Persona Theory Crafting

[Pyon Pyon Kyuu!~]

Before anything: FOR OBVIOUS REASONS this thread will be full of spoilers. If you care about spoilers of any game (Persona 1, 2.1, 2.2, 3, 4, 4 Arena, 4 Ultimax Literally ANY persona game) then don't frequent this thread. That or don't moan about spoilers. Cheers! \o

Hai \o I had a theory I thought of kind of to fit characters into patterns. Power in the persona universe seems to be measured in weird ways. As in: every character has a different power level. It's not just about being a wild card or not.

Example: In Arena when Kanji fights Akihiko, Akihiko states that Kanji is incredibly strong but undisciplined. So if Kanji had any actual fighting style or experience he would be stronger than Akhiiko, a veteran fighter/persona user. Kanji over all in the anime seems to be the strongest in his team, second only to Yu (but that's for obvious reasons)

There's also another part! When it comes to the Wild Cards, I don't think either Yu or Makoto/Minato/whatever you want to call him are pure Wild Cards. In the fact that, both of them hold more power than just the Wild Card. Yu was given his persona power by Izanami, but the Wild Card was his own. The proof of this is Adachi, who also got his power from Izanami yet can't change personas. But either way, Adachi is stronger than almost all persona users, because he has part of Izanami's power. Therefore it can be assumed that so does Yu (and Namatame but that is a story that doesn't matter).

Persona 3's protagonist also had borrowed powers. He had the powers of death in him for most of the game, so he is also more powerful than just a Wild Card.

The only Wild Card who I don't think is aided by any outside force is Aigis, who just inherits the Wild Card.

So let's theory craft!

What makes a persona user stronger than another one? Is Kanji's resolve stronger than Akihiko, and therefore his persona is stronger?

Do the god like powers of Yu and Persona 3's protagonist come from their outside forces, or from the Wild Card?

Can a Wild Card be more than just a fool, or is Aigis just a special case? (Persona 2 is a special case, no one was a fool and all of them had WIld Cards because of Philemon's intervention).

And while we're at it, what the hell even is the Wild Card?

THEORIES LESS GO!

[Felicity]

Bond = power. This is established all throughout the series. The reason the WC users are stronger than others is because they came to understand how important those bonds are. I say "Came to" due to the way Minato comes across in the first P3 Film, very robotic and fairly uncaring towards others, unlike what you'd expect of someone that knew the strength of those bonds.

To address the whole god powers, obviously in each plot the gods who bestowed the initial ability are defeated and in a sense dissipated. That said, they can't exactly continue giving the MCs power at this point so I believe they stopped doing so earlier on. The power of the deities were the training wheels that each protagonist grew out of as they came to understand the importance of bonds and connections. Thus, why they're so strong, one literally delaying the apocalypse continuously and the other going on to defeat several gods despite defeating Izanami.

As for each characters powers, I'd assume it's the same shtick. Personally, Kanji is a much more sensitive "Feely" character for Akihiko for obvious reasons, so I feel he'd treasure his own bonds more, making him a stronger P user.

[Pyon Pyon Kyuu!~]

Bond = power. This is established all throughout the series. The reason the WC users are stronger than others is because they came to understand how important those bonds are. I say "Came to" due to the way Minato comes across in the first P3 Film, very robotic and fairly uncaring towards others, unlike what you'd expect of someone that knew the strength of those bonds.

To address the whole god powers, obviously in each plot the gods who bestowed the initial ability are defeated and in a sense dissipated. That said, they can't exactly continue giving the MCs power at this point so I believe they stopped doing so earlier on. The power of the deities were the training wheels that each protagonist grew out of as they came to understand the importance of bonds and connections. Thus, why they're so strong, one literally delaying the apocalypse continuously and the other going on to defeat several gods despite defeating Izanami.

As for each characters powers, I'd assume it's the same shtick. Personally, Kanji is a much more sensitive "Feely" character for Akihiko for obvious reasons, so I feel he'd treasure his own bonds more, making him a stronger P user.

Well in Persona 4 Ultimax, Adachi's power is still closely linked to Izanami. Adachi held the power to stop the villain of that game, so does that mean that Yu lost his part of the Izanami power or that he also still holds it?

[Felicity]

Maybe Yu does still have it in that case, but does not rely on it as Adachi does?

[Godot]

Personally I believe that power comes from personality, personal strength, intelligence, and of course sheer dumb luck. The Fool or "Wild Card" symbizes someone who is open minded, but has a lot to learn. And as the residents of the velvet room say... "limitless potential."

As for the Kanji vs Akihiko thing. kanji is naturally a big guy, I don't remember him ever saying that he performs any specific flavor of training, so he is a "naturally big Guy. But since he is open minded and more "feelsy". He most likely will have stronger PERSONA powers, not stronger fighting skills. As an Akihiko main I realized something important... He rarely uses his persona. Aki actually has little to no use for it sometimes. So Aki has better physical skills, but far less persona skills. Another aspect of his character to acknowledge is that Aki is a very closed off person and unlike Kanji who was unhappy due to be closed off, Aki seems absolutely ok with it.

Lastly is involving tarots. Mael and I discovered that how tarots are assigned are often completely random or "chosen by fate". Every month of the year and Zodiac has a tarot aligned with it. I am pretty sure that the creators of the persona series are fully aware of this.

In case you are curious, Mael's Tarot is the Star and mine is the Hierophant.

[Felicity]

Yo, Godot, you got any reference for that? Sounds interesting.

EDIT: Apparently I'm temperance and Hierophant. Kinda fits me, as a lot of people confide in me and listen to my advice despite how I may seem to you all

[Pyon Pyon Kyuu!~]

Yeah I remember taking the same test, I got Star. Either way so far it seems to make sense. So who else doesn't rely on their persona, and who relies a lot on their persona? (Adachi)

[Felicity]

I'd imagine Junpei would rely on his Persona a lot. It's what makes him special and unique in his eyes, the mask that makes him the superhero. Furthermore, his persona Trismegistus is linked to Chidori, the girl he loved, shown in the regen skill I think he gets at that point. It's something more than a tool as it is to some P users, It represents more about him and arguably his most meaningful bond than say Yukiko or Chies does. (I can't stand those two) That question is quite subjective as some people will spot more about their favourite characters and how they think the character uses the persona nad it's meaning to them

I might just say here that I think character development in P3 is done so much better. I legit care so, so, so much more about all of the P3 characters than I ever did the P4. (Junpei's my bro dammit)