Tomoe

> Tomoe is fearless. She is not samurai, but she is a born killer.
>
> ― Sadanobu Ishikawa
>
>

* Masked
* Matsu
* Unmasked

**Tomoe** (巴; *Tomoe*) is a supporting antagonist in *Ghost of Tsushima*, serving as the primary antagonist of Sensei Ishikawa's Tale. She was a student of Sensei Ishikawa before teaming up with the Mongol Empire after Ishikawa allegedly tried to kill her. She flees Tsushima on a boat after Khotun Khan and the mongols decides to betray her later.

## Biography

This section requires expansion.
Not much is known about Tomoe's childhood, other than that she was a skilled archer who went to Sensei Ishikawa to master her archery skills; Ishikawa reflected very positively on Tomoe's talent early on in his search for her with Jin Sakai. Sometime during her training, Tomoe taught the Way of the Bow to a band of assassins; afterward, Ishikawa had attempted for kill Tomoe for doing so, despite her being his student. This caused a rift between Tomoe and Ishikawa.

Unbeknownst to Ishikawa, Tomoe left the dojo and set up a nearby camp, before seemingly engaging in a fight with Mongol enemies. Tomoe was kidnapped and taken to Fort Nakayama, where she convinced the Mongols to free her in exchange for her tutelage in the Way of the Bow. Tomoe continued to train Mongol archers in Hiyoshi and helped plan an attack on Hiyoshi Springs

Tomoe continued to train Mongol archers and had planned to set up more training camps in Otsuna, Kushi, and an undisclosed location. Additionally, she notified the Khan that she would deliver the heads of Jin Sakai and Ishikawa to him. She also framed the two for killing innocent travelers in Kushi, before commanding archers to ambush them and attempt to kill them. Tomoe intended to have a dozen training camps set up, but shortly after her camp in Kushi was set up, she lost control, causing her archers to attack Ishikawa and Jin, despite her orders stating otherwise. Tomoe set up her training camp in Otsuna before its archers were defeated by Jin and Ishikawa. Wearing a Kitsune fox mask, Tomoe goaded Jin into chasing her to a cliff before jumping into the water below and escaping.Jin looks down the cliff, into the water where Tomoe should have been, however she has seemingly disappeared.

Sometime after Jin regroups with his allies, Tomoe travels to eastern Jogaku. She encounters Jin as he is investigating a wrecked Mongol convoy, and introduces herself as Matsu. She asks Jin to accompany her as she checks her hunting traps, as he is the Ghost. After checking the traps, the two travel to Tomoe's home, where Jin realizes that Matsu is actually Tomoe. Tomoe confirms this and tells Jin that she needs his and Ishikawa's help to fight against the Mongols after they turned against her, as she is trying to fix her mistakes and gain revenge. She asks Jin to convey the request to Ishikawa.

Tomoe waits for Ishikawa and Jin outside Umugi Cove, and explains that the Mongols intend on ambushing Umugi Cove, and that she needed Jin and Ishikawa's help to stop the ambush. To Tomoe's surprise, the Mongols followed her and ambush the trio; Tomoe helps kill the Mongols with Jin and Ishikawa, and ensures Ishikawa that it wasn't her ambush. After killing more Mongols along the road, the three decide to wait until nightfall to ambush the archers.

Once nightfall arrives, the three continue to stealthily approach Umugi Cove, quietly dispatching of any Mongol forces they encounter. Once they reach the archers, Tomoe suggests that she circle behind the group and fire at some nearby explosive barrels, creating a distraction and allowing Jin and Ishikawa to dispatch the Mongols that were not killed by the explosion. Once the explosion occurs, she continues on to Umugi Cove without Jin and Ishikawa knowing, and leaves her bow, her now-broken Kitsune fox mask, and a note on the beach, before boarding a boat to Kyoto. Jin and Ishikawa reach the shore only to see her boat riding away. In her note, Tomoe expressed gratitude for Ishikawa's teachings, but explained that the Way of the Bow is behind her and that she is on a new journey now.

## Personality

This section requires expansion.
There is a lot of uncertainty regarding Tomoe's true personality as she has shown to be be very sly in presenting herself and that Sensei Ishikawa, the only source of information on Tomoe, is not the most agreeable person and is known to be an overtly cynical hypocrite at times; the one certain thing about Tomoe is that she's bold and cunning, able to do daredevil tricks such as faking her death by jumping off cliffs and tricking both Ishikawa and Jin into her favor on several occasions by taking advantage of their own thought process and reactions towards her maneuvers. But she also shows affection around jin.

Ishikawa portrays Tomoe as a ruthless prodigious sociopath and that she was already a monster living the life of a criminal from the beginning, to which the sensei chose to overlook when he decided to take her as student because of his passion to teach Way of the Bow. From here, Ishikawa built the assumption that the Mongol army presented the opportunity to reach a height in life, thus their alliance, and that she chose to backtrack on that alliance only because they betrayed her first for finally being obsolete in their cause.

Tomoe on the other hand present herself as a survivor of a difficult life that had to endure Ishikawa's own unforgiving tutelage and that her alliance with the Mongol was not out of ambition; she claims that all the killing she did with the Mongol archers she taught was done because the Mongols would've done worse than an instant death. She also told Jin in her guise as a regular peasant woman that she dreams of moving to Kyoto and open an inn, leaving behind the hardship in Tsushima, which in the end of Ishikawa's tale, she seem to make good of.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Dreams of Conquest"
2. ↑ "The Tale of Sensei Ishikawa"
3. ↑ "The Past Never Passes"
4. ↑ "The Way of the Bow"
5. ↑ "The Ghost and the Demon Sensei"
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Laid to Rest"
7. ↑ "The Terror of Otsuna"
8. ↑ "Friends in Passing"