Persona 5 Classpects - Part One
Part Two
The Homestuck resurgence that's going on just so happened to coincide with my P5R obsession, so naturally, I had to make a whole AU for it. I have some miscellaneous ideas for the Phantom Thieves session, so I wanted to dump those thoughts here! I’ll be explaining my opinions on the PT’s mythological roles paired with some hastily made drawings of their godhoods (I took some liberties with the designs)! The first characters I’ll be classpecting are the Royal Trio.
Joker - KNIGHT of HEART
“One who serves Heart or serves through Heart for others.”
The Knight class is the Active (+) class, meaning that they purposefully wield their aspect in the service of others. The Heart aspect deals with emotion, intuition, souls, and identity, basically everything to do with the Self.
So, a Knight of Heart is someone who uses their own emotions/identity to help others or helps others with their emotions/identity. This individual uses their compassion to make things happen, working tirelessly to defend the identities of others and even exploiting the desires and emotions of others to their advantage. They know exactly what to say or do in order to manipulate the emotions of the people around them because of their innate empathy.
Like all Knights, the Knight of Heart hides behind many masks due to the self-splintering nature of the Heart aspect, meaning they tend to shift their personality based on who they are interacting with. The Knight of Heart does this to conceal their insecurities about their deeper emotions, potentially even suppressing their personal sense of self. Overall, they help others accept their true selves and fight against inauthenticity.
I think this description fits Joker perfectly, though I understand wanting to type him as one of the Taker classes (he is technically a Thief of Heart). As a silent protagonist, Joker’s personality is kind of like a connect-the-dots drawing, except all the dots are unnumbered, so everyone is connecting the same ideas in different ways to make a unique picture. My personal interpretation of him is a guy who hides behind a cool, comedic facade, but is dedicated to helping others with their emotional problems and driven by a rebellious sense of justice. I think all of this aligns with the Knight class’s workaholism towards and deep insecurity surrounding their aspect. Additionally, Joker’s classpect fits with the powers he has in the game. A Knight of Heart can wield their own personality and soul, which is the literal definition of a Persona. Those with the Heart aspect also have the ability to splinter their souls, which aligns perfectly with Joker’s wildcard status, as he is able to hold, like, a hundred persona masks at a time.
Goro Akechi - PRINCE of LIGHT
“One who destroys Light or destroys through Light for themself.”
The Prince class is the Active (-) class meaning that they purposefully destroy their aspect or use their aspect to destroy, ghosting their opposite aspect in the process. The Light aspect describes information, luck, agency, and relevance.
A Prince of Light, then, would destroy information, importance, and luck in the service of themselves, taking all meaning away from their target and reducing its influence in the eyes of others. They can also use their own knowledge and importance as a tool to achieve their own agenda, often aggrandizing their own importance to a story. This is a secretive person, concealing their true knowledge through lies, misdirection, and manipulation in order to assert their own relevance.
As a Prince, this classpect struggles against their inflated ego, stubbornly committing to reaching their goals no matter the cost. They hold themselves to too high a standard, flipping between self-hatred and massive pride. Combined with the Light aspect, the Prince of Light hides their true intentions until it's too late, appointing themselves as the righteous judge on who and what deserves meaning and agency. They can destroy themselves through their own Light, their overabundant knowledge and importance causing their downfall when their luck runs out.
I think this classpect speaks for itself. Most people who I’ve seen classpect Akechi have unanimously agreed that he’s a Prince. He is the definition of destructive, self or otherwise. What’s funny though is that everybody has a different interpretation of what exactly Akechi destroys… I even used to think he was a Prince of Blood, destroying bonds, connections, and promises. However, Akechi embodies the Light aspect and I could go on and on about how details of Akechi’s entire character match insanely well to the Prince of Light classpect.
His all-out-attack finishers go from “My sole interest is uncovering the truth” to “I decide the truth”. His inverted classpect is a Sylph of Void, “one who heals Void or heals through Void for others”, which fits with his work upholding secrets in service of Shido’s conspiracy. Akechi’s Black Mask outfit conceals his entire body and face from view. He constantly hides what he truly feels under layers of lies and hidden meanings in order to prevent anyone from understanding his true self. His entire revenge plot boiled down to destroying Shido’s reputation. He destroyed his own importance and agency when he sacrificed himself in the engine room, becoming irrelevant to the public after his death and disappearing from the vanilla game’s narrative. I mean, my god, his in-game title is the PRINCE Detective, a job that revolves around uncovering truth, meaning, and knowledge. Need I say more? (I could but we’re going to move on.)
Sumire Yoshizawa - MAID of HEART
“One who creates Heart or creates through Heart for themself.”
The Maid class is the Passive (-) class, meaning that they passively wield, and even embody, their aspect to make it for themself. Again, the Heart aspect deals with emotion, intuition, souls, and identity, basically everything to do with the Self.
The Maid of Heart is an individual who is able to make emotions/identity for themselves and is, metaphorically, made up of Heart. All Maids start out relying on others for their aspect, so the Maid of Heart is an individual who lets others dictate their feelings and entire sense of self. They would define themselves through their relationships, allowing their loved ones to decide who they are and what they want in life. The Maid’s total complacency towards their own souls means they’d initially hide their true personality, conforming to the passions of others while neglecting what they truly desire.
As they progress, the Maid of Heart would start learning how to be independent, gradually shaping their identity and expressing their emotions, passions, and true self to the world. Once they broke free of their reliance on others, the Maid of Heart would become motivated by passion and love, creating their aspect of Heart by sharing their own. Others would be swept up by the force of which the Maid creates, whether that be literal souls or extreme, passionate feelings that range from love to hate. Through accepting every facet of themselves, the Maid of Heart is able to indirectly help others more easily act on their desires and forge a stronger sense of self.
I feel like this aligns very well with Sumire’s struggle during Persona 5 Royal. She had defined herself in comparison to Kasumi, and her death robbed Sumire of the person she relied on her for identity. I think Maruki’s actualization represents Sumire’s inversion into a Bard of Mind, “one who decays Mind or decays through Mind for others”. She passively allowed her mind to be destroyed, losing the choice to accept her sister's death and instead replacing her individuality with her perception of Kasumi. Sumire’s desperation to stay in the false reality reflects this inversion as well, as she’d originally rather stay in blissful ignorance than make the painful choice to be herself. Additionally, her actualization also fits with her powers as a Maid of Heart, as she brought her sister’s soul back to life in a sense by adopting a false persona.
Sumire’s second awakening and social link during Third Semester were her first steps into becoming what would be a godtier Maid of Heart in Sburb. Another thing I like about this classpect for her is that the Heart aspect fits with Sumire’s tendency to merge with people she admires, both Joker and Kasumi, and adopt their characteristics. I think it's cute and funny that she would have the same aspect as Joker, (especially since she’s the only other Heart player in my au), because it parallels her having a matching metaverse outfit with Joker in the game!
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Those were my main thoughts for the three in terms of classpects. Homestuck is a pretty daunting piece of fiction for me, so I'm honestly kind of nervous trying to figure out details of this au. I'm better at personality typing than planning out a whole Sburb session, but I do have a couple ideas I wanna share out! Hopefully, people who are more familiar with the nitty gritty parts of Sburb sessions can give me some inspiration!
Anyways, I’m pretty much 99.9% certain about these typings, but feel free to comment what you think. I love seeing the different interpretations of character classpects. Next post, I’ll be explaining what I typed for Ryuji, Ann, and Yusuke!
