In the previous video we talked about Aya Nishitani
and the creative process that led to his novels,
Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei
which paved the way for the demon summoning system
in the Shin Megami Tensei Franchise.
In said story, the protagonist is Akemi Nakajima,
creator of the Demon Summoning program
who mixes extraordinary programming skills 
with his knowledge about magic and occultism.
Today we’ll talk about Stephen
-creator of said program-
with a focus on the game’s story.
This character draws inspiration from the late
English theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking
with whom he seems to share only a few similarities at first sight,
like the fact they both use a modern wheelchair
and base their ideas on theoretical physics.
However, the theories and ideas from the real Stephen
and the fictional Stephen are far more connected than you'd think.
But first, what is the story behind Stephen?
Him, as his real world counterpart,
had a pretty conventional youth, until he was left
in a wheelchair after being attacked by a demon,
who appeared in front of Stephen as he experimented
with his ambitious Terminal system,
and accidentally connected to the Expanse,
which is the world where demons reside.
It is worth noting that before the attack,
this demon tried to communicate with Stephen.
However, the existing language barrier between them
led to the demon becoming increasingly hostile,
finally attacking him and leaving him paraplegic.
This is why I consider it important to talk about
the reason behind the demon attack,
being that this would probably become
the main drive for Stephen to develop
one of the most important qualities
of the Demon Summoning Program:
The translating of the demon’s language into ours,
which is complemented by a demon storage
system and a map database.
In the first Shin Megami Tensei game,
Stephen distributed the Demon Summoning Program
across the internet for thousands of users over email,
with the hopes that someone would use it
against the future calamities approaching Tokyo;
during the rest of the game, he’d support Kazuya
by occasionally providing upgrades and updates for the program,
which would improve storage capacity and the overall
performance of our protagonist’s COMP.
In Shin Megami Tensei II he’d play a similar role,
announcing the catastrophe that
was approaching Tokyo Millennium,
and the importance of humanity using the demon’s
power to face the imminent threat.
Upon meeting Aleph,
he recognizes him as a warrior worthy of using his program,
and decides to install it in his COMP.
Just like in the first game,
Stephen would have brief appearances
where he’d facilitate various upgrades  to Aleph,
such as demon analysis and an item identification program.
In Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne,
we never hear about Stephen or the Demon Summoning Program,
last one being unnecessary
due to the Demi-Fiend being able to recruit
and summon demons himself.
Regardless, his terminal system remains
present throughout the game and,
just like in the previous entries, it becomes an indispensable tool.
In Shin Megami Tensei IV,
Stephen comes back playing a bigger
role than in the previous entries,
as his appearances are more frequent
and have a bigger impact in the story.
Throughout the game he appears in front of Flynn several times,
but the most important appearance takes
place only if Flynn remains in the neutral route.
In this route, Stephen shows up to aid our
protagonist in the Monochrome Forest,
a place that exists within The Expanse,
where the beings known as “The White” reside.
Here he speaks to Flynn about the intentions of these beings,
and how wrong their nihilistic ideas about 
destroying all existence in the universe are;
not only that,
but it is also implied that Stephen’s responsible for creating Burroughs,
the AI companion present in the gauntlets used
by the Samurai from the Eastern Kingdom of Mikado,
who also happens to be created to the image
of the Goddess of Tokio, according to Stephen.
In the DLC Challenge Quest  “For the Past… For the Future”,
we’re presented with a brief story in which
Stephen takes Flynn to the past in order to appease
a rampant Masakado
and make sure the key events of history
happen just like they were written.
In Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse,
Stephen briefly adopts an alternate identity,
which he uses to appear in front of Nanashi
and company on various occasions,
As the game approaches the end, Stephen appears once again
to show Nanashi the way towards the universe of YHVH,
reacting to the events in different ways, depending
on the route chosen by the player.
In the DLC Challenge Quest: “Messiahs in the Diamond Realm”,
Stephen is shown as the ultimate boss in this brief arc
that brings back all previous protagonists:
Kazuya, Aleph, Demi-fiend and Flynn together with Nanashi
in a battle to change fate, which has been twisted by YHVH.
This marks an iconic moment in the series,
being that it’s the first time in the entire franchise
where Stephen gets out from his wheelchair
and unleashes his true power.
Also,
It's the first and only time where all the protagonists
from the mainline series meet each other.
Why include Stephen in Shin Megami Tensei?
Throughout the years, fans have speculated about
the true connection between the fictional character and Hawking.
Which, at first sight, appears to stem from
surface-level similarities shared with his real-life counterpart.
On one side, Stephen Hawking was an atheist;
he denied the existence of God and claimed
the universe was ruled by the laws of physics.
He also considered the idea of a God in the image of man was outrageous,
as he didn’t consider humans to be relevant beings
in a place as vast and infinite as the universe.
The Stephen from the games clearly wasn’t an atheist,
as he recognizes the existence of YHVH,
as well as that of angels and demons.
Why model him on Stephen Hawking?
Kouji “Cozy” Okada, one of the creators of Shin Megami Tensei,
provided some insight about this
in an interview back in 1994, where he said:
“The famous theoretical physician Dr. Hawking
opposes the existence of god on a scientific basis.
That’s the starting point of his theory.
I wondered why a person like that became such a sensational topic overseas.
His theory popularised the idea that the universe was built
by fundamental principles of physics, not made by a god.
I read Hawking’s work translated in Japanese,
but to me it seemed like such a reasonable claim.
As a Japanese person who doesn’t believe in one true god,
I think that part is fascinating.
We used the character of STEPHEN to visually express that idea
in the original Shin Megami Tensei game.”
Presumably the work Okada refers to
is Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time”,
which was published in Japan in 1989,
and is credited with making his theories
more widespread and approachable.
And it makes sense,
just as Hawking’s book explains complicated scientific
concepts in a simplified manner,
Stephen the character serves the same purpose,
he introduces players to new technology
and briefly explains the made-up science behind it.
Interestingly, some fans have also speculated that Stephen
could also be based on the character named Father Esteban
from the 1981 film “Evilspeak”.
a dead priest who inhabits a mysterious computer
that can summon demons into the real world.
A theme that rings a bell to Shin Megami Tensei fans.
I personally believe that this is nothing
more than a coincidence,
a really big stretch, nothing more.
We already summarized Stephen's appearances
and the developer's reasons to add him on the games.
What does Stephen represent in Shin Megami Tensei?
The character of Stephen goes far beyond
being the creator of the Demon Summoning Program,
or a mere scientist who travels between dimensions through black holes.
it may sound ridiculous, the fact that a computer program
created by human intelligence
was the key instrument to defeat transcendental
entities such as Lucifer, Satan or even YHVH himself.
However, if we listen closely to the words of Stephen Hawking,
this idea isn’t as outrageous as it sounds.
"There is a fundamental difference between religion,
which is based on authority, and science,
which is based on observation and reason. Science will win because it works."
Lawful order represents absolute obedience
that does not allow for critical thinking.
On the other side, chaos is an eternal conflict
where only the strongest prevail.
Stephen is the neutral middle ground, a path that favors humankind,
where they reject gods and demons, and decide
to trust their own intelligence and capabilities.
Free will and human reasoning are precisely what makes
the existence and destruction of gods and demons possible.
Stripping them of their divinity being that they’re
entirely dependent on human nature.
A clear example of this is the final battle in two routes from Apocalypse,
where YHVH is stripped of his divinity and is shown in a demonized form.
This is confirmed by Apocalypse’s official artbook,
as it mentions the fact that this demonic state represents
the way Judaism and Christianity perceived pagan gods,
who were considered non-trascendental gods.
Idols whose nature was bound by the same reality perceived by humans.
Also, according to Kazuyuki Yamai, director of Shin Megami Tensei IV
and producer of Apocalypse, as well as Yusuke Miyata, Apocalypse writer,
Stephen is one of the few beings in the universe that
has successfully abandoned the cycle of transmigration,
also known as the cycle of Samsara;
a cycle where the soul leaves the physical body as this dies
and migrates to another one to start a new life.
In other words, a perpetual cycle of life and death.
In Buddhism, to transcend this cycle is to attain Nirvana
and become some sort of Buddha.
Freeing oneself from any chains and reaching an unbreakable
inner peace, unable to be disturbed by any external causes.
Thanks to this, Stephen, even with the limitations of human understanding,
manages to understand what The Axiom is
therefore becoming capable to comprehend the mechanics
and genesis of existence itself.
Stephen has become the personification of the eastern concept of God,
as he managed to degrade the transcendent, while immanent.
What are your thoughts or what are your theories about Stephen?
Do you think he'll come back in Shin Megami Tensei V?
What role would he play in this new story?
This ist he end of the video,
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