History Characters / DevilMayCryDante

* TheHero: For the entire franchise except ''4'', although Nero does share much of the role in ''5''.

* CelibateHero: Despite meeting rather attractive new women in nearly every single installment, Dante has shown zero outward interest of actually getting with any of them. Trish looking exactly like his mother aside, he has never had anything more than a professional relationship with Lady and Lucia either. Casual flirting isn't off the table however, as is the repeated amounts of trash-talking he, Lady and Trish give each other. Lucia, in fact, has directly propositioned him for sex, which Dante declined on the grounds that it would simply get in the way of his work.
** It is also highly likely that due to the death of his parents, Dante simply believes that [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies entering a romantic relationship with someone will only end with more loss.]]

* ArcHero: Dante is the main protagonist for most of the classic continuity. However, the first three games also have him sharing the spotlight with another hero who serves as his main ally, while the fourth and fifth games gave way for Nero, another main protagonist alongside him.
** In ''1'', Trish is a servant of Mundus whose goal is to lure Dante to Mallet Island where Mundus can kill him. After being moved by Dante's kindness, Trish pulls a HeelFaceTurn and becomes Dante's ally, aiding him in defeating Mundus during the game's final battle.
** In ''2'', Lucia is a member of a devil hunting clan from the island of Vie de Marli. She enlists Dante's help to deal with a man named Arius who seeks to claim the power of a great demon lord using her clan's scared artifacts. Lucia is the first ''DMC'' character to be playable alongside Dante and has her own story arc exploring her origins as [[spoiler:Arius's discarded creation]].
** In ''3'', Lady isn't playable like Lucia is, but she serves this role nonetheless. Like Dante, Lady is related by blood to one half of the BigBadDuumvirate consisting of Vergil and Arkham. While Dante has a final clash with Vergil, Arkham is killed by Lady.
** In ''4'' and ''5'', Dante returns as a playable and prominent character for both games, but Nero replaces him as the main hero.

* BadassCrew: Dante leads the original Devil May Cry agency which specializes in hunting demons. Trish and Lady are his recurring partners.

* TheAce: Right from the first game, Dante is shown to be supremely skilled in melee and gunfighting, [[InstantExpert instantly mastering]] any bizarre and exotic weapon he picks up. He's so powerful that even the bosses he faces are little more than jokes to him, and that's before he deigns to unleash his [[SuperMode Devil Trigger]]. In ''3'' he gains access to a total of six Styles that expand or augment his moveset (reduced to a 'mere' four Styles by the fifth game). His power is exemplified in ''4'', where he upstages Nero at every turn, and his gameplay segments showcase the vast difference in skill, precision, and speed between the two. By ''5'', he gains even ''more'' power, and he's either personally defeated or had a hand in defeating several godlike beings, all accomplishments which pale in comparison to his victories over [[spoiler:his own elder brother]].

** Starting in ''3'', Dante is given access to specialized movesets which determine how the Son of Sparda fights in addition to his basic combat skills with each individual weapon. He starts with [[LeParkour Trickster]], [[MasterSwordsman Swordmaster]], [[GunFu Gunslinger]], and [[BlockingStopsAllDamage Royal]] [[CounterAttack Guard]], later obtaining [[ColourCodedTimestop Quicksilver]] and {{Doppelganger|Attack}} as spoils for defeating Geryon and Doppelganger. ''4'' drops Quicksilver and Doppelganger, only keeping the default four from ''3'', but allows Dante ([[CallingYourAttacks while name calling the respective Style]]) to switch between them on the fly as the player sees fit (instead of how it worked in ''3'' where he's restricted to only one Style at a time unless swapped at a Mission Start screen or Divinity Statue). Midway through his segment of the game, Dante unlocks Dark Slayer, a homage to Vergil's single style of battle in ''3''; unlike Vergil, Dante doesn't focus on Vergil's various [[FlashStep teleportation "Trick" techniques]], instead using [[KatanasAreJustBetter Yamato]] to emulate a few of his brother's trademark moves. In ''5'', he's back to the basic four again. With the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch release of ''[=3:SE=]'' on 2020, there's an option to use a Real-Time Style Switching feature that was implemented in later games past ''[=DMC3=]''.

[[caption-width-right:250:[[labelnote:Click here to see his Sin Devil Trigger Form]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dtl051_full.png[[/labelnote]]]]

* CoolGuns: His signature twin pistols, Ebony and Ivory, a pair of custom-designed [=M1911A1=]-type handguns with several special features.

[[folder: H-P]]

[[caption-width-right:250:[[labelnote:Click here to see his Devil Trigger Form]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dmc5_dante_devil_trigger_render.jpg[[/labelnote]]]]
[[caption-width-right:250:[[labelnote:Click here to see his Sin Devil Trigger Form]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sin_devil_triger_35.jpg[[/labelnote]]]]

--->[[spoiler: '''Urizen''':]] "This is true power. The power I've sought for so long."
--->'''Dante''': You've been chasing this for an eternity. And it's nothing but ''useless'' ''[[PrecisionFStrike shit!]]''

* TechnicianVersusPerformer: Dante's play style leans heavily on being a "Performer," whereas Vergil's methodical and little-wasted movement fighting style is most definitely the "Technician." With the four main styles of Trickster, Gunslinger, Swordmaster, and Royalguard mentioned in the StanceSystem entry above, he can freely switch between all four in ''4'' and ''5'' (plus Dark Slayer in ''4''). Add real-time weapon switching in ''3'', ''4'', and ''5'', Dante can create some of the ''most'' over-the-top and flashiest combos at the hands of skilled players.