 There is a blank, kind of empty look that a young Gojo consistently has, which tells us all that we need to know about the childhood he had. A joyless childhood, countless assassination attempts, bounties on his head for over a hundred million before he could even say his first words. The very balance of the jujutsu world was altered when Satru Gojo was born. Tons of curses went into hiding because of his mere existence. Many curses were forced to become stronger because of his presence. When I think of Gojo's power, I think of that confidence in which he says that he is the strongest. Because from the moment you begin this story, you never get the sense that he's lying. Then I think back to the first time he revealed his limitless ability to the special grade cursed Jogo. Jogo is astonished at the difference between their strength. He is mesmerized when he discovers that he can only touch the infinity between them. That is Gojo. Gojo is touched when he wants to be touched, when he commands the space to do so. Gojo has this magnetic ability matched with this magnetic personality. The weight of the jujutsu world as we know it hinges on Gojo. The first sorcerer in 400 years to be born with the six eyes and the limitless technique. Light, teleportation, a domain expansion that forces one to see and feel everything. And of course, holo-perp. Satru Gojo really is a god among sorcerers, among curses. Jujutsu kaizen has Yuji as its protagonist, but so much of this story revolves around Gojo. Nobody can do anything without wondering where Gojo is or how his potential presence will affect any situation. The higher ups of the jujutsu world, this conservative faction was also impacted nearly 30 years before the start of this series by the birth of this child. Being a part of one of the big three families meant immediate enrollment into jujutsu hai and being a young prodigy, being essentially the chosen one, gave Gojo a massive burden to carry at such a young age. Gojo was assigned to missions that would have tremendous ramifications for the future of the jujutsu world at 15, 16 years old. The most dangerous missions weren't going to his superiors, they weren't going to adults, no, they were going to this child. People like Tengen were asking specifically for him, simply because Gojo inherited these abilities meant that he was immediately appointed as the role of the protector of the jujutsu world as we know it. So he would become partly responsible for its successes and entirely responsible for its failures. When Yuta manifests Rika in volume zero, the higher ups condemn Gojo. Any misstep by Sukuna by the way of Yuji, the pressure is on Gojo. Couple that weight with the numerous and countless attacks on his life since he was a child, Gojo's life is turbulent to say the least. But a large part of who he is is of course all of these experiences, but specifically what he went through as a teenager would fundamentally alter Gojo's future and the way he approaches his life. No one would have a more significant impact on his future than Suguru Geto. The contrast between these two is fascinating. From the physical to the mental, their upbringing, their abilities, Geto and Gojo couldn't be more different and it makes their relationship intriguing. Geto never looked at Gojo the same way everyone else did. Geto forced the White-haired sorcerer to be better, challenging him intellectually, and they even got into plenty of fights with each other. And I think Gojo respected that a ton, that there was someone out there who ignored his lineage who ignored that title, but who was also strong enough to match it in his mind. Gojo found an equal, but most of all he found a true friend, his one and only best friend. And with Geto, he gained a different perspective on life. Gojo tends to look at things through a more self-centered lens, that doesn't necessarily define his morality, but I think the circumstances of his life, having been used and depended on his entire life, have led to a general worldview that sees strength as the most essential factor to do anything. Gojo doesn't worry about ideals or responsibilities like Geto does, and so all the decisions he makes he makes based on how he feels, based on his own desire. Geto on the other hand tends to make decisions based on how his choices will impact others, constantly looking at the broader implications of what they, as Jujutsu sorcerers, do. While Gojo believes it is a pain looking out for the weak, Geto replies that protecting the weak is a societal responsibility that they have as Jujutsu sorcerers, and then goes on a tangent about how their choices impact the Jujutsu world. Gojo doesn't apply reasoning or responsibility to Jujutsu, he sees that as something weak people do. Geto constantly needs a reason to keep going, considering how repugnant his ability is, whereas Gojo's ability, while mentally and physically draining, isn't the filthy, murky technique that consuming cursed spirits is. He doesn't have to interact with humanity at its most vile, so that motivation, Geto constantly convincing himself that what he does is for a good reason to protect the weak and for the greater good, keeps him going. At this age, Gojo doesn't have any real reason to do things, but again he doesn't like to add morality to Jujutsu, and yet he finds himself constantly doing the right thing. But things change for the two of them when Riko, the star plasma vessel, needed to be escorted to merge with Tengen. Regarding Riko, Gojo was initially quite apathetic to the girl, only doing it because it was asked of him, but over a short time protecting her, he quickly warmed up to the idea and to her. It's interesting, because I think there is a lot of Riko that Gojo sees in himself. Here's a girl only a few years younger than him, and from the day she was born, she was seen as a candidate. Her fate was decided so early on in life, and when he meets her, she's not even a bit sad about what's about to happen to her. But that only masks her real sadness and fear. I think Gojo tends to hide much of his true desires and his feelings behind his charismatic personality. She's got all the bounties on her head, and still she can keep going and enjoy her life, the little she has left. Like Gojo, she is objectified by the Jujutsu world. Her wants and her needs mean absolutely nothing, and she is nothing more than a tool for their world. Much like no one cares about the mental turmoil that Gojo has to live with, caring such a massive responsibility, the more time Gojo spends with her, the more he can empathize with her and take initiative in her cause. He even goes on to plan these fun days at the beach in Okinawa just for her, because he grows to see her value simply as a person. He starts to enjoy protecting the weak, even using his technique over time to protect her. This experience changes Gojo so much so that he proposes the idea to geto of giving Riko the choice of merging with Tengen or not, and he is willing to bear the potential consequences if she doesn't. Past the mission, past what has been assigned to them. Here we see Gojo's morality. This mission becomes a very personal one to him, sure he might be a self-centered individual, but Gojo cares a lot about people. He cares about this girl's autonomy, willing to even fight Tengen if it comes down to it. The two of them did all of this for some girl that Gojo couldn't even care about when this all began. But for all their strength, the two strongest sorcerers get defeated by one Toji Fushiguro, who devised a plan to target and eliminate Gojo at his weakest, a plan that ended in Riko's death. Gojo got stabbed nearly half a dozen times and was pushed to the brink of death, his 15 year old, and he responded to that by ascending to a level above even the heavens. Moments of pure bliss and hubris, a moment that he earned through surviving death. He had to push everyone away at that moment to become the strongest sorcerer alive. He says that he is sorry that he didn't feel angry for Riko in that moment while he ascended. He didn't think about Geto, he didn't even think about Toji. He was all about himself, about becoming a god among sorcerers, and that incredible feeling. This entire event had significant ramifications for Gojo and Geto, a shared failure it was for the both of them, and each was affected differently by what transpired that day. Gojo's ascendance seemed to not only be a physical rise but a mental one, leaving his best friend behind, no longer able to truly understand or meet Geto mentally. Gojo alone is the honored one. And when he said it at that moment, he mentions that the feeling was incontestable with any other. He finally understood reversed cursed technique, the Jujutsu world, he understood it all down to its finest detail, and Satoru knew that he was head and shoulders above the rest of the world. I alone am the honored one is a very different tune than the one he sang earlier on in the Hidden Inventory arc. It was only a few chapters earlier that he thought of himself and Geto as equals. We are the strongest he said in that panel. But from this moment onwards, that title has fallen to him alone. That fear and that trauma that he went through, and then the guilt that tore him up for losing Riko, carrying her body and having all of these people cheer and rejoice at his failure, led him to run limitless almost at all times, automatically, keeping his brain fresh so that he may never get caught like that ever again. Gojo's response to that event, to his failure, was to become so strong that nothing could ever even touch him without a say so. Geto's response to that event was much like he always responded to things. It was an extreme analysis of the situation and a re-examination of his reasons for being a jujutsu sorcerer. Because Gojo became so powerful, he began being sent onto missions alone. So Geto had to exercise his repulsive curses alone. He was led to his own devices and left with his failure. Geto drowned in his loneliness. Gojo has always been a sorcerer for himself. Geto has always been a sorcerer for others. Both are equally selfish and selfless. Both are equally arrogant to a degree. Rico died right in front of him and for a moment he believed Gojo had died. Still he failed to kill Toji. What kind of sorcerer does that make him if he can't protect others? What is he doing it for then? I think it's easy to point the finger at Gojo when Geto defects. It's easy to blame Gojo's massive presence because that's what this story has always done when things go wrong. It's easy to ask why Gojo didn't save him, but at the end of the day he became the strongest and he was treated as such by every authoritative figure in their school, pulling the two further and further apart. The sheer surprise and shock on Gojo's face and his reaction when he hears about what his best friend had become reinforces this idea that Geto falling into the darkness was something no one could have expected, especially not Gojo. Considering Geto was always this rational, reasonable individual. At least that's how Gojo saw him. Gojo sees power as the be-all and end-all in this world, but he also profoundly values Geto because he matched that power, granting them the ability to connect outside their strength. So Geto asking his best friend, are you the strongest because you're Gojo Saturu or are you Gojo Saturu because you're the strongest, disrupts that trust and that friendship that was built on something more than strength. Gojo here prods at Gojo's pride and also sinks him further into his loneliness. That's one part of Gojo's identity that he struggled with. He knocks Gojo down a peg with that one line and he relegates him to a mere object of strength instead of a human, just like the rest of the jujutsu world does. Here Gojo learns that strength is not enough to save those who don't want to be saved. However, while he understands this, he still believes strength is a significant factor in one's path. I think Gojo believes that Geto felt left behind strength-wise, which is why Geto asked him that question. And so, when meeting Megumi, Gojo tells the child that strength is what will keep him from being left behind. Of course, here he doesn't fully understand Geto's fall from grace, but Gojo isn't entirely wrong. The gulf in strength between Gojo and Geto did play a part in Geto's defection, but it was only one piece of the full puzzle. Gojo can empathize with the world around him, but still it's tremendously hard for him to understand those who are not strong. He felt what losing was like, but he got his revenge. He still doesn't know what it's like to be weak. He doesn't desire to and cannot reach those below him. He knew something changed in Geto, but was unable to determine exactly what. But that was a 15-year-old Gojo. In the decade after these events, even more growth has happened for the world's strongest sorcerer. Gojo has become a teacher. He still carries guilt for these failings, Riko, Toji, Geto. Three events are the cause of his terrible loneliness. Being the only child of the Gojo family in 400 years to wield these abilities of course comes with this inherent solitude. As mentioned before, the responsibility that has been bestowed on him as a mere child and then a teenager, the over-reliance on his stature makes it hard for him to connect with people. But after losing Geto, his best friend, Avoid was left in his absence. Sure, Gojo has allies, but he still feels lonely at the top. No one can relate to the weight he has to bear and to the responsibilities he holds. Geto could once, now there is no one. And that's what it means to be the strongest. And that loss ultimately becomes the catalyst for what he does and for his philosophy. Gojo wants to nurture powerful allies, the powerful next generation, in order to change the system that has made him experience such terrible loneliness. Not only for him, but for Geto too. After a decade, he clearly understands that loneliness led Geto astray. The loneliness was simply too much. After himself, strength, natural prodigious talent aside, at the core of it all, Gojo was a kid thrust into the world of adults and he paid the price for it. He feels responsible for these losses because he's always been responsible. The reason Gojo calls his youth the best years of his life is because he wasn't so disconnected. Because he alone wasn't the strongest. Because he had his best friend to share life with. So twice in the story, Gojo mentions to Yuta in volume 0 and then to Yuji that he personally will not let the higher ups take away the best years of their youth. The same way the higher ups took his best years, the same way they took Getos and Rikos. Those three events, those three losses haunts Gojo's best years. Guilt haunts it. Gojo's desire to become a teacher can be directly linked to losing Geto. There is a sort of curse of strength that follows Gojo. The God complex he carries is both a flaw in his thinking and a result of the circumstances of his life. As mentioned, Gojo is generally unwilling to connect emotionally with those weaker than him, leading him further into solitude. So for Satoru, the people around him getting stronger, this desire for stronger allies is the solution instead of the inverse. And a part of him believes that that will cure his loneliness. But also, the goal is that none of the next generation will be as lonely as he was. Because they will all have formidable allies and they will all be equals. An argument can be made that Gojo's belief that no one can truly understand him is simply a barrier that he created to not allow anyone in. It's a deliberate choice that he made to separate and isolate himself, instead of trying to make the effort to become understood and to form these great connections. At the same time though, because Gojo's life has been filled with people trying to attack or deceive him in one way or another, because his life has been void of sincerity, especially before and after Geto, perhaps this barrier has naturally created itself emotionally for Gojo to protect himself. How do you connect with a man who has seen death and has risen past the heavens to defeat it? How do you connect with the most important man in the world? How do you relate to him? But all of their problems, all of it begins with the fundamental flaws of the Jujutsu world. The old guard, the conservative faction, the higher ups who are desperate to maintain the current system that they live in. So many of their problems have been systemic in this series. And changing the crappy system as he calls it is Gojo's initial motivation that we are introduced to when this series begins. The higher ups are all idiots, he says. Their failures are as clear as day in this series. We look at how much weight they put into one's lineage, the power these big three families hold, the fact that they send out teenagers to do their bidding, the desire to execute anyone, mainly children, out of fear of their abilities, instead of trying to harness them, use them for good. We also have to talk about the literal trading of children. And of course the overreliance on Gojo and strength as a whole. Their fear is understandable, but it causes stagnation in Jujutsu sorcerers and their development. They know that Gojo's mere presence, his existence, creates stronger curses and yet they don't have anyone else to handle some of these massive issues. The one sorcerer they did have felt like he needed to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. Gojo acknowledges that he could just kill all the higher ups, but he realizes that similar people would simply fill the power vacuum in the future. He believes that the next generation needs to be given the tools to take their destiny and their fate into their own hands. They need both the strength and the intelligence to do so, and Gojo is providing that. He does still think that strength is the be all end all, but he has also found allies with good hearts and who are intelligent. Gojo's worked tremendously hard over the past decade to build these strong allies who can stand alongside him. And still it's sad for a man who's been so alone for so much of his life. When the allies he dreamt of having are now here holding their own, he's locked away in the prison room, unable to see it. And the very last thing he saw was the one person who could alleviate his loneliness, alive once again. What a cruel joke, right? His reaction animated here makes it so much more heart wrenching. Gojo knows Geto can't be alive, and yet just hearing his best friend's voice completely froze the sorcerer. Gojo then smiles and reminisces on their time together. His one and only best friend. Gojo and Geto did everything together. Throughout the hidden inventory art, the two are basically inseparable. Basketball on the cell phones, the drinks. This is that friendship that Gojo misses in that split second, the companionship he yearns for. Gojo's story has been one of great strength, but hidden underneath all that talent is a great deal of sadness. Gojo is the most powerful sorcerer alive, and yet powerless when it came to saving those he loved most. Gojo is defined by his great strength, but Gojo's story is one of great tragedy, and even greater loneliness. What a cruel joke indeed.