Fool Arcana

The Fool Arcana is an Arcana in the Persona series.

Overview
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. This Arcana is originally the only one that doesn't have a number, thus it is considered as the Arcana number 0 or number 22.

As such, the silent protagonists from the recent adaptions often start out with the Fool Arcana, in reference of their personality being shaped via player's actions and decisions. 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.

The Fool Arcana tends to be the "jack of all trades," since its Personas can inherit all skills without preference for any type. Mythological figures of the Fool Arcana are often heroes, fools, or the protagonists of their own mythological stories.

Appearances

 * Megami Ibunroku Persona
 * Persona 2: Innocent Sin
 * Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
 * Persona 3 / FES / Portable
 * Persona 4 / Golden
 * Persona 4 Arena / Ultimax
 * Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth
 * Persona 5

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 origins in Japanese folklore.

The player can guarantee a fusion accident resulting in a Fool Arcana persona by starting from a "hard reset" (as in, not already mid-game and loading a save or selecting "Return to Title") and performing a White Fusion after taking exactly 101 steps in an area where no enemies will attack, such as the Mikage Sun Mall, or 230 steps in the Black Market; it can also be achieved with a Red Fusion by taking exactly 275 or 546 steps.

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 acquiring one. In addition, the Velvet Room's Demon Painter cannot convert Blank/Free Tarot Cards into Fool Tarot Cards, making them a valuable commodity.

During demon contact, after an enemy demon asks 4 questions total (does not have to be 4 consecutive questions; demons only ask questions in response to being Angered or Eagered), a contact resulting in Eager has a 1/256 chance to result in the demon asking the contacting character what manner of human or demon they are; if the character replies with the response that contains "fool" or "foolish", the demon will give them a Fool Card. A total of 10 Fool Cards are required to summon every Persona of this Arcana once.

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. A total of 15 Fool Cards are required to summon every Persona of this Arcana once.

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.

FES / Portable
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
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.

Golden
Another facet of the Fool Arcana, the Jester Arcana is represented by Tohru Adachi. The Jester symbolizes much of what the Fool symbolizes--ignorance, spontaneity, and freedom--but in a suppressed form. In the case of the Jester, the querent is misguided and unwilling to work with others, in contrast to the Fool, who is compatible with everyone. In the case of Tohru Adachi, he relishes a life away from the company of others, as he feels he is free to do what he wants by himself. In game, the Arcana will go through a change as the story progresses.

Persona 4 Arena
The Fool Arcana is co-represented by Yu Narukami and Aigis, the protagonists of Persona 4 and Persona 3 FES - The Answer, signifying their ability to wield the Wild Card.  Persona 4 Arena' s official artwork book reveals that Athena's arcana has changed from that of the Chariot Arcana to that of the Fool Arcana, symbolizing Aigis' awakening to the Wild Card.

Arena Ultimax
Both Yu Narukami and Aigis once again represent The Fool Arcana. In Ultimax the Arcana is also shared with Elizabeth, who gained it during the events of Arena, when she began a new journey of her own. As well as this, newcomer Tohru Adachi retains his Arcana of The Jester despite Ultimax being a continuation of Persona 4 Golden, during which it becomes Hunger.

Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth
Due to two individuals coming together in the special space that the game takes place in, the power of the Fool is strengthened enough to allow all persona users to use two personas, one as the main persona and another as a Sub-Persona. Due to not having Personas, Zen and Rei cannot harness this power. The protagonists, on the other hand, have their power limited to two personas, which Margaret theorizes to be due to the world they are currently in being finite in its existence.

Notable Fools

 * The protagonist of Persona 3
 * The female protagonist of Persona 3 Portable
 * Aigis, as of The Answer
 * Yu Narukami, the protagonist of Persona 4
 * Elizabeth, as of Persona 4 Arena
 * The protagonist of Persona 5.

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.
 * Protagonists possessing the Fool Arcana always have a party member who is secretly jealous of their special abilities, specifically Junpei Iori (The Protagonist of Persona 3 and the Female Protagonist), Yukari Takeba (Aigis) and Yosuke Hanamura (Yu Narukami).