"Heaven's cross...Is it the "Grand Cross" that occurred this summer? Is...this...some sort of prophecy?"
The Oracle of Maia (マイアの託宣, Maia no Takusen)? is a rumor spread by Nyarlathotep and written by Tatsuya Sudou in Persona 2: Innocent Sin.
Profile[]
Persona 2[]
Innocent Sin[]
Nyarlathotep dictated the poem to Sudou and made him believe that it was a prophecy from Maian aliens. Sudou then conversely passed it to Akinari Kashihara, so he could add it to the supposedly mystical tome he was writing, In Lak'ech. In reality, the events in the prophecy were bogus and nonsensical, but were being transformed into reality by Nyarlathotep and his servants in order to rig his bet with Philemon, showing that humanity would ultimately destroy itself. The party fails to catch up with Nyarlathotep's manipulations and gambits and can only retroactively respond to his moves, making sure most of the prophecy fulfills relatively unopposed.
Eventually, he used the Joker's escapades along with those of the Masked Circle to ensure the Oracle's prophecies came to pass, ensuring reality was weakened enough in the area of Sumaru City so more rumors written in the In Lak'ech would come to life and create the Fuhrer and his Last Battalion out of seemingly nowhere. This supplied Nyarlathotep with a powerful, organized military force he hoped would reach Mount Katatsumuri and reach the core of Sumaru's powers. While the bulk of the Battalion's forces was destroyed before reaching the location, Nyarlathotep himself, disguised as the Fuhrer, did manage to reach said core and force a confrontation between himself and Philemon's champions. Despite he lost that battle, he manages to fulfill one of the last lines of the poem directly and personally by summoning an influenced Maya Okamura to kill Maya Amano with the Spear of Destiny, causing the Grand Cross to occur, halting the Earth's rotation and subsequently leading to its destruction from the violent inertia of all on the surface of the planet. This effectively means that Nyarlathotep won against Philemon by proving to him that humanity desires self destruction.
However, Philemon is still determined to rig and reverse the outcome to his (and humanity's) favor, and appeared to the group of friends and gave them the possibility to negate the timeline by ensuring they had never met. All but Tatsuya Suou agreed, creating the Eternal Punishment timeline and killing the Innocent Sin one, undoing Nyarlathotep's victory. However, the dead timeline remained a threat due to Suou's refusal to surrender his memories of his friends, and became a major plot point known as the Other Side.
Eternal Punishment[]
In Eternal Punishment, due to In Lak'ech never being written, the Oracle failed to come true, although it was seen written on the walls of Sudou's room in the Sanitarium.
Poem[]
The seven Pleiades set the frozen time free
Wild dance, shadowed festival, foreign song ensue
As flames of expiation light the heavens
The lion's roar echoes far and wide
Five skulls glow in the depths of the earth
The holy cross shines high up in the sky
Once the star comes to a complete halt
The Maia Maiden's heart stops with it
What then remains is paradise on earth
The twinkling star of Pleiades sets time in motion;
Dance of pleasure, Feast of shadow, Tongue of stranger,
Atonement lights above.
The lion's roar echoes throughout...
The 5 skulls shine in Hades...
The holy cross shines in the Heavens...
The moment the stars stop rising...
The beat of the virgin Maia also ceases...
Paradise remains on Earth...
空に瞬く昴の星に 止まった刻は動き出す
享楽の舞 影達の宴 異国の詠
贖罪の迎え火は天を照らし
獅子の咆哮はあまねく響く
冥府に輝くは五なる髑髏
天上に輝くは聖なる十字架
天に昇りて星が動きを止める時
マイヤの乙女の鼓動も止まる
後に残るは地上の楽園
Explanation[]
- "Wild dance, shadowed festival, foreign song ensue" refers to the Muses performance by Lisa Silverman, Mami Shibata and Miho Ogishima, orchestrated by Ginji Sasaki. As Lisa Silverman is a foreigner, corresponding to the "foreign song" part.
- "As flames of expiation light the heavens, The lion's roar echoes far and wide" corresponds to the arson of the Aerospace Museum by Tatsuya Sudou/King Leo.
- "Five skulls glow in the depths of the earth, the holy cross shines high up in the sky" refers to the Crystal Skulls owned by the Masked Circle to awaken Xibalba. The "holy cross" likely refers to the grand cross that would destroy earth at the end of the prophecy.
- "Once the star comes to a complete halt, the Maia Maiden's heart stops with it" refers to the assassination of Maya Amano by the Spear of Destiny. Unlike the other lines (where Nyarlathotep only expected his pawns to carry out), he personally orchestrates this event after being defeated.
- "what then remains is paradise on earth, Marking the end and a new beginning": The earth is destroyed by the Grand Cross as Xibalba, with Sumaru atop of it, enters paradise, but Philemon undos Nyarlathotep's victory by creating the Eternal Punishment timeline.