About Persona 4

The Bad, Neutral, Good or True Ending

When Dojima gives chase to Namatame, the cars collide seriously injuring Dojima while Namatame and Nanako disappear into the Midnight Channel through the large TV in Namatame's truck. As Dojima rests in the hospital, the group comes to the conclusion that Namatame must be the real killer. He and Nanako are tracked down in the next Midnight Channel dungeon, Heaven. When confronted, Namatame will claim that he is actually "saving people", leaving the group confused (but no less enraged at him). A shadow stems from Namatame and attempts to attack the group (Kunino-sagiri), but after it is defeated, the team escorts both Nanako and Namatame out of the dungeon. Both are sent to the hospital injured, with Namatame being in too unstable a state of mind to make any statements to police or the group.

Unfortunately, at this time, fog - the same type of fog that courses through the Midnight Channel (that reduces visibility without special glasses) - is found running through the real world. The team goes through a stressful period as they wait for Nanako to recover. Dojima and Nanako are periodically visited in the hospital by the group. More and more people begin falling ill over the fog, and the doctors comment that there is actually no visible evidence on Nanako to indicate what is causing her sickness (though this is almost certainly because of how the fog's supernatural powers and the technology of the hospital don't go hand-in-hand).

December 3rd is the final turning point in the game. On this day, after the group rushes to the hospital when Adachi calls them to tell them that Nanako's condition has worsened, Nanako appears to succumb to her wounds and appears to die. Furious, an emotional Dojima attempts to walk into Namatame's ward and kill him, but is stopped by guards. As the guard drags him away, the group enters Namatame's room and they find that he is actually mentally unstable, and uttering indecipherable comments. Unfortunately, as Dojima's assistant Adachi told them earlier, there is almost no evidence that the police can use to convict, or even further detain Namatame (and of course there is no chance a judge or a jury will believe the story about the Midnight Channel). After watching a Shadow manifestation of Namatame, the group, particularly Yosuke, contemplates murdering Namatame to bring true justice for all the victims and to prevent him from claiming more. The player must convince Yosuke and the group that they need to seek the truth and think with their minds and not their emotions; if they do not do so, one of these "bad ending"s will occur.

If the player approves Yosuke's wishes, Namatame is thrown into the television and likely is killed by the Shadows, while Nanako will be confirmed dead. The protagonist will return home, and the mystery will go unsolved (just not to the group's knowledge) with the party never realizing that the man they killed was not the true culprit. The fog seems to disappear 3 months later in March as the protagonist leaves the city. The rather downbeat credits, as well as the very existence of alternate pathways in the dialogue tree, are likely to be interpreted by the player as clear indicators that this was not the true ending.

If Namatame is spared, but the player cannot convince the group that they need to dig deeper into the case, or if the player does do so but cannot guess the killer's identity 2 days later, then Nanako will come to alive. The game ends, and the mystery will go unsolved (again, not to the group's knowledge). Namatame is seen pleading guilty to the kidnapping charges but not guilty to the murder charges on TV. The same downbeat credit sequence plays again, another indication to the player that this is not the true ending.

Now, if the player convinces the group to dig deeper, then the group will hear Namatame's explanation 2 days later. He states that after seeing Yamano and Saki die, and realizing they both appeared on the news and the Midnight Channel before their death, he began to want to save people who appeared. He also had the power to physically thrust people into TV's, and he had the idea of throwing Yukiko, Kanji, Rise, Naoto and Nanako into the TV's to safeguard them from the murders. But it wasn't until he entered the TV world alongside Nanako that he realized how awful the world is, and he didn't know all that time that he was actually forcing people into mortal danger. The protagonist then must guess the identity of the real killer (from a list of 26 suspects in the game's narration) as the true killer; Dojima's assistant Adachi.
Adachi, once confronted, escapes into the TV World, as does the group; when he first confronts the group, he explains how he killed the first two victims and how he used Namatame to kidnap the rest and how he threw Kubo into the TV World since his false confession would stop Namatame's actions. He claims that he did this all so that he could sit back and enjoy the juxtaposition of Namatame and the group's efforts; after the group goes through the dungeon, Magatsu Inaba, that he runs to, he then tells the group that it is humanity's desire to allow the fog to settle in to settle their emotional distress. He then fights the group, surprisingly using a Persona of his own; Magatsu-Izanagi; he is unable to win. After losing, the group then fights the spirit that used Adachi as a parasite; Ameno-sagiri. 3 months after its defeat in March, Nanako will be released from the hospital. Now, the protagonist can either go home without causing the trigger events; if he does, the "Normal Ending" that shows the true credits plays.

However, if the player (after first seeing all his maxed S. Links) insists that he meet the group at Junes, then the group begins to acknowledge the incongruities in the theory of Adachi being a lone wolf; how did he and Namatame get the power to enter TVs in the first place? How did the protagonist himself? How did the Midnight Channel and its rumors get started?

By retracing his steps from the first day in the game, the player comes to realize that the real antagonist and conductor of the game is the Moel Gas Station Attendant, or really, Izanami.. When it shook hands with the protagonist back on the very first day of the game, this gave him the power to fight with Personas, and it reveals having done the same with both Adachi and Namatame. The group confronts Izanami in the final dungeon, Yomotsu Hirasaka. When Izanami and it's true form, Izanami-no-Okami are defeated using the protagonist's final and Ultimate Persona, the Midnight Channel turns to what it was a long time ago according to Teddie; a beautiful universe of joy, that Teddie can now return to in happiness. Teddie returns, and the protagonist leaves by train, with his friends saying joyful goodbyes. The credits roll, and the game ends.