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Apathy Syndrome is a mysterious condition that affects students of Gekkoukan High School and other residents of Tatsumi Port Island during the course of Persona 3. Those suffering from the syndrome suffer from debilitating levels of apathy. When it strikes the inflicted will collapse in a heap where ever they happen to be and become unable to move, feed, or care for themselves. The number of cases grows in correlation with the approach of the full moon, when a shadow makes an appearance somewhere in the city. The cases quickly decrease each time a Shadow is defeated, only to slowly rise again as the next full moon approaches. People affected by the Apathy Syndrome are called the Lost by the inhabitants of Tatsumi Port Island.

It is later explained that Apathy Syndrome is a result of having one's psyche eaten by Shadows. Due to having their soul taken away, the victims are reduced to a vegetative state. It is implied that when a psyche is stolen, it somehow ends up with the boss Shadow that will appear during the following Full Moon (either due to that specific Shadow having eaten them itself, or by the lesser Shadows eating the psyches and bringing them to the boss Shadow), because following the destruction of each Full Moon Shadow by SEES, the number of the Lost decreases dramatically.

As it turns out, the Lost are the earliest manifestations of the Fall, an event where all of mankind will forfeit their will to live. Each Full Moon Shadow was a piece of Death (a being created by Nyx, that would later become one with its creator), and so their collection of psyches was their method of facilitating the Fall.

As the game reaches its climax, Iwatodai becomes more and more wrecked, litter and entire public structures broken down and left all over the ground. At this point, some Lost may start giving out actual dialogue, instead of their usual moans and useless pleas.

The Kirijo Group's discovery of the Shadows' existence and subsequent experiments on manipulating them, ostensibly as a power source and means of time manipulation, resulted in a catastrophic accident at their laboratories, killing hundreds. They have been appearing due to the Kirijo Group's experiments, during the Dark Hour, a hidden twenty-fifth hour that takes place every midnight, during which the world comes to a stop and humans reflexively contain themselves in coffins, obliviously "playing dead" to protect themselves from the attention of the Shadows. Occasionally, a human will not transmogrify in this manner, and will quickly become prey of the Shadows, having their minds devoured and becoming vegetative (Apathy Syndrome) and in some cases even become a shadow as their physical form dissolves, reducing themself to being a shadow. Only those with Personas, even if they can't be successfully summoned, are immune to this effect and function normally during the Dark Hour.

Fate Is In Our Hands03:11

Persona users defeating Shadows.

The bulk of the Shadows dwell in Tartarus, a massive tower that appears during the Dark Hour, right atop Gekkoukan High School, the site of the previous accident. Each Shadow is defined by two characteristics: the body and the mask. The mask represents the Arcana of the Shadow, while the body helps define its name. These two attributes also aid as a visual reminder of an enemy's weaknesses and strengths. However, each full moon after the Main Character's arrival, powerful Shadows belonging to the first twelve major arcana appear and threaten to wreak havoc. The Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad is formed to combat these enemies. Once they're defeated, a thirteenth Shadow of the Death arcana appears as an ordinary, carefree teenage boy calling himself Ryoji Mochizuki. However, it's his role to call down Nyx, a being who will exterminate all life in response to humanity's self-destructive desires, but his human side is wracked with guilt over this unavoidable fate.

The Old Documents say that the Shadows arise from human emotions. When enough of the Shadows were gathered in one place, they fused together and created Nyx Avatar, which set in motion the events which were to lead up to the The Fall. Aigis delayed the Fall by fracturing Death into the 12 Arcana.

Shadow ArcanaEdit

These special Shadows are the fragments of Death that escaped following the sealing of Thanatos into the Protagonist. They appear at every full moon, seeking to return to Death which is sealed into the protagonist. Shuji Ikutsuki had SEES manipulated into killing all of them.

Arcana Magician

Arcana Priestess

Arcana Emperor

Arcana Empress

Arcana Hierophant

Arcana Lovers

Arcana Chariot

Arcana Justice

Arcana Hermit

Arcana Fortune

Arcana Strength

Arcana Hanged Man

The AnswerEdit

The new episode included in Persona 3 FES, The Answer suggests that a Persona is merely a Shadow that remains under control of the mind that created it; this is why Persona users aren't rendered brain-dead by exposure to other Shadows during the Dark Hour. In addition, The Answer shows that some who've had their Personas artificially induced can become Shadows themselves when unable to keep control.

In confessing his purpose to the members of SEES, Ryoji implies that Nyx is the mother of the Shadows.

Persona 3 Club BookEdit

In the Persona 3 Club Book, it is explained that shadows are literally fragments of Nyx's psyche, which exist inside of everyone. When people begin to despair or lose hope, their unconscious hold on the "Nyx" that exists within them is weakened, and these fragments can emerge. In order for the psyches of living beings to contain these fragments of Nyx, they were forced to greatly limit their individual lifespans. Because these fragments have been an integral part of life on Earth for so long, the human mind is unable to function without Shadows, which is why those with Apathy Syndrome - people who have lost their Shadows - are merely shells whose minds have broken down. The "goal" of "freed" shadows - if it can be called that - is merely to return to their original state, to fuse together so that the psyche of Nyx can once again be whole. Shadows do not actually "eat" people since they are merely freeing themselves from the individual's unconscious confinement, but Persona-users are an exception, because they are recognized as a hindrance to Nyx's revival. When individuals wander into or adapt to the Dark Hour and attacked by shadows, the external shadows are merely trying to forcibly extract the fragment confined within the individual to merge with it.

Just as the Arcana represent the psychological maturity of humans, they also represent the tendencies and psychological complexes of Shadows. No single Arcana's worth of shadows can result in the reformation of Nyx's psyche, but when powerful shadows of Arcanas 0-12 fuse, the resultant shadow can mutate into the 13th Arcana, Death, which is capable of carrying the true weight of Nyx's consciousness and power and signifies that the preparations for Nyx's revival have been completed. Once completed, it merely calls for its body in order to return to a whole being, which is otherwise known as "The Fall". Tartarus acts as an antenna for this, calling more shadows to it and growing taller with the more shadows calling from within it. When the Protagonist invokes the Universe Arcana, he uses its power to return Nyx's consciousness to the confines of the universal unconsciousness.

Shadows are existences of pure thought and energy and do not possess physical bodies, and thus cannot interact with normal space. They do, however, possess the ability to manipulate space-time and use this ability to create the Dark Hour, a space existing outside of normal space-time where they can move freely. "Transmogrification" is merely an identifier of someone who does not exist within the Dark Hour, and thus cannot be affected by those within it. As for those with the "Potential", who can move freely within the Dark Hour, they are people who are able to use the shadows' space-time manipulation ability for themselves.

Persona 4Edit

Shadow Yukiko revealed

A Shadow taking a human form as Yukiko Amagi.

Shadows and Personas retain the same roles. Those who face their own personal Shadows in the Midnight Channel and accept them can use their power as Personas while those who deny their shadows as part of themselves will be attacked and killed by them or disappear completely if the person was malicious and cruel, and Igor eventually states outright that they are one and the same. However, the world of the Midnight Channel is more likely to be the true home of the Shadows, as they and Personas appear much more easily there than they did during the Dark Hour. The Midnight Channel itself is a world reflecting the collective human heart, so it's probable that Shadows are spawned there as a result of humans trying to shut away the darkest facets of their personalities.

Teddie appears to be a peculiar exception to this rule—despite being a Shadow, he became curious about humans and created a new, nonthreatening form for himself so people wouldn't be afraid of him, sealing away most of his memories in the process. He also acquires a Persona, prompting Igor to note that if a Shadow develops a sense of self, it too can acquire a Persona.

Persona 4 Arena UltimaxEdit

A huge shadow appears during one of Sho Minazuki's intros, where he cuts it in half. The Shadow Selves seen in the game are made from regular shadows being forcibly merged together. Eventually a endless swarm of normal shadows is unleashed on the persona users once the Malevolent Entity no longer needs them. Tohru Adachi hints that gathering enough shadows together and uniting them will result in summoning a God, which is indeed the plan of Sho Minazuki and the Malevolent Entity.

Persona 4: Dancing All NightEdit

Shadows appear in the Midnight Stage, where the antagonist has forcibly enslaved them to its will by tying ribbons to all of them. These shadows are forced to dance as the humans dance, and eventually be purified. Unlike the Dark Hour or the TV World, Shadows cannot be harmed through combat. Instead the characters must dance, removing shadows as finish dancing upon the stage. When victims submit to the Shadow's will, they transform into a Shadow, and the one way to change back to their original form is to finish the dance.

Persona Q: Shadow of the LabyrinthEdit

Shadows appear again as the main antagonists, but unlike other games in series, some of the Shadows in Persona Q are sapient and capable of conversation, though they remain uniformly hostile. Once the characters learn the truth about Rei and Zen, it is learned fully that the shadows' duty is to guard the treasures at the bottom of the Labyrinths no matter what, even if the one who charged them with the task decides otherwise.

The shadows eventually side with the Clockwork God after he captures Rei, seeking to keep the world created from her memories from disappearing. The exceptions are the Spider F.O.Es who serve the Clockwork God and his goal to erase both Rei and the world, as well as The Reaper, who seeks to restore the divine providence of the cosmos by killing Zen, the instigator for all the events that transpired.

Persona 5Edit

Suguru Anne

Shadow Suguru Kamoshida

Especially evil humans are shown to share their personality almost completely with their Shadow counterparts, and engage The Phantom in battle. These Shadow Selves can control Shadows into Shadow forms that resemble masked humanoids who patrol and maintain their Palaces. Shadows are never fought in the game directly, as the lesser Shadows explode into one or more demons when engaged and the Shadow Selves fight in demonic form. The Shadows initially believe themselves to be the Palace's Shadows unless successfully negotiated with, where they regain their memories and recall they come from the human's Sea of Souls, whereupon they offer to transform themselves into a mask (and thus a new Persona), release a captured party member, or give the party one or more items.

While in the overworld, Shadows appear based on the Palace's theme. Depending on the attention level, they have glowing blue, yellow, or red eyes, and strong ones have a dark red aura. When they see the protagonist, they will summon a spotlight to follow him for as long as they are pursuing him. Stealing their Mask provokes a Chance in the battle with their demon forms.

Kamoshida's Palace: Knights in black armor with stoic masks.

Madarame Palace: Female curators and security guards with heart masks.

Kaneshiro Palace: Policemen in riot gear, with gas masks. Cerberus demons appear as Doberman Pinschers wearing muzzles.

Futaba Palace: Mummies with headwear-like masks made of bandage, scimitar-wielding dervishes with tribal masks, and grey jackals with similar masks to mummies.

Okumura Palace: Cylinder or sphere-formed robots with angular masks.

Mementos: Large humanoids with bird masks on their head and other masks bearing worn on their bodies. Unlike other guards, they do not speak and are not forced into a Chance battle by stealing their mask, but by crashing Morgana in van form into them, knocking them over.

Yaldabaoth's Tokyo: White and golden robotic angels with featureless faceplates as masks.