History Characters / PhantasyStarOnline2TheProfoundDarkness

* CloningBlues: [[spoiler:Averted. Florent and Fleur admit that they're not really sure which of them is the "original" anymore, but nor do they particularly care.]]

* FailOSuckyname: Being stuck with a title like "Loser" in the Japanese version is rather unfortunate. Ironically, he's one of the toughest raid bosses in the game. Averted in the North American version and official subtitles of the Episode Oracle anime where the pun is dropped outright in favor of "Dark Falz Luther" and "Luther the Fallen".

* PeekABangs: Has a really long bang covering some of his right eye.

* KillEmAll: If their sheer disregard for life and monstrosity weren't enough, they wiped the entire Nightfaller race off the face of Harukotan and replaced them with mindless clones to go to war with the Daybreak Province.

* KillEmAll: Luther tries to do this to the entire ARKS organization. Thankfully, [[BigDamnHeroes Xiao shows up just in time to save everyone]].

* WeaponOfChoice: The Coated Edge D, a corrupted version of the Coated Edge which is a Hunter's Sword. He also uses the Coated Doublis D, again a corrupted version which is a Double Saber.

* WeaponOfChoice: Matoi Viel wields the Rod Agrissa and the Wand Phantasma.

** Even before the Profound Darkness, Persona is seen acting to retrieve the pieces of Clarissa as well as [[BigDamnVillains bailing out Elder when Maria was about to kill him.]] Turns out they're not so much acting maliciously as they are trying to get all the things into place so that Gettemult steals the Clarissa and the protagonist inevitably fights Elder to keep the timeline on track, likely in ode to Xion's attempts to make a better future. The events ten years prior are also a part of this, intentionally invoking Matoi nearly being corrupted into the Profound Darkness so that Xion through Clarissa will warp her into the future so Persona's past self encounters her, while doing it in front of their "present" self to shape their experiences and knowledge going forwards.

* BigDamnVillains: When Gemini gets the jump on your party in the Quarry, Elder appears after Zeno executes a BigDamnHeroes and helps in the ensuing fight against Apprentice and Luther the Fallen Clones. After the battle, Elder invokes HeroicSacrifice to allow your party to evade Gemini.

* DeadpanSnarker: His appearance in ''Episode 3'' is rife with this even if he may not quite be intending on it, [[spoiler:and it goes UpToEleven when it comes to arguing with the other Falz in ''Episode 5''.]]

* TrueFinalBoss: You need an S-Rank on the previous story mission to face the solo version of this boss. Also the case for it in general, as its the final boss of the GrandFinale for ''[=PSO2=]''

* DubNameChange: In Japanese they called Darkers with their corrupted photons called Darker Factor. The official e=English translation also gives the Dark Falz titles they never had.

The ''original'' Profound Darkness. Having first manifested during the era of the Photoners, it is the true source of all Falspawn and Dark Falz. Having been corrupted by the Photoners decadence, the Primordial Darkness seeks nothing more than the absolute destruction of all life. After Shiva is defeated and the Guardian is saved from becoming its next host by Matoi, Hitsugi, and Hariette, the Primordial Darkness appears to confront the Guardian in one final showdown to determine the fate of the universe.

* FusionDance: The ''[[AllThereInTheManual EP6 Materials Collection]]'' clarifies that the Profound Darkness that ARKS fights and defeats in ''Episode 3'' is not the same Profound Darkness that the Photoners created during the height of the Photoner Era. The Profound Darkness fought in the modern day is a version created by the combination of the four Falz essences brought together by the efforts of the player, Matoi, and Gemini, meaning that it is not the "real" Profound Darkness. It is, for all intents and purposes, essentially the same thing however, in that it has the same end goal as the real Profound Darkness and is just as capable.

* SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan: Within Matoi when it finally awakens thanks to Gemini. Persona later transfers it into themselves in a bid to save the Matoi and later seals away both themselves and the Profound Darkness within an infinite time loop in order to prevent it from wreaking havoc. This unfortunately isn't enough to keep it at bay however, as the Profound Darkness breaks out which requires ARKS to deal with it and allow Persona to reseal it again.

* StayingAlive: Thanks to the nature of it being a collection of F-Factors given semi-consciousness, the Profound Darkness is all but impossible to kill as it just reforms itself afterwards and finds a new host to carry out its will. It finally meets its end in ''Episode 5''.

* EvilCounterpart: :To Xion. It was designed by the Photoners as a man-made counterpart to Xion, but an immense influx of negative emotions towards its completion caused the Photons possessed by it to become corrupted, transforming it into the embodiment of humanity's sloth and hatred hellbent on the destruction of the universe.

* FinalSolution: Due to being driven by hatred, its twisted state of mind has lead it to believe that in order to end all negativity in the universe, it should just ''kill the universe.''

* GreaterScopeVillain: Its existence was revealed by Xiao at the start of ''Episode 3'', and became the primary motivation for multiple characters during it. It's less of a schemer however and more a living natural disaster.
* ItCanThink: Perhaps partly due to inhabiting living vessels, it's clear that the Profound Darkness is sentient to a degree, even suffering a wordless VillainousBreakdown the further you beat it back. It's likely why it can understand Persona's TimeTravel powers to undo its own defeat repeatedly. [[spoiler:And once Shiva is reawakened, you can infer that the Profound Darkness and Shiva are one and the same at that point, meaning it's both AxCrazy ''and'' knows how to actually exploit the weaknesses of ARKS.]]
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:At the beginning of ''Episode 5''. This was the last time this incarnation of Profound Darkness would manifest as it fails to regain its full form after Elmir's defeat and afterwards its energy would be used to break the seal on Shiva's prison.]]

* SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan: Within Matoi when it finally awakens. Persona later transfers it to themselves in a bid to save the Matoi and later seals away both themselves and the Profound Darkness within an infinite time loop in order to prevent it from wreaking havoc.

* StayingAlive: The Protagonist and their friends drive this monster back time and time again, but it just. ''Doesn't.'' '''Die.''' Every time it's soundly defeated, it clings to life by [[DemonicPossession taking a new host]], creating a NegativeSpaceWedgie to escape, or both, and it comes back stronger every time. [[spoiler:Only after it is denied a host and subsequently beaten back into its own time-space rift does its defeat finally stick.]]

[[folder:The Profound Darkness (''Episode 6'')]]
The Primordial Darkness is the ''original'' Profound Darkness. Having first manifested during the era of the Photoners, the Primordial Darkness seeks nothing more than the absolute destruction of all life. After Shiva is defeated and the Guardian is saved from becoming its next host by Matoi, Hitsugi, and Hariette, the Primordial Darkness appears to confront the Guardian in one final showdown to determine the fate of the universe.

!The Profound Darkness

* AIIsACrapshoot: By all means, the Profound Darkness isn't some natural god or native entity to anywhere; it's the final artificial recreation of Xion after ''many'' attempts. Except whereas Xion had been allowed to cultivate her sentience in isolation before meeting the Photoners, this thing was exposed to their corruption, societal decay and hatred as soon as it was born. Needless to say, whatever traces of a mindset similar to Xion's it may have had are [[OmnicidalManiac long gone.]]

* BigBad: Every problem in the series comes back to the Profound Darkness, whether because it created the Falspawn that ended up trapping the ARKS made to fight them in a ForeverWar, its capability to cause those wracked with despair and absolute rage to become Dark Falz by corrupting their photons, or its eradication of the Photoners that sets Xion and Luther on the paths that define all of their actions. Despite various smaller antagonists, post-''Episode 3'' it is the lingering threat over the heads of the cast for the rest of the game. [[spoiler:Until the end of ''Episode 5'', and even then it just finds its original host in Shiva again, and still ends up the TrueFinalBoss in its ''real'' form.]]

* HijackedByGanon: It is revealed as a major crux in the creation of the Dark Falz and ultimately the greatest threat in the story. Notably, unlike Dark Falz, who shows up consistently across the series, this is the first ''Phantasy Star'' title in which the Profound Darkness has made any appearance since its introduction in [[VideoGame/PhantasyStarIV the original tetralogy.]]

* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]. Episode 5 seemingly ends with finally killing the Profound Darkness for good and Persona being saved, only to have Shiva appear in ''Episode 6'' to pick up where it left off - ''[[YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle because she's its newest vessel]]'' by absorbing its essence in the wake of your climactic final battle. And she's even '''stronger''', rendering your efforts not only moot, but actively [[NiceJobBreakingItHero having made things worse]].]]

* SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan: The Photoners originally sealed the Profound Darkness away within a single person. [[spoiler:That person was Hariette, whose soul was extracted from her artificial body to make room for the Profound Darkness - which created the entity known as Shiva as a sort of new identity.]]

[[folder:Dark Falz Persona]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dark_falz_persona.jpg]]
The true form of Persona that attacks ARKS after the black hole is sealed. Despite appearing sentient, Dark Falz Persona is nothing more than a mere shell, having lost the essence that sustains it. It isn't clear on how or why it suddenly breaks into the Oracle dimension, but it is speculated that it could potentially be looking for something, possibly its essence.

* AllYourPowersCombined: Dark Falz Persona possesses the powers of Elder, Dark Falz Luther, Apprentice and Gemini thanks to [[spoiler:Elmir's assimilation of their factors within the Akashic Record]]. Its initial forms each emulate one of the four individually, but upon entering its final phase it takes on a form that combines all of the others into one massive monstrosity that draws abilities from all four of the previous Masks.
* AttackItsWeakpoint: Weak points are the only places to harm it aside from its mask. In the first and second phases, these come in the form of cores that will stun Persona if they are all destroyed, while in the third phase, its chest acts as a core. Its mask will also act as a weak point if the mask over it is broken.
* BeamSpam: ''Loves'' doing this. Especially when it wears the Apprentice Mask.
* {{BFS}}: It gains this in the last phase on higher difficulty settings.
* DashAttack: Much like Dark Falz Gemini, Persona can ram the stage at high speed when it wears the Gemini Mask or Persona Mask.
* DeathFromAbove: Upon donning the Elder Mask, it attacks by raining its giant arms onto the stage like meteors.
* DesperationAttack:
** When its health drops low enough, it flies into the background before summoning a giant orb in the center of the stage. If it is not destroyed, it unleashes a devastating attack that inflicts fatal damage to all players onscreen. However, if it's destroyed, Persona summons a ''second'', larger orb that also must be destroyed to avoid a devastating attack. If the second orb is destroyed, Persona becomes stunned for a brief period of time.
** Upon dropping to extremely low health, it teleports to the center of the stage and unleashes a final attack that hits extremely hard. However, doing so breaks its mask and renders it crippled permanently, allowing players to wail on it until it dies. In the Trigger Quest or Ultra Hard versions, it instead TurnsRed after this attack.
* EmptyShell: Like Apprentice Zia, Dark Falz Persona is nothing more than the remnants of Persona's power given form, futilely seeking to reunite with its fallen host.
* FinalExamBoss: Unlike ESC-A Falz Mother, Dark Falz Persona more straightforwardly copies the tactics of the previous Dark Falzes. Each mask also gives him that Falz's weakness (or ''former'' weakness in Gemini's case) and status effect vulnerability.
** Elder Mask is all about [[MightyGlacier slow but powerful hits]]. Those who repeatedly detonated Zondeel on Elder can also do it here to stun him. The player must target weak points on the backs of his floating hands to most efficiently weaken him.
** Luther Mask can also stop time (more frequently but with less danger of a TotalPartyKill) and his hands must be broken first. Like with Dark Falz Luther, judicious use of Zanverse or other Mirage-inducing techniques can stun him for a moment (though it doesn't open up a weak point this time.)
** Gemini Mask's phase is a cocktail of {{Call Back}}s to both Dark Falz Gemini and the Profound Darkness. He loves ramming you just like them; the attack is sometimes telegraphed like in Gemini's fight and other times spontaneous like the Profound Darkness. He repeatedly creates spinning carousels of damage for you to avoid. Lastly, the cores to break in this phase resemble the ones that leave the Profound Darkness vulnerable when destroyed (though they don't shoot lasers this time.)
** Apprentice Mask draws more from the Omega Falz Apprentice fight than the battle with Apprentice Zia. Once more, the player must break the wings and dodge patterns of lasers.
* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: Unlike other Episode {{Final Boss}}es, it has very little relation to the main story and its presence is barely elaborated upon.
* GroundPound: Slamming the ground is fairly common when it uses the Elder Mask.
* KillItWithFire: Persona is vulnerable to Fire while using the Apprentice Mask, potentially getting stunned if inflicted with a burn.
* MultiArmedAndDangerous: Persona uses both his arms and Elder's arms during his final transformation.
* SequenceBreaking: During Persona's final transformation into a conglomeration of the all the Dark Falzes, it's possible to stun him mid-transformation by spamming Nagrants at the base of his body, allowing you to whale on him in the time that would have been spent in the cutscene.
* TimeStandsStill: Much like Dark Falz Luther itself, it can use a time stop attack when it wears the Dark Falz Luther Mask. It also gains this attack with the Persona Mask, and can combine it with its other attacks.
* TurnsRed: In the Trigger Quest version, it becomes enraged after using its "final" attack, indicated by [[RedSkyTakeWarning the background turning blood red.]] In this state Persona becomes incredibly violent and hammers players with repeated, hard-hitting attacks, giving players one last struggle before it dies.
** A later update upgrades this phase and adds it to all Ultra Hard versions of the fight. He instead channels (symbolized by a split-second donning of) the Elga Masquerade mask and reveals a sword, becoming even ''more'' dangerous than his previous TurnsRed and causing meteors to fall and swings that create waves of darkness.
* WaveMotionGun: Persona can spit out a giant beam when it wears the Gemini Mask. It can also do so with the Persona Mask using a different firing pattern.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Final Adversary '''(UNMARKED SPOILERS)''']]
!!The Primordial Darkness

The Primordial Darkness is the ''original'' Profound Darkness. Having first manifested during the era of the Photoners, the Primordial Darkness seeks nothing more than the absolute destruction of all life. After Shiva is defeated and the Guardian is saved from becoming its next host by Matoi, Hitsugi, and Hariette, the Primordial Darkness appears to confront the Guardian in one final showdown to determine the fate of the universe.
----

* EarlyBirdCameo: Primordial Darkness Gomorus first appears in Quest 22 of ''Episode Oracle'' during an InfoDump by Luther explaining the origins of the Profound Darkness and its ties to the Photoners.
* EldritchAbomination: The best way to sum up this boss, with the first form Gomorus being the biggest monstrosity in the entire game that only barely has fingers and a mouth, covered in hellish ExtraEyes. Sodam on the other hand goes above and beyond the most monstrous yet ''alien'' in the franchise, vaguely [[HumanoidAbomination humanoid]] but lacking arms as it summon large external limbs from solid orbs of darkness, lacks any sort of face, and seemingly uses the tendrils around its "waist" as cognizant appendages.

** Possibly the single largest foe in the game in terms of sheer size. Its appearance in ''Episode Oracle'' suggests that it's even ''larger'' than what is seen in-game, and the fight against Gomorrah is merely against a fraction of its full size.
** Subverted by Sodam, who is so small in comparison to Gomorrah that it's basically its version of BishounenLine (at least, as far as an EldritchAbomination can take that trope). While it has a great wingspan, it's not much bigger than an A.I.S.
* EyesDoNotBelongThere: Gomorrah sprouts eyes on the sides of its limbs.

* FusionDance: In the Emergency Quest version, the final phase involves Sodam merging with Gomorus by returning to the eye it came out of. True Profound Darkness' melee attacks gain elemental effects, it radiates a miasma that instantly kills players if they stand in it long enough, and the Sodam component unleashes shockwaves of heavy damage when seemingly stunned and barely hanging onto its life.

* MightyGlacier: Most of Gomorus's attacks are slow. But they hit a large area and deal heavy damage. Some are strong enough to destroy the platforms you stand on.
* MultiArmedAndDangerous: Played straight with Gomorrah. Inverted with Sodom, who has ''no'' arms but can grow appendages out of its portal-like upper wings.
* NothingIsScarier: Unlike other Emergency Quest warnings that show warnings, diagrams, and/or the boss' impending approach, this one shows nothing but Shiva's Mothership. The same picture appears for the pre-quest cutscene (with [[SuddenSoundtrackStop no music]] for good measure)... before crimson tendrils tear open a rift in space-time. Then the camera peers into a void growing in the pure white expanse and [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou brings you face-to-face with Gomorus's glaring eye]].
* OneWingedAngel: Inverted at first, but played straight for the Emergency Quest. For the second part of the battle, it shrinks down to a speedier form. Said form is humanoid enough to ''almost'' cross the BishonenLine. In the last phase, Sodam merges with Gomorrah and becomes the True Profound Darkness.
* ReligiousAndMythologicalThemeNaming: Its two forms are known as [[SoiledCityOnAHill Gomorus and Sodam]], fitting for ultimately being the product of a [[AbusivePrecursors society fallen to vice]].

The Primordial Darkness is the original form of the Profound Darkness, which first manifested during the era of the Photoners. The Profound Darkness takes this form after it is completely purged from its host body by Hitsugi's Ame-no-Murakumo and the "Great Light" formed from the wishes and hopes of the universe. Devoid of a host, the Primordial Darkness is a true monstrosity of evil, driven solely by a mindless and primal urge to destroy.

* DarkIsEvil: Unlike the [[LightIsNotGood Profound Darkness]], this boss looks the part of a being of pure darkness. Even the Dark Falzes have overall more vivid color schemes.

** Possibly the single largest foe in the game in terms of sheer size. Its appearance in ''Episode Oracle'' suggests that it's even ''larger'' than what is seen in-game, and the fight against Gomorus is merely against a fraction of its full size.
** Subverted by Sodam, who is so small in comparison to Gomorus that it's basically its version of BishounenLine (at least, as far as an EldritchAbomination can take that trope). While it has a great wingspan, it's not much bigger than an A.I.S.
* EyesDoNotBelongThere: Gomorus sprouts eyes on the sides of its limbs.

* FinalBoss:
** Of the ''[=PSO2=]'' story as a whole, being the original form of the Profound Darkness.
** It serves as one of the possible final bosses in the third Challenge Quest, "MISSION: Cataclysm". If your party performs ''extraordinarily'' well, you can even fight its Urgent counterpart as a TrueFinalBoss, who is ''much'' more difficult and grueling than normal.

* MadeOfEvil: It's a being of pure F-Factor without a host to inhabit, as its last one had help in forcing it out and and its last successful host was destroyed. It only knows destruction and hatred, and pursues omniversal annihilation with singleminded fury.

* MultiArmedAndDangerous: Played straight with Gomorus. Inverted with Sodam, who has ''no'' arms but can grow appendages out of its portal-like upper wings.

* OneWingedAngel: Inverted at first, but played straight for the Emergency Quest. For the second part of the battle, it shrinks down to a speedier form. Said form is humanoid enough to ''almost'' cross the BishonenLine. In the last phase, Sodam merges with Gomorus and becomes the True Profound Darkness.

* DubNameChange: Their original name in Japanese is Darker with their corrupted photons called Darker Factor. The official english translation also gives the Dark Falz titles they never had.

* SpellMyNameWithAn: Their original name in Japanese is Darker with their corrupted photons called Darker Factor.

* KnifeNut: Wields Twin Daggers in human form.

* DarthVaderClone: Wears a primarily black outfit and mask, has deep voice, is a powerful sword fighter, and has close ties with both the Protagonist and Matoi. It goes even further once their identity is revealed, as Persona was once the most renowned hero of ARKS as the Protagonist, but became corrupted due to Matoi's death and desires to save her more than anything even if it means coming into conflict with their past self and old friends such as Zeno and Echo.

* BFS: It gains this in the last phase on higher difficulty settings.

* MulticoloredHair: Her hair gradates from red at the top through blond in the middle to the soft blue of Hariette's at the bottom.

* BeautyMark: She has one on the left of her lip to go with her seductress persona.

* ArtificialHuman: Like Hariette, she was not naturally born. Luther had originally designed her body in the midst of his cloning and body creation research during the heyday of the Photoners, resulting in a body that somehow managed to grow its own soul as Hariette - which was forcibly removed to make room for turning her body into the seal for the Profound Darkness. The sense of self that replaced Hariette was [[{{Revenge}} none too happy about this]], though considering Shiva is basically the Profound Darkness with a Photoner vessel and a mind of her own, chances are she'd be evil regardless of motivation.

* CainAndAbel: In certain sense, she's the Cain to the Protagonist's Abel as both were created through the same means and as such can be considered siblings to one another. However, whereas Shiva fights to destroy, the Protagonist fights to protect which puts both into conflict.

* EvilCounterpart: To Hariette, Matoi, and Mother.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: A specific plot point of a Photoner child being used to seal the Profound Darkness away was mentioned quite a while ago. It's later revealed that Shiva was that child. And at the end of ''Episode 5'', she [[NarratorAllAlong reads off]] a ''different'' ending from what occurred, one where the Guardian seemingly never interfered with the Omega dimension at all and a DownerEnding resulted. This all but spells out that she has RippleEffectProofMemory, something only those tied to Xion and the Akashic Records seem to have. Lo and behold, she's later revealed to be a creation of Xion and Luther, much like the Guardian.

* LongLostRelative: By all technicality, as Xion had used the same means that made Hariette/Shiva to create the Guardian, she is the protagonist's older sister in a scientific and physical sense. Unfortunately, Shiva holds no love for her "sibling".

* NarratorAllAlong: That book that keeps appearing in ''Episode 5'' cutscenes, telling the history of Omega? It belongs to her. She's been reading it to you.

* TheReveal: The end of ''Episode 5'' reveals her to be the narrator of its story, and that she's none other than Hariette's Oracle universe counterpart. ''Episode 6'' further reveals that she's the Photoner child that was used as a sacrifice to seal away the Profound Darkness and thus ''becoming'' it again once she awakens once more, and ultimately she is part of a pair of creations made by Luther and Xion for the fate of the future - with the other being ''the Guardian'', with Shiva as the "first-born" and the protagonist as the "last-born".
* {{Revenge}}: Her entire motivation in ''Episode 6'' to destroy the universe amounts due to her anger at being used as a sacrifice to seal away the Profound Darkness.
** The first time she gets even remotely serious is when the Guardians kill Mitra, upon which she immediately takes out Matoi and goes for annihilating the Protagonist with an enormous mass of energy. Two BigDamnHeroes moments in a row barely manages to bail them out.

* EvilLearnsOfOutsideContext: She is intrigued when she meets Phaleg Ives, a warrior who is able to briefly force her back [[BadassNormal without the use of photons]]. In response, Shiva [[spoiler:deploys an entire Photoner fleet to besiege Earth]].

* NoSell: The biggest reason why she's such a threat is that she almost quite literally eats Photon-based damage, rendering any form of attack ARKS and the Guardians have at their disposal useless. A large portion of ''Episode 6'' is focused on finding a way to defeat Shiva without the use of Photons. [[spoiler:Unfortunately this ends up being unfeasible, as [=ARKS=] when Shiva shows off she has enough ''physical'' endurance to fight off Phaleg, who is by far the strongest case of a non-Photon fighter in the Oracle universe and any universe connected to it. What ends up working instead is supplying the Guardians with ''all the Photons [=ARKS=] has'' to FightOffTheKryptonite.]]

* HandHidingSleeves: Only one of their sleeves barely exposes their hand. The other is covered by their chomper-arms (if there are even hands there at all).