Velvet Room



Velvet Room (ベルベット・ルーム, Berubetto Ruumu) is a room located between consciousness and subconsciousness which is commonly featured in the Persona series.

Profile
The Velvet Room often manifests itself differently in the game, but it is always covered in blue velvet and hosted by Igor. The purpose of The Velvet Room is always to manage Persona. The room is invisible to all except those with high spiritual sensitivity. In Persona 3, Persona 3: FES, and Persona 4, the room is inaccessible to those who are not chosen. The Velvet Room has a distinct music theme titled "Poem of Everyone's Soul" (全ての人の魂の詩, Subete no hito no tamashii no uta), also known in English as "Aria of the Soul".

The method of summoning demons in the Velvet Room significantly changes between Persona to Persona 2 and Persona 3 to Persona 4. For the first two games, Igor offers the cards to power his evil phone and call the realm of unconsciousness. He listens to a sad story from the other end which makes him cry, and the flood of emotion coupled with the power of the cards open a dimensional rift that summons the Persona. For the latter 2, Igor performs an arcane ritual that fuses a certain number of Persona cards together to create a new one, which summons a Persona within the protagonist's soul.

Megami Ibunroku Persona
The Velvet Room is housed in the Joy Street Mall, the Black Market, and can be found in dungeons throughout the game.

Persona
The enhanced remake for Persona also features the Velvet Room.

Persona 2
In both Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment, The Velvet Room is run by Igor, who is a servant of Philemon. Other servants of Philemon also reside in the room, including the Demon Painter, Nameless, and Belladonna. The Velvet Room appears as a room draped in blue velvet with a piano and a microphone, and it is accessible through every large mall in Sumaru City, of which there is one in virtually every major district.

The background music of Velvet Room in Innocent Sin has included other classical pieces along the re-arranged "Aria of the Soul", they are and. Eternal Punishment has included (known as Pathétique) first half of first movement and  (also used in Gouma-Den of Devil Summoner and Soul Hackers) in addition but removed Clair de Lune. All of the pieces are selected each time the player enters the Velvet Room in a fixed order.

Aside from Persona summoning and management, the Velvet Room is used for story purposes when Ulala Serizawa is taken there during the events of Eternal Punishment to recover from her infection with the Joker curse.

Persona 3
The Velvet Room appears as an elevator that is endlessly ascending and can only be accessed by the Protagonist. The room is still run by Igor; however, he makes no reference to being a servant of Philemon. The Protagonist gains access to the Velvet room after signing a contract with a child. Igor mentions that a long time has passed since he had a visitor. The other denizens are now gone, however, Igor has a new assistant named Elizabeth. Elizabeth would later mention that those who set foot in the Velvet Room are bound to be on a quest in search for themselves. When the protagonist creates 'The Universe' the Velvet Room will stop ascending and the door to the elevator will fly open.

Persona 3: FES
The Velvet Room plays a larger role in Persona 3: FES. In the playable epilogue, titled The Answer, Aigis is given access to the Velvet Room and its services after being visited by a blue butterfly. It is in the Velvet Room where she learns about the Protagonist's unique ability. From time to time Elizabeth would try to cheer up Aigis from her grief regarding the Protagonist' death.

Persona 3 Portable
The Velvet Room has the same role as in Persona 3, and can only be accessed by either protagonist. The only difference this time is that the player can choose Igor's assistant, Theo or Elizabeth, if the player is using the Female Protagonist.

Persona 4
The Velvet Room appears as the interior of the limousine. Igor is still present and he has a new assistant named Margaret. It seems that the "limousine" is cruising along an unknown path through a dense fog, mirroring the situation over at the protagonist's own world.

Other than the protagonist, once, a Shadow managed to make an appearance in the Velvet Room. This prompted Igor to suggest that any creation with a powerful ego will be able to appear there; soon after this realization, the limousine moved again, this time on a definite path, with Igor remarking they were finally leaving the fog. The Velvet Room entrances can be found in Inaba's South Central Shopping District between Daidara Metalworks and Yomenaido Bookstore while the other can be found in the Midnight Channel's 'Entrance Hall".

Persona Mobile Online
In this mobile version of Persona (stylized mostly after Persona 3), the Velvet Room is where players use their Arcana Points to access new and stronger Persona of their respective Arcana.

Persona 4: Arena
The Velvet Room appears as the Character Select screen. Margaret stands beside Igor, who lays out his Tarot cards for the player, each Arcana corresponding to one of the 13 playable characters. In the game's Story Mode, the Room takes its usual form of a limousine interior, while the character select version is a large dining hall where Igor sits on a sofa.

In the console versions, the Velvet Room is also the Network Mode menu. It is the same as the character select screen, with the exception of Margaret giving you your options of Ranked Match, Player Match, etc. as though you were in the request or Persona fusion menu. You may also change aspects of your profile, such as your custom title.

The Velvet Room is also an important location in Elizabeth, Aigis, and Yu's story modes. Elizabeth and Margaret still watch over their former guests, and will intervene whenever they are about to make dangerous mistakes.

Denizens of The Velvet Room

 * Igor: Igor is the only character to have always appeared in The Velvet Room. Igor claims to be a servant of Philemon, and he typically handles fusion.
 * Nameless (ナナシ, Nanashi): the piano player who appears in Revelations: Persona and Persona 2, he covers his eyes while playing the piano.
 * Belladonna (ベラドンナ, Beradonna): Belladonna is a soprano singer who accompanies Nameless's music. She covers her ears while singing.
 * Demon Painter　（悪魔絵師, Akuma-Eshi): The demon painter only appears in Persona 2. He can convert free tarot cards into cards of another arcana. He is modeled after Kazuma Kaneko.
 * Elizabeth: Elizabeth is Igor's assistant in Persona 3. She handles the Persona compendium and offers the protagonist optional quests.
 * Theo: Theo is Igor's male assistant and the younger brother of Elizabeth, appearing in Persona 3 Portable. He handles the same duties as Elizabeth and will only appear when playing as the female protagonist.
 * Margaret: Margaret appears as Igor's assistant in Persona 4, and is Elizabeth's older sister, having taken over her role. She also handles the Persona compendium. Her requests are only Persona with specific abilities, but she also handles the Fusion forecast in return.

Trivia

 * The Velvet Room does not appear in Persona -trinity soul-, however Shin Kanzato and Takuro Sakakiba both mention meeting Igor in a dream. Igor also makes a brief appearance in the first episode, though his face was veiled.
 * The Velvet Room is possibly modelled on the Black Lodge from TV series "Twin Peaks". The decor is similar, with red as the dominant color. The similaries grow with its incarnation in Persona 3 and 4, featuring as hosts a short man of grotesque appearance and a beautiful young woman.
 * The name is most likely derived from the Edgar Allan Poe story "The Masque of the Red Death." It features a series of 7 rooms representing the different stages of life, and the one just before death is known as the "Velvet Room." In this room, the main character of the story, Prince Prospero, also meets his death.
 * The Velvet Room's license plate number in Persona 4 is CH-8700.