Devil May Cry | Dante’s moral compass against demons.

Hi Team, welcome to my first entry about…talking about characters I guess lol.

Today we are talking about the Devil Hunter, Dante Sparda and his moral compass against the demons he is hired to vanquish from the human world. Now from the surface to fans who play the games but don’t know the lore, It’s easy to assume Dante sees a demon and kills it outright to get the job done, right?

Not exactly, Though Dante kills any rabid demons without a second glance he does have a soft side most people aren’t aware of. During the events of Devil May Cry (2001) and Devil May Cry: The Animated Series (2007) there have been only two cases where Dante has actually spared demons.

During the events of Devil May Cry a demon by the name of Trish, she took on the appearance of Dante’s Mother, Eva. She approached Dante in need of aid to defeat her master, Mundus. Dante accepted this despite the resemblance and attack Trish brought to him during their first meeting. Later down the line it is revealed to Dante that Trish was a servant to Mundus meant to lure Dante to his demise. Despite this, When Trish was caught in danger Dante saved her but told her to never show her face to him ever again.

“Dante, why did you save me?”

“Because you look like my mother.”

“Now stay out if my sight. Next time when we meet it won’t be like this.”

“Dante!-“

“Don’t come any closer you devil! You may look like my mother but you’re no where close to her! You have no soul. You have the face but you’ll never have her fire!”

However, shortly after Dante leaves, Mundus shows himself to Trish and punishes her for failing him. Mundus later uses this to antagonize Dante. Dante then mourns Trish and leaves her with his mother’s perfect amulet to pay his respects to Trish.

Later down the line while Dante is fighting Mundus, Trish reappears and lends Dante her power to defeat Mundus, the two embrace and Trish begins to cry.

“Dante…I…I…”

“Trish, devils never cry. These tears, tears are a gift only humans have.”

Trish and Dante leave the island after narrowly escaping its destruction, Trish began working for Dante as his sidekick and was seen as a human for her tears and her soul that had now begun filling up.

The second time we see Dante spare a demon is in Devil May Cry: The Animated Series. In episode 4, the mayor of Catapult City hired Dante to eliminate a someone. under this guise this someone who calls himself Brad or Bradley, appears when the Mayor’s daughter Angelina trips down some stairs and has her leg healed by Brad. The Mayor finds out about this whole ordeal and forbids Angelina from seeing Brad and locks her in her room until Angelina promises to not see him. Later when the house maid informs Angelina that dinner is ready she quickly leaves the dining room to use the washroom, that is when she overhears Morrison and Dante speaking to her father about wanting Dante to kill Bradley, The Mayor believes the recent surge of murders in Catapult City is connected to Brad’s sudden appearance and claims he is a demon. Dante is very skeptical that Bradley is a demon but then the Mayor confirms it by claiming he witnessed him healing a dead rose which he gifted to Angelina.

Angelina, now aware of this, runs away and quickly informs Brad of his soon to be demise and wishes to run away with him. Brad rejects this offer and tells Angelina to go home as he does not want her to get wrapped up in this business.

Later, Brad is at a bar where Dante and him meet face to face for the first time, Brad shows no hostility to Dante and reads a book that he has on him. Dante questions Brad about the book he is reading and Brad explains to Dante that it’s a romance novel and the two exchange with each other just how powerful love truly can be. Dante then inquires on where Bradley is from to which this question makes Brad go silent and then leave. He heads into an alleyway where he meets with a demon servant that shares the same master as Brad and informs him that the portal to the demon world will open tonight and Brad questions if it was this demon who was the cause of all the murders, the demon then confirms this with Bradley, but the demon is interrupted by Dante, causing it to leave in retreat. This leads to Bradley telling Dante he knew about him during the month he spent in the human world which Dante is now given the confirmation that Bradley is a demon. He pulls out Ivory and questions Brad if he has any intentions of dying death like this. Bradley tells Dante he had no intention of even running away from him and accepted his fate but asks Dante if Sparda and Eva were truly in love. Dante tells him that he isn’t sure and that people who are in love could still have hearts as cold as ice, however Dante believes his parents loved each other. Bradley, now content with Dante’s answer accepts what will happen and Dante pulls the trigger while aiming it above his head as the demon from earlier was about to strike him.

Dante and Brad then leave and move to the spot where Bradley usually meets up with Angelina, Dante inquires about Bradley not attacking him and Bradley tells Dante that he is aware he can never defeat him.

Dante calls him a wimp for that. Bradley informs Dante that a human summoned him to pave a way for his master, Belphagor. Dante asks Bradley why he is telling him about all of this and Bradley tells him Angelina’s kindness was a welcome change than that of the cruelty of the demon world and because he knows Dante is capable of defeating his master.

Dante tells Bradley is he truly loves Angelina like that he could live like a human. Dante spares Bradley and the two go on to defeat Belphagor.

We now come to our conclusion, Dante - as cocky and cunning as he may be, holds a deep spot in his heart for demons who prove themselves to be just like humans. Tears, Love, and the feeling to protect others are all the aspects of being a human, and more importantly the aspects of having a soul. However don’t take this as a way to try and fool Dante into believing any demon can act like a human. He will see right through you and make quick work of you. Humanity comes from the heart, and without one - You’re as good as dead.

Until next time, thank you for reading.