Verona

In his relationship chart: The only mutual relationship laced with feeling was that with Geto Suguru.

Ties/links to Geto were scarred throughout Gojo’s timeline. Including his death date.

The strongest, Gojo Satoru, has only one possible complex, and it was that he could not stop Geto Suguru from defecting. Gojo had a Geto Complex.

Gojo was very single-minded. He had no particular interest aside from Jujutsu and whatever linked up with the memories of Geto. So much so that he never thought about an alternative besides being a sorcerer and Gege joked he’d want an easy life using whatever else he had - what you might ask? His looks (I reckon). So a gigolo or a “kept man”. Gojo really liked leaving things he was disinterested in to Geto anyway. (He really had found the perfect nurturer in Geto.)

His uniform was barely modified, but in previous Q&As here confirmed Gojo’s decision for his blazer was to look like Geto’s and not vice versa. Geto’s fashion sense is individualistic and he doesn’t care about convention. Gojo doesn’t bother himself with price tags nor does he necessarily follow fashion trends.

Even when he napped he sometimes dreamed of him (HI arc was made out of a flashback).

He became a teacher because of the impact of Geto leaving.

He learned how to reach those beneath him.

He was taught about love by Geto.

He became more responsible to those he could guide (the youth, his students, those with talent) <- does this not also sound like “mini Geto” & “mini Gojo”?

He learned how to communicate better, use respectful language, how to have people “follow him” and feel not lonely. (Up until college Gojo had no friends to speak of).

He learned life was precious through realising he couldn’t kill Geto, and lived with principles - for a meaning and purpose beyond himself, even if he was jujutsu crazy.

He longed for Geto’s presence enough to feel he’d be satisfied if he were patted on the back by him before his battle where he died.

He did not blame Geto.

He felt left behind.

He wanted to catch up.

- brought to you by JJK's production team (including Gege Akutami)

The tweet above is a QRT from one of the video producers for Gojo's 11-hour long tribute video, streamed on 3rd April till midnight to celebrate the release of JJK volume 26, "Heading South", on 4th April 2024. The video title is 孤高、廻想、融独 (Solitary, remagine, [fusion/melting]), revising Gojo's nice moments in his life with his friends and students.

The tweet says:

"We were involved in the planning stage. A "best friend" (「親友」/shinyuu) is a "toxic" (「有毒」/yuudoku [1]) and "melting" (「融独」/yuudoku [2]) existence. This is just our interpretation, but with everyone's thoughts, we have the final answer. We hope to able to encourage you to get Volume 26 even just a bit." (this is rough translation)

What is really the center of attention is this word 「融独」/yuudoku [2]. This is the 3rd word of the video title, but surprisingly, this word doesn't exist in the Japanese dictionary.

hidden inventory in japanese is ‘懐玉’ (kaigyoku) which means ‘harboring a jewel’ and comes from an old chinese idiom ‘被褐懐玉’ (hikatsu kaigyoku). the idiom describes someone who has ‘hidden’ great worth, talent, wisdom, virtue that is kept under a humble appearance.

by my understanding this reflects gojo. sure he wasn’t humble but this title refers to his enlightenment. he is ‘revealing’ his jewel, his talent and therefore becoming ‘precious’ like one. satoru (悟) literally means enlightenment.

but now to premature death. premature death in japanese is ‘玉折’ (gyokusetsu).

as you can see both share the kanji ‘玉’ (gyoku), which means gem/jewel or a precious stone like jade.

however ‘玉折’ (gyokusetsu) means something else. it comes from the idiom ‘蘭摧玉折’ (ransai gyokusetsu). its english meaning is somewhat: ‘[the orchid is destroyed] and the jade is broken.’ both orchids and jades symbolize precious, beautiful things. it can also be understood as ‘the breaking of a jewel’.

but this idiom is used to poetically describe the premature death or tragic end of a person who had great talent or high morals.

i believe it refers to geto. he used to be the one with the moral concept of protecting others, but due to the events and the ugliness of humans and the constant pressure, he defected. in words, his jewel ‘broke’, which also marks the death of the person he used to be. suguru (傑) literally means excellence/worth or extraordinary/outstanding.

and if you put both titles together:

懐玉・玉折 (kaigyoku gyokusetsu) translates as ‘hidden inventory | premature death’.

In short:

Gojo won -> Camellia (Tsubaki) flower.

Gojo lost -> Sadzanka (Sasanqua) flower.

it's all more equivalent to health care workers trying to treat a virus. which also aligns thematically with the subject of labour across the series (jujutsu sorcerers being spread thin to the detriment of inexperienced workers, a job you value vs a job that compensates but drains you of your spirit, the myth of meritocracy) .

which is why controlling the output of cursed energy should be seen as the equivalent of being born with or developing an immunity to a disease. this is why a "culling" sounds possible to geto to begin with— people being pushed to adapt or die in their lifetime to prevent future outbreaks, like one would with a virus. strongly differing to kenjaku, because they essentially yearn for this disease to spread out of morbid curiosity (while geto wants the work to end):

geto is a character you are meant to see yourself in. as, in all likelihood, a laborer yourself or someone that will become one. his story is that of exploitation at the hands of a system that only cares for results. leading to isolation in hopes of achieving high productivity.

tangentially, i think a subject that is often ignored in these discussions is the financial incentive to take on more and more work onto your plate too. mei mei is perhaps the clearest example of this, no explanation needed. nobara, a second, when she explictly tells us sorcerery work is the only way a small town girl like her can make it in the big city. megumi, a third, when we learn the money the school gave him helped keep him and his sister tsumiki afloat.

while gege does not delve into geto's past, we can safely speculate part of the reason geto keeps working day after day, after day— despite his wavering convictions is because there is something that encourages him to do so. financial stability would not be an odd motivater. after all, why do we push ourselves everyday to work jobs that no longer add anything meaningful to our lives? geto is the type of character that forces us to examine such things.

as an aside, when he first dons the robes of a cult leader, money is at the forefront of his concerns. if it wasn't obvious before, gege tells you again— choosing not to be a sorcerer, implies a serious loss of income.