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Main Characters
The Hero
The Hero
- Alternate Self: The version of him that appears in Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse is actually a version of him that died during the ICBM attack on Tokyo. Defeating Stephen earns him the right at a second chance with his fate changed. Fittingly, as the very beginning of the franchise, he represents what many players are at the start of the game: Being able to choose your side, yet not knowing which one.
- Ambadassador: He can talk his way out of a ton of fights to avoid unnecessary violence, but can kick ass with the best with them the instant negotiations fail.
- Baritone of Strength: Despite being fairly young, he is given quite the deep voice in the Diamond Realm DLC in Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse.
- Badass Normal: He can use swords and guns. No magic. Yeah, he can summon demons but they are more like Hired Guns. Plus, he's a completely ordinary human, lampshaded by the name lead artist Kazuma Kaneko gives him: Futsuo means "Ordinary/Average guy".
- The Beastmaster: The original. He can summon and direct demons thanks to the Demon Summoning Program.
- BFG: The strongest gun in the game that he can equip, the Megido Fire
◊, according to official art is not only big, but appears to be meant to be wielded one handed. - Canon Identifier: While he has had various given names throughout the series, he is always referred to by the epithet of "Hero".
- Canon Name: In the official game guide, he's called "Kazuya". Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse seems to have gone back on this, as in his appearance in that game, he's simply referred to as "The Hero".
- Cool Helmet: When equipped with the Dragon armor set in the game, according to some official concept-art◊.
- Cutting Off the Branches: Shin Megami Tensei II assumes that the Hero was Neutral-aligned.
- Dark Messiah: In every path. Saving the world means destroying everyone who opposes your vision for it.
- Disappeared Dad: His father never shows up or is even mentioned. According to the official fanbook, his parents divorced when he was an infant and he longs for a proper father-figure because of it.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Almost literally. After all he's been through he gets killed by a cave-in of all things, although supplementary materials reveal that he was the victim of an assassination that was then made to look like a cave in.
- Dump Stat: Any skill points invested in Magic are effectively flushed down the toilet.
- Dying Alone: His body is found in a cave in the second game.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Of course, you can make one for yourself in the original game, but in IV Apocalypse's Diamond Realm DLC, he's just called The Hero.
- First-Person Ghost: The other human party members are seen frequently, but the Hero is never seen. The only reason it's known he's even male is because he's seen on the cover. Averted on the Sega CD version.
- Guns Akimbo: He has two handguns holstered on his sides after the Apocalypse.
- The Hero: It's his title, natch.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: In his appearance in Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse, he favours melee skills over gun skills (and being unable to use magic).
- Heroic Mime: Never gets a word in dialogue.
- Hello, [Insert Name Here]: As part of Megami Tensei tradition, the player decides the Hero's name at the beginning of the game.
- Hollywood Tone-Deaf: One method of getting Demons to join you is by having him sing to the demons, then the demons will do anything just so that he'll stop.
- Katanas Are Just Better: Pictured with one in concept art. He's usually shown wielding Kagutsuchi.
- Kill the Ones You Love: No matter what path you take both Law Hero and Chaos Hero die, and you have to kill at least one of them.
- Like a Duck Takes to Water: He really dealt well with the fact he'd have to fight demons for the rest of his life, eh?
- Living Legend: In Shin Megami Tensei II. Not only did he help rebuild Japan after the events of the first game, but also has a statue of his achievement as the "First Champion" in the Colosseum.
- Magically Inept Fighter: Unlike his companions and demons, he has absolutely no access to magic.
- Magnetic Hero: Gets several demons and allies over the course of the game. Even in IV Apocalypse's Diamond Realm DLC, he can buff all your allies using Morale Boost.
- Momma's Boy: He loves his mother dearly. It does nothing to stop him from being the most powerful human alive. Sadly, when he returns from prison, a demon already killed and ate her.
- The Musketeer: Wields a sword and gun alternately. He can carry both in battle, but only use one at a time.
- Named by the Adaptation: He's given various names in adaptions of the game:
- Kazuya in Shin Megami Tensei Character Profile: Steven Report I.
- Sho in Shin Megami Tensei Final Story: Atlus Official Replay Novel.
- Futsuo in Kazuma Kaneko Complete Illustration Works, which translates to "ordinary guy".
- In Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse he is simply called "The Hero".
- In universe, he's also called "The First Hero" in Shin Megami Tensei II.
- Neutral Evil: He's categorized as Dark-Neutral during his stint as a Superboss in Shin Megami Tensei if....
- Neutral Good: Canonically. He's of Light morality, and the sequel is based on him choosing the Neutral Ending.
- One-Man Army: Takes on some of the strongest demons of both Law and Chaos as equals.
- Powers as Programs: He is given the ability to summon and control demons through a computer program.
- Reincarnation: Lilith believes he is Adam, and the Heroine is Eve.
- Scarf of Asskicking: After the apocalypse, he puts on a scarf, and quickly becomes the biggest badass in Tokyo.
- Shoulders of Doom: Receives these when wearing the Dragon armor.
- Suddenly Speaking: In the Sega CD adaptation, he narrates some of the cutscenes.
- Wrongly Accused: Near the beginning of the game, he is arrested for the murder of a man killed by a demon.
- You Killed My Father: What's that? You ate my mother?! Prepare to Die, Amanojaku! And this is only the beginning of the game.
Heroine
Heroine
"My destiny... is with you. I'll go wherever you go."
The Heroine is the leader of an underground resistance movement against Gotou. Although she cannot use the Demon Summoning Program, she has incredible magic powers. She eventually becomes the main companion to the Hero.
- Action Girl: A staple among the Heroines, though she stands out especially. Unlike most game's female leads, the Heroine is just as powerful as the Hero.
- Blow You Away: Though her specialty is lightning spells, she learns Rimdora, effectively a Zandyne equivalent in a game that otherwise lacks such spells.
- Canon Identifier: While she has had various given names throughout the series, she is always referred to by the epithet of "Heroine".
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Feel like going for Law? No probs! She's got a lovely white and blue Templar cape. In a chaotic mood? Atlus has her decked out in a charming red and black combat suit under the cape. Neutral? Law and Chaos in balance is the Neutral message in this game.
- Combat Medic: Can be utilized as such, though because she learns only the basic full-party healing spell, she's much more practical as a Squishy Wizard.
- Combat Stilettos: A red pair.
- Crutch Character: Subverted. She joins your party the same level as the protagonist (which is to say, probably higher than the Law- and Chaos Heros), with much better armour, boasting defense and evasion around 30 points higher than your own, and a variety of powerful magic spells, but leaves you after only a couple dungeons. Then you get her back after a few more dungeons, and this time she's perfectly capable of carrying you clear through to the final boss.
- Damsel in Distress: Though balanced out by the fact that male characters also end up in similar situations. After it occurs the second time she takes a level in badass, even though she already was one.
- Depending on the Artist: Applies to all characters, but afflicts her especially.
- Deuteragonist: In both the senses that she is the second most prominent playable character, and also that her actions during the initial wave of demons serve as a catalyst for the events to come.
- Fragile Speedster: Downplayed. While the player may distribute her stats however they wish, the game automatically distributes her points with a focus on Intelligence and Speed, making it wise to focus on those stats before she is recruited for the second time. The game may otherwise splurge on areas she doesn't benefit from much improvement in, such as Strength.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Rescuing the male leads from The Tokyo Fireball. Doesn't stick.
- Journey to the Center of the Mind: Sends the Hero on one, who later goes into her mind to destroy the demon possessing her.
- Light 'em Up: She learns Hama.
- Messianic Archetype: Subverted. The Messians think she's the Messiah, but she's captured by Ozawa, and then abandons the role, which is taken up by Law Hero.
- Mutually Exclusive Party Members: She is never playable at the same time as the Chaos Hero; she joins right after he departs to go fight Ozawa in 199X, she leaves the party before he rejoins you in the Diamond Realm, and she returns in the post-apocalypse after he permanently deserts you.
- Named by the Adaptation: She's given various names in adaptions of the game:
- Yuka in Shin Megami Tensei Character Profile: Steven Report I.
- Aoi in Shin Megami Tensei Final Story: Atlus Official Replay Novel.
- Futsuko in Kazuma Kaneko Complete Illustration Works.
- Maki Takahara in Crimson Night: Shin Megami Tensei II TRPG Genesis Jumpstart Kit.
- Nice Girl: Quite. She's always polite and approachable. She saves all of you from certain death and even at the cost of herself.
- One-Woman Army: In a very notable aversion of Useless Useful Spell, the difficulty of any battle is predicated entirely on whether the enemy is immune to lightning, and thus being stunned, and failing that Marin Karin, a charm spell that works on bosses and, at higher Intelligence, virtually without fail. To say that she's the most useful of the four humans you'll get over the course of the game is an understatement.
- Reincarnation: Twice over. She is implied to be the Eve to the Hero's Adam, and she is killed during the Great Destruction and is reincarnated again later.
- Reincarnation Romance: The Heroine in the post-apocalypse is the reincarnation of the Heroine from the pre-apocalypse, and is implied to be just as smitten with the Hero.
- Reluctant Warrior: At the end of the Neutral Path she says that she feels bad about how the war between Heaven and Hell has caused so much death and pain.
- Shock and Awe: Learns Zio spells, which aren't resisted by much other than zombies. An extremely useful school of magic to learn, as lightning spells can cause opponents to waste a turn being stunned.
- Silk Hiding Steel: Kind, selfless, gentle, and ridiculously powerful.
- The Smurfette Principle: The only human woman to join the party.
- Support Party Member: Even moreso than the Law Hero. She learns the most spells out of the three magic-using humans without a particular focus, meaning that she'll likely become the party's most valuable asset.
- Undying Loyalty: No matter what path you take (Law, Neutral or Chaos), she's right there beside you.
- Vague Age: While the male leads are implied to be around high school age, hers is entirely up for debate. Considering that she was leading a resistance movement prior to the ICBMs hitting, it can be assumed that she is at least in her early 20s.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: It was never revealed what happened to her between the events of Shin Megami Tensei I and Shin Megami Tensei II. Especially given the Hero's... fate.
Law Hero
Law Hero
"There are still so many weak people in the world... It would be amazing if they could be saved just through prayer. I wish I could be someone who did that."
A young man who meets the Hero while searching for his girlfriend (who coincidentally shares the name of the Heroine). He survives the end of the world and gravitates towards the message of peace broadcast by the Messians.
- All There in the Manual: While he is not mentioned in Shin Megami Tensei II, a developer interview reveals that his Law route incarnation (or rather a close approximation thereof) was the basis of the Messiah Project, and his untimely death forced the Order of Messiah to create Aleph and co. as substitutes.
- Always Save the Girl: His main motivation at the beginning of the game is to rescue his girlfriend, who was kidnapped as part of an effort to capture the Heroine. Unfortunately, by the time he reaches her, she's a Bodyconian, and is given the option to find an item that will grant her eternal rest.
- Bald Mystic: The artbook of the sequel reveals that he lost his hair upon becoming God's champion.
- Blow You Away: Learns Zan spells, which are primarily associated with wind in later games.
- Came Back Wrong: Implied in-game and outright confirmed in dev interviews. When the angels resurrected him, they altered his soul and stripped him of his humanity, leaving only a puppet obsessed with God's order and no kindness.
- Canon Identifier: While he has had various given names throughout the series, he is always referred to by the epithet of "Law Hero".
- Church Militant: After being resurrected by the Messians, he becomes violently devoted to upholding God's will.
- Combat Medic: Learns Dia spells.
- Crucified Hero Shot: His introduction.
- Died Happily Ever After: If you get the Law ending, God's messenger informs you that he is living happily in Heaven with God.
- Distressed Dude: After he's kidnapped by Nebiros he becomes this.
- Heel Realization: After you deal him a mortal wound on the Neutral and Chaos paths he realizes he was nothing more than God's tool.
- Heroic Sacrifice: The first time he dies, he sacrifices himself to save the Hero.
- Irony: For a man who idealizes order and stability, he undergoes the most drastic character shift of anyone in the game.
- Knight Templar: Becomes this later in the game.
- Last Stand: If you choose to reject Law, he becomes the last line of defense between you and Michael.
- Lawful Stupid: He becomes blindly devoted to God, even though God sees him as nothing but a pawn to be used.
- Light Is Not Good: His Messiah form is that of a young man in a pope outfit.
- Logical Weakness: His ideology focuses on order and strength through unity. This means that, unlike the Chaos Hero, he isn't focusing on developing his own personal power. If it comes to a fight between the two, the Chaos Hero annihilates him.
- Messianic Archetype: Complete with dying and being resurrected by God. Subverted in that he is never the savior of mankind in any path, dying before he can assume that role.
- Named by the Adaptation: He's given various names in adaptions of the game:
- Yuji in Shin Megami Tensei Character Profile: Steven Report I.
- Toshiki in Shin Megami Tensei Final Story: Atlus Official Replay Novel.
- Yoshio in Kazuma Kaneko Complete Illustration Works, which translates to "good man".
- Nice Guy: Before he becomes a Messiah he is very kind, sympathetic towards others, and the peacemaker of the group.
- Pre-Final Boss: On Chaos and, if you choose to fight Michael second, Neutral, the Law Hero will attack you towards the end of the upper Basilica.
- Stupid Sacrifice: When confronted by Count Black, his Taking the Bullet moment for the Hero is questionable given you have many expendable demons to do so for you and Death Is Cheap for said demons anyway.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: After being resurrected as the Messiah, he becomes much more of a Tautological Templar.
- Tritagonist: He's one of the tertiary main characters, along with the Chaos Hero; the two serve as your initial companions before and after Armageddon, and they have the biggest character arcs in the game. He particularly assumes this role on the Law route.
- Unwitting Pawn: His last words are all about him realizing God was just using him.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: After his resurrection, he is willing to go to any lengths to carry out God's will, even though this includes flooding all of Tokyo and killing all of the innocents not inside the Basilica.
- We Used to Be Friends: If you do not follow him onto the Law route, your differing ideologies lead to you coming to blows with him.
Chaos Hero
Chaos Hero
"Shut up! Do I look all right to you...? If only I had power... Then I'd..."
A young and reckless gang member who is first met while he is being beaten up by Ozawa. Although he talks big, he is cowardly and wishes for the power he does not have.
- Badass Longcoat: An urban camo patterned trench coat.
- Canon Identifier: While he has had various given names throughout the series, he is always referred to by the epithet of "Chaos Hero".
- Casting a Shadow: Learns Mudo as his final spell.
- Chaotic Stupid: His defining traits are his impulsiveness and stubbornness, both of which lend to his unpreventable death.
- Death by Irony: In the Chaos route, he steals the Devil Ring from the Hero, but is consumed because he was too weak to control the ring's power.
- Demon of Human Origin: He steals one of the Hero's demons and fuses with it, becoming a demon himself.
- Drunk on the Dark Side: He is far too pleased with the power he gains from fusing with a demon.
- Establishing Character Moment: In the real world, you first find him getting the crap kicked out of him by Ozawa and grousing about how much he wants power. This quickly establishes his desire to accumulate as much personal power as possible and his grudge against Ozawa, which drives his character arc for the first half of the game.
- Evil Is Not a Toy: He tries to steal the Devil Ring from you on the Chaos route, but proves too weak to handle its power. Bye-bye Chaos Hero.
- Freudian Excuse: He's been bullied by everyone. THAT'S why he's so power hungry.
- Freudian Slip: "Now I have the power of a demon...!!! Now... Now no one will be able to pick on-DEFEAT me."
- The Glasses Come Off: Upon becoming a half-demon he ditches his specs.
- Greed: He steals the Devil Ring from you in the Chaos route out of a selfish desire for more power.
- Hypocrite: After acting as The Load to you for the first quarter of the game, he has the gall to abandon you after gaining demonic power because you would only "slow him down". The English iOS release changes it so that he abandons you because you and the Law Hero are unlikely to survive without fusing with a demon like him.
- I Just Want to Be Badass: His entire motivation is to gain more power so that nobody will pick on him.
- Irony: Chaos is all about change. The Chaos Hero has the least development of the main cast and ends the game exactly how he begins it: a power crazed Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's a petty brat and a bit of a thug. However, he does care about his allies and friends, and even tells the Law Hero to leave the protagonist alone because of his mother’s death.
- Messianic Archetype: Averted, unlike the rest of his companions. While he is the demon-fused hero of Chaos, he isn't anyone's savior or paragon, simply an exemplar of the ideology. His motives are purely selfish and revolve around developing more personal power, which fits right in with Chaos's main idea.
- Mutually Exclusive Party Members: He is never playable at the same time as the Heroine; he departs to go fight Ozawa right before she joins you in 199X, he rejoins you in the Diamond Realm after she sacrifices herself to save you from the nukes, and he permanently deserts you before she returns in the post-apocalypse.
- Named by the Adaptation: He's given various names in adaptions of the game:
- Takeshi in Shin Megami Tensei Character Profile: Steven Report I.
- Tetsuo in Shin Megami Tensei Final Story: Atlus Official Replay Novel.
- Waruo in Kazuma Kaneko Complete Illustration Works, which translates to "bad guy".
- Pet the Dog: He shows sympathy towards the Hero after his mother dies, remains affable with him even after abandoning him, and even helps him on some occasions. If you make the choice to side against him, he is upset but resolves to fight you anyway.
- Playing with Fire: Has Agi spells.
- Pre-Final Boss: On Law and, if you go after Asura second, Neutral, the Chaos Hero is the first of two bosses to fight you when the Hero nears the bottom of the Basilica.
- Pride: He doesn't accept that there are challenges that he can't overcome, becoming a textbook lesson in the dangers of hubris.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: If you refuse to kill Ozawa.
- Took a Level in Badass: Once he fuses with a demon, his stats skyrocket.
- Tritagonist: He's one of the tertiary main characters, along with the Law Hero; the two serve as your initial companions before and after Armageddon, and they have the biggest character arcs in the game. He particularly assumes this role on the Chaos route.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Joins the party with a machine gun in his inventory. It's implied he was planning to use it on Ozawa's thugs, but had second thoughts or was beaten anyway.
- We Used to Be Friends: If you do not follow him onto the Chaos route, your differing ideologies lead to you coming to blows with him.
Pascal
Pascal
The Hero's loyal dog.- Action Pet: After the death of the Hero's mother, Pascal will fight alongside his owner.
- Canine Companion: The lovable companion of the main character.
- Crutch Character: In 199X, he is only available as Cerberus for a short time. During that time, he's one immensely-powerful dog, far stronger than anything else in that era.
- Demon of Human Origin: Or in this case, demon of canine origin. He is an ordinary dog who is fused with a demon to become a demon himself.
- Leitmotif: Pascal's Theme.
- Meaningful Name: He is named for the Pascal Programming Language, which was itself named for Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician and philosopher. In the remakes, he was supposedly a gift from a Nakajima.
- Took a Level in Badass: After your mother dies and Pascal joins the party, you can fuse him with any demon to create Cerberus!
- Undying Loyalty: Unlike all other high-level demons, Pascal-Cerberus can be controlled by a low-level hero due to his personal loyalty to you from when he was an ordinary dog.
- Uplifted Animal: As Pascal, he's an ordinary dog. When he is fused with a demon to become Cerberus, he becomes sentient.
Non-Playable Characters
Yuriko
Yuriko
For her trope list, see here.
Stephen
Stephen
Bears absolutely no resemblance to Stephen Hawking.
- Genius Cripple: Became crippled after he was attacked by a demon.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: Testing of his teleportation program randomly managed to rip a hole in reality that filled the world full of demons.
- I Owe You My Life: Kazuya would be dead if he didn't have Stephen's demon summoning program.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Totally not Stephen Hawking.
- Reincarnation: The Kikyo Amulet-catalyzed vision in the GBA/iOS Visionary suggests that he's the reincarnation of Abe no Seimei.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: By way of ripping a hole to the demon world.
Gotou
Gotou
- Arc Villain: He's the first leader of the forces of Chaos and the driving force behind a lot of what happens before the nuking of Tokyo.
- Full-Frontal Assault: While he appears in his uniform in his video feeds, he's encountered wearing a fundoshi in his base.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Based off of Yukio Mishima who also attempted a coup d'etat and posed in fundoshi.
Ozawa
Ozawa
- Arch-Enemy: Ozawa is the Chaos Hero's mortal enemy, and most of his actions in the first half of the game are driven by his desire to get revenge on him.
- Asshole Victim: When he dies, you really can't feel sorry for him. Even the Law Hero doesn't register a complaint over if the Chaos Hero kills him.
- Delinquents: Before the apocalypse, he's a local thug leader.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Goes from a run-of-the-mill thug to an outright tyrant.
- Gang of Bullies: He leads one.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: Creates a safe haven in Shinjuku, but given the intense fear his rule inflicts, it's not much better than the other districts save maybe Roppongi. He notably is the first in a trend of villains who appear throughout the mainline games: A human who proves to be as bad as, if not worse than, the demons around them, to the point where one or two main characters start going off the deep end.
- Jerkass: He's an unpleasant man who spends his time before the end of the world picking on the Chaos Hero, and his time after ruling Shinjuku as a dictator.
- Karmic Death: He beats up Chaos Hero before the end, and is killed by Chaos Hero as revenge in the post-apocalyptic world.
- Repressive, but Efficient: He runs a brutal dictatorship in post-apocalyptic Shinjuku, but it's his leadership that keeps the demons out. Once you kill him, Shinjuku immediately stops being a safe haven and becomes just as demon-infested as the rest of Tokyo.
- School Yard Bully All Grown Up: After the End.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Ozawa's direct impact on the plot is minimal, with his only important contributions being his effect on the Chaos Hero leading to his transformation and capturing the Psycho Diver, who is needed to save the Heroine from Arachne. It's the former that starts breaking apart the heroes, and with his death, the Chaos Hero leaves.
- Trope Codifier: He's the franchise's internal codifier for Humans Are the Real Monsters - a nasty human villain that isn't as powerful as the protagonists or lead villains, but makes a massive impact that paves the way for the other major heroes to become more extreme. Sakahagi from Nocturne, Captain Jack from Strange Journey, and Tayama from IV are the most faithful examples, but the other mainline entries still fill the nasty minor human villain role with Gimmel from II, Otsuki from if... (albeit more of a wannabe Quisling than a genuine menace), Tamagami from IV: Apocalypse, and two unnamed girls who bully Sahori Itsukishima from V.
Louis Cypher
Old Man
Old Man
After demons begin to appear in the streets of Tokyo, the player can go to Inogashira Park and meet an old man who speaks cryptically of the hero gaining great power and of a choice between Law and Chaos. He then conjures up a vision in which the hero, Law Hero and Chaos Hero fight against the devil summoner Douman and are soundly defeated. The vision ends and the old man tells the hero that he is too weak to fight Douman, but that they will likely fight again and that he must be careful.- Badass Creed: In the Neutral ending, on the need for a balance between Law and Chaos.
- Big Good: He's your main ally in the Neutral path.
- The Reveal: His true identity is Taijorokun/Tai Shang Lao Jun.
- Take a Third Option: He comes through for you and provides you an alternate path into the Basilica if you kill both Echidna and Haniel, ostensibly your only tickets inside.
