Mara

Mara is a Demon in the Megami Tensei franchise.

Profile

Origin

Māra (Sanskrit: मारdeath; killing; obstacle, romanized māra, Japanese: 魔羅, Hepburn mara) is a malignant figure in Buddhist lore. He is the embodiment of the forces that oppose enlightenment: greed, hatred, earthly desires, and the cycle of rebirth.

Design

Mara is a giant green phallus with tentacles that, in most games, sits in a yellow chariot. The phallic design is based on how Mara's name is used in Japanese as a word for "penis."^[1]

Gameplay

For complete gameplay information, see Gameplay:Mara.

Compendium

Compendium Entries
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey	A Hindu demon that represents fear of death. She tempted the Buddha during his meditations. She gave birth to the Mares and Mora, powerful demons of darkness.
Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse	A Hindu demon that represents fear of death. She tempted the Buddha during his meditations. She gave birth to the Mares and Mora, powerful demons of darkness.
Shin Megami Tensei V	A Buddhist demon that represents the fear of death. Also known as "The Evil One," he sent his daughters to tempt Buddha during his meditations.
Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon	A Hindu demon that represents fear of death. He tempted the Buddha during his meditations. Originally, Mara was a fearsome goddess who drained her victims of their essence during the night.
Persona 3 Reload	A Buddhist demon that represents the fear of death. Also known as "The Evil One," he sent his daughters to tempt Buddha during his meditations.
Persona 4	An Eastern demon lord who tempted Buddha during his training. He is a master of fear, and his immense power reaches to every part of the globe. His distant offspring includes Mare and Mora.
Persona 5	A Buddhist demon that represents the fear of death. Also known as "The Evil One," he sent his daughters to tempt Buddha during his meditations.
Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth	An Eastern demon lord who tempted Buddha during his training. He is the master of fear, and his immense power reaches to every part of the globe. His distant offspring includes Mare and Mora.

Game Appearances

Shin Megami Tensei II

Mara is the master of Chokmah Tower. At the end of the tower he will test Aleph, offering him 999,999 Macca, then offering him ten free levels, then finally offering to give him the world. Should Aleph accept any of these offers, he will be inflicted with paralysis, and then be attacked. If Aleph refuses all three, Mara will call him wise for not giving in to desire, then attack him regardless. If Aleph is on the Chaos path, and has 15 or more points in his intelligence stat, Mara will let him through without a fight.

Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey

On the Chaos route, if the Protagonist visits Grendel's room in Sector Grus with Grendel still alive, he will be told to go meet a beautiful goddess residing in the room Maya had inhabited. When he goes to meet this supposed goddess however, he is greeted by Mara, who admits he used to be a goddess and jokingly offers to shapeshift into one to charm the protagonist. If Grendel was killed, Mara will contact the Protagonist telepathically to come to him and will not mention his previous goddesshood. In either case, Mara informs the Protagonist of a threat to the world of chaos they are trying to create, that being a congregation of angels in Sector Horologium, but as his own form is not stable enough to deal with them, Mara asks the Protagonist to put a stop to the angels' plans in exchange for a gun and his services as an ally, which begins the "Mara's Desire" EX Mission. When the Protagonist defeats the Seraph created by the angels, the mission completes, with Mara appearing right after. Though a little disappointed that he could not deal with the angels himself, he congratulates the Protagonist and rewards him with the Peacemaker, and then joins his party.

Alternatively, on the Law route, the Seraph gives the Protagonist the EX Mission "Evil's Lingering Shadow," where it asks that he go slay Mara. Upon confronting Mara, the demon crudely teases the Protagonist and claims that through his charms, all of his kind will "climax" and die. He then proceeds to attack the party and be defeated.

Trivia

Not counting the Treasure Demons, Mara is one of only two Personas in Persona 5 not to appear in Persona 5 Tactica. The other is Legion.
In Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, Mara's compendium entry refers to him as female. This is a localization error, however. This error originates from the Mara's Desire Ex Mission in Strange Journey, as Grendel mistakenly calls Mara a goddess, and though Mara admits to formerly being a goddess, the localization team likely misunderstood this as him currently being a goddess and put this in the compendium entry, which was carried over to the subsequent games.^[2]
There is leftover unused data for Mara as a demon in Shin Megami Tensei: Nine.

Nomenclature

Names in Other Languages
Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	マーラ Māra	Mara
	そびえる煩悩大王Persona 5 Royal ("Throbbing" Shadow) Sobieru Bonnō Daiō	Towering King of Kleshas
	ちぎれた煩悩大王Persona 5 Royal ("Torn" Shadow) Chigireta Bonnō Daiō	Torn King of Kleshas
Simplified Chinese	魔罗 Móluó	Mara
	挺立的烦恼大王Persona 5 Royal ("Throbbing" Shadow) Tǐnglì de Fánnǎo Dàwáng	King of Kleshas Standing Erect
	断裂的烦恼大王Persona 5 Royal ("Torn" Shadow) Duànliè de Fánnǎo Dàwáng	Ruptured King of Kleshas
Traditional Chinese	魔羅 Móluó	Mara
	挺立的煩惱大王Persona 5 Royal ("Throbbing" Shadow) Tǐnglì de Fánnǎo Dàwáng	King of Kleshas Standing Erect
	斷裂的煩惱大王Persona 5 Royal ("Torn" Shadow) Duànliè de Fánnǎo Dàwáng	Ruptured King of Kleshas
French	Mara	Mara
	Roi du Désir lancinantPersona 5 Royal ("Throbbing" Shadow)	Painful King of Desire
	Roi du Désir déchiréPersona 5 Royal ("Torn" Shadow)	Torn King of Desire
German	Mara	Mara
	Pulsierender LustkönigPersona 5 Royal ("Throbbing" Shadow)	Throbbing King of Desire
	Schwabbeliger LustkönigPersona 5 Royal ("Torn" Shadow)	Flabby King of Desire
Italian	Mara	Mara
	Svettante re dei desideriPersona 5 Royal ("Throbbing" Shadow)	Towering King of Desires
	Straziato re dei desideriPersona 5 Royal ("Torn" Shadow)	Tormented King of Desires
Korean	마라 Mara	Mara
	우뚝 솟은 번뇌煩惱의 대왕大王Persona 5 Royal ("Throbbing" Shadow) Uttuk Soseun Beonnoe-ui Daewang	Towering King of Kleshas
	갈갈이 찢긴 번뇌煩惱의 대왕大王Persona 5 Royal ("Torn" Shadow) Galgari Jjitgin Beonnoe-ui Daewang	Torn King of Kleshas
Polish	Mara	Mara
Brazilian Portuguese	Mara	Mara
Russian	Мара Mara	Mara
Spanish	Mara	Mara
	Rey palpitante del deseoPersona 5 Royal ("Throbbing" Shadow)	Throbbing King of Desire
	Rey indeciso del deseoPersona 5 Royal ("Torn" Shadow)	Indecisive King of Desire
Turkish	Mara	Mara

Gallery

Censored artwork of Mara from the Chinese version of Persona 5: The Phantom X
Render for Persona 5
Render from Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth
Model of Mara from Persona 4 Golden
Model of Mara from Persona 3 Reload
Model of Mara's slime form from Persona 5 Royal
A Sprite of Mara from the PlayStation version of Shin Megami Tensei
A Sprite of Mara from the Mega-CD version of Shin Megami Tensei

Videos

Mara's Daily Demon Showcase for Shin Megami Tensei V

Mara's Daily Demon Showcase for Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance

References

↑ "玉茎房内經云玉茎男陰名也 [...] 一云麻良 [...]" Translation: "Penis: The Classic of the Bedchamber calls it 'jade stalk', it is a name for the male sex organ [...] One name [is] mara" Wamyō Ruijushō, volume 2, Minamoto no Shitagō. p. 45.
↑ "SJ’s English version states, “a Hindu demon that represents fear of death. She tempted the Buddha during his meditations. She gave birth to the Mares and Mora, powerful demons of darkness.” In Japanese, Mara’s in-game profiles have been more or less the same since his first modern appearance in Persona 3 FES and none of them identify him as female. It’s likely that the then-Atlus USA misread the intentions of the quest and its dialogue and changed the pronouns in the profile." eirikrjs, [1]. Retrieved November 2, 2024. .

[1] "玉茎房内經云玉茎男陰名也 [...] 一云麻良 [...]" Translation: "Penis: The Classic of the Bedchamber calls it 'jade stalk', it is a name for the male sex organ [...] One name [is] mara" Wamyō Ruijushō, volume 2, Minamoto no Shitagō. p. 45.

[2] "SJ’s English version states, “a Hindu demon that represents fear of death. She tempted the Buddha during his meditations. She gave birth to the Mares and Mora, powerful demons of darkness.” In Japanese, Mara’s in-game profiles have been more or less the same since his first modern appearance in Persona 3 FES and none of them identify him as female. It’s likely that the then-Atlus USA misread the intentions of the quest and its dialogue and changed the pronouns in the profile." eirikrjs, [1]. Retrieved November 2, 2024. .

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