And here I will wrap up Niijima Sae's arc, with a bunch of the minibosses encountered in her casino dungeon. I don't think I like the casino dungeon as a video game dungeon as much as Futaba and Okumura's palace, but boy oh boy, I definitely appreciate the aesthetic of it. The music, particularly.
And I guess I should have a bit more commentary on the actual story? This is the penultimate dungeon in the original Persona 5, and... I would actually kind of agree that it's not quite as climactic as the game originally makes it out to be. The framing story with Sae learning about Joker, and around 80% of the original base game's story taking place as part of this story Joker is telling to Sae before he gets caught is actually quite cool, but I really did wish that Sae got... a little more? I don't know. I guess the 'talk-no-jutsu' thing really didn't work out for me, although admittedly they did foreshadow that this is a possibility with both the situations with Futaba and Mishima. It's not bad by any means, of course, but I really did wish Sae's character interacted with Joker a bit more outside of the interrogation room, where she just basically alternates between slamming the table and looking pensive at disturbing revelations.
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Naga Raja
- Monster Name: Snake King
- Arcana: Temperance
We have a couple more minibosses throughout Niijima's rather substantial Palace, and let's start with Naga Raja here! Raja literally means 'king', and the Nagaraja are the kings of Nagas. In Hindu myths, there are three primary Nagaraja, who are Shesha, Takshaka and Vasuki. Shesha showed up in Persona 5 as 'Ananta'. Buddhism has many more named Nagaraja (two of whom, Nanda and Takshaka, are named in the description), many of whom aid in protecting the Buddha.
As a design, I like the Naga Raja look much more than his weaker Naga counterpart, though using the much more speckled snake as a base, and having him coil up does make him look so much threatening. Pretty fun helmet and those little white ribbons moving off his body! I like him.
Thor
- Monster Name: Thunder Emperor
- Arcana: Chariot
Thor! Thor is here, and... he's an interesting design. Instead of going for the traditional (even discounting Marvel) bearded Viking look, I actually like that they gave Thor a very badass full-face helmet with ominous glowing eyes and horns. The rest of his design is rather okay, though I kinda hoped they put like one of those war-skirts so Thor doesn't look like he's wearing a one-piece swimsuit? Otherwise he's a pretty cool take on one of the most iconic mythological figures in pop culture. I do like that the larger 'gauntlets' on his wrists and ankles, as well as the white outfit highlights and darker skin do make Thor look a bit more unique... but between the cape and the war-hammer, he's still a recognizable 'Thor', y'know?
Now I'm not sure why Thor is moonlighting in a battle arena in the middle of a casino dungeon, but this is a cognitive world, so...
Thor wields the mighty hammer Mjölnir, which causes lightning to flash from it every time he swings it, and wears the belt Megingjörð and the iron gloves Járngreipr, and owns the staff Gríðarvölr. He rides in a chariot pulled by two goats. Many myths of Thor's strength and prowess are told in Nordic myths, and many among them involve his conflict with the Jotuns (or 'ice giants'), and it is prophesied that Thor would face off against the monstrous World-Serpent Jormungandr when time came for Ragnarök.
Baal
- Monster Name: Reviled Dictator
- Arcana: Emperor
Oh, Baal! Baal's design in Persona 5 is... it's pretty competent, I guess. He's a dude in regalia, holding a cup. He's got a fancy headress with horns, and I think those dragon-scale-wings thing running down his back is part of his crown? The mythological Baal was sometimes depicted with a horned headress, so it fits. I didn't realize it's meant to be Baal and honestly just kind of forgot about this miniboss fight entirely until I went back and looked at the Wiki for bosses in Niijima's Palace. Not much to say about his design, this is one of those that the real-world lore is a fair bit more interesting!
'Baal' is actually a title in Semitic cultures that translates roughly to 'Lord'. Normally, though, this refers to Baal-Hadad, the Canaanite and Syrian god of rain, fertility, life, agriculture and thunder. He's considered a, if not the, chief god in many Middle-Eastern communities. As time went on, Baal-Hadad's epithet of Baal became more commonly known rather than his given name -- with some historians noting that only priests were allowed to utter the divine name. Baal represents the life-giving power of storms and rains, which means that the lands he blessed was moist and filled with the dew of life. He wrestled divine kingship from Yam, the tyrannical sea god, and would be associated with royal authority for kings. Baal was featured prominently in the 'Baal Cycle', a mythological epic where Baal was locked in combat with the evil Mot -- we've covered this story when we covered Mot and Anat before. Baal's temporary death and resurrection was used as the explanation for dry seasons and rain seasons.
However, the Hebrew Bible -- and Christianity -- became extremely influential, and the term Baal is often used in the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, as a vilified pagan god. There are also probably several different Baal's in the Bible, since, again, the term means 'Lord', with at least Baal-Berith being also mentioned in the Bible. Most prominent of this rivalry was a tale between the Queen Jezebel, who introduced Baal worship into Israel and was opposed by the prophet Elijah. Later on, the term 'Baalzebub' (or more commonly spelled now, Beelzebub) is used. Baalzebub literally means 'Lord of the Flies', because 'Baal' means Lord, and it was probably originally intended as an insult to Baal. However, the context of Baalzebub was used in reference to demons, which eventually morphed into Baal, Beelzebub and a couple of variations like Bel, Bael, Belphegor and Belial. (Some of which also draw from other religions)
Anyway, I do appreciate that Persona 5 actually adapts the original myth of Baal as a benign and human-protecting rain deity. It's definitely a nice variation compared to just having demonic designs everywhere!
Moloch
- Monster Name: Sacrificial Pyre-Keeper
- Arcana: Hanged Man
It definitely is a very strange-looking design, and I'm not sure how the anatomy works or what particular advantages that this body layout really offers. But hey, it sure is unique! The design for Moloch, with those vivid circular detailing on his abdomen, are most likely derived from specific artworks from early Christian depictions of Moloch, which depict him as combining both a bull-headed man with a furnace. Is that what this design is supposed to be? Is the robotic mermaid lower body meant to be a walking furnace? Interestingly, looking at the SMT Wiki, Moloch's design in Devil Summoner is literally just this design, but with a more demonic-gargoyle-statue look to it.
Moloch (sometimes Molech or Molek) is also a pagan deity mentioned in the Bible, but unlike Baal-Hadad above, there isn't a counterpart from other cultures the way there was for Baal. Moloch was mentioned in the Book of Leviticus, as a pagan god that demands child sacrifices. He was originally thought to be an alternate name for Chemosh/Kamos (another Semitic deity) or Baal-Hadad. Modern scholars have debated whether Moloch was an actual deity, or if mlk itself is just a term that means 'sacrifice'.
Since the Medieval period, Moloch has been depicted as a bull-headed humanoid, thanks to conflation with the legend of the Minotaur. If you guys remember when I covered Asterius in the DLC Personas, the King of Minos would sacrifice youths into the labyrinth to appease the minotaur every year.
Shadow Niijima Sae
- Monster Name: Niijima Leviathan Sae
- Arcana: Judgment
So as the calling card identifies, our next villain Niijima Sae, who is probably the one that's the most involved with the plot due to her being family of one of the main characters as well as being the character that the framing story is told through. She represents the sin of Envy, translated in this game as Jealousy, and when you sit to think about it, a lot of her more aggressive actions in the game are driven by envy. Being a woman trying to climb the ladder in a male-dominated world; being jealous of her younger sister who has someone (herself!) that provides for her; being jealous of the talented young detective Akechi Goro; and even her deluded Palace is in the form of a casino -- which could be taken to how she views her career and her advancement chances to be like playing in a casino, and in her delusions and jealousy she's even been driven to cheat and falsify information before our heroes take her down. I do like that this is a bit more nuanced than "grrr grrr, the Jealousy villain is super-JEALOUS of something that other people has".
Just like Mammon, Asmodeus and (partly) Bael before her, Niijima's 'demon name' is Leviathan, who takes from the traditional Christian demonology list of the Seven Princes of Hell. Leviathan is actually more commonly known as a sea monster, due to how Leviathan was listed in several books of the Bible (including Psalms, Isaiah, Amos and Jonah, and the oft-quoted Book of Job) as a large sea monster. The Leviathan of the Book of Job likely drew its inspiration from the Canaanite monster Lotan, featured in myths about Baal-Hadad, but adapted to fit the Hebrew theology. According to Judaic lore, the Leviathan will fight the Behemoth, who lived on the land, and fight each other at the world's end.
The term 'Leviathan' itself is often used as a term for large aquatic creatures, with many people also speculating that the 'Leviathan' mentioned in the Bible are instead crocodiles, hippopotamuses, whales, or even dinosaurs. At some point, Christian theologians also conflated the Leviathan as a demon, and he was listed as representing the sin of Envy, and is often depicted as a 'Hellmouth' in Anglo-Saxon era artwork, where the Leviathan's massive mouth acts as the gate to hell.
Niijima ultimately transforms into her 'Leviathan' form, which is... this giant hunched-backed post-apocalyptic cyborg monster that looks like it comes from the edgy 80's-90's comics. It's a cool design, actually, as far as these things go, with the scraggly hair and the segmented faceplate. I do like that she has two gigantic, over-the-top weaponry attached to her hands -- a big rusty blade and a giant multi-barreled Mad Max gatling gun. It just... I dunno. I kinda like the restraint in not just making every boss a big elaborate enemy, but it just feels... off compared to the rest of Niijima's theme? Really, the only thing I can think of is that it's an appropriate enemy for Makoto to fight, with her Fist of the North Star inspired outfit, but otherwise I really would've liked for the dungeon boss to have a bit more of a thematic cohesion either with her personality, her sin or her dungeon theme.
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