“The Greek god of death, he is the son of Nyx and the brother of Hypnos. He is depicted as a young man with an inverted torch and wreath or butterfly in his hands.”
Thanatos is the manifestation of death in Persona, and a demon in the Shin Megami Tensei series. He is a boss in Megami Ibunroku Persona and the mascot Persona of Persona 3, Persona 3 Portable, and Persona 3 Reload.
He is the son of Nyx, and brother of Hypnos and Nemesis, and acts as the boss of Thanatos Tower in the Snow Queen Quest of Persona 1. He protects shards of the Demon Mirror to prevent the protagonists from defeating his mother, the Night Queen.
Thanatos is the ultimate Persona of the Death Arcana in Persona 3. It first appears near the beginning of the game, when the male or female protagonist first attempts to summon Orpheus. Thanatos emerges from Orpheus' head, ripping Orpheus apart and mercilessly slicing apart the Arcana Magician looming ahead. Later, the protagonist can gain access to Thanatos after the Social Link with Pharos is completed.
It is the second evolved form of Orpheus, who evolves into Thanatos, and later evolves into Messiah.
Physical Appearance[]
Thanatos is a tall slender humanoid wearing a black cloak and white mask in the shape of a skull. It has thin white legs and arms and wields a blade. It has chains and belts around it and has nine coffins that appear as wings/ cape.
Design Variants[]
Thanatos appears in Megami Ibunroku Persona as one of the bosses of the three towers in the Snow Queen Quest. In this appearance he is a short and grotesque monster with green skin wearing a black cloak.
In Persona 3, Thanatos (Death) appears as a young boy who wears a striped shirt named Pharos who lives inside of Makoto Yuki, a piece of Nyx placed there by Aigis.
Later, Pharos transforms into Ryoji Mayuzuki, an older boy around Makoto's age, who wears a white shirt and yellow scarf.
In his true form of death, he is a Shadow who wears tattered and decaying clothes. He also wears a skull mask but has a decaying corpse head underneath it, again also wielding a sword.
Thanatos appears in Persona 5 DLC in a Picaro form, which is a form he takes after being influenced by the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.
In-Game Appearances[]
| In-Game Appearances | |
|---|---|
 Thanatos's model in Persona 3  Thanatos in Persona 4 Arena  Thanatos in Persona 5 Royal  Thanatos in Persona Q |
Powers and Abilities[]
Thanatos is of the Death Arcana and while he doesn't have a specific attribute, he deals mostly Almighty and Dark attacks.
Mythological Origins[]
Thanatos is the personification and god of death and mortality in Greek mythology. He is commonly known as a harbinger of peaceful death, bringing the eternal sleep of death to the world while more violent gods were responsible for harsher death. He did not play a major part in Greek mythology and rarely appeared in any stories, as he was mostly displaced by Hades, the god of the underworld.
Appearances[]
- Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey Redux
- Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner
- Megami Ibunroku Persona
- Persona 3
- Persona 3 FES
- Persona 3 Portable
- Persona 3 Reload
- Persona 4 Arena
- Persona 4 Arena Ultimax
- Persona 5
- Persona 5 Royal
Trivia[]
- The depiction of Thanatos in Persona 3 seems to be derived more from the earliest mythological accounts, being characterized as a grim warrior surrounded by a mantle of metal coffins.
- Thanatos's design in Megami Ibunroku Persona is based off of Okuyasu Nijimura's deformed father in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable.
Cover Gallery[]
