#self insert protagonists

Sorry for the wait.

I had a lot of thoughts on self insert protagonists and self inserts  to work through first. It got long, but I hope you enjoy!

Most Persona protagonists, and Megaten protagonists in general, are harder to map out in personality, because of the self insert nature of them. You can infer things about their personality based on the options and dialogue choices given to you, and the comments other people make about them, but with the choice in the players hands, each variant is going to be different. 

You can play the game working to max all the social links, some, or even none, while also boosting your social stats and exploring Tartarus. You can beat the game while characterizing the protagonist as someone who does nothing with their their time but karaoke and exploring Tartarus, and is grouchily dragged to the occasional social event whereupon they act like an asshole. Regardless of how you play the game and spend their year, they are given an opportunity to save the world.  They still choose at the beginning of the game to use the evoker when in danger. 

No player can take that away from them.

They also still have their backstory. 

Their parents died in a fight between Aigis and Ryouji, and an aspect of death was sealed within them. From there they lived with relatives until they were sent to high school. How happy they were with their relatives is up to headcanon, but considering there is no sign of contact to or from them within the game, I will assume that the connection between them is one based on obligation not affection.

Additionally, with portable we do have a female protagonist for Persona 3, FemC. Kotone. Minako. Hamuko. Whichever name for her you prefer, she is the P3 female protagonist, and should not be ignored when considering this question. After all, while they have differences in their personalities, they share the same backstory. I would say, they handled their grief differently, and part of that may be from differences in gender and socialization. 

They have different personalities too. MC/Minito has a quieter nature, where FemC seems to be more comfortable in social situations. Of course, they both seem to do their best socializing during one on one conversations for social links, a part of which is the nature of a self insert, their not exactly going to be starting the latest rumor, and you the player are left to imagine what they would be talking about. 

Still, for them to work in a game like Persona, they can't be all left to the player like a Sim. No. They are a wildcard, someone who is able to switch their social mask to match the situation or person they are interacting with. Their Persona.

Let's backstep a bit to the older games where party members could all summon more than one Persona. Back then, characters had affinities for different types of Masks, based on what they were comfortable showing the world. They could use most types of masks with good affinity, a few with Best Affinity, and a few with Bad or Worst. What tarots they have best and bad affinities with tell you things about their personalities. In fact, I would say that their bad and worst affinities may be in reverse, which have a different meaning from upright readings. 

Back on point, Maki and Yukino share opposite affinities for their best and bad Arcana, with Maki being best at Priestess, and worst at Empress, and Yukino being best at Empress and worst at Priestess. They are also the only two characters in the first game with a good affinity for Death arcana, with everyone else Except Reiji being Bad at it. (Reiji is Best for Death Tarot in the games). They are also driving forces behind their respective game routes, and can never be in the same party.

Reiji, as the hardest character to recruit in game, is also on a journey of his own, unless you get the requirements that allow him to open to the possibility of having a journey as friends. In fact Reiji has different strength and worst affinities to every party member, with the exception of Fortune which every party member has a best affinity for, and Moon which the males in the party have the best affinity for. Must just be that kind of time in their lives for all of them. 90s highschool. 

Between tarots, birthday, initial persona, and blood type, we could look a lot into unsaid but present aspects of each characters personality.(If you want to learn what P3 protagonists blood type says about them, check out my post on Ketsuki-gata , they are bloodtype O.

In later games, they have simplified that by bringing the non player characters down to one arcana, and giving the protagonist nothing, expecting you to fill in the blanks. You are the fool on a journey, and thus filled with infinite potential, unlike everyone else who are more fixed in their presentation.  They too are on their journeys, and perhaps their arcana is a reflection of who they are to the protagonist, and where they are in their personal journey. 

Or maybe, alternatively, who the protagonist is to them. What mask does the Protagonist wear when interacting with them? Is the protagonist being the the face they need in their life to move to the next arcana in their journey, and that's why wearing the arcana mask they have gets more points in an interaction? Or are they being that face for the protagonist, the lesson they need. Perhaps it is both. 

After all, we do have differing characters in our social links between the male and female protagonists in P3. Not a whole cast change, but they come across different people in their journeys, in contrast to P4 protagonist who can get different people for their links based on choices of club.  And then there are party members Akihiko and Shinjiro, who have different Arcanas depending on the gender of the route you take. 

This change is interesting, as none of the other cast members shift in perception. In fact, they are the last characters to have multiple arcana affinities in the series to date. And the original P3 had all of the characters capable of using personas come before 13 (Death) in the tarot. 0 the fool (protag), 1 the magician (Junpai), all the way to 12 the hanged man (Chidori).

In a Male route for Persona 3, Akihiko is the Emperor, and in a female route he is the star. Shinjiro meanwhile represents the Hierophant for a male, and the Moon for a female.

To try to keep this bit short (I have plans to go into more details about them in the future), the Emperor is symbolic of leadership, power, authority, influance, the father card lol. The star is a card of healing. It is a renewal of spirit, calmness, serenity, a positive outlook for the future. Basically one of the most positive cards in the deck.

The Hierophant is a teacher. In contrast to the high priestess who is mystery, intuition, and the unconscious, the Hierophant is traditionally based in education, righteousness, orthodoxy, sacred, and morals. The moon is probably the one of most complicated card in the deck, and holds meanings related to deception, and hidden aspects of life.

This indicates that the protagonists view and interact differently with Akihiko and Shinji based on gender and beliefs or vice versa. Probably a mix of both. For her, or perhaps to her Akihiko and Shinjiro were the star and the moon, even though their tarot journey still otherwise in life has them as Emperor and Hierophant.

That offers interesting things to speculate about. Some other post, or perhaps later in this one, I will get back to it. Lets talk about the Fool card.

For keywords" an upright fool is about new beginnings, freedom, innocence, idealism, freedom, adventure, and spontaneity. Its reversed keywords are gullible, reckless, careless, distracted, naive, foolish, stale, and dull. Its the card of infinite potential, a blank slate. Upright, it is a card of optimism, a new journey full of opportunities. The fool walks forward untroubled by the possible dangers ahead. They are willing to take risks off of intuition, expand their horizons, and generally, take that leap of faith. "

The bulk of Persona 3 is aptly called the journey, and it is about the P3 protagonist learning the lessons of the Tarot. There are reasons some social links are locked behind the progression of some other social links, and that is about the protagonist learning the lessons from the other arcana before they are ready to learn the lessons of other arcana. And perhaps ready to give the lesson that particular social link needs too.

I don't think I've seen a fic soley about the different masks of the any of the protagonists. Being a wildcard, they are good with all affinities, but being everything sounds intense. 

"The reversed fool is about living in the moment, not planning for the future and disregarding the consequences of their actions. "

Which is what happens if you pick the bad endings. By giving up their memories in favor of ignorant happiness, you are choosing for them to live in the moment, giving up any potential of a future for their world to have a future, and whats more they give up everyone elses chance with that choice. 

The other post P3 endings carry the themes of reversed fool, but I think it is strongest shown in P3.

In contrast giving up their life to save the world, gives them The World arcana. 

"The world upright is about assured success, immigration, voyage, change of pace, flight. Reversed it is about Inertia, fixidity , stagnation, permanance. It is an ending to a cycle, a pause before the next journey begins with the fool. 

“

To encounter the world in your cards is to encounter great unity and wholeness. It symbolizes the moment when the inner and other worlds, self and other, become a single entity. It is about reaching enlightenment. Nirvana. There is a recognition that the individual self is profoundly linked with all other things, and we are all dancing and sway along the flow of life to one rhythm. Not only do you hear this rhythm, but you participate in it - following the dips and the rises, the joys and the sorrows. 

The meaning of the World card is fulfillment, achievement, and completion. This shows that all the efforts that you have been putting in place are starting to pay off. It reflects that you have completed a major milestone in your life and you have built the resilience to withstand challenges. The World may indicate completion of a long-term project, study or any other major event in your life. It may also mean the birth of a child, marriage, graduation or any other thing that you have accomplished.

The World card shows that you have a desire to give back to the community in various ways. You have a commitment to make the world a better place because you understand that everything is connected. “

Reversed, the world is “You are drawing near to something that marks the end of a journey or an era. You may have many accomplishments that have lined your path, but there is a strange emptiness that fills you when you look backwards upon it, as if you have all the pieces but they are not coming together. What is missing? Do you feel connected to what you're doing? Do you feel connected to others? What alienates you from feeling complete? From feeling whole?”

It's up to you the player to decide which aspect of The World you feel upon ending the game, but for what my opinion is worth, I am inclined to feel that the P3 protagonist is satisfied with their overall journey on the whole. 

The movie took the male protagonist on an interesting journey with that, starting with him being apathetic and blunt. He manifests his trauma over his parents death by shitting out the world, and having little interest in many things including a sense of self preservation. He mostly joined cause, what else is he going to be getting up to at midnight? He breaks out of his aloofness whenever his friends are in danger, as dammit he does not want to witness another tragic ending. He comes to care more about his life and bonds over the course of the movies which impacts his abilities to fight, as “holy shit guys! This is dangrous!” Over the course of the movies, his arc is about learning to live again, instead of just surviving the day to day. 

In game Protagonist is aloof, introverted, cool headed and talented. We know he uses proper grammar and tends to wander around for chats. He has good instincts, a preference for black comedy, and shares some catchphrases with Squall Leonheart. He likes video games, is at least somewhat sporty, and can play the violin, which implies that his caretakers were probably at least decently well off, as thats not a causal instrument to get into, but a pricy one. In game its easier to get social link rank ups by being enthusiastic, upbeat, kind, supportive and agreeable as you go out of your way to engage with them but as mentioned earlier, you can also go for the pessimistic, morbid, and lonely and barely engage at all. 

If we go by the Q incarnation he's blunt, apathetic, and straight to the point. He has a metabolism people would kill for, cool and quick under pressure situations, and somewhat aloof. He cares though. “

In contrast to MC, FemC is “bubbly, upbeat, chearful, and funny. She has a wider range of humor options including sarcasm, joking tones, and dead seriousness. She is outspoken, blunt, and literal when getting her point across. In contrast to MC who is reserved and concise, she is more outspoken, injecting into conversations where he would remain silent. She's also likelier to resort to violence when provoked, particularly in defense of her friends.

She's seen by her friends in SEES as tough and dependable, as a leader should be. She's also a masker in that while she always seems to be in good spirits, she hides her suffering and burdens. She's also sensitive to criticism. The team worries about her.

She lets her cheerful masks down around Ryouji, her dialogue tones shifting to a more subdued to depressed vibe when answering him.

Like MC she has an insane metabolism, and unlike him she seems more possessive of it, getting mad if swiped without asking.”

(Grabbed from wiki mostly, as they put it nicer then I do at late hours)

That all said, is FemC Minato if Minato was born a girl?

In a lot of ways, yes. Their shared circumstances make them more similar then not. She could be a different universes version of Minato who is female. People go for the direction of having them be siblings. But it is equally likely that she was simply in a different car, and the battle in 1999 went slightly differently. 

Are the differences between them purely gender socialization? 

I would say no. I could see female Minato being an introverted, aloof, and cool headed girl, just as I could see Katone (I guess), being a blunt, bubbly, extroverted boy who is masking his doubts. It probably would  not jive with everyone they meet, and might result in some diffhrent social links. You could speculate played a difference in how they delt with grief, and while that might have played a part in it, ultimately I think the big difference between them is that he is an introvert and she is an extrovert, and while that could be in part to expectations, it's more about social energy. 

Even as a girl, I could still see Minato getting socially exhausted fast and shutting down. Even as a guy I could see Katone socially thriving. 

Ultimately though, as a self insert, you shape how the protagonist interacts with the world, as they are meant to be a mirror you project into. And in P3 the characters gender is not super important. In P5 it would be a more loaded issue as the people of Tokyo would treat Joker differently as a girl with a criminal record, and the palace rulers in particular would have been grosser towards her as a woman. 

But Minato would probably be mostly the same as a girl, save maybe not becoming best buds with Junpei, as I think it would take him longer to respect her, nor does she slot as easily into rival, this quiet firm girl, he doesn't quite know what to do with her for awhile. 

Would she be as well received? Well, I can't say I'm an expert on what an audience wants, particularly a Japanese one, which is where the games target audience is, but I'm leaning towards no, or at least not at the games time of release. I can't think of any introverted, aloof, and coolheaded female protagonists off the top of my head, but tell me in the comments if you can think of any, readers!