History Characters / ShinMegamiTenseiForcesOfLaw

* SevenDeadlySins: One of several demons said to represent {{Wrath}}, and sure enough in many of his appearances he often acts as an instrument of YHVH's wrath upon the world.

** The UpdatedRerelease of ''SMT II'' a mysterious voice claims literally ''everything'' is part of God, even individual life and their will. It also tells Zayin to become a face by which God expresses judgment.

* FightingAShadow: The Great Will is described as an omnipresent force -- as in, it is capable of being present at ''every possible level of presence'', from the physical to metaphysical.

--> '''Zayin'''...Well...

** In ''SMT V'', Tao in her death encounters a mysterious light, who transforms her into Panagia Tao, a goddess of creation who acts on behalf of the Great Will to help a Nahobino claim the Throne of Creation. This further affirms how the Great Will is present and can interfere at every level of existence, and that everyone and everything can become "its face", in the right circumstances or conditions.

* {{Bishounen}}: Uriel in the main games, Michael in ''Devil Children Fire/Ice'', and Raphael in the ''Devil Children'' series as a whole. Uriel's human form in ''Majin Tensei'' is also a blonde, French prettyboy.

%%* {{Bishounen}}: He can look like this.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Metatron is the primary [[TheDragon Dragon]] to YHVH, to the point of being known as Lesser YHVH at times. In the few games he appears in he occasionally leads a number of angels under his command.

* BarrierChangeBoss: Appears as this trope a few times across the games. As the [[BonusBoss Ultimate Boss]] of ''Digital Devil Saga 2'', Satan changes his resistances based on both turn numbers and his current HP, as a NintendoHard PuzzleBoss. In [[spoiler:''Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse'', Satan's second phase also changes his resistances back and forth]].

** In ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga 2'', he is a BonusBoss which can only be fought in the final dungeon if the game is played in Hard mode. Widely considered one of the [[NintendoHard hardest bosses]] ever in a JRPG.

** Should the Demi-Fiend choose to ignore Metatron's warnings in ''[[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne Nocturne]]'', [[BonusBoss Metatron will stand in the Demi-Fiend's path in the final Kalpa]], forbidding him to meet up with Lucifer. Enraged, Metatron chastises the Demi-Fiend for disregarding his warnings, then proceeds to attack the Demi-Fiend, hoping to kill him before he loses the last vestiges of his humanity. After Metatron is defeated, the Demi-Fiend can summon him in the Heretic Mansion. Metatron can only be summoned by fusing Michael, any other Divine or Seraph demon, and a Tyrant demon sacrifice.
** ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga'': He can only be fought after his predecessor [[BonusBoss optional bosses]], the Four Guardian Beast Suzaku, Seiryuu, Baihu, and Gui Xian have been defeated and the Red Ring has been collected in Ajna. If you beat him, Metatron will grant the item "Seraph Quill", which unlocks the Gyokuza Mantra, granting the access towards Metatron's several skill-set. Players will also receive the Karma Ring which protects the wearer from Expel-based attacks, which can be equipped in the sequel.

* BonusBoss:
** In ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga 2'', after the events of Sera's awakening, [[SummonBiggerFish a Karma Facility scientist released four Seraph based Atma demons, hoping to stop the turmoil and chaos]]. Should Gale be able to successfully interrogate the scientist, he will reveal the presence of the Seraphs, unlocking the option to challenge Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel at different locations. Once the party have defeated all three, Michael joins them and they will await the party in the ground area of the Occupied Sector, where the Sun shines down. The player must then defeat the first three Seraphs again ([[BossRush in a row this time]]). Upon their defeat, Michael fights the party.
** In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'', the four are fought in two separate DLC packs, as Flynn is sent to the past to ensure the stability of the timeline by taking Mastema's mission to save Tokyo from them. First you take out Raphael and Uriel, and later you attack Gabriel and Michael. [[spoiler:Gabriel, defeated, manages to escape to Mikado and assume the form of Sister Gabby. The three others are imprisoned by Mastema in the past's Kagome Tower, and you rescue them during the game. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Oops.]]]]

** Gabriel in certain games. In others she's just as much of a KnightTemplar and [[FantasticRacism racist]] as them.

* BonusBoss: Seraphim appears as a bonus boss in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney'' in the EX Mission ''Mara's Desire''.

* BonusBoss: In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'' Law Route, where the Archangels have Flynn track him down and slay him.

* BonusBoss: Appears as a hidden superboss in both ''Strange Journey'' and the Chaos route of ''Shin Megami Tensei IV''.

* BladeOnAStick: Michael's most recurring artwork depicts him wielding a spear, in contrast to popular depictions which depict him with a sword. That being said, he ''is'' associated with a sword in a few games, such as in ''Persona 3'' where fusing him with a Nihil Weapon results in Deus Xiphos (the 2nd strongest one-handed sword in the game), and in a few games he can use sword skills.

** In ''SMT V'', Tao in her death encounters a mysterious light, who transforms her into Penagia Tao, a goddess of creation who acts on behalf of the Great Will to help a Nahobino claim the Throne of Creation. This further affirms how the Great Will is present and can interfere at every level of existence, and that everyone and everything can become "its face", in the right circumstances or conditions.

* GreaterScopeVillain: The Great Will is [[TheGhost never encountered in person]], akin to a disembodied will of reality itself. That said, it can be seen as ultimately responsible for the suffering ongoing in story after story, because it set in place the elements which govern and perpetuate the laws of reality in any given world. Most prominently, humans being capable of shaping reality with their thoughts results in the birth of gods and demons, who then seek to oppress or compete with them. ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiV'' reveals there are even worlds with "thrones" which not only allows, but ''encourages'' imperfect beings to shape and rule over reality in almost any way they see fit (as Penagia is born to guide Nahobinos into the Throne).

** In ''Megami Tensei II'', YHVH describes the entity as ruling over countless universes, acting in response to aggregates of consciousness across realities.

** The UpdatedRerelease of ''SMT II'' further claims literally ''everything'' is part of God, even individual life and their will.

** In ''SMT V'', Tao in her death encounters a mysterious light, who transforms her into Penagia Tao, a goddess of creation who acts on behalf of the Great Will to get a Nahobino to claim the Throne of Creation. This further affirms how the Great Will is present and can interfere at every level of existence, and that everyone and everything can become "its face", in the right circumstances or conditions.

** Incarnations of YHVH usually describes himself as being "part" of the Great Will, claiming to carry out its intentions in any particular world.
** ''Last Bible'''s cosmic consciousness describes itself as being both the whole of it, and yet also a single part of it. It's ambiguous what this means, but one interpretation is that this is the closest the Great Will has ever been to making an actual physical appearance; acting on the behalf of the whole, but manifesting only a single part of itself.

* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: YHVH claims in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII'' about how as long as humanity continues to believe in the salvation of God, the Great Will shall continue to bring him back.
* GreaterScopeVillain: The Great Will is [[TheGhost never encountered in person]], akin to a disembodied will of reality itself. That said, it can be seen as ultimately responsible for the suffering ongoing in story after story, because it set in place the elements which govern and perpetuate the laws of reality in any given world. Most prominently, humans being capable of shaping reality with their thoughts results in the birth of gods and demons, who then seek to oppress or compete with them. ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiV'' reveals there are even worlds with "thrones" which not only allows, but ''encourages'' imperfect beings to shape and rule over reality in almost any way they see fit (as Penagia is implied to be born to guide Nahobinos into the Throne).

* PowersThatBe: It is repeatedly described as such, across different games and continuities. To subvert the Great Will's designs over the world is to change how reality itself operates, and even then, the new reality is still part of the Great Will -- as shown in ''Last Bible'', ''Nocturne'', and ''V''.

** The UpdatedRerelease of ''SMT II'' further claims literally ''everything'' is part of the Great Will, even individual life and their will.

** In ''V'', the Mandala system is set in place by the Great Will to ensure each universe will be destroyed and reborn as its Throne of Creation is claimed by a god who will reshape it in their image. The Mandala also decrees that each god will ''also'' inevitably fall and get replaced by another in an eternal cycle.

** The UpdatedReRelease of ''SMT II'' has a mysterious voice speak to Zayin that God is everything, everything is God, and that he can become a face of God.

-->-- '''Fragment of Petrification Prison from ''Shin Megami Tensei II'''''\\\

First mentioned in ''VideoGame/MegamiTenseiII'', when the TrueFinalBoss YHVH claims he is only a small part of a great will said to have created and rules over infinite universes. Known as 大いなる意志 (in ''Megami Tensei II'', ''VideoGame/LastBible'', ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII'' and ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiV'') and 大いなる意思 (in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne'' and ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney Redux''), the name is localized as "Great Will" in ''Nocturne'', ''Strange Journey Redux'' and ''V''.

* TheGhost: A core being in the whole SMT multiverse, yet it never makes direct appearances and is instead generally described through second-hand information from various sources [[UnreliableExpositor with various levels of bias]]. The closest it has been to making an appearance is the few lines spoken in the True Demon ending of ''Nocturne'' which might be from the Great Will. Whether it even ''has'' a physical appearance is dubious; if it's like the Abrahamic God it's based on, it's more like an [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm incomprehensible omnipresent force]] without a form which can be perceived by mortals and thus only appears through comparatively lesser agents (in this case, YHVH is the most prominent one).

* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: YHVH claims in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII'' about how the Great Will will keep bringing him back as long as humanity continues to believe in his salvation.
* GreaterScopeVillain: The Great Will is [[TheGhost never encountered in person]], being closer to a disembodied will of reality itself. That said, it is still ultimately responsible for the systems leading to suffering in story after story, such as human thought and belief giving birth to gods and demons who then seek to oppress or compete with them; or the existence of "thrones" which allow imperfect beings to shape and rule over universes in almost any way they see fit.
* IHaveManyNames: The Great Will, YHVH, God, the Lord, the Absolute One (some of these sometimes refer to its avatars, other times to the greater being it represents).
* PowersThatBe: According to its avatars in ''Megami Tensei II'' and ''Last Bible'', the Great Will is what forms TheMultiverse itself and its design. Any form with which it manifests is merely [[FightingAShadow a living manifestation]] born from its systems, which can be reborn from those same systems. The UpdatedRerelease of ''Shin Megami Tensei II'' further claims literally ''everything'' is an extension of Great Will. In at least ''Last Bible'' and ''Nocturne'' continuities, even destroying and recreating universes are part of its systems while it is implied the smaller scale EternalRecurrence occuring in worlds such as ''Strange Journey'' is also part of an even grander system. To hope to even subvert Great Will's systems is to change how reality itself operates, and even then, it will still be that reality.

* AmbitionIsEvil: In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney'' his goal is for the Lord to bless him with a form superior to Angels]].

* FantasticRacism: Calls the people of Tokyo "Unclean Ones" like the Angels and people of Mikado do. However, in the Clipped Wing DLC he calls them human, suggesting that his attitude before is just a act.

* CoDragons: With Satan and the Four Archangels. He is special in a different way than Satan in the sense other than YHVH, he has also represented ''Great Will'' in a few of his appearances.

* SelfDuplication: Proves capable of this in a few of his appearances, most notably in [[spoiler:''Apocalypse'' where a horde of him appears as soon as the first singular Metatron is defeated as the third to last boss]].

%%* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Attempts this in both of Naoya's 8th Days in ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor: Overclocked'' [[spoiler: when he attempts to summon the Four Archangels to deal with the Overlord. Naoya ''panics'' because it means that he's trying to wipe out all mankind and the earth in the process.]] (Move this to his section in ''Characters/DevilSurvivor'')

[[folder:Mastema]]

* AmbitionIsEvil: In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney'' [[spoiler:his goal is for the Lord to bless him with a form superior to Angels]].
* BigGood: [[spoiler:For the Mikado part of the backstory of ''IV'', helping Aquila set up Mikado and later getting Flynn to stop the Archangels in the Clipped Wings DLC.]]

* BonusBoss: [[spoiler: In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'' Law Route, where the Archangels have Flynn track him down and slay him.]]
* DarkIsEvil: [In ''Strange Journey'', where his appearance is darker than most Angels and even has black wings, while he is still a Herald and is Light-aligned.
* DefectorFromDecadence: [[spoiler: In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'' he has separated himself from the Archangels and the lesser Angels who seek to kill everyone in Tokyo after establishing Mikado.]]
* DemotedToExtra: In ''IV''. [[spoiler:Ultimately subverted; DLC reveals that, along with Masakado, he's one of the Big Goods of the game's backstory.]]
* TheDragon: To the Wise Men in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney''. [[spoiler:The Chaos route reveals he hopes to be rewarded by apotheosis into a being higher than the angels for his work in ushering in a world of Law]].
* EnigmaticMinion: In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'', where his motives are far more vague than his outright evil showing in ''Strange Journey''. [[spoiler:Further questions about his loyalties are raised in the ''Clipped Wings'' DLC, where he turned out to be responsible for sealing away three of the Four Archangels]].
* {{Expy}}: Of Satan. Unsurprisingly, given that the two names seem to refer to the same being (or at least two very similar beings) in Hebrew folklore. [[spoiler: In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'', he takes after Satan's more sympathetic incarnation from ''Shin Megami Tensei II''; he goes against the KnightTemplar angels in order to protect the humans of Tokyo and enforce God's true will.]]
* FantasticRacism: Calls the people of Tokyo "Unclean Ones" like the Angels and people of Mikado do. [[spoiler: However, in the Clipped Wing DLC he calls them human, suggesting that his attitude before is just a act.]]
* HateSink: In ''Strange Journey''. While he may be a typical Law representative at first, [[spoiler:once you get to his Villainous Breakdown, it's clear that he's supposed to be hated]].
* ItAmusedMe: The reason why he started a [[spoiler: fake fight in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'' against the Samurai in Midtown, while talking about cooking them]].
* ItsAllAboutMe: ''Strange Journey'' has the Chaos route reveal that [[spoiler:he only cares about advancing his own personal power/status, and doesn't give a damn about humanity or the Wise Men's desire for a "Kingdom of Heaven"]].

** In the ''Strange Journey'' [[spoiler:Law and Neutral Paths, where he gets away scot free to plot another day.]]
** [[spoiler: In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'''s Neutral and Chaos path, but he's not even close to being the evil jackass he was in SJ.]]
* KnightTemplar: He ''is'' on the side of Law, after all. [[spoiler:Though his incarnation in ''IV'' is one of the most reasonable Law representatives in the ''entire'' franchise, subverting the trope.]]
* ManipulativeBastard: Considering his nature as [[spoiler: the angel of hostility]], consider this a non-surprise for people who looked up the name on Website/ThatOtherWiki.
* MotiveRant: [[spoiler:Gives a particularly hate-filled one during his VillainousBreakdown in ''Strange Journey'''s Chaos path.]]
* NecessarilyEvil: [[spoiler: In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'' he helped make deals with Demons on the behalf of the Lawful Ashura-Kai for Red Pills and protects Midtown from those who seek the pills. Unlike [[SmugSnake Tayama]], who wants his [[{{Dystopia}} Utopia]] to go on forever, he is simply trying to keep order in Tokyo long enough for humanity to rise up and free themselves of the current situation of being trapped beneath the ceiling.]]
* NiceGuy: [[spoiler:[[DidntSeeThatComing Surprisingly enough]], given his behavior in ''Strange Journey'' and his pedigree as the Angel of Hostility, he becomes this in ''IV''. For a Herald, he has very little problem in accepting you taking the Chaos Path, saying that straying from his path is one way to learn about the Lord as well. In the Neutral Path, he is overjoyed Humanity will survive without interference, as he believes the religious doubts awakened by the whole ordeal will lead the people to God on their own, which is what he thinks God's true plan ''is''. He also resents the KnightTemplar Four Archangels and has three of them imprisoned in Mikado's early days before they can repeat the Millennium Kingdom fiasco.]]
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: In ''Strange Journey'' [[spoiler: Neutral route he decides to cut his losses and make a break for it, instead of fighting you]].
* TookALevelInKindness: [[spoiler:He's a much, ''much'' nicer fellow in ''IV'' than he is in ''Strange Journey''. Assuming that this is the same Mastema and not a different instance of the same type of demon, of course.]]
* TheUnfought: [[spoiler:In ''Strange Journey'' on the Neutral path and in ''IV'' on the Chaos and Neutral paths.]]
* VillainousBreakdown: In ''Strange Journey'' Chaos route [[spoiler:he completely loses it and tries to kill the protagonist himself, ranting about how humans live only to be pawns and cursing the protagonist for his actions]].
* WalkingSpoiler: In both games he appears in, but especially ''IV''. [[spoiler:His conversion from an insufferable Hate Sink to a genuine Nice Guy who factors into the game's backstory probably helps.]]

* YouWillBeSpared: [[spoiler:Spares Gabriel in the Clipped Wing DLC since a "rat can do nothing by itself". He was right until [[NiceJobFixingItVillain Lilith]] began spreading books, making it possible for her to send Samurai to rescue the other three.]]

* WorldOfSilence: A reoccuring result should the Law faction get their way, such as the Shijima Reason in ''Nocturne'' and the Three Wise Men's plan in ''Strange Journey'', and applies to a lesser or greater extent to many other games as well bar their most heroic or sympathetic ones. The world which Law wishes to create is often devoid of passion and instinct, all being one with "God" or the "Great Will of the universe" in a harmonious unity lacking a true ego or ambition.

** Again, in spite of being the faction of order, they are the most prone to outright rebelling against their faction head if they go a step too far for even them; after all, if they aren't going by their own standards, then they too need to fall. This reaches it's logical conclusion with Ronaldo in ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor2'', a Lawfully-minded protagonist who outright leads the ''LaResistance'' of that game. Meanwhile, Chaos never had anyone necessarily disobey Lucifer's way, though certainly most likely [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority not without trying]].

* EqualOpportunityEvil: You can say many bad things about Law, most of them fair, but they are most decidedly ''not'' discriminatory; they welcome all into their folds of their Millennium Kingdom, regardless of sex, race, nationality, disability or sexuality, and are just as likely to hold those not chosen by them [[KillEmAll cremated equal]].