[MAJOR SPOILER ALERT] question about the plot

[ElJugoJalapeno]

i'm kinda confused about a plot point.
So the Joker that Akechi killed was just the cognitive version of him and the murder happened in metaverse, but if the cognitive version of joker was killed wouldn't the real joker die of mental shutdown?

[voidlich666]

That Joker was not the actual cognitive version of him. As discussed by the characters, Sae's palace is somewhat unique in that all of her cognitions of other people are accurate to their real world appearances. Therefore, the Joker that Akechi killed was a cognition of him as he was perceived by Sae, in the same way that Kamoshida had cognitions of how he perceived Ann and Shiho.

[DaBa]

The cognitive joker you killed was the one from Sae's palace, not his shadow. The game already established multiple times beforehand that doing things to cognitive versions of characters hase zero impact on the real ones (ex: killing cognitive Ann in the very first palace, or killing the cognitive version of Haru's fiance).

The game addresses this in the very first palace when Morgana tells Ryuji that what happens to the volleyball team in the palace does not affect their real selves, so rescuing them is pointless. And it happens multiple times through the game, pretty sure they do the same when they are explaining what happened after Joker's capture.

[Nibbie]

As above, that is a cognitive being; the beings you are thinking of, that cause mental shutdowns, are "shadows". A cognitive being is just how someone views someone else, sort of like a memory. Forgetting about someone doesn't kill them. A shadow is an actual part of you, of your heart and soul. That is why your shadow dying can kill you, it *is* you.

[John Doe]

The one was killed was Joker from Sae's Cognitive, not Joker's shadow. Persona user don't have a shadow, because the shadow is their Persona.

[ElJugoJalapeno]

Ok, i get it now. I knew i was missing something. For some reason i mistaken the Joker who was killed as the shadow of Joker, but it was just Sea Nijima's perception of him in her palace. dont know why i didnt realized that befiore, feel pretty dumb right now. anyway, thanks for the cleafication