Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

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The franchise in general:

Nightmare from DMC 1 is the Heart of Behemoth or some Other Monster Related to Leviathan

The 8th mission of DMC 3 has the Heart of Leviathan boss, which has armor plating protecting its core. Nightmare has the same exact armor and has a core. Leviathan's body is described as a gateway to hell, and Nightmare has the power to send Dante to a hellish place. Both bosses can also summon demons to fight for them and fire lasers. Finally there's the plotholes: Where did Nightmare come from and if Leviathan was released, why wasn't Behemoth released also? Possibly because Sparda already killed Behemoth but not his heart. (Which escaped.) In the in-game boss descriptions, Heart of Leviathan is said that it "should be considered its own entity, one that will protect itself at all costs." This implies that the hearts have their own consciousness and can possibly survive without their hosts. This would also explain why Nightmare is such a strange and unsightly boss: He's not meant to be a wandering blob, but the heart of a gargantuan monster.

Jossed by the Visions of V manga. Nightmare is a demonic bioweapon created by Mundus, who promptly sealed its power when he realized just how strong it was.
- It might not be jossed, remember that 3 is the prequel, 1 takes place 9 years later, it's easy to consider that Mundas created Nightmare from the remains of Behemoth, that is working on the assumption that when a demon is killed their remains get sent back to hell when they die. Unless V specifically said that Nightmare was created longer than 9 years before one at least.

Rebellion and Yamato were both demons at some point

Yamato may have been but Rebellion is said to be a manifestation of Dante's own power.

Actually, it's also a keepsake from their father.

Descendants of Sparda don't have their own devil triggers

Here's what I'm saying in 3 Dante doesn't have a devil trigger until being impaled with Rebellion. Rebellion is the reason Dante transformed and when he is in devil trigger with any other weapon, he changes form slightly. In 1 he doesn't have a devil trigger until impaled by Alastor and burned by Ifrit. He doesn't get one from Force Edge because it's incomplete and he doesn't get one from Sparda until the end because it's the power of a much stronger demon and harder to control. In 4, Nero has Yamato absorbed into his arm, which gives him a partial devil trigger mainly because he's only 1/4 demon. The reason his devil trigger loos like Vergil's has more to do with the fact that they're using the same weapon and that's just how Yamato looks.

Jossed: Nero is finally able to activate his own devil trigger, without Yamato and without his Devil Bringer arm in 5, all he needed was a push and the need to save his uncle and his father from killing each other.

The difficulty of the various titles is a way of showing Dante's skill at those points in time

Think about it for a moment, if you've played all 4. Ever notice how Devil May Cry 1 and 3 are extremely tough, but DMC 4 and 2 rather easy? In DMC 3, because Dante is still young, he is still somewhat inexperienced, and prone to mistakes. DMC 1 rolls around, and he's learned a few lessons, but he still has a thing or two to grasp. By DMC 4, he's learned just about everything he needs to, and when DMC 2 happens, he might as well be toying with his foes by that point.

Doesn't change much of anything but DMC 2 is now before DMC 4 and after DMC 1 and the DMC Anime.

At some point in the past, Dante was a ballerina

Dante's got a flair for style, and a dramatic streak you could race a Ferrari on. He always manages to make his fights look more like choreographed action sequences than actual duels, what with the way he casually leaps ten feet into the air, juggles enemies, and dodges attacks with impossible speed. What sort of person do you know of that has astounding physical coordination, superhuman grace, and an uncanny ability to turn even the most serious matters into unbelievably campy affairs? The reason so many of his lines are poorly-acted is because his career was a silent one, and when he takes his "life's a stage" attitude, it shows. That might also explain the rather theatrical nature of his encounter with Agnus.

This troper supports this WMG simply for the fact that the thought of Dante killing demons wearing a tutu and tiara is freaking hilarious.
That would explain all of the backflips and whatnot Dante could perform with the Escape button in 2.

Alternately, at some point, Dante was a stripper

Because all the points above, there's a strip joint about two blocks from his house, and because he works those poles pretty well in DMC3.

He had to earn the money for that shop SOMEWHERE.

Devil May Cry is an alternate universe of Metal Gear Solid

The main character of this game is nearly identical to his father. He has a twin brother, who is an antagonist, in every one of his appearances. Later, this brother is bonded to another of the main character's rival's arm. As well, their mother's name is Eva. Their father is a legend, whose name is still carried by his sons. This game is usually referred to by three initials, none of which are vowels.

Now, which game am I talking about, Devil May Cry (DMC) or Metal Gear Solid (MGS)?

(That is, if we accept the WMG below about Vergil being bonded into Nero's Devil Arm.)
Now all we need is for Devil May Cry 5 to have Sparda as protagonist and the case is closed.
Funny this WMG is here, since Devil May Cry 4 would have been better taking a few pages from Metal Gear Solid 2's book.
And the rival with an alien arm, with the help of the main character, ends the rule of a malevolent organisation. Which, by the way, uses the legendary father as a symbol.
And the Replacement Scrappy shows up in the fourth game in the series as a whole (counting Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake), the PS2/XBox game with "2" in its title is known for being ... controversial, to say the least, and the first game for the 360/PS3 generation has 4 in its title.
The third game in the series (Metal Gear Solid 3/Devil May Cry 3) is a prequel, and often considered to be one of the best in the series, its only serious competition being the original (Metal Gear Solid/Devil May Cry).

Mundus orchestrated all of the events leading to DMC 1, DMC 3 included.

Let's think about this for a second.

Why would he have sent demons to kill Eva (and Dante and Vergil had she not protected them) only to be inactive until the events from DMC 1 (Bar the secret cutscene after the credits where he corrupts Vergil)?

He must have played a bigger hand in the events of the third game. It's awfully convenient how Vergil has Arkham, a man who knows everything about who he is, what he is, and how he came to be, working under him. Sure, you can pin it on demon texts, but by DMC 3, Sparda's become nothing but a fairy tale. No one would really know that Eva was his bride and that he sired twin sons unless they have awesome deduction skills. In the Manga, he even goes so far as to mention Eva having died by some strange occurrence. He mentions her being mutilated and burned beyond recognition with scales and feathers being left (a sign that demons attacked), but that on the same day, he (or was it people?) found some ancient text that no one could decipher (it being in demonic dead language and all). How would he know? How could he connect that to Eva's death?

The idea is that Mundus did it (obviously), but that he corrupted Arkham enough to have such knowledge, and was using him as a consort/liaison to keep in touch with the human world and extend his corruption to Vergil who would actively undo the seals in the Temen-Ni-Gru, freeing the demons bound to the tower. The seal to Sparda's power could only be undone in the human world, but if Vergil gets to the power successfully, that by itself presents another problem. That, and if Arkham was genuinely trying to become a god without Mundus' influence, that would be one big slap to the face in his plans of revenge and regaining his spot as Prince of Darkness or whatever. So, as Mundus' ally, Arkham would steal Vergil's chance at power, grab it for himself or make it easier to access for Mundus (who would probably kill him anyway and take the credit. Power is everything!)

But DMC 1 happens, so it's obvious this plan didn't actually work in the long run, what with Arkham being corrupt through Sparda's power and being beaten by Dante and Vergil. Mundus still wins by getting Vergil on his side (making him Nelo Angelo) which is where the second part of the plan comes in. Knowing that it's impossible to unseal Temen-Ni-Gru again (Dante and Lady would have to be REALLY stupid to fall for something like that again, and the amulet halves aren't on one side of the seal anyway) he decides to resurface in Mallet and do what he does best. Creates Trish, lures Dante to unseal most of the Underworld in Mallet from the human world, all while sending demons in Dante's general direction to end him. Preferably Nelo Angelo. Since Nelo Angelo has one half of the amulet, if he killed Dante, took the amulet and nabbed the FE and turned it into the Sparda, the fact that he's by all intents and purposes a slave of Mundus and unable to break the control, Mundus by association would have the power of Sparda. Nay, he'd HAVE SPARDA.

Unfortunately for him, that doesn't actually happen, Nelo Angelo is defeated, Trish defects, and he gets sealed. Again.

TL;DR, DMC 3 was an Evil Plan that would lead to Mundus being freed from his seal prematurely and successfully be able to rule the world. DMC 1 was just the second part in his attempt, and that just makes him the biggest bad in DMC, smarter and more manipulative than the average demon and a very huge threat.

Sparda didn't close the gateway to hell all the way.

This would largely account for the fact that demons are still able to reach the human world, and e.g. kill Dante and Vergil's mother Eva, apparently without help.

Conversely, one could assume that the seal was at its strongest right after having been made and actually weakened over time. It would account for the fact that only lesser demons make it through and why bigger demons (around the size of Phantom, maybe?) didn't show up to kill Eva.
- This troper, after having watched the anime and read the DMC 3 manga (what there is of it, unfortunately), believes that lesser demons always had the ability to cross over into the human world, seals and gateways be damned. It's the bigger and more powerful "Boss" demons that are stuck in Hell, requiring their servants to go on ahead and prepare a gateway or ritual or what have you in order to let their masters through. It's dealt with in the one episode where a minion, sent out to collect souls for a gateway ritual, falls in love with a human girl.
  - Like in YuYu Hakusho.
  - So, Raizen is the Sparda-like figurehead?
- Or, more specificially, Sparda sealed Temen ni Gru and any other portals Mundus had built in order to invade, and then spent two thousand years destroying or sealing any new portals that demons tried to build.

Vergil is responsible for the spelling of his name, in his preteen years.

The correct spelling is "Virgil"; Sparda and Eva would presumably have known this. However, when he still had a single-digit name, he misspelled it (after going through a phase of "Vrjl" or some such), and the new spelling stuck.

Take it from a student of classical literature; Vergil can be spelled either way.
To help clear the confusion... The original spelling of the (Latin) name was Vergilius, as in the poet. However, the alternate spelling Virgil began in his lifetime, as a pun — "virgil" refers to a magic wand. Vergil was not promiscuous — unlike a whole lot of Roman men — and so he was famous for "magically" keeping his "wand" under control!
- Hmmm... Virgil... Virgin... Virgil... Virgin... I'm sorry, but those sound awfully similiar...

Eva wasn't the first human Sparda had children with.

Seriously. How else could Nero "possess the blood of Sparda"?

Makes sense. He WAS in the human world for hundreds of years and his sons were in their twenties...
Vergil could have gotten a woman pregnant prior to raising the tower.
- HEY. HEY. HEY. Look above. Dante probably did it. I mean, Nero DOES look a lot like him.
  - Heheh, "raising the tower."
  - Actually one of Capcom employees said that Nero was supposed to be Vergil's son, but it was scrapped in the final version of DMC 4.
  - So your argument is that Nero looks like Dante, therefore he must be his son. Vergil and Dante are twins.
The below has to be true, in that case.
There's always the chance that he's Vergil reincarnated or something. This troper always found a few things about him rather suspicious — his strong connection to the Yamato, his "Give me more power" quote after receiving it (rather similar to Vergil's frequent statements about constantly desiring more power), the similarities between his Devil Shadow and Vergil's demon forms (particularly the sheath attached to his arm and the face that resembles the Nelo Angelo) — all combine to indicate that Nero might be what was left over after the Nelo Angelo went asplode. You know, despite the fact that Capcom flatly denies that Vergil had any connection to DMC 4.
5 confirms that Nero is Vergil's son.

Dante has unknown children.

I mean come on from what's seen of him he'd be more of the type than Vergil is. Vergil seems more like he'd think that was just a distraction and he wouldn't want a kid getting in his way or taking his title of ruler of the world. Plus it seems like wanting more power runs in the family, and even if not Vergil would be the kind of cold a** to come back from the dead and take over his brother's kid's body to spite Dante. +18 or more years have been passed since the 3rd game.

The time gap between the games could possibly have been less then 18 years, although not by much. Dante strikes me as being the type who might've started early as it were. Nero looks about 18 or 19 and Dante is probably in his early to mid thirties in DMC 4, so he probably would've been between 15 and 17 when Nero was born.
- If this is the case then it raises the question of whether or not Dante was aware of this possibility. He seemed to know that Nero was family in some way (although that was rather glaringly obvious), but that doesn't mean he knows how they are related.
- This seems good but Dante probably doesn't know 'cause he would have probably claimed the kid already and he would have told him if he knew when he seen him.
  - Very true. Heh, if it's true can you imagine what their reactions would be if/when they find out? For some reason I can see Dante taking it better then Nero.
  - Yeah Nero would probably FREAK OUT! As for Dante...
  - Oddly enough, I can see Dante actually being pretty happy about it. (Once the shock wore off of course...)
Uh, no you guys. Word of God says Dante's 18-19 around DMC 3, DMC 1 happens not even a decade later (9 years, actually) and DMC 4 is not at all farther from that, making him somewhere in his early thirties. Nero's around 20.
- Um, doesn't Trish say in the opening to the first game, "Are you the one who lost a Mother and a Brother to evil 20 years ago?" Discounting Eva's death, wouldn't it be assumed (especially with the Mundus orchestrating everything theory) That she was referring to Vergil's apparent death?
- Point made, theory dead. I guess that's what we get for failing to do the research. It was fun while it lasted.
  - This comment from the first game was effectively Retconned by DMC 3's existence. In the original story, it was believed that Vergil was taken when Eva died. That's why Dante didn't recognize Nelo Angelo when he removed his mask. Only when Dante found the other half of the amulet. It's pretty clear that Dante didn't lose his mother and Vergil at even roughly the same time due to DMC 3.
There's no reason Nero couldn't have just aged up really fast; hell, he's some-parts demon, who can say what happens?
- ...Even though that would kinda throw out all those theories that demons don't age quickly at all (which gives them their long lifespan), it would be perfectly reasonable under the assumption that the demon in him would age the body to something appropriate to contain the demonic power. Kids don't make good vessels. But then we'd have to consider what age he really is under all of that. What if he's younger than Kyrie? Ridiculously younger? Squiiiiiiick.
  - Well, it would give the sentence "like a sister and lover" a new and disturbing meaning. Yuck.
- Since he's confirmed to be Vergil's son, I think we can see how he managed to grow up.
  - Not to nitpick but I think the line is "like a sister, mother, and lover", which is even more disturbing. Whatever happened to "friendship" in a relationship?#
This seems pretty unlikely, given how Dante generally has an aversion to sex, right?

Sparda is still alive somewhere.

There have been no direct references in any of the games to Sparda being outright dead. In fact, his absence is barely referred to.

The first game's introduction clearly states he "quietly reigned over the human world until his death", and nearly everyone acknowledges he's either missing or dead, because let's face it — Where else would he be?
As part of this, he will show up in the final DMC shortly after Dante tries to kill himself, while Nero and Lady are getting married, while Patty makes her first friend outside the sho-wait a minute, that's Metal Gear Solid 4's ending only with DMC characters...

The series takes place in the same universe as Darkstalkers.

Hey, they're both made by Capcom, they're both monster/hell-themed Fantasy Kitchen Sinks with a "human world" and a "demon world" that the demons travel to, and there's already an official work featuring Dante (as seen in DMC 3) about to attack Jedah (from Vampire Savior).

This actually gives a lot more sense to Sparda's heroism, as it is stated in the Darkstalkers canon that not all of Makai's (the demon world) inhabitants are evil. In addition to that, Morrigan and Nevan both use shapeshifting bats as weapons and clothes.
Additionally, supplemental material notes that Makai is several hundred times the size of the earth and that even its ruler doesn't fully know its entire span, so who's to say that there isn't a portion of Makai where the demons were too far away to be influenced by the current ruler and a new one stepped up in his place (i.e. Mundus and/or Argosax). Additionally, that might explain all of the Hellgates and other means of access to the Demon World; there's only one known connection between the Human World and Makai (the Gate), but that's not necessarily the only portal in existence, period.
The problem here is that according to that supplemental material, Devil May Cry (and every other Capcom series maybe excepting Asura's Wrath or Okami) is far behind Darkstalkers in "demon" power and degraded living conditions for humanity.
Actually not necessarily true if anything Devil May Cry outstrips Darkstalkers in Demonic power look at it for a second, Sparda can use his swords to divide the Demon World from the Human world Code 1: Dante says the worlds are universal in scope, Mundus with a flap of his wings can create a dimension containing thousands of stars and is described as another plane of existence, and then by Devil May Cry 2 Dante is stronger than both (In hindsight Devil May Cry is one of Capcom's strongest franchises.)

Normal humans can acquire phenomenal abilities through heroic stature or exceptional willpower in the Devil May Cry universe, although Dante's are clearly superior to normal humans.

Not only did Nero's clearly phenomenal abilities not raise an eyebrow from any of the non-corrupt members of the Order, Lady demonstrates fairly impressive skills herself. Although Nero has the advantage of demonic power, Lady has only her willpower. Furthermore, Dante himself concedes that humans "may not have the raw physical power of a demon," but they have something special of their own.

Twist on that theory. Dante never answers Agnus' question of what humans actually have, but Nero answered it with his statement to Sanctus. "Sparda had a heart. One that could love another person." They don't get Charles Atlas Super Power in the traditional sense, but the human heart can invoke insane Determinator or Berserk Button powers when it gets down to it. Also take into account the "humans have firepower and technological advances" argument (since it would be weird if everyone became The Hulk when their loved ones are threatened).
Of course, Lady may not be a normal human. She has eyes just like Arkham, can fight despite pretty serious wounds, and is a descendant of the priestess, who was probably pretty powerful, and if we're arguing that Sparda could have had other descendants, the priestess is a likely candidate. Not to mention that Devil May Cry 2 establishes that yes, there are other half-demons running around doing heroic stuff: anyone want to bet that a lot of them would move to the Order's city, where they'd be seen as holy instead of unholy? They might not have thought Nero having demonic power was unusual because it wasn't. And that's without bringing what the novels establish about what humans can and can't do into it (since the second novel has Beryl going places that probably should have killed her according to the first's rules about humanity's vulnerability to demonic power).

Dante and Trish have a sort of pseudo sibling relationship

No real evidence, just a couple of moments in the anime and the cutscenes for DMC 4 (eg Dante laughing over Trish's disguise, and Trish's use of The Look just before they split up) that had a sort of sibling-y feel to them.

Hilariously, this could continue the theme naming of the Sparda family. Tris or Trish can be nicknames for the longer Beatrice. Beatrice Portinari was the women loved by Dante Alighieri and was characterized as an angel who guided Dante through heaven in the final book of the Divine Comedy after Virgil could go no further.

Being Half-demon does more than imbue superhuman qualities into people.

Because of Dante's, Vergil's, and Nero's birthing from both a demon and a human, this threw off how the cells in their bodies age. In reality, there is a tug of war between the human side and the demon side. Once their "devil trigger" is unlocked, their bodies could be locked in the age state they are currently in, once their human genes deteriorated from finally losing this metaphorical tug of war against the more powerful demon genome. This would explain all three's prematurely white hair, because their hair pigments literally were destroyed in the presence of the demon genome. This would also Hand Wave the "signs of aging" that appear on Dante throughout the years as scars and terrible accidents as he lived his life as a demon hunter.

Scars from what, exactly? It's been shown that he can regenerate from wounds in a split second (like in the first cutscene of DMC 3 with the Hell Prides and whatnot). Alternately, they'll all stop aging once their bodies reach a certain maturity, and then they'll simply stay that way until they either die of 'old age' or get killed.
Wasn't there an interview with the creator of DMC 2 where he said that eventually, all the human cells in Dante would die and he'd become a full demon with no human heart? It may have been an attempt to handwave how he had no personality in that game.
- Just by the fact that Capcom itself has all but disowned the game (come on...if releasing a manga that puts these events into alternate dimension isn't disowning it, I don't know what it), I seriously doubt this is true (you are the first person I've heard mentioning something like this). Also, DMC 2 Dante was as kind as DMC 1 Dante (the fact that he flipped a double headed coin and told people he would help them if he flipped the coin and its outcome was heads shows his kindness. Also, the whole thing where he refuses to kill Lucia even though she is a full demon and a clone because, "Devil's never cry" shows this as well. On top of all of this, he works for free) and was very self-sacrificing, seeing as how he potentially seals himself off for good in hell just to finish the job and take out the main demon.

Sparda is really True Neutral, of the Type 4 variety.

For the humans, the day Sparda rebelled and sealed up Mundus was the most important day of their lives. But for him, it was Tuesday.

...No seriously, the reason he rebelled so long ago was to preserve the Balance Between Good and Evil since the demons took the initiative against the humans; humans who were either horribly outnumbered or simply not powerful enough. Had it been the other way around, he would've been against them, but that wasn't the case in this scenario. The humans took this act as him "waking up to justice" and quite possibly any accounts of his "upholding the peace"/"reigning quietly over the human world" was their biased and/or skewed version of him still keeping the balance between good and evil every time more demons kept showing up. They were just lucky enough not to be on the receiving end.

Or, since demons seem to have a different (might make right) ethical system from humans, Sparda might have been good all along and had a Heroic BSoD when he found out that, among humans, it was actually bad to kill the weak (like children, elderly and civilians) for red orbs. Who knew?

Vergil was never really evil

This is a theory that came up with a lot of thinking involved the recent revelation of Nero being Vergil's son (Confirmed here

). Stick with me for a while to see how much this makes sense.

Let's come in realization with something first: We never knew why Vergil turned "evil" in the first place. Demons attacked Sparda's family years ago (20 years before DMC 1, 10 years before DMC 3) and Dante was left alone. Eva died, and Dante thought Vergil had died as well, but he hadn't. Vergil somehow managed to survive and then... what? Well, nothing is certain, but if the event caused Dante to become a Demon Hunter, there's no reason to believe things must have been too different for Vergil.

One way or another, one thing for certain is that, as suggested (made obvious) by the Novel, Vergil visited Fortuna once, and it is possibly that he even worked with The Order of the Sword for a while. There, he met a woman he fell in love with, and had a son with her. That son is Nero, of course. But then something happened, and Mundus' legion once again comes after Vergil, causing the death of his wife.

With this, Vergil decides that he has had enough and, after leaving his baby son safe with the Order of the Sword, he decides to go on a Well-Intentioned Extremist quest to defeat Mundus. Of course, he knows he's not powerful enough, so he needs to obtain his father's power, which were sealed in the sword he left in the Demon World (Come to think of it, he could have learned that in Fortuna, and that's why he went there in the first place, knowing the people there knew plenty about Sparda).

So, the plan isn't so simple, and to reach the Demon World, Vergil finds himself forced to cooperate with Arkham. Knowing he needs Arkham, and since he already cared for nothing but to defeat Mundus and guarantee his son's safety, he went along his plan's needs, no matter how many innocent lives he had to sacrifice in the way, and since Arkham was present most of the time, he always had to pretend to be as evil as possible in front of Dante, even declaring he would kill all of humanity to buy Arkham's trust. After all, to fool your enemies, you must fool your friends first.

In the end, Vergil killed Arkham when he was no longer needed, which was to be expected since every interaction between them showed that Vergil never liked Arkham. At that point, however, the relationship between Dante and Vergil is way too messed up like for bringing explanations, and possibly fueled by the fact that both twins never liked one another too much. Not to mention that Vergil has no needs for justifications, he doesn't care if what he's doing is right or wrong, he wants to protect his future, his son and take revenge from Mundus, no matter what. But Dante made it a point to stop him because of the collateral damage he was causing, so he had already become Vergil's enemy, and Vergil would stop at nothing.

This is pretty much suggested as well by two quotes of Vergil:

"And without strength, you can not protect anything."

"I-Need-More-POWER!"

He never claimed to desire for more power. He said he needed more power. He clearly has a very strong motivation behind his actions, and what better than a son, someone to love, for that motivation?

Nero being his son still screws up the timeline though. If Dante and Vergil are in their early thirties as of DMC 4, (or Vergil would be if he weren't probably dead, anyway,) and Nero's in his late teens (because "around 20" like stated above really wouldn't work,) then we're talking Vergil having been thirteen, give or take a couple years.
- It doesn't. Dante could be on early thirties as he could be already 35 by then, and who the hell says Nero is around 20? If Dante was 19 during DMC 3, Nero can easily be between 17 and 19 during DMC 4, 20 would be top.
- All in all, we can easily assume Vergil became a father, or impregnated a woman, when he was around 15 or 16. Which, while it isn't the appropriate age to become a parent, it's not like it doesn't happen in real life as well.
Kobayashi stated in an interview that DMC 4 happens 10 years after DMC 3, so if Dante and Vergil were 19 in DMC 3 then they'd be 29 in DMC 4. The novel makes Nero's age 16-17 so if we do the math, then yeah, he had Nero around 13 years old. While it does happen in real life, that doesn't excuse it from being utterly ridiculous, given Vergil's opinion on humans which is no secret if his profile in the back of the manga proves anything. Then there's his dialogue with Alice in which he insults her for wanting to grow up too fast (Unless he's speaking from experience and insulting himself as well, lol).
- It's DMC 4 being 10 years after DMC 3 which just doesn't fit. DMC 1 was 10 years after DMC 3, and after DMC 1 comes the Anime, and then comes DMC 4, which even has a background history of a month old or more. All in all, there has to have been at least a year between DMC 1 and DMC 4, and it could easily be more, since Dante does look a bit older. But that of DMC 4 being just 10 years after DMC 3 gets right out jossed by the presence of DMC 1 and the Anime.
- And if the standpoint of this theory didn't give you the clue already, Vergil could have been somewhat different in the past before becoming the cold blooded warrior he is in DMC 3. As for him speaking from experience when talking to Alice, hell, I could easily see that being truth.
I came up with a simpler explanation to why Vergil is not evil. When demons killed Eva, Dante escaped, and Vergil stayed behind to try to protect her. He couldn't do it without unleashing his Devil Trigger, so he did, but he still failed. That's why he has animosity towards Dante - in his eyes, Dante is a coward who didn't attempt to save his own mother from death. But his motivation (I'm sorry) is actually almost the same as Dante's - he wants to become a protector of the human race. Maybe of a different kind, not like Dante - who masquerades as a private investigator, but more like a wandering knight or a guardian king of some sort. The reason it's not 100% the same is that Dante sees the protection of humanity as a chance to show off his badassery and stylishness in battle, while Vergil doesn't feel the need to show off - his desire to be a protector is more direct, and dare i say - more sincere, at least at the point of the beginning of DMC3. However, he sees the power he always had as insufficient - because he failed to protect his own mother. The only way to obtain more power that he knows of is to enter the demon world, retrieve the power of his father, then return to the human world and curb-stomp all demons who manage to seep through the portal to the human world while he was gone. The reason he stays behind in the demon world at the end of DMC3 is Dante's very noticeable character development. After being defeated, he no longer sees his brother as a coward, but instead a worthy successor who will fulfill his desire in his stead.
- The only hole i could think of in this theory is that getting Sparda's power (no matter who does it) would probably mean that the portals to the demon world would never again be fully closed, so large-scale demon invasions would happen more frequently, and Vergil isn't perfect (even though I would like to think that he is) and sometimes wouldn't be able to avoid human casualties.
- Timeline issues are likely moot at this point with the Retcon that 4 takes place after 2. Meanwhile, 5 seems to support this theory since Vergil's demon half Urizen does nothing but sit in the Qliphoth absorbing power while waiting for it to bear fruit. Aside from Malphas and her vanguard searching for the Sword Sparda, he's not really actively participating in the invasion. And that's before you factor in that V, his human half, is actively trying to stop the invasion.
Let's add up the facts as they stand as of DMC 5. DMC 1 is supposed to take place about 10 years before DMC 4, which is only a couple of years before DMC 5. Nero is said to be about 17 in 4, while in 5 Dante is almost 40. Vergil is, obviously, the same age as Dante plus a few minutes. Say that 5 is about 2 years after 4, and that would mean that Vergil was around 18 or 19 when Nero was born. So the ages add up. However, the one thing that doesn't add up with your suggestion is Vergil trying to protect Nero. Vergil didn't seem to know he HAD a son, and probably would have recognized the name of his own child if he had. So a revision:

Vergil met and fell in love with a woman, but then became paranoid over being strong enough to protect her because of what happened to his mother. While seeking more strength, he got captured and corrupted by Mundus into Nelo Angelo. His girlfriend gave birth to their son while he was missing, but eventually was killed - probably by demons. Nero, being part demon, managed to survive and was taken in by the Order of the Sword. After being freed from his brainwashing, Vergil attempted to go home only to find everything he cared for gone, and so went on a crusade to become the most powerful demon alive in order to avoid losing anyone or anything else ever again. He's fighting for his Lost Lenore.

After all that, he challenged Dante again at the end of DMC 3 to see if he was finally strong enough to live how he wanted - to have a home and family and nothing to threaten them. Seeing that he was unable to best his brother, Vergil decided the best thing to do would be to leave the human world in Dante's hands while Vergil stays in Hell until he can become powerful enough. Dante likely found out about Nero because of Trish being a mole in the Order of the Sword, but not until after Vergil was gone, so he never learned about his son's existence.

The entire series is just a wish fulfillment/coping hallucination or daydream of Dante.

Unable to rationalize his mother's murder any other way, he imagines the killers as demons.
Perhaps he feels his father is partially responsible or resents him for being gone and thinks of him as some sort of demon, too.
Vergil committed suicide at some point. Dante's survivor guilt and other feelings about this support this, as well as his 'death' in 3.
Nelo Angelo is a manifestation of his guilt (hey maybe this is all the Silent Hill experience for a wildly creative person) that causes more problems with him but also insists on being dealt with (defeated).
The series seems to get more lighthearted with each installation, which could be him sinking further into delusion. They're in anachronic order, though so maybe Dante is 'remembering' these events out of order or after 4 starts coming back to reality, which is why he's so grim in 2.
Well, the timeline now places 2 before 4, so the current prevalent theory is that Dante suffered depression due to the loss of all his family members in 1 and 3, hence his state in the anime and 2, but when he discovered that Nero was his relative, his life picked up again.

Normal humans already have phenomenal abilities in the Devil May Cry universe.

Namely, firepower and technological advancements. If Devil May Cry 3 and 1 are any indication, demons locked up in the Underworld for two millennia aren't familiar with modern weaponry and are therefore susceptible to it. In relation to the theory up above, Dante conceding that humans don't have the raw physical power of a demon but instead have something of their own, is merely the series alluding to a potential war between the humans and demons when it gets to it. The only reasons we aren't playing this game as humans fighting non-humans are

Because it's being done already.
Contrary to the narration, the human world has many defenses and Dante is just the first line of it against the demons. He's the humans' way of "beating them at their own game", so to speak. If he fails, then the resulting outcome is obvious, yet drastically less stylish depending on the viewpoint.

As an added yet slightly unrelated note, this is likely the reason why Sanctus didn't attempt to "convert" the people living outside of Fortuna; his Savior would just get nuked, along with the artificial/released demons from the Hell Gates. That would have made for an odd game.

Beryl, in the second novel, is a pretty effective human demon hunter. They aren't entirely dependent on half-bloods like Dante, Lucia, and whatever Lady is.

Dante IS Sparda.

He isn't Sparda's son, he IS Sparda reborn. Sparda's two sons were Vergil and Nero. Alternatively, Dante is a normal human that was possessed by Sparda's soul. The Devil Trigger form is Sparda's soul emerging fully (extremely fully in the case of the Desperation Devil Trigger from Devil May Cry 2). Dante was adopted and raised by the woman he calls his mother and was told by her that Sparda was his father (since of course he wouldn't remember his past life). Nero, however, was taken in by the Order and raised by them back when Dante was still too young to remember, which is why they don't recognise each other when they meet as adults. Nero always had that arm - he was born with it, as a result of being half-demon.

So Nero has a demon arm from being half-demon, but Vergil doesn't? O.o
- Who knows how demon DNA works?
- You have a point there. =o

Even more alternatively, Sparda IS both Dante and Vergil, sort of

Sparda never disappeared per se, but rather both Dante and Vergil are the two halves of Sparda that represents his need to bring balance to both Hell and the Human world. That's why they each represent his soul (Dante) and spirit (Vergil), and while they were meant to work together, Eva's traumatic death caused a schism in his psyche which led to both halves opposing and rejecting each other. That was when the Sparda persona shattered and the real Sparda came to live in a deluded dream world where he is represented by his two stereotyped "sons." Eva was not actually the mother of the twins, but was still Sparda's lover and caretaker during the later years of his life. She was hiding Sparda from the demons because he relinquished some of his power and was vulnerable. She was killed because of that and Sparda feels guilty. This whole split personality thing would fit with some elements of the game, such as:

The strange and inexplicable absence of Sparda. It makes sense, because each persona would obviously not be able to perceive the originating psyche from which they were generated.
How the twins, Dante especially, are always having to clean up Sparda's past messes, and they never have adventures unconnected to Sparda (anime not included). Also, how so many demons recognize Dante as being similar to Sparda. Phantom and Griffon literally saw him as Sparda.
- Since the anime's deemed as canon now, you can't really dismiss the anime. And given Sparda's legacy, of course they would see his sons as extensions even if they don't see them as Sparda himself. They're usually referred to as Sons of Sparda anyways.
Why the twins are always fighting each other. Each represents one aspect of Sparda, either the human side or demon side, but they complement each other as well. They fight for one side to establish superiority over the other, even though neither side can destroy the other. I would venture to say that, neither twin can die if the other is still alive, since they are parts of the same whole.
They both use Sparda's own keepsake swords
- Given to them by Sparda.
The amulet comes in two varieties but is meant to combine into one, symbolizing the complete Sparda persona
This might fit with the broken family theme of the series. The twins obviously come from a broken family, so does Lady. Lucia and Trish were created by evil beings and have no family per se. Nero is an orphan raised among a false family on Fortuna. (I'm grasping at straws with this one)
Both personas seek to become like Sparda, either in power or in benevolent intent, and they each see the other as embodying Sparda. This is pretty obvious, in that Vergil is pursuing the FE/Sparda sword and wants to become more like Sparda because he feels incomplete or impotent. Arkham even comments in the manga that Vergil is "half a man." Likewise, when Dante used the Sparda sword, he literally turned into Sparda. Also, in the manga, it says that Vergil reminds Dante of Sparda because of his coldness, and Dante resembles Sparda in his rebelliousness (I might be misremembering that last part)
Not part of the game, but it would also fit within any "DMC is just the dream/hallucination of Dante/Vergil" WMG as well. Although, it would then be the split persona becoming split further.

Yeah I think that's it. I find it pretty compelling as a little twist and I'm sure there is more evidence to support it.

The ladies of DMC are avatars of Eva.

If Dante is making part of the series up as a result of going crazy, then the women he encounters are all different aspects of his mother. His mind has remained fixated on her death, and seems to be in a 'loop' in which he remembers her differently each time. The anachronistic order of the games makes sense in his head, as he starts from the basics of who his mother was.

DMC 1 has Trish, in which he remembers Eva physically. This avatar of her is clearly incomplete; he remarks on how Trish has no 'soul' and that while she may look like Eva, she'll never have her 'fire'. Near the end of the cycle, Trish undergoes a change— she sacrifices her life for Dante in a mirror of how Eva did it originally. Dante seems to be on the right track with this one, which leads into DMC 2.

Lucia is the representation of Eva's willingness to sacrifice herself for the good of those she cares for. However, this is blown out of proportion. She's hell-bent on sacrificing herself 'heroically' to the point where demands that someone kill her in order to save everyone— she even orders Dante to do it at one point. Eventually she grows a backbone and realizes that sacrifice isn't necessary all of the time. Which leads into DMC 3.

Lady is Eva's 'fire'. It's... almost too obvious. Her no-nonsense attitude towards Dante possibly stems from how Eva treated her children while raising them. Despite Dante and Vergil being the sons of Sparda, she more or less treated them like normal humans when appropriate and wasn't very lenient if they did stupid things or blatantly disobeyed her. Needless to say, it's taken over the top. In this 'loop', Dante is shot in the face and attacked by Lady any time she's not getting her way, and she is stubborn to a fault. But since Dante seems to get a kick out of being the catalyst for his mother's avatars changing for the better, she becomes less of a bitch. Yet he misses Eva's motherly side, which is what brings us to DMC 4.

By this point, he very well realizes that he's far too old to angst about his mother, so he creates both Kyrie and Nero. Nero being his younger, more emotional self and an expression of his desire to be more human (or regress to being a child, whichever comes first). Kyrie is Eva's motherly and nurturing self, with all of the (intentional) sex appeal excised. One can assume that Dante likes this part of Eva the best, as Kyrie doesn't undergo much change in her character and supports Nero for better or for worse, loving him unconditionally.

As for the appeal, Dante found himself unable to get rid of it, so it all formed into another character: Gloria, a woman very very far removed from anything Eva (or her avatars) represent(s). Even her allies are suspicious of her. Somewhere in the delusion of DMC 4, Dante realized he had to put Gloria away somewhere and so fused her with Trish in order to give a reason she won't ever appear again, as this 'adventure' isn't about her. It's about Kyrie and Nero.

Lest we not forget the DMC anime, Patty is just the part of Eva that has to clean up after Dante all the damn time and gets a kick out of scolding him. Really. He went off the deep end by this point, but one day he'll be able to successfully put together all of the female characters into one form.

I'm the one who posted the Dante is making it up/delusional thing and I really like this. Only thing is the order of the game's releases/numbers aren't chronological and this theory kinda is. I guess if he's sufficiently crazy though it doesn't matter that much.
- Which theory, yours or mine? I was trying to imply that Dante was so crazy that the chronological order wouldn't matter because the proper order is by the games releases/numbers, as he's making it that way. His constant shift in age / personality just highlights the crazy. ...that's pretty much what you just said.

In the gap between Devil May Cry 2 and Devil May Cry 4, there was a cataclysmic event that caused a major shift in Dante's personality.

This came to me in bits and pieces after playing both Devil May Cry 2 and Viewtiful Joe. For Dante's noncanon, guest appearance in the latter, Trish asks if Enzo "stole [Dante's] clothes again." This seemingly implies that Dante's major change of character in the game was due to Enzo impersonating him (and as such could be a Lampshade Hanging on why Viewtiful Joe brought back Dante's DMC 1 voice actor (despite the fact that the PS2 version of Viewtiful Joe came out a year after 2). Obviously, this half-baked explanation could only be taken with a grain of salt.

Then comes Dante's stark change in characterization in 2; He is decidedly less of a wisecracking smartass, more somber and serious, and puts faith into the flipping of a coin (which is later revealed to be a trick coin with Heads on both sides).

However, look closely at Dante's lucky coin in 2. What's engraved into both sides of the coin? A silhouette of Trish in her pose from the Devil May Cry logo and Viewtiful Joe artwork. Trish's appearance in 2 is also denoted as non-canon. Put two and two together, and Dante's reliance on said coin may not be so farfetched.

Dante has already been to Hell and back (no pun intended); his mother was killed (by demons that were believed to have been sent by Mundus) when Dante was only a young child, causing Dante and Vergil to become erstwhile twins (Dante becoming a Hunter of His Own Kind so that he could hit the Jackpot and bring justice to whoever killed his mom, Vergil trying to gain power so that he would never have to suffer like that again). While Vergil apparently idolized Sparda to some degree, Dante's Oedipus Complex had grown to such immense levels that he flat-out denied the existence of his dad during his first fight with Vergil in Devil May Cry 3. It doesn't help that Dante was drawn to Trish almost solely because of her resemblance to Eva (and the endgame cutscenes came this close to making me believe that he and Trish were going to become the Official Couple). While Lady seems to be a bit less drawn to Dante, the subtext is still there (the first three games each set up the leading lady as a possible love interest for Dante; plus, the breathing space between Dante and Lady after their fight was a bit too close for comfort). At the very least, the relationship between Dante and his ladyfriends is a very strong platonic bond. Dante had already believed Vergil to be dead after 3 and cried for him although he had previously lived by the mantra of "Devils never cry." Then, when Nelo Angelo died, Dante realized that his brother, the only remaining family he had in the world (excluding Trish, a clone of his mom, and Nero, his nephew who he didn't even know existed until Devil May Cry 4 and is still completely unaware of their full relationship), had been Killed Off for Real. The trauma of losing a sibling must have been hard to take, but Dante probably surmounted this due to the close ties he had with Trish and Lady.

Keep in mind that Dante is eerily Vergil-like in 2, if not moreso. This is also the only game to feature Dante's Devil Trigger Majin Form (or as the fans call it, the Desperate Devil Trigger), a form where Dante becomes the closest to his demonic heritage, even surpassing when he took on his Dad's form to face Mundus at the end of 1. There's no official word to how long after the fourth game Devil May Cry 2 takes place, but something big had to have happened that would turn the lovable and cocky half-demon into a grim loner. For all we know, Trish and Lady (and even Enzo, Dante's confident from the Devil May Cry backstory) could have died in yet another Sparda/Demon World-related incident (read "bloodbath"). As a result of this, Dante became cold and demonlike, which was caused Vergil to careen into villainy in the first place. Look at how surreal the urban sections of 2 (namely the Uroboros Tower) look in comparison to the rest of the series. 2 shows signs of vast technological advancement, so for all we know, Dante could have detached himself from society for years, maybe even decades. Eventually this would culminate with little of his original personality remaining. As for the coin bearing Trish's likeness? That could be attributed to one of several possibilities. For one, Lady hadn't been conceptualized in the series yet, so her lack of presence on the coin could be fixed with a Retcon. Either that or the coin actually belonged to Trish (making it something of a MacGuffin) and she passed it on to Dante before her fated demise. Or maybe Dante made the coin in honor/mourning of Trish. You should get my drift. Dante probably carries around the coin and complies to every request (within reason I suppose) as a blatant reminder of how he was yet again powerless to protect his loved ones. It would be atonement taken to a radical extreme.

By the end of 2, however, Dante seems to have warmed up a bit to Lucia (see how he comforts her when she believes that she's expendable), and (to a larger degree) vice versa (see how intently she waits for him at Devil May Cry). So it's probably a continuation of Unresolved Sexual Tension between Dante and the main females of the series (obviously not counting Kyrie). Thus, what could be a possible Downer Ending could show signs of how every cloud has a silver lining.

If you don't mind my adding, it's possible the cataclysmic event you're referring to could very well be Dante's fault. In the Devil May Cry 4 art book, there's a concept drawing of Dante's Devil Trigger which wasn't featured in the game, with the following comments:
"The Perfect Devil form of Dante, with an image of him losing control & dangerous is still impractical to appear even in DMC 4."
"The concept is, after the normal devil trigger, we'll give him another much more powerful devil form/abilities, a power that can be said far surpass Sparda, his legendary father, which means making him all powerful & almost unbeatable; for the side effect, he might be losing control over his human self & going berserk."
"The idea & design for this form, is like, combining his normal devil trigger form, but with wide spread wings & also bigger in size, with his Rebellion sword, thus where that tail of his came from. And yes, his tail will also be his lethal weapon."
"We even had created the counterpart for the Perfect Devil Dante, a complete devil trigger form of Nero (not the half-appear aura as in DMC 4) so that Nero's power/ability can match the perfect devil form of Dante. Either way, neither of those forms are yet to be found in the series."
- That note about the tail being Rebellion made this troper think about how at one point in the DmC trailer the whip-like weapon looks sort of like a skeletal tail. It's Probably Nothing, though.
With that information, one could assume that the event involves him going berserk and killing his allies which would lead into him being a recluse and avoiding the human world for decades (either in fear that he would lose control again, or training to better control his transformation). It could give him more of a connection to Lucia as well, since she would be fearing what he literally lived through, and his comforting her would be more heartfelt (rather than a hamfisted delivery of the line he used last game). Unfortunately for the rest of your Guess, some of the content in what you're saying is either subjective or proven wrong. Dante's denial of his father in 3 is less of his Oedipus complex going rampant, as it is a proof of his own self-loathing (as stated in the manga, he hates his father because of his demon side, and by denying his father he denies his demonic heritage which he blames for Eva's death). Vergil's wanting to attain power is no more character interpretation than it is one of his lines in Mission 8 (and then confirmed in a Devil May Cry artbook of which I cannot for the life of me remember the name of).
Haha, fair enough. Thanks for the input. But there's a reason it's called Alternate Character Interpretation. I'm not saying that I necessarily buy how everyone sees Vergil as a Well-Intentioned Extremist because of one line from Mission 7, but it is one of the more common fan theories out there. As for the snippets of info that you provided from the Devil May Cry 3 manga, I don't own the manga myself (nor have I ever read it) and I was indeed going off of how I viewed Dante due to his dialogue (arguably, every main character can be seen in a different light), so you got me there. Hey, to each, his own.
Or perhaps Dante saw the trailer for the reboot.
Jossed: 2 now officially takes place before 4.

Dante is the son of Neo from The Matrix

Think about it: he uses guns that he never seems to have to reload, he's an incredibly good shot, he's a Badass Longcoat, he has mastered Gun-Fu, he can do insane mid-air acrobatics, and he's completely insane.

It ALL MAKES SENSE NOW. Except for the fact that the reason he doesn't ever reload his guns because he uses his own demonic energy instead of bullets.

Devil May Cry and Bayonetta share the same universe

Which explains why there is a Devil, but No God— Jubileus is stuck in a statue (inactive and asleep) and the Cardinal Virtues are trying to get her out while Inferno attempts (unsuccessfully) to take over the human world. In addition,
- Mundus is Queen Sheba's son (he's only a Prince of Darkness? Very suspicious).
- the Fallen are Affinities cast down from Paradiso for deceiving humans.
- The demon doors blocking paths throughout the games are lesser demons caught in Purgatorio and unable to interact with anything except... well... doors.
- Rodin is the weapons dealer that Dante ends up handing all of his Devil Arms to after each game.
- The Savior from DMC 4 was created with Jubileus as the reference. Too bad Nero didn't get to punch it into the Sun. That would've been great.

Kamiya seems to be hinting at this in Bayonetta 2, where an item hints that Eva was an Umbra Witch.

The amulet is now Eva's devil arm.

According to Mundus in Viewtiful Joe, which was made by the creator of Devil May Cry, Eva's soul is present in the amulet and was responsible for resurrecting not just Trish but Dante as a child. Yamato is also Vergil's devil arm when it was Sparda's sword first, meaning there's precedent for a pre-existing artifact (the amulet was used to seal the tower) becoming someone's devil arm. There's also the effect the amulet has on Force Edge (growing larger, red and throbbing...) Eva's soul clearly has magical power (since the amulet's origin wouldn't give it any ressurrection abilities), and so far in the series there's no magic that's been confirmed not to be demonic in origin. Eva being a human in life but becoming at least somewhat demonic to save her children and watch over them in death would fit with the themes of the series.

So, the Sparda sword's true power is awakened if the amulet (Eva) and the blade (Sparda's power) become one?... Good grief... Back on track, this theory may be moot, seeing as Hideki Kamiya is no longer with Capcom, so his Word of God (such as Bayonetta being able to wipe the floor with Dante, or Eva's backstory as a witch, or the above WMG) won't necessarily be the true Word of God for the series.
If you stop and think about, all of the Eva-related material from both of Kamiya's games containing DMC cameos/references (Viewtiful Joe & Bayonetta) explain each other pretty fairly well. It appears the demon whom the contract is made with is responsible for the hell-dragging, and due to them having a romance, he may have either overlooked the situation, or possibly found a loophole by taking her soul and placing it in the amulet (which when complete is a key to the Demon World, and some WMG fluently explains that that is why LDK is able to use Devil Trigger despite having taken what appears to be a permanent pseudo-human form.) Also think about Bayonetta & Jeanne's shadows, LDK also possesses a shadow matching his real devil appearance, perhaps another alternative is Sparda chose to live with her as a human and took her place in his own binding contract. Eva's (possible/possibly alternate) background as a witch seems like fuel for many a fanfiction.

Dante is an alternate universe combination of Blade and Deadpool.

Think about the similarities. From Blade, he gets the job of hunting evil supernatural creatures, fact that half of his biology is made up of the creature he hunts (Dante is half-demon because his father was a demon and Blade is half-vampire because his mother was bitten by a vampire immediately before giving birth to him.) and that he wears a Badass Longcoat also comes from Blade. From Deadpool, he gets his wise-cracks, his mercenary occupation, and his red costume. But he also inherits a few attributes that the both of them share: mastery of swords and guns, regenerative abilities, and the fact that he finishes off his foes in a really stylish and cool way. The reason that he is an alternate universe combination of these two is because of Capcom's crossover with Marvel around the year 2000 (Marvel vs. Capcom 2), affected the Capcom world. Although these two characters were not included in the game, Blade was gaining massive popularity due to his new fims and Deadpool's new ongoing series really made the character a hit. The popularity of these two somehow leaked into the Capcom world and influenced the creation of Dante which happened a year or two after, making many things about him similar to these characters. Years later, Dante finally made it into a Capcom vs. game where the company was reunited with Marvel, and his main rival is Deadpool. The reason for this is that where Blade slipped down the ranking and has become a B-list character recently, Deadpool has continued to gain support and has become the face of Marvel (sorta). Now, his connection to Deadpool is stronger than his to Blade.

Dante has a Trophy room where he leaves the weapons he obtain in every game

Well, I don't think that he throws them away. Also, it can be cool that, in a future title, we saw a Cut-scene of a fight in Dante's house. The enemy send flying Dante and make him breaking a wall, the other side there is AN ENTIRE ARSENAL OF GUNS AND WEAPONS!
- That would be the coolest thing ever, but I doubt that any villain would be savvy/stupid enough to actually attack Dante at his home.
  - It's happened before, hasn't it? (*cough*Start of DMC 3?*cough*). It would be great if there was an extra cutscene with someone looking through Dante's trash, and then finding Agni and Rudra, who just haven't learnt the meaning of the phrase "Silence is Golden", and a ton of other weapons he hasn't used in a while.
  - I meant as in attacking Dante in the present age, where his powers have only grown exponentially. That idea would be a good Continuity Nod, not to mention awesomely funny.

As children, Vergil and Dante were in a boy's choir

Based mainly on the musical score of DMC 3, which made heavy uses of choral music during scenes dealing with with their memories. It would give a context for their childhood besides competing for chocolate cake or whatever (as in the DMC1 flashback) and allude to a time when their relationship was literally harmonious.

Heavy metal and matching lyrics are just as prevalent if not moreso, particularly during the first two Vergil battles; yet, given what we know of the timeline, it seems unlikely that the twins had time to be in a band before everything went wrong.

Dante and Vergil were Color-Coded Characters by their mother.

Eva had twins, after all, and even the best parents sometimes have trouble telling identical twins apart; or maybe it was for the benefit of any neighbors, who knows? But that's where their iconic Red Oni, Blue Oni look comes from: One day Eva decided that Vergil got the blue sweater and Dante got the red one, and they've stuck with those colors ever since. It could be that it was their respective favorite colors to begin with, or became their favorite after years of Eva buying/making them the appropriate colors; they might stick with it as adults out of habit, because they think it suits them, or even as a homage - subconscious or otherwise - to their dearly departed mother.

Sounds like a pretty good idea. They look so alike that it might have been the only way to keep them apart.
- Related: The Badass Longcoat of both twins came from their father. More specifically, young Vergil - with his idolization of their father - wanted a coat like Sparda's; Eva, being a loving mother, gave Vergil his child-sized blue longcoat. Of course, being brothers and twins (which translates here into super-competitive; birthdays and Christmas were likely insane) meant Dante wanted one like Vergil's. So Eva came through, and Dante got a red version. Once again they kept it into adulthood, perhaps symbolic of them being not so different; either of them could have drastically changed their style if they wanted to differentiate themselves that much, but instead they wound up looking like mirror-images instead of diametric opposites.

There is going to be one more DMC.

The whole idea with a Prequel full of Character Development is nice and all, and a few of the theories posted here would make a damn good game, but that's not why people play DMC. Admit it, you're playing it because you want to see a snarky Badass in a red duster beat or shoot the crap out of demons. So they will make another DMC, Devil May Cry 5. This game will do everything it can to be even more awesome than the rest. The enemies wioll be bigger, the weapons cooler, the fights more spectacular and Dante will finally get the girl. Or both of them. Furthermore, Dante will finally find a use for that huge stash of daemon arms, like an attack on his office, perhaps, or as a way to equip a lot of fighters, or bringing all of them for the final confrontation with the Big Bad. It will also try to solve a lot of the questions around the series, like Nero's parentage and powers and what happened to Sparda.

Let's keep our fingers crossed.

That's not to say that any of the several theories about sequels and prequels and whatnot couldn't be done in the same stylish crazy action manner that DMC is known for. There's no reason the series should end with one more game after DmC when the plot threads left hanging throughout the series could easily constitute another 2-3 games. I have a feeling that trying to answer everything at once will only end up making the plot's pacing a bit too wonky and convoluted.
Pretty sure there was a fanfic with this theme, not that it's a bad thing. Imagine the pre-Arkham boss fight from 3, with Dante and Vergil's Slow Walk into a Charge Into Combat Cutscene, except with all the playable characters thus far, plus Lady. Yes, even Lucia.
Confirmed since 5 is now a thing.

After Ninja Theory are done with the series, Capcom will make a game where Nero goes to Hell to save Dante after the events of DMC 2

Let's face it, the plot point of Dante being in Hell has been left a little ambiguous, and whilst it does give the series an air of mystery, it also means you can't set any games after DMC2. DMC4 was just warm-up to introduce Nero to the players, and now that we know who he is and understand him, there will be another game with him as the main character, where he releases Dante from Hell, using Dante's old Devil Arms and such. He feels that he owes Dante a favour since Dante gave him Yamato, so he's going to repay it by saving Dante.

While ambiguous, the ending of 2 already implies that Dante went "all the way to Hell" on that motorcycle left in Demon World and eventually returned to Lucia at Devil May Cry, so I don't think Nero can save someone who doesn't need to be saved.
Then why hasn't there been a Devil May Cry game set after Devil May Cry 2?
- At the time of DMC2's release, it was stated to take place after DMC1 and before DMC4, which at the time didn't exist. However, as part of the Retcon, Capcom is doing their damnedest to erase said game from continuity as much as possible... which is why they now claim it takes place after DMC4 despite their statement contradicting the canon at the time of DMC2's debut. While the original timeline would have gone 3 > 1 > 2 > 4, the revised timeline goes 3 > 1 > 4 > 2. Long story short, they have made a DMC game set after DMC2, which was 4.
Well, they made Devil May Cry 5, so...

Luce and Ombra were Eva's guns

According to Bayonetta, Eva was an actual Umbra Witch, and according to everyone else, Sparda didn't use guns (Vergil, the Order of the Sword). So Luce and Ombra were actually Eva's guns. We only see them in the Legendary Dark Knight costume in DMC 1 anyway, and if that was really Sparda, then he could have gotten them from Eva when she died.

If so, then what about the other two? Umbra Witches use 4 guns, not 2... unless she wasn't like the others, since she must have signed with Sparda at some time within decades of Dante and Vergil's birth. Perhaps the Italian words for Dusk and Dawn?
- Well, what's Dante going to do with four guns? He doesn't run out of ammo, ever, so no shoot and discard. Maybe he never saw Mom fight and just thought the other two were spares, so he never actually used them. Or they might have just gotten lost when Eva was killed. Or maybe Eva gave the other pair to Vergil, who proceeded to go on his humans-are-pathetic spree and hid them somewhere (couldn't bring himself to honestly get rid of them though).

Devil May Cry, Resident Evil and Onimusha all share a universe

Well, the T-virus and la Plaga and w/ever could all be artificial beings made with the genetic code of demons, and onimusha could be a prologue to what happens in both DMC and Resi Evil with the exception of onimusha 3, which involves temporal shenanigans. the Resi Evil games all take place while Dante is off fighting the 'true' demons, leaving the likes of chris redfield ect. to clean it all up. I reckon a future resident evil game will feature Dante as a supporting character, showing up just as wesker's about to win, kicking his arse in spectacular fashion, making a cheesy remark and hitting on the female team member before walking off into the NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!

Alternately, there would be a Devil May Cry/Onimusha crossover

Let's see. Both games deal with demons and their extremely rebellious half-kins. It's bound to happen someday.

The first four games continue into the reboot, via Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne

Okay at the end of DMC 2, Danta goes into hell and is not seen again, the next game he popped out in was Nocturne where ol' Lou Cypher hired him to attack the Demi-Fiend. In the Human Ending, the world doesn't get brought exactly the way it was and is made into the world Dm C takes place. Dante being different is a result of this reformed world.

Jossed: 4 now takes place after 2 (and before 5).

Dante is Italian

He loves pizza, but can never get it without olives. He lives somewhere close to where the Alabaster Devil Jesus version of the Pope is based out of. Names we know of in this are: Dante, Nero, Vergil, Trish, Mary, Eva, and Anthony. He's interacted with walking Italian steriotype Enzo Ferino. Devil May Cry games aren't set in the US or Japan, but Italy - most likely Rome itself!

It was confirmed that Dante was American in the instruction booklet for the first game and at no point was it said that Dante lives near Fortuna. so, this is Jossed.

If clothing is regularly soaked in the blood of higher demons, it is impervious (or at least, it heals) from damage (i.e. cuts, burns)

Capcom have been lying to us - DMC2 takes place before 4, not after

Dante found his way out of Hell and met up with Lady and Trish. While he was gone, the Order of the Sword were gathering Devil Arms (and may have raided his store). Lucia doesn't appear because she's back with Matier helping to rebuild after Oroborus heavily damaged the ways of life on their island. And I know you guys think this is stupid, but jut remember...

Doesn't Dante look older in DMC4 than he does in 2?

As for how he got out of Hell, well...

Confirmed: Though Capcom did it via Retcon following the release ad marketing of 5.

Capcom will end up having to hire PlatinumGames to develop a new DMC

Or possibly publish Bayonetta 3 when it comes around.

Because why the fuck not?

"Tony Redgrave" is an alias that both Dante and Sparda used at different points

Would explain why both Dante's and Sparda's guns carry the "For Tony Redgrave" inscription...

I thought Dante took the Tony Redgrave name after Eva's death and Sparda's disappearance?
5 reveals that it was Eva who convinced Dante to take a new name during the demon attack on their household. It's also worth pointing out that the game revealed Red Grave City as the home of the family.

Lady has a crush on Dante, and Trish knows it.

Okay, hear me out. So in the ending of Lady/Trish's DMC4 Special Edition campaign or whatever you may call it, the ending cutscene shows Lady, Trish and Dante looking on as Nero and Kyrie share a kiss. The one that seems to be the most into looking on is Lady, who might be fantasising about that being her and Dante (Nero does have white hair, after all, might make it easier), hence why she's the one lagging behind as the other two walk away (she's not paying attention to the world around her because she's busy imagining it) as well as why she's complaining about them just "getting to the good part" when it's time to leave. Right after that, Dante asks Lady about being paid, to which Trish remarks to dante that "At least someone knows how to get the girl", almost as if she was saying "Hey Dante, you had an opportunity right there and you botched it by bringing up payment". Okay, it's stupid, but hey, just a thought.

Additionally, this might explain why she dresses in more of a... revealing attire. Dante's been seen several times now ogling numerous "babes", and maybe she figured that she'd get his attention more if she made herself look more like one? After all, Trish's outfit hasn't changed much (if at all) from her first appearance, so why did Lady's?

To possibly match Lady's attire?

Dante learned his Gunslinger fighting style from Eva.

If we go off the theory that Bayonetta and DMC share a universe then Eva was not just a badass Umbra Witch, but THE badass Umbra Witch with a talent for fighting that could equal her husband's. The Umbran fighting style revolves heavily around gunplay and it's not a stretch to guess that she showed Dante the ropes as he was growing up. Dante still deeply respects her both as his mother and as a powerful warrior so he continues to incorporate her moves into his arsenal and they give him a major edge over the forces of Inferno. Vergil, having idolized Sparda as a child, didn't pay as much attention to her lessons as Dante did and couldn't use guns the same way even if he wanted to. He might have learned how to Summon Swords from her though.

Morrison is pale skinned in the animé because he got sick

Just like Birdie in Street Fighter.

There are two DMC universes.

After Itsuno took over, many elements of the first game were retconned or phased out. What if Bayonetta does share a universe with DMC, but only the first one? In the later games, it's been confirmed that angels don't actually exist, just demons with the appearance of one. This would fit in a meta sense as well, given that Kamiya only acknowledges himself as the creator of the first DMC.

In the world where a Devil May Cry × Bayonetta crossover is possible, Jeanne actually is Nero's mother.

Yes, it's been the common "guess" since Vergil being Nero's father was vaguely confirmed in side materials due to Vergil and Jeanne being the series protagonists' main counterparts. Yes, it seems to be contradicted by the notion that, if we can assume similar timelines are at play between the two series, Vergil's visit to Fortuna most likely would've taken place during the time period Jeanne had been brainwashed to serve Father Balder in his plot to reawaken Jubileus. Even if that assumption holds true, though, the revelations from Bayonetta 2 that Balder had captured the evil deity Loptr inside himself to prevent him from freely traveling through time and subsequently spent 500 years being corrupted from the inside by Loptr's influence absolutely opens that door again.

Based on the opening cutscene coupled with the game's revelations, Balder's willpower and determination to always watch over his daughter even while influenced to act as her enemy was strong enough that he kept Loptr from escaping him even as he died. Presuming this willpower didn't just come out of thin air at the end of his life, moments of him fighting The Corruption and acting against Loptr's agenda could've easily happened (think Cole Turner during his time infected by the powers of the Source of All Evil). In those moments, he might've realized that as much as he wanted and trusted his daughter to be the one to stop him, there was a chance she could fail. If Balder in such lucid moments recognized that his corrupted self was using Jeanne was a thrall for his agenda, he could've hatched a plan to have her go out and create a son of power and virtue in hopes that that son would be the one to take him down if Cereza failed.

To avoid her being detected as a witch, Balder may have had Jeanne's powers bound through some form of sealing spell, whether through her own doing or his. She also would've altered her appearance to be less extravagant, though still beautiful, in order to be less distinct, though most likely she wouldn't shake her dress color preference of red and white. And it would be far more likely around The '80s or The '90s, at least compared to The New '10s or The New '20s, that a woman could get away with staying close to a foreign old-fashioned church town for awhile without ever giving away her real name — especially if she took on The Oldest Profession as Nero's mother is rumored to have done.

In that scenario, escort!Jeanne would've taken a shine to Vergil once he appeared as a customer, noticed his air of power and code of honor, and felt that he could be the one to produce this heir. Likewise, she would've had a mysterious yet familiar quality about her which he would be attracted to, not knowing that it came from a similar source to his mother. Thus, the escort-client relationship gradually warmed into a genuine affair. However, he was a young man with his obsessive ambitions, not the healthiest condition for an ideal father. Perhaps feeling that leaving the son with him wouldn't be the best idea, she might've taken off in secret upon becoming pregnant, had the pregnancy and gave birth without a man at her side, then left her son in the middle of town before returning to Balder's employ, leaving Vergil none the wiser as to any of what was going on. Side effect? Nero has no clue about his parents nor the source of his powers, leading to a lot of the quiet angst he suffers from in Fortuna. Furthermore, Vergil doesn't know he's a father, and the latter's already messed-up mind takes the woman's desertion as yet further evidence that all that's worth his time is power.

Dante never dies, even when the player screws up.

Dante of all games, bar 2, is noted to never actually take any of the threats seriously, except the Big Bad, even then, he still doesn't take them 100% seriously, it is said that the reason for this is if Dante ever did fight seriously, he would be considered overpowered, so how could someone who, if he takes a fight seriously, would most definitely win, be beaten by a low level shmuck demon? Answer? He didn't, what actually happens when the player is beaten, is that Dante was knocked over and is just taking a breather, this segues into the next WMG.

The easier the difficulty, the more seriously Dante is taking the fight.

As the above WMG pointed out, Dante never takes his fights seriously, because he is so overpowered, even Demon Kings are no real match for him, but if you "die" enough, the game asks you if you want to lower the difficulty, and all the fights become a joke, Easy mode is just Dante getting fed up of being knocked around because he is being Willfully Weak as a joke/pity towards the demons, and decided to take them a little more seriously, making him able to destory demons with the same moves only he is putting more effort into them.

Trish has a full demonic form, she just never uses it.

Trish is a full-blooded demon, Being Mundas' "Daughter" seeing as he created her, every person with demonic power in this series has a Demonic form, whether they gained it or were born with it, out of all of them, Trish is the only one who never showcases it, there could be several possible reasons, from not liking how it looks and/or preferring her human form, she is like Dante in that she is powerful enough to not take other demons seriously enough to use it (although 5 puts that one into question due to Urizan being powerful enough that if did have that trump card she would use it.), or simply her power is the same regardless of form, and doesn't need to, or possibly her Humanity Ensues moment with Dante made her unconciously or not, reject the form. I figure if she does it looks somewhat like a cross between Mundas' "angelic" form, Lucias DT (they were created in a similar fashion) and somewhat like a Blitz, due to their affinity towards lightining.

Partially confirmed as there's a Word of God trivia that supports this. In a 2012 tweet, Hideki Kamiya (the director of DMC1) believes that Trish has an actual Devil Trigger form other than donning sunglasses and manifesting a Golden Super Mode in this game, implying A Form You Are Comfortable With is in effect.

Sparda murdered Eva.

We are never shown the demons who killed her (with DMC5 notably going out of its way not to), and Mundus never actually references actually having sent his troops to kill her. The motive is unclear, but considering he disappeared right after (if in shame)... it was likely not worth it. It could be even Eva trying to push Sparda out of her life to raise Dante and Vergil as normal children, leading to Sparda disagreeing with violence. Also, if you try to tie togheter Devil May Cry and Bayonetta lore, something else arises. In Bayonetta lore, Eva was an Umbra Witch who drew her power from the Legendary Dark Knight himself. In DMC1, it's implied Trish looks identical to Eva, but in DMC5, we see they are clearly different, with Eva looking older and frailer. That's because Sparda revoked his demonic contract to her before the murder, so that she would be helpless.

Dante is immortal.

Maybe Nigh-Invulnerable, but he never dies. Even if he can die in-game, maybe canonically, he's impossible to destroy.

Dante's regeneration and clothes.

He not only regenerates his body, he also regenerates his coat and it never gets permanently damaged in-game. So maybe, if Bayonetta uses her hair as a dress, maybe Dante uses blood for the outfit.

WMG / Devil May Cry

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Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

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