< Persona 3

Persona 3/WMG


Persona 3


Elizabeth, Theo, and Margaret are angels under the employment of Philemon/Igor.

Margaret has described herself multiple times as "One who rules over power," and Theodore describes himself similarly at the start of his Bonus Boss fight. The description of "Power", the persona, states that Powers, the order of angels, are academically driven and are concerned with ideology, philosophy, theology, religion, and documents, explaining their fascination with the real world and the reason they seek the old documents from Tartarus. It is also said they serve as advisers and policy planners and have the duty of overseeing the distribution of power among humankind, so the "One who rules over power" is practically a dead on giveaway.

Anime of Persona 3

The reason they haven't made one for 3, despite it being even more popular in Japan than 4, is because they can't decide the gender of the protagonist.

Mitsuru's "execution" involved some form of private humiliation between the SEES members.

In the Hot Springs Episode, the boys stay in too long and the girls enter. Hilarity Ensues and let's just assume you screwed up the Mini Game (or like This Troper got them caught on purpose). After this nobody wants to talk about what happened and Akihiko had described it as a Fate Worse Than Death so I assume it was something absolutely humiliating such as cross dressing or worse still, some form of BDSM. Support for BDSM is later after returning to the dorm; if you speak to Mitsuru she is quoted saying "Would you like another?" in reference to the "execution".

  • Further possible support: Just take a close look at her second-level Persona (Artemisia). Among other things, that thing wields a friggin' whip sword.
    • I always thought it was a chain whip.
      • Either way, same connotation.
      • Actually, 'execution' is a Japanese cultural trope. It uh, involves a girl stripping a boy or boys naked and them whipping them with a rat-tail towel. This is worse then anything you guys postulated, to boot.
    • The Manga Adaption shows the Mitsuru's execution is freezing them alive whilst still conscious.

The main character just fell asleep at the end. He was tired.

What do people like the ones who actually made the game know anyway?

  • I mean really, he sealed the physical manifestation of death and had to pass his finals..who wouldn't want to take a nap?
    • This has frightening implications in The Answer... Did they somehow kill him mid-nap?
      • This is supported by the final fate of the protagonist in Persona 4. If he can kick the ass of a deity of death and not die, so can Persona 3's MC.
          • He didn't die of exhaustion, he used up his soul to seal Nyx. After that, he keeps going on sheer willpower alone because of the promise everyone made to meet each other at graduation.
      • To answer the mid-nap question: yes they did, and it was hilarious.

Alternatively, the main character died immediately after putting on the Great Seal.

The MC had to save the human race, and could not keep his promise to meet up on graduation day. But he meant so damn much to everyone around him that they refused to accept that he had died. The entire group, and indeed, the whole school, convinced themselves he was still alive until the whole delusion broke down on March 5th. In The Answer, they mention that the doctors couldn't find a cause of death...because after a month, autopsies are mostly guesswork anyway.

Junpei is now effectively immortal.

Junpei, imbued with Chidori's life-restoration energy, will not age, or at least will have a very much extended lifespan as that power continually renews his body. Since that power was independent of Chidori's Persona, Junpei will continue to be affected by it even if he stops using or loses access to his own.

  • Alternatively it transferred all the drugs in Chidori's system to him, meaning he dies young.
    • Unlikely, given that there was no discernable way for any chemicals to be transferred between them.
      • Junpei losses blood before that scene, Junpei has no blood lose after the scene. Simple enough for you?
        • How much of the drug do you think Chidori could have had in her system at one time? Even if she did somehow teleport her blood into Junpei, the effect of the drug would be negligable, since there couldn't have been even a full single dose.
  • I actually highly doubt that Junpei would be made immortal, as Chidori's power of "life" seems to be used in a sense that it keeps things healthy. Also, it's somewhat implied that Chidori (along with the other Strega members) received her persona powers when she was a child, but she has aged since then and she seems to be around the same age as the others, so I don't think eternal youth works either.

Junpei is now Wolverine.

Chidori's energy will grant him his healing factor. he will grow bitchin' sideburns soon after graduation and move to Canada.

Jin's briefcase is an audio transceiver connected to the surveillance system in the dorms, where Ikutsuki gave them information on SEES operations.

Sure, it could contain the drug that Strega's been using, or an endless supply of hand grenades, but given that it was never opened over the course of the game the chances of those are just as slim. Also, how could Strega possibly know what SEES was up to all the time without some inside info? Consider that after Ikutsuki's death, the only direct interactions Strega had with SEES were boss encounters.

  • Jin himself Josses this when you encounter him in Tartarus; he explicitly states that Strega had no idea of Ikutsuki's intentions, let alone that he was the man behind SEES.

The MC is, in fact, Jesus reincarnated.

How else can you explain that the Messiah persona looks just like him?

  • This "MC is a deity" thing might be a trend with Persona games. Look at Persona 4's WMG page. Who are they saying that game's MC looks like?
    • Well Megami Tensei (Izanagi) and Shin Megami Tensei I (Adam) both did it.
    • Devil Survivor actually did this, and doesn't that MC kind of look like...?
  • MC goes through the game touching peoples lives in a highly meaningful way, there are 12 persona users counting Strega, one of three faces of Death sealed inside him, analogous to the holy trinity, and at the end of the game ascends to the heavens and sacrifices himself to save humanity. In addition, Takaya can be seen as analogous to the Antichrist: he leads a cult that, essentially, teaches nihilism and is obsessed with the coming apocalypse, and is a rather large opponent to SEES. When Nyx finally comes, people in this cult die, which is similar to the concept of being raptured away. The parables are a bit heavier than mere appearance... And the MC is the biggest Messianic Archetype ever.
  • Messiah looks a bit like Akinari to me personally. They both stare upward and hold their hands in similar pose. This makes sense to me because Akinari taught the meaning of life and how to face death with dignity. Messiah reflects that.

The Journey is filtered through Junpei's point of view.

The MC was a relatively ordinary transfer student - but that isn't how Junpei perceives him. Instead, he sees a hero who's everything he wants to be: brilliant, courageous and charismatic, excelling at everything he attempts and loved by all, especially women. The MC we see in-game is colored by Junpei's jealousy, building him up to be far, far more than he actually was.

  • This may well be effecting all of the other SEES members as well, particularly Yukari.

The Journey is filtered through everyone's point of view.

The MC was a relatively ordinary transfer student - until Igor told him that he needed to forge social links to become more powerful and save the world. MC then unleashed his pheromones on the unsuspecting populous and cultivated any promising social links that appeared. He normally is a spacey and slightly brooding high school student, but his super pheromones generate an aura that cause people to perceive him as a hero who's everything they want him to be.

The MC is horrible in bed.

He can make practically every named female character in the game fall in love with him, yet once he maxes a romantic social link and spends a "special evening" with them, they suddenly don't want to spend time with him. They'll even cancel dates with him - by text message - stating that they're embarrassed to be seen in public with him. What other explanation could there be?

  • Isn't this theory kinda "killed" by P3:FES? Where you CAN keep meeting with the girls even after fulfilling their Social Links?
    • They'll still cancel if you have a Sunday date planned when you max their link.
      • this happens for male links as well, and i don't think our boy likes dudes that way.
    • And IIRC on the "extra" dates it's never implied that they have sex. They just play cards or something.
  • Upon finding this out, Yukari castrates the MC, which is why he can then summon Cybele.
    • but wasn't it Attis from the little girl link that is castrated? Dem implications...

The series takes place after the Neutral Ending of Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne.

Hence it being sorta the world of Persona 1 and 2, but certain details are off.

  • A variant is that all of the Persona series takes place after the Nocturne ending where you turn everything back to normal. However the twist is that the Demifiend was disgusted with both sides using humanity to their own ends and made it so they served Humanity as defenders in the form of Personae. The Demifiend is currently in Hawaii enjoying the drinks, beaches, and the women.

The MC is a descendant of Raidou Kuzunoha.

That is, if the evidence presented on the Persona 4 page is correct. Specifically, the "Naoto is the Persona 3 MC's little sister" and "Naoto is a descendant of the Kuzunohas" theories.

Erebus is giving the heroes a sex display at the final battle in The Answer.

It is comprised of two halves, male and female (you can see boobs on the one facing up with horns facing forward while the male more muscular faces down) merged at the waist (think of the positions and their movements during battle), and the powerful attack called "Dark Embrace" looks very suspiciously worded and in its execution in this context. Knowing persona's history with imagery it's not that far fetched.

Takaya is MC's Shadow.

He has yellow eyes, which is standard for Shadows, as made blatantly obvious by Persona 4. Takaya (a.k.a evil Jesus) is most similar to our resident Messiah, the MC, whose ascended Persona is... Messiah.

Female MC is only going to have one romance Tarot option and the others friendship.

Ah, the old Double Standard. Having her able to romance and bed every male Tarot Card event carrier is unlikely.

    • In order to justify this, this prediction goes on to say that the male MC will have "Friendship" max Tarot events and just one "Romantic" Tarot event as well; like in Persona 4.
  • This troper wonders... would it be too much to ask from Atlus to let you choose your sexuality? Besides, the Double Standard stands less if it is a Casanova Girl going for other girls. Kinda makes me wonder how would it look if the male lead goes after all the boys...
  • She has plenty of options, the foreign exchange student, the head of the art/music club, Kenji and the track rival. Of course, there won't be any members in her party she can sleep with.
    • Junpei's out of the running thanks to Chidori (and let's just hope Ken's not an option), but Akihiko seems to be available. And if anybody needs to be dragged out on a date, it's him...
      • She can still goad him out of loving Chidori and he is fair game once Chidori buys the farm regardless.
      • The Megaten Wiki's article on Junpei states that his social link for her will be friendship-only. No Comforting the Widow scenarios here. :(
      • Not officially, doujin wise however...
      • Probably for the best. Losing two girls in five months would probably leave him afraid of what would happen to the next woman he got close to.
  • Interestingly, if you choose Female Main Character, you get to choose whether or not Igor's Assistant is Theodore or Elizabeth.
    • Choose? So it's actually possible to have Elizabeth with the Female Main Character? Sweet!
      • Yup, confirmed in the new video here. So, anyone wonders how it will be to date Elizabeth when being a girl?
      • She will just regard Female Main Character as a very good friend
  • Jossed: She doesn't really date, but she can have a romantic relationship with: Akihiko, Ken, Shinjiro, and/or Ryoji. All are optional, as she obtains romance through certain dialog choices like Persona 4 S.Link

Tartarus' influence is slowly seeping into the school, through the minds of the faculty

The real reason that several of the school's clubs are either unavailable or locked up during the week before exams at start of the game, is due to the fact that the brainwashed faculty have been influenced to lock up all sorts of important doors or at least put up an obstacle to impede the progress of the MC making Social Links. This could also prove that Tartarus may be a living location as such, providing an in-story theory as to why the structure of the tower changes each night.

Monad is inside the school observatory

One of the students spends several months searching for the secret school observatory, and eventually concludes that it's a waste of time looking for it because it must not serve any purpose. However, it's important to Tartarus and the Dark Hour, because Ikutsuki was going to sacrifice the gang on top of it. And in the cut-scene images of Tartarus, there's another glowing building, not nearly as big as Tartarus but still taller than any normal building, beside it. Maybe that other building is the observatory, which turns into Monad during the Dark Hour: it starts on the same floor as the Entrance and is reached by a separate door but, because it's so much smaller, it only goes up ten floors. The student going on about the mystery of the missing observatory and what secrets it contains is the game's way of hinting that there's a secret area in Tartarus that's connected to the school observatory.

Mitsuru's bike, equipment, Aigis and the evokers are Persona-powered

When Mitsuru was working in the dorms on detecting shadows outside Tartarus, she was using radio and computer equipment to boost Penthesilea's scanning abilitiy, so somehow, some of the personae can merge with technology. Later, when she shows up on her bike and Junpei asks how it works during the Dark Hour, she smiles and says, in a tone like a proud mother, "it's special". That sounds like Penthesilea might've been controlling the bike and making it run, which is why Mitsuru called it special in such an affectionate tone. Aegis probably operates the same way during the Dark Hour, by using Palladion as an internal, backup power source (which also explains why she can get tired in Tartarus - her endurance, like all the team members, is tied to her persona's stats). Possibly the SEES evokers work this way too, drawing just enough enough power from the user's dormant persona to fire the releasing shot.

Not in the goth, Takaya-style "we're all secretly longing for death" sorta way, but simply because the MC's essentially a demigod, a half-human, half Anthropomorphic Personification that's attending school and hanging out with people. The effect he unconsciously has on everyone around him is probably akin to them being in the presence of a Greek god or an angel: nobody can really explain what it is, but there's something mysterious, powerful and charismatic about him, and they all want him in their lives. That's also why Ryoji instantly eclipses the MC in popularity and has everyone gossiping about him when he arrives. He's projecting the same powerful aura the MC has, except it's even stronger since he's a full-fledged Physical God. This probably also led to the MC seeming a little more ordinary, since Death was no longer inside him, but the MC and Death both left each one's mark on the other even after they were separated (Death kept a human form and personality, and the MC kept Thanatos and his Persona-switching abilities).

  • This troper always thought that it was less "he's a demigod, and that's awesome" as it is specifically that his "personality" is "death" (in this case change, tarot-wise), or "fool" (mutable, malleable, able to take the form of the other cards). The ability to switch Personae also comes with the ability to switch personae (bear with me), in a way most people simply can't. The MC is able to alter his basic personality to suit any situation. He can connect with so many people because he has no "real" personality, and is simply a reflection of the person with whom he interacts. His ability to forge so many relationships is a result of being able to fool people into thinking he's like them.

Messiah is the awakened form of Orpheus

Due to the MC's gameplay mechanics, he never experiences an onscreen "resolution in his heart" moment like the other characters, but both Messiah and Orpheus are portrayed as representing his character: Messiah in the ending credits, and Orpheus as the MC's first, and only innate, persona (it even reflects the MC's gender in the PSP game). Messiah's face appears to be the same as Orpheus, and like all the other awakened personae, Messiah and Orpheus share a common theme. Both of them sought to save the ones they loved from death, and descended into the underworld to do so. But whereas Orpheus failed, and so represents the initial form, Messiah succeeded, and represents its final form.

The last person to use the Great Seal was Jesus

Persona 3 has all sorts of religious symbolism, but let's take away the allegory and instead treat it all like literal history. Two thousand years ago, the world reached a point of despair that began Nyx's summoning, and a group of persona users, including their leader who also used the persona Messiah, fought to stop it. Eventually Nyx awakened, and people all over the world were pulled into the Dark Hour just as they were in P3, resulting in the story that darkness descended upon the world. The hero ascended and confronted Nyx, and used the Great Seal. Having made a promise to meet his friends again in three days, he returned from the battle with Nyx and seemed to have come back from the dead. But the Great Seal caught up with him and he died again, which his followers took as an ascension to Heaven. His name was Jesus and, while the story of the last battle with Nyx got mixed up over the centuries, his soul protected the seal until the Kirijo Group started the mess all over again. That's right, everyone is Minato in the Abyss of Time!

The Main Character isn't the Reincarnation of Orpheus/Jesus; their sibling is.

Bear with me, it turns out that the Male MC and Female MC are twin siblings; but that in their individual Alternate Continuity, the other died in the same car crash that killed their parents. But they developed Wonder Twin Powers after death; so the MC is able to channel their dead counterpart; who gets a Gender Flip. This is also why Nyx is able to "infect" the MC, they are connected to death through their other.

  • So the Main Character is only Orpheus/Jesus in the world where they are dead, but they become Orpheus/Jesus because they are Orpheus/Jesus in the other world. This isn't just Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory, this is Schrodinger's Jesus In Purgatory!
  • Oh oh, wait, actually this makes a lot of sense... See, even if you play as the female MC it always seemed off that Pharos and Ryoji are still there since they were originally almost projections of the male MC's humanity onto death....but if the female MC is linked to death through her twin brother, then Pharos and Ryoji still being there makes sense! Although, that would mean that the male MC is responsible in both alternate universes for embodying death, which means he's stronger? Oh, but that would make for some odd conclusions you could draw seeing as Royji is one of the love options in the remake... I'm going to stop before my brain wanders somewhere I don't want it to be.
  • The channeling part happens in Trinity Soul with Jun and Yuki.

Personae are indestructable

Think about it: Five persona users die in the course of the game. While they're abnormally resilient (surviving being blown up, frozen, cut up, etcetera). But the one time a Persona itself was attacked was when Fuuka awakened her Persona: The attacker was knocked over from the recoil, while Fuuka and Lucia were apparently unharmed. Lucia doesn't have any reflect or resist abilities, and has generally bad stats. How else could it take a hit like that?

If you look at the trailers, you'll see Shinjiro in areas you cannot access with him in the original. What does this mean? Plus, Shinjiro's death was such an Ass Pull.

  • Jossed Shinjiro / Moon saves him.
    • There's new info on the game? Could we get a link? Also, I'm going to go ahead and guess you need maxed courage to work on the Shinjiro link.
      • Not sure yet if you can save Shinjiro or not. There's this and that rumour, but it sounds unreliable. What I heard is that, while you need to max courage to date Ken, Shinji's SL is easily available.
    • Wait, are you sure Ken's link is romantic? I'm also not sure how Shinjiro would fit for the Moon link (though I'm not sure how he fits for Heirophant, either.)
      • Er, no, I didn't meant to say Ken's SL is romantic. Shouldn't have said "date", alright. As for the Arcanas, well, that's always up to interpretations. Be your own guest for that.
      • Confirmed that Shinjiro does survive from maxing his S.Link before 10/4. Comatose, yes, but he does wake up in March. Moon does fit the theme of his S.Link by the way, albeit differently from the two we're familiar with (Nozomi and Ai). Moon is associated with dreams, fears, insight, and inner conflict. Aside from the first (only through saving him it would make sense), they do fit his character and situation in the plot. Better yet, it explains the complications he has with the heroine if you take it he had some feelings for her romantic sense.
      • Also consider that the Moon represents illusion. How does Shinjiro behave during his time with SEES? He tries to keep a distance by behaving harshly. A good portion of his Social Link is showing that he's not really a jerk at all.
      • Ken's S.Link is optionally romantic. The FeMC is aware of what it looks like, which is why she needs Max courage.

Chidori was trying to commit "suicide by SEES"

From the moment Medea awakened, Chidori knew the day she was going to die: she provoked her fight with SEES already knowing that she wouldn't live through it. She says nothing to Junpei when he confronts her, and instead throws an easily dodged attack to push him into fighting her. Once the battle begins, she barely makes any effort to attack the party, and spends most of her turns just bemoaning her own fate: you can die fighting her, but you have to just sit there and not do anything for several turns. Then, as soon as Junpei's in danger, she confesses her love for him and gives up her life to save him. Despite appearances, she doesn't seem to have really had a Face Heel Turn. It seems more likely that she knew she was going to die anyway, and since she didn't want anyone grieving for her, she tried to provoke SEES into killing her in battle. It only failed when the heroes refused to kill her and Takaya, already suspecting her heart isn't in the fight, forced the issue by shooting Junpei.

Beating up Erebus greatly reduced the amount of depression and nihilism in the world.

The ending to the Journey had a lot of people happier than they'd been the whole game, the ending to the Answer was very upbeat, and just look at Persona 4. Everyone in the world feels better after that.

The Reaper is Roland Deschain's Shadow.

Specifically, how Roland saw himself after letting Jake die. Some one so obsessed with the tower he'd lost his humanity. So his shadow is an inhuman monster that shows up to kill anyone threatining the tower it's in. Roland eventually set things right and came to terms with himself, but his shadow had grown strong enough to take on a life of its own. Walter may or may not have been involved.

The bad ending... isn't.

Ryoji had no idea how long it would take for Nyx to come crashing down if MC chose to kill him. This is because Nyx didn't know either, and this is because killing Ryoji would have removed Nyx's avatar on Earth, and thus stopped Nyx from being artificially close to Erebus. Per inverse-square law, adding the distance from the Earth to the moon would have weakened the Wangst-signal to the point where Nyx could pull away from the Earth... except that in the time between Ryoji's decision date and SEES reaching the top of the tower, the signal forced Nyx to move close enough to where this was no longer possible. Nice job making a Shoot the Shaggy Dog of your whole life, MC.

The male protagonist is still in the female route.

He's a dormant presence within her, and still exists, but does not interact with the outside world (mostly). That's why Ryoji and Pharos still are guys, and Ryoji still resembles him. Also, her ultimate persona is the same Messiah he uses, and Orpheus Telos does not change either appearance-wise. Even further, it's likely that because of him, she has the potential.

Raidou Kuzunoha is the ancestor of Arisato Minato (The Main Character) and Naoto Shirogane from P4

It would be quite possible for Raidou to be an ancestor of Naoto, in fact it's somewhat impied, and since Fanon says that Minato and Naoto are related it's a simple use of the transitive property to say he would be the Ancestor of Minato as well.

The Dark Hour is the world after the Fall

The game never really explained what the Dark Hour was, except that it's ruled by Shadows and it was created by the Kirijo experiments on time-manipulation. When Nyx is about to start the Fall, she pulls everyone into the Dark Hour and we see the Dark Hour version of Earth from space. Perhaps the Dark Hour is a crack in time created by the experiment, a nightly glimpse "behind" the present into the world's near future. After the Fall, death has claimed the Earth, leaving it barren and unchanging, and locked in an endless night. Most of humanity's been transformed into coffins, a symbol of death, while their Shadows are free to overrun the world. That's why Ryoji said "something terrible has happened here" when he first saw the Dark Hour, and followed that with "but I feel at peace": the Dark Hour is the Bad Future Earth after Nyx's coming. Once the Fall is stopped, the Dark Hour vanishes because that future no longer exists, and the heroes' memories fade away because their adventures in the Dark Hour have turned into a paradox (though The Power of Friendship eventually overcomes that).

Elizabeth goes exploring in Tartarus for fun when you're not around.

She's a Persona-user, and she can certainly hold her own in a fight, as the Bonus Boss battle against her suggests. Besides, where else would she get the PHENOMENAL amount of money she has from? She obviously gets it from Tartarus just like the MC does.

The Female Protagonist is an Alternate Universe version of Yui/Ui Hirasawa.

All the proof you need.

Weird Takoyaki has cat in it instead of octopus.

One NPC spends the entire game making friends with a kitty at the strip mall, but if you talk to him post-game, the cat has disappeared. The takoyaki stand is only a few shops away, and if it's not made of octopus...well, times are hard, aren't they?

Alternatively, Weird Takoyaki is people.

This seems especially convenient given the large number of Apathy Syndrome victims roaming the streets night and day. All the rich nutrition of hobos, but none of the hassle!

Takaya is actually one of the Velvet Room inhabitants.

He already has the same hair and eye color as his 'siblings'. However, he was born without the ability to summon any Personae. While studying the arcana to try and find a way around it, he became fascinated with Death and left for the human world to bring about the Fall. He pretended to be human, but his otherworldly nature stopped him from turning into a coffin during the Dark Hour. With this knowledge, he tracked the Shadows and came to Tatsumi Port Island. Being selected as a member of the Kirijo Group's experiments only furthered his goals and allowed him to summon a Persona of his own.


People who are in the Velvet Room are the Shadows of Wild Card's

Pretty Self explanatory. Like most Shadows, or at least ones that still remain humanoid, there eyes are that Yellow/Gold Color, and pretty much by default they have supernatural strength. They still look human because, as a shadow of a wild card, a person who could change their persona pretty much at will, there is nothing they can change into. Instead, they appear as Pale, grayed out versions of the original person, with the trademark golden eyes.

Their ability to wield multiple persona, many of whom are simply STUPIDLY powerful by normal reckoning, is their equivalent of Shadow Mode, and their searching for what they are is pretty much what it sounds like. Clearly They aren't normal shadows, since they don't transform like the rest, so they believe, perhaps rightly, that they are something else.

Alternatively, but keeping with the same general idea, They are merely stabilized Shadows, like Teddy from P4. Clearly different from their brothers and capable of wielding persona like a normal human.

Personae are psychological trauma physically manifested

Think about it. The only people in Persona 3, and, by extension, Persona 4, who are able to summon a persona are those who have some sort of deep issue that is potentially psychologically damaging. Each person's persona was, in a sense, first "born" at the height of that trauma. Akihiko and Shinji got theirs when Miki died, Ken when his mother died, Akihiko again when Shinji's killed, Takaya, Jin, and Chidori through the straight up psychological abuse resulting from the Kirijo Group's experiments, and so on.

Though, Misturu and Yukari's cases are different, however somewhat related to Takaya and company's. Both their fathers were involved with the Group in some manner -- Mitsuru's being the son of the head (later the head of the company), and Yukari's being one of the scientists involved with the original project with the Shadows. It isn't much of a stretch to assume the both of them were guinea pigs as well.

In Minato's case, it's likely that after the car accident, a traumatic experience in it's own right, he was bounced around the foster care system for a while before being ending up back in Port Island. More than likely, the various foster parents were abusive in many ways, probably physical, sexual, and maybe even emotionally so. It would explain why the Wild Card is weilded by our Protaganist, who better than someone so mentally fractured?

    • It's at least confirmed that Mitsuru was a test subject and had her Persona basically forced into awakening by the Kirijo group. Unlike the Strega members however she was still naturally born with the potential so her psyche accepted the treatment, while they were normal kids who were given Persona's that weren't theirs and needed drugs to prevent a rejection.
      • Then, natural potential could be a side effect of latent psychic powers. Perhaps Mitsuru was used in a somewhat-similar manner to Alessa?

Miki was Akihiko's twin sister

Same author as the above WMG, but I totally think Miki was his twin sister. It would explain why her death seemed to make him feel so responsible. She wasn't JUST his sister, she was his other half, and when she died, so did a part of him. That's why he's driven to get stronger. Not just because he wants the ability to protect those he cares about, but also to try and rid himself of a feeling of incompleteness.

Elizabeth/Margaret/Teo were created by Nyarlathotep

...the same way Philemon created Igor (and possibly Nameless and Belladonna). They have the Shadow gold eyes, which Nyar was rocking first, and they can go outside the Velvet Room with no trouble, which is Nyar's special trick out of the people who live in the Collective Unconscious. They're way nicer than him because he got the specifications on creating them from Philemon as part of the forfeit for losing in P2. After all, what's the point of a bet without a forfeit for the loser?


Lifting the fog in Persona 4 symbolized the end of humanity's wish to die, freeing the Protagonist of Persona 3.

Maybe s/he even came back to life again since s/he no longers needs to form the Great Seal. It's my personal canon and it helps me through this game's rough ending. Unless Persona 5 Josses it, I'm sticking to it!

  • Actually, that makes enough sense to be this Troper's last hope for the game's ending. -sniffle-

FeMC resembled Akihiko's sister, Miki

It would explain why Shinji stops you in the hospital randomly and says "You." He noticed the resemblance but didn't say anything. In one of Akihiko's social links, he says that hanging out with you reminds him of being a child. This theory could go out the window when you start to be lovers with Akihiko, but some people would argue that it is just even more proof that the FeMC is like Miki to him. That's only if you listen to various rumors about Akihiko and his sister's relationship though.

  • Akihiko specifically says at the end of his romance S.Link that he thought at first he was just seeing Miki in the protagonist, but realized that wasn't the case after his Love Epiphany.

Fuuka is a cancer survivor.

Which is why she's always described as sickly. She had to undergo chemotherapy as a child, and all the time spent in the hospital was responsible for her lack of social skills. Also, it explains why sometimes her hair doesn't seem to line up on her head correctly; she's either wearing a wig or recovering from hair loss.

  • Boy, would that have made some interesting discussion for Social Link...

The Main Character possesses a weaker version of Fuuka's power.

This is why they can see events they aren't there for.

The Male Protagonist and Female Protagonist are twin siblings.

Depending on which gender you decide to play as in P3P, the backstory of the Protag alters just slightly. If you pick the MC, in the accident that killed his parents, his twin sister died as well. So, the reverse would be true for the FeMC path. They encounter Aigis on the bridge, directly following the accident, possibly cause by Aigis herself in her pursuit of Thanatos. As far as their hair color differences go, the MC dyes his, and FeMC's is naturally brown.

  • Even simpler than that; male-female twins are fraternal twins by definition, so there's nothing to say that they have to have the same coloration to begin with.

Akihiko's great grandfather is really Baldren Gassenarl from Valkyria Chronicles 2.

I mean they DO really resemble each [dead link] other.Not to mention they actually sound the same if you play the game in either language.My theory is that one of Baldren's children/grandchildren moved to Japan and married into the Sanada family after the rebellion and were eventually tracked down and killed due to some people still hating the rebels.This may also explain why the orphanage was burnt down and killed Miki,it was delibarate.They might have given up on Akihiko once he made friends with someone from the powerful Kirijo group.His preference of white and red clothing may also be something he inherited from his great grandfather.

  • LOL Maybe. Though I do believe that Akihiko was at most not full-Japanese as stated (at most he CAN be part European). Either that, or he bleached his hair (Official character design sports darker roots) or even the theory of hair color change due to trauma (though it's more on a contributing factor along with genetics but a dude who got it as early as 15 getting premature gray hair's pretty odd indeed.) Disease Bleach is ruled out (because he IS an athletic guy, after all) and Albinism is also ruled out because of his skin color. Then again, this is the game that has a lot of characters with wacky hair colors (MC, Fuuka, Jin, Chidori, Mitsuru), and they do follow the idea of You Gotta Have Blue Hair.

The original members of SEES have gun fetishes.

Making Evokers look like guns so that Akihiko would join is just Mitsuru's excuse.

  • Nah, he wants to shoot things.

New Cycles are Mental Time Travel.

You DO keep your levels and social stats...

The world of P3P is the original world of Persona 2

As in the World of Innocent Sin. This could be easily Jossed by someone who has played both games but bear with me. Maya dies in Innocent Sin, so they change the world in the the world of Eternal Punishment. But the first world didn't just dissapear. So there is a world where Maya was still dead, and that is the world of P3P, or to be more precise, the world of the Female Protagonist.

  • There is the whole "Maya's death fulfills the final part of a prophecy spread via rumor during the events of the game that ends up destroying most, if not all (I forget which) of the world" thing...

Minato is a Spirit Detective.

He runs around killing demons. And, at the end of Episode Aigis, we see him in a pose like he's getting ready to unleash a spirit gun on Erebus.

Ikutsuki is a distant ancestor of Final Fantasy VII's Hojo.

The both of them do bad things that cause other, equally bad, stuff to happen. Ikutsuki is why Strega, and the Dark Hour, exists and wanted to end the world. And didn't give a rat's left ass check.

Naoto is the Female Main Character's soul/spirit/etc. in the Male Main Character's body.

In a universe where male!MC and female!MC were brother and sister and both got caught in the car crash on the Moonlight Bridge, the female!MC wandered off to become the protagonist following the trauma, and after a while was found by Tatsumi Port Child Protection Services or whoever. Meanwhile, the male!MC was taken to the hospital, and his sister was assumed dead along with their parents. Due to PTSD/amnesia, the female!MC remembered very little of the crash and no connection was ever made between her and her brother. Male!MC was shipped off to surviving relatives in Inaba.

Male!MC's name, in this universe, would be Naoto.

Male!MC grows up to become a pretty-boy bishounen detective-in-training as the female!MC's story unfolds. At the end of P 3 P, female!MC becomes the Great Seal. While keeping watch over humanity, she finds herself pulled towards a boy in Inaba by the name of Naoto.

Through their connection, she seizes an opportunity and pulls a Grand Theft Me on the male!MC's body, effectively switching their places to make him the Seal. Though still quite female, she has to keep up the charade of being a boy, and finds herself more comfortable passing off as one than she'd have imagined. Unfortunately, her body starts to catch up with the change and...adjusts itself accordingly, in exactly the awkward fashion one would imagine. Perhaps, in this time, Naoto's legal guardians pass away and she moves in with her estranged grandfather before formally starting school in Inaba, leaving no one but the hospital back in Tatsumi Port to know the truth of her original gender.

Through the lingering hints and memories of Ryoji in female!MC's spirit, Naoto's arcana is Fortune, and her Persona takes on the dormant abilities of Thanatos, being Hama/Mudo/Megido. At this point, the explanation of the gender confusion should be obvious.

...what, this troper isn't long-winded or theatrical at all, absolutely not.

Persona 3 is Neon Genesis Evangelion Post-Instrumentality

The scenario serves as a Persona 4-like environment for the four Children to confront their personal demons in an idealized representation of the normal world. It all takes place post-instrumentality, in a collective dream shared by humanity in the form of LCL. In it, the line between humans (descended from the tree of knowledge) and Angels (descended from the tree of power) is blurred, leading to the formation of magical/supernatural creatures as a blend of the two.

The demons in the first two games are the purest examples of this. Characters summoning personae (by controlling their ATV fields, much like Gendo did after swallowing Adam) are due to the Angel's power taking the form of humanity. They serve to, like the Evangelion, externalize the characters' psyches to for combat purposes, just without a big clunky robot to channel them. Being a dream world, they can manifest all on their own.

  • They are also both commonly fueled by dead mommies.

The concept of 'shadows' as enemies translates perfectly – they are literally manifestations what individuals keep repressed. Throughout both series there is also recurrent mask symbolism. The Evangelion have distorted tribal masks for faces. Lillith is masked, as are many of the lesser angels. Fittingly, most of the characters' personae have masks, although it was much more obvious in Persona 2...

  • Rei is Aigis who, as a robot, can no longer experience pain or death.
  • Kaworu is hybrid caught between his monstrous Angel nature and human origin, as Ryoji is between shadows/humanity. Both are the final envoys of the female!Cthulu big bad (Lillith/Nyx), and form creepy parasitic relationships with the main characters. The second time around, however, he is crucially not killed.
  • Asuka, her psyche permanently distorted post mind-rape, is Chidori. The only one with no relation to Yui, she lacks the solipsistic universe-warping superpowers granted to the other three, but still retains a heightened sensitivity to the shadows (i.e. Angel remnants) around her. Her recurring attacks are the remnants of the original trauma, stimulated by the manipulation of ATV fields around her.
  • Yui, having realized that all efforts to outfight the Angels were futile, implemented a masterful plan from beyond the grave to bind herself to Evangelion Unit One/Lillith and become the catalyst for the new world, so that humanity/Shinji/her ambiguous morality may survive. However, doing so stripped her of her sanity, and she became Nyx - an id composed of misplaced maternal affection and destruction, eternally attempting to fulfill her original Plan of destroying the world as it becomes steeped in despair.
  • Shinji himself is a little tough. Probably the MC, but may have some relationship to Shinjiro. They're both whiny reclusive bitches who are unusually sensitive to the super-aura-field-thing, have no self worth, and are suicidal as a result. Also, Ken's relationship to Shinjiro somewhat mirrors Shinji's issues with his dad, and they both have clingy White-Haired Pretty Boy friends.

In the end, the world is saved in that it can finally recover Instrumentality in peace, which is why everything takes a more decidedly optimistic tone in Persona 4. After all that, people can start getting things straightened out!

The Updated Rereleases are all part of Elizabeth and Theodore's Plan.

In FES, the player can potentially avert Chidori's Plotline Death. P3P lets you save Shinjiro from their Plotline Death. Clearly, each new version of the game will add the ability to save somebody else, ultimately leading to a Golden Game where the player can finally save the main character.

The Main Character died because the cold he had the entire game worsened too much.

In FES, the game states "Your cold worsened because you are tired". This means you always have a cold, no matter if your status is good or great. Thus, having a cold for the entire game, the Main Character dies because the cold was simply too powerful.

  • Oh my god. This makes so much sense.

The Main Character is suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder.

The manual describes a persona as "a second soul that dwells deep within a person's heart. It is an entirely different personality that emerges when a person is confronted with something from outside his world." Every 'normal character' (normal being used loosely when referring to someone who can draw out a manifestation of their own personality as a physical being) has just one persona they can manifest. So why does the main character have the ability to manifest many Personae? Whatever incident orphaned him/her or further subsequent events may have very well splintered his/her personality, with each personality manifesting as a different persona.

The Answer was an April Fools joke by Atlus.

The MC really just fell asleep. Think about it. The Answer begins on March 31, a few minutes before midnight and just gets crazier and crazier after that.
    • April Fools you say?
      • Holy Fridge Brilliance Batman on a flaming pogo stick!

The MC is THE Biggest Troll ever.

He faked his own death in FES just to see his friends squirm. That stone MC at the end? A cardboard cutout. He also decided to sic Eberus on S.E.E.S. because he could.

The Fallout franchise takes place after the Fall, and the Courier is the MC's descendant.

From the WMG page for Fallout: New Vegas:

After Aigis defeated Erebus at the end of FES, Elizabeth eventually managed to find a way to free the Persona 3 protagonist from the Great Seal while still keeping Nyx sealed away, but it was only a matter of time before Erebus would reanimate and find a way to contact Nyx. Erebus finally succeeded on October 23, 2077, with Nyx bringing about the Fall by way of the Great War.

Humanity obviously managed to survive, however, and over two hundred years after the Fall, a descendant of Minato/Minako Arisato found him/herself in a grave in the Mojave Wasteland with a grievous bullet wound to the head. The Arisato bloodline would have ended with him/her had Victor and Doc Mitchell not rescued him/her.

Minato/Minako's original Wild Card ability is represented in several ways. The sheer versatility of the Courier's abilities goes without saying; he/she can be just about anything he/she wants to be, similar to how Minato/Minako can utilize just about any Persona from any Arcana. More abstractly, the Courier is a literal Wild Card in the affairs of the Mojave Wasteland; it is his/her actions that determine the final fate of the region, after all. Symbolically, the Courier is also represented as one of the Jokers in the deck of cards that came with the Limited Special Collectors' Ultimate Edition of New Vegas; the Joker is often associated with the Fool Arcana (Minato/Minako's natural Arcana).

Also, Yuri Lowenthal and Laura Bailey play the main protagonists in both Persona 3 and New Vegas. Had to sneak the customary Actor Allusion in there somehow.

Aigis is Ikutsuki's biological daughter.

This one unsettles me. Essentially, the idea goes that everyone in the game remarks how human Aigis is when you first meet her. Ikutsuki also mentions the whole idea behind making an anti-shadow weapon with a personae: the being in question has to see themselves as human. The Kirijo Group didn't build these things from scratch. Other evidence is from Strega being kidnapped off the street and experimented on. Who's to say that the experiments on the other kidnapped people also didn't involve converting regular people into subservient shadow weapons with personae?

And this is where Aigis comes in. Ikutsuki outright admits to being part of the group that experimented with shadows, which means he'd also be in touch with the androids. If the above is the assumed method for creating an anti-shadow weapon, and Ikutsuki sees that they're lacking in number, it doesn't surprise me that he'd offer up his own daughter for conversion. He's trying to bring about the Fall, and he's mad enough to get it by any means necessary.

The connection for Aigis being his daughter is how strangely close Ikutsuki keeps her ingame. He already has the SEES fooled, but Aigis and him are a different story. Almost all scenes between Aigis and Ikutsuki seem to have him being a doting father figure type character, which, in my mind, is a crack in the mask he puts up for SEES. There's a certain kind of fatherly tone with how he talks to Aigis, which may be the only way he knows how to talk to her.

In Persona 3 Portable, the protagonist really is just sleeping.

Why all the exclusion of the FES stuff? Something went surprisingly right and the protagonist ends up living.

The protagonist is in great condition at the end of the game after he fell asleep.

However, his academics did not improve.

When Aragaki Shinjiro died, he became Willard H. Wright.

In the Male Protagonist's story (though in the Female Protagonist's Story, he survived, but he might die later), Shinjiro died at October 4th and lost his ability to summon his Persona. Heaven reconized his deeds and his sacrifice that he was appointed as first-class archbishop and Chief Inquisitor of SSVD, and was given the ability to enforce Van Dine's Commandments. As part of SSVD, Shinjiro changed his appearance and was given a new name, Willard H. Wright. But similar to his action in the Past, he quit SSVD just as he quit SEES, but the reason he quit SSVD is because of their brutal standards.

  • Also, Shinjiro, even as Will, still has his Hidden Heart of Gold, and of course, his signature Head Butt as shown in EP8.

Nyarlathotep was involved somehow in the creation of the Dark Hour and Tartarus

When Takeharu Kirijo mentions that his father in his later years had only nihilism in his heart, it reminded me of Kandori from Persona 1...and he was being controlled to a degree by Nyarlathotep. After the events of P2, Nyarlathotep and Philemon were both weakened (at least Nyarlathotep was, no idea what happened in Philemon) and thus cannot involve themselves in the world as they did in P1 and P2. But, the accident took place in 1999, the same year as Eternal Punishment. Shadows are dark human thoughts given form...and Nyarlathotep is the incarnation of humanity's evil. Perhaps before the end of Eternal Punishment where he is defeated by Tatsuya and the gang, he directly controlled Koetsu Kirijo from the beginning to gather Shadows to thus bring forth Death, Tartarus and the Dark Hour. The world would have probably ended in 1999 if it weren't for Yukari's dad interrupting the experiment. Nyarlathotep then failed to destroy the world in P2 as he didn't manage to have Jun, Eikichi or Lisa remember the events of Innocent Sin and thus had to wait 10 years...then, he influenced Ikutsuki somehow - or maybe influenced him from the beginning - to have S.E.E.S destroy the Full Moon shadows and bring forth The Fall, and win the contest between him and Philemon once and for all. Note that the Fall is caused by Erebus coming into contact with Nyx...and Erebus seems to be born from the evil of humanity much like Nyarlathotep. They do not seem to be the same being, but perhaps are linked...

    • Supposedly one of the light novels pretty much confirms this by saying old man Kirijo was seduced by a katamari (in the sense of a jumbled blob of things) of darkness. Same novel had a mysterious man in a mask rescuing protagonist from the car crash. How accurate this is I don't know, since I've never read the light novels.

The Protagonists' first experience with the Dark Hour was two years before the events of the game. Possibly on Octorber 4th. Also, this is the reason why Mitsuru wanted them to join SEES.

Based on one scene that Shinjiro has met the protagonist in the Alley of the Station in FEMC Moon Rank 8 and has remembered both Male and Female Protagonist's identities while the gang visits Akihiko at the hospital. Also, Akihiko asking your protagonist how is the character doing may lead to some past secrets.

The protagonist possibly made a short visit to Tatsumi Port Island from a place far away (School trip, possibly) and had experienced his first glimpse of the Dark Hour then (that is why when they returned in the start of the game, they were no longer surprised as they were already used to it.)He also stumbles onto the moment where Shinjiro cannot control his Persona and created a ruckus around the area leading to the death of Ken's mother.

Mitsuru and Akihiko came to the rescue, only to find a fainted protagonist and a traumatized Shinjiro. The protagonist woke up in the hotel that the students of his school resided for the night and they left the island that morning. The problem was that, due to them not remembering anything on their first experience, the Protagonist forgets about the event that night.

There was also a possibility that Akihiko had defended the Female Protagonist during that time at a scene where Shinjiro also tells him to keep an eye out for the Female Protagonist, which can lead to high suspicion.

The spearhead that's impaling Shinjiro's persona came from Akihiko's persona.

Polydeuces' right arm ends with something that almost looks like a syringe. That's because years ago it actually had a spearhead attached to it. But when Shinjiro's persona went wild, Akihiko had no choice but to take it down himself, ending the fight by impaling Castor. When the latter faded away, it took the spearhead with it. The consequences of that night irrevocably changed both men, to the point their own personas retained those injuries, a sign that both were unable to forgive themselves over what happened.

In Persona 3 Portable, the action text involving Takaya's gun occasionally says things like "raised his Evoker" (as seen here, spoiler alert) even though he summons his Persona by clutching over in pain, and he uses his gun to, you know, shoot things. This seems like an obvious error to make...so assume it's not an error. Instead, his revolver is related to the Evokers, but rather than being used to face death via fake suicide, it uses the power of Persona to force death upon others, or grant the (sub)conscious death wishes of others. This more or less just makes it a more effective gun. That is, one that can kill Shinjiro permanently. As for why it doesn't kill the party when they fight Takaya, or Shinjiro if FeMC's Moon link is maxed, it probably has to do with Shinjiro being prepared to die, with the party being in a combat mentality, or with the watch being something symbolic.

The Female Protagonist is a Friendly Neighborhood Vampire.

Pale skin and red eyes?

There are both death goddesses for one. I think that it is a different emotional aspect of death for each. Nyx: Sadness and sympathy for people who feel life has no meaning. Izanami: Anger about being left for dead in the Underworld, wants revenge on world,still keeping promise. My theory is that P5's final boss will be A death goddess (Mayan maybe) who is Madness!

Ken is Secretly Wealthy

The character designer notes that the school Ken goes to is Gekkoukan's Private Elementray school. I don't know much about Japan's system but they have public schools too. Also, Ken does metions having a house and in a urban area, that costs a lot of money. So...Ken's mom had a sum of money, maybe being a combo of family wealth and a high-paying profession. Maybe Mom was Properly Paranoid (what parent wouldn't be) and set up a trust for Ken with a distant relative being a beneficary until Ken comes of age.

The female protagonist is the reincarnation of the male one.

Look at it this way:

After the events in The Answer, S.E.E.S manages to end the whole Shadow business and live rather ordinary lives (not really in the case of Aigis, Akihiko and Mitsuru, but I digress). So, after some time, the MC gets a contract from Igor that allows him to go back to Earth, although not in the way he expected. This kinda helps his/her being more sociable in the story; since s/he knows S.E.E.S already, s/he can act differently compared to how he acted originally. Plus, you save Shinjiro, which could be part of the protagonist remembering his death in the original timeline. And besides, they can't seal him twice, right? So he manages to continue to live an ordinary life, just as a girl.

Philemon created the Female Protagonist route with some great intent in mind.

As the Female Protagonist, two great changes you are able to make from the original game are the options to save Shinjiro and bring Chidori back to life. In addition, the only reference Persona 3 Portable has to The Answer is the challenges and fight with Margaret you can access in the Abyss of Time. It could be that the possibility of the Protagonist becoming the Seal may be less likely now that there are two protagonists in different time lines that could be linked together by Philemon. Margaret also seems to be well aware of the Protagonist beforehand, so it's possible she knows of their existence through either Elizabeth or Theodore and could have gone back in time to set up a challenge with him/her. Margaret says that attendants in the Velvet Room are not bound by time, making it likely that they can travel backwards through it as well. If the existence of the Female Protagonist is part of grander scheme, it may have something to do with the Seal, reversing the deaths of two important characters, or something that will be examined in Persona 5. I'm just saying, Philemon's butterfly motif and how this reality he watches over is influenced by a "butterfly effect" can't just be a coincidence.

Elizabeth is the protagonist's anima.

Likewise, Theodore is Fe MC's animus. Read up on Jungian psychology a bit and it makes sense. The anima/animus manifests primarily in dreams; represents and influences a person's actions towards the opposite sex; and coming to terms with it by developing an emotional bond and realizing her/him as a fully-developed character is considered a 'masterpiece' of an individual's personal development. The reason s/he never really figured out who or what s/he was is because the protagonists weren't allowed to come completely to term with their complexes before their time was up.

Shinjiro and the Female Main Character die together at the end.

Think about it... they're the game's greatest Determinators, with October 4th and January 31 being the "proving" dates for each one respectively, and since Takaya states that Shinjiro doesn't have much time left on October 4, those two facts combined make March 5 doubly poignant for him. He busted out of the hospital to go see her, and then his shortened lifespan ended with hers. This would have made "The Answer" even harder to reconcile to a female lead, given the greater Bittersweet Ending.

The skill "Thug's Punch" is wind-based.

Now, what element was Junpei weak against?

    • It all comes together here and makes sense

"Burn My Dread-Last Battle" is S.E.E.S' Badass Boast to the Investigation Team

It's basically saying, "Yeah, we punched out Nyx, resident Cosmic Horror and harbinger of The End of the World as We Know It."

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