The term messiah (in Hebrew) or Christ (in Greek) is prominent within the world's many religions, especially in the Abrahamic religions Judaism and Christianity. A messiah is regarded as a savior of mankind who would bring them salvation near the end of days, although opinions between who the term messiah refers to differs between religions.
The most common opinion in the West is the Christian one, which holds that the messiah is Jesus Christ. Other messiah figures have appeared in both history and myth and people have placed their hopes in them for salvation, Buddha, Krishna and Maitreya being examples.
"Appears before Judgment Day to save the virtuous. He is a universal figure, appearing in myth around the world. Many stories involve his death and rebirth."
—Persona 3 compendium
Messiah is the highest-level Persona in Persona 3. It is the final Persona of the Judgement Arcana, which can only be accessed by venturing to the final level of Tartarus. Messiah can only be obtained by fusing Orpheus and Thanatos in the Velvet Room once the protagonist reaches Lv. 90 or above.
During the ending credits, Messiah can be seen inside Makoto Yuki's silhouette, indicating that Messiah is his "true" ultimate Persona (which is also an allusion to the protagonist's role to the story). The same is true of Kotone Shiomi, despite Orpheus being present for her in the credits, her ultimate Persona in Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth is Messiah. Also telling is that Messiah is formed by fusing Orpheus, the protagonists' base Persona, with Thanatos.
Unlike other Personas, Messiah is capable of producing more than one type of item:
Armor of Light
Shoes of Light
Aura Dog Suit
Soul of Athena ("Aigis Armor v.0" in P3)
Swan Legs ("Aigis Legs v.0" in P3)
Omnipotent Orb (1% chance).
These items are the strongest equipment in the game.
The Answer[]
Aigis can summon Messiah once she has reached Lv. 90 or above. As The Answer does not use the Social Link system, maximizing the Judgement Arcana is not necessary, however creating Messiah still requires fusing Orpheus and Thanatos.
Persona 3 The Movie[]
In Winter of Rebirth, Makoto fuses Orpheus and Thanatos into Messiah to destroy the regular Shadows on the top of Tartarus before using it ascend into Nyx's true body.
Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth[]
Immediately after both the P3 Hero and P4 Hero reach level 55, the request, The Power of the Wild Card, becomes available. The request is for just the two Heroes to fight Margaret in You in Wonderland Chapter 3. Immediately after the fight, Orpheus evolves into Messiah and Izanagi evolves into Izanagi-no-Okami. Due to the two Wild Card users being brought together, similar to everyone being able to equip two Personas, once the two Heroes attain their ultimate Personas, everyone else is able to as well, with their Personas evolving once they reach level 55. Each ultimate Persona has one skill, unique to it, Messiah's being Debilitate, which greatly lowers one enemy's attack, defense, hit and evasion for 3 turns.
Persona 5[]
"A Persona of another story. He appears before Judgement Day to save the virtuous. He is a universal figure, appearing in myths around the world. Many stories involve his death and rebirth."
—Persona 5 background
Messiah is a DLC Persona. Upon his purchase, the protagonist is also given access to Messiah Picaro. Both forms have access to the unique skill Oratorio, which cannot be passed down to any other Persona. When using Oratorio, the protagonist will say one of two unique voice lines, those being "I can't fall!" and "Reverberate... Oratorio!". When itemized through Electric Chair execution, Messiah will yield the Lucifer Guard armor that can be worn by anyone but Morgana, it has 250 DEF, 10 EVA, and gives the +Reduce Magic dmg (high) effect to the wearer, while the Picaro variant will yield an Insta-HealSkill Card.
Royal[]
When itemized through Electric Chair execution, Messiah will now yield the Sirius Armor that can be worn by anyone but Morgana, it has 305 DEF, 10 EVA, and gives the +Reduce Magic dmg (high) effect to the wearer. During a fusion alarm, Messiah will yield the Sirius Armor EX armor instead, which has 330 DEF, 10 EVA, and gives the +Reduce Magic dmg (high) effect to the wearer. Messiah Picaro will still give an Insta-Heal skill card normally, but during a fusion alarm, he will yield a Firm Stance skill card.
Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth[]
Messiah is the ultimate Persona of the P3P heroine, which can be acquired after she defeats all of the Velvet siblings in combat.
Light Phys attack. Further allied attacks gain link damage. (1 enemy)
Innate
Oratorio
24 SP
Full HP restore. Remove all ailments and Binds. (1 row)
Innate
Infinite Link
Passive
Link chains last up to 8 hits.
Innate
Golden Link
Passive
Raise Link damage based on number of Links used.
61
Dodge Arts+
Passive
Greatly raise evasion against all attacks.
62
Victory Cry
Passive
Fully restore HP after battle. (Party)
63
Gallery[]
Concept artwork of Messiah.
Messiah in the Persona 3 Compendium.
Messiah in Persona 3 Reload
Messiah in battle.
Messiah doing a physical attack.
Messiah as he appears in the Persona 3 The Movie
Messiah in Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth
Messiah being invoked in Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth
Messiah in Persona O.A.
Messiah in the Persona 5 Royal
Messiah Picaro in the Persona 5 Royal
DLC Icon
Messiah Picaro in Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth
In Other Languages[]
Language
Name
Japanese
メサイア (Mesaia) メサイア・賊神 (Mesaia Pikaro)
French
Messie Messie Picaro
Italian
Messia Messia Picaro
German
Messias Messias Picaro
Spanish
Mesías Mesías Pícaro
Trivia[]
Messiah's face resembles the protagonist's initial Persona, Orpheus, and is holding several coffin lids on a chain, which resembles the coffin cape of Thanatos. Orpheus and Thanatos are required for Messiah's fusion, and these resemblances reference that.
While Messiah is the ultimate Persona of the protagonist, he doesn't have any "special" skills, like Odin's Thunder Reign, Alice's Die For Me!, or Daisoujou's Samsara. To make up for this, Persona 3 Portable introduced a special skill unique to Messiah called Magic Skill Up. This skill (unable to be inherited by other Personas) enhances all Spell-based attacks by 50%, making Messiah the strongest Spell-user in the game. It also makes his Megidolaon stronger than the standard Morning Star, though Morning Star may be fused onto Messiah for the strongest Almighty attack in the game (other than Armageddon). Additionally, with proper inheritance or through the use of Skill Cards, the protagonist can stack Boost + Amp + Magic Skill Up to have the ultimate single-target Elemental Spell.
The only anti-Physical skill Messiah learns is Absorb Pierce, instead of Slash or Strike. This might refer to Jesus in western religion: as after Jesus died on the cross, a soldier named Longinus pierced his body with a spear (spear weapons are categorized into piercing attacks in Persona 3). Messiah's passive ability, Enduring Soul, may also refer to when Jesus resurrected himself three days after his death.
In Persona 3 Reload, Messiah learns Null Phys, which nullifies all physical-type damage, instead instead of Absorb Pierce.