Carbonox_Ratchet
23-09-09, 18:26
For those of you unaware, two Devil May Cry 4 Novels were released to the Japanese public earlier on in the year.
http://www.capcom-fc.com/devil4column/2009/04/_deadly_fortune.htm
l/ (http://www.capcom-fc.com/devil4column/2009/04/_deadly_fortune.html/)
Both detail events that occur before, during and after Devil May Cry 4.
Before we start, let me explain the situation behind the canonicity of these novels:
Capcom reps at Captivate have implied that the novels are canon. If they say so, right?
The writer (Bingo Morihashi) of these novels was the scenario writer for Devil May Cry 4 and Devil May Cry 4; must be canon then, right?
However, the problem that has many fans questioning the canonicity of these novels is that Bingo Morihashi left Capcom before he was given the role of writing these stories (Capcom must have contracted him to do so otherwise there would be a big legal problem writing storylines under the DMC name and making money off it without such consent http://boardsus.playstation.com/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-wink.gif). So again, Capcom are tied to this either way.
The problem again is that the first two Devil May Cry novels (which can be available online or in book stores; they detail certain events around the time of before and after DMC etc.), which were written by Shinya Goikeda, were developed with Hideki Kamiya (creator of DMC) very closely involved. Back then, the canonicity of the novels were taken as genuine before Devil May Cry 3 and the accompanying Manga issues contradicted said novels and placed them in to non-canon grounds.
If I'm confusing you then my main point is that the canonicity will always be up in the air. This is Devil May Cry, folks. Retcons occur all the time (even in these novels), as well as what happened with the previous novels, despite official cooperation from Capcom employees.
So uh, enough of the politics. Whether you believe the following events are canon or not is down to you. What I will say is that only the games themselves have the power to cement what is truly in the universe or not. Not that that would stop issue occurring but ah well.
I am also refraining from posting the direct link to the translation due to the profanity contained within. "U PHAIL CARBO"...maybe, but I will be crediting the site and those responsible, so that's good enough.
Without further ado, prepare to be amazed by the sheer laughability of the DMC universe...
Devil May Cry 4: Deadly Fortune Volume 1
Note this is pretty much a word-for-word copy and paste from the original source. Whenever it says "I think" etc., note that the first person is used by the translator, not myself.
After their first battle, Dante immediately had the idea/impression that Nero had the same look in his eyes as Vergil. What ‘look’ that is, no one knows. Dante didn’t explain a thing. Hmm…
Right after his first battle with Nero, Dante was supposed to go straight to the headquarters to kill off the rest of the Order but he opted to take his time and take a detour to look around Fortuna City for clues that may help answer whether Sparda truly ever lived there. The novel explains that Dante didn’t really care to know the truth about such things. Most things he knew about his father, he heard. It didn’t matter to him if what he’s heard was true or false, he simply accepted them as is, but the same couldn’t be said about his twin. Vergil was one who was obsessed to look up everything he could, and this was set as a hint to show that Vergil was likely to have set foot in Fortuna City for that reason.
Nero was an orphan. People of the orphanage found him outside their door one day and decided to name him Nero simply because he was wrapped in a black blanket. (In truth this is just an excuse, the writer Bingo later said it was a name that just simply came to mind. Refer to volume 2’s summary for this) While growing up, the other kids often made fun of him by saying his mother was a prostitute. This was because Fortuna City was a town so small everyone practically knew everyone else. If someone was pregnant or gave birth everyone would know, so the fact that no one gave birth around the time Nero was found (plus it was said that prostitutes were common at that time), people assumed he was born without married parents or parents who were together full stop.
Nero was an orphan but Kyrie (who is one year older) and Credo weren’t. They had parents who were faithful believers of their religion. They believed in helping those in need just like Sparda did, which was why they often volunteered work at the orphanage where they first met Nero. Both parents took a special liking to Nero due to his rare silver/white hair which reminded them much of the god they worshipped, and soon enough the family got close to him.
Unfortunately, they later died under the attack of demons. Unbeknownst to most people, these demons weren’t those that got through the hell gates by chance. These were fellow people of the Order who attempted the ‘ascension’ ritual but failed. According to the novel, only those ‘strong’ enough are able to survive the process. (By strong they probably mean both mind and body, or something like that) Those who fail simply turn into a demon or half demon and typically lose control of their sanity. As the commander of the knights, Credo was one of the few who knew the truth of what happened, but he wasn’t able to tell Kyrie for obvious reasons.
Nero was never a religious kid but after the death of Kyrie’s parents, he stopped believing in god entirely. He thought that if god truly existed, he wouldn’t have let the kindest people who prayed and believed in him so much die.
It was Credo who taught Nero his sword fighting skills. According to Nero, the 3-consecutive-hit swing attack that Credo does in his boss battle is his specialty move. Nero also admired Credo because of his kindness (like his whole family is) and his sense of justice. Part of the reason why he decided to join the Order despite being an atheist was to follow in Credo’s footsteps. The other part, of course, was to play a part in protecting the city that his beloved Kyrie loved.
Other than the fact that Nero’s a lone wolf and sucks at teamwork, people of the Order dislike him also because of his usage of guns. They believe that battles should be fought gracefully and swiftly with the sword just as Sparda did. In case you’re wondering “what about Luce and Ombra?!” there are two possible explanations. 1) The Order really had no idea Sparda ever used guns. 2) Sparda might really have never used guns. I know, I know, “he” used it in DMC1 if you switch the character to “Sparda” instead of “Dante”, but who’s to say that man truly is “Sparda”? If you ask me that’s simply an alternate costume/model for the game, an unlockable, like Dante’s cosplaying as Sparda. If it truly and absolutely was Sparda he wouldn’t be alive to kick Mundus’ ass again and spilling Dante’s lines. And if Capcom removed the guns, it’s either the player would have to suffer or Capcom would have to create new moves specifically for “Sparda”, which they didn’t.
So anyway, the Order dislikes that Nero uses guns, but Nero obviously has no comments. He believes that one should be free to use whatever he can to finish an enemy. It’s better than losing and then whining about how stupid you’ve been to restrict yourself, especially in a life and death situation. And so because no one in Fortuna City uses gun, Nero had no choice but to get/modify his own gun. (How he gets that knowledge is conveniently unknown to us all) Modifications are required as regular handgun shots would not be strong enough to take down demons due to their tough exterior. He turned it into a double-barreled gun so that he can shoot two bullets at once.
Apparently Nero requires two different types of ammo for his gun and there’s a split lag between the first and second bullet. The first bullet breaks the enemy’s armor while the second bullet pierces through the damaged surface to inflict actual damage. Nero mentioned that he would have preferred that it’s an automatic clip but alas his gunsmith skills aren’t high enough for that. Although if you ask me, logic should be that he couldn’t ever possibly have learned anything about guns in a city that condemns guns. Oh, on an extra note, he carved the motif of a rose onto the handle of his gun and named it Blue Rose to symbolize the idea of “the impossible made possible”, which was something he once learned from a book.
The day Nero’s arm changed, he was attacked by an Assault. It was the first time he had seen one. He came into the scene to save Kyrie and a bunch of orphans she brought for a walk in the forest. A team of three knights was sent to help (Nero went there on his own) but one of them named Josh ended up dying while trying to shield Kyrie and the kids from a leaping Assault. It wasn’t mentioned when Nero’s arm changed, but it was definitely not during the battle against the Assault. It also didn’t explain how it changed, like whether the skin slowly peeled off and it hurt, or whether it magically turned into the demon arm with a matching sound effect. Ultimately lame. In the end, Capcom still never explained the very thing we wanna know.
But wait, near the end of the story in volume 2 it actually did mention what Nero thought to be the reason behind the change. He figured that perhaps this arm is now how it originally should have been, just like how a caterpillar transforms into a pupa and then a butterfly. He thought that perhaps he had simply reached that time in his life to be who he really was. Apparently Capcom/Bingo forgot to explain how his ‘original self’ could have had a demon arm when he’s only a quarter demon (assuming his dad is Vergil as the novel hinted at throughout) as compared to Dante and Vergil who are half demon but look entirely human. But yeah, that’s pretty much the only ‘answer’ (if valid at all in the eyes of fans) Capcom/Bingo gave to explain why Nero’s got that arm.
The very moment Nero devil triggered for the first time in his life (at the end of mission 5), Dante (who was in the bedroom at the top floor of Fortuna castle) felt this surge of energy through the floor that caused him to devil trigger for a split second. According to Dante, this was a reaction that he could get only from someone of the same blood origins. The novel wrote it this way: “the cry of a soul that only one of the same blood origins can detect”. He also thought that that ‘feeling’ was similar to that of Vergil, except as far as he knew he was “no longer in this world” as he put it, word for word.
Nero was supposedly dying after Agnus stabbed him in the chest at the end of mission 5. In the game, what we got is an unexplained flashback of Nero screaming Kyrie’s name. In the novel, he thought about a dream which he apparently saw a lot of lately. In the dream, there was a man he had never met staring at him. Nero described his glare as ‘cold’, but at the same time he could feel a touch of ‘gentleness’ or ‘kindness’ (the word in Japanese has two possible meanings) in him. After a moment of silence, the man (obviously Vergil) opened his mouth to ask him “Can you hear it, the cry of a soul?” And then he added, “What is your soul saying?” Instead of answering, Nero pushed the question back at him, “What’s yours saying?” Vergil smiled a little and answered, “Power… I want more power.” Hearing that, Nero replied, “I’ll take that too then.” And then Nero woke up and the devil trigger happened along with Yamato repairing itself. And the blue ghost on his back? *GASP* It’s Nero soul…!
In mission 11 of the game where Sanctus preached to Nero atop the Savior about how he was glad to have found someone else with Sparda’s blood (cause Dante would be a nutcase to capture), he revealed a flashback of what happened 16-17 years ago.
At that time, Santus was not the ‘Pope’ of the Order. The Pope was someone of around his age by the name Solemnis while Sanctus was a retired commander of the knights. He had thought about giving up hope of becoming Pope as the only way for a next Pope to be elected was only if the current one passed away, but in the end Sanctus was still unable to give up his dream to turn the world into what he deemed to be Paradise. In order to realize his ambitions, he had no choice but to kill Solemnis using a slow but safe method that is poison (which he abstracted from plants). It took two years for the Pope to die but no one suspected Sanctus one bit as they believed it to be natural death.
As schemed, Sanctus then became the next Pope. As part of their tradition, the new Pope was to rest in the private room at the top floor of Fortuna castle (which was believed to have been Sparda’s) in order to ‘inherit’ his ‘noble soul’, whatever that means. It was at that time when he heard someone come into the room. Sanctus was about to attack the man in defense but he paused when he could feel the clear difference in ‘strength’ through the man’s aura. The man, obviously Vergil, told him that he came only to trace Sparda’s footsteps. Based on this aura, Sanctus figured that the man wasn’t human. He wanted to ask Vergil if he was a demon or perhaps a god when he heard his guards heading for the room. Vergil went straight for the window and was about to leap out when Sanctus asked him to wait.
Vergil paused in response and looked back, only to say “I don’t mind that you pray to Sparda as a god, but do think clearly of this. One day I will surpass that god, and when that time comes, who will you worship? The one that was once god or the son who exceeded him.” And then he disappeared through the window.
Back to present time, Sanctus told Nero this story in order to explain how he came to the conclusion that Nero was likely to be Sparda’s descendant. He was convinced that it was probably ‘that man’ from 16-17 years old that might have impregnated a woman (a prostitute to be exact) in town and out came Nero who’s now 16-17 years old.
Agnus saw Sanctus in his ‘angel’ form for the first time inside the Savior after it had been activated. This is a scene not included in the game. Agnus hated to admit that he was honestly disappointed when he saw Sanctus’ angel form because he looked almost no different from his human form. For a moment he actually doubted if Sanctus was truly as powerful and admirable as he thought he was. His doubts were erased only after Sanctus touched Agnus’ shoulder and he could feel his ‘incredible amount of demonic power’. He concluded that Sanctus looked similar to his human form most likely because he only yearned/wished/asked for demonic power itself instead of a warrior or fighter’s built and strength like Credo. This way, there was no need for Sanctus to have a drastically different form.
Continued in next post.
http://www.capcom-fc.com/devil4column/2009/04/_deadly_fortune.htm
l/ (http://www.capcom-fc.com/devil4column/2009/04/_deadly_fortune.html/)
Both detail events that occur before, during and after Devil May Cry 4.
Before we start, let me explain the situation behind the canonicity of these novels:
Capcom reps at Captivate have implied that the novels are canon. If they say so, right?
The writer (Bingo Morihashi) of these novels was the scenario writer for Devil May Cry 4 and Devil May Cry 4; must be canon then, right?
However, the problem that has many fans questioning the canonicity of these novels is that Bingo Morihashi left Capcom before he was given the role of writing these stories (Capcom must have contracted him to do so otherwise there would be a big legal problem writing storylines under the DMC name and making money off it without such consent http://boardsus.playstation.com/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-wink.gif). So again, Capcom are tied to this either way.
The problem again is that the first two Devil May Cry novels (which can be available online or in book stores; they detail certain events around the time of before and after DMC etc.), which were written by Shinya Goikeda, were developed with Hideki Kamiya (creator of DMC) very closely involved. Back then, the canonicity of the novels were taken as genuine before Devil May Cry 3 and the accompanying Manga issues contradicted said novels and placed them in to non-canon grounds.
If I'm confusing you then my main point is that the canonicity will always be up in the air. This is Devil May Cry, folks. Retcons occur all the time (even in these novels), as well as what happened with the previous novels, despite official cooperation from Capcom employees.
So uh, enough of the politics. Whether you believe the following events are canon or not is down to you. What I will say is that only the games themselves have the power to cement what is truly in the universe or not. Not that that would stop issue occurring but ah well.
I am also refraining from posting the direct link to the translation due to the profanity contained within. "U PHAIL CARBO"...maybe, but I will be crediting the site and those responsible, so that's good enough.
Without further ado, prepare to be amazed by the sheer laughability of the DMC universe...
Devil May Cry 4: Deadly Fortune Volume 1
Note this is pretty much a word-for-word copy and paste from the original source. Whenever it says "I think" etc., note that the first person is used by the translator, not myself.
After their first battle, Dante immediately had the idea/impression that Nero had the same look in his eyes as Vergil. What ‘look’ that is, no one knows. Dante didn’t explain a thing. Hmm…
Right after his first battle with Nero, Dante was supposed to go straight to the headquarters to kill off the rest of the Order but he opted to take his time and take a detour to look around Fortuna City for clues that may help answer whether Sparda truly ever lived there. The novel explains that Dante didn’t really care to know the truth about such things. Most things he knew about his father, he heard. It didn’t matter to him if what he’s heard was true or false, he simply accepted them as is, but the same couldn’t be said about his twin. Vergil was one who was obsessed to look up everything he could, and this was set as a hint to show that Vergil was likely to have set foot in Fortuna City for that reason.
Nero was an orphan. People of the orphanage found him outside their door one day and decided to name him Nero simply because he was wrapped in a black blanket. (In truth this is just an excuse, the writer Bingo later said it was a name that just simply came to mind. Refer to volume 2’s summary for this) While growing up, the other kids often made fun of him by saying his mother was a prostitute. This was because Fortuna City was a town so small everyone practically knew everyone else. If someone was pregnant or gave birth everyone would know, so the fact that no one gave birth around the time Nero was found (plus it was said that prostitutes were common at that time), people assumed he was born without married parents or parents who were together full stop.
Nero was an orphan but Kyrie (who is one year older) and Credo weren’t. They had parents who were faithful believers of their religion. They believed in helping those in need just like Sparda did, which was why they often volunteered work at the orphanage where they first met Nero. Both parents took a special liking to Nero due to his rare silver/white hair which reminded them much of the god they worshipped, and soon enough the family got close to him.
Unfortunately, they later died under the attack of demons. Unbeknownst to most people, these demons weren’t those that got through the hell gates by chance. These were fellow people of the Order who attempted the ‘ascension’ ritual but failed. According to the novel, only those ‘strong’ enough are able to survive the process. (By strong they probably mean both mind and body, or something like that) Those who fail simply turn into a demon or half demon and typically lose control of their sanity. As the commander of the knights, Credo was one of the few who knew the truth of what happened, but he wasn’t able to tell Kyrie for obvious reasons.
Nero was never a religious kid but after the death of Kyrie’s parents, he stopped believing in god entirely. He thought that if god truly existed, he wouldn’t have let the kindest people who prayed and believed in him so much die.
It was Credo who taught Nero his sword fighting skills. According to Nero, the 3-consecutive-hit swing attack that Credo does in his boss battle is his specialty move. Nero also admired Credo because of his kindness (like his whole family is) and his sense of justice. Part of the reason why he decided to join the Order despite being an atheist was to follow in Credo’s footsteps. The other part, of course, was to play a part in protecting the city that his beloved Kyrie loved.
Other than the fact that Nero’s a lone wolf and sucks at teamwork, people of the Order dislike him also because of his usage of guns. They believe that battles should be fought gracefully and swiftly with the sword just as Sparda did. In case you’re wondering “what about Luce and Ombra?!” there are two possible explanations. 1) The Order really had no idea Sparda ever used guns. 2) Sparda might really have never used guns. I know, I know, “he” used it in DMC1 if you switch the character to “Sparda” instead of “Dante”, but who’s to say that man truly is “Sparda”? If you ask me that’s simply an alternate costume/model for the game, an unlockable, like Dante’s cosplaying as Sparda. If it truly and absolutely was Sparda he wouldn’t be alive to kick Mundus’ ass again and spilling Dante’s lines. And if Capcom removed the guns, it’s either the player would have to suffer or Capcom would have to create new moves specifically for “Sparda”, which they didn’t.
So anyway, the Order dislikes that Nero uses guns, but Nero obviously has no comments. He believes that one should be free to use whatever he can to finish an enemy. It’s better than losing and then whining about how stupid you’ve been to restrict yourself, especially in a life and death situation. And so because no one in Fortuna City uses gun, Nero had no choice but to get/modify his own gun. (How he gets that knowledge is conveniently unknown to us all) Modifications are required as regular handgun shots would not be strong enough to take down demons due to their tough exterior. He turned it into a double-barreled gun so that he can shoot two bullets at once.
Apparently Nero requires two different types of ammo for his gun and there’s a split lag between the first and second bullet. The first bullet breaks the enemy’s armor while the second bullet pierces through the damaged surface to inflict actual damage. Nero mentioned that he would have preferred that it’s an automatic clip but alas his gunsmith skills aren’t high enough for that. Although if you ask me, logic should be that he couldn’t ever possibly have learned anything about guns in a city that condemns guns. Oh, on an extra note, he carved the motif of a rose onto the handle of his gun and named it Blue Rose to symbolize the idea of “the impossible made possible”, which was something he once learned from a book.
The day Nero’s arm changed, he was attacked by an Assault. It was the first time he had seen one. He came into the scene to save Kyrie and a bunch of orphans she brought for a walk in the forest. A team of three knights was sent to help (Nero went there on his own) but one of them named Josh ended up dying while trying to shield Kyrie and the kids from a leaping Assault. It wasn’t mentioned when Nero’s arm changed, but it was definitely not during the battle against the Assault. It also didn’t explain how it changed, like whether the skin slowly peeled off and it hurt, or whether it magically turned into the demon arm with a matching sound effect. Ultimately lame. In the end, Capcom still never explained the very thing we wanna know.
But wait, near the end of the story in volume 2 it actually did mention what Nero thought to be the reason behind the change. He figured that perhaps this arm is now how it originally should have been, just like how a caterpillar transforms into a pupa and then a butterfly. He thought that perhaps he had simply reached that time in his life to be who he really was. Apparently Capcom/Bingo forgot to explain how his ‘original self’ could have had a demon arm when he’s only a quarter demon (assuming his dad is Vergil as the novel hinted at throughout) as compared to Dante and Vergil who are half demon but look entirely human. But yeah, that’s pretty much the only ‘answer’ (if valid at all in the eyes of fans) Capcom/Bingo gave to explain why Nero’s got that arm.
The very moment Nero devil triggered for the first time in his life (at the end of mission 5), Dante (who was in the bedroom at the top floor of Fortuna castle) felt this surge of energy through the floor that caused him to devil trigger for a split second. According to Dante, this was a reaction that he could get only from someone of the same blood origins. The novel wrote it this way: “the cry of a soul that only one of the same blood origins can detect”. He also thought that that ‘feeling’ was similar to that of Vergil, except as far as he knew he was “no longer in this world” as he put it, word for word.
Nero was supposedly dying after Agnus stabbed him in the chest at the end of mission 5. In the game, what we got is an unexplained flashback of Nero screaming Kyrie’s name. In the novel, he thought about a dream which he apparently saw a lot of lately. In the dream, there was a man he had never met staring at him. Nero described his glare as ‘cold’, but at the same time he could feel a touch of ‘gentleness’ or ‘kindness’ (the word in Japanese has two possible meanings) in him. After a moment of silence, the man (obviously Vergil) opened his mouth to ask him “Can you hear it, the cry of a soul?” And then he added, “What is your soul saying?” Instead of answering, Nero pushed the question back at him, “What’s yours saying?” Vergil smiled a little and answered, “Power… I want more power.” Hearing that, Nero replied, “I’ll take that too then.” And then Nero woke up and the devil trigger happened along with Yamato repairing itself. And the blue ghost on his back? *GASP* It’s Nero soul…!
In mission 11 of the game where Sanctus preached to Nero atop the Savior about how he was glad to have found someone else with Sparda’s blood (cause Dante would be a nutcase to capture), he revealed a flashback of what happened 16-17 years ago.
At that time, Santus was not the ‘Pope’ of the Order. The Pope was someone of around his age by the name Solemnis while Sanctus was a retired commander of the knights. He had thought about giving up hope of becoming Pope as the only way for a next Pope to be elected was only if the current one passed away, but in the end Sanctus was still unable to give up his dream to turn the world into what he deemed to be Paradise. In order to realize his ambitions, he had no choice but to kill Solemnis using a slow but safe method that is poison (which he abstracted from plants). It took two years for the Pope to die but no one suspected Sanctus one bit as they believed it to be natural death.
As schemed, Sanctus then became the next Pope. As part of their tradition, the new Pope was to rest in the private room at the top floor of Fortuna castle (which was believed to have been Sparda’s) in order to ‘inherit’ his ‘noble soul’, whatever that means. It was at that time when he heard someone come into the room. Sanctus was about to attack the man in defense but he paused when he could feel the clear difference in ‘strength’ through the man’s aura. The man, obviously Vergil, told him that he came only to trace Sparda’s footsteps. Based on this aura, Sanctus figured that the man wasn’t human. He wanted to ask Vergil if he was a demon or perhaps a god when he heard his guards heading for the room. Vergil went straight for the window and was about to leap out when Sanctus asked him to wait.
Vergil paused in response and looked back, only to say “I don’t mind that you pray to Sparda as a god, but do think clearly of this. One day I will surpass that god, and when that time comes, who will you worship? The one that was once god or the son who exceeded him.” And then he disappeared through the window.
Back to present time, Sanctus told Nero this story in order to explain how he came to the conclusion that Nero was likely to be Sparda’s descendant. He was convinced that it was probably ‘that man’ from 16-17 years old that might have impregnated a woman (a prostitute to be exact) in town and out came Nero who’s now 16-17 years old.
Agnus saw Sanctus in his ‘angel’ form for the first time inside the Savior after it had been activated. This is a scene not included in the game. Agnus hated to admit that he was honestly disappointed when he saw Sanctus’ angel form because he looked almost no different from his human form. For a moment he actually doubted if Sanctus was truly as powerful and admirable as he thought he was. His doubts were erased only after Sanctus touched Agnus’ shoulder and he could feel his ‘incredible amount of demonic power’. He concluded that Sanctus looked similar to his human form most likely because he only yearned/wished/asked for demonic power itself instead of a warrior or fighter’s built and strength like Credo. This way, there was no need for Sanctus to have a drastically different form.
Continued in next post.