Fool Arcana



The Fool Arcana is an Arcana appearing in the Persona series. Portrayed as a jester laughing very close to a cliff, accompanied with a dog at his heels. The Fool represents innocence, divine inspiration, madness, freedom, spontaneity, inexperience, chaos, and creativity. As such, the silent protagonists from the recent adaptions often starts out the Fool Arcana, in reference of their personality are shaped via player's actions and decisions. Gameplay-wise, the Fool Arcana tends to be the "jack of all trades," since its Personas can inherit all skills without preference for any type.

At the end of Persona 3 and Persona 4, the protagonists are given a Persona of the Judgement or of the The World Arcana, probably as a reference to the Journey of the Fool in the Tarot, which is also explained in detail by a character in Persona 3.

Megami Ibunroku Persona
The Fool Arcana in Persona is a hidden set of Personas that can only be created through a very rare fusion accident. There are three of them; all are characterized by colorful skill sets, low SP requirements, "Strong: All attacks" properties and originated from Japanese folklore.

Persona 2: Innocent Sin
The Fool Arcana in Innocent Sin is a hidden set of Personas that requires the exceedingly rare Fool Arcana cards, which are only issued under very special circumstances. Personas of Fool Arcana are unlisted until acquring one. In addition, the Velvet Room's Demon Artist cannot convert Blank/Free Tarot Cards into Fool Tarot Cards, making them a valuable commodity.

During demon contact, an enemy demon with the Fool personality trait may ask the character Contacting them a question. Normally the question sequence will end at the third question. In an extremely rare case (a possibility of one in 64), the demon may ask the fifth question, which is the flag for Fool card. In order to trigger the fifth question, the previous answers must have made the demon angry and eager before maximizing either emotion (answers that makes the demon happy or frightened will end the question chain instantly). If the answer of the fifth question makes the demon eager, which is usually "fool", "clown" or "I don't believe it", it will hand over the Fool cards.

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
The method to obtain the Fool card during random encounters is very much the same as Innocent Sin. However, in this game an NPC named Salam will offer side-quests for completing maps of requested dungeons. If the player completes the map before finishing the final event of that dungeon (since story dungeons are locked from re-entering after all their scenarios are finished), Salam will reward the player with some Fool cards.

Persona 3
The Fool Arcana Social Link is represented by SEES, unlike other Arcana, Fool Arcana is unique by itself, as it automatically powers up as the story progresses. Later in the game, should the Protagonist choose not to kill Ryoji Mochizuki, the Fool Arcana will max out itself, bestowing the ultimate Persona of the Fool Arcana, Susano-o.

Igor also takes care to mention that the number of the Fool Arcana is zero. He, as well as other unrelated characters, remark that while the number zero suggests nothingness, it's also undefined and has no boundaries. Not only does this reflect in the fact that the protagonist will eventually have almost two hundred Personas to choose from, but also that the personality of the protagonist himself is a blank mold, which the players can shape as they see fit.

Persona 3: FES
In Persona 3: FES, the protagonist can gain access to a higher level Persona of the Fool Arcana than Susano-o, namely Orpheus Telos. True to Igor's words, Orpheus Telos of the Fool Arcana truly stands for nothingness, undefined and has limitless possibilities, as Orpheus Telos has only one skill, Victory Cry. The rest of Orpheus Telos' skills can only be acquired via the predecessor Personas used to fuse him.

Persona 4
In Persona 4, the Protagonist starts out with the Fool Arcana, with its initial Persona being Izanagi of the Fool Arcana. The Fool Arcana Social Link is represented by the Investigation Team, where the Social Link is initiated after the Protagonist, Yosuke Hanamura, and Chie Satonaka became the founding members of the Team, with the Protagonist serving as the field leader. When the Social Link reaches maximum, the Ultimate Persona of the Fool Arcana, Loki, will be unlocked.

Persona 4 Arena
The Fool Arcana is co-represented by Yu Narukami and Aigis, signifying their power over the Wild Card. However, Izanagi is the lone Persona of the Fool Arcana since Aigis uses Pallas Athena rather than Orpheus.

Notable Fools

 * The protagonist of Persona 3
 * The female protagonist of Persona 3 Portable
 * Aigis of Persona 3: FES
 * The protagonist of Persona 4

Trivia

 * In Persona 4 The Animation, when Yu gets The Fool Arcana, the face of the card, instead of facing to the left, is facing to the right.