Draft:Igor (Persona)

Igor (イゴール) is a major recurring character in Persona, a role-playing video game series by Atlus. He every game of the series, he acts as the attendant of the Velvet Room, a location within the protagonist's dream. Typically accompanied by an assistant, he acts as a guide to the protagonist's journey, providing insight on how to reach the goal he is destined to find, as well as perform Persona fusions, which allows the protagonist to fuse multiple of his Personas into a new, stronger one. He also encourages the protagonist to go out into the world and form bonds with those most close and beneficial to him to strengthen his Personas even more.

Appearances
In all of the main series Persona games, Igor's main role in the Velvet Room is to fuse the protagonist's Personas into stronger ones, though the method of doing so varies between games. In Revelations: Persona, Persona 2: Innocent Sin, and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, he uses a phone to call up the spirits of the Personas. In Persona 3 and Persona 4, he instead uses cards to perform fusions. In Persona 5, his assistants perform fusions through an execution using a guillotine.

Igor's role is drastically different in Persona 5, as Igor himself is actually absent for a majority of the game. Prior to the game's events, the Velvet Room was invaded by a godly being named Yaldabaoth. Igor was taken captive by Yaldabaoth, who then took over the Velvet Room while donning Igor's appearance. This disguise is whom the protagonist interacts with for most of the game. After Lavenza is brought back, she and the protagonist confront "Igor", who then reveals his true identity (while also revealing that he is the Holy Grail that the Phantom Thieves fought at the Depths of Mementos) and intentions. After he departs from the Velvet Room, the real Igor reappears and assists with the protagonist's journey once more.

Apart from his much deeper voice, there are several other indicators throughout the game that foreshadow Igor's true identity prior to its actual revelation:
 * When the protagonist enters the Velvet Room for the first time, Igor says "Welcome to my Velvet Room", rather than, "Welcome to the Velvet Room," like in previous games.
 * Igor's posture is different than in previous games, resting his head on his hand while crossing his legs.
 * Igor has a Confidant in this game, whereas he never had a Social Link in Persona 3 or Persona 4.
 * Igor himself does not perform fusions in this game, instead having his assistants handling them.

In each game, the Velvet Room is a location within the protagonist's dream clad in blue that takes on a different appearance, and Igor is accompanied by several different assistants:
 * In Revelations: Persona and Persona 2, the Velvet Room resembles a large blue room. Igor is accompanied by Nameless, a blindfolded pianist, and Belladonna, an opera singer who covers her ears. They respective play the instrumental and sing the vocals to Aria of the Soul, the Velvet Room's theme. In Persona 2, they are joined by the Demon Painter.
 * In Persona 3, the Velvet Room resembles an elevator, representing the journey of S.E.E.S as they make their way to the top of Tartarus. Igor's assistant in this game is Elizabeth, though if the player is playing the female route of Persona 3 Portable, she will instead be replaced by Theodore, a male resident who otherwise shares the same roles as Elizabeth.
 * In Persona 4, the Velvet Room takes place inside a limousine driving along foggy road, representing how the player must uncover the truth to find the way forward. He is accompanied by Margaret in this game, who works on the Persona compendium. In Persona 4 Golden, he is also accompanied by Marie, who is in charge of the player's skill cards.
 * In Persona 5, Igor's assistant was Lavenza. However, after Yaldabaoth attacked the Velvet Room, Lavenza was split into twin wardens Caroline and Justine, each of whom have no memories of the events that went down. Yaldabaoth then turns the Velvet Room's appearance into that of a prison, representing how the protagonist must "rehabilitate" himself in order to avoid ruin. Eventually, Caroline and Justine are merged back into Lavenza by having the protagonist perform an execution on them.

Portrayals
In the Japanese versions of Persona 3 and Persona 4, Igor was voiced by the late Isamu Tanonaka. After Tanonaka's death due to a heart attack in 2010, later appearances of Igor would continue to use archived voice lines by Tanonaka, including all Persona 4-related media borrowing his portrayals from the original game, all four installments of Persona 3 The Movie borrowing from Persona 3, and Persona 5 and its related media using a mix of voice lines from both Persona 3 and 4. In Persona 3 Reload, Igor is voiced by Bin Shimada.

In the English version of Persona 3 and Persona 4, Igor is voiced by Daniel Woren. Kirk Thornton provided his voice in Persona 5, a role that he would reprise in Persona 3 Reload.