Jujutsu Kaisen: Is Yuki a Villain? Her Maverick Nature Explained!

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. She is a maverick jujutsu sorcerer who is, incidentally, also a Special Grade sorceress (one of only four such characters), which means that she is exceptionally powerful. As you can see, many aspects of her story could be discussed in this article, but in it, we are going to talk about her overall role in the story. Namely, Yuki is not a straightforward character when it comes to her moral alignment, so fans will, naturally, want to know if she is a villain or not, and in this article, we are going to give you an answer to that question.

Yuki Tsukumo is not a villain in Jujutsu Kaisen. She is a maverick character who does not take on missions and is not on good terms with the higher-ups due to ideological differences, but she is not a villain, which was definitely proven when she gave her own life to defend Master Tengen from Kenjaku. She simply wants to rid the world of curses and does not agree with the higher-ups’ way of approaching the issue, which is why she is a maverick but not a villain.

The rest of this article will focus solely on the character of Yuki Tsukumo in Jujutsu Kaisen, as we bring you everything you need to know about her and her actions that will help you understand why she is not a villain in the series. We are going to tell you some information about the history of the character, as well as her role in the whole story. This means that numerous spoilers will be present here, so if you’re not acquainted with the whole story, be careful how you approach it.

Yuki Tsukumo is a maverick, but she is definitely not a villain in the series

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. Now, Yuki Tsukumo’s role in the series is going to increase, and she will, as you might expect, make an appearance in the present timeline as well. Being a Special Grade Jujutsu sorcerer, Yuki Tsukumo is regarded as one of the series’ strongest characters.

Special Grades are uncommon, and Yuki is the only known Special Grade jujutsu sorcerer in the series, along with Gojo, Geto, and Yuta. Because of her unconventional fighting techniques and disagreement with the higher-ups’ ideologies and procedures, she is viewed as a maverick who refuses to accept any missions.

Now, due to the fact that she is not generally aligned with the primary protagonists and that she does share views that are different from the views of the protagonists, a lot of fans wondered whether Yuki was a villain or not, especially since she, indirectly, “helped” Geto become a villain in the series. But, we can clarify immediately that Yuki was not a villain in the series, and to explain how and why, we are going to tell you what happened during the Culling Game Arc.

Namely, the protagonists went to Master Tengen, and for the first time, they actually saw them in person. Tengen greeted everyone but Yuki, and when Yuki forced them to talk with her, it became known that Yuki was also a Star Plasma Vessel candidate at one point. Yuki heavily criticized Tengen for their actions in not preventing Riko Amanai’s death, but Tengen explained that they couldn’t have done anything since they are a non-fighter.

Tengen then demanded protection from Kenjaku, who was approaching, and Choso volunteered, asking either Yuta or Yuki, as Special Grades, to assist him, and Yuki ultimately agreed. It has to be said that Yuki was not obliged to do so and that she disagreed with Master Tengen in many aspects, but she still decided to remain there and battle Kenjaku, whose goal was somewhat aligned with Yuki’s (as you are about to see soon).

In the battle, she and Choso gave it their all, and Yuki ultimately sacrificed herself to try and save Tengen and spare Choso’s life, as the latter escaped. She didn’t, sadly succeed in saving Tengen, who Kenjaku absorbed, but she gave her life (supposedly) to foil Kenjaku’s plans, which is the ultimate proof that she is not a villain.

But why do people still think that she could be one? Well, the answer lies in her unusual ideology, which was revealed in Gojo’s Past Arc, and which we are now going to present to you so you know what she stands for.

Roughly a year after Riko Amanai’s death, Yuki Tsukumo appeared at the Tokyo School and had a talk with Suguru Geto. At the same time, Suguru Geto had been going through an existential crisis, as his ideology – related to the role of jujutsu sorcerers in the modern world – was slowly shattering, and he had no idea what he was supposed to do. Yuki approached him, and after engaging in some small chat, she shared with him her worldview.

She admitted to Geto that she did not care for the higher-ups because she believed that 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.

On the other hand, she also desired a world free of curses—one in which they wouldn’t even manifest as symptoms—but while she recognized the potential for such a world and two ways of achieving her goal, neither seemed sufficiently effective. 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.

As you can see, Yuki’s worldview was very similar to Geto’s original ideology from Jujutsu Kaisen 0, and since Geto was a villain in that story, fans naturally rushed to the conclusion that Yuki could be to. But Geto wasn’t a villain because he wanted a world without curses – he was a villain because he was willing to mass murder every non-sorcerer in the world (basically most of humanity) to achieve that goal. This is also why Kenjaku is the villain because he wants to rid the world of non-sorcerers.

But Yuki never shared these ideals. She wanted a world free of curses as she firmly believed that such a world would be better for everyone. She did not hate non-sorcerers and she did not agree with either Geto or Kenjaku that they should be eliminated. As stated, she did not agree with the higher-ups either, but that is not enough to label her as a villain. We hope that we have cleared this up and that you will now know that Yuki Tsukumo is not a villain in Jujutsu Kaisen.