time with the caveat of knowing how exploitative the manga industry is. I initially rejected the idea that these chapters were to be taken at anything other than face-value because of this. In fact, I cited the JJK 268 chapter title of Finale as a reason I've accepted things as is.

And with that same logic, I'm now doing the opposite... So hear me out! I've got some pretty good reasons to be doing this.

What's wrong with JJK 268–270?

There's a lot of things in these chapters that are fundamentally inconsistent with what's been established in throughout the manga. If we use Option 1 to explain these contradictions, these are last second retcons because Gege forgor.

Option 2? We're about to have the rug pulled the hell out from under us because the last 3 chapters have been delusions.

What first tipped me off to something possibly being wrong on purpose was the fate of the incarnated culling game players in JJK 270. Not too long ago it was established that the souls of non-sorcerers in vessels were unsavable.

The souls are suppressed in a way that distorts them permanently or their consciousness is outright destroyed. They were gambling on Megumi's survival due to him being a sorcerer and Sukuna's incarnation method being unique. 99% of them will die and those who survive will likely be vegetables, so why is there a sudden gamble on their survival in JJK 270?

It's such a neat and fine bow to tie this mess up that goes directly against existing lore. It's so ideal that it has me suspicious.

Brain damage from sorcery on non-sorcerers has been established as extremely taxing. I think about Gojo's Unlimited Void (UV) the most when it comes to this. Non-sorcerers were hit by it for 0.2 seconds and required medical intervention for 2 months to fully heal from it. Sukuna, the absolute strongest, tanked some of it and it affected him for the rest of the battle. ...And then we have Megumi who was under it for about 6 minutes and seems to have very little problems from it.

This is bizarre. Someone who underwent the month long bath and UV without Reverse Curse Technique (RCT) should be struggling to even stand after waking up. Sukuna had RCT and the Gojo brain damage still took him out. This screams of inconsistent writing unless...this is a deliberate hint that something is amiss.

I want to draw attention to the panel Megumi's UV damage is addressed. Just about everyone has been seemingly waiting around in the same spot for him to wake up. It's a bit weird given that sorcerers don't usually do that. They usually get a move on asap. And after the destruction of Shinjuku and the Culling Game Players still running about, why would they take a breather to discuss their plans that worked?

But that's not what started bothering me about that panel after reading JJK 270. It's that characters who aren't in the room, start appearing without warning. Look who is behind Maki and to the left. It's Kusakabe. And to her and Yuta's right? Inumaki. So why is it that Hakari, Kiara, and Ino are in Kusakabe's place while Todo spawns where Inumaki is? (And Yuta is facing the wrong direction too.)

That's pretty fudging weird right? You can chalk it up to Gege forgor but it doesn't stop there. Higuruma enters the discussion in a way that causes Yuji to pause.

Why is Yuji surprised to see him? (And where the fudge did he come from?) Shouldn't he know of his survival by now? And why is he in a cast? Higuruma had learned RCT and fully restored his arms before leaving the battlefield. If he's conscious, then he should be able to heal himself fully no problems.

And that got me thinking... Why is Yuji still missing his fingers?

It was established that he kept his fingers unhealed to help with Yuta's plan. This means that if he won, he has no need to keep them missing. Yuji has fully regenerated missing chunks of his face, including his eye, and stomach. He has RCT just like Higuruma. But it doesn't end there either. Yuji's number of fingers on his left hand keeps changing.

4 fingers, 3 fingers, dubious amount of fingers, 5 fingers. Once again, you can chalk it up to Gege forgor, but JJK 270 came out and the same problem started happening with Megumi's scars.

The same mistake is made within the same set of panels and very big page. That's weird.

ONCE AGAIN, you can chalk it up to Gege forgor, but when these errors occur, like with Yuta mistakenly having his ring on in JJK 251, Gege will note the mistake outright. Gege has made no such comments for Yuji's fingers or the scars. This many “errors” in row when Gege has otherwise been careful with these features could indicate it really is on purpose. (Kind of like Sukuna's everchanging mask. The thing was just moving around and pulsing. That was deliberate not inconsistency.)

What does this mean?

I think it means what we are seeing isn't reality. After all, the most common way to tell if you're dreaming is being unable to count the number of fingers on your hands. Another way to tell is the distortion of faces.

Readers have noticed that something is wrong. The weird timeskips, the lack of lasting consequences, design inconsistencies, characters behaving like similes of themselves, death and pain being glossed over like it's nothing. It all feels so off. But it's still close enough to the original to be somewhat believable. ...Is that not what it's like to dream and not know you are dreaming?

Why is it that the chapter titled Dream's End ends with the hunt for a curse user whose ability is to distort the perception of reality?

Dreams and Delusions in JJK

We already know Gege weaves Buddhist symbolism and ideas heavily into JJK. I'm not an expert in Buddhism at all, so there's a lot of it that goes over my head. I decided to look into if dreams are significant in Buddhism and boy howdy are they. Quoted directly from the source:

"Dreams can be a message from a Bodhisattva, an ancestor, or a god, The intent of the dream may be to test the dreamer’s resolve: is he non-retreating (avaivartika) from Bodhi (enlightenment) even when sleeping? The purpose of the dream visit may be to communicate information vital to the dreamer’s well-being. The Buddha himself had five dreams of catastrophes, falling stars and worlds in collision just before his enlightenment. The dreams were sent to him not by a benevolent Dharma-protector, but by an malevolent sorcerer, intent on disrupting the Buddha’s samadhi and preventing his awakening."

In summary, (correct me if I'm wrong) dreams appear to be seen as another state of being just as valuable and impermanent as reality.

There's also this other bit I'll quote directly.

"The most common use of dreams in the literature of the Mahayana, or “Northern School” of Buddhism in China, Tibet, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam is to see dreams as a simile for sunyata, (emptiness) the hollow core at the heart of all component dharmas (things). For example, in the well-known Vajra (Diamond) Sutra, the Buddha taught that:

“All conditioned dharmas, are like a dream, like an illusion, like a bubble, like a shadow, like a dewdrop, like a lightening flash; you should contemplate them thus.”"

That's starting to sound like what Yuji's Domain does, right? He projects memories that did happen and mixes them with delusions and dreams. Sukuna and Megumi both experience this in full.

It's incredibly suspicious that it hasn't been named yet. Yuji is the son of Kenjaku who has a domain based on the Womb Sutra/Realm...which is paired with the aforementioned Diamond Realm to encompass the entire Dharma. It's very likely this is what Yuji's domain is—a realm of dreams and reality combined as one.

Unreality Runs in the Family

When Sasaki Setsuko "wakes up" as the Culling Games begin, Kenjaku explains her situation with this:

What follows is a sequence that cannot be described as a dream. It seems to be a blend of reality and hallucinations. But that's not anything strange, Sukuna does it too with Kashimo in reverse.

As you can see, both the positions of the characters and even the backgrounds change suddenly from reality to ??? and from sequence to sequence. It's all incredibly dream like.

Another strange thing about this space is Kenjaku creating it as a part of an escape route Binding Vow. You know, the kind Sukuna uses for Malevolent Shrine.

What I want to draw attention to here is this reality-dream state somewhat requires consent (in the loosest possible definition) to appear. The person entering this state has to desire it themself. We see this with Jogo and Gojo who are mutually interested in having a relationship of somekind with Sukuna. (Same with Kashimo.)

(It's also very hard to tell if they are dead or still in the process of dying during this.)

This is where the delusions Yuji projects differ. They are forced onto others when he is near death or severely injured, seemingly as a defense mechanism.

And would you look at that...the syntax is identical for Todo and Choso's Brother Yuji Delusions. "At that moment, a memory was born inside X's brain...of a past event that never happened." It's kind of like how Yuji replaces Gojo in Megumi's memory to reach him. It's also very strange that Sukuna, Choso, and Jogo go "What is this?" to this in-between space.

My point here is that Yuji having access to this space has been hinted at since the start of this manga and that it was inherited it by blood. (Totally Not Kenjaku showing up with Takaba Mr. Reality Warping CT in JJK 270 supports my case too I think.)

What does this mean for JJK 268–270?

The battle ended in JJK 268. Of that I'm certain. What I no longer know is if anyone survived.

A common complaint about Sukuna's death is his lack of an afterlife scene. Everything ended so abruptly. And then Megumi wakes up.

It's so jarring in out of place. ...But that's how all scenes involving the space between dreams and reality begin. Sasaki Setsuko "wakes up" once and then again. Most of us have experienced those kind of dreams right? (They made a whole movie about it called Inception which is based on the movie Paprika.)

There's one other thing I need to draw attention to. Yuji's Domain shattered after Sukuna cast Domain Expansion (DE).

When a sorcerer withdraws their domain voluntarily, it does not shatter. Gojo has demonstrated this for us in quite clearly.

When a domain is broken by force, it will shatter and shards will scatter. When a domain is withdrawn, no shards are left behind. Yuta uses these facts as a part of his plan. In JJK 252, it's revealed by Kusakabe that Yuta shatters his own domain on purpose to trick Sukuna into thinking he won.

What this means is that some kind of violent action needs to be taken to shatter a domain. Yuji's domain is massive and his attacks only targeted Sukuna. What could've shattered his domain all at once? He's not had the time to practice shattering parts of it like Yuta.

Gojo has shown us what a uniform domain shattering looks like—it happens when Malevolent Shrine activates. (Please note that the sfx used for Sukuna breaking Gojo's domain is カシャア. It's the same one used for Yuji's domain shattering.)

I'm proposing that we've been in unreality since the end of JJK 266. Sukuna and Yuji are both severely injured, on the verge of death, and have a connection with each other. These are all conditions that trigger the space between dreams and reality.

And I must remind you that Yuji first triggers this event with Todo after a severe head injury. Right before Sukuna casts his domain, they do this to each other.

Everything that has come after has been perfect for Yuji to a unbelievable degree. Everyone whose death was uncertain is alive and the living are getting exactly what they wanted. The effort behind it and the logistics are all missing. And yes a rushed ending can explain that, but that too can be part of the ruse.

Another massive complaint is that mourning has not occurred. Not for Gojo or Choso despite how much Yuji cherished them. It's like they're being willfully forgotten by the cast despite being crucial to their success in Shinjuku. It feels out of character, especially since Yuji is of the few that showed concern for them no matter what.

But if this is a delusion on the brink of death designed to bring happiness, why would Yuji think of the dead? He's always been so avoidant with it. When his grandpa is dying and trying to talk about his parents, Yuji tells him to shut up. When Nanami dies, he thinks of him then and then never again directly leading up to his talk with Sukuna. When Megumi tries to discuss Nobara's fate, Yuji ends the conversation as quickly as possible.

The only people in this world are the ones who may or may not be dead. He saw Yuta in Gojo's corpse. The only way that can happen is if Gojo is dead. Yuji has no choice but to believe it. Choso burned away before his eyes. Yuji has no choice but to believe it. He went through some of Megumi's memories and saw Tsumiki's corpse. Yuji has no choice but to believe it.

And since Tsumiki is the only person Yuji wasn't close with, she's the only death that has been outright acknowledged. But not for too long! That would make Megumi sad.

Another complaint is that Sukuna really didn't kill anyone in the final battle outside of those two and Kashimo. The dudebros call it Disney Kaisen. But the fairytale-like idea that everyone is ok? Todo was the one who put that idea in Yuji's head.

And Yuji has always been one to fall to story-like logic when things look like they're finally wrapping up.

"And then everything will be just fine." (Yuji before the worst possible outcome for both him and Megumi happens.)

This is similar to the line Gakuganji uses in JJK 270. "Everything is fine." This line is the whole reason I sat down and wrote this all out without stopping. I know Gakuganji. He'd never say that. This man has been in a state of worry over Jujutsu Society since his first appearance. He doesn't even fully believe in Gojo's cause as someone who values tradition. He's a stickler for details and will do everything in his power to ensure stability. For him to toss Sukuna and Tengen's remains in a shrine and call it a day? Who is that? He's changed but not that much.

And so I compared the raws.

It is very much the same 大丈夫 (Daijoubu). These are Yuji's words.

What I'm proposing is that JJK 267–270 are Yuji's delusions of the happiest possible ending. It's a picture perfect little end where all the trauma and death has no effect on the living and people move on like nothing happened. I don't know if this means he's dead or if Megumi's dead or if they're all dead. But what I'm seeing now? I don't think it's real.

Reexamining JJK 269

CW: Brief discussion of suicide.

Even if this turns out to be a part of the smokescreen, I'm always going to hate JJK 269. But I do want to give it some grace under the assumption this chapter titled Examination (which can also be translated as Reflection) is about Yuji's guilt. Both him and Megumi's tbh. I think their feelings for each other and their situations are driving these delusions. That's one thing about this space that's real—the feelings behind them.

Yuji has a lot of guilt surrounding his existence after ingesting Sukuna, Megumi does too. Straight up Yuji has been seeking death over it since JJK 9.

He struggles to forgive himself for being the centerpiece to violence he had little to no control over. The only thing that upsets him more than that is knowing that his death will break Megumi's heart. He doesn't want Megumi to feel any guilt for it whatsoever.

The kicker is, Megumi already knows Yuji is planning to die. And he wants to do everything to rid him of that guilt. Up until they connect inside of Yuji's domain, they were unaware they shared the same goal for each other.

And that's what JJK 269 is. It's a very cold and harsh breakdown that allows them to forgive themselves. Blame is passed around and ultimately pinned on a combination of Gojo and Kenjaku. (It's really weird Sukuna isn't blamed either, but that's not the point of this for now.)

Kusakabe's comment is especially harsh. Telling Yuji point blank he should've died and that both sides on the issue were valid? He may have believed that to an extent, but he made a point of not telling it to his face. Why have a whole chapter discussing how kind he is only to turn around and do this?

If this is all a delusion, a manifestation of Yuji's guilt and trying to absolve himself of it for Megumi's sake, that makes sense. This version of Kusakabe is what Yuji feels guilt over the most—Everyone's lives being better if he died.

In the same breath Kusakabe tells them to solely blame the adults. It's very reminiscent of Nanami telling Yuji that being a child is not a sin.

It should also be noted that every single time Megumi tries to apologize for being possessed, he's stopped. Maki tears into Yuta without checking in on him, but she asks if Megumi is ok and tells him to not blame himself. JJK 270 is full of this too. He tries to apologize to Tsumiki at her grave and Shoko tells him not to sweat it. He tries to apologize to Hana and she hits on him instead.

This delusion is crafted out of love. It allows Megumi to live in a world where he can move on from the guilt surrounding his possession and saving Yuji. It's all Yuji has ever wanted for him. And now that Yuji knows Megumi wants him to forgive himself, he has no choice but to do that too.

It's a perfect ending for Megumi that's too good to be true.

It must be a dream...

There's another thing I can't reconcile about JJK 269 unless it's a delusion—Todo's explanation for Yuta's plan. It's another one of those glaring contradictions.

In JJK 269 Todo claims Boogie Woogie can't target Maki. But in JJK 259? Todo makes plans with Mei Mei knowing that it works with her.

Either Todo lied...or Yuji never fully knew the plan and that Boogie Woogie could target Maki. Otherwise she would be dead. Her surviving Sukuna's flames would be impossible.

I've already talked about how Yuji believing those who may or may not be dead are alive is Todo's doing. He's always been the one to save Yuji from his breakdowns. But let's talk about his speech in Shibuya.

"Looking for meaning or logic in death...can at times defile the memories of those we've lost!"

Everyone who has read these past 3 chapters has really felt the defiling of Gojo's memory. And it was all in service to a strange logic that helped them cope with all this death. Acknowledging how massive Gojo's sacrifice was would riddle both Yuji and Megumi with immense guilt, so it's best to ignore it for Megumi's sake. (And perhaps that's why Yuji replaces Gojo in that memory.)

"What have you been entrusted with? You don't need to answer right now. However... Until you find your answer, never stop moving."

In a way, JJK 269 is an answer to the question Todo proposed. Yuji was entrusted with saving Megumi. Saving Megumi requires Megumi and Yuji forgiving themselves. And Yuji won't stop moving until it's done. All these time jumps and rushed developments are Yuji moving Megumi forward. He's getting that happy ending even if it's to the detriment of everything else.

What about Sukuna?

When Sukuna respects his opponents and they have a connection, he gives others these dreams before they pass. He's been very impressed by Megumi since JJK 9. It's not out of the ballpark for him to allow Megumi to die satisfied in the way Gojo did. Yuji also seems to understand that Sukuna was manipulated by others just as much as he was. I think that's why Sukuna is spared of the blame for the most part.

I don't think Sukuna won. He's probably dead. But he did warn Yuji not to underestimate him. I think the worst absolute last fudge you to Yuji he could give is this happy ending dream before ripping it all away as he dies.

In Conclusion...

I'm not sure that we're going to get that happy ending. Reggie Star warned us not too long ago.

"...it all comes down to a sorcerer's lies."

Reggie is a lot like Sukuna here, outwitted by modern sorcerers and dying to someone he loathes. Sukuna is good at tricking people. He let Gojo think he won before tearing it all away. Yuta did the exact same thing to him. Or did he?

"Can you do me a favor? After all, you've killed me. Let fate toy with you, become a clown, then die."

If the last 3 chapters are delusions...Megumi will be playing the part of a clown.

Gege said the manga would end with either 1/4 or 3/4 of Yuji, Megumi, Nobara, and Gojo surviving. This of course, could be changed throughout its development, but Gege said the manga is ending in its original vision. There's a real chance that it's only Yuji or Nobara surviving.

Remember, Gege is a troll first and foremost. Somehow Gojo was revived, but in the worst way possible (Yujo). Somehow Gojo did tell Megumi about Toji, but in the worst way possible (dead man's final letter).

Gege also said this about the final chapter:

"I am working hard to create a final chapter that will (hopefully) satisfy as many people as possible who have supported Jujutsu Kaisen. So everyone, please bear with me!"

I can't think of a better way to appease everyone than by making the last 3 chapters nothing more than dream.

I’m genuinely considering posting my story to RoyalRoad. I would go to wattpad, but I hate the format of the website.

pretty sure i could romanticise anything, i am deeply delusional.

there may be a joke to be made here about yuji's big appetite