Ghostwire: Tokyo Ending Explained (With the Director)

ign.com:

So you’ve finished Ghostwire: Tokyo, congratulations! But if you’re like us you may have some outstanding questions about what actually happened during the story. Well, you’re in the right place for an explanation. And not only have we got you covered, but we also spoke to the game’s director himself, Kenji Kimura, to get some definitive answers. This is your last chance to stop reading before we dive into the spoiler zone.

After witnessing Akito’s final confrontation with the man in the hannya mask, we imagine some of your outstanding questions involve Akito’s sister, Mari. Throughout the game Mari has been in a comatose state, making you wonder not only what Hannya sees in her, but how she became so sick in the first place. The finale reveals that before the events of the game, Mari was caught in a burning room that she could have escaped from if she hadn’t made a last gasp dash for the rings of her and Akito’s recently deceased parents. She’s since been in a hospital bed, drifting close to death numerous times. It’s this, according to director Kenji Kimura, that’s the source of her power.

“She was in a hospital bed for a long time and it was very unclear whether she was going to make it. Sometimes it would look like she was about to die and she'd go back and forth from life and death. Enough times to harness a new power that would probably make her a special being that somebody like Hannya might notice.” - Kenji Kimura

Hannya was drawn to Mari because of her almost limbo-like state between life and death, a unique position that also grants her the strength to halt Hannya’s final ritual to break the barrier between worlds. Mari exists in the space between those two worlds, and likely harnessed the power of that place.

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