Joker

Joker is the main protagonist of Persona 5. A young Japanese teen who appears to be quiet and unthreatening on the outside, Joker has the powers to change the world by changing the heart of corrupt adults who abuse of their power without thinking of the consequences outside their reach. He leads a group known as the Phantom Thieves of the Hearts, which run a website where the people of Shibuya can send requests of which people to target. He and the other Phantom Thieves are able to traverse the Metaverse, a realm that is deeply connected and resembling normal world but formed by the perceptions of the their targets. These locations are known as Palaces and hidden within them, a treasure that a target deeply holds. Should the treasure be stolen and taken out of their palaces, the real world target will have a change of heart, confessing to their sins and holding themselves accountable for their crimes.
His civilian name varies between sources, being called Ren Amamiya in the anime and Akira Kurusu in the manga, though in the canon spin-off "Persona 5 Strikers" the player can still choose Joker's name, and Atlus hasn't confirmed any name as canon for him in the games. According to some theories, Joker might even be his actual last name (absolutely nothing is known about the first name), though, again, nothing has been confirmed.
Joker is similar to previous Persona and Shin Megami Tensei protagonists in that they are silent protagonists whose personalities are somewhat shaped by the player's choices of words during certain dialogue sections. He's able to connect well with other people in similar situations to him, those who seek to rebel against the corrupted order, a major theme of Persona 5. He has a powerful power in the form of a Persona, a representation of a person's true will of rebellion. While other Persona users are limited to a single one, Joker has the power of the Wild Card, which allows him to change between different Personas. With the bonds that Ren builds with the people of Shibuya, the strength of his Personas also increase.
In December 6th, 2018 at The Game Awards, Joker was announced as the first DLC character part of the Fighter Pass for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, making him the first Atlus character to be playable in the game and the third Sega character to be introduced in the series, after Sonic the Hedgehog in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Bayonetta in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS.
==History==
Not much is known of Joker's past, other than the inciting incident that eventually led him to being expelled from his original school. During his travel back to home, he noticed the screams of a woman and went to see what was going to happen, eventually seeing the scene of the woman trying to fend of a drunken man trying to sexually assault her. Ren pushed the man who hit his head on a railing, but unbeknowst to him, the man he pushed was a powerful politician known as Masayoshi Shido, who eventually sued Ren, putting the incident on his permanent record and getting him expelled.
His parents had a hard time finding a school which accepted a student with a permanent record, but eventually found Shujin Academy in Shibuya. He was sent to live with an acquaintance of his parents, the coffee shop owner Sojiro Sakura, who is initially reluctant to take him under his wing due his perception that Joker could be a delinquent due his permanent record, but eventually took him in, feeling he owned the parents a favor. Despite this, Sojiro was distant from him, trying not to associate himself with him and giving him several warnings. Thanks to his record, the staff at the Shujin Academy seemed very hesitant about the new student.
He didn't had much time to make friends with his new classmates but had friendly first impressions with two of them, Ann Takamaki and Ryuji Sakamoto. During his time in Shibuya, Joker noticed a strange app kept popping up on his phone, one with the appearance of a eye on a red and black background. On his first day to school, he and Ryuji, were late and when they tried to take a shortcut to the school, they were instead teleported to a bizarro castle.
Inside the castle, they met a bizarre cat-like creature, that called itself Morgana. During their attempt to break out of the castle after realizing they were in danger, they were cornered by armor knight-like creatures and the leader of the castle, the gym class teacher Suguru Kamoshida, only wearing undies, a king's coat and a crown. Kamoshida was an infamous figure around the school, a renowned Olympic medal winner, who held power within the facility which he abused, one by breaking Ryuji's leg after not performing to Kamoshida's standards and later taking advantage his female students, one of them was Ann's friend, Shiho Suzui, who was driven to suicide and jumped off the top of the building thanks to Kamoshida's actions. Fortunately, she survived the fall but this led to major outrage for the people that knew what was actually going on.
Back to the castle, the bizarro Kamoshida ordered one of the knights to kill Ryuji while Joker was pinned to a wall. As he sent his order, he was met with a surprise answer by Joker, which pissed off Kamoshida who ordered one of the knights to kill him instead. This awakened a power within him, the power of the Persona Arsené, allowing him to face off against Kamoshida's minnows, leading Kamoshida to retreat. He rescues Ryuji and the two leave the castle with Morgana, who appears in the real world as a real cat that is only capable of speaking with Joker and Ryuji.
Morgana explains what they saw was the Metaverse and the castle was Kamoshida's Palace, the way he perceives the school - as a castle with him as the king of it. The app Joker has allowed him and Ryuji to traverse to the Metaverse and was pressed by accident during their frantic run to school. With further visits to the Metaverse, they locate Kamoshida's treasure, his Olympic gold medal and plot out a plan to steal it and change Kamoshida's heart. Ryuji gains a Persona, Captain Kidd, during one of these visits and they are later joined by Ann Takamaki, with the plan to change Kamoshida's heart and make him confess about all the terrible things he done. They send out a calling card to Kamoshida and eventually steal his treasure, with the mission accomplished and Kamoshida spilling the beans. This leads to the creation of the Phantom Thieves of the Heart, a group capable of changing the hearts of those corrupted powerful people, with each of their targets increasing in the scale of their power and influence.
==Personality==
Joker is a quiet protagonist like it is tradition with Shin Megami Tensei protagonists. That said, Joker has a more established personality than the other protagonists, with each of the possible dialogue options during certain scenes highlighting this, tending to playful, snarky and cheeky at some points during the game. He has an affinity for performing with flair, performing very flamboyant actions during the heists of the Palaces. He also tends to taunt opponents, showcasing almost no fear when fighting opponents and outright being cocky even during life or death situations.
Joker is an assertive person with a very strong sense of morality and justice, which attracts other people with the similar ideals to him and creates strong opposition with the people that Joker considers to be corrupt, leading him and his group to be persecuted by the police for their numerous actions through out the game. Joker has a heavily dislike of rigid and dogmatic authoritative or control-based force. He is a rebel through and through.
Joker likes to take risks although he is fully aware of the fact that he is going to have to bear the consequences of his actions later. Despite this, he is rather cunning, being able to take away suspicion of him and his crew when pressed on about the identity of the Phantom Thieves. Joker is also a very helpful person, which is why his power initially awakens, his will to want to go out and help those indeed even if he is not exactly capable of dealing with the struggle that is happening on right now is one of his major characteristics.
In Persona 6: Runes and Men, now 30 years old, Joker has grown into a more mature man and a charismatic leader, often thinking about the damage his actions in the past have brought. He thinks of his identity as a Phantom Thief as a "false self" he has "left behind", and despises being called by his former aliases Akira and Ren, instead preferring to be called by his true first name Siegfried. He loves opera, especially Wagner's Der Ring Des Nibelungen. 
==Abilities==
Joker is an athletic individual, which helps him move quickly during the Palace heists. While in the Metaverse, Joker's normal school outfit becomes a long black coat with black undershirt and pants, he also gains a black and white mask and red gloves. This has no effect on Joker's abilities but it showcases that Joker is now capable of utilizing a Persona, as in Persona 5, Personas are summoned through the character's masks.
In combat, he fights with a knife and a model pistol, the latter of which doesn't has any real effect in the real world but when transported to the Metaverse, it is a deadlier weapon against the demons they fight in Palaces. The knife is utilized for melee attacks, while the pistol is a limited use weapon, as it requires ammunition to be utilized and there are no ways of replenishing ammunition in the Metaverse.
Alongside these weapons, Joker also has multiple Personas. Personas take the form of mythological or fictional creatures and characters, such as the personification of winter Jack Frost, the celestial being Metatron, the Irish hero Cú Chulainn. These Personas are acquired by negotiating with demons, who also takes on the same appearance as Personas. In order for Joker and his crew to negotiate with a demon, they must first be hit with an attack of their weakness, leaving them in an downed state. Once all enemies are downed, the crew will surround the downed enemies and point their guns at them, starting a negotation. Joker can choose for persuade the demon to join him as one of his Personas, to hassle the demon for money or items or to just strike them all with a powerful All-Out Attack.
Personas greatly increase Joker's abilities. Each Persona has a set of skills, of which the maximum they can have is eight. These skills are categorized into different categories, first there are offensive skills: attacks with a different element/attack type attached to them. There is 11 different types of attacks: Physical, Gun, Fire, Ice, Electric, Wind, Psychic, Nuclear, Blessings, Curse and Almighty. Some Personas are weak to certain attack types, others are immune, some can even reflect or drain these types of attacks, it all varies from Persona to Persona. Physical attacks utilize Joker's HP, while elemental attacks utilize Joker's MP. The amount of HP or MP required to utilize an attack scales with Joker's level but usually, attacks that target multiple enemies tend to cost more than attacks that hit a single one.
Another type of Persona skills are healing skills, which is self explanatory, then there is also buffs and debuffs. Buffs target the entire party or a single Party member increasing one of three stats for a temporary amount of turns depending of which skill it is: Hit/Evasion, Attac and Defense. Debuffs decrease the stats and only affect a single or multiple enemies. The last kind of Persona skill is Auto Skills, which are skills that activate when certain conditions are met.
==Game Appearances==
===Persona SQ: Return to the Paradox===
Joker is one of the many playable characters from the Persona series in Persona SQ.
===Persona 5 VS===
Joker appears as the main protagonist.
===Average Super Smash Bros.===
Joker appears as an unlockable playable veteran. Some changes has been made to Joker from his transition from Ultimate to ASSB. Joker is one of 3 characters from the Persona series as a fighter representing the series.
===Persona Q3: Cybernetic Labyrinth===
Joker is one of the main protagonists of the game.
===Persona 5 Arena (TheProjectXZoneFan1997)===
Joker appears as the main protagonist.
===Guilty Gear vs BlazBlue: Multiversal Cross Assault===
Joker is one of the main characters and a representant of Persona 5 Arena alongside Skull, Panther, Fox, Queen, Yu Narukami and Aigis.
===Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax Beyond===
Joker appears as Guest Character, among with Ryuji, Akechi and Morgana.
===Persona 5: Phantom World===
Joker appears as the main protagonist.
===TPXZF1997's Super Smash Bros.===
Joker appears as a Hidden Character.
=== Super Smash Bros- Furia Indomita ===
He's a DLC character and doesn't appear in the main game's story mode, but Goro Akechi mentions a man named Siegfried with whom he had been in love and by whom he had been defeated. The DLC "The Joker of Braavos", meanwhile, features Joker as a Faceless Man: Arya Stark and Joker are sent to kill a living weapon hidden in Qarth called Vincent Valentine, but Vincent shoots Joker in the head. Arya and Vincent later force Joker to work against the Faceless Men/Deepground, and he starts remembering who he was before becoming "no one": his true name was "Siegfried Joker, son of Sigmund and Sieglinde Joker, two Americans living in Japan, sent to Tokyo on probation after being framed for a crime he didn't commit", which confirms the Siegfried Goro was in love with was, in fact, Joker.
=== Persona 6: Runes and Men ===
In 2029, 30-year old Siegfried and his wife Makoto now live in Asaheim, Hokkaido, and have three children, the 10-year-old Wagner, and the younger Sigmund-Ryuji and Sae-Ann. As Siegfried saw the Phantom Thieves have brought to power Toranosuke Yoshida and his main backer, the powerful progressivist and anti-Shido businessman Muneshige Shinozaki, Siegfried gives up his fake identity as Ren Amamiya and founds the Runeslayers to correct the Phantom Thieves' mistakes and redeem himself. He's not silent and goes by his birth name Siegfried exclusively, even in the Kamui Mosir. He refuses to use his Wild Card power and only uses his Persona Sigurd. He works to hide the research of his father Sigmund from both Shido and Shinozaki, and lets himself be killed by Kenas Unarpe to protect the rest of the Runeslayers, giving the commander title to Einar/Sigrun. In battle, he has his unique pistol Gungnir and no longer uses knives. He's the Fool Social Link and is impossible to romance, however his Fool Social Link stops at level 5 with his death and later levels are gained from interacting with his son Wagner Joker. 
This game confirms that his parents are named Sigmund and Sieglinde: Sigmund is from the USA, while Sieglinde, born Tomie Amamiya, changed her name to Sieglinde-Tomie based on a character from a Wagner opera she and Sigmund were fans of. Ren Amamiya is just a fake name Siegfried was given when he was sent to Tokyo due to Sigmund wanting to hide him from Shido (Shido and Sigmund were old enemies), and used his mother's maiden name as last name. Everyone except for his parents (and later Goro Akechi) knows him by only by the name Ren Amamiya or by Akira Kurusu, which is explained as another fake name he made up himself while in Tokyo and gave to a few of his Social Links instead of Ren Amamiya (and went by when faking his death). In other words, both names given in adaptations, and at the same time neither of them, are his real name. Siegfried was also mostly silent due to his inability to speak Japanese, because his native language was English.
==Gallery==
=== As Joker ===
Phantom render.png|Persona 5
RenAmamiyaJokerPQ2.png|Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth
Joker Catherine Full Body.png|Catherine Full Body
Joker SSBUltimate.png|Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Joker Arsene SSBUltimate.png|Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with Arsene
File:Joker Charged Alt 1.png
File:Joker Charged Alt 2.png
File:Joker Charged Alt 3.png
File:Joker Charged Alt 4.png
File:Joker Charged Alt 5.png
File:Joker Charged Alt 6.png
File:Joker Charged Alt 7.png
File:Joker Charged Alt 8.png
File:Joker Charged Alt 9.png
File:Joker Alt 2.png
File:Joker Alt 3.png
File:Joker Alt 4.png
File:Joker Alt 5.png
File:Joker Alt 7.png
File:Joker Alt 10.png
File:Orange joker by daxegana dg4i0kt-375w-2x.png
File:Joker re edited v3 by mutationfoxy ddtnjjp-fullview.png
File:Shadow joker by mutationfoxy ddv2fzo-fullview.png
File:Crossdressing joker by mutationfoxy de4nwc9-fullview.png
=== As a civilian ===
RenAmamiya.png|Persona 5
P5 Protag box art.png|Persona 5
RenAmamiyaP5D.png|Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight
RenAmamiyaPQ2.png|Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth
Joker Uniform SSBUltimate.png|Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Joker Uniform Arsene SSBUltimate.png|Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with Arsene
File:Joker Charged Alt 10.png
File:Joker Charged Alt 11.png
File:Joker Charged Alt 12.png
File:Joker school uniform re edited by mutationfoxy ddv2fi3-fullview.png
File:Goro akechi joker by mutationfoxy ddv2g56-fullview.png
File:Joker dancing star night outfit by mutationfoxy ddv2fld-fullview.png
File:Arsene joker dancing all star by mutationfoxy ddv2ge3-fullview.png
File:Winter outfit joker by mutationfoxy ddv2fuj-fullview.png
File:Velvet attendant winter joker by mutationfoxy ddv2ghm-fullview.png
==Trivia==
* In the Persona 5 manga Joker's real name is stated to be Akira Kurusu rather than Ren Amamiya. This same situation previously occurred with the protagonists of Persona 3 and Persona 4, who also used different names in their respective games' manga adaptions before being given official ones in later releases.
* With Joker's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, he is the only playable character in the Super Smash Bros. series to share the same voice actor as the announcer. In the English version, serves as the voice of both.
** This does not count Master Hand, who has been playable in certain games under specific conditions and is always voiced by the same actor as the announcer (and Crazy Hand).
** While Joker's Japanese voice actor, , does not portray the announcer when the game is set to that language, he does portray another playable character: Roy from the Fire Emblem series.
* Joker's absence of a canon name is a major plot point in Persona 6: Runes and Men, which retcons both Akira Kurusu and Ren Amamiya as canon aliases he had gone by when interacting with different people, though none of them was his actual name. His birth name is Siegfried Joker, with Joker as his actual last name, but was forced to go by multiple aliases to hide from Shido.
==See Also==
*Yu Narukami
*Makoto Yuki
Category:Characters
Category:Non-fanon characters
Category:Persona (series)
Category:Shin Megami Tensei (series)
Category:Protagonists
Category:Males
Category:Persona-Users
Category:Persona Characters
Category:SEGA
Category:Sega Characters
Category:Playable Characters
Category:Non-fanon
Category:Non-playable Characters
Category:Teenagers
Category:Granblue Fantasy Characters
Category:TheProjectXZoneFan1997's Super Smash Bros.
Category:Atlus
Category:Granblue Fantasy (series)
Category:Silent Characters