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Aigis

Persona 3

in Games

Aigis ~ Sakinorva Databank

Aigis


Persona 3

ei
ns
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pj
functionenneavariantsociopsyche
ISFJ 1
6w5 2
2w1 1
sx/sp 2
so/sx 1
ESI 1
LEFV 1
234 567 891
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total votes 15

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Stephen Hearts

ENFJ

2w1

2018/05/05 (Sat) 18:26:11

#164

"I will love you until the end of time. 'Till my life is exhausted."

spoiler warning

I've talked a little in past posts about how Persona 3 uses the passage of time to provoke a feeling of transience - of lost days - as a means to evoke a reminder of mortality and provoke a confrontation with death. The motif of Time and Death being used as means to explore our relationship with communal spaces and the importance of social activity functions well when the target of growth is towards the protagonist character (Makoto Yuuki) and the existential crises of his companions. Each member of the cast must wrestle with death or mortality and their reason for living in one way or another. Because, of course, as humans we are all doomed to one day die.

But Aigis is not a human. As a robot, Aigis exists outside of time and death. The passage of time holds no special meaning for her. She will never know the terror of an existential confrontation and never has an impetus for finding her reason to live; why find meaning in life when you will never die? Things are only meaningful because they are allowed to end. Aigis has mission parameters; a purpose - a function - but no meaning attached to it. And yet, it is Aigis and Aigis alone on that airy rooftop, shouldering the passage of the person she was conditioned to protect. And why? Why her? Why is this her burden?

There is something kind of symmetrical about Aigis' development in relation to Makoto's. Both start off as detached from people and from the world. Makoto's detachment comes from an apathy towards life; Aigis' detachment comes from an apathy towards death. But, as the story progresses, as the two of them, side-by-side, slowly start to leave a footprint on this world by getting involved with the people in their lives, they begin to find some measure of shared purpose; a spark. An apathetic and robotic young man and a detatched and womanly young robot shoulder each-other into their appreciation for life and people. They are mirror images of each-other in this regard; and both grow into a sort of mutual respect and love that was previously born from something with no special meaning attached to it; an order, a line of code, happenstance.

And yet, the impetus for their individual crises of meaning is born from wholly distinct origins. Makoto must wrestle with his impending mortality and find, on his own terms, the answer to life; he must find something worth...dying for. Aigis, on the other hand, must contend with the bleak reality that she is doomed to watch Makoto - and by extension every other person she will ever care about - die; she must find something worth...living for. Aigis the immortal, Makoto the martyr. Makoto comes to the conclusion that the people in his life and his community are worth dying for; Aigis comes to the conclusion that keeping alive the memory of the person she loves is worth living for. The Answer is the same, even if our question is slightly different.

And its only in these final moments on the rooftop of Gekkoukan High that the motivation behind Aigis' Answer becomes clear. I've always appreciated the final piece of music in Persona 3 - Kimi no Kioku. But it wasn't until recently that it clicked for me that the lyrical perspective of the song belongs to Aigis. It is a song of unconditional love and protection - a warm blanket for the memory of Makoto Yuki. It is a song not born from anxiety or a need for security or stability, but of an undying closeness; an expression of love, and a promise to live the rest of her infinite days in service of keeping his memory and the love they shared alive and into eternity. That is Aigis' Answer -- a promise of unconditional love to the memory of the person she swore to protect.

Aigis, by the grace of budding humanity, grows into a heart type; the ESFJ 2w1.

Editing post #164 by Stephen Hearts

Replying to post #164 by Stephen Hearts

dateusernamevote
20/07/23 07:54INTJ-2698 ISFJ
19/11/17 21:15Jacobus ISFJ
18/07/03 12:51Teenage fantasy ISFJ
18/05/05 06:10Stephen Hearts ESFJ
dateusernamevote
20/07/23 07:54INTJ-2698 ISFJ
dateusernamevote
19/11/17 21:15Jacobus 6w5
18/07/03 12:51Teenage fantasy 6w5
18/05/05 06:10Stephen Hearts 2w1
dateusernamevote
19/11/17 21:15Jacobus sx/sp
18/07/03 12:52Teenage fantasy so/sx
18/05/05 07:25Stephen Hearts sx/sp
dateusernamevote
19/11/17 21:15Jacobus ESI
dateusernamevote
19/11/17 21:15Jacobus LEFV