“What was that!? That wasn't Robin Hood... Could it have been a different Persona?”
Loki is the Persona of Goro Akechi and a Demon in the Shin Megami Tensei series featured in Persona 5.
Loki appears as the true Persona of Goro Akechi, manifesting during the second battle with him in Shido's Palace. Its ability to induce states of berserk rage is revealed by Akechi to be the source of the strange epidemic of sudden assaults. Usually, this ability is used to discredit Masayoshi Shido's enemies by fabricating scandals on them, but all such uses happened off-screen; both on-screen uses are during the battles with Akechi, first to drive a Cu Chulainn and Cerberus berserk as a demonstration and then on Akechi himself before the second battle. It is of the Justice Arcana.
When fused with Robin Hood it forms the Ultimate Persona, Hereward, which is only available in Persona 5 Royal.
Physical Appearance[]
Loki casts a mysterious image. His design is a large body patterned in white and black, and they hoped that it would conjure up the image of not being able to see where his loyalty lies. The design is based on the "dazzle camouflage" of World War I warships. This camouflage was used to make it harder to figure out the shape or size of warships. The horns extending from the eyes were based on snail parasites, and emphasis was placed on making him appear sickening and with no apparent sense of direction. They thought it would be good if the sight of Loki made even Akechi question, “Who are you really?”
Design Variants[]
In Shin Megami Tensei, Loki is a purple man with blonde hair and a white cloak. He also takes this appearance on in Persona 3 and Persona 4.
He is redesigned in Persona 3 Reload to fit his Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner Soul Hackers appearance. He appears with green skin and long blonde hair wearing a purple and black straight jacket with purple and black wings.
In Megami Ibunroku Persona, Persona 2: Innocent Sin, and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, Loki appears as a spellcard with blonde hair and blue armor.
Other Video Game Appearances[]
In Megami Tensei Loki is a beastly man with blue fur and a long main.
In Devil Summoner, Kaneko's design for Loki draws inspiration from 19th century Danish illustrator Lorenz Frølich's depictions of Loki in the 1895 poem Lokasenna, in which he can be seen here quarrelling at a table with Bragi, Freyja, Freyr, Frigg, Heimdallr, Iðunn, Njörðr, Odin, Sif, Skaði and Tyr.
In Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne and SMT: Imagine, Loki appears as a hulking purple man with blonde hair.
| Other Video Game Appearances | |
|---|---|
 Loki in Megami Tensei  Loki in Devil Summoner  Loki in Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne |
Mythological Origins[]
Loki was the trickster god who was also known to be a god of mischief, magic and fire in Norse mythology. His mischievous nature was such that he even managed to slither his way into becoming one of the Norse deities. He is son of Fárbauti, a jötunn, and Laufey, a lesser known goddess and is the blood-brother of Odin, with his two biological brothers being Helblindi and Býleistr. With the onset of Ragnarök, Loki is foretold to encounter the god Heimdallr and kill him, dying in the process.
Appearances[]
- Megami Tensei
- Megami Tensei II
- Shin Megami Tensei
- Shin Megami Tensei II
- Shin Megami Tensei: if...
- Shin Megami Tensei NINE
- Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne
- Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey
- Shin Megami Tensei IV
- Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse
- Shin Megami Tensei V
- Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner
- Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers
- Soul Hackers 2
- Megami Ibunroku Persona
- Persona 2: Innocent Sin
- Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
- Persona 3 / FES / Portable / Reload
- Persona 4 / Golden
- Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth
- Persona 5 / Royal
Trivia[]
- He is the primary antagonist of the original Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei novel, as well as the cult-classic anime OVA adaptation it spawned, and has the distinction of being the very first demon to appear in the entire Megami Tensei franchise.
- Similar to Norse myth, Loki is portrayed as being rebellious and tricky; but at the same time, possesses a cruel and ruthless personality.
- The sword wielded by Loki in Persona 5 is actually a pair of large pliers gripping a blade that is extremely hot, too hot to be touched. In the concept art, written in runes and with spelling problems, is the word "Laevateinn." According to the Fjölsvinnsmál poem, Laevateinn was created by Loki himself; the fact that the sword is so hot might be a reference to the fact that it was wielded by Surt, ruler of the land of fire in Norse mythology. Furthermore, Laevateinn is the name of a skill that Loki uses in battle.
- While Loki could be considered Akechi's ultimate Persona because he follows the "mythological trickster" pattern of the party's ultimate Personas, he could also be considered his true Persona, seeing as Loki’s unique ability was used by Akechi 2 years prior to the events of the game to help Shido out of a scandal, as well as gain his status as the "charismatic detective." It wasn’t until he needed to act as a mole within the party that he began using Robin Hood.
- This is further proven that in Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, Robin Hood does not awaken into Loki or anything whatsoever, indicating that Loki and Robin Hood are standalone.
- However, data for Loki exists in the internal files of Persona Q2, including a compendium entry.
- By hacking Persona 5, it is possible to equip Loki on either Akechi or the protagonist as a Persona. He is of the Justice Arcana, and his stats and base level are identical to Robin Hood's, but he lacks any skills so the player must add them themselves. The protagonist has no voice clips for summoning Loki, but Akechi does, indicating Akechi would have been able to use Loki normally. In addition, there are two unused duplicates of Loki in the game, but both of these are level 1.
- Loki's model in Persona 5 has sharp red teeth. However, these go unseen in-game, as Loki has no animations of its mouth opening.
- In in a popularity poll on demons in the Megami Tensei series from 2017 in Japan, Loki received the 10th highest voter turnout of all demons.
