Is it possible that a “Devil May Cry?”
Written by Jeremy "Kokugatsu" Griffin
“Jackpot!” This is the iconic word that 2 brothers share. Half human and half demon. These 2 forces collide in a twist of cruel fate. Who will win and who will lose? Who will reign supreme, and who will die? In the end is it worth it? In the end, will the devil’s tears help humanity survive? This is the deep story that brought to us by Capcom and Hideki Kamiya. I will be breaking down my thoughts and feels of this amazing series and hopefully soon, we will be doing a podcast on it where we will discuss the games of the series and how they affected all of us as things moved along. First off. I want to thank Eruption Fang on YouTube for making this awesome video. He explains the full chronological timeline of the Devil May Cry franchise, from the beginning of the world all the way to the end of the most recent game DMC5. It’s thanks to his video popping up on my YouTube feed, that prompted me to make this article. I would also suggest reading the comment section as well. There is so much that fans of the franchise have delved into, it makes for such mind blowing theories and realizations.
Story
Interested in learning more about DMC and how o play the games? Click on the button below to be taken to the official website.
We do not own this image, nor is Capcom or this site partners or sponsors.
When I first played DMC1-3 growing up, I was very confused of the story. Honestly, I get the whole sequel, then prequel concept, but it truly felt like there was a lot going on that made no sense here. The story was in development as the games were coming out, but there was so much jumping around, it made no sense. Before watching this video, I didn’t think it would ever make sense. I mean we deal with franchises like Resident Evil (of course more Capcom), Kingdom Hearts and even Final Fantasy (Especially with FF14/FFXIV and FF15/FFXV before their patches), so it is understandable about stories that get mixed up, but there was so much that seemed lost. I did know there were manga’s, but a lot of the story was still incomplete. What I missed was the light novels.
“Light Novels” are prominent in places like Japan. Also called ライトノベル, “raito noberu,” light novels are short stories with a few illustrations. In America, the closest thing to light novels we have are short stories or even epic poems. Living in America, it is very uncommon to come across a light novel. In fact, they probably wouldn’t sell well here as they are very short compared to actual books, novels and screen plays. But it was these light novels that closed the gaps in the story for me. The various plot holes that seemed so incomplete were finally made whole and the story smooths so much easier. As of 2019, the order of the story is as follows (without the light novels):
Devil May Cry 3 manga.
Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening.
Devil May Cry.
Devil May Cry: The Animated Series.
Devil May Cry 2.
Devil May Cry 4.
Devil May Cry 5: Before the Nightmare novel.
Devil May Cry 5 and concurrently Devil May Cry 5: Visions of V manga.
The light novels helped to better understand what happens in the background. Characters and villains that seemed to be forgotten or just popped out of nowhere, were in fact always there; Kamiya never forgot about them. They also dived into the growths of each of these characters prior or after certain games. There were even characters that were mentioned in manga’s that were referenced in the games that could easily seem out of the blue to casual players who never thought to look further.
Dante’ growing up had such an easy childhood, but all of that was taken away due to his father’s past. There is still no telling what actually happened to Sparda, but considering how his wife and children were attacked, I personally believe that he was attacked and killed or possibly worse considering what Mundis did to Virgil for those 10 years in hell. What I find most interesting in this world is the lack of angels. Rarely is it seen in any story where there are devils/demons without a proper or equivalent side of light to oppose it. Humans are supposed to be the light, but are the exact opposite from the devils in every way. There is no equivalence in this existence so throughout, humans have to solely rely on the devils that spare them, or become devils themselves.
Throughout the manga’s and video games, we discover so much of Dante’s life and his past, and with the help of the light novels, we discover more about his emotional baggage. Many things happen to Dante which makes him seem so cold-hearted and emotion-less at times, when in reality, he loves every person he comes into contact with. Virgil’s story is nowhere near the same. Virgil went through most of his later childhood believing that he had to be the strongest no matter what. This corrupted his growth as a person, and we can see this in normal day to day life. For many children who feel abandoned, they feel they will do whatever it takes to never have that feeling again while some others try to make it so no else ever has to feel that way. This is also assuming they are able to survive on their own. We also are able to discover that many of these devils that attack the human world are not just out of nowhere, but have always been there trying to find ways to take over the human world. Whether weaker demons seeking power or stronger demons using manipulation, we are able to fully see and understand what the journey to obtain absolute power entails for these creatures. We also are able to see humans grow to either obtain their own power or attempt to serve those that would destroy their world for their own personal gain and protection.
All in all-once the full story is actually uncovered and placed together in it’s whole piece as Eruption Fang has done here, it unfolds a beautiful story of struggling to survive and growth within a person’s own emotions. We get to see the growth of fan favorite characters and it is beautiful all along the way.
Characters
The amazing characters of Devil May Cry.
Dante
Our lovable bad boy of the series. While I will not dive into the history of Devil May Cry as it came to be (You’ll have to listen to our podcast for that info), I do want to talk about the aspects of Dante. Before while just playing the game, Dante seemed like a guy who just does what he does for money and interest. Now while he is doing for those things it is so much more. Dante is, as of course previously stated, a half human, half demon breed. Dawned in his iconic long red trench coat, this badass wields the “Rebellion,” a sword crafted by his father that symbolizes his saving of the human world and severance from the demon world (this later fuses with his father’s blade and becomes the new Sparda’s sword) and the twin pistols “Ebony” and “Ivory.” I never knew the history of the twin pistols, but when I learned, I almost cried. I cried as a human being despaired at the death of a human trying to help another, but I also cried as an artist. I have not been able to do my art as I love lately. In fact in the time of type typing this, it has been years since I was able to draw anything. I cried tear of joy knowing that Dante’s friend died making her greatest creation, even living long enough to see him put the twins together. In honesty, it makes things very different in the game. I always was so frustrated using these guns in the games and only relied on them for style points. having learned the history if them and their emotional connection with Dante, makes things hit more home. The rebellion was gifted to Dante by his father. This sword, aside from being powerful, holds significant emotion to Dante. It is what he remembers about his past and his choice to continue to slay demons for humanity’s sake. He also uses a slew of other weapons, but Devil Arms are a whole thing on their own.
Virgil
Dante’s twin brother and, thus far, the ultimate antagonist of the series. Virgil suffered the most throughout the entire series. Throughout the games, it comes off as if Virgil is just a suffering character who does anything and everything to achieve ultimate power. He wields the “Yamato” which serves as major key to keeping the human and demon world separate. Literally being the sword that separates man and demon, Virgil was the most conflicted character struggling with his humanity and his demonity. Using the sword he separated himself into the main antagonist demon “Asmodius” from DMC5 and “V.”
I want to talk about V for a moment. Throughout DMC5, V was seen as a person who knew more than he let on and, of course, as the game progressed, this was true. But the game does a major dis-service of V. He was a hated character. He was so difficult to use and seemed almost pointless to the story, until the end of the game, but it isn’t until the manga and light novel, that he gets more of a personality. We get to see his growth as a person, as a human. I feel that the lack of availability for the light novels and manga to the players of the games elsewhere truly robs his developmental story. So much happens to V off screen that it makes his character development suffer greatly. To me it made his familiars change of heart to fight Dante and Virgil’s sudden change of heart about humankind seem so out of place. To truly grasp Virgil’s development and change, everyone has to be able to get a hold of reading what happens behind the scenes.
Nero
Virgil’s illegitimate son from a woman we may never find out. Seriously though, who slept with Virgil? Why did he? All of these questions and more will probably never be answered. Honestly I want Nero to walk up to Virgil in the demon world one day and, just like Firelord Zuko at the end of Avatar the Last Airbender, demand to know where his mother is. Aside from that, Nero gets so much hate. Especially in DMC5. DMC4 first introduces this character who we have no idea who he is. Just some punk with a devil arm that is not Dante. It was especially poorly received after Capcom tried to remake the franchise with DMC: Devil May Cry in 2013. Fans were upset that they tried to erase the original Dante. At the time I truly didn’t care, just enjoyed the game and it was awesome by the way. Personal opinion. Introducing a whole new person who was not Dante after that release was scary, but once we got to see our main man Dante again, we were so happy. After seeing the full backstory of Dante, I fully get the frustration. We needed to see the end of this story. Nero’s design in DMC5 is an obvious homage to the remake, and fans did not take it well. But pushing past the design, Nero became and iconic and wonderful character. Hopefully he can finally have a good talk with the full Virgil. his talk with V was just too short.
Lady
Our gun-happy rocket launcher canon lover. Just like Virgil, Lady had a lot of development that happened off screen. Being introduced later on in the story (or well…early since DMC3 is technically the first of the game series), Lady was deemed very unimportant. She was crucial to the story and the reason the tower and gate could be opened, but it felt almost random. Again with the light novels, we finally get her true backstory and it helps everything make more sense in the story’s progression. Lady is not the highest fan-ranking heroine of the series, but does help bring parts of the story together.
Trish
The demon turned good. Amazing how an assassin demon, made to look like Dante and Virgil’s dead mother, would wind up having a change of heart. Trish is personally my favorite heroine of the series. She is a total badass and keeps Dante on his feet about things. She even has a run in with V that really speaks to his human side of things. In the animated series, she does so much in the background, but her fight with Lady is even better. I loved how her design reflects her personality. Now her outfit hiding in the Order in DMC4 brought up a lot of questions and concerns for me, but that is neither here nor there now.
Let’s conclude this here. There is so much more to discuss here, but this can be saved on a later date for our podcast. If you would be interested in hearing more about how, not just me of course, but the rest of our views and opinions, please leave a comment down below. I love to be able to hear your thoughts and views on this iconic franchise. I personally love this series and am so excited to be able to share the lore with you all. Until next time, stay nerdy my friends. Great things are coming. this is Kokugatsu, ZONEing out.
Sources/References:
Big thanks to Eruption Fang on YouTube for making this unabridged complete timeline video.
We do not own these articles or videos, nor rights to them. These articles and videos are shared only for entertainment purposes. They are not partners, nor sponsors and each website hold all rights to their own content. All images were sourced from free websites or pictures of the actual games and game cases. All rights to images belong to Disney and Square Enix.
