Sukuna’s Fatal Mistakes That Cause His Defeat

Key Takeaways

• Underestimating opponents led to Sukuna’s downfall.
• Sukuna’s pride prevented him from teaming up for combat.
• Miscalculations in tactics cost Sukuna victory in battle.

In the world of Jujutsu Kaisen, Ryomen Sukuna is the most powerful being in history. There’s no question about that. Satoru Gojo may be the strongest Jujutsu Sorcerer in the modern era, but as we all know now, even the man who inherited the Limitless technique lost his life at the hands of the King of Curses.

However, even a being as powerful as Sukuna eventually meets his demise by the end of the story. So what was the root cause of Sukuna’s defeat? How come the King of Curses met his end in the hands of a handful of regular Jujutsu Sorcerers? After reading the final confrontation a couple more times, we come up with these three reasons. These are Sukuna’s fatal mistakes that cause his defeat.

Underestimating the Small Fry

To an obscenely powerful being like Ryomen Sukuna, Yuji Itadori and his fellow Jujutsu Sorcerers are nothing but small fry. A bunch of insignificant insects that the King of Curses can demolish with his eyes closed. In other words, he underestimates them, which is his first fatal mistake.

One vs Many

In Sukuna’s mind, the only jujutsu sorcerer worth his full attention is Satoru Gojo. He can’t spare any thought and attention to the other sorcerers. To the King of Curses, the rest of the jujutsu sorcerers in the world are no different from mere insects. That’s why he doesn’t mind fighting them all together after his epic fight with Gojo. After all, the only thing that Yuji and the other sorcerers can do is cause some minor injuries to Sukuna.

What he doesn’t realize, however, is the fact that even minor injuries will accumulate into mortal wounds if he keeps receiving a continuous barrage of attacks by multiple sorcerers, which is precisely what happens.

“We all worked together to last this long, so we can win this!!”

–Yuji Itadori, Chapter 255

Quantity + Quality

Another reason why Sukuna underestimates the other jujutsu sorcerers apart from Gojo, is because to him, they all fight at the same level. To an eagle, every mouse looks the same. Unfortunately for him, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Sure, Yuji and his friends may still be low-to-mid-grade sorcerers, but among those who stay to fight Sukuna, there’s one special-grade sorcerer (Yuta Okkotsu), two sorcerers whose strength is on par with a special grade (Maki Zen’in and Kinji Hakari), and three Grade 1 sorcerers (Mei Mei, Aoi Todo, Atsuya Kusakabe). There are also foreign sorcerers, newly awakened sorcerers, and reincarnated sorcerers in the mix. Alone, they have no hope of defeating Sukuna. When they are together, however, they become a genuine threat to the King of Curses.

Fighting Alone

Cursed spirits are creatures that take pride in their strength, which is why they often hunt alone. In their mind, having to band together to hunt their prey or to fight their enemies is a sign of weakness. The same sentiment extends to the King of Curses. Getting aid in a fight is a big humiliation for him. This is good news for our heroes. After all, had Sukuna fought together with his allies, the fight would have turned out very differently.

Two is Better Than One

In any combat situation, two is always better than one. After all, there’s strength in numbers, which is why the jujutsu sorcerers fight together. But Sukuna’s pride and ego won’t let him team up with other fighters. Interestingly enough, Sukuna knows the advantage of fighting together as a team.

One of the biggest reasons why he can defeat Satoru Gojo is because he fights together with the shikigami summoned by Megumi’s Ten Shadow Technique, namely Mahoraga and Agito. Satoru is extremely powerful, but a three vs one battle proves to be too much for him. Sukuna can easily employ the same tactic when he fights the other sorcerers, either with the shikigami or with his allies. But no. He refuses to do so against those who he perceives as small fry.

A Swift Victory

Let’s make a scenario just to see what would happen if Sukuna fought together with somebody during that final battle. Let’s even assume that in exchange for attaining his true form, he can’t use the Ten Shadows technique. So the only teammate that he has is his loyal servant, Uraume.

Uraume can fight on equal ground with Hakari, which means her strength is on par with a special grade. Uraume and her ice technique can focus on defense, which allows Sukuna to go all out on defense. Her ice can block any oncoming attacks, while Sukuna’s slashes can tear the opponents apart. They would be unstoppable and the fight would’ve ended much sooner. Alas, the King of Curses is too proud of such teamwork.

A Miscalculation

Sukuna underestimates Yuji and the other sorcerers and his insistence to fight alone to the bitter end basically stems from one thing, a gross miscalculation. Whether he realizes it or not, the King of Curses has made a terrible miscalculation in this final brawl.

Ryomen Sukuna vs Satoru Gojo

The first miscalculation happens during his fight with Satoru Gojo. Sukuna knows that Satoru is strong, but he never would’ve guessed that the man with the Limitless eyes was powerful enough to nearly kill him multiple times during their fight. So he chooses not to go all out from the beginning and opts to gauge Satoru’s ability instead.

Had Sukuna decided to summon Mahoraga and Agito right from the start and use his full power to pressure Satoru, he might have been able to end their battle early. But no. He let Satoru dictate the pace of the fight, especially at the beginning of their battle. Maybe Sukuna is being too cautious of Satoru, or maybe his pride as the strongest prevents him from going all out for a mere human like Satoru. Either way, Sukuna suffers much more damage and his cursed energy is nearly drained by the end of the fight.

Ryomen Sukuna vs Jujutsu Sorcerers

Thanks to the heavy damage that he suffers during his fight with Satoru Gojo, Sukuna has to start the second phase of the battle against Yuji and the other sorcerers with less than half of his actual power. And once again, he underestimates his opponent, particularly Yuji Itadori, which is his second fatal miscalculation.

Sukuna thinks that he can defeat Yuji and the other sorcerers with ease. He couldn’t be more wrong. Sure, individually, these people are not as strong as Satoru. However, when they launch a continuous barrage of coordinated attacks, they manage to hurt the King of Curses. What’s more, Yuji Itadori’s combat ability is improving by leaps and bounds at this point. Yuji’s unbroken chain of Black Flash, his newly awakened cursed technique, and stellar coordinated attacks with the other sorcerers are what eventually sealed Sukuna’s fate.

“Black Flash releases Yuji’s potential. Amidst a shower of black sparks, Yuji Itadori has awakened!”

If Sukuna doesn’t underestimate our heroes, if he agrees to fight together with Uraume, and if he doesn’t miscalculate the true strength of Satoru and the other jujutsu sorcerers at that final battle, there’s a huge chance that he would’ve come on top. If he hadn’t made those three fatal mistakes, the world would’ve been ruled by the King of Curses.

Jujutsu Kaisen is available to stream on Crunchyroll.