"A Palace as grand as the previous castle only forms when a person's wishes are extremely distorted. So instead of many individual Palaces, the general public has one gigantic shared Palace."
Mementos, also known as the Prison of Sloth, the Prison of Regression, or the Prison of Acedia, is the incarnation of the Collective Unconscious in Persona 5.
Appearances[]
- Persona 5 / Royal
- Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight
- Persona 5: The Phantom X
- Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth
Profile[]
Persona 5[]
Mementos is the Palace for everyone's hearts, and the very core of the Metaverse. It takes the form of a twisted version of the Tokyo subway connected by a massive series of subway tunnels with wooden train tracks in place of rails, with various features of a prison such as chains or bars. The Shadows in upper Mementos resemble those of black humanoids with numerous masks. When a Shadow Self inhabits an area, the walls develop red cracks that resemble spider web or fractal patterns, and the veins that act as the "Will of the People" become prominent. The Phantom Thieves of Hearts explore the dungeon by traveling with Morgana's bus form.
Unlike other Palaces, exploring Mementos is optional, although it can be used for grinding on levels, items, money and Personas. Either way, spending time to explore is strongly recommended in order to cut a significantly huge amount of time reaching its depths when it becomes a necessity late in the game. Exploring it is also required to advance various Confidants, as heist requests related to their story will be issued, which must be cleared before they can be progressed further.
Mementos is divided into multiple "paths," each of which has its own unique architecture and floors, referred as "areas." They are randomly generated and areas open up as the fame of the Phantom Thieves grows with each Palace they defeat.
- Path of Qimranut: Consists of 2 areas.
- Path of Aiyatsbus: Consists of 7 areas. (rest on area 4)
- Path of Chemdah: Consists of 8 areas. (rest on area 5)
- Path of Kaitul: Consists of 10 areas. (rest on area 6)
- Path of Akzeriyyuth: Consists of 12 areas. (rest on areas 4 and 8)
- Path of Adyeshach: Consists of 13 areas. (rest on areas 5 and 9)
- Path of Sheriruth: Consists of 14 areas. (rest on areas 6 and 10)
- Path of Iweleth: Consists of 1 area and acts as an entrance to the Depths of Mementos, within which the Holy Grail has hidden itself.
- Path of Da'at: Consists of 15 areas and the Cognition Control Room (rest on areas 5 and 11). This path acts as the true depths of Mementos. Royal only.
Its enemies are affected by weather in the real world, weather warnings included. Most bad weather conditions boost the appearance rate of Treasure Demons and chests, and can drop more Search Objects:
- Rainy/Snowy weather & Thunderstorm: Normal effects.
- Torrential rain: Same as thunderstorm, but to a greater effect.
- Pollen warning: Enemies may fall asleep outside of battle and may demand Wide Eye Drops in negotiation.
- Heatwave: Enemies may suffer Burn at the beginning of battle and request a vending machine drink in negotiation.
- Flu Season: Enemies may suffer Despair at the beginning of battle and demand Hand Warmalizers in negotiation.
- Cold Wave (Royal only): Enemies may suffer Freeze at the start of battle. Appearance rate of Treasure Chests is not increased and weather-only Search Objects cannot be obtained.
Final Heist: Mementos[]
- Main article: Depths of Mementos
While the surface is initially an optional place meant for training, the depths serve as the final dungeon of Persona 5, when Yaldabaoth unleashes the final setup to his absolute domination. Shadow Selves and the will of the masses are imprisoned in this high security prison, which its inmates refer to as the ultimate realization of their happiness.
Persona 5 Royal[]
The old BGM track of Mementos now only plays in the first two paths. Several new BGM tracks have been added for the lower levels of the dungeon. Additionally, a new form of currency, flowers, is made available, which can be only redeemed in Jose's Shop; they disappear once the group leaves Mementos. Stamps can now be collected which can be used at Jose's Shop to increase EXP and money gains, and/or collectible items. Mementos also features Deviations, which are special effects that occur randomly upon visiting a new regular floor. Sometimes upon visiting some regular areas, it may be comprised of one of four simple layouts (line, cross, rectangle or a square with eight rooms)
During the third semester, Takuto Maruki, if the protagonist maxed out his confidant during the previous months, uses Mementos to change all of reality with his actualization powers, allowing him to create a world devoid of all suffering and progress. It is confirmed by Lavenza that the Phantom Thieves themselves taught him what they want and the protagonist taught him about Mementos, so when this time comes, they all consent to his reality. Maruki's Palace directly ties to Mementos via a towering line of tentacle-like cables, which he uses to transmit information to and from Mementos in a place called the Cognition Control Room. These cables also barricade the second half of the Palace and must be lifted from Mementos to allow progress. Futaba Sakura hacks into the system and removes the barricade, allowing progress through the entirety of Maruki's Palace.
A new area, the Path of Da'at, is opened after January 13 and must be traversed in order to allow exploration of the bulk of Maruki's Palace, as progress will be quickly blocked by the aforementioned cables connected to it. At the end of the new area of Mementos is the Cognition Control Room, a hidden surveillance station that Maruki uses to find the wishes of people he hasn't gotten to yet, and the control center for retracting some of the cables. Once the cables are removed, the Palace and Mementos then can be freely explored while infiltrating his Palace. If 160 or more Stamps have been collected, Jose can be found in the Cognition Control Room, and can be fought there as an optional boss battle.
Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth[]
Mementos appears briefly during the prologue sequence, where the Phantom Thieves are seen making a routine trip.
While driving the Mona-Bus through the area, both Morgana and Makoto suddenly lose control of the Mona-Bus and it barrels straight into the depths of Mementos. The Mona-Bus eventually comes into contact with a glowing screen and drives into it, thus sending the Phantom Thieves out of Mementos and into the world of movies.
Requests[]
- Main article: Mementos Requests
Mementos is also the setting of missions, referred to as "requests." After finding out a target's name in the real world, the group must find and defeat the target's shadow in Mementos in a boss fight to make the target have a Change of Heart.
"Beware the Clingy Ex-boyfriend" acts as a tutorial mission while other missions are received through Yuuki Mishima's chat messages, certain Confidants or certain part-time jobs. Certain Confidants require specific requests to be cleared before ranking them up further. Due to plot reasons, the group can only access and complete missions up until December 23rd.
List of Enemies[]
In general, shadows that spawn in Mementos are the ones that were already encountered in previous Palace dungeons, with some shadows being exclusive to Mementos. Mementos will generate new floors based on story progress and act similar to Devil's Peak and the Mikage Ruins from Megami Ibunroku Persona. The Reaper can also spawn if the party stays in the same floor for about 2 minutes.
Exclusive to Mementos[]
- Slime (Viscid Rotting Meat)
- Obariyon (Piggyback Demon)
- Kodama (Wavering Tree Spirit)
- Sudama (Noisy Mountain Spirit)
- Fuu-Ki (Tornado Devil)
- Sui-Ki (Raging Water Demon)
- Kin-Ki (Samurai Killer)
- Choronzon (Gathering Devil)
- Pisaca (Corpse-Eating Corpse)
- Legion (Fused Ghost)
- Hope Diamond (P5)
- Crystal Skull (P5)
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Mementos is a randomly generated dungeon like Tartarus and the Midnight Channel. However, the Depths has a fixed layout and its own set of puzzles like the Palaces before it.
- Mementos becomes mandatory in December, as it generates a new palace to be entered by the Phantom Thieves.
- The overall design of Mementos is reminiscent of La Mappa Dell'Inferno, one in a set of 92 illustrations painted by Sandro Botticelli and based off of Dante Alighieri's magnum opus, the Divine Comedy.
- The escalator stairs leading downwards may represent humanity's descent into the underworld as a result of Yaldabaoth's actions.
- On the contrary, the escalator stairs of the Path of Da'at lead upward rather than down, which could symbolise humanity's ascension to paradise through Maruki's actions during the Third Semester.
- In the Italian version or Royal, there's a translation error on the deadline, which instead of listing the remaining days as 'Few', they are listed as 'New'. It's an error caused by the similarity between the words.
- The paths of Mementos are named after the Qliphoth, specifically the versions given by William G. Gray in his book The Tree of Evil. The Qliphoth is the inverted version of the Sefirot, the Tree of Life and acts as its Shadow or Shell, preventing humanity from reaching the same enlightenment as God. This ties into the ultimate master of Mementos being Yaldabaoth, as the Qliphoth is taken to be the "shadow of God," just as Yaldabaoth is only a deluded impostor of Ain Soph, Kabbalah's name for God as he was before the creation of the world. The only exception is the Path of Da'at, which is named after the center of the Sefirot representing wisdom and perfection, which ties to Adam Kadmon, the personification of infinite light from the real god and the perfect human; in the normal Kabbalah, Da'at is the part of the Sefirot that connects to the Qliphoth, which ties into both Maruki's thematic connection to the Garden of Eden and Adam Kadmon. In the Japanese version, names of these paths are given their literal meaning:
Path | Japanese | Meaning |
---|---|---|
Path of Qimranut | 思想奪われし路 | Thought-robbing path (Materialism) |
Path of Aiyatsbus | 調和奪われし路 | Harmony-robbing path (Instability) |
Path of Chemdah | 節制奪われし路 | Temperance-robbing path (Greed) |
Path of Kaitul | 美徳奪われし路 | Virtue-robbing path (Vice) |
Path of Akzeriyyuth | 慈悲奪われし路 | Compassion-robbing path (Cruelty) |
Path of Adyeshach | 感動奪われし路 | Sense-robbing path (Insensitivity) |
Path of Sheriruth | 寛容奪われし路 | Tolerance-robbing path (Rejection) |
Path of Iweleth | 見識奪われし路 | Wisdom-robbing path (Ignorance) |
Path of Da'at | 認知得し者たちの路 | Path of the Enlightened (Enlightenment) |
Appearances in Other Media[]
- Mementos appears as a stage in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. It has three separate color palettes depending on the background music selected for the stage, drawing color schemes and motifs from Persona 3, Persona 4, and Persona 5.
Characters | |
Playable | Ren Amamiya - Ryuji Sakamoto - Morgana - Ann Takamaki - Yusuke Kitagawa - Makoto Niijima - Futaba Sakura - Haru Okumura - Caroline & Justine |
DLC | Shinjiro Aragaki - Goro Akechi - Theodore - Lavenza - Sho Minazuki - Labrys |
Locations | |
Tokyo | Café Leblanc - Shibuya - Shujin Academy |
Palace | Kamoshida's Palace - Madarame's Palace - Kaneshiro's Palace - Futaba's Palace - Okumura's Palace - Niijima's Palace - Shido's Palace - Mementos |
Other | Velvet Room - Hawaii |
Music | |
Songs | GROOVY - One Nightbreak |
Albums | Persona Dancing P3D & P5D Soundtrack Advanced CD |
Archive | |
Lists | Social - Trophies - Patches and Updates |
Development | |
Corporate | Atlus Co., Ltd. |
Personnel | Kazuhisa Wada - Shigenori Soejima - Ryota Kozuka - Shoji Meguro Toshiki Konishi - Atsushi Kitajoh - Jazztronik - tofubeats - Mito - Yukihiro Fukutomi - KAIEN - Shacho - Taku Takahashi |