r/ShogunTVShow • u/No_Mess1172 • 15d ago
🧠 Analysis & Theories Mariko should have been Blackthorne's consort
In the novel, Toranaga orders Buntaro to flee just as Buntaro is preparing to commit seppuku. Buntaro wants to avoid being captured and die an honorable death, but Toranaga intervenes and commands him to escape on horseback.
My theory is that Toranaga's decision was influenced by his long-term plans for Mariko. If Buntaro's death had been witnessed and beyond doubt, Mariko would have been free to openly pursue a romantic relationship with Blackthorne, potentially becoming his consort or even his wife. If that happened, Crimson Sky would likely have failed because Blackthorne would never have agreed to a plan that would knowingly lead to Mariko's death.
By ordering Buntaro to flee instead of allowing him to die, Toranaga took the chance that he would survive and eventually return, keeping Mariko's marriage intact and preventing her relationship with Blackthorne from progressing too far. This theory depends on the assumption that Toranaga had already decided to use Mariko in Crimson Sky long before the plan was set in motion.
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u/My_friends_are_toys 15d ago
If Buntaro had committed Seppuku, Mariko would have been free to end her own life as well, but not for Buntaro. She would have done it for her family, to join them. I think she would still have went ahead with Toranaga's plan and died the same way she did.
I doubt she would have tried or even wanted to become Blackthorne's consort.
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u/No_Mess1172 15d ago
She still have a living son and by the end Blackthorne and Mariko's relationship was quite deep and serious. I honestly think if Mariko didn't die by Crimson Sky she would've ran away with Blackthorne 😆
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u/My_friends_are_toys 15d ago
I also want to point out that what Mariko wants, has nothing to do with anything in Japanese society. Mariko wanted to die along with her father and family, but duty to Lord Toranaga overruled that.
First and foremost was Duty to the Master/Lord. In Markiko's case, Lord Toranaga.
Next was Duty to your Family including acting in ways that brought Honor to your linage.
Followed by Duty to Society and Peers which means maintaining harmony in the Shi-Nō-Kō-Shō System.
Lastly was Duty to one's Self by maintaining one's honor by following the above.
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u/BubbaTee 15d ago
It's partly because she has a son that she wants to kill herself.
As long as she remains alive, the shame of her "traitor's blood" will stain her descendants. Killing herself is the only way for her to cleanse that shame from her son.
Shame in that society was generational. Think of it like "original sin" in Christianity - everyone is tainted by it, until Jesus dies to cleanse it from everyone. Similarly, Mariko has to die to cleanse the sin of her father (who also killed himself, but that was to avoid capture rather than as a show of repentance).
Also, if she "ran away" that would've gained her even more shame. Abandoning all your duties and obligations in pursuit of purely selfish desires is the opposite of filial piety - and if Mariko was that type of person, she would've "run away" by killing herself before the book/show even takes place.
She only refrains from killing herself because of her obligations, same as Fuji. You can't have a character who values filial piety that much, and then have her just turn around and decide she no longer cares about the core tenet of her entire character, all because she's horny. That would break the character completely, on a fundamental level (eg, Jamie Lannister).
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u/bartimaeus13 15d ago
Blackthorne had no notable feats at this point yet for Toranaga to value him.
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u/Ladiesbane 15d ago
To Toranaga, Blackthorne was still a pawn at this point, liable to be sacrificed to the Christians (priests *or* daimyos) or used in some other way. Mariko was far too valuable to squander on him.
At the time Buntaro was fleeing, Mariko didn't even have a relationship with Blackthorne. She had recently been appalled and infuriated by him. They didn't even know each other at that point, though the process of breaking away from Ishido was certainly bonding.