Jujutsu Kaisen may have misled fans on the Ten Shadows Technique's true nature all along

Jujutsu Kaisen has captured the imagination of fans with its intricate world of cursed techniques and sorcery, each one seemingly crafted with unique lore and complexity. One of the most mysterious abilities is the Ten Shadows Technique, primarily wielded by Megumi Fushiguro.

On the surface, Ten Shadows is understood as a shadow manipulation ability, allowing its user to summon Shikigami—powerful, semi-autonomous creatures formed from shadows. However, a closer look at the technique’s mechanics suggests that the Ten Shadows Technique may be far more intricate than it initially appears.It is possible that Jujutsu Kaisen has misled fans all along about the true nature of this ancient ability.

Jujutsu Kaisen: Delving deeper into the Ten Shadows technique

The hand-sign for Max Elephant (Image via MAPPA)

At its core, the Ten Shadows Technique is defined as an ability that manipulates shadows. As depicted in the series, this cursed technique allows users to hide objects or themselves within shadows and, most notably, summon various Shikigami to aid in battle.

These Shikigami aren’t just puppets controlled by the user—they must be exorcised and captured first before the user can fully wield them, a feature unique to Ten Shadows. Unlike other cursed techniques, which are fully accessible from the moment a sorcerer inherits them, Ten Shadows requires the user to go through exorcism rituals to gain mastery over its Shikigami.

Megumi summons the Divine Dogs (Image via MAPPA)

This raises an interesting point. If Ten Shadows is a simple shadow manipulation technique, why does it involve exorcising Shikigami? What exactly are these creatures, and why aren’t they naturally summoned with the technique like cursed energy manifestations of other abilities?

Some fans have speculated that these Shikigami are not part of the Ten Shadows Technique itself but are instead pre-existing entities trapped within the shadows and summoned using the cursed technique as a medium.

This theory posits that the Ten Shadows user doesn’t create Shikigami but rather binds pre-existing cursed spirits to their technique. It’s more like an exorcist capturing and repurposing cursed entities, thus explaining the need for rituals and the inherent danger in controlling these beings.

This interpretation also suggests that the technique’s complexity lies in its ability to manipulate shadows as a medium for summoning, rather than simply generating these creatures out of thin air.

Jujutsu Kaisen: The peculiar Case of Mahoraga

One of the most compelling anomalies that support this theory is Mahoraga, the most powerful Shikigami of the Ten Shadows Technique. Unlike the others, Mahoraga doesn’t vanish when the cursed technique is nullified by Domain Amplification, an ability designed to erase cursed techniques.

Instead, Mahoraga’s wheel turns black, signaling a loss of his adaptive abilities but not his presence. This indicates that Mahoraga may have an existence independent of the Ten Shadows Technique - a cursed spirit, or perhaps something more, that is merely summoned through the shadows. Furthermore, Sukuna’s inability to use Ten Shadows after Mahoraga's destruction hints that Mahoraga’s death severed Sukuna’s connection to the full power of the technique.

There’s also the unusual behavior of the Divine Dog during Megumi’s cursed technique burnouts. Despite Megumi losing access to his cursed energy, the Divine Dog still managed to attack Reggie, which further complicates the conventional understanding of Ten Shadows as a technique reliant on constant energy.

This could be more evidence that the Shikigami are independent entities, sustained by their own cursed energy once summoned, rather than being purely constructs of the user’s technique.

Jujutsu Kaisen: The evolution of Cursed Techniques

Choso is a Blood Manipulation Cursed Technique user (Image via MAPPA)

One theory about cursed techniques in Jujutsu Kaisen is that they evolve over time. Unlike other supernatural abilities seen in fiction, cursed techniques do not seem to combine or fuse when passed down through family lines.

Instead, they evolve like traits, with slight variations leading to entirely new abilities over generations. It’s possible that Ten Shadows started as a much simpler shadow manipulation technique, with later generations discovering the ability to trap cursed spirits within the shadows and summon them as Shikigami.

Gojo Satoru is the sorcerer who has Limitless and Six Eyes (Image via MAPPA)

This theory of cursed technique evolution aligns with how other cursed techniques in the series have developed. Techniques like Blood Manipulation or Limitless may have evolved from simpler abilities like Construction or Sky Manipulation, gradually gaining more complex applications over time.

Could Ten Shadows have followed a similar path, gradually becoming a technique centered on summoning pre-existing cursed entities through shadow manipulation?

Jujutsu Kaisen: The parallels between Orimoto Rika and Mahoraga

Orimoto Rika and Okkotsu Yuta as shown in the anime (Image via MAPPA)

Finally, Orimoto Rika, Yuta Okkotsu’s companion, serves as an interesting parallel. Like Mahoraga, Rika is a cursed spirit bound to a sorcerer and imbued with abilities through a cursed technique.

She evolves over time, gaining new abilities like the Reverse Cursed Technique. This could further support the idea that Mahoraga was once a cursed spirit bound to the original Ten Shadows user, making him the Rika of the technique's originator.

Final thoughts

Jujutsu Kaisen may have subtly hinted that the Ten Shadows Technique is not purely a cursed technique of shadow manipulation, but a more complex ability that summons pre-existing cursed entities.

The series’ hints and inconsistencies suggest that the true nature of Ten Shadows is far deeper than fans were initially led to believe, opening the door to even more mysteries about the origin and evolution of cursed techniques in the world of jujutsu sorcery.