Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne Characters

This section contains information on the main characters within the story. Included is both Atlus's official information on their histories, as well as extended information offered by this web site if necessary. This is by no means a full list of important entities within the game.

Name: "The Protagonist"

Official Information: An average boy attending High School in Toyko, little is known about him except that he lives in the heart of the city with his family. His modest clothes and cell phone make him seem like just another face in the crowd. When people ask him about his plans for the future, he gets anxcious and gives vague answers.

This average boy is burdened by a heavy destiny. As he faces the uncertainty of living through the sudden, unprecendeted catastrophe of the Conception, a mysterious blonde boy plants a Magatama inside his body, transforming it into that of a Demon. Then, in the Vortex World, the womb where the world is to be reborn, the protagonist loses sight of both the world and its future, and begins wondering...

This nothingness, whether you call it purity or emptiness, gives him the freedom to choose his own fate: to begin his own world, to lend his strength to others' ideals, to embrace his inner Demon, or to simply run away from it all and do nothing. These choices are all yours to make.

Extended Information: The Protagonist is both given a full name and a nickname chosen by the player. The player is also given control of the Protagonist's stats and abilities. HP and MP will increase once he receives enough experience points to gain a level. At this point, the player can also choose to add one point to a single stat (Vitality, Strength, etc.). Skills are also learned during a level-up and are determined by currently equipped Magatama.

Name: Chiaki Hayasaka

Official Information: A classmate and childhood friend of the main character, Chiaki was born and raised in a prominent household. At the start of the game, she's haughty and demanding, as she's used to getting her own way. She too gets caught up in the Conception, and in the ensuing chaos, is forced into a world where only the strongest can survive.

When Chiaka reunites with the protagonist in Shibuya, she's trying to stand up for herself, and seems genuinely sympathetic. However, this is only because of her pride. Forced into a situation where she's helpless, Chiaki finally realizes her own powerlessness, and begins to change.

In the end, no one can control their life as thoroughly as Chiaki thought she could. If she'd realized this before the Conception, she might've become a stronger person, but by the time she comes to this conclusion, she's already acquired a power of her own.

The result is her Reason, the philosophy of Yosuga. To Chiaki, might always makes right, and the pursuit of her own philosophy slowly begins to make her cruel and judgmental. When power meets elitism, it doesn't take long before the powerful start thinking they're worthy of deciding who lives and who dies. Chiaki's ideal world is one where she cannot be hurt, and where she can safely pass judgement on others.

Name: Isamu Nitta

Official Information: One of the protagonists classmates, Isamu is a young man who doesn't think much about the future. Unlike the protagonist, this is because Isame is most interested in enjoying himself right now, in the present. Although he has a crush on his teacher, Yuko Takao, and sees himself as the hero's rival for Yuko's concerns, Isamu puts on a cool front when she asks about him. Isamu's a frivolous and selfish character, who seems to have fewer ideals than the protagonist. He truly lives for the moment.

When Isamu was caught up in the Conception, he became one of the few humans who would affect the recreation of the world. However, his Reason for supporting creation is the ideal he's searching for: Musubi, a world where individuality is everything. In Isamu's perfect world, no one bothers him, and vice versa.

Isamu doesn't seem to be aware of the inherent contradictions in his ideals. He advocates a world where the individual's rights are the only things that matter, but at the same time, Isamu is constantly depending on other people. This has always been the story of Isamu's life: he's been spoiled by other people's kindness, and jumps at any chance he sees to have fun.

Name: Jyoji Hijiri

Official Information: Hijiri writes exclusively for the occult magazine Ayashi. He was once an exchange student in American, and relies upon the experiences he had there to help inform his writing. While doing some research on the Gaea cult, Hijiri learned about the Scripture of Miroku and Hikawa's plans for the Conception. He started following Hikawa to learn the truth about the cult's plans, but in doing so, got caught up in the Conception.

Even the end of the world doesn't keep Hijiri from doing what he set out to do. He continues to pursue Hikawa, but not out of righteous indignation or a sense of responsibility. Instead, Hijiri is simply... curious. He wasn't originally out to stop Hikawa; he just wanted to know what Hikawa was doing, and maybe watch the fireworks.

Hijiri can find his own power and his own Reason, but he doesn't seem to realize that. He could probably meet the qualifications just be revealing some of what he's discovered. Instead, all he does is learn. This mistake will be one of the factors that decides his destiny.

Name: Yuko Takao

Official Information: Yuko taught at the school the protagonist, Isamu and Chiaki all attended. She was strict, but kind, and popular with the students, but deep inside, she was consumed by dispair.

She wanted freedom, but not for selfish or arrogant reasons. She wanted to be free to preserve a higher morality, so she could do what other people asked of her and still try to aim higher, to rise above petty concerns.

In reality, Yuko didn't even look at the world around her. It would've been enough if she'd just looked at her students, but it was difficult for one high school teacher to single-handedly change the lives and goals of the young people she taught. She despaired for the future.

Then, Yuko met Hikawa, and got caught up in his religion. At first, she enjoyed how much power being the Maiden gave her, but after the Conception, she realized just how different her and Hikawa really are.

Name: Hikawa

Official Information: To most people, Hikawa is the chief technical officer at the giant Cybers Communication corporation. In truth, he's the leader of the Gaea cult, a religious organization that searches for a truth which transcends the teachings of all other religions. The Conception and the destruction of the world were brought apart by Hikawa's mad desire for purity.

As the leader of the cult, Hikawa translated the prophecies of the Scripture of Miroku, and learned the existance of a strange world, a belief that was considered heresy even among the members of the Gaea cult. Eventually, Hikawa used these prophecies to bring about the creation of the Vortex World, which transformed the old world into a new one that could be shaped according to his whims.

After the Conception, many demons thought that the people responsible were the ancient Assembly of Nihilo, and the secretive Yahirono Himorogi. No one suspected that Hikawa was to blame.

This is in keeping with Hikawa's Reason, Shijima. He quietly accomplishes what needs to be done, and moves calmly and rationally towards the creation of his perfect world, a world of perfect order. There, there will be no flaws, and no chaos. It will exist only to go through its motions, forever.

Hikawa's perfect world forms a sort of sad antithesis to the old worl, where according to the myth of Pandora's Box, both hope and pain were born in the same moment.

Names: The Child and Old Woman

Official Information: The protagonist meets these mysterious characters by chance in the Shinjuku Medical Center before the Conception. Immediately after the end of the world, the blonde child plants a Magatama in the semiconscious protagonist's body, giving him the powers of a Demon. The child clearly isn't human, but his true identity remains a secret.

To the casual observer, the child and the old woman (his baby-sitter? grandmother?) might seem like tricksters, who are trying to complicate matters in the race towards the creation of a new world. The old woman doesn't seem to like the protagonist very much at all, but sometimes, it's almost as though she's watching the protagonist through a certain kindness. After all, he did get his powers from the boy, and the protagonist is trying to bring about the birth of a new world.

In the end, is the boy an enemy, or an ally, to the protagonist, or to the world?

Names: Old Man and Lady in Black

Official Information: The Old Man and Lady in Black seem to work against the designs of the Old Woman and the Child. Both the man and the boy let the women speak for them, and are similar in many ways. The Lady in Black is different from the Old Woman, though; she's very kind to the protagonist, in a way that reminds him of Yuko.

The Old Man is the master of a place that sits outside the Vortex World: the Labyrinth of Amala. He commissions the protagonist to recover the ten Candelabra, the sarcred candle-holders that illuminate the Labyrinth of Amala. He is told that the Fiends stole these treasured items.

Only a Friend who had all the Candelabra could and would travel to the deepest part of the Labyrinth of Amala. Someone who was working towards the creation of a new world wouldn't bother with such a minor detail.

If the protagonist does so anyway, and pursues the truth hidden in the depths of the Labyrinth of Amala, he may learn the real truth of the Vortex World... but it will cost him what is left of his humanity.