Jujutsu Kaisen: Yuki Tsukumo’s Death Explained – Who Killed Her?

Yuki Tsukumo is a very interesting character from the Jujutsu Kaisen series, and her overall role in the series, despite her not having much screen time, is quite important. Now, Yuki Tsukumo is a character definitely worth talking about, and while there are numerous points that we could discuss in this article, we are going to focus on her ultimate fate in the series, as it happened later in the series, as part of the Culling Game event. In this article, we are going to tell you who Yuki Tsukumo is and what ultimately happened to her in the series, so you will know whether she is actually dead or not.

During the Culling Game event, Yuki was with the other protagonists (including Yuta, Itadori, Megumi, Choso) when they visited Master Tengen in his tomb. Master Tengen was initially cold towards her, but Yuki eventually got him to talk to her, and when Tengen asked for some protection from Kenjaku, who was coming for him, Yuki agreed to stay with Choso to protect Tengen from Kenjaku. She ultimately faced Kenjaku, and while deciding to save Choso, she seemingly sacrificed herself to try to kill Kenjaku but failed to do so, as Kenjaku ultimately absorbed Tengen while Yuki seemingly died.

The rest of this article will focus on the character of Yuki Tsukumo and her ultimate fate in Jujutsu Kaisen. Yuki Tsukumo was a truly interesting character with a very intriguing story, which is why her ultimate fate is of interest to fans, and that actually motivated us to write up this article, in which we will reveal everything that is known about her fate. This article might contain a significant number of spoilers, so do be careful while you’re reading.

Yuki seemingly sacrificed herself in the battle against Kenjaku, but there are theories that she could still be alive

Yuki Tsukumo was first seen in Chapter 50 of the manga (Episode 20 of the anime) in a flashback scene, and she made her full debut in Chapter 76 of the manga (Episode 29 of the anime), although this was in the Gojo’s Past Flashback Arc. She will, of course, make an appearance in the present timeline as well, but let us first tell you a bit about this great character and her initial appearances in the series before we actually get down to the major spoilers for those who haven’t read the manga.

Yuki Tsukumo is a special-grade jujutsu sorcerer, one of four in existence. In the past, she was chosen as the Star Plasma Vessel. She strongly opposes the practice of using children to reset Tengen’s technique, and she has no intention of helping them in any way, despising their passive nature and the ease with which they justify any cruelty.

Her beliefs and focus are on finding a way to wipe out the curses all at once instead of exorcising them when they appear, choosing to evaluate the feasibility rather than the ethics behind it, and this is what we’ve seen in the Gojo’s Past Arc when Yuki had a very interesting heart-to-heart with Geto.

So, what happened? Yuki Tsukumo visited the Tokyo School a year after Riko Amanai’s passing and spoke with Suguru Geto. Suguru Geto was going through an existential crisis at the same time because his theory about the role of jujutsu sorcerers in contemporary society was steadily disintegrating, and he was unsure of what to do. Yuki came to him, and after some small talk, she revealed her vision of the world to him.

She admitted to Geto that she did not care for the higher-ups because she believed they were merely addressing the symptoms rather than the root of the problem; specifically, they were dealing with specific curses while ignoring the problem that led to the appearance of curses in the first place.

While she considered the options for reaching such a society, none seemed effective enough. On the other hand, she desired a world free of curses, a world where the symptoms wouldn’t even manifest. After Yuki disclosed that non-sorcerers were the cause of curses, Geto advised killing all non-sorcerers, but Yuki disagreed, despite acknowledging that it would achieve the intended outcome.

Ultimately, when she was leaving, she told Geto they need not worry about Master Tengen for two reasons. First of all, they managed to stabilize themselves somehow, which means that the dreaded evolution that would turn Tengen into a monster was avoided. Secondly, she also said that a new Star Plasma Vessel was either born or had already been born at the time. She then disappeared. Now, we have already explained – in our other article – how Yuki knew about the Star Plasma Vessel being there, so we won’t be explaining that again, but we are going to tell you what happened later. This is where the spoilers kick in.

During the Culling Game event, the protagonists visited Master Tengen for the first time, and Yuki was with them. Initially, they saw nothing and thought that Tengen simply rejected them, but they then appeared, greeting everyone save for Yuki; Yuki was angry that she got ignored, but Tengen simply told her they had met before.

Yuki then accused Tengen of being passive when Riko was in question, which is also when we found out that Yuki was, at one point, a Star Plasma Vessel and that there are always multiple ones, but that Tengen chooses the one with the most potential, which was, in this case, Riko.

Still, despite being on bad terms with Tengen, it soon came down to continuing the fight against Kenjaku, especially after Tengen explained Kenjaku’s plan in more detail and the whole concept of the Culling Game. Ultimately, as the protagonists wanted to leave, Tengen asked for some protection. Choso volunteered but asked for either Yuta or Yuki, knowing he couldn’t take Kenjaku on alone. Yuki then agreed to stay and protect Tengen from Kenjaku, who arrived very soon.

Choso faced him first, but Yuki soon took over, allowing Choso to heal; Tengen were, of course, unable to help as they were a non-fighter. Now, the battle was quite intense, but Kenjaku was skilled and powerful, which allowed him to avoid defeat. Seeing how things would probably evolve, Yuki told Choso to leave and then launched a last-ditch move, creating a powerful Black Hole that was supposed to kill Kenjaku, as well as her; but, Kenjaku used the technique of Itadori’s late mother to save himself from the attack and then absorbed Tengen.

As for Yuki, she disappeared. Officially, she is considered to be dead, and she was not seen again in the series, as her body disappeared completely. There are, though, theories that suppose that she could still be alive (and we do know that unless you see a corpse in a manga, you cannot be sure that a character is dead), but the plot is currently focused on a completely different fight, so we don’t know whether Yuki will make another appearance.