Aigis

Aigis (romanized as Aegis in Japanese) is a character from Persona 3. She is an Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon (seemingly the last one in existence) and a member of S.E.E.S. who also attends Gekkoukan High School.
She is a machine that gradually awakens to human emotions, and is considered the mascot of Persona 3. She is also the main protagonist of The Answer, the epilogue of FES.
==Appearances==
*Aegis: The First Mission: Protagonist
*Persona 3 / FES / Portable / Reload / Em: Playable Character, Aeon Arcana Social Link
**The Answer: Protagonist
**Persona 3 (Manga): Major Character
**Persona 3 The Movie: Major Character
**Persona 3 Comic Anthology: Memento Mori: Major Character
**Persona 3 Portable Dengeki Comic Anthology: Major Character
**Persona 3 Portable Dear Girls Comic Anthology: Major Character
**Persona 3: the Weird Masquerade -Gunjou no Meikyuu- / -Souen no Kesshou-/Chapter 4: Ai no Seiyaku/Final Chapter: Hekikuu no Kanata e: Major Character
**A Certain Day of Summer: Main Character
**Megami Tensei Chaining Soul: Persona 3
*Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight Playable Character
*Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight: DLC partner
*Persona X Detective Naoto: Cameo
*Persona 4 Arena / Ultimax: Playable Character/Navigator/Protagonist (Aigis Story Route)
**Persona 4 Arena (Manga): Major Character
**Persona 4 The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena Stageplay
**Persona 4 Arena Ultimax (Manga): Major Character
**Persona 4: The Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold Stageplay
*Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth: Playable Character
**Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth -Roundabout-: Major Character
**Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth - Side:P3: Major Character
**Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth - Side:P4: Supporting Character
*Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth: Playable Character
**Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth Roundabout Special: Major Character
==Design==
===FES/Portable===
Aigis appears as an android with short, blond hair and light blue eyes. Ikutsuki explains that her humanoid shape allows her to process thoughts like a human making it easier to handle a Persona. When she transfers and appears in the Gekkoukan High setting, she wears the generic female school uniform but retains her red ribbon (given by Yuu Kimijima in Aegis: The First Mission) except at the beach excursion in Yakushima, a brief school field trip in Kyoto (in which she wears a robe) and the post-New Year's Day when she wears a kimono at the nearby shrine.
During The Answer, she dons a new metal visor and a tactical vest that can carry spare ammunition along with an engraved gorget.
===Reload===
Aigis' Gekkoukan school uniform is included with black knee-length socks and brown loafers. She is also given a shoulder guard labeled "7."
She is given a new casual attire outfit during weekends off which consists of a colbalt blue elegant dress with dressy white collar shirt with sky blue ribbon, white tights and black mary jane shoes.
===Dancing in Moonlight===
In Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight, she wears a bright blue ribbon tie and black and white dress with blue-trimmed. She dons a black headphone-like headband with blue linings.
===Persona 4 Arena===
After two years, during Persona 4 Arena, she returns donning a new red tie in place of her red ribbon. She is now equipped with new advanced features on her metal headband, legs and three weapons behind her back. Before entering a battle, she starts off wearing a black military coat dress, with a black jacket underneath (almost similar to her original school uniform), and black pants.
===Character Design Inspiration===
It is explained by Shigenori Soejima that her colors, blue, yellow and red used to evoke the image of classic anime heroes, rather than use a cool color scheme, while her "headphones" resemble the . The drum magazine on her arm is modeled after the 's Trommelmagazin 08.Creator Works, Shigenori Soejima Vol.12 Atlusnet.jp (July 27, 2007) Later, while going over the design of mascots Teddie and Morgana, Soejima would coin the palette as a "toy color set."http://blog.lhyeung.net/2017/02/25/persona-5-official-design-works-artbook-review/
Because of the setting of the game not being science fiction, Soejima aimed for a design that is more "fun to play with" than a portrayal of a strange reality. Additionally, Aigis' design was finished last out of the main characters due to the necessity to develop the game's worldview.
==Personality==
Aigis' initial personality is simply a robot designed to obey orders, although she is drawn to the protagonist and states that it is very important for her to be by his side, going so far as to hug them in front of everyone. Her desire to protect the protagonist is so strong, in fact, that she was able to overcome Ikutsuki's programming and free the entire team from their shackles, when Ikutsuki had attempted to sacrifice them to bring forth the Fall. As a result of having no emotions, Aigis' social skills are more-or-less non-existent; it's frequently noted on-screen that while she may look human, she is far from passing as such.
She is prone to doing very strange and socially unacceptable things, such as breaking into the protagonist's room to wake him up and requesting to be on standby in their room, which Yukari calls her out for. A video recording shows that she has a habit of breaking into his dorm room at night in order to check on him, even going so far as to keep a record of how long it takes her to pick the lock, In Falling Down, she even goes so far as to sneak into the boys' rooms during the group's stay in Kyoto, claiming it was unfair that she and the protagonist weren't in the same room. Lack of social grace notwithstanding, Aigis is nonetheless very polite to everybody, always using the honorific '-san' when addressing them. In the original Japanese version, she often ends her sentences with "de arimasu" prior to developing emotions.
She is shown to be able to understand Koromaru and often translates for the others, though she is shown to be able to understand dogs in general. She states that dogs don't have a language, but speech is not the only way of communication, with The Answer revealing that she can understand Koromaru's thoughts and feelings. Arena reveals that this is because it was inherited from the 5th Generation Anti-Shadow weapons, one of who took time to communicate with a puppy named Snowy. In Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, Aigis meets him, now an old dog.
In November, when Ryoji Mochizuki first transfers to Gekkoukan High, Aigis immediately becomes suspicious of him and warns the protagonist to be wary of him, saying that he is dangerous, albeit for reasons she can't quite explain. It's around this time that Aigis starts to feel some degree of human emotion; she admits to the rest of the group that she envies them, saying that they know what it means to live, while she isn't "living" so much as "functioning." During the next full moon, she encounters Ryoji and realizes why she was so suspicious of him; he is the Appraiser of Death, who she sealed away ten years ago in the body of a nearby boy; that boy was the protagonist, which is why she wanted to be by his side so much. After being grievously damaged in her battle with Ryoji, Aigis feels immense grief before she ceases functioning, believing herself to be "worthless" as she has been unable to fulfill her purpose as a machine.
Toward the end of December, after being repaired by the Kirijo Group, Aigis' simulated computer software personality (artificial intelligence) develops human emotions, and she becomes compassionate and loyal to her friends, though she struggles to fully understand her new emotions. She deeply regrets imprisoning Ryoji inside the protagonist, believing that they wouldn't be suffering if she hadn't. Initially, Aigis desires for her friends to kill Ryoji, as she can't bear to see her friends suffer and believes they are wasting their lives trying to fight Nyx. She still considers herself as a mere machine whose purpose is to destroy Shadows, and asks what her purpose is if she can't defeat them.
The group replies that she's the only one who can answer that question but as long as they're alive, they have to do something. It is then that Aigis realizes that someone doesn't have to save the world in order to find meaning in life, and that more often than not, it can be simpler, such as taking care of someone or something, even a pet. She decides to live on so that she can protect her friends and fight alongside them and gains a renewed sense of purpose, which triggers the evolution of her Persona.
Aigis' Social Link revolves largely around trying to understand her new emotions; she frequently talks about things that are new to her or that she never gave any thought to before, such as whether or not she likes something or the importance of a shrine. She states that she now understands that living beings are guided by feelings rather than facts, and that was what guided Koromaru to stay at his master's shrine long after his death. She also grows to view her room as unwelcoming, and can't believe she used to think it was normal. After being bitten by a dog, which ends up hurting it instead, Aigis is reminded of an important truth; while her heart may become more human, her body will forever remain mechanical.
In general, the more human she becomes, the more she realizes she will never truly be human herself, resulting in her having an identity crisis. Eventually, however, she realizes what had pained her; as a machine, she cannot die and so she will inevitably outlive the protagonist, who she has fallen in love with, but if that is the case, she can stay by his side until then (which ends up being very soon after). Aigis falls for the protagonist regardless of gender, even expressing lament towards not being a male during the female protagonist Social Link, though she gets over it by the end. In Persona Q, if she's chosen as the destined partner of Yu Narukami, she will refuse, insisting that the protagonist of Persona 3 is her most important person.
After the death of the protagonist, Aigis is so devastated that she once again loses the will to live and wishes to return to being a mere machine, as she had promised to always protect him and be by his side. She apparently found herself unable to face him, as she was the only one who didn't attend his funeral. However, she is still shown to be very kind, as she warms up to Metis quicker than the rest of the group, even giving her permission to call her "Sister."
When the group are having an argument about what to do with the keys, Aigis is completely unsure about what to do, not being able to decide whether the past or the present was more important. After defeating Koromaru and Junpei, Aigis decides that fighting her friends is too much to bear and decides to give up her key to Yukari and Mitsuru, much to Metis' devastation as she doesn't want her to die, and she believes giving up her key will kill her. After a talk with Metis, Aigis learns something; strengthening the bonds of friendship doesn't mean the pain of living will stop, as pain is a natural part of life. She also learns she can still fulfill her promise to the protagonist.
It is then that she decides not to change the past, but to bear the burden of the protagonist's death and continue living towards the future. After defeating Erebus, Aigis fuses back with Metis, and returns to the person she was after the Kirijo Group repaired her, and decides to return to school with her friends. Over The Answer, she ultimately develops into a sweet, gentle, empathetic and strong-hearted girl with a talent for leadership, and regains her will to live. Yukari even admits that out of all of SEES, Aigis cared about the protagonist the most, which is why out of all of them, she was the one who inherited his power.
==Profile==
===Aegis: The First Mission===
In this Japan-exclusive feature-phone title, Aigis serves as the protagonist of Aegis: The First Mission, which chronicles her creation and early existence.
The game starts with Aigis awakening at the Kirijo Ergonomics Research Institute to Souta Aizawa. They are then later joined by her then project-head Yuu Kimijima who had been looking for Aigis previously. During the course of the exercise, she is given the ribbon by Yuu and is taught to speak and act like a machine by Souta.
Later, she meets a young boy named Takashi Tomari who takes an interest in her because she is a robot; it is implied that this interest is primarily one of love, which prompts Aegis to feel some form of emotion which she cannot fully understand; this leads her into a crisis of whether these emotions are her intended programming or a malfunction. Whether or not she reciprocates these feelings toward Takashi is unclear, however she does remark that by human beauty standards, he is attractive.
It is revealed that Aegis' ability to feel these emotions is because of Yuu, who gave her her Papillion Heart and intended for Aegis to be like a normal human being. This spurs Aigis even deeper into her conflict with her emotions, and she still does not understand them fully. However, Yuu hopes that Aigis will eventually understand.
Towards the end of the game, Aegis is confronted with a Shadow composed of Takashi Tomari and a number of other smaller Shadows that Yuu created. Because of this, Aigis leads into a crisis of whether to fulfill her duty to destroy Shadows and risk killing Takashi, or to ignore that and follow her objective of protecting human life.
Aigis decides, with advice from the rest of the research team, to fight the Shadow and potentially kill Takashi "for the greater good." Leaving the Shadow could be a greater threat to a higher number of human lives. This results in Takashi appearing unresponsive on the floor, which prompts Aigis to hope that she has not killed him. It is later clarified that Takashi survived the incident with no major injuries.
As Yuu Kimijima discusses her motive for her ploy, they are interrupted by a Shadow. Yuu shields Aigis from it, resulting in her being mortally wounded. As Yuu lies dying, Aigis finally understands her emotions and what it means to live. As Yuu takes her last breaths, Aigis promises to her that she will try her hardest to become the human that Yuu wanted her to be. Yuu dies at Aigis' side, and Aigis expresses profound grief at her loss.
Aigis chases after the Shadow responsible for Yuu's death, which prompts the final boss battle. The Shadow appears to have fused with a tree called the "Miroku Cedar," which takes Aegis to a strange arena where she is forced to fight the Shadow. As the "Miroku Cedar" has connotations of time travel and the future, it's possible that this is symbolic of her later fight with Death on the Moonlight Bridge.
At the end of the game, it is revealed that the Kirijo Group have decided to have Aigis' memories erased as they believe that they would obstruct her ability to function, which will result in her losing her understanding of her emotions. However, Aigis herself remarks that even though her memories may be totally lost, she will still hold the ability to have emotions as given to her by Yuu Kimijima. She hopes that in the future when she sees further use, she will be able to fully understand her emotions once again, and become the human that Yuu always wanted her to be, thus keeping her legacy alive even if Yuu is forgotten.
===Persona 3===
====The Journey====
Aigis makes her first appearance in Yakushima, where members of SEES are enjoying their vacation. She appears to be looking out towards the ocean, where the protagonist, Junpei Iori and Akihiko Sanada are attracted by her beauty. The trio formulates a plan to flirt with her, only to fail after she bluntly tells Junpei and Akihiko "You are not the one." During the protagonist's encounter with her, parts of her memories are restored and Aigis escapes. She is later revealed to be an Anti-Shadow weapon developed by the Kirijo Group (much to Junpei and Akihiko's dismay), and also happens to be the final Anti-Shadow weapon still capable of functioning. Specifically, she is a 7th Generation Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon.
Ikutsuki later assigns her to SEES as a member, and she enrolls in Gekkoukan High School to act as the protagonist's bodyguard with permission from Mitsuru, who used her heavy grip on the school's politics to let her in. Throughout the game, Aigis shows an instinctive interest in protecting the protagonist, an interest which even she cannot explain. As the story progresses, she begins to question her existence, human lives and her role in life. When Ryoji Mochizuki transfers to Gekkoukan High, she becomes hostile to the transfer student, and warns the protagonist not to get near Ryoji.
Gameplay-wise, unlike other characters, Aigis bears the distinction of using an exclusive Tactic command, Orgia Mode, which increases her overall attack capabilities, at the cost of being immobile after using it.Persona 3 - Floor 72 ( "Boss - Furious Gigas") Youtube; MasterLL (August 21, 2007)
After the twelfth shadow's defeat, Aigis is reprogrammed by Ikutsuki to lure members of SEES to Tartarus. Ikutsuki reveals his plans for succeeding Mitsuru Kirijo's grandfather's wish: to awaken the thirteenth Arcana that was never meant to be, Death. Under Ikutsuki's programming, Aigis is forced to subdue members of SEES and is then ordered to kill them as a sacrifice to awaken Death. However, Aigis can't bear to kill the protagonist, and begins to fight back Ikutsuki's reprogramming. It is her strong desire to protect that saves the protagonist. However, Takeharu Kirijo is killed by Ikutsuki.
During her battle with Ryoji on the Moonlight Bridge, Aigis regains the memories trapped in her damaged circuits. It is revealed that ten years before the game, her mission was to defeat or seal away Death so that the coming of Nyx would be averted. Since she was unable to defeat Death, she sealed the entity away in a young boy who was the sole survivor of a nearby car crash. That young boy was the protagonist. She is driven to protect him both to try and suppress Death and because she feels a great deal of guilt over her actions. Since Ryoji is an incarnation of Death, she senses that he is her natural enemy. Aigis is damaged during her fight with Ryoji and must be repaired by the Kirijo Group, meaning she is not playable in the month of December.
When she returns on December 30th, she requests that the protagonist kill Ryoji, as she believes that a robot who failed her motives is a failure itself. Aigis remarks that as a robot, she cannot feel, and thus cannot even shed a tear for the others. The party comforts her, saying she already shows more humanlike qualities and emotions, and is slowly becoming more human. Taking her friends' words to heart, Aigis' resolution is strengthened, and she decides to stand against the power of Nyx Avatar with her friends in SEES. After the defeat of Nyx, Aigis is seen crying.
After the Dark Hour ends, Aigis is, at first, the only one who remembers Tartarus, the Dark Hour and the protagonist's sacrifice during his borrowed month of life after the defeat of Nyx. She allows him to live like a normal student for the few precious weeks that he has. Then, on Graduation Day, she holds the protagonist as he drifts into his final sleep, and swears that she will live her life protecting him. Aigis would be unconsciously aware that, unfortunately, the protagonist was about to die at that very moment causing her to cry.
====Social Link====
The protagonist can date Aigis in FES and Portable. Aigis represents Aeon Arcana, a Social Link exclusive to those two versions that the protagonist can access after December 30, where Aigis returns from the Kirijo Laboratory for repairs after her battle with Death. However, since school is out at that time, the protagonist cannot activate the link until school resumes on January 8. Unlike other SEES female members, dating Aigis has no Academics, Charm or Courage prerequisites. Aigis will not get mad at the protagonist for dating another female. Additionally, just like Elizabeth, Aigis will fall in love with the protagonist regardless of their gender.
Aigis' Social Link tackles the consequences of the things she's begun to become aware of after awakening to her free will, as she gradually comes to terms with the inevitability of parting. Through the protagonist's interaction with Aigis, he helps Aigis understand the concept of life, and her confused feelings towards herself and the protagonist. Characters in her Social Link include Kiyoshi Sakuma, his grandmother and a cat named Mewlie that passes away.
Upon completing the Social Link, Aigis will give the protagonist her Charred Screw, bestowing the ultimate form of the Aeon Arcana, Metatron.
====The Answer====
In this epilogue, Aigis replaces the protagonist as a playable protagonist, inheriting his power to summon multiple Personas, but she can no longer use Orgia Mode. After the death of the protagonist, Aigis decides to stay in the lab instead of continuing her studies. It is also revealed that she kept the protagonist's Evoker after his death.
After the events of Persona 3, the members of SEES decide to assemble one last time. It is here SEES is assaulted by Metis, who introduces herself as a "sister" of Aigis. Seeing the members of SEES as a hindrance, Metis easily defeats them, and engages Aigis in battle. After a heated battle, Aigis tries to summon Athena, but the Persona instead transfigures into Orpheus, the Persona of the protagonist. Overusing the Orgia Mode, Aigis eventually passes out, but succeeds in subduing Metis.
While unconscious, Aigis awoke in the Velvet Room. In there, she learns about the protagonist's unique ability. Igor informs Aigis that the transfiguration symbolizes a change in Aigis' psyche, and that her Journey is about to begin. While unconscious, Aigis' body was also enhanced with more armor and rations by the members of SEES. Metis would later lead Aigis to the Abyss of Time, an underground labyrinth situated below the dorm. Mitsuru would eventually regroup SEES, with Aigis serving as the field leader, inheriting the position of the protagonist, an incident which greatly irritates Yukari.
As the story progresses, Aigis slowly rekindles her urges and will of losing the side of humanity and the penalties a living being must face upon the protagonist's death. Her will and wishes to remove her side of humanity manifests as Metis, who is known as her "sister" who doesn't want to be left alone. Upon venturing to the deepest area of the Abyss of Time, the members encounter the Shadow manifested from SEES' negative feelings and desire to see the protagonist one more time. They also witness fragments of the past of each SEES member while exploring the Abyss of Time. Metis also reveals that a Persona is a person's tamed Shadow, which surprises everyone, though Metis is also surprised that SEES did not know.
After defeating the Shadow, Yukari expressed hostility toward Aigis out of jealousy, as she inherited the protagonist's Wild Card ability, and having one of the keys to unlock the past.
Aigis would later team up with Metis and Fuuka to regain the remaining keys, which can only be taken from members of SEES via being victorious in battling them. As the fight goes, Aigis slowly remembers her reasons and will of living, and decides not to change the past, but to bear the burden of the protagonist's death and continue living towards the future. When Aigis collects all the keys and forge them into the "true key," Yukari attempts to steal the key from Aigis, but Metis reveals that it's impossible. Yukari then has an emotional breakdown, and is comforted by Aigis and Mitsuru.
Aigis decides to explore the protagonist's true reason for dying, and is transported, along with members of SEES, to the final battle against Nyx. There, they witness the protagonist sealing Nyx and his fate afterward. Upon Metis' explanation, the party realizes that the protagonist has not become a seal to prevent Nyx's coming, but a seal to prevent humanity's desire for destruction, personified as Erebus, from making contact with Nyx. Upon witnessing Erebus attempting to destroy the seal, and thus the protagonist himself, the members of SEES decide to defeat Erebus.
After the defeat of Erebus, Aigis used the true key to return to the present time, but was transferred to the Velvet Room along with members of SEES. Igor explains that Aigis had reached the end of her journey, and found her answer to living. This event also reveals Metis' true identity as the manifestation of Aigis' humanity. The sisters reconcile, and fuse into a single being, with Aigis feeling tired.
The next day, the members of SEES were surprised to see that Aigis continued sleeping, fearing that she suffered the same fate as the protagonist. They took Aigis to her room, where they attempted to repair her. However, as Aigis was unconscious, she heard Metis' voice deep down, encouraging her, and awoke upon hearing Yukari's call. Aigis would later cancel her attempt to stay in the lab and decide to continue studying in Gekkoukan High, where Yukari suggests that Aigis be her roommate. Aigis is last seen on the rooftop of Gekkoukan High, where she looks forward to a new day.
===Persona 3 Em===
Aigis serves as a party member and a social link in this mobile title. She is available as such on 07/21, in line with her appearance in The Journey, though she can be seen as a figure hiding in bushes before this. Her moveset in Persona 3 Em mirrors that of Persona 3, and she reacts similarly in dialogue with the protagonist.
===A Certain Day of Summer===
Aigis is the main focus of the first story of A Certain Day of Summer. The first story centers around Aigis touring the town before she begins going to school at Gekkoukan High School. When she's dressed in her dorm mate's clothing, Yukari's clothing fits best. She was going to describe all the differences between her body and Yukari's, but Yukari stops her.
===Persona 4 Arena===
Aigis' story mode begins with a plane hijacking; the first in over ten years. Aigis is called in to lead Shadow Operatives in stopping the hijacking. As she finds Mitsuru among the passengers, Aigis sees a young woman in a long white dress, much like herself when she was first introduced. Mitsuru tells Aigis that an important piece of cargo has been stolen, containing a previous generation model named Labrys. They follow the cargo to Inaba, where they meet up with Akihiko and leap into the TV world. Inside, Aigis finds other Persona users but is forced to fight them due to a strange tournament. She finds a young human girl who resembles the young girl she saw at the plane hijacking and suspects her to be Labrys. After a while, she loses her confidence and encounters her Shadow. Elizabeth then arrives and gives Aigis the strength to go on. Aigis continues to the Announcement Room until she finds Labrys confronting her Shadow, along with Yosuke Hanamura and Rise Kujikawa.
Declaring her sister's true name, she follows her and her Shadow to the roof where she becomes trapped with Yosuke due to the Tournament. She defeats Yosuke but is impressed by his resolve and promises to save Labrys for him. She returns to the Announcement Room as Labrys denies her Shadow, releasing its full power. After defeating her Shadow, Aigis tells her that, though she doesn't understand the circumstances, she knows what it's like to be different from humans. Labrys feels the sincerity in her words and accepts her Shadow, which becomes her Persona. They both head to the roof to leave, but are met with resistance. Aigis' Shadow appears again as Labrys is hacked into attacking Aigis. Aigis is able to hold her off until Fuuka can save her. Aigis defeats her "Shadow," who turns out to be the mastermind behind the incident.
As they leave, Aigis recounts the memories of her sister, as Labrys' memories are also a part of Aigis' as well, and states that in going to the pier and searching for the promised girl, she had also found her precious friends who accepted her as she is. Labrys realizes that in doing that, Aigis has fulfilled her dream as both sisters cry in joy for each other as they continue to search for their "mother."
Aigis and fellow Wild Card wielder and successor Yu Narukami also serve as key characters in Elizabeth's Story Mode, where they teach her the true nature of the Wild Card. Aigis also serves as a major character in Yu Narukami's, Yosuke's, Teddie's and Mitsuru's Story Modes, as well as in Kanji Tatsumi's Joke Ending. She serves as a boss in Yu and Yosuke's story, where after fighting, she tells them about Labrys as well as the events in Persona 3. She angrily attacks Teddie in his Story Mode, mistakenly believing that he plans to take Labrys away and do her harm. In Mitsuru's Story Mode and Kanji's Joke Ending, Aigis serves as a major supporting character though she is not a boss.
====Playstyle====
Aigis is a morphing character but unlike Naoto Shirogane, she is completely respectable at any range with her Orgia Mode especially boosting her abilities drastically while having the downside of limited ammo (which refills each round) and mediocre offense without Orgia Mode. Aigis is also the second fastest character in the game after Yosuke. Her gameplan revolves around multitasking: she must judge the proper situation to use her normal and Orgia Mode and must be prepared to switch at a moment's notice several times throughout a single round in addition to constantly keeping her normal meter, Orgia Mode meter and ammo in check. Athena serves both as a way to defend Aigis as well as complement her assault.
Unlike the other Personas used in the game, Athena is actually immune to Persona breaks when she uses her shield, and will then counter the enemy after her shield is hit. With all of these options and with enough practice, if one can carefully manage all of her mechanics, Aigis can become one of the most powerful characters in the game. Aigis is arguably the most dangerous character to face in Score Attack other than Elizabeth, due to her incredibly powerful buffs, such as having 999 bullets instead of her standard 120 and her Orgia Gauge being perpetually full and active. Also, Aigis holds the distinction of being one of only two characters (the other being Yu) in the game who can use two Personas in battle; Athena for normal combat, and Palladion for her Instant Kill, Heritage Liberator Palladion.
====Score Attack====
Aigis is the ninth character the player fights in Score Attack. Aigis will always be in Orgia Mode which will never deplete and will have 999 bullets.
====Persona 4 Arena (Manga)====
Aigis faces off against Kanji Tatsumi after ending up in the P-1 Grand Prix, defeating him in combat. She later joins Yosuke in battle against Shadow Labrys.
===Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth===
Aigis retains her unique ability to enter Orgia Mode. It consumes one turn to initiate, lasts for two more turns, then she is forced into a cooldown and unable to act for three turns afterwards. While under the effects of Orgia Mode, Aigis' damage output is doubled and she is rendered immune to ailments. Orgia Mode does not consume a buff slot and can stack with Boost and Shura Tensei.
Aigis' co-op attack is multiple hits against random enemies, similar to the Myriad Arrows skill.
===Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth===
Aigis is one of the last Persona users to join the party, as she was stuck in the research lab of A.I.G.I.S due to being captured by the Overseer alongside the P3 hero, separating themselves from most of S.E.E.S. They were eventually found by the rest of the team, in which she was overwhelmed by the security drones and collapsed due to Orgia Mode overheating. They were eventually found by the party and joined them in the Cinema lobby. She is also revealed to possess abilities out of combat, such as repairing machinery and detecting life forces such as pulsations and blood pressure. Furthermore, she feels the same pull towards the P3P heroine as she does with P3 hero and wishes to protect them both.
Later on, when Ribbon succumbs to a lack of control of her Orgia Mode for the sake of defeating the Mother Computer, Futaba connects Ribbon into Aigis' system to recover her boot process which is temporarily crippled by the overheating.
She learns two unison attacks with her current and new friends through special screenings.
Aigis is suggestible enough to be seen easily tricked by Futaba into saying inappropriate or awkward phrases, which she inherits even if she has returned to the Iwatodai Dormitory at the epilogue.
==Etymology==
In Greek mythology, the is a shield worn by Pallas Athena. Pallas is an epithet taken by Athena after accidentally killing Pallas, daughter of Triton. In Pallas' memory, Athena erected Palladium, a statue in dedication of Pallas. More corporeal accounts of the aegis describe it as a grotesquely ornamented mantle worn over the shoulders and breast, less commonly a buckler bearing a Gorgon's head, or even simultaneously fulfilling both roles. One theory places the aegis as the remains of Pallas protecting Athena after death. However, an aegis is recorded to have been worn by Zeus and various Greek heroes on occasion, even Mt. Olympus itself is said to be shrouded by the aegis. In reality, there is no central narrative or tradition, but the aegis, whatever it specifically was, represents the protection of the gods.
This is referenced by Aigis desiring to spend her days defending the protagonist, and, in her words, "always protect him." This reference is bolstered by the fact that the protagonist's ultimate Persona is Messiah, a being who, in world religions, is considered a deity who shall bring salvation to the world upon its end.
==In Other Languages==
Languag 	Title
Japanese 	アイギス (Aigisu)Aegis
Korean 	아이기스 (Aigiseu)Aegis
Traditional Chinese	埃癸斯 (Āiguǐsī)Aegis
French 	Aigis
Italian 	Aigis
German 	Aigis
Spanish 	Aigis
==Trivia==
* In all versions of Persona 3 except Portable, Aigis' upper lip twitches when she blinks.
* In Persona 3, Aigis is the only character (except for protagonist) whose attack animations and battle quotes change depending on the weapon equipped. She is also the only character to change her All-Out Attack quote after getting her ultimate Persona.
* In Aegis: The First Mission, it is shown that Aigis can also understand monkeys in addition to dogs. 
* While perfectly able to understand Koromaru's thoughts at first, Aigis loses this ability little by little when she awakens to the powers of the Wild Card in The Answer. As the Wild Card makes her become more "human," she starts losing some of her mechanical traits: humans can't speak with dogs, so now that Aigis is more like a human, she can't understand dogs anymore.
** This is also reflected once she welcomes back Metis into the "sea of her soul": as she regains all her human emotions, she also regains the ability to cry and her need to sleep when tired (which is why she collapses as soon as they "combine" again).
*** Despite this, she displays the ability to understand Koromaru once again in Arena Ultimax.
** In the ending anime scene of Persona 3 where the protagonist sleeps on Aigis' lap, there is skin where Aigis' white suit used to be on her neck, and she has ears instead of the robotic headphone-like pieces she normally has. This could be symbolic of her having become more human.
* Palladion, Aigis' initial Persona, has a highly robotic appearance, representing Aigis' initial robotic emotions, but as she becomes more human, she eventually gains Athena in place of Palladion, who has a more human appearance than her predecessor.
* There are some audio files hidden in the DVD disc of Persona 3 FES that contains the voices of the protagonist and Aigis shouting the names of the other SEES members' Personas. Among these files, Aigis has different voice clips for Palladion and Athena, separate from the ones she uses in Persona 3.
*In Persona 4 Golden, if Naoto Shirogane has the Gekkou Uniform equipped, she will mimic Aigis' victory pose after battles, as well as say Aigis' lines.
* In Persona 3's Drama CD, Aigis is revealed to be capable of understanding French.
* In Persona 3 Portable, Aigis, along with Elizabeth, are the only characters to fall in love with both genders of the protagonists.
* Morgana can wear an Aigis costume as DLC.
* The events depicted in Aegis: The First Mission, during which Aigis is activated for the first time, occur during May 1999. In Persona 4 Arena, however, it is claimed that her activation date is, in fact, September 10, 1999; 4 months after the prequel's story. As Aigis' memories are erased and she is put on standby at the end of Aegis: The First Mission, it is possible that the date claimed in Persona 4 Arena was in fact her reactivation date, as opposed to a continuity error.
* In The Answer, the sprite of Aigis with a blank expression has an extra left forearm.
* In P3D, equipping Sera's costume will make Aigis sing the first line of "Pray" ("Light shines on the heaven").
* Aigis has a lookalike in Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, Ribbon.
*In Persona Q2, it is revealed that Aigis can remove her own head.Persona Q2 Special Screening #29: The Secret to Beauty
*Aigis cannot be poisoned in Persona 3 (excluding The Answer), making her the only main series party member with any sort of resistance to a status effect.
** Because of the way battles and knock downs are handled in Persona 3/FES, where hitting a downed character will cause them to get back up without missing their turn, this has an unintended side effect. If Aigis is down and an enemy attacks her with a poison ability, she will stand up even though the UI will say "Miss." This is because in the code, she is blocking it and not missing it, allowing her to get up without missing her turn. 
***Due to being the only party member in the main series with built in immunity to a status ailment, she is currently the only party member with this unintended side effect.
**Despite this, she can be poisoned in the Persona Q games, in which she remarks her "parts are corroding."
* In Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, Aigis consumes the shrinking potion, but it has no effect on her, which perplexes her when Shinjiro and Akihiko's bodies shrink after consuming the same potion.
===Persona 4 Arena===
* Aigis' theme in Persona 4 Arena is a remix of Heartful Cry, first heard in The Answer when fighting the SEES members for the keys. Shadow Aigis' theme is Master of Shadow, which is used against the battles with the Shadow Arcana in Persona 3 and for all Shadow Bosses in The Answer.
* Aigis' victory pose in Persona 4 Arena is a callback to her Persona 3 victory pose.
* In Persona 4 Arena, Aigis, like Yu, is listed to be of the Fool Arcana, but despite this, Athena is still listed to be of the Chariot Arcana. That is because Athena is truly a Chariot Arcana Persona.
**Aigis being listed as the Fool Arcana instead of the Chariot Arcana may imply that Aigis regained Athena after the events of The Answer as one of her many Personas, rather than completely losing the Wild Card ability. Yu and Elizabeth confirm this in the game, as they frequently state that they sense the Wild Card within her. Another fact that supports this is that, similar to Yu, Aigis will also change Personas during her Instant Kill, a feat that is exclusive only to them in Persona 4 Arena.
** During said Instant Kill, as Athena turns into Palladion, she oddly de-evolves her Persona instead of evolving it.
* One of Aigis' portraits in Persona 4 Arena is an updated version of her All-Out Attack portrait from Persona 3 Portable.
* In Persona 4 Arena's official artwork book, Aigis is revealed to initially have a braided ponytail similar to Fuuka's, but this was apparently scrapped and the braid was given to Fuuka instead. Similarly, there is also a sketch of her wearing the Yasogami High School uniform.
* Aigis is among the few protagonists in the entire Shin Megami Tensei series who does not remain silent when controlled by the player, with only the Persona 5 protagonist voicing so many lines inside dungeons.
* Aigis has the distinction of not sharing a mirror match theme with any character in Persona 4 Arena Ultimax. While the other female Persona 3 characters (including Elizabeth) have "Wiping All Out" as their mirror match theme, Aigis has Mass Destruction FES.
* In her electrocuted sprite in Persona 4 Arena, the Papillon Heart is visible in her chest.
===Appearances in Other Media===
Title 	Details 	Date 	External Links
Phantasy Star Online 2 	Collaboration event for Persona Q2* Aigis outfit.	November 9, 2018. 	
Puzzle and Dragons 	Collaboration event* Aigis 	April 27, 2018 - May 11, 2018	Article on the Puzzle & Dragons site.
Chain Chronicle 	Collaboration event*Aigis 	 	Article on the Chain Chronicle Wiki
 	Collaboration event*Aigis 	 	
 	DLC Playable Character (Season 2)*Aegis 	June 5, 2018 	Article on the BlazBlue Cross Tag Wiki
Etrian Odyssey Origins CollectionEtrian Odyssey III HD	DLC 	June 1, 2023 	Steam page (Collection)Steam page (Etrian Odyssey III HD)Steam Page (EO III HD Character Set DLC)
*: God Tribe. Aigis appears alongside Yu Narukami and Elizabeth. Unlike the other guest characters, Aigis has two cards, one paired with Athena, and another, Aigis EXO, paired with Messiah. Both cards of Aigis belong to the God Tribe. Aigis' ability is Orgia Mode, which enhances her stats and lets her use Heavenly Spear, which inflicts multiple heavy Light damage to one foe, while Aigis EXO has Orgia Mode EX, which greatly enhances her stats and enables her to use Megido Fire EX as her offensive ability, which inflicts multiple heavy Fire damage to all foes in an area. Element-wise, Aigis is Light Elemental and Aigis EXO is Fire Elemental, and both are weak to Electricity. Although both cards of Aigis have lower stats than her fellow guest Persona characters, her abilities are far more superior than theirs and are more than enough to compensate for her flaws if used properly. However, like in Persona 4 Arena, Aigis' Orgia Mode can only be operated for a limited time. Her HP gauge also acts as her Orgia Gauge, and she will also overheat if her HP reaches 1. This will not only leave Aigis with dangerously low health, her stats will also decrease significantly, making her extremely vulnerable until she regains HP. Also, if either Yu or Elizabeth are on the same team with Aigis or Aigis EXO, their stats will slightly increase (Defense for Yu and Offense for Elizabeth) as an added benefit when she uses Orgia Mode (EX), but not to the same extent as Aigis.
* is the first game where Aigis uses her original Japanese text name "Aegis" globally, while the voice clips relating to calling out her pronounced regional names by the characters in either Japanese or English are being kept as "Aigis," unlike Teddie; Playable Character (DLC)
==Videos==
SMT Persona 3 FES Aigis alarm clock|Aigis being the protagonist's alarm clock.
Music Persona 4 Arena ► Heartful Cry (P4 Arena ver.) ║Extended║|Heartful Cry (P4 Arena ver.)
Persona 3 Ending 4 4 *English Version*|Aigis realizing her life's meaning.
Persona 3 Movie 16 - The Attempted Fall English *Spoilers*|Ikutsuki programs Aigis to kill SEES.
Persona 3 Movie 24 - The Final Hour Ends|Aigis gains the ability to cry.
Persona 3 FES The Answer Opening|Aigis fighting Akihiko and Ken.
Persona 3 FES The Answer - Aigis' Awakening HD|Aigis' awakening.
Colosseo Purgatorio|Aigis and Metis defeating Yukari and Mitsuru.
==References==
Category:Protagonists
Category:Mascots
Category:Persona 3 Allies
Category:Aegis: The First Mission Characters
Category:Persona 3 The Movie Characters
Category:Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight Characters
Category:Persona 4 Arena Characters
Category:Persona Q Characters
Category:Persona Q Allies
Category:Persona Q2 Characters
Category:Persona Q2 Allies
Category:Aeon Arcana
Category:Fool Arcana
Category:Chariot Arcana
Category:Wild Card users
Category:Persona users