Oh yeah, after the Mercurius thing with Morgana, this is basically the second of probably two or three parts of me covering the final dungeon, which is the Depths of Mementos combined with the Qliphoth World. It's... it's the most 'epic fantasy JRPG' that this game has been, which feels intensely jarring -- purposefully so -- with every single part of the dungeon before it where the barrier between the real and cognitive world is very starkly enforced. This is a plot twist that I was somewhat aware of when I went into this game, and I do realize that at the very least Persona 3 had a similar apocalyptic feel to it. The massive cutscenes that happen all throughout this arc are at least spread out a fair bit across the two dungeon crawls that happen, though.
There are certain payoffs that are... well, I think they would make a bit more sense if I'm more aware of the previous Persona games and how the Velvet Room is supposed to function? At this moment I'm just shrugging and going along with the Igor, Morgana, Igor, False Igor, Justine/Caroline and Lavenza twists.
I think the biggest thing to wrap my head around is the true identity of 'False Igor', since all of our previous antagonists are essentially 'Shadow' versions of people that have a counterpart in the 'real world'. I suppose our enemy right now is the 'shadow' of everyone in Japan that's merged together into an angry 'God of Control', but it just feels kind of weird? Maybe if there was a bit more buildup to the fact that this thing exists, the way that the huge Sae/Akechi/Shido sequence was built up throughout the rest of the game... (the buildup to the creepiness of the Velvet Room and how it's essentially corrupted, however, was handled pretty well).
Anyway, I had a whole bunch of late-game Personas that I fused over the course of this dungeon -- like Scathach, Vohu Manah, Sraosha, Alice, Sandalphon, Thor and a couple of others... but I thought for the sake of being thematic, I'd go through the enemies and minibosses found in the final dungeon first.
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Throne
- Monster Name: Fire Assassin
- Arcana: Justice
The Thrones (sometimes synonymous with the Ophanim) are one of the types of angels described in the Bible, and the 'De Coelesti Hierarchia' list we keep talking about ranks the Thrones as the third highest of the nine levels of angels, only below the Cherubim and Seraphim. Thrones are normally depicted as great interlocking wheels with many eyes and are also on fire, and constantly chant 'glory to God', as per their description in the book of Ezekiel in the Bible. They are also sometimes described as the actual wheels of God's throne. This is basically one of the few descriptions of angels that lead to the 'Biblically Accurate Angels' meme, thanks to their Biblical description being, well, interlocking wheels covered with eyes but are actually angels.
And... Persona's Throne is somehow a lot more boring. Sure, the visual imagery of a dude being tied to a spinning, wheel with burning spokes is a morbid one, and is certainly more interesting than all the winged humanoids that we'll be talking about after this, but it's rather surprising that they went for the more boring way to depict the Throne.
Anyway, if it's not obvious, a majority of the enemies in this final dungeon are angelic or are some form of deity, with the likes of Moloch, Thor and Mara also appearing alongside the Thrones, Dominions and Melchizedeks.
Uriel
- Monster Name: Herald of Death
- Arcana: Justice
And this is why I wasn't really sure about whether I should split these guys up with some of the 'fused' Personas, or if I'm going to talk about them in one go... and I guess I should just bite the bullet and talk about the Four Archangels from Judeo-Christianity lore, which serve as a bit of a miniboss rush before the final boss of the game. The amount of named archangels really differ from denomination to denomination among the Abrahamic religions, with most agreeing on two (Gabriel and Michael), and the Roman Catholic church counting Raphael among them -- in 745, Pope Zachary cracked down on the obsession of assigning names to angels and venerating them, since their names were not listed in the canonical books of the Bible. Still, thanks to cultural influences and the sheer volume of apocryphal texts, the names of these other angels remain. Some traditions count as many as four to eight archangels, but when a Christian denomination names a fourth angel, he tends to be called Uriel, most likely due to his prominence as a set of four in the Book of Enoch (which is no longer considered 'canon' by most churches).
Uriel (sometimes Auriel) means the 'Flame of God', and depending on the apocryphal sources, Uriel is sometimes identified as the unnamed angel in the Book of Genesis that stands at the gate of the Garden of Eden with a flaming sword; or in the Book of Enoch, as the angel that rules over Tartarus. Other denominations consider Uriel as a patron of the arts and wisdom, depicting him carrying a scroll or a book.
...and I really don't have much to say about the Persona design. He sure is an angelic guy? Uriel has a typical pretty-boy look, has light blue skin and wields a (disappointingly non-flaming) sword but is otherwise just an angel dude. In some extent this mundaneness does make him and his three Archangel brethren look a bit more 'special' compared to the more over-the-top design of the other angels, I guess it kinda works?
Raphael
- Monster Name: Cleanser of Heaven
- Arcana: Lovers
Raphael (God has healed) is an archangel recognized by the Catholic Church as appearing in the Book of Tobit. In some Jewish tradition, Raphael is identified as one of the heavenly visitors that Abraham entertained at the Oak of Mamre, and some Christian tradition identifies Raphael with the unnamed angel that stirs the waters in the Pool of Bethesda in John 5:2-4. In the noncanonical Book of Enoch, Raphael is identified as an archangel over disease, and also is the one responsible for binding the armies of the fallen angel Azazel and throwing them into the valley of fire.
Raphael's biggest role in the Catholic Bible is in the Book of Tobit. God sends Raphael to aid Tobit and his family, and Raphael takes the disguise of a man called Azariah, aiding Tobit and his son Tobias. Raphael helps to heal Tobit's blindness, and would later instruct them to expel the demon Asmodeus with a specific fish, who torments Tobit's family member Sarah. Raphael departs after telling Tobit and Tobias to praise God and declare his deeds to the people. Thus, Raphael is associated with healing. Due to his act in uniting Tobias and Sarah, who eventually marry, Raphael is also sometimes associated with uniting lovers, hence being associated with the arcana Lovers in Persona.
Again, Raphael is just a guy with wings, differently-coloured skin and a different style of Christian-themed robes. His hair is the most memorable of the four, but that's mostly because he uses anime hair gel and that looks a bit interesting in an otherwise Western-looking design.
Gabriel
- Monster Name: Declarer of Anguish
- Arcana: Temperance
Probably the most famous angel in Christianity, Judaism and Islam, Gabriel (God is my strength) is known as a messenger, most famously featured in the New Testament as the messenger of God who tells Elizabeth that she will bear John the Baptist; and the Virgin Mary that she would bear Jesus. Gabriel also appears in the Old Testament in the Book of Daniel, helping Daniel explain some of the apocalyptic visions he has. In Islamic tradition, Gabriel is sent by God to various prophets, including Muhammad.
In the canonical Bible, Gabriel is never identified as an 'archangel', but many extracanonical and apocryphal texts like the Book of Enoch (which we just keep bringing up!) identify Gabriel as one of the four archangels, giving him even more duties like battling the Nephilim, or being the one that will blow the trumpet that heralds the apocalypse, though none of these are listed in the canonical Bible.
Shin Megami Tensei and Persona gender-flips Gabriel, although otherwise they don't really do much with her. I really am running out of things to say about these angels.
Michael
- Monster Name: Apocalyptic Guide
- Arcana: Judgment
In the canonical Bible, Michael is the only angel explicitly identified as an archangel. He also shows up in Judaism and Islam, and is almost always shown as the chief of angels and archangels, and is mentioned explicitly in the Book of Revelations where he does battle with Satan. Michael is also mentioned by name in the Book of Daniel, where he is noted to battle the 'prince of Persia'. In Roman Catholic teachings, Michael has four roles -- as the leader of the Army of God; as the angel that carries the soul of Christians to heaven; as the one that weighs the souls on his scales; and the guardian of the church.
Again... I'm really running out of things to say here. Michael does have the most war-like outfit out of the four Persona angels, with a metallic breastplate and stuff, but... I mean, they sure are angels! Again, it has been an interesting rabbit hole for me to read all about how the various Abrahamic religions consider these angels and how a lot of them share similar-yet-distinct roles over the different religions.
Holy Grail
We actually fight the 'Holy Grail' at the midway point of a dungeon, but it ends up being essentially unbeatable, constantly resurrecting its health. In the story of Persona 5, the Holy Grail is the ultimate treasure of mankind in Mementos, representing all the desire of every single person, gaining sentience and basically coming to the conclusion that all humanity wants is to be controlled and be spoon-fed whatever they needed to believe. A rather interesting motivation for the final villain of a game whose main theme is rebellion.
The design and name of the Holy Grail, of course, is a reference to the myth of the Holy Grail, popularized by the Arthurian myths and many, many other pop culture media that draws from it (like Indiana Jones). Purportedly the cup that Jesus drank wine from in the Last Supper, it is said that the Holy Grail will grant immortality to anyone who drinks from it. The Holy Grail is often featured as the ultimate treasure that is searched for by knights and adventurers, and in modern English, 'holy grail' is now a term used to denote an elusive object.
The design of the Holy Grail itself is... well, a gigantic grail embedded to the floor of the boss fight chamber, with a spinning outer layer and chains locking it to the ground. It shoots lasers! The most interesting thing, though, are the masses of vein-looking wires or tendrils or roots that constantly feed into it, drawing the 'wishes' of mankind, and it's with these blood-vessel looking things that the Holy Grail constantly powers up during the boss fight.
Also in the chamber are two massive golden hands, but they serve no purpose in the fight until the Holy Grail reveals its true form:
God of Control, Yaldabaoth
Which is the skyscraper-sized Yaldabaoth, a gigantic metallic building angel. The two hands holding the cup turn out to be this giant Gundam-angel's hands, and the angel-wings that form the body of the cup end up spreading out and becoming Yaldabaoth's halo. It... it sure is a giant, over-the-top angelic figure that is pretty much what you expect from the final boss of a J-RPG, I guess? I never get too excited about these designs, though the boss fight against a giant crystalline, robotic angelic figure is a pretty fun visual spectacle. He at least doesn't have the proportions of a regular human being, and I do like the sharp angles and artificial-looking look to him.
Yaldabaoth, as mentioned, is the size of a building, and your heroes look positively tiny next to them. He has four massive beehive-looking things on his hips that turn out to be pockets where he stores his weapons:
...which makes the design a bit more interesting, I suppose. With these robotic-looking appendages, Yaldabaoth will call out a sin and condemn humanity for it, before pulling out one of four weapons from his little hip-pouches. We've got a gun, a sword, a book and a bell, each of which has its own attacks and resistances.
Pretty interesting for a boss-fight mechanic that prevents Yaldabaoth from feeling like just a damage sponge, though I do find Yaldabaoth honestly rather straightforward other than the addition of multiple little hand-minions. Oh, we have the whole 'seven sins' theme going on, right? Futaba's dungeon was seemingly split between wrath and sloth, but the Depths of Mementos certainly has a very heavy 'sloth' influence to it with how apathetic the rest of humanity is to the changes imposed by Yaldabaoth.
Yaldabaoth is a figure in Gnostic beliefs, an alternate name for the 'Demiurge'. The Demiurge is an artisan figure that fashions the physical universe in the Gnostic teachings, but not the true creator deity. Instead, he is created by Sophia, one of the aeons. Sophia realized that her creation was imperfect, and in her shame, covered the Demiurge with a great cloud. With no knowledge of his creators, the Demiurge concluded that it was born out of nothing, was the true creator god, and began to create our physical universe. When the Demiurge created man, however, he was unable to grant him a soul. The aeon Sophia pitied the man (Adam) and gave him that divine spark that gave it life, and this infuriated Demiurge, who felt his rule was challenged.
In most traditions (there are many variations in gnosticism) the Demiurge/Yaldabaoth is usually ignorant of its true status as someone that's not a true God, being willfully ignorant of the spiritual universe. Depending on the source, the Demiurge is either malevolently masquerading as God, or simply ignorant of its true status. Some sources call him Samael, Saklas, or Yaldabaoth. Depending on the teachings, after man got their divine spark, the Demiurge sought to contain them to the material world.
There is a lot of different alternate teachings of Gnosticism, and I really just begun to read all of this recently. Certainly there are some parallels with Persona 5's Yaldabaoth being a false god as he impersonates Igor, and an attempt to take control of mankind. But this is supposed to be a monster review, huh? Anyway... yeah. Yaldabaoth sure is a pretty neat-looking kaiju-sized gundam angel guy! Again, I do appreciate that he's not just a big angel, and the triangular shapes do make him look a bit more distinct. He isn't my favourite boss in the game by a far margin, though I do kind of feel like this sequence does lose a lot of the 'heist' vibes that made the rest of the game so aesthetically pleasing. Not going to lie, I kinda wished that there was a bit more 'Igor' incorporated into at least one of his phases, since that's the 'face' we've been interacting with for 90% of the game. Oh well!
Satanael
- Arcana: Fool
And... design-wise, Satanael is sure a big demonic angel creature, with gigantic horns and a big-ass revolver that he shoots the final bullet from. He's got six devilish wings, and is the size of a building, descending from the skies when Joker summons him. And... he sure is a giant demon-angel guy. I much prefer Arsene and Raoul's looks as Joker's Personas compared to Satanael, honestly. Both of them do embody the 'phantom thief' vibe that the game really likes. Satanael is at least an interesting-looking design, I just find myself rather ambivalent about him other than the massive role he plays in the finale. I can totally see people who really like Satanael, but I must confess that other than the epic feel of the finale in general he honestly feels a bit underwhelming.
(He has a stat screen here, but Satanael himself isn't actually playable outside of a New Game Plus).
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That said, I did enjoy the final battle of the base Persona 5, and will be heading into the Royal content soon. The next article will cover a bunch of late-game personas that I felt like it would be nicer to talk about after all of these angels.
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