“Thou art I... And I am thou... From the sea of thy soul I cometh... I am Orpheus, master of strings...”
Orpheus is the initial Persona of Makoto Yuki and a Demon in the Shin Megami Tensei series featured in Persona 3.
He makes his first appearance during the protagonist's attempt at summoning a Persona via the Evoker to fend off the looming Shadows. During Orpheus' initial summoning, Death (whose appearance is identical to Thanatos) bursts forth from Orpheus' head, ripping him apart in the process. Death violently destroys the Arcana Magician before reverting to Orpheus, who then becomes accessible to the protagonist.
If Makoto completes all the social links in Persona 3, Orpheus will evolve into Orpheus Telos, which is the successor of the "Prime" Personas in Persona 2.
It evolves into Thanatos, and later evolves into Messiah.
Physical Appearance[]
Should Orpheus' appearance be compared to the protagonist, they have the same face. His lyre's shape resembles the chair the protagonist sits on when entering the Velvet Room.
Design Variants[]
In the opening for Persona 3, Orpheus is ripped apart and the Persona Thanatos emerges from within him. His eyes briefly glow red and Thanatos crawls out of his head.
In Persona 3 Em, a red version of Orpheus known as Alpha Orpheus appears.
In Persona 3 FES Episode Aigis: The Answer, Aigis unlocks the Wild Card and her Persona Athena transforms into Orpheus while fighting with Metis.
In Persona 3 Portable, the female main character, Kotone Shiomi, has a female variant of Orpheus.
In Persona 5 a variant of Orpheus that is red appears called Orpheus Picaro.
In-Game Appearances[]
| In-Game Appearances | |
|---|---|
 Orpheus model in Persona 3  Orpheus model in Persona 3 Reload  Orpheus model in Persona 5 Royal  Orpheus model in Persona Q |
Mythological Origins[]
At the time of his death, Orpheus had become an apostate, spurning all gods save for Apollo, who he thanked for his golden lyre. For this he was ripped apart by Dionysian Maenads (although according to other versions, he is ripped apart for refusing to participate in their drunken (and often cannibalistic) orgies, on account of remaining committed to his lost lover), only his head and lyre remaining. His head floated down the Hebrus, continuing to sing sad songs until it was buried on the island of Lesbos, while his lyre was carried to the sky by the muses and placed among the stars.
Appearances[]
- Persona 3
- Persona 3 Em
- Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight
- Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth
- Persona 5
- Persona 5 Tactica
- Persona 5: The Phantom X
- Persona O.A.
- Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth
Trivia[]
- Orpheus appears as a palette swap for Izanagi in Persona 4 Arena.
- While using cheats to get the full compendium in Persona 4, there are five extra slots in the compendium: 034, 0B4, 0B5, 02B, in the Fool Arcana including Izanagi-no-Okami. The slots 0B4 and 0B5 have a portrait of Orpheus but when summoned they appear as a Slime.
- The Persona trait of Orpheus in Persona 5 Royal revives the protagonist with 1 HP when KO'd and is usable four times per battle. This references the final battle of Persona 3 against the true form of Nyx, in which the protagonist endures "Death" four times.
