The famed JRPG Persona first landed on shelves in 1996 for the PlayStation, captivating its audience with the unique balance between combat against mysterious shadow monsters, and regular school life with grades, extracurricular activities, and relationships.
The titular personas are what serve to set the Persona series apart, which are the powerful beings player characters call upon to aid with damaging attacks, healing abilities, and utility buffs and debuffs. Each persona arrives with a unique design and even quirky attitudes, but there are some that borrow their looks from mythological creatures.
10 Cait Sith
Cait Sith may look like Puss in Boots with his diminutive feline features and swashbuckling outfit, but this cutesy persona is based on a figure from Celtic folklore known as Cat Sith, rumored to haunt the Scottish highlands. The story behind this creature is more unsettling than its appearance might suggest, as legends claim the Cat Sith would steal the souls of the dead that have yet to be buried.
However, the lore was changed to be more family-friendly in Persona 5 Royal with the in-game bio stating "A fae beast from the Scottish highlands. Their kingdoms are in tree hollows or abandoned houses. Dog-sized, with vivid green eyes. Some live with humans, as they understand our speech."
9 Isis
This persona hails from the mythos of Ancient Egypt, specifically the Goddess of fertility, magic, rebirth, healing, and death. Though this Persona can be gained by Joker in Persona 5, Isis is the ultimate form of Persona 3’s Yukari Takeba's persona, and is the ultimate persona of the Priestess arcana in Persona 4.
Fittingly enough, Isis can be first discovered as a shadow in Futaba’s palace in Persona 5, which was designed after a Pharaoh's pyramid, where many other Egyptian-themed personas can be fought and captured.
8 Hua Po
Many fans may not be aware of the legendary figure this pixie-esque persona was inspired by. There are Chinese urban legends from the Qing dynasty, compiled in a book known as What The Master Would Not Discuss. The book states that the Hua Po is a small spirit that presents itself as a small girl in white clothing. Her name is broken down to Hua, which means flower, and Po, which is the soul that does not leave after death.
Hua Po’s mischievous nature in Persona is more likely due to her appearance than the story of her, which involves her being brought to life by a tree three people hung to death upon.
7 Leanan Sidhe
Leanan Sidhe is a famed persona, appearing in almost every Shin Megami Tensei and Persona title. She first debuted in the Persona series in the third installment, and could only be acquired through fusion.
In Irish folklore, the Leanan Sidhe is a fairy creature that uses her beautiful looks to gain human lovers. More often than not she seeks lovers who are great artists and serves as their muse. The lovers of the Leanan Sidhe often waste away rather quickly, as she is often likened to vampires with her life-draining tendencies, but during their affair with her, they feel more inspired and motivated to create.
6 Lamia
Another beguiling persona, this one originates from Greek mythology, based on a creature of the same name and appearance. The Lamia had the torso of a woman and the tail of a serpent, and terrorized fictional families by preying on them, particularly children, as the myths state they would feed on their blood.
Lamias were regarded as femme fatales in later iterations, when the myth shifted to switch the Lamia to a type of night creature that preyed on young men and would feast on their flesh after successfully seducing them. The earliest stories lent the name Lamia to a beautiful Queen, which is the most likely reason she is of the Empress arcana.
5 Titania
The Queen of Fairies earns herself a spot in Persona royalty as part of the Empress Arcana. Though originally a character from William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, the name Titania lived on to be synonymous with fairy Queen characters, carving her a spot in the annals of mythology.
Often quarreling with her lover Oberyn, Titania is a strong-willed fairy, and it is shown by her potential as a persona.
4 Gabriel
Christianity has not been forgotten in Persona and is represented by the four Archangels: Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel.
Gabriel’s gender has sparked debate for theorists over the years, as the Archangels were thought to be male, yet Gabriel is often depicted holding lilies, a sign of femininity, and is shown to have physical features that are less masculine than the three brothers. Persona refers to Gabriel as a woman, using she/her pronouns and depicting the angelic persona with typically feminine features. As expected, Gabriel can learn abilities with religion-themed names such as divine judgment.
3 Loki
Designed with the ‘dazzle camouflage’ made popular by WW1 in mind, Loki is enigmatic even to his persona user Persona 5, Goro Akechi However, Loki’s debut predates the arrival of the amateur detective, first appearing in Persona 2: Innocent Sin. He is based on the Norse Trickster God by the same name and has access to an ability named Trickster to fit his troublesome jester nature.
The blood brother to Thor, son of greatness, and a troublemaker by nature, his role as Akechi’s secondary persona is the perfect complement to his story arc in Persona 5.
2 Anubis
The Egyptian God of the Dead is represented faithfully with his jackal head and comes equipped with the scales which Anubis would use to weigh the heart of the deceased against a feather to measure their worth and determine their afterlife.
Another persona that can be captured in Futaba’s pyramid palace, the god of the dead is not one to be taken lightly as he can potentially one-shot kill Joker or his fellow phantom thieves thanks to the ability mudoon, though this ability will not carry over if successfully captured.
1 Orpheus
The starter persona for the main protagonist of Persona 3, Orpheus is another figure from Greek mythology and arrives in-game in style, and can be acquired in later titles Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal as Orpheus Picaro, giving his classic persona a new, cool look.
In mythology, Orpheus was the lover of Eurydice and a master of the lyre, the small hair-like instrument Orpheus channels his abilities through. His tale ended in tragedy when his lover was condemned to the Underworld, and he sabotaged his one chance of reclaiming her by breaking his deal with Hades.
Persona 5 Royal is currently available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Switch.