Despite being the Persona series' "means by which all things are revealed," the tarot holds many hidden meanings. The fourth major arcana, however, is fairly straightforward as far as symbolism and significance goes. The Emperor represents the ultimate male ego, the absolute governance of secular law, patriarchal power, arbitration, and control over one's surroundings.
Yet this description is seemingly at odds with Persona 5's Emperor confidant, Yusuke Kitagawa. The artful Phantom Thief is deeply eccentric, somewhat aloof, and while he periodically makes definitive declarations about the nature of beauty, art, and lobsters, he more often defers to the will of the party as a whole. Both Persona 3's Akihiko Sanada, and even Persona 4's Kanji Tatsumi stories have clearer ties to questions of leadership and masculinity. One has to squint hard and read between the lines to reconcile Yusuke's identity as the Emperor.
It is worth noting that when the party first encounters Yusuke, he is obsessed with capturing Ann on canvass, and struggles to control the circumstances where he paints her thanks to the party's meddling. While many of the Phantom Thieves confidant arcs are overshadowed by other supporting characters, Yusuke's journey is compelling. As the story progresses, Yusuke becomes more sure of himself as an artist, declining offers of patronage with strings attached in favor of making his own way.
It is in this sense, that Yusuke's authority is absolute. When it comes to painting, he is not only the architect of what exists, but the master that dictates how a subject is captured and presented to viewers. In certain respects, the Emperor is the anthesis of the Fool arcana. While the Emperor makes permanent, immutable decisions, while the Fool is free to change his mind (and himself) as he sees fit.
Goemon - The Japanese Gentleman Thief
As Persona 5's in-game books and classroom questions reveal, Yusuke's initial persona, Goemon, is named after the legendary thief and outlaw Ishikawa Goemon. Essentially a Japanese Robin Hood, Goemon's true history is now difficult to discern from his status as a folk hero. While the earliest examples of his legend simply refer to him as a famous thief, various anti-authoritarian sentiments were later ascribed to the character, including stories of a failed assassination attempt against Oda Nobunaga—namesake behind the Nobunaga's Ambition series.
The end of Goemon's legend also has many variations, but the general consensus is a death as brutal as Mortal Kombat's fatalities. Goemon and his son, Gobei, or in some texts, the entire Ishikawa family, are boiled alive, though the inciting offense, time, and location of said execution vary.
Given Yusuke's traditional Japanese sensibilities, reflected by his costume and choice of weapon, Goemon makes good sense as his persona. The politicized nature of Goemon's legacy makes his status as an Emperor persona deeply ironic, but it is also strangely apropos, given his name's enduring fame relative to some of the political figures he supposedly opposed.
Thoth - Egyptian Arbiter of Creation
Also known as the "Chanting Baboon," Thoth is only a lower mid-tier Emperor persona, but a surprisingly important god in the ancient Egyptian pantheon. While Thoth occasionally takes the form of a baboon-headed man, the god is more commonly portrayed in sculpture and hieroglyphics as a man with the head of an ibis. Many of Thoth's origin stories state that Thoth was self-created, or a "motherless god" sired from the lips of Horus. And in one variation, Thoth, in his ibis form, lays a cosmic egg which contains the whole of creation.
Thoth presides over domains including wisdom, magic, science, law, and the recording of time as well as serving as the arbiter who settles disputes between the other Egyptian gods. Given this broad array of cosmic powers, it may be tempting to liken Thoth to the Magician arcana. But while the Magician has the power to effect change in the world around him, the Emperor's authority over the natural world is absolute.
A complex knot of mythological concepts, Thoth is often likened to Hermes, even though he was charged with judging the living and the dead—a job that Hades players and Greek mythology buffs would likely associate with a different deity. His transformation, or demotion perhaps, can be explained by Thoth's status as the god of language, writing, and his role as deific arbitrator, as well as his name. One of Thoth's numerous names, "Thrice Great," was translated to ancient Greek as "Hermes Trismegistus." The Greeks further associated Thoth with Hermes due to the former's function as an arbitrator of the gods, which eventually came to be reduced to messenger of the gods.
Odin - Norse God of Wisdom
The most powerful Emperor Persona is a very familiar, but very fitting entity: Odin. The lord patriarch of the Norse pantheon, Odin presides over an exceedingly broad number of important topics, including: wisdom, knowledge, written language, healing, death, and war, among others. Like Zeus, he is the absolute authority in his respective pantheon, and his influence was so great that the middle of the week is still called "Wednesday" in many Germanic languages, after one of Odin's traditional Norse names, Wodan.
Though Odin is usually portrayed as loving fatherly figure and fair-minded warrior king in modern fiction, his historical personality would be more at home in Santa Monica Studios' revived God of War franchise. Possessing armies of crow and wolf familiars, and a host of terrifying powers that range from shapeshifting, to control over the weather and lightning in particular, Odin was a bloodthirsty deity. He also traded one of his eyes for the wisdom of the well of Mimir, enabling foresight of the future among other knowledge. Odin is the architect and absolute controller of the Norse world, in that he built the realm of Midgard from the corpse of the frost giant, Ymir.
As with other max rank personas, Odin is tricky to obtain, but well worth the effort. Players hoping to add his mask to their ranks will want to consult a Persona 5 fusion guide before trying to create him.
Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal are available now for the PlayStation 4.