Persona games love to root themselves firmly in assorted mythologies, psychologies, and spiritual beliefs, and it’s seldom more prominent than it is when your protagonists assign arcana from the Tarot to their friendships. With every character you can hang out with represented by an arcana from the Tarot, it provides a look into their story.

With 21 Major Arcana in the Tarot (and a few occasional additions from other Tarot decks when needed), you’ll find that each character who represents the arcana of the Tarot have a fairly common central theme. This list breaks down each arcana and its characters.

There have been the odd arcana from other Tarot decks, but this list covers the 22 Major Arcana as they are in the Persona series, including the Aeon arcana.

23 00: The Fool

In The Tarot

One of the more unique things about the Fool card in the traditional tarot is that it can seamlessly come either at the beginning or the end of any deck, as it represents a journey instead of its beginning or end.

• Upright: New beginnings, innocence, exploration.
• Reverse: Doubt involved in taking risks.

In Persona

Often encompassing the protagonist’s group of friends who undertake the massive adventure ahead by his side, the Fool doesn’t level up in the traditional sense, as it progresses as you work through the game’s story. However, this arcana will often be changed to something else during the ending portion of the game to reflect the completion of the journey and the changes in your protagonist and their friends since.

22 01: The Magician

In The Tarot

Representative of new beginnings as the first card in the tarot and with an array of imagery implying the blossoming of a new start, the Magician also has an infinity symbol depicted on the card to convey a meaning of limitless potential at the start of something new.

Upright: Everything can be manifested through inspiration to take action.

Reverse: Not trying hard enough to get what you want, immaturity, being underutilized.

In Persona

The characters who fall into the Magician arcana in Persona games are often your earliest social links or confidants, due to the immediate nature of the Magician card in the Tarot deck – and due to this, they’ll often prove to be your number-two in missions. Often childish when you first meet, you’ll watch these characters self-actualize and grow throughout the game.

21 02: The High Priestess

In The Tarot

Revered as the symbol of the subconscious, the High Priestess arcana often stands to represent enlightenment and divine wisdom. The High Priestess is often considered to be a guide of sorts.

Upright: Intuition and knowledge.

Reverse: Silence and inward reflection.

In Persona

With an emphasis on the quietness of the Priestess as she reflects inwardly, your Persona Priestess characters will often be the quiet girls in the group. Along the way as you get to know them, they find the strength to unshackle themselves from pre-judgement or predisposition in the name of pursuing what they know is right for them.

20 03: The Empress

In The Tarot

Indicative of all things feminine, the Empress arcana has everything to do with womanhood, fertility, and nurturing.

Upright: Femininity, balance, and connection.

Reverse: Facing a mental blockage or feeling a lack of power.

In Persona

Given the focus on femininity and womanhood, it’s no surprise to find the ladies in positions of power serving as your Empress arcana in Persona games. They’ll often be locked into these positions against their will, but through progressing your relationship with them, will find ways to make their destiny their own.

19 04: The Emperor

In The Tarot

Most often depicted as an elderly man sitting on a throne with something solid in the background, the Emperor stands for knowledge, control, and respect.

Upright: Power and authority, protection and structure.

Reverse: An imbalance in power, rigidity, or refusal.

In Persona

The Emperor characters in Persona games always tend to have something of a singular focus in their own life, with stories focused on learning to be themselves, believing in themselves, and learning to surrender control in some way after having their foundations shaken. Though they may initially come off as unfriendly in some way, the final rankings of your Emperor friends’ relationships is always heartwarming.

18 05: The Hierophant

In The Tarot

The Hierophant has many different names across various Tarot decks, but in each, it stands as a staunch, traditional figure of wisdom and experience.

Upright: Wisdom and conformity, with an emphasis on tradition.

Reverse: A challenging of societal norms or one’s personal beliefs.

In Persona

Given the emphasis on the sage wisdom to be found in listening to and respecting your elders, you’ll find the majority of your parental figures and elders settling into the Hierophant arcana in various Persona games. You’ll most often find them wrestling with some kind of travesty in their past, but it never daunts or dampens their affection for you.

17 06: The Lovers

In The Tarot

With so many loving symbols in the Lovers card, it’s no surprise that this arcana typically represents connection, meaningful relationships, and openness.

Upright: Healing, fertility, passion, choice, and harmony.

Reverse: Imbalance, disagreement, confliction.

In Persona

Your attractive female teammates and friends are commonly the ones filling the role of the Lovers arcana in Persona games, but since the card is based not only on beauty but on backstory, too, you’ll help them as they face the preconceived notions of who they are. They’re more than just pretty faces, and they’re determined to show everyone that – after you help them find the strength to do so.

16 07: The Chariot

In The Tarot

With a focus on willpower and taking action, the Chariot card implies movement in its name alone, requiring discipline and strength.

Upright: Determination, ambition, control, and forward movement.

Reverse: Stalling out or allowing obstacles to prevent progress.

In Persona

Your friend in the story who just can’t get enough of that sport they like? You can safely bet that character will end up being your Chariot arcana in a Persona game. With the arcana about facing adversity in the name of forward progression, their stories will often see them held back in some way and finding strength to face whatever challenge they’re up against.

15 08: Justice

In The Tarot

The Justice arcana isn’t hidden behind symbolism – it stands entirely for fairness, law, and order. The symbol you’ll see most often associated with the Justice arcana is a scale.

Upright: Equality, firmness, truth, decision-making, lingering impact.

Reverse: Self-criticism, doubt, lies.

In Persona

Characters who file into your Justice arcana in Persona games have a pretty unshakable belief in the law and having things as they should be. Often grappling with fairness in the wake of adversities of some kind with their parents, you’ll help them along as they weigh right and wrong as they make peace with the world as it is, unfair as that may be sometimes.

14 09: The Hermit

In The Tarot

Though plenty of the cards of the tarot focus on growth and progression, the Hermit arcana is all about a focus on the inner self and introspection, for better or for worse.

Upright: Inner peace, introspection, self-reflection.

Reverse: Loneliness, powerlessness, seclusion.

In Persona

In some way or another, your Hermit social links and confidants in Persona games will begin your interactions by hiding from you in some way, forcing you to coax them out of their shell if you’d like to enrich the relationship. They use something to disguise themselves, even if that’s just for the sake of their own comfort, hiding from the light of being seen for who they are.

13 10: The Wheel Of Fortune

In The Tarot

Serving as a reminder of the cyclical nature of life, the Wheel of Fortune can be shortened to just Fortune and is meant to remind us of the impermanence of things, emphasizing that change is good.

Upright: Cyclical natures, optimism, continuity.

Reverse: A failed sense of control, bad luck, helplessness.

In Persona

The focal theme of the Fortune arcana in Persona titles is helping a character refocus on pursuing what they want instead of what those around them want for them. By the end of their relationship progression, you’ll often have helped them face the truth of who they are and what they want, helping them to pursue that in some way.

12 11: Strength

In The Tarot

Often partnered closely with the Chariot, the Strength arcana focuses more on inner power than outer. It’s meant to represent enduring and overcoming.

Upright: Mental strength, growth, influence over others.

Reverse: Doubt in the self, lack of control or direction.

In Persona

We all have things we keep to ourselves, and Persona’s Strength social links and confidants will typically be about helping a character identify that it’s okay to have weaknesses, that it’s okay not to know who they are or what they want. You’ll typically meet them as they’re coasting through something, helping ignite their fire and helping them work out something about who they are by the end.

11 12: The Hanged Man

In The Tarot

With the man in the Hanged Man arcana represented as upside down, there’s an implication of both new perspective, embracing something as-is, even if that means doing a difficult but right thing.

Upright: Seeing things from a new perspective, releasing control, pause.

Reverse: Feeling stuck, blockages, stalling.

In Persona

The situations your Hanged Man arcana characters face in each Persona game will often feel impossible or insurmountable in some way. There’s a central theme with these characters of them having no control over their circumstances, left to be victims of them as your protagonist helps them make peace with their fate in some way.

In Persona 3 Reload, this arcana is instead referred to as the Hanged arcana.

10 13: Death

In The Tarot

Though people tend to view the Death arcana in a negative light (and really, it’s hard to blame them), the card can also stand to represent growth, healing, and change. There can’t be birth without death in most cases, the Tarot included.

Upright: Change, the segue between chapters, finality.

Reverse: Hesitance to change, squandering opportunity, refusal.

In Persona

While the meaning of Death in the Tarot can often be focused more on a metaphysical death, the characters who serve as your Death arcana relationships in Persona games often take it much more literally. They confront their own tragedies as your character watches and often helps, ending with the knowledge that death is but a point in a cycle, often finding forgiveness along the way.

9 14: Temperance

In The Tarot

Though the Temperance major arcana card is busier than others, the combination of the items on it stand to symbolize harmony and togetherness.

Upright: Intention, balance, persistence.

Reverse: Warning of over-indulgence, blocked flow.

In Persona

Your Temperance characters in Persona games are going to be in the depths of a personal struggle of some kind when you first meet them, and it’s through the support of your protagonist that they find a way to power through. There’s usually a sense of great loss involved with their social links or confidants, but no amount of avoidance techniques will help them here – the only way out of their traumas will be through.

8 15: The Devil

In The Tarot

One of the more straightforward cards of the Tarot and the first of several like it that don’t exactly mince words, the Devil has to do with guilty pleasure.

Upright: Attachment, a wild side, instant gratification.

Reversed: Dark thoughts and imagery, feelings of detachment,

In Persona

Always devious in nature, whatever that may mean for their own respective game, the characters of your Devil arcana are adults with seedy temptations for you. They’ll be somewhat slimy in nature – seeming to be quite proud of this – and they’ll use this to get what they want from your protagonists. Their backstories are often grim, seeing them giving into temptation in a painfully enduring way.

7 16: The Tower

In The Tarot

Though the name itself may sound strong, the Tower arcana always depicts a tower that’s being destroyed, said to symbolize change and all it brings – good and bad.

Upright: Energy, embracing change, realization

Reverse: Fear of change, unstable foundation,

In Persona

The Tower characters in Persona games are almost always going to be introverts who initially reject the notion of needing you in any way, but only until you’ve proven yourself to them somehow, often requiring high social stat checks to begin or having late-game starts to their social link or confidant. Once acquainted, you’ll help them confront their feelings on an uncomfortable facet of their lives so they can begin to work on overcoming.

6 17: The Star

In The Tarot

Though the large star in the center of the Star arcana card is most typically the focus, the smaller, additional stars represent the chakras and calming energy in a period of change.

Upright: Self-acceptance and discovery, balance, hope, peace.

Reverse: Inconstancy, tests of faith, and disengagement.

In Persona

Though your Star arcana characters in Persona games are often driven to succeed and full of inner strength, behind the scenes, they’re struggling with something major they need to overcome if they have any hope of living for themselves. Your relationship scenes with them will often center on helping them confront and come to terms about a situation they’re in that’s holding them back in some way.

5 18: The Moon

In The Tarot

Always represented by a large moon fixed between two much smaller towers, the Moon arcana in the Tarot is all about dreams, influence,

Upright: Dreams and intuition, consciousness.

Reverse: Fear, traumas, confusion, illusion.

In Person

There are often a lot of things going on with the Moon social links and confidants in Persona games, and they’ll be happy to tell you about how that’s anyone’s fault but their own. These characters are loudly facing the world but are inwardly hiding from themselves, and befriending your protagonist helps them confront whatever ugliness they’ve been running from so they can move on.

4 19: The Sun

In The Tarot

The Sun is intended to always be a positive card in the Tarot, bring about imagery of life, birth, rebirth, vitality, energy, and power.

Upright: Life, success, warranted optimism.

Reversed: Foolish optimism, pessimism, depression.

In Persona

Despite the sun itself being the source of light and life, your Sun social links and confidants are isolated, hopeless, and intensely downtrodden when you first meet. Your relationship with them helps them find their lost hope again, and in some way, you’ll help return some kind of light to their life by the end. Being happy can often begin with being uncomfortable and sad, but your protagonist helps these characters find peace as they find themselves.