Ryomen Sukuna | Blood Monarch| Yandere

Ryomen Sukuna (両りょう面めん宿すく儺な, Ryōmen Sukuna?), more often referred to as simply Sukuna (宿すく儺な, Sukuna?), is history’s strongest jujutsu sorcerer, born over a thousand years ago. Regarded as the undisputed King of Curses (呪のろいの王おう, Noroi no Ō?), Sukuna is one of the primary antagonists of the Jujutsu Kaisen series.

According to legend, Sukuna was an Imaginary Demon (仮か想そうの鬼き神じん, Kasō no Kijin?) during the Heian Era, the Golden Age of Jujutsu. In truth, he was an undefeated human sorcerer also known as the Disgraced One (堕だ天てん, Daten?),[2] having felled countless jujutsu sorcerers that challenged him. After accepting a proposal from Kenjaku to participate in the Culling Game,[3] Sukuna continued existing posthumously after death by transforming himself into a cursed object, a state where his cursed energy and soul was split into his twenty indestructible fingers.[1]

Sukuna was incarnated in June 2018 when Yuji Itadori consumed one of his fingers.[4] Sukuna was trapped inside Yuji's body and was rarely in control until he managed to transfer his soul into the body of Megumi Fushiguro.[5]

Sukuna is a tall and muscular man with four arms, four eyes, and a large mouth on his stomach. He has short pink-red hair and red eyes, with his two right eyes being angled differently and located on a white plate-like structure made of flesh on the right side of his face. His body is also covered in tattoos, which manifest on his vessel whenever he is in control and are naturally present in his true form. The tattoos are mostly black lines on his wrists, ankles, upper arms, upper body, abdomen, and face. Large black dots are also tattooed on each his shoulders. When these tattoos manifest on a vessel with two arms, the lines encircling the upper arms and wrists are doubled, and circles form around the black dots on the shoulders. Additionally, the vessels get a horizontal line in the middle of the nose, and a crown-like symbol in the middle of their forehead. Sukuna's monstrous appearance led many to describe him as a demon with four arms and two faces,[1] although he was a curse user rather than a cursed spirit. In the past and present, Sukuna only wears a pair of pants, as his unique body prevents him from wearing clothes for the upper body.

Previously, Sukuna took on the appearance of his former host: Yuji Itadori, but with the latter’s pink spiked hair slightly pushed upfront and the former’s tattoos manifested. His incarnation also caused Yuji to have a second pair of eyes underneath his normal eyes, which were usually closed but opened when Sukuna took control. Inside his innate domain, Sukuna wore a light-colored kimono with a black edge, a black scarf, and black sandals.

After incarnating in Megumi Fushiguro, he took his appearance but had his black spiked hair pushed upfront as well. Similar to Yuji, a second pair of eyes grew underneath his normal eyes and his tattoos manifested on Megumi's body. He wore a black haori with a white kimono and black undershirt underneath tied together with a black belt, white pants, and black sandals. He discarded the haori during his battle with Satoru Gojo, and the top of his white kimono, aswell as the undershirt, were both destroyed when he got hit with Gojo's final attack. This would leave him with his torso exposed for the rest of the Shinjuku Showdown.

Sukuna is egotistical, hedonistic, psychopathic, exceptionally sadistic and selfish. Mass murder, suffering, and the screams of his victims are what the King of Curses relishes; this is best shown when he was reincarnated shortly after Yuji ingested his finger, after which he commented, implying the slaughter of women and children and likening them to maggots crawling around. Due to his immense power, he rarely cares about the consequences of his actions, even if these affect his host. In fact, he frequently taunts and insults Yuji, calling him a brat and even laughing at or enjoying Yuji's despair on multiple occasions. Outwardly, Sukuna claims to have no dreams, goals, or aspirations to work towards, while the jujutsu sorcerers fighting him do and grow stronger because of it. However, on one occasion, Sukuna has alluded to feelings of resentment from his upbringing.[6]

Sukuna is an immense glutton, not only for actual food and human flesh, but for fighting and bloodshed. Because of this, he tends to draw out his fights with strong opponents even if it would be wise to finish up his fights quickly.

Sukuna is aware of his immense power and is arrogant about it, brutalizing a finger bearer while being patronizing and proclaiming his superiority over it. For this reason, he is highly dismissive of his opponents and rarely takes them seriously, even explicitly stating he would kill Satoru Gojo to his face. However, these brutish traits are not to be confused for stupidity. Sukuna is highly intelligent and manipulative, taking Yuji's body hostage by tearing out his heart to force him into a binding vow.[7] While in possession of Fushiguro's body, he fooled Hana Kurusu into lowering her guard by pretending his influence was removed from the boy.

He has also displayed the ability to acknowledge and praise his opponents on multiple occasions.[8][9][10] Primarily seen before his killing of Jogo, Sukuna acknowledged his strength despite having completely overpowered him and told Jogo that he should be proud.[11] In rare cases, Sukuna is capable of forming non-combative relationships, as he had taken in a young Uraume initially to have the child cool his food chilled and cook for him and eventually to be his subordinate.[12]

While he is observative when it comes to jujutsu, he's displayed a lack of interest in the modern world's technologies and foods, glancing at Nanako Hasaba's smart phone used for her technique and refers to it as a phone with a camera, showing that he doesn't pay attention to the modern age aside from jujutsu.[13]

Through Sukuna's conversation with Yuji during their fight after possessing Megumi's body, Sukuna espouses that he likens human beings to insects and admits he is unable to comprehend why the weak cling so desperately to life instead of quietly accepting the suffering that life forces them to endure since the weak should have no right to complain. He also claims that he doesn't understand how a creature that falls apart at a touch can say that it always wants to be happy, which expresses his antipathy and disregard of human emotions and their will to live.[14] It also reveals that Sukuna's perception of life adheres strongly to social darwinism. It is also repeatedly stated that Sukuna has a myopic view on love and does not fully comprehend the value of relationships.[15] Stemming from this mindset, Sukuna is enraged by anyone pitying him or offering him mercy, as he bases his identity on being the strongest and views such acts as considering him weak. However Sukuna's perception of life is rooted in some hypocrisy, as he was willing to further demoralize Fushiguro's faltering will in an openly desperate attempt to live.[16]

Yuji's existence affects Sukuna in a way he can't ignore, no matter his efforts. Due to the nature of his initial incarnation within Yuji, Sukuna is unable to disregard how Yuji himself challenges his worldview by being Sukuna's opposite and invalidating his views. Furthermore, this fills Sukuna with a hatred that he can't describe, unlike anything he has ever felt.[17] His constant belittlement of Yuji and refusal to consider him a threat in spite of knowing that Yuji is the son of Sukuna's reincarnated twin brother exemplifies this.[18] This is compounded when Yuji offers Sukuna one last chance to surrender out of mercy and Sukuna is enraged by the pity Yuji shows him.[19] Even on the verge of death, Sukuna could only bring himself to compliment Yuji's attempts at leveling with him as a long standing farce, refusing to accept mercy.[20]

Despite his immense arrogance Sukuna had while alive, in death Sukuna is capable of introspection. In the passageway for souls in circulation, Sukuna did not deny Mahito's accusations of lying to himself about his own nature of wanting revenge against those who scorned him in the past. Sukuna even confessed that had he not feared immolation from his own curse, he would have been able to go down less destructive paths.[21] He even appeared to be open to changing his ways should he reincarnate and accepted his loss.[22]

Overall Skill Level: Back in the Golden Age of Jujutsu, the Heian Era, Ryomen Sukuna was feared and regarded by awe by all those in his time as the most powerful sorcerer of the time, defeating and killing thousands of jujutsu sorcerers even as they sharpened their skills against him. One of his feats included single-handedly slaughtering both the Sun, Moon, and Stars Squad and the Five Empty Generals, the most elite of the Fujiwara Clan's forces, leaving the authorities of Japan so utterly terrified that they were willing to hold festivities in his honor.[23][24] The impact Sukuna left on history until he died earned him the title of the "Strongest Sorcerer in History", as well as the "King of Curses". His strength is still held in such a high regard that even Satoru Gojo, the strongest jujutsu sorcerer of the modern age, with arrogance-levels of confidence and pride in his abilities, acknowledged his strength and that a fight between the two of them would be difficult.

More than living up to his titles, Sukuna possesses vast amounts of cursed energy and equally incredible control over it, with an extraordinary grasp over jujutsu, but he was also not reliant on jujutsu alone, possessing overwhelming physical prowess as well, capable of dispatching almost any opponent without unveiling his true cursed technique.

Even at his weakest state upon his incarnation in Yuji's body for most of the time he spent there, due to lacking most of his fingers, Sukuna remained extremely strong, capable of effortlessly dispatching powerful cursed spirits, including the likes of a cursed spirit who had ate his finger, which he easily retrieved from the cursed spirit after completely overpowering it.[25] While purposefully weakening himself by removing Yuji's heart to ensure Yuji could not switch back with him, Sukuna utterly defeated Megumi Fushiguro, the inheritor of the Zenin Clan's prized Ten Shadows Technique and a prodigious genius who started school as a grade 2 sorcerer with one of the highest potentials in Jujutsu High, to where Megumi admitted how utterly outmatched he was and was more than willing to unveil Mahoraga to defeat him. Sukuna would have killed Megumi had he not been interested in Megumi's unique talents, although before he could fight Megumi's trump card, Yuji managed to regain control of his body.[26]

Sought out by Mahito's group under the belief that his revival could ensure their success, with just four fingers, Sukuna demonstrated an overwhelming superiority in power compared to Mahito by being able to resist his Idle Transfiguration completely[27] and effortlessly inflict a severe injury on Mahito when finally angered too much along with dispelling his Self-Embodiment of Perfection with a single attack.[28] This terrified and intrigued Mahito to where he came to firmly believe that with Sukuna being on such a whole other level, his resurrection would surely bring about the Age of Curses.[29]

Once Yuji's body had consumed sixteen fingers, Sukuna's overwhelming cursed energy was felt throughout Shibuya when he was awakened, comparable to Gojo's while being overwhelmingly more sinister.[30] With 80% of his strength restored, Sukuna proved capable of overwhelming Jogo, the most powerful cursed spirit in Mahito's group, in a mostly one-sided battle as he easily overpowered the best efforts of his foe, leaving him utterly unable to even land the single hit that would get Sukuna to join him, before killing him with his own speciality of fire.[31][32] His last act during the Shibuya Incident was to defeat Mahoraga single-handedly, a feat no user of the Ten Shadows Technique and even a member of the Gojo Clan with Limitless and the Six Eyes had ever accomplished.[33]

Incarnation (受じゅ肉にく, Juniku?):[34] There is a slim chance that Sukuna will incarnate into whoever eats his fingers, gaining a physical, human body in the process. Upon Yuji consuming the first of his twenty fingers, Sukuna immediately came to possess his body, which he used to inhabit.[35] Unlike other incarnated sorcerers, according to the Angel inhabiting Hana Kurusu, Sukuna, after experiencing death, had developed the knowledge to split his soul as cursed objects,[36] which he demonstrated by transforming Yuji's pinky finger into a cursed object and then force-feeding Megumi with it to possess his body.[37]

Metamorphosis: Sukuna can create new eyes and mouths on his vessel, allowing him to see and speak without controlling the body of the host. He typically uses this ability to make a single eye and fanged mouth on Yuji's left cheek to belittle and taunt him.[38][39]

Physical Prowess

Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant: While already formidable as a jujutsu sorcerer, Sukuna is also shown to be an extremely skilled and powerful hand-to-hand combatant, using martial arts as his first method of combat before unleashing his jujutsu abilities. Sukuna can unite his cursed technique and his hand-to-hand prowess, making him an extremely difficult opponent to overwhelm in battle.

During his fight with Megumi, he was able to effortlessly overwhelm Megumi in unarmed combat, countering his attacks in close-range with ease before delivering a strong punch that sent him flying. When Yuji attempted to attack him in his innate domain, Sukuna effortlessly countered all of Yuji's attacks before seeing through his attempt to trip him and defeating him with a single kick.[40]

With sixteen fingers, Sukuna easily overpowered Jogo with hand-to-hand combat alone before finally killing him with a single use of his cursed technique. He was later capable of fighting on par with both Yuji and Maki Zenin, both being exceptional unarmed fighters with extraordinary physical ability, deflecting most of their blows and landing a few hits on his own, using hand-to-hand combat.[41]

Immense Strength: Even in his first appearance with a single finger, Sukuna was shown to possess unmatched physical strength despite being in an incomplete state; his raw might is only rivalled by the likes of Gojo, Yuji and a fully realised Maki. He could easily defeat a very large cursed spirit with just a simple swipe,[42] and during his fight against Gojo he was able to punch the roof of the school so hard it caused the building to rupture and crack.[43] He easily overpowered the likes of a Finger Bearer, a special-grade curse. When gambling Yuji's life against Megumi, Sukuna managed to fling the sorcerer through several building floors without effort and he easily overpowered and destroyed Megumi's shikigami.[44] He even punched Megumi so hard, the raindrops in that area dispersed. With sixteen of his fingers, Sukuna punched Jogo through numerous skyscrapers with sufficient force to blow enormous holes through their sides and even destroyed the latter's jaw with a downward punch that opened a hole through at least six floors.[45] His blows also had considerable effect on the likes of Mahoraga. Upon taking over Megumi's body, he was able to easily pierce through Yuji's gut and send him flying across the city with a single punch, temporarily incapacitating the sorcerer.[46]

Immense Speed: Sukuna has repeatedly displayed overwhelming levels of raw physical speed, capable of effortlessly surprising most opponents with the sheer quickness of his movements. With three fingers, Sukuna easily slammed a Finger Bearer to the ground and even cut off its arm without it noticing. He was also able to effortlessly blitz Megumi several times, delivering powerful blows with Megumi barely able to react at all. With sixteen fingers, he completely overwhelmed Jogo and was able to easily keep up with Mahoraga in their fight. Sukuna was even able to instantly appear in the middle of Atsuya Kusakabe and Panda, both capable sorcerers, with the former being praised as the strongest grade 1 sorcerer by Satoru Gojo himself. In his fully incarnated form, he was able to outrun Yuji,[47] who could run at speeds of 60.02 km/h (37.3 mph).[48]

Immense Reflexes: In accordance with his agility, Sukuna has incredible reflexes that allow him to easily counter most of his opponents' attacks. He was able to dodge Jogo's Maximum: Meteor seconds before its impact and emerge unscathed,[49] and consistently dodged and countered Mahoraga's blows during their fight.[50] It should also be noted that Sukuna’s motor skill is so polished that in his true form, he can independently control his four arms and two mouths with ease; even in the middle of a fight, two of his arms can form gestures for powerful chants, and the mouth on his abdomen is capable of chanting empowered words continuously.

Immense Durability: When in Yuji's body, Sukuna can use cursed energy to bolster his host's resilience, first shown when he effortlessly repelled an attack by a Finger Bearer just by holding his hand out to block it. Sukuna was punched through five buildings and shown to be completely fine[51], as well as managing to block a hit from the Sword of Extermination without much difficulty. Sukuna was able to shrug off a 200% Hollow Technique: Purple during his fight with Satoru Gojo by defending himself at the last second, losing only his hands, and even then they were quickly regenerated with reverse cursed technique.[52] Perhaps his biggest accomplishment in this regard is surviving an Unlimited Purple by Gojo, which completely destroyed Mahoraga and decimated a large area of Shinjuku, albeit left with severe injuries and barely being able to stand.

Intelligence

Great Tactical Intellect: Despite his outwardly brutish mannerisms and sadism, Sukuna is an extremely intelligent individual. He has fully grasped the nature of cursed techniques, curses and reverse cursed technique as a whole. Due to that, he is able to quickly deduce the inner workings of cursed techniques after only seeing them once or twice and can create suitable foils to such techniques. He did this against Mahoraga in their fight, and was able to defeat the shikigami after gaining an understanding of its technique.

Sukuna was also able to realize the potential of Megumi's cursed technique just by seeing it once during their short battle and he was able to create a binding vow with Yuji in order to take Megumi's body patiently waiting for the right moment before executing his plan.[53] During his fight with Hana Kurusu, by using Megumi's memories, he was able to make Hana think that Megumi was in control of his body and thus when she hugged him he was able to critically injure her.[54][55]

When pushed into desperate situations, Sukuna has demonstrated the intellectual capacity to remain levelheaded and formulate strategies to counter his opponents. After Mahoraga was destroyed and he was severely injured by Hollow Purple,[56] Sukuna made a binding vow that allowed him to bypass the world-cutting slash's conditions and unleash it,[57] killing Gojo when the latter least expected it.[58]

Even when he lost two left hands and suffered seven consecutive Black Flashes from Yuji, which disrupted his connection with Megumi's soul and lowered his cursed energy output and physical control, Sukuna regained his ability to expand his domain without lowering its output or difficulty by improvising several binding vows that included uncertain conditions, instantly turning the tides of the battle by removing all the sorcerers except Yuji from the battlefield.[59]

Cursed Energy

Cursed Energy Capacity: True to his title as the King of Curses, Sukuna possesses vast levels of cursed energy, likely the most transcendent throughout history, far surpassing special grade cursed spirits and sorcerers alike. Yuta Okkotsu, a special grade sorcerer who possesses even more cursed energy than Satoru Gojo,[60] states that Sukuna has double the amount of cursed energy that he has or more.[61] Coupled with his extraordinarily efficient usage of cursed energy, Sukuna was able to continuously use his techniques throughout his battles without exhausting himself in the slightest. Even after expanding his domain three times throughout his fight with Gojo, Sukuna's cursed energy reserves were merely lowered to the same level as Yuta's,[62] which was still enough for him to cast domain expansion two more times[63][64] and possibly countless more.[65]

Cursed Energy Manipulation: Sukuna has incredible control over his cursed energy, being extremely proficient in using cursed techniques that require sophisticated manipulation of cursed energy such as domain expansion and reverse cursed technique, and capable of performing both flawlessly and repeatedly without issue. Hajime Kashimo, one of the strongest sorcerers from 400 years ago, was astonished by Sukuna's mastery over his cursed energy, displayed by his ability to seamlessly shift between domain amplification to his innate technique, to where he stated that if not for the Six Eyes, even Satoru Gojo would be no match against Sukuna in utilizing cursed energy.[66] Sukuna's expertise in controlling cursed energy even allows him to survive after his heart was stabbed through, doing so by using cursed energy to keep his heart beating.[67]

Cursed Energy Output: In addition to his immeasurable amounts of cursed energy, Sukuna can output high amounts of cursed energy into his cursed techniques, vastly increasing their effectiveness. When using his Dismantle and Cleave techniques, the slashes can easily slice skyscrapers in half[68] and instantly kill sorcerers by dicing their bodies into pieces. In contrast, Yuta's Cleave was only able to inflict minor cuts on Sukuna's face[69] while Yuji's slash barely cut off Sukuna's leg.[70]

Cursed Energy Reinforcement: Augmenting his already immense physical prowess, Sukuna regularly uses cursed energy to enhance his strength and durability. Most of his aforementioned strength and durability feats can be attributed to his reinforcement technique. By reinforcing his hands with cursed energy, Sukuna was able to tank a direct hit from a Hollow Technique: Purple at 200% output after it traveled about four kilometers, albeit taking enough damage to lose both hands.[71]

Black Flash (黒こく閃せん, Kokusen?): A phenomenon that occurs when the user applies cursed energy within 0.000001 seconds of a physical hit, creating a spatial distortion that causes their cursed energy to flash black and amplifies the destructive power of the strike to the power of 2.5. Sukuna unleashed Black Flash against Maki Zenin during the jujutsu sorcerers' raid on him in Shinjuku, dealing a powerful strike that sent the girl gifted with Heavenly Restriction flying.[72] Sukuna has used Black Flash a total of seven times throughout the battle.[73][74][75][76][77]