Who Is Lady Maria? How She Shaped Blackthorne’s Fate In The Shōgun Finale

If you’re keeping up with the hit FX/hulu series, you might have picked up on this little tidbit in the latter half of Shōgun. There’s been some mystery about who Lady Maria is since the name is rarely uttered in the historical drama. Here’s how her character shaped the finale.

Based on James Clavell’s novel, Shōgun is set in Japan in the year 1600 at the dawn of a century-defining civil war. Lord Yoshii Toranaga is fighting for his life as his enemies on the Council of Regents unite against him when a mysterious European ship is found marooned in a nearby fishing village. Enter John Blackthorne, an English pilot who serves on the Dutch warship Erasmus and becomes the first Englishman to reach Japan.

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Initially a prisoner, Blackthorne—most commonly referred to as “Anjin”, which loosely means pilot in Japanese—begins to aid Toranaga in more ways than one and becomes enthralled by Japanese culture in doing so.

Clavell’s 1,000-page novel was turned into 10 episodes for FX and shed light on whether fans would get a second season. “We took the story to the end of the book and put a period at the end of that sentence. We love how the book ends; it was one of the reasons why we both knew we wanted to do it—and we ended in exactly that place,” co-showrunner Justin Marks told The Hollywood Reporter.

“And I’ve been party to this in the past with shows like this, where you build a whole factory, and it only pumps out 10 cars and closes up shop. It’s a bummer. You know, one of our producers wrote a nearly 900-page instruction manual for how we do this show—almost as long as the book Shogun itself. All of this infrastructural knowledge went into it.

Who is Lady Maria?

In the finale, Father Alvito tells Blackthorne that it was Lady Maria who ultimately saved him so the Church could spare him. Lady Maria is actually Lady Mariko who took up the name Maria once she was baptized into Christianity. She was a devout Christian and fourteen years earlier, and confessed to Father Alvito that she was ready to end her life.

Does Mariko really die In Shōgun?

Does Mariko die in Shogun? Yes, sadly, she dies in an explosion in the final moments of the show’s penultimate episode. It’s not in vain, however. Her seppuku acts as a sacrifice for Lord Yoshii Toranaga to signal Ishido Kazunari’s corruption and hopefully spark a rebellion.

“It’s such a powerful moment because she’s not only serving her Lord [Toranaga], but she’s also fulfilling her father’s wishes. She’s allowing herself to follow in the footsteps of her father, which is her wish,” Sawai told The Hollywood Reporter. “Her name is currently Toda Mariko, which is Buntaro’s last name, but she says ‘Akechi Mariko’ in her final moment. She is always going to be her father’s daughter, and this is the long, long journey. It’s the long fight [involving her father]. It’s not just about right now.”

That long journey is in reference to her suicidal ideation when she was pregnant with her son, 14 years before the events of the show. But it’s under different circumstances now. Her father, Akechi Jinsai, was a vassal of the then-Japanese ruler, Kuroda. Believing him to be corrupt, her father assassinated Kurodaa and when he was caught, he was forced to kill his entire family because of what the government considered a treacherous bloodline. Mariko begged for her life to be taken as well, but she was forced to live.

Her eventual death is “less about feeling shameful for still living, and it’s more about, ‘I don’t agree with the fact that my father and my whole family had to die, but if that is what happened, then I shall follow their footsteps. I’m going to be with them. I’m part of this whole protest’,” she explained to The Hollywood Reporter. “So that is the meaning behind her will to die throughout the whole show. It’s not that she’s saddened and just wants to die. It’s more like, “I don’t agree with this. This is not right.” And that’s the message that she keeps until her very last breath.”

Was Mariko based on a real person?

Mariko was based on the historical figure of Akechi Tama, better known as Hosokawa Gracia. Like the character in Shōgun, she was the daughter of the powerful warlord Akechi Mitsuhide She married Tadaoki (Toda Buntaro in the series) with whom had 5 children together. She converted to Christianity at a young age, also taking up the name Lady Maria as her Christian name when she was baptized. The real Tama did not meet Blackthorne’s real-life counterpart William Adams did not work as a translator.

Her death mirrors Mariko’s death in the series as she also committed seppuku after Ishida Mitsunari (Ishido on Shōgun) ordered his troops to take the families in Osaka hostage. According to FX’s official character guide, Akechi refused capture and killed herself. However, Christianity deems suicide as a sin so it’s said that she commanded her servants to kill her.

Is Shōgun a true story?

The events portrayed in Shogun and Lord Toranaga are loosely inspired by Tokugawa Ieyasu, who began the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan in 1603. Historically, he’s regarded as one of the country’s “Great Unifiers”. Ieyasu was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate, which ruled Japan for over 250 years until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He emerged victorious in the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, which solidified his control over Japan and allowed him to establish a centralized government.

Under his rule, known as the Edo period, Japan experienced a long period of stability, economic growth, and cultural development. Ieyasu’s policies, such as the strict regulation of samurai and the establishment of alternate attendance (sankin-kotai), helped to maintain control over the feudal lords and stabilize the country. 

Shōgun airs on hulu/FX on Tuesdays at 10pm ET.