In spite of how robust the original Persona 5 already was, Persona 5 Royal managed to expand on it in just about every department. Combat in Persona 5 Royal feels like a major upgrade on the first game, thanks to streamlined Baton Passes, enemy reworks, and the powerful new Showtime mechanic. Persona 5 Royal also has significantly more free time than the first game, which gives players more power to interact with Confidants and explore the game's side activities. Perhaps the most important new feature is the game's additional characters, like Jose, who builds on the Persona 5 mythos by helping the players out in Mementos.
Jose is an odd character in that his presence in the game isn't overly important to the plot, and yet he seems to have a very rich backstory going on behind the scenes. While the Phantom Thieves pursue justice with the help of their Personas, Jose quietly studies the human heart in the background. Jose's role in Persona 5 Royal is pretty similar to other character like Persona 5 Strikers' Sophia, but the open-ended nature of his story and the cosmic questions that he raises could mean that Atlus intends to reuse him in a future game. There's a variety of pivotal roles that he could play in Persona 6.
Jose's Place Persona 5 Royal
For most of Persona 5 Royal, Jose's role is pretty static, in spite of hinting that he's working for someone. Once he introduces himself as a merchant based in Mementos and gives Joker the stone that enables Showtimes, he simply accompanies the Phantom Thieves as they slowly delve into the world's depths, collecting more and more flowers. Only in the third semester of Persona 5 Royal does Jose's story turn. Jose finally expresses frustration at his ignorance about human nature, and only manages to move past it with a little additional help from the Phantom Thieves,
Persona 5 Royal does hint that there's much more going on with Jose than he lets on, though. If players battle him during the third semester, Jose will mention his master more explicitly, indicating that there are many supernatural entities watching what humanity does. Longtime Persona fans are sure to remember a variety of supernatural entities like Philemon who populate the Shadow world and affect humanity directly or indirectly, but Persona hasn't focused on these entities as much lately, opting for more grounded narratives. That makes Jose's comments feel significant.
All in all, Jose has only a modest character arc that mostly exists to hint at the true breadth of Persona lore. His mission to study humanity seems to only be the beginning of his important work, whatever that work may be. While Atlus doesn't usually reuse characters between games, it's possible that Atlus plans to give Jose another role in a future Persona game. By giving him a more dynamic role that makes greater use of his place as a supernatural being, Atlus could tie Persona 5 Royal into Persona 6 while still making Jose feel like his own character.
Jose's Potential Impact on Persona 6
The Persona franchise sometimes gives players some kind of supernatural companion that guides them through the Persona world, and Jose could play that role for Persona 6's protagonists. By the time the next game roles around, Jose may have unlocked a Persona of his own, allowing him to teach Persona usage to the human characters. If Jose is still working for some other mysterious being, then he might provide missions and objectives for the protagonists, encouraging the Persona 6 characters to help out his master while they pursue their own goals.
Alternatively, Jose could end up being an antagonist in Persona 6. Most Persona games lead up to battles with godlike figures from the Persona world, and Persona 6 will probably be similar, but its secret antagonist may have a presence throughout the game, rather than revealing itself at the very end. Jose may be friendly to the Phantom Thieves, but he may serve an entity that's simply biding its time and learning more about humanity with Jose's help before it strikes. The next Persona game's antagonist could use Jose as a pawn that challenges or endangers the Persona 6 cast throughout the game, even if he does so with an innocent and well-meaning attitude.
Active, impactful roles like these would go a long way to make Jose feel more fleshed out and unique in Persona 6, but no matter how drastically Atlus changes him, it'll have to consider the game's relationship to Persona 5 Royal. By including him, Atlus would tie them together irrevocably. Persona 6 could generate a bit of extra hype through a subtle relationship with the Persona 5 suite of games, but leaning on Persona 5 Royal too much would hamper Persona 6's ability to stand as its own story. If Persona 6 is meant to be an independent game like most mainline Persona games, then it needs to reinvent Jose while only modestly referencing his previous role.
Persona 6 Remains a Mystery
Overall, it's hard to say if Jose actually has good odds of being a major character in Persona 6. His part in Persona 5 Royal certainly comes across as a setup for a future storyline, but whether he's at the center of that storyline remains to be seen, since it could tamper with Persona 6's distinct identity. Instead of focusing on Jose, Atlus might opt to emphasize his master instead, whoever that may be. Since that character has no clear part in Persona 5 Royal, Persona 6 could easily make use of Jose's master without hanging on Royal's coattails much.
Fans may still have a lot of waiting to do before they learn about Persona 6's story and main characters. Atlus may have confirmed that the game is in the works, but its sights are set on Soul Hackers 2 right now, and the Persona anniversary year's modest celebrations don't suggest that there's a Persona 6 reveal on the horizon as part of the event. Until the next game's reveal comes around, Persona fans will just have to revisit Persona 5 Royal to interpret Jose's words and actions for themselves if they want to gauge what kind of future he might have in the franchise.
Persona 5 Royal is available now for PS4.
