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The supernatural setting of Persona 5 is a realm known as the "Metaverse" (not to be confused with that other metaverse). The Metaverse, as Morgana regularly explains throughout the game, is a realm of cognition, a place where human thought takes tangible form. It's here that the Phantom Thieves stage their daring heists, stealing the desires of corrupt individuals to save those under their thumbs. But how exactly does a "realm of cognition" actually work? Where did it come from, and for what purpose does it exist?
Explaining the deeper nature of the Metaverse will necessitate some major story spoilers, so please be advised if you haven't already beaten Persona 5. We'll also be referencing some events and entities from previous Persona games as well, so consider this a broad spoiler warning for the entire series.
Where Did The Metaverse Come From?
It's difficult to discern when exactly the Metaverse came into existence, because the Metaverse is in itself just a vertical slice of a much larger metaphysical plain. This place is known as the "Sea of the Soul," and it's been regularly referenced throughout the Persona series. If that name sounds a bit flowery, it does have a more common moniker coined by famous psychiatrist Carl Jung: the Collective Unconscious.
Think of the Collective Unconscious, and by extension the Sea of the Soul and the Metaverse, as a sort of invisible network linked by the minds of humanity. Concepts, memes, and entities that many people are aware of, consciously or otherwise, exist within this metaphysical space. This is why common Shadows and Personas manifest as characters of folklore and mythology, because those characters exist within human cognition.
As for when the Metaverse came into being, it's difficult to say, because the circumstances of its existence are tied closely to our perception of society, which has obviously existed for hundreds of years. At the very least, we can resolutely say that it's existed in Tokyo for at least a couple of decades, as Futaba's mother, Wakaba, discovered its existence through her cognitive psience study, and Akechi gained the ability to enter it at a fairly young age.
Why Does The Metaverse Exist?
The Metaverse itself is just a facet of the Sea of the Soul, a literal representation of human cognition within the confines of Japanese society. Aside from Mementos, the only things there are the things that humans collectively believe in, including their Shadows and the places they live. The occasional difference in this arises in the form of Palaces.
As Morgana explains, Palaces come into being when a human's cognition becomes twisted enough to force them out of the norm. All human Shadows, our suppressed psyches, are generally going about their business in the Metaverse in a manner reflective of our behaviors, but when powerful distortion occurs, they draw in power and other Shadows, manifesting an independent sphere of influence.
Mementos, however, is described as the Palace of the general public, and it is the product of distortion on a mass scale. That distortion is, if you'll pardon the meme, "we're living in a society." Specifically, a particular kind of society, one where everyone falls in line with the wishes of a singular governing entity. You could say this is what society is supposed to be like, but not to this extreme extent. No, this was due to the direct actions of a particular entity.
What Controls Mementos?
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In the deepest depths of Mementos is its core, the Holy Grail, which would later come to be known as Yaldabaoth, God of Control. When many humans share a singular, powerful belief or desire, that concept takes on a life of its own within the Sea of the Soul, often taking on the identity of a mythological character. In Yaldabaoth's case, this was a desire to have one's life governed for them, though this is actually an almost worryingly common occurrence. Mass desires for death gave rise to Erebus in Persona 3, mass desires for blissful ignorance gave rise to Izanami in Persona 4, and so on.
As an entity born from a desire to be controlled, Yaldabaoth made use of the Metaverse and its connection to human cognition to subtly influence public perception. After all, while the perception of the people influences the scenery and denizens of the Metaverse, that connection goes both ways. By imprisoning Shadows in the prison in Mementos' depths, the corresponding person would fall in lock-step with public perception. When something would normally seem wrong, such as injustices being committed, people don't notice because they can't notice, at least not unless many people are noticing at once.
What Did Yaldabaoth Want?
Despite Yaldabaoth's position of power in the Metaverse, it could only influence the public, not control it directly. It's not that hard to make people believe something, but when the truth is obviously something else, it becomes a lot harder. This is why Yaldabaoth manipulated Joker and the Phantom Thieves to deal with dissidents with Palaces. Palace rulers, after all, aren't falling in line with the public, and powerful entities would get in Yaldabaoth's way.
When all potential dissidents were removed, Yaldabaoth amassed enough power from the public's desire to be controlled to forcefully manifest Mementos within the real world. This created a hybrid realm where perception was reality, a state that Yaldabaoth swiftly exploited. In the days leading up to this event, Yaldabaoth had influenced the public's consciousness into believing the Phantom Thieves were just an urban legend, that they didn't exist.
When the Metaverse merged with reality, that belief became less of a mundane metric and more of an absolute arbitrator. The public didn't believe the Phantom Thieves existed, and so, they didn't. It was only thanks to the timely intervention of Lavenza and the support of Joker's confidants that they were able to stay tethered to reality and ultimately defeat Yaldabaoth.
Is The Metaverse Still Around?
Even after Yaldabaoth's defeat and the collapse of Mementos, the Metaverse itself still very much exists and is very much accessible. As long as humans are living, thinking creatures, the Sea of the Soul and its facets, the Metaverse included, will continue to exist. The events of Persona 5 Strikers proved that it is entirely possible to create man-made portals back into the Metaverse, so any sufficiently studied person (or AI in EMMA's case) could orchestrate a similar event to Yaldabaoth's takeover.
Desires are a powerful thing, and as long as people hold them, powerful entities will be continuously born, whether in the Metaverse or somewhere very much like it. Thankfully, the denizens of the Velvet Room serve humanity's greater interest, so whenever an existential threat looms over the Sea of the Soul, they reach out and contract a young soul into protecting the world with the power of a Persona.