The Reaper
The Reaper (刈り取る者?) is a Shadow in the Persona series.
Appearances
- Persona 3 / FES / Portable: Death Arcana, Optional Boss
- Persona 4 / Golden: Death Arcana, Optional Boss
- Persona 4 The Animation: Enemy
- Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth
- Persona 5
Profile
The Reaper of the Persona series has several features that distinguish it from other "grim reapers" in popular culture. The Reaper, instead of carrying a gigantic scythe, wields two long-barrel revolvers. Its face is shrouded in a blood-stained cloth sack, with only one ominous white eye to see its surroundings. It wears two long chains across its left and right shoulders, forming a cross.
Persona 3
The Reaper lurks in Tartarus, and will appear to the player when certain conditions are met. This involves staying on one floor of Tartarus too long, or choosing a card from Shuffle Time that is appended with an ominous black crossbones. When he approaches the party, the player can hear a loud rattling of chains, and he also appears on the mini-map, and can even climb up small ramps in floors, something all other shadows cannot do.
The Reaper's appearance is hastened when:
- Choosing a skulled ("cursed") card in Shuffle Time,
- On a regular floor with no Shadows
- On a floor with powerful Shadows (red-glowing variants)
- There are "more Shadows on the floor than normal", which is filled exclusively with golden shadows or rare chests
- The last two conditions are due to the risks of the "cursed" cards during Shuffle Time, all of which bear large rewards.
The Reaper cannot follow the player to the stairs that lead to the next floor, which makes the stairs a safe haven from the reaper. Unless the party is Level 70 or higher, The Reaper will be an almost impossible opponent.
As one of Elizabeth's Requests (#53), the protagonist must defeat the Reaper. Because the Reaper is a very challenging opponent, players should come prepared with a strategy in place or utilize the fusion spell Armageddon and instantly destroy the Reaper. If the request is active, the Reaper will drop the Bloody Button upon its defeat, in which you can turn in to unlock the Monad Depths.
During battle, equipping the whole party with Omnipotent Orbs or casting either Makarakarn or Tetrakarn triggers The Reaper to use Megidolaon, which can be fatal unless characters are at Level 99.
Persona 4
The Reaper is an exclusive boss that can only be fought in the second playthrough of the game. In the second cycle, the Reaper can be found in trap chests, and upon examining it, the protagonist is forewarned that a powerful force dwells within the chest and repeatedly asked whether he is ready to open it. Should the protagonist choose to open it, the Reaper will attack the protagonist, engaging the party to a battle. Similar to its predecessor, the Reaper can be challenged multiple times as long as the protagonist manages to locate the treasure chest he dwells within.
Defeating the Reaper may grant the respective characters their strongest weapons per defeat; however, should all of the in-battle characters have received their strongest weapons, The Reaper instead drops the strongest armor. If all of those have already been received as well, the Reaper drops the Omnipotence Orb, an accessory which voids all attacks excluding Almighty.
He will only drop a character's weapon if they are in the team that fights him. One must re-organize their team if they want to gain every weapon.
Golden
The Reaper works the same way as the original Persona 4, except he can be encountered on the first playthrough of the game. To spawn the Reaper, the player has to open a total of twenty-one chests. By this time, the sound of rattling chains will echo throughout the dungeon. If the player opens a chest where a Shadow would most likely stay in, the player will be warned of an ominous presence. Opening the chest will spawn the Reaper.
However, if the player merely opens a normal chest, the chest counter will be reset and the sound of rattling chains will disappear. Leaving the dungeon or moving up/down floors also applies to this.
The Animation
Three Reapers show up when the Investigation Team confronts Adachi in his own reality, Magatsu Inaba. The first one confronts Kanji and Naoto at the Central shopping district, the second one fights Chie, Yukiko and Rise at the Amagi inn, and the last one battles Yosuke and Teddie at Saki Konishi's house. The Reapers prove to be powerful opponents for the Investigation Team, but eventually the Investigation Team managed to beat the Reapers after banding together.
Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth
The Reaper is an F.O.E who appears on the second floor of the Clock Tower and all floors above it. Zen realized The Reaper has appeared to remove him for upsetting the natural providence of the world by creating the world from Rei's memories and preventing her soul from returning to the Sea of Souls.
While the player is in the same room as the Reaper, it will pursue them for 2 steps before resting for 1 step. Unlike many other aggressive FOEs in the previous dungeons, the Reaper can pursue the player over empty spaces - but not through columns. Noting the columns' locations or impeding its movement with the various block-like pistons scattered through the dungeon becomes critical in trying to avoid it.
In battle, the Reaper can act twice each turn and has a wide array of attacks and ailment-inducing moves. Once it dips to below 50% HP it will start trying to inflict Sleep, Panic, and/or Agility Bind to render the party unable to dodge a Power Charged Myriad Arrows or Deathbound. Past 25% HP it switches strategies and throws party-wide attacks, including Mamudoon and Megidolaon. While resistant to them, the Reaper is still vulnerable to ailments and Binds which can make the battle less aggravating.
The Death's Order material it drops allows Theodore to create gear that halves characters' stats but doubles the Exp they receive; 1 is required to create armor with this effect, 2 to create an accessory, and weapons can be created after acquiring 3. If defeated while the request to hunt one is active, it will drop the Broken Chain needed to complete it.
Stats
Persona 3
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Persona 4
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Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth
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Gallery
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Trivia
- In Persona 3 the Reaper's total HP, 4444, refers to one of the pronunciations of the Japanese word for "four" (四?), shi, which is the same as "death" (死?). The number four is also known in Japan and China as the number of misfortune.
- The Reaper's garments bear some resemblance to Tatsuya Sudou's clothes, from the Persona 2 duology. Additionally, considering Sudou eventually loses his right eye during the events that take place during the duology, and the Reaper itself is missing that eye as well, one can speculate the two of them are some how connected.
- In Persona Q, the Reaper's total HP, 13666, is a combination of two ominous numbers - 13 being associated with bad luck, and 666 being the Number of the Beast.
- In relation to the latter, 6666 Experience points are awarded to a party of three members upon defeating The Reaper in Persona 3.
| Storyline | Shadow Yosuke - Shadow Chie - Shadow Yukiko - Shadow Kanji - Shadow Rise - Shadow Teddie - Shadow Mitsuo - Shadow Naoto - Kunino-sagiri - Tohru Adachi & Magatsu-Izanagi - Ameno-sagiri - Kusumi-no-Okami * - Izanami - Izanami-no-Okami |
| Sub | Avenger Knight - Daring Gigas - Amorous Snake - Killing Hand - Dominating Machine - World Balance - Chaos Fuzz - Envious Giant - Gorgeous King * - Heaven's Giant * - Neo Minotaur - Sleeping Table |
| Extra | Contrarian King - Intolerant Officer - Momentary Child - Escapist Soldier - Extreme Vessel - Lost Okina |
| Other | Margaret - Reaper |