Allow me a moment to gush about the cinematography in DMC for a second
Because let me tell you, one camera shot just sent me on a whole journey
I was combing back through DMC5 and Visions of V in search of references for Dante and Vergil's childhood home. So I was playing through Mission 12, taking screenshots, seeing all of the things I could see, and something stuck out to me. Dante is walking through the front entrance of the house, and the camera cuts to this shot here:
Huh. Now haven't I seen a shot like this before?
And it's not just any closet in the first screenshot. That's the same closet Eva hid him in. If you look, you can see some of the same architecture visible in both shots. On the left is the same marble column, and on the right is a twisty wooden pillar that's visible from several other in-game shots. So while it's a cool and interesting shot, it's also doing something very important. It's calling back to the last time Dante was here. It's a subtle reminder of the trauma this place holds for him, all told to the player without a single word
Now that's cool enough on its own, but then that got me thinking... where is that closet, exactly? Because I'd always been under the impression that it was deeper in the house somewhere. But actually, I realized I'd seen it as Dante was entering
(See the twisty wooden pillar I mentioned before?)
It's right next to their front door. You can sort of see a sliver of light from outside on the right of the screen as Eva is running to find Vergil, if you look closely in the mission 10 cutscene (sorry for the potato quality, Dante jerks his head away just after this so you only see it for a split second)
And again, you can see the wardrobe right next to the door as Vergil walks in, prior to the events of the story
So let's talk about the domino effect this had on my understanding of what happened to the twins when they were eight
I never got the impression that Dante was physically harmed by the demons in the same way Vergil was. While Vergil was physically eviscerated, Dante's trauma always seemed to center around the experience of watching Eva die (and believing Vergil had died as well). But then how did the demons never find him? I'd assumed it was because the closet was somewhere deeper in the house, so maybe he was able to hide long enough to find an opportunity to escape. But actually, that closet isn't tucked away somewhere secret. It's right by the door. It'd probably be the first place anyone would look. I don't believe the demons would just give up on trying to kill him, since that's literally the entire reason they're here. So what gives?
Going back to the scene from mission 10, it seems Eva was killed almost immediately after she ran outside. She's barely off screen for a moment before Dante hears her scream.
The fire seems to have been set from the outside, too, unless they had the most fireproof furniture in the universe.
This is, what, 35 years later? Not only is it still intact, it's still white somehow. If you watch this cutscene everything seems to be lightly singed at worst. Considering their house looks like this at the end of Visions of V chapter 25:
I can only assume the fire was actually mostly outside, or at least, it hadn't spread inside to the front entrance where Dante was hiding.
Based on that, it's my guess that the demons hadn't gotten into the house at all. I don't know if they'd be smart enough to try and smoke them out with the fire and then strike when they tried to run out, but it's possible that they were, and that was the tactic for getting to Dante. They wait outside, Eva and Dante run out, boom
But you know who else was outside at the time? Vergil.
He's on his way back to the house when he summons Yamato for the first time
You can see in this page, after they think they've finished with Vergil, the demons turn to approach the house (likely looking for Dante and Eva). Vergil summons Yamato and tears through them all as he continues fighting his way back to the house
So how did Dante get out of this physically unharmed? I think Vergil unwittingly protected him. He killed all the demons, or at least enough of them that Dante could have found a good opening to escape, before he fled.
And then one last thing hit me.
That wardrobe is right next to the front door.
They were probably less than twenty feet away from each other in this moment. If Vergil had stayed and looked, or if Dante had known to call out for him, they could have at least avoided the trauma of losing each other
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