Index: Jack | Aku | Cult of Aku | Other Characters | Storyline | Crossovers
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General Plot and Setting
The first four seasons of Samurai Jack are set in the first year/couple of years after Jack's arrival in the future.
Japanese is the lingua franca of Aku's empire. All speech sounds like English just for our convenience.
While it's never made clear just how far into the future Jack has traveled, it appears that the amount of time is at least over a thousand years. Jack never seems to have problems with the expected language barrier. There are a few episodes, such as "Jack in Egypt", that indicate Jack knows multiple languages, but one would expect that any language he knew would be incomprehensible to almost anyone in the future he was sent to.The answer to this is that since Aku is originally from Japan, he spread the use of Japanese throughout the Earth as he took over the world, similar to how countries like Britain, France, and Spain historically spread their languages as their empires grew.
The homogeneity of language also means that lingual drift would occur very slowly, or almost not at all. Japanese as Jack knows it, and the Japanese of the future have very few differences in terms of intelligibility. At worst his speech might sound a bit archaic to some, in the same way someone speaking English from the 16th-17th century would sound to a modern speaker.
- Homogeneity of language has very little to do with rate of change. After the Norman invasion, Old English changed out of all recognition in two to three centuries, due to Norman influence, but Chaucer is comprehensible with some effort, and Shakespeare to us, despite being in verse, is quite comprehensible. In many languages, a thousand years can be entirely insufficient for drift to render the older versions incomprehensible, as with the Japanese or Korean or even French of a thousand years ago.
The ending of "Jack Learns to Jump Good" is out of chronological order...
The episode ends with Jack jumping into the air, to attack Aku, who is holding what looks like a portal to the past. Ok, I know it's unlikely that by the end of the series, Aku won't know about Jack's ability to jump good...but damn it, I want to believe we have a canon resolution to the series.- Actually this would make a lot of sense, I don't think Jack ever displayed the ability to jump good after this episode...I think you might be right.
- Actually, the Tribe of Jump Apes are mentioned in the season 4 episode in which Aku literally infects Jack, and there's an obvious Continuity Nod to them in the season 4 episode in which Jack and the Samurai compete, where Jack easily covers in a single bound a huge distance and replies that he knows how to jump good when the Scotsman asks if he can fly.
"Jack and the Baby" is a troll episode.
Not just because Jack fights trolls in that episode, but that this is a case of a Trolling Creator. The penultimate episode of Season 4 is a flashback of Jack's childhood, particularly how he learned to fight some truly serious enemies. The final episode, on the other hand, is about finding a baby's parents. The first half of the episode is annoying due to the baby crying shifting into an out-of-nowhere telling of Momotaro, the second half is a series of unrelated events, and the ending is a non sequitur with Jack acting Out of Character, having surprisingly little concern over the baby or his mother. Over the course of the episode, Jack takes more damage from a random deer in the forest than from fighting the trolls or the bounty hunter. The very last shot of the series is the baby yelling, "Momotaro!" as a Battle Cry. This episode feels so unfitting as a final episode (and Cartoon Network made it no secret that this is the end of the show), it had to have been intentional.- I don't think this episode was designed to mess with fans' heads.
There are three timelines.
The first timeline occurs when Samurai Jack fights Aku the first time, imprisoning Aku in a tree again. This creates a world much like in the Ben 10 universe, where magic exists, but isn't seen often (for a given definition of 'often').The second, is the one we see, where Jack goes to the future and beats Aku, then goes to the past and beats him again(It's a Foregone Conclusion). In that one, he splits Aku into two entities; His eternal evil and his unlimited power. His power turns into a form reminiscent of his origins, which is a black sludge that constantly changes, while his evil consciousness takes a vaguely (if grotesquely deformed) human form. This creates the 'Cartoon Universe', the universe in which the Cartoon Network cartoons take place, and is the origin of everything that can't be explained, literally making Aku the The Wizard That Did It. The third universe occurs in the unlikely event Jack dies, and basically looks like the future world we get to see, but much bleaker. The time period Jack is from contains characters who are from different time periods.
During the episode "Young Jack in Egypt" and other episodes that feature Young Jack, he goes from the Roman Empire to Medieval England to meeting Robin Hood, to meeting the Vikings, to meeting the Russians with the Kremlin, to meeting the Horse Nomads, to meeting The Muslim Sultan, to meeting the Bhuddist monks with Martial Arts. Aku was an inside job.
That asshole god Set caused it. The same God responsible for the Minions of Set, an enemy Jack can only defeat with Divine Intervention. He disguised himself in human form and gave
that mysterious substance that gave Aku sentience. Why the gods didn't intervene....Jack, Ashi and Aku are gods too
Aku was essentially the blob of evil due to being the last part of it. With the power to create time travel, it is essentially a god, since gods are not bound by time.Same goes for Ashi.Jack, who's father liberated.created Aku and inheritor of the weapon that can kill a god and seeker of a time portal, means Jack wanted to do an action that can only be done by a god-erase an entire timeline. BY Jack being thrown into the 4th dimension and becoming part a time loop, he also gained a godly above time essence to him. Same for Ashi. Not to mention, Jack also acquired Crono's -the greek titan god- time gems too and defeated nature gods too.Aka the gods didn't get involved because it was a fight among other gods. It's possible Ashi's physical form is barred from "Episode CI" in that point in time in order to stabilize the time loop, but given her importance in the time loop and her powers, she probably ascended too (given Scottsman ascension as precedent). Season 5 - In General
Guesses and predictions for Season 5.
- The opening sequence will be updated. They'll probably keep the original audio from Aku's narration and the theme song, but the artwork and episode clip montage shown will be changed.
- Jossed. The opening is now a monologue by Jack.
- The show will become Darker and Edgier and Bloodier and Gorier. I know that this isn't really a guess, but more of an obvious prediction that is guaranteed to be confirmed.
- Confirmed.
- The storyline will adopt a Myth Arc or a more serialized plot structure, eventually leading up to the Grand Finale.
- Confirmed.
- Jack will finally return home and/or destroy Aku. Otherwise, why even bother to continue this story?
- Confirmed. Ashi turns out to have Aku's powers due to being his daughter and uses the time portal ability to send Jack back in time to right after Aku originally sent him to the future, after which Jack finally destroys him.
- Jack's real name will finally be revealed.
- Jossed. Jack's real name remains unknown.
There will be a flashback episode, numbered somewhere between LIII (53) and XCI (91).
Perhaps one that focuses on Jack's first encounter with The Omen, losing his sword, or both.- Confirmed, more or less. The beginning of Season 5 Episode 7 is a prologue set long before the Time Skip, showing how Jack lost his sword after his last encounter with Aku.
The original intro will return...
...When Jack regains his sword.- Clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap!
- Semi-Jossed. The original opening is never used for the fifth season, but the final episode features Aku mocking everyone by showing the original series' opening and saying "NOT!" afterwards.
When Jack finds out that Aku murdered the Scotsman, he will be pissed.
- Jossed
Aku will learn that Jack lost his sword
To ensure that Jack finally dies, he'll summon every last thug, murderer, and criminal on earth to kill him. Said army will be met by the Scotsman's new army, bolstered by Jack and Ashi, and be slaughtered.- Jossed. Aku only learns that Jack (once) lost his sword right before they meet again, but he finds out that he does have it (again).
Aku will find out Jack has lost his sword, but Scaramouche won't be the one to tell him.
By some chance - or from a personal encounter, Aku will discover that Jack has no sword well before Scaramouche can reach him. When he does arrive, Aku will cast it aside as old news.- Jossed, Scaramouche does break that news to Aku, which he was unaware of. However, neither of them knew that Jack got his sword back until it was too late.
The big reveal will be...
This might be a little too comical and wacky for Season 5 but... Aku will be revealed to be Ashi's father, but it is also revealed that Aku became a desperate, lonely demon during the 50 year time period who, to cope with loneliness, made love to the leader of a well-known cult to have children in his name. Aku eventually had to leave them behind, as not even that made his depression any better. However, years later, he regretted this and constantly thought of his wife and children, too embarrassed by his decisions to return to them. When he sees Ashi all grown up, he'll try to get her to be the his "princess" by bribing her and trying to be the ideal father he never was. Bonus points if he slips up at some point and replaces "princess" with "daughter". This might even cause Ashi to rethink all the things Jack told her about Aku.- But that would require a great deal of genuine compassion and humanity that Aku has never demonstrated before.
- Well Aku is a deceptive demon. I'm sure he'll find some way to manipulate Ashi.
- Confirmed (sort of). Aku learns that Ashi is his daughter, and uses his magic powers to turn her into his demonic henchwoman. But this has nothing to do with love or kindness, as Aku is a total sociopath after all.
- Well Aku is a deceptive demon. I'm sure he'll find some way to manipulate Ashi.
Aku's "shocking discovery" about Ashi in the "Episode C" description...
Is just that Jack loves her. Aku, possibly hearing from Scaramouche that Jack had lost his sword or learning that he found the Guardian's time portal (as the episode preview implies), realizes he can't wait around for anyone else to finish Jack off. Whether Aku actually thinks he has a chance thanks to Scaramouche's outdated information or learns he could very well lose anyway, Ashi may be Aku's last shot at a bartering chip.- Jossed.
Aku will rape Ashi right in front of Jack.
After finding out about Jack and Ashi's newfound relationship, Aku will capture both of them, chain Jack to a wall, and force Jack to watch as he rapes a defenseless Ashi right in front of his face. It would be the ultimate insult to his life-long nemesis and will put an end to this Disney nonsense that's been happening the past four episodes.- Using something like that for shock value would be far more controversial than what went on in "Episode XCIX".
- Not to mention that Genndy Tartakovsky already said that while they would take advantage of the revival not needing to be completely appropriate for kids, they wouldn't go overboard with it. Having Ashi, or any character, for that matter, get raped would definitely be going too far.
- And as wicked and heartless as Aku is, he's never actually used sexual intercourse as a weapon against his enemies.
- Jossed. Though what Aku does do to Ashi may as well be Mind Rape.
Aku will kill Ashi.
Aku finding out that Jack is in love and possibly happy for the first time in ages will be enough to make him kill Ashi to break Jack's spirit. Season 5 - Climax and Ending
The last episode will be an epilogue.
It will show peace throughout the land and Jack's rule as the successor to his father on the throne. But a piece of Aku/the darkness remains, and it will always remain, as we see it cause minor trouble throughout the Earth yet again even after his defeat. But as long as Jack and other good people continue to defend against it, evil will never prevail.- And the end credits will show how everyone Jack ever met in the future lead a happier (if not perfect) existence.
- "The End" will be accompanied by the iconic ending line "Watch out!"
Jack will rematch and defeat the Guardian and prepare to return home, before the Guardian reveals the universe operates on Alternate Timelines.
Only after defeating one of his greatest opponents does Jack learn the bombshell that defeating Aku in the past will not destroy him in the future. This revelation keeps Jack’s many selfless moments and self-sacrifices from turning into one long "Shaggy Dog" Story and, knowing his departure would leave the future doomed, elects to settle things with Aku before going back. Jack’s deteriorating second personality and the Guardian will criticize him for this, telling him this isn’t his fight and he finally has a chance to go home, but Jack being Jack will refuse, he couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t save both timelines. Rejecting a time portal one last time will ultimately be proven to be a Secret Test of Character, and whether the alternate future thing was true or not, slaying Aku in the future is necessary to return to the past.- Jossed. Jack doesn't get to rematch the Guardian, due to the latter's apparent demise at Aku's claws.
The story the children told in "Aku's Fairy Tales" will come to pass, only Season 5 style.
On a misty, rainy night, Jack will lead an army of his past allies to scale a castle holding the last known portal to the past. ...Which so happens to be the domain of the Aku Cult. Jack will have to duel the High Priestess, who (through Aku's sorcery) has been changed into a six-armed, blade wielding being. Jack slaughters her and it's not pretty. He proceeds to scale up higher towards the tower where the portal lays. Aku tries to sneak up on Jack, but the White Wolf smells Aku's evil stench and alerts Jack with a blood-curdling growl. The poor creature is killed by Aku for its valiant effort. Jack sums up 5 seasons worth of Aku's cruelty and how Jack will finally put an end to it. Aku patronizingly congratulates Jack on what a strong samurai he's become, but it's still not enough to defeat him. As a lightning storm commences, Aku proceeds to become the very darkness he was spawned from in "The Birth of Evil". It's all come down to this, an ultimate battle between good and evil! Finally, with one blow, Jack destroys the dark essence, defeating Aku in the future once and for all! As Jack prepares to enter the portal, he briefly reflects on what a Pyrrhic Victory he has accomplished. Most of his allies are dead, and the ones that aren't will disappear once he changes the past. There's not much to celebrate or cheer for, but he readies to battle Aku one last time as he travels back to his time.- Well, we still don't know how exactly the Final Battle will go, though it's likely that at least some (if not most) of these details will be inaccurate. However, I find it more likely that Ashi will have a duel with the High Priestess, considering their past history together.
- Then in which case, Jack really will face off a six-armed robot mutant. Just like old times, I suppose. Granted the finale remains unknown.
- Alternately: Ashi fights her mother, who has been mutated by Aku to give her an edge against her more skilled daughter.
- Then in which case, Jack really will face off a six-armed robot mutant. Just like old times, I suppose. Granted the finale remains unknown.
If Samurai Jack has to return to the future upon defeating Aku, he won't go back alone.
For some reason, Jack sadly decides he must go back to the future to help rebuild it. Before returning, his childhood girlfriend (from "Jack Remembers the Past") will join Jack. It's a Shout-Out to that time young Jack fell in the mud chasing a grasshopper, and the girl jumped in so Jack wouldn't feel humiliated. She'll join Jack so he won't be alone. When Jack deals the final blow on Aku in the past, the scene will suddenly cut to the future, where everything is fading away into the light.
Rather than it actually being a literal conventional time travel portal, Jack will take a time portal that is actually a Reset Button.
When he goes through, he will find that he is younger and actually much farther in the past than he expected (expecting to return right after Aku sent his past self to the future). With this time, he can further prepare for his battle against Aku and/or anticipate what Aku will try to do in their fight, remembering the things he did last time. Time Travel to the past is and and always has been impossible.
All of the portals, magic jewels, etc. that Jack has discovered over the course of the series are nothing more than Aku trolling Jack and setting up decoys to distract him and give him a false sense of hope. The real reason Jack has never gotten back to the past is because time-travel is one-way only (to the future) and going back to the past is simply impossible. Eventually Jack will have to come to terms with this and accept that there's no going home for him. The best thing he can do is to defeat Aku once and for all and make the future a better place. The series will end as a Bittersweet Ending.
Jack will be able to return to the past and defeat Aku. But, after spending 50 years in the future, Jack will feel as if his old home is a strange world. He'll also reunite with his family, but his father's health was declining so much he dies... but not before telling his family he loves them and how proud he is of his son. Jack will still suffer from some PTSD, but will be able to manage it better. He'll meet up with his future wife (the grown up girl from "Jack Remembers the Past") who will give birth to his child (not sure about the gender). And thanks to his time in the future, Jack will prepare the world for fighting any evil and even show them new technology.Fast-forward to the now peaceful, Aku-ridden world: Jack is remembered and honored as a hero for vanquishing Aku and showing a new era. But because Jack killed Aku in the past, no one remembers Jack's adventures in the future (not even the Scotsman), but he's still honored as a hero. And some of the people he helped are shown to be living a happy life and even some of the neutral or antagonistic people are better people and/or living happier lives. And finally the Daughters of Aku aren't abused by their mother or the cult, but are lovingly raised to honor Jack's teachings and protect the world the way he did.
- I'm on board!
Jack will finally return to the past, but it will be short lived.
Some factor, I'm guessing multiverse timelines, will bring Jack back home after finally defeating Aku. But because he can't actually undo the damage Aku has done (or maybe the child listed above) Jack will decide he must help rebuild the world Aku destroyed. He'll return the past just long enough to see his family, particularly his father, and tell them goodbye one last time. Season 5 will end with a history class detailing Jack's battle with Aku
In an alternate timeline where Jack went back in time to finish Aku off, Jack's adventures made the history books (or at least mythology). The series will end to a Wham Shot of either Dexter or Lance, Ilana, and Octis listening to the lecture with curiosity.- And the history teacher in question will be Ashi, living a happier existence.
If Jack ever does get back to the past and fix everything, then the new timeline will look more like ours.
The ending will flash-forward to the future, which will now look like what we have in the real-life present (21st century), with modern culture and technology, yet few or no weird characters (aliens, monsters, robots, etc.) running around. For example, the Scotsman will be dressed more casually and have a normal prosthetic leg.- Alternatively, the new future will look like the stereotypical vision of technologically advanced utopian societies from more idealistic science fiction.
The final scene of the series will take place in the modern day.
After Jack returns to the past and finally kills Aku, the Bad Future that Aku created is erased from the timeline while Jack's slaying of Aku eventually passes into legend and myth. Cut to the modern day, where a reincarnation of Ashi, now living a normal life is visiting a museum that contains Jack's sword on display as an exhibit as she hears from the curator, who in this timeline is a reincarnation or descendant of Jack himself, closing the series by telling her the tale attached to the blade about a shapeshifting demon who unleashed an unspeakable evil upon the land, and a lone samurai warrior wielding a magic sword that stepped forth to oppose him... Jack will get back to the past and destroy Aku, however...
He will not survive the final battle, perhaps because Future Aku decided to come back as well to protect his own past self, or something like that. Jack won't be around to see it, but at least he made the world a better place... It will end on a bittersweet note.
Not likely, but not impossible.- Not likely? It's damn near guaranteed at this point.
The series will end the same way it began.
Particularly, with Aku emerging from the tree he was bound in. If for any reason Jack can only seal Aku away in a tree, he will make sure to have a plan just as his parents did. Only this time, living in the future for fifty years gives him an edge. When Aku returns, be it 5 years or 50 years, he'll be in for a rude awakening. For Emperor Jack has taught everybody (his royal army, his family, his subjects, everyone and their dog) everything he learned on his journey, so anyone in the kingdom can use the sword. And Aku lampshades it: "This did not happen last time..." If there really are no time portals left, the only way to create one is with a human soul.
And Ashi, having performed a Heel–Face Turn, shall willingly sacrifice her soul to send Jack his timeline. Aku sent him to the future, so naturally, the "daughter" of Aku shall send him back. The series will have a Bittersweet Ending, where Jack doesn't return to the past.
Jack will realize that changing the past may erase Ashi (and countless other good people) from existence. Not willing to take this risk, he personally turns down the Guardian's offer of using the time portal, simply concentrates on eliminating Aku in the future, and he reluctantly lets go of his dreams of ever returning home to live in peace and happiness.Jack will spend another 50 years trying to restore peace and stability to Earth; after all, killing Aku won't just improve the world overnight. After Jack has decided that he's finally satisfied with his work, he will go out samurai style: he stabs himself in the stomach, before an elderly Ashi beheads him on his request. Now, Jack can reunite with his parents in the afterlife.
Ashi (and possibly the Ghost Scotsman) will allow Jack to finally slay Aku
.By doing the one thing Jack couldn't do alone: cut off Aku's escape. Aku always tries to run for it when Jack has him dead to rights, and while they might not be able to hurt him, they might be able to stall him when he's wounded and weakened by Jack, so they could possibly help Jack finally corner him and destroy him once and for all. The series will end in a flat-out Downer Ending.
With either Jack being stuck in Aku's future forever or just a straight up "Everybody Dies" Ending.- Jossed.
Jack and company will need to fight through a Boss Rush before Jack can fight Aku in the Final Battle.
We know Demongo is back, and that at least two other assassins are above Scaramouche on the totem pole, and Aku has had plenty of minions. When the group arrives for the Storming the Castle moment, they'll have to fight through Demongo and a bunch of Aku's minions so Jack can face Aku one-on-one to destroy him once and for all. Perhaps Jack's allies stay back to fight them themselves, or they just fight Aku's army while Jack just tears through each villain one-by-one to get to Aku. As a Grand Finale, the Samurai will finally defeat Aku and return home, but he is forced to leave Ashi and all his friends and allies he met behind as a Bittersweet Ending.
Jack will hesitate before killing Aku in the past.
Because killing Aku in the past means Ashi can't exist in the future. The Final Battle of the series will be a three-way battle between Aku's army and the Scotsman's army, the High Priestess and Ashi, and finally Jack and Aku.
- Partially Jossed. Ashi already fought and killed her mom a few episodes prior, although the other combatants are still likely.
How the Final Battle with Aku will go down.
Ashi and Jack will finally confront and to battle with Aku, however, Aku will put up the biggest fight he's ever had, assuming his most powerful forms and going at them with everything he's got. Eventually, he will get a hold of Ashi and told Jack to drop his sword or else he will kill her. Unable to do anything, Jack complies and throws his sword away. At that moment, Aku kills Ashi anyway with Jack watching helplessly. Jack, in blind fury, goes for the sword until Aku takes it away, throwing it into the Pit of Hate. Years later, Jack will find and defeat the Guardian and find the last time portal. But he will not use it to go to the past, but to save Ashi from her death, as losing his surrogate daughter proved too much for him to handle. Jack will never get the chance to return home.
Given how much shit that Jack's been through, what with constantly being forced to give up his own personal happiness to try to save the world from Aku, not to mention that Aku has (quite likely) been honest about eliminating all the time portals, at this point it would seem forced and sappy if Jack's wishes of finally getting a perfect happy ending came true. Jack will probably just have to settle on living in a post-Aku future. Ashi will be the key to sending Jack home
.According to the synopsis for "C", Aku will make a shocking discovery about Ashi that will put her in grave danger. It will either be about Ashi A.)being a living time portal or B.)having the potential to create a new time portal. If A happens, she will lose her physical form and become the time portal after the final battle. If B happens, Ashi will die in the final battle, but she would have made a hidden time portal before then leaving a hint for Jack to find it. The final episode will be extra long.
Avatar: The Last Airbender had a 2-hour long finale, so why not this?- Yeah, it would seem too rushed if they crammed the Final Battle into a 20-minute episode. Although the descriptions for the final two episodes (ninth and tenth) imply that said final battle will take place over these two episodes.
- Kind of confirmed. The episode had an early commercial break to give the episode more time.
The last time portal and the condition for using it
Despite the recurring claim throughout the season that Aku destroyed every portal into the past, the one protected by the Guardian may still be working. It is, after all, the only way into the past that isn’t destroyed or used up on-screen. It's possible Jack managed to keep its existence a secret in the hopes of returning at some point or that he and Aku both know of its existence, but neither likes their odds against the Guardian enough to confront him.So what will happen after Jack defeats Aku? Aku theorized that it was unintentionally his own doing that Jack doesn’t age, and the last fifty years could suddenly his him when he Aku is finally slain. Still, Jack’s only twenty-five and in good shape, so seventy-five shouldn’t kill him. And with Aku defeated, the denizens of the now-saved future will crown Jack their new king. With his no longer static age and his crown, Jack will fulfill the prophecy set by the Guardian’s time portal, and the unstoppable sentinel will let him pass with no issue and finally return to the past.- Jossed. The Guardian was, in fact, slain by Aku and the portal he protected was destroyed. Aku's odds against the Guardian were pretty good, all things considered - The Guardian may well have been Jack's better in combat, but that means nothing if he didn't have a weapon capable of harming Aku, which he apparently did not.
Jack, after a perilous tour de force and finally killing future Aku, will return to the past within moments after Aku flung him into the future, and will take him out in a Curb-Stomp Battle
Jack and the Aku of the future have both had a long time to constantly go at it, learn one another’s techniques and generally temper one another over the years, not to mention Aku probably became stronger in the centuries he ruled the earth. After a brutal fight to the death with future Aku, it would be a hilarious and fitting end to see Jack return to the past where Aku already believes he’s won and take him out like he’s absolutely nothing. Jack never returns to his home time, the entire Aku-controlled "future" is in fact the distant past.
The series ends with Jack defeating Aku in the future, but the resulting battle devastates the entire world. Rather than leave, Jack decides to stay and rebuild the world with Ashi. Its then revealed that the entire show takes place in the distant past, and recorded human history only begins with Aku's death. Basically a Battlestar Galactica-esque twist ending.- A twist like that sounds a hell lot more convoluted than time travel.
The last episode will have an epic battle.
Not just between Jack and Aku, but all of Jack's allies vs Aku's minions. Now after the last episode, Aku stopped the possessed Ashi from killing Jack for one reason: he wants to show Jack's death throughout the entire world. Either public execution in a city whilst being broadcast on TV, or just shown near his castle. He does this with the intention to show the world that all hope is lost, and he will reign supreme for all eternity. However, just as the killing blow will be struck, Jack's allies come to the rescue (likely led by the Scotsman, since he did say he was going to build another army and find Jack) and somehow return the sword to him. What happens afterwards, I dunno. Despite the heavy implications in "Episode C"...
...the Guardian is not dead and the portal while seemingly having been destroyed, is actually either not the portal or is but will be fixed by none other than the Guardian himself. It's not likely considering there's only one episode left for this to come about, but it's very suspicious that they even show the Guardian's portal again only for it to be destroyed. If it was always destroyed then there was no reason to waste time showing it beyond cementing it; they could have just as easily left it as implied. Not to mention that we never see the Guardian's body, giving every chance that he'll come back once the dust has settled. Jack's sword will destroy Aku's essence and influence over her, but will not kill Ashi.
The sword was forged to destroy evil, but will not harm an innocent. A heartbroken Jack will either force himself to strike Aku!Ashi down after she begs him to again, or watch in horror as Aku stabs her with it to spite him. The sword will make quick work of Aku's essences, but will recognize Ashi as having a pure heart and spare her. For drama's sake, she will have a Disney Death lasting for the rest of the battle. Jack, with several new levels of anger towards Aku, finishes him off and immediately rushes to Ashi's aid.- There's two problems with that theory. First, Aku is unable to use Jack's sword, as shown when he futilely tried to stab him (though of course, Jack was an innocent). Second, Jack's sword can in fact kill innocent lives, at least if they're corrupted by Aku's evilness (as shown with the mutated sheep creatures from the flashback); and as Ashi is 50% Aku-matter, the sword will more likely than not be lethal to her, even though she's not evil of her own free will.
Taking over Ashi's body was Aku's biggest mistake, and may be his undoing.
- It was Aku who had the power to send Jack to the future. Perhaps Ashi will tap into her willpower once more so she can invoke her father's powers. As one final act of sacrifice, she rewards Jack's surrender by sending him and his sword BACK TO THE PAST!
- Alternatively: bonding himself to Ashi is enough of a two way street to allow her to send HER goodness through it to him the same way he could send his evil will, which could hurt and weaken Aku.
The Scotsman will provide Jack with a fighting chance as all hope seems lost
- Because he's the ultimate bro. And he'll do it not just with the army he's gathering, but we STILL don't know the limits of his Celtic Magic. For all we know, he might transform himself into ANOTHER sword for Jack's use (perhaps with some power from Jack's own soul fused into it—considering the original sword is forged from his father's soul).
The Power of Love will play a big role in Aku's final defeat.
- Do remember that Aku's Achilles' Heel is the power of human goodness. It stands to reason that true love would be just as effective as righteousness if weaponized against him in some way. Perhaps it will be used to destroy Ashi's demon half and free her from Aku, maybe Ashi will use her link to Aku to weaken him with it through her, or maybe it will be used to power up Jack's sword for the final killing blow.
- Bonus points if the sequence is a shout out to the finale of G Gundam.
Jack will decide to seal Aku away rather than outright kill him.
Because Ashi would die with Aku if he chose to kill him. The original intro will return in "Episode CI".
Or instead, Aku will narrate a monologue on how he defeated and captured Samurai Jack in the previous episode.- Partially confirmed. The original intro happens, but Aku interrupts it.
There will be another timeskip to CI, as a Book Ends to the beginning of the season and a Call-Back to the Guardian's vision.
After the ending to C, Jack will choose to fight another day and flees, but this time, instead of sulking for the next several years, he gathers an army instead for the next several years, possibly in a montage scene. Jack will appear as he did in the Guardian's vision now, and the final battles will be him finally facing off against Ashi and Aku with help from the Scotsman and co. "Episode CI" will end with a dedication to Mako.
We all know that Genndy was torn apart by Mako's death as well as the fact he was a truly legendary actor and his performance as Aku was simply irreplaceable, so it only seems right that the finale (and Season 5 in general) be dedicated to him and his memory. Aku's death in the Past doesn't mean the Future that Jack was trapped in goes away
All it did was created two timelines. The timeline where Jack kills Aku in the Past, and the other where the Future Aku feeling the death of his Past self also vanishes from existence allowing the populace of the Future to rebuild their homes now that Aku is gone. History will take its course normally.
Since Aku has been slain for good, that would mean historical events that occurred after Feudal-Era Japan will run their course as we knew it. When Aku took power, he likely altered a LOT of events, which means history as we knew it didn't happen under his rule. Since the Bad Future is no more, it would mean the new timeline will run with a history similar to our own.