You know, if you look at it slant-wise, Shikamaru now has the soul of a god (in addition or in replacement of his normal soul)?

OOoooh! I hadn’t thought of it that way!

I don’t know if Shikako’s godhood goes along with her soul, though. Then again, I don’t quite know why it wouldn’t. I guess in my head existence is slightly different from soul, so the devil that is Shikabane is the god’s existence minus Shikako’s soul. And even though I’ve been conflating heart and soul, maybe they’re different?

Like… the heart is more a physical anchor/battery for the soul?

Shikamaru has Shikako’s original heart so that his soul could stay in the world of the living. Shikako tore out her heart and so her soul kind of split then left–some of it latched onto Shikamaru, but not all of it–and when she grew her new heart (out of her shadow powers) it wasn’t enough to entice her soul back?

I HAVE NO IDEA. I still don’t quite understand how Kingdom Hearts’ hearts vs bodies vs soul stuff works and that’s the closest equivalent I can think of