Demons (悪魔, Akuma)? are monsters and the main enemies (and possible allies), and a key feature of the Megami Tensei franchise. In the Japenese version of many games of the franchise, demons that are allied with the player are called 仲魔 (nakama), a pun on 仲間 nakama (companion) and 魔 ma (demon).
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In the Megami Tensei franchise, "demon" refers to any supernatural entity that can bring harm to human beings or interfere with their lives in one way or another. This includes more conventional malevolent demons, folktale creatures, deities, urban legends, and Judeo-Christian angels.
Although classified as demons, angels tend to differentiate themselves from demons, and likewise the demons view them as separate. Angels also includes demons that have submitted to God and have become His servants.
In most games, the place where most demons are born or reside from is usually the Expanse, whose existence is tied to the human world and is the located between the material and spiritual world. The design of the demons throughout the franchise also changes depending on the game, but many of them usually have a consistent design depending on the game series.
Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse[]
"Once a term used to describe the anthropomorphized versions of natural phenomena or, in certain cultures, minions of evil. Presently used to describe the non-terrestrial life-forms that appeared after God's Plan. The term encompasses a variety of creatures across a spectrum of cultural backgrounds.
There are over fifty known demon races, identified by appearances and origin
Modern reports of demons place their emergence in the 1980s, though at the time their presence was so low that they were often dismissed as urban legend. After the incident with the Yamato Perpetual Reactor in which a gate to the Expanse was created, the demon population surged. Following God's Plan, reports of humans turning into demons also began to surface, although the cause for this remains unknown. One theory asserts that the magnetite found naturally in all humans is somehow able to react to will and desire, sometimes triggering said transformation. If true, this theory would mean that all humans are then capable of becoming demons. The bulk of this theory comes from reports about human consumption of Reds, but because evidence of Red-induced transformation into demons are so rare, the theory remains speculative at best.
*More Data Needed"
Last Bible series[]
Known as monsters (魔獣, Majū)? they are a race of creatures that coexist with humanity. In the first game it was the Gaia Masters who revived the extinct race, and with the exception of Mephisto sought to protect their existence.
Persona series[]
See also: Persona (concept) and Shadow (Persona) |
In the Persona universe, known as Personas, gods and demons exist within the universal unconsciousness, which exists due to the Star Eater's influence. To resist the Star Eater's wave-like psyche, which was left on the surface after its main body became the moon, and stood as a contradiction to themselves, Earth's primitive life evolved a universal unconsciousness and the gods and demons within it. Gods and demons emerge from humans as a way of defending their psyches from the Star Eater.
Demons mostly appear as enemies in earlier Persona games, usually appearing when something supernatural takes place in those games. While they can be negotiated, there is normally no option to recruit them through negotiation. They mainly give items that could help in summoning new Personas for the party to use, with some Personas having special conversations towards certain demons, usually depending on their mythological relationship in real life.
Humans can also turn into demons if their psyche is destroyed, or if they are artificially given a different Persona after having theirs forcibly removed, especially in the cases where the extracted persona was artificially granted, as happened with Shiori Miyashiro, whose metamorphosis into the demon Wendigo was documented by Takahisa Kandori and the New World Order.
Starting from Persona 3, most modern Persona games removes the presence of demons in supernatural scenarios, being replaced by Shadows who mostly take on the role of enemies in the series and usually lacks any kind of mythological reference. Though most of the final bosses of those games are usually some kind of deities formed by human conciseness.
In games centered around Persona 5, demons appear in the form of humanoid Shadows who manifest within the Palaces of Shadow Selves, serving as guards and as minions. They do not initially remember being anything other than a Shadow, but can be reminded of their true origin from the Sea of Souls during negotiation. During a battle, their Shadow forms dissolve into red puddles that become their true forms. If cornered in a Hold Up or scared into surrender, they can negotiate with Phantom Thieves of Hearts for items, the return of captured party members, or to become new Personas. The Shadow Selves (and similar entities) also have demonic forms that erupt from the body, destroying it in the process.
Devil Children series[]
Demons are entities that reside across the countless worlds that exist in the Devil Children 'verse, created alongside humans and angels by the creator goddess Hoshigami. The power, lifespan, and whether they are part of a race of demons with the same name or an individual varies from demon to demon. A demon's soul can be found as a gem or floating spirit, allowing for the demon to be resurrected using means such as Relic Fusion. Unlike other franchises, demons are implied to not be born from the belief or emotions of humanity.
Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner series[]
Demons are a person's true self, brought forth through the Atma virus that turns humans into avatar tuners. Some demons are able to dominate their original human personalities and take the place of their host, while others find either coexistence or an identity crisis born in others.
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A staple gameplay feature of the series is the ability to negotiate with and/or recruit demons as allies and party members, usually through the use of a COMP with the Demon Summoning Program installed; many demons will request Items or Macca in exchange for their services. In some games, most summoned demons require Magnetite in order to maintain their corporeal forms; without a constant supply they will lose HP with each step. To gain much more stronger demons or the demon the player desires, players can fuse demons they have in their party. There are also some games that allow a special conversation to happen between two demons. This happens if the talker and the target usually have a mythological connection from stories told in real life (such as Barong and Rangda), the talker and target having a similar design (such as Decarabia and Kaiwan), or if the two have connections based from the "in-lore" information given by Atlus (such as Jack Frost and Pyro Jack).
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