Velvet Room



The Velvet Room is a room located between consciousness and subconsciousness which is commonly featured in the Persona series.

Appearances

 * Megami Ibunroku Persona
 * Megami Ibunroku Persona (Manga)
 * Persona 2: Innocent Sin
 * Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
 * Persona: Tsumi to Batsu
 * Persona 3 / FES / Portable
 * Persona 3 (Manga)
 * A Certain Day of Summer
 * Persona 3 The Movie
 * Persona 3 Em
 * Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight
 * Persona 4 / Golden
 * Persona 4 (Manga)
 * Persona 4 The Animation / Golden Animation
 * Persona 4 Arena / Ultimax
 * Persona 4: Dancing All Night
 * Persona 5 / Royal
 * Persona 5 (Manga)
 * Persona 5 The Animation The Day Breakers
 * Persona 5 The Animation
 * Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight
 * Persona 5 Strikers
 * Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth
 * Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth

Profile
The Velvet Room often manifests itself differently in the game, but it is always covered in blue velvet and hosted by Igor. The purpose of the Velvet Room is always to manage Personas and use them in fusion. The room is invisible to all except those with high spiritual sensitivity. In Persona 3, Igor states that only those who have formed a contract can be guests. Just like the Cathedral of Shadows, the Velvet Room usually cannot fuse Personas that are higher than the protagonist's current level, although it can be surpassed in some later games, such as by paying the attendants after a certain Confidant rank in Persona 5.

The method of summoning Personas in the Velvet Room significantly changes throughout the series. In Persona, Igor uses his telephone to call the realm of unconsciousness, listens to a sad story from the other end which makes him cry, and the flood of emotion creates a rift that combines the two demons into the Persona. In Persona 2, the Tarot Cards give power to the phone, which, combined with Belladonna's singing and Nameless' music, summons the Persona directly. For Persona 3 and Persona 4, Igor performs an arcane ritual that fuses a certain number of Persona cards together to create a new one, which summons a Persona within the protagonist's soul. In Persona 5, Igor does not perform any fusions himself; instead, Caroline and Justine place the chosen Personas into guillotines, decapitating them and releasing energy that forms into the new Persona. During a fusion accident, the guillotines become stuck, resulting in Caroline beheading the Personas with a chainsaw.

Megami Ibunroku Persona
The Velvet Room is housed in the Sun Mall, Joy Street, the Black Market and can be found in dungeons throughout the game. It appears as a room with blue velvet carpet and curtains covering the walls. Servants of Philemon, Igor, Nameless and Belladonna, are found playing piano and singing opera respectively.

Persona 2
In both Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment, the Velvet Room is run by Igor, who is a servant of Philemon. Other servants of Philemon who resided in the room, including Nameless and Belladonna return from Persona along with the addition of the Demon Painter. The Velvet Room appears as a room draped in blue velvet with a piano and a microphone which resides on a stage in the center of the room, and it is accessible through every large mall in Sumaru City, of which there is one in virtually every major district.

Aside from Persona summoning and management, the Velvet Room is used for story purposes when people like Ulala Serizawa are taken there during the events of Eternal Punishment to recover from the infection of the Joker curse. In the EX Dungeon mode, the Velvet Room also functions as the base for switching party members. In the PSP remake of Eternal Punishment, each chapter of the additional scenario can be accessed from there by talking to Igor after the player has progressed the main plot at certain point.

Persona 3
The Velvet Room appears as an elevator that is endlessly ascending and can only be accessed by the protagonist. The room's appearance as an elevator can be considered as a reference to SEES' ascension in Tartarus throughout the game. The room is still run by Igor; however, he makes no reference to being a servant of Philemon. The protagonist gains access to the Velvet Room after signing a contract with a child. Igor mentions that a long time has passed since he had a visitor. The other denizens are now gone, however, Igor has a new assistant named Elizabeth. Elizabeth would later mention that those who set foot in the Velvet Room are bound to be on a quest in search for themselves. When the protagonist creates "The Universe," the Velvet Room will stop ascending and the door to the elevator will fly open. The Velvet Room entrances can be found in Paulownia Mall below Karaoke Bar Mandragora at Tatsumi Port Island while the other can be found in Tartarus' first floor.

Portable
The Velvet Room has the same role as in Persona 3, and can only be accessed by either protagonist. The only difference this time is that the player can choose Igor's assistant, Theodore or Elizabeth, if the player is using the female protagonist.

The Answer
The Velvet Room plays a larger role in Persona 3 FES. In the playable epilogue, The Answer, Aigis is given access to the Velvet Room and its services after being visited by a blue butterfly. It is in the Velvet Room where she learns about the protagonist's unique ability. From time to time, Elizabeth would try to cheer up Aigis from her grief regarding the protagonist's death.

Persona Mobile Online
In this mobile version of Persona (stylized mostly after Persona 3), the Velvet Room is where players use their Arcana Points to access new and stronger Persona of their respective Arcana.

Persona 4
The Velvet Room appears as the interior of a limousine. Igor is still present and he has a new assistant named Margaret. It seems that the "limousine" is cruising along an unknown path through a dense fog, mirroring the situation over at the protagonist's own world.

Other than the protagonist, once, a Shadow managed to make an appearance in the Velvet Room. This prompted Igor to suggest that any creation with a powerful ego will be able to appear there; soon after this realization, the limousine moved again, this time on a definite path, with Igor remarking they were finally leaving the fog. The Velvet Room entrances can be found in Inaba's South Central Shopping District between Daidara Metalworks and Yomenaido Bookstore while the other can be found in the Midnight Channel's "Entrance Hall."

Golden
The Velvet Room's purpose and appearance is much the same as the original Persona 4, except it adds a new character Marie, who manages skill cards and allows the player to give cards to her to store and later repurchase. In addition, this is the location where the Aeon Social Link is able to be formed with Marie, and the location that she can be found to engage in her social link.

Persona 4 Arena
The Velvet Room appears as the Character Select screen. Margaret stands beside Igor, who lays out his Tarot cards for the player, each Arcana corresponding to one of the 13 playable characters. In the game's Story Mode, the Room takes its usual form of a limousine interior or an elevator (in Aigis' Story Mode), while the character select version is a large dining hall where Igor sits on a sofa. In Aigis' story mode, the room appears as an elevator once more.

In the console versions, the Velvet Room is also the Network Mode menu. It is the same as the character select screen, with the exception of Margaret giving you your options of Ranked Match, Player Match, etc. as though you were in the request or Persona fusion menu. You may also change aspects of your profile, such as your custom title.

The Velvet Room is also an important location in Elizabeth, Aigis and Yu Narukami's story modes. Elizabeth and Margaret still watch over their former guests, and will intervene whenever they are about to make dangerous mistakes.

Arena Ultimax
The Velvet Room appears once more in the Character Select screen. In the game's story mode, the Velvet Room is seen its two different forms depending on the story mode. In the Persona 4 story mode, it takes the usual limousine interior while in the Persona 3 story mode, it is seen as an elevator.

In the prologue of the Persona 4 story mode, Igor and Margaret are seen talking to an unknown guest, later revealed to be Sho Minazuki, who refuses the contract and walks out of the Velvet Room. However, Igor states that Sho is destined to form a contract with them to refine his power, and will eventually return when that time comes. Margaret notes that Elizabeth is likely to become a visitor of the Velvet Room in the true ending.

Persona 4: Dancing All Night
The Velvet Room changed into a dance stage instead of a limousine.
 * Soundtrack:"Electronica In Velvet Room," "Break Out of..."
 * Dancer: Margaret, and Marie

Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth
In P3's story Igor has currently left the room for that day, leaving it unstable. Theodore has been tasked to help his sister with aiding guests as a result. The raging storm outside of the room, along with its lack of a master is mentioned to have an unpredictable result, with SEES being brought into the room as room itself sends them all to the alternate Yasogami High.

In P4's story, it is revealed that the Fortune Telling Booth Margaret opened during the Yasogami High Festival is a simplified version of the Velvet Room. Margaret notices that time is unstable and that, somehow, the Investigation Team's presence affected the place. The once small room is transformed into a vast space with huge velvet blue stairs and rotating gears, along with two mysterious locked doors with four keyholes.

The protagonists of both routes are mentioned to have told their friends about the Velvet Room and its purpose of giving them new Personas. Persona users with support abilities usually support the party from this room, allowing the Attendants to overhear conversations.

The Velvet Room being in the form of a platform with stairs and rotating gears is mirroring and foreshadowing the Clock Tower within the alternate Yasogami High, showing how important the Clock Tower is to Rei since it symbolizes as the key figure of the school to her and how it became the final labyrinth for the Investigation Team and SEES, along with Zen, where the Clockwork God is waiting with Rei, imprisoned by him.

Persona 5
The Velvet Room appears as a prison, with the protagonist shown in a prisoner outfit, complete with handcuffs, and locked in a cell. Igor is shown with two new assistants, Caroline and Justine, who act as prison guards while Igor himself sits at the warden's desk. The room's appearance mirrors how the protagonist and the other Phantom Thieves of Hearts feel imprisoned by the rules and expectations of society and turn to criminal acts to fulfill their desires for freedom.

At the end of the game, it is revealed that the Igor that has been assisting the protagonist is actually Yaldabaoth, who had imprisoned the real Igor and split his assistant, Lavenza, into the amnesiac Caroline and Justine. The Velvet Room is revealed to have been fused with Mementos as a result, and has been used by Yaldabaoth to sponsor the protagonist into committing Metaverse crimes as a part of his rigged "experiment" to prove that humanity will drive themselves to ruin and the only solution is to have him revoke their free thought. Having a maxed Confidant rank with Caroline and Justine established will reward the protagonist with the Jail Key final day gift item from Lavenza. According to her, that key is normally the same one that is given to the protagonist on the first day in the Velvet Room.

The Velvet Room entrances in Tokyo are guarded by Caroline and can be found in Shibuya, Shinjuku and Akihabara. The entrances in Palaces are guarded by Justine and can be found at the entrance of each Palace.

In the Qliphoth World, the Velvet Room's jail cell is open and the protagonist is no longer in his prisoner outfit when he appears there, but he is still unable to exit the cell completely. Lavenza stands next to the cell and when a Persona fusion is ordered, she will perform the executions required to fuse the Personas.

Royal
After Yaldabaoth's defeat, Lavenza and the real Igor continue to supervise the Velvet Room in the Third Semester, providing the protagonist with the same services as before. The protagonist is also no longer in prison garb upon entering it in the Metaverse. Additionally, there is another entrance available in Kichijoji.

Persona 5 Strikers
Unlike in the previous Persona 5 spinoffs, Lavenza is now the sole attendant of the protagonist, as Igor seems to be absent. While the protagonist is in a prisoner outfit and locked inside the prison once again, he is not held by handcuffs.

Lavenza briefs the protagonist about ongoing events in the cities the Phantom Thieves travel to across Japan in a more explicit fashion (such as referring to targets by name instead of clues), though she doesn't divulge too much information, as is part of her station. Lavenza will also expand the various functions in the Velvet Room as the Phantom Thieves travel from city to city, toppling their Monarchs.

She now uses s instead of guillotines for her fusion process due to Igor's absence. During a fusion accident, which is warned by players being unable to skip the fusion cutscene, the maidens eyes glow red, then after the doors close, streaks of energy poking out of the maidens as they begin to rupture, then explode into smithereens in a reminiscent manner to a Megidolaon, causing a steel nut to comically bounce off her head as she stares impassively at the resultant explosion that otherwise provided a light breeze for her, completely unfazed by the object that falls on her head.

Unique to Strikers is the Persona Enhancement service, otherwise noted as Mask Fusion, which allows players to enhance a Persona of their choice by spending Persona Points obtained either by obtaining Personas in Jails, deleting Personas from Joker's Persona stock, or by fusing Personas. Initially only able to level up Personas up to Joker's current level, Lavenza will allow manual stat increases with Persona Points following Zenkichi Hasegawa's Awakening to Valjean in the Kyoto Jail.

Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth
The Velvet Room is located in the staff room of the Cinema in the game. The party first notices a strange presence in the staff room, in which they all believed that it was danger. Morgana tries to open the staff room door but it was abnormally tight. He managed to open the door and Caroline and Justine springs out from it. The other siblings and Marie can be found inside the room as well. Unlike most other games, anyone can enter the Velvet Room, including non-Persona users such as Hikari and Nagi, although only the P5 hero uses its services. This is also the first Velvet Room where Igor isn't mentioned by anyone.

It takes the form of a theater, and only Margaret, the twins and Marie take permanent residence in the room while Elizabeth and Theo manage the other services in the Cinema. When a fusion is ordered, the twins put the Persona films into the projector and the two projections close in together. They make a dance and the two films merge into a new Persona. When a fusion accident occurs, Justine will topple herself right on top of Margaret and spills her popcorn, which angers her and she drops Justine back to finish the dance, resulting in a different Persona.

Denizens of the Velvet Room

 * Igor: Igor appears the most out of all Velvet Room residents, only not appearing in Q series, the Dancing games, and Persona 5 Strikers. Igor claims to be a servant of Philemon, and he typically handles fusion.
 * Nameless: The piano player who appears in Persona and Persona 2, he covers his eyes while playing the piano.
 * Belladonna: Belladonna is a soprano singer who accompanies Nameless' music. She covers her ears while singing.
 * Demon Painter: The demon painter only appears in Persona 2. He can convert free tarot cards into cards of another arcana. He is modeled after Kazuma Kaneko.
 * Elizabeth: Elizabeth is Igor's assistant in Persona 3. She handles the Persona Compendium and offers the protagonist optional quests.
 * Theodore: Theodore is Igor's male assistant and the younger brother of Elizabeth, appearing in Persona 3 Portable. He handles the same duties as Elizabeth and will only appear when playing as the female protagonist.
 * Margaret: Margaret appears as Igor's assistant in Persona 4, and is Elizabeth's older sister, having taken over her role. She also handles the Persona compendium. She also represents the Empress Social Link, which entails completing requests of Persona with specific abilities, as well as handling the Fusion Forecast in return.
 * Marie: Marie is an apprentice in Persona 4 Golden. She is tasked with transactions related to Skill Cards. She also represents the Aeon Social Link.
 * Caroline and Justine: Two young twins appear as Igor's two assistants in Persona 5. They perform the executions required to fuse Personas, create items, and strengthen Personas. Justine handles the Persona compendium. They also represent the Strength Confidant, in which the protagonist is required to bring them Personas with certain abilities, in return for new features within the Velvet Room.
 * Lavenza: The combined and true form of Caroline and Justine. She continues to offer the same features that Caroline and Justine did. In Strikers, she will offer requests detailing Personas with certain abilities, hunting for Shadows, or refights with certain bosses.

Music
The Velvet Room has a distinct music theme titled "Poem of Everyone's Soul", also known in English as "Aria of the Soul" or "Hymn of the Soul." The same melody is rearranged not only for the Velvet Room in the series, but also for the ending theme of Megami Ibunroku Persona and second to final battle theme of Persona 3, etc.

The background music of Velvet Room in Persona 2: Innocent Sin includes other classical pieces alongside the re-arranged "Aria of the Soul." These are Debussy's "" and Satie's "." Persona 2: Eternal Punishment includes Beethoven's "" (known as "Pathétique") first half of first movement and J.S. Bach's "" (also used in Gouma-Den of Devil Summoner and Soul Hackers) in addition but removed "Clair de Lune." All of these pieces are selected each time the player enters the Velvet Room, in a fixed order.

It is found on the Persona 3 Original Soundtrack, the Persona 4 Original Soundtrack, the Persona 5 Original Soundtrack and the Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Original Soundtrack, as well as a version of the aria found on Burn My Dread -Reincarnation: Persona 3-. The melody was also remixed as The Battle for Everyone's Souls, which serves as the penultimate final battle theme of Persona 3 and as Elizabeth's theme in ''Persona 4 Arena.  There is another version remixed for Margaret in Persona 4 Arena. In addition, there are currently two other versions that have been included in the respective game OSTs of Persona 3 and Persona 4 called Blues in Velvet Room and Electronica in Velvet Room, which were also featured in Persona 4 Arena'' as background themes for the character select screen. A short version of the track called "Aria of the Soul (Signing Off)" is also played in the Game Over of the game. There is also The Bond of Everyone's Souls from Persona 4 The Animation as well as Dance Hymn of the Soul (Disco in Velvet Room) in Persona 4: Dancing All Night. The track was given a remix in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as well, incorporating elements from its various appearances in the Persona series.


 * Music

Gallery

 * Denizens of the Velvet Room

Trivia

 * The concept and name of the Velvet Room is derived from the story, "." The story features a series of seven rooms representing the different stages of life, with the final room which precedes death being known as the "Velvet Room."
 * In this room, the main character of the story, Prince Prospero, meets his death. There is a possible allusion to this from Persona 3 onwards, where the room is featured in Game Over sequences.
 * The Velvet Room bears a strong aesthetic and thematic resemblance to The Black Lodge from Twin Peaks, or at least the lodge's own 'velvet room' that plays an important role in the series.
 * The Velvet Room's license plate number in Persona 4 is CH-8700. This is most likely a reference to Küsnacht, Zurich (.ch is the country code for Switzerland, 8700 is the Küsnacht postal code), the location of the Institute that Jung himself founded and administered until his death.
 * With the exception of Demon Painter, it is strongly implied that most of the denizens of the Velvet Room are not human.
 * Igor's assistants typically talk about humans as a different and foreign species.
 * Theodore is shown to be able to drink a can of machine oil with no ill effects.
 * In the manga adaptation of the first game, the room's name is misspelled as "Belbet Room."
 * According to Margaret, all those who enter the Velvet Room, including the residents, are those who are chosen by fate to undergo a "Journey" to find themselves. Elizabeth leaving the Velvet Room to free the protagonist of Persona 3 from being the Great Seal and supposedly abandoning this journey confused her, and is the motive behind her requests towards Yu Narukami.
 * Persona 5 marks the first time where the Velvet Room is used for the goals of a primary antagonistic fraction, as the conductor of the Conspiracy and the events of the game, Yaldabaoth, impersonated Igor and took it over, controlling its denizens and merging it with Mementos.
 * The Velvet Room as it appears in Megami Ibunroku Persona has the exact same floor and curtains of the Red Room from the TV show Twin Peaks, except blue.
 * The bad ending where the protagonist takes Sae Niijima's deal in Persona 5 is the only one where the Velvet Room remains. (During any other Persona bad ending, the Velvet Room presumably forsaken humanity.) This foreshadows that the protagonist's Velvet Room in Persona 5 was compromised for that time.
 * In later Persona games starting from Persona 5, being defeated by a Velvet Room attendant will not cause the Game Over screen to appear.
 * According to Lavenza in Thieves Den, the attendant of the Velvet Room is forbidden from sitting on Igor's seat. This applies in Strikers, where Lavenza can be seen standing next to the Velvet Room instead of sitting on Igor's seat despite Igor being absent.

Appearances in Other Media

 * A remixed version of "Aria of the Soul," which usually plays in the Velvet Room, also appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as part of the first DLC pack with Joker. In situations like the Igor and Caroline and Justine Spirit Battles, and a segment in Joker's classic mode, the Kalos Pokémon League stage (without stage transformations) with "Aria of the Soul" is used to in place of the Velvet Room.