Medjed poster.
"To the Phantom Thieves causing an uproar in Japan: Do not speak of your false justice. We do not need the spread of such falsehood. We are the true executors of justice. However, we are magnanimous. We will give you an opportunity to repent your ways. If you agree to a change of heart, we will accept you as our own. If you reject our offer, the hammer of justice will find you. We are Medjed. We are unseen. We will eliminate evil."
Medjed (メジエド, Mejiedo)? is a group of hackers in Persona 5.
History[]
Medjed is a minor Ancient Egyptian deity who was depicted in the Book of the Dead. Not much is known about him and the main source of information is the Greenfield Papyrus. Medjed is depicted as a figure covered in large, bland cloth with only the eyes and legs visible; he is considered a "smiter" and his main feats consist of shooting forth light from his eyes, being invisible and that producing flames from his mouth[1].
Parts of the Greenfield Papyrus were exhibited in Japan during the year of 2012 at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo and the Fukuoka Museum of Art[1]. After this Medjed became a sensation on Japanese social media and the god was fully embraced by the country's popular culture, starring in games and anime[1].
Appearances[]
Profile[]
Persona 5[]
"We're running out of time. Let's move on to your next target... ...I stand corrected. It was they who targeted your group first, wasn't it? The identity of your opponent... is this. We have no pictures. Even their names and identities are unknown. If what you told me is true, then this "Nav" thing you've mentioned wouldn't have worked in this case. How did you target them? Tell me everything."
Medjed is a group of high-profile hackers that come onto the scene after the Phantom Thieves of Hearts have succeeded in the third heist against Junya Kaneshiro. They criticize the Thieves for being hypocritical and believe only they are qualified to bring justice to Japan. They also claim that they would recognize the thieves if they got a Change of Heart. It is right after this declaration that Futaba Sakura, under the guise of "Alibaba," contacts the protagonist as she is aware of his role as the leader of the Phantom Thieves, and asks his group to steal her heart in exchange for her skill to strike back Medjed. If he does not confirm to the deal, "Alibaba" will leak the Phantom Thieves' identities, forcing their arrest. However, upon realizing that they will need to know more about her to enter her Palace, she panics and calls off the deal. Before they have time to take any action, Medjed declares victory as the thieves remain silent and as a punishment to the thieves' admirers, they will rip their properties off.
After some time of inactivity from Medjed, the Thieves assume they simply dropped matters and decide to celebrate in an expensive sushi restaurant in Ginza. On their way home however, they are informed by Goro Akechi that Medjed has provoked the Thieves once again and read from the groups home page that the hackers have demanded that the Thieves turn themselves in and reveal their true identities before August 21st or they will launch a hacking attack which they claim will have a devastatingly destructive impact on Japan's economy, known as "The Cleanse" (X-デー, X-Day)?. Realizing the severity of their threat, and the hopeless nature of taking on an anonymous entity with their usual methods, the Thieves decide to make direct contact with Futaba Sakura by finding her room in Sojiro's house and once more ask for her help in stopping Medjed in exchange for stealing her heart. Once the Phantom Thieves successfully steal Futaba's heart, she easily puts a stop to Medjed.
This revelation indicates that the Medjed Cleanse is nothing other than a false alarm made by the IT company president to bait the Thieves into his plan B where he attempts to frame them by rigging the Phantom Aficionado Website with heist requests against Kunikazu Okumura instead. It was also heavily implied that, even if the Thieves do not do anything to take down Medjed on the day where the supposed hacking attack occurs, nothing will happen.
Their plan was eventually successful and support for the Phantom Thieves drastically plummets as the public believes that they are murderers, setting stone for the protagonist's arrest in Niijima's Palace. (In reality, a part of this appears to be the conductor manipulating the public's cognition into fervent worship of the Phantom Thieves, then changing the public's cognition into hatred against the Thieves as well as making them worship Shido and Akechi instead.)
Later when the thieves infiltrate Shido's Palace, it turns out the one who actually plays Medjed during this whole incident is the president of an information technology company who has connections to Masayoshi Shido, who figured out that the Phantom Thieves couldn't possibly target an anonymous entity, so the Medjed threats can scare them into unwittingly escalating their demise. The Medjed that declared war with the thieves were not the actual Medjed, but this IT Company President. He's also responsible for pushing the heist request ranking against Kunikazu Okumura in the Phantom Aficionado Website. The real Medjed was Futaba herself along with a group of online friends.
Futaba is furious at this identity thief and demands the party beats his Shadow to obtain the invitation required to access Shadow Shido's representative chamber, instead of negotiating peacefully.
When sending the calling card to Masayoshi Shido, Futaba displays her hacking skills fitting for the real Medjed, as she was capable of hijacking the broadcasting system of Tokyo, followed by the nationwide broadcasting system with Shido's calling card all by herself within a matter of several minutes.
A book known as "Medjed Menace" that is about the criminal activities of the hacker group and can be bought from the Taiheido Bookstore in Shibuya Central Street for 1,200 yen. It increases the Knowledge stat by 3 when the protagonist finishes reading it. According to the book, it is said that the hacker group is known worldwide for its activities. The book is the first mention of the group, and goes in stock in early May.
Additionally, Medjed is indirectly mentioned as a "group of hackers" in a TV report after a massive personal information leak from several domestic companies, which involved decrypting the information of presumably hundreds of thousands of people and spreading it online. Medjed was not pinned down as the culprit, and experts only speculated that an international group of hackers was involved.
Persona 5 Animation[]
Unlike in the game, the IT Company President faking Medjed is easily visible, and he threatens the Phantom Thieves by instigating a Tokyo-wide blackout instead of simply making verbal threats.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In the Japanese version, the kana to render the group name is not the same as the one actually refers to the Egyptian god (メジェド, Mejedo)?. The group name uses the regular "エ" (e) but the god's version uses a small "ェ" for modifying the vowel of the preceding kana "ジ" (ji) to form "je".
- Medjed's closing tagline in their every announcement is very reminiscent of the one used by Anonymous: "We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget."
- The IT company president does not know anything about the mental shutdowns, despite being responsible for deleting and encrypting Wakaba Isshiki's research.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Salvador, R.B. 2017. Medjed: from Ancient Egypt to Japanese Pop Culture. Journal of Geek Studies 4(2): 10-20.[1] Available from: https://jgeekstudies.org/2017/08/15/medjed-from-ancient-egypt-to-japanese-pop-culture/