Is Yoru's plan to erase death a threat to devils themselves in Chainsaw Man?

Chainsaw Man has always thrived on its twisted take on fear. Fujimoto’s world operates on a simple but haunting principle: devils exist because humans fear the concepts they embody. The Gun Devil exists because humanity fears guns.

The Darkness Devil exists because humans fear the dark. And Death, arguably the most universal fear, anchors the very foundation of human instinct. So when Yoru, the War Devil, begins to set her sights on erasing the concept of death altogether, it raises a chilling question: would such a move destabilize devils themselves?

At its core, fear is a survival instinct. Most human anxieties trace back to the threat of death:

• War is feared because it kills.
• Disease is feared because it ends life.
• Heights terrify us because of the fall that could mean death.
• Even abstract fears, betrayal, loneliness, torture, gain their weight because of the possibility of suffering that ends in mortality.

Without death as the final consequence, what do these fears become? The moment death in Chainsaw Man is erased, countless devils lose their bite. A War Devil thrives on casualties. A Disease Devil thrives on the idea that sickness can kill.

Even the primal devils, like Darkness or Falling, hold sway because humans imagine themselves not surviving these scenarios. Remove death, and the ultimate stakes vanish. But that doesn’t mean fear disappears. Instead, it mutates.

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Fear without death: Torture, pain, and eternal suffering

If Yoru truly erases death, humans in the world of Chainsaw Man won’t stop feeling fear overnight. What replaces the fear of dying is arguably worse: the fear of never dying. Imagine being blown apart in battle, but your body keeps regenerating or simply remains in fragments, conscious through every moment.

Imagine burning forever without relief, drowning endlessly without death to rescue you, or rotting alive in a broken shell of a body. In this world, new devils wouldn’t vanish; they’d multiply.

The Torture Devil, Pain Devil, Mutilation Devil, Entrapment Devil, and Eternity Devil could skyrocket in power. “Fates worse than death” would no longer be phrases, but realities. And this is the irony: Yoru thinks erasing death strengthens war by making battles endless.

But in practice, war without casualties loses meaning. What would a general gain from an army that cannot die but can suffer forever? What does victory mean when there’s no end? In that void of logic, fear itself could drift away from death entirely and empower devils that even Yoru herself would struggle to compete with.

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Why Yoru’s plan will fail in Chainsaw Man (Speculation)

From my perspective, Yoru’s plan is doomed not because it’s impossible, but because it misunderstands the foundation of Chainsaw Man’s world. Death isn’t just a fear. It’s the skeleton of every other fear. Without it, the system collapses, and new horrors rush in to replace it.

Devils don’t thrive on “suffering alone,” they thrive on human imagination of consequences. Erasing death doesn’t end fear, but it reshapes it into something far more unpredictable.

Most importantly, Yoru in Chainsaw Man is shortsighted. She sees eternal war as her meal ticket, but she doesn’t grasp how quickly humanity adapts, how apathy kills fear faster than courage ever could, and how other devils would tear her apart for jeopardizing their survival.

In a way, this makes Yoru the perfect tragic antagonist: a devil blinded by her obsession with dominance, whose plan guarantees her own downfall.

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Final thoughts

So, is Yoru’s plan to erase death a threat to devils themselves? Absolutely. More than that, it’s a threat to the very mechanics of fear. It destabilizes the devil ecosystem, weakens the majority, and empowers a terrifying minority that could eclipse even primal fears.

Fujimoto has always written Chainsaw Man as a meditation on survival, meaning, and consequence. By threatening to erase death, Yoru isn’t breaking the system; she’s exposing its necessity.

And when the dust settles, I think the true lesson will be simple: death is terrifying, yes, but it’s also essential. Without it, there is no fear. Without it, even devils starve.