"The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed..."
—Nyx Avatar, Persona 3
The Arcana (アルカナ, Arukana)? are the different classes of Tarot Cards. They are a major thematic element of the Persona series.
The Arcana are divided into the Major Arcana (22 unique cards) and the Minor Arcana (four suits of 14 cards each, not unlike those of traditional playing cards). The Minor Arcana appear in rare events in the Persona 2 duology, only in Shuffle Time in Persona 3 and Persona 4 Golden, and not at all in Megami Ibunroku Persona, Persona 4 and Persona 5.
"Arcana" is properly the plural form, the singular being "Arcanum," but in the Persona series "Arcana" is used for both singular and plural.
In the Persona series, the Personas' Arcana are functionally equivalent to demonraces. According to the Persona World guide, each Arcana in Megami Ibunroku Persona equals a specific race. These racial equivalences were partially kept in Persona 2 and abandoned in Persona 3 onwards. In Persona 3 and later games, each Arcana has a Social Link or Confidant related to it, usually with a "story arc" that represents the Arcana its related to. Each Persona user usually has an Arcana they are related to as well, usually defined by their first Persona.
The Minor Arcana cards are featured in the remake of Persona 4 for the PlayStation Vita. The Minor Arcana cards have the same effects as in Persona 3, except for the Swords Cards, which give the player Skill Cards instead of weapons, and the Cup Cards, which restore SP along with HP.
Arcana is only applied to Main Personas and Sub-personas that player characters can use; Shadows do not have an Arcana in this series, even though the bulk of enemies are generic Arcana Shadows.
In the Persona 2 games, due to the way the contact system is built, all enemies are classified under an Arcana. However, some of those aren't present in the tarot deck, being more akin to races. However, the game does acknowledge them as such and refers to them by "Arcana". They are:
As of Persona 5, the Temperance and Tower Arcana are the only major arcana to have never been represented by any playable character.
Temperance is the only major arcana to have never been represented by any Persona user at all. The Tower Arcana is represented by Takahisa Kandori from Megami Ibunroku Persona and Anna Yoshizaka from Persona 2: Innocent Sin (via the playable version of their Personas, Nyarlathotep and Aeshma respectively, being identified as such).
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