The Persona Series is full of incredibly well-written characters. Learning the stories and growth of the confidants in the game is one of the centerpieces of the game. Beyond the confidants, the villains are written with just as much effort, crafting great backstories to make some incredible villains.
Persona 5 Royal’s palaces each focus on their ruler, shifting the Metaverse to their own twisted views. While exploring a palace you’ll learn more about the ruler, how they see the people around them, and why they act the way they do.
10 Cognitive Wakaba
The cognitive world allows someone’s innermost thoughts to become reality. For Futaba, this showed her innermost regrets and fears. While her shadow wasn’t evil like other palace rulers, the final boss of the palace was a literal fight against her biggest fears.
This villain is a cumulation of Futaba believing her mom blames her for her death and also having current feelings of her mom holding her back. This cognition throws insults and attacks Futaba’s biggest insecurities during the battle. This fight greatly summarized the elements of how cognition affects the way we see the world.
9 Kaneshiro![Shadow Kaneshiro Boss Fight]()
Kaneshiro was a very different target for the Phantom Thieves. Being a mob boss, he was much bigger of a threat and brought in real-world dangers well beyond previous targets. While Kaneshiro may not seem complex at first, his palace shows his deep insecurity and why he strives for so much power.
You target him as you learn he is targeting and blackmailing high school students to commit crimes for him. Seeing the effects of his blackmailing perfectly sets up the Thieves and the player to despise him and want to stop him.
8 Okumura![Shadow Okumura In Space Suit]()
While Okumura is notorious for being the most difficult boss in the game, he’s a shocking evil person. While his palace shows a unique space station theme with futuristic robots, that reflects how he sees his employees.
Anyone wants to be respected by their boss and appreciated for their hard work. This palace can hit some people by displaying just how bad a boss can be. Along with his employees, he even sees his daughter as nothing more than a tool to use for his benefit. Ordering her to sacrifice herself at the end of the boss battle solidifies just how terrible he can be, and why he’s a target for the phantom thieves.
7 Madarame![Madarame Confession Interview]()
Madarame was the second target, and Yusuke’s perspective shows new light on why he steals from his students. Madarame is evil for stealing from his students, but in a few ways, he treats Yusuke right and helps guide him.
Madarame used the money to be an artist to live a secretly lavish lifestyle and allowed Yusuke to stay with him to be his art teacher. While his actions in no way redeemed him, they did show a more complex villain than some other palace rulers. That being said, he also watched Yusuke’s mom die and didn’t help her, so he was terrible to his core and needed a change of heart.
6 Sae![Persona 5 Royal Sae In Interrogation]()
Sae is set up to be an antagonist very early in the game as she interrogates Joker. The flash-forwards and interactions with her throughout the main timeline solidify she is not on the side of the Phantom Thieves.
While she did have a change of heart, it didn’t include the usual stealing of treasure. While her treasure was found, her change of heart came from the interrogation and Joker’s appeal to her true sense of justice. Her desire to punish criminals went too far; through the interrogation, she sees the light and changes her ways to be the hero she always wanted to be.
5 Shido![First Phase of Shido Boss Fight]()
Shido was a villain set up from the beginning of the game without us knowing it. Being involved being the scenes through it all made those reveals even more impactful during his place. Shido uses the people around them and disposes of them to protect himself, even killing those who have used up their worth.
Shido sees himself as an all-important leader who is the only person who can save Japan. He’s willing to do anything to achieve his goals claiming they are for the good of all. He uses Akechi and would kill him if he sees it as necessary. Finally, taking him down brings Joker’s story full circle, clears his name, and shows everyone how rude it is to cut in line for an elevator.
4 Yaldabaoth![Yaldabaoth Boss Fight]()
The god of control overseeing the game occurring on earth on the side of destruction. Yaldabaoth wants to control the entire public and take away their control for what it claims is its good. Igor appears as an authoritative figure who is beyond the game’s events but working towards his own goals the whole time.
Also, masquerading as Igor for almost the entire game shines a new light on the previous velvet room sections of the game. Yaldabaoth uses this deception to steer Joker and humanity towards destruction gently and uses the current velvet room attendant to turn against their trickster.
3 Kamoshida![Kamoshida Boss Fight]()
The first villain of the game serves as an introduction to the themes and ideas the game will explore. Put bluntly, Kamoshida is pure evil, and you hate him from the start. Spreading rumors of Joker and controlling the students with fear set the perfect first target for the Phantom Thieves.
Being a villain in Ryuji and Ann’s life before the game’s events gives him a backstory and even more reason to hate him. He is incredibly well written to make you hate him, and with each scene, he only gets worse and worse. Finally, seeing him begging on the ground is one of the most satisfying moments of the game.
2 Akechi![Persona 5 Akechi(Right) and Joker (Left)]()
Akechi is set up to be an enemy of the Phantom Thieves from the start. While he does work towards catching them, he eventually joins them with his own ulterior motives. Akechi is the center of the most shocking moment of the game when he seemingly kills Joker and is shown as the traitor.
Through his added confidant ranks in Royal, he is shown to be even more complex. While he is working with Shido doing his dirty work, he was working to earn the favor of his unknowing father. Akechi struggled with abandonment, which is why he held on to Joker as a friend. His acceptance at the end of the game and through the third arc shows that he once did have good intentions, and wants to stick to justice in the end even if it means his own.
1 Maruki![Maruki Final Fight Against Joker]()
Maruki is one of the best-written characters in the entire Persona franchise. Starting out as a doctor who just wants to help people, his powers eventually drive him to develop a god complex. He brings the question: Is it worth giving up free will for a world of happiness?
The third semester shows all your friends and the world absorbed in an ideal world, which Maruki works hard to create. After seeing his finance hurt, he will do anything to take away someone’s pain, even if it means completely changing them to live a mindlessly happy life. The third semester is where this game shines, and that’s all thanks to Maruki.
Persona 5 Royal: All Palaces, Ranked
