History
There are many elements to the Franchise that can find their origins in "La Divina Comedia" or the Divine Comedy written by Dante Alighieri. The most notable of these is Dante's Inferno but also included Purgatorio and Paradiso (Hell, Purgatory and Heaven). The most notable and obvious of these are the three characters Dante, Vergil, and Trish.
Dante is the protagonist of the entire Divine Comedy and starts with him entering Hell and working his way up to the stars and eventually into Heaven. During the first two parts (in Hell and Purgatory), Dante is accompanied by the classical Italian scholar Virgilio (or Virgil) who was most well known for his great work, the Aeneid. Throughout Paradiso, Dante was instead accompanied by Beatrice (Bee-ah-tree-chay) who was a real person and Dante Alighieri's romantic interest. The English form of the name Beatrice can easily be shortened to the nickname, Trish.
Ironically, throughout the Inferno and Purgatorio, Dante looks up to and admires Vergil. To Dante, Vergil was a symbol that represented the great history of Roma and the Roman Empire. As they marched through these bleak areas, Dante was frequently on the edge of a mental breakdown, constantly fluctuating from screams of surprise to full out sobs of despair. Vergil, by contrast, lead Dante along and talked confidently and without fear of the various tortures and sights of Hell.
| The Italian Language. |
| The Country of Italy didn't actually come into existence until 1865. Many people today think that it was a contiguous country well before then mainly because of the popular conception of the "Italian Renessaince". In fact, during that time there was no unified government and most of the peninsula was actually ruled by a form of City States. The reason for the "Italian" Renessaince is because the people of the peninsula all spoke the Italian Language (though in very different dialects!). All of this is relevent because Dante is considered the Father of the Italian Language. Most scholars of his time insisted on using Latin specifically because it was a sign of "high society". While Latin was required by many of the nobility and was considered "scholarly", Latin was dying out as the common people were practicing the more "vulgar" Italian language. Dante opted to write his Divine Comedy in Italian rather than the Latin preferred amongst his peers. Without Dante, it's very possible that there would have been very little Italian to the Italian Renessaince! |
Franchise
As was previously mentioned, there are many things in Dante's Divine Comedy and particularly that of the Inferno that inspired the Franchise. Aside from the afformentioned names of Dante, Vergil, and Beatrice (Trish), there are many other things that come to us from the Divine Comedy.
- Bloody Palace - The Bloody Palace has 100 regular rounds of battle to represent the 100 cantos of the Divine Comedy.
- Health Stars - The last word in all three parts of the Divine Comedy is the word "star". It is a symbol of heaven but also of human knowledge. He also uses "stars" to make comments on scientific knowledge around that time.
- Ice or Frost - Frost based enemies tend to be very powerful demons and generally only appear towards the end of a game. Usually this is attributed the coldness of the lowest levels of hell. In Dante's Inferno, Hell becomes colder as you go further down until you reach the bottom level where everything is frozen. This is at odds with the common conception of a firy Hell.
Devil May Cry
Aside from establishing the names, there are actually few references to Dante's Inferno in the original Devil May Cry.
- Established names Dante, Vergil, Trish, Frozen enemies appear towards the end and Health stars were used.
- There was a lot of gothic styling similar to that of the descriptions and depictions of Dante's Inferno.
- The game actually uses the number 3 quite frequently. Since Force Edge and Sparda are actually the same weapon, there are three melee weapons in the game. Each of the repeating bosses are fought three times.
Devil May Cry 2
Devil May Cry 2 also carries a few marks from the Divine Comedy
- Dante meets Satan on the bottom level of Inferno. Satan has three faces, each chewing one of the great betrayers in history. This is similar to the boss Trismagia who has three faces.
- There is a saint Lucia who helps Dante through Paradiso in the epic poem.
Devil May Cry 3
The third entry in the series really starts to make a lot of comparisons.
- By the end of the first mission, Vergil has already appeared (Virgil appears to Dante in the first Canto).
- There is an enemy type called a Hell and there are seven types of Hells. Each Hell is one of the seven deadly sins.
- The first boss you encounter is Cerberus which is the gate keeper of Hell in Dante's Inferno.
- The tower in the game appears to be Mount Purgatory from the Divine Comedy with 9 levels and themes similar to the 9 levels of Purgatory. It could possibly be an inverted Hell but it is hard to tell because they have many common themes with most of the major differences being that Purgatory requires more of a psyhological sin. For example, one may be guilty of Lust. If they act upon it, they would land in Hell but if they don't, they'd end up in Purgatory.
- Chronologically, however, it would make sense for the tower to represent Purgatory. While in the game, the top of the tower leads to Hell, the game also ends with Dante and Vergil going their separate ways. The next step in the series is the beginning of the original DMC where Trish finds Dante and takes over as guide. Similarly, at the end of Purgatorio, Dante leaves Virgil and meets up with Beatrice.
Devil May Cry 4
Devil May Cry 4 was a little light on in game references.
- However, many of the titles for chapters in the game drew from various parts of Dante's Inferno (and one is even actually called Inferno). La Vitua Nova is another example.
- When you die, the words "Abandon All Hope" will appear if you quit out or can't continue. This comes from the words written above the door leading to Hell in Dante's Inferno which reads "Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enters Here."
- The weapon Lucifer in the game is a direct reference to Lucifer (the name of Satan in the Inferno).
DmC: Devil May Cry
While Trish may not make an appearance in this reboot series, it's got a lot of other things that tie it even more to the Divine Comedy.
- Dante begins as a drifter and could easily be described as having lost his way. This is much more inline with Dante's Divine Comedy. The translated first lines (paraphrased) read "In the middle of our life / we find ourselves in a dark wood / That I could not tell where the straight path lie"
- Shortly thereafter, Dante wonders into Hell to escape several beasts. When he does so, he is greeted by a guide, Virgil.
- Vergil seems to fit his namesake than before. Virgil finds Dante when Dante is most lost - not long after entering hell.
- Virgil is knowledgeable about hell and provides guidance.
- Virgil, throughtout the Inferno, gives off an air of confidence and intelligence while Dante actually spends most of the Inferno cowering from the sights. Virgil also protects Dante from the various tortures of Hell while describing them.
- When Dante first enters Hell, he passes through a part of Hell (a sort of vestibule) before entering the Inferno proper called Limbo.
- Not long after entering Limbo, Dante must cross the river Styx (accompanied by Virgil at this point). The term for a being from the river Styx is called a Stygian which is the first creature that you encounter after entering Limbo for the first time in DmC.
- Many other creatures also appear in both works. Harpies are present and Witches go to Hell. There are many, many other creatures that are derived from Christianity proper but are not present in the Inferno such as the Succubus and Lilith.
It should also be pointed out that there was a purpose to the writing of the Divine Comedy. Dante was actually making a lot of political statements with his writing. It basically tells of the various sins that historical figures had made (and even some then recently deceased) and the crimes they paid for. The goal was to warn against these kinds of things in the future.
Similarly, DmC deals quite a bit with debt, allowing ourselves to be watched and monitored by the government (CCTVs such as those depicted in the game are common in parts of the UK if I'm not mistaken), and how becoming "loyal" to the news can end poorly. Beyond that, it even goes so far as to comment on things such as how we need to be more conscientious of the things we put in our bodies. It warns against accepting garbage marketing and even warns of the physical side effects of consuming too much junk (the fat man at the beginning of the mission Under Watch).
The game aims to be quite heady, much like the Divine Comedy from which it derives inspiration.
