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I really should play Arena before making this post, but....
Unmarked spoilers ahead, because the spoiler box makes posts look kinda tacky when the entire post is one big tab. Steer your eyes north if you don't wish to deflower your Persona experience.
Izanami seemed to have the same goal as Nyx/Erebus (I forget which of the Nyx/Erebus combo was the evil one, I only remember that it'd be bad news if Erebus broke the Great Seal): Bringing an end to humanity and turning everyone into shadows, because that seems to be what most people secretly want (and not quite literally). Izanami wanted to do this via the complicated shenanigans of 4's plot, while Erebus would have wiped everyone out via The Fall and been home in time for dinner.
Toward the end of 4, when the fog is omnipresent, people can be found hunched over, sitting down, or in other various positions, mumbling gibberish to themselves and doing a substantial amount of nothing, throughout town. It's fairly obvious that this is because of the otherworldly fog. At various points in 3, people can be found doing the same thing. These people, The Lost, have something called Apathy Syndrome, and putting a stop to it is a main motivator of SEES. In 3, Apathy Syndrome is caused because of the presence of the full-moon shadows and later by Nyx's imminent arrival. The cause for their existence is fixed at the end of 3.
Ameno-Sagiri, Marie, and Izanami say that the fog and such is being caused because that's what humanity truly wants, and that they would know because they're a god and can sense such things. The intervention of the investigation team convinces them to end their apocalyptic vision by showing that humanity desires truth more than comfort and peace. Erebus is a physical manifestation of humanity's desire for peace and death. After the Nyx Avatar gets tired of facing off against SEES and calls down Nyx, it says something along the lines of, "If only there were more like you, The Fall could have been prevented," which shows that SEES fought against the apparent grain. While they failed to stop their cataclysm, requiring Minato to sacrifice himself to keep Nyx and Erebus very, very far apart at all times, the cast of 4 was able to kill Izanami, who was dead-set on her plan.
This is how I look at it: The people acting like they had Apathy Syndrome in Golden were acting that way because they actually did have Apathy Syndrome. The investigation team's victory against Izanami showed humanity's ability to live with uncertainty and strive toward the truth, which goes against what Erebus is. There were a couple reasons that their victory was possible: First and most practical is that Izanami is magnitudes of power below the invincible Nyx, which is shown because it was possible for the team to actually fight against it. The second goes to what the Nyx Avatar said: There actually are more people like SEES now, and a different sort of Fall was prevented. The two calamities are related, and things are getting better for humanity.
That's what i think, but I want to know what you think. Would Izanami's plan have caused The Fall to occur without the two beings that almost caused it before? Has the invesigation team's victory against Izanami shown that humanity can persevere? If so, could this have weakened Erebus?
