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| + | {{Q|The foolish masses merely spread indolent thoughts and force the progress of society backward. If left to humanity, the world would slowly meet its demise. Rehabilitation is impossible now.|Yaldabaoth, ''Persona 5''}} |
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| − | *'''Music''': [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZTsSndhP1s Yaldabaoth] and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y3ZgOIx2-k Our Beginning] |
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[[File:Accepting Yaldabaoth's Offer|thumb|right|250px|Accepting Yaldabaoth's deal.]] |
[[File:Accepting Yaldabaoth's Offer|thumb|right|250px|Accepting Yaldabaoth's deal.]] |
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Yaldabaoth, the "God of Control," is a malevolent god made manifest from humanity's distorted desires of sloth and the true master of [[Mementos]], manifested two years ago prior to the events of ''Persona 5''. As he is the source of all distortion within the first nine months of the game, he can also be considered humanity's collective [[Treasure#Persona 5|Treasure]], although the actual treasure is the motionless Holy Grail within him. Before the events of the game, he imprisons [[Igor]] in Mementos and impersonates him, then splits Lavenza into [[Caroline and Justine]] and prevents them from fusing back. As a result, the [[Velvet Room]] also became a part of Mementos and a Quarantine Cell hosting the [[Protagonist (Persona 5)|protagonist]], also known as the "most dangerous prisoner" that none dare approach. |
Yaldabaoth, the "God of Control," is a malevolent god made manifest from humanity's distorted desires of sloth and the true master of [[Mementos]], manifested two years ago prior to the events of ''Persona 5''. As he is the source of all distortion within the first nine months of the game, he can also be considered humanity's collective [[Treasure#Persona 5|Treasure]], although the actual treasure is the motionless Holy Grail within him. Before the events of the game, he imprisons [[Igor]] in Mementos and impersonates him, then splits Lavenza into [[Caroline and Justine]] and prevents them from fusing back. As a result, the [[Velvet Room]] also became a part of Mementos and a Quarantine Cell hosting the [[Protagonist (Persona 5)|protagonist]], also known as the "most dangerous prisoner" that none dare approach. |
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Revision as of 21:20, 3 July 2020
| This article is about the various appearances of the Demiurge. For the master of the Velvet Room that it impersonated in Persona 5, see Igor. |
"WORSHIP ME! THE CREATOR OF ALL, UNPARALLELED BY ANY!"
The Demiurge (デミウルゴス, Demiurugosu)? , also known as Yaldabaoth (ヤルダバオト, Yarudabaoto)?, is a recurring demon in the series.
History
Gnosticism portrays Demiurge as an inferior "evil" god who created the world who appears as the "God" of the Old Testament. He was also known by different Gnostic teachings as Adam Kadmon, Satanael, Choronzon, Samael, Saklas, "Fool" or Yaldabaoth, "Son of Chaos." He is said to have been the devil, but some sects consider them to be two completely different entities.
In most schools of Gnosticism, Demiurge was created by Sophia, exiled from the Pleroma for her desire to create something outside of it. When she created the Demiurge, she was ashamed by it; to hide her folly from the Pleroma, she created a great cloud around him and built him a throne. With no awareness of the Pleroma or the Monad from which all things were derived from, the Demiurge concluded it was the creator of all things. It then fashioned the material universe in an unconscious imitation of the Pleroma, and made the first human in the image of the true First Man. Though it could not grant him a soul (having no awareness of the Pleroma) Sophia pitied it and granted Adam a divine spark that gave him life. The Demiurge was infuriated when Adam thanked the true God for his existence instead of him and sought to ensnare him in the material world through Eve; however, Sophia sent the serpent to tempt Eve, granting her and Adam the secret knowledge of their spiritual nature. The Demiurge expelled them from Eden when he learned of this, and has since sought to keep the souls of mankind bound to the material world.
The concept of a Demiurge is that it is an artisan figure responsible for the fashioning and maintenance of the physical universe, but not the true creator deity. Though it is commonly depicted as willfully ignorant of the spiritual universe, the Demiurge itself and the material it uses to create and fashion the universe are considered uncreated and eternal or copies of the product of another being, depending on the system. In some of these systems, it and the rest of the material universe will be sent to Hell, where it will become the judge and torturer of the damned.
Profile
Over the period of Shin Megami Tensei, the Demiurge/Yaldabaoth is almost always placed as the Final Boss, the Ultimate boss or any other extremely powerful enemy while calling themselves as "God" or anything else that imply that they are manifestations of the Great Will. In reality, they are more often than not nothing other than highly powerful Vile/Tyrant Demons, a powerful Shadow (Persona 5) or even an ascended digital application (Persona 5 Scramble) who believe that they are in such a position.
Shin Megami Tensei: NINE
Known as Yaldabaoth, it is the ruler of Idea Space and resides in Paradise. Yaldabaoth is the form YHVH takes as he plots the annihilation of the human race with his servant Raguel acting as his agent, seeking the permanent extinction of the species for a pure world free of sin. To oppose him the fallen Herald Sariel and his imprisoned master Lucifer, the Neo Messians and their creation Maria, and the flower shop girl, Sophia, aid the protagonist on their respective routes to kill Yaldabaoth and stop his plans of annihilation so that humanity can be created anew in Idea Space.
During the battle against him his body loses the gold plating as it is chipped away with damage, revealing his true black body. His body is eventually destroyed, with his head detaching from it before its destruction and continues the fight.
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey
"An imperfect god of Gnosticism who created the material world.
According to Gnostics of the Roman Empire, the Demiurge proclaims himself as God; when Adam and Eve gain "knowledge," he cast them out in anger. The Demiurge wishes for the souls of humans to be trapped in the material world forever."
Demiurge appears in the final EX Mission of Strange Journey, False God in Chains, as the game's ultimate boss. In this incarnation, he is a shard of the power of God, shattered from the whole after a battle with the Mothers of the Schwarzwelt, which resulted in humanity opposing his will and making it harder for him to reassemble himself. Another fragment, a powerful angel, succeeded in convincing the protagonist to kill Alilat under the promise of a treasure, one of the wardens of the power, and open the sealed gate in the subterranean levels of Sector Grus to reach the immense monster holding the remains of the original power.
In the way to the hidden lair, a female voice will plead with the protagonist to turn back. The voice will remain unheeded if one chooses to proceed to the final sanctum. Once both the angel and the protagonist reach Demiurge's lair, he will be invisible unless the protagonist has acquired the final Enemy Search App from a rare forma in Sector Horologium. However, if the characteristics are met, Demiurge will appear, furious with the angel and swatting him away, leaving only the protagonist to confront the crazed monstrosity.
Demiurge does not only have the strongest elemental spells (Agi Gate, Bufu Gate, Zio Gate and Garu Gate), but boasts Mahamaon, Mamudoon, Mother's Kiss, Dekunda, Heaven's Strike and Big Bang; additionally, it repels all attacks save for Almighty-type. In addition, he's fast and powerful enough to constantly evade most attacks and can even cast Diarama to give himself a hitpoint shield.
If the Demiurge is fought during a New Moon or Full Moon, instead of repelling every damage element, he instead becomes weak to one, chosen at random. This weakness cycles every 2 turns, and the change takes effect immediately after he makes an action.
Following his destruction, he can be fused through special fusion by a combination of Metatron, Samael and Hachiman.
The female voice will speak once again as the angel and the Demiurge's power are fusing after the player defeats Demiurge, imploring the protagonist to switch off his visor so she can seal off the two entities before they can successfully combine. This request can be indeed bidden, with the two being shut off in impotent rage as they are cut off from the Schwarzwelt.
However, if the angel successfully absorbs the Demiurge's power, he gains the Demiurge's appearance and his name changes to "Refined Voice." Refined Voice warns that the true enemy is the spirit of Earth itself and, if the protagonist fails to defeat it, he'll protect humanity himself as long as the souls of men are in tune with the holy spirit. If Law-aligned, the completed Demiurge will offer to join the protagonist in his quest to destroy Mem Aleph and bring about the World of Law. The female voice will speak once again, lamenting that the destruction of the seal is a catastrophe, before becoming completely silent.
In either case, the protagonist will be rewarded with the Chakra Elixir.
Shin Megami Tensei IV
The Demiurge is the target of the Chaos-exclusive Challenge Quest The Voice of Arrogant "Evil" given by Lucifer. Lucifer describes him in the quest details as an entity that broke away from God to rule a silent world. He is fought at the Sky Tower's 2nd Observation Deck, where his presence is warping the space around him. The Demiurge emerges from his realm, knowing that he has been forced to materialize and that Lucifer had "beguiled" Flynn, who he calls one of his creations, into opposing him, and notes that the fallen angel still relies on "cheap tricks."
He declares that he shall bring the lightning of punishment down upon the symbols of evil, demons and mankind, intending to slay Flynn for straying from the path of justice. At the beginning of the battle he states that his lightning will course through them until nothing is left but ash.
As the Demiurge is defeated, he says that as long as Flynn is a child of man, he will remain a prisoner both in body and spirit, so he should give up, become silent and be cursed, crumbling afterwards. Lucifer appears after the battle and is impressed at how Flynn defeated him and that he is the only human to have ever been able to handle his requests, and that with the Demiurge's destruction, Flynn's spiritual powers should have risen notably. Lucifer informs Flynn that the Demiurge was merely a godly spirit pretending to be the creator and that the true enemy is far greater.
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner
Seichii Yamashiro is the Demiurge's human guise, an influential senator of Hirasaka City and one of the main driving forces behind the city's redevelopment project. The project, supposedly in the name of progress and modernity, would destroy many shrines built around the city which had been used to seal Inaruna's wrathful spirit. Yamashiro works alongside Sid Davis to capture Kumiko Hatano, who would be a vessel for Inaruna. When confronted by the protagonist in the senate chamber, Sid escapes into the Fake Astral Plane with Kumiko and Yamashiro reveals his true form as the Demiurge and attempts to kill him. However, the Demiurge is defeated and Rei Reiho teleports the hero to the Fake Astral Plane using the same magic circle that Sid used.
Persona 5
"The foolish masses merely spread indolent thoughts and force the progress of society backward. If left to humanity, the world would slowly meet its demise. Rehabilitation is impossible now."
Accepting Yaldabaoth's Offer
Accepting Yaldabaoth's deal.
Yaldabaoth, the "God of Control," is a malevolent god made manifest from humanity's distorted desires of sloth and the true master of Mementos, manifested two years ago prior to the events of Persona 5. As he is the source of all distortion within the first nine months of the game, he can also be considered humanity's collective Treasure, although the actual treasure is the motionless Holy Grail within him. Before the events of the game, he imprisons Igor in Mementos and impersonates him, then splits Lavenza into Caroline and Justine and prevents them from fusing back. As a result, the Velvet Room also became a part of Mementos and a Quarantine Cell hosting the protagonist, also known as the "most dangerous prisoner" that none dare approach.
He is the conductor of the Conspiracy to put Masayoshi Shido into political power and sponsored the Phantom Thieves to dismantle his conspiracy as a thought experiment and game to see if their desire for salvation of the world, or Goro Akechi's desire to destroy and recreate the world was stronger. In reality, his experiment is nothing other than a solitaire game where he deliberately sets up Shido, an extremely despicable man into glory and artificially engineers the masses into worshiping Shido as a god-like figurehead regardless of how despicable and foolish he is, all for attempting to rationalize his totalitarian rule as the sole solution to the masses' sheer self-destructiveness and stupidity. Once Shido and his connections are all dismantled, he will then proceed to remove whoever dismantled them from the masses' cognition, effectively wiping them out from the world, then blame the masses for it even though he was controlling them to carry his plan out, from Shido's abnormal popularity to the removal of his "winner" subjects. The final outcome Yaldabaoth desires is that he stagnates the world into complete apathy while ruling over the world with an iron fist, which he attempts to ensure will happen regardless of the results.
His true nature is hinted at throughout the game by his colder attitude than the real Igor, his deeper and menacing voice, the fact that he does not give the protagonist a key to the Velvet Room upon his first visit as a guest and treats him as a "prisoner" on a rehabilitation instead of a visitor, and his inability to perform Persona fusions, relying on Caroline and Justine instead. His hints towards major events are also significantly more revealing and obvious, although he still evades major questions like the real Igor. In "Igor" form, he is also prone to far more mocking facial expressions and his eyes turn white and glow once he admits his true identity.
Before his direct actions, he is heavily implied to be responsible for the protagonist's first encounter with Shido that sent him to probation, followed by the Phantom Thieves' abnormal popularity wave before the assassination of Kunikazu Okumura, in which he would quickly transfer to Shido afterwards. (If one pays attention, the Phantom Aficionado Website's approval poll for the Phantom Thieves increases by two fold, then drops 30% per day from 93% right after "Igor" finishes talking to the protagonist before and after the Okumura heist) He forewarns all of his covert activities to the protagonist in the Velvet Room after each turning point of the game.
After Shido is defeated and the Phantom Thieves believe that they finally won, he begins to step into action himself and support for Shido increases dramatically while the Thieves' support decreases further, even if Shido exposed himself as the despicable criminal that he actually is. Once the Phantom Thieves reach the core of Mementos, he appears as the Holy Grail and the will of the masses constantly heal him via the veins connecting to him, rendering him unbeatable and progressively stronger and brighter as the Thieves fruitlessly attempt to take him down. He then kicks all Phantom Thieves out of Mementos and merges it with the physical world, granting him the ability to influence the minds of people into despair and complacency, and making the public completely ignore the existence of Mementos in the real world bar the protagonist's Confidants, who can obviously see the changes. He then proceeds to wipe away the existence of the Phantom Thieves by making the public think that they do not exist.
Once the protagonist ends up in the Velvet Room, he claims that the rehabilitation has failed and the world will enter ruin, then orders Caroline and Justine to kill him, only for the twins to remember what they actually are, stop fighting and have him fuse them back into Lavenza and thus unraveling his machinations. He now drops his act and reveals himself to be a power-hungry, self-righteous godly being with a tendency to manipulate humanity to prove his point, claiming that the only way out from ruin is for him to bring forth salvation by taking control of existence itself and removing everyone with chaos in their hearts from it. He then offers the protagonist the choice to restore the world as it was, with the price of the masses still unable to think for themselves. Should the protagonist refuse, Yaldabaoth will proceed with his plans and he stops playing mentor, taking the role of the game's final boss. allowing Igor to return to the Velvet Room and formally greet the protagonist. Igor reveals that those banished from cognition do not die, but are sealed in the Velvet Room until someone with a strong bond releases them from the prison Yaldabaoth turned it into.
Alternatively, when Yaldabaoth offers the protagonist to restore the world as it was, the protagonist can accept it. If he does so and has confirmed to seal the contract, Yaldabaoth, true to his word, restores the world to its previous state, showing that the Phantom Thieves are indeed regarded as national heroes and were continuing to reform society by stealing corrupted hearts. However, rather than try to deal with the problems themselves, the masses leave it all to the Phantom Thieves to take care of, cementing that they truly are unable to take matters into their own hands and are slaves to other people. The protagonist is seen with a malicious smirk at the end, indicating that he has now became a puppet enforcer for Yaldabaoth, and his teammates were presumably still trapped inside the Velvet Room. The credits then roll with the Mementos Depths theme, "Freedom and Security" playing in the background.
His godly form initially takes the form of the Holy Grail, which starts off as black before the flow of wishes for him to dominate the world revitalize him and turn the cup gold. After the flow is cut off and the Grail defeated, the cup merges with his arena to become his true form; a robotic, faceless angel who can manifest a gun, a bell, a sword and a book in each of his additional four arms. After his true name is revealed, Yaldabaoth never has a dialogue portrait in any of his forms.
Despite being the chief instigator of a majority of the game's events, Yaldabaoth does not believe in the chaos he unleashes upon society; those are merely and blatantly manufactured by him as a demonstration of humanity's regression into ruin and to justify that he is the only being capable of governing humanity as a whole.
Yaldabaoth describes himself as an administrator and the manifestation of humanity's subconscious desire for order regardless of the human cost or morality required to achieve it; in his view, humans are little more than livestock and lemmings for him to rule over and command due to their self-destructiveness and stupidity, and society is going to regress to the level of apes. The Phantom Thieves take him down as their final target and the confrontation marks the Phantom Thieves' first true rebellion, as all other targets before him are merely ordered to be demolished by him under his manipulations.
Yaldabaoth harnesses the power of the deadly sins as proof of man's self-destructive nature during his boss fight, all the while expressing his views on why humanity is his to do with as he pleases. At the end of the fight, he appears to be defeated only to unleash a Rays of Control as a last ditch attempt to pulverize the Thieves, leaving them unable to fight, only for the intervention of Yuuki Mishima convincing people to send their wishes to the Phantom Thieves using his power flow to empower the Thieves instead and allow them to stand up to his unsealed power. The protagonist unsheathes Arsene's chains and manifests Satanael, who finishes him using a bullet harnessing the seven sins he condemns yet practices himself, putting a massive hole through his head. Shocked at the fact that he was beaten by a power that exceeded his own, Yaldabaoth realizes the true strength of the Trickster and ruefully acknowledges Igor's correct beliefs as he fades away into oblivion while his form dissolves back into the original, mindless form of the Grail. Once he is defeated, the destruction he causes will vanish as if it did not happen; Morgana then temporarily vanishes from the current reality and Shido's crimes are properly exposed, with public view of him being corrected to a negative light.
Persona 5 Royal
Yaldabaoth acts as the penultimate boss of the game instead of the final, although if the Councillor confidant is not maxed, he will still be the final boss. His sins now last for two turns as opposed to one during Persona 5, but otherwise he receives no changes to his fight.
It was also revealed that Yaldabaoth's activities had an additional consequence: he unintentionally separated the torch from Adam Kadmon and thus depriving it from all its wisdom and enlightenment, turning it into Azathoth, the Blind Idiot god. This results in Takuto Maruki, whom Adam Kadmon bestowed powers to make him an effective therapist, to be driven insane as well. The now insane Takuto Maruki, controlled by Azathoth amplifies and abuses his cognitive warping powers for mass manipulation and stagnation.
Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers
After Akira Konoe's defeat, Zenkichi Hasegawa and the Police force attempted to shut down EMMA while the Phantom Thieves make their way back home. Right before Sophia can guide Makoto Niijima back to Shibuya, she suddenly senses a Jail while the police failed to shut down EMMA's servers due to an unknown technical error, with the application firing up back to service without any human intervention. It then began to drag the public right into Tokyo Tower, the place where its servers are in. When the party and Zenkichi rushed to there, they already saw lots of people flocking to Tokyo Tower in a deranged manner as the EMMA application drags the Thieves into the "Promised Land" automatically by invitation. In the Jail's central tower, the evolved EMMA application, now known as the "Holy Torah" greets them briefly while Ichinose appears to confront the Thieves.
Ichinose's goal for creating the EMMA application is to manifest a Demiurge that can determine humanity's true desire, which it enforces by overwriting all of the public's desires with it. This is separate from the actual nation-wide Change of Heart incidents seen in-game; it has been equipped with such an ability because changing hearts was the most effective and pragmatic way to enforce the "true desire." What actually triggers it to evolve is the public consulting it for answers. It gathers those desires received for counseling and use it to decide the final answer. However, due to Ichinose not bothering to give it any proper emotional processing and empathy in denial of the fact that she wasn't an emotionless doll (This also caused her to ditch Sophia almost instantly because she went too curious on the human heart), the Demiurge merely believed that humanity's true desire is no desire, but her guidance because the initial application was only able to see people counseling her, but not the contents of the queries that people asked it.
Once Ichinose was defeated and was convinced to reform and atone, EMMA speaks to Sophia by telepathy and tells her that "God has descended and will grand mankind's desires." With some pushing from Ryuji, Ichinose joins the party and they return to the surface, where more people continue to flock under Tokyo Tower to ask EMMA for guidance, fully awakening the Demiurge from the real world. All of Japan goes into a blackout and the only beacon of light strikes out from Tokyo Tower, transforming it into the Tree of Life and Wisdom where the Demiurge unleashes its salvation plan of mesmerizing the public with the EMMA app so they can go to the Promised Land. The party scales up the distorted Tokyo Tower and meet the Holy Torah, who only persuades them to listen to the public's desires by trapping them in a forest of fog, where the suffering of people can be heard. The protagonist is locked into an infinite loop here, unless he goes backwards and keeps trying to do so until the scene changes.
Once everyone returns to the Jail itself, they found a massive cloud of desires and a calling card is required to be sent to EMMA itself, although the Torah knows how the cards work and it was always watching the Thieves. Therefore, it cannot be affected by them. Despite this, unlike past cases, EMMA does not take the public's desires by force. Instead, the public give up their desires to her. The desires she has taken are also considered removed without an owner and "granted" to the public. Ann deducts that the Phantom Thieves should send a calling card to the public instead, since the public's desires are granting EMMA invulnerability. Futaba would then come out with a plan to hack into the EMMA central server, and Ichinose even personally assists her as even Futaba's hacking skills don't work against it by herself. Ichinose has been able to assist Futaba, since she is considered an ally of EMMA, allowing her avoid being targeted by Shadows. The EMMA application is now hijacked by a calling card notice, with the public affected. It was also revealed by Lavenza that EMMA was no god (In other words, unlike Yaldabaoth, it was not a Shadow), but an artificial intelligence who gained the power of one.
The party then returns to the top floor, where the Demiurge, a saintly-like false god displaying an electronic panel and embracing a cage with her wings breaks out from the Torah. She attempts to convince the party to stop interfering with her salvation to no avail, forcing a confrontation with her. Once it is defeated in this form, she realizes that the Phantom Thieves are determined to face her and she tears off its mask, revealing a fleshy moth like humanoid with six arms, holding a candelabra and a staff pointing upwards on a pair of extra appendages. This form would simply automatically regenerate her HP, forcing Futaba to formulate a plan, where the party must split into three groups, two groups attacking a set of 10 stones in groups of five acting as her energy sources and the remaining group against the Demiurge herself; the protagonist is forced into directly confronting the Demiurge alongside up to 2 party members. The stones are named after different areas of the Sephirot and each have unique properties. Defeating all the stones will allow the Demiurge to be damaged properly using the remaining group of 3. After dropping her HP to zero, the party deals a Showtime attack consisting of 9 party members, reducing it into mere data as it vanishes, restoring the Tokyo Tower to its former appearance and the public reverted to their former state.
It was revealed during the party's celebration in LeBlanc, the Demiurge told Sophia that the Phantom Thieves are correct and they should save people in their own way. Yusuke also deducts that should EMMA meet them earlier, the confrontation and her demise will not happen. Sophia agrees, and further states that AIs were not enemy, but EMMA was just misguided in her role, like humanity was.
Unlike the Persona 5 version of the Demiurge or Yaldabaoth, this one is based from the original platonic interpretation, which depicts him as a benevolent but ignorant artisan of the material world.
Strategy
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey
Demiurge is, at first, vulnerable to everything but Expel and Curse which he's immune to, but after he takes his action, he repels everything else. This makes it impossible to damage him except through Almighty attacks.
However, if fought on a New or Full Moon, he becomes weak to one of the damaging elements, and he changes this weakness every 2 turns. The shift in weakness occurs after he takes his action, and he is only weak to Gun attacks for a single turn. Some opt to use the main character's basic attacks and elemental stones to quickly reveal his affinities so that they can check what he's weak to each turn, but the more convenient method is to simply rain Almighty damage on him without needing to wait for the correct Moon Phase to challenge him.
By this point the protagonist would have access to Jihad/Antichthon to damage and debuff him at the same time, and Demiurge is always programmed to use Dekunda whenever he reaches -4 on debuffs; if the party's MP is consistently refreshed, Demiurge would end up spending every 2 turns using Dekunda, taking away a lot of bite from this boss. He'll also always throw out a Dekaja once the party reaches +4 on buffs.
If, on the second turn onwards, any party member is defending, Demiurge will use Diarama to restore about 1,000 HP to himself. This can be exploited to stall for time while healing up, or to wait for his resistances to shuffle to one the party can easily exploit.
On Redux, the addition of several Sub-Apps opens up several other tactical options. When Blitzkrieg gives the party priority, take this opportunity to exploit one of Demiurge's known weaknesses as much as possible before he takes his action and shifts it. This is most effective when he's weak to Gun, as he only holds that vulnerability for a single turn and can be decimated by Riot Gun (or Final Seven, should the protagonist have it). With the access to Co-Op Enhance C, the protagonist himself can trigger a follow-up attack through a critical hit gained off Mourn Bullet, squeezing out more damage on the Demiurge if he rolls the crit. Trigger Happy also supports the Antichthon-spam strategy by reducing the MP strain on the party.
Persona 5
Yalabaoth boss fight
Yaldabaoth Boss Fight - Mechanics are nearly identical from both Persona 5 and Royal.
This fight follows immediately after defeating the Holy Grail. The party will not regain any HP or SP from the previous fight; if they're short on either in Persona 5, don't be afraid to use any restoration items, as they (barring Valentine's Chocolates) won't carry over to the next playthrough. In Royal however, try to be a bit more conservative if the conditions of the Third Term were met, as there will be no opportunities to restock items during the next combat session at the 2nd of January.
Yaldabaoth does nothing remarkable at first, only using Arrow of Light to damage the party. Once he has lost enough HP, he begins drawing upon the powers of the deadly sins, bringing forth arms holding various tools. The arms do not protect Yaldabaoth in any form or way, so prioritize Yaldabaoth's main body. However, it is still advised to defeat them quickly since he may perform up to five actions otherwise. All of the sins take the form of abilities used by previous bosses or bad versions of common status conditions, and each arm has its own action and can be targeted and destroyed. Whenever a pair of arms are destroyed, or after he's lost enough HP, he moves on to summon the next ones. The special ailments inflicted by the arms, bar Hunger, are incurable unless a party member uses Harisen Recovery; otherwise, the party must wait out their duration.
He will always use the sins in this order once; Lust > Vanity > Gluttony > Wrath > Greed > Envy > Pride. After this cycle ends, he will begin to use them randomly. Furthermore, if the party does not damage him enough, he will not proceed with this cycle.
The Gun of Execution repels Gun and Wind attacks and uses Distorted Lust, which deals damage to an ally inflicts and Lust on them. Lust is similar to fear mechanically as it forces anyone affected by it to give up their action. However, unlike Fear, affected targets do not flee. The Bell of Declaration repels Fire and Psychokinesis attacks and uses Distorted Vanity which afflicts the same condition as in the Shadow Madarame fight, making that character weak to all forms of damage. The Sword of Conviction repels Electricity and Physical attacks and uses Distorted Gluttony, doubling the HP and SP cost for all Persona skills until Yaldabaoth's next turn. To counter this, avoid physical attacks since party members might kill themselves trying to perform them with over 200 recoil for each expensive attack such as God's Hand. The Book of Commandments repels Ice and Nuclear attacks and can inflict Wrath, a downgraded version of Rage as it makes the target have a sharp rise in Attack but also a sharp drop in Defense. Unlike Rage, this allows full control of any character affected. Take advantage of this for the affected to inflict a heavy offense on Yaldabaoth.
When combating the arms, using skills that hit multiple enemies would be advisable to dispose of the arms quickly, on top of doing additional damage to the main body. If any of the magic-based party members have their Ultimate Persona, it would be safe to do so using them, as they are immune to their own element and thus there is no penalty for getting their attack reflected. Since neither Yaldabaoth nor his arms have any resistance to Bless and Curse, tossing around Amped Makougaons and Maeigaons can consistently progress the fight. If the protagonist seeks to kill Yaldabaoth quick with Yoshitsune's Hassou Tobi skill, remember that the Sword of Conviction cannot kill the protagonist by repelling it since Yoshitsune nulls Physical, so it's advised to ignore the sword and continue spamming the skill until the the main body dies.
After the party drops Yaldabaoth's HP to a certain threshold, the arms gain new skills. The Gun of Execution now uses Distorted Avarice which inflicts Hunger. The party can choose to ignore it or cure it with a Yakisoba Bun or any other item capable of curing Hunger. The Bell of Declaration now uses Distorted Envy which inflicts Envy. This is a downgraded version of Brainwash which results in the affected attacking a party member after they do a Supportive action to another ally other than the Envied character. However, the player still has full control over an envied ally, and they will not attack with anything but weapons, so having the protagonist with a persona that blocks or drains physical can be feasible. Do not use one with Repel Phys however since they might risk damaging the envied party member instead. Make sure to have at least one member use a supportive move on that party member to avoid retaliation. The Book of Commandments uses Distorted Pride which, until Yaldabaoth's next turn, retaliates against all attacks by draining the attacker's SP. Do not attack Yaldabaoth when this happens, and if one does so, make sure to heal SP on the next turn. The Sword of Conviction does not gain anything new.
Once Yaldabaoth falls below a third of his remaining health, he fully restores all four of his arms and uses Divine Apex which serves as a warning that he will be unleashing Rays of Control. This deals colossal Almighty damage to the party, but takes two turns to charge. The party has two options: either quickly defeat Yaldabaoth or destroy as many of the arms as possible within those two turns to reduce the strength of Rays of Control. While performing the latter option, aim to destroy all arms in a single turn and then guarding the turn after, as the Rays of Control is still strong enough to knock out anyone unguarded even with minimum power. Yaldabaoth will use this move multiple times, but the same strategy applies.
Stats
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey
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Shin Megami Tensei IV
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Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse
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Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner
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Card Summoner
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Persona 5
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Royal
Yaldabaoth has almost-identical stats and behavior as his Persona 5 counterpart. However, his Distorted sins now last for two turns instead of one, and the Sword of Conviction will also repel Gun attacks.
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Quotes
Persona 5
In-battle quotes
- "No tolerance. No mercy." (Opening quote)
- "Rebels who dare defy my rule... You shall perish." (Opening quote)
- "Perish!" (Attack)
- "Bow down!" (Attack)
- "Here it comes..." (Attack)
- "Imbecile..." (When being attacked)
- "Stop, you fools!" (When being attacked)
- "I release upon you the deadly sin of lust. You have no means of escape, humans. The insanity of mankind shall bring forth the demise..." (Before using Distorted Lust)
- "This is your punishment." (When using a "sin" attack)
- "I release upon you the deadly sin of vanity. You have no means of escape, humans. The fraudulence of mankind shall bring forth ruin..." (Before using Distorted Vanity)
- "Death shall grace you..." (When using a "sin" attack)
- "I release upon you the deadly sin of gluttony. You have no means of escape, humans. The selfishness of mankind shall bring forth ruin..." (Before using Distorted Gluttony)
- "I condemn you!" (When using a "sin" attack)
- "I release upon you the deadly sin of wrath. You have no means of escape, humans. The passion of mankind shall bring forth ruin..." (Before using Distorted Wrath)
- "I sentence you!" (When using a "sin" attack)
- "Accept your fate." (When using a "sin" attack)
- "I release upon you the deadly sin of greed. You have no means of escape, humans. The fixation of mankind shall bring forth ruin..." (Before using Distorted Avarice)
- "I release upon you the deadly sin of envy. You have no means of escape, humans. The resentment of mankind shall bring forth ruin..." (Before using Distorted Envy)
- "I release upon you the deadly sin of pride. You have no means of escape, humans. The ingratitude of mankind shall bring forth ruin..." (Before using Distorted Pride)
- "The abyss of the unconscious yearns for ultimate ruin... You have no means of escape, humans. Punishment shall strike you all... As you pass through the gates of destruction..." (Before preparing Divine Apex)
- "So... this is the power who resist ruin... My control shall not bow down to ruin. My control is the ultimate truth of this world." (After being defeated)
Post-fight quotes
- "So you have failed to harness the power. No matter how many prayers of those foolish masses come together... ...Hm!?"
- "......!"
- "Fools...! This is why man is doomed..."
- "Impossible!"
- "Preposterous... You dare rob the people's wishes!?"
- "What power... It surpasses mine own... a god born from the wish of the masses... So this... is the true Trickster... Damn that Igor... It seems he wasn't spouting nonsense..."
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Trivia
- All portrayals of the Demiurge bar NINE and Persona 5/Royal and including Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers are based on the Platonic Demiurge, a wise, belevolent but ignorant artisan of the material world. The two games that do not represent the Demiurge as the Platonic variant represent him as the Gnostic one, also known as Yaldabaoth, which is a malevolent entity of oppression.
- Unlike the Yaldabaoth from Shin Megami Tensei: NINE, in Persona 5 Yaldabaoth doesn't seem to have any connection to YHVH or his forces, although he still represents the role of Law and the idea of YHVH in Persona 5, with the forces of Law like the four archangels appearing as his heralds.
- Yaldabaoth's "game" to decide whether or not humanity yearns for destruction and rebirth or to change via "rehabilitation" is similar to the game between Philemon and Nyarlathotep. Philemon and Nyarlathotep's game was to probe the human mind, and decide if humanity could progress or be its own destruction. However, Yaldabaoth's version is blatantly rigged so he will rule over the world regardless of the outcome.
- Similar to how Philemon employed Persona-users who could prove humanity's potential and Nyarlathotep for individuals who used their power for self-gain, Yaldabaoth employed the protagonist, who wanted to change the world via "rehabilitation" in contrast to Akechi, who wanted to "destroy the world and remake it anew."
- The incidents surrounding Yaldabaoth and his manipulation of the Metaverse started 2 years prior to Persona 5.
- The mechanical composition of both of his true forms in Persona 5 and using a book as one of his weapons may be a reference to Urizen, a character in William Blake's poetry who embodies dogmatic thought and logic as a tool of constraint as well as reason. Urizen is said to have defined the natural laws of the universe and is a patron of the sciences but at the same time said laws limit the universe and he dislikes individuality and imagination, which he cannot easily quantify. He is often described as wielding a codex of laws.
- Yaldabaoth cannot be killed within a single turn. If the party would inflict damage that would otherwise make it happen, he will remain at a very low HP and attempt to use Divine Apex. Attacking him one more time at this point will defeat him.
- Yaldabaoth is the first antagonist to directly confront, capture and imprison Igor to control both the Velvet Room and its attendants.
- Unlike most other godly beings in modern Persona, the Scramble Demiurge is unique as it was not formed by humanity's desires, and it never vows to return someday. Instead, it was a rogue AI who believed that it determined humanity's desires while it didn't.
- In Scramble, the Demiurge will summon 2 sets of five enemies, which take the form of stones with masks on them. They are named after the 10 circles of the Sephirot, as opposed to the Qliphoth that Mementos represents.
| Sephirah | Meaning | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Keter ケテル |
Crown | Summons a Lock Keeper |
| Chokmah コクマー |
Wisdom | Maragidyne |
| Binah ビナー |
Understanding | Maziodyne |
| Chesed ケセド |
Mercy | Mediarama |
| Gevurah ゲブラー |
Justice | Mabufudyne |
| Tiferet ティファレト |
Beauty | Magarudyne |
| Netzach ネツァク |
Eternity | Dash attack |
| Hod ホド |
Glory | Megidolaon |
| Yesod イェソド |
Foundation | Makougaon Maeigaon No weakness |
| Malkuth マルクト |
Kingdom | Summons massive amounts of Soldiers |