Ghost of Tsushima

Video game fandom
Name	Ghost of Tsushima
Developer(s)	Sucker Punch Productions
Publisher(s)	Sony Interactive Entertainment
Release date	17 July 2020
Platform(s)	PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
External link(s)	Wikipedia page, official site, Sony page
Related articles on Fanlore.

Ghost of Tsushima is an action-adventure video game by Sucker Punch Productions and produced for the Sony PlayStation 4. It focuses on the story of the samurai Jin Sakai on the island of Tsushima during the first Mongol invasion of Japan.

The World

Ghost of Tsushima is based on/in 13th century Japan, and includes elements of the supernatural (such as a guiding wind, guiding animals) and elements core to the samurai/bushido theme. Jin is able to honor shrines and graves, receive charms from shrines, compose haiku, and relax in onsen (hot springs) as forms of character progression and development.

Characters

The protagonist and lone player-controlled character is Jin Sakai. The following characters are popular in the fandom:

• Ishikawa Sensei
• Kenji
• Khotun Khan
• Lady Masako Adaichi
• Lord Shimura
• Ryuzo
• Taka
• Yuna

Fan Activity

Controversies

Most controversy in and amongst the fandom is currently related to what shipping options are available, implications of romantic tension amongst figures, and whether certain plotlines were resolved to players' satisfaction.

While the setting is fictitious, the developers paid close attention to fighting styles and techniques that would have been used by the samurai and evidently attained general success in replicating their accuracy, as well as finding a biwa player who plays the instrument type and style that would have been played during the time period. The attention to accuracy and detail means that some of the more problematic facets, such as romanticizing a representation of samurai which did not yet exist in the historical period - a representation of samurai that is popularly used for nationalist and propaganda purposes.

Shipping

The nine most popular pairings based on AO3 data as of 10 Sep 2020 are:

• Ryuzo/Jin Sakai (39)
• Jin Sakai/Yuna (24)
• Ryuzo & Jin Sakai (8)
• Jin Sakai & Yuna (7)
• Jin Sakai/You (7)
• Jin Sakai/Original Female Character(s) (5)
• Jin Sakai/Taka (3)
• Jin Sakai & Original Female Character(s) (3)
• Jin Sakai & Taka (2)

One further pairing was included due to crossovers with Ghost of Tsushima, but as the pairing does not include Ghost of Tsushima characters, it is not included in this list.

Tropes

• LGBTQ+ headcanons are developing with Jin being paired with other male figures in the games. These are further thematically supported by at least two discrete in-game encounters with NPCs who use language implying LGBTQ+ identities.
• Due to the bittersweet ending, fix-it or alternative endings are growing in popularity in fanworks.

Fanworks

Fanart

The game offers a photo mode for players, allowing them to remove the in-game interface and take photos of Jin and/or the landscape around them. This has led to fanart of the landscape, not just the characters.

• "Fanart of Jin by teelahselai on tumblr".
• "art inspired by Ghost of Tsushima by margaretkaraart on tumblr".

Fanfiction

As of 10 September 2020, there are 108 fanworks on Archive of Our Own. Canon divergence and fix-it plotlines are popular.

Archives and Communities

• The fan activity on tumblr includes art, headcanons, and small pieces of fanfiction.
• "Ghost of Tsushima subreddit". Archived from the original on 2022-06-27.
• "Ghost of Tsushima wiki". Archived from the original on 2022-06-27.