Aleph (Shin Megami Tensei II)

Aleph is the main protagonist of the 1994 Super Famicom JRPG Shin Megami Tensei II and is a playable character in the Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse DLC "Messiahs in the Diamond Realm". At the beginning of the game, he is also known by the alias Hawk.
==Appearance==
Aleph is a young man of a lean athletic build.
He has long black hair and black eyes and fair skin complexion, his eyebrows are dense and upwards tilted
His outfit consists of a black/yellow gladiotar armor that is padded around his crotch, shoulders and knees and black boots, he is also usually seen with his katana on his back and two gun holsters around his waist. Aleph also wears his comp on his left arm. In the Super Famicom version both of his sleeves are short, while in the PSX version, only the sleeves on his left arm are short, his PSX counter parts outfit is also much tighter, while his Super Famicom version is much baggier and he also wears a scarf
==Story==
===Shin Megami Tensei II===
Aleph is introduced at the beginning of the game as an amnesiac gladiator under the alias of "Hawk". He trains under Okamoto, an owner of a fighting gym in the Valhalla district in a post-apocalyptic demon-infested Tokyo Millenium, who saved him from a demon, he immediately knew that he had the potential to become a great fighter so he took him with him to train him and gave him the name "Hawk", so that he can become a successful Gladiator and one day, he will become a champion and allow him and Okamoto to earn citizenship in the Center, a privileged district in the city. 
During his training in the virtuals, he meets a mysterious man in a wheelchair called Stephen who gives him the demon summoning program, because he believes that he is strong enough to protect the Tokyo Millenium from an upcoming demon invasion.
In the Colosseum eventually, Aleph wins a tournament against the Gladiator Red Bear and becomes the new champion, allowing Okamoto to buy up the gym of his rival Haneda. 
He is then approached by a woman named Hiroko, who is a citizen of the center and needs his help with finding a boy who has been kidnapped by two scientists named Mekata and Hanada. She asks Hawk to take her with him, who she believes is hiding in a mansion owned by a woman called "Madam", this woman congratulates new champions in her mention and Hiroko wants Hawk to take her with him when Madam attends her mansion. Hiroko then joins the party, and immediately afterward he gets another visit from a butler of Madam, giving him an invitation to her mansion. When he arrives there a monitor with Madam appears, she explains to him that the senate of the center elected her as the governor of the district, giving her full control of Valhalla. Envisioning a peaceful hedonistic utopia she built the Colosseum and the Casino. She explains to the player, that the rulers of the center try to gain greater authority over the Valhalla, but that she wishes for the district to remain autonomous. It is then revealed that Hanada has left Madam and now tries to create a portal, intending to allow a horde of demons to enter the city and is now hiding in the slums of the city, she tasks Hawk with finding him and lends him the Demon Cerberus as support. 
With the help of Cerberus smell, they find Hanada in a hidden building which is a hideout of the persecuted Gaian cult. When they confront Hanada during a ritual consisting of 4 dolls that opens a portal to the demon world, believing that he will be able to control the demons for his benefit, a demon called Mercurius enters the room and kills Handa. With the help of Cerberus, they can easily defeat the demon and the group heads back to Madam. 
At Madams mansion Aleph gets a visit from a messenger from the center, suddenly Hawk gets a flashback and it is revealed that his true name is Aleph and that the future of humanity is based on the decision of whether he decides whether he becomes a servant of god or join the demons demons. The man in the mansion reveals himself to be called Zayin and that he has been searching for Aleph for a long time. Zayin explains to Aleph, that he originally lived to the center and that Hiroko and Aleph should return to the center, meaning that he was a citizen of the center all along and that his struggles in the Colosseum have been worthless.
The overjoyed center bishop greets them both upon their arrival at the center and hands him back his resident ID card. He then rants at Hiroko for leaving the center and abandoning her prestigious duties as a Temple Knight. Hiroko then thanks Aleph for his help, before being escorted into the Bishop's office by the guards, even though they never found the boy she was looking for. The bishop explains to Aleph, that that he was kidnapped out of the center and that his memories have been deleted by Mekata. He further elaborates that Aleph's birth was a fulfillment of an ancient prophecy foretold by John in the book of Revelations and that he is destined to be a messiah with his powers that will bring salvation to the people of the world, by helping them to turn the Tokyo Millenium (a city build on the ruins of a once destroyed tokyo), into a Thousand Year Kingdom where the people can live in peace and prosperity for all eternity with the help of a girl called Beth who will join Aleph from now on. They are then sent on a mission in Holytown to defeat the demon King Frost, who has frozen the entire area and the Basilisk. 
After completing his mission the bishop sends him on another mission to defeat the demon Betelgeuse who has appeared underground in an excavation and whose influence has led the Demi-Nandi who the people on this site were farming for food to go on a rampage.
Once he returns from his mission he finds Zaiyn in the control room, who thanks him for completing the mission. He tells him that he wants to show the protagonist something in the luxurious Arcadia area, where they are researching to create environmental controls for the Millennium Kingdom, and that Gimmel is there who can restore Aleph's memories. Gimmel greets Aleph in his hidden mansion and tells him that it's been a long time since the last time they saw each other and that he was put in charge of this area since Aleph was missing, turning the area into a paradise on earth, serving as a test for the future millennium kingdom, without demons or conflict. Gimmel sends Aleph back to Zaiyn to tell him of the area's success.
On his way back to the control, he is interrupted by Zaiyn, who tells him that hell has broken loose and that he should see the bishop immediately. Who tells him that the demons have broken into the center and that the anti-messiah has appeared in Holytown and Valhalla and who is trying to manipulate the people of the city. The Bishop sends Aleph on a mission to find out more about his motives
In Holytown, he learns that Daleth, a guy from his memories, claims to be the true messiah and that he presumably went to Valhalla to save the people from demons. He can also encounter Louis Cypher in a bar in the area and he tells him that he wants to visit the center, but isn't allowed to by the guard. In the Arena, he fights Daleth to prove a prophecy in which the true messiah will defeat the false one. Aleph manages to defeat Daleth, but Daleth kills Beth. The player can choose to finish Daleth or spare him at the end of the fight, which will impact Aleph's alignment. The audience comes up to Aleph, among them is the Bishop who declares Aleph the true Messiah. 
Afterward in the arena, Aleph becomes a latter handed over by a kid written by Mekata, who wants to meet Aleph in the slums close to the church of the Gaians, where he explains to the player that Hiroko has been kept imprisoned in the factory by the center and that if the player saves her, he will tell him the truth about his past. Aleph agrees and heads to the underworld, where he encounters Daleth again, after Aleph beats him he drops the Mars pillar. In the underworld, Aleph finds a statue of the Kunitsukami Kotoshironushi in a temple, if he uses a destone item on him, he will thank the player and tell him that he needs some time to recover. Then he heads into the Jail which he can enter with the passwords one of Mekatas minions gave him, there he encounters a demon Nadja who joins him and in the Labour camp he finds Zaiyn who is the guard of Hirokos cell, who doesn't allow Aleph to enter Hirokos cell and attacks him, however after Aleph defeats him, he changes his mind, allowing Aleph to free Hiroko. Hiroko at first resists to be freed, but after Nadja fuses with her, she joins Alephs party again. 
On his way back to Mekata he encounters Zaiyn again, who reveals to him that Valhalla had been swollen by the demon Abaddon and that his investigation concludes that it was the center behind this. Aleph decides to head to the center, on his way there he encounters Cerberus who joins him again after his master dies. After Aleph finds out the door of the center has been locked, he heads to Holytown where he finds a broadcast on the big monitors by the MNN, which is hacked by Zaiyn who explains to the District that the City is corrupt and that only a few will experience the thousand year kingdom and that the Factory is a concentration camp where people are forced to work against their will. Aleph then encounters Zaiyn who raised a rebellious army. Aleph now heads to the Church of the district, in a door that was previously guarded by a Stalker, where he now encounters Daleth again whom he defeats again and heads through the door which leads to an Elevator that leads to the underground where he encounters a man who explains to Aleph that this is the place The Hero and the other two men first appeared in Tokyo. Then he heads to Shinjuku which is ruled by Oberon and inhabited by humans and demons who fled from the Tokyo Millenium, here he meets Daleth once again who summons a demon called Puck, who inflicts Hiroko with a spell that causes her to get overly horny and making her fall in love with Daleth, she then leaves Aleph to chase Daleth. Then a Yousei Girl appears in front of Aleph, who explains that the spell was intended to hit him and make him chase her. In the Yousei Girls shop, he tells the player to ask Oberon for help to break Hirokos spell. Oberon however needs the sap from Puck. Aleph finds Puck in a building to the east, where he chases him, while Puck throws stuff at him, when Aleph catches Puck, Puck will offer him the Sap for 10000 Makka, the player can choose to give it to him or not, or to steal it from him, however, it doesn't matter if Aleph pays or not as Puck will hand him over the Sap. With the sap, Aleph can now break the spell with the help of Oberon and Hiroko can now join the party again. Daleth will now leave Aleph alone for good.
After heading through Asakusa, he heads to Roppongi a city full of mutants who weren't allowed to live in the center, there he encounters Hiruko, who asks him for help in reviving the Japanese god Prince Masakado, the guardian deity of Tokyo, whose body has been shattered in 6 parts. His mission now is to find the parts to resurrect Masakado
It is later revealed in the story that Aleph is an Artificial Human created by the Three Elder Messians (revealed to be the Archangels Michael, Raphael, and Uriel) as a Messiah, with the three fallen Seraphim having grown impatient of waiting for the messiah that God had promised to arrive. Depending on the route taken (Law, Chaos, or Neutral), Aleph will end up either establishing a lawful kingdom free from gods (Law) or end up being subject to an eternal cycle of suffering and reincarnation, powerless to stop it (Neutral and Chaos). Nevertheless, he will still end up having to kill YHVH, and also establish a kingdom free from (or accepting of) the gods.
===Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse===
In the DLC of the game Messiahs in Diamond Realm, Stephen revives himself after he dies by the Megido Ark and is put in the Diamond Realm alongside the other messiahs, he meets the protagonist Nanashi in a room filled with angels, with his help he can defeat them and Nanashi explains him the situation, then they gather with the other messiahs to prove their strength against Stephen. Stephen stops the battle satisfied with the results and returns to his universe to fight YHVH. 
==Gallery==
Aleph_render.pn
SMTII-Aleph.jpg
Aleph (Ryuji Satonaka).webp|Ryuji Sakamoto wearing the Aleph outfit in Persona 5: Dancing All Night
==Trivia==
*His outfit appears in Persona 5: Dancing All Night and is worn by Ryuji Sakamoto
*Aleph is the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet, in Jewish mysticism it represents the oneness of god
*Unlike later protagonists in the series he is incapable of using magic directly and can only fight using weapons and summoning demons
==External link==
*Megami Tensei Wiki 
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