History Fridge / DevilMayCry5

* Nero doesn't get Devil Arms like Dante does. Instead, Nico uses the remnants of the demons he kills to make his Devil Breakers. But some potential Fridge Brilliance and JustForPun comes into play when you realize that the Devil Breakers are demon-powered robot arms. ''Nero acquires literal Devil Arms throughout the game.''

* Urizen using Trish and Lady as living batteries for Cavaliere Angelo and Artemis takes on a whole new meaning when you consider who these two women are. Trish is a doppelganger of Vergil's mother Eva who was created by Mundus for the purpose of duping Dante by playing on his grief over their mother's death while Lady is the daughter of Arkham, the human who tried to manipulate Vergil to attain the power of Sparda and Lady herself was also a thorn in Vergil's side during ''3''. Urizen using them in the manner he did could be seen as revenge by proxy against Mundus and Arkham, as well as punishing them for their respective trespasses against Dante and himself. If one assumes Trish also helped torture and brainwash Vergil into becoming Nelo Angelo, [[LaserGuidedKarma Urizen sticking Trish in an Angelo also seems like poetic justice from his perspective.]]

* As Dante destroys the Qliphoth Blood Clots in Mission 12, he quips "When in doubt, smack it" as if it's their family motto. This might come off as a random one-liner at first, but it's a [[ContinuityNod subtle reference]] to a recurring element in the series wherein a character literally [[PercussiveMaintenance hits or attacks an object to make it work]] or to solve something. In ''[=DMC3=]'', Dante hits his jukebox to make it play music, strikes a puzzle box to move it forward, and kicks the ornamental spear that activates a mechanism. In ''[=DMC4=]'', the jammed drawbridge controls only worked after a frustrated Nero shot it with his revolver, the Gyro Blades are manipulated by weapon strikes, and Dante managed to skip the Dice Game by cutting the die in half.

* Dante needs a new power up to beat Urizen. Solution? Stab himself in the chest with Rebellion! After all, getting stabbed in the chest with a sword unlocked a new power the [[OnceAnEpisode last four times]] it happened! In this case, Dante is ''finally'' accepting his demonic heritage inherited from Sparda, not just focusing solely on his human heritage from Eva; he quite literally ''absorbs'' Sparda (the sword). He's facing the family portrait because it symbolizes that acceptance as he absorbs both Rebellion and Demon Sword Sparda to form his own, Demon Sword Dante. It also symbolizes how Rebellion was the opposite of Yamato — where Yamato has the ability to split demonic power apart, Rebellion has the ability to ''unify'' demonic power ''together''. Dante overcame the mental "rebellion" that had been holding him back since ''3''.

* The Qliphoth needed to harvest human blood in order to produce the fruit that grants immense power to a demon. Later on, an in-game document file reveals that human blood is in fact a source of demonic power. Retroactively, this paints another significant meaning on the entire franchise's focus on HybridPower – Dante, Vergil and Nero are stronger than the "pure" demons because their own human blood literally empowers their demonic nature!
* "Qliphoth" means "husk" in Hebrew, potentially justifying why the game's Qliphoth turns its victims into literal husks when its roots drained their blood.

*** Another, non-recurring, pair of lines is "Split myself in two, death is all around. Summoning the power, drag myself through pain!" This obviously refers to Vergil's literal splitting of himself into Urizen, who brings death to Redgrave with his summoning of the Qliphoth, and V, who literally summons his traumas and forces himself to fight as his body slowly decays.

* Artemis and Cavaliere Angelo carry Lady and Trish as LivingBatteries respectively. Which makes sense. Artemis was a gun in the previous games so Urizen would want an expert in GunFu to wield her power, thus, Lady, whose nickname here is literally [[RedBaron The Walking]] [[MoreDakka Arsenal]], was chosen for her. Cavaliere, on the other hand, has the ability to [[ShockandAwe control electricity]] and wield his giant sword like nothing. Thus, Trish, who wields [[BfS Sparda]] (ironically, the name of the man Cavaliere hates) and uses electricity as her main ability, powers the big purple demon.

* Although the fact that various Devil Breakers are placed across the field might come across as AcceptableBreaksFromReality, on hindsight, it is perfectly possible that Nico simply ''launches'' the ones with rocket functions and have them land at random spots in Red Grave City and later within the Qliphoth tree.

** When he introduced himself to Dante, V quotes "I have no name, I am but two days old..." and passes it off as a joke. However, it is a {{Foreshadowing}} and V isn't actually kidding. He came to Dante's shop on May 3, exactly two days after he and Urizen were split off from Vergil on May 1.

* [[HatOfPower Dr. Faust]] is a Devil Arm that takes the form of the hat worn by the Fausts in ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'', and that it attacks by using your Red Orbs which serve as currency in-game. Given the game has microtransactions so you can easily get Red Orbs, it's possible for it to not just [[CastFromMoney cast from Dante's money]], but [[BribingYourWayToVictory YOURS as well!]]

* The design of Artemis evokes the appearance of a [[OurAngelsAreDifferent/TheBible Seraph]] – having six wings with several eyes dotted within them. Other angelic allusions include Artemis's affinity for light-based attacks, while its shockwave-inducing screams can be likened to a Seraph's literal Earth-shaking voices.

** He's the firstborn brother (being the elder of the twins) as well as the first one to delve into the Demon World, which all of the playable characters seem to do at some point in game. He's also the first to delve into his demonic nature the most, supposedly getting his Devil Trigger before Dante. He is also the last one to escape the Demon World (given his time as Nelo Angelo), the last one to figure that humanity does have some meaning (compared to Nero and Dante who embraced it first), and, of course, the last Boss in ''Devil May Cry 3'' and ''5''.

** V and Urizen are incomplete beings. [[WeakButSkilled V]] has all the skill and finesse of Vergil but none of his pure power, hence his reliance on his familiars to do most of the fighting. [[UnskilledButStrong Urizen]] has all of Vergil's demonic power enhanced to an absurd degree, but he fights like a savage when facing Dante, which is why he lost to his far more skilled opponent, especially when Dante got the power to turn the tables. Now combined as [[StrongAndSkilled Vergil]], they're finally on the same level as their true foe, but in exchange, they [[DeathOfPersonality lost their freedom of being their own person]].

** To be fair, Dante had been stabbed by Rebellion before without much trouble - Nero throwing it at him in ''[=DMC4=]'' comes to mind. So he knew nothing terrible would happen if he were wrong.

* Dante gains Sin Devil Trigger by stabbing himself with Rebellion with Sparda on his back. Horror kicks in when you remember that Dante based this choice on a ''guess'', he hopes that his father gifted him and Vergil swords based on them being PolarOppositeTwins, and remembering that his Devil Trigger first activated when he was stabbed by Rebellion. If he had been wrong, there would have been ''another'' demon, probably stronger than Urizen, rampaging around.

** To be fair, Dante had been stabbed by Rebellion before without much trouble - Nero throwing it at him in ''DMC4'' comes to mind. So he knew nothing terrible would happen if he were wrong.

* Dante gains Sin Devil Trigger by stabbing himself with Rebellion. Horror kicks in when you remember that Dante based this choice on a ''guess'', he hopes that his father gifted them the swords based on them being PolarOppositeTwins, and remembering that his Devil Trigger first activated when he was stabbed by Rebellion. If he had been wrong, there would have been ''another'' demon, probably stronger than Urizen, rampaging around.
** Alternatively, it could've wound up doing nothing productive, which would instead mean beyond initially making him look stupid, Dante likely wouldn't be capable of fighting Urizen; without him being able to take on Urizen, Nero would be dead, and there goes the entire plot, and also probably the world itself. Yikes.

* The giant Gilgamesh demon's [[AttackItsWeakPoint weak point]] being a suspicious red soft spot on its back makes sense after the boss is defeated. Nero and Nico realize that the giant is actually just a mass of Qliphoth Roots fused with the [[FantasyMetals "Gilgamesh" metal from the Underworld]]. Prior to this boss fight, you've been destroying Qliphoth roots by smashing their red "blood clots", thus the similar red spot on the boss isn't a coincidence.
* Artemis and Cavaliere Angelo carry Lady and Trish as LivingBatteries respectively. Which makes sense. Artemis was a gun in the previous games so Urizen would want an expert in GunFu to wield her power, thus, Lady, whose nickname here is literally [[RedBaron The Walking]] [[MoreDakka Arsenal]], was chosen for her. Cavaliere, on the other hand, has the ability to [[ShockandAwe control electricity]] and wield his giant sword like nothing. Thus, Trish, who wields [[BfS Sparda]] (ironically, the name of the man Cavaliere hates) and uses electricity as her main ability, powers the big purple demon.
* The design of Artemis evokes the appearance of a [[OurAngelsAreDifferent/TheBible Seraph]] – having six wings with several eyes dotted within them. Other angelic allusions include Artemis's affinity for light-based attacks, while its shockwave-inducing screams can be likened to a Seraph's literal Earth-shaking voices.
* Cavaliere Angelo translates to "Knight Angel" in Italian. But if [[BilingualBonus one goes deeper into etymology]], "Cavaliere" is derived from the Latin word "Caballarius" which means "mounted knight". Therefore, [[MeaningfulName it makes sense]] for Cavaliere Angelo to be introduced riding the horse demon Elder Geryon.
* Cavaliere Angelo's first act upon meeting Dante is to throw a motorcycle at him, and once Dante defeats him, he gets a motorycle Devil Arm out of him. The thrown motorcycle might've [[ContrivedCoincidence came out of nowhere]] at first, but there's actually another meaning to it. Considering he's powered by Trish, it's a very nice foreshadowing and callback to not only who's powering the Angelo, but also how Trish and Dante first met (in ''[=DMC1=]'', she rammed a motorcycle to enter Dante's shop and threw it at him).

* V reacts to Caveliere Angelo with bitter amusement, realizing that it's holding Trish and joking "Don't worry, I'll be gentle." But when V meets a Proto Angelo with Nero, he is completely disgusted and resolves to destroy it. The difference is that Proto Angelo is a soulless abomination even closer to the image of Nelo Angelo than Cavaliere, possessing similar horns and a longsword, showing that Urizen is now weaponizing his own trauma against V.

* Itsuno has confirmed that Cavaliere Angelo was a new design of Angelo made by Mundus, but it had been abandoned because it required too much power. When you think about it, Mundus' creation, Trish, happened to be the perfect "battery" for Cavaliere Angelo, implying that by putting Trish in Cavaliere, Urizen just did what Mundus planned on doing to her eventually anyways.

* V reacts in disgust when he sees some knight-looking demons. They remind him of his time as Nelo Angelo.

** The demon invasion in Red Grave City started because Urizen took advantage of the Qliphoth tree's appearance in the human world. After being defeated by Nero, Vergil agreed to resolve the issue with the Qliphoth by diving down the Underworld (alongside Dante) to sever its roots.

* Both V and Urizen claim to have no name, yet V acknowledges this as a joke while Urizen states it in total seriousness. Furthermore, V is responsible for what they're both called throughout the game, giving himself a OneLetterName and the BigBad a PunnyName associated with a villainous god from his favorite books. [[spoiler:This highlights their connection as two opposite sides of the same person: namely the fact that Vergil's code of honor, memory, cunning resourcefulness, depth of personality, and the tragedy-driven, refusing-to-die aspect of his power obsession, all came from the humanity he sought to repress and was thus retained by the perpetually sickly V, whereas the towering abomination that is Urizen embodies the corrosive horror of his demonic nature's fixation towards power and victory at any and all costs. Thus, V being the one to strike a death blow to an incapacitated Urizen in order to reform a much physically and mentally stronger Vergil is no accident either. All that indulging the devil's thirst and denying his own soul ever did for Vergil was repeatedly make Dante stronger than him and leave him alone at death's door; the only way he could return from the brink, move forward from his scars, or stand on par with his brother all the way through as opposed to falling at the end, was to fully accept himself and all the parts that make him.]]

* Both V and Urizen claim to have no name, yet V acknowledges this as a joke while Urizen states it in total seriousness. Furthermore, V is responsible for what they're both called throughout the game, giving himself a OneLetterName and the BigBad a PunnyName associated with a villainous god from his favorite books. [[spoiler:This highlights their connection as two opposite sides of the same person: namely the fact that Vergil's honor, memory, cunning resourcefulness, depth of personality, and the tragedy-driven, refusing-to-die aspect of his power obsession all came from the humanity he sought to repress and was thus retained by the sickly V, whereas the towering abomination that is Urizen embodies the corrosive horror of his demonic nature's fixation towards power and victory at any and all costs. Thus, V being the one to strike a death blow to an incapacitated Urizen in order to reform a much physically and mentally stronger Vergil is no accident either. All that indulging the devil's thirst and denying his own soul ever did for Vergil was repeatedly make Dante stronger than him and leave him alone at death's door; the only way he could return from the brink, move forward from his scars, or stand on par with his brother all the way through as opposed to falling at the end, was to fully accept himself and all the parts that make him.]]

* Both V and Urizen claim to have no name, yet V acknowledges this as a joke while Urizen states it in total seriousness. Furthermore, V is responsible for what they're both called throughout the game, giving himself a OneLetterName and the BigBad a PunnyName associated with a villainous god from his favorite books. [[spoiler:This highlights their connection as two opposite sides of the same person: namely the fact that Vergil's honor, memory, cunning resourcefulness, depth of personality, and the tragedy-driven, refusing-to-die aspect of his power obsession all came from the humanity he sought to repress and was thus retained by the sickly V, whereas the towering abomination that is Urizen manifests the corrosive horror of his demonic nature's fixation towards power and victory at any and all costs. Thus, V being the one to strike a death blow to an incapacitated Urizen in order to reform a much physically and mentally stronger Vergil is no accident either. All that indulging the devil's thirst and denying his own soul ever did for Vergil was repeatedly make Dante stronger than him and leave him alone at death's door; the only way he could return from the brink, move forward from his scars, or stand on par with his brother all the way through as opposed to falling at the end, was to fully accept himself and all the parts that make him.]]

* Both V and Urizen claim to have no name, yet V acknowledges this as a joke while Urizen states it in total seriousness. Furthermore, V is responsible for what they're both called throughout the game, giving himself a OneLetterName and the BigBad a PunnyName associated with a villainous god from his favorite books. [[spoiler:This highlights their connection as two opposite sides of the same person: namely the fact that Vergil's honor, memory, cunning resourcefulness, depth of personality, and the tragedy-driven, refusing-to-die aspect of his power obsession all came from the humanity he sought to repress and was thus retained by the sickly V, whereas the towering abom1ination Urizen is the corrosive horror of his demonic nature's fixation towards power and victory at any and all costs made manifest. Thus, V being the one to strike a death blow to an incapacitated Urizen in order to reform a much physically and mentally stronger Vergil is no accident either. All that indulging the devil's thirst and denying his own soul ever did for Vergil was repeatedly make Dante stronger than him and leave him alone at death's door; the only way he could return from the brink, move forward from his scars, or stand on par with his brother all the way through as opposed to falling at the end, was to fully accept himself and all the parts that make him.]]

* One [[https://www.reddit.com/r/DevilMayCry/comments/b14igh/interesting_thing_i_noticed_about_the_dmc/ Reddit poster]] noticed something that could easily be a happy coincidence or just straight up sheer coincidence regarding three of the boss fights Dante encounters over all five titles. Dante's final boss fight with Vergil in ''3'' is in the Demon World, while Dante fights Nelo Angelo in the Human World in ''1'', and finally the twins battle on top of the Qliphoth far above the earth in ''5''. Practically [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic step for step]] on Creator/DanteAlighieri and his Virgil passing through Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso of ''Literature/TheDivineComedy''.

** GameplayAndStoryIntegration may apply when you realize that the familiars can't be killed only when V is around (Nightmare can be summoned again and again for as long as V has enough DT gauge, while Griffon and Shadow can recover health even if they're "stalemated", much more so if V is near). But without V, their chances of reviving in Mission 18 became limited, which makes them killable.
** As the entirety of their boss fights in Mission 18 [[ContinuityNod serves as a reference]] to the original three demons from ''[=DMC1=]'' (to the point where Dante even [[LampshadeHanging says it's like being back on Mallet Island), it makes sense that if Dante killed the original three in the past, he should be able to kill their familiar counterparts as well.

* Dante and Vergil {{Offhand Backhand}}ing Nero at the same time isn't just for a comedic scene, it also goes to show that they truly are twin brothers. There's a common belief that twins in [[TruthInTelevision real life]] tend to have the same thoughts and [[https://www.verywellfamily.com/things-always-wondered-about-twins-2447151 do the same thing at the same time]]. Even though Dante and Vergil have different ideologies, they would still share some of the same ideas.

* Dr. Faust is a Devil Arm that takes the form of the NiceHat worn by the Fausts in ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'', and that it attacks by using your Red Orbs which serve as currency in-game. Given the game has microtransactions so you can easily get Red Orbs, it's possible for it to not just [[CastFromMoney cast from Dante's money]], but [[BribingYourWayToVictory YOURS as well!]]