When it comes to Persona, the series as a whole has a prolific history with many fans and for good reason. Originally a spin-off to the mainline Shin Megami Tensei, the five Persona games have done many things to make it earn its massive fanbase, whether it's the characters, themes, soundtrack or the Personas. But what is not talked about that much is the many different endings littered throughout the series.
While many are heartwarming, the bad ones can be really bad. Of course, to trigger them, they all have some pre-requisite conditions that some fans may have not known about. As such, here are the many bad endings within the Persona series and how to get them.
Author's Note: This list will not include the endings that are available if one doesn't finish the palaces/dungeons, as their activation is quite obvious. Also, spoilers ahead.
11 REVELATIONS: PERSONA - Answer Maki's Questions Wrong
Revelations: Persona is the start of everything, as it laid the groundwork for all the games that came after it. That includes the endings although in this case, it's a bit cryptic. To get the SEBEC Route Bad Ending, the player must answer a young Maki's questions. However, the answers must be wrong.
Giving the wrong answers will lead to the bad ending where it is strongly implied that the adult Maki is dead. With everything about the incident being known and the names of the students being hidden. Life continues to go on.
10 REVELATIONS: PERSONA - Don't Collect All The Shards
What some people may not know is that the first Persona actually has two different story routes. This allows the game to get a lot of replayability while also essentially having another game entirely.
Anyways, to get the Ice Queen Route Bad Ending, the player must not collect enough of the mirror shards. If Miss Saeko, the teacher, doesn't see her reflection from the mirror, then you get this bad ending that leads to the entire world all being engulfed in ice.
9 PERSONA 3 - Kill Ryoji
Persona 3's bad ending is pretty foreboding. For those that want context, Nyx is the representation of humanity's desire for death. In fact, death is the main theme of Persona 3.
As such, the player is approached by Ryoji who has since accepted his place as Thanatos and gives the player a choice around New Years. By killing Ryoji, the player postpones the fall and everyone forgets what just happened. As a result, everyone becomes ignorant and the inevitable is merely prolonged, and no one chooses to face death properly.
8 PERSONA 4 - Throw Namatame Into The TV World
This one is pretty straightforward but it happens later in the game. Some time after the Nanako palace in Persona 4, Nanako dies. It is at this point that the player has an ultimatum with the "murderer" Namatame, who is now in their hands.
If the player decides to push him into the TV World due to the Yosuke prompt, they get the worst ending possible. Here, not only is Nanako permanently dead but Teddie leaves and Namatame is killed for good. This creates not only the worst ending possible, but it has the cast kill the wrong person as well.
7 PERSONA 4 - Choose Not To Stay When Yosuke Asks
This ending is similar to the previous ending except it has a couple of significant differences. Everything is still the same except for one specific difference, and it is that when the Yosuke prompt shows up, the player chooses "I can't stay here" instead.
Essentially, this means that Nanako and Namatame are still alive but Teddie still leaves with the town of Inaba still covered in fog. Also, the murderer Tohru Adachi is still out there free.
6 PERSONA 4 - Make The Wrong Guess Three Times
So with this ending, everything that leads up to the good ending stays the same. The player picks the right decisions with Namatame and they all have to figure out who is the true culprit behind the murders. However, this is where the third bad ending takes place.
If the player decides to guess wrong three times on December 5, it will end with Nanako still alive but the entire town of Inaba is covered in fog, with the culprit never to be found.
5 PERSONA 4 GOLDEN - Become Adachi's Partner In Crime
This is a brand new ending that only shows up in Golden. Here, Nanako is alive and the player is aware that Tohru Adachi is the main villain of the game. However, instead of going against him the player joins him.
This only works if the player has been able to increase Adachi's social link to Level 6 before December 5. Then, follow the same steps as the previous entry but choose Adachi as the murderer. As a result, the player will be presented with the choice of protecting him or not. When given this choice, players must choose to protect Adachi to activate the Accomplice Ending.
4 PERSONA 5 - Finish All The Tasks Correctly Before Selling Your Friends Out
This is an ending one that can easily be missed or avoided, but after Sae's palace. If the player chooses to sell out their friends to Sae Nijima during the interrogation, it will generally lead to an ending similar to not finishing the palace, where Goro Akechi kills Joker.
The difference here is that unlike the other endings, the player has to finish everything correctly up to this point. The player's dialogue choices and options will determine when and where Sae brings up the option to sell out your friends while she interrogates you.
3 PERSONA 5 - Accept Igor's Offer
The Yaldabaoth ending occurs when Joker and his friends are sent to the velvet room. It is at this point that Lavenza has been fully reformed and "Igor" is revealed to be Yaldabaoth.
In this Persona 5 ending, Yaldabaoth gives the player the option of joining him so that the world will always have the Phantom Thieves in control. Accepting this paints the characters in a really selfish and villainous light, or at least Joker, since he controls everything.
2 PERSONA 5 ROYAL - Accept Maruki's False Reality
This only happens during the post-game or third semester of Persona 5 Royal. However, this can happen multiple times whenever the player talks to Maruki, the counselor who was prevalent throughout the game.
If the player accepts his reality and replaces the old one, they essentially create a perfect utopia that is an utter lie. Here, there are no more conflicts and everyone's desires come true but at the cost of free will and the truth. This is something that is both very messed up yet tragically understandable.
1 PERSONA 5 ROYAL - Fail & Sleep Forever
This one is a pretty serious ending that happens whenever the player can't finish the palace of the post-game. Since the interrogation no longer happens, the story instead cuts to Joker being placed back in the school in his prisoner clothes, with Maruki telling him not to worry anymore.
This leads to what is presumably Joker sleeping forever in his bed as everything in the dust settles. This is not only incredibly sad but it is also very messed up, given how everything was handled and how Joker chooses to react to it.