WARNING: Spoilers forPersona 3 Portable,Persona 4 Golden, andPersona 5 Royalahead. Proceed at your own risk.ThePersonaseries is known for its fantastic narrative twists and deep character development, andPersona 3 Portableis one of the best examples in the franchise. ManyPersonaantagonists are great characters because of their two-faced and deceitful nature, but Ryoji fromPersona 3 Portableis different in that he is unknowingly a villain. This is a unique take on the friend-to-enemy trope and future entires should consider a similar approach to their villains.
SincePersona 3 Portable,Persona 4 Golden, andPersona 5 Royalhave been made available on modern platforms, discussion aboutPersona 6has begun heating up, with many speculating on how the next entry in the series will shake things up. While thesuccess ofPersona 5may have catapulted the series into the mainstream, there are several aspects ofPersona 3that the next title should borrow. Among these features is the narrative structure that allows for more interesting antagonists like Ryoji to develop over the course of the game, with neither the player nor the character themselves realizing their true role until the very end.
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Persona 6 Should Consider Another Tragic Antagonist Like Persona 3’s Ryoji
Persona 3pits players against a number of foes trying to control the power of Shadows and the Dark Hour, including Shuji Ikutsuki and his artificial Persona users in Strega, but the most threatening isPersona 3’s main antagonist Nyx, a celestial being intent on destroying humanity. In order to be reawakened from her hibernation, Nyx requires the Appraiser of the Fall, Death, to summon her, leading them to become her avatar in turn. As a part of this reawakening, the protagonist is visited by a mysterious boy named Pharos whose true identity doesn’t become clear until after some late-game revelations.
Ryoji Mochizuki doesn’t appear until late in the game, but makes for one of the most compelling and tragiccharacters inPersona 3. It’s revealed that Ryoji is the embodiment of Death who previously took the form of Pharos, only being freed after the player defeats all 12 of the Major Arcana Shadows. In a tragic twist, Ryoji is unaware of his past until Aigis senses his true identity. The game portrays Ryoji as feeling genuinely distraught by the idea of having to betray his friends to become the avatar of Nyx.
The character arc of Ryoji is arguably more compelling when compared to other Persona antagonists likePersona 4’s Tohru Adachi orPersona 5’s Goro Akechi. While both of these characters are misanthropes masquerading as allies until dropping their facade, Ryoji makes for a more interesting character because he is unaware of his greater role and forms genuine connections with the protagonist and members of SEES. Adachi’s reveal as the murderer inPersona 4and Akechi’s betrayal of the Phantom Thieves inPersona 5are both shocking, but neither of them hurt as much as the revelation that SEES is going to have to fight their friend against his will in order to prevent the apocalypse.
AlthoughPersonagames typically end with a battle against a godlike being that’s bent on humanity’s destruction,Persona 3’s final battle against Nyx Avatar is so much more impactful knowing the tragedy of Ryoji’s story.Persona 3has some of the most well-written characters in the series and Ryoji represents the complexity of an antagonist that is possible within the game’s narrative structure.Persona 6has the potential to repeat this level of character development by taking a cue fromPersona 3and developing a similarly tragic villain.
Persona 3 Portableis available now for Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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