why did maki's mom kill naoya

In Jujutsu Kaisen, Maki’s mom kills Naoya in the aftermath of the Zenin clan massacre, and it works on both a plot level and a thematic/emotional level.

In‑story reason

• After Maki annihilates the Zenin clan and leaves Naoya horribly injured, her mother is left bleeding out from the wound Maki gave her.

• On what is effectively her deathbed, Maki’s mom uses a kitchen knife to stab Naoya, finishing him off while he’s incapacitated.

• This act is often read as a mix of:
  • Revenge for Naoya’s long‑term misogyny and abuse toward the women in the clan (including Maki, Mai, and herself).

* A final moment of solidarity and pride in her daughters for doing what she could never do: destroy the clan that oppressed them.

Character and symbolism

• Maki’s mom has a long history of neglecting and verbally abusing Maki and Mai, always staying “three steps behind” and never openly resisting the clan’s sexism.

• Killing Naoya is a symbolic reversal of that role:
  • She stops being purely passive and, in her last moment, strikes back at the man who embodied the clan’s cruelty.
  • It’s also a direct callback to Naoya’s own line about women who “should be stabbed” if they don’t walk behind men; he is literally stabbed to death by a woman he looked down on.

Why Maki doesn’t kill him herself

• Maki leaves Naoya in a condition where he would almost certainly die from his injuries and blood loss; she effectively “leaves him for dead.”

• A popular meta explanation is that Naoya needed to be killed by a non‑sorcerer (Maki’s mom) so he could later return as a vengeful cursed spirit, which is exactly what happens.

How fans discuss it

• Forum discussions highlight several overlapping motives for Maki’s mom:
  • Revenge for Mai’s death and the years of abuse.
  • A final act of courage inspired by watching her daughters destroy the clan.
  • A way to free herself from the life she’d been trapped in, even if it costs her life.

• Some readers also see it as her belated attempt to be a “real mother” for a brief moment, doing at least one thing to protect or avenge her daughters before dying.

TL;DR: Maki’s mom kills Naoya because, as she lies dying, she finally acts against the misogynistic abuser who tormented her family, turning her last moment into an act of revenge, twisted pride, and symbolic rejection of the Zenin clan’s values.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.