Kouetsu Kirijo

Kouetsu Kirijo is a character in Persona 3. He is the grandfather of Mitsuru Kirijo and the former head of the Kirijo Group, responsible for many of the game's events.

Appearances

 * Persona 3 / FES / Portable
 * Persona 4 Arena / Ultimax

Personality
Kouetsu was obsessed with Shadows and wanted to harness their powers. Over the years, after experimenting on Shadows, his mind eventually embraced.

Persona 3
Kouetsu Kirijo is the father of Takeharu Kirijo and the grandfather of Mitsuru Kirijo. He was once the head of the Kirijo Group before his death.

In 1995, Kouetsu began the experimentation of Shadows in order to learn and harness their powers to create a time manipulation device. He assembled a team of top scientists and for several years he was able to obtain a significant amount of Shadows.

Over the years he became a nihilist and began preparing for the Fall, viewing death as deliverance.

However, in 1999, during the final stages of the experiment, they lost control of the Shadows' power. He and the rest of the scientists lost their lives during the accident.

Etymology

 * The name Kouetsu means "large bird, wild goose, large, great, powerful, prosperous" (鴻) (kou) and "joy, pleased" (悦) (etsu).
 * Kouetsu's surname Kirijo means "paulownia" (桐) (kiri) and "article" (条) (jo).
 * Paulownia is called Empress Tree or Princess Tree in Japan. It was once customary to plant a Paulownia tree when a baby girl was born. There is a Paulownia Mall in the game which the Kirijo Group apparently built.

Trivia

 * According to the Persona 3 Club Book, Kouetsu originally came across a Plume of Dusk and amassed a collection, intending to research them for benevolent purposes. The knowledge he gained about Nyx, however, eventually drove him mad.