The Psychology and Philosophy of Persona 3 By Mahmoud Suliman

 Abstract  This article explores different psychological and philosophical theories that influenced the  making of the ground-breaking game: Persona 3. It discusses how the game takes from the  theories of prominent psychoanalysts to add to the immersive experience of the game.  Specifically, the theories of Persona, Shadow, and archetype of renowned psychiatrist and  psychoanalyst Carl Jung. Furthermore, it explains how the narrative of the game follows the  main character through the Jungian individuation process.  The article also analyzes how “The Theme of the Three Caskets”, an essay written by Sigmund  Freud, heavily influenced the game’s narrative and mechanics, and how the game  communicates the themes of the essay explicitly through the opening of the game and through  the characters dialogue, and discreetly through its unique handling of time models. It also  explores how the narrative and game mechanics interplay and reinforce one another to  effectively present the overall themes of the game to the player.  Keywords: Persona 3, Philosophy, Psychology, Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, Memento Mori,  Theme of the Three Caskets  Introduction  While most Roleplaying games follow the protagonist on adventures that incorporates  Legendary swords, mythical creatures and vast worlds, the Persona series is quite modest in  that regard, with its story typically happening in an ordinary Japanese town, without dragons,  or semi-open-world adventures. And while the vast majority of RPGs emphasize the exploration  of new environments and leading the characters to a triumphant happy ending, Persona 3 is  more introspective, with it focusing on the inner turmoil of the characters, and the motives that  keeps them going on, furthermore, the game doesn’t end with the characters living happily  ever after. In fact, it ends with the shocking death of the protagonist. The mood of the game is  also different, with its bleak urban setting contrasting the vivid natural environments of  traditional RPGs, and the cold blue coloring scheme of the artwork contrasting the usually  bright coloring of most RPGs. Persona 3 is then, at a glance, not your typical RPG. This is true for  every game in the persona series, but there are still stark differences between persona 3 and  every other game in the series. Persona 4 and 5 for example, use exuberant yellow and bold red  coloring schemes, they end triumphantly without the death of the protagonist and they don’t  delve as much into the characters motives. These differences however, are totally logical (and  justified), considering the different themes and stories that each of these games present. The  persona series is all about storytelling, with every design and narrative aspect of the game set  to accentuate and strengthen the impact of the game’s story and its overall themes. It doesn’t  come as a surprise then that one of the most acclaimed aspects of persona 3 is its storytelling, with the game being described as “One of the most ambitious storytelling projects in  videogame history.” (Oyama, 2012).  But there’s another hidden reason that makes the game’s storytelling so compelling and  effective. The Persona series and Persona 3 in particular are known to be fraught with  symbolism, psychological and philosophical concepts, and it’s included in a way that even if the  player totally missed it, it wouldn’t affect his gaming experience. The game openly uses terms  that are deeply seated in psychology like “persona” and “shadow” but subtly presents  psychological concepts such as “individuation” throughout the course of the game.  Furthermore, Persona 3 is the first game in the series to include the now-signature blend of  social simulation and RPG elements like dungeon crawling. It established a new formula that  both persona 4 and 5 followed to great commercial success and critical acclaim. But when  Persona 3 introduced the seemingly unnecessary social simulation aspect of the game, it was,  arguably, because it was another tool to deliver the themes of the game (Lee, 2013), and it was  a move influenced by a number of psychological theories and philosophical concepts.  The purpose of this article is to identify these different concepts and theories, and how they  influenced the narrative and gameplay aspects of persona 3. And even though the game is  influenced by the theories of many philosophers and psychoanalysts, this article would only  focus on the theories and concepts of two influential psychoanalysts: Sigmund Freud and Carl  Jung. Specifically, the psychoanalytical theories of Jung, and the philosophical concepts of  Freud. Each theory and concept will be thoroughly explained in the context of the game, and  specific aspects of the game will be examined to assess the extent of influence that these  theories had over them.  Methodology  Most of the data used in this article was gathered from selected web articles and online  references. These references and articles were selected based on relevancy, credibility, and  overall adequacy of information, articles which drifted off-topic were excluded.  The first step after gathering the necessary data was determining the different psychological  and philosophical theories that influenced the game. This was done by reading through  different web articles, blogs, forums, and official interviews with the makers of the game. These  psychological and philosophical theories were then thoroughly studied. Each theory was  challenged for its relevancy to the game, with great attention being paid to how each of the ingame representation conforms to the studied theory. Irrelevant theories were subsequently  excluded from the analysis process. The selected theories were then analyzed and categorized  by the level of influence that they had on the gaming experience, with each theory then  thoroughly explored within the context of the game. The World of Persona 3  The story of Persona 3 happens in the fictional town of Iwatodai, where a period of time called  the dark hour exists between one day and the next. During the dark hour, most people in  Iwatodai are transmogrified into coffins and are unaware of its existence. The dark hour causes  a labyrinth called Tartarus to emerge, where beasts called “shadows” roam. The shadows feed  on the mind of their victims, leaving them without any cognitive functionality in ordinary day’s  hours. The nameless protagonist, who’s a high school student, is one of few people who can  function during the dark hour, and he joins a group of people who fight shadows with beasts of  their own called “personas.” The game follows the protagonist as he balances high school life  and Tartarus exploration.  Carl Jung  Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung theorized that the persona is “a kind of mask, designed on the one  hand to make a definite impression upon others, and on the other to conceal the true nature of  the individual.” (Jung, 1953, p. 190)  Simply put, people create and develop personas to interact with the external social world. But  “the external social world” is vast and full of different personalities; therefore we create  different personas to deal with different type of personalities and social situations.  For example, the persona one uses to interact with business associates would be very different  from the one he uses to interact with his family. A persona then, reflects what society deems  acceptable.  The game explores this heavily through its social simulating aspect known simply as “social  links.” In social links, the player must decide through choices which personality to use for  different characters, with each social link requiring different choices that mirrors the use of a  different persona. This emphasizes the need to use different personas in different situations,  subtly suggesting that it’s a skill essential to socialize effectively, even in the real world.  The game also explores the existence of “shadows.” In Jungian Psychology, the shadow  “personifies everything that the subject refuses to acknowledge about himself”  (Jung, 1996, p. 284) and is “a tight passage, a narrow door, whose painful constriction no one is  spared who goes down to the deep well.” (Jung, 1996, p. 21)  If a persona is what society deems acceptable, a shadow is the exact opposite. People tend to  reject or repress undesirable traits of their personalities, which could cause a number of  psychological problems. For example, shadows are prone to “psychological projection”, a term  used to describe the instance of when an unconsciously perceived inferiority in one’s personality is projected as a moral deficiency in others. This could act as a thickening layer of  illusion between the ego and the real world, and subsequently lead to negative behaviours such  as victim blaming, bullying and projection of marital guilt.  Shadows are present in the game as different monsters that manifest from people’s negative  and repressed parts of their personalities. The end of the game focuses on the death drive as a  shadow, suggesting that everyone has the death-seeking drive as a shadow buried deep within  his subconscious. The term “archetype” was used by Jung to describe universal, archaic patterns and images that  derive from the collective unconsciousness. (Feist, 2009)  Nicholas (1980), emphasized the psychological and archetypal significance of the tarot, and  connected the Jungian individuation process to the tarot trumps. This is implied in the persona  series, in that the characters who share the same tarot card arcana often face the same  problems and react to it similarly, suggesting that they have the same archetypal identity.  In Jungian psychology, “individuation” is the process in which the individual self develops out of  an undifferentiated unconscious. (Jung, 1973) The story of Persona 3 follows the main character  through the three Steps of Jungian individuation, as summarized in table 1. Table 1: Jungian Individuation Process  Steps Of  individuation  Step one:  Assimilation of the  Shadow  Step two:  Confrontation with  the Anima/ Animus  Step three:  Encounter with the  Mana Figure.  Description Shadow: unconscious  aspects of the  personality which the  conscious ego does  not identify in itself.  Because one tends to  reject or remain  ignorant of the least  desirable aspects of  one's personality.  The first step of  Individuation is the  acknowledgement of  the existence of a  shadow as a part of  one’s personality. Anima/ Animus:  Archetypes of the  unconscious mind  that are feminine for  a man (Anima) and  masculine for a  woman (Animus).  They have a huge  impact on one's  interactions with  others and creative  abilities.  The second step of  individuation is the  spiritual guidance  that occurs after  confrontation with  the feminine side of a  man’s personality or  the masculine side of  a woman’s  personality.  Mana: the encounter  with a wise old man/  mother archetype.  The wise man  symbolizes distinct  thinking which is  unknown to the ego.  The third and final  step of Individuation  is the encounter with  one’s inborn wisdom. In-game  Representation  The Shadows Inside  Tartarus: They are  the physical form of  repressed parts of  humans’  personalities.  The main character  acknowledges his  shadow Thanatos/  Pharos as part of  himself.  Elizabeth: She guides  the main character  spiritually by helping  him access his  various Personas.  Nyx's Avatar: He  gives the main  character wise  speeches on the  nature of the Arcana  and life.  The encounter with  the Mana, Nyx's  Avatar, leads the  main character into  the final stage of  individuation. Sigmund Freud  In his 1913 essay titled “the theme of the three caskets”, Sigmund Freud argues that in the  situation where a man chooses between three different things, he always chooses the third and  final choice. This situation is taken from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, where three  suitors must choose between three caskets in order to marry a girl named Portia. One of the  caskets is gold, and the other two are silver and lead. Each one of the suitors chooses a casket,  with each one of them giving a justification for the choice he made.  Freud argues that the situation where a man chooses between three caskets is actually of a  man choosing between three fates. And a man always chooses the third, symbolically speaking,  the third choice is death.  Freud also explores two other stories in which there are also three similar choices: Cinderella  and Cordelia. In Cinderella’s story, the prince chooses Cinderella as the third of her sisters, and  in Cordelia’s story, where king Lear wanted to divide his kingdom on his three daughters based on their love for him, Cordelia, as the third choice, was also the best among them. Freud  concluded that concealment and dumbness are the primary similarities between these choices.  “Cordelia makes herself unrecognizable, inconspicuous like lead, she remains dumb, she ‘loves  and is silent’. Cinderella hides and cannot be found. We may perhaps be allowed to equate  concealment and dumbness.” (Freud, 1913, p. 293)  He went on to link these qualities to death. “if we decide to regard the peculiarities of our ‘third  choice’ as concentrated in her ‘dumbness’ then psychoanalysis will tell us that in dreams  dumbness is a common representation of death.”  And about concealment, he wrote “hiding and being unfindable-a thing that confronts the  prince in the fairy tale of Cinderella three times, is another unmistakable symbol of death.” (Freud, 1913, p. 294)  In persona 3, the fact that humans always choose the third choice (death) is explicitly stated in  the final arc of the story. In it, it turns out that the impending apocalypse is actually happening  because of people’s desire of death, known as “the death drive” or “Thanatos” in psychology.  Furthermore, Nyx, the being who will bring upon that apocalypse remains ‘hiding’ and is  ‘unfindable’ to the heroes throughout the story. Freud also wrote in “the theme of the three caskets” about the inevitability of death. In it he  explained: "The Moerae were created as a result of a discovery that warned man that he too is  a part of nature and therefore subject to the immutable law of death.”(Freud, 1913, P.298) The game communicates that death is “immutable” and inevitable in various ways, discreetly  and explicitly:  There are many instances where the game explicitly reminds us of the inevitability of death  using the philosophical concept: Memento Mori. Remember that you will die. Before you begin  a new game, in the game’s opening, “Memento Mori” flashes two times, and “remember that  you are mortal”, “remember you will die” and “Remember your death” also appear during the  opening. And right after starting a new game the lines “time never waits. It delivers us all  equally to the same end.” appear on the screen. Furthermore, one of the first lines of dialogue  you receive after starting a new game is: “no one can escape time, it delivers us all to the same end. You can’t plug your ears and cover your eyes.” There are many other examples where the  game uses dialogue to remind the player of the inevitability of death.  The use of evokers also serves as a reminder of death. The characters in this game point a gunshaped device towards their head in order to summon their personas. It is implied in the game  that as the persona-user points the evoker to his head, he remembers death which clears up his  mind and allow him to bring about the persona. Furthermore, in the dark hour, people without  the potential are transmogrified into coffins, also signifying death.  If we look at the plot as whole, we’d find out that it is, thematically speaking, about death. A  great chunk of the game is about how characters deal with, or have dealt with death during the  course of the story, and in the backstories of the characters. “The game is about how these  characters respond to death, the inevitability of death, and the meaning of their lives in the  face of certain death.” (Lee, 2013)  The game explores the concept of the inevitability of death discreetly through the game  mechanics, namely through time mechanics. Lee (2013) argued that while the plot is about  death, the game mechanics are an exploration of time. And the relationship between them is  explored through the interplay of the mechanics and the narrative.  If we examine videogames in general to get some perspective, we’d find out that games handle  time progression in two different ways (or a combination of the two ways), as summarized in  table 2. Table 2: Typical time models in videogames.  Player/ Plot Dependent Time Progression Automatic Time Progression  Time is progressed by the player. Time is progressed by the computer using real  time.  Mainly used in plot heavy roleplaying games  or turn based games.  Mainly used in arcade-style platforming and  time-sensitive puzzle games.  Time is measured in plot events, or turns. Time is measured in minutes and seconds.  Time will never progress in the game unless  the player decides to take action by  choosing to progress the plot, engage in an  activity, or take a turn.  Time progress automatically.  In Final Fantasy VII the main character can  stand idly and time will never progress in  the game unless the player chooses to  advance the story.  In chess time will never pass (the game will  never progress) unless the player decides  moves his piece.  In Sonic the hedgehog. The main character will  die if he stands idly for a certain amount of  time.  In Tetris the game would end in a loss state if  the player takes “too much” time.Persona 3 uses a combination of these two models. Time models in persona 3 are split between  two models, one activates when the main character is in his hometown (Iwatodai), and it shifts  into another time model when the main character explores the dungeon aspect of the game  (Tartarus).  Furthermore, time is also divided between what we’d call Plot time, and ordinary time. Plot  time activates whenever there’s a plot event happening whether it’s in Iwatodai or Tartarus.  Ordinary time activates whenever there aren’t any plot events. During Iwatodai Time, in ordinary time, time passage is player-dependant, the player advances  time by choosing to engage in an activity. During Tartarus time, in ordinary time, time passage  is automatic (see table 3), this is discreetly communicated in two ways, the first one is that if  you stayed on one floor for “too much” time The Reaper (a powerful shadow) will come and in  all likelihood kill you, the second one is that if you explore Tartarus for too long you’d become  fatigued and you’d have to eventually return home to rest. During plot time, the player is also  not in control of the passage of time.  Table 3: time models in Persona 3.  Persona 3 Time Model Tartarus Time Iwatodai Time  Ordinary Time No Player Dependent Time  Progression Player Dependent Time  Progression Plot Time No Player Dependent Time  Progression No Player Dependent Time  Progression “The characters in this game are all struggling with or against death. Every character’s arc is  somehow linked to a death that either informs their backstory or takes place during the  narrative. The crux of most of these characters’ arcs is the lack of control over death.” (Lee,  2013)  Here’s where the game discreetly communicates the inevitability of death, and the lack of  control over death.  “Put simply, in Persona 3, control over time is equal to control over death.” (Lee, 2013)  The game deliberately takes control of time and subsequently death when it matters most to  the player, during plot time, when the narrative is at its most shocking and intense.   This makes the player feel the same lack of control over death that the characters in the game  do. Persona 3 then, purposefully uses game mechanics about time and narrative about death  to imbue the player with a personal sensation of the fear of the inevitability of death. This is  supported by Persona 3 Director Katsura Hashino as he states in an interview on Persona 3:  official Design Works: “It is my hope that by playing this game and realizing the true inevitability  of death, the player will take a moment to think about life and death in the real world after  turning the game off.” (Moylan, 2012.) Conclusion  Persona 3 has been described as a “game you will enjoy while playing and spend lots of time  pondering when you're done.” (Healy, 2010.) I believe this description to be an  understatement. And as this article explained how Persona 3 is able to masterfully draw from  the theories of Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud and pour them into its mechanics and narrative.  The level of depth that this game packs makes it hard for it to be briefed into one article. There  are still a lot of aspects about the game that could be studied further. A lot of other  philosophical theories could be studied within the scope of the game. Zhaunghi’s Butterfly  (Butterfly – a thematic…., 2014.), Jacque Lacan’s mirror stage concept (Neko, 2011.) and the  mythologies of Orpheus, Thanatos and nearly all other personas have influenced the game to a  degree. And while persona 3 was released more than a decade ago, its influence on the  franchise and presence in the gaming community is still strong. Its successful standing of “the  test of time” is aided by its brave influences and by its use of storytelling tools like symbolism to  convey its themes. And as storytelling in videogames is rapidly evolving, many games are  starting to incorporate complex psychological and philosophical theories in it, which may in the  future cumulate to the emergence of games that surpass movies, plays, and even works of  literature in terms of depth and storytelling brilliancy.   References  Analysis / Persona 3. (2015). (n.p.). Retrieved from  www.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Analysis/Persona3  Bingham, J., & Tamarkin, N. 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