"As for his fate... That's for you to decide."
The Boy with Earring is the protagonist of Persona and is a student of St. Hermelin High School. He is only referred to as the "the pierced boy" in Megami Ibunroku Persona, the Japanese version, and the "Boy with Earring" in Persona 2: Eternal Punishment. In the original English release, Revelations: Persona, he had no piercings.
Appearances
- Megami Ibunroku Persona / SMT: Persona: Protagonist
- Megami Ibunroku Persona (Manga): Protagonist, as Naoya Toudou (藤堂 尚也, Tōdō Naoya)
- Persona CD Drama: Protagonist, as Yūya Narumi (鳴海 優也, Narumi Yūya)
- Megami Ibunroku Persona: Shadow Maze: Protagonist, as Jihei Suzakuin (朱雀院 慈平, Suzakuin Jihei)
- Persona 2: Eternal Punishment: Minor Character
Design
The protagonist has black hair, brown eyes, and a piercing on his left ear. He wears the St. Hermelin uniform without alterations. He has a black wristwatch on his left arm, and black shoes.
In Revelations: Persona, he was one of the many characters redesigned to make him "more American": his skin was paler, he had shorter red hair, and no pierced ear.
Personality
"Get it now? I'm every inch like you. I'm you... and you're me. We're two sides of the same coin... No, not just two. There are tens of thousands of "you"s inside yourself. ...Someone seems to be aiming to take your place, but that won't happen. Your will is rooted nice and deep. You have a good grip on yourself."
For the most part, the protagonist is silent, and his personality is controlled by the player, setting up a pattern the protagonists of later games would follow. However, the decisions that lead to the game's true ending and the gaining of the Ultimate Personas paint the protagonist as a natural leader; a compassionate, perceptive, yet blunt person who is motivated to seek his personal reason for life and discourages hiding from the truth. In the manga, Naoya also inherited this same trait, though since he is mostly quiet and going along with everyone else, the rest of the party are surprised when he shows his hot-headed side while leading them.
Profile
Persona
The protagonist is the main player character in Persona. He is a nameless protagonist, who has to be named by the player in the start of the game. All that is known about him is that he is a second year student at St. Hermelin High School and he visits his friend Maki Sonomura in the hospital regularly.
In the true ending of the game, unlike the other students, his fate is unknown, left only for the player to decide.
The plot of this game is followed in exactly the same manner by the English adaptations of Megami Ibunroku Persona and in the Megami Ibunroku Persona manga.
Persona 2: Innocent Sin
Despite not making any physical appearances, the protagonist is mentioned a few times, mostly by returning Persona characters comparing Tatsuya Suou to him. For example, should the player visit Honmaru park before the first boss fight, Yukino will say to Tatsuya that he reminds her of an old friend who "also liked to take the scenic route". Also, Eriko tells Tatsuya that he reminds her of their "old leader".
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
In Eriko Kirishima's flashback at Araya Shrine, it is revealed that after the events of Persona, he had to go away, and would not be able to see his friends for a while. The reason behind his departure is left up to the player to decide, as when he gives his reason, there is no text box. Later on, in the epilogue, the St. Hermelin Persona Users have a reunion in Parabellum Bar. There is a knock on the door and the door opens, but the person entering is unseen. It is assumed that this is the protagonist from Persona.
Persona Manga
History
Naoya used to have an older twin brother named Kazuya. One day, when he was a child, Naoya had a cold and was being taken care of by Kazuya and their mother. Kazuya and their mother had to go shopping, but Kazuya went out of his way to buy a manga to cheer up Naoya. On the way home, however, Kazuya was hit by a truck and passed away. Kazuya's death greatly shook their mother to the point that she initially mistook Naoya as Kazuya when the younger twin saw his older brother's body. Naoya quickly denied that he was Kazuya, but this made his mother cry.
During Kazuya's funeral, one of his relatives gave her condolences by telling how kind Kazuya was for trying to buy a manga to cheer him up that led to his death. This made Naoya felt responsible for Kazuya's death. To ease his mother who was still unable to accept Kazuya's death, Naoya started to act like Kazuya to the point he almost believed himself to be Kazuya. However, once his father came back home from his job overseas and argued with his mother, his mother accepted Kazuya's death and Naoya pierced his ear as a proof that he is not Kazuya and made himself forget the day Kazuya died out of guilt.
The resulting guilt caused Naoya's shadow to manifest in Maki's ideal world and takes the identity of Kazuya with the same appearance as Naoya, but his ear is not pierced.
Plot Overview
Naoya joins in on the bet made between Mark and Uesugi (he placed his bet on Mark) to play the Persona game. Once they played the game, a little girl suddenly appeared and he, along with everyone else, falls unconscious and dreams about Philemon. Following their teacher's suggestion, they all went to the hospital for a check up and also to visit Maki. Naoya apologizes for not visiting her for the past few days, and Maki reveals that they are childhood friends to Mark when he questioned their closeness. However, Maki's condition suddenly worsened, and was taken for emergency surgery, while Naoya and everyone else waited for her.
In the middle of the surgery, an earthquake occurs and the surgery room was suddenly blocked by a wall when they opened the doors leading to the room. Monsters then started to appear in the hospital, attacking and killing the people inside. This incident awakened Naoya's Persona, along with his friends' Personas, allowing them to escape from the hospital. They then find out that they cannot leave the town. On their way back to school, they met up with Eriko Kirishima and Maki's mother, who reveals that the organization that she was working with, SEBEC, is the one responsible for what happened to their town.
Personas used in the manga
A list of Personas used by Naoya during the manga.
- Seimen Kongou: Naoya's Initial Persona, gained while trying to defend himself from demons at the Mikage Hospital. Despite not being used after the fight with Tesso, Seimen Kongou protected an unconscious Naoya against Kazuya for a brief time.
- Airgetlam: Awakened during the fight with Tesso, Airgetlam was used multiple times due to his powerful Mamagnara spell. Naoya also tried to use Airgetlam's Dorminer spell on Kazuya, but it didn't work since Kazuya's Persona, Lilim, made him immune to spells.
- Marduk: Was first used in the fight against Tesso to reflect a Megido spell back to him. Aside from that, his only mention-worth appearance was when his Tetrakarn spell protected Naoya and Maki from the Harem Queen/Chisato Kasai.
- Vishnu: Was used in the final fight against Pandora.
Naoya never used Amen Ra, his Ultimate Persona from the game.
Battle Quotes
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona
- "Take this!" (when summoning a Persona)
- "Persona!" (when summoning a Persona)
- "Here goes!" (when summoning a Persona)
- "Uoooah!" (when summoning a Persona)
- "Die!" (when using a sword)
- "Ow!" (when hit)
- "Eat this!" (when using a gun)
- "Gwoah!" (Dying)
Gallery
| Megami Ibunroku Persona | ||||||||
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Naoya as he appears in the manga
The protagonist redesigned in Revelations: Persona
The protagonist as he appears in the PSP remake
Cutscene in the PSP Remake
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| Persona 2: Eternal Punishment | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
The protagonist as he appears in Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
Unused sprite in Persona 2: Innocent Sin
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| PERSONA 20th Anniversary Festival | ||||||||||||||||
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The protagonist on PERSONA 20th Anniversary Festival visual art by Shigenori Soejima
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Trivia
- If the player visits the Historical Society prior to the Hospital at the beginning of the game, Mark remarks, "You're awfully studious all of a sudden. Is Hell about to freeze over?" This could be hinting that the protagonist may be a little lax with his schoolwork.
- In the manga, the protagonist has a habit of touching his face whenever he thinks of his other self.
- The protagonist was the one who pierced his own ear, at the age of 12.
- He apparently enjoys the Atlus game Groove on Fight as his other self is shown playing it in Alaya Cavern.
- In the manga, Naoya is one of the few characters who never used his Ultimate Persona, the others being Maki Sonomura and Yuka Ayase.
- Despite only appearing in Eternal Punishment, an unused sprite of the protagonist appears in the loading screen of the PlayStation version of Innocent Sin.