History Characters / Persona3Protagonists

** [[spoiler:They possesses the ego fragment of the Nyx Avatar while all of its powers are split.]]
** [[spoiler:Not to mention becoming the Great Seal to prevent Erebus from contacting Nyx.]]
* BarredFromTheAfterlife: [[spoiler:They use their soul to create the Great Seal to prevent Erebus from calling Nyx, eternally binding themselves to it after their death. Unless humanity as a whole can mature beyond their self-destructive despair enough to prevent Erebus from rising again, the Protagonist will never be able to pass on to the Sea of Souls.]]

* TheHero: Your best fighter, both for physical and magical attacks, as well as intellectually and socially capable.

* TheUnchosenOne: In a sense - the incident that [[spoiler:led to Death/Pharos being sealed in them]] was essentially a random accident that could have happened to anyone - [[spoiler:they just happened to be there when Aigis defeated Ryoji and needed a vessel to seal Death inside of]].

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: When he experiences the Dark Hour for the first time, he just shrugs and keeps walking. Taken UpToEleven in the movie tetralogy where it's revealed that he has known about the Dark Hour for ''ten years'' and hadn't reacted much to it.

* TheHeart: She's as much of a pillar as the male character, but compared to him, she shows some more incentive to take charge and act as a "boss" like [[VideoGame/Persona4 their successor]]. It does help that unlike her male counterpart, she has Social Links with all of her teammates rather than just having links with the girls in the party. Taken UpToEleven in ''Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth'', since despite having multiple characters who play into this trope, she notably manages to stand out.

* SealedEvilInADuel: [[spoiler:Their soul forms the Great Seal that prevents Erebus, the embodiment of mankind's despair, from reaching Nyx. Erebus cannot be fully destroyed as long a mankind longs for death, the Protagonist must endure its attacks for all eternity.]]

* TheAntiNihilist: The protagonist starts the story seeing little to no meaning in their life, content to coast along, apathetic of desire or goals. As the plot moves along and they bond with others, they slowly open up and start seeing living itself as valuable regardless of circumstances. [[spoiler: This allows them to continue fighting Nyx despite knowing defeating her is impossible.]] The Male Protagonist is more blatant about it, but the Female Protagonist [[StepfordSmiler hides it behind a cheery facade]].

* BarredFromTheAfterlife: [[spoiler: They use their soul to create the Great Seal to prevent Erebus from calling Nyx, eternally binding themselves to it after their death. Unless humanity as a whole can mature beyond their self-destructive despair enough to prevent Erebus from rising again, the Protagonist will never be able to pass on to the Sea of Soul.]]

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: In the Good Ending, [[spoiler:after the group fails to eliminate the Nyx Avatar, the protagonist travels to confront Nyx in person and manages to replace the seal on Nyx.]]

* LivingOnBorrowedTime: [[spoiler:After casting the Great Seal, they are destined to die. However, they stayed alive long enough to fulfill their promise to meet their friends on the school rooftop on Graduation Day.]]

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:They uses their soul to create a seal to stop Nyx.]]

** She doesn't get the same amount of attention or merchandise as her male counterpart, and unlike him she's exclusive to the PSP port of the game. She doesn't have much prominence in side materials either (out of the many drama [=CDs=], she appears in only ''one''). Thankfully, the stage play gives her a good deal of spotlight (including giving her a name), and it's helped that they take a number of cues from the movies.
** She's finally made an appearance alongside her male counterpart in ''Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth'', making it her first game since the release of [=P3P=]. Furthermore, [=P3P=] became the only version of ''Persona 3'' to be ported to eighth-gen platforms and beyond, giving her even further prominence in marketing ''Persona 3'' to a new generation of players.

** She's finally made an appearance alongside her male counterpart in ''Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth'', making it her first game since the release of [=P3P=].

* TheHeart: She's as much of a pillar as the male character, but compared to him, she shows some more incentive to take charge and act as a "boss" like [[VideoGame/Persona4 their successor]]. Taken UpToEleven in ''Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth'', since despite having multiple characters who play into this trope, she notably manages to stand out.

* {{Deuteragonist}}: She is this in ''Persona Q2'', being the second most important protagonist after Joker.

* MeaningfulName: Her name in the stage play is Kotone, which means "lyre", alluding to the mythological Orpheus's instrument.

* PlatonicLifePartners: Much like her male counterpart, she develops a very close and prominent friendship with Junpei. However, it's notable that he also lacks a romance option with her, meaning their relationship is purely platonic (with Junpei calling her a Very Important Friend). [[note]]There were scrapped plans for a Junpei romance, however.[[/note]]

* PelvisPose: He often stands like this, especially when he is walking to school in the morning. Not many other character seems to stand this way. His personality, regardless of choices, comes off as being aloof or disinterested.

** The female protagonist taps her naginata against her foot during battles and while exploring Tartarus. In ''Q2,'' her many of her model animations have her putting her hand to her chest.

* CharacterTic: As can be seen in his image above, he keeps his hands in his pockets a lot. Not only is he usually seen walking this in cutscenes, but he'll also even do it in gameplay if he's [[IdleAnimation left alone for a few seconds]]. When finishing up a fight, he's usually seen slipping his free hand into his pocket after flourishing his weapon.

* ReiAyanamiExpy: Particularly in the movies, he's like a male version of her, being a [[TheStoic Stoic]] [[EmotionlessGirl Emotionless Guy]] with [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair blue hair]] and TheUnfettered member of their team who eventually warms up to them. He even gets a [[WhenSheSmiles When He Smiles]] moment at the end of the first movie!

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: His hair is dark blue.

* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: To Aigis twice in the last movie. The first time is when she blames herself for [[spoiler:sealing Death into him]]. [[spoiler:The second time he does this is to talk her down during her suicide attempt, with much more success]].

The Protagonist is initially male but upon the released of ''[[UpdatedRerelease Persona 3 Portable]]'', a female gender can be chosen. Though their background story and overall role in the game are the same, their personality and interaction with characters are different. Canonically, the Protagonist true gender is male while the female exist in an alternate timeline. While the Male Protagonist favors one handed swords (in the original release, he could wield any weapons sans firearms and knives), the Female Protagonist favors Naginatas.

Their initial Persona is Orpheus of the Fool Arcana. In Greek Mythology, Orpheus is a musician, poet and prophet taught by the god Apollo. When his wife, Eurydice, passed away, a mourful Orpheus travels to the Underworld to rescue her. On their way out, Orpheus accidentally broke his promise to Hades to not look back until they had both arrived on the surface. Upon doing so, Eurydice vanishes, this time forever.

* CanonName: He has no default name in the game, but the adaptions provide him with no less than three: The manga (and the early Japanese trailers for ''Persona Q'') names him Minato Arisato, the movie series and ''VideoGame/Persona3DancingInMoonlight'' call him Makoto Yuki, and the stage play refers to him as Sakuya Shiomi. Which one is considered "canon" is subject to heated fan debate (unlike ''Persona 4's'' Yu Narukami, whose name was canonized with further spin-offs). However, for what it is worth, all spinoff media and crossovers have used Makato Yuki for it, so it is fairly safe to say that it is the official canon name as far as Atlus is concerned.

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[[folder:Both]]

The game's main character, a year old [[NewTransferStudent transfer student]] enrolling into Gekkoukan High School in Iwatodai City. Upon discovering the presence of the Dark Hour, the protagonist unlocks their hidden power known as a Persona to combat the creatures of the Dark Hour known as Shadows. Being put as field leader of Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad (S.E.E.S.), the Protagonist joins their new schoolmates in the ongoing struggle against Shadows.

The Protagonist is initially male but upon the released of ''[[UpdatedRerelease Persona 3 Portable]]'', a female gender can be chosen. Though their background story and overall role in the game are the same, their personality and interaction with characters are different. Canoically, the Protagonist true gender is male while the female exist in an alternate timeline. While the Male Protagonist favors one handed swords (in the original release, he could wield any weapons sans firearms and knives), the Female Protagonist favours Naginatas.

!!Tropes As Applied to Both Protagonists

* AllLovingHero: Dialogue for the female protagonist definitely plays this straight, although you can be pretty rude (and, yes, [[YouLoseAtZeroTrust you will be called out for it]]). Social Links indicate that they are very understanding towards others. The diversity of their social links, from an elderly couple, classmates, a CorruptCorporateExecutive, a DirtyOldMonk, as well as the strangest members of SEES (a dog and a robot) show that they have the capacity to care for pretty much anyone.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Easily the best fighter in the group as well as the most versatile, which is why they're leader of the combat team. To the point where it's lampshaded by their courage title becoming Badass when maxed out.

* TheBerserker: Thanatos' fighting style is depicted as this. It destroys the first Full Moon Shadow by crushing it into smithereens. In the fourth anime movie, it doesn't give Nyx Avatar any chance to breathe as it keeps attacking it with its sword. It then rips one of Nyx Avatar's wings before blasting it with Agidyne several times at point blank range.

*** One example from ''Persona Q'' is when he drinks from a tea set found by the party, which they suspected was dangerous. His excuse? He thought he was at Chagell.

** ''Q2'' shows that the female protagonist, like her male counterpart, can be a little airheaded and goofy even in tense situations. She is easily excited to be an honorary Phantom Thief, from pretending to be a cop to knocking out a cop using a karate chop that she learned from TV. In fact, while the Phantom Thieves are complaining to be in the sewers, she is the only one who is having fun.
* ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: Their school life is more explored than the protagonists of the previous two games, who didn't really deal with school life at all.
* ConvenientlyAnOrphan: No parents to get in the way of adventuring. [[spoiler:They apparently died during the disaster ten years ago.]]

* CurbStompBattle: When it first appears in an animated cutscene, Thanatos completely destroys the Magician Shadow with little effort. [[spoiler:It also gives Nyx Avatar a hard time in the fourth movie]].

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Ten years prior to the series, the protagonist lost their parents in a car accident, in which they nearly died from it.

* EleventhHourSuperPower: [[spoiler:After the fight with the Nyx Avatar, they eventually stand up and take the fight directly to Nyx, a fight where concentrated death is used on them every turn but doesn't do a thing. The fight finishes when they uses their own soul to seal Nyx.]]

* FusionDance: With the power of the Wild Card, they are able to create stronger Personas by fusing two or more Personas. The most notable being their Ultimate Persona, Messiah, which is created by fusing their two main Personas, Orpheus and Thanatos.

* JackOfAllTrades: The compendium describes Orpheus Telos having "endless possibilities", referring to the fact that its skillset is completely customizable and that it only learns skills from the Personas that fuse into it.
* KarmaHoudini: Unlike later protagonists in the series, the ''Persona 3'' protagonist never faces any consequences for cheating on multiple romantic paramours. The male protagonist is outright ''forced'' to cheat on his girlfriends in order to get Orpheus Telos.
** Karma does bite him in one of the CD dramas where he gets guilt tripped and scared to death by the S.E.E.S. girls when they found out that his date clashes with that of another girl. Even though it turns out to be a dream, the protagonist has never felt so scared before.
* LivingOnBorrowedTime: [[spoiler:After casting the Great Seal, they are destined to die. However, they stayed alive long enough in order to fulfill their promise to meet their friends on the school rooftop on Graduation Day.]]
* MessianicArchetype: Their ultimate Persona is actually called Messiah, and at the end of their journey, [[spoiler:they sacrifice themselves after leading the group forward. In addition, the Male Protagonist's appearance on the Great Seal resembles Jesus Christ when He was crucified]]. To further relate the Protagonist with Jesus Christ, most of Messiah's skills that it learned naturally are a reference to Christ Himself (Salvation, Absorb Pierce, Enduring Soul and God's Hand). Absorb Pierce could be a reference in which Christ was pierced with the Spear of Destiny while Enduring Soul likely references Christ being resurrected three days after He died.

* RookieRedRanger: Downplayed and justified. At first, the protagonist is named field leader because of the three SEES members with actual experience, one is injured, one is stuck on the back lines providing support, and one has outright left. When Akihiko rejoins, he decides to let the protagonist continue leading so he can focus on training, and by the time Mitsuru rejoins the front lines there's no point in fixing what isn't broken.

* SuperpowerLottery: They're the resident Wild Cards. That alone would be enough, but they also have the unique ability to summon two Personas at once for a fusion attack. (In ''Portable'', this is turned into expendable items to be used.) [[spoiler:They also gain access to the Universe Arcana, representing understanding of the purpose of life and their ''own'' lives in relation to all, which is what allows them to seal Nyx, especially notable for the fact that it is clearly distinguished from the World Arcana which most of the other protagonists (their direct successors, the [=MCs=] of ''Persona 4'' and ''5'' for example) achieve and they are the first person seen attaining and using it. Igor even notes he "never even dreamed of seeing that card (the Universe) with his own eyes".]]

* WholePlotReference: Orpheus ultimately failed in his task to save the one he loved, because right at the end of his journey, he turned back to face her, thus breaking his deal with Hades and casting Eurydice back into the Underworld forever. At the end of the game, [[spoiler:the Protagonist is given the choice to kill Ryoji and forget everything that happened in the past year]]. While this ensures [[spoiler:a relatively peaceful death for both the protagonist and their friends, it ultimately causes [[ApocalypseWow the end of the world]], and undoes the CharacterDevelopment they all faced throughout their journey]]. Choosing to [[spoiler:let Ryoji live]] means that the protagonists have overcome the inevitable DownerEnding that Orpheus' tale had, because they're willing to see their journey through to the end without looking back. This is made even more apparent by the fact that their Ultimate Persona, Messiah, becomes available only after they make that choice.
* WorldsStrongestMan: [[spoiler:After obtaining the Universe arcana, they become one of the strongest beings in the ''Persona'' series, and the strongest player character bar none. Since Nyx cannot be killed, them being able to seal Nyx away, and the enlightenment they receive from said feat, make them more powerful than any protagonist since. Even Igor is surprised at how powerful they become.]]

->'''Weapons:''' One-handed swords [[note]]as of [=P3P=] and PQ. In the original game and FES, he can wield all weapon class except firearms and knives[[/note]]\\

The local HeroicMime of ''3''. His parents died ten years prior to the events of the game and he has moved around a lot as a result. He has an affinity with the Fool Arcana and begins the game with the persona Orpheus. More impressively, he also possesses the rare Wild Card, which allows him to store multiple personas. He can also wield various weapons but defaults to a one-handed sword. (In the PSP port, this is his only usable weapon type.) In general, he is very calm and responsible, in contrast to Junpei and numerous [=NPCs=] who behave like typical high school students. Although quiet, he has significant leadership skills and can think and plan in the midst of battle.

He is transferred into the Gekkoukan High School in his second year of high school. Upon arriving at his new dorm during the Dark Hour, he is asked by Pharos to sign a contract which states "I chooseth this fate of my own free will." Within days of moving into the dorm, he has his first encounter with the Shadows and awakens to his power. After being recruited into SEES, he's appointed as field leader by Mitsuru and Akihiko due to the ease with which he is able to summon his Persona, a position that eventually becomes permanent. He also visits the Velvet Room and has periodic chats with Pharos, the mysterious young boy who initially presented him with the Velvet Room contract.

** He's a bit of a CloudCuckoolander in ''Persona Q'' and the movies, to the point where Junpei, the wise guy to his straight man, says he's not normal. All things considered, it's likely he has some sort of depression.
** In the movies, it's heavily implied he has PTSD [[spoiler:from the incident that took place 9 years prior to the events of the main plot]].

* BehemothBattle: [[spoiler:In the manga's rendition of final battle with Nyx Avatar, Messiah grows to the size of a {{Kaiju}} against it. Both of them were large enough to tower over the Moonlight Bridge.]]
* BewareTheNiceOnes: He can chase off a group of thugs single handed without much problem and without the use of his Persona. In the audio dramas, the one time he ever expresses anger is when his friends are in danger.

* BrokenAce: Comes close to this during the second movie. As the Wild Card, he's the most powerful member of the group, and thus the most reliable in battle. But as SEES gets closer to eliminating all the Full-Moon Shadows, Makoto realizes his time with them will end soon, as his reliability in battle is his main asset that allows him to remain close to SEES and gives him a purpose in life. [[spoiler:This comes to a head at the end, where his insecurity of losing both leads to his performance in battle decreasing, most notably the battle on October 4th.]]
* BrokenBird: How the movie characterizes him, emphasizing on how much the deaths of his parents left him traumatized. He gets somewhat better in the second film, but his fear of losing his new happiness indicates he's not fully healed.

* CanonName: He has no default name in the game, but the adaptions provide him with no less than three: The manga (and the early Japanese trailers for ''Persona Q'') names him Minato Arisato, the movie series and ''VideoGame/Persona3DancingInMoonlight'' call him Makoto Yuki, and the stage play refers to him as Sakuya Shiomi. Which one is considered "canon" is subject to heated fan debate (unlike ''Persona 4's'' Yu Narukami, whose name was canonized with further spin-offs). However, for what it is worth, all spinoff media and crossovers have used Makato Yuki for it, so it is fairly safe to say that it is the officia canon name as far as Atlus is concerned.

* CharacterTic: As can be seen in his image above, he keeps his hands in his pockets a lot. Not only is he usually seen walking this in cutscenes, he'll even do it in gameplay if he's [[IdleAnimation left alone for a few seconds]]. When finishing up a fight, he's usually seen slipping his free hand into his pocket after flourishing his weapon.

** Every girl he meets seems to fall for him. By the end of the year, it's possible for Fuuka, Mitsuru, Yukari, Chihiro, Yuko, Elizabeth, and even the likes of Maiko, Ms. Toriumi, and Aigis to fall for him. In fact until ''Persona 5 Royal'' added Kasumi he had the exact same number of love interests as Joker.

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* CanonName: He has no default name in the game, but the adaptions provide him with no less than three: The manga (and the early Japanese trailers for ''Persona Q'') names him Minato Arisato, the movie series and ''VideoGame/Persona3DancingInMoonlight'' call him Makoto Yuki, and the stage play refers to him as Sakuya Shiomi. Which one is considered "canon" is subject to heated fan debate (unlike ''Persona 4's'' Yu Narukami, whose name was canonized with further spin-offs).