How Mythology Inspired ALL of Persona 3 (Every Persona Explained)

Wait, what about maciya

No lie the way you said Thoth disappointed me

Misturu probably has a lot of experience missing Marin karins which makes me wonder why she still spams it🤔

I clicked on this because I had the idea that there was a lot of commections through the whole Jesus mythology. He has his disciples, he ends up betrayed by someone close by. They even work with ryuji and astrega at times kinda like how the Bible is created. He is the "messiah who sacrifices himself."

As an Orthodox Christian, I started tearing up in the end of the story. From Chidori to Makoto, all the characters who die remind me of the holy words of the verse:

"There is no greater love among men, than to lay his life down for his friends."

Everything in the Shin Mehami Tensai frandhise is mythology inspired (not just Persona). If you love mythology definitly track down every game.

On Orpheus's voyage into Hades, there is an interesting parallel. Orpheus was allowed to remove death from Eurydice so long as they venture out of Hades and never turn back until they have both fully left. When Orpheus cleared the boundary of Hades, he didn't know that his wife was a little behind and still within the borders of the underworld. He turned back and saw his wife claimed again by death.

Likewise, when Aigis put Thanatos into the MC, all the MC had to do is stay away from Tatsumi Port Island and mankind will remain safe from certain death. At least until the Korijo group figure out the Dark Hour phenomenon. But the MC didn't know and he turned back. Mankind was once again within reach of death's grip.

On topic to Hypnos' design with the sleep stuff, in his concept art and on his model even though you can barely see it in game, he's actually wearing a sleeping mask on his face

So with takaya whole Jesus look and planning to bring the fall it pretty fucking obvious that he is suppose to be the false messiah/ anti christ a fake savior that will sit on the throne before Jesus’s return and that will start the end times and with what happens in game he is the fucking anti christ

I have to give props for being like the only video on all of YT to talk about Messiah in analytic format instead of a gameplay one.

I just noticed the other day that Makoto and Aigis on the roof is Christ and Mary in the pieta. The wind turbines in the background symbolize crosses.

awesome video; i just finished Persona 3 Reload and i've been so interested in the Personas and the mythology.

Would you ever do a video on Persona 4's personas? 4 has my favourite, design wise and stuff and the characters are my favourite too:) well it's ok if not haha, just wondering:D have a nice day

This really helped me appreciate the sheer genius of p3 thanks for the upload 🙏

dont you be dropping memories of you in the end there on me. I still cant hear that without choking up. how dare you

One thing you didn't mention was that the armor castor wears is broken and battered and the cannon is a blade impaling it

There is something very fitting about Akihiko's 2nd awakening as well. Polyduces begged Zues to give half his immortality to Castor so the brothers could be reunited and Zues gave them both eternal life among the stars. Aki's persona in turn becomes a mortal person, Caesar, whose legacy has given the figure eternal life as history's greatest emperor. Polyduces is also laid to rest at Shinji's funeral which I feel represents the two brothers acceding to the stars together.

y'know you could just pronounce "Isis" as "E-sees" instead of "eye-sass"

One would think it's Greek mythology theme would be on the nose but some people REALLY don't see it it's insane

Persona 3: Greek Mythology
Persona 4: Japanese Mythology
Persona 5: European Mythology
I wonder what other mythological characters will appear as Personas as in the next game. If it’s Chinese, I’d love to see a Sun Wukong Persona

I feel like its a shame Dionysus or another version of him didnt get an oppurtunity to be the persona of a main character in this game.

One of the reasons why the maenads tore apart Orpheus was to reenact one of the myths about Dionysus' birth.

In that version he is initially born as the child of Zeus and Persephone and is destined to one day succeed Zeus as king of the gods. Hera attempts to prevent this by having the infant Dionysus torn to pieces. Athena manages to save his heart which is then (depending on the version) either implanted into a mortal woman's womb or sown into Zeus' thigh, where it is eventually reborn as Dionysus, who is initially raised as a girl in order to hide him from Hera

I wonder how these connections to other mythical figures would have been represented in the connections to other characters if there had been someone with a Dionysus persona. Something fun to imagine.

Orpheus - God Of Harp
Thanatos - God Of Death

Awesome job! This is the kind of stuff that drew me into Persona/SMT (I kind of went backwards). I've always been a mythology buff (especially Greek and Norse) and while I was familiar with all the myths laid out in this video, it was very well done. The only comment that I'd like to (and I apologize if it's already mentioned) that if you ever need to mention Isis, you can refer to her as Esset as well. It is an alternate name for the Egyptian goddess. I came across it when eSports announcers were having the same issues. I'll definitely be looking through you channel for more content! Thanks again!

So I finished Reload about two days back now, and... I'm still not over that ending. Been catching myself crying over it now and again, like all the games in the modern trilogy hits hard but... this is on a whole different level. It feels about the same as actual grief.
So I gotta give it to Atlus, because they truly know how to hit hard with them feelings 😔
Sry if this felt irrelevant, I just had to open up somewhere where maybe someone could understand. Anyways ❤

About Chidori's Persona, Medea...
...she's a Rule Breaker, that woman.

This isn't just them. Every Persona in the franchise is based on some sort of myth, legend, or religion. The P4 cast has Personas based on Japanese myths, and the P5 cast has Personas based on legendary thieves. Many of the main character Personas are taught about in the classes, and the Compendium Personas have their myths explained in their Compendium descriptions.

To add to your Aegis analysis, Athena was born from Zeus’ head, same as Aegis, an AI, was born from an idea.

It's not mythology-related, but an interesting detail you didn't mention is that Thanatos has exactly enough coffins for each human party member (including Fuuka and Shinjiro). Never forgot that after I had it pointed out.

In reload Medea and Hermes fuse together and it's shown on screen

One concept about Penthesilea's dagger is it may be a parrying dagger, used toi block attacks while also being a weapon
This would represent her being aggressively guarded

This was great! Appreciate all the digging you did for one of my favorite games of all time.

To add on to the connections between Makoto and Messiah, we can interpret Makoto delaying his death until he fulfills his promise to S.E.E.S. as a parallel to Jesus choosing to spend his last moments with the Apostles after being resurrected before ascending to Heaven.

Actually on that note, we also can interpret Aigis inheriting Makoto’s Wild Card ability as a parallel to Jesus choosing Peter as his successor following his ascension.

A few cool details that may or may not have been the inspiration of the Personas:

- Trismegistus has an abstract bird head, this ties with Trismegistus being a syncretism of Hermes and Thoth, which is often portrayed as having an Ibis' head. Its name may be in itself a reference or a remnant to Junpei's earlier loud and self-centered attitude as Trismegistus literally means "Thrice-great".

- Medea's ram head may be a direct reference to her assassination of the king. Her dagger and cup also call to mind the several assassinations she carried out for Jason or to spite him. It may also be worth mentioning that the fact Medea could go berserk and kill Shidori may be a reference to Medea's assassination of her own children to spite Jason for wanting to leave her for a young princess, just as Medea killed those she was meant to care for, Shidori's persona harms her when it should protect her.

- Caesar suffers a similar transformation to Trismegistus in that in incorporates small touches of somebody else's persona, namely the black hues more often associated with Castor. Also theres the chance its called "Caesar" because its an amalgamation of both Julius Caesar and Caesar Augustus, because as it turns out they were opposites in many aspects: whereas Julius was a charismatic, strong leader who spearheaded many militar campaigns, Augustus was described as a cagey, more quiet man who didnt fight as often on account of his significatly poorer health; his strength laid in navigating politics and consolidating power through wit. This seemingly not only represents Akihiko's duality as both brains and brawn but Akihiko and Shinjiro's almost opposite lifepaths. Caesar's use of lightning fits neatly as well, many pre-christian Roman rulers had the habit if claming to be direct descendants of the gods, thus validating their rule as divinely ordained

I always found the p3 protagonists total lack of f's given in the beginning of the story when walking by literal floating coffins and under a green sky hilarious. Even in the remake he just shrugs it off and I had always wondered why

Can't tell if actually female so won't watch.

There's also the fact that Hermes was considered a guide to lost souls on the way to the underworld. In the game, you don't get to go to Tartarus (named after a section of the underworld) at all until Junpei joins the team.

Also favorite character in p3? Aigis Hands down because I'm a sucker for classic Science Fiction.

I find it incredibly ironic and hilarious that Yukari's Persona is a Cow wich is also an insult for "Terrible Women". Wich she most certainly is.😂

minta nyawa mak ga berangkat

Koromaru is the best boy. he cant get any better.

One thing I've always liked about P3 is how it tells you straight out the gate that you're going to die by putting 'memento mori' in the opening. The most famous tragedies in history tell you straight out the gate that the main characters are going to die, but that just makes everything more powerful because you're wanting things to work out for the characters despite knowing it's fruitless.

I didn't think much about the Greek mythology until this video. Of course Atlus games use characters from mythologies and spirits. But I'm surprised that P3 put this much effort into an accurate connection and have its own story that makes sense

I disagree with the dagger being about stabbing for Mitsuru's persona. The Rapier and dagger was a popular combinaison for dueling. It was primarily used for defense. I think it just represents her "nobless" of character.

Subscribed! Love your video.

I think you mean how every persona inspired Greek mythology

My favorite persona:
Ice ass

ice ass

Well, I am sorry, but I like P4 and P5 much better. Still, mt favorite persona is one that must be found via fusion. The persona Helial.

As a fan of persona and a Greek man myself. I feel honoured to have people across the world appreciate my culture and express it through their own creations. You have done an amazing video at explaining just how similar the Myths and The Game are, to that i say thank you and i wish you the best in your life. And on a personal note, if they in fact remake the entire game one day, i would want more Greek Personas and an overhaul on Tartarus itself because in the Myth, Tartarus has a LOT of sub sections within itself and it would make for an amazing dungeon to grind and slay shadows.