The Hanged Man often has the reputation of being the ill omen of the tarot’s major arcana, and while the card isn’t inherently sinister, it represents trials, sacrifice, and the wisdom earned from both. So even though the Hanged-Man arcana is superficially associated with outlaws, its values more accurately apply to martyr figures. Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal feature Munehisa Iwai as the arcana’s confidant, the owner of the Shibuya’s model gun shop, Untouchables. As a representative of the Hanged Man, Iwai’s history with the yakuza represents hard won wisdom and underworld insight. And, as usual, his predicament represents a reversal of the Hanged Man’s virtues, which includes naivete and selfishness.
Despite Iwai’s yakuza experiences, he believes that he can outmaneuver his old rival, Tsuda, and keep his past a secret from his adopted son, Kaoru. In a sense, Iwai is trying to selfishly protect himself from Kaoru’s judgment, but frames his decision as a means of protecting Kaoru from the dangers of his past. Joker manages to sort things out with Tsuda via a change of heart, and his interactions help Iwai open up to Kaoru. The Persona series has a history of Hanged-Man confidants who are torn between two opposing forces, like fighting parents, or baseless guilt tugging at a survivor.
Most of the personas in the Hanged Man are based on demons, and they are notable for their high survivability and abilities that allow them to endure a gauntlet of abuse. If Joker seems fragile, adding a Hanged Man persona to his roster may help. Most of the mythology surrounding the personas also pertain to truly savage punishment or major league body horror, and the following stories are not for the squeamish.
According to Greek mythology, Hecatoncheires were monstrous triplets born from the union of the titans, Uranus and Gaia. Their names were Briareus (the vigorous), Cottus (the furious), and Gyges (the large-limbed), but they all shared the same distinction of being giants with fifty heads and one hundred arms apiece. The name Hecatoncheire literally translates to “hundred-handed ones.” At first blush, the lore behind them seems fairly standard; Greeks attributed earthquakes and tsunamis to their monstrous strength, as they supposedly dwell in the depths of Tartarus, and their absence from Hades is quite a missed opportunity.
Even though the Chariot, Emperor, and Justice personas have some grim histories, they pale in the face of the Hanged Man’s demonic offerings, and how the hundred-handed ones ended up in the underworld is quite a story. When the terrible triplets were born, their father, Uranus, immediately sensed their immense power and malignant nature. Sanitized accounts of the story describe Uranus immediately banishing his children to Tartarus, but another version of the story states that Uranus forcibly put them back into Gaia’s womb, and Gaia was subsequently banished to Tartarus through Cronus’ trickery. Zeus later frees the monsters from Tartarus in his war against the Titans.
It is unclear what forbidden knowledge Hecatoncheires is supposed to have received from their hardships, but they are consistent with Persona‘s themes for Hanged Man personas possessing major staying power and big league body horror.
Moloch is a famous demon whose name has become synonymous with evil, much like Lucifer and Satan. And for good reason. Moloch was an ancient Canaanite deity, condemned in the Old Testament as a false idol for his believers practicing ritualistic child sacrifice. There is actually an ongoing debate between religious theologians as to whether Moloch’s name refers to a specific deity, or the specific means of ritual sacrifice via fire. While extremely dark, even by Persona‘s transgressive standards, Moloch is a good thematic representative of the Hanged Man, as he would supposedly bless his followers with magical abilities, forbidden wisdom, and other deal-with-the-devil-grade rewards in exchange for their sacrifices.
Assuming Moloch referred to a specific entity, he is believed to be a male fertility deity, and may share a common root with other ancient deities dubbed abominations by Judaism, including Anamelech, and Adrammelek. Moloch is one of several demons appearing in Milton’s Paradise Lost as one of Lucifer’s defeated lieutenants in the war of rebellion against heaven. He is also believed to share a connection with the fallen angel, Belphegor, causally known as “The Toilet Demon” to Persona fans.
As if Persona did not have enough Freudian nightmares, the most powerful Hanged Man persona is Attis: a deity born from the castration of another deity, who later castrated himself, died, and in so doing achieved immortality. His origin story states the demon, Agdistis, possessed both male and female genitalia, but was castrated and became Cybele. Agdistis’ discarded organs grew into a almond tree. Then, a maiden named Nana picked an almond from the tree, placed it on her bosom, and the almond sank into her flesh and made her pregnant. Nana abandoned the baby, Attis, who was then raised by a he-goat. Then things get a bit strange.
Attis was devastatingly handsome, and fated to be married to the daughter of a king—by some accounts, King Midas—but before the marriage could be officiated, he saw Cybele, and was driven madly in love with her. So madly, that to prevent himself from being married to Midas’ daughter, he castrated himself, bled out, and died. But Cybele/Agdistis preserved Attis’ body, and declared that it would never suffer rot or decay. Thus, with a disturbing tragedy to rival The Last of Us 2, the mystery cult of Attis was born, and fittingly enough, its male adherents were eunuchs.
While not nearly as abhorrent as Moloch’s legacy of child sacrifice, the bizarre cycle of self-mutilation, Oedipal sexual attraction, and androgynous deities makes Attis a more fitting pick for Persona 5‘s representation of the Hanged Man. His character design conveys the sacrifice he represents in a surprisingly coy way, by showing a broken body, its separated limbs shroud in bands of cloth, like a mummy. It is hard to believe that Attis belongs to the same series as mascot characters like Morgana and Teddy, but Persona has never shied from strangeness.
Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal are available now for PlayStation 4.
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