History Characters / Persona5GoroAkechi

* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: Early in the third trimester, he becomes the navigator in battle instead of Morgana or Futaba for a short time. However, all of his navigator lines are ruthless and violent (when he's not having AngerBornOfWorry).

* TsurimeEyes: His eyes go noticeably sharper to showcase he is not putting up a cheerful innocent facade, which is especially noticeable in the final trimester in ''Royal'' where he does not bother to hide his true self anymore.

* {{Ubermensch}}: His attitude towards [[LotusEaterMachine Maruki's plans]] during the final trimester in ''Royal'' would make Nietzsche himself weep with pride. Akechi refuses to let himself be pulled into Maruki's dream world despite how much easier it would make his life, as not only would it mean putting his destiny in the hands of another person, but he nihilistically believes the idea of a world with no suffering and pain is boring and worthless.

* CrutchCharacter: With Loki's natural access to powerful skills like Megidolaon and Debilitate as well as having high stats aross the board, Akechi in the 3rd Semester serves as a means to survive Maruki's Palace should the player feel underprepared for it for any reason (such as not having high enough Confidants maxed to have many good Personas on Joker or have the other Thieves with 3rd-Tier Personas). If the player ''is'' prepared, however, Akechi can fall behind the pack due to lacking any boosting skills like Charge, Concentrate or Curse Amp, a [[MasterOfNone cluttered overall skillset]], a lack of enemy Shadows with Curse weaknesses and a Bless weakness that Maruki can exploit.

* MasterOfNone: Loki's skills, which cannot be modified without the Jazz Club, consists of a mess of Physical, Gun, Curse and Almighty attacks, plus Debilitate and several passives with wuestionable utility. Because of this, and his lack of skills like Curse Amp or Charge means his damage tends to lag behind the rest of the Thieves for most of the 3rd Semester. Hereward ''does'' lean into an Almighty specialty more with the powerful Rebellion Blade and a Trait to half the SP costs of it and Megadolaon... but by then, all you have left to fight is the FinalBoss.

* PowerupLetdown: Downplayed, but his 3rd Tier Persona Hereward has elements of this. Akechi awakening to him [[LateCharacterSyndrome in the 2nd to last day before the]] FinalBoss isn't a dealbreaker on its own since he retains access to his normal skillset, but contrasting Sumire's Ella gaining a resistance to Nuclear (an element the FinalBoss has access to) and a powerful physical skill to out-damage Sword Dance, Hereward's new Psy resistance and Rebellion Blade skill cannot be taken advantage of against the FinalBoss, who has no Psy skills and cannot be knocked down for Rebellion Blade's [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown secondary effect]]. Also, because Mementos is not accessible that late in the game, Hereward isn't usable for the NG+ Superboss. The only real way for Hereward's unique skills to get used is in Velvet Room challenges, many of which are DLC only.

* TooCleverByHalf: To Akechi's credit, he's clever in his own right. He was savvy in utilizing the power to enter the Metaverse to create cases and solve them, making himself appear as a detective celebrity in the eyes of the public. He then plays both sides of the conflict, by acting as Shido's enforcer while at the same time blackmailing the Phantom Thieves from a position of strength. Not only does he get Joker arrested and hailed as a hero, but plans on betraying Shido by stealing his electoral victory away from him. However, his fatal mistake was underestimating both the Phantom Thieves and Shido. He carelessly gave himself away to the Phantom Thieves at the studio, and wasn't aware that Shido intended to double-cross Akechi preemptively until the latter met his cognitive self in Shido's palace. Though in Shdio's case, it's possible that he never thought that his father would be stupid or paranoid enough to try and dispose of him.

* TooCleverByHalf: To Akechi's credit, he's clever in his own right. He was savvy in utilizing the power to enter the Metaverse to create cases and solve them, making himself appear as a detective celebrity in the eyes of the public. He then plays both sides of the conflict, by acting as Shido's enforcer while at the same time blackmailing the Phantom Thieves from a position of strength. Not only does he get Joker arrested and hailed as a hero, but plans on betraying Shido by stealing his electoral victory away from him. However, his fatal mistake was underestimating both the Phantom Thieves and Shido. He carelessly gave himself away to the Phantom Thieves at the studio, and wasn't aware that Shido intended to double-cross Akechi preemptively until the latter met his cognitive self in Shido's palace.

[[Characters/Persona5Confidants Confidants]] | [[Characters/Persona5Targets Targets]] - [[Characters/Persona5PalaceRulers Palace Rulers]] ([[Characters/Persona5SuguruKamoshida Asmodeus]]) / [[Characters/Persona5EndgameAntagonists Endgame Antagonists]] ([[Characters/Persona5MasayoshiShido Samael]] | [[Characters/Persona5TakutoMaruki The Dreamer]]) / [[Characters/Persona5MinorTargets Minor]] | [[Characters/Persona5OtherCharacters Other Characters]]]]-]]]

->''"I'm a bit occupied, so do your goddamn JOB!"''

* ChewingTheScenery: Justified. He goes into this after he assumes his true form in Shido's Palace, and [[Creator/RobbieDaymond his voice actor]] sounds like he's having a pretty good time cackling like a comic book supervillain. As the Black Mask in ''Royal'', he still does this in combat almost all of his combat lines involve him speaking like a Saturday-morning cartoon villain, cackling maniacally, relishing in the pain he's inflicting, talking down to his opponents, among other things. All with an incredibly dynamic vocal range that goes from GutturalGrowler to SmugSnake to a SuddenlyShouting LargeHam in seconds.

* GutturalGrowler: Several of his new lines in ''Royal'' have him speaking low and raspily.

* IAmNotLeftHanded: He conceals the existence of his other Persona and his ability to cause Shadows to go berserk until he fights the party. He taunts Ryuji for being stupid enough to assume that he knows all there is to know about his power, and Makoto points out that if Akechi is responsible for all the incidents, he's more dangerous than they assumed. That said, he makes his EvilCostumeSwitch and takes out Loki for the second half of his boss fight. Though humorously he literally IS left-handed.

* IAmNotLeftHanded: He conceals the existence of his other Persona and his ability to cause Shadows to go berserk until he fights the party. He taunts Ryuji for being stupid enough to assume that he knows all there is to know about his power, and Makoto points out that if Akechi is responsible for all the incidents, he's more dangerous than they assumed. That said, he makes his EvilCostumeSwitch and takes out Loki for the second half of his boss fight. Though humorously he literally IS left-handed.

* TomatoInTheMirror: When speaking with Joker and Maruki at Leblanc, after the latter has spoken of how he "created a world where the two of you could live together", Akechi admits that he quickly figured out he wasn't the real deal, even before he talked to Joker about what's going on in the Third Semester. With the gap in his memory between Shido's Palace and his reappearance on Christmas Eve, the outright disregard for his crimes leading to his release, and the cases of Wakaba and Okumura being inexplicably alive, there was plenty of evidence that - though he can't be 100% certain - he was likely the same as them: someone who's supposed to be dead, yet is alive due to the mercy of another.

* HypercompetentSidekick: Believe it or not, Akechi is really the ''only'' way Shido could actually terrorize his opposition and could go that far, because he could assassinate any opposition or disloyal lackey in secret and cover it up using him. With Akechi out of the equation, every other person under Shido's wing is OnlyInItForTheMoney or extremely incompetent lapdogs. And it's not a good thing because Shido is so paranoid [[StupidEvil and insane]] to the point that he would try to go after his only real benefactor if he could.

'''Akechi:''' Well… I'll just pretend I didn't hear that.

* BatmanParody: In contrast to how Robin Hood was based on Superman, Hereward greatly resembles Franchise/{{Batman}}, especially with his all-black armor, tattered cape, and the pointy accents on his helmet that resemble bat wings. Additionally, Batman is the "world's greatest detective", fitting Akechi's "Detective Prince" facade. Even Akechi's Black Mask suit itself bares a passing resemblance to Batman, as it covers his entire head and most of his face akin to a cowl or helmet unlike the other thieves' masks, and has claws instead of gloves similar to Terry [=McGinnis=].

* BatmanParody: In contrast to how Robin Hood was based on Superman, Hereward greatly resembles Franchise/{{Batman}}, especially with his all-black armor, tattered cape, and the pointy accents on his helmet that resemble bat wings. Additionally, Batman is the "world's greatest detective", fitting Akechi's "Detective Prince" facade.

---> '''Akechi (on 2/2)''': Well...I have your answer. There's nothing left I can say. Our deal's off...''(walks out of Leblanc unhppily)''

* WolverineClaws: His Black Mask outfit has him sporting a pair of metal gloves tipped with sharp claws. It stands out as the other Phantom Thieves only wear fabric gloves, demonstrating Akechi is a [[AxeCrazy dangerous assassin]] rather than a vigilante.

** Akechi scolds you if you decide to accept Maruki's deal on January 9 or February 2.

* BrutalHonesty: In ''Royal,'' he admits that he's envious of how Joker's handling his unfortunate circumstances, his uniqueness, and the fact that he's growing stronger than him.

* FightingYourFriend: In his Rank 8 Confidant event, he challenges Joker to a fight in Mementos.

* EngineeredHeroics: Akechi uses his powers to instigate crimes as the Black Mask, and subsequently solves them as the Detective Prince, to build a reputation as a hero and a celebrity in the eyes of the public. This satisfies his craving for attention and adoration, but ties him to Shido's conspiracy; if it falls, so does Akechi's charade. This is why he can't just join the Phantom Thieves when they set out to change Shido's heart, because he'd be dooming himself.

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[UncertainDoom Maybe]]. After losing to the Thieves in Shido's palace, Akechi forces them to escape and buys them time by [[BolivianArmyEnding fighting his cognitive double and his army by himself]]: the only thing the party hears afterwards are gunshots, at which point Futaba notes that she can't sense his presence any more. However, it's unclear if he actually died: Sae notes that he [[NeverFoundTheBody merely disappeared]] and no one else mentions him again. Akechi returns during the Third Semester of ''Royal'', but it's as a result of Maruki changing reality. When the original reality is restored, so is Akechi's presumed death although someone in his uniform can be seen during the after credits scene if you completed his Confidant beforehand.

* LackOfEmpathy: Akechi does not care who he hurts in his vendetta against Shido or the fact he would be inflicting equal or worse damages to innocent people who truly don't deserve it. It's another factor that makes he has in common with Shido. It also keeps him from making meaningful relationships and thus trapping himself in the miserable isolation that he wants to escape.

* LastSecondChance: The Phantom Thieves offer to let him rejoin them after the second phase of his boss fight, he expresses surprise that the Thieves would do something like that after all he's done.
* LateArrivalSpoiler: The trailer for ''Royal'' only takes small steps to hide his status as a villain; he isn't shown on-screen when confronting Joker in the interrogation room, but his voice isn't disguised. The Akechi trailer flat-out shows him as Black Mask, allied with the Phantom Thieves once again.

** Downplayed, but he ''definitely'' experiences some SanitySlippage after going berserk for the second phase of his boss fight.
** He also plays the trope fairly literally in that he's a Wild Card with the unique ability to cause people to go insane, which he uses on himself as an actual fighting style.