#crowboy masquerade

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“Have to say, I really like that Robin Hood is noted in one of the...”

I actually really like getting into Akechi debates, specifically when his Persona's are called into question. What exactly makes you think that Robin Hood came first? I mean, I know the theming calls for 'Literary Figure' -> 'Trickster' but I honestly think that Akechi reverses that theme. It just seems weird to me that someone with such a garbage reputation Akechi used to have as a bastard would result in a Persona based on Robin Hood. That's why I personally believe Loki came first.

Well, it isn’t just that it follows the rule of Literary Figure first, but precisely what that represents as a rebellion for that person. After all, Joker is a Trickster even before his ultimate Persona, so this doesn’t even apply to him.

It’s hand in hand with how Personas are evoked to begin with- through facing hardship, and accepting an ideal mask to project onto the world. Robin Hood is a hero figure, and Goro idolised those. He’s a kid through and through, impoverished at that. He was unloved by adults and shunned by other kids, so what if he became their hero?

Plus.. his related Crow outfit. There’s no way he could have faked it, since it acts naturally when he’s in the Metaverse with the others. Which ties in perfectly with the lore, as has been consistently given. Which leads me to believe that he had to be the first (also notable is that he makes a point of going to you in the Crow outfit, not the Black Mask.. an odd choice to make, if that was really his truest self)

On the flip side, the Black Mask is something that has to be summoned consciously, in part by summoning Loki. The way it manifested, as well as the ‘cognition’ aura it has is bizarre.

The Black Mask also, is symbolised as the Knight to the King, as opposed to the Prince, aka the son. A circumstantial thing, not an inherent part of his existence. That dark outfit heavily ties into Loki, so it stands to reason that these both resulted from getting involved with Shido.

Given Loki’s theming of Black and White Justice, aka Reversed Justice, revenge, all of that... I find it hard to believe that Robin Hood appeared after that, because that would imply that it was evidently tempered when he arose. More likely, he already had that good in him - that Upright Justice - that simply went skew-iff when things went even further south. It fits in with his character overall- someone who had become warped, but was ultimately good inside.

He resented, definitely, but wasn’t hell-bent on revenge before he met Shido. At least, not to the extent you meet him for the last time.

I mean, it’s undeniable that Goro’s lot became exponentially worse after getting involved with Shido. Not only was he an unloved bastard child with years of abuse and stigma to contend with, he was a hitman, and forced into the role of a public figure, while keeping on his toes. Nonstop. He not only had to work hard to appease adults, he had to diminish his own self, and control his own emotions to an extent that is frightening.

It ties into his sin of ‘Emptiness’, in that he had to become a puppet for the public, and his father. What greater ‘emptiness’ is there, than a shapeshifter for a Persona? And for that matter, one that has the ability to drive the host and others to run wild? One that manifested an ability as if it were a cognitive drug to save his sanity?

I do believe the potential for Loki was there from the moment Goro awoke the first time, but the conditions for that particular awakening weren’t met. This I believe is something that Yaldabaoth exploited, driving Goro through the ground as an experiment to reach his ‘maximum potential’. Engineering fate to the worst outcome to trigger the amount of stress needed to evoke a Persona (Labrys, much?).. sounds like a manipulative-God-like thing to do.

One aspect of Goro that’s been troubling me is his inability to recognise his own, real emotions, and parse what they mean. That he’s ‘chained to pretences’ as if they are his lifeblood. He cannot express himself the way he wants to because he doesn’t know what he wants. But when that truth slips through the cracks of his psyche, he doesn’t know what to do with it.

Given his thinly-veiled and bold request, Goro had no reason to think he didn’t have a Palace. Hell, he even straight-up acknowledges an extremely personal desire in himself later, one that’s born from ‘worthless resentment’.

Thanks to Morgana’s commentary though, nobody checked his name while he was in the party, and for some reason nobody even tried to check before they knew he had a Persona. Not once. Odd, considering how potentially threatening his presence was to the group. 

You’d think they would at least look, to see what the deal was.

More strangely, Morgana didn’t believe it was possible for more 'multiple Persona users’ to even exist, let alone one with two awakened Personas. His ‘innate knowledge’ of persona is already suspect, and becomes even more so when he states that Goro’s appearance is ‘fake’, or a ‘lie’- the entire basis for that remark being, that Goro can use two separate powers.

So Morgana’s comment that Persona users can’t have Palaces at all... at the very least, it deserves a lot more scrutiny than it’s given.

As to unusual phenomenon in the cognitive worlds, we have Teddie. A Shadow - albeit a special kind - who not only managed to create a Shadow and Persona respectively, but his own body, as well. Considering how Loki appears to have awakened and how Goro uses him on himself particularly, there’s no way there isn’t a serious oddity in how his Persona-Shadow relationship forms.

Well, I would say that that is around the time he began using or even had his rampage powers. Given what those symbolise, he was more ‘together’ before Shido got his claws into him, invoking the distortion. 

Plus, the reason he even became ‘Ace Detective’ in the first place is because of those powers. Though.. emphasis on Ace, there, on famous. His fame is engineered by Shido; it doesn’t speak for his intellect and deductive ability.

Yeah. I’d also argue that Yaldabaoth’s leading of Goro by domineering his fate as ‘one with potential’, building his hope (Robin Hood’s existence) only to send him crashing into despair or rather, emptiness (Loki’s existence), was a significant part of what caused his views to become warped in the first place. 

His manipulation was a direct mirror to Akira’s in that regard, only he had no one to reign him back from this. There are so many factors that were left hanging in the balance and I just… hate that it’s reduced to his past alone when the god-warping is insurmountable enough even for our protagonist. 

Speaking of ‘if gods exist, they’re being too hard on him’…. Akira’s not even the one who has the worst luck with the gods.

That actually makes sense, like how he's obviously not himself when you meet him at Shido's Palace.

I’ve had a lot of thoughts about how strange (read: interesting) it is when Goro goes up to the gang and he’s... not wearing the Black Mask, or even using Loki (for anything other than berserking the Shadows that is). So I feel like the circumstances in which the mask appeared initially were mirrored here. 

We see it appear when he starts to break, and there’s no way in hell that isn’t significant - hell, when he brings Loki to the forefront, he does that to make himself rampage. 

If he did this on his awakening of Loki and that mask, it would mean releasing himself from constricting emotions. Something I imagine was why the power was even born in his heart in the first place- to break the chains binding it. And how more bound can he be, than trapped in a situation where he’s a hitman?

But besides that, there’s... something odd about his recollection here, too. 

It skips an awful lot of his past the moment he mentions gaining access to the cognitive world. Just.. jumps right from that to the rampage and shutdown incidents without even being prompted. He doesn’t mention how this ‘superb plan he hatched’ came into formation the moment he met Shido, or how he climbed the necessary ladders to even reach him in the first place. Not a damn thing about his independent use.

It’s treated as a complete non-issue, despite being such a critical moment in his life. Instead, it’s like his initial foray into the cognitive world is intrinsically linked with the incidents... which is completely wrong, since Shido boasts about having him abuse the power for political benefit.

It’s just very, very troubling how all these events are blurring that much when it comes to Goro’s Persona history. How vague he is about his recollections in this many places - even his own thoughts - makes me wonder how much he really remembers.