[Persona Social Links, Major Arcana & Symbolism] Arcana 1: The Magician

Welcome to the second #ArcanaInPersona article~

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#1: The Magician

< #0: Introduction - Next Article (Soon) >

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The game series Persona is overflowing with symbolism. Even the term Persona is derived from Jungian psychology which strives on symbolism. The most interesting parallel I found in Persona is its usage of Tarot cards & the Major Arcana.

In this article series I will write about each Arcana and its corresponding Social Links/Confidants in Persona games. Today's article is about the Arcana represented by one of the first characters player meets in each game: The Magician.

The Magician in Tarot Cards

The Magician is the first Trump Card in a tarot deck. The Magician represents the talents, potential and self-confidence. It represents the resources the seeker (or divination) holds, and encourages tapping into full potential instead of holding back.

Guidance can arrive through one's own intuition or in the form of someone who brings about change or transformation. -- Wikipedia

The Magician in Persona

In every main Persona game starting 3, The Magician characters are usually a male party member and is one of the first characters the player meets in their new school. They usually take the best friend role, and few of them are perverted guys. All of them has a clear vision for the future they seek and are quite passionate and sometimes impulsive.

The Personas of The Magician Arcana often excel in Magic in one way or another, with many of them specializing in Fire spells. Mythical figures and monsters of this Arcana usually have something to deal with Magic. On a related note, one of my favorite SMT monsters Jack Frost represents The Magician Arcana in Persona series.

Persona 3's Junpie Iori

Junpie's heart to heart. (P3FES)

Junpie is one of the party members of Persona 3 and is one of the first friends of the main character. He's goofy and upbeat person, yet perverted and immature. He acts before he thinks but he's not stupid when he actually takes time to think.

As Junpie joins the SEES to explore Tartarus and save humanity from the Dark Hour, he believed that "fighting is his duty" and without it, he'll be worthless.

Midway through Persona 3's story, he falls in love with Chidori, and he doesn't show his perverted side while interacting with her (far from his personality around Yukari.) His love however won't come to fruition in the end. (As you'll see it's a common trait for Persona series Magicians.)

While Junpie isn't one of the Social Links in Persona 3/FES versions. He's a Social Link for the Girl mode in P3 Portable and one of her potential romantic partners.

Junpie's character arc in Persona 3 involves him becoming more mature, learn his purpose in life and start studying more seriously and by Persona 4 Arena he becomes a good baseball player!

Persona 3's Kenji Tomochika

This Ramen seems delicious

Kenji is The Magician Social Link in Persona 3 and he's one of the protagonist's friends. He has a similar personality to Junpie but he's usually calmer and more mature. He has the tendecy to day-dream and believe things that aren't true.

His Social Link story revolves around his relationship with his teacher whom he likes. He believed that his teacher likes him back and that they are in a relationship, and panics when he thinks that their relationship is exposed.

At the climax, he learns that his love was one-sided and he misinterperted his teachers actions as . The teacher was actually already engaged and will marry her fiance soon. In the end, Kenji learns to move on with the protagonsit's help.

Persona 4's Yosuke Hanamura

Let's go to the TV world!

Yosuke is the first party member who joins the protagonist and form "The Investigation Team" in Persona 4. He's a city boy who transferred to Inaba (the outskirt town which P4 story happens in, because of his parents job.

Like other Magicians mentioned before, he acts before he thinks and is quite perverted, but he has a kind side and a strong sense of justice. He also shows a good deduction skills which helps the investigation team quite a lot in P4!

By the time Persona 4's story started, Yosuke had one-sided love for his senpai Saki Konishi, but she was the second victim of the TV Kidnapping/serial murder. Her death resulted in Yosuke's encounter to his shadow, and gaining his Persona ability. Avenging her is one of the reasons for Yosuke works to find the culprit!

By the way, did I mention that Yosuke has his own manga spinoff? This prequel is apporopriatly called: Persona 4: The Magician.

Persona 5's Morgana

Morgana's All-out attack!

Morgana (despite all his flaws) is my favorite Magician! He's a cat who believes himself to be a human who lost his original form and memories. (He's covinced that his real self is a smart and strong gentleman.)

Morgana is the one who taught Joker about being a Phantom Theif, and he's the first party member to join the battle. After the establishment of the Phantom Theives team, Morgana stays with Joker in the real world, giving Joker insights from inside his bag, and forcing him to sleep early.

Morgana has insane pride and sense of style. He's intellegent and likes to treat situations in a give-and-take manner. But most of his confident facade hides his insecurities. His lack of sense of self as he's unsure of his past self, and his fears that he might not be useful to the team anymore after he taught Joker everything.

He has one-sided love towards Ann Tamaki (one of the fellow party members,) but she doesn't see him as more than friend nor does she notices his love.

Morgana Confidant Information Tab

Morgana's Confidant ranks up automatically with the story, and his character arc revolves around finding a place to belong and dealing with his insecurities (considering himself unuseful, not knowing anything about his true identity.)

Morgana finally finds a place to belong with the Phantom Theives, and despite not knowing where he came from (until the ending that is,) he knows what he needs to do and what future shall he create!

So, that's all for Magician Arcana

I find it interesting that all Persona characters who represent The Magician in their games have one-sided love stories that ends up with them learning to become better people rather than developing into an actual romantic relationship!

Another common trait I noticed is that all of them act witout thinking (Morgana does think a lot but has his moments) and their straight forward nature.

I enjoyed researching this topic and writing about it, and I hope I get to write about all the 22 Major Arcana and their represenatives in each Persona game. But that's all for today, I hope to see you in the next #ArcanaInPersona article.

What are your thoughts?

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Cover image is edited from this base image. Junpie image is a screenshot from this TY vid. Kenji's from this one Yosuke's is this. Finally Morgana's first image is taken from the here. The second from here.