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Hahahahahaha!!! Fools! Complete and utter fools! You two have caused me a lot of trouble, but now I'll show you just how magnificent I am. Tremble at my awesome might as I send you to your doom! Hahahahahahaha!
—Lahmu killing the Nahobino, Proto-Fiend partner included
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The Shin Megami Tensei Series has been around for a long time, so it's no surprise that among its Loads and Loads of Characters, we find some completely monstrous villains.  

Shadow Shido

It looks like Shido has been taking steroids.

Literature[]

  • Digital Devil Story: Loki, the predecessor for the many demons that came after him, is at first glance, a Noble Demon, and the answer to Akemi Nitajima’s problems, who is willing to help him with his personal vengeance…for a price. But as the story unravels, it becomes clear that Akemi has unleashed something terrible on Tokyo. Though Akemi simply summoned him to attack two different people (while he fulfilled his end of the bargain, he also reaped another soul as compensation), it gradually becomes clear that he is a threat to everyone living in his home city that will kill anyone he pleases, and he also has a lust for human women as well. And eventually, Akemi himself has to take action against him when he decides to force himself on Yumiko. Lecherous and sadistic, Loki proved that while the demon summoning program was not inherently evil, it was never something that should be played with.

Main Series[]

  • YHVH himself has been depicted in this light. He nukes Japan in a bid to get all of humanity praying and worshipping Him in mindless obedience. Doesn't work. So instead, he floods the entire planet. How bad is he? In Shin Megami Tensei II, everybody wants him dead. Everybody. Even the angels. In Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse, he manipulates both Lucifer and Merkabah into doing his work, which endangers everyone in both Tokyo and Mikado, and decides to send the protagonist and his allies to Hell when they renounce him. He is portrayed as kind and loving in the law path of Shin Megami Tensei IV, however. And he shows a kinder side in V when he resurrects Tao as well.
  • In Shin Megami Tensei II the twisted versions of Archangels Michael, Uriel and Raphael are overlords of the theocratic dictatorship that has overthrown Tokyo After the End, and are no better than YHVH himself. Dividing the city into five districts, their Propaganda Machine claims they did so in accordance to the division of labor, but it is clear they favor the wealthy Central District and feel free to neglect, abuse, and slaughter outright the residents of the other four. When signs of rebellion appear in the Valhalla district, they order the Demon Lord Abaddon to devour it whole, falsely promising to make him an angel again if he did so; when he is finished, they cast him back into the demon world. The entirety of the Arcadia district has been lobotomized and plugged into Lotus Eater Machines, causing them to believe they live in an idyllic paradise while their physical bodies waste away; Aleph is subsequently informed the the Archangels intended to do the same to the entire planet. The workers of the Factory District have been brainwashed into slavery by the song of a Siren, who herself is routinely tortured by the Archangels' henchmen to keep her singing. Finally, they attempt to get Aleph and his comrade Zayin to surrender to them by holding the entire Holytown district hostage, threatening to cut off their air supply and slowly suffocate them to death.
  • Mr. Tayama from Shin Megami Tensei IV began as a small-time Yakuza leader in Tokyo, but in the power vacuum following an apocalyptic war he seized control of the city via commandeering the Yamato Perpetual Reactor, Tokyo's main source of power. He thus established himself as the unquestioned leader. While Tayama protects the citizens from demons, he does so for the sense of power it gives him; anyone who questions his rule is killed or worse. Tayama invented a Fantastic Drug called Red Pills, that can be used to pacify demons, but secretly, the drug is made from human brains extracted from innocent people his cartel the Ashura-kai are trafficking. Tayama himself went as far as breeding child slaves for this purpose. Though Tayama claims this is for the benefit of the greater population, he has also hypocritically cornered the market on smartphones, through which demons can also be tamed without causing harm to either them or humans, even demolishing an entire neighborhood to maintain his monopoly. Considered truly evil even by the morally gray Lilith, Tayama's actions are enough to persuade Walter to side with the demons, though it doesn't dissuade Jonathan from remaining at the side of the samurai.
  • Shin Megami Tensei V: Lahmu, a demon wishing to become a Nahobino by merging with a human, is a stark contrast to his human partner Sahori. While both had darkness in their hearts, the latter only turned evil because of the misery she had experienced throughout her life. Lahmu, however, willingly chose to be a monster, and enjoys bloodshed for its own sake. Willing to commit any atrocity in order to obtain the Throne of Creation, and wishing to locate the human who possesses the soul he is looking for to regain his lost power, he and his followers (who express unhappiness as minions of his) shatter the barrier separating the Netherworld from Tokyo, resulting in massive chaos and the deaths of countless, partly so he can feast on as many humans as he can and partly so he can begin his search. He then commands his minions to attack Jouin High School, endangering every student currently inside the building, so he can locate Sahori (the girl who has this soul) without interference from Bethel. He pretends that he loves her, but in reality, his relationship with her is that of obsessive lust. Manipulating her into fusing with him, he also attempts to corrupt Sahori into being like himself. Personifying the worst aspects of demonkind and lacking the good intentions of the Qaditsu, Lahmu represented everything the angels feared about demons becoming Nahobino.

Strange Journey[]

Devil Survivor[]

  • Jezebel in Devil Survivor. In life she was a wicked, manipulative woman who used her position and power to convince her people to worship the evil Phoenician god Baal, as well as having an innocent man murdered so her husband could steal his property. Now she's been reborn as a demonic minion of Belberith and gradually corrupts Amane.

Digital Devil Saga[]

  • Serph Sheffield is a Manipulative Bastard who manipulates everyone and anything around him, including convincing an innocent girl called Sera he honestly cares about her, all in his quest to reach the power of God) He uses Sera's growing love for him to push her Psychic Powers into further maturation, only to express disgust at Seras creation of a virtual paradise consisting of AIs she uses to escape the pain of his experiments. When Colonel Beck proposed to change Seras paradise into a training simulation for creating stronger AIs, Serph overrides Heat O'Brien's warning against destroying Seras mental condition and tells Beck to proceed. After a desperate Heat pulls a gun and demands the project to stop, Serph tells Heat that a human's mind is no different than a machine, and that his subjects, including Sera, were expendable and could be replaced, before manipulating Argilla into killing Heat. After being turned into a demon by a heartbroken Sera, sending a massive data surge into the now black Sun, Serph goes on a killing spree starting with Beck and Argilla before being killed offscreen. Refusing to accept that he is dead, he re-appears at the EGG facility as Solar Data and tries to kill the AI Serph and Heat while proclaiming to have the power of God. A cruel and manipulative young man, his actions are largely responsible for the disasters plaguing the series.

Persona series[]

  • Persona 3: Shuji Ikutsuki was the Chairman of the S.E.E.S., the heroes, as a seemingly kind, bumbling Pungeon Master. But this was an act to hide his truly evil, sociopathic nature. He is revealed to have partaken in Koutetsu Kirijo's experiment to revive Nyx, which caused an explosion that killed hundreds, including the protagonist’s parents and Yukari's father. This brought about the Dark Hour, which killed even more. He performed unethical experiments on children to produce artificial Personas, including the members of Strega, who would later assist in the destruction of the world.
    • Persona 4: Arena Ultimax reveals that he even used Sho, his adopted son, for the experiment. When Sho's Split Personality, Minazuki, tried to kill Ikutsuki in self-defense, he put him in a coma and only bothered putting him on life support so that he might be of use to him again. When the events of Persona 3 begin, he manipulates the S.E.E.S. into killing the Twelve Shadows under the belief that it would extinguish the Dark Hour. However, he was secretly merging the shadows to create Nyx, a Shadow which would wipe out humanity. When he was found out, he shows how he truly felt about them when he reprograms Aigis {who he saw as nothing more than a machine despite her sentience} into helping him capture the S.E.E.S., which consist of teenagers and a ten-year-old boy. When Mitsuru's father tries to stop him, he shoots him dead before preparing to do the same to the S.E.E.S., and would have succeeded if Koromaru didn't stop him. A sociopath who would wipe out all life on Earth and betray those closest to him just to appease a God that is Made of Evil, Ikutsuki stands as one of the most vile human beings in the franchise.
  • Persona 5: While Yaldabaoth set the plot in motion, this duo proves that Humans Are the Real Monsters.
    • Despite being a Starter Villain, Coach Suguru Kamoshida (who represents lust) proved himself to be one of the vilest villains in the Persona series. A former Olympian turned head PE teacher at Shujin High in Tokyo who is secretly a dangerous sexual predator, Kamoshida sees Shujin as his own personal castle, and spends his time extorting sexual favors from the girls he teaches, often forcing one of his male students, Yuuki Mishima, to procure them for him. Not limiting himself to his female students, he also beats the male students who do poorly in his classes. As a result, both boys and girls live in terror of him. Kamoshida also indulges in pettier Jerkassery such as provoking the star of the track team into punching him as an excuse to get the team shut down, and leaking the Protagonist's criminal record to the entire school. When his "favorite" victim, Ann Takamaki, refuses to sleep with him, Kamoshida crosses the Moral Event Horizon and rapes her best friend as revenge; the girl in question feels so humiliated she attempts suicide. When confronted by the Protagonist, Kamoshida freely admits his crimes, and types up a false assault report to have him expelled. Even after the Phantom Thieves steal his heart, he states his intention to commit suicide himself to escape justice, only submitting to arrest after a "The Reason You Suck" Speech from Ann.
    • Masayoshi Shido, a charismatic member of the Diet and representing pride, is in fact the head of The Conspiracy profiting off the other villains. Having illegitimately fathered Goro Akechi, Shido is approached by an empowered Akechi offering his services as an assassin. Having been involved in the research of Wakaba Isshiki, who found out about the Metaverse, Shido has Goro kill her so he can steal her research. Shido has a will forged blaming Wakaba's daughter Futaba for her "suicide", sending Futaba into a depression. Later, Shido sexually assaults a woman before the Protagonist intervenes, which prompts Shido to ruin the Protagonist's life in response, later remarking that he's crushed so many people he doesn't remember someone that insignificant. Shido and Goro go on to manipulate the people's faith in the government and the Phantom Thieves, with support for the government decreasing and the Thieves increasing. Once the Thieves steal the heart of Kunikazu Okumura, a patron of Shido's, Goro, under Shido's orders, kills his Shadow, ultimately killing Okumura on live television and framing the Thieves, while Shido and Goro— outspoken critics of the Thieves— rise in popularity. Shido and Goro then hatch a plan to kill the Thieves by Goro acting as a Mole. Shido's other confidant, the SIU Director, is also killed by the duo. After Goro loses to the Thieves, Samael— Shido's Shadow— reveals that Shido sees Goro as expendable. When the Thieves confront Samael, he mocks the weakness of his followers and reveals that Shido was going to kill Goro anyway despite suspecting that Goro was his son. Shido's final action before his forced reformation is to destroy his own Palace after Samael's defeat in a final attempt to take the Thieves down with him.