Or the fact that he only spikes it up because of Dante. At least in the manga.
Like, we know he used to keep his hair spiky before the fire. Either this was something Eva did for him or he did it himself to differentiate from Dante.
But then the attack happens and he loses his spikes for the hair-down style his brother is known for. And Vergil does not put it back up again as far as we can see.
Not until the dmc3 manga that is.
There we still see him walking around with his hair down, even meeting Arkham like this.
You wanna know when he starts spiking it up again?
Well, it's right at the moment Enzo confirms to Vergil that Dante is alive and in the city!
Look at him being all dramatic!
So yeah, if you ignore what the games provide in this regard, Vergil probably kept his hair down during the entire decade he and Dante thought each other dead. Maybe it was Vergil's tribute to his younger twin or it was just him not seeing a point in styling his hair like he used to, because who he was supposed to set himself apart from was already dead.
And because of that, as soon as Dante is confirmed to be around still, he's got reason to do so again. Least of all to not be mistaken for his brother by more drunken people xD
Visions of V is a literal goldmine of information when it comes to the dmc series, since it shines light on a lot of aspects that have been unexplored before or never truly elaborated on over the course of the series. One very interesting case of these tidbits is how V came to the familiars he uses over the course of the game and how he formed a contract with each of them.
We know from the game itself that they are ‘Vergil’s nightmares made manifest’, though the manga goes even a step further and makes it clear they are literally Vergil’s traumatic memories of his imprisonment by Mundus, expelled and given form.
This of course could be looked further into, since I believe there might be an even stronger link between what the familiars are and what they represent. In such a way that each one of the familiars might actually correlate to a specific period of Vergil’s capture, as well as reflect his mindset and state at that point in time.
It's probably best explained by working through them one by one, starting with Griffon.
When V makes a contract with Griffon, he regains the memories Griffon was made out of, showing the scene of Vergil’s defeat at the hands of Mundus.
Vergil may be beaten, but he’s not given up at all, still snarking back at the Emperor of the underworld, his defiant spirit still strong. Not that it helps him in this situation...
This is where Vergil’s slow transformation into Nelo Angelo begins. And I mean slow, since the dmc5 novel seems to hint at it having taken a bit before Mundus finally made the eldest Son of Sparda fully submit.
Anyway, Griffon overall is a very chatty fellow, mostly reminiscent of Dante in a way. And while that comparison might also have its reasons, we should not forget that Vergil also has his own snarky side and it was probably on full display at the beginnings of his capture. Wilful and stubborn, it does seem to reflect Griffon’s personality in a way.
So yeah, Griffon in my mind was made out of the memories at the start of that torturous almost decade.
Next up we have Phantom!
And yes, Phantom is not taken as one of V’s familiars and so we don’t get to see the memories he harbours, but we do have his personality to go from. Phantom overall is ruthless, abrasive, uncaring and oh so prideful, willing to kill and destroy everything and everyone. And he’s powerful for a nightmare.
This in my mind fits with a Vergil who’s going through the beginnings of torture. He’s more reckless, more desperate and all the more wrathful for it, not willing to listen to anyone cause that’s what they’re trying to make him do and he won’t allow it! He won’t submit to anyone, no matter the reason!
Even what Phantom says might be a reflection of what Vergil thought, or maybe even heard from his demonic captors regarding himself during that time.
At this point he’s still got energy to fight, to hold on, to keep up his stubborn pride…
But even that is not unending, which we see in Shadow.
Shadow’s memories are one of transformation, of being almost Nelo Angelo, but still fighting back, trying to shrug the armour off and only partially succeeding. Screaming silently, for that’s all that’s left to do. Not having submitted yet but having already been brought so low not much of Vergil is left anymore.
Shadow personally started off with stealing V’s cane and trying to get to the underworld with it, showing how they are more focused on escaping than fighting.
Overall Shadow’s personality is the calmest of all the familiars, the most agreeable once they are shown the benefit of the deal to survive. They are silent, for at that point Vergil probably also didn’t have a voice anymore, only trying to find a way to get away, to desperately find the path to keep the most important parts of himself intact…
One that at the end led him to finally making one last deal to keep what he could. That being for the amulet.
Lastly there’s Nightmare, the juggernaut of the familiars.
Nightmare’s memories are actually shown in visions, but they clearly mostly have to do with the time when Vergil was fully subjugated, having submitted after who knows how long and after only the smallest bits of him were left in return for the amulet.
That means of course that these memories also hold the times Nelo Angelo encountered the newly born Trish, the times he followed Mundus’ orders without will, the times he met the demons that would become the basis for his familiars...
… and of course his final encounters with Dante, and Nelo Angelo's subsequent defeat and almost death at his hands.
This description of what the original Nightmare was would also perfectly fit for Nelo Angelo...
Nightmare doesn’t have much of a personality, for how could it. At that point Vergil didn’t have much of one either, besides being fair and honourable, which Nightmare in a way also is. In return for its core, it forms the contract with V.
And it is the most powerful of all the familiars cause what bigger nightmare is there than having lost oneself completely and being only a hollow shell constantly puppeteered around? This happening for who knows how long?
…and then almost dying at the hands of one’s own twin brother.
This brings us to the end of the familiars and also that period of Vergil’s life.
What do you all think?
Yeah, this is more of a headcanon of mine than a real analysis, but it does have some stuff to support it. Also, it gives us some idea of what memories are actually fully lost to Vergil. While I do believe V regained every piece of the past he made a contract with, Phantom is the outlier and because of that I think the memories he held are gone forever.
So despite how much Vergil claims to not remember, and that being a clear lie so often (if not a mistranslation) there are certainly some segments of his own history he doesn’t truly know anymore. And if he still does, probably way less than he should...
At least he can make new and happier memories after dmc5.
Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed. If you have any thoughts on this, feel free to write them in the tags or comments! Wish you all a good one.
Sometimes dmc is really sparse (or nonexistent) with its information about something. And sometimes it's such a questionably canon thing, that you gotta ask yourself if you wanna run with it.
In this case, I once more decided I'm gonna take something pretty obscure and dive way too deep into it, cause fun!
That being, the twins' time difference between their births.
Like, yeah, we all know Vergil is the older one, Dante the younger one. If one forgets that, a quick peek at almost any of the materials with Vergil in it will thoroughly remind us of that fact, because the boys can rarely leave it unsaid.
But how much time was really in between them? That's a way more obscure thing to find. Up till now I've only seen information on it in a past interview with Bingo on page 209 of the 3142 artbook. He had this to say:
Now, that's mighty interesting. Several hours is way more than one would normally expect and that with good reason. Twins are usually born in quick succession, so hours of difference is quite unusual.
... and in my mind, several conclusions can be drawn from this.
TW for difficult birth
First up, here's some real life knowledge: most twins are born about 10 to 15 minutes apart, cause once the way is free, it should be a quick happening. 'Should', since of course there are other cases, and that's why the normal time limit before professional intervention is 30 minutes. So half an hour after the first twin is born, the second should be out, or utensils and other methods might be used to help facilitate the birth.
Now, chances are overwhelming that Bingo did not know this tidbit and said what he thought felt best. Not such a rare occurrence, not everyone has experience on this subject. But if we do take his information at face value, it paints us quite a dramatic picture.
As in, Sparda and Eva did not have professional help during Eva's labor, or, whoever they had, wasn't equipped and allowed to bring Eva to a hospital. I rather lean towards the first option, cause I imagine Sparda and Eva were really careful with their sons' births, not wanting anyone outside to find out or possibly endanger them, since they didn't know how it would go, if they would look human, etc.
This need for privacy however meant that they had no one to really turn to, to advise them, and no matter how much they had prepared by researching and other things, it wasn't enough to help immediately.
So Vergil was born first, taken and swaddled, held in Sparda's arms most likely, while Eva continued to labor, fruitlessly. I imagine after a while the emotional toll would set in next to the physical one, knowing that it's been too long, knowing she can't anymore, she's too exhausted, her other child is most likely already dead.
A horrible situation really, one that would weigh on most anyone.
Eva would only be able to regain enough strength hours later, thoroughly distraught by that point, to finally birth Dante. Way too late though...
Only it wasn't. He's alive.
Alive and screaming and so healthy, as if nothing had even happened. Most likely only thanks to his devil blood, but at that point I don't think anyone really cared beyond the immense relief of him finally being here.
However, such an experience would leave a mark.
Eva, who had already thought her second child dead before he could even take his first breath, who was already prematurely grieving while he was still in her womb, would always carry that notion with her, however unconsciously. That of Dante being the younger and more breakable one. The one who needed a softer hand, who needed to be protected more.
Vergil was the one who was fine, who was stronger and healthier. Older, and wiser for it, so he should also look out for his little brother.
Something which we can actually see glimpses of in VoV.
"You're the big brother after all."
The first time I read this part, I was already a bit irked by it. Cause yeah, Vergil is older, is seemingly more mature, but they're twins. Age should not matter that much here.
And while I could explain Sparda's intent on Vergil, by gifting him the Yamato, as him being old-fashioned and following the idea of the oldest being the heir, Eva's adoption of that mindset had me a bit confused. This idea however, of a difficult and somewhat traumatic birth, might be one way to explain it though.
(Not to say that I think Eva and Sparda were bad parents. They in my mind certainly tried their best, were good in so many aspects, but no parent is perfect, and this underlying sentiment definitely is there for us to see and pick up on.
And in my humble personal opinion? It's not a good thing.)
So yeah, if we take that small tidbit of the twins being hours apart at face value, it paints a very new picture of how their birth could have gone and how their home life could have been impacted by it. To somewhat of a detriment for them both. Not that Dante and especially Vergil had enough time in their childhood to grow fully resentful of this happenstance.
Though we also have this tidbit here, so it did already affect Vergil noticeably...
"So what if I'm the big brother? Dante is the one to blame."
I want to hug this boy here already, and we all know what's to come still.
Moving on, this might also be the reason why the twins are so intent on their birth order, why it matters so much to them who's older and who's younger that they constantly have to repeat and acknowledge that. More than I've seen with other siblings, my own included. Though this could also be attributed as a quirk of translating from Japanese into English, cause as far as I know, who's older and who's younger matters there somewhat more as well.
Anyway, I do find the idea of how this circumstance might have fed into their later dynamic kinda fascinating. But that would be such a deep dive, it would be more than enough for it's own whole post.
As a finishing touch, here's something for a lighter endnote: While researching I stumbled over a fun fact for all those who enjoy thinking of a more demonic twist to things. We can infer that the twins didn't come out of an egg because of the time difference, cause identical twins are housed in the same eggshell. At least Eva was spared that experience!
Still, poor woman.
Anywho, what are y'alls thoughts on this? Feel free to let me know in the comments and reblogs!
One thing I find really interesting in the worldbuilding of dmc is the effect the demon world has on its denizens, as well as on any human unfortunate enough to wander close or into it for longer periods. And this is not even a one off thing, but something that has remained somewhat steady since the very beginning of the series!
Anywho, I’ll just go through the material we have and what I’ve found up till now, to truly show and discuss this point (and maybe also to highlight some fun tidbits).
Let's start with the dmc1 novel, which has probably one of the most definite descriptions of the underworld’s effects, which sadly comes at the tragic moment where Tony goes to try and save Jessica. What's interesting to note here is, how Tony at the beginning really struggles with the demon world's atmosphere, slowing, stumbling, weakening...
And at this point in time Tony still hasn't accepted who he is yet, let alone allowed any of his demonic characteristics to truly shine through, so this here? This is the first step of Dante opening up to that side of him, however unconsciously. That, or it's him at least acclimatizing to the underworld's miasma.
In the end he finally manages to draw strength instead of weakness from the underworld's influence, to the point that he even surprises his demon adversary. Once more his father's side allows him to manage something a full human wouldn't be able to.
Another example from the novels for the hell atmosphere thing would be these sections from the dmc2 one. For some background info, Dante and Beryl (a female demon hunter) are transported to an alternate universe where a lot of things are switched up and changed.
But here Dante specifically mentions how there's an underlying power in the demon world. Which even becomes more prevalent once they meet up with some friendly demons (which are partially this world's dmc1 bosses, who are very different to the ones we know), and during a fight they specifically mention how difficult it is to battle fully as they are now and in the (changed but still) human world.
Oh, and did I forget to mention that Mundus is still alive and free in this world? Well, Dante and co. then aim to change that, which gives us this moment here, that couldn't better sum up the dichotomy of demons and humans when it comes to hell's atmosphere.
The demons are strengthened, while Beryl struggles under the effect.
This to me goes to show how much demons actually rely on this background current, and how they truly seem to need human blood or other power sources to survive in the human world, if they want to keep their strength. Otherwise they're limited in how much they can use their powers if they wanna last, since only the demon world allows them to go full tilt with it.
Kinda gives a bit of context on why Mundus was so set on luring Dante to himself on Mallet Island. Even as an Emperor of demons he did not want to fight with a disadvantage, even though it would give Dante somewhat the same boost in strength if they were to battle in hell.
Demons in my mind overall also need little to no food to survive thanks to this nourishing background current, which could explain some of their more bizarre forms and the focus on dominance and physical strength, since the biggest danger then is each other, not hunger. And in a world with such a strict power hierarchy as demons, climbing that becomes of the utmost importance.
Also, logically the bigger and more powerful a creature, the more energy it would need to keep itself going, but with this worldly aspect, even something as ginormous as the Leviathan can keep itself afloat almost indefinitely. If there's a skirmish or fight, well, it's not often that groundbreaking should you win or lose, since either way, after a few hours the energy spent is replenished. This, together with their quick healing means that aggression pays off way more than it does for our world's predators, which could help explain a lot about the behavior and lifestyle of the dmc demons.
Having a quicker recovery in the demon world is actually something we can see employed in dmc4, since there, some of the demon bosses Nero beats, just go for a quick dip back home to recover, before returning for another fight.
(Poor Nero. At least he gets to finish some of them off.)
And speaking of dmc4, here's another interesting tidbit. This is one of Trish's segments, and it's a bittersweet one about missing hell.
How she puts it here could also indirectly point towards the nourishing effect the demon world has on devils, and her kinda missing it.
Also, this part earlier about some demons being pure energy and not being able to survive in the human world without binding themselves to something physical is fascinating to me.
Goes to show that thanks to the different atmosphere, the pure energy demons are able to live unimpeded in the demon world, and they can't in the human world because... well, by now I think I've kinda made my point.
Dmc3 sadly has nothing as far as I can remember that could be used to indicate this effect, except maybe some handwavy notes about the underworld containing power, and how Sparda cut himself from that power by creating the seal.
What is however also interesting is this bit from the dmc2 game, that once more shows how humans can be affected by the miasma, and how those that survive being exposed to it over longer periods, start to mutate and turn into demonic beings.
(Small thanks to @twigg27 here for bringing this to my attention a few days back with a post of theirs. Otherwise would have really missed it.)
As with most older dmc stuff, this probs should be taken with a grain of salt, but it kinda makes sense to me. In the same vein, people who have already been exposed to demonic stuff one way or another, can probably handle the atmosphere a bit better (looking at Arkham here specifically, though Beryl also showed quite some resilience, only faltering in the end), but what long-term exposure does to those people we've sadly not truly found out yet.
... turning into a mindless demonic being would however be on brand.
So yeah, hell is really not a friendly place for humanity in the dmc universe. What a bummer.
Dante and Vergil however must be having a true blast down there, since they can cut loose as much as they want. With their energy continuously being replenished, they could probably fight for weeks on end.
I pity any hell dweller that crosses their path even more now.
--
Just one other small thingy for the end. This here is a bit of a further reach, which is why I separated it somewhat, but I reckon this segment from VoV could also fit into this worldbuilding.
Griffon is surprised and annoyed by V's need for food, which might show us once more how demons aren't as reliant on that as humans are. And later on the focus of V eating a burger also gives the impression that Vergil hasn't actually eaten anything for a long while himself.
So he was most likely sustained by hell's atmosphere and/or other means during his missing years, no surprise there. But what I really wanna highlight is, that he mayhaps also forewent food even before that as a teen. Slaying demons is most certainly a source of power through their essence (red orbs and other stuff, game mechanic wise), so in my mind Vergil took that as a shortcut to mostly forego the need for food, even while lacking the underworld's atmosphere to sustain him. Something V sadly didn't have the means to do, being mostly human, so he had to actually chow down on demons to survive...
Though this is mostly a personal headcanon of mine.
Thanks for reading! I know this was a longer and more rambly one, but I really just wanted to point out this neat worldbuilding detail of canon, since it's one I also heavily rely on in my helltrip fic. Also, the dmc novels can be a pretty fun read, despite how different they sometimes are, so something that stays consistent is especially interesting.
If you have any thoughts on this, feel free to let me know. Always love me some chatter.
Dante selling his leftover Devil Arms seems to be a fact that's widely accepted by the fandom, and it would make sense on first glance for how he carries himself and his money. Only, as always, things aren't as simple as that with our favorite red clad devil hunter, to say he sells them all.
So, let's talk more about this!
We know that Dante rarely has the same weapons load-out between games, always starting with a simple sword and guns (and maybe one or two others), and then collecting more and more weapons as the game progresses. Makes sense from a gameplay standpoint, but it does beg the question: What does he do with all those Devil Arms? At this point after all he has quite the collection and we don't see many we know of displayed at his shop.
Answers in that regard can be found in a rather obscure source, namely the radio dramas that were released with the same cast as the anime. In Vol 1, we come face to face again with Enzo, Dante's main broker before Morrison came along, and we find out what happened to him after we last saw him in the dmc3 manga.
Apparently he up and opened up his own pawn shop (focused on demonic stuff) after a bad encounter with a Devil Arm gun that... well it tried to fuse with him and the only way to save him was to cut off his actual arm. Which Dante did, but in typical Dante fashion he felt responsible for it, and he since then aims to make it right by going into debt with Enzo so that he could regularly pay him money.
A very familiar strategy, one we've already seen happen with Grue's remaining daughters as well as maybe in a way with Lady.
But here's the important part: As collateral to this debt Dante gave Enzo his Devil Arms. By the looks of it almost all of the ones he had at that point! In the course of the story of the audio drama, we see familiar weapons like Ifrit, Cerberus and Alastor, which are from both the dmc1 and dmc3 load-out (and the anime takes place in between dmc1 and dmc2).
So Dante hasn't truly sold his Devil Arms, they've just been pawned off, and that solely to Enzo. The only true mention of selling one of these devilish weapons is this here:
Poor Agni and Rudra. They are the only exception we currently know of, but even then, they haven't been sold further either. They're still at Enzo's place, just openly on display in comparison to the others, though Enzo does also have other Devil Arms that don't belong to Dante there. And he also specifically mentions in between how he wished Dante would sell him more of his weapons.
So yeah, selling Devil Arms really isn't Dante's usual it seems like. And this arrangement he has with Enzo looks to me as if he's killing two birds with one stone.
On one hand he's able to give Enzo money regularly, looking out for one of his oldest companions and also alleviating his guilt for the disarmament he was forced to execute.
On the other hand, Dante is able to store a lot of his dangerous weapons out of the way in a rather hidden warehouse store, a place most people who hear of him probably won't immediately go to look for his powerful tools. And since it already houses a collection of Devil Arms, it probably also has quite some measures to keep them all safe.
It is rather rare for him to check those pawned off Devil Arms out for himself, but we have one other instance of him using one of his old weapons again, and that was in the dmc5 novel where he used Cerberus to fight Balrog.
He also does keep some Devil Arms at his place, as mentioned in the dmc4 novel.
Overall, there's as you can see not much mention of him truly selling his old weapons, except for Agni and Rudra, and that does make a lot of sense. Devil Arms are after all quite dangerous, may it be in the wrong hands, or them sometimes having the intention of consuming their wielders. Dante can use them because of who he is, a powerful cambion, but that's not true for other people. I mean, Trish even says she leaves to find dangerous Devil Arms and keep them out of human hands!
So Dante certainly also wouldn't want his old demonic weaponry to float around and cause more harm, as well as give Trish more work. Agni and Rudra might be the exception here because, let's be honest, they are rather tame in comparison to most other demons. And friendly towards humans to boot, as seen in this funny scene with Enzo:
They absolutely enjoy being able to engage with others, so they really are a good choice to sell I think. And even then, Enzo still has them in his shop, so it's not as if they've gone far yet.
It's probably only the more recent, or the really strong and dangerous Devil Arms that Dante keeps close in his shop. In dmc5 that seems to be the case for Balrog, who is still conscious and also swore to only remain a Devil Arm until he got strong enough for a rematch... The others, well, Enzo is probably where they're at, as part of the collateral.
Anyway, I hope this gave a better overview of what Dante's Devil Arm situation actually looks like. As far as we know he's only sold one, and it, as well as the others are still close at hand for him. So it wouldn't be completely truthful in my estimate to say that he just sells them all off.
One thing I'll always love about the dmc novels is that they stay consistent when it comes to the Sparda fams' hair color.
Like, so much other stuff gets retconned and changed and shuffled around, but the one thing they've agreed on from the very beginning is that Dante and co have silver hair.
May it be the dmc1 novel...
Dmc2...
And the dmc4 ones! All of them only describe them with silver hair.
'Deadly Fortune' even actually contains mentions like these for every single member of the Sparda lineage.
Even Vergil gets his instance to shine!
The only black sheep is the 'Before the Nightmare' novel, but no worries they still didn't switch to describing it as white hair (which is so very prevalent in other media surrounding dmc). They actually just didn't describe the Sparda fams' hair color at all!
But yeah, I honestly love that they go for silver instead of white, since white can be found in humans aplenty, but silver? Actual metallic, pale silver? Probably with a light iridescent sheen to it for extra effect (like their DTs)?
Yeah, that ain't really natural.
Which makes it a very nice signifier of Sparda's demonic bloodline, as well as just another hint to the inhuman heritage the boys share. Always love seeing those, which is why you'll find me describing their hair as silver as well in my fics.
Also, as a last add on for some extra thought: Dmc5, while lacking a description in the novel, does depict the boys' hair color the best out of all the games in my opinion. Just look at the nice silver tint they have!
It depends a bit on the lighting, sometimes it's paler and more towards white, but it's absolutely there!
But the game also shows us how V's hair without Nightmare is somewhat different, is more white in comparison. Fully white to be honest, at least to my eyes.
So kinda like he's lacking all pigment naturally, or, if we go by other human examples, similar to a sign of extreme stress and actual damage to the hair follicles.
Very fitting for someone who has almost none of the demonic stuff, has quite some trauma and is actively falling apart the entire time. Guess Urizen stole the usual color in the divorce xD
Dusted this older draft off, since I just finished re-reading VoV. Again.
What can I say, it gives such good character insight into Vergil and has new details each read through...
So here's a fun thing I realized a while back while (again) re-reading Visions of V: You know those colored panels? How there's only three instances of this black and white manga getting some more pigments?
Ever thought about how they each are of an instance where V(ergil) is being saved? And how important those moments are for the rest of the story?
Let's start from the beginning.
The is the first instance of a scene in color, and it's the moment an imaginary Dante saves V from Nelo Angelo/the shadow of Mundus in chapter 9.
And yes, while this is a vision created by Nightmare, it mirrors what truly happened way too well. Had Dante not been there, had he not almost killed his brother as Nelo Angelo, Vergil would have certainly still been in the grips of the Demon Emperor. Which arguably would have been the greater nightmare.
So that's two instances V(ergil) was helped by his brother packed into one. Though V doesn't truly see it as such in the moment, only thinking it is Nightmare shoving V's current weakness back into his face.
... It's at the beginning of his journey, so yeah, understandable he doesn't think further of it.
Though this moment right here and the other dream he has after are the reason he even thinks of going to Dante for help, so it's at least something.
The next color panels we get take a while to reach (24 chapters to be exact), but they are all the more worth it. They depict the moment where Nero confronts Malphas, thereby protecting V as well.
And ooooh, I've already talked about this before, but this is like one of the moments in VoV. Because Nero protecting V shows how despite them sharing Sparda's blood, despite them having that same cursed family line, it does not automatically mean strife. Doesn't automatically mean them causing each other's death. Rather the opposite.
V once thought that those of Sparda's blood are destined to kill each other, thanks to his past experiences with Dante, but here Nero comes along and as the proper punk he is, throws that notion over its head. He helps V.
Which a bit later most likely inspires V to not write Dante off as someone who could only further harm him, but to actually look deeper and make him hope for something he hasn't hoped for in a long time... That being to have Dante as his twin once more.
And that bring us to the last moment, which is this one.
(Actually it's two, but I'll count them as one)
Vergil's rebirth.
The moment he accepts all he is, rejoins all he's split, becoming himself again.
All thanks to V's growth and realizations, thanks to one part of his own working so hard to give him the chance to heal and move on.
V is a part of Vergil. He is Vergil. VoV makes that very clear to me in all the ways V talks about himself, about Vergil, through how he acts, how he sees the differences between them and also how there is also mostly none.
And this makes this moment oh so special, since it's in a way Vergil saving himself.
Which is just absolutely lovely to me. Cause at the end of the day we don't just get saved by other people, not when it comes to the things we hold inside. Those little quirks of our brain, the trauma learned, the unhealthy habits taken, those are all things that in actuality we need to decide ourselves to fix. It's always the first, and also final step on a path to healing. We alone are able to decide that we want to change from where we are now, and that we want to grow, to grab hold of all we are and all we could be and say: Yes.
Which is why I find this manga so damn beautiful, since it shows such a good progression of V's growth.
As a final note you might be thinking, but what about this moment here?
V is being saved here as well!
Well, to that all I can say is, guess only the Sparda fam is allowed to have some color... Sorry Trish, thanks for saving this idiot of a man anyways XD
(Or on a more serious note, this just me picking out something I found fun to think of, it's not the rule. V actually gets saved plenty, in a lot of big and small ways during the manga, but I do find it interesting how each of these moments were colored in, in comparison to all the rest.)
You know what I often find a bit confusing when it comes to the general fan perception of dmc?
How casual they portray the boys harming each other.
Don't take me wrong, yes, the favorite past time of our overpowered twins is fighting, therefore stabbing, punching and otherwise hurting each other. And yes, with their healing it's kinda a moot point how much they damage each other, it'll heal in a jiffy, and yes, it's probably a big part of their demonic instincts burgeoning on their natural sibling rivalry.
But whenever they harm each other in canon it is always when they both expect it. Like, there's always a clear wind up to them going at each other's throats, a figurative nod of their head before they engage. They don't just, stab each other in a casual setting, without any reason, or break each other's bones willy nilly. There are unspoken rules to these interactions, ones they follow both.
They could hurt each other at any moment, they absolutely could. But that's not how you get a single moment of calm, cause you always have to be on guard from harm of the other and that's not... That's not how they interact at the end of dmc5. That's not how they act in-between all of the other canon stuff we have either.
There's always a wind up. Always a clear reason before one kicks the other, when they're in their right minds. Always a sure bet the other can pick up on, oh, this will get bloody if I continue. And mostly it's, I will continue, cause that's fun and what I want...
Like, I mean, do we really think Vergil, who even when brainwashed to hell and back, who did not attack his brother from behind, even when it would have been easier, would have cleared his objective faster and more efficiently - Vergil who clearly has some codes of honor, would just stab his brother over something miniscule in a casual setting? No warning no nothing?
The same guy who wants to be 'protected and loved' would not afford his twin brother the same gift? The same chance of a calm and protected environment when in each other's company?
Because them always expecting to be hurt by the other with no warnings beforehand is definitely not that.
Sure he'll threaten and bluster and all of that. But only when a line is really crossed will he draw blood. A line Dante is absolutely aware of by then.
And of them both Dante is most commonly the one who instigates a fight, and do we really believe he would live to indulge in casual domestic violence? Dante? Sure he'll annoy the shit out of his brother, but he won't just casually shoot him in the head over the last pizza slice. That's more than just uncool. He'll absolutely go for a scuffle on the ground or other smaller shenanigans, but not intended, grievous bodily harm.
I'm not really going anywhere with this anymore. I kinda just wanted to point this out.
For memes and stuff I can fully understand letting them get a bit stabby and shooty, but for other more grounded stuff... If we take canon at face value, we get a different picture than the one those memes represent.
Hope that separation is kinda clear!
(Only sorta exception I could think of off the top of my head is them both knocking Nero back. Though poor Nero is probs not as in-tune with these innate rules yet, and a punch is definitely kinder than a stab imo. And it was purposely done to stop Nero from following. So again, not willy-nilly... They were also in extenuating circumstances and not a domestic environment... Think you get my point.)
