MostDevil May Cryplayers know Vergil as the cold, calculating, motivated twin brother of Dante. Son of the demon Sparda and the human Eva, Vergil’s early life was very much bathed in love and affection (as far as having a demon father could have). However, somewhere along the line, the paths Dante and Vergil walked diverged, leading Dante to reject his demonic side and accept humanity, while Vergil shunned his humanity and embrace the demonic. What follows is one of the saddest stories theDevil May Cryseries has ever told.
It began when Dante and Vergil were around eight years old. Their father, Sparda, had already passed away due to unknown circumstances (most likely due to his rebellion againstMundus, the Prince of the Underworld), leaving them and their mother Eva vulnerable to attack. This is exactly what happened, as their home in Redgrave City was set upon by demons commanded by Mundus. It was during this attack that Eva was separated from Vergil, forcing her to hide the young Dante while she went to look for her other son. Unfortunately, she was killed before she could make it to Vergil, leaving the latter to think he was abandoned by his family.
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Set On A Path To Power
With demons on all sides, Vergil was forced to kill all of them with his demonic power and Yamato katana. It is unknown if Vergil ever found out about his mother’s death, but the feeling of being abandoned and failing to protect his family are the catalysts that led to his never-ending quest for power. Forced to fend for himself, Vergil left his home andbegan a life of solitude.
Power was always at the heart of his ambitions, leading Vergil to do almost anything for it. InDevil May Cry 3, players can see him raise up the Temen-ni-gru tower to open a gate to the Netherworld, causing untold casualties to a nearby city. This leads Dante, who wasjust a teenager at the time, to fight his brother, stop the demons from invading the human world, and prevent Vergil from claiming the Force Edge — the sword their father Sparda once used. Dante proves victorious, and Vergil decides to stay in the Netherworld to fight Mundus — the same Mundus that Sparda rebelled against and the one that killed their mother, Eva.
Corruption And Weakness
Sadly, his constant battles with Dante and lack of power led to Vergil’s downfall. He was defeated by Mundus and was corrupted by the Prince of the Underworld to do his bidding.Now going under the name Nelo Angelo, Vergil’s only purpose was to ensure Mundus' return to the human world. But even under Mundus' control, Vergil was able to regain some of his consciousness when fighting Dante, now much older and aiming to take on Mundus himself. Dante beats Nelo Angelo and Mundus, with the latter victory severing Mundus' control over Vergil.
Even though he was now free of Mundus' control, Vergil himself was worse for wear. He already lost to his brother multiple times, he was beaten and brainwashed by Mundus, and now he was back to where he started: Lost and alone. Still aching for more power, he turned to an unlikely person, his son Nero. Solely drawn to Nero due to hispossession of the Yamato, Vergil took it from his son and used it to split his demonic and human sides. Doing so divided Vergil into two beings: The demon Urizen, and the human V.
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Let V Do The Talking
It is through V’s presence inDevil May Cry 5that players geta better sense of Vergil’s mindset. Without the cold, calculating nature of Urizen watching over him, V is able to express how Vergil really feels. He tells about how Vergil wanted to be loved and cared for by someone, but was never able to get the chance because he was all alone. He also laments on not having the strength to save those he cares for, pertaining to the attack on his mother and brother all those years ago.
As Urizen is nearly defeated by Dante,the demon and V decide to reconcileand become Vergil once more. With a better understanding and appreciation for both his human and demon sides (and with the added power of a certain demonic Qliphoth fruit), Vergil gets ready to take on both Dante and Nero.
This isn’t where Vergil’s story ends. After fighting both his brother and his son, Vergil begins to realize that he is not alone and that he consciously chooses solidarity, because it is the only life he has known for so long. He aids Dante in his quest to cut down the Qliphoth and iscurrently in an endless fightwith his brother in the Netherworld.
It is still too early to say anything aboutthe rest of his story inDevil May Cry, but Vergil looks to be in a better place than he did at the end of any otherDevil May Crytitle. When he isn’t fighting his younger brother, Dante is constantly watching over him. He also has his son Nero waiting for him in the human world. And although both these relationships are strained (fighting your kin will do that), at least Vergil isn’t alone anymore.
Devil May Cry 5is available now on Amazon Luna, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
